Scarred [Home At Last] (Naruto Fanfic, SEQUEL)

Chapter 12 - Opportunity

I seem to have finally found my motivation to start writing for this again. I want to apologize to any who have been waiting on me to update, as it has been too long since I last posted. However long it takes, I will finish this fanfiction. Thank you for reading, and please comment to let me know how you feel about it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto ;-;
WARNINGS: N/A.

--

"I hope you haven't lost your touch, kid," Ibiki says, the shadow of a smile on his face.

"Not a chance, Ibiki-sama," I reply, stretching my arms over my head. Of course I wouldn't lose the skills I'd acquired in just the matter of months, in all the time I'd had to teach. He obviously knew that, too, the almost-smile on his face giving it away. Ibiki was also far too rational a man to really think it were possible for my skill to just evaporate. He passes me a file. I briefly look it over, reading about the person I was about to 'interview'. Twenty four years old, a member of an up and coming group of bandits operating on the far end of the country. He was caught spying on us. It was ridiculous, the thought of a bandit group maybe planning to overthrow Konoha, one of the most powerful cities in all of the lands. Even so, he'd been spying for a reason. And it was my job to find out.

I enter the room confidently, head held high and my stride casual. Like I learned from Ibiki. Let them underestimate you. Use it to your advantage. Then surprise them.

I had learned from the best.

I sit down across from him, setting the file down in front of me. He looks at me blankly, maybe even a little dismissively. "Hello," I greet him, smiling softly. "My name is Kimi. Yours is Izu, yes? Nice to meet you."

He regards me with a glare. And silence. Alright, that was okay with me. I smile a little wider and continue. "So, I just have a few questions for you..." I shuffle my papers around a little, just to pretend I was new to this. Build a facade. "Alright, now first question. What were you doing in Konoha?"

He curls his lip up at me but maintains his silence. I frown at this. Playing my part perfectly.

"Um, excuse me? Do you mind answering?"

He rolls his eyes. He was playing the silent game. Nothing in an interrogation could irritate me more than when they acted like this. Like they were invincible. People like him, I'd break them easily. Nothing a little bit of violence and bodily harm couldn't fix, right? That sounded awful, admittedly. But it wasn't far from the truth.

"Alright. This path, hm? The strong, silent type? My least favorite." I laugh. Toss the papers behind me on the floor. Not like I actually needed any of them. I regard him with a calm expression, a shadow of a genuine smile on my face. "You've probably been thinking, she's kinda new, right? No, no, sorry but no. I'm pretty experienced. It's always your type that is the best to break, to destroy. Because you start out so strong, holding so tightly to your principles. I'll go ahead and tell you now, it's not impossible to succeed... But you won't. Let's actually start this now, okay? Now, tell me, what do you think you were doing in my city."

--

He cracks so easily I almost am irritated. A few hours with me and he is offering up all of the information I need and then some. And I didn't even need to use much force- a cleanly broken nose and a couple of punches to the stomach and he talks. I'm able to go home once I've filled out the necessary paperwork; I make it in time for dinner with Kazuo and Daichi. No one else was there. The meal is simple, Kazuo's cooking skills limited.