Riku POV _______

I was home, at least what I had believed to be my home for the last six years.

I found myself in I&T soon enough. I wasn't locked in a cell but I was placed in barracks. They were quick to ask if I had any friends or family that I wanted to contact now that I was back in the village. The only names I could come up with was the name of the kids that had lived with me back in the orphanage, Obito and Rin.

My belongings were returned to me as well. But there really wasn't much. A few articles of clothing that would never fit me again, my notebooks from the academy and a few knickknacks that I couldn't even remember where I had gotten them or the fact that I even owned them.

I thanked them and kind of set it all to the side. I was bored out of my mind in the room they had placed me in. I had given them my official paperwork and wore my headband for then first time.

But my mind was stuck on the recent events. Murasaki-sensei had taught me for nearly my whole life here. I had felt some comradeship with the woman, simply because she was the only one to know everything I was going through, well at least almost everything.

Memories from my previous life were muddled. Even the year I had spent in the academy seemed like such a long time ago.

After Murasaki and I completed assassination missions she would let me daze off at her side. When the guilt became to much and I could barely sleep at night, she comforted me. But at the same time she was the one to give me the orders. She had ordered me to kill children and young adults, men and women alike.

Maybe it wasn't quite her, Konoha had given me the orders. I stopped questioning the why. I had come to realize that sometimes the reasons I had to kill the people I killed were stupid and petty. I was better off not even questioning the orders.

It made me sick. I don't think I ever killed in my previous life. I don't pretend that I lived a life of luxury, but my hands had never been stained with blood.

But in this life I had lied, cheated and killed throughout my entire childhood. The first time I had been left overwhelmed, in theory it sounded easy to kill someone for the sake of my so called 'village' but when it came down to it I had barely been able to handle it.

I glanced at my open palms, I could remember when I had realized who I was and where I was. I had noticed it while looking at my hands.

I couldn't help but snicker slightly as I realized that I had been so different back then. I had never killed anybody, I was pretty optimistic then. I thought this would be like some anime where I would make tons of friends and beat my enemies with some misguided power of friendship. That I would save everybody like some undercover informant or train along side the 'main characters'.

But days went by just as slow and boring as in the before. The cover as a civilian had been overwhelming, because at some point I had stopped acting. I was Ichika, I liked pressing flowers, playing my instrument and performing tea ceremonies. I had learned to be observant and careful, I wasn't as loud or as rowdy as before. I had become quieter and calmer.

It had been odd seeing myself in the mirror. I had become a poised maiko with a great reputation, but I had become so cold.

I sighed as I pressed my open palm against my chest. I had made a few friends as well, Botan and Fusako were two of the girls I spent a lot of time with. They weren't my best friends or anything, more like annoying older sisters, but I doubt Fusako made it out, they probably struck her down thinking she was a shinobi as well. Since Iwa knows Konoha usually has 4 man teams. So they might've assumed we were a kunoichi team.

I wondered if I would be assimilated back into the ranks and sent off to  the war front. Or would they keep me as a spy? Would I be relocated again? My mind wandered to Kabuto, this is what he must've felt like, having to go to different places and then having to betray them. I can see why he wanted out. I hope they don't try and kill me off like they had tried to do with Kabuto and Nono.

I want to save people, but I'm surrounded with different problems and issues. Issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the people I considered 'important'. To be honest I was still mildly shocked that I even got to meet Obito and Rin. Back then it seemed to really be coming together.

I thought that I would meet more people I had knowledge about. Instead I found myself shipped off nearly 300 miles away from the village and secluded from the fighting.

"Riku of Konoha, I am here to escort you to your first appointment." A shinobi stated as he opened the room door.

I carefully sat up and nod meekly.

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Third Person POV

Riku soon found herself being interrogated by the Yamanaka. She had not been told if they were able to find Murasaki or what the outcome of Kyoto had been . It was to make sure that she was not a spy and that she couldn't contact enemy nin if she was a spy.

She went over what happened again and again, they were double checking her story. That was until they decided to do a mind reading.

Riku felt her heart skip a beat the second that mind reading was mentioned.

The Yamanaka didn't say anything at first. "Is there a problem Riku-san, Any reason you would not want to be subjected to a mind walk?" He asked and she nervously shook her head.

"No, no, that's fine, But I just." She pursed her lips and sighed. "It's a bit scary you know." She finishes off and the Yamanaka nodded.

"Since you are aware of the scan and will be willing there should be no side effects. If you were an enemy ninja then there might be some undesirable effects." He says and she gulped at the thought about it. "That sounds terrifying." She mutters but nods.

The Yamanaka nodded and began leading her to where they would do the mind scan.

Riku could feel her heart racing at the thought of having someone go through her head. Would they realize that she sometimes thought in a different language? The thought of that happening kept her at edge.

Soon enough she was brought into a room. There was a large sealing array and a sturdy chair with straps.

It didn't take the Interrogation team long before they strapped her down and were layering seals ontop of her.

"Santa Yamanaka will be the interrogating nin that will do the mind walk. Please try to keep calm and do not resist." One of the nin informs her and she nods.

Her feet felt clammy, her heart seemed to be beating out of her chest and she could feel anxiety filling the pit of her stomach. "I am Yamanaka Santa, I will be the lead mind walker for your exam." A tall blonde man says.

Riku nods as she studies him over. His eyes were pupilless and seemed to throw her off a bit, He was about 5'9 and about 20 years old.

'I can't afford to panick, I have to calm down. I'm not even a traitor, so what if I am a bit different...' she mulled over it as Santa was getting ready to go through her mind.

She took deep breaths trying to calm herself down. She could feel the Yamanaka's cold fingers press against her temple.

'It's okay, It's okay." She chanted to herself as she felt her consciousness begin to fade.

'Something is not right, something is not right, something is not right, SoMeThInG iS nOT rIgHT.'

The thought kept echoing within the dark space. Santa Yamanaka slowly exhaled as he took in his surroundings.

This was the mind of Riku of Konoha, one of the outpost genin in the subterfuge division.

Konoha officials were always a bit harder with the mind evaluations to any genin trained outside of the village.

He stepped forward to the depths of her mind. He couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine as he moved to her earliest memories. A feeling of unease was a bit overwhelming so he came to a stop.

Streams of memories were streaming by in bright flashes, unconscious thoughts flashing by alongside them. Santa Yamanaka kneaded his chakra and went through a few handsigns

As he finished the last handsign chakra he slowly pulsed it. The chakra mended itself with the memories and everything suddenly became still. Light seemed to start filtering in the room.

Santa Yamanaka let out a long steady breath, soft beads of sweat rolled down his temple as he loosened his stance. He took in a deep breath and centered himself, calming his own chakra flow.

The Yamanaka mind reading techniques are a mixture of high Yin and low Yang, the caster had to be in control of their emotions and themselves in order to properly do the techniques. That was what he was doing. The uneasy feeling could probably upset his own chakra and make him lose control of the jutsu.

As he felt his chakra calm down he took a look at the memories around him. They pooled around him, he carefully observed them before placing his hand over one of the pools infront of him.

With a deep steady breath he slowly pushed forward and into the memory. He found himself in one of the Konoha Orphanages. He nodded slightly as he looked around the room his eyes focusing on the top right corner of the door.

He noticed three small markings on it, 'So, she is from the east konoha orphanage.'

He then turned back to his charge, it was Riku watching the children around her while holding a toy in her small chubby hands.

Her large brown eyes were on the other kids. He took note of her behaviour, he could hear her thoughts.

But for once he was baffled, he didn't understand what she was thinking but at the same time he could. He could see her mind compare things, glimpses of imagery as she looked at the kids around her.

"Time to eat." One of the care takers called out loudly, the girl stopped and glanced at the woman before smiling and following the caretaker.

'Her childhood then? I guess we can push forward.' He thought to himself as he kneaded his chakra and pushed the memory forward. He kept his chakra contained and pulsed it slightly, the world around him seemed to push forward and sped up. Subconscious thoughts pushed their way up and he as able to skim through all of her conversations.

That was another thing that made the Yamanaka special, he was able to make internal notes about what he saw. That's what the seals were for, to record everything he saw and the small footnotes he made about the mind walk. On the outside other interrogators stood around the seals where empty scrolls were being filled with what Santa Yamanaka brought out of the mind walk.

One of the things that Santa came to realize was that there was always an imagery of red swirls and the color orange, Naruto was also a name that seemed to come up constantly. 'Malestorm' or 'Fishcake' although he was interpreting it as if she had a liking to the fishcakes or she had something she had named Naruto. It could be a toy that wore something orange or maybe even an imaginary friend.

He frowned slightly as he sped through her memories. Simple days in the orphanage seemed to meld together, that is until she began going to the academy.

It had gotten worse, the uneasy feeling that it was wrong. Dread pooled at the bottom of his stomach but he couldn't understand why. He carefully checked his surroundings again, his eyes scanning for ripples or any inconstancy .

Those were the signs of a mind that had been tampered with. Other Ninja weren't able to analyze memories like the Yamanaka, meaning that they usually fell for the altered memories.

That was why the Yamanaka excelled at extracting information. Most were posted in the inner parts of Konoha's interrogation department. They were geniuses in the inner workings of the mind and were able to observe past memories and thoughts at a closer and personal level.

He was able to steady himself but he kept an eye out for anything that could be dangerous, enemy ninja usually had seals or traps set up in their ninja's mind. To prevent any vital information of their villages.

As far as Konoha was concerned, Murasaki never got the chance to finish training her pupil. So that meant that there should not be any seals or traps in her mind.

But the longer he spent in her mind the more he realized. Her thoughts were more than odd. He'd seen his fair share of people having large imaginations but this girl seemed lost in her head.

She observed, and not the kind of observing that is expected of a growing child. But more like a grown adult judging her peers.

But that's not what through him off. What threw him off the most was the self sabotage. There had been documentation of her doing it.

Yasu had been quick to figure her out though. But he guessed that it was to be expected since she was a retired Jonin who volunteered to teach kunoichi class in the academy.

'So this is what they meant by self sabotage, she knew the answers to most of her tests but chose to get a few of them wrong.' He thought to himself as he also noticed that she would go out of her way to blend in with the crowd.

'At least this is a confirmation on the theory that Yasu and Shunichi had. She was sabotaging herself to make sure that she didn't stand out. But she wasn't good enough to hide completly. Had she been phsyically stronger then she would have been placed in an apprenticeship with a high ranking Jonin and groomed to take a high ranking post. But seems like she isn't anything special in the Physical department, it's all mental.' He thought to himself as he went through more of her mind.

Soon he went over the graduation. He noted down her reaction to finding out she had graduated. It could be that she had realized that there would be a war. That she had come to the realization of what war was. Although she had never really seen it, judging by the childhood memories that he was able to decipher.

It was her way of thinking that made it hard to judge her. It was quite obvious that she had a moral code. She had opiniated thoughts and would make remarks about the things they would learn about in the academy.

That's what made her stand out to begin with. Santa wanted to make sure his report was unbiased and made sure to transmit everything that happened. From the moment she left the village she was being watched. Her time in the low end courtesan tea house she had been watched over by one of the village assets, a courtesan had kept an eye on her from afar. Also the missions Murasaki had taken under the code name Ayuri were going to be compared to Riku's memories.

Because if Riku had been compromised outside of the village then that would have fallen on Murasaki who was watching over her.

But the training did go as expected, although Riku was very resistant to most mental conditioning. She wasn't someone that had been easy to work with. Because of her mental maturity she already had a set opinions which conflicted with what Murasaki was trying to teach her.

She seemed to struggle adjusting herself as a spy for a while. As if her ninja training was just something she did on the side. He noted down the methods Murasaki use to deal with it. He carefully recoded what her first kills were like, how she reacted to them, and what her preferred method was.

He went over what had happened the day of the ambush and her return to konoha. She was different that was for sure, but she wasn't the only one. Although it was mostly clan kids that had weird ways of thinking.

Their minds just processed things differently and in some ways faster. Her brain seemed to come up with scenarios and comparisons. For example when Shunichi was talking about how to make a fire and why they should know how to light a fire, her brain would start thinking about different ways they could start a fire, on why it was common sense for a shinobi to know it and to try to pay attention to shunichi all at the same time.

At 6 years old that was a bit more in depth thinking. The kind that those so called prodigies usually displayed.

She also had finer motor skills than some of her peers. Also, while most children played ninja and had long pointless conversations about what they liked and did trivial childish things. She spent her time talking the ear off her upperclassmen.

It got to the point where she would actually give the older kids advice.

She had also organized the orphans in her class and started a study group, all without any outside influence. She simply just did what she considered to be Common Sense.

The only time that she could have been compromised was before she started the academy, but it didn't really make sense because she had just become more self aware.

The more he jumped back and forth in her memory, the more he seemed to notice that it was very possible that she gave herself a panic attack by over thinking the possibility of being sent out to war.

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Santa Yamanaka pulled back and gave a firm nod. His arms felt heavy and he was tired from the in depth mind reading.

"She's low risk, go ahead and process her paperwork I would recommend 6 months of in village training before she is cleared for work. I will write a more in depth report later. Go ahead and take her back to her current lodging." He says to the Chunin in the room.

He picked up the mind reading scroll and turned to leave the room. He would have to fill out the paperwork and send it in.

"So, Yamanaka-san. You seem quite busy." A soft voice called out, the blond shinobi came to a stop and turned.

"Ah, Yasu-sama. I was not aware that you would be visiting our department. " He bowed sternly and the old woman slightly tilted her head.

Her Kimono was a dark navy blue and her obi was a soft peach color with soft green embroidery printed on the soft bright fabric.

"I was just taking a stroll, at ease." She spoke softly, the way she stood seemed to be proud and proper, her movements always being swift and graceful.

"Of course, I apologize if I sounded assuming." He bowed his head slightly. "No, no, it's fine. I was just coming to inquire about one of my darling pupils. One I have been keeping track of, Murasaki's charge." She stated.

"Riku, correct? It seems that the genin was able to make her way back to Konoha. She has been cleared. I assume you will be taking over Murasaki's work?" He asked and the older woman smiled.

"Of course, she adjusted well in Kyoto. No reason to change her training for a more general study." Yasu smiled as she hid the lower part of her face.

"The final report should be finished by tomorrow. You should have access to it then." He says .

"Ah, I see. Then I will stop by tomorrow to see the final product. I will also be sending her inheritance." Yasu smiled softly as she turned away.

"Riku is an orphan." He pointed out but the older woman glanced back. "Her sensei never married or had children. As her only student, Riku is considered next of kin." Yasu responded swiftly.

He didn't respond at first as he glanced over at her. "Then she will receive whatever she inherited." He says with a firm nod as he leaves the room.

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I think this is a good stopping point for this chapter. will definitely make the next chapter longer

Rosyhatake/rosymalik