Shattered: Spiral of Deception

Chapter 1

Just so you all know, these chapters are going to be rather short….for my own reasons. Also, this story is a prequel to my Chains of Fate story.

Orochimaru chuckled darkly. He knew that the boy, Naruto Uzumaki, was going to be a pain in his ass when he would go for the Uchiha. So the best solution was to kill him, but that would release the Kyuubi and that could be bad for him. So the next best thing would be to utterly destroy him in some other way and he had just thought of the perfect way!

The boy had had in his village a similar power to that of a Yamanaka, but this boy's power to truly fuck up the mind instead of manipulating it to one's will. That is exactly what he needed. With Naruto completely out of commission, he highly doubted that Konoha would be able to hold on to their precious Uchiha.

"Kabuto, I have a mission for our resident mind killer." Orochumaru order of his assistant.

Kabuto's eyes widened before an evil smirk made its way onto his face. He knew Orochimaru was planning on taking the Uchiha soon and knew that the Uzumaki was going to be a problem, he had been the last few times. Oh…this was going to be good.

XXX

Ino laughed at her fellow blond's joke. Naruto was actually pretty funny when he wanted to be. She smiled at his form while he palled around with Lee and Kiba. Hell the whole gang was there. They were having a group day as they have been having after the Chunin Exams.

This time, they had a large picnic and everyone brought food. It would good because Choji always brought the most. Sasuke even brought some, but he preferred to sit alone under a tree. She then looked to the adults who decided to join in this time. Kurenai was chatting with Asuma about something and Kakashi was desperately trying to ignore Guy.

After the Chunin Exams, Ino had gotten to know her fellow blond a lot more and saw that he was a kind and caring person…even if he was a loud mouth most of the time. She felt her crush for Sasuke slipping away even more. It started when she was put on a team of lazy asses that needed her to keep them in line. Now, she had a small crush for the idiot blond. Seriously.

She wondered if the crush would go anywhere, if he would turn her feelings. Who knows, but he was still crushing after Sakura for some reason. I mean she always punched the kid out, why would some go after that?

Suddenly, she stiffened and she felt a presence that didn't suit well for her and it seemed a few of her group noticed that. Soon, all talking quieted down as all heads turned in one direction, toward the creepy feeling.

A few yards away, was a small boy. He had purple hair that hung down around his grimy face. He wore rags for clothes. Yeah…creepy, but homeless…or soon it seem.

Soon, the purple hair boy began walking and stopped right in front of Naruto. Ino bit her lip, hoping nothing bad would happen. The small boy pointed to the blond and asked, "You are Naruto Uzumaki, right?"

"Yep! I am Naruto Uzumaki! The next Hokage!" The blond shouted, making the boy wince a bit.

"Those plans have been delayed…permanently." The boy said, making all present raise an eyebrow.

"Oh…what make you think that kid?" Naruto pouted.

The boy just gave him a dead stare while positioning his finger on Naruto's Third eye region. "Your mind will not be able to handle it. Regards from Orochimaru…Shatter!" the boy said as the spot glowed for a moment and Naruto's eyes widened as he felt pain everywhere in his body as he chakra flared up before he was propelled backwards into a tree….where he just laid there.

Hinata, who everyone knew that she had a major crush on the boy, saw red. This brat hurt her Naruto-kun! She zoomed over to him, but before he could Kakashi knocked the boy out with a grim stare while Kurenai restrained the distraught girl.

However, in was Ino who made it to the prone from of Naruto first. She first checked his pulse and saw that was alive, which was good, but he just laid there like a rag doll. Something was horribly wrong, that much she knew. "Asuma-sensei! We have to get him to Tsunade! She might know what is wrong."

The chain smoking jonin nodded as walked over to them. "I assume you are coming along?"

"Duh!" Ino replied.

The jonin nodded before he used a body flicker jutsu and the three of them were gone in a poof, but not before he said, "Meet us at the tower."

Sasuke just blinked. That brat that attacked Naruto had mentioned Orochimaru before he just said a strange word and sent Naruto flying. That…should not have been possible. If he went to the snake like man, would he gain that power as well? He needed more info.

XXX

Several poofs of smoke awoke the sleep Hokage from her paperwork induced nap. Looking up, she saw that the entire Rookie 12 and their senseis were all in the room, but the thing that caught her eye was a small boy she did not know of and that Naruto was on the group, barely even moving. "The hell happened?" She asked, getting up to check on her surrogate son.

"We're are not sure, but this boy appeared at our little get together, said some odd things that included Orochimaru, put his finger to Naruto's head and the blond was blasted back like a rag doll. We can't get him to say anything though." Kakashi informed the Hokage as he held the small purple haired boy.

Tsuande nodded before she lit her hand with the green glow of medical chakra and examined the blond haired boy. Her brow furrowed in annoyance. "It…seems that he is alright, but when I check up on his mind, it is like when Sasuke was induced by Itachi's illusion jutsu, but far worse….and I can't get past it!"

Now that was not something the Uchiha did not expect, nor did anyone else for that matter. Was Orochimaru that power as to make a small power do this to his teammate?

It was at that point that Ibiki, Anko, and Inoichi walked into the heavily filled room. Of course they heard Tsunade's explaination on their way in and their eyes narrowed at the child. Inoichi, however, growled. The feeling he felt earlier was back and he was sure his Ino felt it as well. He knew what had happened.

"Hokage-sama, I have a feeling that I know what happened."

"Well, out with it!" Tsunade snapped irritably.

"This boy." Inoichi began as he pointed the boy in Kakashi's arms, "is from an old clan. I read about it in our archives and it mentioned as ominous feeling that I can feel radiating off him."

"Wait, I am not going crazy then?" Ino asked.

Inoichi smile somewhat, "No. He is from a clan that was thought to be wiped out during the Shinobi Clan Wars. It was dubbed the Mind Shatter Clan because of their abilities to do just that. We fought against them a lot because of them ominous feeling. They are after all, our opposite." He then paused and asked, "When he performed the Mind Shatter Jutsu, did he touch Naruto's third eye region?"

"Yes." Neji replied. "I thought it odd at first, but it would seem it was the intended target."

"I-is t-there a w-way to save him?" Hinata stuttered out.

"Yes, but since it deals with the mind, only a Yamanaka can do it." Inoichi said with a sigh.

"Then I'll do it." Ino volunteers with determination in her eyes.

Inoichi sent a glare her way, showing his disproval, which shocked the girl for a moment before she sent her own glare. Finally Inoichi relented. "I have never even done this before, I know the results, are you sure you want to do something like this?"

"Yes daddy, I want to help him. He is my friend!" Ino stated.

The older blond gave off a shaky sigh before saying. "I guess there is no other chance. You may do this." Inoichi said sadly, something that only the adults in the room caught on to.

Ino smiled and hugged her father before she performed the Mind Body Switch Jutsu and entered her fellow blond's mind. As Shikamaru caught her body, Asuma asked, "You seemed really reluctant in letting her do this, why?

Inoichi gave another shaky sigh. "Because, this process back in the day was a rite of passage. It basically made them adults in our eyes. But…there was more to it than that."

"Oh?" asked Kakashi.

"Going through all the victims memories, they learn everything about them. They usually fall in love with each other because of that fact and often marry later on. I'm just….not ready for that."

Everyone's eyes widened at that. Fear for the adults and just pure shock for all the younger ninjas. Hinata's eyes began to water because she might not have a chance to be with Naruto, but if he was happy, so was she. She just hoped Ino was up to the task of saving Naruto's mind.

Sakura was a bit miffed, why would Ino want to be with her dumbass teammate? His mind could not be that complex…could it?"

Tsunade, along with the other adults were concern what Ino will think of Naruto when she finds out about the Kyuubi. Sighing, she turned to Inoichi and asked, "Is there a way for us to view as well?"

"Yes, it is called the View Jutsu." Inoichi explained before his eyes widened. "You're not thinking…"

"Yes, Ino should not have to go through this alone. If she learns of his secret, then his close friends should as well." Tsunade explained, getting wary looks from the sensei. Walking over to her desk, she pressed a button and said, "Shizune! Get in here and cancel any meeting I have for today!"