Ino walked through the streets of Konoha looking to reach the front doors of the hospital, the Hokage had summoned her that morning and she assumed it had something to do with Naruto, last night she surprisingly spent a lot of time thinking about his health, when it came to a mission she always focused on getting the job done but she was genuinely concerned for the fellow blond since technically it was her fault he got hurt in the first place.
When she started her life as a Shinobi years ago Ino did not worry about having the responsibility of taking care of another person's life while at the same time taking someone else's, at least not until last night.
A pink haired girl currently exiting the hospital building interrupted her train of thought.
"Hey Pig, what are you doing here?"
"The Hokage called for me Forehead."
"Oh I get it, the usual 'wake up' protocol you guys have been doing lately?"
"I guess so, now if you'll excuse me…" Ino went past her side but Sakura was not finished talking.
"You know, I'm sure he must be very glad you saved his life, then again he lost a lot of blood so he must be feeling some dizziness." Ino stopped.
"If this is about you liking him, I'm not going to stand in your way Sakura, I don't feel like fighting again over the same thing."
"Wow, and here I thought you'd actually put up a fight this time pig…"
"As much as I'd like to oblige and kick your ass, I don't have time for petty games Sakura, we're not little girls anymore." Ino said without looking back at the other girl.
"I'd like to see you try Ino." Sakura clenched her left fist, slightly turning her head to see the blonde girl's back, Ino did not reply, she only kept walking into the hospital ignoring her last comment entirely. "Yeah, I thought so." Sakura said with a smirk.
"That's… a lot to take in you know!"
For the past hour the Hokage, Hizuren Sarutobi had been explaining to Naruto what being a Shinobi meant, their origins and history across the world, he listened intently to his words with little interruptions, to the young blond this was a new tale, something too fantastic to believe, even after all he had witnessed last night, all the stories he had listened to as a child, this old man in front of him was telling him they were true, that they existed, even yet, that he was part of those tales all along.
"I know Naruto, which is why I called for someone here to show you something, someone you're already familiarized with."
When he finished speaking, he signaled one of his bodyguards to open the door and let someone come into the room, act followed, Ino Yamanaka stepped in wearing regular civilian clothes, a plain purple t shirt, black leggings and sneakers, she casually waved at Naruto who noted what he had asked last night about her color being confirmed, she really liked purple.
"Hey there, how are you holding up?"
"I've been worse." he grinned.
"Ino's clan has the ability to manipulate the mind of others, a very useful resource for interrogation." the Hokage said and could not help but chuckle when Naruto gulped.
"So am I getting interrogated?"
"No, you're not getting interrogated Naruto, I think she can explain it better."
Ino walked over to one side of the bed and sat on the edge while crossing her arms and legs in the process.
"As a mind walker I can also look into other people's thoughts, share my own mind with them and even create a telepathic link between us." Naruto kept silent "What I'm going to do now is show you how events have unfolded for our kind, try to relax okay?" he nodded.
Ino reached with her left hand and touched the side of his face, closing her eyes to focus, for a moment Naruto did not feel anything until out of nowhere a small headache made presence known and his vision went blank. The world around him was blurry and all he could see was a white fog all around him, suddenly his vision started to come back slowly and the fog dissipated by the second, he could see an endless field of plants and flowers of different colors, sizes and shapes all around him, for some reason the sky was yellow instead of blue, he dropped to his knees and grabbed the side of his head in pain, he groaned and then a feminine voice came from behind him.
"Welcome to my mind." He turned around to see Ino standing there and smiling, she had the same clothes she wore last night, sword and all. "The first time is always a bit rocky for anybody, even for me it was hard but you get used to it with time, come." She offered her hand helping him back to his feet.
"W...What is this place…?" He asked, still groggy.
"Everyone's mind looks different based on their experiences, I like flowers a lot for example."
"So you're some sort of botanist?"
"Not some sort of botanist, I am a botanist." She happily replied.
"What happened to your clothes?"
"Same that happened to yours, they changed, and if I might say so myself, you look much better!" Ino winked at him.
Naruto looked down and was surprised to find his hospital gown was gone and instead had been replaced by a black uniform jacket with an orange zipper and buttons on the waist and sleeves. He had a red armband with a strange spiral red crest on his left arm, a pair of orange pants and brown sandals.
"What the…?"
"In case you're wondering, I didn't pick those, you subconsciously did when you entered here but don't worry about that, you look good, really."
And she was not lying, he did look a lot better that he did last night when they first met.
"This symbol…" he kept looking down his left arm at the odd crest "I've seen this before somewhere."
"That's the Uzumaki crest, it's your family's clan symbol, your mom's more precisely…" Naruto's expression again changed to surprise as he looked up to meet her face.
"How do you know all of this stuff?"
"Easy, my mind techniques are also a learning tool, I also have an eidetic memory so I can recall almost everything I see, you clan's crest I saw in a book once."
"Really? Wow… I don't know what to say Ino, you're something else!"
Ino proudly smiled and used a hand seal that started to shape the area around them slowly turning it into a wasteland full of dead bodies all over the place, black smoke an red clouds engulfed the field of vision, in the distance Naruto could hear loud footsteps rapidly approaching, from his limited field of vision he spotted an army of soldiers clad in armor moving swiftly to their position.
"Uuuh… Ino? Shouldn't we… move?"
The blonde girl simply smirked as the soldiers continued their approach, she remained on her spot, Naruto on the other hand was starting to feel the pressure inside his chest as the distance between the two parties continued to lessen. The army finally reached them and let out a war cry as they unleashed a volley of shuriken and kunai in their direction, Naruto panicked and curled on the floor, closing his eyes and making sure to cover his head in the process, he waited for the pain. It never came.
When he opened his eyes again he noticed the soldiers were already running over him, yet he could not feel anything, they were going right through him as if he was a ghost, he got back up with a surprised look on his face again and turned around to see Ino laughing as the soldiers also went through her to no consequence, she could not help but find his behavior amusing.
"You're in my head silly, everything you see are just projections coming from my thoughts, nothing here can harm you!"
"What is this?!"
"This is one of the first battles ever recorded in Shinobi history, every time someone reads a book their memory recreates the events inside their heads unconsciously, this is a recreation of the first battle I ever read about, it dates all the way back to 500 AC."
"5-500 AC?! For how long have we existed?!" Naruto asked wide eyed.
"Honestly nobody knows, records date back as far as that time period, some even think Adam Eve used chakra when they first came to this world but that is just a theory no one has been able to prove." Ino said as another army appeared on the opposite direction, ready to collide with the first soldiers.
"I didn't take you for the religious type…"
"I'm not, I am giving you some insight about our past, many names in history, believe it or not, were Shinobi at some point in their lives, the Crusades, the witch hunts, civil and world wars, they all involved people who used chakra."
"But why didn't they defend themselves if they could use chakra?"
"Because the concept of chakra has different meanings in each time period, some people called it 'magic' or 'sorcery', depending on which time period a person lived in, they could or could not know about chakra, the ones that did know were hunted down like animals under false charges, it is no different now, at least today we know the nature of our power and the fact that the rest of the world is not ready to understand it."
"So you hide?"
"How do you think regular people would take the fact that you can do things they can't?"
Naruto kept silent as the clash of metal weapons echoed from the distance, he tried to give her an appropriate answer but Ino interrupted him before he could form a sentence.
"They would capture you and put you in jail, probably use you as a lab rat or simply kill you and erase your existence." Naruto's eyes widened "It is pure fear, fear of not being in control, you see it everyday, governments, religion, corporations, even the entertainment business is filled with fear, and this is the root of all conflicts in the world, the reason we stay in the shadows, because the rest of the world fears us, they don't understand us, they will erase us from history before letting us live a normal life."
"Not every person is like that you know!"
"Tell me, what do you see over there?" Ino pointed to the battle, instead of sword clashes, several explosions could now be seen, shuriken and kunai were flying across the battlefield, Naruto didn't hesitate this time answering.
"You told me, this is a Shinobi battle, one of the first ever."
"And why do you think battles start?"
"Uuuuuh… conflicts of interest?"
"Yes, amongst other things, and where do these interests originate?"
"... Other people?"
"Precisely, the leaders, rulers, lords, kings, emperors, politicians, dictators and even the military forces, they are all corrupted because of fear, this is why the conflicts of the world never end, why battles like this one started, because of one person controlled by fear."
Naruto went silent, he knew she was right and did not come up with any response because there was no point to argue, he decided to move on with the conversation instead.
"I assume we're not here to talk about history right?"
"No, I wanted to show you something else. "
Ino used her hand to create a seal and the surroundings started morphing into different landscape again, it became an area of old Japanese houses behind a stone wall, a fortress attached to the side of a mountain, the moon was in full display illuminating the area, Naruto noticed a group of men covered in a black uniform from head to toe kneeling on the rooftops, all wore a katana strapped to their backs and were ready for battle.
"This is Mount Tanzawa right?"
"How it looked like centuries ago, here Konoha was founded when the first organized Shinobi clans gathered together to fight a common enemy, the Bijuu, Tailed Beasts."
Suddenly at the front gates a strong and loud roaring sound could be heard, Naruto shifted his gaze to the front gates and saw an enormous shadowy figure appearing and covering the area with its gigantic frame, it had long pointed ears and a menacing glare, it raised one of its arms ready to strike, Naruto tried to remind himself this was all an illusion but everything looked very real, he panicked again and looked over to Ino who remained calm as the beast brought down its claw. Before anything happened, the Shinobi started their counterattack with Ninjutsu of fire, water, earth and wind effectively stopping the beast's strike, others launched themselves in a cry of battle against the monster in front of them, Ino casually continued speaking.
"We don't know where they came from, all we know is that they're beings made of pure chakra and they don't like us, chakra or no chakra."
"So… this is one of those beasts?" Naruto could not count the tails due to all the movement and smoke surrounding the monster.
"The one I read about, the Nine Tailed Fox or Kyuubi, the most powerful beast of all nine."
"And… where are the other eight?" Naruto asked as the battle in front of them continued, Ino faced him.
"We don't know."
"You… don't know?"
"They hid themselves a long time ago when civilizations started to thrive, the Shinobi nations from other countries have confirmed several times that some of them are within their territory, others claim never seeing them before."
"Has anyone in Konoha ever seen one?"
"Yes, the Hokage of each generation have all met with at least one of them."
Ino again changed the landscape with a hand seal, the area turned into an open field covered in grass with a beautiful sunset showering the scenery. Naruto saw a group of Shinobi without their masks standing in front of them, their leader, a tall man with long black hair wearing a dark red armor constructed of numerous metal plates stood there looking at something in the distance. Naruto again turned his head to look at the direction where his gaze was set and noticed the enormous beast approaching calmly to their position, now he could clearly see the features of a fox and the orange fur that covered it. Once the beast arrived, it stood less than a meter away from his face, he felt paralyzed and could feel the sweat start to run down his back, the fox growled softly as it looked down on him, then another hand appeared and patted the creature gently, its slit pupils slowly changed shape and the loud breathing sounds became less erratic.
Naruto looked next to him at the man who was able to calm the creature.
"Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage in history and founder of Konoha, he was a different breed of Shinobi and his Wood style was very powerful."
"Wood style?" Naruto raised an eyebrow looking back at Ino, she realized he was still not familiarized with elements.
"More on that later." She focused her attention back to the scene happening in front of them "He basically was one of the few persons on earth who could go toe to toe with a tailed beast and live to tell it but his idea was mainly to keep them safe and away from other Shinobi who wanted to use their power for their own agenda."
"Wait… so the tailed beast could be controlled?"
"Yes, during this era it was discovered that their powers could be harnessed by sealing them inside a person, making them a Jinchuuriki, a Power of human sacrifice, they were the jailers of tremendous power and in return they became the most feared and dangerous beings known to date, even their own allies feared them, so much that whenever a Jinchuuriki was created, they immediately exiled it without second thought. "
"That doesn't make sense, if people wanted to control their power, why would they exile the vessels?"
"They always kept their eyes on them, the 'exile' was more of an excuse to keep themselves and others safe in case the jailer lost control of the beast and became a threat."
"Did that ever happen?"
"Yes, many times."
Ino again shifted the area now turning it into another battlefield, this time the armies in the middle of a dispute were using wood and fire jutsus against each other.
"Hashirama's clan, the Senju, were adept in many forms of combat as were their rival clan, the Uchiha."
"U-Uchiha?!" Naruto noticed the opposite army had one thing in common while they continued to battle, all of them had strange red eyes that shone bright even through the smoke "You mean as in the Uchiha Corporation?!"
"Precisely, they possess the Sharingan as a bloodline ability, with it they could control others as well, this man in particular…" Ino pointed at a fair-skinned man with spiky, black hair that had a slight blue tint to it grown to waist-length with shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face, covering most of his right eye that glowed red, he wore crimson armor with numerous metal plates, forming protective guards along his chest, waist, shoulders and thighs, he was an experienced Shinobi for the way he fought and killed several opponents "The leader of the clan, Madara Uchiha, his Sharingan was so strong he could control the Bijuu as well, from him, his descendants also learned and carried his will to try to obtain the power of all beasts and conquer the rest of the world with them eventually which brings us to our present…"
Ino shifted the surroundings one more time turning everything into an urbanized zone with buildings and people walking all around them in different directions, the honking of cars and voices of the civilians made Naruto doubt for a second if he was still within an illusion or if he was back in the real world, his answer quickly came when the pedestrians started going through him.
"So let me get this straight…" Naruto said as he did his best to avoid in vain the holograms "The Uchiha Corporation is actually run by Shinobi?" And the rest of the world has no idea?"
"You're catching on quick!" Ino smiled "We have a rule as Shinobi, our presence must never be known to other humans, we live amongst them, we eat, work, learn and in some cases, raise a family with them, but we never let them know what we're capable of."
"... And the Uchiha are about to break that rule right?"
"They already did many times before, Konoha's been there to stop them from exposing us but this time things are different and this is the real reason we brought you here Naruto."
Ino approached Naruto and took his arm to guide him in a different direction through the imaginary streets, they stopped just in front of a tall building with a peculiar logo on top of it, both looked up at a red and white fan.
"Your parents were targeted by Uchiha Corporation because they discovered the location of one of the Bijuu somewhere here in Japan…" Naruto's eyes went wide yet again turning his attention to Ino "They didn't reveal the location to us out of fear of repercussions against you, yet as you noticed last night, they almost got to you."
"So those men last night… they were sent by Uchiha Corp?"
"Most likely, they didn't have any sort of emblem or crest in their uniforms to identify them but who else would send a death squad like that to get you?"
Naruto again remained silent, he knew she was right again.
"We assume you would become their bait to lure your parents out of hiding, capture them also and make them reveal their discoveries, you understand the consequences if they manage to control a Bijuu again right?"
"... They would be unstoppable."
"Precisely, we cannot permit such thing, last night they sent someone, or something, to get you and they didn't seem to care about witnesses, which means they're trying to expose our kind, I strongly believe if the media picks up the story from last night or similar, Uchiha Corp will take the opportunity to cover their tracks and use anyone they want as guinea pigs…"
"Makes sense, if they're such a huge corporation they must have loads of money to buy influence…"
"More than you know, it's not just the media, but the government and the military as well, with such influence-"
"They can manipulate the truth as they see fit." Naruto cut her off but Ino actually was glad he was already seeing the big picture, the boy she had picked up last night for a moment was gone and no longer full of doubt or scared, he looked focused.
"So… wanna find your parents?" Ino asked with a smile.
"Absolutely." he replied smiling back at her.
A bright light pierced the skies making everything around them go blurry, Naruto's vision went white again, he slowly regained his vision and as he adjusted to the light he recognized the hospital room, Ino was still seated in front of him with her hand extended touching his face, she removed it and waited for him to talk, Naruto only kept looking around the room to confirm he was indeed this time back in the real world and not inside Ino's head, he saw the Hokage was right where he remembered him standing along with his two bodyguards, he remained silent as all the information of events he witnessed processed inside his head, now certain events started to make sense for him, not only what had unfolded recently, he understood why his parents were away from home so much on their 'business trips', the money transfers when they took longer to return home, almost no calls or contacts to let him know they were okay, it was all to keep him away from this world. Naruto fixed a serious look at the Hokage.
"When can I start?"
Sasuke Uchiha and his father had a quiet ride home that day, during earlier hours they had a press conference where the older Uchiha would present his son as his successor to take over the company in a few years, yet all the questions the press kept asking were about the older Uchiha, Itachi, who in the line of succession was supposed to become the next president of Uchiha Corporation.
The problem with that was nobody had known Itachi's whereabouts in years, not even his own clan.
Fugaku Uchiha was a cold and calculated man, he liked to invest his money where he knew it was beneficial, as a businessman he understood very well how to spend his wealth and keep the ball rolling, in a manner of speaking, the media was his biggest investment yet, he paid a large portion of the press to make sure his image and that of his company always looked impeccable in front of the world, yet recently he had found out not everyone was happy with their slice of cake, some started to get greedy and wanted a bigger portion.
This was easy to handle, sometimes he thought to himself if these people ever realized whose pocket they were trying to steal from, he would be lying if he ever felt pity for any of them, one phone call and they were finished, in the most rare of cases, erased.
Yes, he had killed those who tried to cross him or who thought themselves too clever. Blackmail? Threats? Exposure? He was a master of all these and second to no one, but recently more and more new reporters started to appear to replace the vacant positions that Fugaku unknowingly created for them and to his surprise, this generation of reporters were unwilling to take bribes or be cooperative with him, this was a new wave of free press and this threatened his position, like that morning.
At least ten or more reporters during the conference asked him about his missing elder son Itachi, when he tried to dismiss the questions or change the subject back to Sasuke's succession another reporter asked the same question with more emphasis on Itachi's name, eventually the whole ordeal lasted less than two minutes and Fugaku ended the conference clearly upset.
Sasuke on the other hand was rather amused to see his father ticked off about simple questions, he could have easily said it himself, 'My brother is missing' or even make a story to keep them busy, but his father's tongue was faster than his and he barely spoke a word during the conference, typical of him to want to control everything.
"You're awfully quiet today father…"
Fugaku kept looking through his window without replying.
"Look, if this is about today, I don't think you should-"
"I didn't ask for your opinion Sasuke."
Sasuke frowned at his answer and decided to turn back and continue looking through his own window, he reminded himself why his father was not likable in the first place. He wished he could have taken the ride back home with his bodyguards who at least treated him like a normal person, then it clicked.
"Stop the car." he said, Fugaku turned his face to look at him curiously, the driver stopped the limousine.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to ride with Suigetsu's crew, at least they're company." He started to open the door.
"You don't get to make that call."
"So you expect the future president of Uchiha Corp to continue listening to you?!"
"You're not the president of the company yet, so yes, I expect you to fall in line!"
"Father, if you want me to lead, you need to let me make my own decisions!"
"You don't understand do you? You are not ready to lead, let alone make your own choices, you are still just a spoiled kid who does not appreciate the life he has!"
Sasuke was starting to get really irritated.
"So you expect me to stay here with you?! Without talking?! No wonder Itachi is gone!"
A swift and strong slap followed, sending a wave of anger through Sasuke's brain, he turned to retaliate but immediately stopped dead on his tracks when his father revealed his Sharingan to him, he froze as he felt the effects of the powerful Dojutsu overwhelming him, without taking his eyes off his son he spoke again.
"Close that door."
Sasuke slowly complied.
"Driver, take us home."
The limousine started to move again and they continued their route.
"Do not speak his name again, do you understand?"
Sasuke was internally doing his best to fight back the sensation of fear and helplessness in his chest but found it almost impossible to resist, his father's eyes were too strong and he had no way to fight back, after all, he did not possess that power himself.
"Do you understand?!"
Sasuke could only nod.
"Good, tonight I will be working, speak with Naori if you need anything."
The rest of the ride was again silent, Sasuke made the mistake for a moment to forget his father's eyes were like staring at a demon, a presence so great and intimidating he could strike fear even in the bravest of men, sometimes he wondered if this was how he forged his legacy, through fear and intimidation, could this be any different if he was not an Uchiha? He wondered the possibilities.
He was well aware of what his clan and family were, what he was, what being a Shinobi meant, what being an Uchiha meant, yet he was a disappointment in his father's eyes because unlike most members of the clan l, he did not possess the Sharingan yet and who knew if he ever would.
He also wondered if his missing brother had managed to awaken that power, if possibly that could have been the reason he disappeared from the radar and maybe, if it could have helped him fight his father's demonic Sharingan.
"Itachi… where are you?" he thought.
"Did you find anything senpai?"
Anko and her partner Iruka found themselves that morning on the site where an explosion took place next to a mountain, the initial reports suggested a bomb had been placed or dropped there as a way to collapse the tunnels running under it but soon it proved to be false, anyone trying to do that would have known the explosives needed to go inside the tunnels.
"Traces of gasoline, possibly a helicopter crash."
"Any bodies?"
"Gone, no human remains or blood anywhere."
"So the police don't realize what happened here huh?"
"The trail is faint, I was able to find it only because of my snakes, you can't really blame them."
"But if this was a crash, where is the rest of the helicopter?"
"Remember what we're dealing with here Iruka, whoever these guys are, they are not ordinary people, there is no genjutsu here to conceal the remains, I already checked, but they definitely have a special jutsu to remove all the pieces, sure, they didn't erase all of the evidence but it could've been anyone here to be honest…"
"So what do you think we should do?"
"Check the security cameras of the area, there must be something there that can give us a new lead."
"On it!" Iruka proceeded to leave the scene as several crews continued investigating the area, Anko remained there with her hands inside the pockets of her trench coat. She reached for her cellphone inside one of them and looked for a contact before pressing to dial. Two rings later someone answered on the other end.
"Hey Ebisu, it's me, listen, I need to run some tests in your lab, wanna give me a hand?"
-0-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Hello again! Sorry for the long wait, not gonna make any excuses, lots of work and moving around so I didn't have time to continue writing, the story is not dead nor I plan to leave it on hiatus, I WILL finish this story one way or another, unfortunately I realized I cannot write weekly as I originally planned, too little time with all the other stuff I gotta do, regardless I'm moving ahead with this fic until the end so hopefully next chapters won't take too long to publish, all the scenarios and scripts, or most of them anyways are already in my head, just need the right way to express them since I don't consider myself a good writer.
Enough with the rant! Until next time!