Interrogation Department – Midnight
The room was dim, lit only by the pale glow of chakra lamps that hummed quietly against the stillness. The scent of blood and ash hung in the air.
Inoichi Yamanaka stood before what remained of Koji's body, a charred husk barely recognizable, skin cracked and blackened, the face scorched beyond humanity. Only the outline of a child remained.
He closed his eyes, fingers trembling slightly as they hovered above Koji's temple.
"Saiko Denshin," he whispered, and the world fell away.
---
Inside Koji's Mind
Black.
Endless, suffocating black.
Not the darkness of sleep, but something far deeper...emptier. The void of someone who had given up long before death.
Inoichi moved carefully, feeling for memories, for echoes.
And then… a flicker.
A pinprick of pale light, like a dying candle in a storm.
He stepped toward it.
The air grew colder.
Then—voices.
At first, barely a whisper:
"I must do it... I must do it..."
Over and over. Obsessive. Desperate.
Inoichi reached out—touched the light.
The world screamed.
The whispers erupted into shrieks, piercing, endless. Koji's voice but twisted, layered, overlapping. Each repetition a little more broken. A little more lost.
"I MUST DO IT. I MUST. I—MUST—DO—IT!"
The space shook violently, like a brain rejecting its own memories. Inoichi clutched his ears, knees buckling.
Then.....nothing.
He was hurled back into the real world like a ragdoll, collapsing beside the table.
---
Back in Reality
His eyes snapped open, breath ragged, sweat dripping from his brow.
Ibiki Morino watched from the shadows, unmoving. "Did you find anything?" he asked.
Inoichi took several moments before speaking, voice a hoarse whisper:
"I've... never seen anything like that. Not in all my years. We need to report this to the Hokage, now."
---
Hokage's Office – Dawn
The room was quiet again, but not peaceful. The air felt heavier now. Grief had weight, and it pressed down on them all.
Inoichi stood before Hiruzen, his posture tense, eyes shadowed by something he didn't want to understand.
He recounted everything, every word, every scream.
When he finished, the silence was unbearable.
Hiruzen's face was hard, but his eyes, his eyes betrayed him. They were tired. Old. Defeated.
"Do you believe it was outside interference?" he asked, voice low.
Inoichi shook his head. "I don't know. But this wasn't normal grief. It wasn't even madness. It was... like something collapsed inside him and took everything with it."
"Were there any images?"
"None," Inoichi murmured. "Only the screams. Nothing else."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, his pipe forgotten.
"What about the merchant?" he asked.
"His brain was completely destroyed," Inoichi replied. "Not even fragments left to salvage."
Another pause.
The ANBU beside them stepped forward. "Sir, the final autopsy is in. Koji's body showed extensive trauma, fractured ribs, bruising. Repeated blunt force, focused around the chest. It's likely he was beaten before... severely."
Neither Hiruzen nor Inoichi spoke.
The silence in the Hokage's office now felt... sacred. Like standing before a grave.
Finally, Hiruzen broke it, voice gravel-thin.
"So… little Koji was being abused by his uncle. And when no one came… he ended it himself."
Inoichi nodded faintly. "That's how it looks. But… what I don't understand is why he stayed. Why die with him? Why not run?"
Hiruzen stared out the window, where the morning sun was just beginning to rise.
"Because," he said quietly, "some chains are too deep to break. And some wounds... they don't bleed. They burn."
Inoichi lowered his eyes.
And in that room, filled with power and age and history, no one felt strong.
Not today.