O.o.. First not so good review. Uh oh? I'd just like to explain why Shinobu acted as she did last chapter because some people may not be too familiar with different brain stuff. This isn't actually brain damage. It's repressed memories due to the trauma. This is what is causing Shinobu's random switches. She doesn't have all of her memories to fully understand what's going on around her and all of the ones she keeps randomly getting back are very out of place. Hope no one thinks it's too stupid but if so I hope you'll bare with it for a bit longer? ^^ sorry...
On a much brighter note, thanks to all of you for helping me quadruple my original review goal (50). We're officially at 205 reviews. I never expected this to get so popular but thanks for sticking with it through it's ups and downs and procrastination :D I really appreciate it and I'll try my best -dattebayo!
Note: The song is Whispers in the Dark by Skillet. :P Great song and actually oddly fitting. p.s long AN sorry!
Shinobu POV
Shinobu sighed taking a good look at the place around her. It felt warm, safe, but at the same time something felt off. It didn't feel as familiar as she had thought it would. She had met her father and Kabuto nii-san had been healing her but nothing seemed to indefinitely click yet.
Orochimaru.. her father.. adopted her after the clan massacre of her home set up by her own brothers. The village had planned on using her to get back at them, to use the personal connection she had to catch them off guard. That's why everyone had pretended to befriend her.. that;s why they pretended to care.
So she became a ninja along with Kabuto nii-san. She was to earn their trust, but instead she would help destroy the village for hurting her family, for using her. That much she could understand, but why then, did that yellow haired boy look so sad when she said she didn't know him?
Kabuto nii-san said she had pretended to befriend him as well, because he had pretended first. He was Konoha's secret weapon. He needed to be killed off first for interfering with their plans. After that it was a matter of rescuing her twin, they'd change him from their brainwash.
This was their revenge and part of her was excited. Excited to see the looks on their faces after all they had put her through, to see them beg for mercy from the same little girl they thought they were deceiving this entire time. The other part of her wanted to talk to the blond.. hear his side of the story. Maybe she'd be able to see if he was lying?
"Shinobu-chan!" A voice called out from the hallway.
"Yes, dad?" She replied, exiting her bedroom. Even that, her bedroom had looked unused, freshly put together. There were no photographs, no odd memorabilia, nothing to say it wasn't more than a guest room at all. Kabuto had already explained that they moved a lot to avoid any detection.. but wouldn't you bring something like a family photo with you? The only thing she had to prove any form of memory or existence was a strange tattoo residing between her collar bones; but something kept her from asking about that.
"People have started to question your recent absence.. we need to get you back into the main village." He explained with a small smile, licking his lips as his hand rested firmly on her shoulder.
"How am I supposed to explain to my.. friends..?" She asked, giving a quick nod.
"You'll need to apologize to a few number of people and explain that you woke in the forest, remembering everything. We've placed a small seal around your brain to stop them from seeing any of the healing Kabuto did. We don't want them suspecting anything. After that go speak with the Hokage. I'm sure he's missed you out of everyone." He gave a small snort of contempt.
"Am I still going to tell him that you've found me and tried to corrupt me?" Shinobu asked, trying to retain all of the important information.
"Yes, give away enough information to prove your loyalty, nothing more. The old geezer should fall for it quite nicely." Orochimaru grinned, leaning down to give her a hug before she quickly left the building.
Walking through the streets of Konoha was rather.. creepy. Everyone who did look at her either gave her a curious glance or a glare. It wasn't until she passed a small flower shop that she got anything in the form of friendly interaction. The girl inside hung up her apron and ran out the door waving before joining her walking despite no verbal permission on Shinobu's end.
"Shinobu, have you been training tons or something recently? I haven't seen you around and team eight and a couple of the other genin seem all out of sorts." Ino smiled, looking up at her in slight concern.
"Ya, I'm just nervous for the chunin exams. I don't want to lose..." She trailed off. "I'm sure everyone else is just out of sorts because of the chunin exams as well."
"Ya.. I guess so.." Ino spoke, looking at the ground.
"Anyway.. I've got to go. See you later, maybe?" Shinobu asked, waving before quickly running off. "What's with that girl? She's weird.." Shinobu muttered to herself after a couple blocks of running. She wasn't quite sure where to start or who to talk to first.
Probably that Naruto boy. She decided after a couple of minutes, pulling out a small map to find where 'their' house was. She'd check there first. If not he liked ramen right? That would be the next place she'd go.
"Do you think this will work? Orochimaru-sama?"
"Yes.. you said you've replaced the proper memories and helped heal her before she healed naturally on her own. The only way for her to fix that would be to do it herself or if we did it thanks to the seal. An un-expected twist.. but this is perfect." Orochimaru hissed.
"Ok.. but what about my fight with her in the chunin exams?"
"You must win, if not Sasuke is less inclined to come to us. He is in search of power. Shinobu has shown close to his level, if you crush her in that battle he will see your strength."
"Naruto!" Shinobu called out, running towards the oddly familiar blond mop of spikes.
"S-shinobu?" He asked. His eyes were tired, bloodshot with dark lines under them. He looked like he was walking on an hour sleep, tops.
"I'm so sorry, I remember.. I didn't mean to say any of that I just... everything was so confusing for a moment.. I.." She trailed off, watching his reaction. It had slowly changed from wary and cautious to bright and joyful. It almost looked as if he was hyper and full of energy despite obvious lack of sleep.
"It's ok! So you're back? And training to beat Kabuto in the exams?" He grinned giving her a tight hug.
"Yup, but I have to go find my team first.. and the Hokage. Something tells me that I owe a lot of people apologies." She sighed half heartedly.
"It's ok, I'm sure they'll forgive you. All of team eight is at the training feild right now.. actually I think Neji's team is there too. Maybe you could kill six birds with one stone." Naruto grinned.
"Wait.. six?" Shinobu paused trying to think of all of the people.
"Yup, Kurenai-sensei, Hinata, Akamaru, Shino, Kiba and Neji." He grinned. "Maybe we can go have ramen later and spar?" He asked hopefully.
"For sure, see you later Naru!" She grinned, before running off. That can't be lies.. can it?
Neji POV
"C'mon Neji! Block my attacks!" Tenten shouted during a half-hearted sparring match with Neji. It earned a small glare on Neji's part as he was winning but he just couldn't seem to focus. He sighed after getting knocked to the ground, again.
"Neji.. maybe you should take a break?" Kurenai suggested, she had been hoping to get the teams out here to distract them and focus on training but it didn't seem to work for any of them.
"No.. I'm fine." Neji muttered, standing up and re-activating his byakugan before darting towards Tenten and hitting several chakra points. It wasn't long before she was down. "Perfectly.. fine.."
Tenten watched in concern but said nothing, she knew there was something going on but every time she tried to talk to Neji about it he'd give her the cold shoulder or snap at her.
"Uhm.. hey guys.. am I interrupting?" A voice spoke hesitantly from behind them causing several of them to whirl around in shock.
"Shinobu?" Kurenai asked. "Are you ok..? Where have you been?" It was obvious she was trying to be careful, nobody knew where Shinobu was mentally right now and they didn't want her to run away again.
"I.. I was in the forest. I just started remembering things.. I'm really sorry."
"So.. you remember everything again?" Kiba asked, a grin building on his features when she gave a nod.
"Yes!" Kiba fist pumped before laughing, Hinata joining in lightly as Shinobu moved over, starting a big group hug.
"Glad to have you back." Shino smiled, or at least it looked like it from the way his glasses had moved. Neji watched on in slight shock, something seemed off.
"Hey Akamaru." Shinobu laughed, leaning down only to get knocked over by the hyper yipping dog who was attacking her cheek with kisses. It was then that another little black blob showed up.
"Kiba? You got another dog?" Shinobu asked, giggling as another dog joined in nuzzling her cheek. The celebrating team froze for a moment, exchanging worried glances.
"No.. Shinobu.. that's your dog." Kiba whispered.
"Oh.. I.. uhm.." She spluttered. "Maybe I should go talk to the Hokage now.. he's the only one I haven't seen yet.." She muttered before running off again.
"Akamaru.. follow her please." Kurenai whispered, watching the girl, earning a yip in response.
"She wasn't in the forest was she.." Neji murmured.
"I don't think so.." Kurenai sighed.
Shinobu POV
"Why didn't they warn me about that? That alone probably blew my cover." Shinobu cursed to herself. This is off, this was all off. Dogs can't lie.. those dogs.. they weren't pretending.. you can't train ninken to falsely befriend someone.. can you? "I wish I could just remember for myself so no one else would have to explain to me. I don't know who to trust anymore.." She whispered.
"I have important issues to bring to attention with the Hokage." Shinobu spoke to the two chunin's guarding the large building.
"Sure thing Shinobu, he should be in his office." One of them grinned waving her inside earning a slight nod. She wasn't quite sure where she was going but she was just going to look for a big important looking door. It wasn't long before she came across one that fit the bill. Taking a shaky breath she pounded her fist into the door.
"Come in." A calm, older voice said. Shinobu opened the door and walked in, closing it quietly behind her before kneeling and bowing.
"Hokage-sama.. may I have a word?" She asked. She didn't know much about the whole kage business but she knew it was important to be polite and formal. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Kabuto nii-san had never explained.
"You don't have to bow, Shinobu." He said with a confused chuckle and Shinobu looked up in shock. "Take a seat, I could use a break anyway." He smiled at her. This is the evil man who wants to use me?.. but.. he's so nice.. his eyes even sparkle! She thought, refraining from letting her emotions show on her face.
"Thank you.." She nodded before taking a seat.
"So what is it you need to speak with me about?" He asked, his tone holding a love she rarely heard from strangers.
"I.." She hesitated. This was wrong.. he wasn't evil .. Naruto was no monster.. those dogs were no traitors.. her friends.. they were her friends! "Have you ever heard of Orochimaru.. Ojii-san?" She tested the last word out. It felt right.. these people were to kind. None of them seemed like they were lying to her.
"Yes.. I have, why? Have you heard anything I should know about?" His eyes widened in shock before turning very serious.
"I.. yah.. I think we may want to get a specialized jonin in here. " She sighed before explaining the entire story to him.
"I mean.. I'm not sure what all he told me was true or not.. but.. you can't be evil.. Naruto isn't a monster.. and this village.. it seems like something I should want to protect.. not destroy." Shinobu nodded firmly, trying to convince herself she made the right decision.
The other anbu and jonin in the room looked on in grim shock as she spoke. Inoichi had come in half way through the story to try to examine her brain, see if there was any damage and to help prove she wasn't lying. Not that the Hokage thought she was.
"Alright Shinobu.. thank you so much for letting me know. You still need to train for the chunin exams so why don't you talk to your friends. They might be able to help you a little with both training and your memory." The Hokage smiled and Shinobu nodded before leaving.
Hokage POV
"Was there anything useful, Inoichi?" The Hokage asked. The mood in the room was very somber and he was starting to think he preferred his paper work.
"She's been sealed by someone.. but from what I can tell she's being completely honest. Should we be canceling this exam?" He asked.
"No.. I think it would be better to go on as usual. We'll set up protection as needed, but may I ask for three anbu volunteers?"
"But! Hokage-sama!" Kurenai tried to protest.
"Trust in me Kurenai. If we show him that we've suspected something, he'll know the girl betrayed him. That may very well put her in danger." He gave a small smile. "I'd like to assign two anbu guards to each of the Uchiha twins. Kakashi will be training Sasuke so he can remain as one guard while another silent guard watches on. We still need two guards for Shinobu however." He explained.
"I can train with her.." Anko stepped forward. "Then she'll have someone right beside her and someone behind the lines, not to mention she was previously training with Gai." She explained earning a nod of approval from the Hokage.
"I can watch Uchiha Sasuke." A man with a bird mask stepped forward earning another grateful smile.
"And I'll watch Shinobu." Yugao Uzuki smiled behind her cat mask, her purple hair flowing behind her as she bowed her head.
"Alright.. I thank you all. Please be on high alert until these exams are over. We need to be careful."
"Hai!" Voices coursed one by one through the room until everyone but one was gone.
"Is there something I can help you with, Kurenai?" Sarutobi asked.
"She won't leave Konoha.. will she?" She asked after a moment's hesitation.
"While I can't be sure.. I must have faith in my people as she has put faith in me..."
Fun Fact: Shinobu isn't the only ninja of her name to work with Konoha. Shinobu Mibu is a 25 year old male chunin ninja working with Ikibi and can be found in episode 73 of the anime and chapter 116 of the manga!
LilPrincess95: O.o you made it from chapter 7 to chapter 38 in less than a day. Holy fudge monkeys of flying doom. I'm so glad you enjoy it so far and that I managed to get another person to hate Mika :P Thanks for the review :)
Alpenwolf: Ouch? I'm kinda sad to hear you think that. I didn't mean to make it awkward or stupid.. so sorry about that. But I did try to explain at the top of this chapter. If it helps, I dislike Kabuto to a point too, so I kiinda skipped it a bit. lol. I see you still hate Mika XD Thanks for the review and I'll definitely try to make it better as quick as possible.
Big Sister of 8: Haha. I tried to hurry :P I found this chapter a little hard to write to be honest XD Thanks so much for the review I'm so happy you liked it so much XD
girl-of-anime: WHAT!.. first one words review XD I don't know how to respond but thanks for letting me know you're still reading haha.
chibichibi98: YA O.o kinda scary thought XD Thanks for reviewing and hopefully the above pleases you XD haha.
remy987: Updates are a wonderful thing :P Sharingan indeed, but can she use it when she actually intends to? Thanks so much XD 205. I'm super pumped lol
blaah: Aaah, soo many people hate Mika XD haha. Thanks for the review and no promises but I'll do my best XD :P
OrionRedde: THANK YOU XD You understood yaay. haha. Yup, trauma repressed the memories :D Shinobu's smart ;D she'll always figure it out XD I hope.. O.o thanks for the review :D
