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His torturer slash interrogator seems uncomfortable to be out of the prison sector of the Intelligence Center, even if this room still didn’t have windows or proper furnishings. He appeared even more uncomfortable than Kabuto himself, which was impressive. His hands were tied together behind the single chair with metal coil, then looped to similar bindings around his feet. There was even a chakra suppressing seal pinned to his back preventing even his medical jutsu, which made the tight restraints very uncomfortable. The interrogator probably would have preferred the ex-sound ninja be completely encased in stone from the neck down, but Tsunade had ordered him to use the lighter restraints.
Nominally in reward for cooperating.
“Would you like to start asking questions?” The spy suggested innocuously, eliciting a scowl from Ibiki Morino.
“If I could trust the answers you gave me.” The head of interrogation had his hands in his pockets, probably wrapped around some nasty poison or another. The Fifth Hokage had also banned outright torture for his interrogation, but he knew there were many nonlethal poisons and other subtle techniques the man could use if he chose.
“I promised to provide the answer to almost any question you asked, without lying. Why don’t you start by testing that?”
“You’d love if you could tell me how to do my job.” The huge man growled. “Let’s start with why you chose now to defect.”
“Simple. I didn’t defect.” Kabuto shrugged a little against the rope. “Sasuke killed Orochimaru and left Sound. My purpose as a double agent ended.”
“We’ll get to the double agent part. How long ago was that?”
“About five days ago. He tried taking Sasuke’s body and failed. I’m not sure exactly where he went afterwards, but my guess would be he’s still chasing Itachi. Orochimaru was uniquely vulnerable in that state, and he is definitively dead. I triple checked.”
“What took you so long to turn yourself in? It’s only a day long journey from here to Sound.” Ibiki Morino joked in deadpan, leaning against a wall.
“I had to burn all my research. And the lab. No one else needs that information and I won’t be able to forget it.” The silver-haired spy answered serenely.
“I was told there was a little more to it than that.” The interrogator tilted his bandana-covered head towards him, and he knew it was a warning. He’d seen the scars under there several times during the chunnin exams: burn wounds and screws and depressions from beatings. He knew how much they must have bled, how long it would have taken him to succumb to them without medical attention, and that at least a few would have been healed just enough to leave him conscious for more questioning-
He was over-analyzing again. While a great asset when he was under attack, he had to remind himself he was, nominally, safe here. In his home country. He had to choose to be vulnerable.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I had to wait for Sakura to arrive.” His eyes carefully fixed on a blank section of wall.
“And why was Sakura Haruno coming to Sound Country?” Kabuto took a breath. This would be the moment, wouldn’t it. The second greatest secret he ever kept, and the biggest betrayal he’d ever enacted. Greater than not stopping Orochimaru from killing Sandaime, the man he answered to solely as a double agent. Greater than attacking the soon-to-be fifth Hokage and exploiting her hemophobia. But he’d already decided to do this. He’d decided two nights ago, during Orochimaru’s funeral.
“Because Haruno is her adopted last name, and she was attending her father’s funeral.”
Even with his cloak off, his bag on the ground and his hands in the air, his reputation alone kept the Konohagakure gate guards away. He compressed his disappointment into a small sigh. Maybe Tsunade hadn’t believed him after all when he said he would seek refuge in Konoha. He didn’t blame her for that; it had been a slim hope on his part. He’d spooked these two jonin half to death even approaching in surrender. Hopefully their messenger was quicker than their reaction times. Every shift of his travelweary body made them jerk but he wasn’t sure how long he could stay standing.
The huge gate finally swung open, revealing the Hokage with her full guard in the last light of the fiery sunset. To her credit, she didn’t seem surprised, looking him and his sparse possessions over critically.
“It’s been a while, Kabuto. Kick that bag over, would you?” He complied, the nearest jonin picking it up carefully.
“Most of that is personal possessions. Headbands, medical notes and samples, tools. Nothing dangerous.” They wouldn’t believe that. Hopefully he’d still get it back by the end.
“I wasn’t sure you’d actually turn yourself in.” Tsunade strode over, patting him down for hidden weapons or scrolls. He kept statue-still until she was done. She was one of the few people with the confidence to take him in single combat and the skills to win. Their previous fight hadn’t been a fair one, on either side, but he was fairly sure its results would remain the same if they tried again now, without his previous restrictions.
“I told you my intention, Tsunade-sama. I do not have to lie anymore.” Her eyes narrowed at the honorific. Why---? Ah. He used that for Orochimaru too. Maybe that was why.
“I hope that’s the case. You’re going straight to the Intelligence Center, I’ll tell Ibiki you’re cooperating. You’re going to tell him everything you know about everything. By the time he’s done questioning you, I’ll figure out what to do with you.” She waved to her guard, who surrounded him, swords crossed in a steel star around his neck. That was…. Uncomfortable but fair. At least he could finally lower his arms, they were close to shaking.
“This should not be necessary. Have you spoken with the Hyuuga elder yet?”
“I have. And trust me, that’s for your safety, not ours. Don’t expect a warm welcome home.”
“So you knew from the start that she was a plant and didn’t tell anyone.” Ibiki probed. Kabuto frowned.
“No. There was no reason to. She was six years old, she wasn’t a threat to anyone.”
“The daughter of Konoha’s greatest traitor was living among us with a curse seal, that’s not nothing. You weren’t that much older when you say you became a double agent.”
“I had at least started genin training. She was a child! Without any training! She was supposed to get close to Sasuke so she could eventually lure him away, she wasn’t a danger to the village.” He scowled defensively. Morino focused in on his anger, crouching to stare him in the eyes.
“She came out top of her class in exams and now she has three years of training under the greatest kunoichi in the world. And now you’re telling us she’s leading Sound Country. You let her become a danger.”
“I. Did. Not.” He glared in bridled fury at his captor, forcing his jaw to unclench. “I tried not to let it get this bad. But I failed. So I’m here to give you her profile.”
“You’re going to give me more than that. I want her weaknesses, specialties, habits, everything. We are going to nip this in the bud.” The interrogator’s hand rolled something between his fingers, but Kabuto refused to drop eye contact, false-black eyes boring into Ibiki’s own. He’d rarely let his feelings of defiance surface, out of safety for himself and the sake of his persona. But if he was going to be vulnerable, he also wasn’t going to eat those feelings anymore. This snake was going to spit out its tail.
“No. That won’t be necessary. Sakura is not the kind of person to launch a subversive invasion. She will want you to know that it’s her, she will make it very public that she now runs Sound Country. She needs to to secure her claim. Orochimaru taught her most of the snake techniques, but she doesn’t have a summoning contract yet. I expect she’ll try, but Manda is a fickle beast. Not sure how that will play out. To my knowledge, she hasn’t experimented with her curse seal at all, so even if she uses it, it shouldn’t tip any fight too hard in one direction.”
Morino stared into his face carefully and Kabuto can count on one hand the number of times he’s let his mask down like this in fifteen years. The ropes buzz against his skin with suppressed chakra and he wonders if the transformation jutsu around his eyes is starting to fray.
“Why are you protecting her?”
Because she’s too young to be playing backstabbing games like he did, he fumes inside. Because he still feels responsible for her. And because he’s betrayed her once already and he’s not going to do it again.
“Because this doesn’t need an assassination attempt. Konoha can deal with Sakura without needing a brute squad.”
“How is your family going to feel about you withholding information like this?” Even he can’t help the facial twitches as his body tries to put the mask back on. Pretending he didn’t have a family would be so much easier, but his heart aches like a bone-deep bruise at the idea of his father, his sister…
He wants to see them even if it doesn’t work out. At least then he’d know how they felt.
“I don’t think the Hyuuga clan thinks very highly of me anyway. I doubt anything I say here will matter to them.”
Tsunade arranges an apartment for him to stay in, on an anonymous basis and very close to Hokage mountain. It’s discreet, barren, and probably watched by two ANBU at all times for both his safety and that of the village. Apparently the Hyuuga elder didn’t want to acknowledge its spy and refused to let him inside the compound.
Just because he saw the knife coming doesn’t make it hurt less. There’s no jutsu he knows to heal this kind of damage ahead of time. He sits on the couch staring at the empty white wall and contemplates whether the decision will backfire on them. Depends on how much Tsunade makes public, he supposes. It’s possible she’ll tell people, since she let him leave the Intelligence Center. That was a positive sign. Even two days straight of questioning wasn’t enough time to untangle fifteen years of spying and he expects to be needed in the future. The question was just how much of his forbidden knowledge she would actually want to-
There was a knock at the door.
In the first step between him and the window, he worries that he’ll hurt whoever is here to seek revenge and then won’t be able to stay. By the second step, he’s thought of four different techniques that won’t hurt someone that he can use. When his hands reach the window sill, he remembers the ANBU probably guarding outside probably wouldn’t let anyone near who wanted to do him harm. By the time he turns back to the door, he wonders who wants to visit him in the first place.
Wait, that’s right. He can check. Without even opening the door.
Kabuto Hyuuga activates his byakugan and draws in a sharp breath, quickly turning it off again. Before he can overthink this, he calls,
“Come in.”
Hiashi Hyuuga opens the door, Hinata beside him peering through the doorframe. Kabuto can barely breathe but the main house leader gasps, covering his mouth. The emotions on his face flicker too fast to identify immediately and then-
He steps back into the hallway, disappearing. Hinata glances between him and her father before following after; not a word exchanged between the three and his door left wide open.
His heart plummets into a black canyon and his stomach even gives him the same sense of falling. Remember to breathe, his detached doctor’s voice reminds him, it will help the nausea. It has nothing to say about the heartache. He stays frozen at the window, more for their sake than his. He….can’t bear to close the door, and it would scare them, anyway. He tries not to stare but this place is so empty there is nothing to keep his eyes away. There are a few words spoken out in the hall, then Hinata appears at his door again, eyes hesitantly cast to the floor.
“I’m sorry Kabuto-san but my father isn’t ready yet. It’s nice to meet you officially.” She goes to bow, then seems to remember herself. Her lavender eyes peek at him from behind blue bangs and he can just imagine that she did the same when she was younger.
“It is nice to officially meet you too, Hinata-san. How are your lungs doing?”
“M-My lungs??” Her face twists in profound confusion. Right, she wouldn’t have known that was him, but he’d held that memory very dearly. The first time he’d met his sister all grown up.
“During the Chuunin exams, the second round of duels? I was the ANBU that healed you. I was in disguise, you would not have known it was me. But I think that was the last time we spoke directly.” She blinked.
“ Oh. Uhm. T-They healed well. Thank you.” There’s the start of the awkward pause, but he cuts it off before it can become something malignant.
“I am very sorry I did not get the chance to know you growing up. I know I left you the burden of becoming the main house heir but I hope we will have the chance to become siblings in the future. I would like to get to know you properly.” He bites down ‘I missed you’ because he’s sure that will scare her away and because, face to face with her, he can tell that he missed the idea of her. He cannot miss someone he never knew but he wants to. So badly. Her hands clasp in front of her, fingers fiddling nervously, still avoiding eye contact.
“So you were working for Konoha...while you were working for Orochimaru?” He’s not sure what to do with his own hands. He should make her comfortable, but he has so few ways to do that. Between the barren apartment and three years of what look like traitorous actions….
“Yes. I can talk about it if you want, but the details are dark for such a nice day. Would you like to sit? If you want to stay longer, I can make some tea….?” He offers, anticipating rejection and she shakes her head. But, she does step inside, her back to the doorway.
“I think o-our father will need to go back soon. But b-before we go, c-can I ask….why?” Kabuto didn’t think his heart could sink lower than when Hiashi walked away, but somehow it does. He shunts the emotions aside, though it’s harder than it usually is.
“Why what part?”
“O-or maybe not why, b-but how? How could you do what you did?” Hinata pleads, without knowing what she’s pleading for, he thinks.
How can he explain to her? She thinks she’s asking how could he kill, deceive, and betray his country while claiming to work for it, but that was never the question he asked. It strikes him then the enormity of what he prevented that no one will ever know. Villages saved from annihilation. Its greatest enemy in the body of a powerful bloodline. Civilians spared in the Suna assault, other attacks on the capital averted, assassinations thwarted…
The real question was how did he manage it for so long without breaking down? Fervent hope. Desperate intelligence. Godsent moments where he could choose to spare someone that reminded him that he was doing good, the horrible things he was doing did let him make a difference, and that Konoha, his village, his family, were safer because of and despite his decisions.
He has to fight back tears he hadn’t shed in a decade. He didn’t know his tear ducts still worked.
“Because it was for Konoha. Because the alternative was worse.”
“What kind of experiments did you run?”
“Mostly medical, anything that could extend lifespan in any form. He mistook me for a medic’s apprentice when we first met, and Sandaime told me to lean into it, probably for my own safety. His obsession with immortality only furthered my education on that front, plus the encouragement to experiment. But I was also responsible for the medical care of several distinct bloodlines, some of which will otherwise be extinct. I hope your people are being careful with my bag.” Ibiki scoffed, seated backwards in a chair he finally had brought in after three hours. At least he’d finally worn him down on that.
“How many people did you kill under Orochimaru?”
“I couldn’t guess. Probably a few hundred, not all from Konoha. There were plenty of infiltration missions. We didn’t only spy here.”
“How many Konoha citizens?”
“….I honestly don’t know. I wish I could tell you. At least fifteen, but I wasn’t in charge of acquiring prisoners. Most of them didn’t have names by the time they came to me.”
“Why’s that? You could face charges, you know.” Kabuto is fairly sure that’s a lie. Most of what he did should be covered under ‘required for espionage’, but he expects several of the victims’ families to try. He’d like to let them win but that would stop him from doing anything else constructive with his life, and that’s just too high a price given what he could do.
“We ninja expect to die. The civilians don’t.”
He shuts the apartment door behind him and takes his glasses off, squeezing his eyes shut. He could handle the angry father with the frying pan: shield his head, avoid fractures. He could handle the angry screaming daughter: let her say what she wanted, look remorseful, apologize. He’d needed some help with the angry mother; she was a shinobi and he’d had to draw a kunai of his own to parry before anyone stepped in to stop her. He’d taken a few slashes, nothing he couldn’t handle.
This mother was angry, but not like the others. She held out a photo to him, a man he didn’t recognize but who looked familiar. ‘This is my son.’ She’d said. “He was one of the ANBU on guard during the Sound invasion.’ Tears had been streaming down her cheeks but her voice was clear. ‘They said you killed him. Did you? He was my only son, my husband was killed when he was young. He was all I had left of him. Why did you have to kill him?’
He thought he’d planned enough to deal with victims’ families. Clearly he hadn’t. He’d stumbled through apologizing, that he knew nothing he could give her would be enough. She just wept in the street. He didn’t want to touch her, to try to console her, not with what he’d done. She probably wouldn’t appreciate it. He went home with his groceries, insides churning like he’d been bitten by a snake, until he could be alone. No one wanted to see a bad guy cry.
His eyes are stinging with tears of his own because he couldn’t lie to her. He didn’t feel bad about killing her son. But he wishes he did. Kabuto wishes he didn’t have to build the walls that protect himself from the guilt, because he could be a better person that way. But he was an even better ninja and after all the death he’d seen, caused, and been a part of, guilt for causing a death did not stay with him very long anymore.
“What did you expect to get from coming back?” Kabuto Hyuuga sighed, letting his head hang. Clearly Ibiki hadn’t needed to use any of his poisons because he was already so tired. He’d been awake....seventeen hours straight now? Only ration pills could get you through that and his supply had been confiscated.
“What do you want to hear, Ibiki? That I came back for glory? Recognition? Maybe I came back to start a new chapter in my story, or a new life in whatever Tsunade feels I will be useful for. Perhaps a new identity in the medic corps. I don’t know what I will get out of this.”
“You said you wouldn’t lie to me, Kabuto.” His interrogator snarked and he snorted.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know. My job is done, so I came back.” Morino gestured to the door and stood when it opened.
“That’s not what you told me.” Shizune had her arms crossed over her chest, frowning, and he blinked. Why was she here? He was fairly sure she didn’t have any interrogation experience. Perhaps Tsunade wanted her watching to take notes? Shizune was to her as Kabuto was to Orochimaru after all: the most trusted advisor for anything they couldn’t do personally.
“You told me you wanted to come home.”
...Ah. Or Ibiki knew about the admission he’d made to her to lay the groundwork for his return.
“I don’t remember exactly what I said three years ago, but it seems you’ve spent a long time picking it apart.” He teased and she scowled, faint flush rising to her cheeks. Ibiki ceded the chair to her, which she turned to face him properly. Sure enough, she had a clipboard with her.
“So? What did you want coming back here?”
“What I wanted and what I expected are two different things, and I had- have little expectation of them overlapping. I am at least back in Konoha, though I doubt the clan elders will let me stay in the compound. The reputation stain would be too much for them.” He frowned, wanting to rub his eyes. He tried using his shoulder but the glasses got in the way. Though he could ditch them, they were never necessary given his Byakugan, he wasn’t ready to give up the alias they represent yet. Shizune grabbed her sleeve for a moment as if she would help, but then let it go. Nurse’s instinct. He knew it well.
“Well yes, after what you did, that’s understandable. But why come back if you knew you couldn’t get what you wanted?”
“Is it really so hard to believe I did not agree with Orochimaru’s goals? That I didn’t want to be there? That I did this because I thought it was for the best?” He felt the cracks in his expression, knew he should give in to them, but giving Ibiki what he wanted by bringing in the sympathetic questioner still rankled. “I don’t agree with what Sound Country was founded to do, so I didn’t stay. Have you never done something you didn’t agree with because Tsunade asked you to? Or let a patient die because they can’t be saved and there are others who can? I stayed because I had to and left as soon as I could.”
“That’s not what she asked-” The interrogator rebuked but Shizune held her hand out, giving him a look with a bit of her mentor’s fire.
“I believe you Kabuto. But we have to figure out what to do with you, and Tsunade is considering taking your opinions on the matter into account.”
He laughs a little, nothing more than a few stuttering exhales but it makes her almost as indignant as when he broke into her apartment.
“You think that’s funny? You’re lucky she even let you into the village-!”
“No, no, it’s not funny.” Hurrying to deescalate, he meets her eyes carefully. He does find it funny that their eyes are both black, though hers are natural and still narrowed at him. “But you’ve completely misunderstood. I have nothing more for her to take away. Whatever she decides to do with me is what will happen. As I said, what I want and what I expected are completely different things and I am resigned to that. I’m okay with it, even. Konoha is my village, I am its ninja, and I will do as my kage asks.”
Their gazes try boring into his skin, but he’s withstood harsher scrutiny than them. It’s been a long time since he’s professed any loyalty that he’s actually meant, and it salves his aching shoulders and knees. Maybe Morino understands. Shizune’s brow is furrowed as she stares him down, pencil bouncing in her fingers. Her gaze flows around him like a rock in a river. It’s a trick he doesn’t even need to think about now.
“Ibiki, could you leave?” She abruptly asked, in a tone she must have learned from Tsunade. His interrogator took one look at her straight spine and nodded.
“I’ll be right outside the door.”
Once the thick metal slammed shut, she stood, leaving the clipboard on the chair. As though he’d just walked into her clinic, she demanded,
“Sit up straight.” His joints ached sharply to do as she asked, but still he pulled himself together in good faith. The warmth of her fingers against his carotid shocked him; he hadn’t thought he was doing this poorly after only eighteen hours, to be that chilled. He tilted his head, since this angle while standing wasn’t the easiest on her hands, he knew. She stared him down like he was a triage patient, like trying to decide if he’s worth the time to try to save.
“I think you’re lying to yourself and you need to stop.” Shizune stated bluntly, carving a huge divot out of his chest. “No one in your position would feel okay about what’s happening to them, even if they’re prepared for it. If you’re right, Tsunade and I are the only people here to support you, so if you want anything, anything out of coming back, no matter how unlikely, stop lying and tell me what you want.”
….It’s bitter medicine she pushed down his throat but he’s not a child any more and he tried to swallow. Has he really lied so habitually that he even deceived himself? His pulse thudded under the even pressure of her fingers, feeling for the increase that comes with lying, a signal even he can’t fake with all his years of deception. Maybe. It would explain the persistent ache in his heart despite being home. But his hopes are more fragile than brittle bone and he’s afraid of letting her put any weight on them. He opened his mouth to speak, found the words too vulnerable, and closed it.
But….. if he can trust her with her hand on his neck, maybe she can handle the sturdiest ones gently enough.
“I want to make a difference with what I know.”
A knock comes at his apartment door and he checks without looking up from inspecting his scroll’s seal integrity. At least Ibiki’s team didn’t try using any of them. Would have been messy.
“Come in Shizune. It’s unlocked.”
“Why aren’t you locking it? That seems unsafe.” She scolds as she closes it behind her, a slim folder in her arms.
“You know why. I lock it at night. Has Tsunade decided what to do with me?”
“I did and she approved.” She slides the folder across the table to him, and he deactivates his byakugan to open and read it. Credentials for Kabuto Hyuuga, a key card, papers for Konoha hospital…? His eyes flick up to hers, daring to hope, and her face seems even. Perhaps determined? Yes, her stance is wide under the table, preparing for a metaphysical fight. But with him or for him?
“You’re under my direct supervision in the medical corps for the next six months. Probation. You go where I go and do what I tell you to do, and we’ll keep you away from civilians. No combat missions for the first three months, debriefing with Tsunade every Thursday on your history, and after that, we’ll see where you are.”
His mouth drops open, white eyes going blank as he tries to pick apart the meaning behind the choices- No, wait, first… He gets up from his seat and bows as his father taught him, at the waist, all the way until he can only see her sandals.
“Thank you Shizune.”
“Don’t thank me yet, you haven’t seen the hours I pull.” She waggles a finger, but the workload doesn’t matter to him.
Kabuto Hyuuga has finally returned to home.