TH: Nothing much to say. Except, I couldn't find any indication of when Inoichi served on T&I, so I took some artistic license.

Going Sideways

Chapter Thirteen

Theme: Judge

Minato had sent for the top interrogators from the T&I Force to come to his office, but it would take a little while for the summons to reach the Force's… 'offices'… and longer for the ninja to arrive at the Hokage's. Minato and Jiraiya were taking advantage of the time to introduce the Toad Sage to his godson.

Had Sakura not been twitchy with nerves, she probably would have been melting over the way the two grown, battle-hardened shinobi cooed over baby Naruto. But she was. Twitchy. How could she not be? Whatever was to come would, like as not, be uncomfortable.

Interrogation. Hell. No matter how convinced you were of your innocence, being interrogated would make your heart pound.

A loud rap on the door echoed the patter of Sakura's little fox heart, and made her fur fluff. Minato turned away from Jiraiya, who was carefully cradling Naruto in his arms, and said: "Enter."

The door opened as Sakura tried to convince herself that running away would be a very bad idea.

Surprise and confusion made her fright disappear momentarily, because she didn't immediately recognize the three men who came into the room. The first two were definitely shinobi she had never seen before. They were both middle-aged, and well-worn, like they had seen it all.

Of course, Sakura wouldn't have been surprised if they had seen it all; they looked to be of the generation that had, by now, seen two Shinobi Wars and the Kyuubi Attack.

But really, it was the third member of their number that nearly made her jaw drop.

A very obviously young Morino Ibiki followed his two superiors into the Hokage's office, his hitai-ate tied around his head as Sakura was accustomed to seeing it. But… there was hair poking out from under the cloth. Short brown hair. And there were fewer scars decorating Ibiki's face than when Sakura had last seen him… quite a few years in the future.

Once again, the fact that she was not where—when—she should be hit Sakura like a right-hook from Tsunade. She hadn't been thinking, again. She'd expected everything to be like it was when she'd been alive—despite obvious evidence that it wouldn't be. She'd expected Yamanaka Inoichi to be one of the interrogators called upon today, but it was only now, faced with his absence, that she really thought about it and realized that he would only be in his early twenties, now in this time. He might not have even developed the unique version of his Clan's Mind-Body Jutsu that had earned him such a high place in the T&I Force, yet. She'd expected Ibiki, but while he was an interrogator, he was so young. It was another shock in a long line of them.

"Ah. Kurabi-san, Juyin-san, Morino-san. Thank you for coming so quickly," Minato greeted.

"Hokage-sama," acknowledged one of the men—either Kurabi or Juyin, Sakura didn't know which, though one had a beard—solemnly. "You message said you had a subject for interrogation?"

Straight to the point, and professional. Yes, it was clear that Morino Ibiki was not yet the Head of Torture and Interrogation, but it was also abundantly clear that the Force wasn't any weaker for the difference.

"Yes," Minato replied presently. He launched into a speech that had a distinct bureaucratic formality to it. He warned them of the classified nature of the issue, then briefed them on what exactly had happened during the Kyuubi sealing, and then had them swear to hold the information classified. Once all that red tape had been cleared, Minato stepped away, and Sakura found herself under sharp scrutiny.

She tried not to cower into the desk. It was a near thing; she realized just how much rode on how these three men perceived her.

:Judge, jury, and executioner,: she thought uneasily, looking between the three of them. :Or some combination there-of. What's it going to be?: