Danzo was arrested and put in prison with his chakra locked away. The cursed seal couldn't be lifted until he was dead and members of Root were hard to find. Captured Root agents were in T&I, experiencing torture and investigation. They couldn't get any information out of anyone until one agent started writing. They discovered that the seal prevented them from talking but not writing. After visiting, I discovered that the one to spill secrets was Sai. He was still bitter that Danzo had forced him to kill his ill brother. The few fuinjutsu 'specialists' had been tasked to find a way to seal the curse on their tongues. So far we were failing.
…
"I figured it out!" I declared.
"What," asked Isobu, "figured out another way to get yourself killed? Haven't we had enough of that?"
"Well…" I said reluctantly, "Maybe…? I mean. I'm pretty sure I figured out a way to remove Orochimaru's seal. And the same could be applied to the Root agents"
"More biting?" he asked sarcastically.
"No," I said, exasperated, "Senjutsu! 'Cause the cursed seal is basically Orochimaru's senjutsu. If I use mine I can probably… possibly override it? I also made a fuinjutsu seal to aid with the process."
"Okay…" said Isobu, "I trust you… ?"
I let out a huff of annoyance, "Thanks. Now I just need to find a quiet place… probably the sealing room."
"They'll never let you use it." said Isobu bluntly.
"Probably…" I said, "It's fine. My room is big enough. Plus… the kids won't be here and Genma's leaving on a mission tomorrow."
The kids were now sent to study with various tutors every day before they entered the academy. Tsunade wanted them to be able to control their chakra and learn to use Hiraishin properly and safely. Genma was being sent on a mission and would be away for a few days.
…
"Okay…" I sighed and closed the door. I pulled out my ink and my brush and started writing on the paper-covered floor. I bought a few large scrolls with chakra infusible paper. They were often used by people to make DIY sealing scrolls. I laid them out, covering almost the entire floor, "Time to get working."
All in all, it took me two days to finish the seal. "You are…" sighed Isobu, "an…"
"A genius?" I asked hopefully.
"An idiot," he replied, "At least try not to die."
"I'm not going to," I muttered in reply.
"Right…" he said, "You definetly aren't trying to recreate Orochimaru's seal huh?"
"Nope," I responded, "I'm trying to reverse it. Also… Orochimaru's not here. And its a bunch of good fuinjutsu!"
"And biting?" he asked.
"Well I'm biting myself… or my shadow clone is anyways." I closed my eyes and started absorbing natural energy, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
A shadow clone popped out of a cloud of dust. It had signs of sage mode but it wasn't in sage mode. "Huh," I looked at it, "It worked." I had created a shadow clone with only senjutsu. "You know what to do?" I asked.
She nodded and flashed a few handsigns. I nodded and sat down in the middle of my room, in the middle of the enourmous seal. "Don't stop," I said to my clone, "If you do, theres a significantly higher change that I die because you stop than because of the seal itself."
She nodded and handed me a strip of leather that I placed firmly between my teeth. "You are actually crazy," said Isobu.
"Sut 'up," I muttered between the strip of leather, "It'll be fine."
"Ready?" asked my shadow clone. I could feel a wave of senjutsu rushing off of her.
I nodded and closed my eyes. My shadow clone flashed more hand signs and placed her hands on my neck. I scrunched my eyes as I felt the ink crawling slowly up and towards my neck. I resisted the urge to shudder. It felt like hundreds of bugs, crawling up and through my body. How did Aburame's deal with them…
"Ah!" I clenched my teeth as a wave of pain suddenly shot through my body. I gasped as the pain increased.
"Breath," whispered my clone.
Everything hurt. I gasped, trying to breathe. My neck was burning, my chest was burning, no, my entire body was burning. I gritted my teeth and was glad for the piece of leather between my teeth. Don't scream, don't scream, don't scream. I let out a muffled scream as my seal continued to move towards Orochimaru's.
Orochimaru. It was like Orochimaru all over again. I gasped, my chest heaving, my eyes burning. "Come on Rin," whispered Isobu gently, more gentle than I had ever heard him, "Just a few more minutes, then it'll be all over."
"I… huff… I can't…" I gasped out, "can't breathe…"
I actually couldn't. It felt like someone had wrapped their hands around my neck. Someone… no something… It felt like scales… like snakes… I let out a whimper of pain and my hand reflexively reached for a weapon that wasn't there. White spots of pain burned across my vision. So tired… "Rin!" Isobu snapped, "If you pass out, you're shadow clones going to disappear. Don't pass out alright?"
"M'kay," I muttered through the pain. I tried to blink the spots away.
My body felt weak. It wasn't listening to me anymore. I fell forward and barely caught myself with my arms, which were turning to jelly. Then I let out a scream of pain. "Rin!" Isobu growled, "Don't you dare."
"I'm going to do it," said my clone, "Ready."
"Jus…" I gasped, "Just do it!"
Something sharp pierced the side of my neck, right over the scars left by Orochimaru. I bit back another scream but my arms gave out. I slumped to the floor, shaking painfully.I could feel the slug chakra flowing through my system. It burned, then it was warm. I heard a poof behind me as my shadow clone dismissed itself. I was flooded with memories. I, was on the floor shaking, screaming, pale, and sweaty. I tried to shake the memories away. Then I screamed. The me from the memory. Isobu shouted something. Then everything went dark.
…
I opened my eyes and found myself in my mindscape. It was different. Isobu wasn't there and neither was the gate. It was much darker. "Hello Rin," I turned around and found myself staring into a pair of eyes, purple eyeshadow, and slitted pupils.
"Orochimaru," I took a step back, "Why are you here?" my neck prickled uncomfortably.
"Did you think I'd go down without a fight?" he hissed, he flicked his tongue.
"There was a fight," I said, taking another step, "I killed you."
"I can't die," he said, "You should know that."
"You shouldn't be here," I said.
"You tried to get rid of me," he said. Then he lunged for me and wrapped his hands around my neck, fangs out, and ready to bite.
I writhed underneath and wrapped my hands around his wrists, trying to push him off. "No," he snarled.
"Get off!" I screamed, "Get out!" This was my mindscape. This was… my mindscape. This was… I closed my eyes and relaxed my hands. A thin, solid object formed in my hand and I stabbed upwards, hitting him in the neck. He stared at me, eyes wide. Blood poured out of the wound. It wasn't real. It wasn't… it wasn't- I screamed and pushed the body off, stumbling to my feet.
The body shuddered once, twice, and then it began to twist, deformed. "N-no," I choked as the body turned into Biwako Sarutobi, a face that stopped haunting my dreams years ago. I stepped backward, away from the body.
Someone put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched away. "Rin," whispered Orochimaru, "You could have saved her."
"No…" I shook my head, "It's not real. It's not real…"
"I assure you," he said, "This is very real." His teeth plunge toward my neck.
I spun and stabbed him again, this time in the chest. Blood bloomed across his shirt and he stumbled backward before falling onto his back. Then the body morphed again. Into… into… "Stop it," I shouted as Minato-sensei's form appeared, blood across his chest, just like when Kurama killed him.
I walked backward and screamed as I tripped over something. I fell onto my butt. I looked down and saw that I had tripped over Biwako. I let out a strangled gasp as Orochimaru grabbed me around the neck and threw me. It shouldn't have hurt because I was in my mindscape but it did. "Go away!" I threw my weapon which promptly stabbed him in the eye. Bloody tears poured out his eye and his body changed again.
"Stop it," I whispered as Obito appeared. He wasn't even dead, yet he was haunting me. "You're not real," I said again. This time, he didn't fall. Instead, Obito stood up and walked towards me.
"Rin," he said as his body morphed, half of it ugly and deformed. "You could have saved me," he rasped. He ran toward me, slamming against a wall that appeared out of nowhere. His arm was under my chin and above my throat, choking me. "You should have saved me. You left me. It's ALL YOU FAULT!"
"No," I whispered, "You're not real. This is my mindscape. I AM IN CONTROL."
"Oh really?" he asked, turning into Orochimaru.
"Yes," I said firmly. Chakra enveloped me and I heard Isobu growl.
"GET OUT!" I shouted, slamming my hand into his chest.
He flew back and fell onto the floor, hard. Chakra curled up from his body. It twisted and curled, turning into something physical. It grew longer and higher towards the sky. A tree, I realized. I looked carefully and watched as three large trees sprouted from the prone bodies in my mindscape. Three tails. Isobu reappeared, "Rin."
"Isobu," I let out a shuddering breath and realized that I was crying.
"Everything is alright," He said, his tail wrapping me closer to him, "You are fine. Just… just rest."
"Thank you," I said and closed my eyes.