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*I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, it all belongs to Kishimoto. Please R&R, I appreciate any feedback. Now on with the story!
*When there is typing like this it means it is a thought.
*When there is typing like this it means it is a conversation through a telepathic link.
KC = Kakashi Clone
IC = Ino Clone
BI = Blood Clone Ino
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get chapters out, but life really came at me with full force. I didn't expect to get put on chemo in 2017-2018 and while I was on it, I couldn't do much of anything, much less continue my story. But I will keep trying to get them out as soon as I can! I don't know if people are still interested in this story since my reviews have dwindled and only 2 people reviewed my last chapter, but I'll keep it going if just one person tells me they like it! Anyway, happy readings and be safe and courteous of others during these trying times in the world. Also wash your hands and practice distancing. Trust me it helps. Now that I've rambled on back to the story!
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Devastating Loneliness
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Underground in the tunnels:
Kakashi tried to think of what he could use against the boy before Ino got in front of him and used her Shintenshin no Jutsu falling gracelessly into his arms. She didn't know if her jutsu would work but after she had seen what her blood clone had seen she knew this child was not doing this purposefully and she needed to find a way to calm him down. If that was even an option. The chakra his body was exuding was making it quite difficult to enter his mind but if nothing else she was as stubborn as a boar. Finally, in his mind she could see just how shattered his psyche was and her heart went out to him. It was chaos in there, normal children his age had playgrounds or their homes as their mindscape but his was a hurricane with debris flying everywhere. Where could a child hide in such a place, much less feel safe? Suddenly she noticed a second chakra source, this one malevolent and darker than the one currently causing the hurricane.
First, she'd have to locate this second presence before she could reach out to the little boy, that she was sure of. But before that she needed to somehow connect or relay a message to Kakashi-sensei and show him what her clone had seen and to help the children in that jail cell. Amidst all the chaos she was able to connect with her blood clone and told it to inform Kakashi of what she'd found and to entrust the care and safety of this boy solely to her. After relaying the message, she walked further into the darkness, where the second presence felt stronger. The deeper she went in the more she noticed the chakra around her felt intrusive and vile, but she didn't let that stop her and kept ongoing. Finally, she reached a black sticky door, one she sensed should be kept locked but reached for it anyway. She believed the only way she could save this child was as if she rid his body and mind of such an evil aura. Prepping herself for what might come out she opened the door in one fluid movement and looked inside. It was another dimly lit laboratory but this time there was a figure standing by a desk in the center of the room, its back turned to her, filling beakers with odd inky fluids.
As soon as she stepped in the figure abruptly stopped and froze, once fully inside Ino noticed some black liquid falling from the ceiling. She was honestly terrified; she'd never been in anyone's mind and seen such a frightening scene unfold like the one before her eyes. Again, grateful for the mask she was wearing she walked closer to the figure with a kunai in both hands. Once she was two feet away the figure contorted and twisted into odd angles before turning to face her. Its body looked completely mangled yet it moved around just fine, the only problem was she couldn't see its face. This was not the little boy's consciousness and that worried Ino greatly. Carefully she lowered her head just enough to see under the hair that covered its face and who she saw made her quickly take a few steps back. The face certainly looked like Orochimaru's but there were subtle differences like this face looked even younger than when she'd seen him in the Forest of Death.
Before she could react the figure got down on all fours and began to crawl and twist closer to her at an accelerated pace, all she knew was that if it touched her she'd be in danger so she threw kunai and shuriken at it. When that method didn't work, she ran out of the room back into the hurricane mindscape. Once there she frantically searched for the little boy's psyche, but how could she find him when she had to dodge the massive hurricane and the Orochimaru like figure? That's when she noticed the hurricane went after Orochimaru more than it did her and she found it rather curious. But she didn't have the time to try and dissect everything going on in this child's mind, so she did the next best thing to buy her time. She improvised and brought the child's mindscape and the contorted figure into her mind. Fuck, fuck, fuck I hope this works!
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In the laboratory and jail cell room:
Blood clone Ino wished she didn't have to leave the little girl and all the other small children but in a hurried hushed voice she told them," I swear I'll be back. I need to go get help to get you, kids, out of here. I promise I'm not abandoning you." And with that she forcefully tore the little girl's grip from her arm and ran back to where she felt the strong chakra, silently cursing herself for not being able to run faster. By the time she made it back she had been confused by the turn of events. The small boy was now on the ground while her actual body was surrounded by the intense chakra. She noticed Kakashi-sensei was unable to get close to her and had several burn marks on his hands and arms, the only ones able to come near her were the ice wolves and they protectively laid on top of her. Acting as large ice packs.
"Sensei you need to come with me now!" she yelled over the roaring of the tunnel. She hadn't noticed before because she had been too preoccupied with the children that the tunnel was starting to slowly cave in on itself. Which gave her more reason to get those children out. Kakashi seeing Ino's clone hesitated before going over to her and demanding an explanation, "I had told you to follow my lead! This was not something you should have done! How do I help you when I can't even get close to you?!" The clone looked at him oddly, "Sensei, I've only done what she asked me to do. I didn't know she'd do this?" the clone motioned at all that was currently happening to her real self. "She told me to tell you not to worry and that there are more pressing matters." She said quickly but was cut off by him, "More pressing matters?! She's engulfed in some odd chakra and I can't help her much less get near her without getting severely burned!"
"Sensei!" she yelled and slapped him across the face, effectively shutting him up and getting his attention. "I found the children! We need to get them out of here before this tunnel caves in!" Kakashi was now brought out of his slightly frantic state, how could he leave his student when he could see her in so much pain? But this was a message she sent to him to make sure the children got taken out safely! Clenching his fists, he nodded and began following her with great urgency. Making her way a second time through the tunnels came easier to the Blood clone and once they got to the room, she pointed wordlessly to the jail cell. Swiftly Kakashi went towards the door of the cell and kicked it open, he didn't let the smell bother him and went to check on the children. He had been through war and had seen many children malnourished and dead but never this severely. This was inhumane, it was unimaginable, and it got worse when he noticed Ino's blood clone take out a couple of scrolls and pull out many blankets and tarps. He had counted 8 children in the cell, all of which were still alive somehow and made 3 shadow clones of himself.
Before he could start taking them Blood clone Ino asked if he could make two more clones. When he went to ask why he saw the pile of dead children and how she had begun wrapping them up in their respective blankets or tarps. He noticed the slight tremble in her hands but chose to ignore it, they would deal with that later. Making the two extra clones they each picked up two children both alive and dead and ran out of that awful room. They ran without looking back and kept going until they reached Ino's location. Carefully they made their way around her engulfed body and kept going until they were outside. Once outside Kakashi instructed Ino's clone to stay outside with the children along with one of his clones before going back underground. Don't die on me know kid! Not like this!
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Inside Ino's mind:
Well she had managed to bring them both inside but now they were trashing her mindscape. It struck her how odd it had been that the hurricane had followed into her mind and once it was in her mind it only attacked the contorted Orochimaru figure. Finally, in her mind she was able to sense a small child-like chakra coming from the eye of the storm and it hit her. The only place that little boy could feel safe from all the chaos the figure had caused was inside the only thing in his mind that could put up a fight, the hurricane. Praying to kami she was right she did the necessary hand signs to make a mental cage around the figure. A big steel cage fell over the figure and it angrily screeched out. Trying to contort and twist out of the prison she had locked it in. When she was sure the figure couldn't get out, she turned her attention to the hurricane which had finally come to a stop and carefully walked into it.
Ino had been expecting it to fling her body every which way but was astounded when all she felt was a gentle breeze inside the cyclone. Inside the eye of the storm she felt no malice or ill will like she did back in the child's mind and that dark murky room. She knew she had to work fast as her body screamed at her to release her family's jutsu and rid her body of the unwelcome viruses currently overtaking her very being. Quickly she sent a calming emotion towards the eye of the hurricane and used her mental persuasions to make it come down and meet her. At first, she didn't think it was working but slowly the cyclone began to calm and come down, the less intense it became the more she was able to feel the little boy's consciousness. She was able to feel everything this boy felt and all of it made her want to cry but she couldn't. Not when she wore her uniform and mask.
Once the cyclone had dissipated, rain began to pour over them. Now in front of her stood the little boy they had met just moments ago, and he looked smaller than she remembered him. Timid and helpless even but she stayed two feet away from him and crouched down to be at eye level with him, not wanting to spook him which could result in another push from his mind. "Are you alright?" she asked hoping he couldn't hear the trembling in her voice. "Who are you? Did he send you to kill us off like he did my other friends?! I swore to protect them!" the young child demanded, tears spilling out of his clouded eyes. "I am not your enemy," she began in a soothing whisper, "I can show you that we got your friends out, that we only mean to help you." She urged on trying to keep a calming voice but knowing her body couldn't withstand such high levels of chakra.
"Help? No one's ever come to help us, no one cares about us." He yelled causing the cursed mark to activate again. Shit shit shit. She knew she was going to have to forcefully show him and only hoped he didn't think she was trying to trick him. Children were so fragile, to begin with and this child was on the verge of losing his mind. Turning to face away from him she pulled up her memories from her blood clone finding the laboratory and jailcell room. She showed him how she had covered and bundled up his fallen friends as best she could and how the other man with a dog mask had helped carry the rest of his friends out of that nightmarish room. How they were keeping watch over the children and trying to give water to the ones that seemed the worst off. The images played over and over in front of the boy and slowly he made his way to them and softly laid his small hand on the images. Tears freely started falling from his eyes and he began to sob loudly. "I'm trying to help little one, but we need to go back into your mind and defeat that thing" Ino spoke gently before looking over her shoulder at the still screeching figure.
Shaking his head furiously he began backing away from her. "It'll never leave! It's a part of me! It won't die unless I do! You must kill me, please! It's the only way for me to be truly free from his grasp!" He said in a frenzied yell clutching at his head and heart. "It's the only way!" he continued to say in an almost crazed mania. Ino didn't want to believe that and turned back to the caged monster making sure to keep the young boy hidden from its view. Remembering her encounters with both the Uchiha brothers she recalled the fact that once they were in her mindscape their jutsu's were essentially powerless, not fully counting Itachi. Of course he was on a godly level than most people but still, for a moment she was able to trick even his mind into thinking she was in control and that was enough to make her believe that she could defeat this monster. Coming just inches away from the cage she held the hand signs for her family's jutsu once more and flung her psyche at the monster.
When she opened her eyes again, she was unable to see anything, this things mindscape was so devoid of light she couldn't even see her own hands. It was utterly silent and freezing in there. For a fleeting moment she believed she'd died and was in the Shinigami's realm. Walking was an arduous task on its own since the floors were sticky with tar. She had only made it 13 paces when she felt her eyes roll back and her knees buckle. Had she used her family's jutsu too much? No, it was from taking in the boy enormous chakra. That task alone drained me of my chakra and physical strength. I can't keep holding on to it much longer. But I can't stop, I need to find a way to finish this. I will NOT be killed by this. Steeling herself and her will she kept marching on when suddenly a 'person' that appeared to look like Orochimaru rose from the tar and loomed over her. He laughed, that same maniacal laugh she'd remembered all those years ago. "Who is this little wolf that's decided to try and take one of MY little toys?" The voice rasped in a taunting yet possessive intonation.
Ino gaped at the way he described the young child, what he had done and was continuing to do was unimaginable! At that moment all fear and doubt abandoned her body and she used her sensory abilities to gauge the level of this parasite. Instantaneously she was able to discover his chakra wasn't at the magnitude of the real Orochimaru. Not even as strong as Sasuke's had been when she fought him, and she knew she was considerably stronger than that time. If the Curse mark worked anything like the Tsukuyomi and it needed the user's chakra to be actively present and all his/her attention on it then that meant there was a way she could erase his presence. If she could do that maybe, just maybe she could detach the link between the little boy and Orochimaru, rendering the cursed mark useless. She just had to stall long enough to modify and erase her memory of him. If she erased him from her mind, he would cease to exist. Meaning once she'd go back to the little boy's mindscape, he'd be free of this monster. She just hoped this worked! "Toy? What a peculiar way to describe prisoners of war, especially when said P.O.W's are mere children. What happened, you couldn't get people your size? Especially after the Sandaime took your precious hands?" She mocked and flipped her braided hair over her shoulder then proceed to examine her cuticles. One thing she did know about this man was that he liked to talk and boast about himself if nothing else to prove his strength.
"That mask may conceal your identity, but I know a Yamanaka when I see one, no other nation has a Kekkei Genkai like this. What you're doing here is what I'm more curious about. I had nearly forgotten the toys I had here until you showed up." He giggled licking his lips slowly. "I wonder, who gave you permission to enter my hideout and mess with my experiments?" he asked now coming inches away from her face. All while he spoke, she was quickly expelling all memories of him, from the moment she found him in that dark hidden room. He didn't like that she wasn't squirming away or trembling at his feet and in a burst of anger he reached out and picked her up by her neck. Still not giving him a reaction, he started to reach for her mask, to try and pull it off him but she quickly pulled out her tanto and cut his arm off. Rolling away from him she made sure to get up just as fast and fell into her usual fighting stance. The arm she'd cut off oozed tar-like blood but suddenly started growing back. This only made him laugh harder before jumping at her, trying to land any blows he could at her. She had been dodging perfectly when she hit what she assumed was a wall. He had her cornered and that made his lips curl in a psychotic smile. "Should I take you too? I'd love to experiment on you too!" he yelled before running towards her again. This time she was prepared and used her ice prison jutsu just before he went for her throat. "What?... WHAT IS THIS?" The insidious monster roared as his body slowly started to freeze over.
All while this happened, she had managed to erase him from her memories and mind. Just before he completely froze over, he started coming undone into small ice particles. This time she loomed over him and gave him a piercing glare through the eyeholes of her mask, she only wished he could see the disgusted smile she had on her face. Gradually the darkroom started disappearing just like the monster and then she found herself in her mind. Her village was completely in ruins and in the middle of all the damage was the little boy. The moment she couldn't feel Orochimaru's presence she sprinted towards the boy and stopped just in front of him. He looked up at her and this time she noticed his eyes weren't clouded over and cried. She wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay but she knew she didn't have much time left and so she opted to send him a tranquil emotion and put him under a peaceful sleeping genjutsu. Before his body could hit the ground, she caught him and release her Shintenshin no jutsu on herself and was taken back to the young boy's mind.
Once in there she slowly made her way around to where the tainted room used to be. His mind was still in shambles, but the hurricane had ceased and that made her happy. When she arrived at the room, she slowly opened its door afraid that everything she did was for not. To her surprise it was now a blinding white room, no signs that anyone or anything ever resided there. Letting out the longest and loudest sigh she'd ever done she smiled slightly and released her family's jutsu once more and was flung back into her mind and body, this time without any guests.
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In the crumbling tunnels:
By the time Kakashi had gotten back to Ino's location he noticed the considerable difference of chakra energy engulfing her body. Where the wolves had previously laid were now puddles of cold water and the young boy was still down on the ground. His pained expression lessening with each passing minute. The moment he was able to touch Ino without getting burned he hauled her gently over his shoulder and went to pick up the boy. Although he tried to run swiftly and evenly, he, to not wake her and break her connection, couldn't help the urgent pace he had set since the large pieces of earth and debris had begun falling all around them. As soon as he was outside, he went to lay Ino and the boy down next to each other. Kakashi had noticed her blood clone had broken and his clone was trying to calm the children, telling them the fox girl was still alive and safe. Kakashi didn't know what to think of the whole situation and tried to check over each child and patch them up as best he could. That was all he could do until his dear student woke up.
Ino had woken up gasping for air and feeling an immense heat radiate throughout her body, Kakashi had been giving a little girl some water when she awoke and quickly rushed to her side. But made sure one of his many clones kept tending to the little girl. When he touched her hand to signal that he was there he felt how her body was burning up and quickly dumped as much water on her as possible. While he was frantically trying to ease his student pain the little boy had also woken up but he had a distant far off look and didn't react as he watched the man in the dog mask dump canteens of water on the wolf masked girl. Pushing Kakashi away Ino quickly summoned her ice wolves and made them pile up on her. Kami their ice-cold fur had felt like a godsend. After a few more minutes of having them on her she started to feel her body temperature lower back to normal. When she felt her internal temperature had stabilized, she looked around, finally taking in her surroundings. Kakashi-sensei had been right there in front of her, worry extremely present in his eyes.
"How are they sensei?" Was the only thing she could ask remembering the already deceased kids. Looking over his shoulder he spoke in a quiet tone, "I don't know? Physically none of the should be alive. I don't know how they managed to survive locked up in there and mentally they all act like 3 to 4-year old's. Even the older kids. Only a few can speak, and they can't even speak properly. It's all broken fragmented sentences, but they're too weak to speak." Now Ino was standing looking at the children as well and noticed the young boy she had fought with. Making her way towards him slowly, she crouched down and extended her hand out to him. Slowly he reached for it and began rocking back and forth. Gently putting her hand on his head, she put him to sleep again and held him for a moment before setting him down and walking over to the now alert children. They were so weak and malnourished that they couldn't lift their heads and were mostly laying down. But their eyes were wide with something akin to curiosity. "Anything abnormal about any of the children?" She asked in a low tone as she inspected their bodies as gently as she could.
"One, this young girl here, she can't seem to open her eyes but can mumble out a few words. Unfortunately, she's too quiet for me to make any of it out and I don't want to force her." He said motioning to a girl with ashy blonde hair, she looked to be maybe 7. Going to her side Ino knelt and gently put her in a sleeping genjutsu. "Sensei, I want to see what they went through, we won't find out unless I look. Is that alright?" She asked hoping he'd allow her. He thought about it for a while before letting out a loud sigh and nodding. When he gave her permission, she placed her hand on the girl's forehead and delved into her mind. This mindscape slightly mirrored the boy's mindscape except there was no hurricane just a broken house and many broken toys everywhere. Walking around she tried to sense where the little girl could be hiding and was pulled towards a small toy box. Carefully she opened the toy box and found the little girl in a fetal position crying with her eyes shut. Tenderly Ino picked up the little girl and held her close and rubbed her back in little circular motions trying to calm the crying child.
"It's okay little princess, no one can hurt you anymore. You did such a good job hiding. So smart for such a little lady." Ino said motherly hoping the child could feel the relaxing wave of emotion she was sending her. After a few moments the girl stopped crying but kept clinging to Ino as if the moment she let go her whole world would come crashing down. But Ino didn't mind and kept whispering reassuring affirmations and says to her until finally the young girl lifted her head and pressed it against Ino's forehead. She was allowing her to see her memories and they came flooding in. Each one was more depressing and gruesome than the last. Two people's faces stood out to her and she stopped the barrage of memories to watch the ones with Orochimaru. Through the little girl's memories, she watched as that monster experimented on all the children, sometimes taking blood from them other times making them fight one another. She watched as the six that had died were killed by the little boy, forced to do so in what Orochimaru called a battle royale to the death.
She watched in another memory as a man covered in bandages visited Orochimaru, it was him, it was Danzo. Soon after their meeting Orochimaru took the young girl and strapped her on an operating table and of course without any morphine or pain medicine began to cut out both eyes. During that time the little girl, who appeared to be maybe 3 at the time, cried out and thrashed about trying to evade her captor but hopelessly failed and then the memory when black. By now Ino was too shocked and frozen in her spot. The young girl puller her head away just enough for Ino to look at her face when she opened one both eyes. Ino couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips and held the little girl closer to her. One black eye and one red eye stared back at her. How? Before she could think more into it the connection broke and she was sweating and sitting beside the girl with the help of Kakashi holding her up.
"Sensei, put them all to sleep please." She asked in a shaky whisper. Immediately Kakashi put all the children under a sleeping genjutsu and gave all his attention to his shaking and sweating student. Gently taking off her mask and his he looked her over afraid to ask what she saw. She wanted to explain what she'd seen but couldn't find the words without beginning to tremble, so she put her hands on his temples and showed him everything the young boy's memories and their fight and the small girl's memories. All at once, memories that should have taken hours to go through she sent to him in 20 minutes. It was an overload to the brain she knew but she had to show him, he had to see what was going on. Kakashi not being used to receiving memories at such a fast rate turned from her when she was done and threw up. Not from what he had seen but from constant vertigo he felt from it. "Sensei? Why does she have a Sharingan eye? Why did they implant it in her?" Ino asked still confused and anxious. "Why did Danzo give it to Orochimaru and why didn't he implant it in himself? None of this makes sense." She kept asking shaking his shoulder trying to get an answer, any answer to make any of this make sense. "Just let me think Ino." He said after he had stopped feeling like the world around him was spinning.
Ino got up and began pacing back and forth mumbling to herself when out of her mouth a swarm of black crows erupted out. All Ino could do was fall to her knees as the swarm kept flying out at such high speeds. Kakashi was at her side the moment the first crows came out and was holding her so she wouldn't collapse. Once all the crows were out, they began to cluster together and form a cloaked figure, Kakashi watched as Ino rubbed her eyes furiously as tears kept slipping out. Once the figure was fully formed two red Mangekyo eyes started back at Kakashi effectively putting him in the Tsukuyomi. Ino still rubbing her eyes caught her sensei before he could fall but shut her eyes. She could sense Itachi's powerful aura walking closer and closer to her until she could feel his shadow over her body. "I'm not going to hurt you. Open your eyes Ino-san." He whispered in a velvety tenor. Not going to hurt me?! Bullshit! "If you weren't going to hurt me you wouldn't have put sensei in that awful jutsu!" she yelled, no fear in her voice. That piqued his interest and smiled a small smile. She could feel his humor and wanted to say something back, but she knew at her chakra levels fighting him would be suicide. "Kakashi is not going through any pain, I did it so we could speak privately." He said this time more seriously.
"If I open my eyes do you swear Kakashi-sensei and all the children will be okay? Swear on your life?!" Ino asked knowing that he could simply agree and lie to her, it is what any bad guy would do after all. "I swear on my brother's life." He replied stoically. She could feel he was telling the truth and so for the hundredth time that day she sighed then slowly opened her eyes. "You have found something very precious to me." He said pointing at the ashy blonde-haired girl. "I thought that eye was ruined and lost forever but Orochimaru has always been able to recreate anything so long as he has any DNA or human tissue left." The moment he pointed at the small girl Ino hauled Kakashi over her shoulder and jumped to her side and got in a protective stance in front of them. Itachi only laughed weakly, "You don't trust me, good. However, I swore I would not hurt any of them. But to understand why I need to take her eye you need to see my memories. The ones that led me down this path." Ino looked at him confused momentarily then quickly put on her emotionless face. Still, in a defensive stance and with her tanto out she tilted her head a little. "I'll only look through them under my terms, if you don't agree to them, I'll fight you with everything I have." She said hoping to sound like a strong kunoichi.
"Name your terms quickly. I don't have much time." He said firmly. "I get to summon my two ice wolves and they hold both your arms down while you're in a seated position, you don't use any jutsu on me and if I feel unsafe at any point you'll willingly get in my ice prison and ill use my family's jutsu on you while you're in there. We have a deal?" She started counting the terms on her fingers. His way of answering was kneeling in a sitting position and waiting for her to make her summons and begin. Once everything was in place, she shakily put her fingertips to his temples and pushed her consciousness towards him. His mind was completely void of anything it was just pitch black all around and that started to make her nervous when suddenly cabinet files came rushing by her. Opening one up her motioned for her to get a closer look and she did. What she didn't expect was to see a memory from when he was still in the academy. What the hell did I get myself into this time? Kami save me.
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Hey, guys so I really hope you're liking the story so far. If so please leave comments on it so I know people are still reading it. That way I'll know whether to continue the story of just give it up. I know it's taken a lot of time for me to update and add a new chapter but I had gone through chemo and really couldn't do much of anything. Now that I'm done with it I hope to continue this story, as its one of my favorites but again if people don't leave comments I'll assume it's not worth continuing and drop it.
-Sincerely, Justanothership
