Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.
Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.
Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.
The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.
Takayama leaned back on one of the inflated rubber balls which had recently replaced nearly every proper chair, stool, and zabuton in the entire Sileo. He wasn't sure who was behind the change, nor the precise rationale underlying the decision, but the person--or persons, who knew what could happen, after all--was probably a sadist.
That meant very little within the village of Cloud and its ANBU in particular. One could make a case for every last fighting man and woman to be at least somewhat sadistic. Among them, then, shinobi must be more sadistic. And among that group, why, ANBU had to be the most sadistic of all, right? But this person had to be possessed of a particularly sadistic sense of humor even among those who put the sade into sadism. At least the balls--the captain allowed himself one small smirk--provided an occasion to maintain one's core strength without attending one of the Commander's exercise sessions. Moreover, one could bounce, or perform a variety of odd exercises, and the hilarity of watching people fall off whenever their attentions wavered simply did not fade.
This room had about a dozen huge balls... Positioned at the tables where his erstwhile students would sit for the duration of the class (excepting, of course, anyone who became a live example). Behind the captain was a blackboard, clean as though it had never been used. Ah, punitive labor... It was a blessing.
As had become the fashion lately, Takayama had bid the ANBU courier service to notify eligible trainees and mempo of the subject, date, and location of the course a few days in advance. Last he'd heard, the messengers were abusing paper jutsu to get the word out, but this time he had the impression that their tactics had changed to a more subtle brand of insanity. Occasionally, trainees in the hall would startle or freeze, responding only to some sort of internal stimuli. By Takayama's guess, that meant word was getting out via single-target auditory and visual genjutsu. Many courier-nin had found that genjutsu were among the most useful techniques for communications... So no doubt there were several exquisitely practiced illusionists among the ranks. No one would escape unscathed.
Why, he'd even heard of a massive shared hallucinatory event at one of the ANBU bars topside. Not that Takayama ever frequented such shady dives himself... Any place in the civilian sphere that embraced a clientele as notorious as the ANBU was essentially not a place the Captain wanted to while away his time.
Ayumu traversed the halls of the Sileo, checking rooms here and there as he went along. He stopped in the cafe, searching for the object of his desire. All he wanted on that day was a normal chair, nothing more! Even his own quarters had been violated by the chair swapping fiend. In place of his plain chairs that surrounded his small table had been two ridiculous inflated balls. He wasn't even sure what they were for. Was he really supposed to sit on them? He was supposed to balance on them while he was trying to eat some cereal? Preposterous! Chairs were for sitting and relaxing, not whatever the hell those balls were used for.
Turning a corner, Ayumu walked straight in to one of those damn balls and nearly fell over it. Regaining his footing, he looked up to find the room before him full of inflatable balls. There were literally a hundred of them packing the floor of the room, some stacked on others. 'What the hell is this?!' Ayumu thought, distraught. Backing away, his foot bumped in to another ball. He turned around to find the corner he had just come from missing. Looking around, he was in a room with no exits or windows, only a floor full of inflatable balls. Every time he turned his head he found more of them- the amount increased each time. Though he never saw it happen, they seemed to be appearing out of thin air.
'What is happening!?' he thought, beginning to panic. As he looked around, the amount of inflatable balls was becoming overwhelming! The room was filling with them, they were creeping in on him! Soon there would be no room left! Ayumu produced a kunai from his holster and brandished it, his eyes wild. "DIE, DAMN YOU!" he shouted, lunging forth at the nearest inflatable ball with his eyes closed. He heard a pop, and as he opened his eyes he found only one inflatable ball, deflated before him. Blinking a few times, he noticed an envelope hidden in the torn remains of the ball. Realization quickly set in. "Oh goddammit..."
Picking up the envelop he used his kunai to quickly open it and pulled out a very simple piece of paper with instructions to attend a class and a certain time and place. As soon as he was done reading it, Ayumu dropped it to the floor. Naturally it caught fire and he quickly stomped it out. Sighing, he picked up the whole mess he had made and walked it to the nearest garbage can before heading in the direction of the class. It would be starting soon, but he was close, so he would be early.
Reaching the classroom a few minutes later, Ayumu opened the door to a horrible sight. The room was full of inflatable balls. 'Someone is screwing with me!' he thought. Surely that had to be the case, nobody would just replace all the chairs in the Sileo with these horribly useless things. Enraged, Ayumu dashed forward in to the classroom, roaring violently. "RAAAAAAAAHH!" he yelled, kicking the closet inflatable ball as hard as he could. It flew in to a wall and bounced off, rolling across the room. Puffing up his chest proudly, he looked around the room and finally noticed Takayama Shimada, an ANBU Captain... quite possibly the one teaching the class that would be taking place soon.
"Oh... hello Captain Takayama. I'm uh... here for the class," Ayumu said awkwardly, knowing full well the captain had just witnessed his apparent act of random inflatable ball violence. To make matters even better, nobody else was in the room. It was just the two of them. Awesome.
Takayama had begun picking at his cuticles as the clock ticked down to "nobody's showing up, sorry taichou-sensei" time when, suddenly, the door opened. He dropped his hands into his lap so nobody would get the wrong impression... But it seemed that wouldn't be a problem. He blinked wisely as a young man entered with a primal scream and assaulted one of the balls like it had attacked his nin-ken.
"Oh..." The trainee said into the silence. Takayama cleared his throat. "Hello Captain Takayama. I'm uh... Here for the class."
"Thank you for coming to my class," Takayama replied, and added in a most serious tone, "I see they've gotten to you as well." He nodded meaningfully to one of the balls. One never knew who was watching. Was this the work of the Interesting Times Gang? A mystery for the test of time to solve, he mused.
"Well, perhaps today's class will help give you the tools to get to the bottom of this... You are Kogami-san, yes? Well... I intend to teach about interrogation--putting someone to the question, in this case, rather than resisting, which will be a different class." He leaned over to his left to see if anyone would show up behind Kogami.
Apparently not, he decided a few seconds later.
A few more beats of time passed.
"Well. I guess it's just you and I today, Kogami-san. Just as well--things will be more efficient. Please interrupt at any time with questions. I hope to give you a good understanding of the principles." He took a deep breath before launching into his customary spiel.
"Kumogakure does not officially sanction physical extremity, especially that which involves death, mutilation, or sexual assault. The norm in such practices is to inflict the correct amount of psychological stress to gain information. Information derived based on fear of torment may be unreliable, as a subject is likely to lie--either pleading ignorance, trying to plant false information, or simply trying to tell you what he thinks you, the interrogator, would like to hear. We do not want low quality information, so using one's best judgment in weighing whatever information you receive from an interrogation session... Is of utmost import.
"Before I jump into some basics, if you don't mind me asking--have you either been the target of, or participated in, a questioning that has been more than a simple debrief or interview? You're not obligated to answer."
“But nee-chan, I don’t wanna go to school!” protested the one-eyed girl, her ahoge flapping around in displeasure as she desperately held tight to her bedpost and struggled against a woman who pulled at her legs with ferocious strength.
“Look, Eru, this isn’t a question of want! You have to go or else the voices won’t stop! Don’t you want them to stop?!” asked Morishima Haruka, buntaichou in rank and acting squad captain of the Sword of Damocles Rapid Deployment Force squad. The one-eyed girl she pulled at, Natsume Eru, a mempo in the same squad, squealed in annoyance.
“That’s okay! I’ll just plug my ears forever!” she protested.
“Plugging your ears doesn’t make a genjutsu stop! Either go to class or go insane!”
“I’d rather go insane then!”
“Arrrggh!!!” growled Haruka, redoubling her efforts to no avail. Eru, as a Tsuchimikado, or ”Qwaser” in the guttural languages of the West, could stick like glue to any metallic object she touched, which included her bedposts. Suddenly, the Captain had a bright idea… “Look, Eru, if you go, then Moro-nii-chan will definitely start to like you more! He’ll say things like ‘what a smart and diligent imouto I have! Now I have to cover her with kisses!’ or something like that!”
Eru let loose her grip a tiny fraction of an angstrom. “You really think so?” she asked, pouting.
“Yes, I’m absolutely certain!” sighed Haruka, trying not to roll her eyes. Suddenly, Eru let go of her covalently-bonded death grip on the steel post of her canopy bed and the two women crashed to the floor in a jumble of limbs and underwear.
“Okay, but you’d better tell Moro-nii-chan I was there!”
“Eru, stop talking into my crotch. In fact, get dressed for Shinbatsu’s sake! You’re already late to Takayama-taichou’s class! Hurry!”
“Alright alright! …I’m so hungry, nee-chan!” said Eru as she scrambled upright from the rather compromising position she had fallen into and started to pull on a standard issue battle miniskirt and a gray training tank-top marked with the winged skull and crossed swords of the Kumogakure ANBU on the back. Taking a look at her plate carrier, she decided not to take it along, instead only snapping her pistol belt around her waist. From it, dangled her 10mm caliber Gateru “Delta Elite” crossbolter, seemingly oversized on her small frame.
“You still look sloppy, but there’s no time! If you’re hungry, pick up something from the canteen. It’s on your way! Now go!” demanded Haruka to Eru as the younger girl sped out the door.
A bit later...
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"… either been the target of, or participated in, a questioning that has been more than a simple debrief or interview? You're not obligated to answer…” was all Eru could pick up as she hurriedly entered the yoga ball-festooned classroom, a piece of toast still clenched in her teeth as that was all she could find in the canteen in her haste. Noticing Takayama’s severe expression and the unfortunate lack of attendance that would only make her lateness more apparent, she blushed furiously and bowed deeply.
“Omen nashai, shenshei!” she yelped, realizing that the toast was still in her mouth. Blushing even more, she immediately jammed the rest of the toast into her gullet, chewing furiously as she rushed to take a seat next to Ayumu. He was a welcome sight, despite all the embarrassment she had just endured. He had fought alongside her on the Raiden’s Breath, and they had both survived the assault by Makoro’s henchmen as well as the catastrophic derailment. Also, he had a cute, nerdy charm that was absolutely moe. “Kogami nii-san, fill me in, please?!” she whispered to him.
Yes, this was definitely awkward. There was a moment of silence before the captain responded, welcoming Ayumu to the class. Ayumu cast his gaze downward, avoiding the man's eyes with shame over his attack on the inflatable ball a moment ago, then looked up with a feeling of kinship when he mentioned that the replacement "chairs" had also gotten to him. "Right?!" he said enthusiastically, glad to know someone else felt the same way. He sighed and shook his head as he walked over to one of the balls and gave it a long, hard, begrudging look before biting his lip and lowering his rump to sit on it. It sank just slightly and rolled a bit as he sit, causing him to plant his feet firmly to avoid having it roll out from beneath him. These things were definitely not ideal for sitting on. He began to fantasize about waits to deflate every ball in the Sileo, then the captain spoke again, breaking his train of thought. He was surprised, and happy to find that the man knew his name. That meant he was doing something right, probably! Or he was doing something wrong- he preferred the former of the two ideas. Apparently he'd be learning a thing or two about interrogation today, something he knew not enough about. This would be an interesting class- far better than the last!
After waiting just a bit longer, the captain began. Ayumu looked around to make sure, but he was apparently the only one who was going to show up... at least on time. That was slightly depressing, and it seemed weird to be the only one in a class, but there were benefits. In the last class, it had felt like things dragged slightly, the reason being because there were so many present. After each question, the commander paused for responses, giving all time to respond, but most just stared with a dumbfounded expression. He had felt bad for her about that. At least, for Takayama, there would be only Ayumu to wait for, and he was always prompt with his responses if he had them. He usually did. Yes, Ayumu was the ideal student, if he did say so himself. The last time, when he was a little tardy, hadn't been his fault. He had made up for it by responding to all of the questions promptly, even if he had to guess. Now that was a good student! Wait, what was that the captain had just said about sexual assault? 'Wait, what was he saying just now? Shit!' Ayumu thought, resolving afterwards to pay attention. He gathered that what the captain was saying was that information gained from physical torture was likely to be unreliable and that one needed to be cautious about how they got information from a suspect. 'Suppose that's why I'm here,' Ayumu thought.
The captain asked a question, and as he did a late arrival hurried in to the class. He recognized her instantly as Eru, one of his sempai that had been on Raiden's Breath with him. The first thing he noticed about her was that she had a piece of toast in her mouth. This was commendable, Ayumu had to admit. There was no better way to carry toast, no better way to arrive late. He didn't answer the captain's question immediately, as he watched Eru apologize with the toast in her mouth obscuring her words. Ayumu held back a laugh as she rushed to sit down at the seat inflatable ball next to him. She asked him to catch her up on what she'd missed in a hushed whisper. He wasn't really sure why she was whispering- it was just the two of them and the captain, and the room was silent aside from her whisper. The captain would hear her clearly undoubtedly. Now that he thought about it, why was she there? Wasn't she already an ANBU? He guessed she just felt like a refresher course.
"Captain Takayama here was just explaining to me that using the proper methods to extract information from a suspect is vitally important for the sake of getting reliable intel," Ayumu said to her quickly, not bothering to whisper back. Now that she was caught up, Ayumu would return to the question he had just been asked. "No, I've never been interrogated... well, of course they asked me a number of questions when I joined as a trainee, but I was a willing participant in that. I've had some basic instruction in resisting such things, but never been in a situation like that," he answered, realizing that on the subject of interrogation his knowledge and experience were quite limited. The questions he'd been asked when trying to enter ANBU were the closest it got, but it had really just been an interview.
"Captain Takayama here was just explaining to me that using the proper methods to extract information from a suspect is vitally important for the sake of getting reliable intel," sniffed Ayumu, much to Eru’s consternation. Sure, they were the only two students in class, but he could at least pretend to whisper back to her at the very least to show some solidarity! The girl closed her eye and puckered her mouth in consternation. Hmmph! Onii-san is just too cool for school, she thought angrily, as she bounced on the yoga ball.
She quickly realized was that it was markedly difficult to maintain one’s balance on the things without spreading one’s legs – problem was, she was wearing a miniskirt. Her thigh muscles ached as she attempted to right herself from her body’s inevitable tendency to fall to the sides, all while keeping her thighs clamped together so as not to appear to be a little trollop. As Ayumu gave the blandest of responses to the Captain’s question, Eru started to sweat a bit at the realization that she would inevitably and loudly crash to the floor at this rate and thus show everyone in the room her pantsu. The worst part was that she was wearing one of her lacier pairs, too!
Perhaps I can just…maybe spread my legs a bit and push the front of my skirt in front… she thought. If I do it slowly, no one will notice, she thought, her weak core muscles burning with lactic acid metabolism. With trepidation, she started to inch apart her thighs, while subtly moving her hands to the front. As she stole a glance over at Ayumu, however, she could swear that he was looking at her and licking his lips! She gasped in horror and slapped her legs shut, a look of annoyance on her face. Now Takayama seemed to be looking at her expectantly, probably for an answer.
“Oh, uh, sensei, I’ve never been interrogated by an enemy before either,” she said, sounding a bit constipated. “The closest I ever got was that stupid simulation in the academy where they bend you over a table in a closet and threaten to rape you unless you give up the location of 'package X' or something,” she said, referencing an exercise that academy students underwent with the goal of inuring them to the fear of sexual assault as a means of coercion. The lesson was that the mission was more important than what went in one’s genitals, but since the exercise had become so widely known-about at the academy, it had lost its fearsome aura (mostly because nothing actually horrible happened). These days, the students’ responses had become almost farcical, with each student attempting to out-troll the others in how outrageous or situationally inappropriate they could be to the group of sensei playing the part of would-be attackers.
Most of the materials used in this topic to discuss torture and interrogation techniques were lifted from the U.S. CIA's Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual published in 1983. This manual was further distilled from U.S. Military Intelligence field manuals written in the 1960s for "Project X." This manual was used as part of the School of the Americas training program to train personnel from Latin American nations, including, most infamously, Honduran intelligence officers. The content of this manual would later become a key piece of evidence in the 1988 Senate Intelligence Committee Hearings. These manuals are now declassified and in the public domain thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.
Takayama Shimada
"That is fortunate," Takayama replied. "Well, that makes the class a bit easier for me, yet maybe more difficult to truly understand for you--at least until you find yourself in such a position." The young operative seemed to be having a hard time with the ball, worse than the trainee. He wondered if perhaps he should have done a course on enduring torture rather than inflicting it.
"Allow me to begin at the beginning. The use of force, psychological torture, threats, insults, and unpleasant and inhuman treatment in order to interrogate is immoral. Putting that aside, we live in an imperfect world. We make use of what tools we may. They are not always ideal tools, and we are not always ideal people. Our experience indicates that use of force is not usually necessary to gain a subject's cooperation.
"When we discuss torture, we talk in terms of subjects, not of people. The dehumanizing element is a vital psychological aid for any interrogator. If you consider the reasons why, they become obvious. Empathy in these conditions can be dangerous to the extreme. This side of a shinobi's work requires perhaps more ability to compartmentalize than almost any other task besides politically motivated assassinations.
"The use of force is inexact. The results can be unreliable, may make subsequent efforts difficult or impossible, and can induce the subject to tell lies in order to please the interrogator.
"Do not confuse use of force with psychological ploys, trickery, and other nonviolent, non-coercive methods you may use in an interrogation. What we are discussing right now is torture, not lying, trickery, or rhetoric. Torture is an art; it is a black art. Those who practice this art are forever stained by it. Torture plants hooks in the souls of the practitioner and the subject. Short of wiping those memories, and even still... Nothing can undo the damage. Interrogation and torture are complex. They involve building a relationship between the questioner and the subject. That relationship will last even beyond the death of one of the parties.
"Relying on torture is taking a shortcut, and it corrupts. Those who use it become tempted to see it as a fast, effective, expedient way of learning what they want or need to know. Inevitably, the temptation is succumbed to. Career torturers are often unstable and begin to enjoy the means rather than simply seeking the ends. This type of person is not one which any of you should become. That said..." Takayama looked around at his erstwhile students, remembering his own time in this room. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
"That said, there are two types of interrogation. Coercive--which is torture--and non-coercive, which is what one might usually think of as the non-euphemistic interrogation.
"During this discussion, we will go over these topics as they relate to coercive techniques: reactions to pain and fear; the effects of debilitation and isolation; hypnosis and narcosis. Those who have most refined our understanding of torture have been medical ninja and other physicians, scientists, and researchers."
He executed a few seals which caused definitions to form on the chalkboard. "Let us begin with building a common language.
"Information is raw data obtained from a variety of sources--rumors, informations, prisoners, and so on. It may be accurate, inaccurate, incomplete, or some mixture of these. Intelligence is the result of analyzing all of the information collected on a given topic. Questioning is obtaining information by direct interview of a person under conditions fully or partially controlled by the questioner, or believed by that person to be under the questioner's control. Questioning is reserved for subjects who are suspects, resistant, or both. The questioner is someone trained in the art of extracting information from a subject in response to explicit requirements. The subject may be cooperative or resistant. A questioning facility is a building or series of buildings designed to detain subjects and ease the questioning of subjects in order to gain maximum cooperation. The controls one gains by using a questioning facility are environmental, physical, and psychological.
"In contrast... An interview is obtaining information often not under controlled conditions, by questioning a subject aware of the nature and significance of his answers but not aware of the specific purpose of the interviewer. A debriefing is obtaining information by questioning a controlled and sometimes witting subject who is normally willing to provide the ddesired information. For example, a post-mission interview is a debriefing. A shinobi who is going in for a debriefing should be cooperative with the debriefer and provide information as accurately and completely as possible. On the other hand, a shinobi who is being questioned by an enemy questioner should not do these things.
"Elicitation is obtaining information without revealing the intent or exceptional interest of the questioner, through a verbal or written exchange with a subject who may or may not be willing to provide it if he knew the true purpose. There is nothing about this definition or technique which should be unfamiliar to anyone in this room: we have all sought, even as children, to elicit a response from someone without cluing them into why we want that response.
"What is control? Control is the capacity to cause or change certain types of human behavior by implying or using physical or psychological means to induce compliance. This compliance may be voluntary or involuntary. Control is difficult to establish without control of the environment. By controlling the subject's physical environment, we will be able to control his state of mind without resorting to risky and crude genjutsu.
"Requirements are the detailed demand from client agencies for specific information or for spotting potential assets.
"A subject is a person believed to possess information to the unit or branch questioning him. Verification is evidence or reliable information regarding a subject's identity, personal history, and intentions of good faith. Screening is the preliminary or entrance interview of a subject to obtain biographic and other background information. We commonly screen individuals interested in joining the ANBU, for example. An assessment is the analysis of the psychological and biographical data about a subject for the purpose of making an appraisal. The appraisal informs the method of questioning used."
He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then carried on. "Let's discuss the intelligence cycle. There are a few different stages. We begin by determining what we want to learn about--is there a crime? Do we suspect a crime will occur? Are we seeking evidence of foreign attacks or terrorist events in order to prevent them? Is there one we expect to occur which we are trying to learn more about? These are known as requirements. Standing requirements are information concerning subversive groups, terrorist actions, foreign attacks, and threats against the nobility and government. Specific requirements are information concerning a topic about which a subject has specialized knowledge. Once we've decided what the goal is, we start collecting information. The collection stage includes questioning, but may involve other sources of research such as books, espionage, et cetera. Collection provides information, but not intelligence." He held up two fingers.
"We record the information gained during collection, and then we process it." He held up a third finger. "Recording must be accurate and as complete as possible. Then we evaluate the information according to relevance and reliability. Lastly, the information is analyzed to determine its significance with respect to other information on the topic of choice."
He held up four fingers. "Then we disseminate information. Depending on the goal, dissemination may be only to a few individuals, or even only to the Raikage. It is not uncommon for multiple people to collect and process information on the same subject, but when internal controls are executed, no one collector or analyst should know what his fellows know. That is for the handler and whomever he reports to. No single handler may know every piece of information or intelligence about a given topic of interest, either. It is entirely possible to have an extremely complex intelligence-manufacturing operation in which only the person at or near the top of the pyramid knows everything. Your client agency may also choose to disseminate intelligence to everyone--but at a certain mission-critical point, in order to gain maximum leverage. This is a political matter when it occurs, and is beyond the scope of this class. Questions before I continue?"
After giving his response to the captain, Ayumu's eyes wandered back over to Eru. At this very moment, after having just finished speaking, he realized that he was feeling a bit parched. His lips felt a bit dry, so he wet them by licking his lips entirely coincidentally as he looked over in Eru's direction. As his eyes settled on her, she suddenly slapped her legs together and gave him an annoyed look. Ayumu, of course, had no idea what was going on in her mind. The troubles of sitting down while wearing a skirt were lost on him. He gave her a confused look and scratched his head as she gave her own response to the captain's question. She spoke of some simulation in the Academy where apparently a teacher threatened to rape her unless she told him where to find a package. Ayumu had never had such an experience, so he was left with three possibilities: A. He simply had never had that class. B. He had repressed the memory or C. There was a creeper among the academy teachers that had a thing for Eru.
He turned his attention back to Takayama as he began the core of his lecture. He had to admit, he was a little surprised to hear the captain say that torture was immoral. Perhaps it was just the reputation and stereotype of ANBU, but he had sort of expected ANBU to be okay with torture. Maybe that was a strategy in itself. If people thought ANBU were the type to torture, they'd keep their noses clean. From the sound of it, the reality was that torture was not ideal, but not out of the question. It was a last resort, and not regarded as the best way to get the most accurate information. The next point about the use of the word subject made sense. He didn't often use that word himself, but "target" was often used and held a similar purpose. A target wasn't a person, it was a target, so it was easier to kill it. 'Kinda disturbing when you think about it that way,' Ayumu thought as he busily sketched some notes on a small notebook he produced from his belt pouch.
The idea of becoming the kind of person that enjoyed torturing people was also disturbing. He knew he'd never be that kind of person himself. Ayumu was quite the sane and well rounded shinobi. He enjoyed the thrill and adrenaline that came with taking risks. There was nothing risky about torturing somebody- no part of the idea appealed to him at all. He had to admit he was glad to hear Takayama talking down on the idea of torture. If there was another way, he'd like to hear it. The purely academic part of the lecture came now, as the captain began to explain the different types of interrogation. There was the option of trying to force the answers out, and the option of tricking them in to giving you the answer. Before that, there were definitions that needed to be given so that the students would understand what the teacher was trying to tell them.
Ayumu busily scribbled down short definitions of the terms and concepts given. He was not the type to gain a lot just from listening to a lecture, but writing it down was a different story. He was talking quickly, though, and Ayumu was struggling to keep up. His pen worked furiously, scrambling across the page leading a trail of symbols and characters that only Ayumu would be able to decode. He had a lot of information to convey, so Ayumu tried to just get it all on paper and understand it as he went along. Then the question came for the "class". Any questions? Ayumu looked up from his notebook with a blank expression. 'Is it fine if I have no questions?" he wondered. This was information overload as it was, there was no reason to add more to the load.
"Uhh... so, what IS the best way to get information out of a 'subject' then?" he asked, just trying to ask something to show that he was engaged. There really was no need for questions, it seemed pretty straightforward, and Ayumu didn't think Takayama was going to leave anything important out if they didn't ask questions. He wondered if Eru had a question.
As Eru struggled to keep her balance on the interminably shifting exercise ball she wondered if in fact the decision to replace all chairs in the Sileo with these things was in fact a command from the higher-ups to reinforce the fact that torture was bad and that operatives should feel bad (about torture, hopefully). She cursed her short loli-legs that left her prodding at the floor with her aching toes. If Haruka were here she would have no problem at all, seeing as her legs were about as long as Shinbatsu’s golden member, which was to say very long and shapely. As Takayama-taichou continued his lecture about the differences between information and intelligence, as well as the different types of interviews and the nature of control, Eru grew increasingly tempted to just say “fuck it” and show Raiden and everyone her underwear so she could finally give her thighs and hips a rest.
Slut. 3D Pig Disgusting. You’re definitely not mai waifu now. Gin on the other hand is the purest and thus best girl, whispered Moro in her ear, causing Eru to banish the thought. No! Moro, like all men, wanted 2D perfection, not some underwear-flashing three dimensional whore, she chided herself in shame. This steeled her resolve – she would get through class with her purity intact and claim Moro for herself. So what if they never kissed? Most shounen characters never did, anyway.
Gritting her teeth, she refocused on Takayama-taichou. Ayumu’s formerly perverted expression had turned blank again, proving to her that he was a secret hentai master who probably browsed pornographic image servers in his free time but got away with it because he was good at hiding his “powerlevel”.
“I don’t have any questions, Taichou!” she said with somewhat forced cheer.
While in Kaminaru no Kuni there isn't extensive recognition of universal human rights, most of the real world has rules regarding the treatment of prisoners, citizens, and foreign national which would be broken by acting in the manner described in this post. Remember: your fictional ninja and NPCs are not protected by constitutions, bills of rights, or multinational treaty organizations.
Takayama Shimada
"Ah, that's a good question, Kogami-san. The best way to get information out of someone is for them to volunteer it, or to catch them in an incriminating act. Both of these may involve interrogation techniques, but there is no need to involve torture. Above all else, investigation may prove the most useful tactic in the greatest number of situations. Unfortunately, we live in an age where many of our investigation techniques are no longer as useful as they once were, thanks to changes in technology. But let's talk a little about interrogation in particular, among other things."
"Let's discuss legality. Shinobi of Hidden Cloud all have the authority to commit arrests upon reaching Genin status. You may arrest civilians or even other shinobi. Some mistakenly call this a "citizen's arrest." You can choose to think of it that way if you like, but it misses an important aspect of our function--we are essentially a part of the national militarized forces, and operate outside of not only the laws and norms of our country, but even outside of military law. The Hidden Village answers only to the Daimyo. Thus, you have the authority, if not necessarily the power, to arrest even nobility. In practice, exercising this authority is more difficult than it sounds, and it is not to be used lightly.
"Now, the legality of capturing, imprisoning, and questioning a subject is determined by the laws of the land you are in. You have no legal authority to detain a citizen of Fire Country and subject them to interrogation or torture. However, you may be ordered by a superior of Kumogakure to kidnap and interrogate a Fire Country citizen. Technically, this is an act of war. Depending on the extant treaties between our nation and Fire Country, however, it may not be treated as such--if we had an agreement regarding criminals between our two nations, for example, you could feasibly have the authority to arrest a Fire Country individual wanted for crimes within that nation, or within ours, and question him.
"It is important, then, that you be cognizant of applicable laws that govern how you are supposed to act with foreigners on our lands or theirs. That doesn't mean you will never be required to circumvent or violate those laws. You are simply responsible for knowing them. Do not assume that any liaison you have understands all of the relevant laws, either. You are responsible for knowing if your planned conduct is legal, whether you alone are going to arrest and question, or whether it will be done jointly.
"For our purposes, there is no limit on how long you may detain someone from our country. But if you work in another nation, things may be different. Is there a legal maximum time you can detain someone? Do any other factors pertain to whether you may detain someone? Are there laws about the treatment of such prisoners?
"Moreover, if you are working with a liaison, does the organization he belongs to have the authority to arrest in that nation? Does questioning a citizen require special approval? Illegal detention always requires prior approval, so keep that in mind. Do coercive techniques require prior approval there?
"The benefits of working with a proper liaison may include the legal authority to complete your orders, resources that can follow up on leads, provision of questioning and detention facilities, provision of support personnel--including medical and interpreter staff, access to records you can use to verify information obtained from the subject and additional information on the subject, et cetera. Diplomatic benefits are also a bonus, but beyond the scope of our discussion, again.
"Drawbacks are that a liaison might not understand the benefits of questioning--coercive or non-coercive, may lack appropriate training, may pressure you to use coercive techniques when they are not required or approved, corruption, compromise of operational integrity, withholding of vital information or intelligence, and political limitations imposed on cooperation. You may also not trust your liaison to maintain your and your subjects' security."
Takayama took a sip of his coffee. Cold.
"Well, I mentioned interpreters. Let's talk about what happens when you involve an interpreter. I know this is dry material, but it is important to know. Most people of the Great Nations all share the trading language, which is essentially a pastiche of historic languages, idioms, slang, and other forms of colloquialism. However, there may be a time when you require the assistance of an interpreter--for example, you are interrogating a citizen of Sand Village, and they will only speak their unknowable tongue at you. You will need the help of an interpreter who understands that language and can translate for you and the subject. An interpreter can be valuable asset in an interrogation, not only because they can help you with linguistic issues, but also because they can help with cultural ones--such as recognizing customs and traditions, and avoiding violating taboos. Unfortunately, the use of an interpreter cannot substitute for direct one on one communication between questioner and subject.
"Using a translator means the length of an interview will more than double. It is much harder to develop a rapport with the subject. Certain questioning techniques, such as rapid fire questioning, become essentially impossible. Gleaning implied information--from doublespeak, intonation, expressions, idioms--becomes almost impossible, increasing the likelihood of misunderstanding. An interpreter's presence may cause the subject to be less cooperative. The interpreter himself poses a security risk.
"You'll learn about selecting interpreters and other support another day, so let's move on." He shifted his papers for a moment. Additional text came up on the board.
"Of the four qualifications for a questioner, the last is the most important. Understanding the subject's motivations and character is the most useful tool you can have going into an interrogation."
"As in all things, your motivation corresponds to your success. The more determined you are to do a good job, the more likely you will, and this increases your subject's cooperation. This links up with perserverance on down the list. If you are easily discouraged by non-cooperation, you will not pursue the objective with due aggression, nor pursue other leads that could provide you with information.
"Alertness--you must pay attention to your subject. Do you think he is withholding information? Do you think he will resist more questioning? Be aware of your subject's stamina and ability to resist you, and always look out for contradictions or holes in his story. You should be paying attention to the subject's attitude and responses to your lines of questioning. What approach works best? Which is more likely to elicit cooperation or the type of response you need? Pay attention to body language and mood. If you work with patience and tact, you can create a more favorable condition for your subject to cooperate with you. This creates the idea that you are in control, not the subject; the more patient you are, the less the subject will resist you. Impatience will only make him less responsive to you. Appearance and manner--look professional. This includes your dress and grooming. A neat, organized appearing shinobi wearing a uniform will elicit a more favorable response than someone dressed outlandishly or slovenly. Be firm, deliberate, and business-like. You must use all tools at your disposal in order to create the correct atmosphere for a questioning. Your manner should reflect fairness, strength, and efficiency. This will promote cooperation from your subject.
"Credibility is also important. Have you promised your subject a reward for cooperation? It is essential that you follow through. Objectivity--this is about bias. Can you remain dispassionate in the face of your subject's emotional responses and your own actual or simulated emotional responses during the question? This ties into self control. Someone driven by passions is not a good questioner. An emotional person, or someone desperate or angry, should not conduct a questioning session. Avoid displays of genuine anger, irritation, sympathy, or weariness. You must maintain the initiative at all times.
"A good questioner is adaptable. He should be able to move between personas himself, and be able to adapt to the many types of personalities he encounters during his work. You should be able to change between techniques and approaches fluidly, and adapt easily to whatever type of operational environment you're in."
"Never mistake questioning as its own end. As you now know, it is only one part of the intelligence cycle--collection. The real value of the information you gain from an interrogation or interview can only be realized if you are able to effectively communicate it in a usable form to the appropriate people. You should be able to create and present reports, orally or in writing, in a complete, clear, concise, accurate manner. The best way to acquire these skills is to practice them--practice speaking, practice writing, and read--read reports that you are allowed to access, read historical texts, read copies of speeches.
"Your ability to speak other languages is self-explanatory, really. You won't need to use an interpreter, and your results will be more timely and complete.
"Specialized knowledge--you should understand your own organization and goals and those of your subject. Knowledge of your own social milieux--history, geography, culture--and that of your subject is useful in understanding your own goals and the nature of your subject. A resistant subject may be willing to discuss non-tactical issues related to his or your nation, and you may be able to guide that discussion gradually into your requirements and elicit useful information from the subject. The rest of these skills are similarly self explanatory, so we will not review them." Takayama cleared his throat.
"Now, you should remember that as a questioner, you are going to be in an oppositional relationship with your subject. This isn't necessarily because your subject is trying to withhold or mislead, but because your goals and his goals are different. Your goals are to gain facts about something you or your superiors think the subject knows about. But the subject doesn't share that goal. He is concerned about how you see him and what's going to happen to him. You can save time and effort by understanding your subject's needs and by relieving his fears when you question him. In an debriefing or interview, greet the subject by name--he will feel humanized and reassured by that, which can prevent irrelevant responses from the subject meant to prove his humanity.
"You may find you need to trick your subject into telling you the information you need, especially in counter intelligence, but if you can get him to want to tell you what you need to know, instead of figuring how how to trick him, you will save yourself a lot of time. However, if your subject is hostile, you will need to know how to manipulate him. Don't assume that your subject is immediately hostile, though. Using pressure tactics from the beginning may make a subject who might have been cooperative into a reticent, uncooperative subject. Try to at least appear to have good will towards the subject."
He shuffled his papers while balancing flawlessly on the inflated ball. "Now, next I plan to talk a little about control and detention, but why don't we pause for some questions first."
"Well, I didn't really think I had to be here, 'work experience' and all..." He brushed his hair to the side, cupping a hand over one side of his mouth in a crude Shakespearean aside, whispering to Ayumu and Eru "giving as well as receiving." with an added wink. "But, the voices wouldn't stop. So, here I am! What's good, trainee? What's shaking Eru-chan?" He extended his fist for a ***BROPOUND*** with each. He then turned and bowed respectfully to Captain Takayama before taking his seat, muttering under his breath about ergonomics.
"So, I don't really know what y'all have or haven't gone over yet, but I'm totally down for questions. Some of this stuff I've been wondering about for awhile.
"Question, Takayama-taicho: How do you draw the line in regards to information versus intelligence? Is the only difference processing? For example, if you intercepted a communication from a prime person of interest, stating a coded but decipherable date, time and contact of a meet, doesn't it then instantly become actionable intelligence?
"Question, Takayama-taicho: How do you kick a shitty liaison to the curb? Go above his head? Wouldn't that be almost as dangerous?
"Question, Takayama-taicho: So, you'd need a translator to turn Suna "mudspeak" into real words, right? For Konoha, couldn't you just capture a cow or pig or something and use it as your interpreter?
"Question, Takayama-taicho: What, in your personal experience, do you find the best way to start questioning? I know a good questioner has to be able to switch persona rather quickly, but is there a tried and true foundation at least? Usually I try and get on their good side, like we're buddies. Pretend I care about some made up sport they love and that some made up teams, with some made up senario, like, oh I don't know, the Hawks massively choked against the 9ers and now they're going to the RamenBowl. Right?" He turned to Ayumu for affirmation.
"I feel like the more a subject likes you as a person, and visa versa, the more disarmed they are during the encounter. I always feel like I have much more Control over someone in a casual encounter than in a interrogation room."<i></i> He glanced at Eru after realizing his zipper was undone and adjusting it.
"Umm...whoa, Eru--are you okay?" He whispered to her as the sensei prattled off answers, trying to look everywhere but directly at her.
As Takayama spoke, words seemed to filter in through one of Eru’s ears only to exit out of the other. Concepts like international liaisons, trade languages, social milieu, objectivity – the more she tried to think about them, the more her head hurt, and what was a pastiche, anyway? Some sort of tasty bread treat? Her stomach churned with hunger at the thought of eating wonderful, chocolate-filled pastries. After all, a mere piece of toast was most definitely not enough for your average Qwaser, no matter how you looked at it. She sighed to herself, inwardly. The concepts in this lecture were far above her level of understanding or willingness to integrate, and for this reason she would likely never progress to Takayama’s or Takaki’s rank. ANBU high command were warrior-scholars – she definitely lacked in the “scholar” part. It was okay, though, because she was happy to serve in her capacity, and life was truly sugoi when she had a certain Taigiushi Moro to impress!
"Well, I didn't really think I had to be here, 'work experience' and all..."
“Eep!” ejaculated the girl as Moro appeared suddenly in the classroom cracking dirty Elizabethan jokes like the scruffy rake he was. Her surprise nearly caused her to lose purchase on the perilous bouncy-ball that tortured her so, and as a result she had to grab onto Moro’s proffered fist to steady herself on the thing, causing her to blush furiously at the level of physical contact she had just made with him. “Gomen nasai!” she peeped at Moro, looking at the ground.
Fortunately, he did not seem to notice her embarrassment, immediately launching into a rapid-fire salvo of questions at Takayama, all of which were actually quite germane to the subject of the lecture. Without question, Moro was an unshaven ne’er do well and was probably screwing her squadmates on the side (minus Masao of course because just…no), but he possessed a razor’s wit and an intelligence to back it up, not to mention a charm that made Eru want to leap on him and… She realized her nose was bleeding, and immediately inhaled to suction the crimson clot back up into her nares before anyone realized it.
Stupid sexy Moro-nii-chan!” she thought, annoyed. To distract herself from further thoughts that would defile her purity (after all, with Haruka’s long-ass legs and refreshing in-your-face sexuality as well as Gin’s heroin-chic appeal and permanent facial expression that seemed to say ‘do me until I can see music’, what else could Eru offer? She was only a loli, after all), she concentrated on investigating the other trainee, Ayumu the uber-hentai. Jiiii, she thought as she stared at him.
Sure, Ayumu was good-looking – he had a boyish face and the black-framed glasses were absolutely cute, and even the snootiness with which he carried himself was actually kind of likable in the right context – but the thought of his “secret hobbies” late at night was simply too much! Hmmph. Someone should reform him from his pervy ways. Then he won’t be Onani Master Kogami anymore! I know, I’ll ask Masao-nii-chan to do it! I heard the Vice Commander was a SUPER pervert back then! She sighed to herself. Ayumu was cute, and perhaps if he’d enter SoD, then Moro would be forced to actually choose a girl. Haruka especially loved nerdy types like him, that was for sure, and she had heard that he’d carried Gin back to her apartment (oh Lordy) on the night of the War Dance event. She turned back to regarding Moro.
…who was busy zipping his pants up! A stream of blood erupted from her nose and she felt herself go lightheaded. The strain of sitting on the yoga ball was too much, and she fell into Ayumu’s lap. Baka Moro-nii-chan…look at me for once…
This was quite possibly the most informative lesson Ayumu had ever taken part in. His pen was a blur as it sped across the notebook, easily filling up a page as he struggled to balance and write at the same time. There was so much information to commit to his notebook, he could hardly keep up. He kept waiting for Takayama to ask if there were any questions, but it didn't seem to be coming. He flipped a page once again, starting at the top of a fresh page and continuing to write. Suddenly, he noticed the writing was becoming lighter. With every character it became lighter still. The pen was running out of ink. 'SHIT! Shitshitshitshitshit!' he thought as the writing became nearly invisible. He wanted to take a moment and shake his pen, but if he did he would fall behind in the writing.
The writing was now becoming more an indentation on the page than ink. He paused his writing and shook the pen furiously trying to get more ink to settle at the bottom and prolong his writing a bit longer. Did he have another pen? He wasn't sure, didn't have time to check. Takayama continued speaking, cruelly ignoring Ayumu's crisis with callous disregard. Ayumu began to scribble madly in the margin of the page, trying to coax the remaining ink out of the pen. He struck blue gold as the pen began to write once more, then he quickly picked up where he left off, hand flying across the lines of the page as he caught up, trying to remember what had just been said. His hand felt like it was no longer a part of his body. In addition to that, he now suffered from the constant terror that his pen would run dry once more. The time came for questions, and Ayumu tried desperately to think of something to delay him while he searched for another pen. 'Somebody help!' he begged in his mind.
That was when, like an angel descending from heaven, Tagiushi goddamn Moro entered the classroom brushing his hair to the side and whispering to the two battered students with a wink. Ayumu extended his fist quickly to connect with Moro in thanks. "What's up, sempai!" he said with a nod before quickly stuffing his hands in to his belt pouch, given the distraction he needed. Moro began to ask several questions as Ayumu searched desperately for another writing utensil. Obviously there was pretty much exclusively shinobi tools in his pouches, but he was sure there had to be something in there. Too many kunai and shuriken, that was for sure. He briefly considered using one to draw blood and writing in that, but decided that might be weird and ineffective.
Luckily, Moro had numerous questions in succession and did a lot of talking. Ayumu tried to listen as he searched for a pen, especially if Takayama answered in between. He talked about how he liked to do interrogations, which sounded like how Ayumu usually tried to start. To seem like a friend, if it was possible, seemed to work well. Moro started talking about hawks and something called 9ers and a bowl of ramen before asking Ayumu if he agreed. "Huh? Oh, right... yeah, damn hawks stealing our ramen," he said in response. Of course Ayumu had no idea what the hell Moro was talking about, but he nodded anyway with an awkward smile before he felt something like a pen in the bottom of his last pouch. He missed the interaction between Moro and Eru that would explain what was going to happen next.
For no perceivable reason, Eru had suddenly fallen in to Ayumu's lap from her yoga ball. Ayumu had no idea what the hell was going on, but his extreme overreaction to women touching him unexpectedly was as reliable as ever. "E-E-E-ERU-SEMPAI?! What are you doing?!" Ayumu panicked, throwing his hands in to the air and subsequently tossing the pen he had just found off in to the room somewhere. He wobbled shakily on the yoga ball he sat upon, losing concentration on his balance and then rolled off on on to his ass before crab walking backwards halfway across the classroom to get away. Having put some distance between himself and his attacker, he fell on his back and put a hand on his chest where he felt his heart racing unreasonably. Wait, where the fuck was his pen?
"Ah, Tagiushi-san. Kind of you to join us." Takayama noticed that the mempo did not have any trouble sitting on one of the inflatable balls at all. He's grown into a fine operative, the captain thought, satisfied. He weathered the disruption and barrage of distracting questions with his usual equanimity.
"Question the first. Information is simply raw data. Intelligence is information which has been filtered through the lens of context and has been fact-checked and evaluated for probable accuracy. An intercepted communique, even decoded, is simply information. When you put that communique into context and evaluate its utility, and decide that it is usable and perhaps actually reliable--then it becomes intelligence. Intelligence is analyzed information.
"Question the second. If your liaison is useless, there is likely a reason he or she was assigned to you. In that case, try to use the liaison to your advantage. Remember: a spy you know of is a tool.
"Question the third. You know we value and respect our Sunajin counterparts in the intelligence community, and that they claim that Runic Terran is the eldest language. Perhaps if your translator is transformed into a cow or pig, you might have the benefit of a disguised asset in the field.
"Question the fourth. Starting from a point of commonality and empathy provides the best results when such results may be had. Many subjects who would be resistant to a more aggressive line of questioning may be cooperative or even turn if you present a sympathetic face. That links with the notion of control."
He barely blinked as Eru keeled over from a fountain of blood erupting from her face. Perhaps if the young mempo had resisted the urge to entice her superiors with inappropriate garments, she would not have suffered the blood pressure event leading to her abrupt syncopal episode.
"E-E-E-ERU-SEMPAI?! What are you doing?!" The trainee panicked and nearly crawled up the nearest wall. Tut tut. Takayama found it best to not even acknowledge such cries for attention. If Ayumu ever needed to undergo a Q&A session, however, such information would be useful for his psych profile.
"The more control you establish over the environment, the more control you establish over the subject. Ideally, you create an environment where you can reliably capture all parts of the interrogation, including sound and visuals, not merely a transcript of the proceedings. I have more to say on the subject of environmental control, but that is for another course.
"While there are various types of jutsu one might use to, for example, attempt to replay the events of an interrogation to one's superiors, these methods suffer from a subjective point of view as well as being likely inaccessible if you happen to die or be incapacitated. A video record is best."
He leisurely removed a pen from his pocket and flipped it at Ayumu where he lay in the floor, dead on to tap the trainee between the eyes if he failed to catch it.
"I mentioned the difference between interrogation and coercion. Coercion, torture, pits the subject against himself and against a superior external force. Combined, these two forces wear down and can even destroy the subject's resistance. Some intelligence theories posit that non-coercive measures are less efficient as their selection and use must match an accurate psychological assessment of the subject, whereas coercive measures require less rigorous profiling and may work on very un-alike subjects with little to no customization.
"All theories, however, at least tacitly acknowledge that the most effective and efficient techniques apply as little pressure as is necessary: that is, a measured approach utilizing only necessary time, energy, and resources is superior to what one might call an "all out" approach involving, for example, the use of genjutsu, hallucinatory drugs, and infliction of devastating physical damage."
He bounced briefly, re-aligning his spine. No, the captain was certainly not unconsciously bouncing on the ball. Not at all.
"But what is the point of breaking down resistance? The point is to destroy the subject's faculty for independent thinking, to destroy her ability to reason. You must induce regression: to put the subject in a condition where her ability to cope is impaired. You make the subject dependent on you. Even relatively mild interruption of what the subject experiences as the norm--things most individuals take for granted--can induce impairment or imbalance which will cause the subject to slip.
"Subjects' responses to coercion generally contain three major elements: debility, dependency, and dread. Consider these three D's. A captured prisoner undergoing torture is almost certainly extensively disabled and likely unable to effect her own escape. She is not a useful asset to her original handlers in any near-term scenario and may be viewed as a liability. Any recovery effort may view her as a target simply to destroy, either because she is a liability or because she is considered a traitor. She is dependent upon her captors' pleasure for all things necessary to life. Her questioner is the source of nourishment: if the questioner is satisfied, her treatment improves. If he is disappointed, her quality of life declines, and sharply. Thus, it is not uncommon for a prisoner to experience warm feelings, and even guilt for being unable to satisfy the interrogator. Encouraging this feeling makes extracting useful information more likely.
"However, extending the three D's for too long may cause counterproductive psychological illness in the subject, such as catatonia.
"Back to the issue of control. The primary results of detention are first, to keep the subject within grasp, but second, to determine what stimuli the subject experiences when and to what degree. Typically one deprives the subject of accustomed stimuli, and induces noxious ones. Isolation induces a great deal of psychological stress on most humans, as we are social animals, and is thus the starting point for any interrogation. An isolated subject turns in upon herself, and projects whatever is within outside--fears, unconscious urges, memories--in other words, delusions, hallucinations. More rigorous sensory deprivation beyond simple isolation induces even stronger responses. This tactic works best on individuals who are relatively psychological well adjusted, in other words, "normal." Neurotic types and psychotics are less effected by these tactics.
"The principles revealed by research are thus: Swift confinement and swift, complete reduction of stimuli affects subjects more strongly in less time. Imagine that you were to, upon arresting a subject, whisk her away and detain her in an iron lung. A few hours of this treatment may be more valuable than weeks in an ordinary cell.
"The onset and strength of the anxiety reaction depends on the psyche of the subject. The questioner can use this anxiety: linking yourself with the reduction of anxiety links you with comfort and bequeaths to you a benevolent role. Your subject is thus more likely to cooperate.
"Deprivation induces regression. Thus, a calculated use of stimuli--human contact, relief of boredom, enjoyable food, comfortable clothing, permitting sleep--gives you a paternal air. This also helps to induce cooperation.
"The threat of torture itself can weaken or destroy resistance more effectively than torture itself. What a subject may imagine is awaiting him is also a weapon--a weapon wielded by the subject's own mind against herself. In this, too, the subject turns inward. A subject's fears are best wielded by her own hand. This fear also induces regression. In such a case, inflicting the punishment may even come as a relief--as most people's capacity for enduring pain is greater than they know. In fact, brutality typically creates only defiance.
Just as quickly as the blood loss had made Eru swoon and fall into Ayumu’s lap, something else made all of the blood in her body (not on the floor – she wasn’t a Chigokai ) instantly rush back into her head. Specifically, something in the boy’s lap that was not only unnaturally hard, but also rather painful to fall onto especially since it had jabbed her in the ear. Despite looking like a cute loli-imouto-type, Eru was actually quite well-versed on exactly what that rigid, totemic item was and reacted in the only appropriate fashion found in the shounen genre.
“H- H- H-H-Hentai! Baka Hentai!” she gasped at Ayumu, pointing angrily as she immediately righted herself, clamping her legs shut like a steel trap. Ah, it felt so good to finally be off that Yoga ball, too. “You-you-you subway groper! You Pedobear! Onani Master Kogami! Die!” she spewed, her face blushing deeply red. Some rational part of her reminded her that it was probably not a good idea to wish death on a fellow corpsmember, and she relented a bit. “I-I know you c-can't control yourself, Kogami-nii-san, being a gigantic pervert, so I'll forgive you... It's just that... I’m s-s-saving myself for Moro-nii-chan!” she said, sniffling.
The shame was unbearable. She could not look at Moro in her present state, especially because he had probably seen her pantsu when she had fallen off of that ball. And no, she would not go and do the logical thing and excuse herself to pull some sweatpants on under her skirt, because that was an absolutely hideous fashion mistake and there was no way in hell that Moro would ever want to go out with someone who dressed so damned blindly and without regard for the rules of miniskirt-wearing.
It’s okay, Eru, sounded Haruka’s voice in her head. Moro, like all other men in our genre, is so dense that even if you were to ask him to sleep with you, he’d probably respond with something like: ‘But Eru, I’m not sleepy!’ Keep your chin up, squirt! said her older companion. Of course, this was not actually Haruka communicating by telepathy, but rather one of Eru’s unconscious defense mechanisms to prevent her from ending up a total retard like, say…Ringo.
Takayama, unfazed by the shenanigans his 'students' were getting up to, continue on with the lesson as if nothing was happening. He continued on with answering Moro's questions in a very orderly fashion. Ayumu, by now, was on the ground against a wall trying to get away from Eru. In response, Eru had started yelling at him, calling him all sorts of names while blushing. In the end, not only was he an idiot and a pervert, he was s ubway groper (whatever a subway was), a pedophile bear (okay?), a an onani master, and a gigantic pervert. Also, she apparently had a thing for Moro, like all of the female ANBU apparently did. He glanced over at Moro, the bearded rugged man. He wasn't sure how he did it, but apparently he was god's gift to women. His respect for the man went up just a bit. But this was not the time. These were some serious accusations Eru was throwing at him, and she was the one that had suddenly jumped on his lap! "But you were th-" Ayumu started. He had just opened his mouth to retaliate when suddenly a pen struck him square between the eyes just missing the band between the lenses of his glasses.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, looking for the source of the assault. His eyes found Takayama, still giving the lesson without missing a beat. Why had he thrown something at Ayumu? Was he trying to add to his embarrassment? 'What was that anyway?' Ayumu wondered, looking down at the pen that had fallen on to his shirt. 'Oh! A pen! So he was looking out for me! How could I have doubted Captain Takayama?' he said, looking up at the man gratefully. He was still talking. 'Holy shit, nothing fazes this guy,' Ayumu thought, scrambling to his feet and back over to his chair ball. He sat down and grabbed his notebook from the floor, opening it once more to continue his notes. Eru was distracting him, and he thought it must be on purpose. He wasn't sure why she wanted him to miss the captain's important words, but he looked straight ahead, trying to avoid falling in to her trap once again. He focused once more on Takayama, who was currently bouncing on his ball. Ayumu stifled a laugh.
The subject was now on breaking down a subject and making them more easily influenced- and interrogated. As dark as it sounded, it seemed like it would be effective. He was no scholar, but even Ayumu had heard of this phenomenon of the victim developing some strange feelings for the captor. It sounded like some kind of syndrome, if he had to guess. He thought it had applied to kidnappers, but he could see how ANBU might themselves be kidnappers in a sense. The whole goal was to get the cooperation of the subject, to make them want to help. As Takayama had said, he easiest way to get the information was for the subject to offer it. Ayumu kept on writing as quickly as he could- then a question was raised for them. A threat? What made a threat effective? Ayumu tapped his pen against his lip, trying to think.
"I suppose... for a threat to work, the subject has to fear what you're threatening, and believe that you will follow through," Ayumu guessed. He put his hand back on his paper, preparing to write again. For a minute or so, there hadn't been any distractions. Perhaps the class would proceed uninterrupted!
From what he could gather, Takayama-taicho was saying that if you were able to control literally everything, what the subject was or wasn't allowed to feel, what they ate, when they slept and where they were located, the chances of your success became exponentially greater. Thinking of the greatest con-artist he knew, his brother Orojin, their tactics seemed breathtakingly similar. If it were up to Moro, force of any kind would be used as an absolute last resort for when everything was FUBAR. The only question was how to get a prisoner to buy into an elaborate con. Anxiety of any kind would be compounded if a subject was left to their own devices. Moro could already tell any kind of questioning he personally fielded, the goal would be go to full Stockholm on their asses.
An alarming amount of blood came out of Eru's nose, she fell backwards onto Ayumu and showcased her sweetest of spots for a brief moment, Moro could only stare, jaw completely relaxed and open, drool trickling down the corner of his lip for a good 10 seconds. When both of them recovered, she began screaming obscenities at the trainee, and not gonna lie, a good half of them at least seemed pretty accurate. It wasn't too difficult to picture Ayumu hunched over a comic book, 3D paper tentacles popping up from the page if you moved the slider at the bottom...Only confirmed in Moro's mind by the irrational fear he displayed by touching an actual lady. Eru then revealed who she really had her eye on.
"Huh?...What?..." Moro glanced around the room, looking for someone else named Moro. Finding no one, he placed his chin in his palm and pensively pondered, trying to think of other members of the corps with his name. Did she mean Mortimer, the gravedigger of the military cemetery? Everyone called him Mor for short, his full Western name tripped up most tongues. She very well could have mistakenly added the 'o'. Mortimer is kind of old, and a tad on the creepy side sometimes, but overall is a nice enough fellow I suppose. I half expected her to say she was saving herself for Saito."Congrats Eru-chan! He's sure to say yes if you gun for him like a shark with blood in the water!" slapping her on the back good-naturedly. Pun totally intended. Bajunkajink."Gotta love a girl who knows what she wants!" He chucklegrunted.
"I would think an effective threat would be the concept of showing, not telling. The difference being-telling someone calmly you are going to punch them in the face, versus acting in an erratic, frightening manner that showcases you intend to do a subject physical harm. Unpredictability would have to be a huge factor in making a threat of any kind, and you would have to know that you are going to lose any confidence gained...
"Unless you could do it in such a way that made it seem like you were on the subjects side the entire time. Telling a child to 'sit still or no dinner' in their chair at the dentists office is only going to provoke rebellious action, the consequences are negative either way. To ask them to sit still so you could give them their filling correctly so they don't have to come back would placate even the most ornery of subjects. The subject feels like they have a choice the entire time, and is guided to the win-win outcome for both parties."
Ah, romance. Takayama rather missed the days of intelligence analysis in the interests of lust... But the average age in the room was too low to really be a viable playing field for the captain; he imagined that the undercurrent of revulsion he felt for even entertaining the notion was probably the same kinds of feeling a parent would have.
"I suppose... for a threat to work, the subject has to fear what you're threatening, and believe that you will follow through," Ayumu replied after righting himself.
Moro, as ever, took a different approach. "I would think an effective threat would be the concept of showing, not telling. The difference being-telling someone calmly you are going to punch them in the face, versus acting in an erratic, frightening manner that showcases you intend to do a subject physical harm. Unpredictability would have to be a huge factor in making a threat of any kind, and you would have to know that you are going to lose any confidence gained...
"Unless you could do it in such a way that made it seem like you were on the subject's side the entire time. Telling a child to 'sit still or no dinner' in their chair at the dentists office is only going to provoke rebellious action, the consequences are negative either way. To ask them to sit still so you could give them their filling correctly so they don't have to come back would placate even the most ornery of subjects. The subject feels like they have a choice the entire time, and is guided to the win-win outcome for both parties."
"Insinuating yourself into the subject's confidences is useful, but isn't precisely the same as a threat. Now, as to the erratic approach. Do you find Eru's interrogation of you and Kogami-san to be successful? No. She's ineffectual, obviously, and has failed to elicit a confession. Her subjects are confused and, despite being trapped in a room with her, don't even recognize her as a valid threat.
"If you decide to take the erratic approach, it is easy to go too far and convince your subject that the outcome is, indeed, the same either way--always a punishment. If you don't behave in a predictable manner, then the subject is likely to decide that regardless of what he does, it's likely he will be harmed. It's more important to establish a relationship of consistency--you are trying to modify your subject's behaviors to benefit you. Moreover, an angry front means that a subject may sense your fear of failure and thus his resolve will harden rather than weaken. Moreover, a threat made in reaction to the subject's own hostility or threats increase this risk...
"In all cases, a professional, even somewhat sympathetic approach is more beneficial. Of course, you are still torturing the subject. A threat delivered coldly, or with the appearance of reluctant determination, can net you more. But your threat's credibility is paramount, as Kogami said. Whether the subject finds your threat credible depends on his nature in part, on the interrogator's reason for threatening, and whether the subject believes the interrogator is ready and able to carry it out. Your control over the subject's environment can exert more weight on the side of him believing you can do it.
"A threat also gives the subject time to actually give you what you want. He has an escape route--something to blame his failure on--if you threaten him. The great masters of war always advised that you create at least the illusion of an escape route. The subject can rationalize that he has no viable option but to comply, and thus destroy his own resistance. The regression is compounded by you withholding the punishment upon compliance, and perhaps even further by rewarding the subject, however trivially.
"The threat of death, however, is pointless. Pain, extortion, and other such methods are more likely to break your subject than threatening her with death. She might resist to the ends of the earth if you simply promise execution, however painful. If she believes the threat is not a trick, she despairs, and full despair means she feels she is condemned no matter which way she jumps. Moreover, the logical failure... Is obvious to anyone who has not been broken. Making this threat destroys the credibility of subsequent coercive attempts."
Takayama shifted on the inflated ball and cleared his throat. "Debility. Discomfort, destablization, deprivation; these things also induce regression. Your subject is dependent upon you. Educate them of this, and you sap their resistance. The ancients who supported torture believed that keeping subjects in extremis was the most effective manner of breaking them, and that a weak man would break sooner as his physiological resistances were destroyed. Despite previous studies, new evidence shows that this is not the case. Resistance is a more psychological matter, rather than purely physical. It is a matter of will. The threat of debility, induced by brief periods of deprivation or longer periods of somewhat reduced, but not eliminated, requirements, is better than actual debilitation. True hunger, prolonged, elicits apathy and mental debilitation too severe for the subject to remain useful. Discomfort and the fear of debility induces anxiety and is a different matter... Disrupting patterns of behavior such as sleep, meal time, light and dark patterns, helps disorient the subject as well and reduce her resistance more than sustained deprivation.
"And to pain. Each of us reacts differently to pain. This is not a matter of intensity. The matter of significantly differing pain thresholds is a lie. It's a matter of will, again, psychological. One's physical attributes have very little to do with one's resistance to pain as a motivating factor.
"Based on what I've told you, then, how would you effectively use pain to coerce a subject's cooperation?"
As Takayama’s pen smacked Ayumu right between the eyes, Eru could not help but feel a strange tugging at her chest. Despite his outward appearance as some sort of reassuringly imperturbable father figure, he was still one of the most lethal trained killers in the entire Sileo Tempestas, only having ended fewer lives than the Vice Commander and Anatori the Quartermaster. She knew that had he been serious, had Ayumu actually posed a remote threat to anyone in the room, he’d be missing a large chunk of brain matter right now. The thought of that made her ill, to her surprise.
Sure, this was the boy who had just jabbed her in the ear with his…boyhood, but he was still her teammate! They had survived the catastrophic derailing of the Raiden’s Breath together. He had fought to defend her while she had been vulnerable and trying to prize the train open. He had let himself be used as a human missile by Moro and Gin, despite the extreme danger such a technique represented to anyone. He had fought and bled alongside her, a bond that was stronger than some people’s marriages. Her squadmates were her family. If Moro, Gin, Haruka, Masao, or even Onani Master Kogami died or were hurt, it would break her heart.
Sniffling a bit, she returned to her yoga ball, this time spreading her legs and immediately clamping both hands down and obscuring her pantsu with the front of her skirt. Hell, Ayumu and Moro and Takayama had already seen it, so what was the point of hiding anything? Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a bandaid and held it out for Ayumu. A peace offering.
And thank Shinbatsu for Moro’s response, too, even though…for Jesus Saito’s sake, Mortimer?! That old creepy guy?! But you’re right, Haruka nee-chan, he IS dense. That’s okay, though. It means I can take my time and really make it special when I confess to him. You hear me, Gin-nee-chan!? Don’t underestimate me! I’m a powerful opponent, too! Even if I don’t win him I won’t go down without a fight! “I’ll use every tactic at my disposal to accomplish my goal! I may not be physically strong or have big boobs like Gin-nee or long legs like Haruka-nee, but I have my own ways and my own strength! I destroyed an Empire-class warship with my MIND! Don’t think I can’t handle some dense-ass SHOUNEN MAIN CHARACTER!!!” she said, suddenly realizing that she was shouting that which she meant to be thinking, and pointing at Moro, too. Upon realizing this, she let out a gasp and immediately sank down on her chair/ball/whatever.
Ayumu kept writing as quickly as he could, trying to keep up with the information that was pouring in constantly. At the same time, his forehead was stinging slightly from the spot where the pen had impacted his head. Ayumu briefly thought about the velocity with which Takayama must have thrown that pen to make it smart so much. He was most assuredly a projectile master to have inflicted so much damage with a pen. Ayumu reached up and rubbed the spot on his forehead unconsciously. Meanwhile, Takayama spoke about threats and Ayumu decided that his answer had been at least partially correct. Takayama went on to explain the nature of threats in more detail, how threat of pain was better than threat of death. Providing a way out was necessary to give them a reason to cooperate with you. Ayumu nodded understandingly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ayumu noticed Eru's hand extended towards him. His first thought was on how to defend himself if she planned to attack him again, but as he turned to look he found instead a peace offering. A bandaid for his wounded forehead. 'What an incredibly sweet gesture,' Ayumu thought as he gently accepted the bandaid and stared at it, while listening to Takayama's lesson in the background. It was a strange mixture of thoughts in his head, partly of camaraderie with his thoughtful teammate, partly of torture. He also wondered why exactly she had given him the bandaid. He was clearly not bleeding. The spot where the pen had struck was a bit red at the moment, but he had no ostensible use for a bandaid at the moment. He was going to whisper thanks anyway when Takayama asked a question.
Without missing a beat, Eru began shouting something Ayumu figured was her answer to the question. It was a bit... off, however, and didn't entirely make sense or really answer the question. She was also oddly pointing at Moro. 'What is going on in this girl's life...' Ayumu thought, shaking his head in confusion. He couldn't help but think she was a bit weird, but still, she had given him this bandaid (however useless it was at the moment). He cleared his throat to drawn attention away from her sudden outburst, trying to do her a favor. "Thank you, Eru-sempai, I will use this later," he said, putting it in to the pocket of his jacket. Now, on to the captain's question.
"Okay, so I make the subject wait in a bright room for eighteen hours or something without any contact, then finally I come in and sit down. By this point he's starving, right? So I tell him, 'look, you're not getting out of here until you tell me what I want to know', right? Then I signal for some guy to come in with a bag of food, two delicious cheeseburgers from McKumos and two ice cold beverages. I take one burger out and start eating it in front of the guy who's gotta be salivating at this point. I tell him if he tells me what I wanna know he can have a cheeseburger. Who can resist that?!" Ayumu explained, unintentionally making himself incredibly hungry at the thought of a cheeseburger. A spot of drool might have appeared at the corner of his mouth, but he quickly wiped it away before anybody could possibly see.
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