The Hokage's Office
POOF
"DON'T HIT ME!" Shirokumo shouts the moment he's in the office. He's greeted with silence. "Oh. She's out. This has never happened before."
The white spider scuttles over to the desk and climbs up the side to place the letter on it.
"I'll just leave this here and-"
The door to the office bursts open and Tsunade storms inside in rage.
"I don't care if he's only thirteen! I said make him A-rank so do it! And make sure it says triple if brought back alive! No one is to disturb me unless we're being invaded! Even then be ready to go flying!" She slams the door shut and whirls towards her desk.
Eight beady black eyes meet two brown eyes.
A tense moment passes.
"Hey drinking buddy?" Shirokumo weakly tries to greet her. "How's things?"
Tsunade doesn't respond with words. She leaps forward and has a fist raised with every intention of flattening the spider.
"Oh shit!" Shirokumo throws himself off the desk. Not even a full second later it's crushed into scrap wood. "Lady just calm down for a-"
He leaps away again as Tsunade tries to stomp him, her strength shakes the whole room from the one hit.
"Oi! Not cool! I didn't even do anything!" He shouts as he scampers underneath the couch.
It's lifted up off the ground with ease. Tsunade has it hoisted above her ready to slam it down on the pesky arachnid.
"Don't do it." Shirokumo says, his playful tone is gone.
Tsunade hurls the couch down at him, but he's not there. She didn't even see him twitch a single leg, one moment he was there and the next he's in the center of her rapidly breaking office.
"Tsunade. Enough." Shirokumo orders the Hokage.
She doesn't listen. She charges at him and rears back for another punch.
"You've brought this on yourself child." Shirokumo says in a truly sad voice.
What happens next she can't believe. It's something that hasn't happened since she was a kid, it's something that no one in their right mind would ever do. Shirokumo blocked her punch. He's only using one leg.
"What?" Tsunade says as she's baffled by the turn of events.
"I really hate this. I've placed limiters on myself to specifically avoid revealing what I truly am. You've brought this on yourself child. That is what you are to me, a mere swaddled babe. You can't comprehend the centuries that I've seen. Your feeble mind can't process the sheer vastness that is my life. To me you've barely learned to walk and are throwing a tantrum because things didn't go your way."
Shirokumo pushes Tsunade's fist away. Then slowly starts getting bigger. Bigger and bigger until his eyes are level with Tsunade's face. He can tower over her now, he's massive. There's only one other spider that can come close to being the same size as him: Arachne. Even she is smaller.
"I suppose it is time for proper introductions. I am the one who has seen castles rise and fall. I am the one who has witnessed entire kingdoms prosper then burn. I am the one who has seen whole eras come and go in the blink of an eye. I am the one who has seen the shape of the planet change due to the ravages of time. I am Shirokumo the Ancient One. Congratulations Tsunade Senju, you've just pissed off one of the most powerful Sages to exist."
"I don't give a shit who you are! It's what your stupid Summoner did that's pissed me off!" She shouts into his face.
"You will not insult Alvarcus to me! You can't begin to understand what he's sacrificed to help this insignificant village!" Shirokumo roars back at her, the sheer volume of his voice shakes the windows in their frames. The magnitude of the sound stresses the hidden sound dampening seals to their limits.
"Oh yeah? Tell me then! What has he done besides threaten the lives of eight of my gennin? What has he done except for blackmailing me so Orochimaru can live longer? Go on great and powerful Sage! Tell me! I know what he's done: he killed one of us already then had the balls to tell me about it!"
One of Shirokumo's white legs darts out and slams into Tsunade's stomach. The force behind the blow causes her to double over, then another leg flies towards her and lands a vicious uppercut. She's thrown to the ceiling and hits it so hard the room shakes again. But before gravity can take hold and bring her down to the floor again white webs fly up after her to pin her up there.
It all happened in a quarter of a second.
"Do the reports he sends you mean so little? He's outlined the top 40% of Orochimaru's forces. He's practically given you a blueprint to the only base he's seen. He went to Otogakure to make sure that Sasuke Uchiha didn't descend into madness and turn on Konoha! He's given up his home just so it has a better chance of surviving!"
"And that makes him a shinning beacon of Konoha?" Tsunade brings out her full strength to break out of her bonds. She strains, using every iota of force she can muster up. It's not enough, Shirokumo's webs are simply too strong for her. What a crazy concept. "He should have stayed here! Now he's become twisted by that vile teammate of mine! He's no longer the Alvarcus I know. That Alvarcus would never let Orochimaru walk away. He'd never use his friends as a bargaining chip!"
"It's as much your fault as it is his! You forced his hand. You didn't do what he asked, all you had to do was leave him alone and none of this would have ever happened. Do you trust him so little? You dismiss his advice because it suits you to?"
"Don't you dare make this about me!" She shouts from her bindings. "All he's done is use Orochimaru to train him! He went there to achieve his ridiculous dream of S-rank! He's no longer welcome in Konohagakure! He's not my shinobi any longer! Orochimaru can have him for all I care! He crossed a line that should never be crossed and this isn't even the first time!"
"Tell me Tsunade." Shirokumo says in a quiet tone. It's a sharp contrast to the shouting match they've been having and it makes it that much more serious. "Have you heard of the Akatsuki?"
"What the fuck do they have to do with anything? All I've heard are rumors. No one knows anything about them. Their numbers. Their bases. Their goals. Their leader. Nothing. Even Jiraya hasn't gotten anything concrete on them."
"Alvarcus has pages upon pages of data on each member." Shirokumo reveals. "I've seen them. He knows who they are. He knows what they're capable of. He knows what they want. He knows where each of them are or will be at any given point in time, we've got spiders following half of their members. He knows who they are going to attack next and when. He's just been waiting till the right moment to send them to you. He's been waiting for you to ask for his help."
Tsunade's eyes widen in surprise. "He shouldn't even know about them. How can he possibly have information that Jiraya can't get?"
"My summoner is resourceful, he can get at any piece of information given enough time. Some of it I fetch for him personally. And you know what the best part about all of this is?" Shirokumo clacks his mandibles. They make a sharp unnerving noise.
It's at this moment that Tsunade realizes the full scope of the situation she's in. She's trapped by webbing that she can't break. Beneath her is a spider much larger than she is. For all she knows he could be hungry. She might be the fly caught in the spider's web.
"What?" She doesn't let her sudden fear show. She keeps the same hostile voice she's been using the entire time.
"You'll never see a single page of it." Shirokumo raises up a leg and points to the ruined desk. "In that mess somewhere is a letter from Alvarcus. Find it and read it. It's the last time you're getting a letter from me. Years down the road of life Alvarcus might find it in his hearts to forgive you. I never will. Tsunade Senju, you've personally lost one of the greatest assets Konoha could ever hope for."
Shirokumo plucks a single strand of the web holding Tsunade and it starts to unravel. He doesn't wait for it to finish, instead he vanishes from the office for the last time in a massive cloud of smoke.
Tsunade falls onto her feet and remains in a crouch for a moment. Then she rises up and walks over to the crushed desk. There's a white envelope that has been crumpled. She picks it up and flattens it out, then opens it.
Tsunade I am so sorry.
She burns the rest of the letter without reading it.
"You're not sorry. Not yet. No one threatens my shinobi and gets away with it. Not even you."
...
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