Your Body Is A Template Chapter 2: Ashes of False Hospitality 

I ran for hours. Using my chakra to enhance my physical body, I moved at blistering speeds. The idea to use the coastline is now scrapped, with that shinobi showed me that it wasn’t an option. If the guy was a much more dangerous named shinobi like Zabuza or heaven forbid Kisame and I were next to the ocean beside them, then I would be dead.

I had no confidence in taking either of them or the bigger monsters that existed in this world yet. So the forest was my best bet. I moved far faster than most cars and only occasionally stopped to rest and get a drink of water. After traversing what felt like several dozen miles, I came to a stop, sitting under the shade of a tree.

My breathing evened out with the cool wind helping dry up the sweat that coated my body. I got up and walked, letting my chakra replenish itself, not wishing to become vulnerable because I used it all up running in case it would be needed to fight.

For a few minutes I enjoyed the sounds of the birds and nearby animals until all the noise the creatures of the forest made stopped. Like someone just hit a mute button. Odd.

“Likely a predator of some kind around," Kojirou said.

“I’ll be fine. No simple animal could hope to kill me.” I was confident with chakra boosting me and Kojirou’s skills. It was mostly the confidence that came from going over what felt like a hundred miles an hour with chakra enhancing me. No bear or mountain lion had a prayer if it attempted to get a meal out of me.

“Be careful Andrew. Many young ronin and samurai have fallen because of their arrogance.”

"Alright, I’ll be careful," I said nonchalantly, waving off his concern.

Despite the hair-raising quiet, nothing ever happened. Minutes went by with me relaxing, my guard finally dropping when the sound of foliage moving and other noises I couldn’t quite make out ahead of me got my curiosity.

Walking ahead on the overgrown path that had been let go for far too long, I stumbled across something that made my eyes widen and dilate, my hand gripping the handle of my sword so tight my knuckles turned white and popped.

A bird was chirping, desperately struggling to escape from a rather big spider's web. I stared at it like a deer in the headlights of a car, with any confidence I had dying a swift death when reminded of one of my few and biggest fears. My mouth felt dry, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up straight like needles on a cactus.

The bird saw me staring and struggled even harder, making the web around it vibrate even more. It was almost like guitar strings with how they were plucked, and if it wasn’t for the bird and the angle of the light, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

The dark green-colored bird looked just shy of two feet tall as I remained planted in my spot, absolutely petrified. My sword was clutched to my chest as my eyes glanced around in terror.

“… A green pheasant caught in a web?” Kojirou questioned aloud the odd situation while the feeling of confusion at my reaction could be felt in my mind.

“… I hate spiders.” I said it so quietly that it could have been drowned out by a small gust of wind.

Whatever Kojirou was about to say stopped when the bird's movements grew frenzied when it looked at something further up in the tree that I couldn’t see but felt was not from something in my chakra or something I could do myself but what was gained from Kojirou. It felt… not necessarily wrong, but more unnatural to the world around it.

Like, it shouldn’t be here in this place, yet it was. Like oil on the surface of the ocean, it just stood out for how dark it was. Then it showed up, making my eyes turn as wide as saucers. A long, hairy, spindly leg appeared out of the shadows of the tree.

It was as long as my arm. Then more. They slowly crept closer towards the poor bird, which I would have helped out of the web but now was frozen in terror. My breath that had up to this point been held in became frantic, bordering on almost hyperventilating. Then the head and body came out.

The bird, by this point, looked towards me, squawking as if begging me for help. The spider paused, looking towards me and then the bird before it grew closer. The spider's main body besides its legs was about half as big as my torso. Its disgusting fangs leaked out an odd-colored substance as they rubbed together, its beady black eyes stared at the bird unflinchingly.

Its body was a hairy black with green mixed in. It grew closer towards the poor bird before my fear overcame me. Most people, when they are confronted with something they fear, like, in my case, spiders, tend to freak out and run away. 

The thing is I was a little special in that sense. Much like with snakes, spiders fit into the same category for me. That is, I was absolutely terrified of them… so much so that the instant I saw one, it was on sight.

The spider learned that the hard way. Its head was about to bite down on the bird but instead paused when my sword appeared and sliced its fangs off, then its head, followed by its various limbs. The bird, perfectly cut free, fell to the forest floor with a squawk.

The bird, after several seconds of fighting to get up on its taloned feet, looked up at me as I was now covered in the juices of the disgusting abomination, unfit for even hell for how vile and horrible it was that it wouldn’t be welcomed even in the inferno.

My sword sent spurts of its disgusting juices onto nearby trees and splashed the bird with it. “Die… die die die die!!!” I cried out like a lunatic before stopping once it looked like roadkill. 

I huffed and breathed deeply, flicking my sword, cleaning the bug gunk from it and wiping my hands and face off, reeling from the terror that thing brought out of me. Using my sheathed sword as a cane as I let out a nervous laugh. 

“It’s nothing to be afraid of… it’s just got multiple eyes, eight legs, is creepy as fuck… and it’s dead. Nothing to fear anymore.” I said before my head snapped to the side, seeing one of the severed legs twitch. The bird watched from a safe distance as I carved and hacked away at what was sliced hairy spider meat to then become ground hamburger.

“… That was an interesting reaction to a spider.” 

“Kojirou, a spider is small. Tiny. Some can be as big as my fist,” Said fist was held up for emphasis after freeing the bird of the web stuck to its back. “That was a nightmare. It deserved death, and even that was too merciful for the spawn of the devil.”

I ranted before after a chill went through my body with goosebumps forming at the horrible memory I suppressed and buried, like I did everything I didn’t want to remember. 

“If you say so. At least your fear is not something that would make you run like a coward.”

I gave him a humorless chuckle. “My fear stems from it being a threat. If I think it’s a threat, I kill it. No hesitation, it’s on sight.”

I turned to see the bird following me and cawing at me. Like it wanted me to follow it. “Sorry, birdy, but I can’t follow you. I just came from that way, and I need to go this way.”

I pointed forward to a path that led away from those that pursued me. The bird just followed me until it stopped and I walked out of the forest and found an old village that had seen better days… at least a century ago. The place reminded me of the Japanese equivalent to those old ghost towns you could find out in the outback of America. 

Surprisingly, none of the buildings had collapsed from the elements and years of no maintenance. I walked closer and looked back to see the bird was watching from a tree but wouldn’t step forward past the forest line. 

I blinked, tilting my head before scoffing. “I’m overthinking things… it’s just a bird I saved. It probably knows someone around here is a hunter or something. Hopefully they have flamethrowers for any more… spiders.” I said with a deep frown when a normal-sized spider rested on its web near what looked like an old school well that had a bucket hanging from a rope near a pulley system.

Before I could kill the spider, a voice got my attention. “Oh my, a visitor! I haven’t had one for such a long time.” 

I tore my gaze away from the demon to have my eyes land on a beautiful woman. Her skin was a healthy pale, long black hair that trailed down her back, and deep dark eyes. Her body was curvaceous with an ample chest that her kimono did its best to keep contained.

She was walking out of one of the few buildings that looked taken care of. It still looked like it was about to collapse, but it was in better condition than the rest. I idly wondered why this beautiful woman is here in this rundown abandoned village.

“Are you out here all alone?” I asked the first thing that came to mind. Especially knowing that demonic spawn was out in the forest, who knows what else dwelled in this place?

The urge to shudder grew as the woman nodded. “Yes. The village has been abandoned for some time now after certain tragedies had befallen it, and over time the people left and moved while I remained here.”

As she spoke, a feeling overcame me. It was an odd one, but Kojirou helpfully supplied what it was. Mind’s Eye. It was warning me of something, but what it was, I didn’t know. It was like it was dulled down and submerged under water, making understanding and figuring out what the threat was rather difficult.

"Well, that’s sad to hear. Why stay here? You know it’s dangerous to do so on your own? Especially after what I just dealt with on the path coming through this forest.”

She had a serene but sad smile on her face. “I remain here because I just can’t bring myself to leave my home. As for the danger… I am capable of taking care of myself, Ronin-san. I have lived in this forest for several years and can do so for many more. Though I am curious… What was the threat you speak of?” She sounded proud, then curious. There was something else there, but I couldn’t quite place what it was. Her tone was soft and inviting, a gentle caress across my ears. 

But the memory of the hell spawn I had killed not that long ago made whatever urge to ogle her die a swift death, one that giant spider likely wished it had gotten instead of what was done to it. She tilted her head curiously when I shuddered at the thought.

“A giant spider. Black and green. Was moving through the overgrown path before coming across a green pheasant about to be eaten by it, so I killed it.”

She froze for a fraction of a second. Even as I recounted the horrible abomination and its gruesome appearance, I didn’t fail to notice. The feeling from Mind's Eye grew even stronger, yet there was no sign pointing to what it was that was dangerous to me.

“A- a giant spider? You must be exhausted after such a fight. It would be rude of me not to offer you a place to rest, Ronin-san." She kindly offered.

When I was about to open my mouth to refuse, I realized that I did need to rest a bit longer and also to clean myself of that thing that shall not be mentioned covering my body with its guts.

“Thank you, Miss…" I trailed off when the realization that I didn’t know her name hit me like a loaded box truck.

She tittered at my social stumbling. “Itohime. And may I ask your name, brave ronin?”

“Kojirou.” I said back, deciding to use the name my dad gave me because of his obsession with badass Japanese historical figures he saw in anime. It would be weird to use my first name of Andrew here, considering how foreign it was compared to everyone else’s name.

I would rather fit in than stand out like a sore thumb… Well, stand out even more. “Welcome to my home, Kojirou.”

She paused before glancing back towards the bird I had saved, which froze as if a great predator were staring at it before it squawked and quickly rushed back into the foliage. I looked between the bird and her, now even more confused. She soon ushered me into her home, which was a little better on the inside than it was on the outside. It smelled of candles and incense that mixed together that was just shy of being overpowering.

The wood creaked and groaned, the place cleaner than expected with hardly any dust in the hallway. A sliding door opened, and she ushered me into my room for the night and was kind enough to give me several well-made clothes. Itohime was apparently a master craftsman at creating and designing robes and clothes. 

I tried to get her to not do this since they were well made, and with the situation I was in, they would get destroyed or damaged. The unfortunate cost of being hunted down relentlessly. Anything that could be enjoyed would now be a rare luxury for me. I hoped not. Things like rest and relaxation were something I never ever wanted to give up in my life.

But she insisted, stating that the sight of my clothes she could not stand, and if I were to stay in her home for the night, she would need me to wear what she had given me. 

With her constant insistence, I took the gift and donned it. They were a light lavender in color with camellia flowers designed into it.

I rested in my room, but that feeling from the watered-down mind's eye never faded. If anything, it got worse. A crack in a dam left untreated would turn into something much worse. Hours had passed since I put on the comfortable clothes, trying to sleep, but I couldn’t.

The impending danger hung ominously overhead constantly near me. A glance at the flowers designed into the clothes with Kojirou’s knowledge told me it was a rather interesting design choice… it was a flower that represented a sudden noble death for a samurai.

Rising off the floor, I had had enough since rest wouldn’t come for me with this wariness that never left me. 

“That design she chose would have gotten her killed in Japan.” Kojirou helpfully supplied. “Especially when the samurai or ronin are still alive. It would be considered a great insult. It was not by accident.”

“You’re telling me this now?!” I hissed quietly, opening the sliding door and stepping out into the dark hallway. The sun had since set, and darkness pervaded Itohime’s home.

“You already had your own suspicions but didn’t follow up on them. Thankfully you had enough sense to act even if it was hours later. I can teach you, but wisdom comes with experience.” Kojirou said with an air of wisdom.

I stalked through the surprisingly big interior. Bigger than I had expected it to be. Almost like the other buildings near it were instead added to her home. A slight brush of my hand against something in the air had me look over only to freeze. A tiny spider watched me from its web in a corner. 

A look of hate and disgust formed on my face as it seemed to sense it, and unlike every other spider I had known in my old world, it tried to back away. Too late, as my sandal now in hand smacked and crushed the cursed creature. 

Nodding to myself and letting out a sigh through my nose, I moved further into the building, only to pause when the door to my room opened and multiple steps from a group entered into the room I was resting inside of could be heard.

Why was a group of people going into the room?  Was Itohime helping people hunt me down for the headband?

The steps were off, though… too quiet, and how they sounded made it seem like a more narrow point was touching the wood. It was barely noticeable, and most people wouldn’t have even heard it, let alone distinguish the odd shape the feet had to be to make such a noise, but Kojiro thankfully had honed his senses to a razor's edge over the course of his life. 

It also helped that the wood in this place was rather difficult to move around without creating any noise. Might as well be wearing clown shoes with horns attached. My saving grace was using the outside wind that made parts of the building groan, the noise as a means to hide my own steps. My presence was reduced, making it even more difficult to find me courtesy of Kojiro’s assassin class.

Moving further in, with that strange noise now becoming louder with the sound of frustrated growls and wood being broken and torn apart.

I moved further away from the noise and moved for a brief moment before another spider's web touched my hand. A shiver ran the length of my body before I tried and unsuccessfully got it off. Looking at it dumbfounded before yanking on it again, trying to get the disgusting spider excrement off of me, was met with constant resistance.

“What the hell kind of spider has a web that’s hard to remove from a person?” I hissed out only to pause when a faint tremor went up the strand of silk. It wasn’t from me. My eyes widened before, without even needing Mind's Eye to warn me, my sword was pulled out, and a clean slice cut the string from my hand before it went flying back into the darkness.

Something pulled the web…

Now unnerved and not wanting to find out what the hell did that and having a suspicion Itohime isn’t who she seemed to be. I took note of more strands, having a better idea of what to look for. They were still difficult to find even with that along with no dust of any kind to help spot them.

Then taps could be heard further back where that web had attached itself to me, making me pause before moving far faster. Stairs that were free of the web had me go up them, but not before taking my sword and, with a quick draw, sending a few slices towards webs down a hallway that led away from the stairs, making the steps grow faster.

Quickly moving up the stairs, somehow succeeding in not having a single one creak while becoming a ghost in the night. My form gracefully moved further up, and I would privately admit it, I went a little faster when the strange multiple taps that my suspicions on what it was had me freaking out about paused near the stairs before moving down the hallway I had used as a distraction.

It was incredibly dark upstairs. More so than it was down below with the thing that was actively searching for me, I moved further in before entering a much bigger room. Wishing I had grabbed a candle, my foot brushed against something and kicked it up before it could scrape across the floor, and I caught it in midair.

Looking down at what was revealed to be a sword in a sheathe. Drawing it close while looking it over, I see the intricate designs over the sheath with horse-like creatures with horns and reptilian scales surrounded by lightning. A samurai’s sword is never far from its owner…

Yet no one was around me before a realization and a foreboding feeling overcame me. I looked up to see nothing but darkness. Then a small feeling of something that before I had gotten my power, I wouldn’t have noticed. It was smaller than a needle, but I could feel the tremors running up.

Taking my sword, with a flick of my wrist, it struck a piece of metal that was stuck to a wood pillar to keep it in place, sending sparks flying, briefly illuminating everything before, with a deft hand, the candle was lit. Seeing what was causing the vibration, a web was attached to my arm, shining in the brief light with a small yet fat spider moving along the length of the strand.

Almost to my arm, my eyes caught one of the last few sparks flying down, impacting the spider silk and touching it before it erupted in a burst of small flames. The spider, now no longer capable of getting to me, tried to get off the silk, but it was too late. The strand burst into flames that washed over the spider that chittered, falling to the floor and burning while it still drew breath. It fell to the floor with a silent thud, legs curled up in a smoking ball. The web now burnt away, thankfully not enough to start a fire.

Holding the candle up, I saw it all. My blood turned to ice, whatever thoughts existed instead ground to a halt. For a moment, no sound, not even that tapping in the distance, with everything falling silent.

Just me, a candle, and a metric ton of webbing in the ceiling with countless bodies stuffed in that webbing and a now-burnt spider that tried to crawl on me. Some were stuck to the big mass in the center not too far off from a spitwad. Others hung suspended from cocoons that held skeletal forms with their clothes or armor still stuck to them, and others had some flesh still remaining. 

“Kojiro, what are you doing up here?” Itohime's voice spoke softly from the stairs. 

Immediately whirling towards her voice, only seeing her head and upper torso in the darkness. Her hair trailed over a shoulder, her kimono now hanging off a shoulder and her chest far more exposed. Her lips curled into a ruby-red smile, a kindly one with the way her upper body was portrayed would make most people think she was in the mood. Or it would have been had it not been for the macabre room we both were in. 

My pupils shrunk when all around us a mass of darkness began to shift and move, and even the webs began to stir. A tide of black that scuttled around us, turning the already oppressive darkness into an ocean of it that made the candle feel far less soothing in the dark.

Then she crept forward while I stepped back, hand grasping my sword, and the other ignored the hot wax that began to come off the candle. 

“Trying to get away from you.” I said honestly. Yet my voice came out devoid of any emotion in an attempt to not choke up. 

Spiders… spiders everywhere. At my comment, she chuckled, shifting from that sensual, womanly voice to silk threads being plucked inside of a cave. The tide of them grew closer, blocking off any exit.

“You not only killed my eldest daughter but also two of my sons.” She idly commented, and the anger in her tone couldn’t be hidden, the kind only a mother could show at the loss of a child.

Her upper body rose up into the air, but whatever she had below her navel was kept in the dark. My eyes dilated. Just a little closer. The tide of spiders paused at a gesture from Itohime before they all moved back in unison.

A sigh of relief escaped me. The bodies hanging in the room with some of them completely covered in samurai armor told me that Itohime wasn’t to be taken lightly. But if I could fight her on my own without the swarm of spiders drowning me, I had a chance.

“While it breaks my heart to have the man who killed my children inside of my home, it also means I have someone strong enough to give me even stronger children… and to feed the rest.” The corners of her mouth moved upwards in a sadistic smile, her eyes crinkled in joy.

I knew better than to believe she wanted to do the horizontal tango with me. Especially when I had the misfortune of knowing what female spiders did to the males when they mated. Once more my eyes glanced towards the few bodies visible under the darkness of the mass of spiders.

One of them was a samurai in red armor that was mostly still sealed besides the part of the face plate that was cracked open with a few spiders crawling out of the skull's empty socket.

My keen eyes, despite the darkness with the candlelight being just enough, caught the strands of silk glowing faintly in the dark, weaving towards me while Itohime muttered some kind of weird phrase that almost sounded like a prayer before drawing my blade and slashing through them. The strands of silk set off Mind's Eye when a strange other world's power surged through them.

Itohime’s now multiple eyes widened before her mouth fell open. “What?! What kind of samurai trains with chakra instead of ki?!

I didn’t give her the chance to say anything further as more strands of silk moved only to be cut to pieces before my blade nearly took her head. Instead, she scuttled back in a hurry, her hand still outstretched in a prayer sort of gesture akin to a monk from Asia.

“Ki? So chakra isn’t the only thing in this world to become superhuman?” I asked aloud, confused by her comment.

Naruto was a series that only had chakra as far as I knew…

Her human-like face warped and twisted as the skin ripped apart, pouring off her frame. Then, to her surprise, she looked towards her hand held in that gesture before a small, thin line appeared, and it fell off, spraying blackened sludge out of it. She screamed in pain and anger, her voice reverberating across the room.

I tried to go for her head again, but this time she knew not to get close. Another muttered prayer sound from her, and webs moved to intercept me, wrapping around me. There were just too many to cut, but it didn’t stop me, with piles of it falling to the ground, inert. I grunted, not understanding how this small amount of strings was stopping me. Some of them even went through my skin, making my eyes bug out.

My blade, while untouched by the threads, for any that got close was cut with ease on its edge, courtesy of the chakra I pushed along its gleaming length.

The smaller spiders began to move towards me, and I, now really freaked out and not wanting to become a mummy hanging from a web sack, kept alive just long enough to feed the… things that would live inside of me.

That morbid thought and a slight burning sensation made me remember the candle in my hand. A few spiders traveled along the webs that Itohime had me wrapped in while she watched me from a safe distance, cradling the stump that had been her hand. What had been gushing her blood was now wrapped in plenty of spider silk.

Taking the candle and struggling to even move while Itohime laughed. It was disgusting and made my skin break out in goosebumps. “You're new to chakra. Good. It will make this much easier. Instead of enjoying my loving caress you will get to spend time with my children.” Her smile grew too large, skin breaking apart further with two mandibles coming out from her jawline. 


“Thanks for the reminder. And I hope your children like to play with fire.” I said through gritted teeth, using my mistakes from my attempts at trying to wall-walk far too early. The chakra along my body built up to Itohime’s horror as she realized what I was doing too late.

The spiderwebs were drawn close to me before an explosive bang broke them all apart, sending a gust of air that blew back the spiders closest to me with wet splats on the various walls.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed out, making my ears ring. With a deft toss the handle went flying high towards the circle. Itohime’s eyes widened, looking up towards it. Whatever she was about to do to try and stop the candle came to an end when I charged right for her.

Her webs launched out, with Mind's Eye going into overdrive. Ducking under a dozen strands, the others were side-stepped, even more cut down. Yet not once had I slowed in the slightest. Before I could get close enough to cut her head off, the small light of the candle that no longer illuminated the darkness for me soon turned into a brightly lit room, followed by the roar of the fire.

Squeals and chittering greeted my ears when the bodies of her children rained from the ceiling, set on fire with the entire ceiling now a great inferno that only hell could hope to outmatch. For me this may as well have been hell.

“My children!!!” She wailed in despair before looking towards me, her body frozen. “You will pay.” 

Sending more webs my way with more chants, and despite the flames being so loud, I could finally hear what was being said. “Oh great weaver, designer of the web that encompasses everything, give me sight, let me bind my enemies, the webs I call upon.” She whispered out in a hurry. Her other remaining hand did the same prayer motion.

The ethereal webs that flowed from her that seemed transparent and not entirely real rushed towards me, but a chunk of the ceiling broke apart with the vast majority of spiders scurrying for their lives. The bodies of the samurai and any poor travelers taken in by this abomination burned with all of the webbing.

Her ghostly strings still went through the flaming chunk of wood, to my shock. Eyes widening, the sword snapped out, coated with more chakra, cutting the threads. One side stepped and was slashed, dispersing it as if it never existed. The second was avoided, and my strike was aborted, dodging the flaming skeleton clad in black and gold armor adorned in lightning bolts that wasn’t even harmed by the flames.

It fell through the floor with a great crash that sent smoke and embers flying. More strings came, followed by spectral spiders. They hopped and floated through the floor. Like the strings, they too were cut down, their appendages generating ghostly sparks when I applied chakra to them. It drained me far too quickly, but it was either that or finding out what any of her attacks would do to me without it.

The entire ceiling was a roaring inferno, wood, bodies, and tons of burnt spiders fell from it. Before I could even continue the fight a large chunk of the ceiling came down, my eyes watering from the smoke and coughing with each lungful of air burning down my throat.

The floor creaked and groaned uncertainly, with smoke and fire peeking out of each of the holes formed. Making my decision, I rushed towards a nearby wall and channeled more chakra and sliced a hole in the wall. Rushing through the smoke-filled corridor with the entire hallway filled with smoke and fire.

I coughed, and each breath felt labored. “Ack! Last time… I accept an invitation to an... abandoned village. By a beautiful woman… that has no business being here.”

I berated myself for such a stupid decision. It was obvious now that I thought more about it. And I was running off of the high when I beat that shinobi. I got cocky thinking I knew enough about the world and that I could handle a random beautiful woman in a country Naruto never really bothered to do much with beyond maybe some filler.

I was rushing down the corridor, trying my best to avoid the flames. “Fuck this.” I said aloud more to myself, seeing a group of spiders running for their lives from flames tearing up the walls. The yellow tongues were the talons of a great monster come to claim everyone in this nightmare of a building.

It can have the spiders and their mother, but I am getting out of here. Sword held out with me rushing towards a wall, cutting it open, and pushing into another room. I didn’t care if I caused it to collapse when the wall went down the previous hallways all but collapsed on itself.

Chakra boosting, I moved fast enough the various rooms caving in didn’t matter to me. After four rooms I neared another wall only to sidestep when a blackened figure broke through the floor. 

“Look at what you have done! My home! My children.” Itohime had the upper body of a woman, if you could even call her that by this point. Her face now had far too many eyes, and her lower jaw turned into a pair of mandibles that twitched and rubbed against one another, with her kimono now burned to a blackened crisp and her flesh beneath it blistered and charred.

Her lower half finally revealed when she clambered up and out of the hole. It was a disgusting spider that had numerous hairs, almost like thorns, running along the length of her legs. 

“Here’s some advice for you-- you shouldn’t have made your babies so burnable, otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone and burned them all.”

I nonchalantly said while twisting the dagger even more by making a show of stomping my foot on one of the few spiders not on fire with a wet splat. Her eyes widened before she screamed before charging me. She charged me, rearing up on two forelegs, slamming down, spearing through the floor. 

Sidestepping the attack and blocking her follow-up attacks her legs, all attacking when they weren’t busy trying to hold her weight up. “You bastard. Just die!” 

She has all but given up on her weird chants, now just going back to the age-old tactic of beating the crap out of me. Her legs were oddly durable, with my blade bouncing off of them and catching on her hairs. One particular strike slammed into one leg, which then got ripped from my hands when the other slammed into it, pinning it.

Growling, trying to get it back, instead I yelped when the other legs came to tear me apart. Letting go of my sword and rolling under a clawed hand trying to slice my throat.

Her legs locked around me and then tossed my sword to the other side of the room. The same side I was going to try to leave through. The floor cracked and groaned as it slowly began to fall apart, the crackle of fire growing louder with the passing of each second.

Itohime was relentless. Her strikes and attacks were more like wild animals than any martial prowess. This went on for several agonizing seconds with the hole I came through now gone with the roof and floor collapsing. A rush of smoke came right for us, and despite my reservations about what I was going to have to do, I forced my disgust down.

Her hand outstretched with her claws out aimed for my gut, but instead of dodging back like I had been, I did something that surprised her. I move forward.

Her arm misses by an inch, almost skewering my stomach. Moving in and under her, my arm and leg using the chakra expulsion method impacted a few of her legs at the joints, making her fall to the floor and my blackened form sliding out from under her. 

As a final fuck you to her, my fist slammed down on the uneven floor. She looked at me in horror, hand ready to grab me before it began to fall apart. 

“Noooooo!” She screamed out, falling into the flames below.

Not wanting to join her, I seamlessly scooped up my sword and slashed through the wall and for once caught sight of the cool night sky before jumping out. It had turned to night, with the stars and moon only partially blocked out by the fire rising high into the sky. Landing with a thud and rolling along the dirt, looking back towards the part of the village she and her… family called home.

It was on fire and already collapsing. Waves of heat washed over everything. Getting up off my feet and coughing, I see a few puffs of smoke escape my mouth. 

Then with a great crunch and the sound of embers, the building with a few others connected to it came crashing down. Shielding my face with a blackened sleeve with smoke flying ever higher. Glancing to the side, seeing a solitary spider running, I just shook my head and stepped on it.

I took my foot and wiped it on the grass until it was clean. I then took my time in cleaning off any spider webs that still clung to me. If anyone were to watch this process, they would see a grown man making girly cries of fear, running around, his hands shaking, his hair like it owed him money.

After several minutes of this and after the flames had petered out on the outskirts of the building, I let out a sigh of relief. My outfit, which was a dark joke from the spider lady, is now ruined, covered in smoke that looks almost completely black, with my skin not much better. 

I lost one of my sandals along with my body having a few minor burns. “Ow… last damn time I ever start a fire in my life. I hope.” I tacked on, letting out a hiss when I touched a few of the burns. 

I got lucky. I left before the spider lady likely intended to ambush me in that room, and I didn’t get caught in the house fire. No spiders beyond the one I stepped on outside.

A sigh of relief escaped me before I broke out into a coughing fit. One that soon died when the sound of wood moving against wood greeted my ears. Taking my sword and moving closer towards the collapsed, mildly burning building, I see a blackened leg pop out of the wood with a crunch.

“Oh for fucks sake… will you just die already?” I whined, but it couldn’t hide the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. The figure slowly emerged, still half trapped under the smoldering wood.

Half her face was heavily burned alongside large portions of her body. Her kimono, once pristine, was in tatters. She grasped the wood with her remaining hand, trying to pull herself out, and I could see why. A couple of legs were either limp or just gone, ending in burned-out stumps.

She looked over when she heard my shuffling across the dirt and grass. She paused, unsure of what to do. Her remaining hand ripped off the last of her dress bearing her chest at me that was somehow mostly fine against all odds.

“… I have boobs.” She said, trying to entice me by posing seductively. 

The look of disgust grew on my face, and before either of us knew it, her head was sent flying back into the burning wreckage. The rest of her body fell over. Any twitch or movement had a section carved off of it. It was only after my blade had broken upon carving into her last remaining leg did I stop.

“I fucking hate spiders!” I yelled out to the heavens for the brutal torment I had been subjected to. The only witness to this was the green pheasant at a nice safe distance watching the morbid display of brutality.