Questionable Loyalty

A/N: First of all I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed after reading the previous chapter, your words warmed my heart. Thank you. I hope this chapter doesn't put you off from reading this story. I promise, it's the only one with that sort of content.



I have known for a long time that I'd have to write this chapter and I have been putting it off for a whole week before I finally sat down and forced myself to do it. It wasn't easy and I had to stop several times before being able to continue again. The point of the following scenes is to show the lack of humanity of the Ninja system and the kind of people it shapes and nurtures - cruel, vicious, merciless, narrow-minded. It is not written to provide cheap angst, nor will Kakashi's recuperation (if he ever recuperates) happen overnight. And finally, please, READ THE WARNINGS!



WARNINGS: This chapter contains graphic scene of torture and a short but graphic scene of sexual assault. Read at your own discretion. You have been warned.



CHAPTER 56





Kakashi stared at the younger man, his throat working but no sound coming out of it. He tried to think of a plausible explanation about having Naruto unconscious at his feet, but considering Iruka’s words, none of it would be believed.



“Iruka… What are you doing here?” he asked tentatively. The Chuunin shrugged.



“I guess I wanted to see for myself.”



“See what for yourself?”



“If you were really a traitor. I told Tsunade last night, after we saw the tape, that perhaps this is a deliberate attempt to create conflict and mistrust between us. I really, really wanted to believe that you were truly the person I fell in love with it.” His tanned face was sad and angry. “I was wrong.”



The sound of more steps then and Kakashi realized that he was surrounded – there were ANBU, all around him, their faces and bodies covered, hidden, they were faceless, cold-blooded killers. Why hadn’t he felt their presence earlier? He weighed in his options – fight and try to flee or surrender? His body began to tense, preparing for an attack when he saw that Tsunade herself was walking out in front of the group. Of course. She must’ve shielded them while they watched him, that’s why he didn’t feel their presence.



“Are you going to come quietly or are you going to fight?” she asked, her voice cool as ice. She was dressed in full combat gear, apparently expecting him to put up a fight. He wasn’t stupid though – he knew that he didn’t have a chance, not against this many ANBU operatives and the Hokage herself. He was quite sure that there were more fighters posted throughout the forest and that escape would be next to impossible. And besides, if he fought, Naruto might get hurt in the chaos that would ensue.



Without a word, he raised his hands above his head and slowly kneeled to the ground. A pair of ANBUs immediately walked up to him, grabbed his wrists and secured them in cuffs, a third injecting something in his neck and making him wince.



“Chakra suppressant.” Tsunade said as she approached him. “So that you don’t cause trouble until we reach Konoha.” She was looking down at him as if she was looking at a roach that had crawled into her soup, her fine features twisted into a mix of rage and disgust. Behind her, Iruka wore a similar expression, but it was also tinged with unbearable sadness and disappointment. Kakashi looked away.



Tsunade kneeled on the ground and checked Naruto’s pulse.



“He’s fine.” Kakashi said hurriedly. “Just drugged.”



The sudden punch left him reeling and stars exploded behind his eye-lids. Angry red splotches blossomed on Tsunade’s cheeks.



“I don’t want to listen to your voice, traitor!” She hissed. “The only time you’ll be permitted to speak will be when you tell us all that you know of your… associates.”



“I will tell you nothing.” Kakashi responded quietly, trying to swallow the blood that was pouring in his mouth from his split lip.



“We’ll see.” stated one of the ANBUs holding him.



The trip back to wherever they were going was quiet, none of his captors saying a word. Kakashi didn’t put up a fight, still too shocked at his own downfall, reeling from the knowledge that Iruka knew of his treason.



How had they found out? Had he done something to give himself away? He thought about it, but nothing in particular stood out. Iruka had mentioned a tape. What tape? A recording of some sort? Of what? And who had spied on him to make a recording? He had never felt the presence of another when he spoke to Nagato telepathically. The question was more than a little worrying, all the more so that he had no apparent answer to it. Eventually, he resolved himself to waiting until he found out just how much they knew and how much they thought they knew.



He threw a glance at Iruka, traveling silently next to Tsunade, Naruto cradled in his arms as if he was a child, despite having grown so much by now. The Chuunin had no problem carrying him, even at such a long distance, and Kakashi felt awed at his strength. The younger man noticed him watching and glared back before pointedly looking away with a sneer. Kakashi looked at the ground for the remainder of the trip, too ashamed to meet anyone’s eyes.



Once they reached a large hill in the outskirts of the village the convoy stopped and Kakashi noticed that several of the ANBU members separated from the others and were rapidly performing seals. A mass teleport. There was a loud pop and he, Tsunade, the pair of ANBUs who held him and Iruka with Naruto were no longer in a field in the outskirts of Konoha but rather in a underground questioning room underneath the hill. It was spacious and austere, its walls carved into the solid rock, the only furniture being several chairs and tv-set hooked up to a DVD player.



Iruka gently lowered Naruto to the ground and Tsunade walked up to them, kneeling next to him and injecting him with something. Soon the young man moaned softly and his blue eyes fluttered open, still hazy and confused. Finally, they focused on Iruka.



“It wasn’t a fake tape, after all, Sensei.” He said bitterly and slowly turned his head to meet Kakashi’s eyes. He was too weak to do anything but Kakashi could see the same devastating rage smouldering in his former student’s eyes. Naruto bared his teeth.



“I warned you. I warned you I’ll kill if you hurt him.”



Kakashi looked away.



Iruka helped the young man to get back to his feet and continued supporting him as he approached Kakashi.



“Why? Why did you do this? We all trusted you!” the blonde yelled, his voice rising with every word. “I trusted you!”



Kakashi flinched but didn’t respond. Tsunade walked up to Naruto and put her hand on his shoulder.



“It is a question we all want you to answer, Kakashi. What do you have to say for yourself?” he said, voice still incredibly placid.



Kakashi licked his lips before responding:



“The only thing I can reveal to you, Hokage-sama, is that I acted in the best interests of the Konoha citizens. I have never wished for any harm to come to them.”



“By giving your own student to a criminal organization responsible for numerous attacks on all the villages?! I can hardly believe that kind of logic, Hatake!” Tsunade exclaimed. “What are their plans? What did they want Naruto for?”



Kakashi was looking at the ground and keeping his mouth shut.



“You must wonder how we found out about your treason?” Tsunade continued then. “It was an anonymous tip – I assume from a disgruntled Akatsuki member or a Konoha well-wisher, although the latter seems quite an unreasonable theory. Yesterday, while you were at the Jounin meeting, a video-recording was mailed to my office, a recording I saw with Iruka present… and Naruto as well.” She moved towards the television-screen and popped a disk in the player, then turned it on. Kakashi’s own moans, needy and passionate, filled the room and he looked up sharply, staring at the screen without being able to look away.



It was him, that last night before leaving Amegakure, in the arms of his lovers, rocking between them, kissing them, moaning their names, telling them he loved them… He watched himself as Nagato and Itachi both slid into his body, his face twisting in both pain and pleasure, lips trembling before his lover captured them in a gentle kiss, watched as Kisame slid in his mouth, spreading it wide, a trail of saliva sliding down his chin to drip on his chest…



The scene was staring back at him, obscene in its detail, an irrefutable proof of his betrayal.



The room was quiet, the only sound coming from the tv-set – moaning and the wet sounds of skin slapping against skin as his lovers took him. Somehow, he gathered the courage to look at Iruka and what he saw on his face hurt him more than the rage and the disgust would have – indifference, cold and disinterested – the Chuunin was looking at him as if he was an object rather than a person.



“We all know who Itachi and Kisame are.” The Chuunin said. “I assume the red-head is the same person I spied you with all this time ago in the alley, I take it?” he smiled mockingly. “So you were a slut even before that, consider this… scene.” He pointed to the screen. Kakashi tried to say something, to explain, but Iruka was unrelenting. “And you acted like such a shy, virginal wall-flower when we met. It was all a lie, after all – from you being … hmm, virginal, to us actually having a relationship – wasn’t it? You seduced me and used me to get to Naruto. I have always, always known you were a two-faced bastard, but I never realized that you were also a whore and a traitor.” The whole time, his voice was calm, bored even, he was talking it as if he was discussing the weather over a cup of tea with friends.



Finally Kakashi found his voice.



“No. It wasn’t all a lie. I did grow to lo-…”



“DON’T YOU DARE TO LIE TO ME!” Iruka suddenly yelled, all his previous calm dissipating. “I AM TIRED OF YOUR LIES!”



Kakashi curled in on himself at the sound of his screaming and looked down, only noticing with the corner of his eye that Naruto had hugged the Chuunin and was trying to calm him down. Tsunade spoke again:



“Indeed, it is yet another betrayal of yours, Hatake – that you used one of Konoha’s kindest, gentlest, most loving people to implement your plan.” She pressed the “stop” button of the remote and the incriminating images disappeared. “I am asking you nicely for the last time, Hatake – what are Akatsuki’s plans? If you don’t tell me now, I’ll have to give you over to ANBU for interrogation.”



He understood the threat perfectly well, knowing that his former colleagues would be merciless when they got a hold of him – there was little hope that he would survive the ordeal, let alone remain in one piece.



“I’m sorry, Tsunade-sama. I cannot tell you anything.”



There was a lengthly silence.



“Very well.” Tsunade said in the end. “You leave me no choice. I will be honest with you – because of your long and loyal service to Konoha, I was hoping that you would speak, so that I could authorize a quick, clean and relatively painless execution… but now we’ll have to skip that.” She signaled the ANBUs holding him and one of them grabbed his mask and forehead protector and pulled them off, revealing his face and Sharingan eye.



“Grab his eye-lid and keep his eye open.” She instructed him. “We can’t allow him to have such a weapon while being interrogated, chakra suppressive drugs or not.”



Understanding dawned on him and despite himself he jerked in his captors’ arms, trying to delay the inevitable. Tsunade reached towards his face, her hands glowing blue; there was a quiet pop, then a wet, tearing sound and searing pain, and he saw through the tears that filled his other eye that she was holding Obito’s eye in her hand, oozy and bloody, the nerve hanging from it like a tail. He realized that the moans of pain that filled his ears were his own and he tried to stifle them as much as he could as he sagged in the arms which held him up.



Tsunade put the eye in a small box and reached towards him again. The pain lessened a little but it didn’t disappear.



“I stopped his bleeding so that he wouldn’t go into shock so fast, we need him conscious.” She explained. “Chain him there.”



Blearily Kakashi noticed that the Hokage was pointing towards one of the chairs, a massive iron thing with loops around its arm-rests and legs designed to go around a person’s ankles and wrists. The men dragged him to it and secured him in it. Kakashi tried to blink away the tears of pain in his eye and looked at Iruka again, his expression pleading:



“Iruka… it wasn’t all a lie.” He said softly.



The Chuunin looked away.



“If it wasn’t, then your betrayal is even worse.” He answered and left the room, the other ANBUs filing out after him, the only ones remaining being Tsunade and the two guards.



“I gave you a chance, Hatake.” She told him calmly. “You refused it. Now you will have to suffer the consequences.”



With that, the Hokage turned on her heel and exited the room, followed by her subordinates, leaving him alone and tied him, waiting for his tormentors.



Kakashi didn’t know for how long he stayed there, alone in the underground room, the bright light overhead stinging his one remaining eye. The socket of the other was still oozing sluggishly and the whole area was throbbing in agony, his flesh torn and bloody. He knew what they were doing – they were letting him stew in his own juices for a while, his paranoia and imagination presenting him with horrible scenarios of what they were about to do to him. Still, Kakashi knew Ibiki and knew exactly what the man would do – he had no need to imagine it because he had seen it. Despite his fear of the pain, he resigned himself to it – there would be no escape, no mercy, but he was determined not to give away Nagato’s secrets.



Which led him to the real thing that tormented him – who had sent that recording? He couldn’t imagine that it would be Nagato, or Kisame, or Itachi. They loved him, trusted him, cherished him – he had no doubts about that. He wouldn’t allow himself to doubt that love. But if it wasn’t them, then who? Who had access to that room, who was able to watch them without either of them detecting the surveillance? Tobi. The Uchiha who terrified both Nagato and Itachi and who had disliked him so much. He certainly had a motive – with Kakashi in Nagato’s life, Tobi’s grip on the red-head was pried open. Perhaps this was his way of getting rid of the competition. But why jeopardize his own goals by giving away his one asset in Konoha who could give him Naruto without creating too much havoc? Unless he considered having control over Nagato more important that getting a Jinchuuriki. Which meant that he had other ways to get to Naruto, and that was a terrifying prospect.



He was still turning all these thoughts over in his head when the door finally opened and four ANBU members filed in, their masks removed and revealing their grim faces. None of them was Ibiki, but Kakashi immediately recognized the leader – Iwazaki – the same bastard and his cronies had cornered Iruka some time ago and Kakashi had dealt with them. He began to get worried – Ibiki he could deal with, but this man held a personal grudge against him, and he was unpredictable.



Iwazaki slowly approached him and looked down at him, forcing Kakashi to crane his neck up to answer his stare.



“So proud, for a man in your position, Hatake.” Iwazaki said, his voice dripping with malice. “No matter. By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be begging us to kill you.”



Kakashi didn’t respond.



“Oh? You plan to give me the silent treatment?” the man leaned forward to take a better look at him. “That’s fine. I like a challenge. And we’ll make you scream.” He leaned further and whispered in his ear “I told you I’d get you one day, fag.”



Kakashi’s fingers twitched but he still kept his mouth shut. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of responding to the taunting.



Iwazaku pulled back and signaled to one of his men to come closer. Kakashi looked at him and noticed that was carrying what appeared to be a metal tonfa.



“Make sure he can’t try to run, or fight. I’d hate it if we have to chase him or subdue him.” Iwazaki said casually and pointed to Kakashi’s legs.



Iwazaki’s subordinate, a tall, middle-aged man, walked up to him and with one single, powerful and well-measured swing struck Kakashi’s right leg right against his kneecap, shattering the bone with practiced ease. Agony raced up his leg all the way to his shoulder and the Jounin exhaled sharply, then breathed heavily, struggling not to scream. He wasn’t going to scream. Not for them. The three men surrounding him tittered with amusement, but the leader frowned.



“So quiet. Do the other one as well.”



Despite bracing himself, nothing could prepare Kakashi for the added agony in his other knee when the man shattered that bone as well. A small, pathetic moan escaped his clenched teeth and tears filled his eye again. He wanted to curl up, to protect himself, but the clasps around his ankles and wrists prevented him from it. All he could do was pant and moan quietly, trying to control the wild beating of his heart, his poor legs throbbing painfully. He was crippled for life, he knew that, even if he somehow escaped and got a hold of a decent medical ninja. No one short of Tsunade’s skill could fix that kind of injury and that thought alone despaired him more than the actual physical suffering. He began to laugh, half-hysterical, half-desperate.



“Now, what’s so funny, traitor?” Iwazaki asked, also smiling at him.



“You’re pathetic.” Kakashi answered in between giggles. “You’ve always been jealous of me, Iwazaki – you’ve always known that I am classes above you in skill and knowledge, and you could never accept that.” His laughter died down and he added: “And you were always so very preoccupied with me liking men… what’s wrong? Couldn’t bear the fact that I’d fuck anyone but you?”



Iwazaki’s face became purple with rage at those words and for a moment, Kakashi thought that he had broken him, but then the man obviously got a hold of himself:



“Oh, I know what you’re doing.” He said quietly. “You’re trying to make me so angry that I’d kill you in a fit of rage and put you out of your misery.” He reached and caressed Kakashi’s cheek gently. Kakashi tried to flinch away from the touch but the hand suddenly fisted in his hair and kept him in place.



“You won’t die today. Or tomorrow. Or even next week. I have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time, slut. And I intend to enjoy it to the fullest.”



He let him go and turned to the other man.



“Now, you did remember to bring the tools, didn’t you?”



Two hours later Kakashi watched blearily as Iwazaki was wiping the blood off his hands with a paper-towel, a look of disappointment on his face. Kakashi was drenched in cold sweat, his breath coming in short, rapid gasps as he tried to ignore that he burning agony in his hands and legs. The bastard had torn out his nails, one by one, slowly, torturously, a viperish smile on his face as he watched Kakashi writhe on the chair, moaning between clenched teeth, struggling against his natural instinct to scream. When they were done with the nails, he started on the fingers, breaking them neatly in the middle and twisting them, an almost ecstatic expression on his face as he listened to the shattered bones grinding together and watched look on Kakashi’s face.



Now he had gotten a small reprieve, watching as his tormentor clean himself from his blood with an unhappy look on his face, seven of Kakashi’s fingers sticking at odd angles, the gore from his torn fingernails oozing down to his bound wrists.



“You don’t intend to give me any answers, do you, traitor?” Iwazaki said when he was done.



Kakashi laughed weakly.



“I didn’t realize that you had asked a question.” He said, still proud, still defiant.



The man’s face darkened.



“Oh, but you already know the question. You just choose not to answer it.”



“You’re not doing this because you’re personally interested in any information, Iwazaki.” Kakashi pointed out and winced at the sudden jolt of pain when one of the other ANBUs grabbed his twisted thumb and pushed it further.



Iwazaki just grinned at that accusation.



“You’ve always known me so very well.” He said, then gestured to his men, who began to unclasp his restraints. Once his hands and legs were free Kakashi’s first instinct was to lash out, but he couldn’t, not anymore, the pain in his legs and fingers was enough to keep him in place.



The two men grabbed him under his armpits and lifted him, carrying him across the room and tying his hands together before lifting them over his head and hoisting him up on a hook, just high enough so that his toes barely touched the ground. Kakashi felt ridiculously grateful for that, knowing that his legs wouldn’t be able to take his own weight either way.



Iwazaki circled around him several times, inspecting him from head to toe, a twisted, hungry smile splitting his face. Then, without a word he reached and began to tear off his clothes, each jolt causing new waves of fiery agony to travel up and down his poor limbs. When the man was done Kakashi was left naked before them, hanging from the ceiling, vulnerable and completely helpless. His eye widened when he saw the tool one of the other men handed the leader – a cat o’ nine tails, each tail ending with a vicious metal hook. His blood ran cold, knowing what that device could do to a human being. He swallowed, all blood draining from his face.



Iwazaki ran the handle against his cheeks gently.



“Well? Are you going to speak?”



Kakashi’s breathing was already quickening, unable to completely suppress the fear he was feeling.



“Go to hell.” He told him, but his voice sounded thin and weak to his own ears.



Iwazaki smiled and circled behind him.



Despite knowing that it was coming, the first strike took him by surprise, the tails of the whip spreading across his back and the hooks tearing into his flesh before the man swung again, and again, whipping him mercilessly from his neck all the way down to his knees, blood running down his legs and seeping on the floor, spraying against the walls with each swing of the vicious tool.



At some point he realized that he was screaming in pain and horror, no longer having the strength to keep quiet, all of his nerves on fire, body twitching and twisting helplessly in the air, trying in vain to escape the torture.



He wasn’t sure for how long it continued but when Iwazaki finally stopped, his throat was hoarse from his screaming and his face wet from his tears. He could hear Iwazaki’s rapid breaths, loud in the silence of the room once the cracks of the whip against his flesh were gone.



The man circled him again and looked at him, a sleazy, pleased grin on his ugly face.



“That was good. Wasn’t it good for you too?”



Kakashi didn’t respond, just closed his eye and tried to shield himself from his surroundings, to wrap his mind in a cocoon of safety. A sharp sting against his cheek brought him out of it and he opened his eyes to see that the man had slapped him.



“Hey, slut! Look at me when I am talking to you!”



Helplessly, Kakashi stared.



“What are Akatsuki’s plans? Surely they shared more with you than their come!”



The Jounin blinked at the man for a moment, as if trying to comprehend the question, then suddenly spat, his spittle splattering right against his cheek and dripping down his chin. Iwazaki stared back, then reached and ran his fingers through it before suckling them in his mouth.



“I see. Well… talking about come…” he gestured to his men again and Kakashi was released from the hook, crying out in agony when his broken knees fell to the floor and he sprawled gracelessly before his tormentors.



“If you’re not going to talk, maybe we can use other methods to persuade you.” Iwazaki muttered somewhere behind him. “It seemed from that tape that you really, really love cock. Maybe if I give you what you love, you’ll give me what I want, eh?”



Somebody kicked his knees apart and he whimpered in pain. There was rustling of clothes behind him and then the lowering of a zipper. Someone kneeled between his spread thighs and grabbed his hips harshly, pulling him up and forcing him to kneel, eliciting a wail of pain from his lips. Somebody’s hard organ rubbed against his bared behind and he keened in fear, tried to pull away from the vicious grip but was too weak to do anything, too weak and in too much pain to defend himself.



“Please… Please, Iwazaki-san, don’t do this.” He begged, all pride, all will to fight leaving him. He had no strength left. “Please.” He whimpered.



The sound of a cruel laughter around him and then the organ ripped into his unprepared opening, tearing the tender tissues, shooting a wave of fire up his spine. He screamed again and convulsed in the punishing grip, helpless to escape from the pain and the violation.



“No! No, please, stop! Please…” he begged, but Iwazaki wouldn't stop, he brutally rammed into him again and again, using him, violating him, hurting him until there was nothing left of him but a vessel filled with pain and fear and shame. “Nagato!” he cried out, his mind seeking his loved one in vain, too panicked and in too much pain to be able to reach him. “Help me! Nagato!”



“See, boys? Looks like we found his weak spot. You can take turns after I am done.”