Tag-Team Part 7

Five days later

(-)

Minato started from a light doze as the barrier disintegrated at his back and nearly dropped him against the wall. Dressed as Lightning, Minato stepped into the building as Kushina appeared at his shoulder.

"Tell him," Shikaku ordered the prisoner.

"Did you not hear me the first time, you tree-hugging bastard?" He responded scathingly.

"You are Oshiro Taro," Minato responded coldly. "Your mother was Oshiro Tomiko, an Amegakure prostitute, died when you were six, cause unknown. Your father 's name is unknown. Judging from physical traits, he was most likely from Kumogakure or the surrounding villages. If anyone's a bastard it's you. Just because I have no village, doesn't mean I don't have a sense of loyalty. You're not the first traitor I've dealt with."

"Are you going to lecture me about what way is up next?"

"If there is information I need to hear, I'll hear it from you."

"Get your information elsewhere, you murderous, scheming, pathetic, leaf!"

Inoichi stepped behind him and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. " I suppose you thought it was bad that I invaded your mind. How did you feel? Exposed? Violated? Well, there's this new jutsu I'm developing and it will bring more than one person into another's mind. Between us, I'm certain we have enough chakra to go through each and every memory."

Minato barely retained his composure at the thought of invading another's privacy in that way, but Kushina vanished out the door, without anyone but Minato even noticing her appearance.

The prisoner blanched.

"Since I have not quite finished the jutsu yet, it might kill you or leave you a blithering idiot. That won't be a problem though, considering our orders are to kill you rather than interrogate you and bring you back for trial as we were intending to do."

If possible, the prisoner's face whitened further. "You're just kids," he hissed.

Choza snorted trying to hold back a laugh. "You spend days practically enjoying torture only to grow a conscience now and be appalled by the fact we're children."

"We're not children, we're shinobi," Shikaku added, somehow sounding bored and amused at the same time. "Now speak."

"Kumo heard a rumor about two clan children who exhibit promising potential. They plan to kidnap them for personal utilization and to strengthen the native bloodlines."

"Why does this matter to me?" Minato demanded, crossing his arms underneath his cloak.

"I used to be a part of Konoha too, Namikaze. Or are you the Uzumaki? You might be fooling everyone else, but you haven't fooled me. Lightning is from Konoha. Kumo wants Lightning. I told them how to get what they want!"

Minato pressed his little finger against the man's forehead, instantly knocking him out.

"Are you okay?" Choza asked, pulling the blond outside and closing the door behind him.

The Jonin sat down beside Kushina. "Kumo is targeting us."

"I heard," she responded.

"What are we going to do? Peacetime procedure states we have to be taken off all active missions for training in resisting interrogation and escape tactics."

"We could start a war," Kushina joked. "What's wartime procedure?"

"We would be used as bait and possibly a bargaining chip to end said war."

"That would be worse."

"Aren't the two of you on Kusa's hit list?" Shikaku asked as they all sat down in a circle.

"Kill-on-sight orders not capture, nor are they actively targeting us." Kushina explained. "We played the system to be promoted to Jonin because we needed the clearance for some information. Jiji wasn't happy, especially because Kusa issued kill-on-sight orders afterwards."

"Did you get the rest of the information we needed on what information was shared?" Minato asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Shikaku held up a scroll. "None of it is above my clearance or overly destructive, but there are plenty of leaks to be repaired."

"Then let's head back to Konoha. The three of you are in the lead, Kushina and I will shadow."

Five minutes later, they began the fast run back towards Konoha.