Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: Contract Complete

Contract Complete

“This is not an advisable course of action,” Shino said, his monotone voice carrying a note of worry. “I’m unsure how I let you manage to talk me into this.”

Sakura patted her friend's back, “You worry too much. It'll be fine, trust me.”

Even with his face hidden, Sakura could feel his disbelieving expression. “The Forest of Death is forbidden to genin for a reason. The most favorable result for trespassing is a demerit. The most likely result is… much worse.”

The gates of Training Ground 44 loomed high in front of them, plastered all over with warning signs so glaring and blatant that even a blind man would know better than to try and cross the border. It was clear that they weren't supposed to be here, and even clearer that something terrible awaited them if they decided to continue anyway.

But Sakura was nothing if not stubborn, and a little fence wasn't certainly going to stop her any time soon.

With a bit of chakra and a careful application of the laws of motion, Sakura jumped up and over the two-story fence like it was nothing. She landed on the other side and looked back at Shino, spreading her arms out wide as if to ask ‘are you coming?

Shino looked at her, then to the barrier looming in front of him, and after a moment, his shoulders slumped in a rare expression of emotion. He crouched down and echoed her earlier movements, leaping over the fence in a single bound and landing beside her in a crouch.

“I would like it to be known that I protested this course of action,” he said as he rose. “The Hokage's edicts are usually put in place for a reason. If even half of the stories that I have heard about this place are true, then there is a eighty-two percent chance that we will return with less limbs than we entered with.”

“Oh it's much higher than that,” a voice said from above Sakura before she could even open her mouth. Both genin froze before looking upwards to find Anko lounging on a branch above them, eating a stick of dango without a care in the world.

“Anko!” Sakura said, heart beating fast in her chest as the jonin regarded her with lazy eyes.

“Nice to see you again, pinkie,” Anko said, taking a chomp off of her savory treat. She chewed slowly, orange eyes boring into Sakura’s own. “You finished with that homework yet?”

In response, Sakura dug into her pouch and pulled out a notebook. She threw it at Anko who caught it, not even pausing between chews as she popped it open to the bookmarked page.

“You tricked me,” Sakura accused, crossing her arms with a look of contrition as Anko perused her work. “Half of those ingredients are artificial, and as far as I can tell, two of them are in there for literally no reason! I'd say that you just threw a bunch of stuff together randomly, but it's way too complex for that.”

Sakura almost broke her brain trying to figure out what combination of which plants or animals Anko used to make her poison. Discovering that most of the ingredients were made by the woman herself was just a punch in the face.Stem grafting was a seldom used technique in the realm of poison making, mostly because most if not all plants commonly used as ingredients had little relation to each other and thus, simply couldn't be combined. 

Either Anko was some kind of genius botanist, or she had a lot of free time because the few plants that Sakura managed to identify were barely even dangerous at all! Like really, who had ever heard of using nettle to make a poison of that caliber!?

Needless to say, Sakura gave up long before she identified all of the ingredients. It would take someone truly amazing to track down all of those ingredients and while she was proud of her skills when it came to crafting poison and could probably do it, she didn't have that kind of time on her hands.

“Hmm… not exactly worth a full grade,” Anko mused up above, twirling her dango skewer between her fingers. She snapped the book shut with a smirk, “But good enough. Honestly, I didn't expect you to get more than three of them right, but you managed to surprise me, pinkie. Good job.”

She tossed the notebook back to Sakura who caught it, before the jonin slid out of the tree and landed in front of them, enduring the forty foot drop without even bending her legs. She loomed over them, and Sakura could practically feel Shino's nervousness as he was faced with the jonin’s intense gaze. Anko seemed to sense this too, and a sharp grin formed on her face.

“So,” she purred dangerously, “What brings you two kiddos to my neck of the woods? This place is forbidden for a reason, you know? There are all sorts of things in here that would love to snack on a pair of unsuspecting genin like yourselves.”

The woman licked her lips slowly, as if she was one of those things and was imagining how they might taste. Sakura, more than used to the way Anko presented herself by this point, spoke up without fear.

“I'm here to meet with the spiders so I can confirm my contract,” she jabbed a thumb at her friend who stood frozen. “Shino came along because he wanted to see them too.”

At her words, Anko seemed to pause. She looked at Sakura appraisingly. “Contract? You mean those things are yours?”

“Hopefully,” Sakura nodded. “I’m technically already contracted with them, but I had to make a deal with them before they would let me summon them.”

Something in Anko’s gaze hardened and she suddenly seemed much more serious than she did a moment ago. When she spoke again, her tone was no longer playful, “What kind of deal?”

“To move them here,” Sakura said, eying the jonin cautiously. “They didn't have any food in their old forest so I asked the Hokage if they could stay here instead. I've been waiting for them to get settled before I visited to talk about our contract.”

Anko snorted. “Oh, well they're definitely settled. You had me scared for a second there, pinkie. I thought you agreed to something stupid. Should have known you'd be smarter than that.”

While glad to hear that the spiders were doing well, Sakura was confused by the last part of that statement, “What do you mean? Do summons usually want something worse?”

“Eh, some of them do. It really just depends on how full of themselves they are,” Anko shrugged. “Sometimes they want food, sometimes they want a new house, and sometimes they want a hundred human sacrifices every time you summon the big scaly bastards. It's luck of the draw, really.”

Sakura blinked. Then blinked again. “Huh?”

“Don't worry about it,” Anko waved her off with a concerning amount of nonchalance. She reached into her trenchcoat and pulled out a canteen, popping it open with a thumb. It didn't smell like water.

Sakura shared an uncertain look with Shino as the jonin drank her fill. Anko pulled the clearly alcoholic drink away with a sigh and recapped her canteen. “Anyway, if it's summon stuff, that means it's pretty important. I can take you over there if you want. It's not that far in.”

Sakura brightened immediately, “Really? You’d do that?”

“Sure. Saves me the trouble of filling out the paperwork when you get eaten, anyway,” Anko burped and covered her mouth with a fist. “Just don't tell anyone that I was out here slacking off and you'll come out fine.”

As ominous as that was, Sakura wasn't going to turn down the opportunity and eagerly accepted. Guided by Anko, the trio ventured deeper into the looking forest of Training Ground 44.

“I didn't realize that jonin of her… type existed,” Shino said just loud enough for Sakura to hear as he trailed along behind them. If the Aburame seemed nervous before, then now he looked like he was regretting every life decision that brought him to this point. “Are you sure she can be trusted?”

“As much as anyone else, I guess,” Sakura shrugged as they used a fallen tree as a bridge to cross a ravine. The tree was almost as thick as the bridge Tazuna had spent months painstakingly constructing, and Sakura couldn't help but wonder what was in the soil around here to make it so big. “Anko's a bit off but she's a good person as far as I can tell.”

Shino looked at her, and then to the jonin leading them. The woman was twirling a kunai around her finger and humming some tune that sounded eerily like a lullaby.

“You are a dubious judge of character,” he said flatly, earning an affronted look. Sakura opened her mouth to reply but the words were sucked out of her as they dropped down into a valley between two cliffs and the environment changed abruptly.

The sunlight, already filtered by the canopy, began to vanish entirely as the trees grew closer and the foliage even more thick. The air grew heavy and damp, smelling of wet mud and leaves underlined by the stench of rotting flesh.

As the genin looked around them, Anko led them with a deceptive ease, her steps making no sound on the leaf-littered floor. Every so often, she would flick a kunai at a shadow or a rustling vine, casually dispatching leeches the size of housecats or oversized centipedes without breaking her stride.

​“Watch your feet, kids,” Anko remarked, stepping over a patch of suspiciously vibrant mushrooms. “Those things have some nasty spores. Fun for poisons, not so fun for your lungs.”

​“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sakura muttered, eying the patch of colorful fungus.

​“We are close,” Shino observed, his voice a low whisper. “The insect life in this area has vanished. That is unnatural.”

​Anko grinned. “Sharp kid. Most genin would just think it’s quiet. You Aburame really do have a nose for these things.”

​They pushed through a final curtain of hanging vines and stopped dead.

​The clearing ahead was unlike anything Sakura had seen in the village. Massive, ancient oaks, their bark black with age, were draped in a tapestry of white silk. The webs were woven in thick sheets that completely obscured the ground, glowing faintly in the dim light. More silk hung like funeral shrouds from the branches, connecting the trees and blocking the light from outside. As if much could reach this deep into the forest.

​In the center of the clearing stood a yawning cave entrance bored into the side of an impossibly high cliff, framed by jagged rocks that looked like fangs. Hanging from a thick thread directly in front of the cave was a massive tiger, easily as large as two or three of the carts Sakura had seen in her parents’ caravan. It was completely encased in a white cocoon, its orange-and-black head just barely visible from the top, its eyes wide and glassy.

​Hundreds of spiders varying from the size of a finger to the size of Sakura’s entire head skittered over the carcass in a hungry frenzy. Their legs made a rustling sound as they tapped over the carcass, looking for a spot that wasn't taken and causing the whole carcass to look like it was covered in a roiling mass of black shadows.

​“Nice catch,” Anko whistled, leaning against a tree and crossing her arms.

​“I'll say,” Sakura replied, her tone slightly faint. Seeing the spiders in their natural element was a stark reminder of what she had introduced into the village’s ecosystem.

​Anko motioned with her chin. “Well? Go on. Believe it or not, I actually have to do my job at some point today.”

​Sakura took a deep breath, stepping forward into the clearing. The moment her foot touched the silk-strewn ground, the skittering stopped. Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned toward her. The silence was absolute, save for the whisper of the trees.

​“Hello?” Sakura called out, her voice echoing into the dark cave. “Broodmother? It’s Sakura Haruno! I've come to speak about our contract!”

​For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, from the depths of the darkness, the Broodmother emerged. She was even more massive than Sakura remembered, her bristling black fur and banded legs shimmering with a healthy luster that wasn't there before. She moved with a jittering grace,, her eight eyes zeroing in on Sakura all at once.

​“The human returns,” the spider voice rumbled, a deep rasp that vibrated in Sakura’s chest. She settled at the mouth of the cave, her mandibles twitching. “Much has changed since we were first contracted. You did not lie when you claimed that this was a place of abundance.”

Something furry dropped on Sakura’s shoulder and it took every inch of her willpower not to flinch. She glanced down to find a familiar patterned form crawling across her chest. He settled in the crook of her neck as she relaxed, turning back to the Broodmother as she continued speaking.

“You have done this colony a great service, and for that, I am grateful,” she rasped, “Our contract will remain, and I will not devour you as I had originally planned.”

While Sakura was extremely disconcerted at the devouring part, she was happy to hear the rest of it.

“So the colony is doing well?” She asked, though she only needed to look around to get an idea.

“We are thriving,” the Broodmother announced, her voice carrying a tremor of excitement. “As you said, there is food in abundance under the canopy of this forest, and the dangers lurking at every corner have been excellent in culling the weaker of our number. My brood is stronger than it has been in ten generations.”

​“I’m glad to hear it,” Sakura said, bowing her head at the news.

“Not as glad as I,” the Broodmother tapped a long leg on the silk, “You have lived up to your end of the bargain and for that, you have my respect, and my name. From this day forth, you may call me Shibarime, and I shall recognize you as one of my own.”

​Sakura felt a surge of pride. “Thank you, Shibarime.”

“No thanks is necessary. As a member of my brood, you are entitled to much, but I have not yet finished preparing. Return in time, and it shall be prepared, I am certain.”

​Sakura wanted to say that wasn't necessary, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't be accepted or even entertained, for that matter. “Okay.”

​“Now depart. The youngest are hungry, and they have not yet acclimated to your scent. The meat you brought with you as well is quite… distracting.” 

With a final, clicking hiss, Shibarime turned and vanished back into the depths of the cave. The smaller spiders immediately resumed their feast on the tiger, though Sakura could almost feel hundreds of tiny eyes on her.

She exhaled, her shoulders slumping as the tension left her, and turned back to find Shino staring at the web tapestries with a look of clinical fascination.

​“That was... interesting,” Shino murmured. “And possibly worth the demerit of coming here. Their silk-weaving patterns are far superior to any common arachnid I have studied.”

​Anko snorted, pushing off her tree. “Nice summons, pinkie. I gotta say, yours are a lot more polite than mine.”

​“You just have to know how to deal with them, Anko-chan.”

They turned as one as a man stepped out from the barm of the silk-draped trees. They rippled like liquid as he pulled himself free, moving languidly as he stepped on solid ground.

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw him. He was rather tall, with pale skin and long, straight black hair framing golden eyes edged in purple. His lips were curled in an expression of amusement, though his blood-soaked lab coat made the expression anything but disarming.

​“Orochimaru-sensei!” Anko chirped happily, though she immediately straightened her posture. “What are you doing out here? I thought you were stuck in the lab for the rest of the week.”

​“I could say the same to you, Anko,” Orochimaru replied, a faint, amused smile playing on his lips. “Though I suppose the allure of dango and trespassing children was too much for you to resist.”

​He turned his gaze toward Sakura, and the girl felt the sheer weight of his presence. It settled on her shoulder, cold and almost overbearing, like her soul itself knew that this man was of a different caliber. 

​“The Forest of Death is off-limits to genin, as you should well know,” he said, looking at Sakura and Shino. “However, I suppose this is a special occasion, isn't it?”

He smiled. It didn't look quite right. “Those summons of yours are deliciously deadly, Sakura. Truly fitting for a kunoichi of your caliber.”

​“T-thank you, Orochimaru-sama,” Sakura said, her heart hammering at the praise coming from the legendary ninja.

​Orochimaru stepped closer, his eyes lingering on her left arm, peeking through the bandages where the black ink of her seals shimmered. “I have been following the reports of your mission in Wave and I must say, you're quite possibly the most interesting genin of your generation. I have spent a lifetime studying the intersection of biology and chakra but even I can see that your methods of using fuinjutsu to bridge the gap between intent and broken nerves is quite inspired.”

​“I’m just doing what I have to to keep up,” Sakura said.

​“Indeed,” Orochimaru purred. “But why settle for a crutch? Those seals cause you pain, do they not? I could assist you in truly fixing that arm. I have developed techniques that might be able to regrow those nerves. I'll admit the technique is not perfect; but it is far superior to what any medical ninja in this village would be able to manage."

Sakura froze, and then slowly turned to look the Sannin in the eye for the first time since he arrived. There was a cold intelligence there, a curiosity akin to someone staring at a particularly fascinating mission report.

​“And what would you want in return?”

​Orochimaru’s smile widened slightly, as if he was pleased she asked. “Only the burden of knowledge. I wish to see your notes on your puppets. It's an art that has fascinated me for some time, but I'll admit to being rather lazy in exploring it. The insight of Konoha’s own puppet prodigy would be invaluable.”

​Sakura looked at him, then at Anko, who was watching her with an expectant look. She closed her eyes, thinking for a long moment, before slowly shaking her head.

​“I’m sorry, but no.”

​Orochimaru paused, his head tilting. “Oh? You would prefer to struggle?”

​“I would,” Sakura said, her voice growing stronger. “I’m grateful for the offer, Orochimaru-sama. But I think... if I let someone else fix me, I’ll stop growing. I learned more about myself fighting this injury than I did in all my years at the Academy. I want to fix my arm on my own terms.”

There was a beat, and the. ​Anko let out a sharp, delighted bark of laughter. “See, sensei? I told you she was a stubborn one!”

​Orochimaru let out a low, soft chuckle even as his eyes gleamed with interest “Indeed, Such defiance... it only makes you that much more interesting.”

​He stared at her for a long moment, before turning back to the shadows. “Take them back to the gates, Anko. I'll be sure not to mention this little trip to Sarutobi-sensei if you're quick enough.”

​With a final, lingering look at Sakura, Orochimaru vanished into the darkness like a ghost.

​Anko turned to the genin, tossing her empty dango stick aside. “Alright, kiddos. You heard the boss. Let’s get you out of here before he has to do his job.”

​As they began the long walk back to the fence, Sakura felt the weight of the upcoming exams more than ever. But she would be ready. She had a contract, she had the recognition of a Sannin, and most importantly, she had the drive to keep moving forward.