Yamanaka Inoichi settled into the chair across from Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, and sighed tiredly, rubbing his temples with paired forefingers after a long night's work. Morino Ibiki, head of Torture and Interrogation and his partner, settled in the other chair, face characteristically grim. The office is dim, the doors shut and the blinds shuttered, the faint cerulean glow of Privacy Seals climbing over the exposed surfaces like calligraphic ivy.
The Hokage puffed gently on his pipe, face somber, but not betraying any inner turmoil.
"What are your findings on Uchiha Hiroki?"
Inoichi ran a hand through his hair, ruffling his pony tail and looking up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Complicated." -he shrugged and huffed out a sigh- "Simple. Like most people, really. Atypical, but within tolerances for an active duty shinobi. I've seen worse. Not a lot, but it happens sometimes."
Ibiki scowled.
"What about what he said in his interview."
The mindwalker shrugged his shoulders dismissively.
"Temporary mental break. Understandable given the circumstances."
Hiruzen settled his pipe into its holder.
"Which are?"
Inoichi pursed his lips for a moment.
"I'm not sure if I have clearance to know." -he glanced over at Ibiki- "He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't supposed to tell."
Sarutobi's expression grew harder.
"If this concerns what I believe it does, then I grant you permission to speak about it. It's an S-rank secret, but you both have clearance for that level even if you wouldn't normally be made aware of the information."
The long ponytail bobbed acknowledgment.
"The Uchiha were planning a coup."
Ibiki stiffened, only a tiny crease on his forehead betraying agitation, and the Hokage slumped slightly in his chair.
"Hiroki wasn't involved at all, in fact I don't believe he knew anything beyond the fact that the plan existed. He is determinedly distant from all of the Uchiha except his mother and he has been actively avoiding anything which might be related to the plot. It's actually a little bit concerning how few interpersonal connections he has; we should probably assign him to a specific team to help him build more connections within the village, but that can wait. Itachi was acting under orders when he exterminated the clan, though again, Hiroki doesn't know much more than that. If he disliked most of his clan, he avoided Itachi like the plague."
Inoichi's gaze wandered slightly as he got distracted.
"The reasons are… a bit odd. Hiroki has a pathological fear of death, and a clinical obsession with the accumulation of personal power."
Ibiki frowned minutely, skin shifting to pull at his scars.
"You said he was within tolerances. We can't have a potential traitor in the ranks. I assume there are extenuating factors?"
The blond nodded his head.
"A fair number, yes. Firstly, Hiroki has apparently been sublimating his fear of death into the drive for greater strength, and a sort of compulsive loyalty to the Leaf. While he is aware of the concept of disobeying orders, he doesn't really have a direct connection between that idea and his own behaviour; he would obey any order which wasn't explicitly suicidal virtually without question. Provided he believed the commander was acting in concert with the Village's stated goals. It helps that he thinks the Will of Fire is magic."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, a tiny, weary smile giving his face new crags.
"I don't think I've heard that particular interpretation before."
Inoichi smiled wryly in return, tired lines on his face momentarily easing.
"Right? Like I said, Atypical, but within tolerances. Hiroki thinks the Will of Fire is a potent auto-Genjutsu that guarantees eventual victory. He wouldn't ever betray the village, because Konoha is the strongest village and they will eventually win, no matter the odds. Turning traitor would only earn our hostility. Not worth it."
The Sandaime picked up his pipe and took a little pull, eyebrows ticking together slightly in concern.
"They? Our?"
Inoichi nodded again, a little sadly.
"Hiroki has some non-trivial dissociative issues. He doesn't think of himself as being part of the village, or that we might consider his wants or opinion important. We are a landslide he can run with to keep himself from being crushed, more or less. A Shinobi from Konoha, not a Shinobi of Konoha. It's why he didn't tell anybody about the coup; Konoha either wouldn't care or would already know, and Hiroki would only draw attention to himself by speaking up. He believes in the Will of Fire, but he doesn't think he has it himself. He doesn't even really understand it, or know what it is, he just has confidence that it exists, that most of the ninja in Konoha have it to some extent, and that it makes us extremely powerful."
Hiruzen blinked in surprise, shifting slightly straighter in his seat.
"How did that happen? He attended the academy didn't he?"
Ibiki grunted the affirmative.
"For a single year. Early admittance, early graduation. Just like Itachi."
Inoichi shook his head.
"Hiroki is reasonably talented, but he isn't a classical prodigy like Itachi. He graduated a year behind Itachi's record, and that was after spending all of his childhood training. Like I said, he's obsessed with the accumulation of personal power, but he doesn't seem to really have an endpoint in mind, or a concrete goal on what to use it for. It was something to do that would yield measurable results he could compare to Itachi, like a gauge in his head getting ever fuller until someday the needle would point to 'safe'. Nearly all his logic chains terminate in 'get stronger' or 'obey orders' and it pushes out most other concerns; he memorized just enough history to pass the academy exams but there are some pretty large gaps in his knowledge about basic facts, like how long the Hokage have served. He spent that lecture practicing the leaf sticking exercise under the table."
Inoichi frowned, gaze unfocused as he rubbed his chin, tracking across the grains in the wood shelves of scrolls behind the Hokage..
"That's something I don't fully understand actually; I think Hiroki knew about the coup, and that Itachi would be the Uchiha's executioner, for a very long time. Since the Kyuubi attack, even."
Sarutobi mouthed his pipe, lips drawn down in confusion.
"How? He would have been, what, three years old? How is that possible?"
Inoichi was hesitant to respond, eyes twitching as he reviewed the memories once more in his head.
"I'm… not sure. Hiroki has instinctive responses to people sometimes, like he already knows them and has certain expectations or opinions on them. It feels like he's remembering things, but… I can't see what. Dreams, maybe. Nightmares."
The mindwalker shuddered delicately.
"It's actually really creepy. I live the memories too; he thought it was disgusting to talk to any of his clansmen. Like someone was puppeting dead bodies and pretending they were real people. It ties back to his fear of death; he was certain for most of the past seven years that if he didn't work hard enough, if he wasn't strong enough, that he would be dead like all of them. Itachi was actually worse; whenever Hiroki's thoughts stray to him he hears clocks ticking, feels chairs tipping back too far or feet slipping on stairs, that sort of thing. It's less that he thought Itachi would stab him with a kunai and more that, in Hiroki's mind, if Itachi even paid him too much attention he would just fall over dead in the street. That appears to have been the trigger for activating his Sharingan in the academy. Itachi spoke to him while he was training. Once. And then during the massacre Itachi didn't kill him immediately, and once he finally processed that it was like god himself offering a blessing."
The other two men in the room gave the blond man slightly dirty looks. He threw up his hands in exasperated acknowledgment of their stares.
"Atypical, but within tolerances."
Ibiki settles back in his chair slightly, and Hiruzen chews gently on the stem of his pipe as he thinks.
"He said there was someone else involved in the massacre."
Morino hummed in agreement, expression pensive.
"Uchiha Madara. He didn't seem to be lying, though there was obviously some sort of conditioned response to prevent him answering the question. Could he still be alive? Is it possible?"
The mind expert grunted in shared puzzlement.
"That I cannot say. The difficulty talking was more about his manic terror of disappointing Itachi but... After they met in the forest everything becomes a little bit hazy in his mind. Panic, most likely; he didn't yet believe that Itachi would let him go since his skills weren't impressive and he hadn't managed to do anything 'noteworthy' for the sake of the village. But he remembers running through the woods and… well. He remembers dying. A man in a mask that made him think 'Madara' found him and stabbed him between the C2 and C3 vertebrae. Hiroki was pinned to a tree and eventually bled out."
The Yamanaka grimaced in distaste.
"It could have been a Genjutsu, but if it was it was the most realistic one I've ever felt. Theoretically possible with the Sharingan but…"
He shook his head and gave a shrug of admitted ignorance.
"Then he woke up, and for a little bit he thought he was a ghost and the relief he felt was unreal. He doesn't really enjoy being a shinobi."
Hiruzen hummed around his pipe, eyes half-closed.
"But he believes that strength is the only thing keeping him safe. He might prefer to live life as a civilian…"
"But a civilian can't defend themselves. Not uncommon reasoning." Ibiki finished the thought, nodding to the logic.
Inoichi sighed, pulling a hand through his ponytail in reflex.
"Exactly. As a ninja he faces more danger, but it also gives him more opportunity to grow stronger."
Ibiki's expression turned inward as he murmured to himself.
"Strength is Life. Weakness is Death."
The Sandaime exhaled a cloud of smoke, face heavily lined.
"And he was weak, so he died. And for a moment he was a ghost, all his fears realized and made trivial, no more need to strive. And then he realized he had lived."
The Yamanaka sighed, nodding in agreement.
"Yeah. That's another point that I'm not sure of, and one I can't really pry into more under the circumstances; clan secrets you know. Hiroki might have actually died; when he woke up he was blind in one eye and the moment he realized that was the moment he realized he was still alive. There have always been rumors about more advanced techniques available to bearers of the Sharingan."
The Sandaime's head fell into his hands and his voice was tired as he spoke, wrinkled fingers massaging his temples.
"So he was still alive, still afraid of death, and now in need of a new eye. So he went back to the compound and started collecting them, tidying up as he went. Gods. His own parents."
Inoichi blew out a heavy breath and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, that was when he snapped a little bit. Hiroki doesn't believe in the Pure World or reincarnation. Dead people don't exist. What need have they of eyes?"
Morino grunted disapprovingly.
"Still disrespectful."
The blonde shook his head.
"You think that because you do believe in the Pure World."
Ibiki raised a skeptical eyebrow at his partner.
"No, really, you do. Most ninja do. You might not go to temples every day to pray for your soul, but I don't think I've ever mind walked someone who believed in nothing before. For most shinobi, somewhere in the back of their heads is the implicit expectation that there is something after you die; that you'll be able to enjoy the fruits of your sacrifice by watching over the next generation in spirit, or something. Hiroki doesn't have that. When you die, that's it. His opinion on the topic is nuanced but almost… scornful."
Ibiki allowed his mouth to twist slightly in distaste.
"How can he live like that?"
The Yamanaka shrugged.
"What other choice does he have?"
Sarutobi tapped his pipe out in his ashtray before turning his gaze back on the men.
"Uchiha Hiroki. Final assessment?"
Ibiki grunted.
"Truthful under interrogation, attempted to protect Village secrets but wasn't sure how much he was supposed to say. Give him a refresher on security protocols and let him loose."
Inoichi gave a half shrug.
"In need of some psychological leave time, but otherwise fit for active service. Assign him a squad to give him more personal ties within the village and a teacher to help direct his training and he can probably make Jounin in a few more years. His neuroses won't impair his ability to carry out his duties."
The Sandaime scratched a note on the open file on his desk and flipped it closed.
"Your input is appreciated. Dismissed."
. . .
Down in my cell I blinked languidly.
I knew it had been worthwhile to learn lipreading.
My Mangekyou finally proved itself useful.
. . .
A/N: So, in case it wasn't clear, Konoha really is the nice village (more or less). The rules regarding interrogation of prisoners and so on are much looser than in the USA cough-Guantanamo-cough, but mostly in that there are some things that the village as a political entity is not allowed to do. Most pertinently, they are not allowed to deliberately search for things like the secrets of bloodlines or techniques. A Yamanaka is legally barred from perusing memories related to a Nara's Shadow Possession technique, for instance, save for in clear cut cases of treason. Hiroki was picked up as a major person of interest, and one of the first things Inoichi found in his head was the identity of who killed all the Uchiha, so he wasn't allowed to look any further beyond trying to figure out some more things about the broader picture. The Hokage can of course request that one of his loyal ninja gives him more details about this thing (and he will) but Hiroki is protected by the treaty signed to found the village; if the Hokage tries to force the knowledge out of him the other clans would have legal grounds to remove Hiruzen from office.