Chapter 139- Arc 9 - Making a Move, a Shallow Trust Betrayed

Three big notes before I post here.
1. Lost a lot of patrons recently. It's not a big deal, and I somewhat expected it when I went full AU on us. This was always planned, and even foreshadowed, but I could see why some people might not find it as interesting. Rest assured, even if literally everyone left this story would still continue, it would just update at a very reduced rate. I'll take a look at where we are when/if we drop to 200.

2. I actually had a ton of stuff planned that could have probably gotten this mini-arc to 15 chapters or so, but I was looking over it the other day and realized that almost everything moving forward was just needless fluff for characters you won't be made to care about till later. So, I've cut about 6 chapters worth of nonsense and here we are, the Game should start Friday (or Saturday). Maybe some of that fluff can be in a side story later, maybe not.

3. I would like to formally apologize for the chapters always being a day late recently. It's not laziness, I promise. So, I've written this story pretty much the entire time in a schedule where I write the rough draft the day before, then finish and edit it the day it is due. This worked for a long time, except a little while ago I got a beta. Popping into his DMs at 6PM my time (8PM his) when he has to work in the morning and dropping the chapter like some kind of cryptid doesn't work super well. Please be patient with me while I work on getting into the habit of finishing chapters early, for his sake and mine.

Onto the chapter, thank you for your support and your smiles.

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Her feet steady, her resolve strong, her steps premeditated and forceful. She marches towards the King’s room like a cannonball of peace. It’s likely that she can’t actually negotiate a peace treaty, but it’s also likely she has an angle that two eternally warring factions might not have considered. It’s just, now that she’s not as freaked out - learning Naruto and Gaara will be fine was a huge weight off of her - she has time to rethink things. Even her current course of action feels a little distant and oddly emotionally charged. There’s probably an easier way, and she just needs to adjust her viewpoint. Running away and skipping the entire game would feel really nice because it’s too socially demanding of her and doesn’t give her the time to learn the way she would need to if she wanted to excel at this. The rules haven’t been laid out clearly enough and as far as she’s concerned the entire anxiety attack flooding her system can fuck the hell off.

Sometimes it’s easy to get so stuck in her own insecurities and desire to push forward and do anything at all that she forgets to stand in the middle of a hallway in front of the king’s room, stare into the distance, and think.

Who does she want saved? Everyone, dumb question. Who is she doing this for though? Who actually matters? Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Hinata, Kiba, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Karin. Almost everyone else can accept a sixty six percent or whatever. No one else would destroy her to lose, and Temari and Kankuro are only really important because of Gaara.

That’s fifteen people, but Naruto and Gaara have been confirmed safe. With them gone that just leaves thirteen people, but then Lee, Neji, and Tenten are probably safe. They’re each individually stronger than her and she would trust herself to land in the top sixty six percent without doubt. They are guaranteed fine, especially if they’re paired together.

This framework means she really only has ten people to save, three people to ensure they are together, and two people she can completely ignore against her best instincts. If she takes Samael’s deal - something she’s not even that against - then all she has to do is make sure Neji, Tenten, and Lee are picked by the same person and no one picks the other ten before Samael. Samael’s going fourth, and she’s pretty sure Saruka can be convinced, which means the only people she has to convince are the king and Rosalia. Rosalia can likely be convinced merely by convincing the king they shouldn’t be taken, which gives her a plan of action that bubbles up to the surface of her mind.

She doesn’t have to negotiate peace at all, she just has to make sure he doesn’t pick ten random children. “Hey, what are you doing in front of the King’s room?” She hears at her side, and her gaze turns to look at the pretty princess masquerading as a duke or whatever it was. Golden Ringlets are falling down her side, and she’s got a stern expression on her face that seems a little too bubbly and youthful for the image she’s trying to present. That ‘dummysexual’ trait or whatever she said before is probably the only reason it’s just a stern expression and not some real scolding that’d draw a lot of attention their way. Now that she has a plan, Rosalia’s unasked for affection seems useful. Previously she wasn’t sure how to abuse the angle her friends’ sakes, but with her priorities assessed and a plan brought to the forefront of her mind, suddenly she can see the route without her best friend’s guidance. This isn’t school anymore, it’s the field, and feelings are to be exploited when possible.

She chose the third option and got the mind transfer Jutsu, it’s time she used it. “I was trying to find you,” Sakura says, and watches as a tidal wave of red spreads across the girl’s face, now all she needs to do is use that embarrassment to - “woah-” catch her mid fall? She’s surprised to find herself holding up the passed out human noble in the middle of the hallway. “Uhh…” Well this is fine too, actually. All she needs to do is get them somewhere safe and she can take her over without resistance. She’s never seen someone faint like that before, she’s seen it in games and stuff but never in real life. She’s mildly concerned about the girl, but she doesn’t have the time to give her some kind of medical checkup, she’ll be waking up any minute and Sakura needs to act.

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Walking around inside Rosalia’s body is odd. She’s shorter, has less power and is respected a whole lot more than Sakura has ever been. Even some of the monster nobles give her a nod of recognition as she walks through the halls from Sakura’s room. It seems the hostilities between nobles isn’t as big as she thought, or maybe there’s a reason to fake it. Whatever the case, she can’t help but shake her head and watch the ringlets bounce around. It’s so cute, who does this to their hair? It’s silky and golden and bouncy and makes her blush a little just thinking about how much attention it must draw from a crowd. Every step makes it jiggle and jump and brings every eye to her hair like some kind of extroversion magnet.

She might have to do this sometime, just to see how Ino reacts. It’s just another reason to get better about her self maintenance routines.

She finds herself taking a nervous breath in front of the king’s room. Part of it’s probably that this is really scary and a lot is at risk, but the biggest problem is that Rosalia’s body is naturally locking up. Ino told her about this once, the body gains natural resistances and aversions to certain situations over time, and it’ll keep those even when it’s a different soul piloting the body This girl fears her father, or at least finds the idea of walking into his room as possibly the scariest thing she’s ever done.

Good thing for Sakura, she’s extremely used to fighting through this kind of feeling. There’s no sliding scale of pain, and she would never belittle her for it, but feeling it directly; Rosalia’s definitely never been forced to the floor by her own anxieties and had her skin melted while her only mental defenses focused on keeping her best friend afloat and protected. She worked through that, she can work through this. Her knuckles wrap against the wooden door, and then after a long moment of silence she does it again.

Another long pause meets her, and she lifts her hand to knock a third time only to find herself hitting the air. The door opens, and an imposing gaze lands on her that freezes her body like Medusa's eyes might an unprepared adventurer. The King is looking at her, and he’s expecting something. With the depth of that glare towards his own probable daughter, she imagines if a monster had knocked on his door they might be missing a head after. She’s suddenly glad she stopped and thought, since Hunger’s in a chest in her room she might not have fought very well even if it was just to escape the room.

He is the Hero, and that title probably comes with a terrifying amount of ability. She doesn’t risk scanning him in Rosalia’s body, scan requires real focus and Rosalia’s eyes naturally evade him as much as possible. Doing the scan might give her away.. “I have some information.” She explains, ankle and heel working its way into grinding a hole in the floor. Her fingertips press together, and her airway constricts. Even in his casual night clothes, she finds the powerful man to be as imposing as Kakashi or the Hokage. It’s the same situation, just another person who could kill her if he disapproves. Except now she’s trying to play a trick on him, and she really hopes he doesn’t pay enough attention to this girl to notice she’s acting oddly.

“Come in then.” He steps away from the door, and Sakura instantly takes in the room while her feet move on their own. Akari was right, this room is only a little better than hers. It’s not that she got a great room, it's that all the rooms here are crap. They were likely built hundreds of years ago and have never been expanded or improved because they rarely spend any time here. There’s a woman in the King’s bed, but she chooses not to let her eyes linger in that direction at all. It’s not important and she doesn’t want to know. That the woman isn’t paying her any mind helps with that, there’s no awkward greetings needed, she can just pretend that it’s not a thing.

The door closes behind her, and a piece of paper is put into her hands with an actual pen. It seems that humans have pens, that’s good because writing with the feather did not work very well.

“Ah, er-” Her body locks up harder than when Ino kissed her. She needs to spend a whole second focusing on the paper before her memory reboots and she remembers where she is and why she’s here. Rosalia’s subconsciously fighting her efforts more than an actual defense probably does. It’s so instinctual to fear this man that she finds herself wishing she could hurt him for her.

“The information,” He growls at her, “out with it.” She finds her heart pounding faster than Sakura’s ever heard her own beat. Ninja’s are very fit, their hearts are slower even while panicked, this girl’s body is nowhere near the level of fitness that even an academy student has. It feels like she’s going to have a heart attack, and Sakura finds she immediately worries about that. She’s not trying to kill Rosalia, even if she could escape and get back to her body in time to not be affected, that’d be very sad. She didn’t expect him to welcome her with open arms, but to see this much hatred directed towards her. A brief look up reveals his eyes are filled with malice, and his expression looks like he’s planning some way to hurt her for daring to even come here. She’s beginning to understand the issue and is glad she didn’t belittle it earlier.

“I have a list of names the monsters-” She begins-

“Vermin.” He interrupts her sternly, his tone almost monotone, and she resists a flinch.

“Huh?” She forces through short air, her breaths unsteady and quicker than they should be by a huge and confusing margin.

“The vermin, don’t give them their actual address in private, they’re merely rats we haven’t finished eradicating.” He explains, “or have you grown so close to one of them that you’ve forgotten?”

“The vermin,” Rosalia’s voice shakes a little despite Sakura’s best efforts, “have put out a list that none of them should take, they want to force some deadweights that look good on us.”

“And you got this list?” He asks her, and her jaw starts hurting for no real reason, phantom pain? Would he seriously hit her over not having the information? She decides she doesn’t want to find out.

“I managed to seduce one of them, Sakura of Bonepeak,” she explains, “she was given the list just an hour ago, it seems even their last place has been barred from picking them. It’s one big trap.” Giving herself up probably isn’t the smartest option, but her brain is so frozen and her actions so shaky she’s pretty sure the only other person she could claim right now would be Saruka and that just wouldn’t go over believably.

“That must have been very hard for you, pretending to not want to shove a dagger through her heart.” A hand lands on her shoulder with a little too much force, it hurts a little but what’s far more important is the way her blood freezes and her whole body tenses like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s sight. “My blood would make her the most disgusting thing imaginable for you. Good work.”

“Right, it was difficult.” If she shares his blood that means it’s not a chance, Rosaria is completely his daughter. This is how he treats her, with enough attitude that his touch feels like fire on her shoulder and not in a good way. It burns like a hot iron brand shackling her in place. This doesn’t feel like reassurance, it feels like he’s threatening her, telling her escape isn’t an option. She finds her lungs aren’t pulling in enough air and she wants nothing more to run. Holding tears back is the least of her concerns, she finds them splattering to the floor beside her feet. They flow down her face, wetting her pretty clothes and causing a very audible sniffle.

“So what are the names?” He without a hint of inflection, daring her to waste anymore of his time with words of steel. Her nose is running, her whole body is shaking, she finds her gaze naturally lowering to his legs and waist for some reason. She’s spasming in place, and her legs feel like lead. She’d like to run, but luckily she can’t, he wouldn’t let her go if she tried.

When Samael picks this exact list, he will likely punish Rosalia, he might even come for her since she dropped her own name. He will make her suffer for this, she can feel the sadism in his gaze, she can feel burning hatred directed towards her and everyone else that dares to breathe his air. His intent burns into her head with enough force that she can feel it scalding her. He’s not proud of her for this, he’s pissed she spent time with a monster to get this information. He’s feeling sadistic glee, and she’s barely lucky enough to find that it’s not directed towards her right now.

It’s this moment that makes Sakura sure of it, Saruka’s not her ally, but she’s also not the real monster here, the king is. She begins writing, and resolves to figure out how to save Rosalia from the consequences of her actions.

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“You passed out.” Sakura assures her. She found herself fiercely protective of Rosalia the moment she gave her body back. She’ll save this girl, she’ll stand in front of her with her Hunger fully powered up if she has to. She watches as the blonde blinks herself awake, Sakura can’t help but pat her shoulder the same way her father did.

She doesn’t contain malice though, so she quickly watches the vulnerable girl go from having a panic attack in her first second of consciousness - she’s really not sure why - to soothed and lying back. “I couldn’t think of where to bring you.”

“Thank you.” She watches her shaky breaths slowly even out. This is an ally now, come tomorrow she’ll likely be less than just a bastard child given a modicum of power, she’ll be a failure that gave him misinformation. She might even be completely disowned or something. She needs to figure out how to save her, but that’s for tomorrow.

She’s a ninja, and she used to think that meant destroying the enemy and saving her friends. Now she realizes it means she doesn’t have to play within the rules, and she can save whoever she wants. If all of this has taught her anything, it’s that life is bigger than Konoha and she has a lot of expanding her horizons to do. “I’ll protect you, okay? You can rely on me.”

“Okay, that’s weird.” Rosalia huffs at her, pushing herself up quickly so that her legs fall off the bed and touch the stone below. “Don’t say stuff like that, dummy…” She looks away from her with red cheeks, and Sakura feels like she probably succeeded in getting the message across.

“I mean it.” Sakura assures her.

“I’ll be leaving now, thank you for not leaving me passed out in the hallway for some vermin to pick apart.” Rosalia at least knows the normal term, although she probably wouldn’t say it in front of her if she wasn’t so flustered and practically steaming. She lets her go, knowing that tomorrow she might be paying Reaver to sneak the girl into Sakura Country or something. It wouldn’t be hard, though whether he’s willing to do it is a different matter entirely.

[Quest Alert - A girl in need
Description: You’ve gone ahead and likely doomed Rosalia. Make sure she doesn’t die by spiriting her out of this land.
Objective: 0/1 Rosalia delivered to Sakura Country
Reward: An experienced land manager
Failure Penalty: Rosalia is lost forever]

Well, that’s dramatic and ominous.

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“Samael.” Unlike knocking at the king’s door in Rosalia’s body, Sakura finds her own body to be excited for the coming conversation. The king made his daughter wait a while and answered with a powerful and insidious glare.

Samael answers the door to a random girl she barely knows and has no reason to care about, with a big smile and a benevolent expression. The Hero is a monster. The human empire being evil is an over-saturated theme in games she’s seen many times, but it’s another thing to actually have this degree of evidence in real life that there’s an entire faction that could probably do with a restructuring of the ruling class. “Sakura, you’re here. Did you decide to take me up on my offer?”

“Yes.” She slips into Samael’s room and finds it’s actually smaller than her own for some reason. As in, Saruka gave her the better room over one of her Dark knights. She waits exactly one second of looking around for the door to close before she spins on her heel to face her new partner in crime for the next three months. “I have a list of ten names for you to pick. In return I will join you with my own pseudo contract, hunting slavers and eradicating problems from the world. But I do have a few additional terms, if you’ll listen to them.”

“Oh?” Samael’s hand lands on her rather revealed hip and leans over a little bit to gaze into her eyes. Whether the woman intends to intimidate her or just get closer to make her feel more comfortable speaking her mind, Sakura has no idea. Her soul is still a little shaken up from the king. Every action looks a little malicious, only the fierce happiness in Samael’s smile makes her remember that this likely isn’t a trap. “I need you to convince the Dark lord or one of the other Dark Knights to pick a group of three together, they’re a team and I am sure they’ll survive if together.”

“I can do that, Reaver is a very good man who would have no qualms with that.” Samael nods.

“I also need you to swear you’ll put me in charge of my friends,” She says, and that makes the woman’s expression waver a little, showing the thin mask in front of her does have buttons, “Just in combat, I know their capabilities and can make decisions to make sure they make it out of even a very bad situation. I’ll make sure we work for your goals, I don’t exactly like the idea of slavers abducting monster children either.” She balls her fists for confidence, yet finds the swirling emotion inside lacking. Rosalia’s lack of resolve earlier is still spinning through her, it’s hard to breathe while under even the light-hearted scrutiny before her.

To live in that girl’s world, she can’t imagine it.

“I will make you a captain, sure, but my word comes first.” Samael decides.

“I understand,” Sakura nods, pulling in as much air as she can manage to steady her voice, “that is all I need.”

“... I find that agreeable, write me the list.” Sakura takes only a single moment looking around before spotting Samael’s writing desk and hopping right up into her chair. She takes the nearest paper and feather, and immediately starts writing the exact same list she gave to the king.

Then a single second later something’s so funny that she’s forced out of the moment to look at a Samael rapidly devolving into someone with red cheeks and no air, the woman is laughing uncontrollably at her.

“What?” She looks back while trying to hold down the heat that threatens to spread to her skin.

“You write with the end, not the feather.” Samael can’t help it, she can barely manage a sentence without losing what little air she’s mustered. Perhaps the way to fell a dragon slayer is to be embarrassing.

She’d rather just die. She looks back at the quill, and takes in the ink covered feather. Why didn’t Reaver say anything while she was drawing the map? She just assumed they were used to writing with a strangely large amount of ink to each letter or line.