Chapter 30
Satisfied with all the signs that Kakashi's technique was solid, Ibiki called a slight delay to the proceedings. He tied off the edges of the sheet before motioning to Hide for the rest of his equipment. Tsunade and Inoichi chose to move away, to give the pair more room to fasten the individual bindings on both pairs of wrists and ankles.
"I know that I didn't hear you didn't tell Hatake he'd be restrained, too," his Hokage mused, still working to rev up her enthusiasm for the early session.
"No need to cause trouble. He'll only know after the fact, or during if they become necessary precautions. If they start moving around too much we'd have to stop and address it. Better if we just don't have to worry about it."
Tsunade observed and wondered if their odd spooning arrangement was bothering the torture specialist on some deeper level. To her, it just kind of looked uncomfortable for Kakashi to have that person's limp body weight resting on him for an extended period of time.
Inoichi shut the door and allowed himself an extensive stretch, shaking out his hands, getting prepared mentally for a long, hard haul. Even was a tough customer. The three of them would have their hands full.
"Hide will stay and be our assistant today," Ibiki said, directing their attention to the busy man. Taller than the last, he still wore goggles, a surgeon's mask, and even sported the same ample mane of white hair.
Tsunade wondered if the assistants might be related, but then it dawned on her that in Ibiki's shop, the vague, interchangeable nature of their appearance was likely effected as a well-thought-out element of interrogation room dynamic. Fooling someone into thinking they were always attended to by the same man might have its purpose; especially where interrogation sessions could go on for days on end.
Hide nodded to acknowledge the introduction and turned back to the counter, setting up a tray with water, a pair of hypodermic needles, and a pair of small bottles filled with clear liquid.
Tsunade stepped up to inspect. The medication was all laid out as she had requested. Hide was preparing the tray further with antiseptic wipes and a handful of absorbent cotton.
Satisfied, she returned to position her stool to the right of Iruka's shoulder. Ibiki sat across from her; Inoichi took his place at Iruka's head, shifting both subjects slightly sideways in opposite directions and stuffing a rolled towel underneath so he could get Iruka's head completely clear of Kakashi's face. He used more fresh white towels to pad their heads against any sudden motion. If there was serious thrashing, they might both be hurt. They would probably be too warm in this configuration, despite the chill of the room, but it would just have to be good enough.
"Lower their heads just a bit. There." Satisfied, Inoichi held up both hands to signal his readiness.
Tsunade nodded to each man to verify that they were all prepared to begin, and refreshed their understanding of the game plan.
"As we discussed. You will go straight in and engage Even directly; start distracting him immediately. Ibiki, you go deep and hard before he can block you, and confirm the layout of the seals and virtual tags. I'll begin draining his chakra. Stay in touch through the mind link. We'll limit what we reveal to Iruka and Kakashi; other than deliberate communication, I plan to curtain off our activity from them so we don't raise their anxiety levels unnecessarily. If any part of the plan fails, use your judgment. It might be best to bail out all at once if that happens. We can always try again."
"Right," Ibiki nodded, hands up as well. "And Hide, you touch in through Yamanaka's link with any information we might need from what you're observing physically. Monitor Kakashi's levels and alert us immediately if his immersion begins to fail. We may need you to help us abort in an orderly manner if that happens."
"Understood," rumbled Hide's surprisingly deep baritone.
"I shall start now," Inoichi said with a somber tone. Iruka's future weighed heavily in his hands. Steeped in the seriousness of his responsibility, his fingertips found the handsomely restored face of his subject, and resting lightly over the closed eyes, they allowed him to ply his unusual craft.
xxxxxxx
Burning with outrage, Even coiled in wait, impatient and ready to strike. They spoke as if he could not hear them. They were fools, morons, talentless pieces of shit. No wonder Lord Danzou, in all his glory, did not regard them as sinful to eliminate. No wonder they hated his Lordship; no doubt they felt shamed by the shadow of one so perfect. They would open the door to trespass in his world, and he would rip them aside, retake this body, and kill them all. Then he'd kill more, many more, as many as it took until no one dare oppose the overthrow of the entire Leaf council to place his Rightful Lord as Hokage, where he truly belonged.
Trapped in darkness with nothing to stimulate him but his master's pulsing seals of loyalty, that untempered poisonous bond was effectively drowning his idle mind with pro-Danzou propaganda and murderous intent.
Inoichi's first tentative venture into Even's territory stopped when it hit the white-hot wall of boiling rage; he aborted immediately and halted the others. His effort would have to start on a different footing; the initial phase of engaging Even would have to concentrate on suppressing his attacks. It was still a distraction, of sorts, but called for a very different tactic, and some assistance before the others could go forth to their individual tasks.
Regrouped and ready, Ibiki led the invasion this time, shocking Even's world with a blast of freezing chakra set to the jam the frequency Danzou's seals relied upon; although temporary at best, this preemptive lack of direct attack was an effective countermeasure. Even would have risen to battle head-on; but suddenly losing steam caused him to collapse back, robbed of momentum and power.
Danzou had inadvertently provided the path that weakened his own man. The sudden removal of his ominous pressure resulted in a stunned, confused, and slightly vulnerable Even. When Inoichi reached out to him, he was not entirely on the defensive, openly distraught while searching for his dropped connection. It made simple communication possible, and Inoichi proceeded to occupy his opponent's mind with questions that required attention and provoked serious thought.
Ibiki, satisfied that he'd smacked down that first force of resistance, moved on to his original assignment. He hit and ran hard, giving his team short, rapid-fire bursts of information, finding and relaying the seals and neutralizing all of the tags until he felt he had them all accounted for. Tsunade's chakra drain was growing more detectable as well.
Even was starting to recover from the shock a bit, getting belligerent and suspicious. He finally remembered and realizing Tsunade's intent, found his anger once more, working hard at building up a barrier to throw at her.
Ibiki disabled another trap, alerting Even to his presence as well, sending him into a paranoid fit of outrage.
Through it all, Inoichi kept at him, trying to penetrate with his dialogue, to reassure him that they were trying to release him from his bonds, not destroy him.
Little of the Root propaganda was of a nature to fade, and predisposed to it already, Even clung to his fierce loyalty and resentment. While he knew from their careless conversation what the general plan was, it did not mean that he had the capability to block each and every action. Despite awareness that his own stability was diminishing, he held to the conviction that the thuggish invaders were not aware of all of his defenses, and took comfort in his certainty that he would trump them at the end of the day, sure to win the war without regard to the battles.
But the battles drew him in passionately nevertheless.
We will return you to your life and your free will. Danzou has surrendered you from Root. You are fighting for a position that is no longer available to you.
Inoichi's words set off a firestorm of reaction.
You lie, you lie, you lie! Danzou would not abandon me. I am his ultimate warrior. He has shown me his deep and intimate desire for my service – mine, and no one else's! He is a Lord and a man of his word. You people are no better than the enemy. Lord Danzou has decreed it. All are expendable in his namesake. He who has created me is the only one I shall obey!
Inoichi repositioned his thoughts, feeling encouraged. Even was revealing more than he should, declaring his intent to kill comrades in Danzou's defense. His muting seal should have prevented it. Perhaps the seal could not control purely mental outbursts if the person was raving out of control, not properly aware of what they were communicating. If this were the physical act of speech, he never would have been able to get half of that out without choking from the tongue seal.
He pushed again. They were playing this by ear, not knowing whether the best way to get to the truth was to time Iruka's restoration during or after Even's dismantling.
Danzou's plans are all foolishness. They make no sense. Were they even something that you could understand? Could you explain them if you tried? Of course not!
Lord Danzou's purpose is my purpose. Your ignorance is astounding. It isn't a matter of understanding anything.
Danzou has no similar regard for you. Dragging you into his mess with the Uzingan. And now he has abandoned you to our custody. He does not care if you're tortured, or imprisoned, or found guilty of treason and executed!
You're confused, aren't you? It was Morino that threw me to the Uzingan user and let him control me to the point of desertion, then left me to die in the hands of that mass murderer. How inconvenient for you all that he only mutilated me beyond recognition. Jeninki meant it as a favor, to show me first-hand the loathing you all felt for me, so that I could see the truth. Did you know that? He was insane, but he had great regard and affection for me. Unlike you lot. I hate you all. I have only my Lord to trust and rely upon now. The rest of you are all traitors to us.
Inoichi had to decide whether to turn the conversation, or stick with this vein, because Even clearly had a lot to express when he got going.
Ibiki sent word of his success in removing another booby trap. Inoichi felt that the entire team must be working flawlessly; it did not appear that Even was aware of his activity now.
Keep him distracted, Yamanaka decided. It was too soon to expect to trick secrets out of him. Things seemed calm on Kakashi's side; so they weren't in a rush. The more time he could give Ibiki to clean house, and for Tsunade to get control of his chakra, the better off they'd be.
Your precious Lord Danzou, huh? We never gave you a perform-or-die mission. We never asked you to subvert the law. You were injured in a mission, so what? It happens every day. Are you so special?
Lord Danzou has given me position and honor.
Inoichi flinched; it was the standard Root answer-that-was-not-an-answer. Was it triggered by the question, or did Ibiki hit a nerve somewhere and put him on alert?
Danzou's honor? Is there such a thing?
Master Danzou is a noble supporter of the village and he is a revered elder in the house of commissioners.
Inoichi cursed his luck and checked on the new disturbance. It appeared that it was Ibiki's digging that tripped his muting seal. He'd have to backtrack and try to find a way around it again.
Tsunade was draining chakra away faster now, and it had finally prompted an attempt to counter her efforts. Even was trying to gather chakra back into his center, away from her, to concentrate it for what would likely be a defensive move. Inoichi wasn't sure if they had neutralized his mental abilities thoroughly enough to prevent him from making trouble for them other than self-destruction.
It's ready. He can't do anything to us at this point. Tsunade chimed in to their communication channel. But he's still got plenty of ways to damage himself if we lose control of him. I'm going to transfer another span of memory to Iruka to see how it goes. Stay alert.
xxxxx
It's all right. I'm anxious to get this over with, Iruka responded to Tsunade's warning that his memory was about to be advanced again. He fought his fear as best he could; he had no choice but to bear it, it wasn't like he had any choice in the matter. But he never heard a response to his worry that it would go beyond his ability to tolerate, mountains of support or not. They did not show any sign of willingness to stop if he could not go on. Instead of addressing his active thoughts, he detected Kakashi's concentration dialing up to an insane level. What the hell were they expecting?
It was Tsunade that tried to prepare him.
You went through rigorous training with Danzou. I am quite sure there were some exceedingly unpleasant experiences. Focus on the fact that these are only memories and that you came through this period in fine shape. It's okay to call out and describe how you're feeling or what's happening. We'll keep asking, so that you have a way to vent when it gets difficult. Now hold on to Kakashi's support and don't let go.
Kakashi! Can you tell what else she's planning? Or what the others are thinking?This doesn't feel right!
Easy now, don't panic. No, I can't see into their minds, it's not like that. They send messages to me the same way they do to you. They aren't under my jutsu.
Iruka trembled and tried to express just how ominous her seemingly encouraging communication felt, but the promised advance had already started, and his mind was overcome with the blinding force of its approach.
Hide moved quickly to readjust the restraints on the struggling subject. It was vital to keep him positioned under the hands of his interrogators. He would not lose contact with Kakashi, but being on an uneven surface made it harder to keep him immobile for the team.
He tapped in and advised them through the telepath.
Give him the first injection, quickly, Tsunade responded. In the neck.
I'm infiltrating the memory stream at the reception point and I'll rebroadcast, Inoichi advised. I'll jump back to Even again when you give me the word.
The memories were new to all of them. Iruka experienced their return as a shocking ordeal, reacting not as he had in the past, but as his current, emotional, crippled self.
Defenseless, the torturous tactics sent him into a fight for his life, escape the only solution his mind had to offer. Inoichi rode the whitewater return flow of experiences along with him in breathless awe, the inner pressure approaching Iruka's limits.
He's screaming numbers, Hide reported to the team, having to use his hands now to supplement the straps and bindings. There are welts raising on his visible skin everywhere. I have asked for more assistance. The injection has not decreased his movement.
The disruption just kicked me out, Inoichi chimed in. We'll have to rely on them now. I'll go concentrate on the other side.
Kakashi, can you see what he's seeing? Or is it sealed? Tsunade asked, attention divided, pulling against Even's attempt to gather an executable amount of chakra.
I'm seeing it.
What is...
Not now.
Ibiki's frustration rose. Kakashi better damned well report everything he'd seen. It distracted him for a moment, and it delayed the realization that an extension of the chakra Tsunade was fighting was trying to come in contact with the seal he was currently trying to decipher.
No! Those are Lord Danzou's private gifts to me! Give them back! That filthy swine has no appreciation for the rites of a proper soldier! I'll stop him myself!
Ibiki made sure Even's attempt fell short, coordinating with Tsunade to slam him aside and disarm the futile attempt at self-destruction.
Good work. Wait and don't bait him right now. Let Inoichi try to get him to communicate again. I'll go back to draining his chakra. We need to wait for Iruka to stabilize.
Kakashi held on, buffeted by the agony and terror, finding that supporting someone in excruciating pain was much harder than experiencing it first-hand. The degradation, the brainwashing, the abuse and use of phobias – it was unforgivable to put Iruka through the compressed experience of this now, in his vulnerability, just to get insights into training they already knew about for the most part. This was not the information that was so vital to the safety of the village that they were willing to sacrifice a life for it.
Iruka was coming apart at the seams, unable to cope and unable to escape, sentient thoughts bursting like balloons full of blood, flinging fire ants and wasps and scorpions into the air like living fireworks to rain down again, washing their inner world in burning acid.
Kakashi countered as best he could, injecting raw energy into a wrap of sorts, trying to get some kind of barrier up to separate the present from the rampage of horror. Without perspective Iruka could find no relief. There was no way to kamui away mental energy. Tsunade was in control here, and she did not reverse her action.
Now two goggled assistants were hovering, trying to assess the situation.
He is now bleeding from both ears and the muscles are all contracting in his lower body. He is nearing a convulsive state.
Ice him down. Now! Tsunade ordered.
Hide pulled the chill blanket from the cadaver vault and spread it over Iruka carefully. The reaction was not what he expected.
All major muscle movement has suddenly stopped. He is breathing heavily, but not longer making sounds.
Perfect. Continue to monitor and report in.
Her medication responded to the drop in body temperature, allowing her to pick the precise moment to halt his immersion in the new batch of memories.
xxx
Iruka! Think! You're safe, I'm with you. You were alone with Danzou when you were training and if this was really happening, I wouldn't be here with you!
Their connection was slipping severely; there had to be some measure of reason and cohesive thought to maintain it. He scoured the blood-red fog for better handle. If he didn't firm up their connection soon, the technique would release, and there was no guarantee it could be restored.
A sudden chill passed over and through him; the fog disappeared with it, clearing a path of frozen silence. With the interference gone, he reached back into Iruka's mind and found no resistance when he restored his full and complete connection; only a numb, reeling sense of injury, and an artificially applied suppression everywhere else.
He knew she might have to resort to the drugs at some point. But this level of dampening would dull Iruka's awareness, as well as Even's, and Even would have more tenacity to fight it.
He'd have to provide more energy to offset the difference. The draw on his chakra from the eye technique was starting to show; he'd have to be careful to conserve his strength for the final stages.
The war has begun, Kakashi. Stay alert. We've reached the stage where the memories are locked with Danzou's seals. The seals are tough but not impossible. As soon as the last one is ready, I will remove all the barriers and depressurize his chakra. Inoichi will stay on to assist, but for the most part, it will be left to you to hold him together, and Ibiki to destroy the final traps.
Ibiki moved more easily now; the drug made Even slower and less powerful, and he spent less energy on defending and more on disarming.
When he had that final seal loosened, he called out to the team that he was ready. Removing this would disarm the last, albeit deadliest, trap; it would cause the visible seal on Iruka's tongue to disappear as well. They would have the free access they needed to all that Iruka and Even had witnessed without the risk of brain death. Tsunade had the chakra sapped and waiting. As soon he gave the signal, she would move to crush her barrier and release what was left of Even while destroying the last of his unique chakra, as close as possible to the same moment in time that he eliminated the last remaining virtual tag and seal.
It would fall to Kakashi and Inoichi to support Iruka and deal with the impacts while Even and the balance of his memories merged back in. If Even still managed to dominate, so be it; but with the return of his weaker side hampering that steely will, and lacking Danzou's controls, he would emerge as a suitable subject for traditional forced debriefing.
Ibiki held firm, poised, waiting for Tsunade's confirmation.
You bastards, this will never work! I am resolute. Remove that seal, and I will surely end this, and as many of you as I can take with me! Commit your foul treason and everyone here will know the power of the righteous wrath that is my Honorable Lord!
Inoichi found his best tactic was not to interrupt, but to let Even vent until he came to a pause. Only then would he listen, to what small measure he was still capable of. As he became more and more aware of the situation, his distress and rage grew in correlation, but the net effect of this stress was to further sap the power and the energy necessary to perpetuate his separate self.
Any further attempt at placating him would not have much hope of being effective. Inoichi dug into his role, careful to distract him and watch him for any unexpected developments, and allow the situation to goad him into burning out his abilities.
We're just here to help you, Even-san, to help you recover from the unfortunate state you're in. If you will just stop fighting and try to relax, just for a moment, so that we can better communicate, you would see.
But Even understood the possibilities when he sensed the increase in the intensity of Ibiki's concentration. They seemed to think that he couldn't tell what Ibiki was preparing to do. Did they think Root shinobi had no skills in tactical defense, no ability to interpret and respond when attacked?
The idiots weren't as good at sensing his intentions as they thought they were. Despite the fact he'd been screaming them, raging, swearing to them in all honesty that he would bring the curtain down on their filthy, inept attempt to break Danzou's bond, they persisted. He was not afraid, not like that pathetic parasitic insect they were so invested in saving. This was a strong, righteous, fulfilling anger that made his decisions for him, and following those decisions made him deliriously happy and hungry for more. He couldn't deny how those forbidden feelings made him giddy and drunk with their nectar, irrespective of the dire circumstances.
Ibiki poised ready to disable and tear away the sealing tag with Danzou's bond. To Even, the performance of that act was a treason punishable by death ten times over.
You'd better get out if you know what's good for you! he raged, not really sure why he would let them have one last chance to find their senses. Once I lose patience, I'll make it so that you can never leave.
Inoichi worried about these delusional ideas more than he did about the anger. Iruka's mental health was as good as could be expected under the circumstances; but Even's personality became more warped as time went on. The degree to which his mind was not sound looked to be a problem they had not had a chance to anticipate; it seemed likely that any insanity would become part and parcel of the combined consciousness. The telepath had only vague notions of how they might support Iruka's delicate sanity against the merger, even if the structural event itself turned out to be more or less benign.
We can come and go at will. Please don't waste everyone's time with idle threats. Focus on what I'm trying to communicate to you.
Focus on yourself, traitor! Even shielded his thoughts and feelings as best he could and organized his mental energy for the next move. It shouldn't be difficult; all Danzou's methods were as close to perfect as any could be, and Even had been completely attentive to all of his lessons, including and especially the ones concerning these intimate bonds of trust and loyalty.
Whatever else they might have had up their sleeve, the game was drawing to a close. Touching other peoples' jutsu without permission was a dangerous habit.
It was almost time to break these infidels of it for good.
xxxx
Kakashi brought all of his concentration to bear; the relief from moments ago, when he found their connection again, was too short-lived. His thoughts of encouragement were met with a heavy sense of stunned acknowledgment but there were no thoughts that formed into concepts for sharing yet, nothing like the conversational flow they had enjoyed before. Iruka was significantly beaten down already. They were now finished re-absorbing the torturous training memories, though, and he couldn't imagine that there could be anything left, barring Even's unknown and possibly unholy payload of recent past, that was as great of a threat to his sanity.
He wasn't sure how he was supposed to defend Iruka from himself while facilitating the repossession of the balance of his memories; he could only hope that it would be easy to identify what was core and central to Iruka versus what had fermented artificially into Danzou's willing slave. He'd just have to react on the fly. There was no time for any more planning or brainstorming, and without feedback, no good way to further dig in to Iruka's thoughts to prepare him.
I didn't matter if he thought they were ready or not; Tsunade sent the signal.
Count three then go!
She moved then, without waiting, counting on Ibiki to perform in perfect concert. The penultimate barrier ripped away easily, already weakened and thin. Her next blast of energy aimed straight at the dark chakra she assumed Even had been struggling to gather to take his desperate shot at dominance. Only one more barrier remained, and she meant to take it out in the same smooth move.
Ibiki executed his removal perfectly. As the tag disarmed successfully, both it and the seal disappeared. He expected Even's reaction to be one of outrage, and he planned to stand up to him and push him back initially, to further reduce his strength and slow his invasion into the common space that once divided him. The master interrogator started to withdraw from the site of the seal to concentrate of herding Even, when he shocked to realize that what should have been a clean slate, was not.
Newly exposed, a second combination of tag and seal lay beneath. Even, fully prepared, had taken advantage of his momentary misunderstanding to seize control of it, making good the order of activation as soon as he was clear of the static from the torture specialist's removal of the first.
Ibiki tried to interfere. He threw his technique at it, again, as fast as he could, but it hadn't been loosened and prepared like the first one. It was still fully embedded in his opponent's chakra and as weak as Even was, he'd already used that shortcut to seize full control.
Now...we all...die! Even's thoughts roared, drunk with power in his maniacal self-destructive head rush. Brain dead! Erased! You're all coming with me!
The torture specialist's desperate attempt at disarmament fell flat. The trigger had been pulled and the countdown was swiftly ticking off; the payload was being launched.
Tsunade's final release of the last barrier between Iruka and Even, implemented simultaneously with what she assumed would be the removal of the last fail-safe, instantly became irrelevant. Although she had freed the rest of the memories and all that had been held separate by her jutsu, they could not flow back to Iruka. The seal, still effectively performing the job of guarding Even's Root information and holding him hostage to his oaths, blocked the merge as its pressure soared in the sudden vortex of the tag priming its explosive power, building swiftly for imminent detonation.
He's not bluffing! Tsunade sent out the warning, allowing Ibiki all possible latitude in case he had some other way to try and stop it. Inoichi let the message cascade through him to the team. It's a hidden tag and seal. It can't be stopped, he tripped it and it's going to engage. Everyone evacuate, now!
Tsunade dropped her cloak on the team's presence, giving Kakashi a clear understanding of the danger just before her warning began to ring out to the team. Ibiki was abandoning his last-ditch attempt to disarm; his work failed halfway, barely reducing its payload, leaving most of the destructive potential intact.
The copy-nin was too late to sequester that message now that the team's activities were exposed, failing to spare Iruka the fear and keep him from arguing. His charge was made to witness the heart-stopping truth of the situation. The flood of panic and distress was immediate, much to Kakashi's regret.
He got her meaning, but ignored it. Certainly, he could bail out, per her implied consent to terminate the mission. But Iruka had no such option.
His path was clear and he didn't think twice. He ignored Iruka's attempt to stop him. It was a shame that Iruka, so helpless and blameless, had to be privy to every aspect of this flash assessment and decision, adding so much to his burden of guilt. But he also should have known that nothing, nothing in this world would have changed Kakashi's commitment to action.
He kept to the original mission, to preserve and protect. Those orders removed the painful personal aspect of having to decide between Iruka's gut-wrenching plea and his duty. Iruka, who already felt ashamed at having put Kakashi at risk, did not want any part of a plan that would not at least subject them both to the same peril equally. On top of it all, was his grave fear of being left behind and alone, far greater than his fear of the unknown potential of the tag. In a choice between the both of them going through the same experience, even if it was dangerous and awful, and being the one left alone safe and sound, there was no doubt that Iruka would go to any lengths to stay together.
Kakashi himself was not sure which option was kinder, more humane. But it was easy to see which option fulfilled his duty, and which fell short. And in his heart, as hard as it was to subject his comrade to being abandoned and alone in the midst of disaster, he was relieved that for once, following the rules actually made it easier to justify protecting his precious teammate's life.
If only he had kamui in his arsenal for this, to send the worst of the detonation far away. But his eye was closed, in his body, unavailable here in Iruka's tumultuous consciousness.
I'm sorry, Iruka. I'm going to make sure that you get through this, but you'll need to wait here for me.
He make a sudden slingshot through the mind link, jumping to Even before severing his connection to Iruka completely, using his perspective to decide on the best placement as he landed. By forcing his chakra all through the seal and wrapping around it again and again, he would be able to suppress most of its force of annihilation. The more it took of him, the less it could take of its host, and once detonated, it would be gone.
Not the suppression method he would have chosen given more latitude, but in this situation, it was the only way to try and mitigate the damage. He barely made it in time; the activation was fully engaged with only seconds to go before the release. Never had he felt such tremendous destructive force at this close of a range. He kept spinning and erecting more and more chakra net to dam the destructive energy, intent on persisting until the impact stopped him. It did not seem likely that his improvised diversion barriers would be completely effective, but to do nothing was to sentence Iruka to suffer the full impact, resulting in total mission fail, and risk the complete loss of the person he had sworn to protect on his life.
Inoichi saw it all clearly, backing away to exit at the very last moment. Kakashi was throwing himself on the grenade. They were done now, all right; whatever they had touched off was unstoppable until it spent itself by executing its assigned task.
xxx
In the glaring light of the interrogation room, Tsunade blinked hard to get her eyes to focus and searched the faces around her; they had all bailed out successfully as well.
"How long? Will we see it?" she demanded.
"It's already started," Ibiki said quietly. "This sort of hazard runs the full course very quickly. Fifteen seconds plus, usually up to a minute, no more. We should wait the full minute before anyone reinstates; I'll go first and if there aren't any tertiary measures I'll give the all clear."
"Damn that Danzou!" she cursed. The quiet in the room defied the destructive end to their mission. Like a defeat at cards or chess, there was no damage to the environment. Only the human players experienced the loss, with their varying degrees of verbal and non-verbal reaction.
It dawned on her that both men in the chair were still submerged, reacting to unknown stimuli.
"Wait! Kakashi didn't make the jump?"
"He jumped, but not out," Inoichi said, surprised at how unprepared he was for things to fall apart so badly. "You didn't see it?"
"Explain!" Ibiki barked.
"Kakashi detached from Iruka and moved to Even."
"He thinks he has some trick to disarm it?" Tsunade asked, incredulous. But it was possible; this was Kakashi, after all, who knew all manner of things no on else did.
"No. Not from what I could tell. He was trying to infiltrate further in, to block it."
She cringed at Iruka's twisting body; Kakashi's head was thrown back, and his hands were up and open, no longer in contact with anything. It was clear to her that Inoichi was correct as to what he had done. If he was successful, there was no telling what damage it did to him. If he failed to block it in time, he likely was still damaged, but Iruka would be without a doubt beyond salvation.
"Never," Ibiki said. "Never have I seen perfectly stacked tag-and-seal sets. I checked very carefully when I loosened the first one, I knew this kind of thing might be his style, but you couldn't detect it. And it still had a live link. Unbelievable."
"The link was live. So Danzou knows it was set off?"
"Most likely. But that wasn't the primary purpose of the active link. It also has the coding of a dead man's switch."
Tsunade's anger rose even higher. Did he have similar seals and tags hidden under all of his former Root agents' muting seals? If the old bastard died, would every last one of them have their lives terminated as well?
"I will be calling him to account for this. Is it time?" she asked.
"Stand by." Ibiki bowed his head and closed his eyes. Kakashi's arm brushed him as it fell limp to end of limit of the restraint.
"Remember the layout has changed. We'll need to lay hands on both of them now," Inoichi piped in, addressing Ibiki and Tsunade's oversight.
The torture specialist complied, nodding in appreciation of Inoichi's correction as he then intruded slowly, cautiously. A normal mind would be instantly aware of his presence, and find itself unavoidably drawn to confront him and make sense of the intrusion.
But it was more like entering the unoccupied end of a large room, and he concentrated on analyzing the signs of life in the near distance. There was only one field of Umino consciousness now, littered with Iruka and Even's scrambled egos. Ibiki could not find enough of either awareness strung together well enough to pick a winning side, a huge change from the segregation before. Clearly there were no barriers left between Even and Iruka, but nothing had resolved in the way of a merger. There was no distinguishing whose fragments of consciousness were running in rivers and dripping in chunks, slowly finding basic bottom and commingling together. This would take time. There was nothing left in sufficient order to support any sort of seal, trap, tag or jutsu, hidden or otherwise, so he sent out the word that it was safe to re-enter.
Kakashi's remnants were immediately identifiable and not nearly as decentralized. Upon unconsciousness, which surely should have meant the release of his jutsu, he failed to automatically escape back to his own body. Still unresponsive, he did not appear to be capable of tripping his own release manually anytime soon. Ibiki tried to find whatever it was that was hanging him up here, but in the exploded mess that was his unique silvery chakra, it wasn't going to be easy. There was no feedback or rebound of pressure when he tried to shake him into some sort of response. The lack of presence was as deafening as any silence. Not a creature was stirring in the razed battlefield.
Still, it was not the cold stillness of utter destruction or brain death. He threw out a tendril of warning as Inoichi and Tsunade arrived to assess the scene for themselves. Do not overreact. Some of this would have to be allowed to sort itself out before any kind of assessment could be made. They were here to police the aftermath by looking for clues. From the amount of damage that he could detect, it was highly unlikely that much if any of the information Danzou locked up with that seal would be intact. Now it was more a matter of how much, and of which man, was left.
There is a lot more viable material here than I expected. A lot more, Inoichi projected his encouraged impression.
They would have to wait for Iruka/Even to finish pooling together; but releasing Kakashi back to his body was another matter, one Tsunade immediately tried to address.
Brat, you went too far again. One of these times, you won't be able to come back.
She picked through his stunned psyche, appalled at the amount of destruction he had diverted into himself. Yes, she could tell that he had made an attempt to nullify the impact as he took it in, it wasn't just an act of wholesale sacrifice, but with his limited capabilities out-of-body, he hadn't been able to protect himself much at all.
You'll be happy to know that you saved his life, Hatake-idiot, although you'll probably act as if it doesn't mean much to you one way or the other. Pretending to be so aloof, who do you think that fools? Now you'll be struggling with these holes in your head for who knows how long, over someone who may not even be able to remember you.
She managed to gather together all that was his; unlike the owner of this space, he had used his last grip of will to hold himself together as tightly as possible, and for the most part, what was left was still all connected. She sincerely hoped that was an indicator that he foresaw the damage he might suffer and arranged himself in such a way so as to preserve his mental integrity as much as possible. He was, after all, a genius of sorts.
She pulled him away and out of the last disintegrating sparks of the spent seal on her own. Ibiki lent a hand gathering him up for removal, and Inoichi used his transfer technique to assist the natural pull of his body to deliver him back into his own head.
One of us should go out and tend to him.
She was somewhat surprised that Ibiki volunteered.
The master interrogator shook loose and was barking orders at the goggled men before he even looked at Kakashi's body.
There was no longer any need for that ridiculous arrangement of having both men in the same chair.
"Get the belts off and remove him to the table. Umino stays where he's at. Loosen but do not remove his bindings. Get to it; I'll make sure the team doesn't lose physical contact with this one."
xxxxxxx
"They tripped it," Danzou said suddenly, shaking his head. "I knew this would happen."
"You felt it? You're certain?" Jeninki asked, setting his cup down, pushing up from the table.
"There's no mistaking it. It was just the redundant primary, though. They must have managed to disable all of the others. I have to give them credit. I'm impressed that they got that far before I won out."
"And this means..."
"Well. I'm sorry, but it means that his consciousness has been wiped out, ideally to the point of no longer functioning physically, either. They may put him on life-support, but he'll be brain dead. In a situation like this, I don't know that your method of harvest would be able to retrieve anything viable, even for your spirit village."
Jeninki frowned and moved across the room in silence, reflecting. He knew there was a very high likelihood of this, he thought he was prepared to hear such news. He had accepted the risk; his own reluctance to expose his continued survival had caused him to wait, and not act to take Iruka away to keep him safe.
"It's over, then."
Danzou watched, his first impulse to berate the man in self-defense for his inexplicable, stubborn insistence in possessing Iruka, and to remind him that his choices were instrumental in preventing Danzou from saving Even from ever having to go through any of this.
But Jeninki was calm, and there was no fight in him. It was a little puzzling.
"Are you all right? You seem a bit off."
"I'll do my own checking, but I suspect that you're right."
"Where are you going? Look, there's no rush. They'll remove him from the interrogation center now that he's useless or dead, and they won't bother to protect him anymore if he managed to survive. Give them a little time."
"I know. But I really don't feel like sitting here while I wait. Don't be concerned. I won't do anything to give us away. Your secrets are safe now."
Danzou grimaced, not liking the tone he was detecting. It wasn't like he won by eliminating Even, just because Jen didn't get him. The point was never just to take him away from Jeninki.
"I regret that it's turned out this way. I, too, felt a glimmer of hope that somehow, we'd see Even rise again."
"I'll see you later."
"But where are you..."
With that, Jeninki teleported in stealth, to stand transformed as a young boy in front of the infirmary, looking with glum remembrance at the window Iruka nearly escaped from to join him.
He'd been so close to taking him that night. So damned closed. Now, it was depressingly likely that it was a toss-up as to whether Iruka would return here in a vegetative state for permanent residence, or for a much shorter stay in the morgue.
Something about the medical building still piqued his curiosity, and on impulse, he stepped behind a tree, and sent his invisible spirit clone on a little mission to look around inside.