The First Contract

Naga's Mindscape (Naga's Point of View)

Silence. The world had been quiet ever since she finished the previous phase of the transformation. At this point, her legs were gone, and the only thing left of them was a serpentine lower body. It was a little irritating. She could technically already turn her legs into this with one of the movement techniques her 'father' taught her. She just didn't think it was efficient. She was much faster with her legs in their bipedal form. Now, she'd have to cope with this new transformation; that is, if she could ever regain control over her mind and body.

Now though, she was asleep, a condition she had been forced into during the shock of losing the curse mark. She figured out pretty quickly that the curse mark her father branded her with was the only thing delaying the transformation process, likely due to his desperate desire to save his precious 'vessel', a title he frequently used to refer to her when talking to his goons.

Suddenly, the world around them trembled slightly, rousing her consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, surprised that they once again beheld the light of her mind. She had all but given up. The transformation was in its final stages, and she fully expected to have been snake food by now.

Again, the world around her shook, this time with much greater force, causing the growing pit of snakes to let out pained shrieks, or as close as they could get with their hissing. Slowly, snakes in the pit began losing consciousness. As this happened, they unwillingly ceded control over her ability to move.

'What's happening? Did that girl really come for me?' she thought with hesitant glee.

She could remember the face of that beautiful visage who freed her from her father's bindings. Thinking back, that girl had promised to save her, though she didn't have much faith in that possibility. This base was well hidden, and she hadn't the time to provide details on her location beyond the landscape surrounding the base. She really didn't think it was possible to find this place with that little intelligence. That said, a small traitorous spark of hope kept her going even then. The girl had somehow found her way into her mind before, so maybe she had a way now, even if Naga had no idea what that could conceivably be.

If this were five months ago, the thought of relying on someone else for help would be inconceivable. 'No one but her mother had ever helped her for good reasons before, so why should she expect any now?' That was the way she had been conditioned to think. That changed though, when her 'father' performed his last experiment.

From his explanation, he'd be implanting cores of incredible power he found in Ryuchi Cave. It sounded simple enough. From his explanation, they constantly released traces of special chakra and would slowly improve her body over time. She could feel a well of power from both, but only the black and red core felt like it had any resonance with her. She felt a connection with it on sight. It wasn't anything she could or would explain to 'father', but that's how it felt. As for the other core, there was no resonance at all. She didn't even recognize the type of energy that was being emitted, only that its depth was comparable to its twin.

Regardless of any connection she may have felt, the procedure had been a nightmare. Since it had the least activity, her 'father' inserted the blue core first. It was a simple process. He just placed it on her chest, and it phased into her like a stone into quicksand. Nothing happened after the process was completed. She didn't feel any different, nor could she even perceive that there was anything different with her body. Once he did the same with the other core though, her world became one of pain. Every second became a struggle for survival as she battled the entity inside of her, which filled every crevice of her mind with its essence. As disturbing as that sounds, it was how she genuinely felt as it changed her mindscape in its image. The only pleasurable part was seeing her father's hands be petrified into stone, forcing him to have to retreat and find a cure.

Being in frequent bouts of unbearable pain for so long certainly gave her an incentive to 'open up' a little. Although reluctantly, she begged whatever Kami that existed to help her, to free her from this madness. After a long time, the only sign she received was a brief flash of what appeared to be sunlight in her mindscape, providing a modicum of relief. It didn't last long though. Soon, the pain was back in force. Shortly after that was when the silver-haired girl arrived.

Now, she was finally regaining her ability to act within this brood-pit of a prison. Slowly, she straightened her posture and looked around. The pit still had that disgusting veiny stomach-like appearance.

"Sigh, that stupid snake really knows how to screw things up, doesn't he? Look at this place, ruined." She muttered to herself in awe of her 'father's' failure. She was his perfect vessel and he just ruined her.

"I wouldn't say that. It's cool in its own way." A melodic feminine voice echoed in her mind.

Turning on instinct, Naga fumbled to get into position. The transition was a bit awkward though. She was able to turn her waist, but her lower body was still in place. She simply wasn't used to having her lower body this way. Even if she could do it before, that had mostly been for forward movement, not precise directional shifts. That's one of the reasons she hated using this form despite her 'father's' love for it. It was impractical.

The voice laughed, clearly amused by her clumsiness.

"Take your time. As I promised you earlier, I'm here to save you. I'm not your enemy." The voice explained mirthfully.

Finally getting a clear visual, she recognized the intruder as the girl who had removed her curse mark, the stigma of her father's control over her life and death.

"It's you…. I think your name was Kamui, if I'm not mistaken." Naga muttered, astonished the girl reached this place once again. "Were you able to find my body?" She asked, receiving a nod from the girl.

"Once I found you the first time, I was able to follow the trail to this place. It wouldn't have lasted long, but it was enough." Kamui responded.

Looking a little closer, Naga noticed that her once pristine clothing was torn in various places with her arms hanging limply by her side, indicating an injury. The most noticeable thing of all was her demeanor. It was subtle and hard to detect, but she was a bit more somber than she'd remembered. When she saw her last, she was a ball of radiant light. Now, she was still bright, but her aura was a bit dimmer, darker. There were also traces of fear in her expression, not of her, but of something that recently happened if her guess was correct. She'd have to ask about that later.

"I'm sorry you had to see those things in the lab. My 'father' is a sick man and so are his lackies." Naga stated, accurately guessing part of what must have changed the girl in the short time since their last meeting.

Shaking her head, Kamui wore a strained smile.

"No, it's my fault. Although what I saw was bad, I decided it would be prudent to experience their emotions firsthand to better understand how they reached their debaucherous states." Kamui explained.

Naga's eyes narrowed in a questioning manner.

"Are you an idiot? I've never heard of such an ability, but even the dumbest of idiots would believe that to be a foolish move, especially if you're not used to being around these types of pigs, which by your earlier aura, you're not." Naga questioned, unsure of what could drive someone smart enough to remove her 'father's' curse mark to do something so foolish.

"Well, I've vowed to make the world a better place. I'll admit any day that I grew up privileged, so I must learn the best way I can. I've been blessed with the ability to do that, the ability to experience the emotions involved in the memories I read from others." Kamui replied, this time with a genuine smile. Clearly, her dream meant a lot to her.

Hearing this Naga's skepticism turned to quiet shock.

"Make the world a better place hmm…" she muttered, wondering where such a conviction came from. Usually, these types of extreme motivations came from some form of trauma, at least from what she'd read. Aside from this stupid ability though, that didn't sound like it was the case. There must be more to the story.

Suddenly, the two felt the world around them tremble. This time, Naga could feel the overwhelming force of the two cores asserting their dominance with their presence.

"What's going on? What's this other force? Is that…. the other core?" She asked out loud, receiving a nod from her new acquaintance.

"Since we've been here, I've been using my sharingan's power to forcefully change your mindscape. I don't have a lot of influence with this being your mindscape and all, but I have been able to force the two orbs to the surface, allowing us to interact with them." Kamui explained.

"How? If you did that, you should be dead. In my rampaging state, my petrifying powers should have been augmented. Looking into my eyes to use your sharingan like that would be suicide." Naga asked with furrowed brows, confused at how the girl was in front of her if that was her method.

Kamui shivered slightly and shook her head in self-mockery.

"I was in a bit of a bind when I realized you could do that. Well, I guessed you could at the beginning of the fight but forgot to take it into consideration when planning on how to invade this space. Truthfully, I probably would have died. I ended up having to force as much chakra into my eyes as I could to get here. It was my only chance. Since I'm still here, I assume it worked." She said in a joking tone.

Hearing this, Naga sighed at the girl's reckless actions. That shouldn't have worked. Other Uchiha have tried to put her in genjutsu before and failed. Even if she couldn't normally generate as much power as her rampaging body could, it would still be dangerous to normal shinobi. That this girl survived spoke volumes on the power of her chakra and eyes.

Before either could contemplate the matter further, a change happened, shifting their focus.

A Squelching sound rang out from the ground below as the veined tissue that lined the ground made way for the two orbs, both radiating powerful chakra. The odd part was, the black and red one was clearly resonating with her, while the blue one still wasn't. It was expelling chakra, but she didn't feel any of it. It was as if….

"It's reacting to you…. I've never seen this orb do much of anything and now it's as excited as 'father' when he discovers a new bloodline limit." Naga slowly explained, shocked at the revelation on why she'd never felt this thing move. It wasn't interested in her. If it weren't for her father forcing the process, then it would've never bothered merging with her.

"It appears so…" Kamui muttered, looking exceptionally surprised herself. Then, she paused and glanced slightly to her left as if someone was there. A few seconds later, she nodded, seemingly to herself and faced Naga.

"Naga, from what I can feel from the two orbs, the one integrating with you seems to feel threatened by the other and is forcefully rushing its integration process to beat a competitor who isn't even interested in fighting. If you want to think of it another way, it's basically like an allergic reaction. It's harmfully reacting to something that isn't actually a threat." Kamui explained.

Naga's eyes widened and slowly narrowed in fury.

"Yet another reason to kill that man. In his haste, he created a problem where there wasn't any." She spit out in barely restrained fury.

"I have a solution, but you're probably not going to like it." Kamui said, scratching her head while looking to the side as to avoid her gaze.

"And what would that be?" Naga asked with still narrowed eyes.

"The red and black orb is almost merged with you. In a day or two, you'll be one entity." Kamui started her explanation.

Naga hesitantly nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"Well…I believe I have a way to help you out. Once this process is done, you won't be human. If things stay like this, you'll never have legs, or maybe even arms again. It's possible that the last human parts, your head and upper body will turn as well. This isn't me exaggerating, but my conclusion based on the still increasing proportion of snake to human reflected in your form."

Naga sighed, internally agreeing with the assessment, much to her displeasure. She just didn't like what was coming next. By the girl's expression, the treatment wasn't free. From what she could tell from the girl's demeanor, she was the honest type, not what would typically be seen in a shinobi of her skill set. With that in mind, Naga wasn't expecting the girl to take advantage of the situation. That meant this was likely something that couldn't be avoided.

She was confident in her ability to read people's body language; you must be good at understanding someone at a glance if you want safety in Orochimaru's gang of thugs. There may have been a measure of safety that came from being Orochimaru's 'perfect vessel', but there were always some who would commit the unspeakable for a taste of pleasure, regardless of the consequences.

"I'll be brief. One of the abilities of my eyes allow for conditional contracts. In exchange for your loyalty to me as a subordinate, one of my abilities would pass downstream to you. In this case, it would be my ability to assume a human form. It's not something I actively have to use now, but I will in the future due to a similar set of circumstances as your own. Long story short, your base form will be human once more, even if your true form is that of a monster. Based on my understanding, you should even be able to access diluted versions of your true form's abilities. Though, to be transparent, you'll be the first one I use this on, so I don't know all the effects.

"Also, I'll take the blue orb into my body. Since it's reacting to me and hasn't actually integrated into you, it's removal shouldn't harm you in any way, at least in theory. In fact, it should allow the red and black orb to settle down and continue the fusion peacefully." The girl explained concisely, trying to give the situation the respect it deserved.

Naga's face twisted in anger for a moment, then settled down. Once again, it morphed into an angry scowl, then relaxed. This happened for about twenty seconds before she looked Kamui in the eyes, searching for any traces of lies or deceit.

Silence reigned between the two for a full three minutes as Naga meticulously searched for anything that could indicate the girl's words being a lie. If anyone else had suggested this, she'd rather die. They'd absolutely be lying and even then, servitude wouldn't be worth it.

This girl though… she was different. She didn't feel like a shinobi. Sure, she was one, but she felt a little too honest for this world. There was too much kindness in her gaze, especially compared to what she had grown up with. It almost reminded her of… her mother. That and more was proven when she saved her life for little other reason than the fact that she was suffering.

Releasing a profound sigh, Naga gave her answer.

"Fine, but I have one condition. I will be your retainer, not your slave. I will help you as a subordinate, not a servant. In return, you must help me find my mother and kill my 'father.' That filthy snake has to die; it doesn't need to be by my hand, but he must be destroyed." She stated forcefully, making her point clear that this was not up for debate.

Kamui resolutely nodded but paused for a second and released a sigh of her own.

"I can agree to all of those conditions, but the one to find your mother." She somberly stated.

"What, why!?" Naga replied furiously.

"It's because the reason my sensei and I are on this island is due to the Kocho clan, your clan, asking for help. The sound four invaded their village with Ana Kocho in tow and their first act...was to kill her on site." Kamui clearly explained, trying to be open and honest with her new friend.

Naga's eye's dilated, her breathing hitched, her head lowered, and her body tensed at the news. Her eyes narrowed as she hissed, "Orochimaru, I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do." It wasn't loud. It was a tensed, hissed out promise of death she would give the man. Then, her head snapped up, her eyes meeting Kamui's.

'She's not at all doubtful of Orochimaru's directed actions. I wonder what their relationship was like. It must not have been very good if she believed it so easily.' Kamui thought to herself.

"Are the sound four still alive?" She asked in the same ominously steady voice.

Kamui nodded.

"They are. We're heading there after this. Assassinating them is one of our secondary missions after all." Kamui replied seriously.

Hearing this, her eyes burrowed into Kamui's.

"I want in. I accept this contract of yours." She affirmed with a newfound resolution, eager to avenge her mother's death. She would ask for details on the context of her mother's murder, but that could wait until they were out of here. Despite being as emotional as she was, she was still a trained kunoichi skilled enough to reign in her emotions until the appropriate time. In this case, she didn't know how long Kamui could keep control of her mindscape.

Kamui nodded and then let out a subtle smile.

"Great. Though, let me correct one misunderstanding. Even if you'll be my retainer, above all else, we'll be friends. Never forget that." Kamui stated, causing Naga's cheeks to blush slightly in embarrassment.

Crossing her arms, Naga turned her head to the side as if to hide her flushed cheeks. Even if it was logical to be careful with deals like this, it was a little embarrassing to apply those standards to someone with such clear good intentions.

"Just get on with it already!" She exclaimed embarrassedly, receiving a tilted head from Kamui, who was confused at the response.

Kamui shook her head with a smile.

'Yume, is everything ready?' Kamui asked.

["Go ahead. Everything's been prepared on my side. Just focus on the orbs and I'll build the connection. I can teach you how to build them on your own later."]

'Right.' Kamui acknowledged, trusting Yume's solution even if she didn't know exactly how it worked yet.

Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes as if to focus inside herself. Then, they opened with all four tomoe shining in different colors. Eventually, a fifth tomoe took its place on the outer ring, shining in a resplendent gold. With that, Kamui first looked at the black and red orb. Her eyes glowed in a bright amethyst light as a golden ray shot out of them and into the orb. With that, she turned and did the same to the blue orb.

Once that happened, the blue orb rapidly rushed away from them and entered one of the silvery-white tree roots representing Kamui's influence here; it appeared as if it entered its desired host. The red and black orb stayed in place and began to glow even brighter than it had previously.

In Naga's mind, she could feel a question. She felt that she could reject this connection that Kamui was clearly trying to form, but she didn't. She accepted the connection, allowing it to bridge their spirits as deeply as necessary.

Once that was done, she suddenly felt a connection form between her and all the snakes in the nest they were currently located in. Then, they awoke and slithered towards her. Every snake that reached her crawled up and started forming a living cocoon. The odd part about this was the lack of revulsion she felt toward them now. They felt like a part of her, like those roots must feel to Kamui. Before she could think anything else however, her consciousness faded. The last thing she could feel before going under was the sensation of separation between her feet.

Her work done, Kamui faded from Naga's consciousness. For her part, she had a transformation of her own that she had to experience; though, from what she could feel, it was happening mostly internally.