Ibiki's daughter

18: Research paper

Author's POV 

Jolin was still trying to figure out what hers and Sasuke's interrogation report was missing. So she sat on a chair in the tiny library in the interrogating building to do her thinking. She had a copy of their report in her hands, but something was still.....lacking. 

"It doesn't fit," Jolin muttered, but Sasuke caught it just as he walked in. He had vaguely informed his mother right before he left that he had to continue a school project with a classmate without mentioning Jolin. Sasuke was in a such a rush, he didn't notice Itachi had stayed back to watch him run off, a blank face hiding his curiosity.

"You mean the report?" The boy asked, sitting across from Jolin. "I looked it over too, but I think we need to change something in paragraphs seven, nine, and ten." 

"And three, four, and twelve," Jolin said, not looking up from the paper she had in her hands. "It like we kind of....." 

"--Jumped from one idea to another," Sasuke provided. Jolin looked up at him. 

"Kind of. Should we take out the part of how chakra cells influence the interrogation?" 

"No, we shouldn't," Sasuke warned. "Chakra plays a big part in mental and physical interrogation. In some cases, the senses are heightened, and the strain on the victim is even heavier." 

"Oh....." 

"I was thinking of adding a little more here," Sasuke continued, marking paragraphs seven and ten. Jolin leaned over and copied it. 

"A little more of what?"

"Something to connect the two ideas of mental strain and fear. These two sentences here aren't clean." 

"We could always swap stuff around to make things work," Jolin said. 

"Huh?" 

"Like take this sentence over here.....then switch out with this one....." Jolin began marking on her own copy of the report. 

The children marked their reports while discussing ideas and editing their papers. Sasuke was so absorbed in their long-term homework, that he didn't notice his brother and cousin walking by. 

Today was Itachi and Shisui's first day as ANBU, so both boys had to go to the same building Sasuke and Jolin were in, only in the basements. 

"Is that.....?" Shisui whispered to Itachi who also stared through the door. Yup, they watched Jolin freeze up, slowly turn her head around, and meet their eyes. Sasuke, on the other hand, was scribbling on fresh clean paper their report, but didn't notice them. 

Jolin shuddered, her face calm and blank, but turned around and went back to talking about their report with Sasuke. 

"It's the same girl we went on a mission with and Sasuke writing a report together," Itachi observed. "Enough. Let's go." He walked away, causing Shisui to follow. They left the children in peace and headed to see their leaders and teams. 

Jolin held back a sigh of relief and concentrated on the report. They needed to finish this, and being distracted was not an option. 

Two hours later, both children left the interrogation building and headed to the forest. They had finally reorganized their paper, but they both agreed the paper wasn't done yet. Sasuke had finished taking the notes for Sharigan interrogation and how the process works, and Jolin figured out how to add the new information to their paper. 

"Okay....we basically have most of the report finished," Jolin began. "So we just need....." 

"To figure out why our research paper is going to fail," Sasuke groaned. 

"Yup." 

Ten minutes later, Sasuke had to leave for lunch or else his mother would scold him, and Jolin ran all the way to the Assassination building to see if she could do a mission to take her mind off the paper for a while. 

"Ah, Jolin!" Ijuro greeted her. "I wanted to congratulate you for your first team mission for a job well done." 

"Thank you sir." 

"In fact, Lord Fugaku was rather interested and impressed with your abilities, he requested for another mission to combine you and his Uchiha Police Force team," Ijuro went on. 

Jolin's face drained of blood at the very thought of joining Fugaku and fourteen intimidating Uchihas in another mission, but swallowed hard and remained silent. 

"The mission level is B, and I would like to hand this mission to you, Jolin," Ijuro said. He continued labeling the basics of the mission's place and what they were supposed to do. 

Jolin stayed silent, mentally debating whether or not to accept the mission. 

"How long is the mission?" She finally asked. 

 "Two days. I made sure you wouldn't get missions that would interfere with your classes in the Academy." Jolin inhaled deeply. 

" I accept." 

"Good. I'll inform Lord Fugaku of your response, and you'll leave in six hours." 

Jolin merely bowed and left, her head swimming. She slowly headed back to the interrogation building, passing by her father's Truth Room when something caught her eye. She slipped into the room, undetected by the guards and watched in amazement her father cutting the victim's fingers off. 

But what caught her eye the most was the body of the bleeding man. The way his arm was twisted, the way restraints prevented him from struggling, and the--

Jolin's eyes widened slightly before realizing what her and Sasuke's report was missing. 

'I am so stupid!' She screamed in her head. She slipped from the room carefully, then ran towards the main library across the streets and towards the aisles. 

"Come on, come on, come on!" Jolin hissed to herself, flipping through the pages furiously before finding the correct page. "Here!" Jolin snatched her paper from her bag and began scribbling in words between the spaces to include some of the most vital information of the entire research project: the body structures and the main weaknesses.

"I've got to show this to Sasuke!" Jolin grabbed her belongings and ran down the streets and came close to the Uchiha Compound.....

Only to skid to a screeching stop, realizing what she had to do. 

She had to walk into a noble clan's property 

and risk making enemies. 

That was the problem. 

Jolin paced outside the gates, trying to think of a good way to get the papers to Sasuke without getting caught. 

"What should I do? What should I say?" 

After wasting twenty minutes, Jolin gave up. 

"Oh screw it. I'm going in."