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  Leaf Vilge - Forest.

  "This is very troubling news Jiraiya boy." A small green road with white hair, thick eyebrows and small goatee spoke. "To think that man would do something like this after all these years…"

  "I know. It's the reason I summoned you, boss." Jiraiya was respectful as he spoke to the elder toad. "I've been able to dig up information on Orochimaru but it might be too te by the time we a it. I was hoping you could make tact with Tsunade's summon Katsuyu."

  "I'll see what I do Jiraiya. In the meantime… How are you holding up?" The toad sage Fukasaku was ed as he looked at his student.

  Jiraiya looked down as he remembered the day he fronted Orochimaru. "I should have taken care of him that day when he escaped. I was merciful. And today that mercy has caused untold tragedies."

  "You 't predict the future and you 't trol what he does. This isn't on you Jiraiya."

  The Toad sage ched his fist. "Regardless, he is now my responsibility. No matter what, I'm going to find him and stop him ond for all."

  Fukasaku nodded. "I'm heading back to the mountains. I'll try to make tact with Katsuyu as soon as possible."

  Jiraiya nodded. Just before Fukasaku disappeared Jiraiya spoke. "In the few days, please be ready. And please tell Ma' to be prepared. I might be in need of both of your assistance."

  The small green toad nodded in uanding. "I got it. But one of these days you o learn to go into sage mode by yourself."

  The toad Sannin had a small smile as he listeo the old toad's lecture. "I'm nowhere near as profit in it as either of you."

  "And that's why you o train." Fukasaku replied. The green toad made a ram seal and vanished in a puff of smoke the instant.

  —-

  T

  In the dimly lit, fines of a secured interrogation room deep within the bowels of the T (Torture and Interrogatioment in Konoha, a temosphere prevailed. The room, sparsely furnished with a stark metal table and chairs, was desigo disorient and apply psychological pressure on its octs.

  At one end of the table was Ibiki Morino, one of Konoha's most formidable interrogators. Across from him was Rinji. A high-value prisoner with direct ties to Orochimaru. The tied up prisoner dispyed defian his face but Ibiki was slowly cutting through that mask.

  It's only been a few hours but Ibiki was slowly starting to uand the mind of his prisoner. He started with subtle psychological tactics, carefully Rinji's reas to gauge his mental state.

  Ibiki's approach was methodical and he was able to create an atmosphere of tension and uainty inside his victim's mind. His goal was to exploit any cracks in Rinji's loyalty to Orochimaru, to sow doubt and fear.

  The interrogator looked at the tied up man without any pity. 'He's ambitious and has above average intelligence. He's also the scheming type. On top of that he has an inferiority plex when it es to Kabuto but he's trying his best to hide it.'

  Ibiki didn't utter a word as he stared at Rinji. He even used silence as his on. 'Uhat woman Guren this man isn't as devoted to Orochimaru as he wants us to believe. That may be my ce.'

  Finally, Ibiki leaned forward slightly, breaking the sileh a voice that was calm but carried an underlying edge of menace. "Rinji, you're a smart man," he began, his toively versational. "You should uand the situation you're in… And you know that your cooperation ... alleviate certain outes."

  Rinji swallowed and the his voice steady as he responded. "I have nothing to say to you. I won't betray Lord Orochimaru."

  Ibiki had a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Betrayal is such a harsh word. Instead, you should think of it as... reassessing one's loyalties in light of new information. After all, loyalty to a cause that is doomed to fail is, quite frankly, stupidity."

  Rinji smiled as he looked at the Leaf ninja. "Oh Please. You dress it up however you want. But the reality is, the moment you get what you want from me, I'll be dead. So unless you're willing to let me go, which I highly doubt, I don't have any iives to help you."

  Ibiki smirked as he looked at the man. "You're right. But there are things far worse thah in our world."

  The way it oken immediately erased the smile on Rinji's face. He ched his fists uhe table in anger.

  Ibiki was uerred and he tinued. "Alright. We won't speak of betrayals the's talk about survival. About choices… You see, I'm not here to break you. I'm here to offer you a ce. A ce to resider the path you're on."

  Ibiki then shifted tactics, detailing the fates of the other followers of Orochimaru who chose silence over cooperation. "You're not immuo the sequences of your choices, Rinji. No one is. But it's not too te. You have valuable information. Information that save important lives. Helping us isn't betrayal, it's choosing a different future… Think about it. In the end, what reward do you get for your loyalty to Orochimaru? Isotion? Suffering? Maybe eveh?"

  Rinji was silent even as fear slowly gripped his heart but he tried not to show it on his face. He kept his mouth shut and still held a defiant attitude.

  "I want to ask you a question? Orochimaru uses many people as just disposables. Do you think you're one of those people or do you think Orochimaru sees any value in you? Like he does with Kabuto." Ibiki asked, keeping a calm tone. He deliberately mentioned Kabuto's name just to provoke a rea out of the tied up man.

  "Of course he does." The answer came from the man too quickly.

  Ibiki smiled when he heard that answer. "You don't have to answer my question. You just have to think about the answer in your heart. Just do yourself a favor. Don't lie to yourself."

  Seeing Rinji's silence, Ibiki tinued. "Orochimaru tasked your team with resg Kabuto from our Anbu. Do you think he'd do the same for you if he found out you've been captured? Or do you think he'd just kill you to stop any information leak?"

  The interrogation specialist leaned ba his chair and turned his attention to the gss near him. He took the small jar of water and began to fill the cup. The man drank the gss of water as he g his prey.

  Rinji was cautious aried to gauge the interrogators' iions. He was looking for loopholes and ways to mislead them without giving away vital information. However, Ibiki's psychological maneuvers were desigo induce guilt, fear, and doubt and slowly chip away at his resolve.

  Ibiki was an expert i of interrogation and reading body nguage. He could see several miotions appearing and disappearing on Rinji's face.

  Several moments of sileer Rinji spoke. "As long as I stay silent I'm valuable to my Lord. And even if I die, I don't have as because Lord Orochimaru will plete his goals and take revenge for me. So Leaf nin… I don't have anything to say to you."

  Ibiki leaned forward, with a menag smile on his lips. "Oh, but I think you do. Rinji, we already have a good deal of information on Orochimaru's operations. What I'm ied in now is...the finer details. And I believe you're just the man to fill in those bnks. You see, I uand you better than you might think. You're intelligent, calcuted, and you weigh every decision carefully. You're not blindly loyal to Orochimaru, you're loyal to your survival, to the idea that serving him is your best option."

  Ibiki slowly stood from his chair and walked behind Rinji. "Do you want to know what else I learned?"

  The man was tense as Ibiki leaned closer to his ear.

  "You're not as valuable as you'd like us to believe. You have information on Orochimaru but you aren't one of his trusted men, are you? That means there is a good ce you don't have the intelligence we're looking for. That would be unfortunate for you… You uand where I'm going with this right?"

  Rinji's eyes flickered with a hint of uainty. He sehe ge in Ibiki's demeanor. He tried to mask it quickly, but Ibiki had already seen it—a cra Rinji's facade.

  Ibiki tihe psychologioose tightening. "When you were brought in, Daichi gave us a full report on your team. He hat it was Guren who called the shots. She's the leader. Not you. And based on his observations you were all intimidated by her."

  "So what?" Rinji gritted his teeth and asked. The anger in his tone was visible.

  "You see, in your position, your worth is measured by the information you provide. And if you're not as useful as we thought, well, I'm sure you imagihe implications."

  Ibiki gave another blow to his target's psyche. "Here. Let me show you something."

  The Leaf ninja took a scroll from his pocket and spread it across the table in front of him. The scroll of Fire try and its b nations including the Land of Rice Paddies. On the map several spots were marked with a red X.

  Rinji took a look at the map and slowly his eyes widened in shock.

  "See. This is just a small piece of the intel we gathered on Orochimaru and his hideouts. I'm showing this to make you realize that you don't hold all the cards. So unless you provide us with new intel we don't know, your life will get infinitely harder from here on out."

  Rinji looked at the marked location on the map and was shocked. 'Those are the locations of some of the bases retly built in this try and there are even a few marked in the Sound vilge. How did they get that? I thought Orochimaru made sure to keep the existence of those locations a secret.'

  The nails on Rinji's fingers dug into his palm. 'Damn it. Am I going to die for no reason? If they have this muformatiohey'd definitely have more. Lord Orochimaru's pn to capture Daichi failed. Even if his pns with Tsunade succeed, Orochimaru won't be able to survive the wrath of aire great vilge… Am I going to die because of his mistakes? Should I…'

  After several long moments of silence Rinji spoke. "Hypothetically, if I tell you what I know, what do I get iurn?"

  "That depends on the information you give us. If it helps us with our current situation, you'll be looked upon much more favorably." Ibiki told him.

  Rinji was silent for a few moments. Ibiki then added another point. "You should hurry up though. My colleagues are currently interrogating the woman and the others in a much more hands on manner. If they decide to cooperate, your value bees even lower."

  "Guren and Gozu won't talk. And the rest of those fools. They don't know anything." Rinji spoke with a frown on his face.

  "We have mind readers capable of pulling out your deepest darkest secrets. It might take some time but the results speak for themselves. So Rinji. In all fairness, I don't hem to talk." Ibiki replied in a cold toh his arms crossed.

  Rinji's resolve began to waver and the psychological pressure was mounting expoially. He had been traio resist torture, to guard secrets with his life, but Ibiki's methods were something else entirely.

  As he came to terms with the demoralizing thought that he might not be as important as he believed, he slowly began to crumble.

  Ibiki, watg the man's internal struggle, knows he hit a nerve. "sider this your st opportunity, Rinji. Help us, and we offer you prote, perhaps even a ce at redemption. Keep your silence, and you bee nothing more than a liability, easily disposed of."

  The room went silent once more, save for the low hum of the lights and the distant sounds of the facility beyond the walls. Rinji sat motionless, caught between loyalty and survival, his mind rag with the potential sequences of his words.

  A minute of silence passed before the prisoner spoke. "What do you want to know?"

  Ibiki kept a ral expression and slightly leaned forward. "Let's talk about the st mission Orochimaru assigned you. The capture of Daichi Hekima. Tell me everything about it. From why Orochimaru wahe Genin to where you were supposed to take him."

  Rinji was silent for a few more seds before he slowly began spilling his guts.

  Author's Note.

  We haven't seen much of any interrogation tacti Naruto. Especially from Ibiki. In my opinion Kishimoto could have used him much better. Ibiki and Inoichi were untapped potential.

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