The Twisting Mindscape

??? (Midnight) (Kamui's Point of View)

The world was silent. Kamui stood in a large dark cavern. A dense mist covered the ground up to her knees masking the damp ground littered in puddles. All light seemed to come from the various luminescent gems growing out of the cave's walls, which colored the cavern in dark reds, purples, and blues; the only exception were a group of small butterflies glowing with soft bioluminescent silvery-white light. Looking closely, they seemed to be originating from a large silvery-white tree root extending from the ground behind her. Truly, it was a beautiful place, if a bit earie.

Kamui marveled at this cavern she found herself in. She couldn't remember how she got here or where 'here' was. What she did know though, was that she needed to find out quickly and rendezvous with her sensei.

Her eyes shifted into their dragon form, allowing her to attempt an earth pulse; it failed. She tried again; it failed. Trying to keep her composure despite her growing panic at the situation, her eyes switched to the sharingan. She focused her eyes on the surroundings, trying to see the chakra around her. What she noticed shocked her immensely.

The entire cave structure was constructed using someone's chakra and intent. Looking at it closely, it reminded her of something she was very familiar with, her mindscape. The only things with chakra that she recognized as hers were the tree root and the butterflies flying out of it. Consequently, their appearances were a clear contrast to the surroundings. She was curious at why her chakra took on that form, but another question rose to the surface of her mind, bumping the others down the priority list.

"Am I in someone's mindscape?" she silently asked herself.

"You are." Came a familiar voice from her right side.

Turning, Kamui's eyes widened at the sight. Standing there was a familiar visage of her older self; it was Yume.

"That we're here is my fault. I felt someone crying out for help from the deepest depths of their spirit. Normally, it shouldn't be possible for me to hear this, but I could for some reason. The odd part was that the cry seemed to come from some odd mix of human and beast; well, it could be something akin to a beast, but I'm not completely sure. The signature seemed warped, almost artificial." She explained, her eyes narrowed as she took account of their surroundings in a manner similar to Kamui.

Kamui nodded in understanding, though her eyes showed a growing confusion at the facts presented.

"So basically, you reached out to interact with the voice and that's how we appeared here?" Kamui summed up in a question.

Yume nodded in agreement.

"That's correct. Though it looks like our influence hasn't stretched very far into this place." Yume commented absentmindedly, still observing the cave's intricacies."

"That's probably for the best. I'd rather not connect too deeply with something neither of us fully understand, even if you believe we can handle it." Kamui stated, earning her a snort of amusement from the older-looking entity.

"Now, why don't we move deeper in. Be careful though. As you move closer toward the center, our roots will spread, and the mindscape's rejection will become stronger. You probably don't notice it now, since it's so weak; it'll increase as we get further along. The only reason we were even able to do this so smoothly was due to the imbalance in the soul of the owner."

Hearing, this, Kamui started walking with Yume following closely behind.

"I get the imbalance part. Their chakra signature feels distorted. It feels like someone tried creating some crude hybrid creature." Kamui commented, more silver-white roots grew and followed her as she passed.

"That's probably the case. I can feel a small amount of divinity seeping into the owner's intent, though it doesn't appear to be friendly; it seems to be trying to pollute the owner in its colors." Yume pointed out.

Kamui shifted in discomfort at the thought. Just feeling this disturbing chakra made her grateful that her predecessor was gracious enough to pass on her legacy in the way she did, rather than the crude way that was happening here. From what she could tell, the cry for help probably had to do with the spiritual pollution process. The owner likely didn't know how to fight it. There was another thing she was curious about though; it was the question she had sidelined before Yume made herself known.

"By the way Yume, why is my influence represented by tree roots?" She asked.

Yume looked at her in confusion, then her face widened in realization.

"Oh, you haven't been in your mindscape in a while, have you?" she asked rhetorically, knowing full well that Kamui hadn't visited her personally in a while.

"At your request. Remember, you asked me to stay out when I turned twelve, something about it going through renovations." Kamui asked with irritation.

Why would she stay out of that garden of paradise if she didn't have to? It was such a beautiful place, perfect to relax and clear her mind. The worst part, Yume might have even forgotten that Kamui didn't need to stay out anymore.

"Oh, I forgot about that." Yume embarrassedly admitted, her hand scratching her scalp. "Truthfully, you could have re-entered when you turned fifteen now that I think about it. You should visit soon, so we can go over the changes. It'll most certainly help with your training.

Kamui was about to retort, when the two noticed their surroundings changing, causing the conversation to be put off until later.

As they moved deeper into the cave, the two were disgusted to find the walls shifting into what appeared to be the inside of a mouth. Pulsing across the gums were glowing scarlet-red veins of repulsive feeling chakra. They could even hear a steady heartbeat if they listened closely enough.

In the distance, they started hearing a screeching sound reminiscent of a pained scream. It was a distorted combination of two voices. A strained voice that almost sounded like a human woman and a bestial derivative that scratched at their ears. These two voices came together in a chorus of pain and despair.

"Well, I guess we found the owner of this space." Kamui mumbled, a little freaked out at the pain this woman must be experiencing.

"Indeed, let's move closer. We must be quick though. The rejection is already getting stronger." Yume commented seriously.

"What do you mea— ack!" Kamui cried out as a sharp pain pierced her mind like a needle, causing her to halt in place.

"Look to your left." Yume stated, her finger moving to point at a root on the left side.

Glancing at the root, Kamui noticed a thick ten-foot sized black viper with red accents and eyes eating at it. Gazing back to the path they needed to tread, she noticed more snakes with a similar appearance rapidly slithering toward the roots.

"I guess that answers my question." Kamui mumbled.

"Correct. Now, hurry up! We need to at least get a visual on the host; it'll strengthen the connection significantly. If we can at least do that, it'll be a lot easier to locate her on the outside. Just being that close would tie a strong enough bond to be traceable on the outside for a short period, regardless of the rejection's efforts.

Nodding in agreement, Kamui rushed forward. Despite what she expected though, the snakes didn't target her; they targeted the tree roots that followed her. She herself was just a projection, while they were the actual representation of her presence here. She also noticed that she was receiving more sharp pains in her mind as more snakes latched onto the roots. Clearly, the snakes were doing their job exceptionally well. She needed to hurry.

After a few minutes of rushing, Kamui noticed an opening in the long esophagus they'd been traveling through. Speeding through it, the two looked around, taking stock of their new surroundings. They were in a large dome of flesh with scarlet pods containing bundles of eggs lining the walls in large numbers. The scarlet veins seemed to connect them to the wall, pulling energy from an unknown source. In the center of the dome was a ten-foot-tall woman snake hybrid.

The woman had a beautiful face with pale white skin and scarlet red eyes with small vertical rectangular pupils. The roots of her hair started as a lilac purple and seemed to bundle and morph into black snake heads with no eyes and scarlet glowing markings; the insides of their mouths were a bleeding red, glowing in the same earie light as the walls around them. The woman's arms and legs were covered in black scales ending in talon-like nails. The interesting thing was that her scaled legs seemed to be drawing toward each other against her will. Considering everything else that was happening, it was easy to guess that they were trying to become a snake tail.

The odd part of this whole situation was a small white snake coiling around her neck like a collar. Considering the coloration of everything else, this one stood out amongst the rest. With the white coloration and recent events, it was disturbingly familiar to another snake she recently dealt with.

"Wow, her appearance is as distorted as her chakra." Kamui muttered, startled that a human could turn into that.

"Agreed. It looks like her transformation has progressed pretty far. Her form has already taken on quite a few snake-like properties. That explains the surrounding area…" Yume commented, baffled herself at the sight.

"Wait, shouldn't we be in the stomach of this snake mindscape? Why are there egg chambers here?" Kamui curiously asked, struggling to maintain her clarity of thought. By now, there were snakes all over her roots. She could feel every bite gnawing at her thought process. They needed to finish quickly before she was expelled; she had a feeling that would happen soon.

"This is not a stomach, it's a representation of her slowly distorting mindscape. Those eggs likely represent the slowly increasing influence of whatever snake is polluting her mind and body. With that said, we can discuss the rest later. For now, see if you can talk to her. We don't have time to waste. We need a clue to help us find her in person if we're going to do anything to save her. That is, if you want to save her." Yume stated seriously, trying to hurry her host up.

Shaking her head, Kamui seriously replied, "I don't think we have a choice but to save her. Aside from her obvious pain, I would bet my money on her being one of Orochimaru's experiments; the snake on her neck is too familiar. That said, you're right. We need to hurry up." With that said, she rushed toward the large snake woman.

Again, the snakes didn't aim to stop her; they aimed for her roots. Despite the pain making it increasingly harder to think, Kamui soldiered on and reached the woman quickly.

"Do you need help!?" Kamui shouted, trying to pierce the snake girl's wall of screams.

"Who…are…you…?" The girl struggled to get out, doing her best to focus on the newcomer despite her own pain. She noticed her earlier but had been preoccupied with the pain that had dominated her mind for longer than she cared to remember. It had gotten worse since her 'father' graced her with this 'gift' around her neck. Oh, what she would give to kill that man.

"My name is Kamui and I'm responding to your call for help. We need to keep this quick though since I'm being rejected from your mind as we speak. I can help you remove that collar, but the effort will rip me out of your mindscape. Can you tell me your name and how to reach you? I can't help anymore until that point." Kamui asked quickly, noticing that she would be ejected anyways pretty soon. She also noticed that the girl's scarlet eyes focused on her alone; it seemed like she couldn't perceive Yume at all.

The girl was silent for a moment, considering whether to trust this girl. Pain and uncertainty marred her face as she struggled to choose whether to trust this stranger. She didn't wait long to answer though. She didn't have a choice at this point. She was out of options.

"My name… is Naga. I've… been trapped…. in a large cavern by… the man calling himself…. my father. It's… in a large…. swamp. Please…. help me." She struggled to get out, swallowing the pride she had been raised to embrace. She felt her consciousness being swallowed by 'it'. She didn't know what 'it' was exactly, but she knew that 'it' couldn't be allowed to fully swallow her.

Kamui nodded.

"It's nice to meet you. Wait for me in the outside world. I'll make my way to you as soon as I can." Kamui spoke with a smile. She synchronized with Yume and willed the largest nearby tree root to come to her side. Quickly, the end of the root elongated into a sharp spear.

"I… haven't been…. awake in…. a long time. You'll…probably have to…. subjugate….my body." She managed to say, not wanting this stranger to misunderstand if her deranged body assaults her upon confrontation.

Kamui nodded in gratitude for the warning. She had a feeling that would be the case, but she appreciated the effort the girl clearly expended to give her that warning. With that, she raised her hand, causing the root spear to position itself.

"Thank you. Just keep fighting from in here. I'll be there as soon as I can." And with that, her hand fell, propelling the spear toward the white-snake collar. Kamui knew she didn't have a chance at getting intelligence in her inhibited condition. That was fine though. She had a feeling that saving this girl would be far more rewarding, both morally and practically.

Once the spear point made contact with the sleeping white snake collar, the whole space shook, and everything went white. She knew what this meant; she had been ejected from the mindscape. On her way out though, she heard that repulsive scream she had come to associate with Orochimaru. Clearly, she was right. That snake had likely been the core of a curse mark. Now that it was gone, Naga should have more time, hopefully.