"Relax. Don't resist, or it could cause damage to your brain," A member of the Yamanaka clan gently advised the shinobi about to undergo the mind probe.
Hearing this, Xin nearly burst out laughing. The poor shinobi had already been on edge, but now they were even more terrified. The Yamanaka might have meant well, but they weren't helping calm anyone down.
Nerves aside, the inspection continued.
One of the Yamanaka placed his hand on the shinobi's head, sending his mental energy into their brain to sift through their memories. The shinobi's face twisted in discomfort, clearly struggling, while beads of sweat formed on the Yamanaka's brow as he concentrated.
It made sense. Fast-forwarding through someone's memories was no easy feat. It was like binge-watching a full TV series in one sitting. Mentally exhausting.
The Yamanaka clan's secret techniques allowed them to perform this task. Any other ninja would've been driven mad by the sheer volume of memories.
Even the clan's leader had come out to assist with the inspection, lending his talents to search through one of the senior captains, codenamed Black Hawk. After a few moments, the Yamanaka leader nodded to the Hokage.
"He's clean."
"Phew." Black Hawk rubbed his temples, feeling like his head was about to explode. He exchanged a glance with the Yamanaka leader, silently communicating, You'd better not spill any of my secrets, or I'll come after you.
The Yamanaka leader smiled sympathetically and nodded. He knew this investigation would earn his clan no favors. Even if they promised not to reveal anything they found, who was going to trust them now?
Everyone had skeletons in their closet. Once those came to light, trust would be hard to maintain.
Black Hawk exhaled sharply and moved to stand beside the Hokage, waiting.
"Next."
The process was moving quickly. Each Yamanaka took only a few minutes to scan through a person's memories, checking if they had done anything that might jeopardize the village.
As for any dirty secrets? The Yamanaka would simply pretend they hadn't seen those.
"You..." Yamanaka clan leader sighed.
The recently inspected shinobi panicked. "I'm not a spy!"
"I know you're not a spy," Yamanaka leader replied, "but some of the things you've done will need to be reported to the Hokage."
The shinobi had once abandoned his teammates during a mission, leaving them to fend off enemies while he fled to save himself. Getting caught for something like that wasn't going to end well.
This was the kind of secret you could live with-until someone dug it up.
Before the Hokage could even speak, two Jonin stepped forward, ready to take the offending shinobi into custody.
Knowing he couldn't fight his way out of this, the shinobi gritted his teeth and accepted his fate. Betraying your teammates might not be a death sentence, but it would certainly land you in prison.
And that was still a better fate than being labeled a spy. Once you were marked as a traitor, there was no coming back from that.