Mission name: Target: Fuhai (One-time)
Mission rank: B
Objective: The unification of the Unmei and the Spider Clan is about to happen!
Location: Swamp of Sorrow (Kirigakure)
Reward: 500 ryo

Mission Description: Hunt down Fuhai

Mission Details: 2500 wc
Fuhai is an 'old' Unmei following spider standards. She is an Unmei living in the Swamp of Sorrow, a recluse that wants to have no dealings with humans or Spider clan as she considers herself an abomination unfitting of either sides. Most of the time she remains in her lair, sleeping or talking with her puppet. A little crazy, Fuhai is actually not a danger to the human species unless there is little else to feed upon. When being hunted, she will be comprehensive of her faith but will not go down without a fight.

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Name: Fuhai
Age: 7 (spider age)
General Appearance: [x]
Personality: Reclusive, insane, associal, withdrawn.
Goals: Survival
Abilities: B rank ninjutsu, kugutsu, genjutsu & Unmei KKG, B rank suiton, raiton, fuuton
Strength: C-2, Endurance: B-0, Speed: C-2, Perception: B-2, Reaction: B-2
Items: B rank puppet

"A message for ah.. Haka Osada?"

The spider servant at the door nodded, allowing the man inside before guiding him to the young woman sitting in the kitchen with a bowl of pudding in front of her. As soon as the two entered, red eyes shifted to perceive the two visitors, checking if any were potentially out to steal her pudding goodness. It didn't seem the case. Leaving the messenger with the arachnid shinobi, he would nervously speak up.

"I have a message for you.", he'd start, gauging the reaction of the girl before him who simply waited for him to continue. "You have to hunt down a giant spider in the swamps. Considering your ah... familiarity with spiders, Administration thought you'd be the best choice for that."

Her eyes would keep resting on the man as her mind searched for the information she needed. Haka knew of a spider in the swamps. There had been one living there since years. The creature was an Unmei, so the rumours went, and might actually be one of the longest living to date if she didn't count Momma and Vilemaw. It was a matter of remembering the name of the old hag, the spider popping another spoonful of vanilla pudding in her mouth.

"You're ah... supposed to hunt it and kill it."

Savouring the texture of the pudding, which resembled her usual dinner of webbed humans softened up by spider venom, her eyes had yet to leave the messenger even once since he caught her attention. Haka waited, as patient as ever, until he was done.

"T-that's all..."

Hearing those words, she stood up and moved closer to him, bowl of pudding in hand. A mission to kill an Unmei. An unlikely coincidence. Though Haka was fine with the reclusive spider living in the swamps by herself, as the Tyrannis of the Spider Clan the recluse was nonetheless an Unmei that didn't fall under Sero's banner. Though old, the arachnid could still pose a problem should she feel a need to claim the power of Haka for her own. A risk Haka was partially willing to take, but now that the mission was there she had little other options to actually hunt Fuhai down.

Pushing the bowl of remaining pudding in the hands of the messenger, she past the man without a word, then halted at the doorway.

"I accept the mission. You can go back now."
"W-with the pudding?"
"Yes. Consider the pudding a privilege"

Leaving the man confused why pudding would be a privilege when he could just buy it readily from the shop, he'd leave the manor nonetheless as he knew the reputation it held. In the meantime, the spider prepared herself to find the Swamp of Sorrows...

---

470

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Wearing her trusted armour, feet walking undisturbed upon water and land alike, the apathetic gaze shifted from one spot to another as she dredged through the swamps. Mind lingering upon memories almost drowned by the recent events. A time where she had been a small spider chasing down an equally small human child in a mock chase. The wolf spider had not been hungry, merely enjoying the fear expressed by that girl until she turned about, mustered her courage and beat her with sticks. To think years of Ahoban had all began with that one moment of misunderstanding intentions. Or different lifestyles. Whichever of the two applied.

Then another time the two would be found together performing a mission. Two genin on the road to escort an artist in search of inspiration. As the day passed by, the two testing each other. A game of cat and mouse, testing the limits of emotions and the mind. Testing each other's trust for one another. The human hoping not to get eaten. The spider hoping not to get killed. Both victims of prejudice natural to their own kin. To think that same stick-fighting girl had grown to a level of acceptance many humans would consider 'friendship'. At the mere thought of such an absurd concept, Haka ran her hand through her hair. As if in exasperation someone had grown closer as close as how she viewed Sero or her own clan. The truth behind her body language actually being quite the opposite.

And now she was wandering the swamps again for a third time. In search of a marked prey. For a moment, the spider would have found it quaint if these swamps would mean a third encounter with the human. A play of Fate for no other apparent reason as the confirmation of their bond. But being a Fate-Weaver herself, Haka knew such an encounter would only occur if she had requested it to happen. And she knew well she had not done so. To see that very same stick-fighting girl standing at a distance, katana drawn in an opening stance, glacial aura freezing the waters under her feet and eyes fixated on Haka with a determination she had only seen twice before, the spider knew her prey could not be far. The hunter had become the hunted, the spider trapped in a genjutsu woven by none other that the target she had been looking for.

A test of will between two Unmei.

With a similar determination the arachnid would draw her old obsidian kunai and get closer. It was not too hard for her to dispel the genjutsu in place but the humane part about herself felt fine fighting an old rival. Even if the one before her was fake, it gave her a sense of familiar comfort to pick up the ice cold aura chilling the edge of her skin. A similar feeling to what Verdandi had come to get used to anytime Haka's monstrous aura draped over her.

"Amusing you should take her form to fight me. I hope your skill does her credit, Fuhai."

The human mirage would say nothing in return. Just watching her with intensity. Then moving forward to close the gap between the two. Katana would clash with kunai, sparks flying about as the weapons opposed each other. The advantage of the katana's reach would maintain the upper hand over the shorter kunai but the assault was crude in comparison to what Haka knew from experience. Verdandi danced with her weapons. This mimicry merely swept its weapon and hacked away. Ironic her own thoughts were such; the spider considering the genjutsu-dandi's movements to be... too logic. The pattern was easily readable, too predictable. Too straight forward too. It irked the Osada even though she had expected the Unmei's skill not to be on par with what the real Verdandi could bring forward. It annoyed her because the mirage was not doing the real version any credit.

"Disappointing.", she hissed, her usual quiet voice almost as icy in tone as genjutsu Verdandi's aura. As an opening would reveal itself, the black kunai would be thrown in between her sweeps, bypassing the defences and hitting the illusion's chest right in the middle.

Tonk.

A dull thud would catch the spider momentarily off guard, a mistake which would be capitalised upon by her opponent. A clean hit would cut her right arm, sinking into soft flesh before a kick would follow up and kick Haka backwards. Mirage-dandi would tilt its head. Expressionless despite its little victory.

"So that's your secret... Your illusions deceive the weak-willed while a piece of wood hunts for you."

An intriguing strategy if not a cowardly one, but the Unmei cared none for bravery. They were animals, driven by instinct. Haka could fully well understand how this form of hunting was safer and more lucrative than attempting to hunt on a personal level. However, the puppet had be destroyed, the Unmei controlling it to be brought down. With her kunai stuck in the puppet's chest, the spider would form hand seals and summon forth a set of three spiders. Crawling out of a blazing Summoning Circle, the spiders would shriek in pain before she send them out to deal with the puppet. Blowing up as they reached closer, the katon chakra scorching anything within a five meter radius. At the same time Haka would run towards and around the puppet, tracking its movement as it attempted to dodge the suicide squad's volatile violence.

Though it dodged the first and last arachnid, the second one had successfully lit it ablaze. The damage would be minimal but the wood had caught fire, the flames slowly gaining terrain as time moved on. Haka would flank the puppet, jumping towards it as it dodged the last spider, chakra claws at the ready. Two of them clawed wildly around her, hoping to cut the invisible chakra strings that commanded the puppet while those around her arms violently splintered its sword arm. With it, the illusion would disperse to reveal an old makeshift puppet not quite dissimilar in appearance to a giant effigy but sturdier than one would expect from the ramshackle  looking construction. Twigs, vines, resin and wood clattered and snapped as the chakra claws shred it to pieces, and for a brief moment it even clattered down motionlessly.

---

1077
Total: 1547


310/350
C Rank: Suicide Squad Spider
A Rank: Arms of the Mighty

Victory would be short lived. Just as Haka's chakra arms were about to shred the puppet completely, vine-like web would burst out of the puppet and engulf the huntress. Too close to dodge, they'd stick all around her, hold her in place before a fraction of a second later a lance of raiton pierced her torso. Though the quality of her armour was beyond the destructive power of the technique, the raiton didn't allow the leather to get away unscathed. The middle would be violently shred to piece, skin under it pierced and burned. A brutal combo, an excellent use of a puppet as a decoy.

Then a poof would follow, and the puppet's webbing would hold a solid chunk of a tree, now pierced mercilessly by raiton. Right behind the remnants of the puppet, chakra arms would tear the last vestige to pieces. Pieces of wood and vines would scatter about, revealing the end of the puppet as it were. Brushing off the dust of her leather armour, a small blackened mark would reveal that the technique had not left the spider unscathed. A fraction later it the jutsu could have well meant the end of the hunt for the Aranean Queen.

Lacking the proper means to detect chakra or sentient life by herself, Haka's gaze would glide over every minute detail within her visual perception as shadow slowly stirred to life under the formation of hand seals. Without turning around to watch the shadows coagulate into the form of a black widow, Haka would usher a single command at the summoned creature by her side. A moment of concentration later, a vast land was covered within an invisible chakra web of the black widow. Her prey would reveal itself soon, Fuhai moving away from the duo as she searched for an escape. With her puppet lost, the old spider of the swamps was seeking a new hideout. Seeking to survive. Unlike a life, a puppet of wood and vines could be rebuild in time.

The two would give chase and quickly catch up, spotting the emaciated wraith-like figure of the old spider. Fuhai hissed in distress, bleak eyes revealing signs of age as blindness was creeping up on her. She'd cower away, bumping her shoulder against a tree, crawling under its leaves as if partially hiding from sight would chase the hunters away.

"Go... Go away. I have no quarrel with your sort. You live, yes? Leave me to my sorrows.
"I would have allowed you to live on but the Creator's expectations demands otherwise."
"Your Creator. Not mine. I am not part of them. I am part of the swamp.
"He's the Creator of all Unmei."
"No, not Unmei. I'm... not Unmei. Not. Not Unmei~"

Fuhai would yammer the last words. Her existence a curse she could not undo. Not feeling home with the spider, nor with the humans. An abomination. A wretched soul. Haka understood she was no danger to the clan despite renouncing Sero, a mindset warranting a death sentence any day of the week, but what little human emotion she generally smothered under her tyrannic apathy awakening a brief flicker of pity for the old arachnid at this point. The Unmei's mind had died a long time ago, torn to shreds by its own inability to place itself upon the Web of Life. It had become trapped by its own mind. Both fly and spider at the same time, Fuhai could no longer differentiate between eating or being eaten.

"Ameya. Give her a swift death."

One blink of an eye later, the black widow's leg would pierce the heart of the old Weaver. A lifeless husk tumbled into the ground and between the roots of the gnarled tree bend over the swamp's waters. The wretched soul saved from its own torment, one more weakness removed from the clan of spiders.

"Should I cocoon her?"
"No. Our sister will nourish the animals of her home."
"An unusual decision... but if such is your will..."

Moving her hand through her hair, Haka took a moment to ponder upon today's hunt. Upon the application of genjutsu, wondering how weaving the mind could benefit the clan. She knew about Loiralane's methods and while those were an interesting application, Haka wanted to beyond that. Twist the mind of her opponents to her own benefit, forcing them to spill their secrets in favour of the Tyrannis. Read their minds. Bend their minds. Break their minds.

"What are you thinking about?"
"I need to see Loiralane."
"The Mind Weaver will be pleased. She has been asking about you."
"Tell her she can expect me soon."

With those words the Summoning would be undone, the black widow dispersing as a black mist under the sun. Leaving Haka alone once more with her thoughts. Giving the swamp of sorrows one last look, the wolf spider made her way back home.

Not all was said and done on the matter of visiting Loiralane. She had omitted the details on purpose as it would only lead to the widow complaining about her actions. Haka would not see the Mind Weaver by herself. One more person would join her - Kyutai. If not to show him the arts of Fuinjutsu and see if Loiralane considered him even remotely worth as a Summoner, then to have his mind screened. Something was wrong with the boy, and it wasn't his overly humane nature. She minded not the path he walked as long as he succeeded in surviving but she disliked the fractured approach he wielded. Like he was living in several different places at the same time. It was something the Unmei had not encountered. Was it a growing illness of the mind or was it the blooming of a visionary insight seeking its way out? Loiralane would know. And when she did, so would Haka.

---

270/350
-15 Jutsu Maintenance
E-rank Sub
C-rank Kuchiyose no Jutsu

95/150
-10 Summon Maintenance
B-rank Weaver's Web
A-rank Black Widow's Kiss

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[EXIT]

994
Total: 2541
-2500 Mission, 500 ryo reward