Naruto : Venom

”Even if she already has her form of Kaiten I’ll just keep blasting away. I have more chakra than her, might as well abuse it. Or I could just catch a open palm hit and sock her in the temple. That depends on the Gentle Fist working. Enough on her, I should be fine against her.”

...

I put her dossier back with the others. I reach for Kiba’s next.

”Ah, what’s the point?” I chuckle to myself. ”I beat him once, I can do it again. I’ll just make spider clones and when he pops them the spiders will all cover him in webs. If he can’t rotate he can’t use his strongest attacks. That should be simple enough there. If not, I’ll use the earth pillar and webs idea I came up with for Lee. That should work on Kiba.”

THUD THUD

”OI! Alvarcus you in there?” Jirobo calls through my door.

”What is it with you people today?” I mutter quietly to myself. ”Yes! What do you want?”

”I’ve got something for ya! Open up!”

”Ugh fine!” I walk over to my door and yank it open. ”I’m busy so make it quick or- what’s with the giant sack?”

He grins evilly. ”I found a bunch of those giant purple rope belts you’re so fond of. Here, they’re all yours!” He tosses the huge bulging sack straight at my head.

”OOF!” I buckle under the weight. ”Holy crap how many are in here?”

There’s no response because Jirobo is currently running down the hall while cackling like a mad man.

”You asshole I don’t even like these belts!” I shout after him. ”Why the fuck is everyone giving me things today?” I shove the sack back into the hallway. Someone will come by and pick them up, there’s no way in hell I’m going to be using those monstrosities!

”I’m just trying to get a plan together!” I forcefully shut my door with a satisfying thud. ”I swear if someone else brings me anything...”

I whirl around and stare at my recently shut door.

Nothing happens.

”Thank Kami, it isn’t the gods acting up. That was the perfect time for someone to barge right in.” I walk back to my workstation.

”Okay, who is next? Let’s go with Shino in the spirit of going through all the Konoha nin.” I take his dossier down. ”Okay, I know his bugs don’t like me. Obviously that’s because I’m the Spider summoner, I can use that to my benefit. Just summon a bunch of smaller spiders and have them charge at him. Nah, that’s a bad idea. Fire would be amazing against his swarm, but I can’t keep adding in every damn element just because I feel like it.”

I really need to stop relying on being able to use all the elements, even if I can use my full power. It’s very possible I’ll face opponents that are capable of taking a heart or two out, and if I lose the heart there goes the affinity too.

”I suppose I could use lightning for that, maybe make a kind of bug zapper? I could change a ridiculous amount of my chakra into lightning nature and see if it’ll zap things that get close to me naturally. That’s not a bad idea! I’ll have to try that out then come back.”

Two delicate knocks echo throughout my room.

”Who the fuck is it this time?” I growl to myself. ”Yes?” I force myself to respond politely.

”Can I come in?” Tayuya asks.

”Oh come on! This makes all of the Sound Four!” I whine quietly. ”Yeah, get in here.”

She walks in. ”Whoa. You’ve got a crap-ton of info on everyone don’t you?” She asks as she’s eyeing the wall full of dossiers about the finalist.

”That is the point of a spymaster.” I sassily retort. ”Kinda my new thing.”

”Nah, that’s Mister Spider’s thing, you just get to use it.” She tears her eyes off the wall and looks at me. ”Anyways I came here to give you something.”

She reaches into her hip pouch and pulls out a suspiciously orange book and hold it out to me. I take it and read the title, ”Icha Icha Slave?”

”Yeah, back in Kusa you said you liked the Icha Icha series. I took this one off a dead guy a while back, figured you’d like to have it. Plus I’ve never seen you read this one.”

”You’re right about that. Domination and submission isn’t my thing, but I’ll still give it a read. Thanks Tayuya.”

She smiles flirtatiously, ”It may not be your thing, but who says it isn’t my thing?” Then she saunters out of my room with a scandalous sway in her hips and sends me a sultry wink over her shoulder.

After I pick my jaw up off the floor, I come back to my senses. ”Alright. That was... weird. Definitely filing that under the ’do not touch unless strictly necessary’ memory bank.”

I place the book on top of the other things people gave me today and turn back to my wall of dossiers.

”How the hell am supposed to focus after that?” I vigorously shake my head in a failed attempt to get the image of her walking away out of it. ”Alright, focus! You stopped with Kiba and he was the last of the Konoha nin.”

I look over the rest of the names and snag the final familiar one. ”Hiro, the one who was obsessed with me. From what Shirokumo and I gathered, he has both wind and earth jutsu. That’s really a strange combo, I’ll need to be extra wary since I’ve never fought someone with both of those affinities before, he might know some interesting combo attacks. Also notable, he mentioned that he hasn’t had a good fight in a while. Either no one from Taki wants to fight him because of his bloodthirst -which I could totally see- or he’s not challenged by his peers anymore. Either way doesn’t matter, I’ll need to be on my toes around him.”

”Hmm... what’s some counters to him? All I really saw was his taijutsu and mine is better. Then he had no issue with making the earth prison, so it would be safe to say he’s more familiar with earth than wind jutsu. Perhaps not, he didn’t think of boxing someone in and had to call me for help. That’s a sign of someone who is still working with something new, they don’t know their limitations yet.”

I stare intently at his dossier.

”This is getting me nowhere. I’m going to have to improvise that fight.” I put his dossier back. ”Hell I’m going to have to improvise the fight with the Kiri, Kusa shinobi, and Kusa kunoichi. We’ve got next to zero information on them.”

I start rubbing my temples. ”This is ridiculous. I bet all of my carefully laid plan crumble in the first five minutes.” I slam my left hand down onto my desk. ”What’s the damn point!?”

”So you don’t go in blind.” Sasuke says from my doorway. ”Even a little bit of information is better than no information. Take that Hiro guy for example, if I didn’t hear you talk out loud about him I’d have no idea he had both wind and earth jutsu.”

”Hey Sasuke.” I tiredly say to him. ”What brings you around?”

”I’ve got something for you.” He withdraws a square piece of paper.

”You too?” I say in exasperation. I swear there’s a plot against me.

He looks baffled for a moment. ”Of course. Anyways, I brought it from Konoha.” He hands it to me. ”It probably means more to you than me.”

It’s a photo, not just any photo. It’s Team Seven’s photo, all four of us are there. Sasuke is on the right looking like he’s rather be literally anywhere else. I’m on the left with a goofy grin on my face and still yellow eyes. Sakura is between us and is smiling like she’s done this hundreds of times. Kakashi is standing behind us and is leaning down to ruffle Sasuke’s and my hair.

It’s a memoir of better times, back when we were all together. Back before the Jiongu. Back before the Land of Waves. Back before everything went wrong.

”Sasuke, I can’t take this.”

”You can and you will.” He steadily tells me. ”Besides, I have another. I don’t need two.”

”I can’t... I... but...” I take a deep breath to collect myself. ”Thank you Sasuke.” I tenderly run a finger over Sakura. I never thought I would see her again. ”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome. Take care of it, it’s the only one you’re getting.” He turns to leave.

”I will. Thank you again.”

”Don’t get all sappy on me. I gave you your present now I’m leaving.”

”Hold up. Present?”

”Well duh. It’s your-”

DING ”Alvarcus, come to my office please.” Orochimaru’s voice echoes throughout the complex.

I rise to my feet. ”Better not keep him waiting. See ya around Sasuke.”

...

Orochimaru’s Office

I quietly knock on the door. ”You called for me, Orochimaru-sama?”

”Yes, yes. Come in and sit down.” Orochimaru distractedly says.

I walk in and take my usual seat. In a formal tone I ask, ”Did you need me for something?”

”Well, no. Not exactly.” He shifts uncomfortably. ”I’ve never really done something like this before. Never had a reason to really. And for some reason you’ve been... off ever since you came back from Kusa. It’s never been the right time, but now I’m out of it.” He reaches into his robes and pulls out a scroll. It’s the one he put away in the training field. ”Here.”

I cautiously take it from him. ”And this is...”

”A scroll detailing the dragon jutsu of each element.” He quickly explains. ”You already have overpowering jutsu, but sometimes you need more of a shock value. Having elemental dragons flying around the battlefield will certainly accomplish that.”

I look up from the scroll to see uncertainty on his face again. I’ve never seen Orochimaru so off before. Nothing phases this creature, he’s spent countless hours literally playing with the human anatomy just to see what happens. This creature perverted his soul so badly he himself is incapable of using natural chakra. This creature would gladly slaughter hundreds of people to achieve one of his lesser goals. Yet right now he’s unsure of himself. In this moment he’s surprisingly... human.

”Do you like it?” He asks.

”Yeah. It’s definitely going to get it’s use, that’s for damn sure.” I pocket the scroll.

”Good!” A true smile worms its way onto his face as his uncertainty leaves him. ”Happy birthday Alvarcus.”

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :

p atreon.com/CarriePoppins