The Last Resort

WC: 559

It was a strange thing for Morino Ibiki to find out that out of all the torture methods, only one always guaranteed a certain result. He had stared people down, cut off limbs, even ate and drank in front of his victims. All of those methods encompassed physical and metal pain in one way or another. But always, one of them could find a way past those.

It was the last method that he always thought the most chilling.

Have you ever heard someone scream without ever being touched?

After a while of this method, the screams would reach his ears. He wasn't sure if it was the silence that got to them, or the absolute nothingness. All he knew was that they would scream as long as possible, just to fill that silence. They would beg to be let out, beg for mercy.

Have you ever heard someone start to cry without you ever saying something?

But he wouldn't do anything. He knew that if he let them out at that moment, they would still have their bearings. They would still be able to resist. So, the method continued. Slowly, their screams would die down.

And they would be replaced with cries.

At first, it would just be small little whimpers in the silence. Ibiki imagined that they would huddle as close as possible to their bodies. Then, the whimpers would recede to small little sobs, and soon they would be begging, the same as before.

Eventually, they stopped making any noise altogether.

Have you ever seen someone become completely paralyzed in the face of nothingness?

Only then, would Ibiki open the door slightly. A small crack of light would enter the room, illuminating a broken figure on the ground. They would lie there, curled in a fetal position, completely still, except for the mild shaking. At this point, Ibiki would decide whether they had enough, or if he needed to start all over again.

Have you ever seen someone cry in happiness, and thank you for your pity, just because you opened a door?

Usually, he opened the door completely. Here, all their secrets would be revealed, and be shed to the light.

They never seemed to be the same after that. A haunted look would enter their eyes. They would twitch at the slightest sounds, and they would never stay in an empty room by themselves anymore.

The lucky ones died before they got to that phase.

Ibiki had to say, it wasn't a pleasant method. He didn't think any grown ninja, who had survived through countless battles, would even survive this method.

In the end, ignorance was a shinobi's worst enemy. But as they said, sometimes, ignorance was bliss.

Yet, still... there was a reason Ibiki called this technique the last resort.

He didn't think he could endure it either.

Nyctophobia – the fear of severe darkness

Do you know what hides in the pitch black?

Do you even want to find out?

Note: Used to have its own story slot, and then I decided it needed to be moved to here, since it's under 1000 words.