A/N: This came out longer than I expected. Just shy of 10k words. Enjoy.
000
Chapter 25
000
There were a lot of ways to break someone that didn't involve the use of thumbscrews or some sanity destroying genjutsu. Sometimes it was the simple things that began to chip away at a person's resolve. However no matter the method employed the thing they all had in common was that they were all extremely unpleasant to live through.
Since being escorted into her T&I cell Rei had completely lost track of time. The room had no windows and the only light came from a slit high on the singular steel door. There was nothing in the room but a bucket and a metal slab bolted to the wall that was supposed to act as a cot or a bed. However it was hard to think of it as a proper place to sleep when there was no pillow, no blanket, no mattress, nothing. Her choices were to lay on the roughly cut stone floor or on the cold and unyielding metal. For dignity's sake if nothing else she chose the cot even though Rei didn't think it ultimately made much difference for her level of comfort.
Other than it being nearly impossible to find a comfortable position to rest in there was another measure in place that for Rei was far, far worse: the cell was bitterly cold. Rei suspected the room was designed to be as cold as possible without inducing hypothermia. It was misery, the cold an inescapable feeling that sunk into her bones and that she could not escape. The thin and cheap hospital clothes she wore did very little to help even in the least bit. Even though she was tried the combination of the cold and the uncomfortable surface made sleep or even a half-decent rest completely impossible.
Her left arm was completely bandaged and on a sling. It at least offered a minimal amount of comfort when she hugged it to her body. Rei lay in the cot wrapped up in a ball in the fetal position, arms wrapped tightly around herself in an effort to keep in at least some semblance of warmth. The chilly metallic surface she was on seemed to leech any heat right out of her body. She would have moved to the floor but she honestly did not think it would have been any better.
Rei lamented that she could have alleviated a lot of those problems by using her Chakra – if only she had been allowed to keep her access to it. Metal bands encircled her wrists inscribed with what she could only guess were seals designed to prevent her from accessing her Chakra. Having those 'Chakra inhibitors' on was disconcerting… especially since she could feel what they were doing to her probably better than any other ninja. It was like the seals on the bands placed a thick heavy film in between her mind and her Chakra preventing her from directing it in any way. The feeling was unnatural and it annoyed her and drew her attention like a sharp rock caught in her shoe. For Rei it just added another layer to the not-so-subtle torture that were the wonderful cells of T&I.
All this coupled with the systemic illness Rei was still suffering from made her feel like she was in some level of hell. It was suffering in her mind plain and simple if only for the fact that there was absolutely no escape. Rei was no expert on interrogation but she knew some of the basics. Keeping prisoners in cells such as these would ensure that they never had any time to rest and recover even when they were left alone.
The only way Rei had to tell time was from the periodic visits of a medic wearing a plain mask. He'd come by three times already and force fed her the medicine she was supposed to take along with giving her a little water. She'd gotten no food though and though she had no idea of the time her body let her know she was hungry in spite of her illness. Trying to stay warm used up a lot of calories and her body was working overtime in order to keep hypothermia at bay. The air was cold and Rei was surprised she could not see her breath in front of her. Periodically her body went through strong full body shivers that seemed to come and go in waves in addition to all the regular shivering she was already doing. It was abject misery.
With a great deal of effort she forced her mind to think. Occasionally if she got lost in her thoughts she could forget about her miserable condition at least for a few moments. It was the only method of relief she could come up with and besides, she needed to have her story straight for when they finally came to get her.
The problem was that she had already gone over her story, her alibi, a hundred times before she had even been taken into custody by ANBU. Going over it yet again would sadly serve no purpose at this point and she knew it so well it didn't even make a decent distraction. Instead she turned her mind to the situation surrounding her current predicament.
Rei had always known the Hokage had absolute power of life and death over her but she had never been a victim of that power until today. The girl couldn't help but long for the days when she would have gotten a phone call and a court appointed lawyer in her previous life. However here she was completely at the mercy of the whims of others who were far stronger than her. The funny thing about it all? She was supposed to be one of the social and political elite in the village. Fat lot of good that's doing me she thought nastily as violent shivers wracked through her body.
If there was anything warm in that cell it was the resentment and anger Rei had begun to nurse in her chest as if it were a small flame. She brooded and thought dark thoughts, trying to use them to block out the world around her. Rei hated her situation, hated her weakness and in that moment shehated the Hokage. True Biblical hatred that led to the razing of cities and the murder of men.
Before she had been wary, scared and annoyed at the Hokage. She was still all those things but she had never loathed the man before. Somehow she knew he wouldn't view it as personal she sure as hell did. Briefly, from time to time, Rei had toyed with the idea of one day doing something that might save him and Konoha during the Chunnin exams. You know what? Fuck him. I can't wait for Orochimaru to kill him. The rest of the village? The stupid place could burn for all she cared. It wasn't any of her business. Fucking evil awful place, you can reap what you sow. As long as she kept Ino safe the rest of the world could sort itself out without her.
I've been too soft. The stupid village had lulled her into a false sense of security after years without incident. She'd stopped seeing it as an enemy ready to attack her at any time. That had been a mistake right? Yes. Look at where you are. She's come to see it as a collection of people content to propagate a shit system. Rei had forgotten that the system was built from the ground up on blood and violence and exploitation and shit. It was something to be actively reviled and hated.
Fuck the village. I can see why so many people want to burn it to the ground. And fuck you Hiruzen. Fuck you straight to hell. I hope I can watch you die.
He never would have thrown Naruto into one of these cells, or one of his precious students (even the ones that deserved it), or even his good buddy Danzo. No matter what they did. Naruto? Tsunade? Orochiamru? Danzo? All of them should have been thrown in a cell like this at some point if Hiruzen cared about enforcing the rules evenly. Favoritism. Bias. Not impartial. What had she done? She had been meticulous about not breaking any laws. Unfair. Arbitrary detention. Schutzstaffel. Power. No power. Powerless to stop. Not strong enough. Kami damned primitives. Burn in the pit. Fuckers.
As time went on it became harder and harder to keep her thoughts coherent. Still there was one important thing her mind kept returning to. They can do this to me any time. The only way to stop them is to be strong enough. Strong enough. Strong enough. Hate them. No one will dare do this to me. I'll be too strong. Too wonderful. Like a Goddess. Cold. So cold.
Eventually even disjointed thoughts stopped as the cold and sickness conspired to sink her mind into a fugue-like state. She was only aware of her body and what it was subjecting her to. Time passed, was it hours? Days? Rei's mind was not coherent enough to even wonder these things properly. It was simply a miserable private hell that appeared never ending.
Eventually, finally, the same masked medic opened the door. After giving her a brief check he picked her up professionally. With her mind in a stupor and her cold body not responding the ANBU carried her out of the cell.
It was time for Rei's interrogation to begin.
000
Ibiki Morino was unhappy with the interrogation in front of him.
The current head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Department stood in a low lit room as he examined his latest prisoner. Through a large one way mirror Ibiki watched as the medic ANBU Fish finished handcuffing the girl to the table. Ibiki had to suppress an irritated sigh as he observed the kid who would barely reach his diaphragm standing up.
The imposing man had few scruples as an interrogator but unfortunately this happened to be one of them. He could bring down hell on an adult civilian without a problem and he did so on a regular basis. He also didn't have any problem putting the screws to a kid if he was a ninja and had earned his headband. However those rare individuals who had yet to hit puberty and were not even ninja? Those he didn't like. It wasn't even about the age per se. It was the principle of the matter. Having to use his skills on civilian children simply left a bad taste in his mouth.
Now Rei Yamanaka could hardly be called simply a 'civilian'. Then again she was most definitely not a ninja. He could understand why someone in her position might need to be interrogated. If it was necessary it was necessary. Still interrogating a kid who had not taken on the responsibilities of a ninja felt like an affront to his professional sensibilities… even if by all reports she could probably beat the majority of the Genin in the village.
Like he said, it was the principle of the thing. On top of that he also had a more personal reason for disliking this interrogation. That however did not mean that he would not do his job.
Ibiki looked at the girl seated in a metal chair and slumped forward almost bonelessly on the steel table, still half-unconscious from her time spent in one of the cold rooms. After spending eighteen hours in a cold room it was not unusual for prisoners with weaker constitutions to need some time before regaining enough of their faculties for questioning. Usually their confused mental state as they recovered provided an ideal window to attempt extracting information.
ANBU Fish spent about ten minutes doing medical scans on the Yamanaka Heiress, his hands glowing a faint green as he utilized medical Chakra. The girl still didn't show any signs of coming around. Ibiki frowned in displeasure. The girl being slow in rousing was probably due to the additional complication of her already being ill before she was brought in. An additional complication he did not need since this was already high profile prisoner and not some trash they would end up executing anyway once they were finished with her. Like it or not while she was in T&I custody her well being was ultimately his responsibility.
When Fish finished he left the well-lit interrogation room though the single heavy metal door. Moments later he entered the room Ibiki was monitoring the prisoner from. Ibiki barely acknowledged the man with a glance before going back to scrutinizing the insensate Yamanaka.
"Well?" asked Ibiki in a deep booming voice, "What's the condition of the prisoner?"
ANBU Fish shook his head. "Not great. Stable, but not great. The cold room was a shock to her system and her condition has deteriorated since she was brought in."
Ibiki frowned. "You gave her the medicine she was prescribed?"
"I did," said Fish, "but you know as well as I do that medicine is only one of the things required for recovery. Food. Proper rest. Without these things her condition will almost certainly continue to deteriorate."
That was not what Ibiki wanted to hear. "If she proves uncooperative is the cold room still an option?" he asked.
Fish shook his head. "I wouldn't risk it. Chances are if we put her back in she will deteriorate to the point of needing hospitalization or at the very least we'll need to lay off for a considerable amount of time in order to allow her to recover. If the infection in her blood manages to get a solid foothold again it could be weeks before she's well enough for the usual methods."
No that wasn't what he wanted to hear at all. Ibiki was rapidly becoming truly unhappy with this interrogation. Though in theory he had as long with the prisoner as he needed Ibiki knew enough about politics to realize there was going to be a lot of pressure to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible. If there was one thing the head of T&I hated it was politics interfering with his work.
"What methods can we utilize safely?" asked Ibiki not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.
"Well I wouldn't recommend any more deprivation. I think allowances will have to be made on that front," said Fish.
"I did make allowances already didn't I?" Ibiki said with blunt sarcasm, "the kid got to keep her clothes in the cold room."
"I'm not sure what protocols you're following with this one Ibiki-san," said Fish ignoring Ibiki's remark, "but obviously you also want to avoid the use of drugs. Beyond that by its very nature interrogation will stress her system. I recommend having a medic check in on her frequently moving forward."
"How frequently?"
"Every two hours is adequate. Every hour is ideal. Every four would be pushing it."
"Right," said Ibiki thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "Come back in an hour then. Best not to take any chances."
"Of course Ibiki-san," said Fish, "I'll be taking my leave then."
With that ANBU Fish turned and walked out the door leaving Ibiki alone in the room to contemplate the prisoner.
The head of T&I crossed his arms and pondered the situation before him. His orders regarding Rei Yamanaka were twofold. First was to find out everything about the circumstances surrounding her two week disappearance and to determine if anything untoward had happened while she was away. He was also to determine if her disappearance had anything to do with the Uchiha incident. Simple and straightforward enough. He had enough information that he was sure he could make that part of the interrogation go relatively smoothly.
The second part of his orders however were much more vague, almost to startling degree. They simply said 'Possible plans, actions or thoughts to the detriment of Konoha. Determine if a likely future threat to the village'. Something like that wasn't entirely without precedent per se. If a person was caught doing something suspicious but ambiguous interrogators would often have to cast a wide net to root out whatever it was they might be hiding. Still in cases like that there was at least a starting point to go from.
Obviously the Hokage suspected Rei Yamanaka of something but for whatever reason the man had chosen to keep to himself the reasons for his suspicions. This left Ibiki with literally nothing to go on. Could he root out sedition even in a case such as this? The man had no doubt that he could. He had been trained by the best and was justifiably proud of his skills. However could he do it with the restrictions placed on him and in the time frame he was likely to have? He wasn't sure. Actually he wasn't sure about a number of things regarding this interrogation and that made him uneasy.
Having to work with politically important persons was always a pain for interrogators. In this case for example he was restricted from using many of his typical tools of the trade. Pain (either real of genjutsu based), artificially inducing powerful expressions of fear or anger, fear of permanent mutilation or disfigurement, techniques that were deemed 'humiliating'… all these and more were off the table when it came to prisoners of political import. Still any interrogator who knew his business could get results without having to resort to those more heavy handed techniques.
Apart from the art of getting information through conversation drugs and deprivation were the primary techniques used on these types of sensitive prisoners. The cold rooms for example were a popular and effective type of deprivation technique. Prisoners could never truly rest or find any sort of comfort and every hour they spent there further eroded their mind. It took a relatively short time for prisoners to develop a fear of the cold rooms. Fear of course could be leveraged in many ways to move an interrogation along. A person like Rei Yamanaka, untrained in the art of resisting interrogation, would almost certainly crack and begin to spill everything she knew after enough cycles of interrogation/cold room in which you never sleep and are kept deliberately weak with lack of food.
Now, however, that option was off the table. In fact it seemed all deprivation techniques and drugs were off the table given the prisoner's poor state of health. What a mess.
I'm probably getting ahead of myself. If the prisoner was cooperative it was possible to complete the first part of his orders without too much unpleasantness. Just as long as she didn't decide to lie to him.
The second part of his orders though? With the methods available to him being so limited and without having weeks on end to work on the prisoner carrying out those orders thoroughly and to Ibiki's satisfaction was bound to be… difficult.
Give me some traitors or some foreign scum over this kind of headache any day.
Suddenly the intercom on the wall crackled to life. "Sir? Are you there? This is Yuichi. Come in please."
With a scowl Ibiki stalked over to the intercom and pressed the button. "What is it Yuichi? And where are you? You were supposed to be down here two minutes ago to observe this interrogation."
"Well that's just it sir," came the nervous reply from the intercom, "I was uh… ordered to stand down. So I thought it would be best to get in touch with you."
"What in the hell are you talking about Yuichi?" Ibiki snapped at his subordinate, irritated, "I'm the highest ranked person in this building. You take your orders fromme, you bloody imbecile."
"Uh, well sir in this case the chain of command wasn't entirely clear. Which is why I called you."
Ibiki's eyes narrowed at that. "Who ordered you to stand down Yuichi?" he barked.
It was a little known fact that Ibiki was a weak sensor. Just in that moment the top man in T&I sensed two Chakra signatures that he knew approaching the room he was in. When he recognized them the man's eyes widened in surprise before loudly cursing his luck out loud.
"Never mind Yuichi I know who it is. Go about your duties until I call for you."
"Yes sir."
This day is getting better and better.
Ibiki stepped away from the intercom and mentally prepared himself for the two newcomers that would be arriving at any moment. Looking back at the prisoner Ibiki could see that she was starting to stir to life. Terrible timing. When she was disoriented and coming to would have been the best time to begin working on her. Now however he was going to have to deal with the two people coming before he could start his questioning. Briefly he considered starting the interrogation anyway before discarding the idea. These two were not people who would allow themselves to be ignored.
Less than a minute later the door to the room Ibiki was in opened. In walked a tall man with long blonde hair that Ibiki was intimately familiar with since he had worked under him for most of his career. Not only that but the man had trained him and taught him most of what he knew about the art of interrogation. Immediately after him came in another man who was a well-known figure among the higher ranked ninja in Konoha. Black spiky hair, a goatee and a scarred face made him distinctive and hard to forget. Both of the men walked in with a purposeful and calculating air about them and Ibiki knew that his day was about to get a lot more complicated.
And awkward. This wasn't going to be pretty no matter how you sliced it.
"Inoichi. Shikaku-san," said by way of a simple greeting.
"Morino-san," replied Shikaku formally, his voice and mannerisms flat and neutral.
"Ibiki," greeted Inoichi easily, "how have you been?"
Ibiki eyed the men in front of him warily. "What are the two of you doing here?" he asked bluntly.
"I'm here to supervise the interrogation," replied Inoichi as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
What? What the hell were they playing at here? Ibiki scrutinized the men in front of him. Obviously them showing up just now was not a coincidence. Both men were unreadable, Shikaku looking severe and formal and every inch the Jounin Commander of Konoha that he was. Inoichi looked more relaxed and friendly but Ibiki knew better than to trust appearances. The interrogator knew his mentor well enough to know the man was not at allhappy that his sick eldest daughter was handcuffed to a table in the next room awaiting interrogation.
This was the other reason that Ibiki was unhappy with this interrogation. It made things… awkward when you were asked to thoroughly interrogate your mentor's kid. Now the awkwardness was about to jump to a whole other level. I'm really coming to despise this case.
"You can't supervise the interrogation of your own daughter," Ibiki told Inoichi firmly, "in fact you shouldn't even be here."
"Oh?" said Shikaku casually, "what are you going to do Morino-san? Have us forcibly removed?"
Ibiki managed to keep his frustration from showing on his face but it was a close call. So it's like that is it? He couldn't make them leave if they didn't want to. If it had been Inoichi alone then perhaps, maybe he could have had the man 'escorted' out. Practically it would have been difficult since Inoichi was incredibly well liked and respected in the department and Ibiki didn't know if he had it in him to subject his mentor to such ignominy.
However with Shikaku there it was a different matter altogether. Konoha's command structure was occasionally more than a bit murky. While Ibiki did not directly report to Shikaku or take orders from him it was unquestionable that the man was much higher up than him in the village hierarchy both as a Clan Head and as Konoha's Jounin Commander. The Jounin Commander also tended to double as Konoha's top military strategist. Given all that it would be impossible to have the man forcibly removed. His own men were very unlikely to carry out his orders to do so and as much as that irked him Ibiki could understand their reluctance. After all Shikaku was arguably second only to the Hokage when it came to authority over military affairs. Fortunately for Ibiki his authority did not extend over T&I.
The only way to force Shikaku and by extension Inoichi to leave would be to appeal to an equal or higher authority. In Konoha that meant either a member of the council or the Hokage himself. Maybe a fellow Clan Head could talk him down if need be. Other than that though…
Ibiki suppressed a sigh. He realistically only had two options. Either he could postpone the interrogation and go get the Hokage so he could intervene or he could just deal with this. Running off to tell the Hokage somehow left a bad taste in his mouth. He also wasn't a hundred percent sure the prisoner wouldn't vanish 'for her own safety' while he was away asking Hokage-sama to get Shikaku off his back. The two men in front of him had enough friends in his department and might just be wily enough to pull it off.
Though he didn't like it he didn't immediately see much of a choice. He'd kick them out if he could but he couldn't. Ibiki was not a fool. He could see what was going on here. The two men in front of him had muscled their way into his interrogation leaving him with few good options. Why though? What was their aim in coming here? Obviously they'd come on behalf of the girl. Were they just looking out for her? Or were they angling for something else?
Ibiki couldn't be sure. In the end some morbid curiosity about what the two of them were planning, his reluctance to leave the two of them in his department unsupervised and his dislike of the idea of running to the Hokage to take care of his problems settled it for him. He'd see how things played out… for now.
"Fine. Stay then," said Ibiki as if he were being gracious in allowing them to stay, "and feel free to watch. I'll be as gentle as I can. But I have my orders from Hokage-sama."
Inoichi's face darkened just enough for Ibiki to notice at the mention of Hokage-sama. Guess he's really upset over this.
"I wouldn't dream of interfering," said Inoichi in an upbeat voice that said just the opposite. "We'll just stand here. And watch you work."
"Right," said Ibiki drawing out the word, looking at his mentor and at Shikaku warily.
"Of course I might have a suggestion or two while you're in there."
Ibiki was a proud man and he hated to admit any weakness. However being in this situation with the mentor he very much respected and the Jounin Commander of all people seemingly arrayed against him made him… uncomfortable. Especially when they seemed to be taking charge of this interrogation and he was at the moment coming up dry on a way to stop it. Pushing the feeling aside Ibiki steered the conversation elsewhere.
"Shouldn't you be asking me how the pri-… how Rei Yamanaka is doing?" asked Ibiki.
This time it was Shikaku who answered. "Don't worry. We already know exactly how she's doing," he said in a disinterested voice.
Though he didn't show it this statement alarmed Ibiki. He was a master at spotting liars and he didn't think Shikaku was lying. How could they know? I only found out myself minutes ago. Unless… unless Fish told them. Was he in their pocket somehow? Either that or they had ears on this room the entire time.
Now Ibiki was beginning to feel downright unnerved. He was the type of man who liked to have everything precisely in its place and everything under his control. However while he ran T&I many of the people who worked there on a full or part-time basis also reported to other people. The ANBU assigned to work with him for example obviously also reported to the ANBU command structure and they were hardly the only ones. In fact there were several Jounin who worked in T&I who were assigned there by Shikaku himself. How many people working for him had divided loyalties? Not to mention Inoichi who was universally loved and respected by T&I's full time staff… at least a fourth of whom were Yamanaka.
Suddenly his little kingdom didn't feel quite 'his' the way it had just a few minutes before. Inoichi and Shikaku seemed motivated to meddle and Ibiki was beginning to realize they had the reach to make things troublesome for him at the very least, and to outright make many of his men turn against him at worst. They were flexing their muscles and it wasn't something Ibiki could just ignore. If he had to fight them all out over this things would get very messy. The problem was he still wasn't sure what it was exactly that they were looking for.
"What is it you want exactly?" Ibiki asked bluntly. "No matter how much you throw your weight around I've still got my orders from Hokage-sama. The prisoner is still going to be interrogated no matter what any of us have to say on the matter."
"We won't get in your way," said Shikaku, looking Ibiki with a serene kind of intensity. "We're just here to make sure you get it right the first time."
"What?" said Ibiki with a dangerous growl. He didn't need an amateur to tell him how to do his work.
"What we mean," said Inoichi in a more conciliatory tone, "is that there is no reason this can't be over in a single interview. My daughter will cooperate. I know its standard to work someone over ad nauseam until you're sure they haven't held back even a scrap of information – I wrote and revised many of those protocols if you remember – but it is by no means always necessary." Inoichi paused and looked Ibiki straight in the eye, "One session Ibiki. Then you're filling out the paperwork and I'm taking my daughter home."
Ibiki clucked his tongue in annoyance. "You know I can't promise that Inoichi."
Inoichi crossed his arms. "I think we can get you to see things our way. But we can talk about that later. My daughter has been lucid for some time now so you should probably get to it."
Ibiki frowned. This whole thing was turning out to be one gigantic mess and an even bigger pain in the ass. Turning to look through the window he saw that in fact the girl was in fact awake, if more than a little sickly and pallid looking. Inoichi was right it was time to get to it. He just didn't like that it felt like he was being ordered to do so. It was even more annoying that it felt so natural since in the past he had spent over a decade taking orders from Inoichi without complaint.
I hate politics. And families. And high profile children. What a fucking pain in my ass. This might be the worst interrogation ever and I haven't even spoken to the damn prisoner yet.
Well. There was nothing to it. It was time for him to do what he did best.
000
When Ibiki walked in the room the girl picked her head up groggily and looked in his direction. She was slumped forward awkwardly and it was clear to him that being handcuffed to the table was at the very least uncomfortable with her improperly healed shoulder. Examining the prisoner Ibiki noted that she looked pale, worn out, sickly and completely beyond exhausted… truly an ideal condition for interrogation. However her face was a stone mask, completely devoid of any emotion or inflection.
So that's how you're going to play it. Fair enough.
Ibiki took his time locking the door which secured with a deliberately loud metallic clang. Then he made it a point to slowly walk behind the prisoner before coming around to stand across the table from the girl. She simply followed him with her eyes, her body mostly relaxed and her face utterly unchanging.
"Rei Yamanaka," he began, "do you know why you are being held here?"
The girl scrutinized him for a moment before shaking her head in a small movement.
"We require answers to a number of outstanding questions with regards to your suspicious disappearance. You will be held here until such a time as we are satisfied that you have answered all of our questions fully and completely. I will warn you once not to try any kind of omission or deception. It will not work and it will only make your stay here more… unpleasant. Answering truthfully is the fastest way to get out of here quickly. Do you understand?" he asked in a severe official voice.
Again she didn't show any obvious reactions aside from a slight change in her breathing pattern. Instead she simply nodded slowly.
"Answer the question verbally," he snapped at her unexpectedly.
He was only a little bit surprised when she didn't flinch at his loud and angry-sounding command. The girl visibly swallowed a few times before she tried to speak.
"I understand," she said, her voice hoarse and cracked.
She didn't look cowed by his power play. In fact she didn't look anything at all. Still this didn't bother Ibiki in the least. It just gave him more information.
Ibiki took the seat across from her and began asking her questions. "How and when did you first become aware of the Summoning Technique?"
The girl seemed to take a moment to gather her thoughts. The prisoner's voice was impassive when she replied in that same hoarse and cracked voice. "I don't remember. Sometime before the academy. When I was four or five I think I read a scroll that talked about it briefly."
Thus began a series of questions. How long were you planning this? What was your motivation? How did you learn all the components for the jutsu? Why were you gone for such a long time?
All his questions were answered in a flat emotionless monotone, her voice almost making her appear bored and disinterested. Ibiki knew perfectly well what was going on. It was a trick that people who meditated a great deal or otherwise had developed profound mental discipline often used almost instinctively during unpleasant interrogation. Most prisoners assumed that any emotions they expressed would be used against them or that divorcing themselves from their emotions would make it harder to tell if they were telling the truth or lying. The subjects were correct on both counts. Simply put people with enough mental training could literally stop themselves from feeling emotions... at least for a time. It was a problem but something a seasoned professional like Ibiki could easily get around.
The questioning went on for a long time. Piece by piece the story began to come out in exacting detail. After several hours Ibiki could tell the girl was beginning to flag, her body betraying her even as she visibly (to him) forced her mind to remain as sharp and focused as she possibly could. Ibiki asked many of the same questions many times and in different ways. Her answers were consistent and fit with what he knew. Overall he was fairly certain she wasn't lying. However there were a couple of things that didn't add up or just felt… off. Ibiki had been at this too long to discount his instincts.
"Let's go over again how you knew using the Summoning Technique would take you to the summon realm," Ibiki said.
"I don't remember," said Rei for what must have been the third or fourth time.
"Do you really expect me to believe you don't remember how you learned what the technique would do?" Ibiki asked with mocking skepticism.
"I think I heard it in one of the stories of the Sannin. There have been so many of them and I've been hearing them all my life. It's almost like I've known about it all my life," Rei replied.
"Do you really expect me to believe that you researched a jutsu for over two years when all you had to go on was a story you don't even remember hearing?" asked Ibiki with deep skepticism.
Rei shrugged with her good shoulder. "It made sense. Either it would summon an animal or it would take me to where the animals lived. I figured it would be worth it either way," she said.
Lie. Or at least not the complete truth. Why? Maybe she broke the law by breaking in somewhere illegally and read about this information. Then again that didn't make a lot of sense. Anything that talked about the Summoning Technique taking you to the summon realm would almost certainly talk about how to do the jutsu itself. If she had read such a document she wouldn't have needed to spend two years piecing the jutsu together into a form that worked.
Ibiki had a guess as to what was going on. "Someone told you about it didn't they?" he said. It made sense. Almost everything about her story seemed to be adding up except how she knew to being her research into the Summoning Technique in the first place. It was clear to him that she knew exactly what would happen despite all her denials.
The girl hesitated before answering. "No," she said, her voice and expression still flat and emotionless.
Maybe true, maybe false. The problem with freezing your emotions is that it makes you look guilty. It makes you look like you have something to hide. After all if one wasn't afraid of the consequences why would they bother in the first place? It was almost too obvious that the person was trying to hide something. Based on that logic if he was unsure Ibiki was just going to assume that what he was being told was a lie.
It made sense in a way if she was lying about this. That information was restricted and only very few people would be authorized to share that information with an academy student like Rei Yamanaka. Whoever had told her would be punished… possibly only with a black mark on their record and a few months of shit missions but still. If she was lying it was likely to protect someone from reprisal.
Still, he needed to get confirmation one way or the other. That meant getting her to drop the emotionless act. That meant ramping up the pressure.
There were many, many different methods to attempt to resist interrogation. In the end though they generally all followed one principle – if you add enough stress eventually the defensive mechanisms will break. The easiest way for a skilled interrogator to do this was often torture. Lying convincingly becomes impossible at that point since all good lying requires a degree of emotional control.
In this case however torture wasn't an option for him, not the least because his ex-boss and the girl's father was currently watching though the one way mirror. No what he needed to do was ramp up the pressure another way. Her psych eval had made mention of something he could use – the fact that Rei Yamanaka was an extremely proud person. It had been put together by Anko Mitarashi and despite her flaws the woman was good at her job. Time to make that particular character flaw work in his benefit.
"I need you to stop lying to me," he said. He didn't get an answer to that. He wasn't expecting one. "The timing of your disappearance is too suspicious as it coincided with the massacre of the Uchiha Clan. The Hokage is not willing to let a potential security threat with as much influence as you will have go unchecked. The punishment should you fail to satisfy me in here will be severe."
He waited a moment to see if she would be drawn in and ask 'what punishment is that?'. She wasn't and it wasn't exactly a surprise.
"I'm not lying," she said in that flat emotionless monotone.
There was a small percentage chance of that being true but it was better to proceed as if she were lying. Besides once you made them crack the first time these things always went smoother. Ibiki then struck the first major blow of the interrogation:
"Of course someone as high profile as you can't be made to quietly disappear. Still for all that you are hailed a 'genius' to the village you are perfectly expendable and replaceable. If you do not start cooperating an especially trained Hyuuga medic will sever all your major Chakra coils. The procedure will completely and permanently destroy your ability to become a kunoichi."
Ibiki could tell right away his words struck home. She took in a sharp breath her eyes widened. Over the next few seconds they shone brightly with different emotions: disbelief, anger, fear. With visible effort the prisoner struggled to get her emotions under control.
"You're lying," she said flatly, her voice holding a trace of anger and accusation.
Of course he was lying. There had been no talk of appropriate punishments with the Hokage. Also no one would ever stand for Rei Yamanaka being crippled and effectively turned into a civilian. Ironically, politically speaking the fallout would most likely be less if she were simply executed. The Hokage ordering such a procedure was completely out of the question.
However Ibiki was betting the prisoner didn't know that. Even if she did being held prisoner in adverse conditions tended to mess with people's reasoning skills and sense of reality. People also had a tendency to believe things they were afraid were true. Her reaction said that his strategy was already being successful.
"I wouldn't lie to you about something this serious," said Ibiki with stone faced professionalism. "The Uchiha incident has rocked this village to the core. In times like this there is nothing we wouldn't do to safeguard the security of the village. The only two options left to you are complete and unfiltered compliance… or the destruction of your ability to use Chakra." He took a moment and leaned forward. "If continue to lie to me the result will be the latter. Of that you have my personal guarantee."
Her calm and composed face cracked, showing a window into what was really going on underneath. Her eyes swirled and stormed with emotions. The prisoner's upper lip curled into the beginnings of a snarl as she subconsciously moved her body further away from him. All in all it reminded him of a wounded animal trapped by a larger predator, hissing and hair standing on end while being clearly very afraid.
"You're so full of shit. And I told you I'm not lying. I haven't been lying to you from the start," she said, the monotone of her voice giving away. Though she called him a liar her slightly shaking tone told him she was in fact terrified that he was telling the truth.
"I am a master at my art. I can tell when somebody is lying to me," he said sounding thoroughly unimpressed with her reaction. "You will stop lying to me. Now tell me who told you what the summoning technique would do."
"I told you," she hissed at him like an angry cat, "No. One. Told. Me. Anything!"
Truth. Now they were getting somewhere. Now that the prisoner's emotions were all over the place it no child's play for him to tell a truth from a lie. So it hadn't been another person who told her? Had she really heard it from a ridiculous story meant to entertain and just assumed the information was correct? The prisoner seemed too intelligent for that. Then again he was well aware that even the most intelligent of people could do profoundly stupid things on occasion.
"Then tell me again how you learned what the technique could do. And make sure not to leave out anything," Ibiki said.
However the girl did not answer him right away like he expected. Instead she glared at him, her eyes seeming a few shades darker and full of hate. Then she bit her bottom lip, bit it and held on so hard he was sure that her teeth had pierced the soft flesh and caused her to bleed into her mouth. He could see her fighting, struggling with herself as she utilized the pain to help focus her. It took only a moment for him to see what she was trying to do. The prisoner was struggling with her emotions, trying to get them under control again so she could deaden them once more. It seemed she hadn't lost her mind enough to forget that baring her emotions made her vulnerable.
That would not do. Ibiki needed to keep her off balance, her emotions too strong for her to control. Realizing that the prisoner had a great deal of anger and tended to gravitate towards that emotion when threatened he decided to make himself an even bigger threat.
With a swift and sudden movement Ibiki stood up, knocking the chair behind him to the ground. At the same moment he brought his hand down onto the metal table violently, the resulting sound loud enough to echo uncomfortably off the walls. The girl jumped, startled by the sudden violence as she looked up at his tall frame with fear and wariness in her eyes.
"Now listen here you little shit!" he bellowed as he bent over, bringing his face close to hers and horribly invading her personal space. "When I ask you something, you're going to answer right away. Or maybe you'd like it back in your cold room for another twenty four hours? I can tell you didn't like that the first time, especially when you had to get up like a shaking leaf and pull your pants down with one hand to piss in the bucket. What? Surprised I was watching you through a camera?" he mocked her right in her face with a sneer as he clinically noted all her reactions, her anger, her embarrassment, her fear of him, her fear of the cold room. "Let's get one thing straight: out there in the real world everyone kisses your ass and tells you you're really hot shit. In here however, you're nothing but a worm. Nothing but dirt on the bottom of my sandals. You world will be nothing but pain for weeks and months until I'm satisfied. Until I get what I want from you. So you had better start doing exactly-"
Suddenly Ibiki was distracted from his calculated diatribe by loud flairs of Chakra that he couldn't ignore. It was flaring quickly in a pattern that was a standard form of signal communications and one way that the people behind the one way mirror sometimes communicated with the interrogator during questionings. Inoichi's Chakra felt agitated and he was sending an unmistakably unambiguous message.
B-A-C-K-O-F-F
Son of a bitch. What the hell was his problem? He'd promised he'd go easy on the girl and he was. A little bit of screaming in her face was hardly the worse damn thing he could be doing to her.
Damn it. Ibiki fumed as he considered what to do. Being managed this way wasn't something he'd had to put up with since he'd been a trainee. He could just ignore Inoichi he supposed but he had a feeling doing that would have unpleasant consequences. How was he supposed to do an interrogation like this?
The girl was looking at him with confusion on her face along with the other cocktail of emotions he'd managed to stir up in her since he had just trailed off mid-sentence. He wondered that must have looked like to her. Thinking quickly Ibiki came up with something.
"Did you break any laws or do anything we might find objectionable in the acquisition of the information about what the summoning technique would do?" he asked her, his face still just a handful of inches away from hers.
The girl glared at him for three breaths before she answered him through clenched teeth. "No," she spat out with surprising malice for a little girl.
Truth.
Well that was good certainly. He wanted to get all the details but… hell, in this case maybe he was better off picking his battles. Backing away Ibiki picked up his overturned chair and sat back down again.
"Now, let's go back and talk one more time about the Uchiha incident…"
000
It was several hours more until Ibiki was done, stopping only because the prisoner had started giving slurred and nonsensical answers due to her extreme exhaustion. Her illness probably had a good deal to contribute to that as well. When he reentered the room where Inoichi and Shikaku had observed the interrogation he was greeted by two stone faced and unhappy looking men. Ibiki did his best to take it in stride.
"So are you satisfied Morino-san?" asked Shikaku without preamble cutting right to the chase.
Ibiki's lips thinned into a displeased line. "Not really," he said.
The interrogation had been far less effective than he would have hoped. It had not helped that Inoichi had called him off a total of four times… it still pissed him off that he'd even listened to the man in the first place but he had found himself caught in between a rock and a hard place. Swallowing his pride and taking some direction would save him the most headaches in the end. It still stung though having to do that in the heart of his own department.
"Well that's too bad," said Inoichi, "she's in no condition to be further interrogated."
"Or kept in a cell," added Shikaku.
"She needs to be released," continued Inoichi in a firm tone, "you and I both know she's in no condition to be here. If you want to interrogate her further you're going to have to wait until she gets better and then make a request for her to be brought in for questioning again."
Ibiki fought not to make a face at that. He was no expert but he knew enough and the head of T&I knew that if he let Rei Yamanaka out that door getting her back would not be as easy as someone snapping their fingers. The Yamanaka and their allies could make it politically very difficult and knowing Inoichi the way he did it was highly unlikely he would let a member of his family get dragged in here without good reason. And that was the crux of it wasn't it? Aside from the Uchiha questions the rest seems like relativelyminor stuff. Certainly not something that would normally get a Clan Heir dragged into T&I.
"Perhaps," said Ibiki, sounding unconvinced as he crossed his massive arms.
"Let us paint a picture for you Morino-san if you'll allow us the indulgence," said Shikaku as he seemed to slouch slightly with his hands in his pockets. "The next council meeting is in a month isn't it? On the one hand there seems to be some new issues with staffing and manpower among the Jounin ranks of late. There might need to be some restructuring to make sure all the village needs are properly met. The three Jounin working at T&I full time might have to be reduced to one. It seems Masayuki might be the only one available to fill that position."
Ibiki could hardly keep the distaste off his face. "I don't want that idiot in my department," Ibiki barked hotly. Masayuki might have T&I training and was a Jounin but as far as Ibiki was concerned the man was an obnoxious, dangerously incompetent waste of space who had no business anywhere near his department.
"Nevertheless it looks like Masayuki might be the only one available," continued Shikaku placidly. "There is also the issue of clan leadership in various departments. You do an amazing job Ibiki, no one can deny that. However I've heard rumors that a few clans are thinking about changing their stance on that issue."
Ibiki frowned deeply at that. Conservatives on the council had long insisted that only ninja from the clans should be allowed to head up the various departments of Konoha. Their arguments inevitably boiled down to 'of course the ninja from the clans are going to do a better job'. If it was up to them a non-clan ninja such at himself would not be heading up T&I. Shikaku was suggesting the Nara might change from their merit-based stance on the issue. Where the Nara went surely the Yamanaka and even Akimichi would follow. Ultimately the Hokage and the Hokage alone decided on the appointments but the council advised and influenced him. Having more voices on the council speaking out against him keeping his job was not a prospect he relished.
"On the other hand," began Inoichi, "perhaps the village might find it suddenly has one or two more Jounin to spare for the foreseeable future."
"With Masayuki being reassigned elsewhere," cut in Shikaku.
"With Masayuki being reassigned elsewhere," echoed Inoichi agreeably. "The clan would also consider it a personal favor if my daughter were to be released due to medical reasons. I'm your friend Ibiki but having the Yamanaka Clan as your friends, on your side, is something completely different. And before you decide let me ask you this: how many treasonous secrets do you actually think Rei is holding back?"
That… was a lot to think about. Jounin were hard to come by and they were often given a low priority in being assigned to T&I. Jounin were not only the best fighters but also tended to be the most intelligent and capable people the village had in all areas. Having one or two more in his department would be a magnificent boon. As to Inoichi saying the Yamanaka Clan 'on his side'? That was more than just 'we'll owe you one'. It was… frankly a big deal. Even more so in his case with so many Yamanaka working under him.
As to the last point that Inoichi raised… how many secrets did he think the girl was holding back? Maybe a few things but nothing major. The most important part at least Ibiki was convinced was on the level. When the girl said that she had no idea that the incident would happen the day after she disappeared he believed her. For some reason she had been kind of dodgy around the issue of the Uchiha, what she knew, when she knew it, weird phrasings, but the bottom line was she wasn't involved and had not known when it would happen. On a normal prisoner Ibiki would have liked to grind out every last detail over a period of days or weeks but at least he was satisfied of the important points after this solitary session. As to the jutsu, well, overwhelmingly that seemed to be on the level for the most part. It was a perhaps a bit sloppy but Ibiki could say without lying that he had completed the first task the Hokage had set for him.
The second task however… he had not even begun to interrogate the prisoner about that. Possible plans, actions or thoughts to the detriment of Konoha. Determine if a likely future threat to the village. That was not the type of information one could gather in one session. It would take at least a week, minimum, to be able to complete that part of his assignment to his satisfaction.
If it was up to him he would keep the girl at T&I for at least a week with medics checking in on her on a regular basis. Her sickness was generally a bad thing for him but it could also be used to aid in the interrogation… if he had more time. Still he couldn't deny that she was ill and as the interrogation had progressed she steadily seemed to be getting worse. Even with Fish having come in three different times to check on her there really wasn't any improvement. There wasn't much a medic could do for her in these conditions. The situation certainly wasn't clear cut.
Hell, screw it. Everything he had seen and heard exonerated the girl of any immediate wrongdoing. That was good enough for now. If the Hokage had concerns about her being a long term threat sometime in the future he could order her taken in again and questioned. Strictly speaking those types of considerations weren't any of his business. Inoichi's and Shikaku's threat versus reward scenarios also heavily influenced his opinion. While he didn't appreciate being strong armed the rewards they were offering took most of the sting out of it. And frankly he would be glad to see that headache of a girl and this annoyingly complex case walking out the door. There was however one more outstanding issue…
"If I agree to let her go," began Ibiki cautiously, "and this blows back on me I don't want to be left hanging in the wind."
Inoichi smiled broadly at that. "Don't worry Ibiki. I take care of my friends. The Yamanaka do too."
"The Nara will do all that we can to help should anything happen Morino-san," Shikaku assured him.
"Well then," said Ibiki with a slight smile, "give me an hour to get the paperwork done and she will be free to go."
000
Rei hurt everywhere. Her shoulder hurt. Her mind was foggy but her body refused to let her rest properly as she was handcuffed and slumped over the uncomfortable metal table. She had completely lost track of time. How long had she been here? How long would she be here? Kami she didn't want to go back to the cold room. Please don' make me go back to the cold room. No… please no.
She thought she had accomplished her goal which had been simply to stick to her story no matter what. They wouldn't really make her no longer able to be a ninja would they? The thought filled her with terror. She didn't know if she wanted to think about it or not think about it… but her mind was a foggy mess so it all ended up being a wash anyway.
Eventually she became aware of other people in the room only when someone was standing next to her and opening her handcuffs. Rei didn't have the energy to turn her head and see who it was. She though she heard someone calling her name gently, the voice seemed familiar but… no, she was surely hearing things wasn't she?
Her body jerked when someone touched her side. Rei tried to weakly struggle away until she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and pick her up. Someone was speaking to her as they picked her up like a small kid and held her to their chest. That smell, that voice… could it be?
"D-dad?" she croaked out in a small and vulnerable voice.
"Shhh I'm here Rei. I've got you," the familiar voice said. Was it really him?
"Don' wanna be cold, please don't make me go b-back," she slurred.
"You're not going back there," he told her firmly but gently as he squeezed her tight. "We're going home."
At that word her sluggish heart began to beat like a bird's in her chest. "Home?" she asked in a tiny whisper.
"Yes Rei," he said as he held her to him. "We're going home."