Kuushou sat back and watched as Anko awoke, her body shifting from sleep to stilled wakefulness with barely a flicker. He could almost see her assessing her surroundings, attempting to remember where she was and how she had gotten here.
Her wariness didn't last for very long, however, as she quickly opened her eyes and bolted upright, one hand flying up to the crook of her neck. He could see her straining as she attempted to almost turn her head sideways to examine the area where the cursed seal was located.
Or rather, used to be located.
"Here," he said, drawing her attention. Her head snapped over to look at him, and her hand came up just in time to catch the small, hand-held mirror he tossed at her.
She held the mirror up in front of her and just stared into it for several minutes, her face twisting through a variety of emotions as her hand hesitantly poked and prodded at the patch of newly healed and unmarked skin.
"You actually did it," she said wonderingly, still not tearing her eyes away. "Fuck, I even feel better than I used to. It's like I've been tired for years and only now got a decent night's sleep," she added wonderingly.
Finally she turned her head to look at him, swallowing thickly. "I... You..." she trailed off, shaking her head.
"Have you noticed any differences in your chakra?" Kuushou asked when she remained silent for several seconds. "There are some significant shifts, especially in your right shoulder."
She looked at him, blinking for a moment before she suddenly burst out laughing. The sound filled the room and echoed throughout the apartment as she rolled off the couch, her hands clutching her ribs as she continued to cackle hysterically.
Kuushou watched in bemusement as she kept laughing for several minutes, the sound beginning to trail off for a moment before rising once again. She finally managed to haul herself to her feet and walked towards him, face flushed and breathing heavily as she panted in between her sudden bouts of humor.
"You..." she said, laying one hand on his shoulder, still laughing. She managed to control herself long enough to level a serious look at him, though her lips kept twitching as if she could break out into wild laughter again at any moment.
"I wanted to be rid of that thing about as much as you want to be rid of that," she told him, her gaze flicking down to his stomach for a moment. "I wouldn't give a flying fuck if I could never use chakra again, as long as it's gone.
"As for my chakra... I guess we'll just have to put me through the paces, won't we?" she said lowly, licking her lips.
~ Scene Break ~
"C'mon, Blondie! At least make me work for it" Anko cackled as her palm whipped past his head with less than an inch of room to spare. Her arm twisted, her hand hooking behind his head and jerking sharply, pulling him towards a knee that he barely blocked with his hands.
Kuushou shoved her away and then his hand lashed out, sending a dense ball of air towards her torso that she somehow undulated around, her trenchcoat billowing out behind her as she moved in again, a stiffened finger stabbing into the underside of his arm and settings his nerves on fire.
Kuushou fell back again, studying Anko as he retreated from her attacks. Despite the viciousness she was displaying, she had a wide smile planted on her face and kept bursting into laughter at random moments.
"Kami, I haven't felt this good in years," she said out loud as she paused, flexing her muscles for a moment and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Just as abruptly she flowed forward again, gliding across the ground with sinuous grace as she penetrated his guard as if it wasn't even there. Two more jabs with her fingers had his entire body seizing for a moment, and she flipped him into the air while he was still recovering. A sharp kick while he hung in midair sent him a dozen feet away where he bounced back to his feet.
Kuushou had expected her to close in on him again, but a surge of chakra and a puff of smoke revealed that she had decided to switch tactics. He looked across the clearing to see a pair of large snakes, each easily ten feet long and with bodies as thick as his legs, circling around Anko.
"Damn, even that was easier!" she laughed, her grin somehow managing to grow even wider.
"Anko-sama," one of the snakes hissed, raising itself up to look Anko in the eye.
"Nothing serious, boys," she said. "Just make him work for it, maybe a bite or two if you think he's not really trying," she added, smirking.
"Anko-sama," the other snake hissed, also raising up so that it's head was level with hers. Neither made a move to attack him.
Anko's grin faltered as she realized that the snakes had something other than a spar in mind. "Yeah?"
"You have not spoken with Sousan-sama," the first said.
"It is most important that you do so, very soon," the other continued.
Kuushou relaxed his guard and began walking towards them as it became clear that their spar would not be continuing.
"What's so important?" Anko asked, a little defensively.
"We cannot say."
"You must speak with her."
"It must be soon."
"Very soon."
"Alright, alright," Anko said, waving them off. "I get it." She looked around, sizing up the training ground they were in before shaking her head. "This place won't do." She glanced over at Kuushou for a moment, then turned back to the pair of snakes. "Do I need to be alone?"
"It matters not."
"So long as you trust those present."
"Right then," she said, nodding. "You up for a trip to the Forest of Death, Blondie?"
~ Scene Break ~
Anko led him deep into the Forest of Death, finally stopping in a large, wide open clearing far from either the borders of the Forest or the tower that stood in the middle. Her hands rapidly flashed through the handsigns for the summoning technique before she slammed them both on the ground, emitting a much, much larger surge of chakra than she had used to summon the pair of snakes.
A large burst of smoke obscured most of the clearing, but he could immediately feel the presence of the creature she had summoned. It – or she, he supposed – was only somewhat smaller than the Manda that Orochimaru had summoned, and the feeling of her chakra had an odd twist to it that the other Summon had lacked. She still felt nothing like an Outling, however.
The sound of scales sliding across the ground and rubbing against the trees filled the air as the snake coiled around them, her large body dwarfing them and blocking all sight except for the smooth, dark blue scales of the snake and the distant canopy formed by the trees far overhead.
"Anko," the snake hissed as she lowered her head to stare down at them.
"Sousan-sama," Anko replied respectfully. "I apologize for not seeking you out earlier. The last few days have been... eventful."
"So they have... it is because of these events that I have sought you out."
The snake's tongue flicked out, the movement enough to stir up a small wind and ruffle their clothing and hair. Sousan's eyes flicked over to Kuushou then and her head lowered slightly as she studied him.
"This is one of those who destroyed our former Summoner," the snake said sharply. "I can taste his death upon him."
Anko tensed warily. "He was acting in defense of the village," she said quickly.
"Do not fear, Anko," the snake replied, her gaze returning to the tokubetsu jounin. "Our former Summoner had many enemies of his own making. His death was inevitable, despite his aspirations. The Snakes do not seek vengeance for this.
"His demise, however, does concern us. There remain but two names upon the Scroll; your own, and that of another. You possess seniority, but the other was favored by Orochimaru before his death."
Anko's eyes widened, and she swallowed thickly. "You're talking about the next Summoner."
"That is correct," Sousan hissed, her head bobbing slightly. "Manda favors the one known as Kabuto, and has pushed to have him declared the new Summoner. Kabuto has not summoned any of us for a number of days, however, and so Manda has been unable to make it official."
Kuushou snorted softly. Last he knew, Kabuto was under the less than tender care of Torture and Interrogation – that wasn't likely to change any time soon.
"Have you not wondered why your name was never stricken from the Scroll?" Sousan asked softly.
Anko didn't respond immediately, her gaze growing distant. "I always thought it was another way for the bastard to taunt me," she said at length. "He knew I couldn't just abandon my relationship with the Snakes, but every time I summoned one was a reminder of him and what he'd done."
"That is not the case," Sousan replied. "Though he may have desired it; he did not have the power to do so. The contract is with the Snakes as a whole, not with the Summoner, and only the Snakes may break it. Manda sought to have you removed when Kabuto signed the contract, claiming that it was wrong for our summoners to be in conflict with one another and that Orochimaru had chosen a new successor to replace the apprentice who betrayed him – such were his words at the time," Sousan added, seeing Anko's anger flaring.
"Some of us did not agree, however," Sousan continued, "seeing little value in discarding such a useful partner. Enough so that Manda was wary of forcing the issue. And now Orochimaru is dead, his follower missing, and Manda himself lies wounded, recovering from the same battle that cost us our Summoner."
Kuushou couldn't help but grin. "You want to take his place," he guessed.
The snake's eyes flicked over to him again, her tongue flicking in and out rapidly. "Yes," she hissed lowly, the sound filled with anticipation. "If I were to secure our newest Summoner where Manda has failed, especially if it were the very one he had wished to spurn, even those who support him would be forced to acknowledge my efforts to strengthen the Snakes."
Her eyes narrowed into slits, her head drawing back slightly as she unconsciously bared her large fangs. "Manda will not – cannot – allow my defiance of his will to pass, but wounded as he is he will not emerge victorious. With Manda's death and the delivery of our new Summoner, I shall be the one to lead. Under the guidance of the White Snake Sage, of course," Sousan added a moment later, her tongue flicking in and out rapidly.
Sousan looked back at Anko, who met her gaze with a determined expression. "If you wish to become the Summoner, you need but summon the Keeper of the Contract and assert your claim."
Anko appeared to be deep in thought as her gaze moved over to Kuushou. "What about adding someone to the contract?" she asked slowly.
"You speak of this one, yes?"
"Yeah."
"I have tasted his power, and that alone is tempting. Should you trust in him, I will vouch for him as well," Sousan offered.
Anko turned to face Kuushou, no trace of humor in her expression. "I can't do anything about your seal, Naruto," she said quietly, "but I can offer you this. Orochimaru's ruined the Snakes' reputation in Konoha, but they are damn powerful and can support you in many ways. I can't blame you if you don't want to get stuck with yet another stigma, but the choice is yours."
Kuushou put on a serious and thoughtful expression, though his decision was already made. He had seen Anko use her summons to great effect, and they would provide a useful means of circumventing the limitations of his seal. The opportunity to more closely examine them and their differences from the Outlings he was familiar with was not to be passed up either.
A wide grin spread on his face. "How could I possibly refuse that?"
~ Scene Break ~
"Congratulations, Anko," the Keeper said as it eyed the scroll. "The Contract has accepted you as the primary Summoner. I presume the Snakes can expect to be working with Konoha once more, then?"
"Yeah," Anko replied slowly, looking a bit dazed. She reached out and touched her name on the scroll, stroking the jagged letters that spoke of her youth at the time and the excitement she must have felt when she signed the contract. Her hand then trailed down to the next name, Kabuto Yakushi, and tapped it thoughtfully.
"Kabuto hasn't summoned a snake recently because he's currently a prisoner of Konoha, captured at the same time Orochimaru was killed," she said, turning to look at the Keeper.
"I see," the Keeper hissed slowly, its head bobbing thoughtfully. "This is most distressing. I trust you will assure your village that the Snakes hold no ill will against them?"
Anko's expression soured. "That's going to be a little tough, since Manda attacked some of our ninja to provide a distraction for Orochimaru."
"You can assure your Hokage that Manda will not live to see the sun set," Sousan hissed.
The Keeper studiously ignored Sousan's comment, instead focusing on Anko. "Do you have someone in mind as your successor? The Snakes would prefer that the contract never go dormant."
Anko nodded, motioning towards Kuushou. "Blondie here," she said shortly.
The snake's tongue flickered in and out rapidly as it slithered closer, circling him several times. "Excellent," it said at last. "His power is more than sufficient, and he shows no fear of us. He will do well. Sign," the Keeper added, motioning with its head towards the open scroll.
Kuushou shrugged and walked over, cutting open his finger and rapidly writing "Naruto Yamanaka" on the scroll. The blood glowed briefly, giving off a dark purple aura for a moment before the light faded. The name was now a dull blue color, similar to Kabuto's, while Anko's was a brighter hue, standing out clearly among the long list.
All other names on the contract, including Orochimaru's, were black.
The Keeper slithered forward, dipping its nose until it was almost touching the contract and scrutinizing the name Kuushou had written intensely. It looked up at him after a moment, studying him with the same gaze, before it hissed in laughter.
"Yes, you will do well indeed," it said after a few moments. The scroll rolled itself up with a snap and vanished down the snake's throat a moment later. "I wish you a long reign as the Summoner of the Snakes, Anko-san."
With that, the Keeper vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the two of them alone with Sousan once again.
"Are you aware of the Summoning jutsu, young one?" Sousan asked then. "I suggest you try it out now."
Anko had to demonstrate the handseals for the technique for him so that he could be sure of how to properly manipulate his chakra and youki, but after a few minutes he had performed the technique and summoned his first snake.
The sensation of the technique at work was interesting, to say the least. He had filtered both his body's chakra and his own youki into it, but both vanished without a trace at the same moment the snake had appeared. The snake itself contained no trace of either energy, either, leaving him to wonder just where it had gone. It could have been entirely consumed by the summoning jutsu, but such perfect efficiency was practically impossible to achieve.
The smoke dissipated, revealing a relatively small snake, no more than two feet in length. Its scales were iridescent, shimmering in the patches of light that filtered through the canopy far overhead.
"Sousan-sama, Anko-sama... Naruto-sama," Itami hissed as she scanned her surroundings. "It is good to see you again."
"An interesting choice," Sousan murmured. "Was it your intent to summon Itami, young one?"
"It was," Kuushou replied, still studying the snake he had summoned for any clues as to just how she had arrived and trying to confirm that she truly contained no traces of his own power. "Itami was one of the first snakes I met, and she left quite the impression."
"Yes, most interesting," Sousan said. "You have made an excellent choice, Anko," she added. "Summon me one week from today," Sousan commanded then. "Once Manda has been taken care of, we shall have much to discuss, you and I."
"I will," Anko replied firmly, her gaze drifting between the two snakes and Kuushou.
After hearing her reply, Sousan dispelled in a large bust of smoke and Itami followed a moment later. Kuushou paid close attention this time but could still find no indication as to what they were actually doing; they just vanished in an instant, leaving only the same quickly dwindling traces behind that Manda had.
"Well," Anko said, clapping her hands together. "This has been a seriously fucking strange morning. I don't know about you, but I could use something to eat. How does ramen sound? My treat?"
Kuushou eyed Anko carefully. "You're actually going to pay?"
Anko smirked, looping her arm around his neck and beginning to walk back towards the village.
"Don't get used to it."
~ Scene Break ~
"Naruto-san," a masked ANBU called out just as they settled down at Ichiraku's to eat. "The Hokage wishes to see you immediately."
Kuushou turned to look at the messenger curiously. "Did he say what it was about?" He wasn't aware of anything pressing that would lead the Hokage to demand his presence.
"He did not," was all the ANBU said.
"Tough luck, Blondie," Anko said, smirking. "Looks like I'll be enjoying all of this delicious ramen by myself."
Kuushou narrowed his eyes at Anko, pushing a small amount of killing intent into it. Anko's smirk widened as she turned to Ayame.
"I'll have the Deluxe ramen for starters," she ordered smugly.
"Immediately, Naruto-san," the ANBU repeated firmly.
"Evil," Kuushou commented to Anko as he turned to walk out of the ramen stand. "You are truly, deeply evil."
"He says the sweetest things, you know?" Anko said to Ayame, chuckling to herself.
~ Scene Break ~
"I hope this is actually important, Hokage-jii-san," Kuushou said as he was escorted into the Hokage's office. "Do you know how hard it is to get Anko to pay for anything? I'll have to get dango straight from Kami before it happens again at this rate."
The Hokage cleared his throat, his lips twitching slightly. "I'm sorry to hear that, Naruto-kun, but yes, this is important." He motioned to the tall, white-haired man leaning against the wall near the window. Kuushou took in the ninja's appearance, noting the two red lines that started under his eyes and ran down his face as well as the unusual headband that bore the symbol for "oil." Of course, it was the feel of the man's chakra, one of the few signatures that he had memorized despite how rarely he encountered it, that confirmed his identity.
"This is-" the Hokage began.
"The Sage Jiraiya, Seal Master, Summoner of the Toads and one of Konoha's Sannin," Kuushou finished, bowing slightly in a show of respect.
The man's face lit up and he thrust one palm out dramatically. "Indeed!" he cried. "It is I, the man feared in all corners of the world, the man desired by all women and who all men desire to be, the one, the only-"
"That's enough, Jiraiya," Sarutobi said, cutting off the odd dance the man had begun.
"Fine, fine," Jiraiya sighed, shaking his head sadly. "So, I take it you knew me in your world?" he asked, focusing on Kuushou.
"By reputation only," Kuushou answered.
"Right then," Jiraiya said, looking slightly uncomfortable but pushing it aside quickly. "That'll make things a little faster. This is the first chance I've had to return to the village since you arrived, and Sensei has asked me to look over your seal."
Kuushou nodded in agreement. He had guessed that was where this meeting was going as soon as he realized who was waiting in the Hokage's office. In short order he was laid out on the couch with his shirt removed while Jiraiya was leaning over him, poking and prodding at the seal every now and then.
"So I hear you've been studying seal crafting yourself," Jiraiya commented as he worked. "You're coming along nicely, from what Sensei tells me."
"Somewhat," Kuushou allowed while he watched Jiraiya. "I've been limited by the lack of a true teacher in the field – most of what I've picked up has either been rote memorization or highly theoretical."
"That alone will get you far in this field," Jiraiya told him. "The basis of all fuinjutsu is knowing the component parts, after all; without that you can't accomplish much of anything."
"I suppose, but it's still quite limiting when dealing with more advanced seals; the cursed seal Orochimaru gave Anko was incredibly complex compared to what I've seen before that."
"She let you actually look at that?" Jiraiya asked, surprised. "I wouldn't get your hopes up with that, Naruto," Jiraiya said, turning to look at him for a moment. "Orochimaru is- was a slippery bastard and quite territorial. I found more traps in that thing than actual functional pieces when I examined it."
"I hope you are being careful, Naruto-kun," the Hokage added from his desk where he was sorting through his paperwork. "The fact that Anko let you examine it shows a great deal of trust on her part. I would hate to see either of you get hurt because you were careless while examining it. I've studied it myself, but knew that it was beyond my own skills to remove and decided to leave well enough alone."
"I was very careful," Kuushou assured them, "though it's a moot point now."
"Well, don't feel too bad about giving up," Jiraiya reassured him. "You're still learning after all, and now that Orochimaru's gone we don't need to worry about him abusing the seals anymore."
Kuushou couldn't resist a small smirk. "Oh, I didn't give up. In fact, the reason Anko was willing to pay for ramen was because I removed the cursed seal last night."
The Hokage spluttered for a moment, almost choking on his pipe, while Jiraiya just looked at him blankly.
"Say what now?" he blurted.
~ Scene Break ~
"This is all the information you had to go on?" Jiraiya growled, waving his hand at the documents scattered around Kuushou's living room. "It's thorough, yes, but there's nothing about how you avoided triggering the various traps and fail-safes."
"Oh, that would be because I did trigger them."
Jiraiya stilled for a moment, then he slowly turned to face Kuushou, his muscles visibly tensed. "You did what?"
"Triggered the fail-safes," Kuushou replied easily. He gestured to the large diagram that showed some of the inner workings of the cursed seal. "Specifically fail-safes two through six, eight, and eleven."
"Those are all lethal to the bearer of the cursed seal, even if it was just one of them," Jiraiya said quietly, his tone even.
"They could be, sure," Kuushou shrugged. "I prevented that."
"Prevented that how?" he bit out.
"By siphoning off the toxins and excising the affected tissue for the most part, though I had to regrow some of Anko's nerves after number eight."
Jiraiya remained quiet for a moment, his breathing rigidly controlled as he slowly unclenched his fists. Then, softly, he spoke. "You did all of that while manipulating the cursed seal, alone. If you had made a single mistake, missed so much as a drop of the toxins released, Anko would be dead right now. You just admitted that she still suffered damage!"
He jumped to his feet and began pacing around the room, his face growing red as he started gesturing wildly.
"What made you think that this could possibly be a good idea? How unbelievably arrogant do you have to be to think that you could handle all of that on your own? It's a fucking miracle that she's still alive and you aren't on trial for murder of a fellow ninja! What gave you the right?"
"Anko did," Kuushou replied easily as he met Jiraiya's gaze. "She trusted me with her life, and I delivered. I don't see how anything else enters into consideration."
"You don't- you don't see," Jiraiya sputtered before he cut himself off. He drew in several deep breaths, calming himself again, before he continued in a more even tone. "I suppose you're right, as far as that goes. Anko likely would have done anything to get that seal removed, even skirting the edges of death. It's her life, and her choice.
"You, on the other hand. Did you perform small scale experiments? Did you verify your approach under controlled conditions? Did you explain to Anko just how risky your plan actually was? If I asked her what the worst possible outcome of last night was, what would she say?"
"She'd say she could have died," Kuushou responded easily, folding his arms and leaning back against the marble table. "She'd say she could have been left crippled, unable to use chakra, or anywhere in between. She'd also say that it was worth the risk to be free of that seal."
"And would you have been ok with that?" Jiraiya pressed. "You're spent more time with her than just about anyone in this village since you got here; would you really have been ok with letting her die? Destroying her body, her career as a ninja, or leaving her to suffer in constant agony until someone put her out of her misery?"
Kuushou shook his head. "I didn't go ahead with this because I thought I could do it, Jiraiya-san. I went ahead with it because I knew I could do it. The proof of that is Anko herself; not only is she free of the seal, but she's feeling better than she has in years.
"So tell me, then. Given that, was I supposed to wait? Run my plans by someone who, even after the task has been completed successfully, still refuses to believe that I could actually do it? Or should I have gone to the person this actually affects and ask her directly what she wants?"
"Dammit, Naruto," Jiraiya sighed, rubbing his hands through his hair. "It's not a question of whether you could do it, it's a question of whether you should have! There was no reason to rush through this! And yes, for something this risky you should have talked with the Hokage at the very least! If you'd waited even a day I could have been here to help you, to assist during the operation, to lend my expertise if something had gone wrong."
"Both yourself and the Hokage have already admitted that you gave up on the cursed seal," Kuushou countered, shaking his head. "In all honesty, would you really have allowed the procedure to continue if you'd known about it? Or would you have found some reason to delay or prevent it entirely until you were absolutely convinced it would work?"
Jiraiya reluctantly shook his head. "No, we wouldn't have. There are no guarantees, of course, but I doubt either of us would have ever signed off on the procedure you actually used, not without abundant proof that it at the very least could work. Neither of us have the medical background you do, either." He paused, and rubbed his chin. "You studied under Shizune-chan, right?"
Kuushou nodded slowly, confused at the abrupt change in topic.
"And she's the one who taught you those techniques?"
"All of my medical training comes from Shizune-nee-chan and her staff," Kuushou answered.
"Do you think she could have performed that operation by herself?"
Ah, so that's what he was after. "Given sufficient knowledge of the seal work involved, yes," Kuushou hedged.
Jiraiya grunted in response before he rubbed his forehead again. "Look, Naruto, it's damn impressive that you pulled that off, I'll give you that. But I've seen where that kind of arrogance – yes, arrogance, whether you want to admit it or not – can lead, and it's not anywhere good. I suggest you think long and hard about whether you truly knew what you were getting into or whether you just got damn lucky."
With that, Jiraiya began gathering up the notes, looking through them as he did so.
"There's one other thing you should know," Kuushou said as Jiraiya worked.
"What's that?"
"In my examinations of the seal, especially when it was taking hold within Sasuke, I observed certain types of behavior within the seal's chakra."
Jiraiya frowned thoughtfully, glancing down at the notes. "What kind of behavior?"
"Both immediate and delayed reactions to my attempts to interfere with it, as well as adaptive responses to my efforts."
"That's..."
"Not included anywhere within the cursed seal? I agree. So why then was the seal exhibiting a certain level of intelligence?"
"Are you telling me that you think the seal itself was thinking?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief.
Kuushou spread his hands, shrugging. "I'm simply telling you what I observed in Sasuke's seal as well as Anko's. You can confirm it for yourself, if you wish."
Jiraiya nodded distractedly, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. "Why would he..." he muttered to himself. His eyes widened for a moment before his expression darkened. "That would explain quite a bit," he growled, his tone disgusted.
"Explain what?" Kuushou asked.
Jiraiya shook his head, frowning. "Let's just say that you might be on to something," he replied before quickly turning and leaving the apartment.
~ Scene Break ~
"Thank you for agreeing to do this, Naruto-kun," Inoichi said a few days later as he motioned Kuushou to enter the house. "Your assistance could help us uncover other spies like Kabuto."
"Of course," Kuushou replied as he scanned the entry hall. For the most part it was the same home he had lived in for most of his time in Konoha, but it was the little details that showed just how different it was.
He wasn't in any of the pictures, of course, but some of the awards Ino had won during her time in the Academy were conspicuously absent, and the hand-made clock Inoichi had bought during a trip to Water Country was missing as well. Curiously, a much younger Sakura and Ino appeared together in several frames, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders and wide smiles on their faces.
Inoichi was silent while Kuushou examined the pictures, but after a while he cleared his throat. "My office is this way, if you'd like to get started now. I was actually hoping to finish up in time for lunch. Kiku was planning to make ramen, I believe."
Kuushou turned to look at Inoichi, then nodded slowly. "I'd like that."
With a smile, Inoichi led him down the hallway and into the small office situated beside the living room. Once the door was locked and they had both settled into their chairs, Inoichi cleared his throat.
"As I'm sure you know, there are many different ways to scan memories. The technique I will be using is designed to stimulate the target's memory to pull out as many details as possible. It works best with your active cooperation, so I will be naming topics or people that I would like you to think about. It doesn't matter what or how you think about them, as long as your thoughts stay on that topic."
At Kuushou's nod, he drew in a deep breath and raised his hands before him. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"First, I would like you to think about Kabuto Yakushi." With that, his hands flipped through a rapid series of hand-seals and then he slumped back into his chair.
~ Scene Break ~
Kuushou once more observed as Inoichi wandered through his mindscape. The Yamanaka was moving much more slowly this time, scanning around as if looking for something and then approaching certain memories. It seemed as if he spent just as much time in the mindscape itself as he did inside the memories, but then Kuushou had already seen firsthand just how rapidly the experienced ninja could sort through information.
After a few minutes, Inoichi abruptly stopped moving, a look of surprise filtering across his face. He slowly turned in a circle, his obvious bewilderment growing for no reason that Kuushou could see.
"How..." Inoichi said slowly under his breath. He walked over to a seemingly random set of memories, but rather than entering one he simply looked over all of them and the area around them. He repeated this several times, his expression turning pensive.
Kuushou didn't know what to make of that. He knew he had kept his mindscape up to date, especially knowing that Inoichi would be taking another walk through it. All of the memories were grouped properly as Ino had indicated they should be, and he had long since mastered how to edit them seamlessly under Ino's guidance. Frankly, other than the incident with the Forbidden Scroll there was very little he had needed to edit since coming to this world in any case.
Inoichi abruptly vanished, and Kuushou returned his attention to the real world, where the Yamanaka was straightening in his seat with a thoughtful expression.
"Kabuto really was quite skilled, wasn't he?" he said musingly, giving no sign of whatever it was he had realized. "It's also interesting to see Tsunade-sama's apprentice at work; it makes me wonder just how skilled the teacher must be."
He shook himself and refocused. "Next, I would like you to suggest something. Where have you noticed the largest changes in Konoha? What people are involved in those changes?"
Kuushou eyes wandered over the office as he thought. "For people I personally interacted with, I would have to say either the Hyuuga or the Uchiha."
Inoichi sighed and nodded. "Well, examining the Uchiha wouldn't do us much good right now, so we'll start with the Hyuuga."
~Scene Break~
The session lasted for two hours total and covered each of the major clans in Konoha, including the Uchiha. Inoichi said very little about what he observed, though he took a full thirty minutes when examining the memories related to his own clan.
"I think that will suffice for today. If it's acceptable to you, I would like to have more sessions over the next few weeks to cover more of your memories in depth. I have already found several interesting differences that are worth following up on."
"Oh?"
"The Kurama clan, for instance. They seemed to be tied deeply to the Uchiha Incident in your world, and I would like to look into that matter more thoroughly next time. They appear to be much larger in your world than this one, where they only have a handful of active ninja."
Inoichi stood and stretched before walking over to the door. "Now then, I'm feeling rather hungry. How about you?"
As Inoichi pulled the door open, the smell of ramen wafted into the room from the kitchen.
Kuushou allowed a small smile to cross his face. "I could eat."
~ Scene Break ~
Sakura slowly made her way across the field, her steps measured and careful as she shook off the remnants of whatever sleep she had managed to get the night before. Kuushou watched her approach, the bag of ribbons at his feet and a smirk on his face.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Sakura muttered sourly, one hand rubbing at her eyes as she blinked rapidly. Her pink hair appeared to be a darker red in the dim morning light, falling down to her shoulders and blending into the red shirt she was wearing.
"No," Kuushou replied, smirking. Sakura rolled her eyes, clearly not believing his perfectly truthful answer to her question.
"You know the drill," he said next, pointing to the far end of the field.
Sakura shook herself again, clapping her hands to her face rapidly before turning to face the direction he pointed. She had come a long way from the first day where she had needed to use both hands to form and contain the line of chakra; now the line formed behind her left foot in less than a second, and she tensed slightly before pushing off.
She seemed to float over the ground, her legs tucked in slightly before extending as she made her landing. She stumbled and nearly fell as she reached the end of her jump, ending up two steps past her target. Muttering curses under her breath, she turned and repeated the exercise, coming to a rest a few feet away and only taking one step to bleed off her momentum.
"Still doesn't feel right," she said to herself, a frown etched on her face.
"And have you actually figured out just what it is about the technique that bothers you?" Kuushou pressed. This was far from the first time that Sakura had said something along those lines, though she had managed to progress well enough in the technique despite her complaints.
She shrugged uncomfortably, looking away for a moment before she squared her shoulders and turned to face him.
"This technique is acting kinda like a spring, right? I'm using chakra to push off against a surface and move quickly, and the hard part is really making sure my whole body is moving in the same direction, right?"
"Yes..." Kuushou said slowly, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well, then... why do I have to move?"
Kuushou stared at her for a moment, then his head tilted to one side. "Continue."
Sakura cleared her throat again, then moved a few steps away. "Well, the chakra is doing all of the work, right? So, couldn't I just do something like..." she trailed off as she focused.
Kuushou paid close attention to her chakra, wondering what the girl was trying to accomplish. She didn't have one line behind the foot she was using to push off this time; instead she had a line behind each foot. She also wasn't in any sort of stance, just standing there staring down at her feet.
The chakra under her feet pulsed and both of her feet shot out from under her, dumping her on her back and bouncing her head off of the dew-moistened grass.
She lay there silently for several seconds, her eyes shut tightly. Then she slowly and carefully picked herself up off of the ground, deliberately brushing off her shorts and the back of her shirt. Her jaw was clenched as she turned to face him again.
"Nevermind," she muttered quietly, her voice quivering slightly. "It was a stupid idea anyway."
"Do it again," Kuushou said, his eyes narrowed.
Her eyes snapped to his and her mouth worked for a moment. "I'm sorry, alright? I just thought-"
"No," he cut her off, shaking his head. "Do it again."
She blinked for a moment, then her eyes widened. "O-oh. Um, ok." She hesitated a little longer, then turned and faced to the side. "I... Instead of using just one line and pushing off against it, I thought I could use two lines, one on each foot, and transfer energy to both at the same time," she explained, her voice gaining confidence as she spoke. "That way I only have to do half as much work to get the chakra where it needs to go, right?"
Kuushou nodded impatiently, his senses carefully focused on what she was doing.
She repeated her earlier actions and the chakra pulsed again with the same result, though this time Kuushou moved forward to catch her before she hit the ground.
"You're forgetting something," he pointed out as he set her back on her feet. "If you do it this way, you're body isn't already moving in the same direction as the chakra boost. The way you need to distribute the chakra changes in that case."
Sakura stared at him for a moment before she buried her face in her hands and groaned. "Idiot," she muttered under her breath. She turned and began again without any further prompting, adjusting her stance several times before she was satisfied. She drew in a deep breath, focused, and then shot forward, flowing over the grass before her feet caught a small rise and sent her tumbling.
She rolled for several more feet before she got her legs under her, bouncing back upright and turning to face him. She had bits of grass in her hair, her dress had green stains all over and was plastered to her body from the dew she'd picked up, and she was holding one of her feet as she hopped up and down on the other, but she still had a wide grin on her face as she beamed at him.
"Yes!" she crowed. "It worked!"
~ Scene Break ~
"This time, Naruto-kun, I'd like you to focus on the history of the village," Inoichi said as they settled into his office. "Anything you can remember about the village in your world that differs from this one."
Kuushou nodded and waited for Inoichi to enter his mind. It had only been a few days since their first session, but he had expected something to come up regarding whatever it was Inoichi had noticed. So far nothing had, but perhaps this session would tell him more.
Inoichi entered his mindscape once more, but instead of sifting through memories he immediately started scanning the terrain, apparently looking for something specific. He was consistently moving downward, as much as it was possible to move in any real direction in such a place.
After about fifteen minutes, Inoichi frowned slightly before returning to the real world and asking him to focus on the history of the various ninja wars that had taken place. Twenty minutes after that, he appeared to be openly confused before he returned to the real world.
"This time, please focus on the history of the Tailed Beasts and how they have been used by the various villages," Inoichi requested. "I realize that it may be a sensitive subject for you, but I've already noticed some small differences in the histories of our worlds that could prove significant."
Kuushou nodded slowly as he tried to understand what Inoichi was attempting to do. The man had yet to review a single memory, so whatever this session was meant to accomplish was solely with whatever he was looking for within his mindscape.
Inoichi spent another ten minutes looking around, his demeanor growing increasingly frustrated and confused, before he finally stopped.
"Where is it?" he muttered to himself. "I should have seen some sign of it by now."
Kuushou noted that he had been right in thinking Inoichi was looking for something, though he still had no idea as to what.
Inoichi sighed. "Can't be helped, I suppose," he said to himself. His hands flashed through a series of seals as he performed some technique, ending on the sheep seal. He held it for several seconds as Kuushou looked on, waiting for something to happen.
Inoichi shook his head slowly then performed the jutsu again, once more ending on the sheep seal.
Still nothing.
"What is going on?" Inoichi growled out in frustration. "It's like it's not even-"
His words cut off abruptly, his entire form stiffening as his face paled rapidly. He remained that way for nearly a minute, his eyes moving rapidly in all directions and his head shaking from side to side. He finally seemed to come to a decision and approached a nearby cluster of memories.
Inoichi entered the memories in rapid succession, then performed a technique that created duplicates of them nearby. Kuushou could find no difference between them – even the layout within the mindscape was the same. Inoichi seemed to come to the same conclusion as he did not make any changes, but his agitation seemed to grow for some reason as he looked back and forth between the two sets of memories.
Finally, he drew in a deep breath and performed another jutsu, ending on the ram seal and letting out a sharp grunt as he focused.
The original set of memories was shredded, leaving a gaping hole in the mindscape behind.
Kuushou immediately tensed as he tried to figure out just what Inoichi was playing at. He could see a glimmer of pure white through the gap left behind and suspected he was now seeing the true form of what passed for his mindscape within this body. Was that what Inoichi had been looking for all this time?
This was not a situation that he and Ino had anticipated, nor did he know how a normal mindscape would react to that sort of damage. Could a normal mindscape even be damaged like that, or should something else have happened?
In the end, he could do nothing but wait, which seemed to be what Inoichi was doing as well. Time seemed to stretch on, Inoichi growing rapidly more agitated and Kuushou ever closer to pouncing on the man and sending whatever knowledge he had stumbled across with him to the grave.
Inoichi raised his hands again, though he did not perform another jutsu. Instead he moved them slowly through the air, and the gap in the mindscape gradually disappeared. Once it was fully sealed, he moved the copied memories into the place the originals had occupied.
He paused then, examining the group of memories closely for several seconds. He then let out a dark chuckle as a grimace crossed his face. "Exactly the same," he said to himself bitterly.
Then he vanished.
Kuushou returned his focus to outside the body in time to see Inoichi straighten up in his chair, a pensive expression on his face.
"Thank you for your time, Naruto-kun. I think we'll end things here for today."
"Did you find anything helpful?" Kuushou asked, inwardly preparing to lash out. If he killed the man now, he could make it out of the village and gain at least an hour's head start before anyone else realized what had happened. Whatever secret he had discovered would also die with him.
"I think so, yes," Inoichi nodded, his expression clearing. He glanced over at the clock hanging from the wall, nodding to himself. "It's a little early for lunch yet, so we've got time to talk. Tell me, how are your students doing in their preparations for the Chuunin Exams? I heard Hatake-san has taken Sasuke somewhere to train him in how to use the sharingan properly, but what about Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Sakura? Are their preparations coming along well?"
Inoichi chuckled lightly then, shaking his head. "Well, I suppose Haruno-san's luck wasn't with her, considering that she was cursed to face Gaara-san in the first round. Hopefully she will have better luck in her opponents next time."
Kuushou slowly relaxed, his wariness giving way to confusion. Had Inoichi not discovered something strange about his mindscape? He had half expected Inoichi to make some excuse to leave immediately, but instead he was talking like normal, and even acting as if he assumed he would be staying for lunch again.
What was going on?
~ End Chapter ~
A/N: Thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews!
Many thanks to the folks on the SB forums for providing feedback and criticism on this and previous chapters.