"So."

Shikaku leaned against the doorway.

"So."

Shikaku's eyes opened slightly as he stared at me. "Shikamaru's birthday is coming up soon."

It was?

I looked over the calendar, and noticed that yeah, it was.

Which meant that Ino's was only a day after.

Suddenly, his lack of sleep made sense.

"So it is."

Shikaku nodded, his mouth opening to say something- right before he suddenly froze, his eyes snapping open to look at me.

"Did you just talk!?"

"Of course not. Much like Jiraiya, you're just imagining things. And also much like Jiraiya, the voice you're not hearing inside your head is just another sign of your impending insanity, and is most definitely not a sign of me being able to speak."

"Oh, huh. I should probably go get that checked out."

"You probably should. But in all seriousness Shikaku, you're pretty slow this morning."

"Lots of complicated things going on. Not the least of which, Shikamaru's birthday."

"And Ino's the day after."

He... well, it wasn't quite a cringe, but it was somewhat close.

"Yeah... Inoichi has plans for that day."

Oh god.

"Oh. That's not good."

"No. No it is not."

Shikamaru slowly breathed in, his hands in the Rat handseal. His Chakra roiled underneath his skin, slowly bleeding out into the ground below him.

"That's it Shikamaru, keep it up." Shikaku spoke, uncharacteristically serious as he watched his son.

All three of us were in a special room in the Nara compound. And, by 'special', I meant that it was just like any other room in the Nara compound, except it had a variety of lights strewn about the place, lots of big, solid objects to cast shadows, and one very bright light at the ceiling.

In other words, a room that was perfect for casting large and dark shadows.

In yet more words, a room that was perfect for training the Nara's ability.

Currently, only the very bright light on the ceiling was on, shining down on Shikamaru, who was sitting on the floor. Shikaku stood to the right, halfway into the shadows. Neither of them would be able to see me if not for the soft blue light my eyes gave off, though both of them would have to look up to one of the shelves on the walls.

"I trust that you've kept up your studies? Specifically, you've come across Yin and Yang natured Chakra, correct?"

For a few moments, Shikamaru didn't do anything, before giving a slow nod.

"Good. The basics of shadow manipulation lie in the manipulation of Yin and Yang natured Chakra. Yin Chakra is used to give the shadows shape and form, and Yang Chakra is used to make them real, and eventually solid. For now, you will only need to manipulate Yin Chakra."

There was a shudder in the Darkness inside Shikamaru, one that coincided with Shikamaru's shadow becoming blacker in color.

Shikamaru slowly released a shuddering breath.

"Good. Now, I want you to try and extend it in front of you."

Slowly, very, very slowly, it did. And I couldn't help but notice that the ball of Darkness inside didn't change.

Why had it reacted when the technique had begun, but not when it was still ongoing?

There was more going on here than Shikaku -and Shikamaru- thought, but he wasn't wrong about what he said about the technique.

Shikamaru's shadow stopped extending only a few centimeters away from reaching the edges of the room, which made Shikaku smile.

"4.3 meters. Well done, when I first attempted this, I could only manage 4.12 meters. You can release the technique now."

Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief as he stopped channelling Chakra and his shadow returned to normal, before lazily collapsing backwards onto the floor.

"That's surprisingly exhausting."

Shikaku only laughed. "You'll get used to it."

Yohino's Heart was... currently being weird. Very weird.

I've never seen a Heart behave that way weird.

It was... pulsing, surging.

Gathering into itself. Darkness and Light being drawn together.

I looked deeper. And saw.

The Heart is splitting. Dividing into three pieces. One Greater Whole, and two slivers that will eventually become Hearts of their own.

Yoshino is pregnant with twins.

Oh. Huh.

This event is Remembered. Recorded in Memory. Tiny fragments of Memory escape into the slivers, which will chain the Hearts together. Linked together, eternally.

A Chain of Memories, one might say.

I quirked a smile.

"Feel any different?" I asked Yoshino.

"I can't say that I do."

Hmm.

"Well, you seem perfectly fine, your Memory is fine and all. Though you may or may not be pregnant with twins."

"Wait, what?" Yoshino asked.

"Was that a capitalization on memory, there?" Shikaku asked.

"You may or may not be pregnant with twins, and yes, it was."

Yoshino looked downwards at her stomach, but Shikaku continued with his line of questioning. "Why the capitalization?"

"Because Memory is important. And things that affect Memory can have many, rather drastic effects, up to and very much including Very Bad Things. If Memory were to be affected too drastically, like being truly lost, it could lead to death."

Actually, it could lead to the destructive collapse of a Heart, alongside alteration of reality. Not merely death, but worse than death.

A cessation of existence.

But that was a bit wordier, and required an explanation of Hearts, Souls, and the nature of existence to fully make sense of.

And I'd quite prefer that those particular pieces of knowledge weren't spread around. Mostly because, if they were, there was a considerable chance of somebody pulling an Xehanort. Which is just bad for everybody.

Literally everybody. If somebody pulls an Xehanort, everybody in every World across all of existence is going to suffer for it.

"What do you mean by 'truly lost'?"

"I mean exactly as I say. Memories may be forgotten, or concealed, but they are rarely ever truly Lost. When a Memory truly is lost, there are much greater consequences."

"Huh. I think I have an idea."

I waited for a few moments, before realising that Shikaku wasn't immediately going to share.

"So. Care to actually share your idea?"

I had an inkling of what he was planning.

I'd still rather prefer that he actually shared it.

"I was thinking about what you said about Memory. About how Memories are rarely lost, and terrible things happen when they are. Do you recall the time that I took you to the hospital, and we met with the Hokage while Naruto was injured?"

"I do, yes."

"Do you remember what the talk we had about the assailant, and how her memories were wiped?"

"I do, yes. And I also realise where you're going with this."

"Do you think you'll be able to recover those memories?"

"I can try."

I was, for the first time in... a fairly long time, actually, sitting on Shikaku's shoulder. To our left was Inoichi, who was currently escorting us. There was an ANBU following behind and slightly to the right of us, though he- she, actually, was invisible.

Together, the four of us were descending into the T department.

I was right, by the way. I actually had figured out the location of the T department.

We passed through a number of dark and foreboding hallways, pass an equally large number of ANBU, while we slowly made our way to one, specific, cell in the complex.

It was a rather nice cell, actually. Clean, fairly spacious, though the occupant was currently staring off into space, several medicinal tubes sticking into her body. She blinked, slowly, once every four seconds.

I couldn't help but notice how... lifeless she seemed. She wasn't; I could see her Soul and her Heart, and the simple presence of both meant that she was alive.

Her Soul looked... kind of fucked up, though. Scarred. Broken. Unnaturally hollowed.

Connected to the Body by the barest of strings.

And, much more concerning, almost completely severed from the Heart.

I could see the Memories in the Heart, how they were linked together, how they formed.

I could see the cut connections, the severances in Soul and Heart, but I was capable of fixing that.

"You might want to get prepared, Inoichi."

I jumped off of Shikaku's shoulder, on to the bed.

And then, guided solely by instinct, I reached into her Body and touched her Soul and Heart.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing. That was irrelevant, however, as I knew what I wanted to do, and my instinct would guide me enough to that much.

Gently, softly, I caressed the broken threads of connections, and, equally gently and equally softly, I stitched them back together. I tied Soul to Body, first, strengthening the connection into a more natural strength.

And, then, I re-tied Soul to Heart.

I abruptly became very aware of screaming, the prisoner writhing on her bed as she was restored, before settling back as her muscles violently protested her sudden movements.

Inoichi, however, was quite on the ball, his hand grasping her forehead, his Chakra already reaching into her.

A connection between two Souls springs into existence. On one side is the newly reforged and completely unrecovered Soul of the prisoner. On the other side; one of the greatest interrogators known, a master of mind manipulation.

There was no contest, the former's mind folded like a house of cards, and Inoichi wasted absolutely no time in tearing through her mind to find the memories he wanted.

Minutes passed. I drew back and made my comfortable on Shikaku's shoulder again. The ANBU from before had disappeared, which I presumed was to go tell the Hokage.

Inoichi's eyes snapped open, and he took a step back. Only a single word made it out of his lips, but the word was quite concerning, because I'd never heard Inoichi swear.

"Fuck!"

"What is it?" Shikaku asked, sharply.

Inoichi took only a moment to gather himself, but the next sentence out of his mouth still sent a lace of cold fear through everybody in the room.

"Iwa knows the identity of Naruto's father."