How to Tame a Dragonfly

Call me Saturn. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my wallet, and nothing particular to interest me elsewhere, I thought I would defect from the Hidden Leaf with my horse, and climb up to the highest mountain peak that I could find. And now my horse has forsaken me. When the flash of light finally dissipated, the lucid Genin of twenty was walking towards the giant Oak tree. Black-Eyed Susans blossomed at the studs of his cowboy boots with every step, and a raven with white pupils stood perched on his shoulder. Although Rudbeckia hirta thrive in direct sunlight, these biennial plants can tolerate winter temperatures as low as -30 degrees. As they paved the path for Saturn to follow, their petals withered behind him as he moved closer and closer to the Oak Tree. Whenever he took his gaze to a spot on the ground in front of him, pink Joe-Pye Weeds sprouted from the soil. In his active Mind's Eye, he could see right through a playful charade but he indulged in the illusion being placed before him.

"In each passing year different flowers bloom in different seasons, but winter always arrives at the same time." He spoke in a deep raspy voice, and the raven on his shoulder cawed as if to translate his speech in a language beyond words and sentences. "Show yourself, Lelouch, and we can have a proper conversation. I can read the likes and dislikes of people and animals, and some plants. I can see the world with the eyes of ravens and ants. I have learned your name from the widows of ostriches and mountain lions. I have watched you cross the otherworldly plane into the mountains to hunt for your prey. But I do not despise you." The Oak Tree seemed to move away from the Genin as he walked towards it, and there was no response. The world around Saturn seemed fluid and viscous, the air was thicker and the light was distorted to look like the setting was taking place in a lucid dream. "Perhaps you and I could make a deal."

A thin green snout emerged from the ether - the ether contained within an invisible hole on Saturn's chest. Two orange eyes the size of tennis balls emerged soon after, followed by a thick scaly neck and slim black horns. Lelouch reared its head from inside Saturn's chest, then flipped over to look up at the Genin. The Fortuneteller remained unfazed, as he had seen past the illusion that was cast on him while he was on the pursuit of the creature that had finally showed itself. "You found me. You learned my name. And you are able to communicate with me. I am impresssed. However, I do not appreciate your rudeness in not acknowledging my title on our first meeting, and your bold accussations about my diet." Lelouch swum in the air before fluttering its four wings out from Saturn's chest, flipping and turning as it exited the Genin's body seamlessly and hovered in front of him. Lelouch was a medium sized specimen, measuring at 175 centimeters from its nose to the tip of its arrow headed tail. It had four long transparent wings and six black limbs. Its tongue was split like a snake's, and it had sharp fangs resembling a canine. It sized up Saturn before circling around him, bending its spine fluidly to run a lap around the rigid shinobi. "I am Leech, short for Lelouch, and I was given the title of Leech the Bold. What proofss do you have to show for your accusssations, Sssaturn? And what makes you believe that you are not a thoussand yearss too early to be asking to make a deal with me?"

Standing still as the dragonfly swirled around his body, Saturn carefully reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a small silver Capybara. The specimen was bound by a thick short piece of rope, and its mouth was sealed with good old fashioned duct tape which the shinobi abruptly removed, stripping off some of its fur. "Sorry." He winced as the fur came off with the adhesive. "I recognize you as Leech the Bold, and I apologize for my shortcoming. I had wrongfully neglected to learn about your culture before our meeting." Saturn spoke, taking a small bow with his free hand on his chest, then he smirked and pointed at the rodent, "As for your proof, here it is. Lelouch, you left a witness behind. This is how I found you. Silver Capybaras are a rare breed in the Cloud, but I have now learned that they are your favorite snack. On your last hunt, your boldness compelled you to venture deep into someone else's territory to look for silver Capybaras, and you killed and ate two before another Dragonfly caught you lurking. But there was a third capybara.." He tossed the bound capybara onto the floor in front of Leech the Bold. "I gather that you are a race of Summons, who are not supposed to be hunting on this side of the ethereal plane. But I'm no snitch. You can have this treat, I hate rodents. But only on one condition - You land me an audience with your scroll keeper. Or we could fight, and I'll make you take me to them."

"You fool! Don't get too cocky with me!"

The two squared off, but before Saturn could move, the dragonfly shot out a purple cloud of smoke, shrouding the shinobi in its mist. As the mist surrounded him, he disappeared into thin air. "He vanished?!" Lelouch cursed, as a man keenly resembling the blonde haired shinobi emerged ten meters behind Lelouch. "It's no usse. The eyes of dragonfliess are ssuperior to those of man, I can ssense movements a full three hundred and ssixty degrees around me!" Leech proclaimed, and swiftly turned around to face the shinobi. Wasting no time, it fired a barrage of senbon from its mouth. Saturn, it seemed, would be unable to react in time as he had spawned half way mid air in his jerky reaction to the poison mist. The needles pierced the tanned shinobi's skin, causing him to bleed and cough more blood when he landed on his feet. He coughed while holding the wound on his upper arm, looking up at the dragonfly seeming as though he felt dizzy and disoriented. "You are now poissoned.." Cackled Lelouch, as Saturn limped towards the dragonfly and coughed more before falling down on one knee. "You are too naive for this world. The Dragonflies of Old have ssurvived for thoussandss of years by picking our fights wissely, and doing our due diligence. You have failed to do either. Good luck in your next life, Ssaturn Ssentobi." The shinobi was on his back, his pupils contracted as he twitched and coughed one last time, before his body dissipated into a cloud of smoke to reveal a log in its place.

"I wasn't always Saturn Sentobi. They called me Saturn Senju, Saturn Sarutobi, Saturn Yamanaka, Billy" His voice now came from behind Lelouch though he was not physically there. His chakra was nullified as he remained hidden. "You fool! You are not the only one with an active Mind's Eye!" Lelouch growled, and its body distorted before appearing on the shoulder of the shinobi hiding behind the thick trunk of a big Oak Tree. "You thought you had seen past my illusions, but you failed to notice that I had set up more than just one!" Its claws glowed in a shining amber light as it touched the shinobi's neck. He was paralyzed. Then his chakra was drained from his body into the dragonfly. "You will be unconscious soon, feed me your chakra, and I will take the capybara for desssert!" As Leech leeched the energy out of the body behind the tree, another identical figure in the form of Saturn emerged seven meters from the tree, facing the dragonfly. His hands were stretched out in front of him, on the verge of forming his fingers into the shape of a heart with the animal's image enclosed within in his line of sight. "A shadow clone? I'm growing tired of your trickss, prepare to die!" The chakra in Lelouch's system condensed as it prepared to make a final gambit. Saturn was prepared with a gambit of his own, but before his fingers could touch a second dragonfly fluttered its wings overhead and landed on Saturn's shoulder. The second specimen was considerably larger, at about ten meters in length, but seemed much less intimidating as it lacked some of Lelouch's traits. This one seemed less like a ferocious killer, and more like a gentle giant who was probably a vegetarian.

"Yanma? Very well.." Lelouch relaxed across from Saturn, "I accept your ssacrifice, Ssaturn. The capybara in exchange for an audience with the sscroll keeper -- Me!"

"What?! You want to call a truce now?" Saturn cursed as he gritted his teeth. The specimen on his shoulder had a friendly aura and did not intimidate him enough to rethink his decision to keep on fighting one and possibly two mythical dragonflies. Yanma remained silent, simply staring calmly at Lelouch from Saturn's back. The raven that Saturn had abducted from the mountains was perched on a branch in the Oak Tree, watching with its pupils still basked in a white glow. "Yanma is a descendant of Amaterasu. It would appear that our encounter was no accident." Lelouch hissed from the shadow clone's shoulder.

"Amaterasu? What are you talking about? Square up!"

"I'm afraid there is no usse to our sscuffling anymore. Although I am the sscroll keeper and I am the one who ultimately decides who getss to ssign a contract with the Dragonflies, it sserves me well to align my intentionss with the wishess of Amaterasu."

Saturn manifested a kunai made of space time chakra and pointed it at the slithering Dragonfly. "Where the fuck do I sign?!" He was still erring on the side of caution. "You must first find the doorway that leads to our cavern, the habitat of Dragonflies is not like the world you are used to. Our home is scattered. It is everywhere, and nowhere. Would you like to take any guessess?"

"It's on the way to the Oak Tree, isn't it?"

"There was never any Oak Tree." Lelouch grinned as he released another one of his illusions to reveal a Cedar tree in its place instead. "Cedar?!"

"Look behind you."

Saturn cautiously turned his neck to see a pond, packed with Fanwort. "The life cycle of a Dragonfly starts in the water. Most members of The Dragonflies of Old, or The Dragonflies of Akitsushima, have spent thoussands of yearss outside the water. Most of them have perhapss forgotten how to sswim. Tell me, Ssaturn Ssenju, will you ssink or sswim?"

"Don't call me that!" Saturn turned around to point his immaterial Kunai at the dragonfly, but before the situation could escalate, a third Dragonfly spawned next to them, only a few meters from the agitated shinobi. This one had an iridescent husk, and had glowing red eyes with sharp claws and scaled wings. Saturn's Mind's Eye had worn off, and he had not been paying enough attention to his surroundings. The Dragonfly spun around quickly with its tail extended, and whacked the shinobi's torso with its stinger, knocking him into the pond below with great force, sounding a loud wet splash.

The book that compared to five or six layers of six bricks weighed less than a pencil. Saturn waved it around, inspecting the object as he sat with his legs folded, under the shade of a giant Cedar Tree. His unkempt blonde hair and white hoodie were completely drenched. The water in his cowboy boots formed a mushy puddle in his socks and his soaked pants made him feel cold. "Were you expecting to see me under different circumstances?" Lelouch smirked from the branch it was perched on. The pond that Saturn had been pushed into was no longer there. The raven with white eyes remained on the same branch, now next to Yanma. "Bastard! Who pushed me into the water?" Saturn waved his fist and clenched his teeth. "That was Aka Manto, also known as the Red Cloak. Aka Manto is a descendant of Bloodbath Megagirasu." Saturn tried his best to overcome his agitation, taking a long breath before opening the broad hard covered book in front of him. "It's empty. Is this a joke?" He flipped through the pages - each paper was lighter than a feather. "This book can only be read by a sselect few.... chossen shinobi.. You ssee, Dragonflies shed their skin slowly, over the course of many millenia even. We live in a cocoon, in a perpetual metamorphosiss. Other sspecies evolve over generations while we ssimply adapt our own body with the passsing of time." Saturn pondered for a moment, "What does that have to do with the fact that these pages are empty?!" Lelouch slithered down Saturn's shoulder before perching on the book itself. When opened, it was wide enough for Leech the Bold to sit on when it was coiled. "Each of these pages are made with the hide of a different Dragonfly. The first page is sourced from the hide of Amaterasu himself."

"You keep saying Amaterasu this, and Amaterasu that. I could use some context here!" Saturn complained, draining some of the water from his pants. "Amaterasu is the eldesst remaining member of the royal bloodline that once ruled all of Akitsushima as a unified nation. He is also perhapss the oldesst remaining Dragonfly. He hasn't been sighted for over ten thoussand yearss..."


"How am I supposed to summon a being that hasn't been sighted for over ten thousand years?!"


"You're ten thousand years too early to even think about summoning Amaterasu. Understanding his intentions and history, however, will be key to you in your journey, if you ever wish to summon any dragonfly." Leech slithered around Saturn's torso as it continued its speech, "Dragonflies are elusive creatures. We pride ourselves on our hunting abilities, and we have survived for millenia by being very efficient at hunting our prey. We always find our prey, but our prey never sees us coming. For as long as we feed, we can live, and grow. So the oldest dragonflies are also the largest and the most feared, with the most experience. A Kingdom of Dragonflies laid claim to whole forests, and soon whole forests formed only a part of some of the greater dragonflies' own perssonal territories. Whole ecosystems were ruined to try and satisfy the appetite of the dragonflies, until even the whole otherworld was not enough. And then when there was nothing left, we ate each other."

Saturn gulped as he looked back and forth between Yanma and Leech, and then looked down at the book on his lap. "So is this like a User's Manual?"

"Precisely." Leech cackled as he hissed. "This book was made three hundred years ago, by a scholar who came across a Dragonfly's husk in the mountains. That scholar had the ability to read from the hide what the Dragonfly was thinking when it shed its skin. He went on to find one hundred distinct hides, and compiled them into a book. Later, his disciple went on to add another three hundred and twenty samples. They tried to piece together the story of the Dragonflies - both the master and the disciple devoted their whole lives to this cause. The latter burned his working notes and his master's, and took this book with him to the grave. From there, it was found by a group of archaeologists who noticed the strange characteristics of the book, such as its weight, and recognised the possibility that the pages could contain some form of code. Over the years, it became more of an antique item. I traced its location to the Thunderpeak Campus and found it in a regular shelf. Tell me, Ssaturn, can you read the hide of Amaterasu?"

What a softie, it chose to hide here because it wanted to be close to the scent of its friends.. Saturn raised his brow as he inferred the emotions of the scroll keeper, before placing his right hand on the first page of the book and replying to its question, "I have an app for that."

"I killed every last one of them. All of the cannibals and the savages who reigned in the territory of the royal blood were slain by me, acting alone. I killed my father, and his father, and I killed all three hundred and thirty five of my siblings. When the Sun dawned on Akitsushima, I had slain nine hundred and ninety nine out of every one thousand remaining Dragonflies of Old. Only those who vowed to abstain from their cannibalism were spared..."

Saturn took his palm off of the first page of the Book, and gulped as he turned to Leech. "That's dark, are you sure this is the right book?"

"Amaterasu killed ninety nine out of every one hundred dragonfly within the first hour of making his decision. None of them ever stood a chance against him. He started with his own royal blood, the most corrupted among all of the dragonflies. They never even got the chance to make a vow."

"How did he choose which ones to spare?"

Leech smirked, "Take a peek, and find out."

"Bloodbath and Rust were the last of the cannibals to concede. They were born into a world that had already descended into blasphemy. They survived for thousands of years by being the best hunters of prey. Their prey consisted of members of every race, including our own. Among the survivors, they were two of the oldest. Their elders before them were slain by me. They sought to defy me, and put up a great fight, but even the two of them together could not overcome my strength, after I had eaten all of their ancestors and my own. I spared them. And I gave them permission to eat any dragonfly who sought to eat another. I made this exception for them, and for any dragonfly who catches another eating one of their own."

"Isn't that a little hypocritical?"

"We were in no position to plead our case. The fight with Bloodbath and Rust opened the eyes of Amaterasu to his own bloodlust. He is a complicated specimen after all.."


"I slew dragon after dragon until there was none to defy me with one single exception. Balerion the Dread occupied an abandoned tower in a sliver of space time. Finding him was no easy task. I pursued him for months before I found him, the last of the heretics. The fight with Balerion was long and arduous. He was a formidable opponent. But even he could not withstand the force of my wrath. As we fought, I saw that we were one. He was the last of his kind. A predator with no regard for his prey. The epitome of what the dragonfly had become. I had grown weary and wished not to take the life of another dragon. At the end of our fight I made him perch on the ground and vow to spare the survivors."

"I don't know, I'm not seeing a lot of consistency here."

"Amaterasu was notoriously impulsive. But he had a good heart. His decision to kill the dragonflies was not without support from our own. Some of the elders pleaded to be killed and many dove into the range of Amaterasu's attacks on purpose to forfeit their lives in repentance."

"Hardcore.."

"I deserted Akitsushima for thousands of years. Difficult was the task of bearing the weight of the lives I've taken. I left Leech the Bold in my stead as scroll keeper, so that we may serve the needs of shinobi with our specialized abilities. In this manner, we may find a way to make a living, and redefine our place in the world and find our purpose as dragonflies. Yanma is my descendant through whom I shall communicate my intentions to the dragonflies when she hatches from her egg. Until then, do not attempt to find me. I will not be found except by my own wishes. Cursed will be anyone who may seek me without sanction from Yanma."

"That's it?" Saturn looked displeased with that conclusion to the page of Amaterasu, and looked at Leech for comment. "If you flip the page over and read the back, there's more insight into his childhood. You will get an idea of what it was like in Akitsushima before the age of cannibalism." Flipping the featherweight page over, Saturn placed his palm on the back of the page. The lightness of the page never ceased to amuse him.

"I was born into the royal family during the Golden Age of Akitsushima. The territory of the dragonflies were expanding at an exponential rate. Within the forest, different clans of dragonflies lived in communion. We played and hunted together. The concept of scarcity was undiscovered. Prey and commodities were available in every corner of the forest. The forest stretched eternally in every direction. It was rare for a dragonfly to die. Every dragonfly came from every corner of the forest to attend the rare funeral when it took place. Deaths were usually only ever caused when a dragonfly voluntarily chose to give up on worldly affairs. Rarely, one would be killed on accident during a friendly spar. Disease was no longer an issue for the dragonflies, who evolved perpetually to adapt to every circumstance. I was the third born son to the queen who reigned over Akitsushima. My brother was in line for the throne, and I found that my interests laid in exploring the world around me. I travelled often to see as much of the world as I could, but I always returned home to sleep.

As the dragonflies expanded their territory more and more, food soon became scarce. The competition for prey was steep, and the royal family hoarded vast amounts of territory. Starvation became commonplace in Akitsushima. The starved dragons were smaller and weaker, unable to compete with their larger and more vigorous competition. Death by starvation became commonplace. Soon, the royals began to quarrel over territory, and the kingdom was divided into four - North, South, East and West. Unable to find any more prey in the smaller lands granted to the common dragons, they began to eat each other. Wars broke out between the divided kingdoms, until even the royals began to eat their own. The world descended swiftly into the Age of Cannibalism. As they ate each other, the ecosystem around the kingdoms flourished. The dragons scurried to multiply in sickly manners, in desperate attempts to retain control. The heir to the throne - my brother - was eaten by his younger sibling. I could not bare to live in what the world had become..."

"Damn, that's crazy."

"So who's next?" Saturn asked, feeling the second page on the book. The page was rough with a purple hue, a bit heavier in comparison to the other pages in the  abnormally light book. The page felt more like sharkskin to the touch. "That's Bloodbath. We don't have to keep doing this back and forth, Ssaturn Ssentobi. You can read the next page and find out for yoursself when you are ready." Saturn scoffed at Leech's remark, "I thought we had some chemistry there." He braced before placing his hand on the page, he peered into what the notorious dragonfly had to say.

"Amaterasu is a dick. Not only did he slay my father, he even tried to chop my balls off so that I may not bear sons of my own."


"Timeout. Didn't you say Ama Kanto was a descendant of Bloodbath?"


"Aka Manto is a kanto yes, but Bloodbath is not exactly the world's greatest father."

"The fight with the First Dragonfly as he is now known, was long and fierce. It was a shame to have to fight alongside Rusted Hades to even stand a chance against the bloodthirsty predator. Dragonflies kill to eat, to survive. Life is an eternal feast, it is never too late or too early to eat. Yet Amaterasu was relentless in his massacre for a different purpose. He ascended beyond survival and even dominion over territory. With all his ferocity, he killed for mercy. He perished the dragonflies from the face of the earth so that they and their descendants do not have to live in the corrupt world that they themselves had birthed. This was hard for me to accept. Such wasted potential. Still, fighting Amaterasu was when I felt the most alive. For the time that we fought, I could feel nothing but joy..."

"What is he, a masochist?"

"A masochist, a sadist, call him what you want. I have never come across a dragonfly more enthusiastic about battle than Bloodbath. There was a time when his purple hide would only rarely ever be seen. It would be perpetually red from the blood of his endless prey as he sole handedly laid waste to forests and ecosystems."

"By the end of the fight, conceding to Amaterasu was a matter of common sense. I could never train to beat Amaterasu in combat if I were dead. Rust was early to concede. He spoke to me in tongues, sought to change my mind while I was hellbent on taking my revenge on Amaterasu during the fight.Then he turned on me, they attacked me together. Perhaps we could have come out on top, but it would seem that Rust had a change of heart during the fight. I can respect an independent thinker, and fighting the two of them pushed my abilities above and beyond what I could have previously imagined. Still, it is easy to despise Rust... I wonder if Leech is lurking around the caverns..."

"Leech? That's you, isn't it?"

"That's right. Bloodbath named me Leech the Bold, for trespassing into his territory and making my way out with his meals." A smug look on the dragonfly's face showed Saturn that it was gloating.

Flipping to the back of the page, Saturn read the scales once more.

"Ever since I could remember, I was feared as the most notorious killer. I had to eat, so I killed. I was good at it, so I never stopped eating. Hunting prey made me feel elated, and complete. The taste of blood was like water after a long hot day in a desert without hydration. The blood on my scales glistened against the light, and bespoke my superior abilities. The fear in the eyes of prey when they saw me coming... I was not born into royal blood. I ate my way to the position of guardsman of the throne. In fact I ate the previous guard. When anarchy broke loose, I absconded."

"What a chad..." Saturn planted his hand on the next page. This page felt like a black cloth, extremely soft to the touch, but ripped in places with a unique grainy texture when pinched. As he rubbed his hand on the page, a bit of it scraped off. "You fool! Be careful!" Leech hissed, "That is a scale from the wings of Rusted Hades. Rust is said to have once been a ferocious user of Taijutsu, with endless vigor and stamina. He travelled around the world in a single day with ease. Thousands of years of flapping his wings, caused them to wither, but he had honed the rest of his body so much that he could fly the same with what was left of his worn out wings. When his physical prowess wore out, he re-specialized and gained new abilities. He became just as skillful with his new abilities..."

Taking a deep breath, Saturn planted his hand on the rusted silk, and gulped at what he read,

"If you are reading this, your fate has already been sealed."

"That.. was a little too deep for me. When can we get to summoning dragonflies?" Saturn complained impatiently, throwing his head back. "I see that patience is not your strongest attribute." Leech snarked before cackling, "Before one could summon any dragonfly, one has to beat it in combat. The dragonflies must be assured that they are working with a worthy shinobi. S rank dragonflies are an exception to this rule, however. With them, you only have to fight them well enough to impress them. It is not rare for a dragonfly to rank up, so be sure to be updated on the ranks of the summons you sign contracts with. They will want a rematch if they ever get a promotion."

"Finally." Saturn grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, bring it on. Who's first? Bloodbath, or Rust? How about Balerion?"

"Three?!" Saturn groaned and waved his fist before slamming it down, causing the librarian to hush him sharply from the desk, "Alright, bring it on!" He whispered.

The two made their way out of the reading area to the battleground, carrying the book with them. As Saturn took his position in the center of the field, three scrolls were laid out in a triangular pattern - two were placed at an angle of forty five degrees on either side of Saturn, and the third was placed directly behind him. He took an athletic stance, and slowly spun around in place, sizing up his opponents. Three dragonflies came forth from the ether, one over each scroll. The three had certain similarities - they each had four wings - but each had their distinct features that set them apart. "Alright, who wants to go first?" Saturn tried to provoke his opponents to coax a move from them.

To the right of Saturn was Nokocchi, a golden yellow specimen with slimy glistening scales. She had teal stripes on her back, that matched her ribbed underbelly. Her eyes and fangs, coupled with her rattling tail made her resemble the likes of snakes, but upon closer inspection, the signature ommatidia of the dragonflies could be seen more clearly. Nokocchi was about 10 meters from the tip of her fangs to her tail. She made hissing noises and rattled with her tail. To the left of Saturn was Yanyanma, a hideous looking creature coated in a rusty orange brown color. Yanyanma's eyes were a dark green, and the tips of its wings were stained orange. Its call was a low, shrill vibration emanating from its menacing fangs. From the tip of its traditional dragonfly fangs to the tip of its tail, Yanyanma was close to 15 meters long. Finally, behind Saturn was the familiar Aka Manto, a specimen with striking red eyes and even more striking iridescent scales. It was similar in size to Yanyanma, but more hefty with sharp teeth like fangs. Between Saturn and each of his opponents was a distance of no more than 10 meters. After a brief face off, Saturn formed the seal of confrontation to initiate the fight.

Mind's Eye of the Kagura! Saturn narrated in his mind, scanning his opponents and himself for any signs of foul play with his mind's eye. As Yanyanma's horns twitched, a dome of energy manifested no more than three meters from Saturn's position, and as he spotted the technique, he inhaled sharply, and leaped away. That's Singularity! He realized, and with his mind's eye traced the originator - Yanyanma. As his eyes moved towards the brown specimen mid air, the iridiscent Aka Manto appeared behind the Genin, almost catching him off guard with its sheer speed. Ox - Snake - Tiger - Ram - Rat - Ram! He formed the hand seals in quick succession, before vanishing into thin air as the claws of Aka Manto came swinging down at him before crashing into the ground, shattering it menacingly. Saturn reappeared five meters behind Aka Manto, but before he could take aim, a deafening chakra flare caught his attention. He glanced at the glowing Nokocchi, Yanyanma attacked once more in the split second that he was distracted. It summoned a small black orb five meters to the left of Saturn, dragging the shinobi into a pitch black pit. "Cheap shot!" Saturn groaned, crossing his arms trying to resist the pull of the orb while it dragged him by his feet and toppled him over.

As Saturn got sucked into the center of the black hole, Nokocchi and Aka Manto drifted away from the radius of the expanding sphere. As he gritted his teeth and struggled to break free, a sphere of translucent energy zipped towards him at rapid speed and struck him right in the gut, sending him flying backwards till he crashed into the ground. He sat up and rubbed the back of his bruised head, looking around visibly dazed, but before he could make any sense out of his circumstances, the relentless Aka Manto appeared overhead and rolled to swing its stinger down on Saturn with brutal force. Getting away in the knick of time, Saturn rolled over before sprinting diagonally away from the brute, clutching his upper arm. "Are we running now?" The dragonfly mocked as it chased Saturn. The shinobi looked back and forth for any signs of the other two opponents, but the brown Yanyanma had disappeared from sight. Nokocchi, on the other hand waited directly in the Genin's path, and her chakra told Saturn that she was using a strong sensory technique. Gritting his teeth, Saturn formed hand seals once again Dragon - Hare - Horse - Ram, this summoned two portals, one in front of him on the trunk of a tree adjacent to Nokocchi, and a second behind him in the air. Unsheathing his kunai, he fired the weapon into the portal on the tree as the golden dragonfly exerted a purple cloud of smoke from its mouth. The kunai emerged from the portal behind Saturn and made its way towards the chasing iridiscent dragonfly, who simply deflected the weapon. Then, Saturn vanished once again. "Is that all you got?" The mocking continued.

WC: 1085

TWC:  5778

Looking down at the dome of purple smoke and the two dragonflies on its outer edges, Saturn cursed as he looked for an opening. It appeared that Nokocchi had an active mind's eye as well, and signalled Aka Manto to allude to the shinobi's position, nullifying his use of Genjutsu that attempted to throw the brute dragon off of his trajectory. Luckily for the Genin, he had a devilish trick. A trick comprised of two tricks, rather. Hiding with Camouflage enabled him to make himself invisible to the naked eye. In addition, his use of Chakra Nullification made it impossible for Nokocchi's mind eye to perceive his skilfully concealed chakra. However, this was only a stalemate. To make matters worse, Yanyanma was nowhere to be found. The fight was looking dire and bleak for the aspiring summoner of dragonflies.

"What will you do, Saturn Sentobi?" He heard a voice coming from inside his very own body. It was the familiar Lelouch, hiding in the vessel of the summoner, mocking him equally with the ceaseless taunts from the brute on the ground. Saturn was 15 meters above ground, perched on the branch of a thick oak tree looking down at the battleground. Ignoring the snark commentary from the older dragonfly, Saturn set his eyes on Nokocchi who he deemed to be the eyes and ears of the group. Before the purple veil could dissipate, Saturn summoned a white sphere of distortion behind the golden dragonfly which expanded rapidly, visibly damaging the hide of Nokocchi. As the startled dragonfly shrieked, Aka Manto was alerted to the expanding sphere, and quickly moved out of its range. Nokocchi fluttered its wings, struggling to get out of the radius of the expanding force sphere, continuing to take damage as it separated from the iridescent brute. The two were now separated.

What now... Saturn groaned and narrated in his mind as he improvised. Yanyanma was still undetectable. Not even the eye that he had planted on the trunk of the oak tree could detect the third dragonfly. Was it hiding like Saturn, he wondered. He set his eyes on the isolated Aka Manto and formed hand seals quickly to summon yet another sphere of space time energy. A black sphere of energy no bigger than 5 meters spawned no more than 3 meters away from the glowing dragonfly, and began to damage the specimen harshly, but its range was far too short to contain the agile monster for much longer. Damn it, I'm running out of tricks... He groaned as his invisibility wore off. Almost immediately, the dragonfly with the glowing hide took flight and emerged in front of Saturn. Its eyes could see much better than the shinobi's. Reacting quickly, Saturn formed another set of hand seals immediately; Boar > Ram > Rat > Bird > Tiger to manifest a kunai of space time energy before sending it flying at the dragonfly. In response, the beast charged directly at Saturn - Crashing Thunder Charge - moving right through the kunai before swinging its claw at the shinobi. As he moved to the side to evade the claw, it froze in place - Feint - before the dragonfly's stinger whipped his torso, causing him to cough up blood. When the stinger tried to stab the shinobi, his body dissipated into a puff of smoke. It was a shadow clone.

Watching from behind a bush in a cloak of chakra - Damage Reduction - Saturn looked at his own hands. He had casted False Surroundings technique to make himself and his shadow clone appear to be in each other's positions. Now he was not sure if he himself was a shadow clone, or if he had duped himself with his illusion. However, now it did not matter. The only thing that mattered to the blonde haired man in absolute focus was winning the fight. Before he could make another move, right on cue, Yanyanma emerged from the ether, seemingly manifesting into the physical world from nowhere. Startled, Saturn could only manage to turn his head towards the beast before a barrage of needles escaped its fangs. He crossed his arms to brace, and his protective chakra shield helped him tank the attack to some degree, but he knew that he could not sustain this level of damage for much longer. The attack had alerted both the other dragonflies to his position once again, and he did not expect the relentless beasts to go easy on him. As Aka Manto descended towards the bracing shinobi, he cast a smoke bomb on the ground, causing the beelining dragonfly to change its trajectory to crash into the ground, causing the terrain around the smoke to rise up. Yanyanma, in the mean time, dove straight into the ground below.

Emerging from the smoke forming hand seals on the wobbling terrain, it seemed that the off balance shinobi could not finish his set before Yanyanma burrowed right out of the terrain below and knocked him off ten meters towards surface level. As he fell, Aka Manto beelined once again and struck the falling shinobi. Once again, in a puff of smoke, a decoy was discovered. The body was replaced with a piece of log no more than 6 feet in length. Cussing in frustration, Aka Manto hissed. No more than ten meters from both the active dragonflies, Nokocchi fluttered its wings, scanning the terrain for the shinobi. Right then, Saturn emerged from thin air once again, in the middle of the trio. This time, he was amped up with Chrono Augment. He summoned a black sphere of energy once again, this time overhead, pulling the dragonflies closer to him as he formed another set of hand seals to activate Singularity, intensifying the density of the space around him to restrain the movements to the beasts. Then, he went on to move his fingers swiftly to form Monkey, Snake, Horse, Bird - Mind Clone Switch Technique - followed by Tiger, Snake, Horse, Ram, and the signature hand seal of the Yamanaka clan.

Three thin beams of chakra invisible to the naked eye extended outwards from the shinobi's body like threads till they each made contact with an immobilised dragonfly. When he opened his eyes, his irises glowed white. The ommatidia of each of the beast's briefly glowed in the same color before returning to their original state. Then, the three stood still. "What's this? Interesssting.." Leech the Bold commented, rearing its head from Saturn's chest. Simultaneously, Saturn could see from the ommatidia of the beasts a vastly foreign world. Acclimating to the new senses, Saturn flapped the wings of the insect dragons one by one, starting with a single wing before progressing to all four. They were now in his control. Slowly, he made each dragonfly approach his position, till they were each no more than three meters from his own body. "That's enough" Leech called the fight. Saturn tsked before letting out a deep exhalation, a sigh of relief. "Your impatience and recklessness costed you this fight, dragonflies. Saturn Sentobi has beat all three of you. A shame."

---

WC: 1174

TWC: 6952

The next dragonfly that Saturn wanted to conquer was Flygon The Ascended. Upon reading the page of Flygon from the book of hides, the aspiring summoner of dragonflies gained some peculiar insights into the life of the fabled specimen. The androgynous dragonfly was said to be about 40,000 years old, even 60,000 or older by some estimates. Besides their impressive age, it seemed that Flygon had an endless array of redeeming qualities. They were the youngest S ranked dragonfly. They were also the youngest dragonfly to receive the honor of being granted a title. Titles in the world of dragonflies were only handed to extremely talented dragonflies who were deemed worthy of being granted a title. Titles could only be granted by dragonflies who already have a title. Balerion the Dread was the single exception, whose title originated from a time before the age of Amaterasu.  Once, there were many dragonflies with titles and the path to obtaining one had been more lenient. However, since the reign of Amaterasu and thus since the beginning of the age of the tribe that offered their services to shinobi, it had become much harder to attain a title. Amaterasu had claimed the title of the First Dragonfly for himself, and had formally bestowed the title of Bloodbath onto Megagirasu. He had also named another dragonfly Hades The Rusted. Bloodbath had granted the title of Leech The Bold to Lelouch, after catching the B ranked dragonfly regularly wander into the territory of Bloodbath searching for prey. Flygon The Ascended was granted their title by Rust, who had witnessed a battle between the younger, previously A ranked, dragonfly and Bloodbath. While Leech occasionally ventured into the purple brute's territory for prey, Flygon fiercely defended their own successfully against the overstepping Bloodbath.

Their abnormally large size in relative proportion to other dragonflies in the same age group was a testament to their elite fighting capabilities. Their territory is said to comprise a thousand forests. They were deceivingly sinister in their dealings with their prey. Ecosystems were deliberately designed by the entity to yield their favourite meals in abundance at predetermined times of the day and year. Every inch of each of these forests was monitored keenly, and Flygon worked to ultimately consume all of the energy available within the food chain. To them, the forests were no more than a barn in which they had domesticated every inhabitant. As he read what he could from the hide of the emerald dragonfly, Saturn found this specimen to be particularly interesting.


"Flygon.. The Ascended. I will fight Flygon."


Saturn declared, slamming shut the book on his lap.


"Dimwit! You don't get to decide that! Cocky bastard."


Leech cussed at the shinobi, hovering in front of him,


"Before you land an audience with the S ranked dragonflies, you must defeat the A fleet. Specifically, the A1 fleet."



"A1?" Saturn scratched his head, waiting for further clarification from the scroll keeper.



"Yes, the A1 fleet. Flygon was once in the A1 fleet, but their skills were deemed to be far superior to the A ranked dragonflies. You will fight the duo of Mayflower and Nure-Onna."



"Those names don't sound nearly as cool as Flygon..." Saturn pouted, but his complaints fell on deaf ears. Trying to negotiate with Leech on this matter seemed to be fruitless, and the shinobi eventually conceded, agreeing to fight the duo first.

"Let's get this over with. Bring it on!" Saturn cracked his knuckles as he once again stood in the middle of the battleground. Placed ten meters in front of him to either sides were two scrolls. In a puff of smoke, two large dragonflies, much larger than Saturn had seen thus far, manifested from the otherworld. They were each at least 25 meters long from their fangs to the tips of their tails. Mayflower had a circular figure, her wingspan seemed just as long as her body. Nure-Onna on the other hand had a leaner build with smaller wings, but carried some strange features that set him apart from the other dragonflies that Saturn had seen thus far.

Nure-Onna was a specimen that had adapted to hunting in the water. All dragonflies start their life cycle in the water, but most forget how to hunt in the water as time goes on. Nure-Onna was an exception. His pink hued body was streamlined, and his claws resembled paws. He had long flowing blue hair and four magnificent green wings that shone in the sunlight. His glistening tail resembled that of a mermaid. Mayflower's build resembled a tiger tail, but she was clearly much more developed. She had four large red functional wings, and two false wings with identical spirally yellow patterns. Her eyes were blue whereas Nure-Onna's were yellow.

"Hold on, I may have misgauged how big 25 meters was.. I didn't even get to read their hides.." Saturn gulped, and pleaded to Leech, as he slowly backed away from the duo.

"Too late, Saturn Sentobi. Prepare yourself!" Leech declared, to which the two A ranked dragonflies simply hummed ominously, seeming as though they each wanted a piece of the shinobi who had defeated the B1 fleet. Backing further away, Saturn first formed the seal of confrontation to activate Mind's Eye of the Kagura, carefully examining his opponents. He was once again outnumbered, and thus he decided that it would be advantageous to him to enhance his sensory perception to make sure he did not get caught off guard by either of his opponents.

Nure-Onna was the first of the two dragonflies to step up. Twitching its horns and fangs, he formed his version of hand seals (Bird > Rat > Ox > Monkey > Rat > > Dragon > Ox > Snake) and looked up at the stormy grey sky. Rain drizzled down at first, before shooting a downpour, drenching the shinobi's cyan blue clothes. "I know that technique, I saw that somewhere.. This is bad.." Saturn thought, briefly getting a flash back of a block of text in a book in the library that he had come across during his reading hours. Before he could make his next move, Mayflower was on the move with a technique of her own.

With a single iteration of a hand seal, Tiger, Mayflower formed five bright orange darts in front of he flapping wings. Each was imbued with the energy of fire chakra. In an instant, the darts zipped directly towards Saturn. Leaping backwards int he nick of time, he had just managed to get out of the 10 meter range of the technique, to see the arrows of flame dissipate inches from his blonde locks. He had read about Fire Piercing Darts in the book of Katon, and it was evident that all the time spent studying in Thunderpeak Campus was doing him good.

Nure-Onna had a reputation for playing with his food. He was also notoriously crafty, with a knack for making his body disappear using various techniques. By the time Saturn shifted his attention back to the pink hued dragonfly, it had already vanished into thin air using Hiding in the Rain. However, the shinobi's active mind's eye helped him discern the dragonfly's chakra from the surroundings, albeit with great hardship since the drops of rain were imbued with the same scent. He watched as Nure-Onna swung his hips laterally to gain a new angle on the shinobi, but it was going to take more than that to land a hit on the veteran in the making. A vortex of water chakra began to form around the beast's mouth, and it spiralled rapidly at the shinobi's direction - Water Trumpet - a lightbulb sparked in the Genin's mind as he expertly Body Flickered 16 meters diagonally away from the attack to land in a new spot. "They're huge.." Saturn remarked as he observed the beasts - one visible and one invisible.

Rat - Ram - Snake - Tiger - Bird - Ox. "Singularity!" Saturn declared, hoping to catch both the dragonflies with his technique. The air around them grew dense and heavy, but before the effects of the new terrain could take hold, the artful Nure-Onna fired a direct response. Ram, Ox, Boar, Ram, Tiger, Bird. Wind Style: Pressure Damage! The thick gusts of wind that came forth clashed directly with the heavy chakra that tried to fix everything in its place. It seemed like an even match, until Mayflower chimed in. Rat, Dog, Tiger, Rat, Dog, Tiger, Ox. Searing Migraine! "Not good!" Saturn wailed as the blazing flames spat out by the fire breathing dragonfly got swept up with the winds, rapidly expanding in size and ferocity. The scorching heat from the intensified flames threatened to incinerate the young Genin like toast, and he crossed his arms to brace. The flames then ascended up the birches and oak trees in the campus, rapidly forming a forest fire that swallowed up everything in its path.

---

WC: 1476

TWC: 8428

The labyrinth of flames swallowed families of birch and oak whole, and the fumes of smoke that they had caused to rise now shrouded the campus. A janitor watching on from the garden shook his head, visibly disappointed in the etiquette of the modern day shinobi. As the fire washed through the tanned blonde shinobi's body, his figure dissipated into a cloud of smoke, and a log promptly fell to the ground where he once was. Saturn had pulled off a tactful switcheroo, deliberately disguised with a purposeful misdirection. He had used Body Flicker Technique to evade the flaming darts fired in his direction by the graceful Mayflower, but the dragonflies had not noticed that he had also used Instant Transmission, a teleportation technique. When he had evaded the darts with Body Flicker, he had covered a much longer distance than he had initially let on. Having made it all the way to behind a thick shrub, Saturn effected a worthy substitution before reappearing before the duo. Barely out of the reach of the scorching flames, the Genin gritted his teeth as he watched on from the branch of a tall pine tree atop a cliff that oversaw the battleground.

"That was too close for comfort!" Saturn realized, quickly formulating a plan to take the two summons down before they could end his life for good. He watched the firestorm rage on as the dragonflies hovered above the trees, fluttering their unique sets of four wings as they pranced together in the dancing flames. For now, all he could do was wait. When the flames finally dissipated, a large part of the grounds was now indistinguishable from the charred remnants of black forest. Patches of fire still laid scattered across the incinerated terrain. Saturn appeared seamlessly from thin air, appearing back inside the rain that continued to pour. As Nure-Onna turned his head to face the shinobi almost immediately, a dense black orb came forth from the ether, forming directly between the two beasts. The Genin grinned as the two massive bodies got pulled in unison, both towards the center of the Imitation Black Hole. Their screeches sounded like deep ominous howls as they struggled against the bone crushing force. To his disbelief, Nure-Onna was the first to break free.

Fluttering his wings at rapid speeds, he generated an uncanny amount of thrust, propelling his streamlined body right out of the vice grip of the rip in space time. Mayflower soon followed suite and although creases on their giant wings alarmed Saturn to the little bit of damage that they had taken from his technique, their booming hums and snares clearly communicated their displeasure in the most ominous manner possible. "Are you for real?!" Saturn groaned, wondering how they broke free. He had hypothesised that their relatively low weight hinted to a lower strength, but had not foreseen that they could generate that much thrust to counterbalance their glaring weakness. As the two beasts calmly hovered down towards the Genin, he took a fighting stance trying his best not to look unnerved by their calm demeanour.

---

WC: 516

TWC: 8944

The fight between Saturn and the A fleet was long and arduous. At times it was more akin to a game of cat and mouse - with Saturn playing the role of the mouse, running to every corner of the training ground to get away from the relentless barrage of attacks fired ceaselessly in his direction. The endless downpour of rain coming down from above alerted the keen Nure-Onna to the shinobi's position almost every time that he tried to conceal his presence to the tireless duo. As the Genin leaned back against the trunk of a fat conifer tree, Mayflower emerged from a puddle just a few feet in front of him, seemingly manifesting into being from a minute plane on the surface of the water.

 The startled shinobi barely had the time to react, before the red winged dragonfly spat out a ball of fire in his direction. As the scorching flames crashed into the body of the Genin, and carved out a semi circle in the trunk of the tree behind him, the blonde haired shinobi screamed, holding the missing half of his face before dropping to his knees, looking down at the ground in despair. Mayflower simply looked down at the defeated specimen, humming nonchalantly as though this was an expected consequence of challenging the A fleet. Then, a familiar cackle caught her attention. She turned her head to the patch of grass behind the burned tree, beyond the wailing specimen. Then, the disfigured shinobi vanished once again into a puff of smoke, leaving behind yet another log. On the patch ahead, an identical figure stood tall with the familiar Lelouch on his shoulder. He first pretended to hold a disfigured face much like his substitution did, then pretended to cough before he extended his hand towards Mayflower, gesturing for the dragonfly to come get him, mocking her scornfully. Overhead, the flutter of Nure-Onna's wings could be heard before he landed next to his companion. "What now?" Saturn groaned, taking two steps back in preparation.

 By their lonesome, each of the A ranked specimen were troublesome enough to deal with. Together, they were a menace. Hovering next to each other, their horns and fangs twitched eerily, visibly unnerving the shinobi in front of them. "It's those horn twitches again! Seriously.. back off.. Ay!" He tried to shoo the dragons away by pretending to throw a rock in their direction, much like how one would shoo a stray dog, but to no avail. He scoffed and took another ten steps backwards as the twitching continued. First, water chakra in the form of a dragon manifested next to Mayflower. No later than when the dragon reared its head, a large vortex formed around it as Nure-Onna's horns ceased their twitching. Together, the water chakra combined to form a much larger dragon that seemed to be about 35 meters in diameter. Saturn's pupils visibly contracted, displeased to see what he was up against. Wasting no time, the dragon advanced rapidly in the shinobi's direction, breaking the ground below, with its jaws open threatening to swallow the man whole. 

 Saturn formed a single hand seal - the seal of confrontation - to quickly summon the Gates of Rashomon. Two gates rose up from the ground to face the advancing dragon. Each gate was 50 meters high, 25 meters wide, and 5 meters thick, with the face of a different Oni. Saturn took cover behind the second gate - behind him was a steep cliff that he could not hope to scale. As the dragon crashed into the face of the first gate, the sound of their collision could be heard all over the campus, sounding more like extremely loud thunder hitting a building. As the first gate opened, the dragon was significantly slower. Yet, as it approached the second gate, Saturn groaned in disbelief. It was still going too fast for the second gate to be able to act as a line of defense. The gate opened almost immediately, and the shinobi was stuck between the face of the cliff, and the face of the dragon.

 This time, there was no escape for the crafty shinobi. As the water dragon crashed into his body, he screamed in agony, and his body got swept with the waves till it crashed into the cliff behind him. The dragon continue to swallow the struggling ninja relentlessly, indifferent towards his drowning coughs and wails. All Saturn could see was the endless blue in every direction. He thought he had overcome his fear of the ocean, but in that moment, he realized that his fear ran deeper. He struggled to open his eyes - the drops of water crashing into him felt like piercing pellets against his cornea. He was trapped, and to the untrained eye, it seemed as though the fight was finally decided.

 On the other side of the opened gates of Rashomon, just outside the boundaries of the pouring rain, a loud sonic boom was heard before a beam of concentrated energy pierced into the humid air, punching a hole in the rain. The concentrated beam of chakra punched Mayflower, disorienting the dragonfly. Just as Nure-Onna turned his head, a second beam punched Mayflower for a second time with equal force, causing her to turn away from the spiralling water dragon in her control. The stream of water made a jerky 90 degree turn, releasing the trapped shinobi for long enough to allow him to use his Instant Transmission once again, letting him vanish into thin air before reappearing far from its clutches. As the confused dragonflies struggled to coordinate in the chaos, a third beam of energy struck Nure-Onna from the direction directly opposite to the first beam, bruising his face causing him to roar and look around frantically. The rain had finally ceased. The blemishes on Saturn's face slowly disappeared as he grinned at the A fleet.

 Suddenly, the air around the two dragonflies condensed and distorted causing them to wail and snarl. Their movements w ere restricted, and neither of them were able to move. Saturn calmly stepped towards the duo, stopping himself just out of the range of the distortion. A smug grin on his face revealed the nature of his unexpected attacks. It was the B fleet, all three of its members using Chakra Nullification and Hiding with Camouflage to catch the older dragonflies off guard. Although a few more tricks were needed to make it happen, this fight was fated to end in the very same manner as the fight with the B fleet. Monkey, Snake, Horse, Bird - the shinobi drew closer to ending the fight with each hand seal. Tiger, Snake, Horse, Ram - it was time to call the fight. Leech the Bold watched from a distance as the thin invisible beams of chakra left from Saturn's forehead in two directions to each penetrate the minds of the ensnared dragonflies. Soon, they were both his to control.

 The members of the B fleet each revealed themselves, cancelling their respective camouflages. Saturn looked to Aka Manto and Yanyanma, nodding at them as if to say this fight would have been a lost cause without their assistance. On his shoulder, Nokocchi was working on healing the damage that he had incurred from the brutal assault of the water dragon. The ommatidia of the two A ranked dragonflies flashed white as they each came closer to the shinobi, fluttering their wings carefully. "Leech, are you going to call this fight yet?" Saturn grunted vengefully as he stared at the two specimen. He was ready to end this fight for good."Very well." Leech hissed and scoffed, hovering between the shinobi and the A fleet, "Another victory for Saturn. Perhaps Amaterasu was onto something.."

 Saturn and Lelouch were sitting on a tree. Upon touching the trunk of the birch tree, Saturn pulled out a big black duffel bag and offered it to the dragonfly. "Here's the ryo you asked for." The shinobi declared, "Show me where to sign.." The scroll keeper unzipped the bad to peer inside. "You scoundrel. I can sense the notes, my eyes are superior to yours. This is a scam. Unforgivable! Prepare to-"


"Alright, alright! My bad, geez! Here's the rest.." Saturn groaned, pulling out a second bag from the same trunk. Leech hissed before placing a scroll in front of the shinobi, with a large brush. "By choossing to move forward, you hereby agree to all our terms and conditionsss.." Saturn raised his brow and peeked into the scroll, "Chill, damn, what??" He squinted trying to read the scroll. It was clearly revised by Leech himself, he thought, as he glanced through hundreds of clauses. He gulped feeling slightly overwhelmed. A particular clause stood out to him. 'Should a dragonfly be killed in combat while summoned by a contractor, the summoner agrees to offer their own life to the tribe, or provide food for no less than ten thousand years in the form of rations of the summoner's offspring.' "Leech, what the fuck?!" Saturn crossed his arms, sitting firmly on his crossed legs. "My bad, there are some clauses that perhapss need to be.. updated.. appropriately with the times.." The dragonfly muttered as it used the brush to cross out the segment about the 'offspring' while keeping the rest of the clause intact.


Cautiously reading through the rest of the document, another clause caught the shinobi's eye. 'Should a dragonfly lose a wing in combat while performing duties for a contracted summoner, the summoner in question agrees to pay 100,000 ryo for every wing lost by the dragonfly in combat' Feeling queasy, Saturn threw his head back before falling off of the branch of the ten meter tall tree, landing flat on his face below. "One hundred thousand is a fair price for the wing of a ten thousand year old specimen, Saturn Sentobi. What's wrong, you broke or something?"

 Saturn waved his fist as he cursed at the dragonfly who brought the scroll down to him. "Whatever, Leech. I'll sign the contract. You dragonflies better not disappoint me." Saturn grabbed the brush and signed on the scroll. He was now signed to the B fleet. While the A fleet was ready to sign with him, Saturn professed that he needed more time to gather the finances. Having to fend for himself since he was a child, he was reluctant to double down on the contract until the dragonflies proved their worth. Perhaps he had to reserve some of his money to meet another race, he thought, a side piece in case the four winged insects were insufficient.

 "So, when do I get to fight Flygon?" Saturn pestered the scroll keeper impatiently, to which the A ranked dragonfly scoffed. "You must first prove your worth some more. You have only one trick, Saturn Sentobi. Prove me wrong."

Saturn scoffed before getting up on his feet, "That was part of my plan all along." He claimed, pointing his right thumb towards his chest before pointing his index finger at the scroll keeper. "I've had enough training for one day. When I come find you again don't expect me to let you off the hook. I demand to see Flygon the Ascended."

Lelouch cackled, before hovering around the shinobi while holding the relic, the book of hides - the featherweight piece of work that had kept Saturn entertained when he was not fighting off the buzzing insects. The shinobi watched as the scroll keeper ascended into the sky before wandering into the reading hall from one of its windows, presumably to return the book. Saturn grinned, reminiscing their fight. "Tch. What a square."