Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

Usually I'd make a chair out of earth but I'm not risking the jutsu going crazy. "I'm living with Orochimaru. My parent's murderer. Sakura's murderer. The one who imprinted himself onto me moments after I was convinced. The one who plans to steal my best friends body to satisfy some sick dream of his. He's responsible for Tayuya. He's the reason I'm so fucked up."

"So you see, my eight legged friend, I've been living with blistering rage for a very long time and I've had to look at the source of it all and fucking smile. You really think this petty emotion has any sway over me? I've decided to embrace my rage by getting even. I let it fester as I play the long game. It's like a fine wine, each moment that passes only makes it better. I'm content waiting until the bottle has aged appropriately before popping the cork. After all I'm a very, very patient man."

"I… wow." Shirokumo relaxes. Minutely relaxes, he's still on guard. Waiting for me to snap at the slightest provocation. "Consider me impressed."

"Me too." I cockily smirk as I intensely examine my left hand once more. Just how much strength - how much power - is lying dormant in my fingertips now? "So now that that's out of the way, the fuck Shirokumo!?"

He winces at my angry tone, obviously thinking that I don't have as good of a hold on my emotions as I said.

"Alright, let's just stay calm-"

"I am fucking calm!" I roar at him, it's accompanied by an accusing finger pointing right at the bastard. "The Ancient One? You're a Sage? And not just any Sage the GREAT SPIDER SAGE?! Doesn't that seem like something important to share with me!"

"I've given up that title a very long time ago." If he could Shirokumo's eyes would be narrowed at me right now. "But that hardly matters anymore, it seems that everyone still thinks I hold it. No matter how hard I try to make them realize I'm unworthy."

"Quit your fucking pity party!" I shout at him with just a little too much anger. "Titles are not something that you can just drop. They are not something you decide for yourself, they are something that others force you to live with. Do you think I like being called the Heart Thief? Do you think I enjoy being reminded that I steal other's lives to prolong my own? Not to mention it sounds kinda stupid, like I'm some womanizer or something!"

"It does sound kinda bad." He lets a strained smile worm its way onto his face. It looks terrifying, seriously spiders shouldn't smile. Ever. "But you know what's worse?"

"Let me guess." I groan out with a roll of my eyes. "Killing Kidomaru."

"Bingo!" He claps his front two legs together. "Seriously the hell were you thinking?"

"Oh, you know." With a shrug I continue. "Just wanted to rid the world of another cold blooded murderer that has already and would go onto commit atrocities worthy of the Devil himself. One who has killed countless men, women and children alike without mercy or a shred of remorse. One who is loyal to Orochimaru above all else, who would gladly carry out the most despicable orders with a gleeful smile plastered to his stupid face. And to add icing on the cake, he harbored a sliver of Orochimaru's soul in his curse seal. So yeah, how's that for a list of reasons?"

"But he's a Spider you moron!" It's Shirokumo's turn to yell at me. "We have rules in place to handle these things! If you presented your case to us you wouldn't be in this situation! Why didn't you? You knew he was a fellow Summoner!"

"I… forgot?" I weakly reply with a wince.

"How in the blazes of hell did you forget that!" Shirokumo throws up his front two legs in exasperation.

"The War." I bluntly tell him. "Orochimaru. Sasuke. The Akatsuki. Orochimaru again because who knows, I might be slowly forgiving him and that is really pissing me off and scaring me at the same time. Sasuke again because of the whole damn Itachi mess and his own curse seal. Do I really need to go on? Because I can. For hours."

"You made your point." Shirokumo sighs. "But the one thing you overlooked could kill you."

"OI!" I point accusingly at him once more. "We're talking about you right now! We've already covered that I fucked up, hence the impromptu Sage Wrap thing-a-ma-bob. Why the hell didn't you tell me that you're… whatever the hell you are in the Spider's hierarchy?"

"I… uh…" His eyes start to dart around. They're looking for anything and everything that could make this easier on him. There's nothing for him to find. "Was going to eventually? Once you naturally passed the Trials to become a Sage the correct way."

"Not good enough." It's time for my eyes to narrow at him. "I'm not the only one who burned a bridge today, jackass. You burned one too. The only difference is your bridge is still on fire, it's not ashes yet. So it's time to step up, what are you throwing on the fire? Water or oil?"

"Water." He meekly says as he seems to shrink on himself.

"Good choice." I monotonously reply as I cross my arms and await his response.

"I didn't trust you." His whole body dips down lower to the ground in shame. "At first that's all it was. Could I reveal that the impossible had happened? That the strongest Spider could be so easily summoned on a mere whim? No, I couldn't. So I didn't. Then I spent so much time around you, learning your mannerisms and your insanity. Barely a blink later, we were friends. But then I was fearful. I kept a secret, a very big one, from a friend. How could I reveal it without you lashing out at me? How could I salvage our friendship? Would it irrevocably change how we operate? It wasn't something I was willing to risk, so I kept my secret."

Shirokumo's eyes are firmly latched onto the ground as one of his many legs idly pokes at a pebble. I slowly walk over to the tiny spider and squat down so we're closer in height.

"Shirokumo." My even voice makes him flinch. "Look at me."

He peels his eyes off the floor to meet mine.

"If you think that would change anything you're a dumbass." I playfully smirk at him as I affectionately boop him on the head with a fist.

BOOM

A crater instantly form where the spider was, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

"OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!" I frantically start waving away the dust. "Shirokumo I'm so sorry I forgot I was in Sage Mode! SHIT SHIT SHIT PLEASE BE ALIVE!"

"Looks like you're the dumbass." He lets out a laugh at my expense. The good news is he's behind me. The bad news is he's going to insult me, I can feel it. "Or did you forget that I have eons of experience on you? Doubly, nay triply, when it comes to Sages."

"Yeah well you smell funny!" I lob the childish insult at him.

"Dude." He just stares at me in disappointment.

"I'm having a bad day." I let a long sigh escape my lips.

"It can't be that bad, you're a Sage now! Do you know how rare that is?"

"Shirokumo, you have no idea how weird today has been for me. None at all."

"I'll just take your word for it." He wisely lets it drop.

"So…" I awkwardly scratch the back of my head in embarrassment. "How do I turn it off?"

"Okay, time for a crash course in how Sage Mode works."

With Naruto

"This is strangely boring." The blonde shinobi looks around for something to amuse him until his sensei returns. "I thought that once I got away for a bit I'd feel better, you know some me time. Figured that would help. Welp, turns out I was wrong. There's no one here to torment, no one to bask in my glory, no one to -"

POOF

"-and he's back." Naruto lets a boisterous smile form on his face. "Hey Jiraiya-sensei, where'd you go off to in a rush? Did God finally take pity on women everywhere and hold an intervention for you?"

"HA!" Jiraiya snorts out as he ruffles the kid's hair with his massive hand. "Like that would get me to turn away from my ways! You'll need way more than that!"

"Alright, so negative on the intervention." Naruto looks up at his sensei. "So where did you go then?"

"Mount Myoboku." JIraiya's face turns sour. "Ma and Pa called me there. They had something very important to tell me."

"Mount… Myoboku?" Naruto half asks, half states.

"Home of the Toads." Jiraiya easily answers. "The news they had is very… concerning."

"New?" Naruto's interest is peaked. "What news?"

"They told me to hurry up and finish my training because the Spiders have a Perfect Sage."

"Oh. That's bad." Naruto's mood sours along with JIraiya's. Then his brow scrunches in confusion. "That is bad right?"

"Oh yeah." Jiraiya stares off in a specific direction, one where he suspects his old teammate is. "Very bad. I know what we're doing after Kusa."

"Hey Jiraiya?"

"Yeah kid?"

"The fuck is a Sage?"

Otogakure

POOF

I land on my feet with all the grace of an expert gymnast. After a quick sweep of the room I realize that I'm back in Orochimaru's office. He looked up from his desk that's littered with papers at my sudden appearance.

"Oh good." He efficiently picks up the document he was working on and moves it off to the side. "You're back. What did the Spiders want? And why did it take nine hours?"

"Basically the same thing as you but it took way longer and a couple other things." I heave out a long sigh as I walk over to the suspiciously not soaked in blood anymore chair. Looks like he had someone clean it or scrapped it for a new one. "But basically they saw that Kidomaru's name was off the scroll and wanted to see if I knew anything about it."

"Ah. Yes." Orochimaru's eyes narrow. "What did happen to the Sound Three? I am growing very impatient."

"Long version or short version?" I ask him as I plop down in the chair. Thankfully for the chair the Weavers saw fit to replace my previously bloodsoaked outfit with a new one. Pretty sure they didn't like the fact that I ruined an outfit with the blood of a fellow spider, but I didn't exactly tell them it was Kidomaru's. Who knows, maybe they didn't notice?

"Short." Orochimaru bluntly says as he starts tapping a finger on his desk. "Let me rephrase: Make it very short. I want to know and I want to know nine hours ago!"

"Okay okay jeez!" I'm not surprised by this at all. I did drag it out way longer than I should have. For some ungodly reason I got a sense of victory by holding this over the Snake Sannin. "Super short version coming up! Danzo Shimura sent his ROOT shinobi to assassinate me again. Sound Three tried to protect me and paid with their lives. I killed those that they didn't. That's it in a nutshell."

"Your missing hearts?" Orochimaru asks a simple question.

"They were good shinobi." I easily respond. "Keyword being were. I had to use some extreme force to put them down - pretty sure I made a new lake as a side effect but whatever - and it destroyed their hearts in the process. Can't exactly use a red mushy paste as a heart."

Orochimaru stares at me for a solid three minutes before speaking again.

"And, just out of my own personal curiosity, how exactly do you know of Danzo's ROOT?"

Oh shit. Really didn't think that one through.

"He tried to recruit me a long time ago." I casually reply with a shrug as astonishment washes over Orochimaru's face. "I said no. He took exception to that, doubly so since I left Konoha for you. It took me a while to piece together that it was ROOT that tried to assassinate me the first time - you know when Tayuya died - but once I objectively looked at it the puzzle suddenly made sense. He couldn't really send his hitmen after me when I was in Konoha since I did frequently visit some powerful people like Kakashi and Tsunade but once I left it was open season. Just took him some time to track me down to take my head. Then these shinobi had the exact same chakra suppression seals so that means that he tried again. Simple as that."

Damn I'm good. That was an excellent cover story if I do say so myself. I twisted the truth a lot here but essentially I'm implying that he tried to recruit me before I left Konoha. I can't exactly say that only a few months ago he contacted me and I didn't bother to tell Orochimaru about it. Because that would go over so well.

"Why is everyone so insistent on taking you away from me?" Orochimaru mutters out, more to himself than to me, as he massages his temples in a vain attempt to alleviate his headache.

"Dunno." Another casual shrug accompanies the single word. "You'd think they would have realized it's a lost cause by now." My eyes dart to a corner where four very terrified people are chained. "What's up with them?"

"Oh them." Orochimaru's yellow eyes dart to the prisoners. "They're your replacements."

~Well… he did a damn good job. They have fairly good sized reserves - nothing to really brag about - and our missing elements. I can't sense any of the prisoners that would be a better fit. It's rather convenient to live in a giant prison complex, isn't it?~

"Huh. Thanks." I get up from the chair and start strolling over to the prisoners like I'm going for a stroll in a park instead of preparing to kill four people.

Once I get close enough I pause to ask them a single question.

"Is there anything you would like to say?" I softly yet firmly ask the four. "Anything at all? Feel free to speak your mind no matter how… inventive you may be."

"You're going to kill us, aren't you?" A tall man on the left asks. I don't bother replying, I merely nod once in confirmation. "Thought so. Make it quick. That's all I have to say."

I turn my eyes to the person next to him, it's a middle aged woman.

"Why?" She utters a single word.

"Because life sucks." I bluntly answer without an ounce of pity or remorse in my tone. But deep inside I know this is wrong. This isn't me taking a heart from an opponent that I've bested. Nor is it me executing a criminal. It's because if I don't Orochimaru will know something is wrong. "I am in need of something you have. When I take it you die. It is not personal. It is not even professional. It's just shitty odds stacked against you."

I look over to the next person, a young boy. Probably only a year or two older than me.

"Fuck you." He spits on me and hits me in my face.

"I said you may speak your mind. Nothing more." His head rolls off his shoulders and hollowly thuds to the ground. His body crumples, falling first to its knees then collapsing on top of the severed head. I idly wip the spit off my face while taking a few steps back to avoid the rapidly expanding pool of blood. "Well that felt gross and I've been fist deep into people's chest cavities before."

"Did you have to decapitate him?" Orochimaru groans out. "Now I have to have someone clean that up. We are in my office, not my lab Alvarcus. Look at that mess! Look at it! Probably going to need to install new carpet and everything, the cleaners are miracle workers but this may be beyond them."

"I'm not apologizing. Might I suggest a nice tile floor instead? Maybe a hardwood would look nice too. Either way it is much easier to get blood off of those." I don't bother to look at him. Instead I turn to the last person, a late teens girl. "Anything to say?"

"You've changed." She quietly says, not because she's scared of me but because she's resigned to her fate. "You were hailed as a hero in Konoha. How far have you fallen? What happened to the boy I heard stories about? What have you become?"

"You're from Konoha?" I ask in mild surprise.

"Suna." She corrects me with pride despite being in rags and chains. And speaking with her soon to be killer but such is the life of a shinobi. "Gaara, Kankuro and Temari speak highly of you. Even to this day."

"Curious." Four black spears made of threads surge out of the bottom of my shirt and sink to their four chests. The black spears coil around their most precious organ and rip it out of them, causing small spurts of blood to fly through the air. Within moments the hearts are in their new home, my back.

"I thought for sure I burned that bridge long ago. I guess they really want that ice cream." I effortlessly hold up one of my hands with my fingers spread out. Over each digit forms a small sliver of the elements. I snap my fingers together to form a fist and the elements vanish. "That brings me back up to five."

"Alvarcus. You have been slacking." Orochimaru calls out to me. "We're a bit low on explosive tags."

"I have the next batch done." I turn away from the four bodies. "Want me to go grab the crates? They're in my lab."

"Crates?" Orochimaru asks/states to me. Seriously I'm not sure if that was a question or him just speaking. "You usually only make one."

"Well I have four done if you want them." I start making my way to the door. "I kinda maybe sorta threw myself into it hardcore so I could have some free time for the next few months."

"Four crates!?" Orochimaru doesn't even attempt to keep his voice down, I've shocked him too much. "That's four thousand seals! That's one hundred and thirty three seals a day! No! It's more than that, you were gone for a few days in Hot Springs! Alvarcus when do you find time to do all of that!"

"I'll let you in on the secret. Well mainly it's because I want to brag and am tired of keeping this talent to myself. It's pretty obvious that you of all people will understand why I've kept this specific thing under wraps." I dramatically lean towards Orochimaru despite him being at his desk and me halfway out the door. Four unique pens raise themselves up off his desk and start spinning in the air. Orochimaru's expert eyes track the pens and then widen. The pens aren't just spinning, they're drawing an explosive tag. "It's cute that you think I only make one seal at a time."

The four pens clatter down to the desk as I exit the room. Orochimaru's excited voice carries down the hallway.

"Kukukuku! He's just like me! Brilliant beyond measure! He's truly my child!"

I poke my head back inside to the office.

"By the way I'm going to visit that island again in a few hours. There's a couple of things I want to try out that are a bit… destructive." Like Sage Mode chakra strings. "I can't wait I'm so excited!"

"Of course, you've already turned it into a barren wasteland. What's one more visit? I'll send someone around to grab the crates from your lab."

Alvarcus' Room

"Okay." I'm staring into the bathroom mirror. Both of my hands are tightly gripping the sides of the sink and my arms are bearing a significant portion of my weight. I'm intently staring straight at my eyes. They're unmasked, completely bared to the world. Or in this case just me and the mirror. "Let's do this."

I close my eyes and go freakishly still. So still that to anyone else I would appear frozen in time. There is absolutely nothing that could disturb me and nothing would dare.

I stay still for a long seven minutes. Then after those excruciatingly long seven minutes I open my eyes.

"So this is what sensing is like." My Sage Mode sensing has kicked in. "That's… a lot of people. Is this what it always is like for you? Always knowing where others are?"

~To an extent, yes. I can regulate it to background noise if I chose to. Kind of like how the humming of a fan vanishes if you listen to it long enough.~

"We really need to work on that time." I comment offhandedly to Sureddo. "Seven minutes is impractical in battle."

~I'm still getting used to the process and our chakra supply did just quintuple. Eventually I'll be able to do it in a barely a few moments regardless of how many hearts we have. Five, one, no matter. I'll master this, it would be stupid not to.~

"Good, but that won't solve the issue of running out of nature chakra in an extended fight. We'll have to come up with something. Maybe Shirokumo has already figured out a work around? The Toads fuse with their Sages to get around it, could he do that?" I pull my focus off of everyone and everything around me, then look into the mirror. My face has changed. "Huh. That's really not what I expected."

It's just some yellow eyeshadow. That's it. No spider web. No intricate pattern dancing across my face. Just some yellow make up.

"What a let down." I sigh as I twist my head this way and that way to further study the new addition. "Not even a cool design. Figures. At least I sorta got my yellow eyes back. That's something, right?"

~Shall we take it for a… test drive?~

"How should I put this." My reflection in the mirror has a wicked grin on his face. "Fuck yes."