Naruto : Venom

”Nah.” I want to be alone. That’s the whole point of this. ”I got this, they’d just be in the way. I’ll have to really cut loose to bring down an outpost. It’s going to get intense. Plus I am my own team, don’t forget about my minions of terror! They’re freaking scary!”

...

”I suppose you are correct. I am not sending Sasuke on this mission with you so don’t ask for him.” Orochimaru’s tone brokers no arguments.

”Fine by me.” I shrug in indifference. I’m trying to escape from everything, that includes Sasuke.

”Hm.” Orochimaru shoots me quizzical look. Oops. He might have caught on that something is up, I rarely do anything without Sasuke.

”Is it cool if I leave tonight?” I steer the conversation into a new direction. ”I’ve got one hell of a run ahead of me. Plus I’ve got to find a boat to take me over to there, that’s going to be interesting. Maybe I could water walk over the ocean? Not like I have stamina issues, I bet I could.”

”Take the boat.” Orochimaru demands. ”There is a reason that shinobi don’t run on the oceans, it’s because the movement of large waves is extremely difficult to adjust for when water walking. The rougher a surface of water is the harder it is to stand on it.”

”Huh. Didn’t know that was a thing.” I’ll file that away under things to keep in mind. Maybe I can make a jutsu to disturb the surface tension of water to knock shinobi off of it? ”So I’m going to go pack then head out. The sooner this is done the sooner I can work on the sword again.”

”Alvarcus.” Orochimaru calls out to me and I halt halfway out of the door. ”I expect you back in two weeks or less.”

”Two weeks?” This is great. I get two weeks to myself. I won’t have to worry about anything. Just me and a mission. And potentially assassinating a leader of a nation. Wow I’m really fucked up, that’s just now sinking in. Whatever I’ll figure something out. I’ve never even heard of this Doto guy before, he can’t be that big of a threat. ”That’s plenty of time.”

...

Alvarcus’s Room

”What all should I even bring with me?” I look over my personal equipment. It’s enough to arm a small army.

”Twenty kunai should be plenty.” I reason to myself as tuck them all into hidden spots on my person. ”There’s nothing limiting me on this mission, I can use my chakra strings to bring them back as many times as I need to. Well, I can throw a case into a scroll just in case. Better to be over prepared than under.”

”Do I even need senbon?” I hold up a bundle of bound needles. Then I toss them into the not bringing pile. ”Yeah, no. Senbon aren’t my style at all. Plus I’m not good with them, they’re more of a stealth tool.”

”Tanto? Nope.” The longer blade quickly joins the do not bring pile. ”That’s so out of my comfort zone it’s not funny. Now then, that should do it for weapons. Oh wait!”

I grab a box. Inside this box is a basic all purpose sealing kit. It has tags, ink, brushes, even a few scrolls too. It’s everything I’d need in case I have to make a seal for some absurd reason. ”Can’t forget this.”

”Now that should cover it all.” I look over everything I’m bringing one last time. ”Good to go.”

”Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Sasuke is standing in my doorway. He’s blocking me from leaving. And he sounds pissed.

”Uh... on a mission of sorts?” I weakly supply as I wave at the handful of scrolls I’ve sealed everything into.

I’ve really got to say knowing how to make storage seals is very economical for traveling. I don’t need a backpack anymore, just enough pockets on my person to tuck away the scrolls. It’s great and I can bring way more stuff if I want to.

”Not good enough.” He aggressively says back.

That’s right I’m getting yelled at. I got distracted marveling at the convenience of fuinjutsu.

”I’m getting a piece I’ll need for the sword.” I elaborate. ”It’s in the Land of Snow. What’s up with the hostility?”

”That’s not the real reason you’re doing this.” Sasuke boldly guesses. He’s right.

”Oh? What makes you say that?” I quirk an eyebrow at him. ”Right I will not be doing that again, it’s not my thing at all. It feels so weird. Gah! How do so many people do that?”

Please get distracted. I don’t want to say the truth.

”Because you don’t feel right.” Another voice joins our conversation. A softer, more worried voice. It’s Karin. ”You shouldn’t feel like this if you were doing what you said.”

”You’re becoming a pain in my ass.” I sigh in defeat. Why can’t she just leave me alone? ”Why is it that whenever something is wrong with me everyone goes and gets Sasuke? Seriously? It’s always him. And what do I feel like to make you say that?”

”He’s the only one you’ll listen to.” Karin steps from around the corner to look over Sasuke’s shoulder at me. ”You feel like you’re going to exile yourself. You’re running away.”

”Tell me that she’s wrong.” Sasuke demands. There’s a hint of fear underneath his anger, it’s a fear that she’s right. That I’m running away. That I’m abandoning him. ”You’d never run away. Not like this. You wouldn’t leave without saying anything.”

”Karin you’re half right.” I give in. I can’t lie to them, Sasuke knows me too well and Karin can sense my emotions. She’d know if I’m lying from that. ”I am running away but I’m not running away forever.”

”What the hell does that mean?” Sasuke shouts at me in anger. ”You’re running away!”

”I’m running away from my problems for two weeks.” I blurt out and my admission stuns the other two. ”Look, I’m stressed. I’m beyond stressed. There’s so much shit that’s happened recently and frankly this is the worst environment to be in to handle it. Sasuke, Karin, I’m lashing out at people.

Living, breathing people who have their entire lives in front of them. Then they say the wrong thing or get in my way and I... I hurt them. If they’re lucky. Just yesterday I brutally killed two people because they trashed my lab. I don’t even care why they did it. I never asked them. I never thought about what caused them to do it.

Was it because of the War Games? Perhaps I scorned them without realizing it? Maybe they’re mad that Orochimaru treats me specially? Or is it loathing because they can’t measure up to my skill level? Are they insulted that someone younger than them is so much stronger? I don’t know. It didn’t matter. I still don’t care what their reason was. They wronged me so I killed them. Simple as that.”

”Don’t you both see how bad that is? I just don’t care. About people. About anything. So I need to get away from it all. I have to get a break because if I don’t then the body count is only going to grow. I’m not doing this just for me but for everyone.”

”You don’t have to go.” Sasuke cuts in. ”I can keep you in line.”

”Yeah?” I snort out in dark amusement. ”Then where the hell were you yesterday? I’ll tell you: you weren’t there. I just need to get away for a bit. To calm down, to collect myself. To get away from everything that’s going on. I want to be alone where I don’t have to worry about anything. I won’t have to worry about hurting anyone. I won’t have to worry about what I say. I won’t have to wear a mask. I can just leave it all behind me and go.”

”Can’t I go with you?” Sasuke asks. ”It’ll be like old times.”

”Orochimaru already said no.” I bluntly tell him and right now I’m thankful Orochimaru said it. ”You’re staying.”

”Then I’ll go.” Karin steps up, literally and figuratively. ”Even if you want to be alone you shouldn’t.”

”No.” I quickly dismiss her suggestion. ”I will be going alone.”

”If not me then take Maiko!” Karin is grasping at straws. ”She’d love to go with you! You’d have no problems with her at all!”

”Except for the part where she wants to claim me – whatever the hell that means – by screw me senseless.” I cross my arms and dully look at Karin. ”You’re right, that’s not an issue at all. I would love to spend two weeks putting up with that.”

”Wait what?” Sasuke asks in confusion. ”The hell are you talking about?”

”I’ve gotten my first fan-girl.” I monotonously inform him. ”It’s the girl that was stalking me. She came onto me really hard and everything.”

”Sucks, doesn’t it?” Sasuke breaks out of his anger for a brief instant so we can share a moment of dread.

”Yes.” I agree wholeheartedly. ”Anyways. This is so I can get away from everything and everyone. Extra emphasis on everyone.”

...

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

p atreon.com/CarriePoppins