What to Do?
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I will take advice and suggestions from my readers while continuing the story.
Thinking
Biju, etc. speaking
Biju, etc. thinking
Emphasis
Crawling around the bed as far as she could to see around the large man in front of her, the girl snarled and asked in a low, dangerous voice, "Who the fuck do you think you are, impersonating the Yondaime?" Gone was the kitten who had been shaking in fear, replaced with a young woman who looked as fierce as a tiger. The chakra seals on her arms began burning off and Tsunade moved quickly. Something was slapped on her forehead and the younger blonde saw black.
"She is obviously dangerous!"
"She was not in any way before you came in, Minato-kun," Jiraiya explained to his student and Hokage, who was pacing in front of him, his teammate, and the little blonde like a caged animal.
"You're right. There it is then, she has most likely been sent or programmed to attack me." He stopped pacing and shook his head. Looking back at his sensei and his teammate, Tsunade, he ordered them to update him on everything he had missed. He listened to their report, then sighed. "I am disappointed in you, Tsunade-san. You should have respected Ibiki-kun's decision regarding the prisoner."
"Did you want her dead?!" Seeing the shrug of his shoulders, she raged. "She's just a child! A child who could be…" Jiraiya quickly placed one hand on her shoulder and the other over her mouth, for which he was punched into the wall. Jiraiya had reinforced his body with chakra, so he'd be fine. He hadn't gone through the building or wall, so that meant that Tsunade wasn't going all out on him. Of course, he wasn't the one that she was so pissed off at! Jiraiya got up quickly and stood next to his student, the Hokage. He backed up a bit, shaking his head wildly - silently telling her to shut it and cool off in that way-too common gesture. "Fine! And I'm not speaking to you, brat! I'm only agreeing for now with The Pervert. YOU on the other hand…"
"Hime! Just… just hang on!" Jiraiya turned to his student and patted him on the shoulder. "I think she's right Minato-kun." He ignored his brat's near-shouts of indignation. "Think about it: we really did get a lot of information from her in just minutes; I think we should try again."
"You better not be saying that because she gave you an idea of what to write about next, Pervert," Tsunade glared at him.
"Of - of course not, Hime!" Scratching the back of his head, and closing his eyes as he smiled, Tsunade knew her perverted teammate was at least partially lying. Minato saw it too: he knew his sensei too well.
"I know you, sensei," Minato said darkly as Jiraiya chuckled awkwardly. Looking back at Tsunade, he continued, "So it's decided. I will have Ibiki-kun continue the interrogation." Jiraiya stopped laughing immediately.
"No! No, Minato-kun: you're not going to allow that." The Yondaime frowned at him. He and Jiraiya sometimes disagreed about things - particularly Jiraiya's research and "habits" - and he normally was very glad for his sensei's honest and frank words and advice. But the man had never done it so openly in front of anyone other than Kushina-chan before. He was the Hokage, and as such his word was law. "I see you thinking, kid, and you are the Hokage! I just think you should reconsider this - not for Tsu or me, but for yourself."
Cryptic old toad! Minato reigned in his temper and asked one thing, "Why? Why should I allow it? Give me one good reason…"
"Brat! I could probably give you a hundred!" Tsunade furiously answered. Including who I think this girl might really be! "You know what Ibiki and the other dunderheads here will do to her! Are you really alright with that?!" Pansy! - That description of Tsunade's for The Pervert's brat went unsaid, for the moment. Hokage or not, she'd kick his ass six ways from Sunday before she'd let that unbalanced Ibiki touch the girl!
Jiraiya moved quickly between them, facing his student. "Minato, think about it. How 'bout a compromise, ne?" Tsunade and the Hokage continued glaring at each other. Jiraiya let out a loud sigh, shaking his white mane at the both of them. Minato normally wasn't like this, but Tsunade? Yeah. She and that temper of hers were going to be his downfall! "How about you watch from the observation room and Tsu and I will continue with what we were doing." Minato immediately and aggravatedly shook his head. Jiraiya groaned. "Then how about we bring Ibiki-brat in along with us?"
"What the hell, Pervert?!"
Minato considered it. As long as he was there as well as Ibiki, there would be plenty of protection against the threat. He would need to notify the Sandaime so that he could watch over the village and provide back-up against whatever this unknown could do. The last thing in the world they needed right now was another attack. He was already extremely concerned with how weakened they were from not only the Nine-tails attack but also from how many shinobi he had out to search for leads on his daughter. "That's fair, but I'll be here as well."
Tsunade began cursing out her leader: the supposed leader in her mind, as Jiraiya held her physically back. "Sounds good right, hime?" Jiraiya ducked a vicious punch that might have sent him out of the village had it hit. Grabbing her hands, he held them behind her. He was easily able to ignore all the promises and threats of abuse she leveled at him; they'd been leveled at him hundreds of times before, after all. Only every few days or so did his violent teammate actually follow through on any of those threats. She was great that way… She's great in so many other ways too, he giggled pervertedly in his mind. "I'll agree to it, provided that you are behind that glass." He pointed toward the two-way mirror that allowed observers to watch the torture - er, interrogations - to take place in the observation room that was attached. Tsunade stopped struggling.
Jiraiya looked at his teammate warily. Tsunade gave him a nod, and he reluctantly let her go. She offered him a sweet smile that made Jiraiya's heart skip a bit, then proceeded to kick him in the ass so hard that his head hit the ceiling. "Hiiia-meeee," the Toad Sage whined, rubbing the top of his head.
"What did you expect, Pervert?" Turning to the brat, Tsunade gave the Hokage a hard look. "I can agree to THAT, but only if Ibiki is SILENT and NOT participating in his favorite activities." Her face hardened as she spat out those last two words.
"You know what his job is, Tsunade-hime," Minato replied stoically.
"I DO know what it is and it's bullshit! Ever heard the expression, 'you'll attract more flies from honey than you would with vinegar'? It's the same thing! Torture only works at all - and only sometimes - when we have enemy shinobi that believe that they're going to die but are so chicken-shit they can't face death! Otherwise, we get false information that we then send our shinobi out just so they can FACE DEATH because of what the liars have said… The best-case scenario is we've wasted precious resources!" Tsunade responded fiercely. Jiraiya gave her a kind smile: underneath all that bluster and anger was still the girl he fell in love with all those years ago. To hear her saying the things he agreed with 100% made him feel like he might still stand a chance with her.
Minato actually agreed with Tsunade's words and had been thinking along those lines for a long time. The Elders had repeatedly challenged him on changes to the T&I Department, as well as nearly everything else; he really needed to do something about those old goats. Sarutobi had been trying to convince him to let them stay on, but he's not the Hokage anymore, I am. Not to mention I have no faith in Danzo-sama.
The young Hokage was certain they really needed to refine interrogations, and only if there was nothing left to be done with an enemy should they begin the torture… Shinobi or not, Minato knew they were humans first. Sure, they were killers, but most had similar values: family, village, friends.
But this involved an attack on his village and the disappearance of his newborn child, the little one that he and Kushina had wanted so badly and had been so excited about... Kakashi, too. He was sure his student would love his daughter just as much as he would have loved having a brother - had they had the son they'd expected. I told Kushina to get a second ultrasound - the first was way too early to tell the gender of our baby!
Minato allowed his head to drop, then tried to will away his headache and sleep-deprivation as he rubbed his temples. Fighting with the Sannin isn't necessary, he admitted to himself. He could watch the interrogation: Tsunade and Jiraiya were fearsome warriors and could defend themselves, plus he could always flash in as backup. He'd killed battalions before, he could certainly face one small girl. But I nearly lost in battle to Obito. His heart grieved again. How could you have done this, Obito-kun? He once again felt terrible guilt, thinking of his student, the boy they loved who had been left behind. He must have felt so abandoned - alone under that massive pile of rock... His thoughts turned to confusion as he wondered who had healed what had to be absolutely massive injuries, and who in the world had gotten him out of that disaster in the first place.
"Well, kiddo: what say you?" Jiraiya asked as he grabbed his student's shoulder and gave it a friendly shake.
"Alright. I'll allow it, but I'll be observing. I'll let Ibiki-kun know…" He stopped Tsunade from going off again by holding his palm up to her, "And I'll ensure he knows not to interfere, UNLESS she attacks. I also need to notify Hiruzen. Agreed?"
The Sannin nodded in agreement, then Jiraiya spoke up. "One more thing, Hokage-sama," Minato stood up straighter in surprise - his sensei rarely called him that, even in public. "Umm, we kinda need you to look at a seal." Minato conceded immediately - it was no problem and everyone knew he was a seal master: he was often called seal-crazy!
"Of course, let's see it," he replied happily.
"It's uhhh, over here." Minato was surprised to see him pointing at the unconscious girl. He began looking at her new and additional enhanced chakra restraints which had been applied after he first entered the room. "Not those, Minato." Jiraiya pulled up the girl's top and began sending chakra to her abdomen. Minato's eyes widened in shock.
"Kami-sama…" He looked at the unknown seal before deciphering its components. He looked up at the Sannin, his Killer Intent inadvertently releasing. "Someone stole my seals."