Naruto: Shadows of the Hive

The corridor felt narrower than usual. Soma walked slowly, each footstep echoing off the cold stone. His mind repeated the invitation: Elder Noroi of the Dominion Branch requests your presence.

His breath caught each time he replayed it. Dominion Elders were not men; they were maelstroms of devoured voices and mangled identities, more creature than human.

At the threshold of a small annex chamber, he paused. A sharp, sweet-sour scent clung to the air — blood and old herbs, mixed into a pungent perfume.

---

Inside, the walls were lined with old ceremonial masks, each warped into grotesque expressions. In the center stood Elder Noroi. His frame was thin but corded with muscle that seemed almost too taut, as though barely containing something restless beneath.

He wore a cloak stitched from overlapping scraps of animal hide and pale human leather — an unsettling patchwork that shimmered slickly under the lantern glow, each piece whispering of its origin in silent, flayed testament.

His face was partly hidden by a stitched veil. Exposed skin bore ridged, almost scale-like scarring — somewhere between a snake's belly and a butchered human rib cage. His eyes shone from behind the veil, glinting wetly in the lantern light.

> "You… Soma," Noroi rasped. His voice was layered, as though multiple throats fought to speak at once. "Your new brood. They smell of ambition. Raw… and still sweet."

Soma bowed slightly, careful not to let his gaze linger too long.

> "Elder Noroi. You summoned me."

Noroi tilted his head, spines of dark hair shifting like insect legs.

> "Summoned. Yes. A good word."

He stepped closer, fingers twitching in small spasms. His nails were long, blackened at the tips.

> "I have watched your growth… felt it gnawing in the marrow of the clan. You cut your echoes apart and forged something… monstrous. But it does not howl. It does not squirm. It listens."

He reached out, stopping just before touching Soma's chest.

> "Your Hive… it is not a choir of broken animals. You have denied the chorus. Denied the banquet."

Soma inhaled carefully, his own hand tensing near his side.

> "I do not seek to devour voices. I unify them."

Noroi's laugh shivered across the chamber — sharp, brittle, echoing from his chest like a bone rattle.

> "Unify? You lock the prey inside a single cage and call it harmony. You mistake submission for growth."

He paced, fingers brushing his own ribs as if to soothe them.

> "We of the Dominion do not hush the voices. We let them clash, rip, gorge on each other until only the strongest taste remains. That is true becoming."

His head twitched, eyes flickering toward Soma.

> "Your creatures… the Primorph. They are children, yes? Will they be obedient little animals… or will they someday tear free of your leash and make a kingdom of your bones?"

Soma felt a tremor in his Hive Core, as though it bristled at the provocation.

> "They will not rebel," he answered quietly. "They are not slaves or echoes. They are extensions — they exist because I do."

Noroi shivered, a delighted sound sliding from his throat.

"Fascinating. You believe you can mold flesh and expect loyalty, as if betrayal isn't written into every cell." You have not tasted enough human defiance yet…"

He leaned close, breath sharp with copper.

> "Would you like to learn? To take in human imprints? To feel the heat of a thousand fears slithering into your bones? I can guide you. I can show you how to strip a man's genius from his sinews and sculpt it into power."

Soma's gaze did not falter, but his pulse thudded, echoing through the Hive Core.

> "No. I will not erode myself. That is not my path."

Noroi's grin widened beneath the veil.

> "Ah… pity. You are a sculptor afraid of raw clay. Still… I did not invite you here to force your hand."

He turned, gesturing toward a far corner where a small lacquer box sat.

> "A gift. Or an invitation, if you prefer. Inside — a record of our lineage's 'artistic' achievements. Techniques, failed hybrid diagrams… forgotten truths."

Soma stepped forward cautiously.

> "Why offer this to me?"

Noroi's voice dropped, low and liquid.

> "Because you are not Communion… and you are not truly Dominion. You stand alone. A new blade. Perhaps one day you will sever us all — or refine us into something beyond our nightmares. I wish to see it."

Soma hesitated, then extended his hand, fingers brushing the box. The lacquer was cold, its patterns coiling like worms.

> "I will consider it," he said.

Noroi inclined his head sharply, bones in his neck audibly cracking.

> "Good. Perhaps next time… we will dine together."

A shudder crawled along Soma's spine. He gathered the box, bowing briefly, and turned to leave.

> "One more thing," Noroi called, his voice curling around Soma's shoulders. "Your precious harmony? It always starts with a scream — the scream of something being broken, devoured, remade. You just pretend to hear music where there's only conquest."

Soma did not answer. He stepped into the corridor, the box cradled to his chest. Behind him, Noroi's laughter rose and fell, echoing down the hall like distant thunder.

---

Outside, the air felt raw against Soma's skin. The Hive Core pulsed, slow and guarded, as though wrapping itself tighter around his ribs.

> "A scream," Soma repeated inwardly. "No... not a scream. A single, unified note."

His fingers closed around the box. He moved down the steps, each footstep measured, each breath heavy with cautious resolve.