A Duty Held By Darkness
Chapter 9: Yasha's interrogation
AN: Hello, loyal minions.
I'll probably write more a few minutes after posting this, but won't publish until the weekend. I'm not a fan of abandoning projects, but I'm not used to have subscribers to projects, either. It's quite good motivation, although having just two reviews is a bit dismal, and one (I hope sarcastic) review saying you can't sue someone for ripping off fanfiction. Yeah, I was being sarcastic about that.
Legally, there's no point, since you'll need a cease-and-desist sent first; and if you did sue, you could only sue for lost profits, which has the grand total of £0 for my efforts.
It'd be like someone stealing the whole pot of free breadsticks from a restaurant. Yeah, it's in very poor taste, but there's no way someone would put it to court.
Without further ado, here is the new chapter, a pleasant interrogation scene. Yasha should count his blessings that no one specialising with emotion-reading is nearby.
"Hello, Yasha-kun. I've heard a lot about you," the most powerful man in Konoha greeted.
"Hopefully not from the girls in my class," Yasha replied dryly. It took most of his ability to subdue his emotions in front of the Third Hokage. The cold logic that Naruto was too attached to Yasha now to be taken away didn't make the conversation any more pleasant.
Yasha had luckily gotten used to killer intent from his own bloodline – he felt the level that his enemies did, but had the assurance that it wasn't going to harm him. The first few times he'd barely managed to stop shivering from the pressure of his own bloodline, and held it for all of a few seconds. Hopefully the Hokage's KI wasn't as bad as pure flesh-desiring hunger; Yasha was fairly certain use of it would come up in this little talk.
"I don't remember seeing your face before," the wizened Kage said almost idly, his sharp eyes and calculating look betraying his tone. He had opted to talk to Yasha alone – T&I on a child was overkill and would arouse the council and clan heads' interest; something he decidedly wanted to avoid. For whatever Jiraiya said, Yasha hadn't been hostile to anyone bar the amount necessary to sneak in.
Yasha had his own calculative thoughts. 'So, he's going the long route of saying he knows I broke in. I suppose he'll have to be brutally quick with his threats and end the conversation with them, so this precursory idle chat is the only way he'll get to know me.'
"I'm not trying to stand out, Hokage-sama. I dislike the attention of humans."
The Hokage frowned slightly. Not a response he was expecting. "Why so?"
"They're too irritating. It's like living in a world filled with colourful fog. It's pretty at times but you can't tell what the hell's going on."
The ANBU at the door shot the boy a glare for his disrespectful language in front of the Hokage, but behind his mask he was holding back a smile. The ninja world really didn't make sense. With all the techniques, the genjutsu, the politics, the vying bids for power, underhand and two-faced missions, it was one of the most confusing things someone could get involved with.
"Would Naruto be one of those colours?" the Hokage continued to humour Yasha's analogy. As much as his words rang true, and spoke of an uncommon mindset for his age, this was a village infiltrator.
Yasha half-smiled. "Yeah. A bright orange menace. Nearly dyed black, not that most people cared or the others would notice."
There was a brief pause but the Hokage just nodded slightly for him to continue, the small frown remaining. There were too many ways to interpret what Yasha was saying – Naruto's choice of clothes, the orange-furred beast sealed within him, his pranking menace, the way everyone looked at him like a menace.
It was an S-class secret about Naruto's Jinchūriki status. Theoretically he shouldn't know. But neither should the outsider make a beeline for the blond energy ball either.
"The ones that might notice, trust too much in everyone else to fix it," Yasha continued idly, almost slouching as his eyes trailed part of the ceiling. "It's disappointing."
A firm judgement on the villagers for their treatment of the blond. The Hokage certainly didn't disagree. "Well, Yasha, you've got an interesting perspective on the world. Rather cynical." His gaze sharpened. "Are you just controlling Naruto?"
Yasha didn't get angry. He didn't flush. He didn't even twitch. In fact the Hokage even wondered if he heard him or he was lost in the foggy world analogies.
Then Yasha sighed, sounding drained, and spoke slowly. "I suppose, to move against the tide, you must 'control' the vessel. If all the captains are just ignoring the rudder, a cabin boy has to step up."
'If I don't help Naruto, no one will. Even if I'm not fit for it, I'll do my best,' the Hokage decoded.
"Did you come into the village just for Naruto-kun?" the Hokage knew that wasn't the case, due to Yasha's involvement with Shisui.
"No, he was a minor objective for my mission. But I insisted on helping him when I saw his condition."
The old soldier noted Yasha didn't hide his other actions at all. 'Ah, some honesty. He's the type that can manipulate easily, and so prefers not to be seen as dishonest, so lies as little as possible. It'll be hard to spot his lies, but he'll speak complete truth if he can word it right."
"And the main objective?"
Yasha nodded. "That would be the shadow clan I heard so much about. My bloodline needs to be trained properly, I can't just grab anyone for it. It's my chance of reward for coming here. Besides being around Naruto."
The Hokage scribbled on the paper in front of him, as if writing down Yasha's words. As if on cue, the ANBU behind Yasha scuffed his shoe slightly. 'Intimidation tactics,' Yasha noted distractedly, fixated more on the Hokage's unrevealing facial expression than his scribbles. 'It means I'm watching you, you're surrounded; tell the truth.'
"And why did you sneak in instead of direct support?"
"My sponsor has chosen to be anonymous. And such a thing isn't well liked in a ninja village."
"You're quite right, Yasha-kun." The Hokage had gotten to the undeniably suspicious parts of Yasha. He leaked some KI, but Yasha didn't react. Probably his bloodline hardened him against it. Hiruzen lost the grandfatherly tone and his face hardened. "So let's get down to business. You may be only a kid, but that's not going to stop me from protecting my village by any means necessary. Be honest."
The Hokage increased his KI until he was almost maxed out, and was rewarded with a sweat breaking out on the boy's head, some slight trembling, and his slouch tightening. Actually less of a reaction than the ANBU beside him. 'That's an admirable tolerance. Highly unusual,' he thought, impressed. His tone was hard. "Now tell me: who sent you?"
Yasha couldn't think straight under the KI. Being used to the feeling didn't mean his body and mind wasn't affected by it. His thoughts were distorted by it and he wasn't sure how he could keep the truth hidden, let alone figure out what to say.
He had fortunately thought a lot about what to say when the Hokage eventually confronted him. Four options: Pretend to have overheard Orochimaru, or say you're from the future, or incriminate a member of Akatsuki, or act like you're under a powerful genjutsu.
Mentions of Orochimaru would definitely call for lockup, even if he pretended to have just overheard rather than being a subordinate; and the need for the village to observe him would increase. With the excess emotional reaction from the Hokage, that was a lesser option over the genjutsu.
He wanted to avoid the second, because it would cause a T&I trip, and would raise a heck of a lot of attention.
With Akatsuki out the picture or at least not well enough known for it, that would also increase his heat from being unknown.
And that left him with one good option, which had the best chance of making him seem trustworthy. A genjutsu would be possible to fake, if he just pretended it was the type that destroys the brain on memory breach. That way, mind-reading would be avoided, a must to protect the future and his position in Konoha. It was risky, but lot less risky than the alternatives.
'Genjutsu time. Remember: pain, confusion, persistence, disruption. This is the final reset and if you fail at this, you and most of the world is screwed. No pressure.'
Stifling a chuckle at his internal commentary, he let his eyes glaze over and wander to the left and briefly distorted his chakra flow like he was reacting to something. "I… don't know."
He grabbed his head, bending over with a harsh breath of fake pain. "Ow!"
The Hokage's KI lessened considerably, probably from surprise. "Are you alright Yasha?"
"I'm fine. The bastard -ow! – didn't want to let himself be known. If I think-" he yelped in pain and crumpled to the floor, suppressing the instinct to catch himself and gaining a bruise from the wood for his efforts.
But the act was effective. The ANBU was by his side in an instant and the remaining KI vanished. He kept up the gasping through gritted teeth and clutched his head so hard he actually began to give himself a headache.
"Yasha!" the ANBU said abruptly as he put his hand on the boy's wrist and forehead – measuring pulse and temperature.
Yasha kept his chakra fluctuating wildly – it actually helped that he had poor chakra control, the unrefined distortion was rather convincing. He kept his thoughts racing as well, doing the times table in his head as quickly as possible.
He calmed himself down after about fifteen seconds, having gone through 1x1 to 10x10. The fake genjutsu/mind seal was meant to be formidable but not completely dangerous.
If he overdid it, they might throw him out the village before a worse thing happened, like he exploded. 'Is exploding even possible for a mental seal?' Yasha had no clue if it was.
The ANBU – there was now two beside him, actually, the new one using a medical diagnosis technique – was using some ninja hand signs to the Hokage. The medical diagnosis was stopped a few seconds after it started – Yasha could feel the darkness particles pushing against the foreign intrusion with irritation, no doubt making it useless to read him, but the fluctuating could be felt by anyone elite enough.
Yasha silently noted failing medical techniques could become a problem later if he actually was hurt. A big problem.
"Fine, Yasha," The Third Hokage changed tact. "So, you know who he is. I don't need his identity, but can you tell me his intentions?"
"Goo-good," Yasha said shakily, pushing off the ANBU's hands and wobbling back to his feet, gripping the desk hard for support. He had to make this as realistic as possible; there were at least three elite pairs of eyes examining his every twitch. He was somewhat happy that the sweating from the KI has happened; it masked the fact he hadn't actually generated it during the fake pain crisis.
"He's put some sort of seal or something. I didn't see it, but it made me obey what he said next, or I get the mother of all headaches, and if I try to do something like say his identity…" Yasha continued with a bit of regret in his tone.
"Tell me about it," the Hokage prompted gently.
"The seal's commands are just I can't tell you his identity. But my objectives can be told, so… there's two major objectives, both S-rank, and one minor, Naruto. If I said either, you might kill me, so I'd prefer not to. He said the seal also has an unconscious, mental self-destruct trigger, if that means much to you. And he said something else, a bit odd, but he said any future commands coming from him can be ignored."
"He definitely said that?" the Third asked intensely.
Yasha nodded, wincing at mostly imaginary pain the motion caused. He did have a minor throbbing and headache from the tight grip on his own head earlier, though. "Definitely."
'Odd,' the Hokage considered, 'Why would he limit himself that way? It only benefits us, and to an extent helps us trust Yasha. Was that the game?' He could either go along with what Yasha was spouting, or disarm him lethally.
The Hokage took some solace in that the pain Yasha had felt was real enough. The ANBU had confirmed the oddity of his chakra flow as the Hokage had detected when he was in pain – it wasn't a simple fake. No pre-genin that could barely make it into Konoha would've come up with the idea of messing about with his chakra levels like he was in a genjutsu. From Iruka's report he had no clue about the basics, and genjutsu chakra effects weren't really discussed until Chuunin.
"Tell me the two objectives," the Third ordered. The ones Yasha had said might get him killed.
"Um… okay." Yasha didn't actually expect the Thrid to kill him, but he had to give the Third the appearance of fear. Outside of intimidation, the Third wasn't violent enough for him to be genuinely scared. "Well, the first is academy infiltration. My sponsor is concerned about Uchiha Sasuke, and some others in that year group. I have only basic info on them, though. The second is a secret that you and Shisui share, and the third name is… with the birds."
The Hokage's eyes widened and jaw dropped for a couple of seconds in sheer disbelief as he connected the dots. Itachi summoned ravens; and the only interaction the two had was… the coup.
'No one would dare spread information about that except…'
His jaw shut with an audible click and his face began to betray the sheer level of hot rage he had rapidly building up. "ANBU, dismissed."
The ANBU lingered for a second longer than usual, clearly uneasy about this due to the boy's reputation as the 'KI alarm clock', but stayed professional and vanished smoothly.
"Yasha, is this matter to do with…" the Hokage left the rest unsaid, eyes as hard as flint.
Yasha looked around ('As if he could have detected the ANBU if they had remained,' the Hokage thought wryly). Then he spoke.
"Itachi, Shisui, you and my sponsor stand against it and want peace." The Hokage released a sigh that shook through his whole body as Yasha continued, "The scroll I gave Shisui held instructions that should help prevent it. I'm meant to have no part bar the message, just steering clear and hoping it succeeds."
"Only 'hoping'?" the Sandaime repeated.
"Yes. Sorry, Hokage-sama. The scroll only contains written advice, there is no seal or any sort of complete solution," Yasha explained wistfully. "I hadn't even met the two until a near-coincidence yesterday."
The Third was deep in thought now. 'Barring an unintentional leak… only Danzō would consider releasing the information to gain access to Sharingan in the bloodbath that followed, but no way would he help the Uchiha otherwise. Danzō is opposed to a peaceful solution, he thinks it isn't possible, or that it won't last. Maybe he's right, maybe not, but the point is he wouldn't go against himself to obtain peace through annihilation. And with his persistent Root, if Yasha was sent by him the emotions of this boy would be all but gone, not to mention he would…'
"Yasha, stick out your tongue."
"Huh?" Yasha was perturbed but did so.
'No Root seal,' the Hokage gestured for him to close his mouth again. "What do you know about Danzō?"
"He's not interacted with me at all. He was mentioned in Shisui's warning and my instructions."
With no seal and discussing Danzō freely, there was no way he was in Root.
The Hokage moved on his analysis. 'Danzō has always been someone who hides his tracks but Root's seal can't be placed elsewhere on the body. What Yasha has, a mental seal, is far more complex than Danzō's one. It suggests a much higher level. In the Hidden Leaf, that leaves just Jiraiya and Orochimaru… not even Kakashi would be able to pull this off. They'd need to be outside the village. And have information on the bloodline.
'Jiraiya should know about the Uchiha, but only as unrest, and he didn't recognise Yasha, judging from his reactions yesterday. The lack of knowledge could have been a ruse, disguising that he sent Yasha, but it's not his style, and he wouldn't have insisted on T&I unless he wanted was his signature from the mental seal being inspected.
'Orochimaru though… he's all but in love with the Sharingan, and Yasha's apparently extremely-rare bloodline would have attracted his attention for experiments more than spying. But, again, it's not Orochimaru's style. He'd just talk Yasha into doing it – he's a master of manipulating, a kid wouldn't stand a chance – and the seal would never deny him the ability to move Yasha to his bidding in the future. In fact that denial doesn't make sense the more I think about it – any hostile party would use Yasha as a glorified spy or perhaps a sleeper agent after infiltration.
'Plus, all three suspects have the ability to get Yasha into the village unnoticed, and train him to at least basics. They would insist on at least that much. There's no way in hell either Sannin nor Danzō would give an outsider pre-genin no training, some commands he might not be able to carry out, some explosive tags, then set him to march into a village with S-class secrets on hand – fully knowing he'll be detected before he even gets within three hundred metres of the village.
'In fact, whoever sent him was an fool.
'But not so much of a fool they didn't have a finger on the pulse of the darkest parts of Konoha. And the funds, although not unbelievable, are not something anyone below jounin could even save up for.
'Leaf aside, it could be a member from another country. Suna holds a weakening alliance, they wouldn't put in the effort, and the other countries have even less than that. They'd approach directly, not this roundabout half-effort.'
The Hokage noticed Yasha was fidgeting uneasily at the prolonged silence and began to break off his scrutiny. 'Well, I can't draw any conclusions, the sponsor wanted to be anonymous, and Yasha wouldn't be suspect to T&I, not even Inoichi could go near a seal so volatile just thinking of a topic got severe pain. Although I should confirm that with him.
'No, like it or not, it's just Yasha's word and his actions. Maybe Jiraiya and Inoichi together could inspect his mind – but someone who knew about the damn Uchiha coup plans ought to know the abilities of the village's T&I team.
'This suggests an outsider with funds and a strong information network, though. He knew of stuff very few people knew about, made a complex seal or found someone who could, and funded Yasha, but couldn't even sneak him into the village; a mark of someone who rarely visited themselves. But this is all guesswork; if I get Yasha under Shikaku's wing, he may find a loophole in the seal, or work out who sent him by sheer intellect.'
"So…" Yasha looked understandably hesitant, "Where does this… you know… leave us?"
'No need to drag it on any longer,' the Hokage decided. "You've befriended Naruto-kun and you want to protect your classmates?"
"Hai," Yasha declared firmly, a glimmer of hope materialising inside him. "I'll protect them with my life."
The Hokage reached into a drawer and pulled out a long stapled form, pushing it towards the boy. "Then your official admittance to the village, and training under the Academy is accepted, Yasha-kun."
The wide and shocked grin Yasha wore could have rivalled Naruto's.
Yasha had been filling in the forms in a nearby room with the Hokage's help. He had no information about his parents or clan, which made it somewhat easier but was an unfortunate reminder of his lack of regular relationships. The Hokage opted to stay with him himself in order to wean more information about Yasha – his mental state was very intelligent, and as a shadow user, it wasn't a surprise when Yasha suggested his bloodline was an offshoot of the Nara clan.
But the Nara's didn't actually use a shadow bloodline – they just used shadow techniques that were hard to master and uncopiable by any doujutsu, but teachable to anyone over time. That sort of technique was called 'Hiden', and was the basis of all clans that didn't have a bloodline, such as the rest of the Ino-Shika-Cho set.
Eventually, the Hokage looked it over and signed it. He gave one more firm welcome and dismissed the new member of the village. He needed to inform the council that a new bloodline was in the village, but he wanted to delay that for a few weeks under the pretence of administration – the later Danzō could hear of it the better.
Although he doubted that he would do something as bold as kidnapping, a genjutsu and interrogation with a following memory wipe would completely be his style. And not being able to erase the interrogation would make the attempt very… unstable.
Once dismissed, the Hokage wandered slowly back to his office, deep in thought, and was surprised to find Naruto pacing back and forth, clearly waiting for him. "Jiji! Have you seen Yasha?!"
The Third took a moment to examine Naruto's open expression. Worry, fear, anxiety, very high levels of them. Yasha had gotten so close to him over the last three days. 'Probably a way to secure his position in the village; he rushed to him straight-away. Clever. Probably clever enough to fake his story… Yasha's chakra is too unusual for the Uchiha to analyse for lies properly-'
"Jiji!" Naruto's impatient cry interrupted his thoughts.
The Hokage smiled at the small boy. "Naruto, yes, he's fine. I was having him sign some last forms for entry into the village. He's a member of Konoha now."
Naruto took a few seconds to process that statement, with his emotions flickering all over the place, before diving onto him in a hug. "You're the best Jiji, dattebayo!"
"Ho? What did I do now?" the Third Hokage smiled.
"It's just…" Naruto released him and looked up with a beaming smile. "Yasha's the coolest, dattebayo! He's strong and funny and nice and… and… he even bought me ramen!"
"Oh? That must have set him back a bit," the Hokage half-joked.
Naruto wasn't deterred. "Yeah, but he's rich. He bought a house and said he'd let me live with him!"
"So you can do his dirty laundry, right?"
"Jiji!" Naruto scowled at him. "Yasha-kun's not like that. He's a good guy."
"You're sure, hmm? I bet he didn't even tell you at the meeting I could just have easily have expelled him from the village."
Naruto hesitated. "He didn't tell me about the meeting at all…" He was deep in thought for a few seconds before his face brightened again. "Yosha! I'm going to get him to buy me ramen as payback for that, dattebayo! See ya Jiji!"
Like a mini whirlwind he vanished back out the door and all the excited energy in the room trailed out with him, leaving only the dull drabs of administration and routine. The Hokage sat down heavily on his chair and reached for his pipe.
He had to watch Yasha's behaviour closely.
AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, folks. Drop a review if you want, it'll make the story more likely to gain new readers, and if you enjoyed it, share the love!
See you on the flip side.
(yes, it's a FNAF reference, I like the Let's Plays with people freaking out)
