| [Dec. 8th, 2011|08:17 am] |
“From everything I’ve read about them, they are both more than intelligent enough to come to that conclusion on their own,” Ibiki said. He was starting to tire of Asuma’s hostility; there would be plenty of that from their targets when they found them.
Asuma sucked on yet another cigarette like he was trying to smoke it so hard it would burst into flame. Ibiki turned over a little piece of thought... Your boyfriend’s dead... They’d been briefed separately, and Arakaki had said Ibiki didn’t receive any information that Asuma hadn’t. That didn’t mean the reverse was true.
“Is Tousaki dead, then?” he asked.
"Three weeks gone and the best trackers in Konoha couldn't find him?" Asuma blew smoke towards the fog-shrouded coast. It felt like spring hadn’t come near Hima’s shore yet, despite the date. "Pretty good odds he ain't breathing."
“But nothing definitive?” asked Ibiki. “My understanding was if we could find evidence to prove or disprove the assumption that Tousaki was dead, we should bring that back, as long as it didn’t cause any delay in getting our primary targets safely back to Konoha.”
Asuma stared at Ibiki just long enough for his look to feel like a muted threat. "If we find Tousaki alive or dead, I'll be sure to make a note of it."
There were a lot of techniques for disengaging from a hostile subject in an interrogation, for keeping your own temper under control when they were trying to goad you. The same techniques could be turned on their heads and used to resist interrogation, as well. But it was going to be a little tiresome if Ibiki had to resort to them to be able to work effectively with his mission partner. He tilted his head, stretching his neck one way and then the other, and shrugged his shoulders, limbering up for their journey. “Do you have a problem working with me on this mission, Asuma-san?” |
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