Ibiki stalked down corridor after corridor, the lights steadily dimming as he approached the interrogation rooms. He couldn't believe the situation he was in. He was the head of interrogation and torture dammit! He could bring a jonnin to his knees in less than a half an hour if needed to. So why, god why, was he on his way to the interrogation rooms so he could perform a psych evaluation on a toddler!?

Flashback-

He was in a good mood, or at least the best kind of mood he could get in. He had just had three consecutive torture sessions, all fairly easy, but they proved to be fun none the less. The only thing that could make this day better was a mission preferably one with lots of violence; which was what he was on his way to get. The Hokage had called him to his office just a few short minutes ago for what he said was an important mission.

"Good evening Ibiki-san, go right inside, the Hokage is expecting you." Ibiki did not know the secretary who had told him this, but nodded to her anyway as he walked through the large doors in front of him.

Sarutobi was, as always, sitting in his desk concentrating on the seemingly endless stream of paperwork in front of him. "Ibiki, hello!" Sarutobi put down his pen in favor of greeting the man who had just walked in. Hizuren was fully capable of multitasking, but he never could pass on an opportunity to ignore his mountains of paperwork.

"Greetings, Hokage-sama, you said you had an important mission for me to do?" Sarutobi sighed as Ibiki said this. Did that man always have to get straight to the point? At this rate Ibiki would be in and out of his office before Sarutobi's cramped hand had realized it had stopped writing.

"Yes, you are correct, but I need to know that you will accept it no matter what it? It is extremely important that you feel comfortable taking it." Ibiki sported a raised eyebrow at his leaders request, then smirked. This mission was a secret and secret meant important which usually meant violent, just what he needed.

"Yes of course Hokage-sama." If Ibiki hadn't been thinking of possible missions he could get he might have seen the flash of amusement on Sarutobi's face before it disappeared.

"Good, thank you Ibiki. Moving on to the mission, it is B ranked and to complete it you will report to the department of interrogation and torture, sound proof room 3C to be specific." The Hokage told him.

"Who is the man I will be interrogating sir?" Ibiki questioned

"Well it's not a man exactly—"

"Ahhh, a kunoichi then." Ibiki concluded

"Um, no," Ibiki's eyes narrowed slightly, if he didn't know any better he would have said the Hokage was nervous about something. Actually he was almost positive that's what it was, years of studying men's facial expressions could make one sensitive to things like that. But as far as he knew this was a normal mission, he would be interrogating someone of importance even if it wasn't a ninja. The Hokage continued speaking, "You will be doing a psych evaluation of the Hyuuga heiress, age four."

Silence...

More silence...

An eye twitch from Ibiki...

"Hokage-sama, are you trying to tell me that I will be performing a psych evaluation on a toddler?" Ibiki did not yell this, or scream it, or any variation of the former and yet… It was a simple intimidation technique that Ibiki knew had absolutely no effect on the Hokage, but it was the perfect way to show his outrage at the request. "If I may ask why Hokage-sama?"

Hizuren calmly sat in his chair and met Ibiki's cold, furious black eyes unflinchingly. Though Ibiki was obviously angry with the Hokage, that anger was heavily laced with confusion that Sarutobi understood completely. Ibiki was a special jonnin that was prepared to take the next anbu exam, he also happened to be the head of the department of interrogation and torture. Psych evaluations were for beginners or green chunin (very green chunin) at the very best, certainly not for the best interrogator of Konoha. Furthermore, an evaluation of a toddler? It was a wonder he hadn't started shooting lightning everywhere from the moment he heard. "Ibiki, earlier tonight there was a kidnapping attempt on the Hyuuga heiress and I am ashamed to say that they got quite far before we caught up to them. This child is four years old Ibiki, she has been through a lot tonight and I want you to know if she is still sound of mind after, well after everything." The Hokage was very serious as he said this.

Ibiki had, for the most part, calmed his rage though he was still visibly angry, "Hokage-sama, I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say this, but wouldn't a chunin be more suited to this mission then me." A genin could do this mission for Kami's sake!

"Ibiki I have two reasons for choosing you for this mission; one is Hiashi Hyuuga, the child's father and clan head. He is a pompus, egoistical man who fancies himself a king, Ha, if he's a king then I'm kami. Anyway, he would take it as a direct insult if I didn't make this mission as important as possible without being absolutely ridiculous. My second reason is you control. You have a knack for using just the right amount of pressure in any situation. I know you haven't done a psych evaluation in a while, but I'm afraid that if I send a newer interogationist they might be too harsh on her, causing more problems than solving them. They could also be so nice as to find nothing wrong with her when there could be something very wrong indeed. I trust you to use the techniques as well a proper tone to perform a good evaluation on the girl." Sarutobi now had his pipe in his mouth and a thoughtful expression on his face as though he wanted to know what Ibiki would say to an argument such as that one.

"Hokage-sama I—"

"No buts Ibiki, there is nothing you can say to change my mind about this mission. Besides, I believe you have already accepted it, if my memory serves me right." Hizuren had a small smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes as he said this to the jonnin in front of him.

Ibiki sighed, the Hokage was right. He had already accepted, so as a proud ninja of his word there was nothing he could do. As he turned to walk out of the office the Hokage's voice stopped him.

"Ibiki I have one more thing to ask of you before you leave." Hizuren looked remarkably serious as he said this. "I don't just want you to focus on the kidnapping; ask her about everything from favorite foods to her life at home, a total evaluation in a sense."

"As you wish Hokage-sama," Ibiki bowed before walking out the door anger steadily climbing once more.

Flashback End-

Ibiki was furious to say the least. His Hokage had just tricked him into performing this mission, then, he asks him to do a total evaluation of a toddler?! Sometimes I swear the Hogake is going crazy. This was ludicrous, it was an itty bitty little girl what on Earth could possibly be wrong with her! Well, other than the whole kidnapping at age four thing.

The sound of inhumane screams of tortured traitors and hated enemies snapped him out of his thoughts. He stood in front of one of the few sound proof rooms in the entire department. They kept screams out, and for an interrogationist, that was almost completely useless. But tonight, inside that room is a child, albeit one that is most likely an exact replica on her father, but a kid none the less.

"Ibiki-sama the child is waiting for you inside," said an unknown voice over intercom. Ibiki sighed, no matter what he thought of her clan, or her for that matter, he had a mission to do and if he let personal feelings get in the way of that. He was as good as dead if the Hokage found out. As he mentally prepared himself for the hyuuga brat he opened the door to find….nothing. Well, at least nothing until he focused a little bit more, seeing a small head with a body barely tall enough to sit in the large chair put there for her. He walked over and sat near her, this couldn't be serious. This was the heiress of the hyuuga clan? This little chit of a girl was the heiress to the coldest most pretentious clans in Konoha? This had to be a joke. The hyuuga's so called heiress was sitting there desperately trying to blend in with a chair while looking down and twiddling her fingers. Kami this was gonna take a while.

He sighed for what had to be the tenth time that night and began, "Hello my name is Ibiki Morino, I want you to answer all of my questions as good as you can, understand?" She flinched but nodded in his direction. Control Ibiki control. That is the reason you were picked for this mission so don't mess it up just because you're pissed. Okay let's try it a little softer. "What is your name?" It came out less demanding then the last time, but still in the gruff athoritive voice that was always present when he spoke.

'M-my n-n-name i-is H-hinata H-hyuuga," she didn't look at him when she said this, making all the harder to hear her whispering voice. Well this was just great, she fidgeted and stuttered. He raised an eyebrow as she peeked up at him through her bangs then looked back down blushing heavily. She blushes too, don't forget the blushing.

"Well then Hinata-san why don't you tell me what happened tonight." His eyes still on her as he said this, as if just looking at her would tell him all he needed to know about.

"W-well I w-was s-s-sleeping i-in m-my b-bedroom w-w-when t-those s-scary m-men c-c-came i-in. I w-was r-really s-s-scared s-so I t-tried t-to s-s-scream b-but t-they w-wouldn't l-let m-me. T-then I t-tried t-to f-fight t-them b-but I c-couldn't b-b-because I a-am t-t-too w-weak." She had started sniffling half way through her story and now she looked as though she was about to start crying at any given moment. Ibiki was panicking, if only slightly. He had dealt with crying women before, hell; he dealt with crying me on a daily basis! Crying children however, that was a whole new level of weeping. Okay just calm her down before she starts crying, ya that should be simple enough.

"Shhhh, uhh, it's okay Hinata-san you're fine now." He said awkwardly patting her on the back with his hands that were enormous in comparison to then four year old. As an attempt at comfort it was pretty sad, and honestly, if the child had been anyone other than the compliant hyuuga heiress they might have started crying harder.

"N-no i-i-it's n-n-not i-I d-d-dissap-pointed f-f-father a-and n-now h-h-he i-is m-mad a-at m-me b-b-because i-I a-am t-too w-w-w-weak." Though Hinata continued to stutter through her sentences, she had stopped the tears that had wanted to fall down her still chubby, child-like cheeks. This last sentence though had made Ibiki think that maybe, just maybe, the Hokage was right to ask for a full evaluation.

At exactly 3:00am the next morning Ibiki was in the Sadinime's office about to give him the mission details. Said mission had ended about an hour and half ago when he finally decided he had enough information, that and the fact that Hinata fell asleep halfway through the last question. "First off Hokage-sama I want to apologize to you for my behavior," this woke the hokage up if nothing else, "I shouldn't have been so angry about my mission because frankly sir Hinata-san is not right in head."

"What? What happened during the kidnapping?" Hizuren was genially worried for Hinata. He had met her on numerous occasions and found her utterly adorable to say the least.

"Nothing happened during the kidnapping hokage-sama, but I can say with absolute certainty that she is not entirely stable. In the short evaluation we had I identified at least three psychological phobias," Ibiki said with a slight scowl on his face, he knew Hiashi wasn't a good man to mess up your child this badly in just four years? It was obvious Hiashi couldn't take care of a gold fish let alone an actual human being. Hizuren however was deeply saddened but not entirely surprised. He had always suspected something but he was unable to do anything about it until last night.

"Please go on Ibiki," Sarutobi urged

"Yes sir. The broadest one is most likely her social-phobia. This disorder makes one very nervous and skittish. She fits all of the symptoms perfectly; blushing, stuttering, fidgeting and more. I also believe that she has Atelophobia or the fear of being imperfect. It is now apparent that her father has inhumane standards for his daughter that she tries far too hard to actually reach. His constant berating of her has made her deathly afraid of doing anything wrong, which ironically enough causes her to fail her father's daily training sessions. This one is definetly the worst of the three. Her constant need for perfection has turned her into a sttutering, fidgeting mess. Her father certaintly isn't helping the situation either. Anyway, the third one I have found is Agoraphobia or the fear of embarrassment, yet another result of her father's 'teachings'. She thinks that is she is embarrassed or does something embarrassing she is shaming her entire clan. This particular disorder makes it very difficult for her to have thoughts of her own. It gets worse though. The only thought of her own that I found was that she wants to be a ninja. With these particular disorders, if she ever did become a kunoichi her survival rate would be extremely low sir." Ibiki said all of this with a straight face

"I see," Sarutobi said this while getting up to look out of the large window in his office. He knew about the Hiashi situation at home, he'd seen plenty in his crystal ball. I swear to Kami that man's supposed 'pep talks' should be illeagal. 'Don't shame the clan, the clan this, the clan that bla bla bla CLAN! Anyway, back to the problem at hand, "Hmmmm, Ibiki are these conditions permanent or are there cures; if so i would be very interested in hearing them."

"No Hokage-sama, these conditions are not permanent. The cures themselves are very simple, meditation, a large degree of exercise, a change of eviorment would be best, and she would absolutely need guidance; good guidance, and a lot of it. If she doesn't get these things than she's pretty much hopeless." Ibiki said.

"You mean that without these changes to her life she will not get any better?" Sarutobi was genuinely curious, he after all wanted to help this girl to the best of his ability. If he was going to mess up her life he needed to know if it was necessary or not.

"I suppose she would not be completely hopeless, though she would be pretty close to it. Basically what I'm trying to say is that she'd need one helluva miracle and then some if she wanted to do this without any guidance what so ever." Ibiki was getting slightly annoyed with all of the questions, this was a small girl just make a call already. It really was that simple for Ibiki, everyone knew that Ibiki wasn't big on compassion, or careing, or kindness, or, well you get the picture. It was even said that he didn't even show such things to children, which really isn't all that surprising considering his experiences with them. He had never had children, he never had students, most of his comrades often wondered if he even remembered being a child himself.

"So if she were to get all the help she needed, and maybe then some, how long do you think it would be until the conditions disappeared completely?"

"If she were to get all the necessary help and someone, the best you can get preferably, worked with her everyday; I'd say she would be in perfect menat health. But,...This would only be possible if she devoted almost all her time to getting better, that would mean she wouldn't be able to attened academy classes." Ibiki said this in the calm, respectful, un-sarcastic voice that he only ever used around his leader.

"Hmmmm. That could prove to be a problem, unless...," Hizuren looked almost hesitant as he turned back toword Ibiki, hands clasped in front of him as he sat down in his desk once more,"Unless someone takes her on as an apprentice of sorts."

"What?"

"You heard me Ibiki. would it work if someone took her as an apprentice? By training her she would get the physical exersise she needed, her sensie could order her to meditate to help build chakra and perhaps yoga could be used to build flexibility. Ibiki, I need to know if this plan would work. If Hinata-chan is given to someone as an apprentice instead of getting sent to the academy, would that give her enough time to get better?"

Ibiki looked at his leader in a shocked stupor. Was the Hokage seriously putting that much thought into helping this child? Personally Ibiki would have dropped the subject after he heard how much non-stop help this girl would need to become stable, he supposed that was just one of the many reasons he was not the Hokage. He eyed the mounds of paperwork on Sarutobi's desk, not that he'd want all that work in the first place.

"Ibiki?"

Right the question, would that work? "I'm not exactly sure Hokage-sama, her sensei would need to have an un-paralleled knowledge of the brain and how it worked. They would also have to be dedicated to helping the kid, this sure as hell isn't gonna be a quick, two day kinda mission. Another thing is their actual ability, this can't be some happy-go lucky chunin who just happens to be a helluva genius, the kid's sensei will have to be a really good jonnin and when I say good I really mean great."

Sarutobi was thinking hard, on the one hand getting Hinata's father to agree to this would be worse than pulling teeth from a tiger. While Hiashi didn't like or in any way respect Hinata as a father should, he had the clan name to worry about. Even if Hiashi himself wouldn't train Hinata it would be hard to get him to let someone else train her. He had understand the need for Hinata to get help, but even as Hizuren thought this he knew it was no use. If he wanted to get Hinata help he would need a better plan than to just go and talk to the clan head.

But, he thought
 first things first,
"Ibiki what would you say if I asked you to train this girl?"