The light poured downward through the trees, sparkling over a series of iron-white webbing criss-crossing the trees. Water pooled in the depths of the hollows between the trees, shining brightly with reflected starlight. The branches cast long shadows across the trees, shimmering with the faintest remnants of spring.

A massive spider glowed in the center of the clearing. The silver legs extended outward. Large black compound eyes flickered to the sides of the clearing.

Naruto sat downward, his expression distant.

"What do you intend to do? You are a strange man-thing," the spider questioned.

"I want someone to explain things to you. At least, from our perspective. I'm not good with words—not even a little." Naruto sighed. "I'd prefer to punch you in the face, for causing the disease and attacking people and being a demon. But that's not going to resolve anything."

The spider chuckled. Her body dwindled downward rapidly. "Amusing, man-thing! I shall forgive your rudeness, permitted that your friend is similarly amusing." The threads wrapped closer around the body. A black-haired woman in a silver dress curled back her hair over one ear. "So. Who will speak to me?"

Naruto closed his eyes. The seal against his belly glimmered as energy surrounded the lines marked on the skin. She's all yours.

Water dripped into the lake. The cage doors trembled. The seal glimmered, silvery energy escaping the lines and rushing outward.

Naruto touched the bars from the inside. "Eh?"

"Don't worry. I'd just like to talk with her unimpeded."

Naruto swallowed. He reached out his hand.

"I'll be returning soon."

The ofuda blew in the wind. The ofuda glistened. Against the bars, the paper flapped in the wind.

Genkuro sat down on the ground. "Ah. Y' really are quite confident, eh?" she remarked. Her body still resembled Naruto's, but she had perhaps used Naruto's Sexy Technique to appear in a form more reminiscent of her own. One tail twitched across the ground, brushing away earth and dirt.

The woman's eyes widened. "Eh?"

"Do y' have a name?" Genkuro extended her hand. A saucer of sake appeared in the hand, forming seemingly from nothing.

"…Jomu." The woman's black hair shimmered in the light of the moon.

"Thank y'. Let's continue on." The saucer of sake tipped backward.

Jomu tilted her head to one side. "Who're you?"

"Genkuro. Chief among the kitsune." Genkuro smiled. "I guess yer the spider chieftain."

Jomu frowned. She rubbed her chin. "You are, I suppose, correct. All the same, I am not the sole decider of our fate. There are others who hold speaking voices."

"Y' want ta share a little wine?"

"Certainly."

Genkuro smirked. She took a sip of the sake. "Here's what I think y' gotta think about. Before y' go on the warpath and start killin' people, y' have to evaluate a couple factors intensely." The saucer refilled.

Jomu stared at Genkuro's face.

"I won't deny y've been wronged. Think about that illness, though. Think about their pain."

Jomu frowned.

"Now, havin' said that, let's talk about that meteorite. I'm askin' whether we could do somethin' about that. Move it, or do somethin' else with it."

"Something about it?" Jomu frowned.

"It's poisonin' the people." Genkuro passed over the saucer.

Jomu swallowed the sake. Her cheeks flushed slightly.

Genkuro held out her hand.

"That gives us chakra."

"I ain't denyin' that."

Jomu's eyes narrowed. "Then…"

"Then I'm tellin' ya that's enough."

Jomu took the saucer. She tipped back the wine.

"Y' get me? Humans bound up the Ten-Tails and shit. It ain't runnin' free either. Didn't kill 'em. Maybe yer maximum power is a little lower, but speakin' from personal experience, the Ten-Tails ain't even a start in terms of how y' kin perceive reality."

"I see." Jomu stared into the woods. "What would you do if I say no?"

"Nothin'."

Jomu blinked. "You would do nothing?"

"I can't really in this body. I'm appealin' to y' as a fellow beast. As somethin' that ain't quite human, and gets that it ain't human, but still got some form of heart, y' know."

Jomu laughed. "I see."

Genkuro smiled.

Jomu passed over the saucer.

Genkuro tipped back the saucer. Sake poured down the throat.

"All right."

Genkuro's eyes narrowed.

"I will imprison the meteor. In turn, can you attempt to convince the elder to allow us to live here?"

"Ah, that ain't going ta be a problem."

Jomu blinked.

"Y've noticed it already, right? I'd be losin' respect if y' hadn't gotten it already, y' know."

Jomu scowled. "I have no idea what you mean."

Genkuro sighed. "Losin' respect. Anyway, y' noticed already that y' kin become human, yeah? Assume a roughly human form?"

Jomu blinked. "So?"

"It ain't only y' that's startin' to change, y' know. Them villagers too. They got somethin' similar goin' on in their innards."

Jomu's eyes widened.

"It ain't that complex, y' know?"

"Then…"

"Yes. You'll be the same eventually, y' know."

"I see." Jomu folded her hands into her lap. "I'll see it done quite clearly, then."

"Anyway, I'll leave that to y'. For now, stay outta their way and wait on the change to pass through, y' know?" Genkuro closed her eyes. She clapped her hands together. For a moment, the seal on the stomach glowed. Naruto's body slumped sideways.

Jomu frowned. She glanced down at the ground. "Sufficient, I suppose. I will leave you be. The others may be harder to convince, however. Of them, Jōren-san will most likely object with the harshest voice." She clambered away into the trees, her legs digging into the bark.

Sasuke emerged through the trees. Briefly, she glanced up at the massive form of the spider receding through the trees. Rubbing her eyes, she sighed. "I must really be tired. Otherwise I wouldn't be imagining that spider. Probably a trick of the light." She glanced downward, staring at Naruto's sleeping face. Grunting, she knelt. "Come on, you bastard," she muttered, forcing Naruto's sleeping body upright. "I'm not dragging you back." Her face flushed slightly as she glanced at the sleeping face.

The pair staggered back toward the village together. Starlight filtered through the trees, reflecting off the water.