Eight months after the chunin exams Sasuke is recovered and Team 7 is regrouped and sent on a mission, where they meet a new enemy called Mind Master. Naru is hit by his jutsu and collapses. She had been locked in her mind and much longer she will die. Jiraiya uses an open seal on her mind and Team 7 journeys into her mind and try to free her. But Naru's mind is a maze of her best and worst memories, her feelings, likes, dreams and fears. One wrong move can kill them. No amount of training can prepare them for their most dangerous place they ever have, a mind.

Maindo gēmu

Summary: Eight months after the chunin exams Sasuke is recovered and Team 7 is regrouped and sent on a mission, where they meet a new enemy called Mind Master. Naru is hit by his jutsu and collapses. She had been locked in her mind and much longer she will die. Jiraiya uses an open seal on her mind and Team 7 journeys into her mind and try to free her. But Naru's mind is a maze of her best and worst memories, her feelings, likes, dreams and fears. One wrong move can kill them. No amount of training can prepare them for their most dangerous place they ever have, a mind.

Chapter 1: Visit.

A young girl with golden colored hair that was short in the back reaching to the top of her neck and hung down the sides of her face while the front was held back by a blue hitai-ate with a metal plaque that bore a swirled leaf shape with a swirl in the middle. She had soft cobalt blue eyes and flawless tan skin that almost glowed. She wore a orange, blue and white top with an olive green vest over it and midnight blue short shorts with mesh underneath them and thigh high black boots that had open toes and heels. She walked down the hospital hall that reeked of bleach and chemicals and were a light blue shade. Many doors were open which gave the ability for her to see the people that were taking residence in the rooms whether as patients or visiting them.

She came to a door where a tall, built anbu stood outside the door at attention. She walked up and nodded her head at him which he curtly returned granting her permission to enter. She grabbed the handle and let out a shaky breath before opening the door slowly and stepped inside. She scanned the room and found the single bed that was occupied by her teammate, friend and rival who seemingly was asleep but she and everyone knew better, especially since he had been 'sleeping' for seven months. Three machines were set up next to the bed that were hooked to the boy giving the various doctors and nurses his status each time, steady beeping and hissing emitted from the machines which were the only noises in it currently. On the other side between the bed and window sat a man who when standing was fairly tall, even sitting he had that aura that despite his relaxed stature he could kill you in a heartbeat if you were a threat. He wore a navy blue shirt that was baggy and had it's long sleeves rolled up nearly to his elbows and had red circles with a spiral in them on each arm, a olive green vest much like her own over that shirt. The shirt traveled up his neck and reached to the matching color material that covered the lower part of his face. He had matching color, baggy pants that were closed off above his ankles due to the white bandages that were wrapped around them and down to his open toed and heel blue sandals. On his hands were finger-less blue gloves with plain metal plaques on the top and were folded over slightly. He too wore a hitai-ate on his head bearing the same symbol but his was tilted down to the left covering his left eye completely leaving only his right steel gray eye that had a natural hooded and almost bored look to them. His most notable feature was his gravity-defying silver hair that jutted up and slightly to the side which many teased he gelled every single morning to get it's shape.

He was perched in the chair right next to the bed and side table that was littered with multiple flowers, many of which were starting to wilt and die. In the man's hand was a familiar and somewhat infamous bright orange book with a red 'no' symbol on the back and a drawing of a woman running with a smile and a man chasing her.

She walked in fully and shut the door quietly behind her and stepped forward tentatively and began to chew her bottom lip. The man in the chair looked up at her and stayed totally silent which in turn unnerved her and made her shift some more in place. It had been nearly a month since she last saw him and he didn't say single word to her, which of course was pretty normal, unless he was scolding he was a man of few words, he was a wallpaper in simple terms, he could appear and disappear as much as he liked. Which is maybe why he clicked so well with the boy in the bed, both were reserved and mysterious, of very few words and were serious about their ninja careers.

She stepped forward and looked at her teammate and sighed in sadness at his image, his once full blue-black hair was lifeless and dull, his fair skin was sickly pale with purple bags under his eyes, his soft lips were chapped and broken from dehydration. His narrow face was sunken in more due to his weight loss, he in simple terms was a shell of the boy she knew. Her hands balls up in fists staring at him until she felt the trickle of blood from her nails digging into her palms. It broke her heart and at the same time put a fire in it to see him like this.

"Anything?" Her soft raspy voice finally said, she looked up at the man who sighed and shifted in his chair

"No. nothing." He said, she gulped and sighed again. "Seven months and still nothing." He said.

Seven months, it didn't seem possible to her. Seven months ago their seemingly good life was ripped apart by one man and so far it seemed like it would never be repaired.

She and her teammates were recommended for the chunin exams. A series of tests given to ninja that would make them prove they were worthy to get a higher rank and better missions. There was usually three parts, a written, a survival and finally a tournament. Each test had it's own test in it that would determine if they had the makings of chunin. And her team; 7, was recommended despite the fact that they had only been a team for six months, most of the others were forced to wait for a year or more. But her classmates were exceptional and their team sensei's believed they were ready.

So they were sent into the exams, all taking the written exam that was a mind game to weed out the weak, which didn't break them. So they were moved on to a five day survival test in an arena nicknamed 'The Forest Of Death', it was filled with giant, deadly animals, poisonous bugs and plants, and of course the other teams that were out for their own goals. They had to obtain two scrolls a Heaven and Earth scroll, make it to the center tower with both scrolls and the whole team within five days. During those five days, near the end, a man attacked her team and proved he wasn't who he said he was, he beat them all and was targeting her teammate who he decided to place a curse mark on his body so in the future he could control and use him as he pleased. But his plan didn't work, the mark didn't fully take, it weakened the boy greatly but they managed to make it to the tower in time.

And much to the shock of everyone 18 genin made it through, so they decided to have a preliminary round pairing them off in fights, a battle to the end, of either death or an inability to fight anymore. The biggest shift was teams were no longer required so if someone wanted to quit they could, of course no one did. So when her teammate's match was up, he headed to the center to battle but suddenly collapsed screaming in agony and began to convulse, so they rushed the boy to the hospital instantly making his match end in his opponent's favor.

In the end only eight genin made it through and were given a two month break to rest, heal and train as much as they wanted for the final tournament.

At the end she and her other teammate rushed to his side only to be told he was in critical condition and slipped into a coma and it was undetermined when or even if he would wake again. Determined to right the wrongs she took training seriously, she met a man who was known as a sannin, he gave her the training she needed and he was shocked to find her true potential. She never took a break, she pushed herself to the breaking point, solely determined to continue in the exams for her teammate. Once the tournament came she was stronger than she had been before and was ready, she was paired against a bloodthirsty, psychotic ninja from Sunagakure who terrified his own teammate which were his older siblings. The boy was crazy, he doesn't spare anyone, he slaughters anyone who looks or even breathes wrong in his direction.

Her match was the third match and it totally wrong. The boy turned out to be what's known as a jinchuuriki. Which was a human that was basically turned into a jail for large chakra beasts known as Biju, that could cause mass destruction with a swipe of their tail. There were nine of these beasts in total, and the way to tell which one was which, they each had a certain number of tails from one to nine. The boy held number one while she held number nine.

During the match he lost control and fully transformed into his full biju state and began to destroy everything, so despite being told not to by her trainer she tapped into his Biju's power and took the boy down saving the everyone and the village.

After that her life took a turn for the good, because of her rank of being a jinchuuriki as well everyone in her village shunned and hated her. Up until the age of 12 she had no idea why, but finally was told and began to fight harder to prove to them she wasn't a monster. And after this exam that came true, people applauded her, included her in things now and showing her attention and love in a way. It got even greater when it was announced she and another one of her classmates were being promoted to the rank of chunin. So she took on better mission and trained others and began to make a better name for herself, but she never forgot who got her there and that was her teammate.

"Do you have another mission?" Her sensei's voice pierced her thoughts, she blinked and sighed looking at him.

"Yeah, the land of Marsh, missing people." She muttered and sighed.

"How long?"

"I take off in an hour, suppose to last for a month." She said and sighed.

"Team?"
"No. solo." She said and shifted her weight. This is the way it had always been between them, she liked and looked up to his man, but there was always some distance between them. They joked and hung out and trusted each other with their lives but it still wasn't natural. But she couldn't deny at least in her mind she couldn't, that she had a crush on him and she hoped maybe someday he'd see her as a woman not his cute little student. But that was in the future and the only thing that mattered now was her mission and the health of her teammate.

"I gotta go." She said and stepped up. "Bye Sasuke, get better." She muttered and squeezed his hand gently before pulling away unable to take the feeling of his semi-cold hand. "See ya Kakashi-sensei." She said.

"Bye Naru." He replied, she nodded and walked out quickly before stopping down the hall away from others and let out shaky breaths and whimpered. 'Dammit... dammit.' She thought biting her lip until blood slipped from her lip, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly regaining her composure before she walked from the empty hall and out of the office nodding at others heading to her apartment to gather her supplies and head out on this B-rank mission, which for some reason she had a horrible feeling for.