"Talking"
"SHOUTING/SCREAMING/YELLING"
'Thoughts'
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast Talking"
'Tailed Beast Thinking'
Sound Effects
Date Time
Location
[Flashback]
]
Chapter 8
]
Yakumo's Mindscape
As the Minotaur's head fell to the ground, Misa slithered some meters back and waited in case Ido had setup some resurrection scheme, but when the corpse showed no signs of doing that she glanced back at her friend for confirmation.
"It's dead," Yakumo confirmed, her golden bow dematerializing into a shower of light, "Nice work Misa."
"Same to you," The purple haired replied as she deactivated both 'Scarlet Slash' and 'Lamia Transformation', "I honestly thought it will be a lot tougher to take down." She expressed with a bit of relief.
"That's because Ido isn't at full power," Yakumo stated as the Minotaur's corpse disintegrated into dust and was blown away by some nonexistent wind, "If she was, resurrection would probably have been included along with an elemental attack."
"… That sounds terrifying," Misa admitted with a shiver, "If the two of you were to team up I don't think even a Yamanaka could win in here."
"Anyone with complete dominance over their mind can repel any Yamanaka," The Heiress pointed out, "But since most individuals don't train mentally-"
"Their minds can easily be screwed with," The Mitarashi finished before the two as whole stared at the white dome not too far away from them, "So… Who's winning?" Misa asked.
Yakumo concentrated, "I-I can't tell," She frowned, "The atmosphere is charged with an abundance of chakra, an amount which Ido shouldn't have to access to."
This got the purple haired thinking, 'If Naruto's chakra is sealed and Ido's restricted, where is the excess chakra coming from,' A single being came to mind and the mere thought of he being present resulted in a few beads of sweat appearing on her forehead, "Yakumo!"
"Yes?"
"We have to hurry or Ido may end up dead."
The Heiress blinked at her words, 'Ido dead? But Naruto can't kill… Kyubi!' Having come to the same conclusion, she gave a nod and the two raced towards the dome.
With no further obstacles they arrived in record time and Yakumo stretching out a hand, opened up a hole from which they entered only to stop as they gazed upon the sight before them.
CLANG!
Clank!
Clang!
Clank!
Clang!
Clank!
Clang!
Clank!
Clang!
Clank!
Clang!
CLANK!
"Heaven's Strike!"
"Crimson Thrust!"
BOOM!
The fiery aura around Naruto confirmed Misa's fears, 'Oh no!' Turning to her friend who was still awestruck at the battle, the taller girl immediately gave out an order, "Yakumo stop them now!"
"A-ah right!" Snapping back to attention, the brunette did just that, "Shackling Chains!"
Before Ido and Naruto (Kurama) could clash once more, numerous chains sprouted out of the ground and restrained them, "What/Huh?" Both cried before realizing that they weren't alone anymore.
"Tch!" Clicking her teeth, Ido disarmed herself knowing that it was futile to continue.
Seeing that his opponent had given up, Kurama dispelled his spear and relinquished control back to Naruto, 'You deal with them.' The fox said as the Uzumaki regained his body.
Giving the fox his thanks, the Uzumaki felt his restrains vanish before a purple missile slammed him to the ground and began fussing over him.
"You okay?" Misa started as her eyes roamed down his body in search of injuries, "No missing eyes, ears or teeth- Why is there a bloody tear on your jacket?"
"It's okay Misa," The Jinchuriki tried to keep her calm, "Kurama has already taken care of it."
"Taken care of it?" Her yellow eyes wandered from his chest to the pool of blood not too far away, "Ido slashed you," The purple haired realized, "You were dying weren't you?"
The redhead opened his mouth then closed it before sighing, "Yes." He answered truthfully, "I fell for a trick of hers and got slashed across the chest." Opening his eyes, Naruto looked upwards but found the Mitarashi's face to be obstructed by her hair, "Misa?"
"It's all my fault," She muttered as control over her emotions began slipping, "My actions led to this. I almost got you killed."
"No! No! None of this is your-"
"YES IT IS," The purple haired screamed, "I'm the one who invited you here without informing you about Ido, I'm the one who didn't anticipate her trying to kill you-"
"ENOUGH!" Naruto yelled while grabbing her by the shoulders, "Don't go blaming yourself over another party's misunderstanding!"
The girl blinked, "Misunderstanding?"
The Uzumaki nodded, "Ido thought I was sent by the 3rd Hokage to harm Yakumo," The gasp which escaped the older girl surprised him, "It seems you didn't know."
Misa shook her head, her expression turning melancholic, "Why would she keep it away from me? If I have known…"
"She probably did want to add more to your plate," The Jinchuriki guessed, "but at this stage I think we all need to stop keeping secrets."
Glancing to her right where Yakumo and a restrained Ido could be seen glaring at each other, Misa found herself nodding, "I'm in."
"Good," Naruto smiled before staring at the part of him the Mitarashi was currently sitting on, "Now I don't mind but," A faint blush appeared on his cheeks, "Can you stop saddling me?"
Realizing the position that she was in, Misa gained a mischievous look and grinded herself against the Jinchuriki before getting off.
Suppressing both a moan and his junior, Naruto stood up and looked off to the side ignoring the purple haired who was currently grinning, "Time for some answers?"
"Indeed."
]
Some Minutes Ago
As Naruto was tackled by Misa, Yakumo made her away over to the restrained demon and leveled her with a glare which was promptly returned, "This wasn't what we agreed on."
"Well you didn't anticipate him knowing about my existence!" Ido retorted.
"True," The Heiress admitted, "Misa did say he knew a lot of things that our generation is ignorant of… He pointing out your existence proves it, but it doesn't warrant a death sentence!"
"…" The demon looked away and it made the Heiress sigh.
"So what do you think of him?" The brunette finally asked, "Do you think he is one of them?"
"… No," The lookalike answered, "As he was bleeding to death, he showed confusion at being called one of them."
Yakumo shook her head at the confession, "So you were trying to kill him."
"I wasn't in the right frame of mind and his demon interfered so it's all good." Ido defended.
"… Couldn't you tell who his demon was?"
A frown formed, "Didn't get a name but he's strength is equal to mine."
Yakumo sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm, "Ido, that's wasn't a mid tier demon like yourself."
"Then what was he?"
"That was the Kyubi no Kitsune! The very one who attacked Konoha!" The Heiress watched as her lookalike froze up in both shock and horror, "Now do you realize that he was just toying with you because if he wasn't, you would have been a goner!"
"Ouuu."
A pathetic cry came from the demon as she fell to her knees, her skin becoming even paler than usual.
Yakumo paid her no attention as she focused on the two individuals who were approaching, "You okay Naruto?" She questioned the male, her tone one of concern, "If Ido dealt you any serious injuries, I can get rid of them."
"No need," The redhead turned down her offer, "Kurama," Ido flinched at the name, "already patched me up, but there is something we want to ask you."
The Heiress nodded, "and that is?"
Naruto glanced at Misa who stepped up, her melancholic look still in place, "Why didn't you tell me that you were being targeted?"
Yakumo suddenly looked apologetic, "I didn't want you doing something stupid."
"Stupid?"
"Like storming the Hokage's office or keeping watch over me… you have your own life to live."
"…How long?"
"Huh?"
"How long have you been targeted?" Misa clarified.
The brunette avoided eye contact, "About a year." She muttered.
"A YEAR!" The purple haired slapped a hand over her forehead, "That long and I didn't notice."
"Sorry."
"It's okay," Misa sighed, "I should have paid more attention."
"You still wouldn't have noticed," All eyes went to Ido who was still restrained by Yakumo's chains, "When cleaning up, I always make sure to be thorough so that even Yakumo herself won't be able to tell that there was an attempt."
"But she seems to know about it now." Naruto pointed out.
"That's because the last attempt was made by a mind walker."
"A Yamanaka?"
Ido nodded, "Once he took over Yakumo's body, her mind was sent here so I ended up having to explain."
"Naturally I wasn't happy about it," The Heiress took over, "and after we had ejected him out of my body, I had Ido inform me about the past three attempts."
"There were three more!" Misa mourned as Naruto patted her on the shoulder.
"What happened to the Yamanaka?" The redhead asked of the Heiress, "Was he caught?"
A negative headshake, "He had already fled by the time I regained consciousness and his tracks were well covered."
"What about the past three attempts?" Misa found her voice, "Were any of them caught?"
"Yes, they were," Yakumo answered a bit nervously, "But they weren't really all there."
"Huh?" Her statement confused the two.
"What she means is that I broke their minds," Ido stated without remorse, "I don't regret it but," She looked away from the Jinchuriki, "You were innocent and I nearly did it to yours so I'm sorry for that."
"YOU WHAT!" The purple haired pounced, but Naruto was quick to grab her by the waist.
"Apology accepted," The Uzumaki stated as he held back the enraged Mitarashi, "So once their minds were broken what then did you do with them?" He asked the lookalike, continuing the conversation as if he wasn't holding back his irritated love interest.
"Nothing," Ido answered and her answer made Misa to cease her struggles.
"What do you mean nothing?" The purple haired emphasized.
"By 'nothing' I mean that before I could give out commands, they slumped over and died with their bodies decomposing at an alarming rate."
"ROOT," Naruto realized, "They are ROOT agents."
"Root?" Yakumo titled her head, "Don't you mean the ANBU?"
"No," The Uzumaki denied before he went on to explain, "ROOT is a secretive branch of the ANBU founded by Danzo Shimura some time after the 2nd Hokage's death. Their members are usually promising orphans picked up from the streets or orphanages where their absence won't be documented or investigated. They, like the ANBU, are considered the dark side of Konoha's Shinobi force, but unlike the latter they only answer to the elder."
The Heiress raised a brow, "Why hasn't the Hokage done anything about this private army? I'm sure there's an article in the Konoha charter about individuals or clans amassing military might."
Misa scoffed drawing the two's attention, "The mummy man probably has some dirt on the old monkey, that's why he is free to do as he pleases."
"I see," The brunette frowned, "It seems my opinion of the 3rd just keeps sinking."
This got Naruto curious and so he asked, "What made you have a bad opinion of him?"
The second this question left his lips, the emotions of all three females took a turn with Misa frowning, Yakumo flinching and Ido growling. Seeing that he had stepped on landmine, Naruto opened his mouth to apologize, but Yakumo stopped him with a raised hand.
"I will tell, but first we have to return to real world as it's quite a tale." Receiving a nod, the Heiress turned to Ido and focused on the chains restraining her, "Vanish."
Swish!
Now free, Ido got up to her feet and dusted herself, "Looks like I will have to tidy up." She noted the damage done to her part of the mindscape, "Head on you three, I will catch up later."
"You do that," Gesturing to both Naruto and Misa to draw closer, Yakumo placed a hand on each of their shoulders and in a flash of light, they were gone leaving the demon all alone.
"Hmm," Ido glanced at the pool of blood a couple feet away and walked over to it, "I wonder what he tastes like?" Crouching down on her knees, she dipped a finger into the pool and bought it to her lips, "Itadakimasu!"
The moment she tasted the red fluid, her eyes shot open as lightning coursed through her body locking it in place, "What is this?" She whispered, her yellow orbs staring at the reddish pool as if it was some miracle drug.
]
Academy
S.C Naruto and S.C Misa relaxed themselves as they felt their chakra supply switch back to the boss, their mood brightened even further when Mizuki closed his text signaling the end of his class and the school day.
"Don't forget to do your homework on chapters 10 and 11, it's due next week and defaulters," The Chunin took a glance at S.C Naruto, "will be having detention!"
The two shadow clones narrowed their eyes, 'He's planning something.'
Mizuki grabbed his texts and left, but just before any student could rise up and follow, their homeroom teacher walked in.
"Settle down everyone," Iruka told the entire class, "I still have to announce the results of the Tournament," Whispers rose but a stern glare from the Chunin silenced them, "As usual I will only announced the Top 3 in both categories. If you don't hear your name then you have to head outside and check the Announcement board."
Producing a notepad from his side pocket, Iruka flipped a page and started, "3rd Place on the Male Category with 81 points – Naruto Uzumaki," This earned a couple of grumbles, but no one protested as they all knew that he earned it, "2nd Place with 83 points – Kiba Inuzuka," Said male frowned at his ranking having once again lost to, "1st Place with 87 Points – Sasuke Uchiha."
As expected the Uchiha Fanclub went ballistic while the target of their affections looked anywhere but them.
"QUIET!" Iruka boomed via his Big Head Jutsu and the girls went silent, "Moving on," The scarred chunin glared at a couple of the girls as he flipped another page, "Now for the Female Category, 3rd place with 80 points is Ino Yamanaka," The platinum blond frowned as she realized that she had dropped from her previous spot, "2nd Place with 82 points is Sakura Haruno-"
"WHAT!" Ino screeched before standing, "Didn't Misa knocked out her like in 2 seconds flat! How come she gets 2nd place for that?"
"Because," The Chunin glared slightly at the Yamanaka causing her to wilt, "She was the only one who made it to the Semis without her opponent forfeiting the match!" Realizing that it was true, the mind walker sat back down and sulked. Noting that she won't be trying anything else, Iruka continued, "Tying at 1st Place with 89 points each are Misa Mitarashi and Hinata Hyuga."
A deafening silence descended upon the class as the fact that Hinata now had an actual contender sunk in. Several individuals gazed towards the back row and were now sizing up S.C Misa for any sign of weakness they could take advantage of.
Said shadow clone noticed these stares and puffed out her chest in pride like how the Boss had seen the original do a couple of times, 'Bring it!'
'Don't overdo it now,' The Naruto shadow clone besides her warned via the network, 'Misa won't be happy if half the class decides to be hostile.'
'Too late,' She gestured to a group of girls who were already sending some heated glares at her.
'Crap.'
]
Art Room, Yakumo's Manison
Once all three were seated on some wooden chairs round a circular table, Yakumo cleared her throat and faced Naruto, "Before I begin, I will like to know what you already have already gathered about my clan's bloodline limit."
The Uzumaki nodded and started reciting what he knew, "First, it's a recessive trait that manifests once every few generations. The child who manifests this trait will have an incredible talent for genjutsu that surpasses the likes of veteran practitioners. Also, the genjutsu is so powerful that it convinces the brain to think that what happened in the illusion actually occurred in reality-"
"That's enough," Yakumo interrupted him as she felt a bit overwhelmed by how much he knew, "Now," She leaned back and placed her hands over her clothed thighs, "As you already suspected I'm one of the prodigious children that appear once a few generations and usually it's a thing of pride for the clan but my illness… ruined all that. My parents were certain that I will never become a shinobi as I had been denied from enrolling at the academy, but once they heard that said academy took in a student with a chakra disability-"
'Rock Lee.' Naruto thought.
"They promptly visited Lord Hokage and insisted that I too be enrolled into the Academy. The Hokage agreed on the condition that I first be tutored by a promising Chunin and that if I show significant performance he will back my enrollment. My parents accepted and once I turned twelve, Kurenai Yuki was assigned my temporary sensei." Eyes closed, the brunette pointed to a portrait on the far edge of the eastern wall, "That's her."
Squinting his own eyes, the Jinchuriki had a look and found a beautiful raven haired female in her early to mid 20s… with a spear of lightning going through her chest, "I see." Was all he could say.
Misa gave him a look of understanding while Yakumo went on as if nothing was wrong about said portrait, "The first few weeks I showed promise and she was delighted by it, but once we went pass the basics my illness started to hinder my progress. You know the 7 tests done as part of the Continuous Assessment?"
"100m dash, Sparring, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Kunai/Shuriken Throw, Obstacle course and Long distance run." The redhead answered.
The Heiress nodded then looked away in shame, "At the time I could only perform one of those tests."
'Ouch!' Naruto winced, 'To be considered for Graduation one has to be proficient in at least 4.'
"Kurenai-sensei eventually got fed up and introduced me to the Academy 3 where I performed reasonably well. Encouraged we tackled Genjutsu and that's where it started going wrong."
A red brow was raised, "But according to Misa you're great at genjutsu." The Jinchuriki pointed out.
"I'm now," The Heiress clarified, "but back then I couldn't perform a single illusion."
The Uzumaki found it tough to believe, "Why?"
"Ido wasn't around then," Misa answered in her friend's place, "On the surface, most will think she's either a demon possessing Yakumo or just a split personality, but we suspect that Ido is either a representation or a manifestation of Yakumo's unique ability and the fact that Yakumo couldn't perform mind blowing illusions at the time adds weight to it."
"I have asked Ido if she knows what she actually is," Yakumo took over from her friend, "But my lookalike doesn't actually know what she is, only that she one day appeared in my mindscape and that we should think of her as my inner demon."
'Kurama,' The redhead called out to the tailed beast residing in his gut, 'What do you think?'
"I agree with the girls, their theory of the demon being a representation of her ability is the most plausible."
Nodding, Naruto turned back to the Heiress, "So how were you able to awaken your bloodline?"
"Kurenai-sensei speculated that if I experienced a genjutsu then it might spark something in me, so she began placing me under all sorts of illusions. It started small such as inverting my senses, fighting off sleep, talking walls and disappearing objects, but when I still failed at casting illusions she decided to do something drastic."
The 14 year old sighed at the bad feeling in his gut, "What did she do?" He still asked.
"She casted 'Demon Illusion: Hellish Nightmare' and I instantly blacked out."
This earned a couple blinks from the male, "Are you sure that's genjutsu she casted on you? Because I'm pretty sure that one doesn't makes its target black out, at least not instantly."
"Yes, I'm sure," Yakumo insisted a bit forcefully, "I blacked out and by the time I regained consciousness I found my sensei on her knees bleeding all over while staring at me like I was the damn Shinigami with a wrecked training ground as a backdrop!"
Misa got up and went over to the brunette's side, enveloping her in a calming hug, "Feeling better?" The taller girl inquired.
"Yeah," She exhaled a couple breaths before facing Naruto, "Sorry for the outburst." She apologized with a bow of her head.
"No no," The redhead waved his hands, "It's my fault for questioning you and," He took a glance at the time, "We should probably stop here as it's almost time for lunch."
Misa nodded her agreement, "We can continue after lunch right Yakumo?"
"But I'm almost at the-"
Grooowwwl
Cheeks gaining a rosy blush, Yakumo relented as the two gave her knowing grins, "After lunch then."
]
Ido's Domain, Yakumo's Mindscape
Done ingesting all of Naruto's blood she could find lying around, Ido conjured up a plain looking mat and sat down seiza pose before closing her eyes.
Her thoughts focused on the sensation which assaulted her when she tasted the first drop of the Uzumaki's blood. Never in her experience of consuming blood had that happened and the demon was determined to find out why.
'I wonder what his blood holds,' Isolating a portion of some of his blood in her system, Ido split it into two factors, 'Namikaze and Uzumaki huh.' Curious about the first, she selected the yellow factor and cracked it open revealing several individual components.
'Let's see… Blond hair, Blue eyes, Wind affinity, Agility, Prodigy, Born leader, Charisma… nothing here is really worthy assimilating.' She closed 'Namikaze' back and reached out for 'Uzumaki' but the red factor showed a bit of resistance, 'Bingo!'
Having sampled the blood of 4 different persons, 3 being intruders trying to kidnap Yakumo and the remaining being Misa when she slept over, Ido had came across several factors and the ones who were 'Tough nuts' were more rewarding with the 'Shadow Control' which she assimilated from the 2nd intruder being a key example.
Applying more pressure, the demon finally succeeded in cracking the red factor open, 'Hmm… Red hair, Water affinity, Massive chakra, Longevity, Stamina Freak, Fuinjutsu-prone, Familial bond, Chakra manipulation, Catalyst… That's a lot.' Ido realized, 'Add in his demon and this kid is going to be a monster.'
Taking another look, the Yakumo lookalike started categorizing what was useful to her ambitions and what was not , 'No need red hair or water affinity, Massive chakra will mess with our prefect chakra control, no to fuinjutsu as we have no interest, familial bond… The clan practically gave us the boot so that's going to be the shelf for now.'
She moved on to the more profitable ones, 'Longevity and Stamina freak are somewhat similar to Misa's 'Ideal body' so they won't work until our illness has been taken care of.' The demon also shelved them, 'Chakra manipulation is definitely that Shade style bloodline so I can't assimilate it, but what's this 'Catalyst'?' Ido pondered on the last one, 'It sounds important, but there is nothing here that says what it is actually does.'
After thinking it over for quite some time, Ido decided to take it, 'Never know when it might come in handy.'
It wasn't until sometime in the future that she realized how beneficial 'Catalyst' was to her.
]
Council Chambers, Hokage Tower
Hiruzen let out a tried sigh as he listened to rambling of a Civilian councilman, 'Why did I agree to this meeting again?' His eyes wandered to his former teammates, the Three Elders, 'Ah yes, that's the reason.'
When Kana-chan had informed him of a council meeting scheduled for the Afternoon, the 3rd Hokage felt something was up because the last meeting was just held yesterday and the next one wasn't until the end of the week.
Upon questioning, the secretary explained that it was called by the Elders after receiving complaints from concern individuals about certain actions which were enforced by his office.
Knowing that they may try to derail his plans which were already bearing fruit, Hiruzen decided to attend.
And the topic of the meeting was what he expected…
"What is that 'girl' doing at the academy?"
"Isn't she's dangerous!"
"Putting her alongside with the Uzumaki is just asking for something to happen!"
"Weren't the Children exposed to enough danger as it was?"
Ignoring the Civilian half of the council, Hiruzen turned his attention to the Shinobi half and was relieved to find that they had no issues with the Mitarashi's enrollment, 'Good good,' He turned to the Three Elders and took in their stoic expressions with a raised brow, 'That's a surprise.'
Since they were the ones to call the meeting, he honestly expected them to have some objections but since the start they've kept silent and were just content to watch.
'I will have some ANBU tail them, although it won't work on Danzo.' He remembered 'ROOT'.
"For that reason I put forward the motion-"
"Enough!"
The single word silenced even the sounds of breathing, facing the Civilian half as they were the ones who seemed offended; the 3rd Hokage offered them a simple solution.
"If you're worried about your child's safety then I suggest pulling them out of the academy."
"… Huh?"
"Meeting adjourned!" Before the Civilian half could regain themselves, Hiruzen closed proceedings and headed towards the double doors with the Shinobi half of the council right behind him.
"What a waste of time," Tsume, Clan Head of the Inuzuka growled, "I could have spend that hour tending to Kuromaru."
"Same," Shibi, Clan Head of the Aburame agreed, "My Hive is also in need of some TLC." He ignored the look the Female Clan Head gave him.
"I'm going to take a nap," Shikaku, Clan Head of the Nara yawned.
"Won't that land you in trouble with your wife again?" Inochi, Clan Head of the Yamanaka asked.
"Troublesome."
"Hohoho," Choza, Clan Head of the Akimichi placed meaty hands on the two's shoulders, "How about some lunch then, she can't possibly be mad at that."
"… He's does have a point." Inochi pointed out.
A sign escaped the Nara's lips, "Fine."
Hiashi, Clan Head of the Hyuga stuck to himself and headed towards the Hyuga Estate, 'A report came in, but I prioritized this meeting above it… I need to reflect.'
As the Clan heads departed, the Three Elders – Homura, Koharu and Danzo shared a look among themselves before they stood up and made their own exit, leaving the dismayed members of the Civilian council behind.
]
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Chapter 9
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