Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Forty-Ninth Thread

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This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8693, who deserves sainthood for the sole fact that she didn't run away screaming yet.

This is turning into a bi-weekly, but at least I'm keeping it up? I've never had a story that I would drag along for so long, to be honest. I honestly meant to write during Easter break, but family visits are shit, and ye, and also I managed to write this chapter on the last day of break instead of studying for my today's Latin exam. Yes, hello, I'm an idiot. Also, I hope you guys had a Happy Easter!

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."
― Galileo Galilei

0

She leaves in the morning after Shino and, surprisingly, Torune, come in, with a table full of snacks and stacks of books in which Ren marked some pages with colorful slips of paper. All of the information she could find on all of the Hokage, of course, but suspiciously more on the fourth. It's not like Ren is planning something now, is she? Of course not. Those brats are smart, they will figure out what they should. Or at least Shikamaru will, and he's at the age where his brain-to-mouth filter is not yet well developed, so there's a very low risk of him keeping his discovery to himself. So, there it is – a foolproof plan that circumvents the S-Rank classification of the secret, because honestly, fuck this order, and fuck this secret, the Hokage is an idiot.

Genma agrees, so it must be true.

She summons Takuya-sensei, the ever so grumpy poison master, who is the only available summon that's relatively small, responsible, and uninjured (The spiders are still reeling from the overlapping of their dimension with that of the mantises after all, and they won't be fully healed until they literally molt their injuries off.) Ren would have preferred summoning Cobalt, too, but she is simply too big and would take up most of the space in living room. Therefore, Takuya-sensei.

Ren, in the meantime, has some meditating to do.

She has been meaning to do this for a while now, to pester her summons about whether or not they provided teachings for sage mode, and if she can actually access it herself. But for that, Ren needs to summon one of the three boss summons. She has learned quite a lot about them over the two years of their partnership, mostly from pestering Cobalt for information. It was insightful and they had some cool lore.

First of all, spiders are matriarchal. What a shocker for a species that tends to see the males as dinner, no? This also meant that they are generally much more accepting of female summoners, and male summoners would have to do much more to prove themsevles than just signing the contract and summoning a random child-spider to bond for life with. Second, they have three co-leaders which, while unexpected, makes sense. One is the typical kaiju-sized boss, the other is much more compact but also battle-honed, and the third, with perhaps the most authority, is the eldest and wisest of them all.

Elder Kana, a legendary golden-eyed tarantula rumored to be immortal simply because of how long she's been around – at least from way before even the Warring Clans Era. And also the only one who can help Ren. So yeah, forgive her if she's nervous.

She closes her eyes, standing in the middle of an empty clearing with her trench coat on and scarf wound around her neck, on the thin patchwork covering of snow on the ground, and breathes in the chilly air, gathering all the single-minded focus she can. The fire-natured chakra circulating underneath her skin neutralizes the cold almost instantly, and she opens her eyes again. She nicks her thumb with a kunai enough to draw a droplet of blood, and smears it on her palm, before flying through a series of hand signs and slamming her hands on the ground.

Intricate seals bloom on the soil and snow and explode in smoke and ozone.

Ren waits as it clears, hands shaking in anticipation and maybe a bit in fear.

Shikamaru sighs, taking off his shoes and pushing them onto the shelf by the door, moving out of the way so that Ino and Choji can do the same, and tries to ignore Naruto's energetic jumping from place to place. If he didn't know better, he would go as far as to claim that the blond had somehow learned to shunshin around, but he does, so he doesn't assume such an impossibility. Instead, he goes with a more plausible explanation – Naruto is ridiculously energetic and will probably sooner discard orange and cease eating ramen than stop moving on his own accord.

And while it sounds ridiculous, for those who know Naruto it's obvious that orange and ramen are the truths of life. For the blond, at least.

Troublesome, really. But also oddly endearing. On the other hand, Shikamaru wants to sleep. Forever, preferably, starting five minutes ago.

"Ino-chan!" Sakura flies out of the living room milliseconds after Ino finished putting her shoes away, and throws herself at the blonde and, consequently, knocks them both into the wall on which their jackets hang.

"Sakura-chan!" Ino cheers, not minding getting slammed into a wall, and reciprocates the hug giddily. Girls are scary that way, and Shikamaru isn't sure which he prefers – how they were before mending their friendship, all loud and troublesome, or how they are now, having made up and probably plotting people's untimely demises during their sleepovers. Well, as long as it's not his.

Also, what the hell, they saw each other yesterday. More than that, they spent an entire half of a day trailing after one another at the Academy, and then Sakura was at Ino's for dinner, so Shikamaru really does not understand why they suddenly behave as if they haven't seen one another in months.

Ergo, his conclusion. Girls are weird.

(And scary. Sakura doesn't particularly hide that she wants to be like Ren when she grows up. That, and the medical scrolls Kiba's older sister throws at her, that give her rather uncanny knowledge of human body even now. And he heard she's been sometimes seen tailing that insane T&I lady, Anko, that Ren hangs out with. Worse, she does that with Ino, who has suddenly experienced a spike of interest in whatever it is that her father does. Which is torturing people for information, or serving as a therapist. Of course what Ino is interested in is much more of the former and a lot less of the latter. Is it too much to ask for a day to just laze about and watch clouds?)

Also, how Sasuke manages to live with Naruto full-time and not go insane, he doesn't understand either. But then maybe Sasuke is a bit insane, seeing how much love and effort he pours into literally spitting fire. Shikamaru saw it once, when they had a picnic by the lake, just the guys because Hinata had Hyūga things to do and Ino and Sakura were trailing mad-Anko at that time. Sasuke decided he wanted to show off, and his idea of showing off was spitting a house sized fireball at the lake. Granted, they had to carry him home and he was absent from school next day from chakra exhaustion, but the look in his eyes had been positively manic.

Shikamaru would not want to be on the receiving end of it, thank you very much.

"Hey," Sasuke says walking out of the living room. "There's food and drinks, and neesan got us some better books than the Academy basics. They're library books so if we ruin them she'll probably come after us."

That's probably the most he's heard Sasuke say in a while. The Uchiha usually opts to remain silent and answers questions in clipped half-sentences or single words, that fully conveys the 'leave me the hell alone' message to everyone... well, almost. Sasuke's fangirls aren't exactly smart, and he would be the first to agree on that.

"Who else is already here?" he asks with a nod. Probably Kiba is still absent, because the only ruckus he can hear being made is by Naruto, no sign of the Inuzuka or his dog, yet.

"Sakura-chan an' Shino an' Torune!" said hyperactive blond suddenly materializes right next to Shikamaru and he doesn't bother trying not to startle. He probably would've jumped, but that's too bothersome and requires actual physical output. "And onee-chan left this giant spider to su-superv-"

"Supervise," Sasuke supplies with an eyeroll.

"Yeah, that! And Shino brought Torune. Because Torune has some free time before he and his team go to the Chūnin exams in Kumo next week, y'know?"

Shikamaru most certainly did not need to know what his classmate's cousin slash adopted brother is up to after having graduated from the Academy, but trust Naruto to supply the information.

"I just hope Hinata doesn't drag Neji with her," Sasuke mutters under his breath. "One more word about destiny and I'm setting him on fire."

At this, everybody winces sympathetically. Hinata's older cousin slash bodyguard was really a grade A asshole that even Ren and Naruto haven't manage to really get through to yet, at all. He is very stubborn about being a miserable prick, yapping about how this person is destined to do this, and the other one to do that. Also, he judges people based on first glance and hearsay and sticks to those no matter what.

Shikamaru has seen Sakura crack her knuckles one too many times at the sight of the Hyūga boy not to suspect how it would end if he doesn't change, fast.

The living room is just like he remembers it from his visit last week. The biggest room of the house, right next to the small kitchen and separated from it only by a half-wall that he's seen Naruto slip through to the other room instead of using the door-less doorframe. All browns and pleasing to the eye, and always a different air freshener. Last week it was conifer forest, and today it smells like a meadow, but more wildflowers than grass and soil. There are two couches, four armchairs, and two ottomans to sit on, with a table in between them that is a bit too tall and big to be a proper tea table, on a fluffy carpet. They probably shouldn't mess up the carpet either, because it looks like a bitch to clean.

Shino and Torune have squeezed themselves into one armchair – they are still small enough to successfully do so – and sure enough, there is a giant spider, lounging on the headrest of the chair right next to the two Aburame. It has huge eyes, a long, thin abdomen, and very long, very thin legs that give it an even creepier appearance than it probably should have. It is by far the creepiest spider he's seen in the history of ever. Sakura breezes past him, skipping like the happy murder-child she is, and seated herself on the same armchair the spider occupied. It seems to grumble something, disgruntled, but nevertheless starts paying attention when Sakura starts pestering it about...

Wait, are they talking poisons?

No way in hell Shikamaru is going down that particular Valley of Nope.

Ino approaches Sakura and the spider much, much slower, visibly perplexed but also with determination shining in her eyes. Not that Shikamaru can blame her, any sane person would be leery of a creepy spider the size of a small dog, it's just Sakura who is special. Or very determined to be like Ren.

The doorbell rings again, and Naruto, who had just entered the living room with Chōji, bounds back to answer the door. Of course, since he has no filter whatsoever and probably never will, everyone hears his whiny sentiments.

"Hinataaaaaaa why did you bring this loser with you?!"

Whatever the girl might answer is way too quiet for them to hear, and Shikamaru sighs. Sasuke makes a sour face, and it stays, but when Neji walks into the living room, head held high and all, the Uchiha doesn't even acknowledge him. If by ignoring the Hyūga they can remain civil, Shikamaru will take it. Neji still looks as if he smelled something particularly bad, but he actually pales upon spotting their spider supervisor. Frankly, Hinata takes it much, much better – to the point where she easily sits by the Aburames, on the other side from Sakura and the spider. But then, for all her stutter and gentle demeanor, Hinata has always seemed quite brave, when she isn't on the verge of fainting from anxiety.

It's not long before Hana drops Kiba off and rushes to the hospital for her shift, all the while muttering darkly about reckless idiots, probably in Ren's general direction since Ren is out for now in favor of doing, ah, 'specialized training,' as she calls it, heavily implying it involves even more spiders.

With that – and more ruckus, because if Kiba ever doesn't vocalize his dislike of Neji, Shikamaru would suspect he's under a very poorly constructed genjutsu – they somehow start looking through the provided books. First, they need to decide which of the Hokage to focus on, and then read the information and compile it into a short essay about why this Hokage is their favorite. It's not bad.

"Let's just all read some things from the First to the Fourth, and then decide, okay?" Sakura proposes, with the spider – Takuya-sensei – now relocated from being draped over the chair's headrest to being draped over Sakura's shoulders.

It's a good idea, so they grab the books – of course, not enough for them all, so some need to pair up, which is probably better considering, well, Naruto, Kiba and – no matter how much Shikamaru likes him, he's still not the brightest kunai in the pouch – Chōji tend to be more focused on... other things. Like not paying attention.

But since Chōji actually wanders off to Hinata, which comes as no surprise because those two are just too nice but also somehow work well together because of that, Shikamaru has a book all to himself. So he reads, from the First to the Third. And then, he moves to read about the Fourth.

Shikamaru stills when he turns to the next page of the book, and for a second he thinks that Ren, in the spirit of a joke, had slipped Naruto's picture into the book, but it lasts maybe half a second, because the man in the picture is older, clearly an adult, with way sharper angles than Naruto will most likely ever achieve even once he loses his baby fat, and without the whisker marks. But those are unmistakably Naruto's eyes, and his yellow scruffy bird nest, if it were longer.

He blinks, tearing his eyes from the picture, and looks down, skimming the description.

Namikaze Minato, the youngest Hokage, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, something, something, known for killing a thousand enemy ninja alone, something, something...

Was confirmed to be in a relationship with Uzumaki Kushina.

Oh. That- Well.

Shikamaru grabs the book, closes it cover-to-cover so that he's holding up the picture of the Fourth, and nudges Naruto. The blond looks at him, confused, and Shikamaru blinks. There are a few differences, but he can definitely see the resemblance, especially in coloration. But that can only mean-

Oh. Oh no.

Call it Ren's bad influence, but what Shikamaru says next is: "Well, shit."