AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author and Kyluxia
I can imagine mind delving isn't for everyone, so I'll try to wrap this part up soon. And to those of you trying to figure the mind out by how I represent it here, I suggest you don't, because even I only get about half of it. I originally wanted for things to make sense, but realized that it wouldn't make sense for the mindscape to make sense, so now it doesn't. Enjoy.
Chapter 9: Diving deeper
Following in Sakura's footsteps, Heikō apprehensively looked over the faulty sealing array and began noting the errors she had seen. She hadn't expected the array to begin shifting as soon as she noted each error but was glad that she didn't have to figure out how to actually make the array change since she couldn't actually use the powers they usually held over their own mindscape.
Just like it had been for Sakura, it didn't take Heikō long to finish correcting all of the mistakes in the array. If she was honest, she didn't even realize that she was done until Sakura was suddenly standing right next to her, thankfully without any Fūinjutsu script covering her body.
"Finally, I was getting worried when it looked like the sealing array was trying to swallow you up," Sakura told Heikō, before embracing her in relief.
"I could say the same. I was scared something had gone wrong when I saw you muttering to yourself in some kind of trance while the Fūinjutsu script crawled all over you, including your eyes." Heikō informed Sakura, who pulled back to look at Heikō in confusion.
"Wait, you mean that happened to me as well?" She asked, only to receive a nod from Heikō.
"It did," Heikō confirmed, before looking around to see where they had ended up, only to see that they had seemingly remained where they had been, or ended up somewhere identical to their previous location. "Now, the question is, what did that array actually do?" Heikō wondered.
"Oh, I think I already figured it out," Sakura informed her with a satisfied smirk. "It gave us back full access to our mind for one," Sakura explained, holding up one hand, making a few dice appear in her open palm, before closing her hand, making them disappear before opening it again. "We also seem to be on a different level in our own minds, while remaining physically in the same space. You couldn't see me while working on the array, but I could see and hear you." She then revealed.
"Oh, that seems pretty useful actually. If not even we have any power over our mind when we enter, I'd say the defenses are pretty solid, and if we can see and react to an intruder, without them seeing us, it gives us a big advantage." Heikō concluded with a smile. Hopefully, their new defenses would prevent anything like the information dump Danzō had attempted to control them. "That is if this all works as advertised. Or rather, hypothesized..." Heikō admitted, sighing at the fact that they couldn't just communicate with their own chakra and ask exactly what had happened, and how everything worked.
"Let's just ask Jiraiya about the seals when we wake up. We don't need to figure all of this out right now, do we?" Sakura pointed out, and Heikō nodded in agreement.
"You're right. Although, we are asleep, so while we don't need to figure everything out, I still feel like we should at least explore this place. It might be a mind-trap for intruders, but it wouldn't hurt to see how far the rabbit hole goes, especially since any dangers we might have encountered are no longer a problem to us." Heikō pointed out, making Sakura smile.
"True. Speaking of exploring, what did you find down the stairs?" Sakura inquired.
"Why don't you come with me, and I'll show you? There's still more to explore, and it is the only way for us to go, except for just willing ourselves to any other destination in our mind." Heikō pointed out, with a smile of her own, before walking over to the stairs and walking down them. Sakura followed close behind, willing the steps to disappear back into the stone pillar behind them. There was no reason to leave them out for other intruders to use. There was no guarantee that they would be the next ones entering their own mind that way after all, and when it came to their mind, it wouldn't do, to be careless.
It didn't take them long to reach the room Heikō had found previously. However, unlike the small guest room that Heikō had seen the first time around, the room they entered this time was completely different.
It was like stepping into a white void. No walls, ceiling, or floor, yet everywhere they looked, something seemed to be flowing, forming shapes, squiggles, and barely recognizable kanji.
Neither of the twins said or did anything for the longest time, before eventually speaking at once. "It's beautiful." They spoke in awe at the sight. While they might not have fully grasped what they were looking at, they knew it was part of them and their chakra, and it was connected to them, and their current location in their mind. Most likely, it was what made their mental trap what it was.
On a whim, Heikō reached out with one hand, and part of the natural seals shifted, changed, and took on a new form, prompting the seals and script around the change, to shift and morph as well. The entire web-like structure, rippled in all three comprehensible dimensions and beyond, making the twins shiver at the sight, as they saw the change take place. While they didn't understand the complex seals that made up their mindscape, they understood the mindscape itself on an instinctual level by now, and the weave in front of them was a visual representation brought forth by their chakra, allowing them to see into the complexity on a more conscious level.
The small change Heikō had attempted, had completely shifted the structure of the chakra flowing through the room, yet the actual change in their mindscape was simple. The previously clear, nearly invisible presence of the flowing chakra became dark, murky, and seemingly opaque, while every change within the flow, seemed to become highlighted in white colors, giving them a clear view of exactly what their chakra was doing against the bright, white backdrop of the room.
"This is amazing. If we learn to understand this, we could improve on the defenses in our own mind manually." Heikō stated in awe.
"We can already do that. This would just give us another angle to work with, which I will admit, is a good thing, but there's also a big risk. If someone else manages to break in here, they could cause us a lot of damage. We need to get rid of it." Sakura stated with a grim expression.
"No, we can't do that, or rather, we don't need to," Heikō responded, turning to Sakura with a smile, before gesturing towards the door they had entered through, making the doorway they had entered through disappear. "No way to enter, if there's no way in. Yet, we know where this is now, and so, we can come and leave as we please." Heikō pointed out smugly, prompting Sakura to smile as she realized Heikō was right, and that she had just been stupid about it.
"Right, sorry. I guess I'm still a bit too wary concerning everything that's happened. We should come back later after we've explored. There might be more places like this." Sakura pointed out, and Heikō nodded in agreement before both of them willed themselves back to where the door had been, or rather as they noticed, still was.
With a frown, Sakura opened the door, to see if it still led into the space they had just escaped, only to be pleasantly surprised, as it instead opened up into a single room, one Heikō recognized.
"Oh, this place. This was what I found earlier before the array made us ascend." Heikō informed Sakura, who looked at Heikō, intrigued by her choice of words, describing what the sealing array had done. Although she didn't have any better descriptions, so she accepted it with a shrug.
"Alright, that makes more sense." Sakura decided, before closing the door, not finding the room all that interesting when compared to where the stairs might take them.
At first, the two twins descended the stairs in silence, but as the descent down the seemingly never-ending staircase carried on, small-talk eventually broke out in between the twins.
"So, what do you think we'll find down there?" Sakura asked, looking down into the darkness. Neither of the sisters even entertained the thought that their mind was playing a trick on them, and keeping them in an infinite descent. They had already confirmed that they were actually moving through their mental plane, rather than remaining trapped in the same spot. They had, after all, experimented with the concept before, before the renovation their chakra had decided on.
Heikō shrugged, before answering. "I don't know. I have a few guesses, but they're not based on anything besides this pillar requiring chakra, and therefore, must be connected to our chakra network somewhere below. Or, well, at least mentally represented to be connected, as it actually doesn't have to be." Heikō explained her guess.
Sakura sighed and nodded in agreement. "There really isn't much to go on, is there. Why do you think these stairs are so long?" Sakura decided to ask instead.
"Could be a couple of things. Either the area it leads to is far away, to represent how distant it is from the entry point into our mind, or perhaps, it is a representation of how far we wish to keep intruders from our true mindscape. Or, it could be by complete chance that these stairs are this long." Heikō answered with an amused shrug.
"Knowing our luck, it might be the last one. We always end up in unfavorable situations it seems." Sakura muttered, thinking of their constant hospital visits as a result of ending up in life-threatening situations, one after another. Sometimes by chance, sometimes due to their own stupidity.
"Oh, cheer up. We can always change it once we figure this place out." Heikō reminded Sakura, who nodded thankfully at the reminder, smiling slightly.
"Oh, I already have ideas for additional security measures," Sakura informed her, and Heikō took a moment to follow Sakura's train of thought to get a clue as to what she had in mind, chuckling to herself once she caught a glimpse.
"I'm sure Naruto would be flattered if he ever found out you used him for inspiration in protecting your own mind. Speaking of…" Heikō said, stopping, before performing the Shadow Clone Technique, making another Heikō appear next to her. Heikō smiled at the clone, which smiled back, before throwing itself down the side of the tower. Sakura blinked in surprise, before facepalming, realizing they could have taken a page from Naruto's book long ago to save time. After all, in their own mindscape, they weren't even limited to chakra, were they?
However, just as Sakura was about to spawn as many of herself as she could imagine, she felt Heikō stop her, by grabbing her hands. "Sakura, stop. While we might not need to consider chakra, trust me, you don't want to use too many clones. Unlike out in the real world, we can't simulate an additional consciousness without actually using chakra. The clones in here are an extension of us. It will be you, doing everything they do. Trust me, cause right now, I am using two bodies, not one, and it is confusing enough as it is. Keep it to one clone." Heikō warned Sakura, who nodded in apprehension, as she digested how close she had been to recklessly harming herself again. Frowning, she brought her hands together in the clone seal, and made another one of herself appear, and immediately balked, as she suddenly gained another perspective, courtesy of her clone. The only reason she managed it as well as she did, was due to Heikō's insistence that she learned to experience the mindscape beyond the conventional five sense previously, giving her some semblance of control, as she suddenly gained another input for each one of her senses.
"Right, this sucks." Both the Sakura's said as one, before stopping, as Sakura took a moment to figure out which one was the clone, and separated their actions before it dispelled itself. "Next time, just tell me to only make one clone, don't explain it like you did, because I totally fucked up my perception of what would happen," Sakura complained, glaring at Heikō, who simply found Sakura's predicament amusing.
AN: I feel like I should clarify what I mentioned earlier concerning the mindscape not making much sense. Obviously, Sakura and Heikō have some manner of comprehension, and certain things look reasonable enough. However, the mindscape they experience is at best, an interpretation. They see and connect certain things to parts of their mind because it is the easiest way to interpret the mind for them. However, due to their unique situation, they are also capable of experiencing their own mind in a far more raw and real way, which would be something closer to the weave they encountered, where there is nothing but connections within their mind to actually make all of it up.