Homecoming

by Nezuko, Prince of Rats

This is a work of derivative fiction based on "Naruto" by Kishimoto Masashi. The characters and the world in which they live are the property of Kishimoto-sensei.

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Chapter 3: Interrogation - Morino Ibiki and Shiranui Genma

Ibiki had been the one who brought Genma in. He had been in the wooded lowlands south of Konoha, returning from a rendezvous with two of the Leaf village's covert ANBU operatives who had finally managed to capture an elusive mole. The foreign ninja had proved highly uncooperative, so they had sent for aid from the Coercive Information Extraction Unit: Morino Ibiki's infamous torture and interrogation squad. Because this case was of the highest priority, Ibiki himself had led the team that answered the summons. The imposing, scar-faced commander had used his strongest persuasive techniques, which took a lot out of him, but it had been worth it. The prisoner had cracked, revealing all the Leaf nins needed to know.

When he had finished, Ibiki had headed back to the village, leaving his subordinates to dispose of their captive's mind; there was no need to destroy the man's body. He might even make a decent turnover - become a Leaf nin - though never without strict oversight. The former Sound jounin could wind up his days as a Leaf gennin, if he was lucky.

On his return trip, Ibiki had been tired, worn out from the exhausting interrogation, so he had been moving much more slowly than usual. Late that night he had stopped to rest for a few hours and await the sunrise before continuing the final kilometers to Konoha. It was Ibiki's fatigue that saved Genma's life.

ooo

The same damp, moonless night that Kakashi stumbled home to Iruka, Ibiki was sheltered under foliage wishing the drizzle would stop. Reclining against the trunk of a massive oak, he had been half asleep when a sound - the subtlest rustling of leaves and twigs - alerted him to a presence. A very faint, feeble glow of a familiar chakra caught his attention. Snapping on a red flashlight, he rose and approached the bracken where he sensed the energy.

"Shiranui-san? Genma?" he called.

There was no answer.

Ibiki pushed the dense ferns apart, looking for clues in the misty, night-shrouded forest to confirm his intuition. He was rewarded when he spotted the bruised stems and leaves that told him something heavy had passed through them. Following the slick trail, he found his sense of Genma's presence growing stronger.

"Genma-san, are you there? It's Morino Ibiki."

Still there was no reply.

Ibiki straightened and looked at the trees around him. His senses told him, though, that the source of the perplexing presence was at ground level. He was about to conclude that this was a trap, or perhaps a clever practical joke by his bandana-ed colleague, when the red beam of his light revealed a foot protruding from the fronds. He hastily pushed the vegetation apart, exposing Genma's prone and battered body. It looked as if the jounin had dragged himself using only his arms, crawling through the dripping underbrush for some way before collapsing face down.

"Genma! Wake up! Are you alright?" Ibiki shook the brown-haired jounin roughly, rolling him onto his back.

Genma groaned and struggled to open his eyes.

"What happened? Talk to me!" Ibiki shouted at his comrade.

"Kh..." was all the response the injured man was able to make.

A quick inspection revealed a badly broken right leg, numerous bruises from a vicious beating, and the entrance and exit marks of senbon on Genma's neck - the cause of his paralysis.

"Shit. Hang on Genma-san." Ibiki lifted Genma's head and held a water bottle to his mouth, but the trickle of liquid he offered his injured comrade just ran back out the corner of his thickened lips. He took off his vest and folded it to make a pillow, settling Genma's head on it before moving to address the gruesomely deformed leg.

Ibiki's options were limited. A pair of sturdy branches would have to suffice to splint the shattered limb. He unwound the uniform bandage tapes around his own calves to use to lash the wood in place.

While he assembled his materials, Ibiki did a quick survey of the surrounding area, but found no trace of any other person, ally or enemy. Returning to the downed shinobi, he cursed the fact that he had no sedative with him. "OK, Genma-san, I'm gonna splint your leg so I can move you."

Genma's eyes were slitted open, but the jounin made no reply.

Ibiki jostled Genma's shoulder, "Genma? Genma-san? You with me?"

Genma moaned, awake but incoherent.

'Better for him that he's out of it,' Ibiki reflected.

"I'm afraid this is gonna hurt, Genma-san, but I've got to do it." Squating, Ibiki took Genma's right foot in his hands and pulled, straightening the twisted appendage. Genma screamed.

"Ah, gomen. I'm sorry, Genma-san." Working quickly, Ibiki wrapped the bandages around Genma's leg and the improvised splints When he was done, he took his comrade's broken body gently in his massive arms and wiped the sweat from his face. Anyone watching would never have suspected that the giant man had a reputation as a sadist; he showed only the tenderest concern for his suffering colleague.

"Kh... Ka..." Genma stuttered.

"What?"

"Kh..." Genma's paralyzed tongue refused to work.

"Just hang on, Genma-san. Don't try to talk right now. I'll get you home."

Hoisting the injured ninja onto his back, Ibiki set off for Konoha at a run, fatigue banished by the surge of adrenalin the emergency produced.

An hour later, when they arrived at Konoha's gates, Genma had begun to recover the power of speech. He only said one word, but he said it over and over. His eyes teared, but from pain or emotion Ibiki couldn't tell.

"Kakashi... Kashi... Kakashi..." Genma half-whispered.

"What about Kakashi, Genma-san?" Ibiki asked, but the injured jounin on his back would say no more.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Ka... kashi..."

Ibiki signaled the gate guards who quickly called for a medic team. The rain was nothing more than heavy mist, and dawn was beginning to color the streaky sky as they loaded Genma onto a stretcher. Terror flashed in Genma's golden brown eyes when his battered body was handled, and he summoned all his strength to reach for Ibiki, but he was too weak to do more than flutter his fingers over the edge of the stretcher.

"What happened, Morino-sama?" one of the medics asked.

"I don't know," he panted, out of breath from having run all the way with Genma on his back. "I found him injured about an hour ago - maybe ten kilometers from here."

In the rising light, Ibiki could see how contused Genma's face was. His left eye was swollen partly shut, bruised black and purple, the sclera blood red, and the left side of his face was badly distorted by what was probably a fractured cheek bone. His lip was split in two places; blood crusted the edges of his nose and mouth.

"Shit, Genma. Someone really did a number on you," Ibiki muttered.

"He looks bad. Was he on a mission that you know of?" the medic asked.

"I have no idea. I brought him straight here when I found him." Ibiki's voice was ominously low; his weariness and concern for his comrade left him with little patience for stupid questions.

"Shiranui-san and Hatake-san left this gate on a mission six days ago, Morino-san," put in one of the chuunin who manned the gate, consulting a log book.

At the mention of his comrade's name, Genma struggled to raise his head, "Ka... ka... shi... Kakashi..." His eyes were glazed, his consciousness uncertain.

"We'll go ahead and get him to the hospital," a second medic addressed Ibiki, "You look a little fatigued yourself, sir. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. I'm coming with him." Ibiki gestured towards the stretcher, his fingers brushing Genma's hand.

"Ih...?" Genma faltered, squinting up at the jounin who had rescued him.

"Yeah, it's me, Ibiki. Hang on, Genma-san."

"Kaka... shi..." Genma grimaced and groaned.

"Dammit, he's in pain! Get moving!" Ibiki ordered. The medics jumped - this was the last man in Konoha they wanted to anger - and set off at a run through the quiet streets of the village.

"Send a runner to get Godaime to meet us at the hospital," Ibiki told the gate guard, then raced after the departing medics.

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Arriving only moments after Genma and the medics, Ibiki was met by a scene of chaos at the hospital. Despite severe injuries and partial paralysis, Genma had managed to put up quite a fight when the medical team tried to transfer him from the stretcher to a bed. Ibiki pushed his way past the throngs when, over the shouts of hospital personnel, he heard Genma cry his name.

"I... bi.. kiiii!" Genma's voice was ragged and shrill.

Ibiki grabbed a tall, slender medic-nin who emerged from the curtained area where Genma's voice could still be heard. He glared down at the woman, backing her up against a wall. "What. The Hell. Are you doing to him?" Ibiki's words were slow and dangerous, sending shivers down the spines of the medical team.

"Go... gomen, Morino-sama, I... I don't know why he's so agitated. We were only trying to move Shiranui-san to a bed..." The doctor in charge of the emergency ward licked her lips nervously.

"I.. Ibi..." Genma's hoarse voice rose again.

"Get out of my way." Ibiki didn't wait for a response; the assembled medical team parted for the imposing man as he approached. Genma lay sprawled across a gurney, held down by four burly looking chuunin. The improvised splint still held his right leg awkwardly stiff, looking crude and out of place in the high tech medical setting. When Ibiki entered his field of vision, the wild look left Genma's eyes, replaced by one of profound relief.

"Get off him." Ibiki glared at the attendants restraining Genma.

"Ano, Morino-sama, he might hurt himself if he keeps thrashing around..."

"He's not gonna do that." Ibiki was a master of reading people, and what he could see in Genma, as clearly as if it were written on his chest, was that he was afraid of the medics. He didn't know why Genma was afraid, but obviously his comrade and rescuer had a calming effect on him.

"OK, Shiranui-san, we're letting go now. Please keep still," the chuunin who had spoken to Ibiki addressed his patient before signaling to his comrades and backing off.

Ibiki checked to be sure Genma was settled on the gurney before pulling a stool up next to him and sitting at his side, facing him. The raw terror that had suffused him had receded, leaving the injured jounin panting and in obvious pain. His hitai-ate had come off in the scuffle, and his long brown hair hung in sweaty hanks and clung to his bruised cheeks and forehead.

"Genma-san, you have to let them help you."

Genma shuddered in reply, but said nothing.

"What happened? You can tell me." Ibiki brushed the hair back from Genma's banged up face, then took one of his comrade's hands. It was an interrogation - a different type than his usual ones, but some of the same techniques applied. Earn the subject's trust, show him that you are a friend and ally, offer him protection. The biggest difference in this case was that all those things were true.

"You were on a mission with Kakashi-san, right?"

The words seemed to be some kind of key, for on hearing the name, Genma sucked in a quivering breath and held it for a moment, before closing his eyes and whispering "Ka... ka... shi..."

"Did something happen to Kakashi?"

Genma groaned and nodded once, face contorted in a grimace.

"Do you know where he is?"

"Ka... ahhh..." Genma's hand in Ibiki's went limp.

"Genma, don't pass out on me. What happened to Kakashi?" Ibiki's voice was as gentle with his comrade as it had been stern with the medics. He leaned in close to Genma's face, his massive body shielding the jounin on the gurney from the sight of the assembled onlookers.

Genma's vision was blurred and tunneling down. He dredged up the last of his strength to focus on Ibiki's face, force the words out over his puffy lips and unresponsive tongue: "Kashi's... dead." His voice was raw and hollow. He closed tear-filled eyes, spilling wet trails down his swollen cheeks, and his face fell slack; his head hung limply unconscious against the pillow.

"What in the seven hells is going on here, a circus?" Tsunade's voice cut across the room. "Ibiki, fill me in, what is..." She stopped when she caught sight of Genma.

"Dammit, why didn't anyone tell me sooner?" she demanded. "Move." This last she directed at Ibiki, but he was already getting out of the healer hokage's way.

"Who put this piece-of-shit splint on him? And why hasn't anyone set up an IV? Shizune!" Tsunade directed her demands at no-one in particular, at the same time carefully examining her unconscious patient.

"Shizune-san's not here yet, Tsunade-sama," one of the nearby medical-nins replied.

"Well don't just stand there gawking. Make yourself useful! Get me a saline set-up and an internal-injuries kit."

"Mo... Morino-sama, you really do look tired, are you sure you don't want to sit down?" a young medic nin with bobbed pink hair addressed Ibiki, who was leaning against the wall watching Tsunade and an assistant tend to Genma.

"Don't take him too far away, Sakura, I still need to talk to him." Tsunade cut in. "In fact, I'm gonna need your help with Shiranui here, too.

"Ibiki," Tsunade raised her head to look at the tall jounin, "Shit, you really do look like hell. I can tell your chakra's low from here. Were you in this fight?"

"No," Ibiki replied, "I'm just tired. I had a... trying mission... and I just ran for an hour with him on my back."

"Well drink some water. Someone get him some water. And sit down. I don't need you passing out. Sakura, make him sit on that bed there."

Sakura swallowed and looked up at the forbiddingly scarred face of the man who had been the proctor at her first chuunin exam. 'He does look exhausted,' she thought, 'but the very idea that I could ever make Morino Ibiki do anything is beyond absurd.' Fortunately the torture specialist seemed willing to comply with the hokage's instructions without Sakura's intervention. He sat on the neighboring bed, never removing his eyes from Genma and Tsunade.

Tsunade leaned over Genma. He lay naked now, tubes snaking into his body, tan skin covered with bloodied purple blotches where his assailant's blows had landed. With clothes and splint removed, under the harsh lights of the emergency ward, the mess of blood, flesh and bone of his shattered leg turned even Ibiki's stomach. But it was the senbon marks on Genma's neck that drew the hokage's attention.

"Ibiki, did you see the needles they used?" Her voice was suddenly quiet.

"No. I found him like this. And I put the piece-of-shit splint on. It was the best I could do in the field."

"It's fine. Did he... say... anything?" Tsunade seemed suddenly uncharacteristically restrained. "No wait, don't answer that. You," Tsunade turned to Sakura, "take Genma to surgery prep, I'll meet you." She rose and crossed to Ibiki, pulling a curtain around them, cutting off the noise and sights of the rest of the room.

"There's a sound jutsu on this, so we can talk without being overheard. Now," she looked at Ibiki, "did he say anything?"

"Just one thing. He was having a hard time talking but he kept saying Kakashi's name," Ibiki replied, "Gate guard said they had been on a mission together."

"Yeah," Tsunade prompted, "I know all about the mission."

"He said," Ibiki continued, "That Kakashi is dead. But I'm not sure... He was really out of it, and there was no sign of anyone else where I found Genma. He didn't have Kakashi's dogtags or hitai-ate."

Tsunade put her fingertips to her brow, shielding her eyes. "This is bad, Ibiki... it's bad... I'm afraid..."

Before she could finish another medic tore open the curtain. "Tsunade-sama, please come. Sakura-san needs your help. The patient's seizing."

"Shit!" Tsunade hurried after her summoner.

Ibiki stared at her retreating back. "Shit," he echoed. "Shit."

END chapter 3

Japanese Phrases

Gomen - Sorry

senbon - needle that can be used for healing like an acupuncture needle or as a weapon, depending on size and where it is placed.

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Author's Notes

Back to this story at long last. I guess I'll just have to bounce between this and "It's Nothing" until one or the other is finished. There's still a lot of this story left to tell.

Special thanks to Isolde1, hikaruxyuki and L-lamb for research and support.

As always, reviews highly appreciated.