Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Kakashi & the Kunoichi from Thunder Country ❯ The Truth of the Past ( Chapter 14 )

 

The Truth of the Past

 

It was already late when she received the summons. Her husband would be there waiting for her. But these days it was difficult for her to move and she had to struggle into her outdoor clothes. It had not been an easy pregnancy. 'This little one will be rambunctious.' The dark haired-dark eyed young woman smiled to herself then made her way as quickly as she could to the Raikage's complex.

 

The spy was tied to the chair, tortured to near unconsciousness, but had revealed no information. The pregnant shinobi touched the man's bloody face, and concentrated her chakra into her fingertips. Tendrils of green chakra entered the man's mind through the orifices of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Her pupils expanded until even the whites of her eyes disappeared, ready to receive the man's thoughts in electromagnetic waves. His mind was soon in her grip, and she began to slice and dice, extracting his memories.

 

Hidden Cloud Jounin Maindo Midori had been summoned by the Raikage to interrogate the spy despite her condition. She was the only one who had mind powers developed enough to penetrate the mind blocks of the Leaf ANBU. After years of isolation, confinement, and training, she had reached the pinnacle of her powers. But despite her elite standing, her kind had always been feared and reviled, more than any other advanced bloodline. After all, invasion of the mind was akin to invasion of the soul. But still they were necessary when countries were at war and espionage was all important.

 

It was not something she enjoyed doing, penetrating someone's most private thoughts, but the secrets of Hidden Leaf Village would give Thunder Country an advantage in the war. And if the Leaf had someone like her, they'd use her the same way. It was an unpleasant duty and sometimes the side effects were…bad. All the memories, both pleasant and terrible came to her. She had to focus and filter, concentrate on what was relevant. But still the man's innermost fears and desires, hopes and dreams, secrets and lies, leaked through.

 

Her husband was with her, concerned about her condition he insisted on overseeing the interrogation. His head cocked, a faint rustle of movement upstairs. He had the power to concentrate his chakra to any of his five senses and during the interrogation he had decided to keep an ear out for any trouble. "Proceed with the mind stripping," he said, "I'll go investigate.”

 

A minute later, a ruckus was now clearly audible. She was done with her interrogation and had recovered a lot of good information before the spy's mind collapsed. 'The Raikage will be pleased. Now to help out upstairs.'

 

A dark shadow amidst white chakra - a powerful enemy. Midori produced a cloud cover to obscure her presence. She knew she was in no condition to fight. Instead she decided to escape via the underground tunnels and hoped that her husband would survive. The room filled with darkness - but then a bright flash.

 

She knew she was dying. He had missed her heart directly, but the concentration of chakra was pervading her body. 'Not yet,' she thought, 'just a little longer.' She performed a last seal, and put all her concentration and will to force the remaining chakra she had into the fetus. 'Remember me little one. Remember your mother and father. Remember their murderer - avenge us when you can.' She fixed her eyes on the masked shinobi. An animal mask, a Leaf ANBU, but this one had a strange red eye. She whispered before she died, "My baby, save my baby, she's innocent..."

 

She could no longer speak, but her last thoughts, “Die you bastard! My daughter will avenge us. She will have double the chakra and will defeat the Hokage himself!" echoed in the mind of the unborn child.

 

The Leaf ANBU team recovered their agent, but it was too late. His mind had been ripped to shreds. He was little more than a vegetable, but even in his near comatose state, he continued to have violent nightmares. The shinobi medics tried different seals to repair his mind, but none was effective. In the end his body and mind gave up and the name of another one of Kakashi's comrades was engraved on the shinobi memorial. A few months later, their espionage at a standstill, the Thunder and Fire countries signed a peace treaty and the incident was ignored, for the most part.

 

 

-...-...-...-...-...-

 

 

"What should we name her?" Rika asked her husband. She held the baby in her arms, bouncing her up and down and cooing at her. The baby gurgled and spat up a bit of the milk Rika had just fed her.

 

"Well, let's give her a name to make sure she knows she's part of the family. How about Rikako?" Otori suggested to his wife. 'My penance, for all those I have killed. I will raise this child as my own and teach her to respect life. I will protect her no matter what,' vowed the former ANBU medic.

 

"Hmm, okay, Rikako it is!" his wife agreed, happy to have a child at last.

 

For the first month the baby slept and nursed from a wet nurse, building up her strength. But after the second month, the crying became a constant. Before she turned two, the framed baby pictures flew off the dresser and smash into the walls. The glass swirled around, cutting her exposed arms and legs. When she turned three, the windows shattered. This time the lacerations were deep enough to require stitches.

 

The doting mother gradually became bitter. Worn down not only from lack of sleep, but also from the frequent nightmares. Whatever dreams the child was having were also affecting her. Her husband, who was a trained shinobi, did not seem to be affected. He ignored her complaints and treated the child as normal, even spoiling her. But she was not normal and Rika was certain that in time they would regret taking her in. They knew nothing about the child except for what Kakashi had told them, that he found her during a mission and was afraid the baby would perish. Who knew what kind of shinobi were being bred in Thunder Country, maybe ones like that monstrous brat Naruto.

 

Like many living in Konoha, Rika had not had an easy life. Her entire family, including her husband and infant son, were killed in Kyuubi's attack. As the sole survivor, she had no one and nothing. Her home was destroyed and she had nowhere to go. She ended up marrying the shinobi medic who tended to her wounds, not because of love, but a need for security. She had wanted to start a new life and a new family, but after a couple of years of trying, it seemed there would be no family other than her husband and herself. So when the young jounin appeared with a newborn baby in his arms, she instinctively saw it as a sign. The child would be hers and she would lavish all the love and attention on it that she would have on her own deceased child.

 

But Rikako was not a normal child. She did not seek love and attention like other children. She was cold and judgmental. She started to speak when she was one and was able to hold intelligible conversations when she was two. As soon as she could express herself she would complain about her food, her bath, just about everything was not good enough or not done fast enough or not to her satisfaction. By the time she was four she was able to read, able to argue, and able to take care of herself. She did not need Rika at all.

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

Rikako reached self-awareness, self-consciousness, at four and a half years of age. Suddenly, everything became clear. Ever since she could remember, there were always voices in her head, even when she was sleeping. Now she understood they were the voices of the people around her. Not just their conscious thoughts, but also snippets of buried resentments and sorrow, nightmares and dreams. They were jumbled up, vying for her attention. She couldn't stand to be around people. And physical contact made things even worse.

 

But now she understood and it made sense, and she could do something about it. Her father had started teaching her chakra control while her mother taught her meditation techniques. They also gave her sleeping draughts. All this to hopefully help her sleep through the night. They did not know of her powers but just thought she had bad nightmares which caused her to leak chakra.

 

Knowing what people thought made her cynical. At this age she formed the opinion that most people were selfish, petty, cruel and quite stupid. They also lied about everything. They lied to be nice; they lied out of envy; they lied to protect others and themselves. Her parents lied to their patients to offer comfort. And they lied to her. People lied all the time, everyday of their lives, but that was the only way to survive, the only way to appear normal. People didn't really want to know what you thought and they only wanted to hear what they wished to hear. She didn't realize that negative emotions were stronger and more easily picked up than the softer tender feelings of love and affection.

 

The thoughts kept coming and she started to keep a record of them, curious to see what they meant and who they belonged to. She wrote them down in her notebook, in her own code so no one else would understand. It wasn't really a code per se, but a simple shorthand masked by bad handwriting. She protected the notebook with seals she learned from her father who used them to protect confidential medical records. One was to make the writing invisible until it was infused with her chakra. The other caused a chakra shock to the unauthorized viewer.

 

She could hear her mother's thoughts, her worries, her fear of her, her tentative love. Her father did not think so deeply about his emotions or the events around him. Things were as they were and he took everything in stride. His thoughts were usually on his patients. But she knew that they were not her true parents and that they would give her up if they could. The realization of these facts might have driven a normal child to tears, but instead it gave her a purpose. She would one day find out the truth, the complete truth, no matter what.

 

-…-…-…-…-…-

 

After a few months, the chakra control and meditation techniques seemed to help. She was now able to filter the thoughts and to focus in on a single person. The presence of people no longer bothered her and she joined her father in the office. It was interesting, not just the medical aspects or the jutsu, but also the patients themselves. Few came to the doctor in good spirits; they were usually in some sort of pain, and pain made people interesting.

 

One day, a boy her age came in with a broken arm and bruises. His parents said he fell from a tree. She immediately knew they were lying. His father in a fit of anger had beaten him.

 

"Liar!" she screamed, pointing at the father, "You hit him - you nearly killed him!" The man and his wife turned pale.

 

"What do you mean? How can you say that!" said the woman.

 

"That's enough Rikako. You'll have to leave the office," her father ordered.

 

"But daddy, I know he's lying!" she protested.

 

"And how do you now that?" he asked with an undertone of suspicion.

 

"I...I...I don't know," she said resignedly. She couldn't tell him the truth. Her parents already had doubts about her. This would push them over the edge. They wouldn't want a child who could read their minds. "He just looks mean."

 

"Hmmf, some people say I look mean, but have I ever hit you?" her father asked her.

 

She shook her head, "No daddy, I'm sorry." She was forced to leave the room, but she stayed by the door. She couldn't hear what they were saying so she focused on their thoughts. The father was fearful of discovery. The mother was concerned for her son. The boy was in pain. He loved but feared his father. She decided to try projecting her thoughts.

 

"If I ever find you hurting your family again, I'll come after you. You know I can destroy your mind. If you tell anyone, I'll know."

 

They never saw that family again - presumably they switched family practitioners.

 

-...-...-...-...-

 

"Daddy, I want to be a shinobi too, just like you were. Can you take me to the Academy? I want to see what it's like there,” Rikako asked her father while putting on her please-please-puppy-dog-look that included softening her large dark eyes.

 

"Being a shinobi is not fun and games. It's serious business. People die all around you," her father replied curtly.

 

"But you were a shinobi medic," she countered.

 

"Yes, and I had to kill more people than I saved," his face furrowed in regret.

 

"We're not at war anymore," she reasoned.

 

"No, but things happen. Who knows how long these treaties will last," he sighed.

 

"But there are always those who are wounded and injured. Someone has to save them," she argued persistently.

 

"Why don't you just be a regular village doctor. That's just as good you know."

 

"But what about the seals and chakra control you've been teaching me?"

 

"That's just stuff to know. You don't have to be a shinobi to do it."

 

"But...”

 

"That's enough. End of discussion."

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

She wanted, needed to be a shinobi. That was the only way to understand her powers, the only way to develop them and test them. Right now her powers were still erratic. She could only pick up on strong thoughts and emotions at short range now that the filters were in place. She had encountered very few shinobi in her life other than her father. They rarely needed a village doctor as they had their own medics. But she noticed that they were much harder to read, probably because they were less emotional.

 

Of course, she did want to be a shinobi medic and save lives like her father. Even though she held a low opinion of people in general, she felt shinobi were different, or at least they should be different. They stood for a noble cause, sacrificing their lives to protect the village.

 

She just needed to find out what was required to enroll in the Academy, and how to do it without her parents' consent. One day after lunch, she told her parents she was going to spend the afternoon in the yard gardening, meditating and practicing her chakra control. It was a busy day so she knew they wouldn't miss her. It was about two miles to the Academy. If she walked quickly she should make it there and back well before dinner. Her parents were going to be furious, but what else was new? They knew how stubborn she was, how she always got what she wanted (usually by playing them against each other, she didn't need special powers for that).

 

The little girl walked along the main road, and thought her usual thoughts: Who am I? Who are my real parents? Why can I hear the thoughts of others? How can I find out? What will I do once I reach the Academy? Maybe they have a library. You can always find answers in books. Maybe I can find someone to help me.

 

There were more Academy buildings than she realized. There was a large one with a fire symbol and another with the nin symbol, and several smaller buildings. She wandered around a bit to get her bearings, when a young adult shinobi with his hair tied back in a neat ponytail approached her. He was nice and offered to help her out.

 

Rikako smiled and listened attentively during Iruka's tour and description of the Academy. 'Iruka-sensei seems really nice, not wary at all. He's perfect - I can get him to tell me what I need to know,' she thought. She asked him questions about the registration process.

 

"Well, your parents need to fill out an application. Then there's an interview with your parents and another with you to make sure it's something you want, and not just your parents' wishes," he answered pleasantly.

 

"Do both my parents have to be interviewed? My dad is always busy."

 

"No, just your mom is fine." 'She's lucky,' Iruka thought, 'so many children have only one parent or none at all.'

 

"Is it a long interview?"

 

"Usually not, about ten minutes. We have a lot of students and parents to interview after all."

 

At the library she perused the texts for first and second year students looking for something that would help her in her quest to be a shinobi and for something that could possibly explain her powers. There wasn't much on mind techniques in the first and second year texts except for an explanation of genjutsu, which apparently was for more advanced shinobi, and just general examples of types of mind techniques like mind transfer or mind confusion. There was no practical information where she could learn the seals or about the history. 'Must be a clan secret or something,' she surmised. The texts just had the basic non-secret techniques like bunshin (clone), kawarimi (replacement), and henge (transformation). That last one was the key.

 

On the way back she asked Iruka about the type of techniques the students would learn. He mentioned a few, including the transformation technique.

 

"What does that mean?" she asked innocently.

 

"Well, it means I can change my appearance to look like someone else."

 

"Wow, that one sounds really interesting. Can you show me?" she asked giving him the please-puppy-look.

 

"Sure," Iruka transformed into the librarian.

 

She laughed and clapped her hands like a regular little girl, "Again! Again, please!"

 

He transformed into the Hokage.

 

"Wow, how long can you stay like that?"

 

"Well, it depends on how much chakra you have and how much control. I could probably hold it for about 20 minutes."

 

"Can you change into something bigger or smaller?"

 

"Yes, but of course that's more difficult and requires more chakra to maintain." He turned into a rabbit, then a horse. She laughed excitedly and clapped again, encouraging the naïve chuunin to continue.

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

For two years she practiced until she perfected the transformation technique. She had to build up enough chakra to be able to hold the transformation for at least 20 minutes she estimated. But not only that, she had to have the same mannerisms and speech as her mother. She observed her parent and secretly imitated her, which wasn't hard; all she had to do was act tired and annoyed all the time.

 

Her plan proceeded smoothly at registration and her parents' reaction to her act was as expected, fury then acceptance. She got her way again, as usual.

 

Rika set out a new set of clothes for her daughter's first day, a pretty pink dress with embroidered trim. She also offered to braid her hair nicely. Rikako refused both. "I don't want to wear anything new. I don't want to stand out and you always braid my hair too tight."

 

"But don't you want to make a good impression on your first day? And the way you braid your hair is too loose. Your hair always gets in your eyes, so why braid it at all? Why not just cut your hair short?"

 

"I like my hair long, but I don't want to look like I care about it. And I don't care about making a good impression with my looks, I'll be using my brain." 'Long hair makes me look cuter. Cute kids are treated better by their peers and adults,' she added to herself.

 

"You're just seven and already impossible!" Rika gave up and left her daughter alone to do whatever she wanted.

 

Her mother didn't understand. She never did. She was just a civilian and didn't know what it took to be a shinobi. Rikako looked at herself in the mirror and bowed to her reflection. She found that if she bowed, people wouldn't notice her eyes. She had a bad habit of rolling her eyes when she was annoyed, which was quite often. And her pupils enlarged when she used her mind powers. Adults like the bowing and felt she was a well behaved, respectful, and mature child. If they had known what she was really thinking, they would have been quite shocked and insulted most of the time.

 

'I must keep my temper in check,' she thought. That was always hard for her. When she was a toddler, she threw tantrums that lasted on average of three hours, crying and screaming until her parents gave in just to get some peace and quiet. As she grew older, she realized that expended too much energy and it was more effective and efficient to be smart, to manipulate them into doing what she wanted. Not that she wanted much. Her needs were very simple. Usually what she wanted was the freedom to make her own decisions. When her mother wanted her to wear this or do that, it wasn't because she didn't want to wear this or do that, but there was no choice involved and it was being able to choose that was important. It was the same with her decision to attend the Academy.

 

'If I smile as much as possible, I can stop myself from showing anger or annoyance.' She also found that by smiling and laughing, she could get away with thinly veiled insults that might otherwise offend. That relieved her frustration, which could otherwise turn to a raging torrent of epithets that she learned from her ex-ANBU father.

 

'I must be careful not to use my powers too often or stand out while at the Academy. If I stay in the background, not say too much or too little, shoot for average or a bit better than that, I should be okay.'

 

'Who or what am I? Since I don't know, I can be anyone I want. I will be whatever I need to be to find out. I will play this part until I achieve my goal,' she resolved to herself.

 

Intelligent as she was, she was still a child. A child's mind is simpler, where things are black and white. Her parents were liars, period. They would not tell her the truth. It's a child's prerogative to be selfish, to demand and take things without asking. It never occurred to her to just ask.

 

-...-...-...-...-...-

 

Excerpts from Rikako's Diary

 

…Iruka-sensei was our first teacher. He looks about the same as I remember. I think he's really handsome and nice! So glad he's one of our teachers :)

 

…School was soooooooooo boring! Most of the stuff the teachers are teaching I already know from my books and my parents. But I did have fun observing and taking notes on my classmates. (Row 1, seat 4, guy with short spiky black hair, pays attention and nods his head each time the teacher asks a rhetorical question. Row 5, seat 1, guy with long brown hair fell asleep. Row 1, seat 5, girl with short pink hair, kisses up to the teachers. Row 2, seat 3, guy with cap, asked the most questions. Row 3, seat 6, girl with long brown hair in a ponytail, answered the most questions.)

 

...I need to sharpen my observational skills. I don't want to use my mind reading power. It's erratic and difficult to filter and focus. I may not be able to control my power and who knows if the power is permanent. In the medical texts, all sorts of conditions exist that are only temporary.

 

…This stupid bully grabbed my notebook today. He got a nice shock, hah! Deserved it, stupid idiot! But then I noticed everyone looking at me, especially Iruka sensei. I don't want to stand out or be different than anyone else. I'll have to put away my notebook during recess and play with the other children. I hate kids and their stupid games! Total waste of time.

 

…There's some cocky kids in the class, always trying to prove they're the best. I don't want to be noticed or be the best. Being the best is a burden. People will always come up to you for a challenge. They will expect more than you can ever give and if you fail, there is no sympathy. If you're smart, you would downplay your skills until you really need them. But sometimes I can't help but show off just a little like when a teacher won't continue a lesson until someone can answer the question or do the technique. Such a waste of time to listen to guesses or watch pathetic attempts. Then I feel I have to step in so the class can continue.

 

…Umino Iruka…Umino Rikako, Umino Otori Rikako, definitely has a nice ring to it. He's so nice and funny! He's the best teacher. He makes lessons fun and interesting. He actually listens to the kids when they talk. Most of the other sensei only pretend to listen. And he's always asking after my parents and how I'm doing. I like the scar on his nose. I think it gives him character. I want to marry him when I grow up! (All “i”s were dotted with hearts.)

 

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