Ibiki Morino

**Ibiki Morino** (森乃イビキ, *Morino Ibiki*) is a tokubetsu jōnin of Konohagakure and the commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. In the anime, he was also later made team leader of Team 40.

## Background

In his youth during the Chūnin Exams, Ibiki, and his teammates Hayate Gekkō and Tokara confronted Team Orochimaru in the Forest of Death during the second round of the examination.

Several years later, Ibiki led a squad that was trying to retrieve secret codes held by the Cypher Division of Kirigakure. One of its members, Kisame Hoshigaki, identified him as Konoha's top Anbu interrogator. However, before the team could restrain the Kirigakure ninja, Kisame killed them all stating that the mission (protecting information at all costs) called for such extreme actions, visibly disturbing Ibiki.

In the anime, Ibiki was the proctor for the first portion of his younger brother Idate's Chūnin Exams. He failed Idate, feeling that he wasn't fit to be a shinobi. Later, after his brother left the village, Ibiki discovered that Idate was helping his sensei, Aoi Rokushō, steal the Sword of the Thunder God. Ibiki and two fellow Anbu members gave chase. However, Aoi quickly brought in Amegakure allies to capture Ibiki and eliminate the two Anbu members with him. Aoi then tortured Ibiki to read the scroll, in the process accidentally setting the building on fire after Ibiki managed to free both himself and his little brother. However, despite Ibiki's efforts, the flames soon separated the two siblings. Believing his brother to be dead, Ibiki was forced to return to the village alone.

## Personality

Ibiki is a very strict person, and has even been described as being a sadist by Kakashi Hatake. Compounded with this is his belief that pain is an effective form of communication, which he employed whenever he carries out his duties of torture and interrogation. His mental fortitude is formidable as, in the anime, even after being horribly tortured by Aoi Rokushō, Ibiki never revealed any information to the latter, who years later openly acknowledged Ibiki's fortitude. Nonetheless, he did confess to his subordinates during the Konoha Crush that he was scared of Orochimaru as a child, noting him to be somewhat "inhuman, but in human form". He was also visibly shocked when Kisame massacred his own comrades to protect information.

Nevertheless Ibiki has shown a more relaxed side, which shocked Temari during the Chūnin Exams due to the drastic change in personality as well as the fact he hinted to Kankurō he saw right through the latter's attempt to disguise Karasu as a test proctor, but allowed him to get away with it. He also laughed after finding out that he had passed someone who didn't answer a single question in the exam. Despite his harsh interrogation methods, Ibiki is shown to also be quite reasonable. One example was when Karin agreed to forfeit all information regarding Kabuto, Sasuke, and the Akatsuki in exchange if she was fed a fried pork cutlet bowl, which Ibiki agreed to, even though it would take two days for a delivery and did not press the interrogation any further. In addition, he was not one to be swayed by a sob story and kept a strict no-nonsense demeanour when interrogating someone. He was noted to be fond of Naruto due to the child's energy and ability to inspire confidence, as well as his signature antics and sense of humour. In the anime, despite his strict demeanour, he does show care towards his younger brother Idate, as he told him to run as he fought Aoi off. Upon briefly reuniting with him, Ibiki was pleased by how much Idate had changed and felt gratitude towards Naruto for changing his brother. In the anime, despite his harsh demeanour, he has a remarkable affinity towards animals as they tend to be jovial with him.