[Kurenai Yuhi. Signed and Sealed Capture. 22.
Hinata Hyuga. Signed and Sealed Capture. 22.
Kiba Inuzuka. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Shino Aburame. Signed and Sealed Capture. 24.
Sasuke [Sayuri] Uchiha. Stamped. 30.
Obito Uchiha. Signed and Sealed Capture. 40.
Kakashi Hatake. Signed and Sealed Capture. 30.
Anko Mitarashi. Signed and Sealed Capture. 16.
Inoichi Yamanaka. Signed and Sealed Capture. 16.
Iruka Umino. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Ebisu. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Kotetsu Hagane. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Izumo Kamizuki. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Muta Aburame. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
Kosuke Maruboshi. Signed and Sealed Capture. 12.
311 Credits Remaining.]
The first week had been annoying, to be frank. Naruko Uzumaki couldn't be allowed to be alone, but likewise, she couldn't just stay with me. The concerns of an unhealthy emotional attachment to the 'savior' in a relationship was too great, according to the Yamanaka Clan, who advised that while Naruko was allowed to interact with me, it was also for the best she get interactions with others of her own age group if possible to avoid an over-reliance/worship of me over the rest.
At least, that was the official reason. Unofficially, it was because Naruko Uzumaki was deemed too much of a flight risk if she was left to develop relationships with only one person her age, and more importantly, one person her age who has shown little to no inclination to give a shit about if Konoha was hit by a meteorite tomorrow. To be fair, I really couldn't give a damn as long as my retinue, my Clan, Ichiraku Ramen, and Naruko survived. The rest of this place? Nah, let it burn.
Of course, that didn't work because of the dreamscape, which worked wonderfully as Naruko herself wasn't pleased at all to be stuck dealing with people she didn't know, especially after how emotionally raw and vulnerable she felt after having admitted so much to a stranger, even if said stranger happened to be my mom.
That didn't mean Naruko herself didn't understand. She knew that it was unhealthy to hyper-fixate on one person, even if it was the person who saved her life, mentally and emotionally. She just didn't care: it wasn't like the Yamanaka had gone to check in on her when she had been effectively trying to manage her trauma alone.
The Yamanaka therapist had looked ashamed when Naruko had mentioned this, pointing out that for the so called 'mindwalkers', she had been effectively left to die. Which, as it turns out, was because the Yamanaka Clan had a standing rule: do not mindwalk a Jinchurriki. Best case, you piss the human off and they throw you out of their mind. Worse case, you've given the beast an opening to exploit to free itself or cause absolute destruction.
That didn't make them feel any better when Naruko had torn them all a new one for thinking that they could just treat her like any other patient, and not recognize that she had some serious grievances with nearly everyone in the village. Because for all the shit the civilians had done, they didn't live in a bubble. The shinobi had to have been aware of at least something going wrong. They just pretended everything was fine because it wasn't them being fucked over.
Yeah, that therapist really didn't last long after that, what with seeing Naruko's red eyes glaring at her like she was ready to tear their head off their shoulders.
So, the next therapist came in, and tried a different approach. A blunt approach.
"Naruko, you don't like me. That's fine. Many patients wouldn't like us even if they came to us for help. Because therapy, despite what many people believe, can suck like hell. We're not here to make you happy. We're here to make you mentally healthy. We're here so that way when the time comes for Shikamaru Nara to step into your mindscape, the bijuu can't use your deeply bottled negative emotions to drown the two of you until you both emerge as twisted versions of yourselves."
Naruko's eyes widened at that. "Oh." She whispered, her fists relaxing as she looked rocked by that information.
"You respond best to bluntness. You don't want to be treated with kiddie gloves. I can work with that. Hell, I can respect that. The same stubbornness is what allowed you to survive your experiences. It might even be the only reason you're in the room with us today. So, I'm not going to pretending you're made of glass. I'm going to treat you the way I wish I was treated in my therapy sessions, because I wanted to be respected as individual, not belittled. Not lied to. Not babied. If you think you want that approach, you need to work with me. Even if it sucks. Even if it hurts. Does that sound fair to you?" The man said bluntly.
Naruko nodded slowly. "Yeah, but only if it's reasonable. I'm not signing myself up for torture or... needles." Naruko shivered. She hated needles.
The man snorted. "Good luck telling the Akimichi that once they get ahold of you. Let's start from the beginning. I'm Kabuto Yakushi. I'm a medic-in-training, a Genin, a recently fully licensed therapist. I'm told I'm quite good at mirroring people, even if that's more of a defense mechanism than I'd like to admit. Your turn."
"I'm Naruko Uzumaki. I'm a Genin, a Hokage-in-training. I'm told I'm quite good at being stubborn when I'm unhappy in a situation I don't want to be in." Naruko said dryly, with a small grin on her lips.
Kabuto laughed. "It's a start. You'll be surprised how often it is that we shinobi develop sarcastic or dark humor in order to cope with the situations we find ourselves in. Now, I will start this session with a question."
Kabuto paused for a moment, before speaking, his voice solemn and serious.
"What do you think your father would do if he found out what you went through because of being a Jinchurriki? What do you think your mother would do?"
Naruko's breath caught, her voice cutting off as a mixture of shock and alarm flooded her system. After several seconds, she spoke quietly.
"My father would tell me that, even though he was disappointed in the village, he was proud of me for still standing for the village and for becoming a shinobi anyway. He'd tell me to have faith that things get better. Same with my mom, I guess." She answered honestly.
Kabuto took off his glasses, rubbing his nose as his eyes clenched. Naruko felt her stomach drop at the sight, since the Third Hokage always did the same when she had done or said something particularly stupid.
"No." Kabuto said simply, putting back on his glasses as he shook his head before looking at her.
"Your parents, firstly, would've taken you away from Konoha. Immediately. The second thing they'd have done is start a massacre. Konoha would be a ghost town." Kabuto informed her bluntly, and Naruko felt almost an intense confusion.
"Why?" She asked him, baffled.
"Naruko. I want you to imagine, even though it might be hard or impossible, to have just found out that you're pregnant. You're having a baby, with the man you love." Kabuto said quietly.
Joy. Terror. Excitement. Dread.
Naruko couldn't even speak, her hand going to her stomach as she imagined what it would be like to be pregnant. She'd heard from afar how some women complained about the back pain or the struggle of sleeping. Yet they always looked... happy, content, eager to see their child born.
"Now imagine that it's sixteen years later. You've been in a coma. The last thing you remember was the feeling of just holding your baby in your arms. You're desperately searching for your baby, even if you know that they are no longer a baby anymore. Imagine everything you went through, and imagine it happening to your daughter, and hearing those words come out of your daughter's mouth."
Naruko knew, in the back of her mind, that Kabuto was waiting for a response. All she could hear was the blood rushing through her ears, the white-hot heat of absolute visceral rage and agony that coursed through her veins as Naruko wanted to tear down the entire village brick by brick, until absolutely nothing remained. Not the mountain. Not the walls. Every building, ashes. Every person who had done her baby wrong, absolutely slaughtered.
"I can do it, you know. I can avenge your suffering. It wouldn't even be all that difficult. I'll leave the Nara Clan alone. I'll only kill the ones who wronged you. Just free me. Tear off the seal, Naruko." The Kyuubi whispered in her ear as she felt herself reaching out to tear down the seal, tears falling from her face as she wanted to make them all pay. She knew Shikamaru would understand.
"Naruko. Stop, and step away from the seal. Deep breaths, and calm down. You're safe."
Naruko stepped away from the seal, taking deep breaths as she felt the rage slowly, achingly, drain away.
"You... What are you?" The Kyuubi demanded, his deep voice booming off of the walls and the water.
The man stepped forward in front of Naruko, and she felt her breath taken away as the man had turned toward her.
"Hey, Naruko, I figured you'd need the help since the Kyuubi is being so troublesome." The man said dryly, winking at her.
Recognition flooded her in an instant.
"Shika! You look so different!"
"This is my spiritual form. Despite being Shikamaru out there, this is who I am spiritually. Mostly. Might change as I get older. That said, I'm just going to have a chat with the Kyuubi."
"You may be a descendant of one who made a Pact with the Wendigo, but that is nothing compared to the power of a Bijuu. I do not negotiate with weaklings." The Kyuubi snarled.
Shikamaru laughed, even his voice sounded different in here, and then he seemed to vanish.
Her eyes widened in shock and fear as Shikamaru appeared behind the jail doors.
"Phase, Twilight. The Eyes of Prajna. Cursed Technique: Lapse Blue."
A massive blue orb appeared above the Kyuubi, whose eyes widened in shock as the entire room began to shake violently as the large bijuu was forced into the air, roaring in pain and fury as it was violently dragged into the blue sphere.
The Kyuubi's tails began to draw together, red and blue energy collecting around in front of it as the Kyuubi snarled.
"Your arrogance blinds you! Witness the might of the Kyuubi, and be erased!"
The energy collected into a purple orb that the Kyuubi swallowed, before Naruko's skin tingled as the sheer danger rose so rapidly that Naruko opened her mouth to scream at Shikamaru to get out of there!
Shikamaru's smile widened as he held his two fingers up toward the Kyuubi, whose eyes gazed hatefully, only to widen in, what Naruko could only interpret as fear, as Shikamaru spoke.
"Phase, Paramita. Pillars of Light. Cursed Technique: Reversal Red."
The Kyuubi's mouth opened, the purple ball launching so fast that Naruko could only see a blur as it flew right down toward Shikamaru.
Only for the purple ball to be caught by a much, much, smaller red orb. The red orb drilled through the purple orb, seemingly getting stronger as Shikamaru's smile widened.
"What jutsu is this?!" The Kyuubi roared as the red orb smashed into the blue orb that was still holding the Kyuubi in place.
"Nine Ropes. Polarized Light. Crow and Declaration. Between Front and Back. Hollow. Purple."
The world exploded as the area shook so badly, the water under Naruko's feet violently vanishing as a flash of white erupted, halted only at the jail doors as the seal itself seemed to flare to life to contain the energy on the other side of the jail door.
As the white faded, Shikamaru stood unharmed, the energy seemingly having washed right off of himself.
The Kyuubi was brutally injured, five of it's tails were gone, and it looked barely conscious, with red energy gushing out of various openings in it's body and it's right eye gone, the red energy pooling out of it like blood. It's single intact eye gazed at Shikamaru.
"No. more. I submit. If I hadn't forced most of the bijuudama's energy around myself at the last instant as the jutsu drilled through it, I'd have been erased. You win." The Kyuubi's voice was no longer loudly echoing across the room, now it almost seemed to hunch in on itself away from Shikamaru.
"Sign the Contract, and I'll consider letting you live. If I kill you, all that remains is the purified chakra. Purified chakra without a consciousness that Naruko could use whenever she wants." Shikamaru said bluntly.
Naruko winced as she saw the brief defiance in the Kyuubi at the audacity of a lowly human attempting to force a contract on it, but it gave in with a whimper, a large hand with barely two fingers left reaching down as it signed the contract Shikamaru had somehow brought into the mindscape.
Shikamaru sighed, turning and leaving the broken Kyuubi behind in it's jail cell as Shikamaru once again passed through the bars, unimpeded.
A snap of his fingers, and the Kyuubi seemed to be almost twice as big as before, the Kyuubi having regained all of it's lost tails and it's fur seemed brighter and cleaner. The Kyuubi looked unnerved.
"What kind of Power is this? What are you?"
Shikamaru turned toward the Kyuubi, a grin on his face.
"Outside these walls, the world sees me as Shikamaru Nara. To you and those more spiritually inclined, you may refer to me as Gojo Satoru. The Honored One. I'll see you at home, Naruko, once these next few sessions end."
Naruko nodded, her face flushed as she whispered as Shikamaru left.
"He's so awesome, and hot."
The Kyuubi seemed to pout at her. "I'm awesome too." It grumbled as it turned away from her.
"Are you sulking?! Why?!" Naruko asked exasperatedly.
"No. I'm not. Go away. I just lost to a human. Again! My siblings will be laughing at me for centuries!" The Kyuubi grumbled.
Naruko found herself blinking awake to the Third Hokage looking at her with some exasperation of his own.
"Can we go through one therapy session without making my Jonin think they're about to meet Kami? Please?" He asked her.
Her face flushed as she looked away, not able to look her grandfather in the eye. "Sorry."
Emotions are hard, okay?!