- 4 - Soul Link -
- 4 - Soul Link -
-Shikaku-
The first time Shikaku experienced it, he just got out of a meeting with the other clan heads. The Civilians that had invited themselves - these guys were able to secure way too many rights in the last few years, at least in Shikaku’s opinion - to the meeting argued over every change the clan heads suggested for the current Academy curriculum. It went on for hours and they didn’t even manage to agree on a solution. So when he exited the council chambers he was feeling totally spent.
That’s when he felt a soft pulling sensation on his mind and after that a few pulses of chakra. When he came back to himself he was standing in front of a familiar door leading down to the cellars under the Hokage Tower.
Confused he shook his head and turned around to go home. He blamed his exhaustion for the incident.
But two days later he woke up from another episode with the pulsing chakra to find himself right behind the same door he was standing in front of before. He blinked at the stairs leading down to the cellar in surprise. Just a minute before he had left Sarutobi-samas office after going through the list of available Jounin-senseis for the next year.
The next day he woke up all the way at the bottom of the stairs when he should have been doing some grocery shopping for Yoshino. He cursed and made a mental note before turning around and doing what he had set out to do in the first place. Otherwise Yoshino would have his head.
The time between the episodes was shorter every time and he noticed another thing, when he reflected on the episodes he had experienced. The chakra he felt was pulsing in a rhythmic pattern, and it was the same one every time.
He couldn’t explain what was happening to him and there was little he hated more than having the feeling that someone was messing with his brain.
He got the feeling that he couldn’t trust himself anymore so he asked Inoichi for help. Even though he normally didn’t like it when someone else was going through his mindscape he just knew that it would be necessary in this case.
Inoichi came over to his office right the next evening. “So. What’s wrong, Shikaku? You normally don’t ask me to come here.”, he said when he took a seat in one of the chairs across from Shikaku.
“For the last few days I’ve been experiencing strange episodes where I don’t seem to be the one controlling my body. I wanted you to check what could be causing them.”, Shikaku explained.
Inoichi’s eyebrows lifted. “Did you already tell Hokage-sama?”
Shikaku shook his head in denial. “No. I wanted to consult you first. If you can’t find and eliminate the cause I will file for a retiral.”
Inoichi nodded. “All right. Then let’s see if we can find anything in your Mindpalace.”
Shikaku’s Mindpalace, the form he had chosen for his mindscape, was a huge maze of corridors, rooms and doors that was built to confuse and hinder anyone who wanted to use a Genjutsu on him. He wandered through the place alongside Inoichi looking for anything that seemed out of place.
“Well, I can’t feel anything wrong here, do you see anything that looks out of place, Shikaku?”, the Yamanaka head said, looking around.
They had built the Palace together - well, sort of. Shikaku had strengthened his defenses gradually when they were teammates until Inoichi wasn't able to get into his head anymore. And then he just kept adding to it over the years.
Shikaku just started to shake his head in denial when he saw it. It was a small door in one of the rooms containing his early family-memories with Yoshino and Shikamaru. It stood out a little because it looked newer than the other doors. He pointed at it. “That one is new. And I don’t remember building a new room in this area.”, he said.
Inoichi nodded slowly and approached the door. It was made from a reddish wood, Shikaku noticed when he followed his friend. All of ‘his’ buildings were in darker tones.
Inoichi lifted a hand and he could see his friend’s chakra flow when he scanned the door. The Yamanaka scrunched up his brows. “You’re right, this wasn’t built from your own chakra. But it doesn’t feel malevolent. On the contrary, I’ve only ever felt chakra like this one from the medics in the hospital.”, he said and reached out a hand to touch the door.
As soon as Inoichi’s fingers touched the wood, there was a blinding golden light that enveloped them. With a light creaking the door swung open and immediately Shikaku felt it. The chakra pulse was there, and he felt it more clearly than ever before. Three short bursts followed by three long pulses and again three short bursts. After a short pause it started again, repeating over and over.
The whole corridor behind the door seemed to light up in sync with the chakra pulse. In every pause it fell dark for a few seconds.
Inoichi looked at him. “Is this the chakra pulse you’ve felt?”
He nodded slowly while looking around in the corridor they had entered. It was made of stone, moss covered it in wide sections and glowing mushrooms produced a soft light when the chakra pulse didn’t light the area up. The pulse’s light seemed to shine through the cracks between the stones in the walls. “Yeah. What is this place, Inoichi?”
The Yamanaka looked ahead of them through the corridor. “I will have to check at the source but there are rumours and stories told to all Yamanaka about a Kekkai Genkai that describe something exactly like what we are seeing here.”
He stepped into the new corridor and after a second of hesitation Shikaku followed him. “Are you allowed to tell me what kind of rumours you’re speaking of?”
“Yes.” Inoichi nodded. “Before joining Konoha the Yamanaka Clan was allied with a nomadic Clan from the area where Taiyo no Kuni is located today. They called themselves the Rayani, descendants from Nature’s Great Spirits. They had a Kekkai Genkai that allowed them to form a link to any mindscape strong enough to support them in an area of around 700 metres around themselves. When both parties accepted this link they were able to talk through their mind which was unbelievably handy in combat situations. But they could also sort of… for lack of better words latch onto another mind and send their chakra inside of it in pulses.”, he explained.
Shikaku nodded. That did sound indeed very close to what was happening to him. “What did these chakra-pulses do to the mind they had connected to?”, he asked.
“Nothing honestly, at least as far as I know. The only thing they caused was that the owner of the mindscape they latched onto was able to feel the pulses of chakra. They used that to send messages in the standard Shinobi-code we normally use for light signals today.” Inoichi fell silent for a few seconds. “Which is why I think we need to check the source of this chakra pulse.” He added then.
Shikaku nodded. Once Inoichi had mentioned the code he had made the connection as well. 3 short, 3 long, 3 short. The standard call for help.
The corridor suddenly widened right before them and over a few mossy stone steps the way led down towards a wide grassy area. A brooke was making its way through the grass and some trees were visible to their right. And right in front of them there was something that looked like a giant bird’s nest.
And in the middle of the nest there was a child, curled up like a kitten. It was a girl, she looked to be around 6 years old. Her short hair was gold blond and she had pale skin. She wore a blue shirt and red shorts, but no shoes. Her shirt had ridden up to the middle of her back so they were able to see two swirling golden tattoos on her hips. Inoichi crouched down.
“She… how is she so young?! Every story we have tells us the Link is dangerous to their chakra systems, so the Rayani only learned how to use it when they were past puberty.”, he breathed.
“It was our only chance to get a connection to the world outside of the laboratory. Minaru knew from the beginning that it is more than just a little bit risky for her. But she also knows that she can’t stay where she is right now.” A woman’s voice said.
Shikaku jumped in surprise and whirled around. A woman with copper red hair stood a few feet from them, looking at the sleeping girl with soft eyes. Her wide red coat, the bandages over her chest and the bandaged legs showed him that this woman was a trained fighter, like himself and Inoichi. And he hadn’t felt her presence. At all. That spoke of quite a bit of power to be able to cover up her chakra so completely in a mindscape.
She looked at them and smiled brightly, closing her blue eyes in the process. “The name’s Akane. I’m Mina-chan’s aunt.” She pointed at the girl.
Inoichi looked at the woman - Akane, as she called herself. “Are you the one who sends out the distress call?”
“Nope.”, she said, popping the p and shook her head. “That’s all her doing. I’m too far from Konoha to reach anyone. So she had to do it herself, using her own mindscape. She’s sleeping because it’s a bit safer for her like that.”
Inoichi swallowed. “She’s so young...”, he repeated himself.
Akane nodded and went over to her niece, softly petting her hair. “She’s 7. I can’t tell you everything myself since I’ve only seen snippets, and she doesn’t remember everything. But I can tell you that she was kidnapped about 3 years ago. She is in some sort of laboratory now. She said she wanted to try and send a memory of the way they took her with her distress call.”
Shikaku and Inoichi looked at each other in understanding. That might be the reason why he always woke up on the way down to the cellar. “I think she did.”, Shikaku said. He stepped a bit closer to the girl. “Can she hear us?”
Akane nodded. “Yeah. No problems there.”
He smiled. “Thank you. Hello, Minaru. I’m Shikaku Nara, the one you contacted for help. I’ll do everything I can to help you soon. I just need to find a way to reach you first, okay?”
He swore that he saw her face morph into a small smile at that. And then suddenly there were daisies and bluebells blooming all around the nest.
Inoichi looked around them and smiled brightly. “Your new little friend knows flower language.”, he said.
Akane looked at the two shinobi and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So you can help her?”
“It will take a few days to find someone who can locate her, but then I will do everything to get her out of there.”, Shikaku said.
Looking satisfied, Akane nodded. “That’s… relieving. If I can do anything to help, tell me now. I’ll be leaving after you do, me being here only puts more stress on her chakra system. I can’t stay any longer than necessary.”
Shikaku thought about his possibilities for a moment. “Do you know if there is a way to get her chakra scent for Ninken? That would speed things up.”
“Hmm…” Akane tipped a finger against her chin. “Her chakra scent is pretty similar to her father’s. And you might still be able to find him, or something of him. She doesn’t remember what became of him after she was kidnapped. But I can’t imagine he is… well. He wouldn’t hold still with his only daughter missing.”
“What’s his name?”, Inoichi asked.
“Ryu Kojama-Kurama.”
Shikaku sputtered in shock. “She is a Kurama?!”, he asked. The Kurama were still one of the more powerful Clans of Konoha even if their numbers were dwindling. And their genjutsu made them a force to be reckoned with.
Akane huffed and shook her head. “Her father was one, but that changed way before her birth. He was expelled from the clan when he decided to marry my sister, I think the Clan-Elders had a problem with us Rayani. So she is a Kojama, a child of the Big Cats of Nature.”, she said with an indignant sniff, crossing her arms.
Shikaku looked at the still sleeping girl. “That doesn’t change the fact that she has roots in Konoha’s tree. And we never give up on one of our own.”
Akane studied him intently. Then she got up and walked up to him, until they were standing almost chest to chest. She was way smaller than Shikaku, she had to bend her head back to look him in the eyes but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that Akane was a very powerful woman - at least as powerful as he himself was. The corner of her mouth lifted in a half smile and her eyes got a fierce glint. “See, that you don’t.”, she said.