Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Colors of Life and Death ❯ Twins ( Chapter 15 )

Ishindenshin no Jutsu= Mind Join Technique

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Sakura woke up from her latest nightmare drenched in sweat. Her nightclothes stuck to her body as she drew her knees up to her chest and put her head in her hands. "Dammit," she thought amidst her quick breaths. "God dammit...Why do I have to keep dreaming about that? I've put it behind me...haven't I?"

Sakura walked into the bathroom, grabbed a dry hand towel and wiped off her face. "How? How can I stop thinking about their fight?" She turned off the bathroom light and walked back into her room. "If I only knew exactly how it happened. Maybe then my mind would stop trying to fill in the blanks." Her eyes suddenly snapped wide. "Ino...." She put on her dress and walked out of the house.

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Ino rubbed the sleep from her eyes and went to see who the hell was throwing rocks at her window. As she opened one side of it she cocked an eyebrow in surprise at seeing Sakura staring up at her from the back yard lawn. "Sakura....?"

"Ino, can I come in?" Sakura whispered loudly.

"Do you know what time it is?" Ino grumbled.

"Yes! I need your help. Pleeease?" Sakura said with mild irritation.

Ino threw up her hands in defeat. "Alright. But be quiet...."

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Ino handed the cup of hot tea to her friend. "So what's this all about?" she asked as she sat on the bed across from the chair Sakura was seated in.

Sakura took a deep breath, blowing away the steam rising from her cup when she exhaled it. "I want you to teach me Ishindenshin no Jutsu," she answered quietly.

Ino choked a bit on her sip of tea. "Are you serious?" she asked as she wiped the spilled tea off her pajamas.

Sakura nodded in affirmation. "Hai. I need to know exactly what happened during Sasuke-kun and Naruto's fight. I won't be able stop thinking about it unless I do. So I need your technique so I can see for myself."

"How do you even know about that? I've never shown it to you," Ino questioned.

"Tsunade-sama told me. Will you teach me it or not?"

Ino's face took on a very serious look. "Sakura, it takes a lot of precise chakra control to do that. Not to mention if what you see is too much of a shock for your mind you might not be able to get back to your own body."

"I'll take you with me as a backup. And besides, Tsunade-sama has been teaching me a lot of things that require precise chakra control. I'll just go into Sasuke-kun's mind, see what I need to, and get out."

"You'll never get through Sasuke-kun's mind alive. Knowing him, he's probably learned how to set up traps for anyone who might try to get in." Ino suddenly perked up. "Wait...Naruto!"

"Naruto?"

"Yeah! Go into Naruto's mind," Ino proclaimed, looking rather proud of herself.

Sakura frowned. "I guess I could try that."

Ino yawned. "Well. Now that that's settled, I need to get some sleep. Come over in the morning."

Sakura nodded. "Okay," she said as she went to the window. Just as she was about to jump down she turned her head back. "Ino...thanks."

Ino smiled and Sakura disappeared from sight.

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The Next Day

"No," Shikamaru said plainly as he folded his arms.

"Please? She needs someone to practice on and it can't be me because I have to guide her," Ino begged, trying to look both coy and cutesy at the same time.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He could see he wasn't going to win this one. "How troublesome," he thought. "Fine. But let's make it quick. I have a mission in three hours," he relented. He then winced, knowing exactly what was coming.

"THANK YOU!!!" Ino yelled as she glomped the boy so tight he was struggling for air.

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Shikamaru sat on Ino's bed, his mind blank as he could make it. Ino had told him to try not to think about anything, in order to make it easier for Sakura on her first attempt. Of course, now he was having a hard time not thinking of anything simply because Ino had told him not to.

Sakura came into the room. She had been practicing the seals by herself while Ino had gone to con Shikamaru into agreeing to be their guinea pig.

"Are you ready?" Ino asked. Sakura nodded. "Alright then. Go...." Ino instructed.

Sakura raised her hands and began the seals. "Boar, monkey, bird...Ishindenshin no Jutsu!" A sudden pain spiked in her left temple, causing her to put a hand to her forehead.

Ino shook her head. "You pushed too hard. You're not trying to hurt the enemy, just enter his mind."

Sakura nodded and repeated the jutsu. This time, she gave Shikamaru a headache.

"Ahg! Watch it," he complained.

Sakura sighed in frustration and repeated the jutsu again. She felt an odd whooshing sensation and suddenly found herself in a room completely devoid of light. But then she realized she could also see Shikamaru from the outside. "Huh? Did I mess up again?"

Ino nodded in approval at Sakura's execution of the jutsu. "Okay, now just take a minute to get used to your surroundings." "Right" she heard in stereo. Her breath caught in her throat. She slowly turned her head to see Sakura standing, with her eyes open. Ino's head was frozen in place as she forced her eyes to look back at Shikamaru. His eyes were blank, as they should've been when under the influence of the jutsu. "Sa...kura?"

"Yeah?" came the answer from Sakura and Shikamaru said at the same time.

Ino's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "Holy shit...."

"What's wrong?"

Ino held up her hand. "Be quiet for a sec."

Sakura and Shikamaru's faces frowned.

"Sakura, move your right arm," Ino instructed as she took a few steps backward for a better vantage point.

"What the hell is she doing?" Sakura thought in frustration as she did what she was told.

Sakura and Shikamaru's right arms moved in unison. Ino sat down hard into the chair directly behind her. "This...this shouldn't be possible," she said with confused awe.

"Dammit, Ino! WHAT shouldn't be possible?!" Sakura and Shikamaru roared in frustration as they both stood up.

"You're in both bodies at once, that's what!" Ino said loudly and with mild panic. "What if she split her soul somehow? What if I can't fix it?"

"WHAT?!" Sakura didn't like that idea at all. She put her hands in the release seal. "Kai!" The whooshing feeling repeated itself and she felt herself whole once more.

Ino, having watched this, jumped up and went over to Sakura. "Are you back? Are you alright?!" she begged.

Sakura rubbed her eyes with her palms. "Yeah, I think so."

Shikamaru was watching this in confusion. "Did something go wrong?"

Ino put her hand to her chin in thought. "I don't know what happened." She turned back to Sakura. "But we shouldn't do this again till we talk to my mom."

Sakura nodded.

Shikamaru stood to leave just as Ino's mother's voice came from downstairs. "Ino! I'm home!"

Ino hurried to the top of the stairs. "Ka-san!" she bellowed. "Can you come up here for a minute?"

"Just a second!" Ino's Mother yelled. Moments later footsteps sounded on the stairs. She poked her head in the door. "What's up?" she asked with a smile.

"Something weird happened when I was teaching Sakura Ishindenshin," Ino explained.

Curious now, Ino's mother stepped into the room and sat down in the armchair. "Oh?"

"She did the seals right, but...." Ino looked at Sakura and bit her lip, "she stayed in control of both bodies."

Ino's Mother's face took on a look of utter shock. "What?!"

"Is there an advanced level of Ishindenshin that I don't know about?" Ino asked.

Ino's Mother breathed tensely. "No. I've never heard of this before. You'd better ask Godaime-sama."

The teenagers all nodded and began to file out of the room. Just as Ino was about to exit, her mother eh-hemmed. "And Ino?"

"Yeah?" Ino answered nervously.

"Don't teach your friends mind entering Jutsus without me or your father in the room," Ino's mother said in a warning tone and narrowed her eyes.

"Eh heh. Hai, Ka-san," Ino sweat dropped. She then quickly left the room.

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"Interesting," Tsunade said from her behind her desk in the Hokage tower.

The teenager's mouths all dropped in shock. "Interesting?! That's all you can say?" Ino said indignantly.

"This isn't entirely unexpected," Tsunade explained.

"It's...not?" Sakura said in disbelief.

Tsunade's face took on a slightly serious look. She put her elbows on the desk, interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them. "Simply put, it's a bloodline limit."

Sakura's eyes widened. "What?! But my family doesn't have a bloodline limit," Sakura countered.

"Yes it does, on your Mother's side. It just happens to be very rare," Tsunade explained. "Your mother doesn't have it and neither did your grandmother. Your great aunt did though."

"But why didn't Mom tell me?"

"I suspect she doesn't know about it either," Tsunade answered with a frown. "The knowledge is passed down from parent to child on the day that child enters the academy, but as you know, your grandmother died in an accident a year before that day. And everyone else that could have told her died in the great shinobi war."

"Why didn't you tell her," Sakura asked, suddenly a little annoyed.

"I just found all this out not long ago myself. I found the information in the town records when I was looking for documentation on a missing nin this weekend."

Sakura's expression relaxed. "Oh."

"The most basic explanation of your bloodline limit, Sakura, is that you have two minds," Tsunade explained.

"Two minds?" Sakura repeated.

Ino suddenly snapped her fingers. "The Chuunin exam!"

"Huh?" was Sakura's answer.

"When you kicked me out of your mind–that’s how you did it!" Ino proclaimed.

"You're most likely right, Ino," Tsunade commented. "This is also the reason Sakura's precise chakra control comes so easily to her. She has twice the concentration."

"So wait a minute. You're telling me I'm two people in one body?" Sakura asked with a little apprehension.

"No. You have two minds. They're both you. They're just capable of independent thought. It’s like having a second set of eyes. Your main mind is the one you use the most. The other one, your 'inner Sakura' if you will, is mostly dormant unless your emotions are heightened or you consciously make use of it. It probably kicked in at Ino's house because you were nervous."

"How do I consciously make use of it?"

"Now that you know about it, you should be able to call on it at any time. Close your eyes. Try to find it," Tsunade instructed.

Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated. Almost instantly she felt another 'presence' there with her. As she looked deeper she saw what looked like a sort of 'chalk outline' of herself against the blackness of her mind. It just floated there; almost looking like it was sleeping. "I see it," she informed Tsunade, eyes still closed.

Tsunade nodded approvingly. “Good. Now call to it.”

Sakura screwed up her face in concentration. "Call to it. Right," she answered. "Ummmm. Wake up?" she requested, feeling rather stupid. She tensed a bit as the figure opened it's eyes. It did nothing else though. "I woke it up, but it's not doing anything."

Ino snorted. "Maybe you should tickle it," she said with amusement.

"Shut up, Ino pig! You'll make me loose my focus," Sakura said out of the side of her mouth.

"Think of it as a sort of puppet. It won't do anything unless you move the strings. Try to push part of your consciousness into it," Tsunade directed as she stood and walked over to her student.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Right." She pushed a small amount of her mental energy at the 'Inner Sakura'. Suddenly she was looking at herself and Inner Sakura at the same time. "Whoa...."

Tsunade smiled in satisfaction. "Having control of your secondary mind allows you to think faster, concentrate better and gives you a decided advantage in both mind transfer jutsus and being able to see through even the strongest genjutsu. With a bit of practice, of course," she added quickly.

The Sakura-s smiled and walked toward each other. "I'm gonna like this," they said in unison.

"Why don't you release it for now? I have ninja coming in for their assignments at twelve."

Sakura nodded and pulled her mind back from Inner Sakura. She blinked a few times, then smiled. "That was incredible!" she exclaimed.

Tsunade grinned. "When you come over for training on Saturday we'll work on practical uses for it."

"And we can work more on that technique in the morning," Ino said with a grin.

Sakura looked at Tsunade. The Fifth gave a short nod. "That's fine. But make sure your mother is there to supervise this time."

The group of teens nodded and left the building. As they reached the entrance Shikamaru stopped walking. "You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna get something to eat," he directed at Sakura.

The girls shrugged and headed towards home.

.........TO BE CONTINUED

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Hope you liked that chapter. And don't worry. The last scene will be continued in the next chapter. This idea entered my head and just wouldn't leave me alone till I filled damn near an entire chapter with it. (Up until just after Sakura asked Ino to train her was part of my original plan. The whole bloodline thing was spur of the moment)