Here isht a disclaimer of disclaimy goodness~
In all the years of knowing her, Shizune had never seen Tsunade up before sunrise unless something terrible had happened. So, when the dark-haired woman awoke at around five o'clock in the morning to see the light on in the Hokage's office, she immediately panicked. Something somewhere must've gone horribly wrong and Shizune needed to be there to help. In under five minutes she was dressed in her chuunin vest, not her usual robe, and off to the office, ready for dispatching.
When she entered the room however, the Fifth merely raised her eyebrows.
"Where are you planning on going at this hour?" Tsunade groused. She was clearly unhappy, or hungover, or both.
"I'm reporting for duty, Lady Hokage," Shizune replied, slightly confused, "There must be some emergency, for you to be awake this early. I'm here to help."
"Fine then. Your duty is to get me the strongest cup of coffee you can find. I've been up since three and I still don't feel awake."
"But why-"
"One of the patrol squads picked up Sasuke Uchiha this morning," Tsunade mumbled.
"What!?"
"And Naruto isn't back yet."
Shizune's eyes widened, "Do we know why he's here, then?"
"Ibiki Morino is being sent down later this morning, once the Uchiha has been fully disarmed. We're giving him chakra repressing drugs and everything."
Treating him like the criminal that he is, Shizune thought. "How many people know?"
"Us, the Interrogation Unit, and the ANBU team that picked him up. This is going to stay as quiet as possible. Information is need-to-know. Team 7, no, all of that year, does not need to know. Naruto especially must not be told, though it's probably going to bite us in the ass later. If the Uchiha is deemed a threat, I don't want to have to go against him for an execution."
Shizune nodded. Naruto would never let Konoha execute his best friend, even if it was in everyone's best interest.
"When are you telling the rest of the Council?"
Tsunade scowled, "They'll want him dead on sight. I don't think they believe in justice, or extenuating circumstances. As soon as the brat is in the hands of those I know to be my people, I'll let them know. I am not having Sasuke Uchiha killed without solid cause. If by some miracle, his intentions are good, then he will be a greater asset to the village than I think even he knows. For a start, I can stop wasting manpower looking for him."
Shizune nodded again.
"Well, now that you know we aren't at war, will you PLEASE go get me some coffee?"
The dark-haired woman jumped. She had forgotten about her orders.
"Yes, of course, Lady Tsunade."
"And some breakfast too! I can't do paperwork on an empty stomach!"
Sasuke slept lightly once the Hokage had left, if one could call it sleeping. His mind, instead of shutting down, merely went through cycles of thinking and not thinking. However tired he was, it didn't matter, for one did not sleep in the enemy's hands, even though he was not quite sure if Konoha was the enemy, yet. They probably thought the same thing about him.
The guards were being overly cautious, drugging him and binding his hands. They had, at least, not tried to blindfold him. It was either courteous of them, or very stupid.
After some time of almost-sleep, Sasuke surmised it was around seven o'clock in the morning when a new group of Konoha-nin dragged him off to Interrogations.
Ibiki Morino had met a lot of strange people in his career. Most of them were selfish, heartless, and thrived on bloodshed. Upon first setting eyes on him, Ibiki concluded that Sasuke Uchiha was none of the above. He came in willingly, which was a rarity among those Ibiki saw; the guards barely even had to touch him to make him move. It was almost as though, of all the places in the world to be, he wanted to be here.
So he's either insane, or he's planning something, Ibiki thought. He's an Uchiha though, it was probably both.
The guards who bought him in directed him to the uncomfortable metal stool in the middle of the chamber. There were numerous torture devices hanging along the walls, all safely bolted down with locks in tune to specific chakra, in this room more for effect than usage.
The Hokage had specified that Ibiki pull no punches. Any sign that Sasuke Uchiha was hiding something was enough reason to begin using measures or at least threatening them. This was not Sasuke Uchiha, Konoha genin. The young man in front of him was Sasuke Uchiha, S-Class Missing-nin.
Once Sasuke was seated, his handcuffs chained properly to the stool in the center of the room, Ibiki signaled to the guards. They would remain in the room for the entire interrogation.
The Interrogator stared silently at his target for a good five minutes before starting. Ibiki took in the way the boy sat, where he looked, even how often he so much as blinked. He was gathering information on the Uchiha, building a database of weaknesses and strengths that wouldn't be in any of his files.
The kid slouched a lot, that was certain. He probably had a habit of resting his elbows on tables, and without the support, he was just slouching. He appeared tired, which could not be ruled out as false, since he had probably not slept once the ANBU picked him up and had been traveling prior to that.
"Sasuke Uchiha, do you know why you are here?"
"Yes."
"Enlighten me," Ibiki said. Based on his monosyllabic response, the boy did not like to talk. Simple responses were for people in charge. Ibiki would show the Uchiha exactly who was in charge here. He would be making the brat do most of the talking, therefore, and keep him out of his comfort zone.
Sasuke clenching his jaw before replying proved Ibiki right.
"You know why I am here, Ibiki Morino."
"Yes, but my friends don't," Ibiki said, nodding to the two guards, and not showing any surprise that the boy remembered him from the chuunin exams all those years ago, "And it would be so rude of us not to tell them."
The Uchiha boy knew Ibiki was toying with him, setting him up to get aggravated and sloppy, to say things he didn't intend to. He wasn't going to take the bait.
"Approximately three years ago I defected to Hidden Sound from Konohagakure for the purpose of acquiring power to defeat Itachi Uchiha. Itachi Uchiha is dead. I have returned to Konoha to offer information on Hidden Sound, in exchange for the restoration of my citizenship and removal of my name from Konoha's Bingo Book."
It was a basic and complete answer, Ibiki noted, simple and factual. The kid was hiding something, he was too distant from his reply. The Interrogator couldn't quite pinpoint what it was that he might be hiding, but then again, it was barely five minutes in to what would probably become an all-nighter.
"And what makes you think Konoha will take you back?" Ibiki said, standing up. He began to walk closely around Sasuke, noticing how the boy bristled, and continued, "You attacked your comrades. Konoha doesn't like people who do that. You are responsible for the near death of several Konoha genin-"
"Near death. They aren't dead, so it doesn't matter-"
"Now, now, Sasuke," Ibiki said in his best imitation of a teacher voice, more to annoy his prisoner than anything else, "When I'm talking," he changed to a more menacing tone, "you are not."
Sasuke glared at him. It was the Interrogator's job to piss him off, but did he have to be so damn good at it?
"You are responsible for the near death of several Konoha genin," Ibiki continued, "Including one of your own teammates. What do you have to say to that?"
Sasuke made no reply. There was nothing he could say that would put the situation in even a slightly better light.
Without warning, Ibiki smacked him across the back of the head, the force sending Sasuke nearly out of the chair, and causing the chains around his wrists to pull painfully. He twisted around to try and right himself, looking at Ibiki, eyes wide with shock and fury.
Ibiki shrugged, "You aren't off the hook brat. You're getting the same treatment that every other scumbag who winds up in here gets. I believe I asked you a question, and you are going to answer it."
"I have nothing to say."
Ibiki shrugged again, smiling creepily, "You coulda just said so and saved us the trouble."
Sasuke just glared at him.
"After that, you went to Hidden Sound to apprentice under the Sennin Orochimaru, known S-Class missing-nin and enemy of Konoha. Why?"
"He offered me power. I needed power."
"And you couldn't find power here," Ibiki said dubiously, "where there are two of the Sannin?" He was belittling the boy, poking at the holes in his logic and revealing them as gaping chasms.
Sasuke looked the Interrogator straight in the eye and replied, "I would never have been given permission to go after Itachi here."
There's a point, Ibiki thought to himself. He had to give the boy a little credit for incorporating that into his reasoning.
"And so you found yourself learning from the man charged with the most crimes against humanity in recorded history. Tell me, how was that?" said Ibiki, faking earnestness.
"I observed few experiments, and participated in none. I was in Hidden Sound for the purpose of training and gaining strength, nothing more."
"And you expect me to believe that Orochimaru was alright with this?"
"The experiments were for information, which Orochimaru would retain after the body transfer. It was unnecessary for me to participate."
"I see," mused Ibiki, "If you say the experiments were for information, and you weren't there for them, what exactly are you giving us?"
It was going to be a long night if this kept up, Ibiki concluded. Questioning Sasuke Uchiha was going to be like trying to get water from a canteen using a syringe. It was simply easier to open the lid and let the water pour out. Ibiki had just decided to tip the lid and see what would come out.
Within an hour, Team 7 and Team 8 returned to the Village Hidden In the Leaves. After filling out their mission reports, the team was dismissed. Kakashi alone made his way to the Hokage tower, to inform his leader of Itachi's death, of Sasuke's loss, again, and most importantly, of the invulnerable Akatsuki member who also possessed a Sharingan.
Naruto, meanwhile, crawled into bed with misted eyes. Not since his childhood had he ever felt so weak, so powerless. One simple doubt was eating away at his soul: What if Sasuke never wanted to come back?
Hiiiiiiiii there, Starcube here.
I know I'm incredibly late and I apologize. Writer's block+ computer malfunction + Beta on vacation= chapter late. But I did get it done! So yeah. And chapter 5 has been started, so hopefully it will be on time, and on time being sometime next week.
Love always to those who review(constructive criticism is always welcome, and so is just saying you like the story :) ), and many thanks to Alaenor-Skybird for beta-ing.
And if anyone who likes my writing style and is interested in a slightly crack-y AU story series, you might want to check out Designated Driver, my pet project that takes backseat to Path, but will be worked on (especially if I have writer's block on Path)
~Starcube out!