THE CLAIRVOYANT
For all their cold gazes and scarred faces, Konoha's torture and interrogation department took no pleasure in the more… distasteful elements of their work. Torturing enemy shinobi had never been a problem for them, they didn't take any great pleasure in it, but it didn't haunt their nightmares either.
But this… this was what would haunt Inoichi's nightmares. A young blonde boy sat in the interrogation room today, slumped under his chains and shackles. A normal child wouldn't have been a problem, Inoichi could just grab what he wanted out of his mind and carefully avoid damage.
'But the fox, he may prevent me from entering the boy's mind'. Inoichi winced again at the thought of what Ibiki might have to do to the child. Danzo would be certain to press for the boy's loyalties, he would want every little detail about why the boy was in Kumo. Even if he could enter Naruto's mind, spending that long inside could be horribly damaging to the boy's brain function.
Inoichi didn't remember much about the boy, if he was being honest. His few interactions with the boy, however small, still inspired regret in him to this day. He could never quite rid his mind of the foolish notion that Naruto was the fox, and so he continued to heap his anger onto the boy until the morning after the Uchiha Massacre, when he was declared dead.
Panic had ruled Konoha that day, every ninja and civilian worth their salt was lined up outside the Hokage's office begging for answers. For all their anger and abuse of Naruto, no one in the village had considered the consequences of the alternative. The Hokage had made a speech that day, full of anger and grief, lashing out at the citizens of Konoha for their behavior towards both the Uchiha and to Naruto. Inoichi knew the accusations weren't all fair, but he and everyone else felt ashamed regardless.
After all, despite the Hokage's bluster Inoichi knew he blamed himself at heart, both for the massacre and for Naruto's overall treatment by the people. He had never quite recovered from Naruto's "death" and had become increasingly withdrawn from village matters.
'And now, everything's turned on its ugly fucking head'. Inoichi sighed in exhaustion, sometimes life had more twists than one of Ino's favorite soap operas.
The heavy metal door creaked open slowly, revealing the Hokage along with Danzo and Kakashi Hatake. Peeking out from beside Hatake were two academy graduates, Haruno Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha.
Inoichi raised an eyebrow at the students, and then pointed his gaze towards Kakashi. As always, the lazy Jounin just shrugged and leaned against the doorway.
"Have you… Has anything been done to Naruto yet, Inoichi?" The Hokage's voice was choked up, he seemed almost afraid of the answer. It was the most vulnerable he had seen Sarutobi since the speech he gave after the Uchiha Massacre.
"No, but he still has injuries from his apprehension. The medics made sure he lived, but Ibiki would have to…"
The Hokage let out a snarl and glared at Inoichi. "Ibiki won't be doing anything to that boy while I still breathe, Inoichi. We are going to attempt contact first, and then… and only then… will we consider alternate approaches. Am I understood?"
Inoichi felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead, the Hokage's killing intent was certainly befitting of his reputation. Giving a quick nod in affirmation to the Hokage, he turned back to the interrogation room and walked in, closing the door behind him.
Naruto sat across the room, still slumped over and unconscious. With a heavy sigh, Inoichi walked over and used a mind disturbance jutsu to jolt Naruto back into consciousness. Surprisingly, Naruto didn't lash out against the chains, the blonde boy just looked up and slowly opened his eyes.
Inoichi did his best to look intimidating, but guessed he was failing due to the boy's lack of reaction. Inoichi went to the other side of the room, which was divided by a large stainless steel table, and sat in his chair.
Naruto looked around the room, slowly reacclimating to his new surroundings. After a few minutes of studying the room, Naruto looked back to Inoichi with a light smirk on his face.
"You need a new interior designer, my shitty old apartment had a better color scheme than this. Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Naruto's voice was low and gravelly, but his tone lacked the bite of hatred, he struck Inoichi as rather amused by his present circumstances.
Naruto let his statement marinate for a few seconds, before his eyes widened a little. "Hey! If this is torture and interrogation, and you're here to read my mind, then you must be Ino's dad!"
Inoichi smiled at that, deciding to start off with some light conversation.
"Correct. I'm impressed you remember my daughter, it must have been… 6 years give or take since you could've seen her".
Naruto shrugged, lifting his chained arm to scratch his neck sheepishly. "I don't remember that much, but you've got blonde hair, you read minds and you look old enough to fit the bill. It wasn't too difficult to come to that conclusion".
Inoichi raised an eyebrow in mock annoyance. "I look old enough to fit the bill? Whatever is that supposed to mean."
Naruto gave a nervous chuckle, but he didn't seem bothered by Inoichi's fake annoyance.
"It's not like I know a ton of people who can read minds, I just made a wild guess" Naruto's excuse wasn't very convincing, but Inoichi wasn't really offended in the first place.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, to convey the shift in mood, Inoichi continued his interrogation.
"So, how is Kumo this time of year". Naruto leaned back in his chair at that, smirk still present on his features. After letting the silence marinate for a while, Naruto straightened and began to speak.
"Real cloudy, yeah? Last time I was there, I heard it was going to rain for a few weeks straight. I'm not a huge fan of the rain to be honest, it's my least favorite part about the place". After putting on a thoughtful glance, Naruto's expression shifted to a feral grin.
"Tell Jiji I appreciate the free transportation, just tell him I could go without getting jumped in the middle of the night. Hell, maybe he could've just… I don't know, asked?" Naruto's grin continued to widen as he waited for Inoichi to retort.
"Would you have come? If he had asked, I mean. The ninja involved in your… free transportation could not have been sure of your loyalty, and chose to not take the risk of exposing themselves prematurely".
Naruto's grin mellowed out, and the thoughtful look reappeared, this time feeling more genuine.
"I don't know what Jiji has planned for me, and I doubt the ninja you sent after me do either. I can't say with complete certainty what I would have done if I was just told to return to the village." Naruto gave another one of his shrugs, before leaning back in his chair again.
'Danzo won't like that, this could be bad'. Inoichi knew how the shady councilman could be when someone's loyalty was in doubt, Danzo's paranoia was practically a running joke between him and Choza whenever the subject of Danzo was brought up at dinner.
For all I know, the council just wanted me to be executed here, to avoid any complications with the Kyu-" Naruto's eyes widened in panic, before turning his gaze to the tinted glass.
Pressing his advantage, Inoichi began to ask questions. "Complications with what?"
Naruto's face turned to stone as he looked back at Inoichi. "Complications with nothing."
"You know about the fox. Who told you?" Naruto just sat in silence, staring him down with fervor.
Inoichi stood up, pushing his chair in slowly and dragging his arm across the table as he walked towards the restrained jinchuriki.
"I guess I'll just have to… escalate things". Inoichi made a series of hand signs, and let out a final sigh of resignation before plunging into Naruto's mind.
Mindscape
Inoichi woke up in a dark room, filled with black square platforms of incredible size. They seemed to extend endlessly into the void, the blackness swallowing even the tallest square platforms.
Looking behind him, he saw an image of a younger Naruto, much closer to the one he remembered, and a figure with a black cloak and an orange mask.
'The one the Uchiha boy saw!' Inoichi paid rapt attention to the silent figure, remembering how the Uchiha boy had recounted the events of the massacre to him all those years ago.
The man in the orange mask knelt down to Naruto, pushing his chin up until the young boy was staring into his mask. With a dry laugh, the figure let go of the boy's chin, letting him crumple to the ground.
"It would be a waste to kill you now. You remind me so very much of… a man I used to know". Years of experience in T&I made Inoichi realize that the emotion in the masked man's voice was genuine, true regret and longing was palpable in the man's tone.
"What do you want-" Naruto coughed up some blood "What do you want from me!"
"Killing you would be a waste of talent and power, boy. I will train you for 3 years, and we will fight at the end. If I find you satisfactory, I will let you live".
Inoichi could see Naruto's utter confusion pierce through the fear that seemed ever-present on his face. "Why don't you just kill me?" he said defiantly.
The man stood up, pointing a gloved finger towards Naruto. "The first rule of being a successful ninja, a ninja never wastes an opportunity".
Suddenly, Inoichi felt like he was falling into the void, and the image of Naruto and the man had disappeared from view.
Despite how long he had fallen, he didn't feel any different when he landed in the dirty puddle. Above him, he saw filthy sewer pipes, dripping muddy water into the puddle of filth below. Inoichi pushed himself up, walking through the sewer until he approached a gargantuan set of iron bars. Inside was only darkness, nothing could be seen
'I'm not in the same section of his mind anymore. Something is off'. Inoichi swore he could hear heavy breathing echoing through the sewer.
As Inoichi made the hand seals necessary to leave Naruto's mind, he saw two hauntingly familiar red eyes peeking through the darkness.
