My mom had immediately gushed about how pretty Naruko's dress looked when she saw her, and Naruko's pale face flushed as she muttered. "Thank you, Mrs. Nara." Mom laughed for a brief moment, shaking her head.
"Anyone who can get my Shikamaru actually cook for them without being asked is automatically family. You can just call me mom or Yoshino if you feel uncomfortable with that." Naruko looked absolutely floored, and I could almost see the gears in her mind grind to a halt at the inability to input such a request.
"Mom, you go ahead and mingle with Naruko, I know you'll have dozens of questions for her, and Naruko, just be yourself, it's okay. We don't judge here." I said simply, breaking the ice as Naruko looked at me, her face flushing as she nodded, floundering as she really didn't know or what to say in this social situation. Mom's eyes softened as she saw how uncomfortable and lost Naruko looked, gave me a subtle nod before her face turned into a scowl.
"Shikamaru, you forgot to feed the deer again. Please go ahead and take care of that while Naruko and I chat."
I sighed, leaving with a slight smile on my face as Naruko looked terrified of being left alone with my mom as I shrugged. "Chores are such a drag."
Exiting the back, I easily entered the forest and sighed, taking in the smell of the forest.
I had already fed the deer. Mom just wanted to help Naruko get comfortable first, and I appreciated that.
My eyes narrowed.
Well, hello there, Zetsu.
The plant-man was evidently within Konoha, using the Mayfly jutsu to travel through the forests and trees unhindered to spy on the village.
Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.
My grin darkened as I clasped my hands together.
The Zetsu froze as I appeared in front of them. "Good afternoon, Mr... Ms? Plant entity thing." I said politely with a smile.
"Who are you and what do you want?" The Black Zetsu spoke, cautious and wary.
"No, no, my good plant-man thing! It's what I can do for you!" I said cheerfully. "After all, I may or may not know of an alternate way to bring your mother back to life without having to wrestle the hassle of the nine bijuu." I commented lightly.
"You lie."
"Well, sort of true. You can't bring back the dead, but what isn't truly alive, cannot die. Isn't that right Black Zetsu? After all, you have no corporeal form aside from the one you latch onto. It'd a shame if I somehow made your efforts meaningless by erasing the Shukaku from existence now wouldn't it?" I smiled coldly.
The Zetsu froze. The White one spoke up now. "That's impossible, no one can kill a bijuu." He said aloud, pointing his finger at me.
"The idiot is correct, you cannot kill a Bijuu." The Black one commented lowly, his yellow eye staring at me coldly.
My smile widened.
"True, a regular human cannot kill a bijuu. However, I am not a regular human being either. I am a Jujutsu Sorcerer. See, we specialize in exterminating Cursed Spirits, beings made of negative emotions that can utilize negative energy. Ooh, and guess which beings have been collecting centuries of negative emotions and harboring grudges for humanity? That's right, you and the bijuu. Of course, you don't have to believe me." I trailed off, but my cold grin didn't fade.
"But can you take the risk? After all, if any of the nine bijuu are removed completely from play, then the Gedo Mezo cannot return into the Ten Tails, and then you can't bring back your mother."
"What do you want?" The Black Zetsu spoke lowly.
"A Contract. You both work for me, and I'll bring back your mother, in about five years. Not that you have a choice. I can always utterly erase you from existence. Unlike the shinobi, I am fully capable of removing you from existence. It wouldn't even be a moment's work." I shrugged.
"I don't trust you. However, neither of us can move fast enough to evade you, and you detected us through the Mayfly Jutsu despite us hiding our chakra. We will sign it."
A copy of the contract appeared in my hands as I handed it to them along with some paper. "Oh, and don't bother trying to have only the White one sign it. I'll know." I smiled coldly.
The black one froze, no doubt having considered such an idea, but was caught in the act. Not that it matters.
Two signatures later, and I smiled coldly.
[Black Zetsu. Signed and Sealed Capture. 44
Blessed Talent. -30. 97.
Land Talent. -30. 67.
Performance Talent. -10. 57.
Talent Sharing: -30. 27.
Land Talent.
Performance Talent.
Blessed Talent.
27 Credits Remaining.]
I had extra credits to spend. Land Talent, was for Sage Mode. Performance Talent was to boost any auditory genjutsu, and also cause I'm a sucker for music.
Blessed Talent was for future reasons I'll explain later.
"This power is utterly terrifying." Black Zetsu commented as I hummed, the dreamscape now absolutely filled with dozens, hundreds even, of new proto-minds. The White Zetsu all acted identically because they were effectively a hive mind, a single mind replicated over and over again.
A hive mind under my absolute control.
"Glad we have an understanding. Now, you'll both be my eyes in the shadows, and I have work that needs doing. White Zetsu, absorb some chakra from Yakumo Kurama. She's under my employment, and she will be expecting you. Black Zetsu, you'll be guiding the White Zetsu to different areas of the Elemental Nations. For now, you'll understand why once you've absorbed some of her chakra, and your first requisition target, is Obito Uchiha. Go."
The plant thing vanished into the ground and I clasped my hands, returning back to the Nara forests, smiling all the while as I whistled walking through the forest.
The shadows darkened and the forest became quiet, and I could feel the coldness of the air, the stillness of the forest. The Nara forests held more than simply deer, after all. Our first connections through the shadows hadn't been without an aiding hand.
"Welcome to the Nara Forest, little one. It's been some time." The figure landed on the ground in a crouch, the earth warping and shifting under it for several moments.
Long antlers that grew through the trees unhindered, pale skin warped, stretched thin, and sagging in others. The teeth of a deer given a vicious appearance, and the sunken empty holes where eyes once were.
"Good afternoon, Wendy." I said politely. The Wendigo gave a soft chuckling raspy laugh.
Yeah, I bought Blessed Talent for a reason. Namely: getting along with spirits and Goddesses. Eh, the ones I wanted to get along with, anyway.
"Good afternoon, Shikamaru Nara. Your soul has become much stronger since we last met. Did you wish to strengthen our Pact?"
The Nara Clan's first members were said to be fully capable of warping the shadows in ways we could only dream of now. The ability to kill others, strip them of their shadows, and turn them into silent thralls. The ability to turn even the sun into an endless darkness, changing what it meant between the light and the dark to empower ourselves for a time. Of course, this ability often came at the cost. Our laziness was inherently our nature, and our deeper understanding of the world around us was a part of the nature of shadows. The first Nara literally were unable to leave the forests, their souls bound to the forest, and had been fully capable of facing Hashirama Senju without any threats of his Wood Style.
After all, our forests were a part of us.
Hashirama Senju had formed a new Pact, allowing the Nara Clan to join Konoha by expanding our forests. We had almost the entirety of the Land of Fire as our new territory, and the first Pact weakened throughout the generations as the Nara Clan moved away from using the Wendigo as a source of our abilities once we learned to mimic some of its abilities using our chakra.
The Wendigo cannot be seen by those who have not made a Pact, or by those not descendants of the ones who made a Pact. The Wendigo had long since learned to passively absorb the chakra of those it has a Pact with, and so it no longer had the same starving urges of a natural Wendigo.
Amusingly, I took to calling her Wendy because just saying "Wendigo" was too long and such a drag. The Wendigo laughed, and took to the name, as the name truly didn't change what it was. Merely giving it a more humanoid identity.
Unlike most of the Clan, even my father, who never wandered this far into the Wendigo's territory, I often had no issues doing so. Even as just Shikamaru, the young teen had often enjoyed the Wendigo's company, even teaching them shogi.
After all, as far as Shikamaru was concerned, the worst the Wendigo could do was eat him, which was better than listening to his mother yell at him and make him do chores.
Wendy had a good long laugh at that one, curling in on themselves at the fact that Shikamaru had more fear from his mother than he had to from them.
Such was their bond, that the Wendigo had often given Shikamaru hints on how to fully expand the shadows, whispering ways to make the shadows of others an extension of his own.
"Not yet, Wendy. My soul is strengthened, but not my body. Not yet. Give me a couple years and I'll be more than ready. I wanted to ask your thoughts on my... Pact with Naruko." I worded carefully.
Wendy paused, it's empty gaze seemingly trying to peirce through me, before its mouth widened into a large open mouthed grin.
"The Pact empowers you both, but like any Pact, it empowers you further. The female longs to be owned, to be coveted, and you provide that. Likewise, you lacked purpose. Drive. It made you a weaker shadow, but no longer. Now the shadows of your soul threaten to envelop all worlds, and it is truly enthralling to watch. I have been more entertained in two days than I've been in the past thousand years. That you've bound the weak shadow that called itself Black Zetsu is even more entertaining."
The Wendigo's black tongue, its form barely held by shadow licked its teeth and face.
"When the time comes, when the weak shadow eagerly awaits the return of its creator, feed to me the weak shadow. It's agony, it's despair, it's loss, will be quite delicious. Do this, and I will fully empower you by joining your Pact in full, the same one you've given to the others. And, as incentive, I will briefly reveal to you the parts of myself that I've hidden from the Nara Clan. That few have ever seen with their eyes and lived."
The shadows darkened as the Wendigo's bones cracked, the skin turning purple and the world screamed in protest as a Concept of Reality tore its way fully into reality, it's presence forcing the universe to stand still. For even Time has an end.
The white long hair, and the wide grin held firmly the dagger in its mouth until a hand reached to remove the dagger from its mouth as it spoke. As she spoke.
"Be honored to gaze upon me, and hear my voice, Shikamaru Nara. Gojo Satoru. The Fallen One. The Honored One. He Who Is Broken Yet Whole. I am the Shinigami, the Goddess of Death, and the Patron of the Uzumaki Clan, as well as the Patron of the Nara Clan. You, and you alone, may call me Wendy. Oh, and no need to cut open my stomach to release the soul and a half I swallowed sixteen years ago. They will come to you, and you alone, when you call for them. As thanks for the entertainment."
"It's nice to meet you in person, Wendy." Don't look at her breasts, Nara, don't look at those legs, Nara. Don't look at those horns and imagine using them as handles, Nara.
"I'm amused that you are more concerned over my body that I specifically designed to entice you than you are that I am a Spectre of Death. As it is, I'm impressed your mind hasn't cracked like an egg. Truly astounding. I will be returning to my Wendigo form for now, as while you may be soul resistant and mentally immune, you are at risk of becoming a Wendigo in my presence for too long. You will not see me again until you've brought the weaker shadow to be devoured. Or if I'm in the mood for shogi. One or the other."
The world rapidly returned to color, and I was somewhat relieved that I still looked relatively human.
Well. Huh. New plan: fuck over Zetsu at the end of all of that. I mean, I was planning on doing so anyway, but hey, more incentives!