Chapter 134 - Arc 9 - Let's Play a Game: Learning her Part

One of the things I actually put a lot of effort into in this story is making the negative chapters not feel bad. My Beta has helped a lot with that recently, I really appreciate it.

As for the chapter, eh... Doesn't it suck when someone could help you but chooses not to?
It hurts worse when they're not giving you the justification you need to hate them.

Enjoy the chapter!

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Saruka’s chambers in this neutral ground are a lot nicer than Sakura’s. It’s bigger, it has a lit fireplace, and while her own room is sparsely decorated besides some books to pass the time Saruka’s is filled to the brim with books like she’s studying to become a scholar. There’s a dresser with a mirror on it, a writing desk, a four upholstery bed with red drapes and a carpet that feels good underneath her feet.

She finds the woman in question at the writing desk, reading a book with her eyes firmly glued to it. She doesn’t need to announce herself, she was allowed to enter and she sincerely doubts she’s sneaking up on someone this dangerous. So she has a question instead, “So based on what was talked about earlier, I don’t get first pick?” Sakura asks

“That would be their king.” Saruka answers without even looking up, this feels very familiar, but when someone does it to her it feels a little rude. Maybe she should pay a little more attention to her conduct, even when she’s comfortable.

“And I don’t get second pick.” Sakura points out.

“That would be me.” Saruka turns a page.

“And I don’t get third pick.” She nervously rubs her arm, this is so awkward.

“That is most likely to be Duke Rosaria… The short blonde girl.” Saruka answers tonelessly.

“And I don’t get fourth pick…” Sakura sighs, mourning her chance in face of the obvious.

“That depends, is there any way you can prove to me that you are worth more than the three dark knights?” Saruka asks, “you could duel them, their position is about strength. I don’t particularly like or get along with them, if you could defeat my best warriors and are willing to swear fealty I would gladly give you the fourth, third, or even second pick on my side.”

“Err…”

“Alternatively, and much more realistically, you could have one of them switch places with you. That just requires social skills which I am sure you have more of than combat skills.”

“Auu- well, um, about that- how far down on the list am I realistically picking?” Sakura stammers through a harsh feeling in her throat, and the beating of her heart in her ears.

“Well, you have very little value to me on a personal level, not much to offer my people at the moment, and I doubt the other kingdom is going to decide to allow you to swap places with them, so if you can’t convince someone you’re likely to pick last.” The woman finally looks away from her book, showing Sakura brimming hatred - not directed at her, those eyes just seem to look like that all the time.

“... I thought you were helping me?” Sakura tries to hold back the whine in her tone, but she knows damn well it comes through. If she could hide her despair, she would have the social skills to make a swap.

“I am helping your world, that doing so happens to help you is very much a matter of coincidence.” Saruka lets that sit for a moment, allowing the currently redheaded genin to take a step back and catch her balance as her world seemingly spins. “I’ve done you a favor allowing you in the proceedings at all, I didn’t have to do that and you’re not going to pay for your portion of the magic crystals needed so as far as I’m concerned, I’m giving you charity in a matter of national importance. That I am even having this conversation with you should be taken not with liberty, but with understanding that I feel bad for you.”

“But we have a deal-” She argues, calling up Sakura Country’s box and looking at it.

“We have a vague promise that you may provide a small amount of materials that I could steal if I needed to. I have an entire country of dying people to care about, and while I understand the value of a long term solution, I think that bargaining chip is best used when you’re trying to bribe me to give you your friends’ contracts after their revival. I have a feeling my people will hold many of them after this.”

“Things seem fine to me, I haven’t seen any dying - forget that, the contract is only three months,” Sakura trails, unable to look at the woman, she’s being kind of cruel but… “Making sure they get out of this is more important to me than if they have to work a job for the summer, what do I have to offer to get one of the top picking slots?”

“You can convince someone else to switch with you.” The woman reaches over and grips Sakura’s shoulder, forcing her to look into hungry eyes despite her attempt to gaze at absolutely anything else. “I am pragmatic and in a corner, not cruel, I want to help you, I just don’t see how I can do it in the way that you want me to. Perhaps I can give you advice?”

Sakura huffs, feeling heat flood to her face in an unfair way that makes her pout very indignant. “I don’t need advice, I need to pick before a bunch of random people I’ve never met. I’ll give you anything you want, I just-”

“No.” A finger lands at Sakura’s lips and she can’t help the way she jumps in shock. “There is no way you can prove to me what I need at this moment, the portal is in your forest not your settlement, and I can’t see the system you’ve been provided. For now it’s a vague promise and nothing else, and nothing’s going to change that.”

“My system?” Sakura focuses on it, and for maybe the hundred millionth time, she wishes it could be seen.

“I see you looking at it a lot, stop doing that, stop acting so desperate. The people here are not going to take pity on you, they are going to devour you and I do not wish to see that. I am not trying to discourage you, Sakura, I am merely being honest. ” Tears sting Sakura’s eyes, but she nods slowly, her knuckles coloring white as she clenches her fists and takes a breath to focus herself. Meditation kicks in, improving her senses and forcing her to calm her mind. “I have told you who is going first and second on their side, as well as the first four on my side. You are not going to convince me to let you take my spot, nor will you convince their king. What you may be able to do is get more information out of their king, or convince one of the four people you have information on to hand over their spot.”

“And if they aren’t willing?” Sakura asks, circulating her chakra and forcing her breaths to maintain an even pace despite her desire to curl up in a ball. “What if no one wants to work with me no matter what I do?”

“Then try to ensure the people you care about are picked by people that want them to succeed, people who are capable and pragmatic. The king will be taking those with the highest statistics from the forest, that’s all humans care about. I will be taking those that interest me, that is how I have always done things.”

“I just feel very lost,” Sakura admits with a grimace of shame that crosses over her features, “my friends lives are on the line and my sword is in a box growling about it.”

“Then you better get researching, convincing, and playing your cards. The first picks will happen tomorrow morning, and should be finished the following night. There’s a lot of data to go over, so no one will be picking their choices in twenty seconds.”

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[Quest Alert: Swapping Places

Description: You have been informed that you are powerless to stop what’s happening. Brute force won’t work, you aren’t established, and you’re in an unfamiliar place. Figure out what you need to do to change this and do your best:

Objective: Get into one of the earlier picking positions, or ensure the people you care about are picked by people guaranteed to win. If you can manage it, ensuring the three month contracts go to people who won’t abuse it would also be very nice.

Reward: The chance to save your friends]

The quest is nonsense, it’s just reiterating what she was already told and the reward is a chance, one that would already be there at that. What it is, is a very nice summary and focus to ground her as she walks through the tall stone hallways of this overly grand neutral bastion for the nobility. She has an advantage right now, insider knowledge, but that knowledge will quickly fade in value as time passes. This time tomorrow a lot of her friends will already be picked, Gaara’s no doubt got great statistics, and is very interesting. Naruto too. Sasuke is a prodigy, the king likely picks him. Neji and Lee are bound to be considered high grade, shit the king is going to take most of her friends isn’t he?

That means- “Ow!” She finds herself looking down as a smaller figure smacks into the floor in front of her. Golden ringlets shine, and her focus quickly darts over the girl in front of her. Landing directly on her tushie, is the shorter girl from the meeting earlier. She didn’t have the time in the confusion to scan everyone, but Saruka said this was Rosaria?

[Name: Duke Rosaria
Danger: Not dangerous
Title: Duke
Brief Bio: Duke Rosaria is a woman in a man’s country. The current king took pity on her and allowed her to rise to take her father’s station after his death since she was the only heir. Her every effort is to prove she belongs at the top, and she often disappoints her lord to no fault of her own.

Speculation: 50/50 odds she is the King’s bastard child.]

She’s never seen speculation before, but if the system is going to adapt to the new themes she needs she’s not going to question it. She hates social intrigue games. “What are you staring at you filthy-” Sakura holds her hand out for the girl on her butt, only to watch the girl’s thin arms raise to cover her face “-don’t hurt me!” The tone shifts like lightning and it only takes a blink at her mental state to realize what’s wrong.

“I’m trying to help you up. I pushed you over, didn’t I?” She should learn to watch where she’s walking, but that’s not something she can fix right now. What she can do is try not to piss off the girl most likely to have at least one of her friends in the human lands of light. Nowhere she’s heard of so far has been very very creatively named, but it’s not her place to judge a civilization, her home is literally called the land of fire.

“Ah, um-” Watching a noble slowly shift her arm down to look at Sakura’s hand with one eye fills her with feelings she’s not sure how to process. It’s cute, sure, but there’s also a feeling of familiarity. Is everyone here just stumbling around and hoping they don’t die or something worse? Is she not alone in being so filled with worries that all she can see are shadows and despair? “Are you trying to touch me with a filthy monster hand?”

“...” Nevermind, she’s just mean. The Dark Lord is mean, the duke and maybe daughter of the king is mean. She finds herself silently deadpanning and turning around-

“Wait! Help me.” What is she even supposed to do here? She chooses to turn back and hold her hand out again, and apparently this time her filthy hand is fine, because the prissy girl grabs it and uses Sakura’s stature to pull herself up to her feet. Sakura chooses not to help her up while she does, and takes a small amount of secret enjoyment in watching the rude half-pint struggle for a second. In her defense, Naruto would have probably punched her or something by now. He does not take being looked down on well. Too bad he’s not here to do it for her…

Because she killed him. Great, her emotions are swirling again.

“You have my thanks, though if you had been looking where you were going this would not have been needed.” The pretty princess huffs, reaching behind her and brushing her elegant looking robe of the nonexistent dirt that may have gotten on her. This place is ridiculously clean, Naruto would be jealous and asking for tips, there’s that feeling in her chest again.

“You are Rosalia, correct-” Sakura starts-

“Duke, Rosalia, thank you.” The girl growls at her in the most dignified way possible, as in not dignified at all.

“Right…” She’s not built for this. Isn’t this the enemy too? Sakura’s not really sure how all this human and monster politicking works but she’s supposed to pretend to be a monster right now and her red eyes are helping. Saruka made it clear that she wouldn’t mind if Sakura tried to make friends with the enemy court, but she’s a little confused as to how that functions. Then again, Saruka also made it clear they’re not allies, and that she’s simply doing her a favor out of pity.

So much for that deal. Unless she’s bluffing and values it a lot more than she said, she has almost no bargaining power here and it’s stupid. She feels like she’s missing something important, the system would normally join in to explain something to her by now, but she’s lost and alone in another world while her friends hang over a pit. If she leaves things alone, a lot of them probably do get out, two thirds means that most of the stronger forces probably make it and a lot of her friends are pretty strong.

But they’re also rookies, and there’s no guarantee their special abilities function in this new world. If nothing else she’s not willing to leave Ino’s fate up to chance. She doesn’t like the odds of a mindwalker in a land where most things probably have some kind of mental resistance, and even if she did like the odds she’d be unsure about a ninety nine percent chance when it comes to Ino’s life.

“You wanted something?” Sakura realizes she’s been staring while dazing off. It’s a consequence of meditation, an issue she’s already experienced from her high Mental is made far worse because a lot of her thoughts are clear. The puff of this girl’s cheeks makes her want to squeeze them, but she has to remember this is not a child, this is a spoiled woman who is very short. She’s also had a pretty hard life if the scan is to be believed, though maybe not too hard.

“I would like you to swap places with me and let me pick in your place.” Sakura says.

“... No.” It’s a flat answer, but there’s just enough hesitance in her flat tone that Sakura can’t help but feel like there might be an angle. Saruka told her not to act desperate, but how does she even continue this conversation without falling to her knees and begging? “Is that all?”

“I would also like to make friends. There’s no reason we should be enemies.” Sakura tries.

And finds herself instantly shut down, her social opponent tapping her feet against the floor and crossing her arms, while still not managing to depuff her cheeks or kill the pout. She’s not sure how to deal with this. “Besides the war?” Rosalia asks.

“Besides the war,” Sakura nods, “I am Sakura of Bonepeak, my lands are very far away from the border so my forces very infrequently find themselves clashing with the forces of light, as a Duke I imagine yours are also somewhat closer to the capital, and therefore not constantly on the border?”

“That is not quite how it works, but yes.” The golden princess gives her a scrutinizing gaze, and oddly enough the slightest reddening of her cheeks. She grumbles something under her breath, but Sakura only barely hears it.

Still, she does hear it because she’s a ninja and she’s trained to do exactly that.

‘What a poor time to be dummysexual.’ She’s not sure what to do with that information, but she can probably use it. Ino’d know better. She would call this a shortstack? Except there’s very little stacking. How does that even function? It doesn’t really matter, she’s not attracted to anyone from what she can tell, so.

She’s lost, but at least in the simplest sense, that’s confirmation that she has not pissed this girl off beyond redemption, she can work with this. She led Ino on for like, their entire childhood, so making blondes fall hopelessly in love with her is a skill she’s honed!

Just uh, she has like a day so maybe that’s not enough time?

For Ino!