Sachiko's Trial - The Most Painful One

"Sachiko Yamada." Akihiro would watch and once again smile as Sachiko made her way towards the black door. He knew Sachiko, they had once worked together on a D-ranked mission. The young Uchiha sincerely hoped the girl would do well at the exams. If he remembered correctly, he was an expert taijutsu user who could outperform even Jonin at times. Well, she certainly could outperform him in that area...but would Taijutsu be enough to get her through the exams? Hopefully yes. But also hopefully, she would have more to show than Taijutsu for this first phase. The psychological exams could be brutal, and Akihiro feared Sachiko hadn't drawn one of the most pleasant cards.

Alas, the black door opened for her as well, and she would probably get in and wait while it closed behind her.

It seemed like a tradition at this point- nearly everyone's rooms were dark the moment they stepped through the black door. As soon as she did, she would be overcome by a relentless feeling of exhaustion. She would be able to feel her energy leaving her, and soon enough she would fall asleep right there on the spot.

Of course, this didn't mean she would fail the exam. The sleep was merely a part of it, and one she was expected to fall for. Upon waking up, Sachiko would find herself bound to a chair by chains and cloth, in such a way that it seemed like not even S-ranked strength could break her from it. The chair where she sat was old, but the metal resistant and unbending. Looking around her Sachiko would be able to see what appeared to be the inside of an abandoned building.



"Hey. You're finally awake. Good. I was about to fail you. Genin nowadays are so fragile." A voice spoke, coming from the wall directly in front of Sachiko. The voice was unjust in making such a harsh judgment of nowaday's Genins. There was no shame in falling asleep upon entering the black room, especially for those who drew a card of such a terrible nature.


"You're Sachiko Yamada, right? We're going to start. Best not die on me." The man rose from where he was seating- on the ground near the wall. He approached Sachiko's position and pulled a tools kit from beneath his cloak, placing it on a small table which only now seemed to be making an appearance. It wasn't the only furniture around the place, bit it certainly became one of the most terrifying ones when the man unfolded the leather cover of the tool kit to reveal an array of torture tools.

"I guess I should start by telling you the rules." he spoke while casually ordering the tools, filling a bucket with water and readying a few towels on the table. "My name is Tartarus, your examiner. Here are the rules, listen carefully.

1. Everything that I tell you is true: there's no deception or any sort of tricks.

2. I am very interested in how you feel about the prospect of being tortured (i.e., whether you think you're going to suffer). So, for example, if you learn that I am going to set you free, you shouldn't claim not to be reassured about your fate on the grounds that something worse might happen to you as a result.

3. You should also cast aside any wider moral or humanitarian worries you have about torture. So, for example, do not claim you could never feel reassured while there's an evil man roaming around free (even if you are worried I might end up torturing little kittens). Trust me, there's a guy much worse than me. He makes people eat kittens. Awful, really.

4. You should treat the things you're told as being cumulative. With every question I ask you, you should indicate whether you're feeling reassured in light of everything I've told you, not just the latest piece of information. Remember, I speak nothing but the truth, so you'll be told nothing that is contradictory.Basically, I am going to reveal more and more about what's going to happen to you.

5. Yes, this is a Chuunin Exam, so obviously you're not supposed to die. But I am actually going to be inflicting pain on you, so do not rely on that to avoid feeling fearful or reassured.

6. Regardless of what happens here you can be certain that should you pass, you will be completely fit to compete in the rest of the exams.

7.Also, you should bear in mind that you should only respond that you're reassured if you are significantly less fearful of the prospect of being tortured.

The rules are clear? Hmmm? I hope they are. I will be torturing you in a bit, like this."

Sachiko would bear witness as Tartarus picked up a small hammer and hit one of her left hand's fingers with just enough strength to break a bone. He would let her experience the pain for a few seconds, before he placed his hand over hers and healed it with a flash of green light. As soon as she was healed, the pain vanished.

"Now that we understand each other, let's start the real test." He would go behind her and blindfold the kunoichi with a piece black cloth. Then he made his way back to her front.

"I am going to torture you in a bit. But I'll ensure you have no memory of having been told in advance you were going to be tortured, it will be a complete surprise. So tell me, do you feel reassured by this information? Yes or No? There are no maybes."

Sachiko woke up, bound by chains. Immediately she began thrashing a bit, pulling on them but to no avail. She didn't take well to it, as she felt like she was an animal, to be leashed and tamed.

It didn't take her long to figure out she wasn't going to be getting out of her bonds. She listened to Tartarus speak for a bit then , choosing to resign herself to this for the time being. This was a test, something that may happen to any shinobi. It wasn't that bad, pain was fleeting.

At least, that was the gist of the situation. She didnt understand everything that he had said, some of his words unfamiliar to her ears. She figured that he was going to torture her for information or something along those lines. Maybe not even for information. It wasn't unheard of for torture to happen for no reason.

As she felt the hammer hit her hand, Sachiko couldn't fight the urge to howl out in pain and lurch forward to try and bite the man. The chains held her back, but she tried anyhow, a reflex that was hard to control.

However, he would heal her after, and the pain faded. It wasn't all that bad, she wasn't a stranger to pain, actually quite tolerant of it. A finger was fine enough. It was more the surprise of the pain that made it worse.

As she was asked her first question, Sachiko immediately nodded, but then as she thought about it, she had some questions about it. Still, there wasn't much she could ask without her answer basically being maybe. So she started to verbally respond, and give a tiny explanation.

"I don't fully understand the question. But assuming I'm blindfolded as now, no. If I know something is coming, at least I can prepare for it. I'm not against the pain, but the surprise doesn't give me a moment to prepare."

She was only partially being honest. She didn't mind all that much. But she had been taught not to answer torturers with the truth, and only sporadically when so. Never let them feel like they can mistrust you, or if you do, make them feel like they can't trust anything you say.

In all honesty, her senses of smell and hearing together, especially blindfolded, gave away a lot of information. It wasn't quite the same as her sight, but she could piece together enough. If she didn't know she would be tortured, and she couldn't see, then she would be wary regardless.

She had grown up wild. I'm the wild you always had to pay attention to everything and that was ingrained in her. She wasn't going to let her guard down in a suspicious situation.

*vvviiish*vvvvvvish* the sound of a knife being sharpened by stone echoed throughout the abandoned building.
"I see. Excellent. It would have been very odd to have claimed you would be reassured by the thought that the torture was going to be unexpected."

A swift hand movement and Sachiko's blindfold would come off, although she would remain in chains. "I apologize for the blindfold. It was necessary for this particular question. Now there's one more thing you should be aware of. I understand you have been trained to deceive torturers. However, I can guarantee you that it is in your best interest to answer me truthfully to every question I ask. And I only speak the truth. Do not attempt to deceive me, or you will absolutely fail this exam.

Now, the next piece of information I'm giving you is that at the moment of torture you will not be able to remember anything at all that you now remember. So, for example, an analog might be waking up in extreme pain after being hit with a jutsu in the head, and due to head trauma being unable to remember anything at all about one's life.

Are you reassured by this new piece of information?"

Tartarus walked in circles around Sachiko, sharpening knives and carefully preparing a diverse set of torture instruments. There were all sorts of...tools on the table. Their function was not always easy to deduce although one could argue it'd be best to not deduce such things at all in this particular situation.

As light flooded her vision once more, Sachiko took some time to reorient herself with the room. She nodded as Tartarus told her not to lie, more to placate him than for any other reason. She would lie if she wanted to or needed to.

But there was no harm in agreeing to his demands for the moment. As he walked around her, she listened to the sounds of sharpening knives to pinpoint his location, as well as the sounds of his feet.

Thinking about the question, she replied almost immediately. "Absolutely not. We are who we are because of our memories and our pasts. If I lost my memories, i wouldn't be me anymore. "

"Is that so?" Tartarus grinned. "You are who you are because of your memories and your past? I am pleased to hear you say that. Let us hope you don't forget this answer you've given me.I have more information to give you.

I am now adding that when when the time comes for me to torture you, not only will you not be able to remember anything that you now remember, but you'll have an entirely different set of thoughts and impressions of your past (very different from the thoughts and memories you currently have). So, for example, an analog situation here might be waking up in extreme pain after an accident believing that one is the First Kazekage.

Since you believe you are who you are because of the memories of your past, I'll assume you're not reassured by this information. Right, that response would make sense. If you weren't reassured by the knowledge that when the time comes for you to be tortured you're not going to have any of your current memories, then it seems right you won't be reassured just because you know you're going to have somebody else's thoughts and memories. Even so, I have to ask you. Are you reassured?"

The man would wait a bit and give her time to answer. He assumed he knew what she would say, but the rules dictated she had to give an answer herself.
After obtaining her answer, he would proceed. His grin would grow wider.

"Now it gets interesting...I am also telling you that the new set of thoughts and impressions of your past will exactly match those of somebody who is currently alive, and in fact that they will be copied into your brain from the other person's brain. According to your previous answer, one might say you're becoming someone else. But someone who is alive right now.

Do you feel reassured by that thought?"

A scowl was quickly starting to form on Sachiko's face. This line of interrogation was quite pointless, it was fairly evident that Sachiko's answer would be the same as it had been previously. She didn't want to be somebody else, she wanted to be herself, so why would having false memories make the situation any better? She supposed that after her memories were replaced, it was possible she wouldn't care, but this was her now that needed to be reassured, and that would mean the death of her as she knew it.

"No, I don't much want the current me to be dead. That's basically what you're suggesting. I'm somehow even less assured than I was at the start thinking this was just a simple torture session." she replied honestly. She didn't like that she wasn't allowed to lie about this sort of stuff, or just remain silent. But she didn't fancy failing the exams either, so she had to give a response that she never would have given otherwise. It was like giving him further ammunition for the torture.

And judging by his grin, he seemed to be enjoying himself quite much. She, on the other hand, was not enjoying this at all. The situation was more and more hopeless, although she knew that at the end of it all, she'd at least still be herself, because this was only an exam, and everything would be fine in the end, but that someone could potentially do this and not set it right didn't sit well with her.

"Again, no. Being someone else is not what I would call reassuring. I don't want me to be gone. I feel like a broken record here. I will always want to be aware I'm being tortured if I'm being tortured, and I want to do so as myself."

"Hmmm... Very well. So given your two previous responses that's the expected answer: you were not reassured by the knowledge that when the time comes for you to be tortured, you'll have somebody else's thoughts and memories, so it is surely right that you remain fearful, since there doesn't seem to be any reason to think that it'll make a difference whose memories you will come to have or how they will come to be in your brain. I'll have more to say about this later, but for now I'll just note that you've ended up no less fearful of the prospect of being tortured than you were before I explained to you exactly what I was going to be doing. Perhaps, like you stated, you're even less reassured. Alas, this is the test you drew and there's nothing to be done about it. This will happen."

Tartarus kept sharpening his blades. The sound of metal on metal could be terrifying but he felt a certain pleasure doing it. It reminded him he had absolute control over his blades and that they would be sharp enough to slice through pretty much anything when the time came. Over the years, many Genin passed by his hands. Not all of them escaped unscathed and while some-a few- passed his test, not a single one had ever had a body capable of resisting the proctor's sharp steel.


"Now for the next step of our game.

Two people, A and B, are about to undergo an odd experience. The thoughts and memories of Person A will be extracted from their brain, which will then be wiped clean so that all the information that was previously stored there is erased. The same thing is simultaneously happening to Person B. Then the memories and thoughts of Person A will be transmitted into the brain of the body that was formerly B's, and the memories and thoughts of Person B will be transmitted into the brain of the body that was formerly A's. This means we'll now have Body-Person A with the thoughts and memories of B, and Body-Person B with the thoughts and memories of A. "

Tartarus couldn't help but smirk. Now fully in front of Sachiko and well within the girl's sight. This was by far the most interesting part of the test and he always liked to see how they answered these questions.

"Person B is taking a similar test to yours. They entered the door a bit after you. B had it a little rougher... my partner isn't exactly a gentleman. And they don't get to have the same choice I'm giving you. Luck is part of being a shinobi, you know? You're lucky enough to get to choose the next answer.

You are going to be person A (i.e., your thoughts and memories are going to end up in Body-Person B). After my experiment has been completed, one body-person will be passing this phase of the Chuunin Exams, the other body-person will be tortured for a full day before being released and fail the Exam entirely.

Remember I always say the truth. There is no trick here.

I suppose you want to get the reward of passing, and avoid the torture. You get to choose which body-person is to be rewarded (and by extension, which is to be tortured). So what's it to be?

Remember: You were originally Person A. Your thoughts and memories now only exist inside Body-Person B.

Option 1: Reward Body-Person A with passing this Exam phase, Torture Body-Person B and fail them.

Option 2: Reward Body-Person B with passing this Exam phase, Torture Body-Person A and fail them.

If you refuse to choose, I will happily torture and fail both of you. Making decisions is important, you know? Alas, I await your answer."
Over the years there had been a few Genin brave enough to refuse the proctor's choice. Those were his favorites- Tartarus would get 2 bodies to play with on those days. But somehow, he doubted this would be the case.

She was presented with another scenario, one which was getting a little convoluted to be perfectly frank. She didn't really understand what he was asking, as it was starting to get a little overwhelming trying to remember all these rules and scenarios, but the basic gist of what she understood was that she could trade bodies and move on to the next portion of the exams, leaving her real body behind to suffer, or she could trade bodies and let someone else take her place in the exams, while she herself was actually here being tortured.

"Just... I can take the torture. A wolf learns to sacrifice for the good of the pack. My body can pass through, my mind will stay here for the torture." She replied. It was dumb that she was going to have to fail, this wasn't even a test of skill. What was the point of the exams if someone just failed outright? Regardless, she didn't want to be the reason someone failed, and it wasn't fair that she was the one who got to choose. At least in her mind, she had the ability to help someone else pass.

"A noble answer, huh. I see so many shinobi and kunoichi kids acting noble these days, I wonder if they all really know what being a ninja is all about. Alas, you have made your decision and as such you will remain here and be tortured while your friend there- is she even your friend? Well, she'll pass on to the next round in your body. You seem confident that you can take my torture, but I'll have you know I'm an expe-"

"Kai." A voice interrupted the exam. Suddenly, the world around Sachiko would break in thousands of pieces and she would temporarily find herself in a void space, depleted of all light sources except for herself. She would float around for a few minutes- or hours, depending on how her senses adapted after this abrupt stop in Genjutsu. But soon enough she would find herself on a simple metal chair, inside a very normal classroom. In front of her, Uchiha Akihiro stood looking at her with a very serious look on his face.

"Listen carefully. The exams are over. An emergency happened back at home. You are to follow standard evacuation protocols and meetup with the rest of Konoha's ninja at the gates of Kumogakure. You are to leave immediately. Go."

Akihiro was about to turn around and leave himself before he turned back to Sachiko with a worried smile. "For what it's worth, Sachiko, you passed. Good job."
-
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OOC: Your exam was based on some of the issues thrown up by British philosopher, Bernard Williams's journal article "The Self and the Future", which first appeared in The Philosophical Review in April 1970.

Sachiko hadn't done it for noble reasons, it was just the rule of the pack. If she wanted to be the strongest in her pack, she needed to be willing to sacrifice herself and put herself in dangerous situations. She would never make it to the top if she sacrificed others for her own sake.

However, a voice rang out, and reality shattered around her. Sachiko was in a real state of confusion for a while, leaving her there for many minutes. There was nothing there, no sight, no sound, nothing to touch, smell. She wasn't sure if this was part of the test, or actually part of the torture. Was this what happened to someone when they were reduced to simple memories?

Her question was answered shortly, the familiar surroundings of a Kumogakure classroom rushed into her vision. Immediately, she looked down to her body to see if it was still her own or someone else's. A rush of relief poured through her as she recognized her clothes, her size, and her own body. Everything felt right to her. She became aware that Akihiro was speaking a few moments after he had already spoke. She noticed the seriousness of his tone and simply nodded. She was angry that she had passed but the exams had been cancelled.

Sachiko had wanted to fight against some of the other countries' genin, and actually see how she stacked up against them, although it didn't seem like she would get that chance at all. She stood up from the chair and left the classroom, fuming a little, but she went to go pack her things so she could go to the gate and leave.

-EXIT