Mana had forgotten that trek to the Forest of Death before. Back when she first made her way there with Team Oak she saw it as a lengthy and exhausting trip all in of itself. Since then she had travelled much further and wider and after expanding her scope what was supposed to take a couple of hours of casual strolling now seemed like just a blink of an eye away.
Finally the two had reached the place and the familiar fences covering up a gigantic forest that was dark on the inside due to the incredible competition between its towering trees for sunlight. A couple of hooded ninja stopped the two ninja but and requested to see their documents. It greatly surprised Mana, how could have two at least Chuunin level ninja have not recognized a Konohagakure Sannin? Zairyo must’ve been away quite often and for lengthy periods of time.
Once the hooded ninja saw the man’s documents they began bowing and apologizing erratically which was quickly dismissed by Zairyo who just rubbed the back of his head and sighed as if all of this was just a big pester. The magician felt a bit bad for those two, Konoha ninja had a feeling of comradery and honor between each other. Everyone was ready to lay their heads for their comrades just to bring honor to their families and their service. Something like that must’ve stayed in those poor guards’ hearts and pressed against their chests for some time to come. Embarrassment was not a pleasant companion.
After being let inside the fenced off area through a large wooden gate Mana looked around and made sure to breathe in as much of the outside weather as possible before the massiveness of the forest overwhelmed her. Almost instantly the magician felt the painful sensations of insects trying and suck her dry, something that shocked the girl a bit as she had never went through a similar experience with an accompanying Sannin before. Then it hit Mana, something she didn’t notice feeling, or rather not feeling before.
“You don’t have Killing Intent, do you?” the magician realized. Then again, she never checked if Chestnut Hanasaku had one either, the girl was just so used to Tanshu’s absolutely crushing Intent that one had to combat every moment of being nearby that man that she just assumed Hanasaku had one. The warm and epic sensations in her skin when facing that woman could’ve been just her status reflecting on Mana and not her Intent.
“Oh no! I’m a pretty swell guy, when you’re as chill as me it’s literally impossible to get that…” Zairyo laughed out with a bit of embarrassment. “I recall the last time you’ve been here with Tanshu, right? That must’ve saved you a lot of trouble…”
“Yeah… It wasn’t as trouble-free as you might imagine, he left us alone to fight for our lives.” Mana recalled still struggling to decide which trip was worse, the last one where locating the archive was comfortable and safe but she was left to die facing off those gigantic centipedes or this one.
“Heh… I’m sure that’s not how he meant it to be seen. Still, didn’t you run into the inhabitants? For a kid that young fighting off even the insects that live here must’ve been a hassle!” Zairyo whistled with surprise.
“It doesn’t matter…” Mana puffed up her cheeks in embarrassment remembering the dip into centipede goo that she had to go through last time. “Anyways, I find it really hard to believe that I could’ve missed an important scroll. I know a lot of common dialects of historic periods: Uluru, Anansi, Anchel and several more… What could’ve been stored there that was so important?” the magician lifted her eyebrow with some bitter memories flooding through.
“Oh? Can you just read normally though? It’s supposed to be written on the scroll “Bailong “ the White Dragons”.” Zairyo explained with a bit of hesitance before revealing the object he was seeking.
“Is it a history scroll? Bailong are legendary animals, you can read plenty about them in the legend and tale scrolls I’ve brought back and countless others…” Mana still couldn’t wrap her head around what exactly the man was after. She took it a little bit personally when the man implied she could’ve missed an important scroll after she took so much care in selecting the ones to salvage.
“No…” Zairyo planted his palm onto his own face before dragging it down slowly, “It’s a Summoning Contract scroll.”
Mana restrained her first instinct which was to erupt into laughter. Still, not too long ago she left on a trip equally as crazy with some of her best friends, the odds of Box of Ultimate Bliss existing were just as small as those of the Bailong contract scroll.
“The Bailong are supposed to be large creatures, the largest of them “ Longshirisu covered up the entire sky. Even if their contract scroll does exist, where do you believe their sacred region is? Where would the entire species of gigantic dragons that can wrap around the planet hide?” the magician inquired, her tone was not dismissive or trying to poke fun of the man’s desired treasure, she just wanted to hear what his theory on the species illusiveness was.
“Look, kid, I’ve lived my entire life wandering from one place hiding one legendary treasure to another on nothing else but rumors and hunches. I’ve been disappointed and proven wrong more times than I can count, I’ve also found more of them than anyone would believe “ it’s how I got to where I am today. I don’t care about where the Bailong are, how they can remain hidden or anything like that “ I just want to see if the scroll is there or not.” Zairyo replied with bitterness in his voice.
“Hmmm…” Mana rubbed her temples as the man’s disappointing reply made her feel like her brain was actually attacked, “What kind of a collector are you? Treasure is something you seek, something you imagine and see in front of you and strive to reach! Treasure is what drives you forward, it’s what makes you fight people you’d never cross otherwise because your dream burns that brightly. Why are you so dry when faced with a possibility of such a discovery?” she almost yelled out.
“I’ve found nothing but more clues or an empty vault dozen times too many after spending decades too much time looking for them…” Zairyo shrugged with indifference.
“Oh, come on! Something like that would be such an amazing historic discovery! Have some enthusiasm behind your steps, own every single one of them!” Mana yelled out vibrantly before taking a happy leap and bumping straight into the face of a giant brown head, at least four times her size and very lacking in its attempt to be concealed behind a bush yet darkness and the extending tree branches helped it compensate what the reptile lacked.
Slimy and wet layers of skin-like substance unwrapped revealing giant yellow eyes as the small and sensitive nose which Mana bumped into lifted up revealing a large brown snake covered in black stripes. In its entirety the thing could’ve been well over eight meters in radius yet it slithered so flawlessly in between the slim forest spaces utilizing it so perfectly and leaving large cave-like gaps that Mana couldn’t help but be impressed on top of her shock which soon turned to fear for her life.
The creature lifted its head wrapping around trees and extending a good thirty meters above the girl, running in just short from reaching the top layer and seeing the sunlight yet if it wanted to it’d easily be capable of such. The entire length of the thing was impossible to tell as it barely only lifted its head to slither a bit higher and position itself for a better strike at its potential snack. Frankly the energy wasted of impaling this little speck of human flesh on its oak-sized fangs would not even be compensated by eating both of the little humans that bumped into the snake.
Mana stood perfectly still listening for the leaves or a faintest clue of where the snake’s head was. Zairyo just carelessly picked his nose and lamented the fact that their way was blocked by the parts of the snake’s slithering body. A deafening sound of the snake’s body slamming against the trees and its tail being slapped against the ground forced Mana to cover her ears “ now her only reliable sense was disabled. The snake was really smart, using its massive body to hide the sound of when it’d decide to strike.
Then all of a sudden the sound stopped, Mana looked up only to see the snake’s mouth shut closed and its head awkwardly bent backwards, without a doubt, after trying to bite at Mana and kill it with one swoop. The handle of Zairyo’s sword was imbedded in the snake’s nose, the man completely nullified the force of its rush stopping both of them in a flight of weightlessness before the Sannin just kicked the massive snake’s head aside allowing it to tumble over the trees and actually letting in some sunlight.
“Sorry, I kinda need the kid to show me the way…” Zairyo mumbled before beginning to check his belt and the multitude of swords in sheathes, each fancier than the last, to see which one of his swords should he use to dispatch of the beast quickly.
“This snake isn’t local to these parts…” Mana mumbled out in complete shock of the Sannin’s level of strength and how lightly he was taking the situation.
“No. It’s too large… Either it was summoned by a Snake Contract user or it followed a prey here, either way, it’s quite impressive.” Zairyo nodded before finally settling on a sword he’d use.
“It’s an underground snake, it burrows underground, that’s how it got here, that’s the only way it could have bypassed all the barriers and security.” Mana suggested before the Sannin grabbed her and leaped away from the colossal snake’s charge from underground. The majestic reptile tried to tackle the two with enough force to send them tumbling through trees, possibly breaking some bones and softening them up for a quick kill.
“Good call… It could’ve still been summoned here.” The man suggested another theory.
“No, a giant snake like this getting summoned would’ve stressed it, it would’ve caused too much ruckus and would’ve exposed the summoner to the security. I believe your theory about it following a prey here, something smaller…” Mana replied before the Sannin pulled out another blade which was similar to an extended whip and tied around one of the standing trees, with a yank the man pulled himself and the magician to it and placed her down.
“This thing’s above your paygrade, stay here…” Zairyo warned Mana with a surprising amount of indifference to his voice for a man warning someone he needed for this quest.
“Could you maybe, please, not kill it?” the magician wondered.
Zairyo opened his mouth to argue, he had good reason to as the reptile was from faraway lands and so long way from home that it’d be impossible to move it without unnecessary hassle for a giant snake. Then, for whatever reason she just closed his eyes and relented, realizing that he didn’t really care if the snake lived or died as long as it was out of his way. The man’s body disappeared from the branch he was standing on so fast and without a single trace that it would’ve been impossible to tell that he ever even was there.
Mana turned at the snake and tried to follow the man’s movements, clearly he was a bit too far away and moved too fast, even in complete indifference to the battle at hand, still, she could make out at least some details from the way the snake reacted to the completely invisible to it movements of the man.
The reptile appeared to be using its tongue quite often, maybe it was using it to hunt a very specific prey as using it to just take in air particles like most snakes did would’ve been useless for its size. Having the size of its tongue in mind it would’ve taken in far too many different scents and ultimately it would’ve just confused the creature and made it use too much of its brain just to discern and interpret the various smells. It must’ve used it to sense some sort of residual chakra that a creature used when fighting or using it. That would’ve limited the prey it hunted but it would’ve been a lethal hunting mechanism, it also would’ve explained how the creature managed to avoid being cut to pieces for so long against a Konoha Sannin.
“The tongue!” Mana shouted out, “Cut it off!”
Even before her yells were finished being formed the reptile’s tongue exploded in blood and spiraled from its mouth crashing at another part of the forest in a crimson flash that created a powerful scarlet spark so intense that the girl had to turn away for a moment. The man must’ve been using one of his collected weapons for that.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” the Sannin’s voice reached back shortly after the man grabbed Mana again and relocated her as the snake’s tail attempted to crush the tree she was standing on. In a flash the girl was relocated on another spot.
Now that the snake could no longer sense the Sannin with its strange tracking ability, validating Mana’s theory, the man quickly dispatched of it. To the magician it all looked really vague, first a feint yellow flash of light below made bright yellow lightning-like bolt pierce the clear late autumn sky and smash into the snake’s head quickly making it fall to the ground before the Sannin, rotating vertically cut at its upper head again summoning another lightning bolt to pierce the sky and smash against the creature’s head. The man then pulled out a long katana with a light purple tinted steel and cut the snake’s skin.
The air around the predator began to whirl and bend as it appeared like the wound ate the entire snake up by having it swallow itself with the speed a ramen addict eats a mouthful of noodles in. Just like that the reptile was gone. Mana didn’t even notice when the Sannin dashed to her and brought her down and further away from the messy part of the forest that’d need to be repaired by the people maintaining order in the place soon.
“Don’t worry, I stored the snake in a pocket dimension. Didn’t kill it. I’ll release it somewhere where I’ll think it could make a living in once this is done.” the collector shrugged before sheathing the blade he used to store the snake away.
“Without its tongue it’ll have a tough time catching prey…” Mana longingly looked at the sky a bit worried for the reptile’s future.
“Pfft… It’s a sneaky devil, I had to sweat it to dent its scales. I’ve seen those same concentrated chakra bolts completely swallow up and reduce a trained ninja to ashes. It definitely was someone’s pet… Even if it got here accidentally.” The man scratched the back of his head before beginning to slowly walk ahead. Noticing that Mana didn’t keep moving he turned back.
“What’s wrong? Going the wrong way?” he wondered.
“No. It didn’t get here by accident. It followed something… Something that’s its usual prey but uses chakra, probably another ninja animal or a ninja that’s native to the snake’s habitat.” Mana looked back at the hole in the forest roof left by the snake wondering just what could’ve drawn it here.
“You just let me worry about whatever that thing is.” Zairyo urged her to keep walking with a chin gesture pointing onwards. After a couple of moments Mana calmed down and continued to show the man the path to the archive, at least as much as she remembered it as there was plenty of running for her life involved the last time she found it.
“Still, what an absolutely bad timing, just when I decide to look for something, someone decides to look for the same thing… I mean there’s nothing else of use in this dump. We strand kids here for fun as a rite of passage…” Zairyo sighed looking a bit down on his luck.
He had some moderate point, for a ninja to come here and invade Land of Fire’s territory seeking for something it must’ve been pretty important. There was nothing of importance in this place except a large region of forest, giant animals and an entire ecosystem of cruelty and life economics. Everyone weighing life on the scale if more energy would be gained than it would take to end it. Everything Mana hated about the world she lived in wrapped with a fence and closed off like some sick experiment.
The magician began to chuckle a little before breaking out in a fit of laughter. Zairyo looked at her funny before wandering what that was about. As Mana kept on laughing the man became visibly more annoyed and desperate to laugh as hard as she was. That mystery of her cheer held a certain power over him, compelled him to reach out to it wider and wider.
“Look on the bright side, if someone bothered to come all the way down here to look for it as well “ it means that there’s a solid chance of it really being here…” Mana finally settled her emotions down to explain what made her smile this much.
The man’s eyes wandered up as he thought for a brief moment before his lips also tipped up in a smile. Then his cheekbones curved his face in a weird manner before he could restrain his laughter no more. Mana was glad to see the man a bit more energetic and happy about this quest, everyone looking for a grand discovery needed to live for that discovery, burn with that fire of curiosity and craving for that moment of finding what they seeked. If Mana was that indifferent to the result when she looked for the Box of Ultimate Bliss she’d have given up all the way back in the Land of Wind’s desert ruins. She’d still be unable to control chakra, most likely…
Then again, Shimo would most likely still be alive. Mana had not yet discovered this point, by giving up on this one quest when it seemed too much of a bother the Sannin saved himself more disappointment and loss. He focused only on the artifacts he could actually obtain instead of obsessing over his failure locating this single one he just couldn’t find. Still, discovery needed to be obsessed over, it needed fire, enthusiasm. Mana truly believed that, she had to.
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