Read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv at unhinged_uchiha
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"Since the objective is to extract information through torture," Kanzou said, looking at the three students before him, "do either of you have suggestions on how to break the targets and make them talk?"
"Um… whip their backs until they give up the information," Shin answered immediately.
Kanzou nodded slightly. "That's one option. But what if the prisoner has an exceptionally strong will and is prepared to endure anything rather than betray their village, community, or nation?" He continued calmly, "Ninjas, in particular, are trained to withstand extreme torture. Physical pain alone often won't make them talk."
Shin blinked, then nodded in understanding.
"Any other ideas?" Kanzou asked.
Hazuki spoke next. "This might not work for everyone, but as Uchihas, we could use the Sharingan. Genjutsu-based torture could weaken their will and force them to give in, right?"
"That's also an option," Kanzou agreed. "But repeated genjutsu torture risks severe brain damage. While you're breaking their will, you're also damaging their mind. If the brain is damaged too badly, you won't be able to extract anything at all, making the entire process pointless."
He added, "On top of that, many ninjas implant seals and mental barriers specifically to protect sensitive information. Excessive mental probing or genjutsu can trigger those safeguards, destroying the information entirely."
Hazuki fell silent, realising he was right.
After a brief pause, Souta finally spoke up. "What about using threats and coercion?"
"Threats and coercion?" Kanzou paused and turned to Souta. "Go on. Explain."
"I mean… threaten something they care about," Souta said. "Take hold of their leverage. Even if someone has a strong will, even if they've prepared mental barriers, if what they hold dear is put at risk, they'll usually do everything they can to prevent harm from coming to it. Isn't that how it works?"
"Hm… that's also an option," Kanzou replied. "But what if the person doesn't hold anything dear?"
"That's impossible," Souta said, shaking his head. "Everyone has something they care about. Something important to their heart. It could be family, a pet, values, morals, or something. There has to be something every individual treasures. After all, that's what they're fighting for, isn't it?"
Kanzou blinked, momentarily stunned by the answer, before a smile appeared on his lips.
Beside him, Shin and Hazuki stared at Souta, mouths slightly open.
"What?" Souta asked, clearly not expecting everyone to stare at him like that.
"N-nothing," Shin and Hazuki said almost in unison, then turned their attention back to Kanzou.
Kanzou nodded. "Souta is right. All people, even shinobi, are human. And humans almost always have something they hold dear. Even someone nihilistic or cynical values something. That attachment is one of the most effective tools for breaking a person. If you hold their leverage in your hands, you can make them do almost anything."
"But how do you figure out what they value?" Shin asked immediately. "Sometimes we might know… but we won't always, right?"
The targets could be anyone, even people about whom they had no prior information at all. In such cases, how was one supposed to figure out what, or who, the target held dear?
"That's something you have to uncover yourself," Kanzou replied with a shrug. "Figuring that out is part of the torture."
"I see…" Shin nodded, understanding.
Kanzou continued calmly, "Another extremely effective method is fear."
"Fear? What kind of fear?" all three asked at once.
"Fear of experiencing something worse than someone else is already suffering through," Kanzou replied.
"The fear of going through something that someone else is enduring…?" the three repeated, beginning to understand, but not quite there yet.
"We humans constantly compare ourselves to others," Kanzou explained. "We want to be more comfortable than the others. We want to suffer less than the others. And to preserve ourselves, we're willing to do almost anything, even betray others."
He went on, "If you've never experienced a certain pain or emotion, and I subject you to it, you might endure it through sheer will. But if, instead, I force you to watch someone else, your friend, or even a stranger, suffer through that pain while you observe every detail…"
He paused.
"Then fear sets in. You don't want the same thing to happen to you. And your instinct for self-preservation will push you to do whatever it takes to prevent it."
"Does something like that really work…?" the three murmured.
"It does," Kanzou replied. "And I'll demonstrate."
With that, he turned and led them toward one of the rooms.
It was the room in which the lilac-haired man was tied up…
Kanzou entered the room, with Shin, Hazuki, and Souta following behind him.
The three stopped a short distance away while Kanzou continued forward. The captive was conscious, though his chakra had been sealed. Most of his clothes had been stripped away, leaving him in nothing but his boxers. His arms and legs were bound tightly to a stone platform, and a gag filled his mouth. He struggled constantly, twisting and straining, but the restraints held firm.
When he saw four people enter, each of them younger than him, his eyes widened in shock. He tried to speak, but the gag made it impossible.
Kanzou reached out and removed it.
"W-who are you?" the man demanded immediately. "What do you want?!"
None of them wore forehead protectors, so the man couldn't identify who they were or where they came from. Still, he was sharp enough to read the situation. The fact that he was alive, and restrained rather than executed, told him one thing clearly.
They wanted something from him.
As he spoke, his eyes darted between them, trying to assess their intentions, and silently wondering what had happened to his other two squadmates.
"Before asking for someone else's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Kanzou said casually. "Otherwise, that's just rude."
In truth, he recognised the man. He looked like the same shinobi who, in the future, would kill the Third Hoshikage and attempt to fuse the Star into his own body. The facial features matched, only younger, which made sense. Canon events were still more than two decades away.
The man was momentarily speechless.
Rude? Of all things?
He was bound, almost naked, and captured by people he didn't recognise. He had no idea why he was here, what they planned to do to him, or whether his squadmates were even alive. This was hardly the situation to worry about manners.
Ignoring Kanzou's remark, he refused to introduce himself and instead repeated his demand.
"What do you want from me?" he snapped. "And where are my squadmates?"
"Akahoshi-kun, right?" Kanzou asked, calmly speaking the man's name.
The man froze. He hadn't expected his captor to know his identity. For a split second, confusion flashed through his mind, 'how does he know my name?' before he hurriedly tried to deny it.
"Akahoshi? T-that's not me. You've got the wrong person."
He knew one thing for certain: these four weren't from his village. His shinobi village was small, and he recognised almost everyone there. He had never seen any of them before. That was precisely why their knowledge of his name unsettled him so deeply.
'Was I betrayed?' he wondered. 'By someone in the village? Or worse… by one of my own squadmates? Hotarubi? Natsuhi?'
Kanzou simply shrugged. "You can deny it if you want. I'm quite certain it's you, Akahoshi." He continued evenly, "As for what I want from you, I want information about the 'Star' in your village." Then, almost politely, he asked, "Will you tell me?"
When Kanzou mentioned the Star, Akahoshi's heart thumped hard. It's because of that star?
Shock rippled through him. Information about the Star was never supposed to leave the village. Hoshigakure had gone to great lengths to conceal everything about it. Outsiders weren't meant to know it even existed—so hearing it brought up so casually made no sense at all.
Still, he forced himself to feign ignorance. "Star? What star?"
Kanzou played along and elaborated calmly. "You know, the meteorite that fell where Hoshigakure was founded. The very Star your village was built around. The one your people train with to enhance their chakra. Does that ring a bell?"
Akahoshi's heartbeat quickened. 'He… he knows far too much already.'
This wasn't vague suspicion or hearsay. When Kanzou first mentioned the Star, Akahoshi had thought he could brush it off as a rumour, pretend it didn't exist, and mislead him. But now, hearing the details laid out so precisely…
There was no doubt about it.
Kanzou knew far more than he should.
Still, Akahoshi tried to deny it. "What are you talking about? There's no such thing in my village. You must be mistaken."
After all, he intended to use the Star to elevate Hoshigakure into the ranks of the great shinobi villages. It was one of his ambitions. There was no way he could allow outsiders to learn of its existence.
"Fufu… mistaken?" Kanzou chuckled softly. "No, I don't think I am. It seems to me that you simply don't want to share information about this Star, and would rather keep it for yourself." His tone hardened. "Unfortunately for you, I'm your captor now. Whatever plans you had are meaningless here. Unless you give me what I want, you can forget about ever seeing the light of day again."
He turned away. "I'll give you some time to think about whether you want to cooperate with me for the possibility of staying alive."
Without waiting for a response, Kanzou shoved the gag back into Akahoshi's mouth, silencing him, then walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Shin, Hazuki, and Souta, of course, followed Kanzou out as well.
Akahoshi was stunned. He hadn't expected Kanzou to simply walk out like that.
As a shinobi, he had already prepared himself for torture. He had braced for pain, for interrogation, for being forced to endure whatever it took to extract information. And as for betraying his village? That was never an option. He was a loyal shinobi of Hoshigakure, with an unbreakable will. He would rather die than give up its secrets.
But none of that happened.
He hadn't been tortured at all.
The absence of pain unsettled him far more than he cared to admit.
'No… wait…' a new thought struck him. 'Maybe he plans to question Hotarubi or Natsuhi.'
After all, Akahoshi wasn't the only one who knew about the Star. If the others had been captured too…
He had been taken first. He didn't know whether Hotarubi and Natsuhi had been captured as well. He desperately hoped they had escaped, escaped, and were already planning a rescue.
Yet anxiety crept in.
'T-they weren't captured… right?'
He clung to that hope.
And at the same time, he prayed.
But his prayers were cut short by a sudden, agonising scream.
"Aaaaahhhhhh—!"
Akahoshi's blood ran cold. 'Hotarubi…!!' He recognised that voice instantly. It was his squadmate's.
'Damn it… so you were captured?!'
Fear tightened in his chest. 'What if Hotarubi gave in? What if the man forced the information out of him?'
No. He clenched his jaw and shook his head. 'No… Hotarubi won't. He definitely won't.'
He knew his squadmate well. He trusted him. Just like himself, Hotarubi would never break.
'Endure, Hotarubi…' Akahoshi thought desperately. 'We can't betray the village.'
Another scream echoed through the walls.
"Aaaaahhhhhhh—!"
…
After locking the room where Akahoshi was restrained, Kanzou turned to the three students.
"He was prepared to be tortured," he said calmly. "Pain alone wouldn't have made him give up anything."
The three nodded. They could sense it as well. Akahoshi clearly possessed that kind of resolve.
"But his will can still be broken," Kanzou continued. "And now I'll show you how torturing his friend, his squadmate, will accomplish that."
With that, he led them to the room where Hotarubi was being held.
A similar exchange followed. Hotarubi feigned ignorance and confusion about the existence of the Star, just as Akahoshi had. Seeing this, Kanzou smiled.
But unlike before, he didn't leave the room.
Instead, he began the torture.
He tore out Hotarubi's nails. He whipped his body. He burned and peeled his skin, crushed his bones, and inflicted pain without pause. Each act forced another scream from Hotarubi's throat, raw and desperate.
Even for a shinobi with exceptional pain tolerance, Kanzou's relentless physical torture was overwhelming.
Hotarubi screamed again and again, each howl echoing through the corridors and sending a chill straight into Akahoshi's spine.
'Ho-Hotarubi… y-you have to stay s-strong!'
…
Kanzou finally set his tools aside and looked at the half-dead man before him. Hotarubi's body was drenched in blood, his breathing shallow, his voice long gone, his body clearly on the verge of collapse. Kanzou picked up a cloth from nearby, wiped the blood from his hands, and then turned to Shin, Souta, and Hazuki.
"Are the three of you alright?" he asked calmly.
Scenes like this were common in torture chambers, but none of them had ever witnessed something so brutal firsthand. They weren't used to it, and more importantly, they were still children. The sight alone was enough to unsettle anyone, and for a moment Kanzou wondered if he should have shown them this scene…
"I… I'm alright, Sensei," Shin said after swallowing hard. His hands trembled slightly, but he forced himself to steady them.
"M-me too," Hazuki added. She kept her posture straight, forcing herself to remain composed. As Kanzou's self-proclaimed most loyal subordinate and his second-in-command, she couldn't allow herself to be shaken so easily.
Souta merely nodded.
Unlike Shin and Hazuki, he genuinely seemed fine. No, more than that, there was a faint look of fascination in his eyes.
'Hmm… looks like this kid might be a bit of a psychopath too, just like me… well, in time, all three of them will be.'
"Good. Then let's take a break," Kanzou said, leading them out of the room to rest and eat.
Shin and Hazuki barely touched their food; neither of them had much of an appetite. Only Kanzou and Souta ate. Kanzou, in particular, needed it after carrying out hours of torture.
Once he had finished eating, Kanzou led the three back to the room where Akahoshi was restrained.
The moment Akahoshi saw Kanzou enter, panic set in. Fear was written all over his face. He had heard his squadmate scream in agony for hours. He knew Hotarubi well; he wouldn't have screamed like that unless the pain had been unbearable. Enduring such torture for that long told Akahoshi everything he needed to know about the man standing before him.
It terrified him.
His body trembled, sweat soaking his skin as his breath grew uneven.
"So…" Kanzou said casually, setting the torture tools neatly to the side as he reached over and removed Akahoshi's gag, "shall we begin with you now?"
"S-spare me… I… I—" Akahoshi trembled, shaking his head violently.
"Spare you?" Kanzou replied calmly. "That might not be impossible, but only if you talk." As he spoke, he dragged the blade of his knife slowly across Akahoshi's skin, drawing blood and forcing a sharp hiss from his throat. "So… will you talk?"
"I… I'll talk," Akahoshi said at once, breaking. After hearing his squadmate scream in agony for hours, he couldn't bring himself to endure the same fate. If speaking could spare him that suffering, he would do it.
He didn't truly believe he would be allowed to live after revealing everything; it wouldn't make sense to leave him alive. But even so, there was a chance. And even if there wasn't… at least it might earn him a quicker, easier death. That alone was worth it.
"Fufu… then," Kanzou said lightly, "what's your name?"
"I-it's as you guessed," the man replied shakily. "It's A-Akahoshi."
"Good," Kanzou said. "Then, Akahoshi-kun… tell me about the 'Star' in your village."
Akahoshi hesitated, his body tensing. He was very reluctant to tell about the Star to an outsider.
Noticing this, Kanzou slowly pressed the knife deeper into his skin. Pain flared, and in that instant, Akahoshi remembered Hotarubi's screams, hours of endless suffering.
That decided it.
It wasn't worth enduring all that pain just to die meaninglessly.
"The Star…" Akahoshi began, his voice shaking. "It's just as you said. It's a—"
…
Sometime later, Kanzou and his three students stepped out of the room.
"So… that 'Star' really does exist," Hazuki murmured, clearly shaken.
When Kanzou had first mentioned it, she had been surprised, but she had believed him. Still, hearing it confirmed directly was something else entirely. The idea that a meteorite could enhance chakra reserves and accelerate growth was shocking… and undeniably tempting.
"Sensei," Shin said eagerly, unable to contain himself, "now that we know everything about this Star, let's go steal it."
He could already imagine it, training with the Star, increasing his chakra reserves, growing stronger at an accelerated pace.
"There's a change of plan," Kanzou said.
"A change of plan?" Hazuki asked, confused. They had come here to steal the Star of Hoshigakure, and the only thing left to do was take it. Kanzou's sudden statement caught them completely off guard.
Shin and Souta exchanged equally puzzled looks.
Without offering further explanation, Kanzou pulled a scroll from his cloak and handed it to Hazuki. "This is the mission scroll the three captives were assigned," he said. "It's a Rank-B mission, hunting bandits near the border of the Land of Bears. Complete it."
The three were even more confused now. First, Kanzou announced a change of plans. Now he was ordering them to finish the mission their prisoners had failed to complete. None of it made sense.
Seeing the confusion written all over Shin's, Hazuki's, and Souta's faces, Kanzou let out a small sigh.
"The plan is—" he said and began to explain his intentions.
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"You want to take control of Hoshigakure?" all three exclaimed at once.
They hadn't expected something that bold. He didn't just want their secret treasure; he intended to take over the entire village.
Kanzou nodded. "Yes."
Hearing the confirmation, the three fell silent, their minds struggling to catch up.
"But… why? What's the point of taking control of this backwater shinobi village?" They didn't understand at all. Isn't it fine to live in Konoha?
"As for the reason," Kanzou said calmly, "that's not something you need to worry about right now."
In truth, the reason was simple. Konoha wasn't completely safe for him. He needed a backup, another village he could retreat to if his position ever became unstable. And he intended to make Hoshigakure a safe haven for desperate times.
If Hoshigakure is under his control, then even the future tragedy of the Uchiha clan could be avoided. If things truly followed the path of canon, the Uchiha Clan would have somewhere to flee.
But Kanzou had no intention of explaining any of that to them. It wasn't their concern.
The three pouted in unison, clearly dissatisfied by the lack of explanation. Still, they let it go. If he didn't want to explain, then so be it. They still trusted his judgement and decision, after all, he is their Sensei.
Seeing that none of them pressed further, Kanzou continued.
"To take control of Hoshigakure, the current Hoshikage must be assassinated," he said evenly. "After that, someone under my control will be installed as the Yondaime Hoshikage."
"Who?" Hazuki asked.
Kanzou turned his gaze toward the room where the third captive was being held.
"You're going to control that woman?" Hazuki asked.
Kanzou nodded. "Yes. She has the potential to be the leader of Hoshigakure."
Just like Akahoshi and Hotarubi, Kanzou recognised her. She is Natsuhi, who had appeared in the canon and tried to steal the Star from Hoshigakure in order to hide it from the rest of the village so that the Star Training would not continue. She possessed genuine ability, jōnin-level strength in the future, and was even stronger than Akahoshi. Kanzou believes that she might be someone capable of serving as his puppet leader of Hoshigakure.
"But how will you control her?" Hazuki pressed. "Will she even accept, especially after what happened to her squadmates?"
"That's not something you need to worry about," Kanzou replied calmly. "Your concern right now is this mission."
He gestured to the scroll. "Complete it."
As for having them complete the mission, the reason was simple. Controlling Natsuhi would take several days. If the mission that Akahoshi, Hotarubi, and Natsuhi had been assigned remained unfinished, their prolonged absence would raise suspicion, and search parties would inevitably be sent out.
But if the mission was completed as planned, that problem would be avoided entirely.
A trace of hesitation flickered in Hazuki's eyes, but she nodded nonetheless. "Understood, Kanzou-sama."
Kanzou patted her head lightly. "Even though this is a Rank-B mission and only involves hunting bandits, there could be ninjas among them. Stay alert. You two as well."
"Got it," All three nodded in unison. They then used Transformation Jutsu, taking the appearances of Natsuhi, Hotarubi, and Akahoshi, before leaving the cave to carry out the mission.
Kanzou watched them go with a satisfied expression. He wasn't concerned about their safety. Hazuki possessed the Sharingan, and her strength was far from negligible. Shin and Souta had also trained under him since graduating from the academy; they should be more than capable of handling themselves.
And if they couldn't manage something this simple… then even dying would be acceptable.
Still, Kanzou hoped Hazuki wouldn't die. She was, after all, the daughter of his sensei.
Once the three were gone, Kanzou turned back toward the final room.
Soon after, he stepped inside.
…
The moment Kanzou stepped inside, the woman, bound like her two squadmates, stripped down to her violet underwear, her wrists and ankles restrained, a gag stuffed in her mouth, began to tremble uncontrollably and let out muffled sounds, "Fuu… muu…"
Kanzou hadn't visited her since imprisoning her there, but that hadn't spared her fear. She, too, had heard Hotarubi's screams echo through the chambers for hours, each one cutting deeper than the last. Those painful howls and cries for mercy had been terrifying.
Worse still, those screams belonged to the man she loved. They made her heart ache in desperation and fear of what was being done to him…
Now that they had finally fallen silent, a far more dreadful thought took hold. Her chest tightened with grief and panic as she feared the only conclusion she could reach—
That Hotarubi was dead.
She broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably. Tear stains still marked her cheeks.
Seeing her like that, Kanzou smiled with clear amusement.
The sight of her expression, twisted with despair, anguish, and pain, pleased him. It always did.
This wasn't the first time he had seen such a look on a woman's face. Every time he witnessed a woman in that state, grieving, broken by the suffering or death of a lover or husband, it stirred something darkly satisfying within him.
He wasn't someone who could calmly watch lovers or married couples exist in peace. Seeing them only reminded him of the terrible things from his past life. And only when he tore apart those bonds, those marriages, that love, did he feel that familiar surge of excitement.
'I really am sick in the head, aren't I?' he thought with a quiet sigh before bursting into a chuckle, "Fufu~" as he walked up to the crying and trembling Natsuhi and ran his fingers through her hair.
In the future, her hair would darken into a vivid violet, almost maroon shade, but for now, Natsuhi's hair was still brown. That alone told him she hadn't completed her Star training yet.
Even so, she was undeniably beautiful …so beautiful that it stirred Kanzou's desire, and he couldn't stop the urge to violate her.
"You must be feeling sad about what happened to your lover," he said calmly. "But don't worry… you'll forget all about it soon."
"Fuuu… fuuu…" Natsuhi let out a muffled cry, stiffening at his touch. Instinctively, she wanted to pull away. Fear and resistance were clear in her desperate eyes, but bound as she was, she couldn't move. The gag in her mouth robbed her of even the chance to voice her discomfort, though it wouldn't have mattered. Kanzou wouldn't have cared either way.
Ignoring what she felt, he began caressing her cheek before holding her jaw and positioning it so that her terrified gaze met his while he activated his Sharingan.
"!!!" Her eyes widened in horror as she instantly became more alert. Panic surged through her as she tried to shut her eyes; she knew exactly what those blood-red eyes with three black tomoe meant.
But it was already too late.
Kanzou smiled faintly and spoke calmly. "Well then… shall we rewrite your entire being and make you forget the man you loved?"
Her body went slack almost instantly as her eyes glazed over, falling into a trance under the power of his gaze.
Kanzou began to breach her mental defences, drawing her fully into his genjutsu.
His intent was simple and deliberate: to blur and alter her memories, shifting the object of her affection from Hotarubi to himself.
Love, after all, was one of the easiest ways to control someone. If Natsuhi loved him, she would devote herself to him; she would do anything he asked. That was exactly what he wanted.
Fortunately for him, she already loved Hotarubi. If she hadn't, things would have been far more troublesome. Creating genuine emotion through genjutsu was difficult and not something even he could do.
But redirecting an existing love toward someone else was much simpler.
All he had to do was replace Hotarubi's presence in her memories with his own.
Reading and manipulating memories through the Sharingan wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible either. It required a specific type of Genjutsu to make the target experience their memories as Genjutsu.
And, Kanzou, who had done this kind of thing quite a few times already, knew exactly what to do.
Using his Sharingan, he forced her to relive her memories with Hotarubi, then carefully rewrote them, inserting himself in Hotarubi's place.
Along the way, he added several carefully chosen alterations, such as the dynamics of their relationship, her submissive personality, her identity, her loyalty, her status, and so on, to reinforce the illusion.
And to ensure she accepted these memories without resistance, so they felt natural, not vacant, not without an emotion, even pleasing, he simultaneously stimulated her physical senses, touching her and caressing her body in such a manner that they reinforced the altered memories with pleasurable sensations designed to make her feel excited, happy, and pleasurable.
If she feels excited, happy, and pleased whenever she recalls her memories, she would not feel doubt or discomfort.
As he continued his work, Natsuhi's cries gradually softened, fading into shallow, unsteady breaths as heat spread through her body. "Hn… ah…"
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Lemon incoming, hurry up and drop your Power Stones!
Read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv: unhinged_uchiha
If you like this story, then you might also like my other story: One Piece: The Incubus' Adventure. Give it a try.