Author's Notes: Hello again. In case anyone was wondering, Fiore (we will see how she got the name in this chapter) will be a civilian for most of the story, or at least the first half of it. Her injuries and amnesia simply will not allow her that type of lifestyle. But no worries, she will have plenty of things to do. Especially after Naruto makes his grand entrance in the next chapter. Darn cute little ball of everlasting energy, gotta love him.
Once again, constructive criticism is welcomed, and feel free to point out typos or the like. I try to comb out them little buggers as best I can, but sometimes even Word will secretly sneak a few in while I'm not looking.
On other things, I won't be using '-chan' and '-kun' for most of the story. I'm trying to keep the story in straight English as much as possible. There will be a few '-sama's here in there, mostly in referring to the Hokage, since calling someone 'Lord Hokage' instead of 'Hogake-sama' just doesn't sound quite right. When it comes to jutsu's I'll also be using their English versions/translations for the most part (saving some folks from having to open up Naruto wikia to figure out which jutsu was that).
I wanted to put this up way earlier, right after I put up the prologue, but I kept getting sidetracked with a couple of things going on at home (apparently haven't been able to get a job and still living with mom and dad suddenly turns you into the house maid by default) and homework. Well that, and I had to redo a few parts because I didn't like how they ended up in my first draft.
One last thing, in case anyone was wondering or just to clarify. The first part of chapter, the part you will see in italics without quotes, is an internal retrospect on Fiore's part. That's why it's in first person view. The rest of the fic is in third person view.
Anyway, enough with the notes.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Naruto anime/manga.
Extended Summary:
No memory of your past, no friends nor family looking for you, and waking up in a dungeon after six months in a coma, only to learn that you might have been a criminal, would be enough to make just about anyone wonder what to make of their lives. And yet, the Hokage offers you an opportunity for a fresh start, to build a new life, as long as you do not harm anyone nor endanger the village. So now I go by the name of Fiore, trying to make an honest living in the ninja village of Konoha, as I recover from my injuries and amnesia, while always having a ninja or two shadow my every move. I can't help but feel alone, trapped, untrusted and unwanted. And yet, as bad as things may look, I can't help but smile at the crazy antics of a young blond boy with a knack for mischief. Naruto Uzumaki, my first real friend, and also my new little brother.
Chapter 1: Who am I?
When I first woke up, I had no clue what was going on. I felt weak, tired and disoriented among other things. My senses were dulled and in a mess. Everything looked muddy and blurry. I could hear some sounds but I could not make heads or tails of what they were. It almost felt like I was underwater. The smallest of movements took great effort, and for the most part, my body simply did not listen to me.
There were some people around me, I don't know how many. At least I think they are people. Some of them are moving, so guess they are people. Where they saying something? What were they saying? Where they friend or foe? The blond man looks cheerful enough, but is he really friendly? The other man, the one with graying brown hair looks friendly too, but I can't shake the feeling that they are holding back something. Then…. There is one more man… the one with the bandana…. He gives me the chills. Who are these people?
I don't know what's going on. I can't help if I'm feeling a bit scared. Did something happen? Why do I feel like something bad happened?
Where am I anyway? This place looks bare, and feels cold, and scary. I feel cold. This place… just doesn't feel friendly. Something must be wrong… What-What the hell happened?
I… I d-don't remember… What was I doing? Where was I? How did I get here? How-Who-
I…. don't remember anything. Nothing. Nothing at all.
…
Who am I?
The whole room stood in complete silence for over a minute. Nobody moved nor so much as twitched. For the shinobi in the room, they were waiting for the slightest of movements in order to spring into action and attack. The woman however just blinked and looked at all of them. Or whatever she could see from her laying down position.
In truth, it took her a bit to fully get accustomed to the light, squinting for several seconds until it became bearable. The single cheap bulb screwed into the ceiling turning into a blinding mini sun wasn't doing her any favors, especially after having her eyes closed for so long. The only people within her line of sight were the doctor, Inoichi, and one of the ANBU. When she tried to turn her head to get a better look at them, she flinched and hissed softly in pain. Luckily, no one jumped the gun just yet. After getting a nod from Ibiki, the medic spoke up once more.
"Hi there. You've been asleep for quite a while." He told her in the same tone a father would use to try to comfort a sick child. He also took the opportunity to pull off an age old ninja trick: to gently extend some of his chakra over to the woman, wrapping her in a calm and soothing invisible blanket. That trick was usually used by Jounin sensei's in order to calm down their gennin charges when they were overcome with Killing Intent or to calm down nerve wracked fellow shinobi. As one of the senior medics in the T&I department, he had come to rely on that little old trick to get some of the prisoners to be a bit more cooperative,
Or to get them to lower their guard.
What? One did not simply have to patch up all of Ibiki's and Anko's playmates without picking up some of their humor or an idea or two.
And yes, more than once, had a prisoner would come out clean when they felt that they were safe and with someone trustworthy.
While the medic worked his magic, Inoichi also tried to pitch in his own two cents, moving closer to the woman so that she had a clear view of him without having to turn her head much.
"Don't try to strain yourself too much." He said while giving off a fatherly aura. "You'll probably feel pretty sore and stiff."
To his surprise and partial relief, the woman had actually tried to turn to face him. So at the very least, her eyesight and hearing were working, since she was able to recognize him as the speaker. What did worry him however was the confused and clueless look that she had. It was after all, possible that she hadn't understood a single word that they had said so far, instead she just heard 'something'. Or she could be in some sort of muddled face, where sound was completely distorted and still clearing up. If she had indeed reverted to what he usually called a 'baby state', then she was going to be in for a ton of rehab before she could even so much as take her first step. None the less, he kept a calm and cheery appearance. She hadn't flipped out in rage or panic so something was working.
While the woman had been staring at Inoichi, the doctor was preparing an IV needle with a serum. "This will sting a little and feel a little weird, but it will help you recover much faster." He said, making the woman turn back to look at him.
"Uh?" had been her only response.
Off on the side, Ibiki remained silent as he looked over the scene. Inoichi was once again engaging in small talk, conformed mainly of soothing words, serving as a distraction for the medic that was about to insert the IV needle. Mentally the man was carefully discerning the woman's reactions so far. From the looks of it, Inoichi's fears of her being literally too far gone might have not been unfounded. The few one word phrases she had said so far could be little more than baby talk for all he knew.
As with everything, it was a double-edged blade. He woman could turn out to be completely harmless, but there also went any chance of getting any useful information out of her. Still, it was far too early to call the shot. A mere hour ago he was about to write her off as dead to the world, and yet she somehow managed to pull through at the last moment. Maybe, just maybe, she would still pull through and have some answers.
A sharp yelp brought him out of his inner musings. The woman had apparently been caught by surprise by the IV needle, flinching and weekly trying to move away from the thin piece of metal. Even if she had been a full strength, she would not have gotten far since she was still fully strapped in. Ibiki ordered the ANBU nearest to the medics via hand signals to ready some chakra suppressant seals just in case. He was taking no chances.
"I did warn you it would sting." The medic softly apologized while holding down the woman's arm so that she did not manage to pull out the needle. Inoichi was also assisting him from across the bed by holding her down by her other arm and shoulder. "The pain will go away soon." He kept trying to assure her.
The woman tried to give a few more weak tugs to free her arm before she apparently stopped struggling. It didn't stop her from giving Hatori a look that said 'I trusted you! How could you do this to me?!' A bit childish in nature, but somewhat understandable.
"T-tha-at ….. hu-hur-urt." she somehow managed to say in a weak and raspy voice.
Those words did not escape any of the other people in the room. Most had thoughts along the lines of 'well I'll be dammed. She can talk.' Only the medic and Inoichi visibly smiled. Ibiki barely smirked, but he was actually very pleased at the sudden turn of events. At the very least they would be able to get a decent conversation going. And that was definitely something. And even better, he might just be able to pull out his bag of tricks after all. The Hokage would also be very interested to know that she can talk after all. Whether she knew anything of use or not… well that was still to be seen.
While Ibiki was doing a mental review of tools, deciding on which ones would be more appropriate to use in order to get information from the woman, (with a smirk on his face no less) Inoichi was almost giddy at the revelation that the woman had somehow retained some ability to speak. The few other cases of severe amnesia that he had worked with had also involved varying degrees of dementia. Similar cases could also present damage to the nervous system, such as in paralysis (full or partial) or semi-permanent full nervous system confusion. He had refrained from trying to possess her body since he started to work on her due to all the damage she sustained, having limited himself to memory searches and mental stability diagnostics. Now however, it might actually be worthwhile to possess her in order to get an inside view to see if there was any lasting damage.
That adventure would have to wait until she was settled down, considering that she was not all too sure about the needle in her arm, nor the person that was using chakra covered hands in order to sooth the area. A quick glance to the nearby work table next to the medic allowed the mind reader to figure out why the woman tried to get away. Orahara had picked one of the more concentrated serum mixtures. He'd been on the receiving end of those things a few times, and he would gladly testify that it felt like someone tried to push cold grape gelatin into your veins. It was by no means pleasant, but it did work wonders. It did however make a person's skin take a bluish to purple tint for a few days, not to mention your arm felt like it was freezing over, but it got you back on your feet. In this case, the woman would really benefit from it. She was getting rather skinny. Luckily, the freezing feeling to it could be eased off a bit by having someone mold warm chakra into the immediate area, which was what Orahara was doing.
"Your arm will feel cold for a while, but you will feel a lot better in a few hours." Pitched in the blond man as he loosened his grip once the woman stopped struggling as much. The decided then to change the subject. "We're actually glad to see you awake and that you can talk. We were afraid that you wouldn't wake up at all."
"Gave me a few scares, I'll tell you that right now miss." Chipped in the medic without interrupting his chakra hold. "Given how long you've been out, and how raspy your voice sounded a while ago, you probably are pretty thirsty. Mind fetching a glass of water for her blondie? Room temperature if you please." He said with a smirk.
Inoichi shook his head grumbling something incomprehensible that sounded like 'bossy smartass'. He did however stand up and left the room to get water.
In truth, it was a ploy. Everyone in T & I rarely used their real names at work. They would either use various code names prepared in advanced or use nicknames, the later of the two usually used within playful bickering.
The nicknaming was done to protect their identities from outsiders. Even within the village of Konoha, there were a few individuals that got a bit vindictive if someone close to them ended up in T&I due to crimes. Then again, if you ended in T&I then you were in some pretty big shit. Most prisoners left the place in body bags or on a one way trip to prison in life. Torture and Investigation was not known for kindness and tea parties. Other nations in particular did not like what happened to their spies that got caught. There were very few who didn't bother to hide their real names, namely Ibiki, whose name was so infamous in all of the nations that prisoners usually attempted suicide on the spot once they saw the man himself in front of them.
To a lesser degree, the name-calling could also appear as friendly bickering, helping to defuse tensions at work. Once in a while, this ploy also served to get the prisoners to lower their guard and get them to open up more towards the interrogators. Hatori Orahara, the medic that had overseen the odd woman for the last six months, was quite the master of this. When he and his friendly diplomacy failed to get results, then the big guns were called in. The toughest nuts to crack usually ended in Anko's or Ibiki's hands, and by that point, things get very ugly very fast.
It didn't take Inoichi long to fetch a few bottles of water. There was a fridge in the uppermost dungeon level with a few drinks and snacks for the working personnel, along with a water cooler and cheap mugs for the prisoners. He filled two bottles with room temperature water for the woman, and grabbed a few more from the fridge for himself or the ANBU if they wanted. The guy that took the blood pill would probably need one anyway. He also made good use of the time to plan out how he was going to approach the woman.
Back in the cell, the men present there were still watching the medic work. Ibiki decided to make himself known and see just how aware the woman was. So he threw on a quick Henge jutsu, changing out his black trench coat for a plain gray lab coat and changing the color of his bandana from black to off-white, giving him the appearance of a doctor or researcher. He then stepped up to the side of the bed where Inoichi had been just a few moments ago.
"Greetings." He said in his least intimidating voice, making him sound more like a professional doctor than a veteran torturer. "I know you have just woken up, but we need to ask you some questions. If you would answer truthfully, we would appreciate it. You may call me Ibiki if you wish."
He was actually pleased when the woman turned to face him, raising an eyebrow and weakly replied "…Okay?" That voice of hers was very weak as it was raspy.
She also looked to be unsure about him, with was quite the oddity for him. Most 'patients' would freak out at just hearing the names 'Ibiki' or 'Morino'. No tensing of her posture, no fear, nothing of the sort. Just some slight distrust with a hint of curiosity. Quite curious in his mind. He would add that detail into the report he would be writing up later.
Report aside, he could tell that he was not going to be able to get her to talk for long; it could be only a matter of time before her voice just failed her. The serum should help her recover quicker, along with some water to drink, but it was best not to push his luck. Simply put, she was still too weak. He would have to find a balance between working quickly and not pushing her too much.
Given that, Ibiki opted to start off with some of the standard questions that did not probe too much out of a person, not to mention it would also serve to measure just how well the woman could speak and reason. He would try to feel out the woman first, and then jump into more dangerous territories. "Can you tell us your name, miss?"
"M-my…. Na-n-…ame…?" She looked conflicted, almost as if lost in thought.
The men remained silent to give her time to think. As the seconds ticked by, she began to fidget and squirm in place. Clearly she was becoming more and more distressed. "I-I don't k-kno-ow…. C-can-nt… reem-em-memb-ber…" she said eventually, her voice thick with fear and panic.
Everyone else had been studying her reactions keenly. To Ibiki and Hatori, who were perhaps more versed in the arts of body language reading, there was no doubt that the woman was deeply troubled because she had been unable to recall her own name. Those levels of panic had to be genuine; not even the best of actors could feint memory loss to that degree. The medic decided to cut in before she scared herself even more.
"We feared as much. You were pretty badly injured when you were found, miss." Hatori spoke in a soft apologetic tone. "It's ok if you don't remember much right now; you should get your memories back as you heal."
Ibiki grimaced. If she could not remember her name, then chances were that she did not remember much of anything. Still, there might be some off chance that she remembered something else, even if it's not related to the attacks on the village. Maybe a clue to a family member that she could be sent off to once she was able to move about on her own.
"Tell me miss," Ibiki started, "what do you remember of your past? Doesn't matter how trivial it may sound. It's to figure out the extent of your memory loss."
The woman looked downcast for a bit. Hatori placed a hand on her shoulder as if to comfort and encourage her, as well as calm her down. She tried to grip the thin sheet under her harder, but she simply did not have the strength to really do so. The ninjas could tell that she was honestly trying to remember something, anything, quite desperately, but to no avail.
After a long silence, she sniffled a bit and managed to croak her answer "N-no-t-thi-iin-g."
Not a second after that, Inoichi stepped back into the room. "I'm Back. Here you go." He greeted cheerfully, having noticed the somber mood so he tried to lighten up the situation. But first, he then handed over one of the temperate bottles and a small plastic cup towards the doctor, then placing the rest of the bottles in a corner, silently offering them to the rest. "So… What did I miss?"
While Hatori opened up the bottle and gently helped the woman drink slowly, Ibiki filled Inoichi in about what he had learned during his short absence. The blond could only sigh after the quick debriefing, as he ran a hand through his hair. "Dam… that bad huh?"
"I'm afraid so." Mulled Ibiki.
The blond clan head grumbled some more under his breath. 'Way to get my hopes up.' He did however stop his train of thoughts when he saw Ibiki out of the corner of his eyes discreetly do some hand signs. To anyone else, it would have looked like the man was simply stretching out his arm and hand, but between both master interrogators, it was code language for 'mind read him/her'. Inoichi understood the message quick enough, and offered a lopsided grin as a response, meaning that he had understood perfectly.
With a disarming smile on his face he walked over to the bed and stood next to the woman, bending down a bit to get closer to the woman. Hatori had just finished helping her with the cup of water and was placing her back down on the bed while he refilled it. "I'm sorry to hear you can't remember much. Sometimes it takes a while before memories go back into place. Usually everything is still there, but it just got turned into a big jig-saw puzzle. You probably just have to piece together the pieces as you begin to recall them until you can put the whole thing back together." He explained in a comforting tone. "I'm actually a bit of a psychologist. I help people over their fears or help them get their problems off their chest. I've also helped a few folks that lost their memories. So even if you are not able to recover some or all of your memories, I can give you some suggestions and ideas on how to restart your life."
He paused a bit to let his words sink in. One way or another, he was going to do his best to get the woman's memory back. It was just a whole lot easier when the patient in question was actually cooperating. On most prisoners, he would have foregone the small talk and simply forced himself into their minds or took over their bodies, but seeing as how they wanted to remain on the woman's good side if possible, he would have to play nice. So, he would offer her a chance to get her past back first. If not, he would have to pull out plan B. "Miss, would you like me to help you out?" he eventually offered.
The woman had been paying close attention to his worlds and appeared to be thinking it over. She looked back up to him, and then broke off to look at the rest of the room, as if looking for some indication about what to do. Hatori gave her a smile and a nod. Ibiki remained impassible and quiet. Everyone else was out of sight and hiding under a camouflage jutusu. But soon enough, she turned back to Inoichi and nodded, looking at him straight in the eyes.
There were quite a few emotions going through her eyes and face that the blond man could see. Mostly doubt, fear, and confusion, but there were also hope, fire and determination. He didn't know what exactly was going on in her head, but if she was serious about trying to get back her memories, then all the better for him. Also, seeing that little display of a strong will was a nice bonus. People with stronger wills had higher rates of gaining a full recovery.
On a more personal level, Inoichi had more respect for people with strong wills. Be it friend or foe. If she was willing to stare right at the eye of the beast and face her problems head on, then she had already gained a few points in his book.
Inoichi grinned back. 'There's fire in this one's spirit. Good.' Usually his line of work revolved in breaking wills in order to get information, but once in a while he actually got to work with the patient, instead of against him or her. It was a nice change of pace.
Not one to waste any time, he was eager to begin working. So he pulled up a stool (Ibiki had silently pulled one out of a storage scroll and offered it his fellow coworker) and sat down next to the woman. "I can start right now actually, but first we need to check if you have any sort of internal damage. Such as if you can feel or move an arm or a leg properly. This won't hurt at all really. Might be just a bit ticklish though." He chuckled a bit. "So try to stay calm and relax, ok?"
The woman was slightly confused, and maybe wondering what exactly he was up to, but she eventually took a deep breath, leaned back into the bed and nodded at him. She had some apprehensions about the whole thing, but when you are left with literally nothing, even a small chance at regaining that which you lost is usually worth the risk. Inoichi quickly went through the necessary hand signs to perform one of his clans signature moves and soon enough plunged himself into her mind.
(A/N: feel free to look up Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time's Water Temple theme for ambience music.)
The first thing Inoichi noticed after his justu was complete was the overall emptiness. He was standing in some sort of plane. No walls, no decorations, no nothing. Just a vast, never ending plane. Everything was shadowed in dark gray with a tint of purple, and the only noticeable feature being the presence of fog. It wasn't overly thick, but it did tend to cling to the 'floor', much like the smoke caused by dry ice.
"Well crud. She might have not been lying after all." He said to himself as he tried to see into the fog.
In his experience, most people have their minds configured or mapped out in a system of tunnels or corridors, where specific groups of information where hidden behind doors, bars or locks. The appearance of the mind changes with time, reflecting the person's growth and personality. What was once a tree house filled with colorful drawings and children's toys could turn into a museum filled with archeological artifacts and treasures from all four corners of the world. The mind simply grew and adapted.
Memory loss however, tended to present itself in a few different ways. When it was due to injury, it often was reflected as some sort of cave in or demolition of a part of the mindscape, such as a storage room could become filled with charred debris and darn right near impassible. In those cases, it was sometimes possible to salvage some things, but a good part of the memories stored in that sector would be forever lost.
When the loss was related to trauma or fear, I could show itself like rapidly putting away everything in a room and hiding it in the closet, and barring the entrance to said closet. (Somewhat like how his daughter Ino, would sometimes scramble to pick up all her toys and things and shove them away in a few seconds flat whenever he came home unexpectedly). Those cases where usually workable. It was more a thing about pulling away the barricades, sorting through the mess and putting everything back in place.
The last option would be erased memory. As a Yamanaka, that was one of the things he often did. There are plenty of reasons why someone would want to erase some memories on another person (usually are criminally related), but once in a while a person would seek to have some of their own memories erased. Whichever was the case, the results usually are reflected as empty rooms, empty bookshelves, or a suspiciously clean and organized area. If the person doing the erasing has enough time and skill, then those vacant zones created can be disguised better. If the job was properly done, then the affected area would appear undistinguishable. A bad job might look more like someone broke into your house and burglarized everything in a hurry.
If anything, the foggy mindscape he was standing in looked more like the later, a forced memory wipe but taken to the extreme. 'More like mind destroying.' This was clearly done by someone that did not want the woman to reveal information. Either they went for overkill and erased everything, or the jutsu they were trying to use went out of control and took everything.
Either way, he wasn't going to find out anything just but staying put, so Inoichi began walking in a random direction. He remained alert, keeping his footsteps silent and moving lightly, and yet, despite his stealth and skill, his steps still echoed off into the emptiness.
All in all, he felt somewhat uneasy about the whole place. Just because a mindscape looked empty, it didn't mean that it couldn't be booby trapped in the highest degrees. He also kept a lookout for any changes in color, or disfigurations in the floor, or any kind of sign of something different.
It didn't take him much time to find the very few remains of her memories. Or more precisely, the memories she had just made. He found a handful of blurry, animated images, depicting himself, Hatori and Ibiki. Said images looked like holographic projections, blurring over or distorting themselves every now and then, gently floating about grouped up toguether. It almost looked right out of a creepy futuristic sci-fi movie, like one of those abandoned space stations where the last logs where being displayed on the many screens. The only reason he had found them was due to their flickering of light that created a small bright zone within the bleak fog. He went through all of the images, there were not many after all, and sadly did not find a single one that had taken place before she had woken up in the T&I building.
If anything, it was the final nail in the coffin on the subject of the mystery woman's memory loss. Inoichi highly doubted that there were other memories around in another area. He was not looking forward to be the bearer of bad news to Ibiki, because there went their last hopes of finding anything out of the woman.
'Well, might as well as think on the bright side. I suppose she can at least function properly and start anew. She's already stored away our earlier encounter, so hopefully a second spontaneous mind wipe will not be likely.'
Seeing that that was about everything he was going to find there, the mind reader decided to continue exploring. Maybe he could find other clues to her state of mind, or simply just gauge her overall mental health.
After much wandering around, he became surprised when he heard a soft splash. He tensed and prepared to fight off whatever mind defense would spring up on him, but nothing came. The moment he took another step, he heard the same splash. Looking down, he found the reason. Water. A thin layer of water hidden by the low rising fog.
'How odd. A clue maybe?' he thought to himself as he bent down on one knee to examine the floor closer. The water was about a half of inch deep and relatively clear since he could partially see his reflection on it, disfigured by the ripples caused by his feet. The surface beneath was smooth, same as the floor he had been walking on for some time now. He couldn't see nor feel a change in the floors inclination or a sudden drop, so maybe it was a natural, gradual inclination. He grumbled under his breath and straightened up. 'I better find out how big this thing is.'
It took him a while, but he managed to figure out how big the pool was. Using a couple of conjured kunai as markers, he traced the water's edge. It ended up being about as large as a good sized pond perhaps, say about 100 yards across, but no more than about an inch deep in its center. He looked both around it and it in, yet didn't find anything else worth notice. Initially he had hoped that he had found the place where all her memories had been shoved and locked away, but no matter where he looked or what he tried, he could find anything else to the pond. No runes, no seals, no inscriptions, no nothing.
Still he felt that there had to be some kind of importance to the pond. Perhaps it was a remnant to her erased memories. A leftover podium maybe, where something of great personal importance once stood. A strong, cherished memory. Sadly, there was nothing else out of the ordinary about the shallow lake.
Deeming that he still didn't have any real answers, Inoichi decided to head towards a different part of the mindscape, giving up on pond for now. For the time being, he would shove the presence of the shallow pond into the back of his mind for future reference. Maybe he would even pay a visit to some of his clan's elders to see if anyone had encountered something of the sort.
As he kept exploring, he couldn't help but feel that something about that pond was just nagging at him, begging him to take a second look. If anything, it just fueled his determination to find out what had happened to the woman, and find out just what secrets where hidden away in her mindscape.
Eventually he found the part of the mind related towards speech. What he came across was a rather curious sight. That area was full of zounds of multicolored bubbles. Each bubble was roughly the size of a grapefruit, gently floating up and down, occasionally colliding with another bubble and bouncing off in a different direction, but never straying far away from the group. If one got too far, it would just bounce off an invisible wall and go back towards the rest. Despite the invisible wall that kept the bubbles in, he could walk among the little things without hindrance. He could even grab them without much trouble.
Upon closer inspection, each bubble held an image, a word or both. He deducted that these bubbles where the reason the woman was able to speak. A somewhat childish representation, but if it worked, then it worked. Judging from the overall quantity of bubbles, he deemed that there were about what a young teenager would have. The woman was probably in her twenties, so there was a concerning age gap at first glance that he would have to keep in mind for later reference. He would have to inform Ibiki and whoever was going to be in charge of her rehabilitation about that detail.
He spent a few minutes looking into many of the bubbles, just to get a better idea of what words she would understand and get a rough estimate of just how far her knowledge reached. 'At least these aren't as creepy as those memory images I saw earlier.' He thought as he kept looking.
After having studied the bubbles a bit, he got the feeling that she was around teenager level. Not exactly grand, but it could have been much worse.
He took a deep breath and sighed, letting go of the last bubble he had picked up, which bounce away back into the group. So far this mind dive of his hadn't been all that productive, and he had already been in there long enough. 'Better go ahead and wrap this up.'
There was only one more thing on his to-do list, and that was to do a nerve system check. For that, he needed to fully take control of the woman's body. This wasn't something he did often, but it was a much easier way to detect internal injuries and damage that medics could have missed. Patients sometimes were not able to properly pinpoint or describe their injuries, especially if they were so full of pain that they simply couldn't tell left from right. For medics, it was very helpful and insightful. Finding a Yamanaka willing to dive into and control someone who was in great pain wasn't exactly easy, since it was by no means a pleasurable experience for them, unless it was a last ditch effort to get information out of them before they died. That's why it wasn't done very often. Nonetheless, Inoichi had agreed from the start, and he was not about to break his word and chicken out now.
Soon enough he found the control center, as he dubbed it. It was the focal point in the mind that all Yamanakas had to find and get to in order to take control over a person's body. This procedure usually involved temporarily pushing the victim out of the hot seat. A battle of wills was usually involved, because the Yamanaka had to keep the victim's will at bay in order to remain in control of the body, otherwise they get kicked out. Unsuspecting or sleeping people were easier to take control over, and it was much easier to stay in control for longer periods. Reason why he had used a sleep-inducing jutsu just prior to his mind transferring technique. After all, even when someone agrees to have their minds meddled with, the body's natural reaction is to try to kick out the foreign entity.
Not all too surprisingly, he had found a representation of the woman's spirit peacefully asleep at the controls, curled up on her side . Her 'body' was see-through and nor very well defined, another indicator that her personality was still setting in. He raised an eyebrow at the find, but just shook his head and smiled softly. After gently picking up her body and moving it a few paces away, he sat down and took over the controls.
"Looks like he's got things covered. What now?" Asked Hatori as he began to pack up his things.
"We will have to wait and see what he manages to find." Replied Ibiki. "Our course of action will very much depend on his findings."
After Inoichi had finished performing his jutsu, both he and the woman had gone completely still. Mind transferring or taking over someone's body was usually done pretty quickly, but searching someone's memory usually took anywhere between minutes up to an hour. In a very serious case, it could take up to several hours, such as when it came to interrogating foreign spies. No one knew just how long the Yamanaka clan head was going to be busy, but they all believed in the man and knew that he could take care of himself just fine. The only thing they could do was to wait.
The occupants in the room had relaxed their poses after Inoichi had completed his mind searching justu by order of Ibiki himself. A couple of the ANBU had helped themselves to the water bottles Inoichi had brought in earlier even. It went unsaid, but everyone by that point was very much believing that the woman was no real danger. As disappointing as it was, they would be able to figure out if she was innocent or not, and then finally put the case to rest.
"Do we have a story for her ready?" inquired the medic as he finished putting away the last of his tools. "If she does turn out to be innocent, we will have to give her something to go on. Can't exactly just… dump her in an alley with no clue about what's going on. That's just asking for trouble, not to mention down right cruel."
Ibiki mulled over what Hatori had said. In truth, he had been spending every second since he had spoken to the woman on coming up with a plausible story. It was very likely that she would be let go sooner or later, (if proven honest and of no further use to T&I) but letting her go completely Scott-free was ill advised. Someone would have to keep an eye on her for a while. "We give her part of the truth. That she was found amid the wreckage of a small town that got half destroyed but bandits or rival guild members. The town's name should be safe enough to give, but that will be about it."
The doctor rubbed his chin with one hand and nodded. "That should work. Quite plausible that she got caught in the crossfire and suffered her injuries. Yes. Definitely workable."
The scarred man nodded in agreement. After all, the best lies where those that had a hint of truth to them.
As the minutes ticked on, Ibiki had been putting the final touches to his cover story when another ANBU guard appeared beside him.
"Sir. The Hokage is on his way." The ninja, a woman by the tone of voice, informed the T&I commanding officer.
"About time he ditched those crones." Replied Ibiki with a grumble. The other ANBU plus medic silently agreed with Ibiki's comment. Most, if not all of the ANBU had little to no love for the council, save for those belonging to Danzo's personal little toy army.
The messenger ANBU stood up to full height. "Shall I inform the Hokage to come here? Or should I direct him towards one of the conference rooms?" she inquired.
"Here. Have him come down here directly. And stay out of sight. I don't want someone poking their nose into something that is none of their business." He answered.
"Right away." Was the ANBU's only response before quietly disappearing into the shadows.
Not even a full minute after the ANBU had left, did the woman begin to stir. Wordlessly, they all got back in to their 'casual' positions. Meaning only Ibiki and doctor Orahara were in plain view, everyone else was invisible via jutsu. They weren't sure who was going to be in control, but they didn't want to needlessly scare the heck out of the woman sporting a handful of weapons each.
So they all waited patiently, until she was finally awake.
"Darn… she r-really is… w-weak…" was the first thing 'she' said, in a very weak and somewhat raspy voice.
Ibiki and Hatori grinned a bit, both knowing full well who was in control. Ibiki stepped up until he was right next to the bed. "So, what's the verdict?"
"Full memory wipe." Inoichi replied using the woman's voice, while 'her' facial expression mimicked Inoichi's serious face. "I'll give you the full details later. She's so weak it's hard to speak."
"Very well." Ibiki said. "Get the full medical rundown out of the way. The Hogake is on his way here."
Inoichi nodded from his temporary body, and then turned to see the medic. Said man had just pulled out a small notepad and a pen from his briefcase, flipping it open to a blank page and began to scribble down things.
"All right, you know the drill Hot Shot. First point…"
Later that day, the Hokage, Ibiki, Inoichi and the medic, Hatori were sitting in one of the smaller and discreet offices within T&I, along with a surprise guest, Shikaku Nara. Apparently the Hokage had made a little detour to grab the Nara clan leader for his suggestions on the matter. After exchanging greetings, Shikaku was quickly brought up to speed. Inoichi and Hatori had already relayed their respective findings to both newcomers, as well as added their thoughts and concerns about the subject. While they had been discussing, the woman had been placed under sleep while a new dose of medications took their effect. One of the ANBU had remained on guard, the rest had returned to other duties.
"Then there is no hope of getting anything of use out of her." Commented the elder Sarutobi as he refilled his tobacco pipe.
"I'm afraid so. If she did know something of use, then someone made sure she would never be able to share it." Inoichi informed them.
"Good thing you keep this away from the council's ears." Shikaku added. "I'd hate to see what twisted nonsense they would have come up with."
"And that is how I want to keep it." Said the Hogake before taking in a long drag from his pipe. "Sadly, she will need to be released at some point, and a good cover story will be needed in advance to quell any unwanted inquiries."
"Tch. Dam troublesome council." Quipped the shadow user with some disdain. "But they are not the only ones that I would be wary off."
That raised a few eyebrows. Inoichi was the first to speak his mind. "Oh? Care to enlighten us?"
The Nara began to pick out some of the files from the case and began to rearrange them on the center table. "Considering the fact that the woman remained alive but had all her memories erased, then it would be better to assume that someone out there might still be looking out for her, for one reason or another." He began explaining, dead serious. "There is no doubt that someone deliberately erased her memory. That person did not want her to relay some information. For some reason, they opted to erase her memory instead of killing her. Only a ninja of some skill could have done a complete memory erasing. So Chuunin or higher. I'd be more willing to bet on special Jounin or better."
"A trained ninja, even one of Gennin level, should have no trouble in killing a civilian." Inputted Ibiki. It was a thought that had indeed crossed his mind before, but he had not been able to properly place it.
"Exactly." Shikaku told them. The rest of the men where silently pondering about the future repercussions that could later have. "So either she somehow managed to fend for herself fairly well, or someone else jumped into the fray, forcing the mind eraser to flee. Ah, here we go." He said as he pulled up a sheet of paper with the details on the ANBU that went to the village where it all happened. "Considering that over a dozen ANBU had been deployed, I would consider it possible that the attacker wanted to get out of there quickly. Regardless of why, that special someone might want to finish the job later, when the timing and the situation is more in his or her favor."
Most grimaced at that revelation. "That is very concerning." Said the kage. "More questions and not much answers to go on."
"I'm also worried about this… improvised Five Pronged Seal." Said the master tactician as he placed a picture of said seal over the rest of the scattered files. "I'd wager it was meant to seal away chakra much like its complete version. And from doctor Orahara's reports, it appears that there is literally no chakra left in the woman, even after six months of having the seal removed…"
"Overkill… or overly precautious." Interrupted Ibiki.
Regardless, Shikaku nodded. "I'm not going to sugar coat this, but for all points and purposes, she was deliberately weakened. Possibly to get her into a state where she could be killed easier."
"But why the hell would anyone go through all that trouble instead of just killing her?" exclaimed the doctor as he rubbed his temples.
Inoichi was apparently one of the first to connect the dots, slamming a fist onto the table as his ire took some hold over him. "Sonuvabitch… because while some no-name woman would be easy to kill, a deadly and highly volatile missing nin is by no means easy pickings."
"So you believe that she is indeed the mad missing nin from the Taki bingo book entry?" Mulled Ibiki just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"More likely, she was that missing nin. However, given her current state, she will most likely never be able to even mold chakra for the rest of her life. Might as well as think of them as two fully separate beings." Explained the Nara after handing over two pictures to the Hokage, one of the drawing from the bingo book, and one picture taken on the sleeping woman. "The resemblance is quite uncanny."
"What are suggestions on the matter, Shikaku?" asked Hiruzen after taking both pictures and analyzing them once more.
The strategist laid back in his seat and stared at the sealing for a bit. "Given that it is very probable that she was a foreign nuke nin, the first option available is to simple kill her. She's asleep right now, so it can be done quickly and without much fuss. However… given the evidence that was gathered, it gives me a whole new set of concerns." He stood up and walked over to a map of the Elemental Nations that was attacked to the wall. He then grabbed a few markers nearby "She somehow moved from her hunting grounds up in the northern marshlands into Konoha's territories. That means that she was all the way up here-" He circled the general area made up by Taki (Waterfall), Land of Rice, and the northern part of Yuga (Hot Springs). "-And then came all the way over here." He took a different colored marker and drew up a small X over the village where she had been found. "That village is over a day's run from the nearest border, that being Yuga, at Jounin speeds. Even the geography of the area doesn't match the locations where she had been sighted earlier. There must have been some reason. Either she became coherent enough to carry out a personal vendetta against someone, or she was captured and managed to escape." He placed the markers down and walked back to his chair.
"Why do you think that?" Inquired Inoichi.
"For one, hell hath no fury like that of a scorned woman." Shikaku began explaining. "Secondly, the victims that the ANBU found in that village were hand-picked. We know now that they were all either missing nin, or wanted criminals, thanks to the follow up research Ibiki conducted. Each of them was chased and hunted down. The other reported deaths were attributed to fire damage or structural collapse. They weren't intentional. She either had been following them for a while until she finally caught up with them, or she escaped and turned on her captors. Most likely, that one missing nin that got away mentioned in ANBU Dog's report, is the one that placed the Five Pronged Seal and erased her memory before high tailing it."
"Then it would be possible that she has no real agenda against Konoha." theorized the kage.
"Possible, yes. And I'd wager there would have some very interesting details on how she ended up in in that village and why she went after those criminals. Well, that is assuming that she somehow miraculously recovers her memory and remains sane." Finished explaining the Nara.
"Hmm… If there is a larger scheme at hand, and she could very well qualify as either a Person of Interest or a Prisoner of War." Offered Ibiki. "We are not at open war, but there is always someone wanting to cause trouble. If someone wanted to start something, and, as Shikaku put it, if by some miracle she regains her memories, she could very well have some very important information that could be used in our favor. If she is willing to work with us at any rate."
They all thought over the possible implications and scenarios that could be involved. There had been no large international incidents that could hint to another war, but one could never be too careful. Getting too lenient and letting your guard down as a one way trip to getting blindsided. In the shinobi lifestyle, getting caught surprised was never a good thing. It was better to be over-prepared for any possible situation, than to coming up short not deeming the foe worthy enough. Too many disasters had been born on account of underestimating an enemy.
As the Kage of the village, the security and wellbeing of all its citizens was Hiruzen's first and foremost priority. He could not put the lives of his village and nation at risk even at the possibility of gaining some foresight into the dealings of other nations. There were two main concerns on his mind; if the woman could ever amount to become a threat to the village and if her mere presence could instill others to attack, either aimed at her or to other villages. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the deep aroma of his tobacco to fill his mind and calm his worries. Yes. It had been a good idea to use the good stuff that day. After exhaling, he turned to address the medic.
"Orahara. If you would, tell me what are the chances that the woman could pose as a danger to Konoha." He asked.
"Given her current situation, I would say that she will remain at civilian level for the rest of her days. She has next to no chakra, and unless she starts to regain some now that she is conscious, then she will not be able to do any feats of strength that even academy students can perform. Most likely, she will remain with some kind of handicap, just as easily becoming tired or be unable to do any kind of physically demanding activities for more than a few seconds or minutes. Also, given her memory loss, she probably doesn't know now any form of self-defense. Most likely, she will be about as deadly as a civilian house wife with a kitchen knife-" explained the medic.
"Don't let my wife hear that last comment." Shikaku interrupted him with a smirk on his face, getting a few chuckles out of the other men.
"Good thing I'm not married to her then." Hatori grinned back, earning a snort from Inoichi and a few more chuckles from the rest.
"Yeah yeah. Have your fun." Despite the comment, Shikaku took it all in stride. They had been working together long enough to enjoy petty jabs and poke fun once in a while.
"Anyway, for all practical points and purposes, she'll be a civilian. The only potential problems would be if she started to show signs of madness. And if for some reason, she regained higher-than-civilian level chakra reserves, it can be remedied by applying chakra suppressing binds or seals. That aside, she will need physical therapy to regain proper use limbs. Psychological therapy would be optional but also a good idea." The medic finished explaining.
The medic's assessment had actually brought up some good news for the rest of them. If he was in the right, then the woman was not likely to pose as a danger, or at least not directly. It also served to ease some of Hiruzen's worries, and gave him a few ideas on what to do.
"Very well. Let us keep her alive. Given that she is no immediate threat to us, we can incorporate her into the village. She will need to have a guard with her at all times, or at least for say…. Six months. With her as bait, we might be able to flush out something interesting." The Professor offered to the others. "And with enough work and luck, we might be able to instill the Will of Fire in her."
The other shinobi sitting at the table contemplated the offer. If they played their cards right, it was a win-win scenario. If someone got tried to attack the woman, or showed more than fleeting curiosity, then they had dibs on the offender and could interrogate them as they pleased. And, the possibility of gaining the allegiance of a skilled shinobi only sweetened the deal. Hell, there was a certain glint in Ibiki's eyes that could also mean that the man was already mentally clearing out his schedule in order to make room for new arrivals.
"That could very well work." Shikaku smiled after spending a few seconds in his 'thinking pose'. "Preferably, a Jounin or ANBU passing off a Chuunin guide or helper would be best during the initial part of her adaptation to day to day life. That can later be switched out for unseen guards. If not, then a Chuunin aide and an ANBU tagging along in the shadows could also work. That way she can imprint on some people, and we can start to gain her loyalty."
They all shared words of agreement at that. The plan was solid and covered all major bases.
"Now that that's settled, what are we going to tell her? And what are we going to tell the council if they start to get too curious?" asked the Yamanaka clan leader.
"If I may," Ibiki said as he passed around a few pages to the rest of the men. "I had prepared a few cover stories in advance. I believe this one is the most fitting one."
Shikaku was quick to read through it. He was actually impressed with the story. "This is very well thought out. That should keep the council happy."
"She's going to need a name. I guess we can let her pick one though." Commented Inoichi after reading his copy. "And I'll have to keep my schedule open if I'm going to play therapist for a while."
"Excellent. Well then gentlemen, how about we all pay the young lady a visit and inform her about future arrangements, hmm?" The age old Hokage asked the rest with a smile on his face.
They all shared smirks or smiles. After picking up all the papers and handing them back to Ibiki for safe keeping, they headed back down into the dungeons.
With the meeting adjourned, the five shinobi went about to put their upcoming plans in motion. The first order of business was to take the woman out of the high-danger dungeon cells into one of the more comfortable (and secretly reinforced) holding cells. Shikaku and Inoichi had gone about doing the actual transfer, seeing as the woman was still asleep from the last round of medications, and carried her to her temporary residence.
The room that was picked for her was sparsely furnished, containing a bed (western style, instead of a futon, easier to get up given her condition), a small bed side table, a desk, a chair, and a chest of drawers. The walls were bare, having only a soft blue color for decoration, and a single small window allowed sunlight into the room. The room itself was a bit small, but it wasn't overly constricting. On one side of the room, there was a door that led to a small bathroom. Nothing fancy, but overall everything was in good condition. Those type of rooms were usually used hold certain people of statue while their investigation was in process. Hatori had been the one to suggest the room change, since being cooped up in a plain gray room did not help much in terms of mental recovery.
After a quick dusting and change of sheets (peach colored with multicolored seashell prints, Inoichi's idea), Shikaku placed the woman on the bed. Soon enough, Hatori arrived carrying a tray with a small bowl of porridge and a cup of tea, and not much later, Ibiki came in followed by the Hokage. The last two had been busy ironing out the kinks of what would be the official story, since she was about to become more of less public knowledge, or at least within the Intelligence building.
They had agreed beforehand exactly what they would tell the woman, and how they would go about it. Hiruzen would present himself and handle most of the talking, with some input here and there from Inoichi and Hatori. Shikaku had agreed to stay with them, but had decided that he would remain hidden in the shadows, as to better judge the woman. He had come up with some excuse about 'being too troublesome to have to present himself too.' The others had rolled their eyes at the lame excuse but they let it slide. After bringing in a few stools to sit on, and everyone getting into their agreed positions, the medic among the group went about waking the woman up. It took a bit, but after a few minutes she was finally awake.
Being the closest one, Hatori was the first to speak up. "Hey there. You fell asleep while my blond friend over there" He signaled towards Inoichi over his shoulder, earning a 'hey!' out of him. "was doing his checkup. We got the results and went ahead with moving you out of that room and into this one. You will be staying here until you can move around without aide."
"We figured you wouldn't want to be cooped up in place as dreary as that." Said Inoichi from his spot at the foot of her bed. "But if I remember right, it was that bastard over there that was going on and on about 'this is by no means a proper place for a lady to recover.'"
The medic just huffed at the comment, dismissing it with a halfhearted wave of a hand, but grinned all the same. The woman had also smiled and managed a small giggle at their antics, apparently already getting used to their antics and getting more comfortable around them.
"Anyway, there is someone we want you to meet." He helped the woman into a sitting position, placing a second pillow behind her back and then moved aside so that the woman had a clear view of the Hokage. The kage himself got out of his seat and took a pair of steps closer to the bed. "This is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. Our village's leader."
"Hello there miss." Greeted the old man. "You may call Hiruzen if you wish."
The woman turned to see the new person, and studied him briefly. The Sarutobi elder had left behind his pipe and his hat back in Ibiki's personal office. He kept the rest of his Hokage robes. All in all, he looked like a sweet old grandpa. The woman didn't scrutinize him much; more like just looked at him big tired but curious eyes. He didn't see fear in her, just honest curiosity.
"Umm… Hi…" she managed to raise a hand a bit in order to wave a weak hello. She then turned to face the medic. "What's a Sandaime Hokage?" she asked innocently.
The men did a mental sweat drop, but quickly composed themselves. They all knew that her memory was shattered, and Inoichi informed them of the possibility that she had limited knowledge on day to day things. If this was any hint, then history, geography and just about any other schooled subject was next to unknown to her. Luckily, they had prepared for such a possibility, having already roughly planned out a crash course in academics. They still needed to find a suitable tutor. Someone hopefully with some medical background that also knew how to handle people with disabilities and/or mental handicaps. Orahara had already volunteered to oversee her physical rehabilitation, and Inoichi would help out with any traumas or mental issues, but they still needed someone to teach her math and other social skills.
In other matters, her voice was much better than earlier. Still a little low in volume from her weakness, but she wasn't stuttering anymore. The change in medication must have done her some good. She also didn't look as pale either.
The medic was the first to snap out of his thoughts. "A Kage is the leader of village. Hokage is the title given to the person that leads this village in particular. Other villages have their own kages, but the title is a little different." He explained while rubbing the back of his head.
The explanation was tweaked, and a half truth at that. None of the shinobi wanted to fully show all the cards in there hand before being completely sure that the woman was no enemy. So at least for a while, they would have to resort to twisted truths and even more partial lies. Just enough to give her the general gist of things, but not enough so that whatever she learned while under their care could be used against them.
Not like they didn't already do something similar towards the whole village. There was always some dressing up when it came to some topics, and some pieces of information never made it to the general public. They had to make sure, lest they wanted to have a civil war on their hands, or worse, another shinobi war.
"Oh." At the very least the woman seemed to have accepted the explanation.
Sarutobi just smiled softly. Part of him just couldn't help but be reminded of his second grandson, Naruto. The boy may have not been related to him by blood, but in his mind, he was practically family. A few times he had gone behind the council's back and snuck the little gold haired boy into his clan grounds to hide him from the harshness of the village, or just to spend some time with the boy. His son, Asuma, had gotten along pretty well with Naruto in his earlier years. Actually, he was willing to bet his Hokage hat that Asuma would secretly sneak treats (or pranking equipment) to the little ball of sunshine, just for the laughs. There was just this deep curiosity towards everything and everyone that both shared.
And maybe he was really going soft. More than once he wished that he could just retire to spend the rest of his years with his family and grandsons, council and world be dammed. And yet, for them, for his family and grandsons, they were the very reason he had not handed over his hat. There was no clear candidate to succeed him. There was no one in hell that he would allow the hat to go to Danzo or his once-teammates. There were a few people that he saw as worthy Hokages after him, but none showed interest in the position. Part of him was starting to believe that he would have to wait until Naruto was groomed enough to take over…
No, he could think about that later. Right now, there were a few things that he had to do before anything else.
He cleared his throat once and addressed the lady. "Well miss, I'm fairly sure that you must still feel tired so I'll try to keep this short. Is that all right with you?" he asked her calmly.
"O-okay." She agreed and shifted into a more comfortable position with the help of the doctor.
"Very well." He smiled and placed both hands leisurely behind his back. "About six months ago, there was an attack on a small farming village not very far away from here. From what we were able to figure out, it looked like it had started as a fight between two groups of people. There was some evidence found that suggested that it might have been due to a disagreement between criminals. From there, it just got out of hand and ended up burning down half of the village. After the fires were stopped, a search was started in order to find the criminals that started it all. Some of them were found dead, caught by the fires or the crumbling buildings, but we guess that some of them managed to get away."
He tried to keep a serious persona, one that would not intimidate her, keeping his tone of voice even and steady, much like how an adult would do when lecturing children. And yet, he once again he found himself watering down the truth and twisting it towards his own ends. It was however a necessary evil, one that he partook on far more often that he would have liked to admit. It didn't mean that he liked it one bit, but at the end of the day, it was all for the village. And at this point in time, lying at least in part was crucial to get this woman's cooperation. So far, he had the woman's full attention.
"You were found unconscious trapped under part of a building that had collapsed. The people that found you managed to get you free and take you to safety. Medics treated the wounds that they could find, but they could not get you to wake up. Since they couldn't figure out what else to do, they decided to bring you here, to Konoha, so that a more experienced doctor could treat you.
"Under normal circumstances, you would have been taken to the hospital, but there was one particular detail about your situation that made us decide to do otherwise." He took a deep breath to steady himself for the following part. "A few survivors claimed to have seen a woman that looked very much like you with the criminals before the fight broke out. No one has been able to figure out if you were in league with the criminals or just happened to be there at the time."
There was a small silence shared among those present. The woman had broken her eye contact with the Kage and became lost in thought, looking down to her hands and the rim of the bedsheets. She became downcast, her mind obviously coming up with various scenarios, none of them exactly pleasant. She began to fidget some more after coming up with a few ugly conclusions.
"I… I was in the fight? Maybe?" she asked the men, pleadingly looking at each of them, hoping that her idea was wrong.
Part of Hiruzen died when she saw her face. It was the same look Naruto had when he was asking him why the village hated him so much. Another painful reminder that lies would never solve anything. All he could do now was to carefully orchestrate his web of lies in order to motivate her to get better. And maybe one day, he would tell her what really happened, but only when she was ready to handle it. He wasn't sure when that day would come, or even if it would come.
"You might have been in the fight. We couldn't find anyone that could confirm it though." He answered her apologetically.
"We were actually hoping to ask you in person, to see if you knew what had happened. But you lost all your memories, so we don't have any way of knowing now." Inoichi added trying to calm her down after having seen some signs of fear.
She looked at all of them, confusion clear in her eyes. The men weren't showing it, but they were even more dumbfounded than she was.
"Then… I didn't do… anything bad?" she asked them again.
"Not as far as we know of." Hiruzen responded for the group, with a small comforting smile.
The woman seemed relieved at that, releasing the breath she had been holding without realizing it. The men allowed her to relax a bit, having covered one of the more delicate subjects in their agenda. Their reactions were a bit more mixed. Hiruzen was glad that she had taken it all well enough. Inoichi was somewhat disappointed since the story hadn't apparently jogged any kind of memories, but he was also relieved that she hadn't freaked out, neither aggressively or into despair. Hatori was estimating her mental age to be somewhere between six and ten years of age; he would have a lot of making up to. Ibiki and Shikaku remained impassive, both simply staying in the sidelines and letting things unfold.
"At any rate, since we can't confirm that you were guilty of any crime, we will eventually let you go free. Once you can take care of yourself, you will be allowed to live in the village. You will be watched for a while of course, just as a precaution, to make sure you don't get into or cause any trouble. There are a few more conditions to the deal, but we can fill you in on them slowly while you are still recovering." Hiruzen added after a bit as he sat down on the only chair in the room. "Don't really want to bore you with all the details right now." He chuckled.
She remained quiet for a bit, trying to think it over. She didn't jump right in at the offer, so either she either didn't fully understand what was going on, or she was having more questions. There was also some possibility that she was trying to search underneath the underneath for some hidden meaning or alter motive.
"How will… will I live? Will I stay here?" she asked.
The Kage gave it some thought before answering. "While you are recovering, this room will be your own. After that, I can see about getting you an apartment and a job. I'll give you some options and let you pick when the time comes. How you spend the money you earn will be fully up to you from that point on." He finished with a smile.
"I don't have… family?"
'So that's what she meant.' He couldn't really blame her, who would want to wake up alone, lost, and without any friends nor family. A sad reality, but this was one part of the story he would not have to lie about.
"We tried to find out if you had any family. You already meet Ibiki, he's the man over there in the back." Ibiki merely raised a hand so that she could identify him in case she had forgotten already. "He's actually the leader of the village's Intelligence division. I had him look all over for anyone that had reported a missing friend or family member that matched your description. I'm afraid even he was unable to find anything. We are still looking out thought."
She thought it over a bit before finally nodding sadly. "All right."
Inoichi broke the uneasy silence by scooting his stool a bit closer to the bed, surprising the woman a bit. "How about we find you a name? Can't keep calling you miss or 'hey you', now can we?"
The change of subject was welcomed, her earlier sadness forgotten for the moment. "My name?" she was interested.
"That's right." Replied the blond. He opened up one of the pockets in his vest and pulled out a folded piece of paper which he passed to the woman. "Earlier today I looked up some girl names and wrote some down to see if you liked any of them. I hope my writing isn't too bad, can you read them?"
She took the little piece of paper and carefully unfolded it. Inside there were maybe fifty or so names for women. Most of them were a bit generic and plain, but there were a few uncommon ones thrown into the mix. She read a few out loud. "Akira… Aurora… Elia… Keiko… Sheena…"
"There's a few more in the back. Oh, and the ones that are circled are the ones that I personally liked better." He grinned a bit. He hadn't been sure if she could read properly, but at least this little test had put some of his worries to rest.
He also wondered if she would take interest in one of the names he had circled. Ouka, the name he had come to believe might have been her original one. The rest of the names he circled were related to flowers, autumn, fire and water. Firstly, because he ran a flower shop, so names of rare or beautiful flowers were often popular with women. Secondly, her slightly frizzy brown hair made him think of the changing of colors in the plants and trees during fall. Thirdly, because of that slight spark of a fiery personality he had seen earlier. And lastly, since the main theme going on in her mindscape was water, he decided to give it a shot. He had also caught Hatori sneaking a few peaks at the list, saying a few names that he found nice or pointing out certain ones on the paper that he also liked. Even the Hokage pitched in a few names. Internally, he remembered when he had sat down with his wife not so long ago to pick a name for their unborn daughter. Slightly sentimental from his part, but he didn't mind much really.
To his surprise and amusement, she didn't so much as bat an eyelash towards the name Ouka. She was however narrowing it down to a few names, flipping back and forth between both sides of the paper. He was getting curious about which ones she preferred. She then did something he wasn't expecting; she folded part of the paper inwards. He figured out why quickly enough, to compare some of the names with more ease, without having to change sides. From what he was guessing, she must have been down to two names.
"Fiorelynn…" she said shyly, looking up to the men for approval, hoping that her pick wasn't wrong.
He hadn't suggested that name. Nor had Hatori or the Hokage. It took Inoichi a moment to register what had really happened, but then he chuckled. 'Well, I'll be dammed; she mixed some of the names. Flower and waterfall. Not bad actually. Yup, she's got some spunk in her.'
"That does sound like a nice name." agreed the Kage.
Hatori grinned off to the side. "I wouldn't have thought about putting two names together."
Even Ibiki smirked and nodded in approval. Shikaku also smirked from his hiding place, not that anyone could see him anyway.
"Fiorelynn it is then. Guess we can call you Fiore for short too." Said Inoichi. "Well Fiore, welcome to your new life."
Fiorelynn smiled in response, happy that her pick had gained everyone's approval, and also glad finally have something to call her own. Her name.