facing memories of the past

"Where am I," I asked. looking around I saw nothing but darkness.

"Naruko can you hear me," asked Ryu. it seemed to be coming from all around me.

"Yes," I yelled. "Where am I."

"Hopefully you can hear me," he said again. showing no sign of hearing me. "You did a good job fighting your inner darkness now you must face the memories it hid. these will be the memories that you suppressed yourself and it chose to use for itself. you will have to accept the memories for what they are and turn that power into your own."

"What does that mean," I yelled.

as if to answer my question the darkness lit up showing an average street in Konoha. looking around I frown seeing that it was during one of the Kyuubi festivals. looking around she saw a five-year-old version of herself looking around. she remembered doing this the first year after the festival started but never wanted to do it again. why was that. is this what he meant by repressed memories.

"Cute," said young me. I had seen a plush fox orange fox.

"Get out of here brat I am not selling you anything," yelled the stall owner pushing her away with a broom. he then looks over at what she was looking at. "of course, a fox would call to a fox. he then took the animal and ripped it to pieces and threw it on the ground in front of her and stepped on it. the whole time looking at her with a dark smile.

this had me on my knees as i cried at the memory the other stalls treated me the same or charged me outrageous sums of money for anything. this memory was just an opening blow and the rest started to flow. one by one the horrible memories returned.

after what felt like forever, I was on my knees crying my eyes out. why am i even loyal to the village after it treated me like this. why do I still want to be loyal. as if to answer this question another memory appeared.

She was laying down in bed after a bunch of kids beat her up. she could have gotten away but the parents had stopped her. Jiji and two others stepped into the room. one looks like Ino's dad but she does not recognize the other one.

"Are you sure about this Hokage sama," asked the unknown.

"Yes Shisui," said Jiji. "After this latest incident i fear the village will drive her to betray Konoha. we cannot have a rouge jinchuriki I want you to use your sharingan to implant strong loyalty to the village no matter what."

"What," I said in shock as the memory returned.

"I can do that but if she ever realizes the loyalty is **** then it might be converted to hatred," said Shisui.

"That is why Inochi will remove this memory and on her yearly psych eval he will reinforce the suggestion," he said.

she remembers always being tired during those, Jiji had made that a requirement for all academy students and active shinobi to attend one a year. it was made fun of at first but after the uchiha massacre no one complained.

"It will be difficult to work around the kyuubi but it can be done," said Inochi.

"Do it," said jiji, no the hokage. the Jiji she knew was nothing but a lie.

the two then walked up the young me with Shisui activating his sharingan.

"Those bastards," i yelled out as the memory continued. "I will make them all pay for this." I tapped into my earlier pain and accepted it. I felt a weight get lifted off my shoulder and the world faded.

opening my eyes I see Ryu, and all the others surrounding me. I could see the concern in their eyes. Ryu sat down next to me and asked, "are you all, right?"

I just got up and hugged him as I let the tears start to fall. I have no home to return to the Konoha i knew was nothing but a lie. perhaps dragon country could be my new home.

"Good job." said Ryu as he gave me a gentle hug. "You have passed phase 2 now just one more and you will be ready to face the Kyuubi."

after a few minutes I manage to collect myself and looked at him. "What is phase 3," I asked.