Private A Welcome Home Party

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

[Continued from here: https://ninpocho.com/threads/heading-home.68486/#post-385530 ]

It was useful not to have to actually enter the village to get the suspect back to HQ; it was something Keiyaku would have seen as a potential risk given Akira's penchant for carnage and pointy, stabby objects. Arriving at the base of the mountain, and having first blindfolded him, he loaded the prisoner into a rickety-looking mine cart. After Tanuki bounded inside too, they set off up through the mountain. Keiyaku turned to his ninken and spoke to him in the form of a few grunts and growls to which their was an answering bark from the dark, and, as soon as they arrived, Tanuki bounded off down the passage, off to deliver a message. The ninken came, after a time, to a door, upon which he pawed and whined, hoping whoever was inside would grant him entry; he was looking for the Sennin, and, once he found him, would usher him to follow.

"Let's be havin' ya then," said Keiyaku, once again slinging Akira over his shoulder and proceeding down the cold, dreary passage.

"Hm," he said, stopping abruptly. The passage walls were lined with many ANBU-style masks of all different colours and varieties, but their owners long since lost, their masks having been put on secret, tributory display in respect of their memory. The Inuzuka stopped by a particular one, decorated like the face of some kind of insect, and bearing a plaque beneath it reading 'MANTIS'.

"Well, Mantis, our problem decided to show up again. Don't worry; I'll get to the bottom of this. I won't let ya down."

And with no further elaboration, Keiyaku continued on down the passage, taking many turns and corners, walking for what must have been at least twenty minutes, until finally, there was the sound of a heavy door being thrust open. Inside, Akira would be placed on a chair, his blindfold removed and given time for his eyes to adjust to the light of the flickering torches around them. The masked ANBU officers stood on the other side of a table, like a typical interrogation room, his arms folded as he stared soullessly into the dark sage's eyes from behind his mask, waiting for the Body Bind to wear off.

"If you would state your name for the record."

 

[Keiji]

Papers, stacks of papers, his office had been stacking up a bit since he'd been a little absent of late. Hitomi was still grinding away inside of the office as he had stood up and lifted up a stack of them to carry over to the clerk at gathering hall to forward them to the right people. His steps were careful and his face was hidden away by the stacks, trying to remember where everything was on the floors he managed to dodge and avoid making any major crashes until suddenly as he made a turn he heard what sounded distinctly like a set of four soft paws running down the hallways, half expecting the beast to crash right into him he took a strong stance and readied holding his position against the oncoming crash.

It didn't seem to happen, the steps had stopped right in front of him, and he relaxed his stance a bit, adjusting the papers in his hands he moved it slowly to the side, allowing him to look down at the creature standing below him, it took him a second, but he recognized the colors and the mask on the hound, it was then he realized the dog had come running from the direction of his office and perhaps Keiji had accidentally walked in a circle.

Looks like Keiyaku requested his presence for something. He nodded to Moru and indicated him to follow for a brief moment. Leading the way to the clerk desk, the lady looking a little shocked with her body language, "Right, y'know what to do. I've got something to do." his voice soft, calm and conservative of his breath, it's not like carrying stacks of papers are hard, but it was always good to maintain your strengths and focus when exerting yourself. "Real quick" he added, "What's Jackal's current task?" Meeting his gaze, "Interrogating the prisoner Akira she said without a beat she replied almost second nature as if she had idetic memory of everyone and their schedule.

His mask turned to face Moru and his dark eyes behind the mask met with the hound's. "Lead the way buddy!" Following the hound through the narrow side passages in order to finally reach the designated interrogation room he straightened his clothes and walked in. Open the door quietly, he stepped in, gave a firm nod to those within, ending his gaze to meet with Keiyaku. And then stepped to the side ending in the corner of the room, simply watching the situation and the conversation that was about to occur.

At this same moment, Hitomi, his contract creature and life-long ally in all, is seated in his office, stressed and frustrated with having to be the one going through the paperwork Keiji's absence may have caused. Taking a deep breathe, and slight huff, she returned back to it from her lapse moment of emotional distress. What she didn't know was that she might have to remain within alone for just a bit longer than expected...

[Thread entered]

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

It seemed that Akira allowed himself to be led without any issue or any fightback at all, knowing full well that he didn't have many other options, after all, he had returned home and come back, so he might as well follow the processes, though saying that the whole idea of this was almost laughable considering the current situation of the world, at least he had managed to get some insight into things, and even he wondered how this would go but after all, he would make sure that he didn't offer any reason to fight or resist the interrogation.

"Well, I guess the start to this would be my name, it's Yamamoto Akira. Missing Shinobi of Konoha at this current moment in time."

He was honest with his answers as he allowed himself to sit there. He wondered how long he would be going around this circle, or even how this matter would go. As he studied the room nothing was special at all, it was the same old drill, it was an empty room and he was going to be asked questions, of course, he would happily answer them but at least he pondered on if any of these questions, or these answers that he would need to give would hurt his reputation in any way. For now, he did all he could do which was just simply sit there and wait for the next question, and attempt to give the best answers that he could to the questions that he was asked.

[Topic Entered]
[MFT: 255]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"Yamamoto Akira," Keiyaku repeated thoughtfully, turning the other free chair to face him, putting his foot up on the seat and leaning over onto the backrest, a pair of slitted pupils gazing into Akira's eyes from behind his mask. His voice was expressionless, his glare hardened and unreadable. The ANBU agent's head suddenly cracked to the side as the door to the room shifted and slid open. In walked another figure, masked and cloaked, followed by an identical clone of Keiyaku, wearing the same mask. This clone came to stand at the opposite corner of the room, folding its arms and watching the scene play out. The Inuzuka's attention momentarily fixed on Keiji. Everytime he looked at him, he could feel a sickening churn in his stomach as the thing inside him reacted to the man... It didn't help that the full moon was getting close again.

"Sir," said Keiyaku to the man, bowing his head briefly but respectfully before turning his attention back on his interviewee.

"Akira," said Keiyaku, eyes greedily watching for any trace of a reaction to his words, "you are charged with one count of desertion; you abandoned your duties and went rogue. You are further charged with one count of attempted murder of a junior ANBU officer in the course of your successful flight attempt. Do you deny these charges, or dispute any of the facts I have just now laid before you?"

So co-operative... so boringly, dully willing to co-operate. Was it genuine? Keiyaku wasn't so sure somehow. His eyes were momentarily diverted to his clone who stood across the room. Maybe the hunger momentarily showed in his eyes, as Morutobu gave a tiny little shake of his head. Right, he needed to play this clean and straight.

"Akira, listen. If you want forgiveness, you gotta give something back. There's a ton of evidence against you here, but what we don't have is... why?"

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira listened to the man speaking, it seemed that he would be charged, it was almost quite a fun situation, as he allowed his eyebrow to raise slightly as he listened to the chargers that had been labeled against him, wondering what evidence they had as he sat across from the table of the man. He allowed himself to look his cold eyes staring into the masked Anbus's face, as he allowed himself a few moments to ponder the question, he would face the desertion charge the other one though he would claim against it.

"Desertion, sure, let's be honest the branch I was given was growing, and I wanted to see the world and get as much medical information as I could from the other villages, without the politics or stigma of being from Konoha, so I went traveling. Both villages that I turned up to turned me away so that was a fat load of good honestly. But I did this to progress the knowledge of medicine, more specifically my branch inside of Konoha, there is so much we lack in knowledge about the mind, about the damage that is done by constantly killing each other. The lasting effects"

His face was serious, he knew that he had given this reason to both villages as well even if he had been declined entry inside the villages, he had still tried to share the knowledge and at least get some insight into how much they had progressed in this field.

"As for the second part of your charges, unfortunately, those are false, I never laid a hand on your junior ANBU or lifted a finger against him, so for that charge, I will deny it."

Now he would have to wait and see how this would progress. He was for the full part being honest at least.

[MFT:308]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"Of course they turned you away, Akira," said Keiyaku a note of incredulity in his voice that the guy hasn't made the connection as to why, "because a strange shinobi, with no village affiliation, with no passport or other travel documents, or even a letter from his own branch explaining the situation, turns up at the gates of another village, and requests entry in the interest of advancing modern medicine... Wouldn't you be slightly suspicious if you were that guard on gate duty?"

From his own experience, he knew this must be how other villages would have reacted to Akira turning up, unannounced on their doorstep; without any documentation, you had to turn foreigners away.

"Honestly, this 'I did it for the greater good of my village' crap is not going to fly, buddy. Any research you've conducted has been done without oversight, without authorisation from your branch, and without the opportunity for any kind of peer review. Is that not how medical science progresses? The only conclusion one can make, as to why you left without permission in order to conduct your experiments, is because they were illegal. In which case, and I'm not medical expert, your results are completely useless to anyone."[/b]

Keiyaku spared a glance at Keiji, wondering what his take on this might be, from the perspective of a seasoned surgeon and doctor. The ANBU's gaze slid back over to Akira as he folded his arms across his chest, listening to his denial of the second charge.

"There are witnesses to this crime, Akira. At the time of your departure, Tanatsu Kino was one of two officers on duty, and was the only one injured in your flight attempt. You were witnessed by his partner on duty. And besides, you and I both know shinobi are perfectly capable of killing each other without so much as twitching in one another's direction."

As Keiyaku stood there, arms folded, a strange sort of feeling passed through the room, like the air was getting lighter. Suddenly, the table between the two of them began to tremble and rattle, despite being fixed to the floor. With a sudden BANG, it was ripped from its fixtures and slammed noisily into the ceiling, propelled by an unseen force.

"See? No hands."

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira just sat patiently listening to the other man's words, seemed like he was already made up in his mind and there was no changing that one, as he allowed himself to tilt his head for a few seconds pondering and listening he wondered how this information had came to be, but for now decided to just go along with the line of questioning and talking, after all there was no point in making the situation worse by just trying to argue with the fellow in front of him, that would get him no solution and no were else but just making him look worse in a situation.

"While we can kill each other without twitching, I doubt that I am capable of seriously injuring a Shinobi without even moving, I mean the way I see it that claim does seem a bit far-fetched for even an ANBU, as without hand seals, movements and even focus one cannot control their Chakra. But I don't think you came here for a debate on the inner workings of a Shinobi, instead as advised I accepted the first charge, the second one though, even with a witness which I find hard to believe, would state that once more I did not attack the man, someone else did. I can even give you the name of this Shinobi that attacked and wounded Kino if you wish?"

He let that hang in the air he really wanted to test Keiyaku but with another Sennin around as well he knew that he should not have to push this further than it needed to be though it seemed silence was all the other man could provide and that was fine, he would at least make sure that he gave a name to see a reaction, and a name that could be confirmed if required.

"Your attacker was Fukushu Ishi"

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"Without hand signs, movements and even focus, one cannot control their Chakra," Keiyaku repeated, looking down at Akira in bemusement. His eyes moved, very slowly and pointedly, up to the table which was currently glued to the ceiling, "did you see me move when I did that? Did you see me make a single hand sign? I've been standing here with my arms folded the whole time."

He couldn't really tell what Akira's angle was here; he'd just demonstrated, first-hand, in no uncertain terms, that some Shinobi could, indeed perform jutsu without hand signs, or even all that much movement. Suddenly, the table clattered to the ground, landing squarely in between interrogator and prisoner with a loud clang. Keiyaku still had his arms folded.

"See? Again. No movements. No hand signs," the ANBU said simply, leaning over the table as Akira continued to explain, "no, I think this 'I didn't lift a finger' lexical game is quite pertinent, actually."

But Akira went on, pulling out another story, a patsy that would, from his side, explain what happened to Kino.

Fukushu Ishi

Even behind his mask, it was possible to make out the man's frown, as though he were computing this name. It wasn't one he would forget in a hurry.

"Nice try; Fukushu Ishi died weeks prior to Kino's attack and your departure. I would know; he offed himself right in front of me. Unless you're telling me he rose from the dead to attack a random ANBU he didn't even know."

The ANBU paused, thinking about what he had just said, and gave credence to the fact this might be a veritable possibility; he'd certainly seen stranger things.

"So, not only is Fukushu Ishi deceased but... your reason for giving me that name is... what, exactly?"

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira listened to Keiyaku the dude was smart he would give him that, and of course, he did have a point about the finger-lifting but he did at least tell the truth about the last part. As he looked towards the man that was questioning him, the ANBU it seemed that he would be here until the person was satisfied with his answers, as he sighed out aloud making it a point to make sure that the others in the room could hear it and it seemed Kino's attack was the sore subject in this interrogation, so he would give the man the truth, and he did.

"Fukushu Ishi, the anger in that man is something that cannot be contained even after death, I have travelled, I have learned I did what I did to develop myself and progress my own studies, and do you know what I found from all that travel, I mean do you even care what I did when I travelled, I guess not but let me tell you what I did since you seem to not understand my words, I studied hard."

Leaning closer his eyes looked into the man's very core as he spoke, his face showing the more sinister side of him through that hidden smile, he had so often.

"Those enraged, dead and pained souls, well they don't always die, Fukushu Ishi is very much a raging inferno, still walking this world, I never lied or brought the name up for any other reason than the truth, Ishi was the one who injured Kino, I was just a standard witness to their battle if one could call it that."

[MFT: 277]

 

[Keiji]

"Studied.." His words cut through the silence of the room, and as he emerged from the shadows of the room he continued "..And apparently learned nothing.." He paced slowly behind Keiyaku. Having listened to the whole conversation, his frustration with the avoidance of the substance matter and the core of the issue that's being laid forth towards Akira, and the accusation that's being provided. "You say you didn't kill him, but a ghost of another Shinobi, what? Possessed you?..." He paused for a brief second, and then turned around and paced back "While possession isn't outside of the realm of possibility, what you're proposing that Fukushu Ishi had an underlying anger or frustration with Kino? If it indeed is the case, then can you please explain, if you know, what the underlying issue there is?"

Allowing Akira to reply to his question, he stopped pacing for a brief moment, then turned to face Akira, sitting there, in front of Keiyaku who seemingly had gone quiet, allowing Keiji to continue with the interrogation. "You said you left the village to study, share and learn medical knowledge, yet I know for a fact that our Medical branch is one of the leading in the medical field, except for perhaps Kumogakure, where in fact I am from originally, but regardless, your reasoning is beyond horrendous, as not only would there be a plethora of ways you could have accomplished this, if you felt our technology was lacking, talk with your sennin, or even the Kage, and explain yourself and your hypothethis, you could have gained a stipendium and an allowance to travel for this reason, but you didn't. No you decided to just leave and depart for this noble cause of yours without anyone knowing or understanding..." He paused again, letting out a deep sigh, he stared into the eyes of Akira, "No, what you did goes against the very law and nature of us as Shinobi, we're weapons, we obey and follow orders, when your rank is that of a Captain, a Chief, or above, that is when you are allowed to make your own decisions on what missions to take and whatever noble cause you may set yourself for, but before that.." He pointed with his index towards Akira, Keiji's eyes glowing a pale and intense blue, glaring into the very depth of Akira's soul. "You ask, and you request from your superiors."

His eyes lost their glow and his eyes lowered to the table that's barely holding it's shape after being slammed around, seeing it's crooked leg and broken boards. "Otherwise you're as good to us as this broken table is at being a table, crooked, weak, and barely able to hold itself up. And when we have a Shinobi like that, its easier to put them down like a rabid dog so as to not corrupt the rest of our tools." Keiji honestly didn't care about Akira killing a fellow Shinobi, if it was him or not, the truth of the matter is that in Keiji's heart, the fratrical murdering of one's comrade is something he's had to do many, many times, who's he to judge if Akira saw a weakness in Kino, if he had been wounded, unable to save him, easier to kill him off and take back the body parts, that's the Harvester way, but Akira isn't a Harvester he had to remind himself, he doesn't know or follow his ways, but perhaps if he could get at least that truth out of Akira, then perhaps he could still be of us. At least as long as they could come to an agreement to their disobediance issue, if at least he could make Akira recognize the folly of his actions, there might be a hope for him yet. He couldn't help giving an unintentional slight smile at the edge of his lips at this prospect, whether Akira recognizes that as a negative or a positive is the real question.

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Akira listened to the man in the dark speak his words for the first time, though most of it condemed him, he knew that may not be the case if he knew why he left, if he had a grasp of the true darkness he had wanted to learn about and the true nature behind his conquest for knowledge after all, without darkness, their was nothing the light could get rid of, and even he understood that now, what he had not counted on was the denial into other villages, being turned away at every grasp he made for help or assistance, or even when he simply needed shelter, he was denied at every turn, Cloud and Sand both had made sure he would not see the inside of their villages, and though polite about it, it seemed that he would need to attach the name of Konoha onto his word, as he allowed himself a small pause in the misty wirlwind that was his mindset he looked back to this mans words before watching his actions and even his aura he knew that he was not the same, maybe this man had a small understanding of what it was that he was after, what his work was leading to.

"I did not want to attach Konoha to this work, the research, and even the development that I was doing, it would have left questions, and maybe something that would require answers that simply did not exist at the time. While you are right my time as a Cheif allowed me to research into Mental Health of Shinobi, into the well-being and the cures for the aches, pains, and every wound that would come from a Shinobi, yet the ability to control those after death, service after duty has ended, now the opportunities that come with that would be something special and would open need doors that we have not seen before, yet Konoha had no information about this, no way to learn more and no way to support the work, no instead the ANBU started asking questions, demanding answers, and my research was threatened. So I went to study in other lands, knowledge is power after all and we can always get stronger."

The long-winded speech he wondered would answer the man, as he allowed himself to sigh slightly wondering if this was all pointless, he had come back empty-handed, had spoken to no-one instead just stumbled around in the wild without any real answer of solution to the questions he had. Leaning back in the seat he looked down at the table wondering if he was weak, or broken, he had left after all and had nothing to show for it. No that wasn't the truth behind that, he had Ishi, he had the start that had led to all the answers, as he wondered what cost it would have to show this, but he didn't have any choice right now, he had to show something for his work.

"Though I told the truth, Ishi attacked Kino, though the boy was not killed, I wonder if he every survived and recovered from the wounds, both physically and mentally, but that is a point for another day, I request that these cuffs are removed, and I can show you what started all of this, the path that I wanted to have no part attaching Konohas name to, maybe with this understanding you will see why I decided to try and expand the knowledge on my own?"

[MFT: 587]

 

[Keiji]

He scuffed at the suggestion to remove his cuffs. And again when he started babbling about showing him whatever it was he studied. "I think you misunderstand." He leaned in a little closer, his head just above Keiyaku. "Whatever knowledge, whatever thing you studied, is at risk of ending right now. Gone, forever." Standing up straight again he quieted his volume but his tone became more serious, yet he still reached up and rubbed his forehead in slight frustration, like he couldn't understand the actions Akira took. "The minute, no.. The second that you left your post, and walked out of those gates, you betrayed not only the Kage. You betrayed everyone, every living soul within this village, these are the people, the Shinobi, and the comrades that would gladly walk with you through fire, take a jutsu for you to keep you alive, and right now.." he raised his eyes to meet Akira. "Every single one of them would rather have you hanged or killed out on the streets for being a traitor."
He paused and his seriousness took a more sinister turn. "Right now, if the other villages turned you away, you have absolutely nothing. Whatever knowledge you may hold can be burned up with your carcass within a minute from now."

He lowered his hand, and he said in a slight conspiratioral manner "The only option you have right now.." He beckoned towards the door leading out of the interrogation chamber with an open palm like a head being served on a silver platter to a lord. "Beyond forcing your way out, killing as many as you can as you try to make your way.." turning his palm over to indicate his own chest "Is me. I am your golden ticket, your life is in my hands." at the last word he moved his palm out slightly and squished Akira's proverbial soul within his fist. "Within my power I can lead you out of here and do what I do best, and make sure the people and the Shinobi out there within Konoha won't come charging for your head.."

He pointed up with his index finger as a manner of stopping whatever thoughts might be crossing Akira's mind. "I have a simple request, you tell me everything you know currently on the subject you were studying, down the smallest detail, I will know if you're lying.." His Byukugan eyes glowed vividly a blue sheen and his muscles around his eyes contracted, then released to prove a point. "Or keeping secrets.." He gripped the table edge and got in a little closer, not close enough for any physical contact, but close enough to where Keiyaku would no longer be in focus for Akira at all. "On the honor of my life and rank, if nothing you say is deemed worth it, or if the subject you are studying holds no interest for me, your life is forfeit and the Shinobi of Konoha gets their execution of a traitor out in the open." Closing his eyes in slight solace and breathing a deep sigh. Then opening again, revealing an intrigued glare of someone that's seen the worst the world could cook up, seen the death of hundreds of comrads all for the sake of progress and scientific study "But if it does interest me. And if it does seem worth studying, you'll be walking out of here, as my student, and you'll be allowed to study it further, with as few limits as possible, within reason, and you could even be granted official study and diplomatic passports to see if the other villages holds any more knowledge, you'll be able to accomplish the entire basis of your departure in the first place.. But again.." He smiled crookedly like a mad scientist finding a new test subject. "You'll be answering to me.. Directly."

He stood up, turned, walked to the wall, leaned on it, with his face partially covered, only revealing his mouth by the shade of the lamp hanging above the middle of the room.

"You may begin."

 

[Yamamoto Akira]

Sighing to himself he pondered the words, most of it was true he had to know that deep down inside of him he had an understanding of that at least, and knew that in most situations he would have been killed, or to be fair more likely be the one doing the killing but that was another story or another matter on its own. As he sat there he allowed himself to sit back in the chair at the offer, it wasn't surprising but at least it came from the horse's mouth, it seemed the truth and the story behind that would be an indication if he were going to get through this alive or not.

"Well, I guess it starts within the Medical Branch, my studying, training and even the books that I read all pointed to the suggestion that chakra could be twisted, changed and darkened if you will, so with that in mind I studied this, it opened up with the learning and understanding of curse seals, pushing someone's power to the extreme, allowing them to access things that they would have considered to be locked with the small sacrifice to their body, some damage in the long run, a trade if you will."

He remembered testing that he had carried out, and how it had started him in the race for time, how it had exposed what he was doing and forced him to move more quickly than he would have liked to admin, no this situation had made sure that he was going down this path full well, those memories still wounded him, the punishment he had gotten for what he considered helping someone.

"That is when Konoha first punished me, I gave someone what they asked for a Curse Seal in return for a contract, and experiment if you will for both of us, though I was instantly on the radar of some who would want to chase me, so I sped up my learning processes when the body of an ANBU Captain landed on my desk, Ishi to be exact. So I allowed myself to learn how to bring a soul to serve once more even after death, I used him as a test subject and made sure that he was mine to command, after all even in death we should serve the village, so with my studies, understanding and with this experiment being a success, I became what is considered and discussed in books as a Dark Sage."

He sighed leaning back in the chair, as he considered all the actions that had gotten him here, and everything that he had come to learn and had to forget about on the path to this point, he knew full well that he had given the truth of his abilities, and of what he had done to a former soldier of Konoha.

"Your very branch was rapidly searching me out, so instead of punishment, I decided to go for research, instead taking to the road, running away and trying to learn, however, I was stopped at every turn, I was turned away, or just ignored and thus I came home, failing to research, and knowing that I would forever be hunted if I didn't so here I am, a Dark Sage, and now with the ability to stop duty ending even with death, instead seeing the abilities that those that fall can offer a village, though crude, soldiers with skill or abilities should give to the village even when they die do you not think?"