The Nest
POOF
"Al you magnificent summoner! That was the best thing I've done all year!"
"Good." Bastard deserves much worse than that. "I wish I could have seen his face."
"You have no idea how mortified he was! Oh man that was pure gold! I'd sell a leg to do that again! What was in his letter?"
"Danzo wanted me to kill Sasuke and give his eyes to him."
"So you drew that? Oh man that is the best thing ever!"
"If you're up for it, can you run this letter to Tsunade?" I hold out another letter. "One less graphic this time."
"Sure thing! Oh man I still can't get over that!" Shirokumo wipes a fake tear out of his seventh eye. "I'll be right back."
"Wait se-"
POOF
"-nd me back first! Dammit now I'm stuck here!"
"Summoner?"
"Oh hey Murasakino." I turn to where her voice came from. "...And the rest of the weavers."
"Do you need any more clothes?" One of them eagerly asks.
"Uh... no?"
...
( The Hokage's Office )
POOF
"Tsunade!" Shirokumo happily calls out.
"Drinking buddy!" Tsunade's face lights up. She reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out two glasses that she fills with sake.
"Wonderful job on Al's upbringing! Simply magnificent! I'm so glad he's my summoner!"
"What did he do this time?" She takes a drink. "Heaven forbid he burned down a forest. I know it's only a matter of time, that kid is a pyromaniac. Have you seen some of the things he does with fire?"
"Oh no it's even better than that! Here, read first. I'll explain after, it'll make a lot more sense."
Lady with the Hat,
Danzo has the office under surveillance somehow. Fix it. I don't care how, but I don't need anymore surprise letters from Konoha's underworld ringleader telling me exactly who I am, where I am and what I'm doing! Fix it now or I'll come back to Konoha and fix it myself!
Spider
"I knew it. I knew Danzo was spying on me, I just couldn't prove it. Hear that bastard! I know you're listening in!" She shouts towards the ceiling. Tsunade finishes her glass and pours another. "Round 2?"
"Hell yeah!" She tops off Shirokumo's glass too. "You're not going to believe this: The idiot wanted him to kill Sasuke."
"I bet that went over well." Sarcasm is dripping off her voice.
"You have no idea! His reply was the best thing ever!"
"What did he do?"
...
Outside of the Hokage's Office
"Okay, this should be the last of the paperwork for today." Shizune mutters to herself. "I just need to keep her away from the sake for another few hours, that should be easy!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tsunade's boisterous laugh echos down the hallway.
"Great." Shizune groans. "She's finally lost it. Well, I suppose this stack can wait until tomorrow."
...
"He actually did that?" Tsunade asks between laughs.
"Yes! It was priceless!" Shirokumo happily swigs down his drink. "Best letter I've ever ran!"
"Squirt, you're one hell of a person." She sighs contentedly. "Thanks for the update Shirokumo, but I should probably get this taken care of. Who knows what else he's found out."
"Of course. See ya next time!"
POOF
"Too bad I can't charge him with spying on me. Then I'd have to reveal how I knew he was and that would blow Alvarcus's cover. You never make things easy for me Squirt."
...
The Nest
POOF
"Sup Al?"
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I scream the moment I see Shirokumo again.
"But we've only made ten new outfits for you!" Murasakino says as she hold up a piece of purple fabric next to me. "Shame, purple is such a lovely color but it just isn't for you."
"Shirokumo! Now please!"
"Haha! Talk about an exciting day. Sure, I'll send you home now." He raises his front two legs and brings them together. "Actually..."
"Don't you dare." I threaten him.
"Why don't you pack up his new clothes first?" He cheekily grins at me. "Wouldn't want all that hard work to go to waste."
"Wonderful idea! Ladies, lets get to it!" Murasakino and the rest of the weavers scamper around and are folding and placing my clothes into a large sack.
"You suck. I just want to go back! Is that asking too much!"
"All done!" Murasakino happily says. "Here you go Alvarcus."
"Oof! Why is this so heavy?" Exactly how much did they make for me?
"Alright, bye Al." Shirokumo brings his legs together.
"Wait I don't have a good -"
POOF
...
At the Hotel
POOF
" - grip! Ah crap!" I keel over under the weight of my sack of clothes. "Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall crap I'm falling."
THUD
Clothes spill everywhere. Dammit Shirokumo you really suck. How could you do this to me?
"Smooth. You coast straight through the Exams but here you are, defeated by a sack of clothing." Sasuke is making fun of me. Jerk.
"Are those from the Spiders?" Tayuya asks. Uh oh.
"Uh... yes?" I squeak out.
"Gimmie!" With a mad gleam in here eyes she lunges at the half filled sack.
"All yours!" I sidestep the airborne Tayuya.
"... Is this normal for her?" Sasuke asks in mild amusement.
"Yes. Yes it is." I groan out.
"I made a ridiculous amount of money and I get all these clothes too! Best! Day! EVER!"
...
The Next Morning, Outside of our Hotel
Tayuya jumps onto my back. "Onward trusty steed! To Otogakure!" She's heavier than I remember.
"Tayuya, either I can carry you or I can carry the clothes. Pick one, I'm not doing both." I lay down the law.
"Red carry the clothes." She orders.
"No. Do it yourself." Sasuke is having none of this.
"I'm your superior!"
"Don't care, they aren't my clothes."
"Fine. We'll stop and buy a storage scroll. I'm not leaving these clothes behind."
"Where are we going to find a shop that will sell us a storage scroll?" I ask.
Sasuke and Tayuya both stare at me.
"Oh. Right. Spymaster in the making here. Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF
"Sup Green?"
"Hey Shirokumo. Can you tell us where we can buy a storage scroll? We have no idea."
"... This is for the clothes isn't it?"
"Yes. I'm still mad about that."
"Right this way!" He scampers off down the street.
We make quite an interesting scene. There's Sasuke, an elegant pretty boy wearing a vibrant crimson mask. Then me, a mysterious person with literally every part of my body hidden by clothing. Then Tayuya, a cackling crazy lady hauling a sack of something. And to top it all off, we're following a pure white spider the size of a puppy. This has to be one of the strangest things ever.
"Here we are. This place should have a scroll or two." Shirokumo poofs back to the Nest.
"Well then, let's get it and leave. I want to go back to Sound." I enter the store with Sasuke and Tayuya right behind me. "Have fun finding that storage scroll Tayuya, I'm going to explore."
We're in a weapons store, there's kunai, swords, shuriken, and pretty much every kind of weapon imaginable. Some of these are pretty cool, but none of them are really my style. I suppose the kunai are okay, but I already have my own and I can get them for free back in Sound. Perks of being Orochimaru's student.
"Green! I got it! Let's go!" Tayuya's voice echos throughout the store.
I make my way to the exit. "About time. Can we go back now?"
"Yes, let's go!"
...
On the Way Back to Sound
"Still can't believe I'm carrying you." I mutter more to myself than Tayuya.
"You know you like it." She leans in to whisper in my ear. "I know exactly where your hands are. Give it a squeeze if you want, I don't mind." She wiggles her very nicely toned posterior suggestively.
Well... she did give me permission. I might as well indulge a little.
~Host, something is wrong.~
"Hold that thought Tayuya. Jiongu, what's wrong?"
"Oh gross, it talks?" Tayuya says to herself.
~I'm sensing something, a large amount of various affinities but they're all in one spot. They're too close to be shinobi, it's something else.~
"How many?"
~Over one hundred.~
What the hell could that be? "How fast and what direction is it moving?"
~Quickly, even by shinobi standards. It's heading right for us.~
"Sasuke! High gear now!" We both take off at our maximum speed.
"Alvarcus what's wrong?" He asks.
"I don't know. The Jiongu picked up on over a hundred various affinities following us at high speeds. They're too condensed to be individuals, it's like they're stacked on top of each other. I don't know what is following us but it can't be good."
~It's gaining on us!~
"Sasuke can you go any faster?"
"Not if you want me to keep this speed all the way to Sound." His breath is labored already. Shit. We're barely a quarter of the way there.
"Top speed as long as you can. It's our only chance. I'll carry you too if I have to." We up our speed again.
~Our speeds are matched. It isn't gaining but we're not getting any further away.~
"Okay." I can work with that. "At this speed we're matched, all we have to do is slow it down and we should be able to get away."
"How do you plan to do that?" Tayuya asks.
"Honestly I have no idea. I could leave behind a monster to attack it, but that's not something I really want to do. I'm open to suggestions."
"Spider clones." Sasuke quickly says between heavy breaths. I don't know how much longer he can keep this pace.
"Good idea. Summoning Jutsu: Spider Clones!" Ten clones pop into existence and instantly sprint towards the anomaly. "That's a start. We'll see how long they delay it for. Really wish I knew how to make a shadow clone. Then I could at least know what happened."
...
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