I just had a giant burst of inspiration, and got this chapter as a result. I'll post one more chapter after this, and move on to the wave arc.
Poll results:
Gaara 11
Matatabi 7
Sasuke 6
Shikamaru 5
Other 2
Itachi 2
Kakashi 1
Haku 1
Total 35
Inoichi's POV
When Ibiki called me in for help with an interrogation, I was surprised, to say the least. Ibiki never has trouble with an interrogation. Ever. Ibiki handed me the case file.
"Namikaze Naruko. Stole the Scroll of Sealing and there is an extraordinary amount of evidence against her. We need to learn where she hid the scroll. However, she keeps insisting that she had nothing to do with the theft. There is a 72 hour window between when the scroll was last seen and when it was reported missing. You need to search her memories and find where she hid the scroll." Namikaze Naruko. If I remember correctly, she was in my daughter's Academy class. She should be a fresh genin by now. A fresh genin stole the scroll of sealing and on top of that, managed to give Ibiki a hard time in the interrogation room. I should definitely be careful here.
I walk into the interrogation room to find the girl tied to a chair. When she sees me she beams up at me. That was odd. People who are being interrogated generally don't smile happily like that.
"Hello Mister! Are you here to play with me too? Ibiki-chan was fun, but you seem fun too! You look like you're a Yamanaka! Are you related to Ino-chan?" Okay, now I can see why Ibiki asked for help. The number one thing that made an interrogation successful was control. There was absolutely no control here. Well, might as well get this over with.
"Mind Invasion Technique." I was instantly transported to Naruko's mindscape. It was rather strange for a mindscape. Mindscapes often reflect a place that their owner's feel safe. For example, almost every single Nara seems to have a mindscape that involves a nice place to watch the clouds. I was in the middle of what appeared to be one of Konoha's sewers, standing ankle deep in water. This was Naruko's safe place?
Naruko stands several yards in front of me. She smiles mischievously at me and runs around the nearest corner. I run to catch up to her. She won't evade me for long. I round the bend only to see the tips of her pigtails as she turns another corner. I follow her around the corner and a wave of demonic chakra hits me. Naruko sits leisurely, leaning on a giant set of iron bars. Behind her the Kyuubi looms menacingly. Naruko looked unfazed by the fact that a giant demon was lurking behind her.
"So you are a Yamanaka, then. Did you know that some might consider it rude if someone breaks into their head? No matter! We can play mind games!" The Kyuubi rolls its eyes.
"You do realize that while the intruder is under the impression that you want to toy with his head, you want to play inside the mindscape and just screw around in general?"
"No, why would he think that? This is obviously a good place to play games." She directs her next question to me.
"So, do you want to play mind games?" I sensed an opportunity here.
"I'll play with you on one condition. I want to see some of your memories." Naruko pales.
"Uhh you really don't want to see some of them. Which ones do you want to see?" This girl was definitely hiding something. But what?
"The ones I want to see are of the last three days and how you got to know Kyuubi." Naruko lets out a sigh of relief.
"I can show you those, no problem." The mindscape dissolves into Naruko's memories.
A smaller version of Naruko is crying. She looks to be about Academy age. Nobody tries to console her. Everyone simply ignores her. She sniffles and goes to cry where nobody can find her and she can pretend that everyone wants to comfort her, but simply can't find her. Naruko walks round to the back of the Academy where a scene unveils before her.
A pink haired girl is being bullied by some other kids. She is crying. Naruko wonders glumly if it's a fact of life that people bully others for their own ends. Naruko turns to leave when a commotion ensues. Ino firmly tells them to stop and leave her alone. She then consoles Sakura. Naruko watches confusedly.
Nothing like this ever happened to her! For her, there was no hero to step in and save the day. Okay, so sometimes Dog and Weasel of ANBU helped her out during mob attacks, but they were only doing their jobs by saving a civilian whose life was endangered. She tried to reward them with ramen, but they never took it or accepted her thanks. Naruko admired their sense of unwavering duty, getting nothing in return for their troubles.
Naruko retreated deep within herself to find her answer.
She was transported to... the Konoha Sewer System? Naruko liked the KSS. It was a good hiding place for when she was in trouble for something or another. Nobody ever bothered to explain to her what exactly she was in trouble for, but she was always punished. The KSS would probably make a good training place too, provided she didn't make too much noise.
Naruko saw a red glow coming from right around the corner. Curious, she decided to investigate the source. A large set of bars blocked her way from reaching the light. The red glow seemed to be coming from a giant red fox.
"Hi Fox-chan. Why are you in here? I've never seen you before." The fox growls threateningly at her.
"Don't call me Fox-chan! It's demeaning." Naruko looks at him in understanding.
"You're right. I wouldn't like it if someone called me 'human' just because of my species. What's your name?" Kyuubi looks down threateningly at Naruko.
"The name's Rikudo Kurama."
The memory faded away and I was shown the past three days. Naruko was innocent, after all. Her memories were fairly interesting. She mastered an A-Ranked jutsu (that was forbidden), talked sense into Minato (a feat that was finally accomplished after twelve years of fruitless begging from the Yondaime's family and friends), stole the bell from a former ANBU (right under his nose, no less), gained her jinchuuriki ability (which seems extremely handy to me), and flew, all in the span of three days. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.
She seemed extremely capable and confident. What was the answer she found that allowed her to change from gloomy and depressed to smiling and cheerful? I had to know.
"What was the answer you found?" Naruko frowns in confusion, then realization dawned on her as she realized I was talking about the day she met Kurama.
"I realized that while the world is dark, heroes do exist. For others, a hero is a beacon of light that stops darkness. The reason that I had no hero was because I am my hero. My world may be pitch dark, but one day I will save myself by turning my world to light. That's why I want to be Hokage so much. If I am Hokage, then I will have completely changed my entire world to light and maybe have saved a few others, as well. Does this make sense to you?"
"Yes, it does. I'm actually impressed by the answer you came up with. Other jinchuuriki have tried to come up with their own answers, but they aren't as bright as yours. I've actually heard rumors of a jinchuuriki about your age from Suna who decided that the way to prove his existence is by eliminating the existences of others. I'm sorry, but I'm really busy today and can't play mind games with you. I promise to play them with you another day, just not today." I left the mindscape.
"How long was I in her mind, Ibiki?" You could never really tell with mindscapes how fast time went by.
"About thirty seconds." I quickly briefed Ibiki on my experience in her mindscape, feeling slightly miffed because I missed out on the mind games.
"That's good. But I'd really like to put her in ANBU as soon as possible, just to see what will happen." I nodded in agreement.
"What do you say to lobbying the Hokage to put her in ANBU as soon as she passes the chunin exams." I am also interested to see how quickly she will become a captain.
"I'm going to be a proctor in the exams, you know. I have a feeling that she'll undermine my typical exam. I'll do something interesting this time around with my test." Ibiki grinned evilly. And the man wondered why he was never asked to be a Jounin-sensei!
Sasuke's POV
"You want the truth about Namikaze Naruko? I'll give you the short version. Her mother, Uzumaki Kushina had taken a gamble by having the demon fox sealed inside of her. Everything seemed fine. She had it under control. That is, until Naruko was born. She died in childbirth, but the demon didn't die. It had taken on the form of Namikaze Naruko! The Yondaime sank into a deep depression after she died. The other villages took this as a sign of weakness and tried to move in on Konoha. Thankfully, the Sandaime stood in for the Yondaime and created a treaty that prevented the war on October 21st. That's how the Treaty Day Festival was created. But my point is that that girl is a demon that was almost the end of us all, and will be our undoing if something isn't done about it!"
This is irrational! The other nations only saw those events as an excuse to make war, while irrational ninja and uninformed civilians not wanting to stir up a fuss about the villages who were preparing to go to war with us used Naruko as a scapegoat. I, at least, hated her for a rational reason. Did I? Or was I just upset that the dead last outdid the rookie of the year several times. Did the stupid Academy standings matter that much to me? I must be a bit too proud for my own good. Arrogance had definitely clouded my judgment and may continue to do so in the future. I needed to amend the mistake I made and watch myself carefully in the future. And I knew exactly how to start.
"You're wrong, Mizuki. Naruko is not a demon. Sakura, does Naruko seem very demonic to you?" Mizuki looked at me in surprise and rage.
"No, she really doesn't. I think she's a bit too happy and carefree to really be a fox demon. She doesn't look even remotely demonic to me." Sakura answered with conviction.
"What do you expect? Fox ears? Whisker marks on her face? She's not human and wants to destroy us all! Or are you blind?" Mizuki spat. Sakura immediately responded.
"I'm not blind, but you are! Naruko is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet and is much more human than you are! Cha!" Sakura looked a little embarrassed after what she just said, as though she didn't realize she said that out loud.
"Surrender, Mizuki. Or else you'll pay the price for insulting our comrade." I must have looked serious, because Mizuki happily surrendered. We retrieved the scroll and returned to Konoha. During the trip, Itachi gave Sakura and I a compliment that meant everything to me. He didn't elaborate, and I just hned in response, but that one simple sentence was all I needed.
"I'm proud of you two."