Sneaky sneaky snakes (invite nk will)

Gen listened impassively as the boy across the pond from him spoke of the legendary caves that he had been to, claiming that he had yet to find the words to fully describe what he saw there. This coincided nicely with the scant few reports that Gen had managed to find in his own readings on the subject as it appeared that the caves possessed some aspect about them that was so enchanting so as to almost entirely defy explanation. Yogensha reflected for a moment on how nice it would be to be blessed with such an experience. Sure, some may say that the greatest aspect of the caves were the snakes that made their home their and the power they provided, but the dark haired man would be terribly pleased with the simple beauty of the place. Such an experience was doubtlessly transformative.

The beast came then, devoid of warning or apparent intention, all glowing eyes and vibrating body and quaking existence. The whole world shook and shifted before suddenly vanishing entirely, leaving only Gen and this great, magnificent beast. The thing did not move for a terribly long time, simply existing in the spaceless nothingness of its own making. Eventually, it turned its vast and glowing gaze upon the only person remaining there, the young man of Yogesha, and stared deeply into him, past his flesh and bone and blood, past his mind and thoughts, past his soul if such a thing existed. He saw simultaneously nothing about Gen, nothing about his person or existence, and everything about him, all that there ever was or will be, all that could have been and could be. The great, undulating thing saw it all.

Suddenly, everything about Gen shifted, changed and moved effortlessly and fluidly along many axes. He felt terribly wrong, like his body had been scrambled, like everything had been slowly taken out and then put back into the wrong place. Everything was mirrored and strange, his hands would not obey him and his body would not move properly, his mind seemed to be thinking sideways and backwards and his eyes were seeing everything upside down. He was upside down. In that moment, in that singular infinitesimal moment of space and time, his whole world changed in a profound way. Not simply in a physical way did the reality of his existence change but rather in a mental way. His mind had suddenly expanded, had suddenly grown and become something far larger, far more, far different than a simple human mind. Where once he could alternate his focus upon multiple things, so now could he see across all planes, so now could he divide his attention perfectly.

And in doing so, he realized that he was changed, that this changing vision of the world changed him at his core, that he was now and forever fundamentally different. His very perceptions of the world had changed radically and it was the product of the gigantic beast’s power and his own vision. His own vision. This world was simply a reflection of that, simply bent to his whim and bowed to his will. This was the right, the power, the authority of one who not only had mastered the mind and mastered the sacred art of both deception and illusion but who saw beyond the mundane. This was the mind that could bend the world by seeing into the aether, the nether, whatever one wished to call it. He had looked beyond the stars, beyond the heavens and the earth and the hell of lore and found something else, something deeper and older, something more profound and unchanging. He had found something that was more truth than truth itself, had found something that defied reasoning and yet seemed crucial for it. He had filled a hole, a void, in himself that he had never known he had had before. He was becoming complete.

And then it was over, gone, vanished suddenly and instantly. He blinked once upon exiting the reverie to notice that no time had passed in what may be called the real world at all, perhaps only a singular breath of pause. He looked back at Neah, at the boy with whom he was speaking, and the snake that was with him, and picked up the conversation without a hitch.


He noticed, with some inward pain, that the topic of family appeared to be a sensitive one as Neah’s face seemed to crumble a bit. The boy then affirmed this suspicion by saying that his mother had died when giving birth to him and his father had chosen not to remarry. While Gen could not say, he scented the distinct salt of guilt in the air and immediately went to apologize. ”Forgive me once again, Neah, I did not mean to dredge up old memories or painful wounds. I am certain that you do your family great honor.” He then saw as the boy summoned up a small snake, a little thing that quickly accused him of bothering Neah, something that alarmed Gen a bit but did not entirely shock him. Summons were oftentimes fiercely loyal and protective, so the assumption made sense.

Before he could respond, however, Neah had already begun talking the snake down and assuring her that he was no threat. Gen had only just raised his hands in a placating gesture, attempting to show that he neither meant nor was truly capable of such harm unto the boy with whom he had been speaking. When the snake finally did calm, he felt a wave of relief wash over him; he had no desire to have a great altercation take place at present time. He heard the snake offer apology. ”No apology necessary great serpent. I hear you hail from the great Ryuuchi caves, correct Bachi? It must be enchanting to live in such a place.”

Gen’s vision would ripple and waver chaotically as he listened to the boy across from him, Neah, have his small conversation with his snake friend. While the older man would have been able to hear about what the two were conversing he was, at present moment, far too busy shrugging off the insane, warped feeling of having an audience with the beast at such a random moment and for such a short time. His grips with reality needed yet another moment to fully return to him and so he was pleased that Neah had decided to take a small side conversation for the time being as this would allow him to fully return to the present moment without coming off as distant or rude.

As his mind cleared he recalled once more the billowing monster that plagued his mind and the way that it continued to endlessly expand his own thought process. He had seen, even in that brief glimpse of a moment, more that he perhaps had seen in his life. Certainly more than he had seen in that day. But it was more than that for he had seen something else, something even greater. He had seen in an entirely new way and it was this new mode of seeing that would allow him a greater understanding of the fundamentals of what was going on in the world and certainly would allow him an expanded view of the ninja arts and those which entailed illusions.

As he came fully to, refocusing on the boy across from him who was yet finishing the short conversation with his snake friend, Gen would feel a certain shortness of breath. It was a trifling thing really, nothing large or alarming and nothing that lasted for more than a second or two. It was, in all reality, more of a hiccup than anything, but it was a significant one. It seemed that the great beast from beyond the stars had deemed it necessary to gift the man with not one new ability but two, which was made doubly odd considering that Gen was not currently meditating.

The boy across from him chuckled lightly to the snake, a good natured sound full of happiness and mirth. His disposition then changed rather suddenly to one of much greater seriousness, his eyes locking with Yogensha’s as he spoke, asking about snake contract and what Gen would think about having joined such a thing. The older man took a moment before responding, considering the question carefully as he turned it over in his mind. The question was simple enough as to how he would treat the snakes of the cave, though the second bit about their teachings gave Gen a longer pause than he would have initially expected.

He responded slowly and thoughtfully, his words spilling out in a smooth wave of a meditative quality. ”Well I would like to say yes blindly, but I cannot be totally certain. As to my treatment for the snakes, I would treat them with the same respect I extend to all creatures and would expect the same respect. I do not needlessly fear snakes nor do I loathe them without reason, so respect would be the only thing I could offer them until I better knew them. As for obeying their teachings… that one is more complicated. Again, I wish to say yes, but I sadly cannot. I would need to hear of their teachings before I could pass such a judgement. I will say, however, that should their teaching be reasonable, sensible, I would likely find no reason to disagree with them”

He would speak with a simple conviction, holding Neah in his gaze as he spoke. His opinion may have been nothing complex or elaborate and his objections perhaps not what the other boy had wanted to hear, but Yogensha could not say with certainty that he would agree with something that he had never even heard of. If the boy and his snake could not respect Gen’s refusal to operate in a blind and uneducated manner, then so be it, though he suspected that the two, seeming reasonable and sensible people, would not object so strongly to such a simple claim. No, he had at least a modicum of faith that the pair, boy and snake, would accept his opinions on the matter with grace and humility.

He shifted his weight a bit when he finished, leaning up against a nearby tree with a casual air, the intensity of the moment having passed at least for a time. He would smile then to the boy across from him in a friendly manner, hoping that his words would not cause any sort of injury or rift between the two. As a fellow warrior of the Leaf it would be imprudent if not rude to make an enemy of the young boy and, barring that, Gen had no particular qualm with the chunin. No, a fight breaking out, even a shouting match, would do neither of them any good at all, especially not in this foreign and potentially hostile land.

The lack of any sort of immediately hostile action alerted Gen that, at the very least, Neah and his slithering companion were going to attempt to immediately jump him. This pleased as, again, such fighting would be a foolish waste of time and energy and he had neither the intention nor the desire to randomly slaughter this child. He held still for a moment longer as the pair continue to look at each other, sizing up the truth of the other’s claims. Neah seemed to relax just a bit at Gen’s words while the snake had slithered rather close, something which did not escape the dark haired man’s notice but which also did not cause him particular alarm. Were the reptile to be a couple feet longer, perhaps it would have seemed more threatening. Still, Gen would prefer not to be bitten today.

The snake then spoke, directing its words to the small boy across the way but speaking with enough force that Gen could clearly hear that she seemed to accept the other man in whatever test the two were playing at. The dark haired man would smile amiably at this, pleased that the two seemed to have accepted his statements and feeling more comfortable as the snake companion that they boy had summoned confirmed this with her words. She began to slither back to her master then, though Yogensha, having only just been questioned by this pair, were unsure as to where this left him exactly and what it was that these two had been planning.

He watched as the snake slithered up Neah, moving to rest higher up on his person while the young man spoke, talking about the rich history of the scroll, an aspect of it that Yogensha could He watched as the snake slithered up Neah, moving to rest higher up on his person while the young man spoke, talking about the rich history of the scroll, an aspect of it that Yogensha could appreciate a great deal as someone who enjoyed reading stories and histories of important objects throughout the world, ninja or otherwise. He would smile as Neah mentioned that he did not want to keep him from getting to the rest of his vacation, giggling a bit to show his appreciation for the sentiment. He did not feel as though his time was being infringed upon, but it was kind of the other boy to be so considerate.

The boy continued talking, ultimately offering the contact and the summoning abilities associated with it to his newfound friend. Taken aback but such a generous offering, Gen felt his eyes open wide as he stared for a brief moment at this boy with utter incredulity. This was such a quick and kind action that he felt himself stunned briefly before he once more found his voice to respond, hearing the owner of the snake contract issue a slight warning in that the snakes, if disrespected, could become dangerous. ”Why thank you Neah-kun. Thank you so much. I honestly do not know what to say, this is a most generous offer. I would say I couldn’t possibly accept, but I don’t want to be rude and turn down such a gift from you.” He bit his finger, drawing a trickle of blood with which he wrote his name upon the scroll that Neah had produce, imprinting his hand next to the signature.

”And yes, of course. I do not make reckless use of my allies. To do so of a summoned companion would be equally foolish.” His eyes connected with the other boy once more, seeing that he had procured yet another scroll, this time handing it to Gen as yet another gift and, in doing so, stunning the poor older man once again. The stipulation on this was that the actual contract would remain with the snakes in their legendary cave, a given in the eyes of Yogensha, and that Neah would lend him this scroll of secret techniques, assuming that he would eventually return it. ”Thank you once more, you are most kind. And yes, I would be honored to learn of these techniques and shall surely find you to return the scroll when I have had more time to study it in depth. Thank you again for everything you have shared with me today, not the least of which was your precious time. And thank you to you as well, Bachi-sama.”

Gen would hover for a bit longer, waiting to hear the final goodbyes of the party. While he had no qualms with staying out here longer, he would rather not be caught out in the wilderness as night fell and so politely excused himself as he made his way to Sunagakure and, more importantly, to the legendary bathhouses therein. It was not, officially, time for some hard earned rest and relaxation. And who could say? Perhaps he would meet Neah once more in the bathhouses, and even should he not, Gen would likely see him around the village at some point. So he strolled on, waving happily back at Neah as he went, pleased that he had been given such a gift from him and so many gifts from the beast, even now feeling his presence as he granted him the power to create his own supplicants.