Running all across Spider Island to map the environment was a greater endeavour than she could have expected. A ten mile radius, give or take a mile, wasn't something to scoff at. That vast land that made up Spider Island was mostly filled with dead trees, murky grass, a couple of flowers somehow surviving the lands and an impossible amount of spiders hiding here and there, their sizes varying between the itsy bitsy tiny one up to the rarer giant wolf spiders with the size of a wagon. Most of the land was unused, left bare to the whims of the natural elements and that of the spiders weaving their webs. Burrows would reveal trap door spiders, giant webs using trees as pillars revealing the lairs of weaver spiders. If there had once been animals running wild here, their tracks and scent had long since died out as the spiders had devoured most, if not all of them by now. There was a reason why humans had renamed Osada Island to 'Spider Island', and why it made their skin crawl.
That reputation played to Haka's advantage now as few humans wandered the island, afraid to fall prey to the giant spiders. With them out of the way, there was no need to watch the 'guests' that would come to visit Sero. If they did... it would be up to them to survive the skirmish should they get between the cross-fire. Haka was not their guardian in the slightest, her dislike for humans not having wavered despite the years she spend in the Ahoban. There were a few that had come to be considered 'accepted' in their existence but even these humans would not be given a helping hand when it came to the brutal politics that were currently being played out on Spider Island - an all out war between more than a handful of different factions, lead by stronger spiders or Unmei vying to claim power, overthrow the manor or some other reason that pushed them to believe they had any rights to claim supremacy.
Unlike human warfare this one didn't involve mechanics and crafty tools. It was far more primitive and direct. Risen leaders held brute power, others had chakra techniques, some had vast amounts of spiders running along with them. Every opponent different, Haka would need everything she had in the sense of skill and experience to deal with the factions that scattered the Spider Clan from one single purpose. Her purpose, of course. One that would bring the entire clan under the influence of Sero as the Creator and Lord of this island, while providing new masses and power to herself to make sure her iron will and fist would not be broken. Knowing humans, she would already be considered a tyrant just for instating and allowing but a single direction to the clan but the ever-meddling creature were not the ones that held the right to dictate the Spider Clan, nor the right to speak based on their flawed and failed history where such libertine approach had only created cause for friction among themselves. Not to mention the vast amount of weakness present that forced the stronger ones to sacrifice their lives in favour of preserving them, thus crippling the general growth and potential to evolution of the human species. No, the Spider Clan would not befall such an ill faith under Haka's command. Strength had always prevailed in the clan, and it would remain as such.
But achieving that goal was a difficult road where she'd have to risk her life several times. The movement of spider swarms she had seen before from atop the manor was just the beginning. The first skirmishes had come to pass, whole swarms of spiders eating each other alive under the command of powerful arachnids of the Clan and Unmei alike. Haka, too, had suffered one such encounter. A small group of spiders easily scattered with some fire and a ruthless display of power, guided by stronger Unmei. The first of their leaders had been a joke, but the second one had still succeeded at bruising her flank despite his lack of experience. Though he didn't have the shinobi training or the mission experience she held, his personal power had not been one to be disregarded. Haka respected that. But it also gave her reason for concern. If even one of the faction leaders was an Unmei with experience and insight like her, getting away with little more than a bruising would be one lucky day.
Idling about was no option. Haka had to move. Find the nests, find the leaders. The easiest one to spot would be those who dropped subtlety in favour for blatant display of power. Admittedly, despite being an assassin, Haka was one of those. The manor where she resided was hardly something one could call subtle, the reputation of Sero stretching far and wide. Being recognised by him as one of his daughters partially imposed that same reputation on her. Expectations were set. Rumours ran rampant. It weren't just humans who gossiped. The Spider Clan did too. And they knew about the Osada Unmei. They knew she would be hunting, since Spider Island as a whole was the web she used to catch her prey with.
Her first prey would be the one who disturbed her web the most - Shikkan and his white skull spiders.
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