Chapter 15
~Warning – scenes of graphic torture~
Saiko Goto woke up to strange noises in her room. Rubbing her eyes she turned on the bedside lamp then looked around the room. Nothing was out of place. Sighing, she turned to see her husband was still asleep. Making sure not to disturb him she went to get something to drink. He didn't even stir, which she found odd since her husband was a somewhat light sleeper being a former shinobi and all. As usual she wasn't very subtle as she kept on knocking or stepping into things. By now her husband would be scolding her for making such a ruckus. He must have been very tired from his job. Done in the kitchen she went back to her room to go back to sleep. She had a busy day tomorrow and she wanted to catch up to as much sleep as possible to keep up with the incompetence she had to deal with on a daily basis.
She tiredly got back under the covers and was ready to fall back into slumber. She cuddled into her dear husband and froze. It was cold, he was cold. Dread made he movements stiff. She reached up to pull the covers away and once the lights were on again her blood curdled in her veins. He was as pale as paper, it seemed as if he wasn't breathing either. She placed her head on his chest and there was no heartbeat. She gasped, her hands flew to her mouth in horror. "Amida!" she exclaimed. Her trembling hands went to shake him awake but she froze once more.
Cold fingers had threaded into her hair and she couldn't move. "Who-who are you? Did you do this." She asked with a tremulous voice. She felt warm breath in her ear. "It doesn't matter. I just need you to answer my questions and you'll be free. Understood?" She nodded frantically. She loved her husband but she didn't want to end up like him. "Excellent. Who killed Severus Snape." The question was so unexpected she tried to look over at her captor. The hand in her hair tightened and a shock of pain travelled through her whole body. She screamed briefly at the shock. "Answer the question." "I don't know, I swear. Please, let me go." Her head was pulled back and a kunai was place at her throat. A knick to her skin felt like she had been stabbed and she screamed once more. "Are you sure." "Please, I swear I don't know. It was an accident, right?" her captor was silent for a moment. The blunt side of the blade pressed to her jaw and the man hummed. "It seems you're telling the truth." She nearly sobbed. "Thank you, thank you."
He chuckled and it made something cold crawl down her spine. He let go of her hair and she slumped to the bed, yet she still couldn't move. "I can't move. What did you do to me?" "It's a modified body-binding spell, you don't need to worry about it." He came into her field of view and she couldn't believe it. "Peverell? What are you doing in my house? You killed my husband!" she shouted having gained some of her courage and rage. The smile he gave her was one a preditor gave to its unwitting prey. "A small price to pay in the search for truth." he came closer to sit at the bedside. Taking out a spray bottle he generously squirted some of the yellow liquid onto the kunai. It evaporated like spirit, but there was definitely a yellow sheen to the metal now. "You're not the first I've visited tonight you know. Mori-san was very happy to rat you and your friends out for the crimes you committed against your fellow citizens. Bribes, assassinations, fraud." He took his time stripping her of her clothes until she was nude, just to make her uncomfortable. "And that's the tip of the iceberg. You higher-ups run Konoha but you have no respect for it. Nobles, you call yourselves. All high and mighty because you were born into wealth." He sneered. His conversational tone didn't make her heart beat any slower as it hammered in her chest at the prospect of what he intended to do.
"You won't get away with this. If you stop now, I won't tell anyone." Her voice was strong, hoping to convince him to abandon his plans with her. He just smiled sweetly with cold eyes. "His killers knew they didn't have to go through with it, but they did. I don't see why I can't do the same. Maybe I can get some more information from this exchange too. I'm sure one of you is responsible for my Severus' death." "You have no clue who even killed him, how can you be sure killing me will satisfy you?" "I'm patient Goto-san." His eyes darkened, the light reflecting menacingly from the bright green irises. "If it means I kill everyone in this village I will. Severus will be avenged. Now, try not to damage your vocal cords too much."
He brought the kunai to her finger, grabbed a dainty nail with it and pulled. She gave a high pitched scream as the fingernail was coaxed out of its place. The kunai wasn't the most ideal tool for nail pulling and it messily cut into the finger. Almost a minute later Hari held up a bloody finger nail into the light to inspect it. Bits of torn skin and muscle clung to it and he clicked his tongue. Saiko sobbed in pain and terror. It felt as if a blunt saw had been slowly shredding into her finger, the agony of it. "Please, I'll do anything. Stop, please." Hari tutted at her as if addressing a five year old. "I haven't even started done yet. I still have so much to ask you." He waved his hand and the bleeding stopped.
He grabbed another finger, making her sob even harder. "For each fingernail I pull out you will mention the names of those who you even suspect had any hostility towards Severus or I. Failing that you will call out your fellow corrupted nobles." "What did I do? I'm innocent." "Don't be daft." Hari said offhandedly. "Your husband works, I mean worked at the canned food factory right behind the Academy, am I right? How many had you advised him to lay off to increase your profits?" "I never…" "No need to deny it. It was all in his head. And you manage the paper pushers in the mission assignment office. Your husband hinted to me that you don't like some of 'those useless shinobi' so you make sure they have 'accidents' in the field. All convincing of course, some chuunin are not prepared for B-rank missions, such tragic losses."
The kunai was brought to the second finger. "Start naming your suspect, my fair lady." She screamed in agony once more as the second finger was plucked out. In her pained haze she spouted out the first name that came to mind. "Nara Enchu." She barely could spit out the name through her sobs. Harry inspected the second finger. He had done a better job at it; not as much flesh clung to it. He placed it on the table next to the first.
"Enchu. The Nara clan elder? Tell me, what has he done?" It took a moment for the woman's sobs to become coherent words. "He treasures the battle intelligence of the Nara clan more than anything. He trains the Nara kids to be able to analyze most situations quickly and come up with efficient solutions in battle. If-if he finds them inefficient he makes sure they either disappear or are in the lowest ranks of the Nara clan." Hari picked up a third finger and she panicked. "Wait! And, and you remember the wit-sharpening potion?" "Yes?" Hari indulged. "He made sure half of the potions made went to the Nara clan. He had a whole team of scientists to study it! He even threatened Snape-san to have a special batch made just for the clan. He promised to pay him handsomely. Maybe Snape-san refused. He's the one who did it! I swear!"
Hari hummed and started pulling the third. By the time he had all ten fingernails on the dresser he had nine names on the list, seven of which he already knew about. Fukada Daisuke, Arakawa Michi, Hyuuga Ayah, Hyuuga Hiashi, Amagiri Midori, Inuzuka Nami, Inuzuka Ken and Onikuma Yoshimitsu. It seems she didn't have the balls, tits?, to rat out the three Konoha elders. Saiko was in a catatonic state and her voice had gone hoarse from all the screaming, but he wasn't done. He pulled a rejuvenation potion and something to clear her thoughts. A pepper-up potion was added and she was as energized and clear-minded as when they started. She was still crying. "Sobbing so piteously won't spare you from my intentions Goto-san. Now, let's have a conversation about the three Konoha elders. Shimura Danzo,Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura." "I don't know anything. They keep their secrets, there's nothing I can tell you about them." She said.
He travelled lower to her body, lightly dragging the kunai on from her chest to her navel where he stopped. He wiped the sweat from her abdomen as he said. "I'm sure you can think of something to tell me. I'm patient, so as you think up something I'll flay the skin right here." He pinched the flesh right above her crotch. She started moaning incoherently but he ignored it. He started by tracing a line from her belly button to the skin he pinched earlier. Running the knife once more he made a deeper cut and blood welled up. Her rapid breathing and shouts made it difficult but he made as straight a line as possible. Then he started cutting below the skin as thinly as possible to get more skin and less flesh, occasionally prying with his hands to reveal the muscle below. He had to vanish the blood constantly to work without any obstructions.
Minutes later the skin at her lower abdomen was gone. He looked up at the weeping woman. "Oh, you tortured soul." He cooed and promptly snickered at his joke. Getting himself under control he gestured with the bloody tool. "You haven't said a meaningful word yet. So speak before I lose my inhibitions." For a couple more seconds she just wailed piteously. He could wait, he had some time yet before dawn. As he waited he checked that the silencing, notice-me-not, and illusion he placed in the house was still in effect. Nothing was amiss. When she started speaking he went back to skinning her, proceeding with the rest of her stomach. He easily ignored her bawling through her words. True to her word she couldn't tell him anything he didn't already know. Shame really, all this work for nothing.
"Well, that was no help at all. Accio salt." A bottle of salt flew into his hand. It was half full, or maybe half empty. Who could say? She didn't notice the seasoning. 'Seasoning.' He thought, laughing once more as he stared at the flesh exposed like some juicy steak. "I think you should be punished for being so useless, Goto-san. Then I'll be done with you, I think. Oh, before I forget." He pulled out a blood replenisher to pour down her throat. Once that was done, he took a generous scoop of the salt and poured it around her navel area.
The high-pitched scream was louder than the last she let loose and even he winced. It was a long-suffering scream of agony fit to chill the soul. She did her best to thresh around her invisible bonds with renewed strength. Her efforts were so vigorous blood started coming out of her nose as she resisted the binding spell. He watched in fascination, wondering if she was going to break free. No, he guessed it was not meant to be as her struggles died down with the subsiding pain. He waited for her to calm down some more. A few minutes later he poured more salt onto her wounds. She wailed once more, her muscles seizing up as she couldn't move. 'Oh, wait. She's really having a seizure.' The thought came to him belatedly but he didn't do anything. His previous victim didn't experience this. Even after chopping off all his fingers and toes, skinning his arms and legs, he didn't die until he disemboweled him. Blood started welling out of her throat and she gurgled, choking on it, her eyes rolling grotesquely to the back of her head as if she were possessed.
He vanished the blood out of her mouth and she could only give a gurgled scream as more filled her throat. It felt like minutes as he watched her struggle but it was mere seconds. Her constrained thrashing lessened, the seizures gradually stopped and she went still. He cast a diagnosis spell and sighed. "So weak." He intoned then shrugged. He was done with her anyway. She wasn't very informative at all, he got nothing pertaining to his Severus' death. She deserved to die. Before he left the house he cast thorough cleaning spells on himself and the floor. Another wave of his hand banished the odorless, tasteless, colorless potion drifting through the air. It had been easy to sneak into the house yesternight and pour the potion he had been preparing for the better part of a week on the carpet, and minutes after it left the airtight container it evaporated. A simple spell on all entrances and exits prevented the gaseous potion from leaving the room. A lock of Goto Amida's hair in the potion made it so it targeted him alone. He only had to soak it up for five hours and eighteen to twenty hours later the potion would shut down his organs one by one. He didn't even suffer, but Saiko was his target.
~Torture end~
~Scene Change~
By the end of the next day the informed knew of the tragic deaths of three well-known citizens. The manner of death and the fact that well-trained investigators found no trace of the culprit was something to speak about for weeks on end. Two of the victims lived together with no other family members with them and the third lived alone in an apartment. While the investigators were scrambling to solve this conundrum Sai was puzzling his own dilemma. As Hari's protector it was his duty to take guard over him at all times. He was human however and he needed rest. Yesterday he briefly went to sleep for two hours and when he woke up he knew he was seeing an illusion on the bed. It was breathing normally, occasionally turned over or twitched as one would expect of someone who was sleeping. The bed even dipped around him, the bed covers rustling around him. His scent seemed manufactured, the noises he made were too timed. He was not real, and Sai had no idea where the real Hari went. For six hours he was absent. He searched the village after he left a clone in his place. One moment the clone blinked and the next Hari was real again.
The clone dispersed and Sai came back, astonished. It was as if he never left. Sai had so many questions unanswered. So he didn't say anything. The mysterious deaths unsettled him because to him, Hari didn't have an alibi. He went through the week with no sign that he committed a crime and Sai was starting to believe it. Then he disappeared again for four hours and the next day Inuzuka Nami was found dead next to her mutilated dog. Her husband had slept soundly through her torture and subsequent murder and the children in the next room were none the wiser. A serial killer was on the loose, and Sai could not tell anyone he shared the house with a murderer.
~Scene Change~
Itachi was in what was probably the oddest situation yet. His impassive face hid the anticipation and nervousness he felt at the two individuals in the staring contest. It had been five minutes while they were in this state and even Konan was becoming fidgety. Finally, finally, Pein spoke, his own deadpan good enough to make rocks jealous. "You expect me to believe that the nine-tailed fox regaled to you the tale of Uchiha Madara and his ambitious plan to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi over the world and achieve eternal peace." "Yes." "That he has an army of white Zetsus somewhere just waiting to do his bidding." "Yes." "That Uchiha Obito is manipulating people and things so he can eventually revive the first Konoha Uchiha clan head to achieve this goal." "Yes." "That he's been using me and Akatsuki all this time to gather the power of the tailed demons so he can fuel this plan." "Yes." Pein brought his hand up to cover his mouth in panicked contemplation even if his expression never changed. 'Shit.'
Naruto nodded in sympathy. "If it's any consolation, he can still be stopped." The orange-haired meat puppet turned his gaze on the blonde. "If we can defeat Obito this Eye of the Moon plan technically cannot be set in motion. And failing that if we can make the power of the bijuu inaccessible he won't have the power to execute his plan." "And failing that?" Pein asked mockingly. "We gather the shinobi world to form a united force againt two Uchiha and their undying army of Zetsus." Naruto said this so seriously Itachi couldn't tell if he believed his own suggestion or not. Konan momentarily lost her mask to stare at the blonde in disbelief. "You're delusional." Pein summarized all their thoughts.
Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, you may not believe me or Kyuubi, but at least trust in the fact that Obito is bad news. He is a conniving slippery bastard whose twistedly good intentions will lead him to destroy the world if he must. I had to fortify this building in privacy seals, a barring ward and dozens of traps just to make sure he doesn't slip through to hear this conversation. The only reason I didn't transport us into a pocket dimension of our own is because I have no intention of accidentally trapping us in a place that technically doesn't exist if I don't have to."
Pein lifted his hand to stop the tirade. "I hear you, Uzumaki-san and, to my mounting astonishment, I believe you." "You do?" "No one is stupid enough to cook up such a ridiculous story just to make jokes, and deliver said story to the leader of a powerful organization such as Akatsuki." "Well, I'm glad to know such a humble fellow as yourself believes my tales." Naruto said with sarcasm.
"Enough." Konan inserted herself into the conversation before the two could banter some more. She was surprised the boy was still alive and even more so that Pein was willing to cater to him to this point. "We need a plan to counter the Uchiha." "I agree. Do either of you have a solution or should we brainstorm some more?" Itachi asked. Pein glanced over at Naruto, who smile smugly. "As a matter of fact I have a plan." He slapped a seal onto the desk. "This is part of a net matrix. It works in tandem with others of its kind to act as a net over an area. Once activated together they essentially isolate the volume of space they enclose so nothing comes out and nothing goes in for as long as all the pieces are intact. That includes physical object both organic and inorganic, living and non-living. Not even an inter-dimensional portal can open in or out of it as that counts as 'entering' and 'leaving'. The barrier itself is self-sustaining and can keep whatever is in it alive for its whole natural life."
"With functions like that wouldn't it take a lot of power to activate?" Konan asked. Naruto nodded. "But between the four of us and Kurama I don't believe we'll have much trouble." "I don't suppose Obito will just stand and wait for us to spring this deadly trap." Pein said dryly. Naruto threw him a look. "We can raise the trap over the hideout. He wouldn't expect to be attacked at the base itself." Pein suggested. Naruto wasn't sulking, it was beneath him. "Fine then. The issue now is when and who is involved. I bet some of your lackeys would love to take a swing at witless Toby." "Only Toby will not be so stupid once cornered." Itachi voiced.
"I suggest we do this as soon as possible. We don't know what wheels he has in motion by now." Konan said. Pein nodded. "Agreed." He eyed Naruto speculatively. "You look weak." "Doesn't mean I can't kick your ass to Konoha and back." The blonde snapped. Pein scoffed. "Before we even start preparing for this daring scheme you will prove it to me." "You're on." Konan sighed. "You act like twelve-year-olds, both of you."
A/N: So Hari has lost it. What will Sai do? Should Naruto involve Sasuke with Obito's defeat? Will the Uchiha even be defeated? I don't imagine it'd be so easy. Hmmm…Depends on how much oomf I'm up to expending at the time. I hope you'll enjoy the chapters to come.
Read and Review ~ Ja ne