Chapter 10: I don't remember.
At first, when Kurenai had been informed by the Hokage himself that someone had apparently found a way to help Yakumo-chan where she herself had failed, the recently minted Jounin had been a little upset.
Admittedly, raising the kind of tantrum she had in the office of the village's leader might have not been her brightest idea, but how did Sarutobi-sama expect her to react to him telling her that the one who outstaged her was an Academy student of all things?
With the benefit of hindsight, Kurenai now understood exactly why, as a reprimand for making a fuss, she had been assigned to overwatch little Yakumo's treatment: because the 'first seance' -as the dark jade haired girl had described it- was dragging along and it badly needed someone to be in position to save the day if it devolved any further.
If nothing else, the Jounin could only commend the oddity that was Buto Torika for her bravery, considering she currently had her arms full of an Inton Demon and apparently wasn't even fazed.
Kurenai was at least self-conscious enough to know that she'd be shitting herself in the same position.
Granted, considering the current appearance of the ten years old, it may have desensitized her to the nightmare-inducing physical aspect of the entity named Ido, but how was she dealing with the fact that that thing could and would slit her throat in a heartbeat if it suspected it was harming its host further than needed, the Jounin had no idea.
Ultimately, she wasn't here to contemplate that particular issue for the moment, but rather because it was expected of her to step in if things got dicey and power the mind-bogglingly complex seal array the Mokuton user -and wasn't that a surprise- had sprouted out of the ground from thin air with barely a couple of hand seals, until all the jars full of simmering, toxic-looking, neon-green liquids spaced at regular interval around the circle were empty.
Until then, she was content to watch the back of the girl embracing the demon from behind, her pale white bark-like skin streaked with grayish veins and the red leaves woven in her hair the sole reminder that Kurenaï was not in the presence of one, but two monsters.
A fact that Yakumo's parents were intimately aware of, what with them also being present to contribute some chakra into the array, but having the woe of facing the match-made-in-Yomi duo.
Frankly, considering how tense she was, Kurenai couldn't wait for the whole ordeal to be over, so that she could buy herself a fucking drink and forget the whole affair ever happened.
Admittedly, I may have miscalculated a few things when I planned to rewrite Yakumo's genecode from scratch.
Now, aping the devices necessary for the procedure and recreating the compounds hadn't been that hard, once I got my hands on her parents' bloodworks: it was just the affair of getting a little creative with my little woodenly gimmick and compensating with sealing when it wasn't merely enough.
Hell, I didn't even need her parents' and Kurenai's chakra -and wasn't that a surprise to see her present today, I hadn't even been informed that she'll oversee the proceedings- to catalyze the reactions needed, what with my extended body being in direct contact with the subject and monitoring the whole thing from start to finish.
No, what I had principally badly eyeballed were a) Yakumo's level of pain tolerance, and, b) Ido's protectiveness of its host.
The seance had started well enough, until the Kurama heiress got finally overwhelmed by the crippling pain of having her whole body remade from scratch and lost consciousness, prompting me to dash in the middle of the circle, locking her in the closest approximation of a straight-jacket I could come with on the spot and starting to channel my best Ninshu through skin-contact to try to contain Ido.
Was it reckless?
Absolutely, but, to my defense, it had worked before, so I was at least inclined to give it a shot, even if it coincidentally put me in very close proximity with a very powerful pseudo-conceptual entity.
I'm not going to lie, I almost shat my pants when Ido fully manifested, the grey skinned, horned being having taken over Yakumo looking at me dead in the eyes over her shoulder for a long while, until it started to do something that I hadn't expected.
Helping me.
See, I was compensating for the fact that cells weren't supposed to be killed and remade at an accelerated pace with both my chakra and my kekkei genkai monster-flesh, considering it was oddly flexible when I wanted it to and dripping with Natural Energy, but I was mainly doing that to restore Yakumo's ability to generate Yang energy.
But I was 'only' a fleshy being tapping into a mystical source of power to do magical things, Ido was made from it.
And it was mirroring what I was doing with Yin energy if what I could perceive with my sensing was right.
Which suited me just fine, considering that it was probably cutting Yakumo's convalescence a couple of weeks shorter.
I'd just wish the whole ordeal wasn't as nerve wracking.
As the last drop of liquid finally drips into Yakumo's body, I let out a little sigh of relief.
Night had long fallen in Konohagakure, I had been at it for hours, and I was absolutely exhausted.
So much, in fact, that I couldn't be arsed to sand-bag anymore and instantly manifested a wood clone to communicate Yakumo's diagnosis, ignoring the gasps of my audience and the frown of my current hugging partner.
A few seconds later, a little victorious smile distorts my lips.
"It was successful." I tell the gathering of three ninjas, one hidden ANBU and currently-a-demon-girl the good news.
The first to break the silence is of course the oddest of the assembled ducklings.
"Mine…" Ido growls raspily, looking me in the eyes once more.
I look at it consideringly for a beat before nodding at it.
"She is," I answer, making my chakra echo my words, showing it how I genuinely mean what I said and ignoring the peanut gallery making noises around me, "In the same way you are hers."
My declaration is met with a deafening silence, Ido still looking at me.
Then, it finally, slowly, nods back at me.
"Trust you…" the entity carries on, before warning me, "Don't… disappoint…"
Geez, no pressure, uh?
"I won't." I assure it, before adding, "Would you like to properly talk to her, one day?"
Once again, I ignore the others as they currently are totally irrelevant to the situation.
"Desire…" it sort-of confirms, my sensing actually catching its hidden meaning through its own chakra better than its halting not!Japanese.
I nod back to it.
"I'll try to ask the Hokage if he has an idea and we will look into it." I give it a smile.
Ido keeps looking at me, staring with its pitch-black orbs into my eyes for a while longer, before nodding one last time-
-and dropping the possession, Yakumo returned to her normal appearance once more, still unconscious.
…Or close enough anyway, because I think her hair is now a shade darker? Probably a side-effect of the procedure.
I sigh heavily, the girl still in my arms as I shift back into my human form, finally taking a good look around.
"Crisis averted, I guess?" I try under the anxious/angry looks of anyone present.
Then, the yelling starts.
I sigh even as I feel the ANBU high-tailing it through my senses, making a beeline toward the Hokage's tower.
At this moment, I never wished for the old man to be here as much as I ever had.
"-completely reckless!" Kurenai hisses at Hiruzen, gesturing at me, poor Yakumo still in my arms, and her parents fidgeting awkwardly next to the irate Jounin.
At this point, I'm completely fed up with her attitude.
When she showed up at first, swaggering in the Kurama compound with the easy confidence of her rank, she had been dismissive of me, until I showed off a little by manifesting the array with a display of Mokuton, something that I could only do because I had memorized the seals by heart before even coming here. She even managed to shut her fucking trap during the whole thing, but she was apparently drawing the line at dealing with demons and my cavalier attitude while I did so.
Yes, I had bargained with it instead of its host while Yakumo was out of it, but, come on, what do you really want to-
"There's only one way to fix that mess: we have to seal it." the red eyed woman ends up, crossing her arms under her bust.
Alright, enough with this bullshit.
"How about we do the smart thing and not antagonize an entity tied to a clan's bloodline instead?" I interject, glaring dagger at the broad.
Frankly, what Asuma saw in that petty cunt besides her boobs, I have no idea.
Her eyebrow twitches.
"Listen, you-" she starts on another rant, but Hiruzen cuts her off.
"Kurenai." he says calmly, and, wonder of wonders, she finally shut up.
Just as sedately, the Hokage pulls out his smoking pipe from the inside of his robe, before addressing me.
"I suppose you have an idea that you'd want to submit, Torika-chan?" the Professor mildly asks, his pockmarked face neutral.
I have an inkling that it is only a facade though, because I'm pretty sure he is as fed up with the butthurt Jounin as I am.
"Set up a dialog between the Inton Demon and its host." I start bluntly, not even bothering to sugarcoat my thoughts, "I thought I imagined it when I was here last week, but I clearly felt its presence at the time, especially when she fell asleep."
I pause, my eyes roaming over everyone.
Yakumo's parents are stiff, clearly anxious, and the little optimism they had at the whole endeavor's success has now been tarnished by Kurenai's view.
Thank you, not.
"I think that, with some variant of the Clone Jutsu, it may be possible to have them talk to each other and strike a proper bargain," I tilt my head to the side in consideration, "Put one of them to sleep while the other stay awake, and she'd be golden."
"This would put her at risk-" the Jounin starts, red in the face, but I cut her once more and clearly ignoring Hiruzen's warning look.
"What you're proposing as a solution," I calmly answer, "Would cripple her. Especially now that the entity mixed its Yin into her body during the procedure."
Kurenai's jaws clamp shut.
"I wouldn't go so far as to pretend that I trust It," I continue more softly, looking at Yakumo's parents, "But It let me finish what I had started because It understood that what I was doing was good for her: It clearly wants for her to gets better, in its own way. Why wouldn't both of them be able to communicate with each other if they really wanted to?"
I pause once more, before shrugging lightly.
"And, in the end, I think that's the kind of discussion where we should wait for Yakumo's awakening to ask her what she thinks about it." I end up, almost flippantly.
"Well said, Torika-chan." the Hokage swiftly brings the discussion to an end, but not before throwing a stink-eye at Kurenaï beforehand, "We'll revisit our options once the Kurama heiress will be back from her slumber."
He tilts his head consideringly.
"How did it go, anyway? I'm afraid-" he pointedly looks at the Jounin, making her squirm, "-I didn't quite catch that."
I give him, then Yakumo's parents, a reassuring smile.
"It went well." I answer, "It was a bit touch and go when It possessed her, but, since It helped, she should be good to go for another strengthening treatment in a week's time. I give her a month before she can confidently step into the Academy and start to kick ass and take names."
The Professor huffs a laugh, slowly shaking his head, while the two Kurama gape at me-
-before rushing to Yakumo and I's position and try their best to hug the life out of me.
I slowly blink.
Uh.
When was the last time that someone hugged me, again?
…I don't remember.
[AN: We progress in the side-quest for a new fren, meeting someo- something unexpected along the way.
Oh, and an annoying Jounin, too.
Of course, having never seen the filler where Ido showed up, I'm having to eyeball its characterization. I hope it isn't too off-putting nor too off the mark.
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]