The Hokage looked from where his jounin spoke of the recent incident, to the man's daughter, and finally to the blond Uzumaki.
“I can explain? Somewhat, at least? This all starts with a drunk Chunin. Nah, he didn't attack me, well, not intentionally. That kunai he tossed was on reflex and his aim was so shot it came no where near hitting me. But I was somewhat tense at the time and the noise of the kunai hitting nearby sent me running to my apartment, where I ended up catching my foot on something and slamming my head into something tougher than it.”
Naruto winced at the memory and rubbed his head. “Woke up in a sewer looking place. I wandered around and eventually found this gated area. While I was trying to see what was inside, another me showed up. Well, he looked like me, but the eyes and voice were off. I later learned he was Shadow me. He spoke some, I denied what he said repeatedly, and then he transformed into this ugly-ass creature and tried to kill me.”
The other three ninja in the room blinked, though only two had a clue as to what the gated area represented. The Hokage spoke up. “Shadow you?”
Naruto nodded. “From what I understand, Shadows are, um, suppressed thoughts and feelings a person has, but given form. And they're usually pretty pissed about being the ignored/suppressed parts of a person. Denying that they're a part of you gives them strength and eventually they might decide to kill you to 'become' you. As far as anyone knows, that plan just doesn't work though.”
Sarutobi took a moment to process that information, then motioned for Naruto to continue while he filled his pipe.
“Well, at the time I was only eight? nine? years old, so I wasn't too good at combat stuff. In fact, I think Kurama mentioned that it only really happened because I had unlocked access to chakra, which enabled? the situation to happen. In any case, the Shadow me was kicking my ass badly, when there was a massive roar from the gated area and this weird playing card looking thing drifted down in front of me.” Sarutobi looked like he was about to inject to ask another question, but Naruto plowed on. “Seeing as I was bad off at the time, I grabbed the card in case it could help. And it summoned Kurama, who proceeded to beat the snot out of my Shadow self.”
Naruto stopped speaking at this point, if only because Ino was trying to smack him for ignoring the Hokage, allowing Sarutobi to speak up. “And who is Kurama?”
Naruto laughed nervously. “That's a loaded question, jii-san. There's three or four ways I could describe Kurama, all equally valid. Nyx's Ninth. A Persona. And, probably what you're wondering, the Kyuubi no Yoko.”
The silence was deafening. Ino froze her swings in surprise, before a light blush dusted her cheeks and she took her seat. Inoichi sat there with a resigned expression on his face. And the Hokage was trying not to choke on his pipe. Naruto eyed the old man.
“While you're, um, busy, I'll explain more? A Persona is a tamed Shadow, from what I've been told. It's really the best thing to take on a Shadow with. And much like ninja, Persona can be of different overall strengths. The fragments of Nyx are pretty much the top of the line, Shadow or Persona. And Kurama is the most powerful of the fragments. And after saving me from my Shadow – and man, that makes me sound like some frightened scaredy-cat kid – we talked a bit and he gave me permission to call upon him as a Persona.”
Sarutobi got himself under control and out of danger of choking to death during Naruto's further speaking. He took a few moments to consider what he'd been told so far. The Hokage voiced a thought that had been on his mind. “So Kurama is your Persona? Does this mean you can use Kyuubi's chakra?”
“Nah. Kurama is a Persona I can use. My Persona, I don't have yet. Can't bring myself to face the parts of me I suppress and accept that they're me too. And until I can face and accept my Shadow self, I can't make proper use of the chakra. Not like Eight and Two.”
“Eight and Two?” Sarutobi paused, considering what had been mentioned so far. “Nyx's Ninth... the nine biju are fragments of Nyx, then? What is Nyx?”
“Ooooh, you're good, jii-san. Nyx was an entity held from completing its task by a powerful Persona user. A few decades later, nine similarly strong Persona users decided to rescue that user from his task, and attempted to outright destroy Nyx itself. The thing is... its physical body is the Moon. It's destined to bring about the end of humanity, awakened by the negative thoughts and feelings of humans given form. But they succeeded, somewhat.”
Naruto stayed in his chair and rubbed his face. “They freed the guardian and the ten battled Nyx's Shadow form. It came down to Earth during the fighting, and the world was reshaped by the battle. Humanity died by the millions as they were caught in the middle. The survivors were altered by the energy given off by the fighting. Eventually one of the weaker Persona users ripped away a piece of Nyx and sealed it within themselves before they died from injuries. The fighting continued and one by one, the Persona users fell, though each took a slightly larger chunk of Nyx with them. Finally it came down to three users versus what remained of Nyx's Shadow self. While one faced the being and held its attention, the remaining two tore Nyx in half, each sealing their section away before also dying from injuries.”
Inoichi connected the dots. “Thus the nine biju came into being from a larger, more powerful entity. And the lone surviving Persona user, he'd be the Sage of the Six Paths, wouldn't he?”
A slow nod was his answer. “The world had been torn apart by the fighting. The survivor, the user that had guarded Nyx to prevent the death of humanity, took it upon himself to help guide humanity and aid their adaption to the world it found itself in now. Shadows and aware Persona refer to the time before the battle with Nyx as simply 'Before'.”
In the wake of that information, a short break was called. The meeting returned underway several minutes later, now more focused on how Ino became involved, with Inoichi taking the lead in questioning.
“How did you discover that Ino needed help?”
“Well, um. I was concerned somewhat by how she had changed in personality as the days went by following the accident with Sakura. Then one day I, um, saw an uninvited guest alongside her. I'm not really sure how to explain it, and Kurama doesn't really know anything either from the memories of the user who sealed that fragment. But I can sorta see if someone's Shadow is visiting another person just by looking at the person being visited?”
Both ninja decided not to look further down that path at the moment, and Inoichi asked a question he had been wondering since the walk to the Tower. “Given that you have visited my daughter at night since the incident, why did you need my help in the first place?”
Uzumaki scratched his head sheepishly. “We didn't actually want to involve you. It's just that we couldn't locate her mindscape in the Shadow version of Konoha. And once it appeared that we were running out of time to help, I decided to just get your help rather than maybe miss helping Ino in time. I visited her after to make sure there were no relapses or attacks from the Shadow that started things, get some info on what she could remember, and to give her some training in using a Persona.”
Inoichi nodded. “Can Persona be used here?”
Naruto cocked his head to the side and blinked in confusion. “Kurama says probably not. The memories of Before he gained from the user that sealed the fragment indicates that they had met a Persona user that used their Persona in the real world, but it was due to an experiment gone wrong and the ability vanished once the mess had been cleared up a decade later. So I guess, possible under rare conditions?”
Sarutobi and Inoichi both nodded in acknowledgment. “Since you were questioning Ino about what she remembered, I take it you went investigating after the incident?”
A scowl greeted the question. “Yeah, and best case, it's not a major problem. Worse case, it's a massive problem. The Shadow that started things with Ino was pink-haired, and given that Shadows resemble their living self, my first thought was a Shadow of Haruno Sakura. It'd fit somewhat, given the timing.”
Ino blinked. “But don't a lot of the Haruno Clan have pink hair?”
“Yep. So I took a quick Shadow world trip to visit friends for information on the Haruno Clan, in case they picked up on something from the numerous merchants in the clan. Eight and Two couldn't really help, except that Haruno merchants were always able to tell who they were without any introduction or information. Particularly if they had run into a Shadow Haruno at some point.”
Inoichi frowned, considering the implications of that bit of knowledge. “So you think that another Shadow in the Haruno Clan might have been responsible for Ino instead, and that they can somehow pass information to their real self?”
“They can claim clan secrets if we pry, plus revealing that someone in Konoha is aware of Shadows and convinced jii-san that they're real. Massive problem.” Naruto twiddled his thumbs briefly before looking at Inoichi. “Um, any chance you could teach Ino that mind transfer thing you did when you got me into her mindscape?”
The jounin gazed at Naruto for several seconds, then glanced at Ino. “Unfortunately, she lacks the skill and experience necessary to learn that technique. She could learn it, but it would be years away. You aren't hoping to use her to explore people's mindscapes on a whim, are you?”
“Just Sakura's. Hasn't there been talk about how she should have woken up by now and no one is sure why she's still in a coma? Then again, getting her alone would be a pain since there seems to always be a clan member in the room with her.”
