Chapter: 39

Anko led me right into a room with Hiruzen and, surprise surprise, a Yamanaka. The actual unexpected fact was that it was Ino's father, of all people, the one that was there. Ibiki stood to the side of the room, staring at me like he wanted to know all my secrets, which was probably exactly what was on the man's mind.

"So, let's see this solution of yours, ok, brat?" Anko asked, and I wasn't even surprised that everyone in the room already knew what I had told her. Either they had a way to listen to our conversation from a distance, or there had been someone listening in and reporting before we arrived.

"How do we do this?" I asked, grimacing as everyone turned to Inoichi.

"I know you don't like the idea, Eiji," The man spoke understandingly, the familiarity we had gained with each other after the last few years shining through. "Nobody likes having someone else in their mind."

"How do we do this?" I repeated, my face showing how seriously I took this. My mind was my own. And even if Inoichi was a master of mind-related things, I would do what I could to fight him if he tried anything. No matter how friendly we were with each other. So, if these bastards thought they could just ask me to reveal everything about me they could go fuck them-

'Breath,' I thought as I discreetly did just that, mentally counting to ten.

"Hm," Ibiki hummed from his corner. "You were getting angry," He pointed out. It wasn't a surprise that he had seen through me, really. "You do have some control over it. I still remember how out of it Anko was at the beginning."

"I thought so too," The woman herself commented. "But I don't remember well enough… I've tried to forget for a good while, after all. That's why I hadn't said anything about that."

"Anyway," Inoichi clapped, getting my attention back to him. "You said you have access to your mind?" He started with a small frown. "Can you explain that a bit more in depth?"

"I… don't know the theory of it… like, at all," I explained hesitantly. "But while I meditated a few years back. I… accessed this place in my mind. It took me some time to realize what it even was, but I started… working on it after a while. Looking through memories, organizing them… And protecting them, when I heard about your clan's specialty. No offense."

"None taken," The man reassured with a wave of his hand and a wry smile on his face. "Now, can you tell me..."

And from there, the conversation/interrogation continued for a while, with Inoichi asking more pointed questions about how the entering and being in the mindscape felt or how I had changed things and how I had tried to make the protections. He didn't ask for any of the details, which was a mild reassurance at best.

Maybe I was just paranoid, or maybe it was the Mark's influence, but I couldn't shake the thought that the man might have collected all he needed to get around my mind without me actually realizing. It was the kind of crazy shit that I couldn't help but expect of Jounin and higher ranks. The 'look underneath the underneath' mindset really made one jump at shadows a lot, I had come to realize.

"That..." Inoichi started, once I finished explaining what I had done with Orochimaru's presence due to the Cursed Mark and how I had, supposedly, separated him from the chakra the seal gave. Speaking of which, I hadn't even got a chance to look at the skill I had gotten, frustratingly enough. The man seemed at a loss for words, surprisingly enough.

"Is it possible?" The Hokage asked, speaking for the first time since I had arrived. A thoughtful frown on his face as he took a drag of his pipe. "We've been focusing on the seal side of the Mark since we first learned about it. Could we have dealt with it through the mind instead all this time?" He asked out loud and I was surprised that nobody had considered the approach… Although, I had only done so because I had access to my mindscape to begin with. And considering that the only marked person the Leaf had was Anko, they didn't have many chances for testing.

"It sounds… possible, at least," Inoichi answered, unsure. "Although, I would need to..." His eyes darting back to me told me everything I needed to know.

"See it, huh?" I asked with an uneasy smirk before sighing. I didn't know how Inner Strength would work if he entered my mind. I didn't know if I could stop him from seeing anything, or even be aware of anything. For a moment, I considered just entering my mindscape and destroying the ghost of Orochimaru. I had lied through my teeth and said that I couldn't. But I could also probably get away with actually doing it after some time passed and chalk it to not having enough time to properly try, what with the Second Test and all. Granted, I wasn't sure that I could kill the thing, but the point stood. "How would you go about doing that?" I asked instead.

I felt like I was being stupid. Some part of my mind was screaming at me not to be an idiot. That this was a mistake and that I should be trying my best to keep my secrets. That nobody could be trusted.

'But that's the Mark talking,' I countered and it was true… for the most part, at least. It was also true that I had been afraid of letting a Yamanaka into my mind since the beginning. However, I trusted these people. Ibiki not so much, but Anko, Hiruzen, Inoichi… I knew all of them, the latter two for more than a year. If I couldn't trust them… then I was already screwed to begin with.

"I can enter your mind with just a jutsu… And I could bring you with me. You can show me what you have done yourself," He added after sharing a look with the Hokage. "I won't look at anything else but this… ghost you mentioned and the purple chakra."

"That sounds… reasonable," I said, forcing every word.

"I get it, kiddo," Anko offered with a sympathetic expression. "But if he says he won't look at anything else, then it's true."

I gave her a small smile for reassurance. It didn't quite reach my eyes though, because a corner of my mind was realizing that… this was all a play, most probably. These people would probably go through with this even if I didn't give permission. They knew I was a danger now. They would have probably done this even if I had completely gotten rid of Orochimaru, if only to take a look at my mind and see how I had done so.

'There was no escaping this from the moment I was marked,' I thought bitterly. I didn't remember Sasuke having to do this, but then again, you don't see everything in the series. And even then…

'These are all excuses,' I chastised myself. Because I knew the truth. I had messed up. I had gotten greedy, or maybe the Mark had influenced me, or a combination of the two. But the point was, I shouldn't have said anything when I arrived at the tower. I should have left them to seal the Mark and be done with it. I wouldn't have gotten the power up, but at least I wouldn't have to do this.

"Let's do it then," I agreed as I straightened my back.

"Right then, let's get to it," Inoichi nodded and walked up to me.

Right as he brought his hands up and was about to start his jutsu, I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, I saw Anko behind me. I gave her a tight smile. There was no calming down from this for me, but the gesture was appreciated.

Turning back to the blond man in front of me, a part of my mind noted with interest that he wasn't using the iconic jutsu of the Yamanaka. But then again, I should have expected that, since that one was to possess someone and this was something different. Allegedly, at least. Once he finished the hand seals, he put his right palm firmly on my forehead with his fingers holding my head where it was.

Then, everything around me blurred and I felt myself go weak for a second.

The next moment, I was standing on my mindscape with Inoichi still with me. Anko's reassuring hand wasn't there anymore though. It was just the two of us.

"Right, where to first?" I asked tersely, already wanted it to be over.

"Show me what you did with the… Orochimaru presence," He replied and I appreciated that he went straight to the point, even if his eyes belied how interested he was in my mindscape. I'll admit though, it improved my mood a lot when the man yelped as the ground swallowed the two of us and we entered the Void representation.

Over the years, as I worked on my mindscape, I had taken a peek at it from time to time. It always made my breath quicken, my blood run cold and my hands sweat, but I could push through it. I wouldn't leave Inoichi alone in my mind, even if I had to put up with… this.

"What… What is this?" I heard him ask.

"The worst thing I can imagine," I answered, not looking at anything in particular, since there was nothing to see. Once you entered the Void, your senses disappeared. There was nothing to sense in there, after all. And that's exactly what I had created, even if it was in an actually restricted space. Once you were inside, it felt like there was nothing anywhere you looked.

'For now though...' I thought to myself, as I allowed Inoichi to see himself and me. I was shocked to see the man looking pale and visibly trying to calm himself. And when he looked at me, I understood. He was terrified. Whether it was of the Void or of me for creating such a thing, I didn't know.

"I've experienced some jutsu that block your sight, or your hearing, but… this… This is different," He said, his voice cracking. I didn't know what he was talking about. Anko had used those jutsu on me too, and it didn't feel that different. Although, maybe it was because this was all senses at the same time?

"We are here," I informed him once I had floated myself, and him too, until we were right next to the Presence. With a wave of my hand, I made it visible.

I grinned widely, pleased with myself, as I saw the Sannin trembling and gasping, letting out a whimper from time to time. He was a mess, to be honest. And considering what he had done and what he had put me through, I had no pity in me for such a man.

"Y-you... " The shade pointed at me with a shaking hand. "What… How…?"

"Having fun?" I asked with an amused expression. "Should have thought it through before you tried to mess with my mind, snake bastard."

"Please-" And then the Sannin went silent, as I forced my will on my mind.

"So? Verdict?" I asked.

"You are one scary kid, you know that, right?" Inoichi asked, staring at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.

"I've been told that before," I admitted, not really sure how to take his words. Was that supposed to be good or bad in this situation? Instead of expanding on that, the Yamanaka turned to Orochimaru's shade and seemed to look at it and the surroundings for a minute or so. I simply stood there, staring at both presences and doing my best not to turn my eyes to the Void.

"Let's see what you did with the chakra. It's the thing that I'm the most curious about since chakra isn't supposed to have a manifestation inside the mindscape at all," He told me and I frowned at that. Now, I was almost grateful for his presence. If chakra wasn't supposed to manifest, then what was the purple fire-like thing?

As I willed the two of us to move to where I had set the purple flame, I couldn't help but wonder if Inoichi could do this by himself. And that inevitable led to me wondering just what he could do to me while-

"Lots of things," The man said, making me pause, startled. He gave me a wry smile when I turned to him and blinked. "Most people have the same questions when we enter their minds… with permission, at least. And those usually are about what we can do. If we can do this, if we can do that. The answer is, we can do lots of things."

"I see."

"You have an impressive mindscape," He commented lightly. "Most people have something more… dream-like, if that makes sense to you. It looks almost normal but you can just tell that it's not actually real. They have less detail, most of the time. And even knowing that you've worked on it, the level of realism this has is something that not even some experienced Yamanaka I've known have."

"Thank you," I nodded to him, pleased that all those meditation sessions hadn't been for nothing.

"If I wanted to do something with this, I would try to change things without you realizing. Although subtle changes are the most difficult to make, those are also the most damaging, because the victim can't tell they happen at all. It would be like me changing the color of something or changing where something is."

"That makes it sound like my mindscape being so detailed is a bad thing," I pointed out, already making plans about how to change it into something much simpler.

"It sounds like that, doesn't it?" He admitted, and I focused intently on his words. "But no, because for someone else, small changes are a lot harder than big changes. Like using an axe to cut a silhouette out of a sheet of paper or using a wide brush to paint tiny things."

"I… see?" I replied with a confused frown.

"Let's say you had something simpler. Like a simple cubic room that's all white, yeah?" He tried again, with a patient smile that told me it wasn't the first time he had this type of conversation. When I nodded, he continued. "It would be much simpler to turn that white the faintest shade of grey, so that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. However, your mindscape has so much color and so many little details in it, that you would instantly notice if everything changed into one color or another."

"I think I get it," I nodded. It was a weird concept, at least to me. But I guessed things related to something as abstract as the mind wouldn't be simple. "And thanks for the explanation. I know there was no need for you to tell me all these."

"You are a friend, Eiji," Inoichi continued and I couldn't help but note that he sounded… tired. "I hate doing this kind of thing with friends. It always feels like an invasion of privacy. And that's because it is. No matter how many times I do it, or how close I am to someone. It always feels like that."

I stayed silent, wondering if there was a reason for his speech. I hadn't even asked anything, after all. And while I would call us friends, he was still more the father of a friend than an actual, close friend. I blinked as I processed that. 'For Ino,' I realized with a small smile.

"Don't worry," I voiced after a moment. "I won't hold this against Ino." If I hadn't been looking, I probably wouldn't have noticed the relaxing of his shoulders. "I still hate it though."

"Understandable," He nodded. "And thanks for the reassurance. You have been a wonderful friend to Ino, even if she complains about you most of the time. Noriko and I know that you are important to her."

"No problem."

"Good. On that note, I wanted to thank you for helping with her train-" I paused as Inoichi stopped mid sentence and turned to him. We had just arrived at the purple flame thing. "Eiji..." He started and I grew worried at the horror in his face. "That's not chakra."

Concerned, I turned to the fiery sight and tried to see where I had gotten it wrong. It was like fire, and that's how it had been pictured in the anime as far as I could remember. Not even my notes had anything about how it looked in the manga, so I assumed it was the same thing. So… what was this then?

"Eiji, I need you to do your best to contain this… thing," Inoichi ordered, sounding like he was trying his best to retain his calm. Instantly, I trapped the fire inside a cube of stone that I made as solid as I possibly could. After a moment, I started carving as intricate designs as I could, making sure to use Inoichi's advice from a moment ago. If this was as dangerous as the Yamanaka was leading me to believe, I didn't want anyone to even have a chance at messing with it in my mind.

"So… what is that?" I asked hesitantly.

"That… seemed to be a very corruptive element, as far as I could tell," Inoichi informed me, still visibly shaken by the thing. Which didn't fill me with much confidence, really, since that was in my mind. "If you see anything purple around your mindscape or if you see any of those gas-like bubbles that the thing had inside, make sure to check everything and make them disappear."

I nodded instantly, taking everything he said in as well as I could. Meanwhile, I continued working on the cube, making it more solid, making more details. I even made details inside the rock. Those were more difficult to do, but there would be no chances taken with this. And now that I knew how to better defend my mindscape… I would make it a fortress.

I suddenly felt violated. Just like the feeling I had heard people talk about when a thief entered their houses and such. It gave me a new insight into Naruto's experience with Kobu back on that first year. But the thing is, someone messing with something so private, so yours, is horrible. And my mind was the ultimate definition of that to me. Even more than for most people, I would bet. After all, my mind was the only thing I still had of my past life. It was the only thing that wasn't Eiji.

Even if I had accepted the fact that I was Eiji too now, there was something special about my first life. Something that I never wanted to lose, even if I didn't even remember most of it. It was important, and nobody would mess with it.

"It's… unfortunate, that I don't think you can get rid of either of them," Inoichi started explaining, unaware of the thoughts I was having, which was funny since we were in my mind. "At least, from what we've seen. The good news is that if they are contained well enough, they shouldn't be a problem. Orochimaru's shade is..." He trailed off, apparently uncomfortable and looking for the right words. "well contained," He seemed to choose. "As for this… thing," He signaled towards the now increasingly more solid and engraved stone cube. "You are doing a well enough job, I think," Inoichi nodded with a wry smile that confused me.

"Am I doing something wrong? Is there anything I could do to make this stronger?" I asked, prodding him for more tips. I would be damned if the Snake Bastard screwed me over with his stupid Mark. 'This thing better at least be worth all this trouble,' I thought to myself, annoyed. 'At least I didn't let this happen willingly. I would be very pissed off if that was the case.'

The worst part was that I had actually considered getting marked willingly, before promptly scartching that excedingly dumb idea.

"I don't think you realize how difficult it is to do… anything in someone's mindscape. Even for the people they belong to. The level of detail you can put on this, after so little time… is outstanding, to say the least. I don't think you'll ever have to worry about anyone messing with it, if you keep this up."

"Well, thank you. If not for the tips, I would have been happy with what I had," I told him, showing how grateful I was. "I'll have to work on this some more," I mumbled to myself as I continued working on the cube. Ideas about how to improve my mindscape as a whole already forming in my mind.

The man elected to simply shake his head at me.

[}-o-{]

Hiruzen PoV

"You are sure he's going to be ok?" Anko asked once her student had been sent to rest. Many would have been surprised at the amount of concern coming off of her, but those were simply the people that didn't bother looking deeper than the mask the woman decided to use. None of the people in the room were such individuals.

"I saw the influence the Mark left in his mindscape," Inoichi replied. "I'm 90% sure that he has it under control now."

"And that 10%?" The worried sensei shot back instantly.

"That's just because we are talking about Orochimaru's work," And that was enough answer for everyone present. His student was a notoriously crafty person when he wanted to, Hiruzen knew that very well. "Still, that kid's mind is a fortress. Even I wouldn't want to try and do anything in it, especially something major. But after the tips I gave him? I would need an entire team of Yamanaka to try and do anything, when he is done making changes."

And if that wasn't the biggest praise the Hokage had heard directed at the young Satou, then he didn't know what was. A fact that was made even more significant if one considered that said child had the attention of at least half the Shinobi Council, Danzo and the village leader himself. But the mind arts were a field that many struggled to even understand, let alone work with. Inoichi was the person that knew the most on that particular subject and to hear that a Genin's mind would be out of his league was surprising, no matter how promising and prodigious said Genin was.

"So, what do you think about the current problem?" Hiruzen asked Inoichi.

"It should be under control," The Yamanaka Clan Head reassured. "As I said, he should be perfectly fine from here on. I would like to, however, do regular checks on his mindscape with him, to make sure that it is still as under control as I think it is."

"A reasonable measure," The Hokage nodded.

Soon afterwards, he dismissed everyone present.

He had a more important meeting with Danzo to attend to. After all, Orochimaru's presence inside the village and at such a time couldn't be overlooked.