~32~

Tsunade was marching toward Root Headquarters that very moment. A Hokage never looked as fearsome as when she burst open the door. Root guards were at a loss on whether to restrain her or let her pass. One look at her flaming eyes and the choice was easy.

"You ordered to have Leaf ninjas assassinated!" she barked at Danzo after making her way to his office.

"I did not," he said calmly. "It was all a test to see where the boy's allegiance lay."

The fact that Sai still had his hands attached to his arm told her he was under the power of genjutsu but the experience to him was real. "Ninjas are human beings!" Tsunade fumed. "They are not toys that you can play with!"

"I am thinking only of the future of Konoha!" Danzo insisted.

These people are the future of Konoha!" Tsunade barked.

"That remains to be seen," Danzo retorted.

Tsunade was hyper-ventilating. She knew she had to stay calm. Inoichi said he had no way to restore Sai's memory. At that point, only Danzo can show her how to do it. After a brief pause, she spoke under her breath.

"If you do not show me how to restore Sai's memory, I will expose you to the elders and to the entire village!" Danzo was speechless.

Just before Tsunade left Danzo's office, she imparted to him her final words.

"I will close this matter only out of respect for the late Sarutobi-sensei who considered you his friend. But I warn you, never mess around with my people again!" Then she left.

An hour later, Tsunade came back to the research facility where everyone was waiting. The door slid open and she entered, behind her followed Ikioku of the Owl Country.

Ikioku was not pleased. Danzo had demanded he get his money back. He had no choice but to oblige simply because the hidden memory was traced contrary to his guarantee. And then he was ordered to remove the seal for free. "The Yamanakas," he grumbled within himself. "It seems my clan is not the only one that has made improvements over the years."

He glanced over the people in the room then spoke. "All that he's experienced after the time I placed the seal are located above his hidden memory. If I remove the seal, that new memory will disappear permanently," Ikioku explained having the urge to show off a little since he spotted Yamanaka Inoichi in the room. The rest finally understood what Inoichi meant when he said Sai's memory was 'layered.'

No one really cared about the new memory Sai gained over the past few weeks. That of the one year obviously weighed more. But then Ino realized something. "The sealed memory included Danzo's genjutsu, doesn't it?" she asked.

"That is correct," Ikioku replied making like an instructor answering a student's query.

"It is a part of his old memory. The new memory started when he woke up after." Everyone was disturbed by this.

"As much as I'd like for him to remember what Danzo is really like, I don't really want him to go through that horrible thing again," Sakura said pertaining to the torture and fake death. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So you wish to have that part of the memory removed, I presume." Ikioku said then studied their expressions. "Very well. But you see. I don't work for free."

"You are pushing your luck, Ikioku," Tsunade warned.

"Oh but I believe I have a right to speak, Hokage-sama," Ikioku contested. "I was requested by Danzo-sama to remove the seal which he paid for. I will dutifully do so to honor our contract. But here you are asking me to take something out of the subject's head. You are all making a decision in someone else's behalf without his knowledge or approval. Who then has the right to preach to me about this matter?"

Everyone was silenced. Ikioku was right. They were struggling within themselves if they had any right to meddle with another human's consciousness like they intended.

"But," Naruto started, "he shouldn't have gone through all that in the first place."

"That's right," Sakura agreed. "He's a member of our team now. He no longer belongs with Root."

Ino repressed a tear. "He shouldn't remember. We didn't actually feel what it was like to go through that but just watching it happen, I almost felt it. I can't bear for him to remember."

"It's enough," Hinata said. "It's enough that we know what he'll go through for us."

Everyone else nodded. Perhaps they were all being selfish. They were no worse than Danzo on that point, they realized.

Shikamaru turned to Ikioku. "How much does it cost?"

"A hundred thousand ryo," was Ikioku's immediate reply, sensing a chance to regain his lost earnings.

~33~

A hundred thousand ryo. None of them had even a small fraction of that amount. A bead of sweat appeared on Tsunade's forehead. She was still heavily in debt to begin with. The village treasury was certainly off-limits for such kind of service.

"I have this much," Naruto said without hesitation. He emptied his frog-shaped wallet on Tsunade's desk. A few crumbled bills and a handful of coins. "I'll earn more with my missions pay," he declared.

Shikamaru dug deep in his pocket, "this is it for now, but I think I can get a loan from my dad."

Everyone simultaneously searched their own possession for whatever they can contribute.

"I'll also pledge my mission earnings," Sakura said.

"Me too," Ino seconded. "Me too," said the rest. "Us too," shouted Kiba from outside.

Tsunade stared at the amount on the desk. Gambling experience made her adept in estimating cash on the table. It was about 2,000 ryo. It would probably take at least a year's pay for each of them to come up with the shortage. Tsunade glanced at Ikioku. His face was contorted in a frown. "Is that the answer?" he blurted out almost to himself. Everyone's hope dimmed.

"Memory is a very intricate part of a human being," he started. His audience felt they did not need to hear him preach to them about the subject yet he continued. "I have spent my whole life studying innumerable chambers of that world and discovered that, despite its complexities, it can be manipulated with my powers."

"But this," he said extending his open palm as if to present the young ones in front of him. "This demonstration of what you probably call friendship, or loyalty, or this thing called love...it seems to be something that encompasses memory. And perhaps the reason I could not control certain uncharacteristic decisions people make even after manipulating their minds. I realize now that such things are implanted not on the brain but within one's whole being. The human brain is something completely detached from what makes up the human soul."

"I lose," he declared. "You will have your wish, free of charge."

Continue to Part 34