Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

Present

"Alvarcus what did she do?" Is that eagerness I hear in Orochimaru's voice? I think it is. "What could she have possibly done to set her own shinobi on edge so much?"

"The Sound Three freaking out didn't phase you?" I ask in mild confusion.

"That's not even a question." Orochimaru dismissively waves off my query. "You've repeatedly terrorized them. Not to mention that they have sit in on our training sessions a few times, they know just how zealous you can get. Plus they know how you took down that base by yourself, a feat that all three of them might not be able to do. So no, I am not surprised that the Sound Three reacted that way."

"Oh." Damn, people are getting used to my crazy. That's unfortunate, I rather enjoy freaking people out. "Well… The Kumo shinobi were correct to be scared of what Yugito did next. She escalated things to a whole new level."

"She's already swathed in a bijuu cloak. What could she possibly do to… No." Orochimaru figured it out. He pieced together what Yugito did next. He actually looks fearful, he's scared of what she has done to me. "She didn't."

"She did." I calmly reaffirm his guess.

"Consider yourself lucky." Yugito says to me as her chakra spikes to new heights. "Very few people have pushed me this far and lived to talk about it. Lucky for you I don't want you dead. This time."

"Oh boy that doesn't sound good." I should stop her. I should dart forward and attack as she's amassing chakra. I should do something. Anything. But I don't. I patiently stand there and let her finish her task. "This is a very rare opportunity, thank you for allowing me to fight a version two jinchuuriki. I can't wait to see how I measure up against you."

"You're -" Yugito doesn't finish her sentence. She can't because she's roaring in pain as a solid dark red chakra boils across her entire body. The force of the sudden manifestation of such a large amount of chakra causes the ground beneath her feet to crater and everything - and everyone - near her are forcibly shoved away. After the dark red chakra finishes overtaking her form she drops down to all fours as a single tail waves in the wind behind her. She opens her mouth and steam rolls out of it along with "- welcome."

Because of her explosive transformation my body is shoved through a tree and crashed into a boulder so hard it shattered to tiny rocks. I kept going, bouncing off the ground three times before coming to a halt thanks to a particularly thick tree trunk. Not only was I thrown a good thirty meters I'm steaming. Her mere presence was enough to cause heat that intense.

"Alright." I slowly break my way out of my impression in the trunk. "I've felt some pretty painful stuff, so you know this means a lot coming from me. That hurt."

"Then this is going to be agony." Yugito closed the distance between us quicker than the blink of an eye. Her speed is off the charts, I have no hope of matching it. I can only pray that she can't hit that much harder. I'm going to find out right now, she has laced her fingers together and raised her arms far above her head. She brings them down without fanfare and slams them directly on my skull.

The ground gets its biggest crater yet with me at the epicenter. It's a good ten meters in radius and five meters deep. I'm laying sprawled on the ground face up waiting for my brain to restart as rubble and a tiny trickle of water fall down my hole and rest against me. "Did anyone get the name of the fucking mountain that just hit me?"

"You're still conscious?" The version two jinchuuriki taunts me from outside the new indentation in the earth. She's slowly circling the perimeter on all fours while never taking her eyes off me for a moment. "I'm just impressed that you're alive."

"Fuck me that hurt." I roll over and manage to push myself up to my feet to get a look at the woman who put me here. It took a surprising amount of effort. But not enough for me to not taunt her with a cocky smirk plastered on my face. "I rank that at number eight for the most painful experiences of my life. Congrats, you made the top ten. You would rank higher but when you're as desensitized to pain as much as I have become you have to broaden your horizons to include emotional pain too otherwise there isn't a list at all."

"You can move too, only two other people have taken an attack from me like that and could stand afterwards. You're full of surprises." She says as she continues to pace around the hole.

"Jinchuuriki." All the playfulness and cockiness has left my voice. I'm focused, I'm serious, and I will give just as good as I got. "You have displayed the power of Kumo, you are truly a force unlike any other. Few shinobi in this world can stand on equal ground with you, and even fewer stand above you. Shall we find out where I fall in those categories? Am I beneath you? An equal? Or better?"

"You are so very far beneath me." Yugito scoffs out as she stops pacing around the indentation she used my body to make. "Just look at yourself, then look at me. You simply can't measure up against me, the gap is too wide."

"Sound Flunkies." With the ease of a person idly going through a stroll in a park I detach my hip pouch and toss it towards the general direction of the Sound Three. "Hold onto that for me. There are things in there I'd rather didn't get destroyed."

Jirobo easily catches it and there's a faint sound of crinkling paper. He's quick to open it and peer inside. "What's in here that's so important?"

Sakon and Kidomaru are quick to look inside too.

"Alvarcus you idi-"

"SAKON!" I roar despite not being able to see him. "Hold your tongue."

"Yes, Alvarcus-sama." Sakon is easily cowed by my words despite knowing what I voluntarily gave away. "As you wish."

"Thank you." I refocus my attention back onto Yugito who has patiently waited for me to finish the side conversation. "Now then, where were we?"

"I am putting you in your place." Yugito becomes a red streak. She blurs down one side of the crater and then up the other in an instant. On her way past me her claws ripped into my shoulder, completely severing my arm. The limb doesn't let gravity take hold before it is stitched back onto me by black threads. "And getting slightly pissed off."

"You and me both." I snarl out as the sound of fabric tearing echoes throughout the crater. Out of my back sprout three thick black tendrils and each one is capped by a unique white mask. Two hover just next to my shoulders while the third is hanging menacingly over my head. I didn't bother with removing my shirt and coat, I had Sureddo go through it.

"No." Yugito streaks down the crater once more with her claws at the ready. Her speed is so great that all I can do is take her attack. She lands eight crippling blows to me in less time than it takes to blink. All three of the black tendrils have been severed between my mask and back. Both of my arms have been sliced off my shoulders. Each leg has been separated from my torso. My head is lifted into the air from the force of her claws slicing open my neck. "I am not letting you play any longer. Surrender."

Each wound comes to life with uncountable black threads. They shoot out of each severed piece and spring out of my torso to latch onto each other. With a gut wrenching squelch I'm pulled back into one piece again. Within the next instant each part is stitched back together, crudely fixing all the damage she just dealt.

"I have not been beaten yet jinchuuriki!" I shout to her as an inconceivable amount of chakra surges through me. Before the mask hovering near my left shoulder is a hyper condensed sphere of water, so dense that light can't penetrate through it. Before the mask hovering near my right shoulder is a crackling ball of pale blue lightning throwing off sounds of thunderbolts. Before the mask above me is a spinning vortex of wind so wild it's causing fluctuations in the air around it. Before me is a ball of fire burning so intensely it's white.

"Everyone behind me!" Sakon screams in fear and all five of the other spectators, Kumo and Oto alike, listen to him. "Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!"

A daunting hell gate rises from the ground. It has a red spikey border with a dark purple demon's face on the doors. It stands bravely between the shinobi and me.

"Brace yourself jinchuuriki! You face my full might!" I shout upwards to Yugito as I bring each sphere together. They eagerly accept the other elements and form one orb full of nature's wrath. With a crazy gleam in my eyes I roar out the name of my strongest attack. "ELEMENTAL MONSTROSITY!"

The fury of the elements rips out of my hands in a devastating laser aimed straight at Yugito. Each of the four elements included in the attack are feeding off of each other, pushing the already incredibly destructive jutsu to new heights. Every possible form of matter it comes in contact with is simply gone, I don't know of a word to describe what happened to it. Annihilation is too weak of a descriptor.

But stubborn - and possibly insane - Yugito doesn't move out of the way. She's standing right in its path as she braces to take the hit.

"MY!"

She is forced backwards as my attack finally slams into her. Despite her strong stance she continues to be pushed back, causing twin furrows to be torn into the ground by her feet.

"Name!"

Her resolve doubles as she digs her feet even deeper into the ground. Her twin tails spear into the earth to try and help stop her from being pushed back. Yet even that doesn't stop her from being forced back, it only slowed her down.

"Is!"

Her own chakra spikes, dwarfing the amount I poured into my furious all out attack.

"YUGITO!"

A vibrant swirling blue and black flame comes to life around her. It quickly expands to titanic proportions, dwarfing the tallest trees around us, and starts to take on a recognizable shape. A four legged beast made of blue fire, one with two tails that always dart around, and a pair of mismatched yellow and blue eyes. The nekomata that stands at the apex of its species, the second of the nine tailed beasts. One of the primordial forces on this planet that can cause disaster just by existing. One of the few entities that humanity as a whole is terrified of. The two tails, the Nibi.

"Matatabi." I breathily say in awe of the second fully formed bijuu I've laid eyes on.

She roars. No, that doesn't do it justice. The sound that comes out of Matatabi's mouth is so loud, so intense, that it cracks open the ground under the intense sound waves and it shakes as if there's an earthquake.

It obliterates my jutsu by its sheer scale of volume. My strongest attack, my final trump card, my last resort where I pour in everything I have left broke like glass being dropped onto concrete.

"Every bit as impressive as I imagined." I chuckle to myself as I fall over backwards to the ground. "That's it. I'm spent, I've got nothing left for at least the next five minutes. That's ample time for you to do whatever you want to me. Congratulations Yugito, you beat me. I surrender."

"It's… over?" Yugito asks with Matatabi's mouth. She's hesitant still, waiting for me to have another sneaky counter attack to her.

I'm fresh out.

"Yep." I actually let out a pleasant laugh this time despite the building sized cat standing over me. "You'd think I would know better than to try and overpower a jinchuuriki. Guess I couldn't resist testing myself. Gotta say, the kitten has claws. I would know, they cut me to shreds a few times."

"I…" Matatabi's form fades away into wisps of blue flames, growing smaller and smaller until there's just Yugito left. Her skin is an angry red and she's gulping down huge lungfuls of air. I made her earn her victory, no one can deny that. "... can't believe you can crack a joke after all that."

"Why? That was a spar. I had fun." I say from my spot in the bottom of the crater that I never managed to get out of. Yugito hops over the lip of the crater and slides down it to reach me. With strength that her frame shouldn't be capable of she hauls me to my feet and throws an arm over her shoulder.

"Did you selectively forget some parts?" Yugito asks me as we stagger our way out of the crater. "Like… when I dismembered you? A lot? Kinda feel bad about that now."

"Don't. I'm used to it." I chuckle as we exit the crater. "Or did you forget the part where I cut my own head off? If I don't get dismembered at least twice during a training session that's an easy day. Honestly I'm more surprised you took advantage of that yourself, once you found out I could take it you had no issue dealing it out. Though I admit our spar got a little out of hand."

"A little!" Sakon shouts as he and the other five spectators storm their way over to us. "A little! You two knocked over my Rashomon! That's never happened before! We nearly died because of it!"

"Sakon." I say but he ignores me.

"And now you can't walk! Great! Just GREAT! We're not medics! How are we supposed to get you back to Orochimaru-sama now?"

"Sakon!" I say louder.

"Now I have to be responsible for your sorry ass because you thought it was a good idea to fight a fucking jinchuuriki! Orochimaru-sama is going to kill me over this for sure!"

"Will someone please hit him for me?" I ask everyone else. "I don't wanna move."

SMACK

"Thanks Kidomaru, you've always been my favorite." I nod at the fellow Spider Summoner.

"It's what I do." He nods back.

"Sakon." I calmly speak to him. "Will you please quit freaking the fuck out?"

Sakon takes a massive breath, holds it for a count of seven, the lets it all rush out.

"Good." I continue to calmly address him. "Don't speak, just listen. I'm sorry about the Rashomon almost crushing everyone, but Yugito here is half responsible as well. Don't blame just me. It's highly possible that the Kumo shinobi have a medic, do you really think the Raikage wouldn't send one along just incase? Also, I technically don't need medical attention so there's no need to worry about that. If I have to I'll wear a fuckton of bandages, not like I haven't done that before. Don't worry about Orochimaru's reaction, if he's mad at anyone it'll be me since I orchestrated this whole thing. Lastly, I can walk."

"You are the most infuriating person I have ever met." Sakon says as he turns around and walks away to give himself some time to cope. Poor guy.

"Wait a minute." Yugito shoots me a stern look. "What do you mean you can walk?"

"Hm?" I send a questioning look at her. "Oh, that. Yeah I could have walked out of that crater under my own power. Thanks for the help though. It was a nice show of sportsmanship. Shinobimanship? I like that, it's a word now."

"I… what?" Yugito balks at the new word I just decreed. "No! You're distracting me! If you can walk then why the hell are you still leaning on me?"

"You're hot. I'm a teenager." I bluntly speak to her as if I'm trying to explain something to someone who just isn't getting it. "You may have won the spar but I think I won the day."

THUD

"Totally worth it." I say as I rub my temple.

Ah shit I pulled a Jiraiya!

Present

"Alvarcus." Orochimaru is intently analyzing me, cataloging every minor twitch and movement. He's trying to gauge my reaction to what he is about to ask. "Why did you purposefully lose?"

"You did notice." I dramatically lean forwards in the bloodsoaked chair and place both my elbows on my knees. I have my fingers laced together and have given Orochimaru my full attention. "What gave it away?"

"You roused my suspicions early on." He calmly explains. "You prefer ninjutsu, you've always favored it. Every chance you get you use it, either to devastate your enemies or for meaningless tricks. But you only used taijutsu against her until you couldn't without hurting yourself, when she first used her flame cloak."

"That's hardly anything to go on." I point out. "I've used only taijutsu before, usually against people that are far beneath me."

"This is Yugito Nii we're talking about, not some minor peon." Orochimaru counters me. "That is not the only instance you avoided ninjutsu, you heavily relied on seals, new and untested techniques and your summons. Even when she donned the bijuu cloak you used your less refined skills. Alvarcus you didn't even make a single Jiongu monster."

"So?" I tilt my head in curiosity. "That was a spar, I didn't want to reveal too much about how I fight. Especially to someone who is on a mission to report on me. It's the biggest misdirection I've ever done, Yugito is sure to list everything in great detail to the Raikage. Then all of Kumo will get a brief description of skills that I don't consider my strongest. They won't expect me to rain ninjutsu upon them."

"That is simply an excuse for your actions, not the cause." Orochimaru is right, that was a happy byproduct not my true intention. "But not using the Jiongu wasn't the biggest clue. It was something minor, something easily glossed over. You threw away your hip pouch."

"I fail to see how that makes you think I threw the fight." I don't display any emotion, not giving him a single extra piece of information to work with.

"It's because I know you've learned how to craft bijuu chakra suppression seals." Orochimaru bluntly informs me. "You both acknowledged that you're better than her unless she uses her bijuu's chakra. But still you were even until she pushed herself further to version two. Do you really think I don't know you that well? The moment you learned you were going to meet with her you instantly came up with several ways to counter and defeat her. If you didn't have bijuu chakra suppression seals in your hip pouch I will summon Kabuto to this base and let you kill him in any way you see fit."

"... I didn't have those seals in my hip pouch?"

"Alvarcus."

"Okay fine!" I break out of the masked state I went in to shield my emotions from Orochimaru. "You're right, I could have slapped a seal on her at any moment and kicked her teeth in. There! Happy now!"

"No." Orochimaru narrows his eyes at me. "You have yet to tell me why. Why did you intentionally lose?"

"I could say some bullshit reason." I casually say to the Snake Sannin and he raises an eyebrow at my… unique choice of words. "I could say that it was because I didn't want her to know I can make them. I could say that I didn't want to broadcast even more of my skills, no doubt I'll have an updated Bingo Book page by next issue anyways. I could say that by letting her win it would secure a beneficial relationship between our respective villages. I could even say that I didn't want to besmirch her worth as a kunoichi by beating her. In the end none of those are the real reasons."

"You're also slightly wrong about your phrasing." I tell Orochimaru. "I didn't intentionally lose, I just knew that I would. I went into that fight with that mentality because as of late I've realized something about myself."

"What would that be?" He prods me to continue.

"I rely too much on the Jiongu." I supply him with the answer. "This was a test for me, to see how I would hold my own against someone like Yugito without heavily relying on Sureddo to overwhelm everyone. I've been using it as the first line of attack when really it should be the last weapon to leave my arsenal. That's only one of two reasons though."

"And what is the second?" He's trying to keep his face void of emotion. Keyword trying. There's a spec of something dancing in his eyes, not enough for anyone to recognize it, but for someone who knows him it's glaring. It's approval. He's glad that I've recognized my flaw and am attempting to correct it.

"I got what I wanted." I easily share.

"I don't follow." His brow furrows as he tries to figure out what I mean by that. "Explain."

"It's very simple, I wanted to see Matatabi. I couldn't push Yugito enough with my secondary skills so I had to resort to something extreme: my strongest attack. I've made a sorta life goal to speak with a bijuu, for now I'll settle with seeing another. That puts me at seeing two."

"Hm." Orochimaru ponders something for a few moments before discarding whatever plan he had. "Well it's not like you're pressed for time."

"Huh?" The hell does he mean by that? "Oh right, pseudo immortality. I can't die, I have to be killed. I get it now. Funny how you forget the little things."

"I would hardly call a version of immortality a 'little thing.'" Orochimaru lightly scolds me for casually talking about one of his own life goals. "Enough of that for now. I have a question for you."

"Ask away. Though if it's about something that happens in my story you'll have to wait. I don't want to spoil anything."

"You made that abundantly clear the last time." Orochimaru rolls his eyes at me. "What do you think of Yugito?"

"What do I think of Yugito?" I repeat the question as I mull it over in my head. "She's very prideful, to the point of being thick headed. She has issues recognizing others that she has already labeled beneath her. She's also a very blunt person and very hard to rile up. Yet on the other hand, once you prove yourself to her she shows a whole new side. She cares for those she considers friends and has earned her place near the top in Kumo's hierarchy. She…"

"Yes?" Orochimaru leans forwards in anticipation. "Go on."

"She grows on you." A truly happy smile spreads over my face. "Like a fungus."

Omake: The Kitchen Fiasco

"AHAHAHAHA!" A crazed voice echoes out from the kitchen into the packed cafeteria during the middle of the dinner rush. "YES! TAKE THAT! AND THAT! AND SOME OF THIS!"

"Hey Maiko." Seiji asks his teammate. "Correct me if I'm wrong but…"

"But what?" Maiko looks up from her meal.

"Isn't that Alvarcus' voice?" Seiji points towards the kitchen where the crazed cackles are coming from.

"I have no idea." Maiko shrugs with a coy smile on her face.

"YES YES YES! DIE! DIE YOU INFERNAL PASTRY! DIE! FUCKING MUFFINS!"