Date written: 07/07/10 – 01/08/10
Posted on FanFiction: 01/08/10
A/N: I'm a 4th year University student enrolled in a 5-year course. Do you really think I'm not busy, or have enough time to finish a chapter under a week while exams are just around the corner?
Didn't think so.
Anyway, I would like to first congratulate Amatseru-chan for winning the little guessing game I've started back in Chapter 2. If you're curious enough to know, then go search for that particular review. If not, then wait for another few chapters for me to formally introduce her into the story.
I understand that in the canon universe, the mind reading sessions shown there are more complex than in here, but there's a very good reason for it. Amatseru-chan has already been given a good hint about it (yes, Amatseru, it pertains to that, your reward for winning the guessing game; I finally found a valid reason, if a little farfetched). Don't worry, though. The secret will be out after Naruto enters the Academy.
- CHAPTER 4 -
Insanity Personified
Naruto had gotten an epiphany.
When he took time to think over the past events in this new world and what had occurred to his counterpart, it made him want to bash his own head at the apartment wall. It was basic procedure, after all. How could he have missed the fact that adding repressed memories and violent attack together in one particular case would most likely end up with the patient being subjected to a mind scan by a member of the Yamanaka clan?
"Took you long enough to figure it out, Junko," Rambo said as he studied Naruto's rapid change of facial expressions—from carefree to worried, from worried to panicky, from panicky to self-loathing—it was somehow entertaining to watch.
Naruto turned to the sheep. "You mean you knew this whole time? And didn't think of telling me about it?"
"What's the harm in a Yamanaka mind scan, anyway? It's not like Aka-Junko has anything to hide."
Naruto waved his hands around the room. "Define 'hide,' my sheepish friend."
"Hmm . . . you have a point." He looked down at the green carpet, and then back to Naruto. "How about we act natural?"
"Right," Naruto drawled, glancing at the grass-looking carpet, and pictured himself eating it with Rambo. "They'll never see it coming."
"Hey, at least I'm thinking up ideas rather than panicking. And besides we have loads of time to think of a plan to hide without looking like we're hiding."
"Uh . . ." Naruto really wanted to comment on that last sentence (Hiding that you're hiding something? Talk about underneath the underneath) but didn't. He instead said, "You're right. No time for panic, but plenty of time for brainstorming."
"Well, good luck with that, Junko."
"Why do you insist in calling me Junko?"
"I have my reasons," Rambo said cryptically before sauntering off to another room, a new room Naruto had conjured for the sheep's personal space; they didn't like the idea of sleeping in the same room together.
Naruto did not push further, seeing that it was another odd quirk given to Rambo when he had been conjured. So when Rambo closed the door to his room, Naruto decided to pay another tenant inside this mindscape a little visit. It was a visit he didn't want to rush into because his last (which was also his first in this world) visit hadn't ended in a good way.
"Time to see if the furball had calmed down yet," he stated out loud, and walked outside the apartment. Upon exiting, he was unceremoniously dropped around three feet below and landed on the same ankle-deep water inside the sewer-like maze that led to the seal of the Kyuubi's prison.
Naruto had intended to interrogate the fox after he figured out why Aka-Naruto was inside this place, but after learning everything he could about his current predicament he called it off, wanting to delay that inevitable visit for a much later time. There was no rush because it was not like he and his younger counterpart were in any imminent danger, so a visit would most probably bring more of a headache than unconditional help from the big, bad fox. Besides, he didn't like the dingy look of the sewer maze. Who knew what kind of contaminated water was invading the skin of his feet right now?
But why stop delaying the visit when there was no need to rush? It was simple. A Yamanaka mind-walker would no doubt come into this mindscape, but they'd be coming in unprepared because they didn't know just how manipulative the fox could be even in its limited freedom inside the seal. The old sengama (tr. "Sage Toad"), Fukasaku, couldn't help Naruto gather natural energy for his Sage Mode because the fox would interrupt the flow at every turn. The same might as well be said for any mind-walker brave enough to enter the head of a jinchuuriki, but more dangerous because for Fukasaku's case, he didn't dive deep into Naruto's psyche, which could not be said the same for the selected Yamanaka. If Naruto wanted this to run smoothly, he needed to keep the fox sedated, for lack of a better word, while the mind-walker roamed his counterpart's memories.
He had thought about repelling the mind-walker similar to what the Kyuubi had done to the old sengama, but dismissed it as a stupider approach. Blocking any attempts of finding out the culprit of Aka-Naruto's near death experience would be a bad move and would most likely waste a lot of time and resources for an alternative investigation. Not to mention that Mizuki wouldn't let this stop with just one attempt. Aka-Naruto was probably still in danger, and the sooner they figure out Mizuki was the culprit, then the better for everyone. Another reason would be the Yamanaka's persistence of the matter. Naruto wouldn't put it past a clan member to try and try until he succeeded, which might lead to more damaging consequences on his counterpart's brain, since being the receiving end of a Yamanaka mind technique too many times becomes equivalent to being subjected to an Uchiha's first attempt at Tsukuyomi. Nasty.
The fox problem could be taken care of, no problem, no worries. What Naruto was really worried about was what the Yamanaka's reaction would be if he discovered that there was someone else lurking inside the child's mindscape. It would be quite a sight: a Yondaime lookalike and a talking sheep named Rambo. The latter was most certainly insanity personified. Then again, he could be categorized alongside Rambo.
For some reason, as he made his way through the maze towards the fox's big, bad cage, he couldn't help pitying the unlucky Yamanaka who would be assigned for the mind-walk.
Inoichi Yamanaka had been expecting a redhead to come talk to him soon. Most likely sometime today. He guessed it right when Kushina Uzumaki leaned on the outside wall near the entrance of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Department, her arms crossed over her chest, her whole posture screaming that she was waiting for someone specific to come out of the building.
Kushina was a woman of godlike beauty, with her knee-length crimson hair and endearing smile blessed upon a face that could rival even the most proclaimed of beauties in the world. Her smile always enchanted him back when he was a teen, still rough around the edges and needing more years of life experience to make it out on his own and his ninja career. Out of all the times that he had been on a joint mission with her, they'd only known each other by name. Even with a nonexistent closeness between them Inoichi found a sort of blissful peace whenever she smiled, like she was channeling her happiness to the outside world.
She wasn't smiling now. Along with her crossed arms, her eyebrows were forming a frown. Inoichi braced for the worst, since Kushina's temper had been compared with legendary proportions. The one thing every ninja who collaborated with her agreed on was that you'd be signing your own death sentence if you ever anger the fiery redhead. Luckily for Inoichi, he hadn't been the short end of the stick whenever Kushina was in one of her bad moods, but that just made her the more fearsome now; it was always much more frightening when you were facing the unknown. He hoped that the anger she was emanating was not directed at him; he still had a daughter to raise.
"Good afternoon, Uzumaki-san," he greeted. It was only proper, and he doubted her breaking the ice would be gentle. "How are you today?"
"Fine, good afternoon to you, too," she replied hastily. Her expression remained unchanged.
"You're gonna catch wrinkles if you scowl so much," he quipped.
"Right," she drawled. "If I need that kind of advice from a man who has to look intimidating for his job, which can't be complete without the scowl, I'll be sure to ask you."
Ouch. Shikaku was right; she did have a very sharp wit for jokes and insults.
"You're here for the proposal, I assume?" he asked.
She nodded at his question.
"Walk with me, then." He gestured to his right where the road to his destination was littered with people and a few street stalls. Yet another busy day in the late afternoon in Konoha.
She eyed him questioningly.
"I need to pick up my daughter from the park," he answered, and started walking. He caught her nodding again before matching her pace with his. The angle of the sun suggested that the time was between the sixteenth and seventeenth hour of the day. He didn't delay the inevitable with small talk.
"Hokage-sama wants me to personally do the operation."
"And what're your thoughts on that?" she asked.
He thought over his reply before speaking. "Probably the quickest way to get a face description on the culprit, although it's not an operation without its risks."
"Risks?" The way her head whipped at his direction and her voice mixing with a hint of suspicion, it was like she had grown distrustful of everyone but her close friends and the Hokage. He then thought back on her son's medical report, listing down the amount of injuries that had been inflicted on his person that night. If it had been any other child, they would've died long before the criminal had finished, saving them the torture of going through more of that hell. Naruto had been lucky that his stomach tenant gave him that nifty healing factor. Seeing the situation at this angle, Inoichi seemed to understand Kushina's distrust until the culprit had been unmasked.
"Not to your son, I assure you," he said. Her face softened a bit—her tense shoulders lowered, but with the untrained eye it would be impossible to detect. "I'm more worried about how deep a connection your son has with the You-Know-What, and what it could do to me once I enter his mind."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Again, not to your son. Practically every scenario I can think up often has only me who gets hurt."
"Then you . . ." she gave pause, unsure what to say. Then: "Do you think it's worth the risk?"
"Why are you even asking that?" It was his turn to frown, head whipping at her direction. "The Hokage approached me, asking me to do an operation I have done countless times in my career. The only difference with this new one is that I'll be mind-walking a jinchuuriki, who is also your five-year-old boy. I know the risks involved, but that doesn't stop me. The Hokage asked me, not ordered me. I had a choice, and I chose to accept."
Kushina halted her steps and he followed suit. He waited for her response. Her expression seemed to shift, as if she was in utter disbelief—or maybe she wasn't sure what she was feeling in that moment. Shaking her head, she replied, "I . . . didn't know that. Not at all. Sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry for."
They continued their walk in silence for the next three blocks. Judging from her body language, Inoichi learned that Kushina was feeling quite curious over what he had said. To tell the truth, he was also curious over his reply. He didn't mean to blurt everything out in just one sitting, let alone tell the woman that he was sacrificing his personal safety all for the sake of this little mind-walk, which could be avoided if he had said no to the Hokage at the time. But to him, rejecting the mission was not an option. Some would think that it was a very noble act for a shinobi, but they'd be wrong. Nothing could be given for free, and if there were something really great offered, one had to be prepared for a hefty price. If there wasn't one, then the only other option of payment would be ulterior motives, hidden away beneath the masks, beneath the fake smiles, beneath the shout of bargains and super cheap prices. Inoichi had one such ulterior motive, but it was not malevolent.
Attraction towards the opposite sex is a normal thing to feel when you're a teenager. Deep admiration, however, was an attraction sprouting roots and growing inside the heart. His attraction towards Kushina had long since withered away when she set her eyes on another, but the roots laid their claim on a place in his heart and weren't about to stay still and be uprooted. First loves were always diehard little things.
The park came into his view and grew closer as they walked side-by-side. Once, Kushina opened her mouth, probably about to ask him something, but she ultimately kept it closed and her stare forward. There were times when he felt like she was looking at him through the corner of her eye, but instead blamed it on mind tricks.
Konoha Park was not as open as the word of mouth said it was. It had been constructed during the village's founding, so the architecture took into account the chances of it becoming a fortified base of operations if ever any of Konoha's enemies decided on a full-scale assault on their soil. Today, with war not as profound and primitive as it had been decades ago, the park's design became livelier and friendlier for villagers to come and relax with their families, though there were still remnants of the olden days. The whole lot's perimeter was fenced over by a four-foot long wall made of Iwa's purest and sturdiest bricks—Iwa masons had been, and still are, regarded as the most genial workers of creating very strong construction materials—toppled by a seven-foot tall chain-link fence.
Inoichi and Kushina entered the park through one of the four large brick archways that faced the four cardinal directions (North, East, West, and South). Making their way through the paved path towards the park's playground, Inoichi kept his eyes peeled for someone sitting on one of the many benches inside the enclosed park. He found her on the bench nearest the playground, watching over Ino, who hadn't spotted him yet.
The woman in question was his mother-in-law, Kaoru Hikifune. Ever since the death of his wife, she took it as a mission to be there for Ino when Inoichi had to go to work. He didn't like leaving his daughter alone, but at least he found solace in the knowledge that she was in the caring hands of her grandmother.
"Well, I'll be," Kushina murmured, but it was loud enough for him to hear, even with the constant shouting of joy and excitement from the children playing near them.
"What?" Inoichi asked, seeing her staring at the playground. He followed her line of sight and saw one scene that put a smile that mimicked Kushina's own. "That's Naruto, right?"
He had heard from the Hokage that Naruto was not the outgoing type—a complete contrast to his own daughter, actually, who loved making new friends, be it night or day—and often liked to keep to himself. Many times when he had come here to pick up Ino, he saw the redheaded boy sitting under the largest birch tree in the park, reading a book—a trait he no doubt inherited from his father because Inoichi didn't think Kushina was one who liked hitting the books in a leisure-time sense—but today that particular tree lost its frequent visitor and only his book was left behind. Naruto was now playing with the other children, but never left the side of one child his age.
"Yeah, that's him," Kushina replied. "And I'm guessing that the girl next to him is your daughter?"
He nodded. Ino took up much from her mother in the personality department. Kokoro had always liked meeting new people; it seemed that her daughter turned out the same.
Ino and Naruto were swinging and climbing merrily inside the playground's jungle gym, their bright colored hairs easily spotting them out among the dark-haired kids playing along with them. Even from afar, Inoichi could see the large grin plastered on the young boy's face, and he just had to sigh. It was not out of wariness or disappointment, but content. Ino was probably Naruto's first friend, and for some reason, the boy's smile seemed to channel the same kind of happy radiance like his mother's. It did his heart good to see the next generation going along life with a happy mindset.
"It's the first time," Kushina told him all of a sudden.
"Excuse me?"
"It's the first time I've seen Naruto-chan playing with kids his age. He . . . doesn't blend well with the others."
"Is it because of his burden?" Inoichi saw the boy's hesitation to make friends as a sign that the other children's parents were forcing them to stay away from him, as if he were a leper that needed to be avoided.
"Not really"—she pursed her lips in thought—"it's just that Naruto-chan is naturally shy. I don't know where he gets it, though. Minato and I had many friends when we were young."
And admirers, too, he thought. Don't forget admirers. "He was probably dragged by Ino to come play with her."
"Your daughter dragged my son?" She smiled lopsidedly at him, one eyebrow raised up.
"Takes after her mother," he said, displaying a mischievous smile of his own. "It's a wonder that my wife made more friends than enemies that way.
"It's also surprising to see her associating with Naruto. Uh, no offense to him, of course. It's just that Ino is a victim of peer pressure. Most kids don't like to play with loners."
"And some parents just don't like associating with him, not even giving a valid reason why," she replied bitterly.
"But at least not all people feel that way, Uzumaki-san," someone said behind them. It was a voice Inoichi was familiar with.
"Ah, Kaoru-san, good afternoon," he greeted her mother-in-law. Kaoru was already reaching her seventh decade, but she was as active as any woman that hadn't reach thirty yet—that is, without the difficult physical exertions and such. She was garbed in the traditional red Fire country noble robes, an outfit fitting for her since she was the Fire Daimyo's cousin.
"Good afternoon, Inoichi-kun," she greeted back.
"Good afternoon, Hikifune-dono," Kushina greeted with a low bow, recognizing whom she was talking to.
"Ah, a youngster with respect," Kaoru remarked, looking at Kushina then to Inoichi. "You should learn from her example, eh." She laughed good-naturedly.
Inoichi couldn't contain a smile as he shook his head, while Kushina looked at them in confusion.
"Inoichi-kun here actually called me 'Obaa-san' during our first meeting," Kaoru elaborated, eliciting a poorly muffled snort from the female redhead. "And in front of my cousin, the Fire Daimyo, no less. Ha ha ha."
"Ever since then, she never lets me live it down," Inoichi added. He wasn't sure if he was blushing, but it didn't really matter. He'd blame it on the setting sun. "I hope Ino hasn't been much of a handful today, Kaoru-san."
"Not really, no," she answered, to which she had gotten a raised eyebrow from him. "Okay . . . maybe a little." She emphasized it with the 'just a teeny bit' gesture. "She scraped her knee while trying to climb a tree. I was glad it was just a scratch. Well, at least she made a new friend out of it." She pointed towards the jungle gym where Naruto and Ino had climbed to the top, sharing the spot with each other, grinning like they were the best of friends.
"Instant friends, huh?" he mused.
"That's the Hikifune charm," Kaoru remarked. "Very high charisma."
"Somehow . . . this scene feels a little nostalgic."
"Of course it does, son-in-law. You and my daughter, Kokoro, had climbed that same jungle gym together when you and her first met."
He had something to reply to that, but taking one look towards Kushina, he decided that it was better to keep quiet.
"Looks like they're coming our way," Kushina announced.
Ino and Naruto had descended the jungle gym with haste, then Ino grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him along as she dashed towards them. The boy didn't seem to loudly protest the fact that he was being dragged around the place by a girl.
"Daddy!" Ino cried, smiling and pulling Naruto closer to her as they stopped in front of the adults. "Meet my new friend, Naruto."
Inoichi took this time to examine the boy. He was frail and thin—something that hadn't been done from malnutrition alone but also a side effect caused by demonic chakra exposure. It was like the child had a constant loss of appetite. He was also looking at the ground all the time, as if he had this twisted belief that he was the lowest of the bunch, unfit to have his head held high and a voice to speak out his ways. Kushina saying he was shy was an understatement. The kid seemed more of an introvert who was unwilling to let anyone but very close friends in his company. Inoichi looked at his daughter and wondered if the saying 'Opposites attract' had a hand in this odd friendship tandem.
Naruto breathed deeply, glanced over at his mother for a split second, and bowed at him. "G-g-good afternoon, sir."
He sounded like he hadn't been using his voice for a while.
"Good afternoon, Naruto." Inoichi gently placed a hand over his head, making sure to let his intentions be as clear as crystal for him. He figured that the boy hadn't experienced much physical contact outside from the ones he got from his mother and occasional babysitter (Kakashi), so he realized right away that Naruto almost cringed but still welcomed the unexpected contact. If not, he would've swerved his head away and stepped back by now. "Did you have fun playing with Ino?"
Naruto nodded; what was once an unsure expression turned into a happy one. "Yes, sir. A whole lot."
Ino tapped her new friend's shoulder and introduced her grandmother as well. Naruto greeted her with the same kind of respect. He then turned the tides on Ino and introduced her to his mother, who had been standing just to the left of Inoichi, keeping silent until it was time to let her presence be known. With a mischievous aura surrounding Ino, she mimicked what Naruto had said in his greetings. It brought a good laugh to him and the others, even Ino herself.
"Come on, princess, it's time for us to go home."
"Aw, do we have to?" Ino pouted. He tried his best not to fall prey to her puppy pout charm all the time, and he was glad his resistance was strong and unrelenting today.
"Yes, Ino, we have to." He thought it over for a moment, glancing at Kushina before she said what he had intended to.
"Which district do you live in?" she asked him, and he told her where. "That's not too far from where we live. How about we walk home together?"
Kushina liked to think that she had a firm grasp on people's personality after the first conversation. While she hadn't had much interaction with Inoichi Yamanaka, he was by far the hardest male she tried to figure out. Not even Itachi Uchiha had been difficult to figure out. Well, she wasn't exactly intending for the blond mind-walker to warm up to her like she did with the stoic Uchiha chuunin, but the general approach often had the same results despite the intent. She wasn't looking for a friend—though she couldn't say she'd refuse being friends with him; the guy was all right—so she didn't hold back when she began questioning him about the operation. Ever since the first assassination attempt on her son's life, she had been more cautious in dealing with new people and acquaintances. While the assassin had been caught before he could begin his so-called 'demon-killing duty,' the fact alone that there had been a villager bold enough to want to kill an innocent one-year-old without remorse put her on edge.
She didn't see any of these hidden intentions from Inoichi Yamanaka, but it was impossible to conclude that after just one meeting with him. Doubting his honesty, however, would be a very bad move, and Kushina did her best to believe in him. The Hokage trusted him with this operation, so it should stand to reason that she should trust him, too. But there was something about him that she didn't want to associate with. Something . . . something she was unsure of, but it made her feel very uncomfortable, like palpitations.
Still, that didn't mean Inoichi was a bad character. Though her heart believed he was uncomfortable to be close to, her instincts told a different story, shoving Kushina with a more positive outlook of the Yamanaka. She didn't understand the presence of such contrasts within her very being all because of just one man. She hadn't felt this way ever since—
She stopped dead in her tracks, prompting the party of five to look back at her ashen face. She shook her head vigorously, as if trying to flick sweat off her brow. All it did was make a mess out of her long red hair, where some of the crimson strands stuck to her face. While this was going on, her mind was in a rapid intrapersonal discussion about the validity of her heart's supposed claim. It was most definitely a fluke, she decided to herself. There was just no way that she could actually be attracted to Inoichi Yamanaka (an acquaintance, a mere goddamn acquaintance, people!). It was . . . just unnatural. Then again . . . didn't she have this auto-discussion when she was unsure of her feelings with Minato?
"Uzumaki-san, is something wrong?" that insufferable man asked. She liked to believe that her ears heard a tone of worry in that sentence, but ultimately summed it up to delusions, mind tricks, involuntary autosuggestion, whatever the hell it could be called! As long as it was far from accusing her of what the village teen girls like to call 'taken a fancy to him.' She was not a lovesick teenager anymore! No way! No way in Hell!
"I'm fine," she lied. "Just remembered something I needed to do later."
"You looked more like a woman who found out her husband has cheated on her than someone who had remembered something she had forgotten," Kakashi remarked, looking away from his For Dummies book to state that before diving back into it. Funny, she never thought Kakashi to be the type who likes reading an instructional book about babysitting. But damn, he could be perceptive if he wanted to be!
"Oh ha ha, very funny," she drawled. Sarcasm was a good way to deviate the guilt, as long as it wasn't important enough to require added attention. Before anyone would know it, they'd be moving on to a new topic as their brains slowly disintegrate any remembrance of her sudden halt. Ah, the wonders of short-term memories. "Come on, let's go."
Inoichi looked skeptically at her, but kept his mouth shut. Good. That added some brownie points for him.
As they continued their walk, no longer thinking back about earlier, Inoichi stayed silent for a few moments. Then: "Uzumaki-san," he began. Kushina was halfway from opening her mouth to tell him that it was really nothing and that he shouldn't stick his nose into it, but the way his eyes looked at her . . . she had the sudden uncomfortable palpitations again. Not to mention the stomach butterflies. "What do you say?"
"Huh?" was her smart reply.
"About the proposal. The operation cannot proceed without your consent. What is your decision?"
Kushina bit her lip. She looked towards the others. Kakashi was busy with his book; Naruto, Ino, and Kaoru were conversing about something or other, not hearing her and Inoichi's own little conference. "Before I decide," she said, "can I ask you a question?"
"Go right ahead."
She was curious about a lot of things, questioning almost everything in the real world. It was like a compulsion for her to know as much as she could about her environment and the people around her. Of course, these were her odd quirks back when she had been a hyperactive child, so when she had gotten older these compulsive urges had simmered down dramatically, but she was still affected by it every now and then. This time, she was curious about Inoichi's purpose. No matter how many times she thought about it, there wasn't actually anything for him to gain other than cash. Yet this man was willing to risk his life, even when he had a daughter to take care of, just to get a facial description of a criminal who could still be caught if they decided to take the hard way. So what was motivating him, she wondered. She really needed to know.
"Why continue . . . when you aren't so sure if it'll succeed? Or if you'd actually . . ." She stopped. There was no need to finish it; the point was still brought out in the open: If you'd actually survive?
Inoichi looked at her and offered a grim smile. It reminded her of a dying man, of Minato. "Because it's the right thing to do."
Inoichi Yamanaka breathed deeply, pushing it out in the same rhythm as he had done ten times before. Inside one of Konoha hospital's ORs reserved for this special operation, he had been assigned with two fellow Yamanakas who will be his assistants. Well, assistant was not a very accurate word for it; they were more like supporters if ever something went wrong during the operation, prepared to jack him out of Naruto's psyche when signs of the Kyuubi interrupting the mind-walk appear.
He took a few last moments to let his eyes wander towards the sole window of the OR that was connected to the observation deck, and offered a small smile to Kushina Uzumaki, who would be watching the proceedings. Alongside her was the Hokage himself, his face grim-looking.
His eyes wandered back to the operating table in front of him, where five-year-old Naruto Uzumaki was laid down, sedated and bounded to the table. Having the patient bound was standard operating procedure, especially in the case of deep mind-walks. Inoichi preferred using the full-body bind that he and his clan members use in the T&I department, but those were specialized for prisoners, not patients, and the Hokage disapproved of its use on the boy. Frankly, he didn't see the reason for the disagreement, but the Hokage's word was almost like a law you had to follow, so there was no choice in the matter.
After Naruto had been sedated, the hired seal master, Jiraiya, placed special seals all over the boy's head. The sage explained that they were seals for both suppression and amplification. The former for the Kyuubi's chakra, and the latter for Inoichi's technique. It would serve him well, Jiraiya had assured him, and Inoichi trusted his word for that. What he still worried about was if these precautions were enough to prepare him for the journey ahead.
It took him by surprise to hear Kushina agreeing to the operation. He thought she'd be stubborn and quite overprotective, but it seemed she had understood that doing this was for the best and the quickest in nabbing the culprit, who was still at large and probably plotting another attack. She also said that she would only agree if he and the Hokage agreed to one condition: she would watch everything during the operation. Almost a day later, he was now standing inside an OR with an observation deck and about to face an unknown variable not found in other patients of his mind-walking technique. Like with Kushina's temper, it scared him to think about what would happen to him when he entered the mind of a jinchuuriki, but he showed little or no fear to anyone. This was something he agreed to, and backing out now could only be labeled as cowardice. He was a ninja, and being called a coward was one of the worst taunts you could get.
"Whenever you're ready, Inoichi-senpai," the assistant to his left announced. The one on the right gave a nod of agreement.
He gave each of them a nod back, stole one final glance at the observation deck, and grabbed Naruto's head. Muttered words of the technique's chant. And he dove right in with ease.
The mindscape rumbled. It reminded Naruto of when a battalion of Sound ninja had breached through their fortified relief station, shaking the foundations like an enraged earthquake, unbalancing even the sturdiest support columns of the building.
With practiced ease (and he really practiced this part), Naruto headed out of the mindscape apartment, bypassing the special dome he had conjured around it (which would keep it invisible to everyone but him and Rambo), and searched for his target. The target was currently breaching through the subconscious defenses inside Aka-Naruto's memory section. The Yamanaka walker had full intentions of finding the specific memory and getting the hell out of the Dodge once he did.
Naruto smiled at that, but he still needed to watch over the invader. Wandering eyes were strictly prohibited while he and Rambo were still in here. He had to make sure that the Yamanaka stayed true to his given objective, and probably help him out in the shadows. The last thing Naruto wanted was a confrontation.
He had been hard at work in preparing for this moment, not only because there would be an invader inside the mindscape but also because he was about to field test the experimental seals he had been working on a few months prior to his transdimensional traversing. The seals were more or less containment seals specifically made for demonic chakra suppression. For the Kyuubi's case, even a hundred of these seals drawn to his cage were not enough to suppress all of its chakra, but with the right tools and modifications, Naruto had been able to redirect the seal's primary purpose. While most of the primary purpose was left alone, he had added in a secondary purpose, where the seal would tap into the Kyuubi's chakra pool and use that demonic chakra to reinforce the barriers it had been imprisoned in. Suppression and then redirection. Nothing other than that. It was cruel to further imprison an already caged animal, but seeing that Naruto and the fox hadn't come to a peaceful agreement when he had visited him yesterday, Naruto's hand was forced so he had to resort to the seal. He was putting a lot of gambit into this because the modifications of the seal were still untested, but hey, what's life without taking chances?
Besides, the less interruption from the nasty fox, the better his plans would go. And if anyone asked, he did not smile smugly and did a victory dance when the placed seals looked to be working just as he planned them to be. Nope, not at all.
Slipping through the many sections inside the vast mindscape, he stopped near the location of the mind-walker, stepping into the shadows quickly before he was found. It took by him surprise to see Inoichi Yamanaka there, climbing deeper into Aka-Naruto's memories.
The memory section was like an office building modeled after the Hokage Tower's interior. Well, the Hokage Tower of this reality, but there really wasn't much of a difference between the two. They both have that squeaky door heading to the men's room on the second floor, after all. The place was made up of floors categorizing the boy's memories by year. The ground floor stored memories of his first year—fragments of what he could actually remember while his brain was still in the middle of cognitive development, anyway. The second floor was for his second year, and the list went on. The staircases alternated in place between floors—ground floor staircase was in the west side, second floor in the east, third in the west, et cetera—so that the visitor would have to pass through the corridors of his memories on that particular year and work their way up to where they wanted to go. It was a little time-consuming, but this was a place created from his subconscious and thus had to be followed without question.
Naruto was reminded of his early episode of reliving the memories of his redheaded counterpart, but he believed that phenomenon was different from this place. He had seen and understood those foreign memories, yes, but they were also vague, showing only still pictures and glimpses before moving onto the next set. He tried learning the difference between the phenomenon and the memory section situated separately from the mindscape apartment he had conjured, but with limited time to contemplate that while a mental crisis (A Yamanaka invasion!) was just around the corner, he had to push that issue aside for now and concentrate on the main subject of concern. Still, it took Naruto a while to accept that the memory section and his instant memory recollection episode were a lot more different than he first thought.
He had gotten to that conclusion when he climbed the steps and reached a particular floor. The strange thing about the building, though, was that it wasn't five stories high, as it should be since Aka-Naruto wasn't older than that, but twenty-two stories high. That raised some mental alarm bells for the twenty-two year old blond. He hadn't bothered exploring this section of the mindscape before because it was not like something instrumental was around here. He had been busy trying to gloss over what he should exactly do while the Yamanaka was rummaging around the fifth floor for that incriminating headshot of Mizuki-teme, and having the Kyuubi acting quite the very spoiled brat who didn't get his way, which was throwing a tantrum, didn't help ease things either. Seriously, it was what? Centuries old? The least it could do was act its age!
Back to the building, if it was twenty-two stories rather than the obvious five, what did that mean? It didn't take one knowing Kunai Trajectory Physics 101 to figure that out and act quickly. Since he had more privilege than a certain mind-walker, Naruto quickly teleported himself into the fifth floor, hasted towards the door leading to the sixth floor, and conjured a very convincing wall out of it. This way, Inoichi wouldn't think that there were floors higher than five. He sensed him already climbing up the steps of the second floor, so he made some last second modifications to make the illusion look as convincing as possible and set out towards the third floor.
He tried to teleport again, but it didn't work. Ejecting himself out of the building was another bust, so that left one final option. Just like Inoichi, he now had to follow the rules set out by his subconscious. He would have to go through the corridors of his fifth and fourth year before he could reach his destination. Life-sized picture frames hung almost side-to-side on the walls of the fifth floor corridor, each picture animated to life as if they were windows to another world and time. One particular picture gave Naruto pause, and he decided to spare a few seconds to see what it contained.
There he was, five years old and a boy filled with lively energy. He was standing in front of a towering crowd (if you were five, every adult towered over you) and began to shout that he would be Hokage someday, just wait and see. He touched the portrait, finding it was just that, a solid and flat surface of painted memories. The animation was just a special feature. The memory produced a ghost of a smile in Naruto's face, but that smile soon turned to worry when he realized something. This was his memory, not Aka-Naruto's.
He suspected as much since there were seventeen additional floors, but . . .
He moved towards another portrait. He saw his mother wearing only a towel, exiting the bathroom. A blush and a slacked jaw were the products of such a sight, and he looked away quickly. Two things were for certain: This was Aka-Naruto's memory . . . and his alternate reality mom was looking good for a woman reaching her thirties.
To sum up what he learned from the two frames, he realized that his and Aka-Naruto's memories had mixed together inside this place, because honestly, where would Naruto's memories be in other than the memory section? This prompted Naruto to curse lowly, realizing the new dangers of the situation.
"You just had to skip on exploring the memory section," he murmured mockingly to himself. " 'Oh, I know what will most likely happen because I've wised up! Besides, I already learn everything I can about this world, so going there is useless. Just stick to the plan and everything'll smooth out in the end.' Bull."
Self-scolding aside, Naruto hurried to the stairs and took two steps at a time as he descended. The fourth floor corridor made him recall memories he'd repressed from his active memories, and most of them were not exactly pretty. Some made him cringe, some made him angry, and few made him punch the wall before imagining that he had never made an anger outlet out of the innocent wall, repairing it back to perfection. These memories had been repressed with good reason, Naruto supposed. If they had stayed, they would've changed who he was severely, and seeing his younger self other than the loud, devil-may-care prankster of the century façade was more than just an absurd thought. An impossible thought. Luckily for him, though, those repressed memories became repressed again when he exited the floor. It was like a cold hand had slipped into the inner parts of his head and installed a thick brick wall between him and the memories. It made him pause once more. That was another thing he found interesting inside this section, but he left these churning thoughts aside and concentrated on the present.
Inoichi was taking his ample time in the second floor corridor, moving his head left and right, looking at each of the animated portraits with a contemplative expression. It didn't seem like he was in a hurry, which was what he needed despite that was the exact opposite of what he needed for his plan to continue flawlessly. Maybe he should've conjured an imaginary Shikamaru and asked for his opinion. He had forgotten the vital quote that kept his moniker of Konoha's Most Unpredictable Ninja.
No plan, no matter well thought out, survives first contact with the enemy.
Improvisation was always the name of the game. Ninjas didn't just think of a strategy and believe that it was a hundred percent foolproof. Even Shikamaru had backup plans for his backup plans. While improvisation was not exactly a good description for that, it did put the main point across that Shikamaru knew fully well the difficulties of keeping a plan as pinpoint precise as he had thought it out. There were unknown variables that could come at anything, anytime. To stick to a sole plan would just narrow one's perception. This was what Naruto had unknowingly done. He had been unpredictable as of late that he lived up to that moniker by being unpredictably ignorant of his shinobi teachings and his own misgivings of a strategy planned beforehand. He didn't know what could possibly be the cause of this, and he'd be sure to look into it later on.
Now, however, he had to think up a new plan on the fly before Inoichi reached the door to the third floor. The first two floors were flooded with nothing but fragmentary memories and were unlikely to be as important as the next floors up. He could still recall even the earliest memories of his childhood (minus the repressed ones), the most earliest happened to be his third birthday. The Sandaime decided to celebrate that October tenth with him, and it was here that Naruto had been introduced with the godly flavor of miso ramen from Ichiraku Ramen. It was a day he could never forget.
For an intruder to realize that Aka-Naruto had memories that were not his own inside his mind, it'd spark a lot of worry and caution, and Naruto had no doubt that they'd think the Kyuubi had done more than just heal him. He didn't want to make his first appearance come in a bad light. It was hard enough trying to come to grasp that he'd be stuck inside this mindscape for the rest of his life, so he didn't want his stay here to be more uncomfortable and troublesome as it already was.
Unfortunately, though, Naruto was stumped. He tried thinking over every scenario that could happen but none of them could point to a peaceful solution or a chance to keep his presence unknown to the mind-walker. He was fucked.
And that was when something unexpected occurred.
"Yo," Rambo said to Inoichi before he grabbed the doorknob, "fancy meeting you here."
Inoichi immediately acted like any ninja who had been caught off guard: taking a defensive stance and putting distance between him and the supposed enemy. Though not all ninjas were that jumpy, he was truthfully caught by surprise because the last thing a mind-walker would encounter inside a foreign mentality would be another sentient being not connected to the original consciousness of the mindscape. And as far as he knew, Aka-Naruto suffered no mental disorders, much less having a split personality. Then again . . . he doubted that a talking sheep could be regarded as a human's other self . . . or sanity.
When Inoichi made no move to respond or ease up from his guarded stance, Rambo decided to break the ice a little more. "Not the least bit freaked out that you're talking to a sheep?"
He hasn't said a word to you yet, idiot, Naruto thought in the shadows. That's hardly qualified as 'talking to a sheep.'
Going back to the matter at hand, Naruto wasn't sure if this unexpected addition would be good for his plans. He clearly told Rambo that he should stay inside the apartment until the Yamanaka left the mindscape. He should've known not to trust a simple-minded, domesticated farm animal to listen to easy orders when the farm animal in question was as curious as a cat wanting to get killed. Satisfaction did bring back the metaphorical cat, but Naruto promised to kill him a second time. Just to be sure.
Still, he made for a good distraction. A stupid distraction, but a distraction nonetheless. Any new plans he might've been able to come up during that small window of opportunity as Inoichi eyed the talking sheep with a calculating eye decided not to be conceived during those moments. It left Naruto stumped as Inoichi was finally seeing the harmlessness of his foe. Naruto was still fucked.
He sighed heavily, clearly defeated. Not in the point one would think, but defeated in the belief that he could pull everything off with Inoichi ignorant of everything but Mizuki's crime. Naruto worked well under pressure, and he could adapt to any given situation—most, anyway. But he wasn't deemed godlike in military strategies and tactics, the whole cloak-and-dagger deal in the shinobi life. The trait that separated him from other ninjas of his generation was that he was an adaptable little prick. He thought on the fly and won fights that way. Thinking up plans without enemy engagement did not arouse the attention of his life-saving trait. In other words, Naruto could only think up great plans if he were fighting a battle directly. It had always been a fact in his old world that Tsunade-baa-chan avoided mixing Naruto and covert assassination missions together.
So there was only one thing left that he had to do in this dire situation: Wing it. And he meant to truly wing it.
With that imaginary weight gone from his shoulders, the haze that had been hovering inside his head cleared a little and he came across a satisfactory plan for what he was about to do. It was a little risky but he wanted to take that chance. If the same history of how he had gotten the Kyuubi inside his belly was the same as in his old world, then this would work well to his advantage. I mean, the fox had mistaken him with his father. What was stopping Inoichi from making that same mistake?
Just to be extra careful, though, he mentally willed a decent transformation of his father onto himself, using his meeting with him when he almost broke the seal during Pain's invasion as reference. There was also a strand in one of Aka-Naruto's memories where he was shown a family portrait of his father and mother, who was around seven months along when the picture was taken, so he didn't doubt a possible error in his transformation. He stepped outside the shadows and approached Inoichi, who saw him and then tensed as he got closer.
Naruto put his hands up nonthreateningly. "At ease, shinobi, I'm only here to talk."
"Who are you?" Inoichi questioned, his eyes narrowed. "I know you're not the Yondaime."
Damn, suspected right off the bat. He didn't react to the accusation, though. It was just another snag in the plan. But no worries; Naruto's miraculous Adaptation no jutsu was hard at work. "How can you be sure I'm not him?"
"The Yondaime I know doesn't have whisker-like marks on his cheeks."
Naruto's eyes widened, involuntarily reaching for his cheeks where, sure enough, he felt the rough texture of his birth marks. Double damn, he had forgotten about those.
Inoichi's eyes narrowed further, and he was subtly moving towards the door leading to the floor above. "I should've known you'd do something like this, Kyuubi. I'm not susceptible to any of your mind games at all." Inside his thoughts, he was annoyed that the seals Jiraiya-sama had placed for his protection didn't work.
This was going downhill real fast, and Naruto was slowly losing his wit. But that did not mean he would give up. His creative mind—which was used to making up half-truths and lies during his pranking days—had a lot more ideas up its sleeve.
"The Kyuubi is pretty much disabled right now," Naruto said, keeping his hands up. "I made sure of it."
"Why should I believe you?" Inoichi remained subtle in his advancement towards the door, but Naruto made no move to stop him. That door wouldn't open if he didn't want it to, so his guest was stuck inside this floor with him whether the man liked it or not.
"I would've just imprisoned you, overwhelmed you with demonic chakra, threw chains around your limbs and ripped them to pieces, at least done something to consider me as an actual threat."
"And what's stopping you from doing that later?"
"Do you think the Kyuubi no Youko is into the shinobi's cloak-and-dagger profession?"
"But foxes are known to be tricksters, are they not?"
"That's true, but do I look like a fox to you?"
"How do I know that's not just an illusion, like you've copied the face of Yondaime-sama?"
Naruto was unsure how to rebuke that. His appearance being in an illusion was true, after all. "Why are you moving away from me?" If cat got your tongue, change the subject.
"You assume I already trusted you, fiend?"
"What's there not to trust?" He gestured to his hands, which were still raised and weaponless.
"Do ninjas often answer a question with another question?" Rambo asked all of a sudden.
The two blonds turned to him, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
"You've been going at this, saying question after question, yet neither of you look to be answering them."
"It's like an old interrogation method I've heard about," Naruto answered. "By sticking to questions in your responses, the receiver would somehow get the message to his subconscious that he wouldn't get much from me unless he started answering my questions. Perfect for curious civilians, milking them with information while retaining secrecy."
"Is that a mind game?"
"No, it's more of an unproven theory in human behavior. It doesn't work all the time, so interrogators rely on other methods of information gathering."
"He's right, and the information he just stated is not accessible to a five-year-old child," Inoichi interjected.
Seeing an opportunity, Naruto retorted, "Which is also inaccessible to a giant demon fox."
He wasn't sure if it helped his case, but the Yamanaka's belief that he was the furball was slowly crumbling. That, at least, was a bit of good news.
"If you are not the Kyuubi, then who are you?"
Naruto would've replied right away that he was the Yondaime Hokage, who sealed a portion of his chakra in the seal to aid his son when he reaches the eight-tail state, but that would be pushing his luck. Inoichi already realized that he was not the Yondaime Hokage, despite the facial resemblance, ignoring the birthmarks. Naruto was unperturbed, however, as he had a backup story in mind already.
"You may call me . . . a being not of this world."
"Well, nice to meet ya, Abeingnotofthisworld-san," Rambo said. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a really long name?"
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Naruto asked.
"If you want it to be."
Naruto mentally counted to five, calming his annoyance. He told Inoichi, "Don't take him seriously. He's a little crazy."
"Not as crazy as the guy who talks to sheep," Rambo murmured.
"I heard that." He was tempted to have Mutton Stew for dinner.
"Not of this world?" Inoichi asked, pushing their conversation back to the main topic. He cycled between observing the Minato-lookalike and the talking sheep. A part of him wanted to issue a full psyche evaluation on Naruto after this operation. Having these two anomalies inside the kid's head was clearly unhealthy.
"Yeah," Naruto answered. He then grinned while crossing his arms, finding it too exhausting to keep them hoist up all day. "You might say I'm the insurance the shinigami placed on Naruto Uzumaki." Yet again, that weird feeling of talking to yourself in the third person came to him.
"The shinigami?"
"Yeah." Naruto believed that it was all the explanation needed to get his point across. And he just didn't want to divulge too much lest he slipped and said something that didn't happen in this reality.
Inoichi pondered this for a moment. He then asked, "When did you appear?"
"Huh?"
"The only times I know that Naruto came into contact with . . . death, so to speak, were when his father sealed the Kyuubi the day he was born and when he had been pronounced clinically dead a few minutes before his heart restarted."
"I guess you could say both."
"What do you mean? Speak sense."
"I have a hard time figuring out most of the details, too," Naruto said truthfully. Now to twist the truth a bit. "Perhaps I should show you my true form first." He undid the henge.
"What . . . the . . ."
"Weird, huh?" Naruto combed his flaky blond hair with his right hand. "My features are a combination of Minato Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki."
"So what does that make you, really?" Rambo asked.
He shrugged. "I'm probably their love child or something."
Okay, that was an image Inoichi did not want to have. "Just what are you and why are you inside Naruto's mind? And why is there a sheep in here, too?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm actually an interdimensional traveller who is also named Naruto Uzumaki, where I look more like my father than my mother, and that I stumbled into this kid's mindscape because I died in my old world using a suicide jutsu specifically created for the Rikudou Sennin's use only, just so I could defeat Madara Uchiha from taking over the world through a global illusion?" Saying it all in one breath, he inhaled deeply thereafter.
Inoichi just looked at him as if he were mad.
"Then let's stick to the shinigami's insurance theory, please," Naruto finished. "I've been specifically placed here to help Naruto if there is ever a time he starts leaking the Kyuubi's chakra outside the seal willingly."
"The shinigami placed you here for that? I thought Minato only dealt with the sealing and nothing more. Why would there be strings attached that is actually advantageous for Minato's side than the shinigami's?"
"Probably to keep the deal straight and bound. The Kyuubi is sealed inside Naruto's stomach, and the shinigami believed it should stay that way until the time of the host's natural death. Consequently, that means I'm here to babysit, more or less."
"Then it must've been you who had done this to this place."
"What?"
"Everything here," Inoichi said, gesturing to the corridor they were in, "is Form mimicking Matter. I've been in countless minds before and they never had anything materialized such as in here. Just space as far as the eye can see. The inside of a person's mind shouldn't be this complex and organized. It just doesn't work that way."
"It works that way for me," Naruto replied. He didn't realize the implications Inoichi was saying. At least not yet.
"How exactly do you exist inside here?"
"How exactly can a mortal man seal a malevolent and powerful demon inside an innocent infant?"
Inoichi grimaced. "The shinigami. Yeah, I almost forgot about that."
"Don't feel too bad. It's hard to keep track with all this info on such short notice."
"Another question: Why are you stopping me?"
"I'm not stopping you, but helping you. I know why you are here."
"Oh?"
"I can give you the strand of memory you are looking for right now. It'll save you the trouble of finding it."
"What's the catch?"
Naruto sighed. There was still a trust issue between them. "I'm only trying to help. The faster you capture that white-haired bastard, the better."
"White-haired . . ." Inoichi mumbled. A stray thought entered his head, and his eyes widened. It was impossible, but it also made a lot of sense. He could come to the Uzumaki household without being alerted by the ANBU. He could study their rotations and manage to nab Naruto and get out without their notice. He had knowledge of all forms of prolonging a torture session before killing the victim. And with the mention of white hair . . . "You don't mean Kakashi Hatake, do you?"
An eyebrow was raised. "Uh, no," he deadpanned. "It was someone else."
"Are you sure?"
"Look, I don't think we'd get anywhere if we keep this up all day. Let me just show you the memory strand and you can start looking for the motherfucker."
"Language, Junko," Rambo said. "We're in the kid's mind, after all."
"Rambo," Naruto said, "do me a favor and shut up for five minutes."
"Does the favor need me to talk at one point?"
"No. Shutting up for five minutes is the favor."
"Then why'd you separate them?"
Naruto glared.
"Okay, okay, shutting up now. Sheesh."
Naruto turned back to Inoichi and stepped closer. Inoichi eyed him with caution but didn't take a step back. Despite the limited trust he was giving Naruto, he was willing to risk it and let the young blond get a chance to prove his claims. Naruto was sure Inoichi was hoping that this bold move wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass or something of that line.
He touched his forehead and within an instant the memory was passed to the mind-walker. Inoichi blinked a few times, shook his head, and rubbed his eyes.
"That," he said, "was weird."
"Better than going through three additional floors to get what you came for, right?" Naruto grinned. That technique he pulled was something Ino had taught him after Konoha had been utterly decimated a final time. With her being the sole Yamanaka, she believed it was better that her techniques be of more use to all of her comrades than her dying along with her family secrets. Sadly, she died two days after teaching him this.
Inoichi only nodded; he was still processing the memory given to him. His eyes then shot open in apprehension. "Mizuki! That bastard . . ." he growled.
"Mizuki, huh," Naruto mused, feigning ignorance. Aka-Naruto didn't know Mizuki by name, so it'd be bad for him to act like he knew everything there was to know about the power-hungry slimeball who was willing to trade his own humanity for what he wanted.
"So Daiki-san gets the memory, mission complete," Rambo said. "Can he go now?"
"I thought I told you to shut up."
"You did . . . six minutes ago."
"Do you two always act like this?" Inoichi interjected, not smiling but there was still amusement twinkling in his eyes.
"Not all the time," Naruto answered. "With only a sheep as company, it'd be bad if we ended up in nonspeaking terms."
"Bad for you, anyway," Rambo said.
Ignoring the jab, Naruto said, "You got what you came for. Anything else you wish to know?"
"No, nothing else," was Inoichi's reply. "Though I will have to file a request for Naruto to have a psyche evaluation from me for the next two months."
"Why?"
"To be sure he doesn't remember what happened to him three nights ago."
"That's all right. I got that one under control."
"And how did you manage that?"
By using Ino's memory repressing techniques, he answered in his head. "Trade secret."
"I'm not buying that."
"Then take it for free. Today's a hundred percent discount sale."
"I'm not leaving till I get a proper answer. The ones who can repress memories, as far as I know, are members of my clan." Inoichi eyed Naruto's hair. "And I'm sure that you're not a Yamanaka."
"I know a few techniques that transcend those of the living," he answered cryptically. "Sadly these techniques are forbidden for humans. Sorry." He didn't mean it, though.
The building rumbled. Again, Naruto was reminded of that Sound battalion breaching through the walls and floors. He doubted that there'd be another guest inside Aka-Naruto's mindscape, so that left the other signal. The Kyuubi was fighting back its restraints . . . and winning.
"You need to get out. Now."
"Why?" Inoichi asked, staying in balance as the building went through another powerful earthquake. "What is that?"
"The fox," Naruto answered simply before he gave Inoichi a big shove.
"Hey, what—"
He had more things to say, Naruto knew, but they would have to wait as he was unceremoniously ejected from the mindscape.
Inoichi reeled back and almost fell on his back if not for one of the attendants catching him midway. He got back on his feet quickly and requested a status report.
"Everything checks out, sir," said the attendant to his right. "The signs of demonic chakra were minimal in and around the subject's mind. The strange thing was . . ." He hesitated, eyeing his partner for confirmation to continue.
"Was what?" Inoichi echoed.
When the left attendant nodded, the right one replied, "The seals Jiraiya-sama put in place around the Shishou Fuuin (tr. "Four Symbols Seal") were acting as if they were dormant, as if . . . as if . . ."
"As if they were not being used at all," Inoichi finished. "I think I know why."
"Huh? You do, senpai?" left attendant asked.
Inoichi wanted to tell everyone about what he had seen inside that place. It was an experience he was not about to forget for the rest of his life. But he held his tongue. It was not because of fear or of confusion, but of excitement. He had dove into other minds before, each experience were as identical as seeing blood brothers side by side. There were obvious differences but the generality of it was all the same. For Naruto's mindscape, however, it was different on so many levels, like trying to see the similarities between a male and female reproductive organ. For one, as he had stated to that Yondaime-slash-Naruto-lookalike before, there were sections inside his mind that had manipulated Form into Matter. Such creations were unheard of, even if that person were disciplined with the mind arts his whole life. Such complexities were far beyond human comprehension, and Inoichi hypothesized that the Kyuubi had something to do with this. The facts were incomplete, however. There were more sections there that were left unexplored (his mission was a priority above all else), hiding secrets and wonders that were probably far more mind-boggling than the Hokage Tower in there. He felt bad using the two-month psyche evaluation as an excuse to discover more from the complex mindscape, but learning new things from a subject he thought he'd know almost all there was to know was invigorating, as if a passion in his soul had alit once more. But first and foremost, this new tenant inside Naruto Uzumaki had to be told to the Hokage ASAP.
In other words, no one must know but Konoha's dictator.
"Yes, but I want to consult with the Hokage first before anybody else," Inoichi replied. "Okay, wrap it up, boys. The operation was a success." He looked at the observation, saw Kushina looking eagerly for any good news from him, and gave her the thumbs up. This was also given to the Hokage, who understood the sign enough. The mission was a success . . . but there was a twist involved.
Chapter Afterword:
I stand to the belief that the ninja villages are ruled under a dictatorship, despite their almost primitive setting. I mean, with such power coming from one leader (as Anko puts it in the fanfic That Look, by lord of the land of fire, "The Hokage's word . . . is . . . law!"), you'd have to start thinking that such a position can only be regarded as a dictator's stance in society. Democracy comes into play a few times—in my fic, there'd still be a Council, but there vote is not as strong as the Hokage's—because I'm too lazy to think up a whole unique political system that mixes the two together. I'm not into politics, goddammit!
My famous last words: Kushinichi! w00t!