Chapter 281 279

Konoha

"Is it true?" Kiba asks Shikamaru. "Is what Tsunade said true?"

The Rookie Nine and the members of Team Gai are all in a training field. They've gathered to discuss Alvarcus and his actions. They're here to agree on what to do to him. Should they ignore their Kage and try to save their friend? Should they do what society says to and kill or capture their friend?

Is he even their friend anymore?

"The base was destroyed." Shikamaru is sitting down on ground with his back on a tree. He's only halfway focusing on the conversation, he's trying to figure Kiba's question out for himself. "I can confirm that much."

"What of Alvarcus' role?" Shino asks. "Is he capable of that?"

"Yes." Shikamaru easily confirms. "Without a doubt he can accomplish it. I have personally seen him do amazing feats with ninjutsu. He's given me glimpses of what he can do, he expertly utilized three of his minions to save me during the Invasion. On the Snow mission he used jutsu on such an impossibly wide scale, so insane that barely a handful of people could accomplish what he did. He sustained a roughly thirty meter long wind wall for five minutes. Those two instances tell me that he's an expert at using multiple elements together and has enough chakra to make amazing feats seem commonplace. So it's not a question of if he is capable, it's a question of if he would."

"He's definitely changed." Choji speaks up. "After the Chunin Exams in Grass I was the second to last one left standing, on top of that I had an observer's role. He's changed. He's cold. He's calculative. He's manipulative. He's cunning. But I wouldn't call him cruel or malicious. Even when he was fighting against us with Sasuke then he didn't once use a lethal attack. We had ample time to move out of the way of the dragon jutsu."

"Yeah but you all didn't see him lately." Naruto takes this moment to interject.

"Wait aren't you supposed to be hidden away somewhere?" Kiba asks his orange loving friend.

"Tsunade forgot to tell me to go with Kakashi. So technically I'm good? Until she realizes her error and sends him to get me." Naruto shrugs. "Anyways, when we first bumped into Alvarcus on the Snow mission he wasn't in a good spot. He told me some of the stuff that Orochimaru has forced him to do. Guys… it's bad. Really bad."

"How bad? Like helping out in experiments bad?" Tenten asks for clarification.

"That and more." Naruto grimly confirms. "Much more. I won't go in specifics, he told me that in a moment of confidence. I won't betray him like that."

"Even if he was the one who destroyed the base?" Neji monotonously asks. "Even if he has that much blood on his hands?"

"He has much more blood on his hands than all of us put together." Shikamaru darkly drops a bomb on everyone else. "He has killed so many people that he's lost count of how many lives he's taken. He thinks that he's closer to two hundred than one hundred."

"Holy shit." Kiba aptly sums up for everyone present. "Alvarcus? He's killed that much?"

"Yes. He has. I heard the words straight out of his own mouth, there wasn't a hint of a lie in his eye." Shikamaru confirms. "I believe he did destroy the base. All of the facts point towards it. There's no other explanation, there's not even a rumor of someone else in Oto that is capable of doing that."

"He was never one to take those actions before." Lee speaks. "I don't think that he's-"

"Lee." Ino cuts in for the first time, she's been off in her own world for a long time. Not participating, just watching. "I've seen some of his memories, his absolute worst memories. I don't want to say this but it's the truth. Alvarcus did it. But that's not what we're here to talk about, we all know that Tsunade wouldn't lie to us about that. We're here to figure out if we're going to kill him or not. That's why we're here. Quit beating around the bush."

"He's beyond redemption at this point." Shikamaru awkwardly says. "If he surrenders then I'll bring him back. If he doesn't… then I'll bring his head back. He's our responsibility as Konoha shinobi."

"I'm with Shikamaru." Choji speaks how he feels. "If he'll submit then awesome. If not then… yeah."

"I don't want to hurt him." Hinata softly says to the rest of the group. "I'm the only one here who has actually hurt him before, it just felt wrong. But we can't let him continue on. He has to be stopped, I just don't think that I can do it."

"That's alright." Kiba reassuringly pats Hinata on the back. "I'll be the one to fight him if it comes to that."

"You will not have to fight alone." Shino steps forwards. "I've proven effective against him in the past, my beetles are difficult to detect. Especially by someone with a large chakra supply. I will help bring him down."

"Hinata's right." Tenten nods at her. "He's got to be stopped."

"I… I don't want to have to kill him." Lee looks down at his feet. "I'd rather he came back to us on good terms. But I agree with Shikamaru. I will allow him a chance to surrender before ki… before attacking him."

"We should be the team sent after him if at all possible." Neji speaks his mind. "We know that he's weak to the Gentle Fist. We know that Lee is faster than him and capable of making Alvarcus go exclusively on defense. Tenten is familiar with seals, she can bind his chakra and maybe even the Jiongu. We have the best chance of subduing or killing him."

"He's our friend!" Naruto lividly shouts at everyone. "We have to save him! I refuse to kill him! What is wrong with everyone? How can you all say that?"

"Because of what he's done." Ino speaks and everyone looks to her. "I was not lying when I said that I've seen him commit atrocities. He's done terrible things, things that will haunt me forever. I won't kill him, I don't think that I can bring myself to do it."

Ino looks at every person individually to make sure they understand her. They all seem hesitant, particularly Shikamaru and Naruto. They know that she formed something with Alvarcus but not the full extent.

She takes a deep breath to steady herself.

"It's time that you all learn the truth about Alvarcus."

...

"Alvarcus we've got a problem!" Shirokumo shouts before the smoke that accompanied his appearance has a chance to clear. He darts out of it and starts frantically pacing back and forth on the floor.

"What's wrong?" I stop cleaning my lab to give him my full attention. Turns out I must have left an impression on everyone here, no one set foot in my lab since I left. That means the mess I made moments before departing was waiting for me when I got back.

Joy.

"She told them." Shirokumo quickens his panic fueled pacing.

"Right so couple of questions." I squat down so I'm closer to the freaking out spider. "Which she and who did she tell and what did she say?"

"Ino. Your friends. Everything." Shirokumo stops pacing like a madman. In this case a madspider?

"Could you please repeat that?" I pleasantly say to him. "I could have sworn you said Ino told my friends everything."

"Alvarcus she told them everything." All of his beady black eyes turn to me.

"Now when you say everything…" I trail off.

"The real reason you're at Oto. The real reason you won't go back. All of the stuff she saw in your head." He takes a massive breath. "Alvarcus she told them about you trying to stop the war."

"Did she mention the Akatsuki at all?" I ask him. "Did she tell them to run away from the red clouds?"

"No."

"Idiot." I snarl out. "I explicitly stressed that. It is the most important thing she could have said. Did she tell them about me spying on everyone?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic." I push myself up and stomp over to a upright table. Nine separate scattered sealing tags on the ground flutter into the air and land on the table in a three by three square. "At least she couldn't tell Naruto I am Spider. I only told her I was spying on Orochimaru."

"What do you plan to do now?" Shirokumo asks as he scales my body to rest on my head. "You can't make them forget it all, it's impossible. Your only Yamanaka friend is the one that told them, there's no way she'd remove their memories."

"I'm doing the only thing I can do, damage control." Nine brushes and inkpots float onto the table. The brushes dip into the ink pots in unison and start to intricately draw on the nine tags. "It's true that I can't remove their memories."

Quickly the seals start to take shape. Each one starts out with a square outline and slowly fills up with added lines. Each line is perfectly straight but none of them seem to have any sense of order. It looks like a shattered pane of glass.

"What I can do is make my very own curse seal."

...