Chapter 52: Acceptance

Hiroshi and the rest of his teammates were waiting in a hospital room. They had safely returned to the village of Konoha, and it has been almost three days since then. By the time they returned, they were so fatigued and mentally tired that the last few days have been a blurry mess. Hiroshi even had to actively remind himself why they were in the hospital now in the first place.

All of them were present, with the exception of Suzumi. Ryouta and Makoto were quietly discussing something, keeping their voice low enough to prevent the rest of them from hearing, while Hibiki and Sora were merely throwing dirty glances at each other. Since Makoto was occupied with Ryouta, Mayuri opted to keep her distance. Her hair had recovered remarkably fast since the last fight. Hiroshi was almost taken aback at how short it was, but only a few days later it was almost back to half its original length.

Hiroshi had lost track of time ever since they started travelling from the Sand village, but it had been almost a month since they departed, and when they got back, their Hokage was more than ready to hear what they had to say to explain their 'tardiness'. She had heard reports from what happened in the villages up north, but she wanted a full, detailed explanation of what went on during the past 4 weeks, and all of them stayed in her office late in the night as they told her everything. Shikamaru and a couple of other jounins were present to listen as well, including Sakura-sensei and Tsunade's aide, Shizune.

" …Currently, Takeshi is keeping Naoto under his custody, with the full intention of interrogating her and extracting everything that they can from her. With her history against us, there is sure to be useful information to be obtained. He has agreed that if he comes across any information deemed necessary or important to us, he will oblige in handing the information over, but Naoto will be kept under his custody, at all cost," Ryouta replied. " That is all."

The room was silent for a while. Perhaps they had all formed opinions of their own, and Shikimaru looked like he had something to say or comment upon, but they were patiently waiting for their Hokage to speak first. When she had collected her thoughts, she stood up and spoke to them.

" Well, that was one heck of a long tale. I'm surprised you all made it this far alive. I'm impressed," she spoke to them, and Hiroshi sensed a hint of affection in her voice. " I must say, finally bringing down an organization of this size, which given your limited skills and unfavourable situation, is quite a feat. You have done a service to your village, and my only regret is the best I can offer you right now is…well, thank you."

" Bwahahaha, to have the Hokage thank me personally, I think it was worth it that I went through so much shit!" Sora laughed loudly, much to the chagrin of everyone in the room besides her.

" And you too, our Sand allies. I apologise that you had to go so far when it was us that offered to help you in the first place," Tsunade replied, turning to Makoto and his team.

" Well, I'm just glad we could help," Makoto replied.

" …Urm, Hokage?" Suzumi asked nervously.

" Yes, what is it?" Tsunade asked.

" I want to know if you managed to find out anything about Hayate," Suzumi asked.

" Due to 'recent' developments, border security has been lax in the northern countries, so with some luck we managed to have some of our people infiltrate the Blood Country to scout out on what was happening," Tsunade replied almost as if she was expecting this question. " We went digging for a little bit, and with some help from our Cloud allies, we managed to find out a bit."

" Hayate was from a small clan which was renowned for their intellectual capabilities. His mother, Aki Yukimura, was the daughter of the clan leader at that time when civil war was rampant throughout the land. The country was always mired by conflict, and through all that the clan suffered a lot, including the loss of their leader. Her marriage to Juuzou was to consolidate an alliance of sorts, which Juuzou used to his advantage."

" Hayate was noted to be an exceptional shinobi. He had very excellent photographic memory, being able to recall details of things he had seen or read only once. He has exceptionally high IQ, but he has been noted that he purposely flunks his tests to not give a definite gauge to his mental capabilities. However, due to the massive power struggle between the people holding power in his country, namely his father and his uncle, there was little he could do. While I suppose he did use you all to free his country, it was because he had little left to fight for. His mother was executed for 'treason', and his fiancée died of 'unknown' circumstances. Any other relatives or people he knew or worked with have pretty much died within the last 3 years," Tsunade replied.

" But why would Juuzou go to this extent?" Suzumi asked.

" Because he was intent on keeping his power. Do note that the Blood Country will elect their leadership due to inheritance. Hayate was pretty much primed to take over, and Juuzou was using everything he can to prevent that. He has too much monopoly at stake, and without his leadership status, he wouldn't be able to run his 'organisation' that flawlessly without all the resources. Also contributing to the fact that Hayate hates his guts, and you have a very dangerous person to have around."

" Hayate wanted to change that. The citizens of the Blood Country have been living in poverty ever since the last major civil war, and the population is suffering. Juuzou had transformed the country to an almost military state, where he would reap in all the wealth of the nation at the cost of its future. Any form of outside intervention would be seen as an aggressive attack on their country, and the people's willpower was too weak to try to correct their leader's mistake, no thanks to their inherent need to require the royal bloodline to be passed down, so much that they are more willing to keep a tyrant like Juuzou than replace him. Hayate possibly realized that his country was stuck in an endless cycle, so he figured the best way to change that was to destroy its core directly and completely, with the people with the best intentions to do so."

" The Blood Country is in constant chaos now. With the void of power and lack of higher command, there is rioting and fighting in the streets. I don't think we will see a peaceful end to it sometime soon," Tsunade concluded. " Still, time will soon mend wounds, and perhaps the country will slowly pick itself up after all its misery one day to become what Hayate might have envisioned it to be."

" …He may be a hero martyr, but he's still an absolute prick. Fuck him, I say," Sora snorted. Hiroshi noticed a vein popping on Tsunade's forehead, even though she was still smiling. He had to remind himself to restrain Sora from any more vulgar outbursts or else they would have a field day fixing her up in the hospital once Tsunade was done beating the shit out of her.

" Also, I see an extra in your group. May I know who she is?" Tsunade piped up all of a sudden.

All eyes turned to the small figure standing behind Hiroshi. Miyako was trying to hide herself behind him, and since she was so small and petite, she was doing a pretty good job at that, managing to conceal herself behind him despite Hiroshi only having an average build. She looked at Tsunade curiously, although Hiroshi hoped she didn't look to hostile.

" …She's…well, a rogue shinobi we met along the way. She lost her family when she was young, and she didn't really have anywhere to go, so the organization picked her up. She did, however, help us out when we went to apprehend Naoto," Hiroshi spoke up.

" Not before almost killing all of us, that little…ouch!" Sora responded, only to be silenced by Mayuri and Ryouta, who kicked her hard in her shins to shut her up.

" …So, what do you plan to do with her?" Shikimaru asked this time around.

" Actually, if you don't mind, I was hoping that she could stay here. If she is willing to help out, perhaps she can enroll in the Academy. After all, she is still young," Hiroshi replied.

" …You intend to enroll a kid who can potentially trash you with genins?!" Sakura asked.

" She has been through a lot, and I cannot say whatever she had done was right or wrong. But I think she deserves a second chance, a clean slate, so to speak. If you have any concerns about her, I can most certainly vouch for her, and I will keep an eye for her," Hiroshi replied, going around and putting his hand on her shoulders. " In fact, I've decided to adopt her."

" What?!" Makoto and Ryouta exclaimed at the same time.

" That's awesome!" Mayuri exclaimed.

" Shut up, all of you!" Shikimaru snapped back. " Hiroshi, are you serious?"

" Of course, I am absolutely serious about it. I have given it some thought, and I suppose I'm only barely 19, but I am fully committed to take care of her, to the best of my capabilities," Hiroshi replied.

" …So, do I call you dad now?" Miyako asked, looking up at Hiroshi.

" Hmm, it does sound too old. Calling me brother will be just fine," Hiroshi answered.

The entire office went a little noisy all at once, with everyone discussion the implications of Hiroshi's actions. However, the only thing he noticed was a slight tug on his arm, and he could see Miyako wrap her hand around his arm and held him tight, her eyes looking slightly teary-eyed.

" …T-Thank you…" she whispered.

" Welcome home," Hiroshi whispered back.

ooo

A soft ring brought Hiroshi back to the present. All of them rose to their feet when they saw the door to one of the testing rooms in the hospital open, and both Sakura and Suzumi emerged from within. All of them went to greet Suzumi, who looked alright, before turning to Sakura-sensei.

" Alright, it was a little tricky, but we managed to get some of the analysis right. This is a unique procedure, and I must admit a one-of-a-kind process. Splitting the mind in such a perfect, parallel form really needs some advance medical process, and I must say that I am not sure if I can repeat this. What I can say is that while both her consciousness is split now, reforming them back isn't too difficult. What they have done is placed several chakra blockers in her brain. It will be a lengthy process, but we should be able to get Suzumi back to normal," Sakura answered.

Everyone gave a loud yell of joy. Sora picked up Suzumi, kissed her on her cheek and spun her around multiple times. They guys were giving each other high-fives, and it was overall very noisy, which was actually improper and unsuitable for a hospital, but perhaps at the point they didn't really care too much. A nurse could be seen giving scathing looks at the noisy group at the end of the corridor, not before leaving with a huff.

" I will need to get some of the preparations done, so if you wish, we can start the procedure tomorrow. It will likely take some time, so you might need to be prepared for that," Sakura answered.

" …Actually, I am a little confused. I know we came here to the Leaf village because they have better medical faculties to check on my condition as to how my memory has been split into two, but did any of you actually consider the fact that I don't want to have my memories restored?" Suzumi replied.

There was an awkward moment of silence between the group.

" Wait, what do you mean, Suzumi?" Ryouta asked. " I thought…"

" You all assumed that I want to restore my memories. True, it might bring back the Suzumi you know and all, but I don't want it. This split personality has created the Aya ego in my mind, and if we do restore my original self, this second person will be gone forever. She may be part of me, but she is not me. In fact, I can even say my current conscious may even be erased when we are brought back together," Suzumi answered confidently.

" But…"

" I do not need my old life. If I have forgotten everything, then I suppose it is time for me to make new ones. I am, afterall, still myself. It is not like I can forget about the important things in life. I may have initially forgotten all about all of you, but there are still things I cannot instinctively forget," Suzumi replied.

She slowly strolled up to Makoto and Hibiki. " I know Makoto is always calm and collected, always keeping his cool and acting cool. I know I can rely on his strength and insight into things, and he is one of the most reliable persons I know of," she replied, not before tapping Hibiki on his chest. " Hibiki is course and rough, but he reminds me of an older brother, always looking after and taking care of me, regardless of the situation. You are firm, honest and loyal, qualities not derived from observation, but because I know about them instinctively."

Suzumi turned to Mayuri, throwing her hand over her in a friendly manner. " We don't mix much, but I suppose now since you are close to Makoto, we will have a lot of time to know each other. I apologise if I was not that approachable before, but I know that you are a very helpful and approachable person, and always a good company to have," Suzumi replied.

" Oh, you make me blush~" Mayuri cooed, turning red slightly.

" As for you," Suzumi turned to Sora, who was merely smirking at her. " I cannot remember much of what has happened before, but what I know is that you are one hell of a crazy chick, and there is no one I know who can get the job done better than you can, in your field of specialization. Tough, strong, and how can I forget, absolutely reckless."

" Of course," Sora replied.

" Half of what she says, if taken in another context, would actually sound like she was insulting you," Hibiki chuckled.

" Ryouta, I know that I can rely on your leadership and charismatic skills. I know that you are stout and loyal at heart, and I know that you will always be true to me. You are a good friend, and I know that you will never give up on me, in whatever the situation," Suzumi addressed Ryouta, who merely nodded in agreement.

" And finally, you, Hiroshi. I don't remember much, but I know you have a kind soul, kinder than most people I know. You have a gentle heart, very honest and warm, and most of all, a lot of compassion. Those are the very qualities that made me fall in love with you before, and it made me fall in love with you again, not because of our prior engagement, but what I know to be true to both of us," Suzumi spoke to Hiroshi.

Hiroshi was a little too shocked to reply. He could only stare at her in disbelief as she walked up to him, smiling as she placed her hands on is cheeks, pulling his face closer not before slowly kissing him on his lips. He could still taste the same fragrant sweetness as they kissed, something he had desperately longed for but could not bring himself to take. He felt something warm trickling down his cheeks, and it took him a while form all the confusion and shock to realize he was actually crying.

Suzumi slowly broke away, and for some reason, Hiroshi thought she never looked so beautiful in his entire life.

" I don't know why you didn't tell me before, perhaps it was the guilt of once tampering with my memories that you decided that it was unfair if you forced our relationship on me when I had forgotten everything. But, you see, I do not need to regain my old memories back, as even though I cannot remember, I will only fall in love with you again," Suzumi spoke. " Even if I was to lose my memories a thousand times over, I will only need to fall in love with you a thousand times over. Nothing else will ever change anything between us."

Hiroshi held her tightly, crying as he did so. Some part of him felt like as if a heavy burden had been lifted from within his heart. He continued to embrace Suzumi, not wanting to let her go while she held him gently in her arms in return. The rest of them merely watched as Suzumi and Hiroshi shared a tender moment together.

ooo

" So, you figured out how your bloodline ability works?" Sora asked as all of them were leaing the hospital. As Suzumi had opted not to fuse her mind back, there was nothing left to do there, and they promptly decided to leave.

" In a way," Suzumi replied. Taking a look around to see that she was not being observed, she closed her eyes slightly, not before opening them once more, only to have her left eye glowing. " The thing about the mind-split technique was that it was supposed to create two distinct personalities. With some control, I can bring two personalities up at once."

" So, we are both in control of the body at the very same time," Aya replied.

" Won't controlling the body become more difficult? I mean, if you are both issuing commands at the same time? I would think that you might have contradicting movements," Ryouta asked.

" We can sort of sense what we intend to do. It is a little give and take, but we can sort of gauge who's movements are more important, and we react accordingly. So, if let's say I am performing a medical jutsu, and Aya senses that an attack is coming from behind, she can take control and I will allow her to react to the attack instead of continuing the treatment," Suzumi answered.

" …Both of you have different senses?" Hibiki asked.

" It is more like we have two consciousness being able to utilize the maximum capabilities of our sensory organs. Suzumi can focus on her primary target, while I can utilize other senses, like sound and touch. Sensory perception is all the same, but we are only capable of focusing on a few of them. All of us are trained to sense things we cannot see, but if we are focused on something, we usually direct our mental energies to that target, and sometimes ignore our surroundings. Like this, I can fight while having like a secondary observer keeping an eye out for me," Aya answered.

" Sounds really useful," Makoto replied, sounding impressed.

" This isn't the extent of my ability. In fact, these are merely secondary abilities coming from splitting my mind," Suzumi replied.

" Oh?" Mayuri mused.

" Splitting my mind actually augments my genjutsu capabilities. Since taijutsu and ninjutsu are more physical, I can do nothing about it, but genjutsu for the most part, besides chakra control, is mentally controlled. With two personalities, we can create twice the effect when we use genjutsu," Aya replied.

" I don't particularly get it," Hiroshi replied.

" It's something like how Makoto and I use combination jutsus," Ryouta replied. " We combine our fire and wind to create a more powerful destructive attack, but that is only if we can coordinate our attacks at the same time, and when we use the correct combination. If there is anything off, we cannot attack as effectively."

" It is as he said. You cannot just combine genjutsu just like that. Most often since genjutsus go on different wavelengths, merely mashing two genjutsus can cancel each other out. That's why even using two or more people to perform multiple genjutsus takes practice, especially to preempt what your comrade is using," Suzumi replied.

" I see now. Since you are of the same mind, you know exactly what combination and how and when to use it," Hiroshi replied, realizing what she meant.

" Yes, and not only that. Genjutsu deals with tricking the five senses. If you can somehow trap a target using all five senses, he or she is basically rendered incapacitated," Suzumi replied.

" That's a theory. Theoretically speaking, nobody can actually use a genjutsu to cover all senses. Even the very best can use a genjutsu to cover 2 to 3 senses at once," Makoto spoke, only to realize something in which he said. " Wait a minute…"

" That's right. Suzumi can originally cast a genjutsu that can affect up to 3 senses, but she knows genjutsus of all types to cover all 5 senses. However, with Aya and me, we can easily cover up to 6. With enough preparation time to cast our genjutsu, we can, theoretically speaking, defeat anyone," Suzumi replied.

" Wow," Sora whistled. " If your clan's bloodline is so powerful, why haven't you taken over the world yet?"

" Because at some point in history, we decided to pick a fight with the Uchiha clan, more than a hundred years ago," Aya answered.

" …Oh," was the resounding reply from everyone, as they obviously knew the result to that conflict. No matter how powerful the genjutsus, the Uchiha clans were famous for being able to easily break them.

" I was always puzzled with my family's standing in our village. We were supposedly famous shinobi and of influence, but we were only limited to one family, mine. I felt it was a little odd that my father had so much influence as a mere shinobi, but it was the fact that my village was holding us as a weapon. He forbade me to learn genjutsu because he feared of how I might be treated as a weapon, and he was right. When I awakened this ability, I slaughtered the rest of my family in a matter of minutes as if I was merely warming up," Aya replied. " I am not bragging when I say that if I go all out, even all of you here would have trouble holding me back."

" I would agree with you. Genjutsu is already one of the hardest types of jutsu to counter, and unless you have specific anti-genjutu capabilities or skills, like the Uchiha or the Hyuuga, normal shinobi would definitely be in trouble trying to face you," Ryouta replied.

" I was annoyed with my father's choice, but I suppose he was doing all he did to protect me. My parents didn't want me to be a mere tool for the village, and they kept our true ability hidden all along," Aya answered. There was a slight pause, as if she was reminiscing about her past.

" Is this mind-split ability thing an easy thing to carry out? If so, can't genjutsu users do it to increase their abilities greatly?" Sora asked.

" It is a bloodline ability. Carrying out this procedure normally would completely fry your mind, but our brains are able to handle the massive load, so this is unique only to people of my bloodline," Aya replied. " However, since my family is dead, and I have killed off anyone else who actually had the bloodline ability, so I might very well be the last of my kind."

" I am actually curious about as to why they did this to you. I mean, why grant you this immense ability? What was in it for them?" Hibiki asked.

" The art to finalise our abilities was long lost years ago. I was merely a guinea pig to test that the technique to split the mind wasn't going to cause significant or permanent damage, or that if it actually works at all," Suzumi replied. " They didn't want to risk screwing with their brains, so they tested on me first."

" Well, that sure sucks," Sora muttered.

" So, does this mean that you will be returning back home soon?" Hiroshi asked.

" Have you forgotten? The organization may have had a hand in trying to use Suzumi, but they only managed to get inside thanks to an insider. Suzumi came here in the first place to stay away from them. Until we get the all clear sign from our Kazekage, we will be stuck here for a while," Hibiki chided.

" Hmm, this means we need to change our plans then," Mayuri remarked.

" What plans?" Sora asked.

" Having our wedding here," Makoto answered.

" W-What?!" Sora exclaimed so loudly everyone in the vicinity turned around to look at her. " Why didn't anyone tell me this?"

" Actually, they sent the invitations months ago. Ryouta and I already received them, and since you were always dead drunk whenever the topic of Makoto's fiancée comes up, I suppose you may not realize that he has been together for more than a year now," Hiroshi replied, sighing as he responded.

" Then where the hell is my invitation? I didn't receive jack shit!" Sora exclaimed.

" Did you not receive it, or did you not check? When was the last time you actually checked your mail?" Ryouta asked.

Sora made a puzzled face, not before muttering " Well, you got me there."

" Wow, that has got to be the quickest declaration of her mistake ever," Hibiki chuckled.

" Are you serious on having it here?" Hiroshi asked.

" Our date is set about a month from now. Unless we manage to fix this problem very quickly, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to go back that soon. We will probably have to have to here, unless we postpone it, which I am absolutely not in favour of," Makoto replied.

" Oh?" Ryouta and Hiroshi replied coyly.

" Don't get me wrong. It's not like I am rushing into it, but we did postpone it twice before already. I'm not one to be superstitious, but I don't want to try my luck with the third time," Makoto answered quickly.

" Hmm?~ What did you mean by that?~" Mayuri asked, leering at him.

" Absolutely nothing," Makoto replied. " Well, this isn't the official reception or anything. We will have to do that back home, but we can have a wedding dinner here. I'm sure we can arrange something."

" Well, you are in luck, because I am sure I can help out," Hiroshi bragged.

" I am sure you can. I am looking forward to this!" Hibiki replied, patting Hiroshi on his back as they made their way back home.