14 Chapter 14

(Three hours later)

The Namikaze house was subdued in utter silence. Mito, Menma, Jiraiya, and Kakashi sat around the table listening to the aggressive cooking taking place in the kitchen. Mito and Menma still silently arguing as to not disturb the others stuck in the thought of their defeat.

Jiraiya was thinking of things they could use for the next case but was drawing complete blanks. Everything he came up with somehow found a way to counter itself or was seen as invalid due to some of the things already discussed. This was extremely important to him and the others could tell. Although they would like to believe it was all for Naruto, it wasn't. He loved the boy, but this was also a chance to finally get Konoha to actively search for and apprehend his old teammate or even kill. He's known Orochimaru for years and if he's learned one thing, it's that he is a very patient person. No matter how long he had to wait, he would see his plans come to fruition and with a mind like his, Jiraiya feared what that could mean.

Minato walked into the silence, knowing full well he was expecting it. He hung his cloak up and made his way through the dining room, greeting everyone on the way by. He entered the kitchen to see Kushina chopping vegetables so aggressively that it was cutting into the wood of the cutting board. He walked up next to her, getting her attention. "We uh… we made progress."

Chopping even harder she replied instantly. "Heh, 'progress'" she mocked. "What fucking progress? We got him sent to a house full of whackos and sick people? How great."

"That's not what I meant." Minato said looking down in thought. "We've gotten the backing of a few more of the clan heads."

"What good is that now that you put that, one eyed fucker in charge of everything?" she asked him spitting out the term she used for Danzo with venom.

Minato rubbed his face. "Look, I had to. Shikaku thought it would be a good idea. He said a few of the clan heads were siding against us because they thought I was playing favorites."

"So! I bet if it were one of their kids they'd do the same.. Fucking thing!" she said louder, splitting the cutting board in half. Minato walked up and gently pulled the knife from her hand.

"Calm down, calm down. Look, it's not over. We'll bring the case back up next month, and we will keep bringing it up until we have him back." He said rubbing her arms to soothe her stress. "We will get him back… I promise." Kushina's body just slumped against his, trying her hardest to keep faith in his words. After a year of doing this, it felt like she couldn't believe him, and with Inoichi's statement, she knew the situation got a lot harder.

(3 days later)

Four armed Uchiha guards as well as Fugaku himself walked down the halls of the prison towards the last cell. Walking pass the cells of men sitting in a shocked silence the further they went. One of them holding a load of equipment that jingled with every step.

Finally making it to the last cell, they peered inside to see a sight that was disturbing. Naruto sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table facing them, and his cellmate beating his head on the wall. Blood splatter dripping down the wall in front of him.

"Kario, get him and take him to the infirmary." Fugaku said as they opened the cell.

Naruto stared at Fugaku in amusement. "Ah, Fugaku-sama. It's been a while." He said with a small smile resting on his lips. His eyes barreling into the Uchiha leaders with such intensity it was unsettling. "What is the reason for this visit?" He asked him casually.

Fugaku and the others stepped into the cell, the one with the equipment timidly walked around the table and got behind the redhead, pulling him to his feet. "You are being moved to the Asylum as you have become too dangerous to remain in this prison." Fugaku explained. "While there, you will have the same lack of rights you have here." He said repeating the words of Danzo. He threw him a set of white clothes to further accent that this was no joke.

"You think I'm crazy…" He said in amusement holding the clothes in his hands.

Fugaku crossed his arms meeting the intense gaze without fear. "What I think is of no importance. An expert has deemed you a certified psychopath. Put em' on." He demanded.

Naruto only smiled at him "I prefer orange." He stated casually.

"I don't care." He replied with his stoic look still in place.

Naruto chuckled and removed his clothes and slipped into the white uniform. When he finished his arms were bounded tightly behind his back and his feet were shackled together. "An expert huh? So, Inoichi-san believes I am crazy." He stated with a smile, before he could say anything else a muzzle was placed over his mouth so that he could not speak.

"Aside from that, your actions within my facility have been a hindrance to my staff and the functioning of the prison. You will be moved to the Asylum where you will have no contact with the patients and no recreational time. In addition, you will attend a two hour long session with a psychologist every day." He informed him. He couldn't see it, but he just knew the redhead was smiling.

The two Uchiha guards on either side of him grabbed onto his elbows and began ushering him out the cell and down the hall. On the way, his casual gaze peered into the cells of the men still frozen in silence as they watched the psychopath being led down the hall, all of them noticing the white get up and finding it fitting. Fugaku was amazed by how much fear he was able to instill in the men of their horrible nature. Naruto was like a monster to these monsters and it only ensured him that he should never be allowed to roam free.

Pushing him out the front door of the prison, the three Uchiha police force members marched him through the woods that led to the psychiatric ward that was about a mile through the back woods of the village. Naruto didn't struggle in the slightest. He played visual mind games with the wards staff that were heading back to the village in the opposite direction, giving them playful gazes and eye smiles that were completely unsettling.

Finally arriving at the Asylum, Inoichi was already waiting at the door with two of his biggest staff members ready to take over from there. Naruto gave the blonde man an amused look from behind his muzzle. His concentrated gaze boring into his skull with unknown intentions.

The Uchiha guards handed off the prisoner to the two workers as Fugaku greeted Inoichi. Shaking the timid man's hand, he gave his parting words. "Best of luck Inoichi." He said lowly. Inoichi exhaled and nodded his head at the man as he and his clansmen walked away. Inoichi took the lead, walking the two guards and his new patient/prisoner along with them.

Naruto looked around at the new scenery of all white while he was being pushed along. It was a new experience in contrast to the usual grey walls he was used to. A blinding one at that. They passed hallway after hallway, passing many rooms and offices. Making it to the stairs, they climbed up three flights before finally stepping back into a hall. In the distance, Naruto could hear chatter. As he was pushed along, they passed by what he assumed was the recreational center as there were a bunch of white clothed patients doing various tasks inconsistent to what it looked like they would be doing. Like the two men sitting at the chess bored staring off into space or asleep.

He was pushed along until he could no longer see them. After that, it was more white halls with patients being led down the hall or back into their rooms. He received looks of fear from more than a few of the ward employees on the way by which was familiar of course. Finally, at the very end of the hall was a single room, far away from the others, marked with his name. Inoichi pulled out his keys and unlocked the metal door.

They walked the blonde in and halted him in the middle of the room, Inoichi pulled out a needle and flicked it twice. He stuck it in Naruto's neck and his body began to slump forward. The two guards grabbed hold of him and carried him towards the pad in the corner, laying him down. Inoichi pulled out the keys Fugaku gave him and removed the cuffs and shackles from the redhead. When he finished that, another of his employees brought in a straitjacket that they secured tightly on Naruto's form.

"Will that be all Dr. Yamanaka?" asked one of the workers standing next to him as he looked down at Naruto.

With a sigh and a nod, he turned around. "Yes, that is all. Return to your tasks." He said ushering them out before stepping out himself and locking the metal door. It always pained him to see someone he's known since they were children end up in this place. It happened all too often for his liking.

(The next day)

Sitting in a room with metal chairs and a metal table, all bolted to the floor, Naruto stared up into the dangling light above. His straight jacket secured with chains connected to the floor. He was sat down a few hours earlier by two of the workers and was told to wait for his session to begin. Eventually, the door opened up and Inoichi walked in with a vanilla folder in his hand and a cup of coffee tucked in his elbow to free his other to shut the door. He strolled over casually, not even looking Naruto's way yet.

Sitting down, he sat his stuff down and looked towards the blonde. Naruto's intense gaze was already on him with a small smile tugging at his lips. Inoichi ignored the look and pulled a note pad and a pen from his pocket. "Good morning Naruto. I will be handling your psychological sessions for the time being. I would like to start out by asking you some simple questions."

"I believe we have already done this Inoichi-san." Naruto said, amusement in his voice. "Don't tell me you have to reevaluate me now."

Inoichi shook his head. "These are different questions." He said flipping a few pages. Naruto waited patiently with his smile fading in and out. "Now, do you know what you are doing here?"

"Well, an uh… an expert" he said with a hint of amusement, "has deemed me clinically insane."

Inoichi didn't react to the statement. "It's a little more complicated than that." He said. "Naruto, I'm not here to treat you like a criminal… Ok, I've been on your side since before your trial." Naruto just nodded mockingly. "I want to help you…" he said seriously.

Naruto looked up in thought. "Ugh, if only I could believe you." He said in false exasperation.

"And why can't you?"

Naruto shifted in his seat giving Inoichi a confused look and a smile. "Well, you told me not to." He said wittily. Inoichi raised an eyebrow at the statement. He hadn't said anything like that. Seeing his confusion, Naruto rolled his eyes in comical annoyance. "Come on, I know it only made it to paper back but still."

Inoichi was still as confused as possible. This was an example of what he meant in the trial when he said Naruto's topics would bounce around sporadically. Now it seemed as if he were on a completely different subject altogether. Well that's what he thought until Naruto explained further.

"'The biggest sin of a man at war is his undoubted belief in the enemy's words. It is a psychosomatic disadvantage of a human being, who has seen enough tragedy, to have faith in the things he hears that promise an end. If he is told of a possible end to war, regardless of where the information comes from, he will take it without question. A shinobi's duty is to resist such an urge.' Inoichi Yamanaka, the Psychology of War." Naruto said.

Inoichi's eyes widened ever so slightly when he realized what he was talking about. "You've read my book." He stated in surprise. Surprise because it was never very popular to those who weren't studying psychology. It was far from being a bestseller.

"I did." Naruto said nodding his head. "A true masterpiece it was."

Inoichi raised an eyebrow, not expecting a compliment. "Well, thank you. But, I don't believe that applies to this situation. We're not at war."

"Aren't we?" Naruto responded immediately. "Call it what you will, but this is war. Two sides facing off in a battle to gain the upper hand or maintain it.. That is the goal here right?" he asked upholding that same unsettling eye contact. "I mean, your expert evaluation of me is that I am a psychopath… Someone who loves being in control." He mocked.

Inoichi was starting to feel a bit anxious as he just got that sickening feeling that Naruto was more than a few steps ahead of him. His many years of doing this however gave nothing away and he met the redhead's eye contact with a stoic look that was unshaken. Coughing into his hand, he replied. "Yes, but I am not here to compete with you."

"Oh but you are… You are here for just that reason. You see, this little uh, game.. of ours has the ultimate objective of control. We're in your facility… you control all things within. Patients, workers, the lights and what not?" Naruto rhetorically asked him receiving a nod of confirmation. "Yeah, well, as hard as you may try and hide it, I can tell I threaten you." Inoichi chuckled a bit as a way to demean Naruto's statement when in truth he wasn't feeling too confident. "No, I do." He accented calmly.

Inoichi sat back in his seat with a forced grin on his face. "And how is that?" he asked him.

Naruto blinked in thought. "Well, you are no match for me physically, and you know that. All those years of war and you couldn't beat me if you left me in this straitjacket. You know this so you have to come up with some other method of besting me... You want to assert your dominance by displaying your prowess in something that only a handful of men have been able to best you at, mental prowess."

Inoichi's false smirk of confidence unintentionally dropped by the end of Naruto's rant.

"But, now you're starting to truly worry… because I'm besting you at that as well. Is that not what war is about?... gaining the tactical advantage over your enemy in all aspects of the fight? As I am sure you're aware, you are not the first man to depict war in a mental stand point." He asked again rhetorically.

"Of course." Inoichi said nodding.

"Do you know of Wakata Fuji?" Naruto asked. Inoichi wanted to say yes, but he knew the types of corners you could be backed into when lying to someone as intelligent as Naruto, so instead he shook his head. Naruto nodded and continued. "Well, he was a general of Kirigakure during the second great shinobi war. He wrote a book titled, It's a Mind Game... what the book was about was basically the mental strain put on the mind of a man at war, much like yours. In his depiction, he explained it as being a process, a slow process, much like uh… well, working on a patient." He said with a shrug.

Inoichi was listening intently, actually interested in what he was saying.

"When war begins.. the first step is asserting your dominance, making the opposing side more timid to attack. That was your intention when coming here today. You may not have known it, but it was. It is what you would call a tactless objective. It was planned out without even truly thinking about it. It's actually a fairly blatant example of the good guy/ bad guy complex really." He said with a chuckle.

"How is that exactly?" Inoichi asked in reply.

"Wow…" Naruto said smiling as he shook his head. "You really don't see it… Well, you woke up this morning… thinking about this moment. In anticipation, your mind simplified the situation. There are two men here, one good one bad." He said nodding his way as if he were talking to a child. "In your mind, you went over various scenarios and mentally planned out how you wanted it to go. You expected me to be much more aggressive than I am from the stories you've heard, or else you wouldn't have seen it fit to secure me with chains." He said leaning forward stretching out the metal links on his back. "In doing so, you made a plan to make it clear to me who was in charge here."

"You're drawing this assumption from thin air." Inoichi said portentously.

"Oh, but I'm noot." Naruto said almost as if he were singing. "You see, from the very first question, you meant to demean my intelligence, expecting me to have a very rudimentary understanding of 'why I'm here.'" He mocked. "Which I did… Your response was 'It's a little more complicated than that.' Clear signifier." He said casually nodding his own head. "Then you layered a sheet of emotional manipulation over top of it to make it seem as if you were 'on my side.' A clever tactic that I am sure has worked on a ton of patients." Naruto praised. "But, even still. It's too elementary for a mental war of this level, and you know what they say about war… you never know who's winning until the end." He said with a smile.

"Do you think you're winning?" Inoichi asked.

Naruto only chuckled ominously. "Oh-hoho, It is faar from the end." He replied leaning back in his seat. Inoichi just stared at him seeing him in a new light. From their last conversation, he was convinced Naruto was psychologically unhinged, but after this talk, he was getting a different vibe. He wasn't unhinged at all, psychotic yes, but unhinged? Not so much. For some reason, that just made things a lot worse.