Chapter 266 264

"And you never even knew about me." Shirokumo drops from the ceiling on a single near invisible strand of spider silk and quickly sinks his fangs into Shikamaru's neck. Within the next instant he's back on the ceiling.

Shikamaru's body crumples to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Both Ino and Naruto rush over to their fallen friend.

...

"Oh don't freak out, he's just unconscious. He'll be up in ten minutes, fifteen max. Poisons were never my strong point." Shirokumo scuttles across the ceiling to stand directly above me. "My Summoner may choose to not fight back but that does not mean I won't."

"You're still here?" I ask him. "I thought for sure you'd go back once the shouting started."

"And miss this?" Shirokumo gestures one leg at everyone on the ground. "I wanted to see your friends interact with you then shit went down. Well done by the way, she's hot. For a human."

"Not helping." I warn him.

"What? I'm a guy. You're a guy. Can't we compliment each other on the hotness of females we land?"

"We can but this is not anywhere close to the right time or place for that and I didn't 'land' her, we kissed each other then I broke her heart. Now shut up or I'm sending you back."

"Shutting up. You got it." Shirokumo mimics zipping his mouth shut and throwing away a key. It's really weird to see someone do that who doesn't have any fingers.

"Sorry about that." I apologize to the three Konoha shinobi in the room. "Shirokumo is rather protective of me. Selectively protective, considering he let Naruto wail on my face."

"You let that happen too." Shirokumo chimes in and I send him a scathing glare. "Right. Shutting up."

"Alvarcus why?" Naruto asks in resignation. He's finally accepted that I'm going back to Oto after seeing Shikamaru fall. "Why won't you just come back?"

"Because it is necessary." I calmly tell him. "I am needed in Otogakure and not just by Sasuke. Did you never wonder why Orochimaru hasn't taken any other large actions since after the Invasion?"

"He hasn't?" Naruto scrunches his face up in confusion.

"No." Ino softly says. "He hasn't. Orochimaru must have long since recovered from the Invasion, or at least as much as he is going to but he hasn't taken a single major action against anyone. Unless he was behind the base that was destroyed on the way here."

Oh fuck they know about that? Thank Kami that Shikamaru is unconscious he might piece together that it was me who did that. I really don't want them to know about that even if it was done before my little redemption episode thingy. No idea what to call that.

"That's right, Orochimaru hasn't had the time to do something major." I calmly continue as if Ino didn't bring up one of my more horrendously impressive feats of carnage. "It's because he's been focusing on me. I've kept the Snake Sannin busy, he's devoting the majority of his time to training and improving me. It's borderline obsessive. No, it's definitely obsessive."

"You're keeping him in check?" Naruto asks in surprise.

"Sort of. I can only do so much the way it is. You've wondered how I got so strong, there's your answer. When I finish with what Orochimaru is teaching me I immediately ask for more."

"He does more than that." Ino softly says again. "He is always doing what he can to protect us, protect Konoha in his own way. He never gave up on us, he never abandoned us. Abandoned me."

"GAH!" Naruto throws his hands up. "FINE! I will compromise with you. Next time we meet I will beat you into the ground so hard that the Underworld shakes. Then you will come back with me. But you have to apologize to Ino and to Shikamaru! Now I'm taking this," Naruto slings Shikamaru over his shoulder, "back to our room. I'll calm him down once he's awake again then after you two are done Alvarcus you come find us and apologize."

Naruto walks out of the room, leaving Ino, Shirokumo and me by ourselves.

"Shirokumo you go too." I tell the white spider who is still perched above my head on the ceiling. "I trust you but she barely knows you exist."

"Aw do I have to? This shit is entertai-" I force him back since he didn't leave of his own will. He'll understand. If not I'll explain what happened to Arachne and she'll break out the peanut butter. Whatever the hell that means, I never found out and I don't want to find out.

"Ino look." I sit down on the floor across from her, she never got up when she got down next to Shikamaru. "I am sorr-"

"Shut up." She cuts me off then looks around nervously. "Just… can you wait here for a few minutes? I need to get some stuff from my room."

"Uh… sure?" It comes out as a question even though it should be a statement. "If it makes you feel better."

"Thank you." She rises up and quickly walks out of my room, leaving me and my thoughts alone.

"Oh fuck what if she gets Anko?" I groan out to the empty room as I stand once more. "I'm fucking outta here if she brings Anko back. Great. Now I can't get that thought out of my head. Please be a giant stuffed animal, I'd handle that way better."

A terror filled three minutes later Ino opens the door and comes back in. The good news is that she didn't bring Anko. However…

"Ino why did you bring a backpack and the massive scroll I gave you?" I hesitantly ask her. She better not be thinking what I think she is.

"Naruto and Shikamaru were only half right. Their idea of bringing you back to Konoha isn't the only solution that appeases everyone." She readjusts her backpack. "I'm going with you."

Aw fuck I was right. She wants to come to Oto and Orochimaru.

...

"I am going with you." Ino stares me straight in my eyes. She readjusts the strap to her bag into a more comfortable position and narrows her eyes at me, daring me to tell her what she doesn't want to hear.

"No." I fold my arms and level my own glare at her as I immediately dismiss that idea, regardless of her intense stare. "Ino you wouldn't survive over there. You'd be eaten alive and I mean literally. There are some fucked up things in Otogakure. Things that make me look tame in comparison. I have seen the creatures Orochimaru creates, they are not pleasant. They are twisted and vile creatures, they have had their humanity stripped from them and embraced it. Thrived because of it."

"I'll have you to protect me." She pleads her case as she takes an aggressive step towards me. "Orochimaru listens to you. You can make sure he lets us work on the same team. Plus I am a kunoichi, I may not even need your protection. I'm deadly on my own."

"Ino I can't order him around, he orders me around!" I am almost yelling at this ridiculous idea. "You're a Yamanaka, you have the Mind Techniques. He'd love to dissect you to figure out how they work. At the minimum he would try to enhance your capabilities and that is always painful. Not like getting cut with a kunai painful, like the pain that you experienced when you first visited my head. That kind of painful."

"I don't care." She waves off my warning.

"DAMMIT WOMAN I AM NOT WORTH IT!" I roar at her with every drop of fury I can muster. "Go back to your friends! Go back to your home! Go back to your family! Go back to Konoha! Go back where it's safer!"

"WHY WON'T YOU?" She roars right back at me. "They're your friends too! It's your home too! It's your family too!"

"My family is dead." I don't hang my head in shame, instead I let shadows dance on my face. Obscuring it just enough to become menacing. I need to make a point, that Orochimaru is inhuman. "Killed on the orders of Orochimaru himself, carried out by one of his best shinobi. I have vowed to myself to see them both brutally murdered by my own hand. I'm not there for just Sasuke. I'm not there for just spying on Orochimaru and protecting Konoha. I'm there to get revenge. You want no part of that."

"That is not for you to decide!" Ino stomps her foot in anger. "I am going with you and that is final! It doesn't matter where you go, Oto or Konoha, I am going too!"

"No. I will not allow it to happen. I will not willingly take someone I care about back to that hellhole."

"You do not get a choice." She tightens her grip on the backpack. "I am going with you even if I have to follow you."

"I don't get tired. All I have to do is sprint at my top speed then you'll be far behind me with no hope of discovering my trail. You have no idea where you're going. It will be child's play to lose you." I turn away from her and start walking towards my bed. "Or I could just stay here until you have to leave then the Konoha shinobi would take you back with them. I don't have to leave tomorrow, I still have plenty of time until Orochimaru expects me back."

"I'll just have to find out where I am going on my own then." I hear her whisper to herself.

"Ino no!" It's too late. She's already on the last hand sign, one I've come to dread.

"Mind Body Transfer Jutsu!" She casts out her own mind and it slams into mine.

"You stupid girl!" Those are my last words as we're pulled into my mindscape.

...

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