CHAPTER 16
"Good morning everyone." She greeted the kids at the gates and, surprisingly, Kakashi too. Seriously, he had left after her, how was he there?
Naruto was currently being reprimanded by Sakura so she looked at the two stern males in front of her. She began searching in her bag and gave Sasuke a bento box with a smile. He took it doubtfully.
Sakura soon realized what was happening and started fuming. Her face was already red with ire when she handled her a bento as well. She seemed to calm down by the time she gave Naruto and Kakashi one too.
She looked around and realized that only Naruto and Sasuke had been touched, well, Sasuke hadn't really said anything but he stared at the box for slightly too long. Naruto had been amazed and thanked her as soon as he realized what it was. Sakura and Kakashi had shrugged it off. The last fucker opened it immediately as if not trusting her. Well, it was full of vegetables cooked like he liked so he had to eat his words. Or his actions. Whatever. At least Naruto had begun to laugh at him immediately when he realized his teacher had veggies.
Sakura reprimanded him again, this time about healthy habits, and he shut up. This kid was a riot, she was starting to really like he blond.
She waved them off at the gates and popped.
The original had been busy working with Fuuinjutsu. She couldn't really focus because she was supposed to meet Manda at midday, when they usually met at midnight. She had the threats follow a clone so she was going there herself for the first time and she was already getting goose bumps.
Without another thougth she stood up and walked deeper into the woods. The last thing she wanted to be was late to her meeting with a giant snake.
The quiet wood gave away Manda's presence. That doesn't happen, never. There's always something, the muffled chirping of birds, the happy chat of two squirrels or the soft thuds of a little herbivore. Then, there were no birds, not even bugs, around. There, you could hear clearly the bat of a wing of a faraway mockingbird as it took to the air. Silence, terrifying silence. Oh, hell, he was already there.
"Ah, Manda-chan, how are you. I hope you had a wonderful day, are those scales new? They are gorgeous. By the way I think this seal needed support lines and I did a barricade side line to turn this part into a hidden attachment to the storage seal. I...uhh, kind of wanted to make it like a hidden storage so you have to put your chakra in this two points simultaneously and the second one opens, if you only put chakra in one of the points it open the ain one. I know it's not what you asked for but, uhh, those scales are truly wonderful.
"Shut up. And show me what you've done." She complied instantly. "Those kanji are a disgrace to the art of calligraphy." She winced a little, Izuma-sensei had complimented her in her writing skills so she couldn't be that bad.
"I should find a teacher who values me properly."
"They would be lying, this is a disaster. The joints are uneven, the chakra would turn unstable and it is possible the seal would implode beginning from inside the seal itself and continuing outwards, destroying two times the ratio of a small bomb paper."
"Is it that bad?"
"Yes." He wiggled his tongue in the air. "You clearly knew it wasn't going to work. It probably needs double sided hidden support lines, maybe an adapted full support system on its own and a backwards lock to avoid making a storage seal with two entrances but it is doable. However, I suspect that you are trying to accomplish a dying mad man last's idea."
"I don't know how to do any of those!" She exclaimed excitedly, ignoring every insult he threw at her. "Also I did make some storage seals but I knew you wouldn't have looked at this one if I had brought you working ones."
"They work, although the ink use is questionable. I can tell you did a double swipe in most of the lines. If you had only done that in one or two it wouldn't have worked. Now you have a reinforced storage seal" He looked amused by it. "At least this one doesn't explode. You're the worst Fuuinjutsu wannabe I have ever encountered."
"That's so mean. I did my best Manda-chan! It's not like I'm not your best student." She sent the words at his direction with a smile. "And I just thought a storage seal would be more useful that way, didn't steal any ideas from dying men. I'm not that mean."
The old serpent hissed lost in thought. This girl was something, and he had to use her. She was not innocent as he was able to test, just ignorant. She wasn't faking when she didn't recognize Orochimaru, one of the most famous missing nins in the human world. Still something made him not eat her, attack, as he was supposed to. She has a way, like a diplomat, to avoid trouble. To plant ideas in anyone's mind and made them believe it was theirs.
What a snakelike human.
Charming, clever, dangerous. He hadn't seen one of these in some time. She could go so wrong but she could also go right. He had to be quick and trap her in his debt. This opportunity happen only once, and now, it happened twice. Orochimaru had grown powerful, too powerful, under his care, and too thirsty for power. He was unstable and he couldn't toy with him anymore. She was still malleable, but he had to be careful to not underestimate her.
She was about to become more useful.
"Meet me tonight in the woods. Don't bother to bring your notebook, it's not a class. I'll eat you if you are late."
"Bye, Manda-chan."
The snake disappeared from the clearing and hid in the shadows of the forest, watching the girl from afar. He watched her quiver with fear and proceed to shake it off, he had been increasing the small waves of Killing Intent he produced and watched her eat them and talk back as if his meanest KI was a fresh breeze.
He was only a little ashamed to have not realized she had been affected, she was just extremely good at lying. She was resourceful, smart, dedicated and unused. She didn't have a mark yet, and he was ready to take her in.
She wasn't sure she was supposed to be there but she was bored and the kids weren't there to entertain her and she couldn't bother Kakashi so this was all she had left. She gave him the best smile as her walked her to the living room, this was the first time she was there without Mask man so there was no way she was going to be treated the same.
She kept her sweetest smile because she was sure she was being watched even if she couldn't tell. And it bothered, there was a definite surveillance by the way the four people in the next room had tensed and moved, but if she couldn't feel them she wouldn't have known that the rest of the Nara compound knew she was there.
She turned her airhead mode on and walked by Shikaku's side. The hallways hadn't been that long the last time. Still, Shikamaru was in the room as she had already noticed. He looked like he hadn't expected her. Well he was still down to play so that was something. She would like to keep her mind of the incredibly suspicious way Manda had called her class off and asked to him some hours afterwards. Not only she had to keep clones around to keep entertained her four threats but she had to get some things done. The cute thing was that the threat had actually walked into the room with her as well and if she hadn't been able to feel them she could have never told there was someone so close to her.
She played the game anyways and lost spectacularly like she always did. There really was no way the kid was that good. She's stopped thinking strategies beforehand because he can see right through them immediately and improvise when she switches between them. She's even tried to predict when he figured her strategy out to switch right before only to turn back some moves afterwards but he still got her every single time.
So far she was going with the flow, letting the game play itself, taking opportunities and avoiding obvious traps but without a real plan. This time, the kid struggled, probably looking for an underlying plan or trap she planted, but she had nothing. He still won of course, but she sure as hell did better than usually. He gazed her strangely after the game, as if trying to figure her out, but if she couldn't herself she doubted a 12 year old kid could.
She left the place smiling and a lot less stressed. Judging by the sun she still had some minutes to trick the single threat who was following her and let a clone go to the class. She walked peacefully to the forest whistling a soft melody that the nearby mockingbirds followed. She was really used to this kind of thing. Never tell a bird you like to sing because they'll make you sing. The will force you to sing. Once you start singing, after hearing twenty minutes of dramatic begging, they'll begin improvising their own tunes over yours. And they will ask you again, and again.
They'll make you sing every time you see them. And if they come in groups, oh lord, if they come in groups they will force you to sing and they'll join too, but they'll also fly around you. They literary cage you by flying in patterns. What's worse, if you sing with them in spring you are literally getting them laid. Sure, singing with birds sounds great when you don't know why the mockingbird sings. The rest of birds aren't much better, but at least they aren't as annoying.
She brought her hands together and created two clones. She gave one of them her notebook while the other had already turned around to get to the lake to see if Kaizo, the fish who had given her a summon contract, had returned to the little oasis in the middle of the forest. She noted that the awful threat had made a clone themselves to follow hers. She still hadn't learnt the name of the corps that were in charge of following her, Kakashi knew for sure but he didn't mention anything. Ugh.
Today, right when Kakashi and the kids left the place, Manda had to ask to meet outside of their usual schedule. She wouldn't have been able to look more suspicious if she tried; going was just asking to get caught, not going was just angering a fucking giant snake. She had no choice but to go.
She had to get rid of the last threat. The first four clones had divided them easily, each following one. Then, when she needed to fool one of them, the clone would do the tripping, falling from a branch and henging into a falling leaf or a sturdy rock. The threat would assume that it popped and return to watch the original.
The problem was that the trick was getting old and they might catch up to her tricky mind so she had to find another way to distract them. She was working on it but there was something else on her mind: Manda.
There was still the possibility she had fed up the snake and he would try to eat her but she didn't know why he would have waited when he had had her right there. Maybe he was going to get her to the humanoid snake she had found on the woods, but she could sense its presence pretty well, especially if they kept emitting those vibes.
No, this was something else, and she was ready to find out what.
The clone walked into the clearing, the snake was already waiting for her. Manda looked strange in her eyes, maybe it was the fact that he was content, or even eager.
"Manda-chan, it's nice to see you again." She started conversationally." Is this about the seal? Did you finish it? Oh Manda-chan you really are the best, can I see?"
"Quiet, lunch. It is not. There iss a more important matter to discuss." A small scroll appeared in front of her, it looked old and worn out. She had already seen one of these. "I've brought the Snake's summoning contract to you as I have already tested your capabilities. You are worthy of being called our summoner. Now, sign your name with blood and I will introduce you to your personal summon. Consssider yourself lucky, not many have lived long enough to receive that title."
"Oh, Manda-chan I'm so sorry" she processed his words as quick as her mind allowed her to. "I have already signed a contract." She could smell his second intentions from half a mile. There was something under the table and she had been to enough negotiations to know when someone was bluffing. She had gotten good at misleading herself.
"I see" She was just playing hard to get, "perhapsss you sshould reconsider who would be better for you" He started in a falsely affable tone, "a second class species or the snakes." this was a clear threat. She was actually surprised by him.
"Manda-chan, did you know that when you get angry you hiss a little too much?" -Hiss-"Don't worry, I think it's cute. My other summons had mentioned that they wouldn't mind if I took a second contract. Negating the first one is off the table, is that a problem for you?" She asked, her voice dripping with sweet venom as her lips twisted into a smirk.
"You may keep your little contract but we will be your priority. Understood?" He was getting impatient. He hadn't been as taken aback as she expected, but that was good, he still thought to be in control.
"I haven't agreed to sign it yet, you know."
"Do you dare to mock me?"
"Why are you so bothered by this? I know you wouldn't consider this treason. It's just a mere conflict of interests: you want me to sign the contract and I want something from it, or did you think I would get myself in a bad deal without any kind of compensations? Because that's what this is, you offer me nothing."
"Have I not done enough? I've been teaching you, a filthy human, the most valued art of the snakes and this is how you repay me?" She sensed the immediate shift in the conversation, she's been in enough negotiations to know when to back off. Manda was about to lose his temper and that was both good and dangerous. He could snap at any moment but she could redirect his anger and get a great deal if she chose the right words.
"Don't misunderstand, I am grateful for everything you've done for me and it is in my best interest to keep you as my teacher, Manda-chan, but you didn't really think I would agree blindly, right? C'mon, I'm too clever for that. You clearly have benefits you aren't telling me about." She realized then how right she was. As the daughter of her parents, she had been expected to take on the family busyness after them so she had been started on negotiations early on, needless to say she was brutal. She could twist the worst deal into the best, but there had been times where she had lost her advantage, most of them she tried to play it off and offered a gamble or a game of cards to set it. She was good at cards.
"What iss it that you want? What petty desire would make you defy me?"
"What can you offer me, sensei?" She asked cockily. "Firstly I want more classes, this stuff is getting too hard." She took a second to catch a breath. "Secondly I want more power, maybe you should teach me another snake art, do you guys do genjutsu? Because that would be so cool. And third, I want a choice, I want to choose whether I continue to take care of that summon or not. I know this is a trap."
Manda didn't answer and she was getting nervous. She actually wanted to get the contract and she was sure that if she opposed him she would regret it. Now, she had been looking forward learning genjutsu for a long time and asking him for a choice was just for show, he couldn't force her to take care of a snake. Asking him for more classes was a plus, it will probably be overlooked and she will get more classes without begging for it.
"…"
"Ssnakes cannot do genjutsu whatsoever, we are immune to it, you might have to asssk your side-summonss. You must wait at least two weeks before negating your summon. Now sign." AS little scroll appeared before her and she had to look down to hide her creeping smile. She always gets what she wants. That's just how it is.
"Sure thing, Manda-chan! How do five classes a week sound?" She kneeled down and bit her finger, her hand moved slowly on the paper leaving bland and perfect letters traced with blood. "One, two three, four! Four other summoners and you ask me to babysit, that's mean, Manda-chan!"
"Now" Manda started as the scroll disappeared. "Meet your summon." White smoke filled clearing as an unnaturally big snake appeared in front of her. Big but not enormous, still way taller than her and very intimidating. A wave of thrill slithered through her body mixed with a chill, when did this kind of things started to happen to her? "Shrink, Kurodoku, humans are tiny." She watched him obey, trying to look unexcited and unbothered. He had an average forest snake size, but he was way longer than most, probably twice her height and was greyish-black. When the animal opened his mouth, her enthusiasm disappeared quickly. As someone with a heavy animal fever, she had bought every book on exotic animals she could find. Of course, snakes were not an exception, especially when their venom is as potent and useful as a black mamba's is. "Under no circumstances you will be allowed to bite her, expect death if so. This is your last chance to redeem yourself, Kurodoku, don't make me regret it."
She gulped, "Hey, Kurodoku." Black mambas were fast, venomous and violent if bothered. If her suspicious were right she had to take precautions dealing with him. "I'm Arabella, nice to meet you-"She took a careful step towards the snake but he rose his head and upper body to intimidate her. Even if he had shrunk several meters the snake was too much for her handle, especially if he was a criminal as Manda had fucking implied. She took another step towards him and a sudden pressure on her neck appeared as he attempted to constrict her larynx.
"Will you ever cease to disappoint me? GET OFF. You are an embarrassment to our kind, I can't believe I've let you become this… disaster of a snake." As quick as the pressure came, it went, and she could breathe again. "The Wise Council chose to execute you but I overrode it, I believed you could rehabilitate yourself. You almost killed your summoner-" Kurodoku hissed "and he almost killed you back." In front of Manda appeared a single scroll. "This is a S-class bounding-chain scroll, he will be unable to kill you without killing himself. I hoped it wouldn't be necessary but my son never ceases to push my patience further. Once you put chakra on it, it will be done."
"You bastard! That's what it was, a promise my ass! Enslavement and servitude won't hold me prisoner, I will defy my destiny if proven unfair, you bitch!" He spoke for the first time. She felt numb as she contained her laughter in such a dangerous situation and hurried to get the scroll, heavily hoping this wasn't a theater to chain her instead of this Kurodoku snake.
She could that distinguish the chakra on it wasn't Manda's, it was the black mamba's. It was all over the chain so it was probably legit, she invested her chakra on the top left, where her name appeared in blood.
"Did you learn those word from your former summoner?" She spoke as neatly as she could, after clearing her throat.
"To spite him, perhaps, as he never speaks so vulgarly. Certainly not from him."
"You overestimate Orochimaru, he is as revolting as an infected toenail, horrid existence, that nasty bitch! You should have let me kill him, you nothing but a pet. He's got you on leash!"
"I can't stand to look at you now, turned against your own, treasonous, stupid boy who didn't know better and still doesn't. He would have killed you without blinking, foolish boy. Listen to you father: your future can be shinning or as dark as your smart mouth, it is on her hands, whether you like it or not. Be prepared for either, but I must warn you, one of them isn't as likely."
"Treason? TREASON? The only one who has betrayed you is yourself. Would you bow if he asks, would you cry if he called you unworthy? Stupid bitch."
She was getting bored of the family issues and was pretty confident as he couldn`t kill her after getting the bonding thingy. "Hey Kurodaki, listen how about I show you around now, I'm getting bored."
The snake hissed. "It's Kurodoku-sama to you, human."
"Aww, where did those snaky remark go, smitten boy? Don't bite your own tail, I just want a milkshake and a nap. Let get a milkshake and I'll teach you to curse like a sailor. What you just did was plain embarrassing." The snake hissed at her and she took a sudden step back to get as much distance between them as possible, objectively he couldn't hurt her, and he knew that too so she shouldn`t have been so surprised when he ran away from the clearing. He was incredibly fast and she didn't have time to react before a chain emerged from her hand and made him stop.
It reentered her skin without pain as it forced the snake back to the clearing. She watched I soundless, as he struggled and started to appreciate the seal, she didn't want to deal with that. She was glad that couldn't attack her when he could straight up murder her without hesitation. Oh god, she was so tired of this shit…
"… How 'bout we get that milkshake and forget this happened. I am still down to teach you some nasty swearwords. C'mon this doesn't have to be shitty I bet you are pretty nice when you're not being dramatic Kuro-chan"
A/N Hey so I just graduaterd! Itr's probably not as exciting for a reader as it is for me haha. An yway, I hurried to write this chapter and I still don't quite like how it came out but I am ecstatic to continue because I've been thinking about writing so much but I didn't have time to. Expect more updates now that I have time:)