Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter Four: Interrogation

Ibiki Morino sighed. It was going to be a long day. The ANBU Black Ops had just delivered an unconscious Sasuke Uchiha to him. The last Uchiha, as he had been come to be known, had been unconscious for a week and people wanted to know what had actually happened that night. Nobody in their village actually knew what had happened. All they knew was that one day, there was a very strong and prominent clan and the next, there was seemingly a single member remaining, unconscious, and everybody wanted to know what was going on. On top of that, Ibiki was scheduled to interrogate one Naruto Uzumaki, as ordered by the Council every time he seemed to express himself and become strong, and all of the other responsibilities assigned to the Head of ANBU's Torture and Interrogation Department, but first he had to deal with the Uchiha.

The Doctors who hadn't been able to wake him had ruled out Chakra Exhaustion after the third day. It simply did not take that long for a young Academy student to recover his Chakra. There was a foreign Chakra in his system, and it was focused on his mind, which suggested a Genjutsu, but it had not dissipated, and none of their specialists could break the 'Genjutsu,' if one could call it that. It definitely seemed to do more then a regular Genjutsu. All of the Doctors efforts had been in vain, so they had carted the boy to the foremost authority on the mind: Ibiki. Ever since he was a young Yamanaka, when he was taught the first family Jutsu designed to manipulate the minds of others from his father, he had loved to learn about the mind. When he was recruited by ANBU, Ibiki, like all other ANBU before him, changed his name to better protect his family. As of that moment, he stopped being a Yamanaka, and became a Morino, but he could not, and would not forget about his fascination with the mind.

As the foremost expert on hand about how the mind worked, he was given his assignment. Wake the Uchiha, and debrief him. He smiled when he read the word debrief. To Ibiki, all that debrief meant was to get an answer out of the suspect, and the question that they all wanted answered was going to influence Sasuke's life dramatically. Was he, or was he not, responsible for the massacre? No other witnesses were available to debrief, so it came down to this boy. Using a simple set of hand seals, Ibiki projected his mind onto Sasuke's, but was blocked by the 'Genjutsu.' Well, that's going to be annoying. I guess I'll have to break this thing before I can get any answers. But that would be easier said than done. The mind was a very complex system, and it would be very easy to hurt a person, permanently. Not even Tsunade would be able to fix him without some effort or caution, so he would have to tread carefully. Fortunately, Ibiki had had some practice with this kind of thing in recent times. Every time that Naruto was brought before him, he would resist. He had made it rather difficult in recent times for Ibiki to start doing anything, but he relished a challenge, and was able to break through each time, and this time was no different.

Seven hours later, Ibiki finally got through. Whoever did this to him, definitely knew what they were doing. It seems familiar for some reason though. That had been challenging, but not as bad as the mental blocks that Naruto had been developing. Ibiki actually felt bad for Naruto. He was just a kid, after all. Whenever another child excelled in class, or figured out how to do a Jutsu properly, or put in the shear amount of effort that Naruto did, they were praised, but Naruto was alone, and every time that he excelled, the Council wanted him inspected and his will broken so that he would not be dangerous. Now that he was in, Ibiki continued his investigation. Finding the anchor points for the 'Genjutsu,' he severed them and released its hold on Sasuke. Now that that's done, he'll wake up, eventually. And now I have to make sure that there aren't any memory-seals. Ibiki put a hand over Sasuke's face and let a surge of his own Chakra flow through Sasuke's head, overloading and breaking any memory seals that were present. Hopefully, there weren't any seals that were placed by someone with more or stronger Chakra than himself. Ibiki withdrew his Chakra, and requested a nurse to check him. The nurse, Asuka, came into the room to begin a check-up on the boy, while Ibiki took a well deserved break.

Later, Ibiki was writing down the results of his debriefing and the results of his Jutsu on the mission report. He had concluded that Sasuke, like the other Uchihas had been a victim. He had been at school in the morning he did extra training after class he went home, there was some sort of an altercation between himself and somebody who referred to himself as his brother, and Sasuke lost. Come to think of it, Ibiki could not remember seeing Itachi since the massacre, which in of itself was suspicious. Now he would have to deal with Naruto. The sooner he did, the sooner Naruto could be released back into society. Not that that was a good option either. The boy was hated out there. Ibiki approached the room that Naruto was being held in. ANBU was not exactly courteous with the holding room. Most of them had chairs, lighting, and a few other furnishings that had been approved by previous ANBU Captains so as to not assist the occupant with their escape.

Ibiki opened the door. As he expected, the walls were bare, there was no furniture, and as evidenced by Naruto who cringed and shied away into the furthest corner, there was no light. Ibiki felt bad for the boy. Not even nine and he had suffered to an extent that some adult ninjas never had. Ibiki knew that the decisions regarding Naruto were governed by fear, but he still had to listen to them. If he had his way, they would leave him alone until Naruto actually performed a hostile act, which was more likely to occur, if they continued to drive him down the road they had set in front of him. Already, Ibiki could tell the difference in the boy. There was no smile, and he had a look in his eyes that clearly displayed that he knew there was no resisting the inevitable. The first time that Naruto had been brought before him, he was pleasant and polite. He asked why he was there, and in response, Ibiki started the procedure, so that he could end it quickly. The second time, as soon as Naruto saw Ibiki, he resisted. Pulling a kunai from somewhere that the ANBU had not been able to find when they brought him in, he hid behind the weapon and warned Ibiki away. Of course, Ibiki quickly got past the knife and proceeded. Over time, the boy impressed Ibiki with his will, and cunning. Despite ANBU searching Naruto every time they seized him, he seemed to be always able to do something to resist, the earlier ones being quite creative, like the hidden weaponry from the earlier sessions, but the most recent attempts were clearly being used in desperation, such as the Chakra Shield Seal that he fashioned with his own blood. Ibiki had been quite impressed with that Shield, as it had been very difficult for him to break through.

"I know, I know, Mr. ANBU. Stand up straight, no talking, and just wait until it's over. Clearly I can't do anything other than slow you down, so just get this over with, so I can go home and recover from whatever Yamanaka probe it is you use on me." That stopped Ibiki in his tracks. This was nothing like the Naruto that he knew. "I just hope that blonde girl in class doesn't turn out like you. At least she seems capable of talking, unlike you." Ibiki tried to cover his shock and made towards the boy. There's no way he knows. He's guessing. "And no, it's not a guess. I know you're a Yamanaka, and I feel really bad for your niece in my class, because you're just awful." Ibiki kept getting closer and closer. Naruto's expression quickly changed, as if he was trying to hush somebody. "Please, don't make him angry. Maybe he won't see me." Naruto threw his arms up into the air. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Stay away from us, don't hurt us or I'll throw instant Ramen at you. Do you think you could give me some water first though? Maybe I can use one of the Fire Elemental Jutsu I don't know so that I can heat the water and scald you, or maybe I can just hurt you, or somebody else, like he never has. You and I both know he doesn't deserve any of this." Ibiki didn't know how to react. Then it seemed that Naruto just fell onto his knees. "Just please don't hurt me. I just want to be a good ninja." Naruto tried his best to smile. "You know I'll be Hokage, and then everything will be all right." Standing up, Naruto strode over to the wall, and punched right through it. Naruto laughed. "As if asking him not to hurt you will accomplish anything. That's the way the weak act. Begging for mercy? It's pathetic, and I will not let you sully our position." "Just go away."

Ibiki just stared at the boy. It would seem that he had reached his limit. He was arguing with himself, and he didn't know what to do with him. "Is Mr. ANBU going to actually do anything? Do us both a favor. Either do what you came here to do, or get the hell out. I just might decide to actually retaliate, and I promise you, it won't be pretty." Ibiki made a decision. He was an ANBU, and he would discuss this with the Third. Before he could do that, he had to prevent Naruto's condition from getting worse. Performing hand signs, he began to project his mind onto Naruto's. Unfortunately for Ibiki, the mental blocks that Naruto had developed flared up, and this time, there was a flare of red Chakra surrounding the boy which resulted in him being thrown across the room, and into the opposite wall. Naruto looked over at Ibiki with a smile on his face, but it was definitely not a happy one. "Oh, you're going to have to do much better than that, Mr. ANBU. Didn't I already tell you? He doesn't deserve this. Now, about that choice I gave you, it wasn't really a choice. You will get out of here, or we will not be responsible for what happens." Naruto's face suddenly became concerned. "What are you doing? We can't do this to him."

I have to get him while he's distracted. Ibiki drew a kunai and threw it at the arguing boy. Naruto quickly stopped the argument and performed three quick hand signs. "Lightning Release: Lightning Blast." It was a low level Lightning technique, but the sheer amount of Chakra fueled into it made the move very strong. The lightning Jutsu struck the flying weapon, and with the intense amount of heat from the strike melted it and shot scalding metal in all directions. Shit, I might need some help. How does he know that move? Ibiki flared his Chakra in an attempt to signal Anko to come help him. Moments later, she arrived grumbling, "it's about time something happened. I've been so bored."

"So glad I could help you relieve your boredom, now help me hold him down."

"What? Is that it? Ugh, I'm going home." She turned to leave.

Ibiki quickly pushed her away as a shuriken sailed through the air towards him. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu," said Naruto, and the single shuriken suddenly became twenty. Ibiki quickly dove out of the way of the projectiles, while Anko used a variant of an Earth Element Jutsu and twisted into the ground, out of harms way. Crap. The kid went and pissed her off. This is not good. Backing away into a corner, Ibiki performed the seals for the same Jutsu he tried unsuccessfully to use on Naruto before. Suddenly Anko burst out of the ground and started using her personalized Taijutsu style on him. Used in conjunction with her Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, she got through his defense, bound him up with snakes, and hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him out cold, all in less than thirty seconds.

Ibiki performed his Jutsu, and started working on the mental blocks. They were extremely strong, even though Naruto was unconscious. Anko strolled over to her fallen comrade. "True ninja would never allow themselves to be vulnerable, not even in front of their friends." Anko reached into the pocket of Ibiki's trench coat, and retrieved the man's wallet. "Don't worry, Ibiki," she continued as she perused the pilfered wallet, and then throwing it back at the still body of its owner. Anko turned to leave. "I'll only take enough for two boxes of dango."

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A/N: I have a general idea of where I want this story to go, but if any of you have ideas to incorporate into the story, or if you think that I'm making the original characters act too much out of character, please let me know so that I can try to fix it. Please also let me know if the narrative is being too confusing, switching the point of view for each chapter. This is my first work, and I would like for it to be well received. Any advice or constructive criticism would be appreciated. I hope you like it so far.