Chapter 20- Concealed Memories

"Masaru-san?" Naruto said, getting the older boy's attention. "There have been dreams I've had in the past. It had felt like some occasions where I would end up in my own mind. But… it didn't look anything like this. It looked like a flood hallway with any different paths. It was there that…" He couldn't finish what he was saying since he remembered about the Kyuubi.

Shame really someone else finished his train of thought.

"Where you met Kyuubi, correct?" Shikamaru piped up, shocking both of the other people there.

"How do you know that?" Masaru and Naruto both shouted, before they both turned to each other for their outbursts. "How do you know that?" Naruto shouted, even more shocked that his own cousin knew of his 'condition.'

Masaru sighed. This wasn't good. He was hoping that the subject of the Kyuubi wouldn't have to come up between the two so soon. Just what seemed like a few minutes ago did they learn they were family, and it seemed a little soon to be building up some level of trust between them first, before Naruto himself would decide to speak to him about it. Apparently, he was asking for too much. He answered Naruto's question regarding how he saw the looks of hatred that the villagers were giving him during the tour, and approached Tsunade regarding the matter. He went on to explain his history with her as well, to let him know that she couldn't hide such a secret from him.

After he had finished his explanation, they both turned to Shikamaru, with the look on their faces saying it was his turn. He knew he wasn't going to like explaining this. "I kind of figured it out a few weeks, during that mission we had. I'm sure you remember, Naruto. The one where we hunted those Akatsuki members." Naruto nodded, coaxing Shikamaru to continue. "While I wasn't there at the moment, Ino and Choji had heard the comment that Kakuzu guy had made about you being the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and of course they couldn't really keep this little tidbit of information from me, since they felt I should know."

Both of his listeners understood his answer, but one still had some questions. "Akatsuki? Who are the Akatsuki?" Masaru asked, concerned about what this could mean. It took them a few minutes to explain how they were a group of S-rank bingo book criminals, and that they were after the tailed demons, and since Naruto holds the Kyuubi, they are after him. He also mentioned Itachi Uchiha was a member of this organization.

"This isn't good. If someone like Itachi is after you, then you must live a very difficult life. I can see the reason Jiraiya took you on as his student." Masaru took a moment to think before speaking up again. "You said Itachi mainly uses genjutsu, correct?" Seeing them nod, he spoke again. "It looks like I'll have to assist in your training much more than I thought. If I can help you master your Kannyugan, you'll gain better control over your own mind, making you far more resistant to genjutsu. We'll begin that training as soon as we can. For now, your original question, Naruto…"

Masaru sat down in the lotus position for a few minutes, thinking about what Naruto had told him. Truth be told, from how Naruto described that mindscape, it just didn't add up from what he knew. People's mindscapes are almost always a random conflagration of environs, yet there are some individuals who are capable of forming their mindscapes into a single unified environment, where everything is very neatly arranged. However, it takes nearly complete mastery of your own mind to be able to pull off such a feat. Something only very skilled monks, or someone that is skilled in the use of the Kannyugan are capable of such a thing, and at the moment, Naruto is neither.

Then he remembered his 'tenant.'

"Naruto, I believe that what you were seeing was not your own mind, but rather the Kyuubi's mindscape. He's a very powerful demon, who currently lacks a physical body. I'd think that with the millennia he's lived, but the fact he's probably bored out of his mind, he decided to redecorate to his own tastes." Masaru explained with what he felt was the correct answer.

"But why would a demon want to live in a sewer?" Shikamaru asked. Masaru simply shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. People and demons have weird tastes. After you seen as much as I have, you don't really ask these questions."

Then his face got serious again. "Anyway, I may not fully understand how the Kyuubi was sealed away, but I could bet that his mind is in someway directly connected to your mindscape. You have access his chakra before, correct?"

"Yeah, I've accessed his chakra before, but most often, I don't mean to. It happens when I get all angry and stuff like that." Naruto explained. "When it does happen, I feel the Kyuubi's presence becoming stronger as I use more chakra. Even to the point that it destroys my body."

Masaru's eyes went wide at this, before regaining his composure. "I'm going to have to think on this a bit. But not right now. There's simply too many questions that need answering at the moment. And we've got some answers to find."

After opening what seemed like another door from out of nowhere, they continued their trek into the dark recesses. As they went on, they could all feel their hair standing on end, and they all shivered. It was the obvious sign that something was going to happen. But they couldn't tell what.

A swarm of kunai aimed directly at them was the only warning they got that something was up. Looking forward, they saw what appeared to be a trio of ninjas. Shikamaru and Naruto both got into battle stances, but Masaru held up his arms in front of them.

"Don't bother, you two. Those are mental defenses. You need to approach them cautiously." This left the two confused.

"Why? Can't we just beat the shit out of them?" Naruto yelled. Shikamaru sighed, realizing what Masaru was getting out here.

"Well… technically, you could beat the shit out of them, but there is an easier way to by them." He Kannyugan wielder stated sheepishly, making the other two face fall.

"What do we need to do?" Shikamaru obviously had no plan for fighting these things.

"'We' don't do anything. This is something Naruto has to do. This is his mind, those are his defenses. He can simply ask the ninja to let us through." This little statement made Shikamaru face fall a second time.

"You're kidding me, right?" Shikamaru semi-shouted, before looking at him in the face. "You're not kidding."

"Right. Now go on, Naruto." Masaru commanded.

"Um, right." He turned his attention to the three shadow shinobi, who had done nothing as they were talking, but seeing Naruto with his attention on them, they were on guard. "Uh, do you think you could let us through? There are some things we need to look into."

They all looked upon the blonde's face with a questioning gaze, apparently trying to discern the boy's intentions through his expression. After a few seconds, they could tell there was no ill will involved in this venture, and simply dissolved into nothingness.

"What was that all about?" The question obviously being addressed to Masaru, who only felt compelled to reply.

"As I said before, mental defenses. It's sort of… the mind's way of protecting against some memories that don't want to be exposed." He said, trying to phrase it a way they'd understand it. "Naruto, don't be too surprised if we end up coming across some… painful memories, but what we seek is in this direction."

Naruto only nodded gravely. He really didn't want his memories to come to the limelight like this. He knew that his childhood was horrible, filled with things he'd rather forget completely. Attempted assassinations, being forced away from playing with other children, those eyes. Those hateful eyes he saw everyday. He'd rather not have to live through them again if he could avoid it.

He was so caught up in thinking about his bad memories that he neglected to realize that the scenery had changed again. It was certainly much different from what he had anticipated.

The landscape itself looked completely decayed. Unlike before, where it was so teeming with life, here… there was no life here whatsoever. It was as though a horrible spirit had descended upon the land, and destroyed everything in it's path. Even the twilight sky looked as though it would rain a relentless death on all who passed through.

The only thing that seemed to standout in this desolate wasteland was the multitudes of carved stones that littered the landscape. Looking closely, he saw that there were words engraved upon each and every stone, but he was unable to decipher whatever archaic language was written there. He took a step back when he realized what they were.

They were gravestones. This was a graveyard.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto yelled out, clearly breaking the eardrums of the other two people present, who didn't appreciate the audio attack. Then again, no one really would.

Shikamaru took the initiative, and pounded the vocal friend to the ground, effectively shutting him up. After a few minutes of giving their ears some sweet, silent relief, they asked him what he was screaming about, who only replied there were ghosts in graveyards.

Masaru only shook his head. "Naruto, there wouldn't be ghosts in this graveyard. The only thing you'll find is your memories."

It took him a few minutes to explain to him that in the various environments that make up the minds, the memories that inhabit the 'region' of the mind take on a physical form, and solidify themselves into something in that environment. In this instance, the gravestones that were quite numerous around them contained his memories, and would react instantly to contact.

Seeing his confusion, he sighed. "Guess it's better to show you what I mean." He walked over to one of the nearby gravestones, and placed his hand on it's head. Instantly, the world around them began to warp, around them. It was difficult to describe the phenomenon, but to them it felt as though they were being warped to an entirely different location, but it didn't feel like they left the graveyard.

Once the distortion had finished, they found themselves in a simple wooden room. It was a standard room, with nothing really decorating it. The only thing standing out was what apparently was a teacher's desk.

A quick glance gave the three the clue they were not alone. Sitting behind the desk, were two people, each wearing standard uniforms that indicated they were chunin. The key differences between the two were that one of them had dark brown hair tied up to look like it was a pineapple, and had a scar running horizontally across his nose, while the other one had long, silver hair that roughly reached down to his neckline. The other person present in the room was a twelve-year-old Naruto Uzumaki.

Masaru shuddered looking at Naruto's younger self. "Did he WANT to get himself killed?" He thought to himself, not liking the fact that his cousin considered wearing an orange jumpsuit in his earlier tears. But he couldn't bring up the courage to say something like that to him here, because he had his own question come to mind.

"Where is this?" Was all he said. The other two face faulted at this comment. For a while now, Masaru had been telling them all about the workings of the mind, and then he just gets up and asks such a simple question. It was very mind boggling to the two, but they wouldn't admit it. Not ever.

"This is the Ninja Academy…" Naruto happily explained, before his expression changed to mild depression. "This was when…" He didn't get the chance to finish his statement, before a voice broke out over his.

"Clone Jutsu!" Was heard coming from the mouth of the younger Naruto, as he was gathering a large amount of chakra, obviously trying to perform the simple cloning technique. However, Masaru and Shikamaru couldn't help but try to suppress their chuckles when they saw him make one very sickly clone dead on the ground.

"YOU FAIL!" Roared from the voice of the scarred chunin, previously introduced to Masaru as Iruka Umino, who was irritated at his student's attempt at the jutsu.

Masaru couldn't hold his laughs back anymore at watching his younger cousin pass the genin exam. He had to clutch his stomach, the laughter was so strong. By doing this though, he had to remove his hand from some invisible object, and in doing so, the world distorted around them again, and they ended up back at the graveyard they were before, where it could be seen the 'invisible object' was the gravestone he placed his hand on.

It took a few minutes of Naruto's glaring at his two friends to get them to get their laughter under control, before he explained that was when he taken the genin exam for the third time, and failed. Masaru nearly let out another chuckle, but was silenced by another glare.

"I was wondering why Iruka-sensei was so loud when you were in there. I thought you were trying to pull some prank, and he failed you for not being too serious." Shikamaru piped up.

"I wouldn't try to prank on something as serious as the genin exam. I just couldn't do that damned clone jutsu. No matter how hard I tried to, I just couldn't get it down right!" Defended Naruto, offended by the accusations of his former classmate (though they may have been accurate in SOME instances).

Shikamaru was quiet for a moment, before speaking up again. "Well, I'll believe you, since I saw what happened. As for your clone jutsu failing, I think it had to do with the fact you possessed an abnormally large amount of chakra, which would be hard to control to make a decent clone. Make sense?" Naruto, usually dumbfounded by Shikamaru's use of smart words, only nodded his head.

"Okay, do you understand what I explained earlier about memories, or should we see something else." Masaru asked, though inside, he was quite troubled. "Naruto, I see so many bad memories here, and I can tell, this isn't anywhere near all of them" He thought, remembering that there are many sections of bad memories, each categorized by similarities in what happened in them. "I want to know… what kind of life… you've been forced to live."

His gaze around the graveyard stopped upon a particular gravestone. It wasn't much different looking from the others. However, it was easily twice the size of any of the others there. Something important was there. He could just feel it. His desire to see what lie there, he ignored the people with him, and even his own inner voice telling not to invade Naruto's privacy.

He touched the stone slab.

Instantly, the world around them began to distort around them, and they all quickly got use to the dizzying feeling that came along with it. As the spatial distortions ended, they noticed that it was a place neither Shikamaru nor Masaru have been to before, but they couldn't ask Naruto. He suddenly fell deathly quiet; something that was highly unusual for the normally loud genin.

The two decided to look at their surroundings, to deduce what was going one. It was an incredibly mountainous region, divided into two halves by a river that cascaded down a waterfall into a valley beneath them. No life flourished in the ravine, yet above and beyond it were many trees and plants. It seemed like a very natural place.

If you ignore the fact that there were two gigantic statues erected on either side of the ravine, just at the cliff faces where the waterfall was. A close look at one of the people depicted that he was the First Hokage, while his opponent was an unknown figure. The two of them realized that with those two here, it could only be the location known as the Valley of the End. But why would Naruto have a memory from this location?

"Hmm?" Masaru said, breaking the silence that had befallen the group. Shikamaru turned to him, to see he was looking off in the distance. Turning his head to follow Masaru's gaze, his eyes fell upon a pair of figures off in the distance, both of them standing on either side of the ravine.

The one they could see on one side of the ravine was the same Naruto that they had seen from the previous memory. But he was not as similar as they first thought. The jumpsuit he was wearing was torn and batter, and cut in various places. Blood and dirt was strewn across him as well, indicating that he is in the middle of an intense battle. Shikamaru nearly vomited upon seeing the hole in the young Naruto's jumpsuit. A hole that size could only come from an attack that was incredibly strong, but he knew that his opponent knew just such an attack.

The scariest part about Naruto's appearance was not the condition of his clothes, or even how worn out he was. It was the chakra coming off his body. It wasn't blue, the color chakra came as; it was red. A silhouette of red chakra was surrounding his body, and they could actually feel the malice and bloodlust that came along with it, even though they were in a memory. It felt… not human. A close look at the shape showed that it looked vaguely like a fox, with one tail wagging from the rear. This could only mean that this was the chakra of the nine-tailed fox, though it couldn't be all of it, since only one tail was showing instead of nine.

The figure on the other side was above and beyond anything he has ever seen. It was a boy that was just as old as Naruto, maybe slightly older. He wore a pair of white cargo shorts, along with a blue shirt, adorned with a red and white fan on the back. It didn't take long to recognize the crest; it was the mark of the Uchiha clan, famous for their doujutsu Sharingan, capable of seeing through the techniques of anyone they faced.

Even though he was an Uchiha, he himself seemed more like a demon than anything else. His skin took on a light tone of gray, making it seem as though he was dying. A long mane of white hair adorned his head, making him seem somewhat like Jiraiya in a sense. A black cross, pointed at the ends, lined his face, centered by the nose. His Sharingan eyes, which were normally red, were now purple-tinted, and made for a terrifying appearance. The most inhuman thing that could be seen on his figure was a pair of wings that were sprouting out of his shoulder blades. Overall, he was creeped out by the appearance, but he had faced many things over the years, so he was not as intimidated as Shikamaru was.

It took Shikamaru a long moment before he realized what was going on. "So… this is what happened that day." He said in no more than a whisper, but Masaru was able to hear it.

"What do you mean that day? And who is that Naruto is fighting?" He asked, for once feeling irked he was out of the loop.

"It was that day, about two and a half years, that Naruto's closest friend and teammate, Sasuke Uchiha had left the village to go to Orochimaru for power." Shikamaru explained. Masaru jumped internally at the mention of the name Sasuke.

After that, Shikamaru explained more about the kind of person Sasuke was, and his ambition in life to avenge his clan by murdering his older brother. He simply felt the need that the village was holding him back, and left to become strong enough to do so. Through all of this, Masaru was only half-listening, because his mind was remembering what Tsunade had told him, about not using his 'methods' in finding out about Sasuke, and went and did just that. He felt ashamed he didn't keep his promise, but didn't let it show.

He turned his gaze towards Naruto, who hasn't spoken a word since the memory started. His eyes were glazed over, with an empty look on them. Since he has learned somewhat to read emotions because of his Kannyugan over the years, he could see what the problem was. Naruto didn't want to have bring up this particularly bad memory to Masaru, who he didn't want to have to burden him with his problems. He would need some reassuring.

"Naruto." Masaru said boldly, snapping the blonde out of his reverie. "I can see this is troubling you, but you can't continue dwelling on the past. Don't worry. I'll do whatever I can to help you bring him back." Naruto looked like he was about to speak up, but he was cut off. "Don't try and talk me out of this. My mind is made up. It's not only your fight. You and me, we're family, and I'll be damned if I can't do anything to help my family." He was saying, memories of his mother flashing through his mind. This only helped to further steel his resolve, and Naruto could see it in his eyes; he wasn't going to back down.

In some ways this only help him further realize that Masaru was his family. That look of determination and resolve he only truly saw in the eyes of one other person… himself. He recalled the time he made the pledge on his bleeding hand as they were on their way to the Wave Country for his first C-rank mission. It was the first time he had been exposed to the true nature of a shinobi's life, and he froze up at the first sign of danger. After that day, he swore to himself that he wouldn't back down ever again. And now, he saw that same determination being reflected in his cousin. It was there he realized truly their family ties.

Their inner thoughts were interrupted by a pair of screams. "CHIDORI?" "RASENGAN!" was all they could hear as an explosion of chakra erupted from the battle they were supposed to be watching. The explosion itself emitted so much light that it literally obscured their entire field of vision, so much so that Masaru had to move both of his arms to shield his face, thus ending the memory.

After taking a moment for them to rub the spots out of their eyes, it was Naruto who spoke up. "So… where are we going next?"

Shikamaru and Masaru were thrown off by the sudden change in attitude, but it took them a quick moment to realize why. He was obviously still reeling from the emotional damage, and he wanted to get away from as fast as possible. True, they were taught to never run away from their problems, but this time seemed like an exception.

Shikamaru turned his head to Masaru. "Well, you're the guide. Where to?"

"Hmm. Judging from what I learned so far, I think we can get to our destination pretty soon, if we head…" He took in his surroundings once again, this time using the full extent of his eyes abilities. With them working to full capacity, he was able to locate where he needed to go. "That way." He pointed off in one direction. And they headed off.

Author's Note: Hope you all liked this chapter. As for how Shikamaru learned about Kyuubi, it wouldn't surprisie me if Ino or Choji did tell him about it, since I remember it was mentioned by Kakuzu during the fight after Shikamaru left.

A few people had asked me to have them meet Kyuubi while in Naruto's mind. I apologize, but that won't be happening sometime soon. There is something I intend to have Naruto accomplish during this story, which will only be harder overall if I include any interactions with Kyuubi until this objective is complete. I also am not fond of the idea too much of giving the fox a personality of anything but a uncontrollable killer, which I've seen in so many stories.

Next time: Chapter 21- The Past Reawakened

Eyes Of Truth

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