Stolen Bonds
by
Chad 'Graeystone' Harger
Chapter 2
xxxxx
Ino told her teammates that Naruto has no personal memories of Hinata.
"No memories of a particular person," said Shikamaru.
"Is that possible?" asked Choji.
"Yes it is," said Ino. "Between feeling inadequate to avenge Asuma and his dying request for me, I started serious training in my clan's mental abilities. What I learned and am now capable of is frightening. What happened to Naruto is proof of it."
"Someone directly assaulted his mind. A genjutsu," said Shikamaru.
"It could be that. It can also be a degenerative disease that affects the memory. He could also be that big of an idiot," explained Ino.
"He is an idiot," said Choji while munching a chip.
"But not that kind of idiot," said Shikamaru with concern. "He considers us Rookies life long friends."
"That leaves a disease or an attack. I hope it's a disease because that can be handled easier and perhaps curable," said Ino. "An attack leaves too many problems to handle. If it was an attack of some kind then it's a miracle nothing worse has happened."
"What's worse than losing memories?" asked Choji.
"Mental booby traps," said Ino. "His intelligence could be wiped out leaving him an invalid or in a vegetative state. I can think of ten other horrible things that can happen and three of them make being an invalid look nice. The trigger can be something that is said to Naruto or it could be a stray thought on his part."
Choji asked what kind of person would do that. Ino said she was not sure it was an attack and that jumping to conclusions could be dangerous for Naruto. "Precautions still need to be made," said Ino. "I'm going to talk to Hinata and tell her not to go near Naruto or talk to him. Then I'm going to try and get a look at Naruto's medical history."
"What do you want us to do?" asked Shikamaru. He was the leader of the group but he knew better than to try and intrude on the expertise of his teammates.
"Nothing," said Ino. "If you see Naruto later and asks about why I attacked him make something up or better yet, let him tell the story. It's better if you don't have any contact with him until I discover the cause."
"Should the Hokage know?" asked Choji.
"Either way I'll give Tsunade-sama a report," said Ino. "For now the fewer people that know the better."
xxxxx
Ino visited Hinata to make sure she was alright and to deliver the bad news. Ino said she would do her best to find out what the cause of Naruto's memory loss. Ino instructed Hinata not to mention this to him or anyone else as it could make matters worse for Naruto. Ino was thankful Hinata did not ask unnecessary questions. The hard part was to tell Hinata that if the cause was found and Naruto was fixed there was no guarantee the memories could be recovered. Hinata smiled and said it was fine as long as Naruto was okay.
Ino next stop was to see Tsunade. This part would be more difficult. Naruto's health records were sealed by the Fourth and Third Hokages. The seal was not of a jutsu but an order from people who once wielded the power to make that kind of declaration. Only another Hokage or Naruto could give permission to unseal the records.
"Tsunade-sensei, I would like to request permission to access Naruto's health records," said Ino.
"What is wrong with him?" asked Tsunade getting right to the point.
"I can't say," said Ino. "For now I'm his personal physician."
"Not good enough," said Tsunade. "Unless I hear the reason I won't unseal his records."
"I can't tell you because of confidentiality between patient and healer," said Ino.
"Don't give me that crap!" snapped Tsunade.
Ino learned long ago that sometimes the best way to handle Tsunade was to stand up to her. "You are the one who wrote the rules of being a medical-nin and that includes privacy between patient and medical-nin. You said it yourself that it is a concept that even a hokage and elders cannot interfere with unless there is a criminal matter. Naruto has not broken the law so I am choosing to say as little as possible," said Ino with firmness and hope that she did not sound weak in front of her teacher.
"Give me a hint," ordered Tsunade.
"It's not physical and what is wrong with him has inadvertently caused grief to someone else," said Ino.
"It better not be the Fox causing trouble and you're trying to calm it down on your own," said Tsunade.
Ino shuddered where she stood. She did not consider the monster inside of Naruto. From a very safe distance she saw the Kyuubi attack Pain and it gave her nightmares for days. She had to be honest with herself and admit that she was too scared to consider it. "You'll be the first the to know," said Ino.
"Tell Kakashi and Yamato first if it comes to that," ordered Tsunade. "Can you at least tell me if he's sick."
"It's a complicated matter," said Ino choosing her words carefully. "A health problem might be curable."
"You said nothing is wrong with him physically," said Tsunade. Her eyes narrowed then went wide. "A mental condition."
Ino hid her surprise well enough. "His future as a ninja could be at risk. If it's not a disease then it's something else that I won't mention."
"An attack," said Tsunade.
"I won't confirm or deny that," said Ino. "It's too big of a risk to Naruto's mental health if we guess wrong and try a treatment."
Ino waited patiently showing how serious she was about the matter. A long minute passed for Ino. Tsuande took a pad and pen wrote a note. She put the Hokage's Stamp on it and handed the note to Ino. "What is in those records are also top secret. Say anything to anyone that is not pertinent to this case and being put through a wall will be the least of your worries."
Ino would not betray the confidence. Tsunade was obligated to warn Ino anyway. "I understand Tsunade-sama," said Ino.
xxxxx
Ino went to the hospital. She handed the old man in charge of medical records Tsunade's note. He raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing. He went to a file cabinet and took out Naruto's folder. The folder was not as thick as Ino expected. Ino took the folder and went to a table in the room and sat down. The person in charge sat down across from her.
"What are you doing?" asked Ino with irritation.
"Standing orders concerning Naruto's file. I can't let you out of my sight," said the records keeper. He rolled up his sleeve and showed Ino a faded ANBU tattoo. "I am retired but will still do my duty if need be."
"I-I get it," said Ino.
Ino ignored the former ANBU agent as best as she could and started reading. A copy of Naruto's birth certificate was there. She frowned seeing that the names of Naruto's parents had been blacked out. A jutsu seal had been placed on top of the ink to make it look blurry. Even if the ink was somehow removed the names would still be blurred to the reader. Ino continued through the data trying to see any signs of mental diseases. Except for childhood diseases Naruto did not get sick. His healing ability and stamina was attributed to Kyuubi.
Ino held up a two page annotation note written by the Third Hokage. As she read it her fears came about. This was not about a disease. Naruto's memory loss was done intentionally and it affected more than Naruto's knowledge of Hinata. Ino had to put a stop to this before things got out of hand and for that she needed her father's help.
xxxxx
That night as dinner was being prepared Ino put on her 'princesses face'. Inoichi sat on the couch reading a newspaper. Ino plopped down beside him. "Daddy, I need a favor from you," said Ino as sweetly as possible.
"Nice try hime but you're no longer ten years old. That trick doesn't work on me," said Inoichi dryly.
"Had to try," sighed Ino. "I do need your help. I have a patient who's mind has been attacked."
Inoichi put down the newspaper. "How bad is it?" he asked becoming serious.
"Selective memory loss of a particular individual and perhaps memory manipulation with the result of not thinking of a doing a certain action," answered Ino.
"Perhaps isn't good enough. You know better than to make a guess at a mental condition. Anything can go wrong if you misdiagnose and go poking around someone's mind," said Inoichi. "Who's your patient?"
"Naruto," said Ino.
"Oh. . .him," said Inoichi without emotion. "To be honest I recommend against trying to help him. Who knows what that monster inside of him will do to you if it gets it's claws on your mind. I can't help him because I don't know him that well."
Shikamaru told Ino about their fathers conversation with Naruto when Naruto was looking for Pain's real body. If there was one thing about Inoichi is that his ego bruised easily. "I'm thinking of doing a cursory scan of his mind to see how bad the damage if. If need be there will be full mind dive," said Ino without reservation.
"A full mind dive!" shouted Inoichi. "You're not experienced enough for something like that!"
"That's why I need your help," said Ino. "You can act as the anchor and pull me out if anything goes wrong."
"It's not going to happen! You are forbidden from helping him!" yelled Inoichi.
"It's not only Naruto that's being affected! The memories that keeps getting erased or whatever are those about Hinata!" shot back Ino.
"Damn it, I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do," said Inoichi. "I'd be able to help if it wasn't for the Fox and I can't run the risk of that thing getting loose."
"Help him anyway," said Ino's mother who came out of the kitchen and heard their conversation.
Ino looked at her mother. She was pale and drawn. The mission she and father got back from must have took a lot out of her Ino thought to herself.
"To lose something important and not to even have any memory of it is worse than just having simple memory loss," she said.
"Ereko," said Inoichi.
Ereko was once a telepath of the highest order. Inoichi was the only one in the clan with more power than her. Sometime before Ino's graduation from the Academy tragedy struck Ereko and she lost all her mental abilities. She could still function as a ninja and still did B and C Rank missions once a month with Inoichi.
"Please help our daughter set this tragedy right," said Ereko who was almost in tears.
Inoichi closed his eyes for a moment. "If that is what you want."
"Thank you," said Ereko. She wiped the tears from her face and went went back to the kitchen.
"Who knows about this?" asked Inoichi.
"Hinata, Tsunade-sensei, and my teammates," said Ino.
"They'll be able to help. A full mind dive makes me cynical enough to know something will go wrong," said Inoichi.
"I'm going to do a simple scan of Naruto's mind to see how bad the damage is," said Ino. "If there is at least a mental outline of Hinata then something can be salvaged."
To be continued . . .
Author's Note – The story goes AU in a way since the story takes place some time after Pain's attack on the village. In this story Tsunade wakes up early enough to dispose of Danzo before he reaches the Kage Meeting. Sasuke is still out there doing whatever and it's the calm before the storm concerning the upcoming war. These things have no real bearing on the story and are just mentioned to prevent any confusion about the flow events compared to canon.
I always got the impression Ino's clan are more like telepaths(think Charles Xavier from X-Men) than genjutsu users. It's one of the reason why I chose Ino to the 'investigator'.
'hime' is Japanese for 'princess'.
