Empty Glass Jars

ATAIRA

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Rating: M, PG-16 Language, violence, shonen-ai/slash. This individual chapter is pretty safe, though.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs solely to its creator and the people who control its name and empire. I make absolutely no profit from Naruto.

Summary: Even as their lives seem to cross more and more, Sasuke and Sai pursue perfection, power and release. But nothing ever comes easily, and both will pay the price too willingly.

AN: I took a really long to update this, didn't I? I'm really sorry everyone! I promise this isn't a dead end project. Also, there's not too much Sasuke in this chapter, so an apology to Sasuke fans. Loves and kisses to readers and reviewers-- you guys are the ones powering this story.

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Kakashi chewed on the pen, an expression of complete attentiveness on his face as he watched his team. They were arguing about the specific time team 6 had gotten attacked and when Sakura abandoned team 7 to go and alert 2 that similar treatment awaited. Although this was all very interesting, Kakashi was in no way paying attention. He was supposed to be concentrating on what they were saying and writing down whatever he approved onto their mission summary, but his mind was working harder on something else. He was planning out every last move to take to get out of Naruto's dingy apartment and as far away from the three twerps as possible. Maybe he could appoint a passing jounin as assistance to the arguing twerps, but it wasn't like as if they would even notice if his left-

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura barked, "Maybe we could finish faster if you helped out instead of spacing out!" Sai and Naruto, who had been arguing heatedly, suddenly shut their mouths and stared with surprise at the kunoichi. Sakura looked at Kakashi, whose eyebrow arched dramatically, and the normally respectful girl blushed.

"Uhm, ah, excuse me, I didn't mean to…er...I'm very terribly sorry, Kakashi-san!" she blurted and bowed in his direction. Kakashi smiled, but the smile was deceitful. Rather, he was pleased that Sakura gave him a weakness of hers to exploit-- guilt. Now he could use her shame and speed the mission summary writing up a bit.

"Now now Sakura-chan, why don't you, instead, let me write this mission summary the way I always do? I promise the good guys in the good office will accept it, and we can get on our merry way! Now," he reached over and snatched the summary sheet from Sakura, who had been waving it in Naruto's bandaged face, "Teeaammm seven...leddd..." he wrote the characters with irritated strokes, "...connnnflict with...aaakaatsuuukiii..." he scratched out an extra character, "...Uchichaaa Sasuukeee arressted...aaand...end of mission. Tada!" he folded the paper in three quick swipes and thrust it into his vest, hoping that was the end of that. But as he tried to climb out of the window, Sakura jumped up and grabbed the back of his vest.

"Kakashiii-senseeeii!" she growled ferociously. Kakashi looked to the other young men on the team for some support, but Naruto had wormed off somewhere in search of a cup of instant msg overdose, and Sai seemed to be looking through Naruto's bookshelf for something interesting to read. Big help. Kakashi sighed and resigned to giving his whole sunny Saturday away to summarizing the mission from hell.

"Sai-kun!" Sakura said shrilly after she had Kakashi sit back down and give her the official sheet, "Can you please help us out?"

"With what?" the boy limped over to the small table and sat down. Sakura gestured to the paper that Kakashi had scribbled four meager sentences in the huge space meant for the summary. Sai read them, "Well, that really summarizes the mission. If anyone wanted to know the initiative they can look on earlier mission-assignment forms and if they wanted to know the outcome they can read this one. What happens in between is not that import--"

"It IS important! And we're not arguing about it again! This is the most climactic mission we've had ever since Team 7's returned to action, and we are NOT going to throw the summary away! It is going to be precise--"

"Concise..." Kakashi muttered.

"...detailed--"

"...curtailed..." Kakashi added hopefully.

"And it will take HOWEVER LONG IT NEEDS to be written!" she snapped, "I might just make you write COMPLETE SENTENCES!" she and Kakashi glared each other a fit of wrathful sparks while Sai shuffled off to look for his bag he left at the door. He'd left his medicine in there and wanted to take some pain killer before restarting the summary writing.

"Ow!" this time the exclamation came from Naruto, who was struggling to pour water into the cup of ramen. Sai slung his bag over his shoulder and watched as the blond boy nearly tipped over the styrofoam cup and splashed more hot water over the countertop and onto the floor and his bare feet.

Naruto cried out, watching as the cup tipped too much this time, about to fall over and splash down. But Sai was suddenly there, righting it swiftly.

"Hey, eye patch-boy, don't make a mess." Sai said quietly, "You sit down; I'll take care of the rest."

Naruto grinned and nodded, walking carefully back to the small table where Sakura was still lecturing to the three male ninjas of Team 7. Any other day Sai would have poked fun at Naruto's clumsiness, but Naruto had been released from the hospital recently from a grueling surgery to repair his eyes. The optic nerves had been completely fried; the eyeballs were a soup of damaged humour sloshing inside the sclera and his eyesight had been totally obliterated. It was Sakura who had found him after his skirmish with Itachi, screaming and shaking violently, clutching his hands to his eye sockets and not realizing that he was literally clawing his eyes out.

Sai filled the cup with water, wiped off the counter and floor, listened to about 2 minutes of Sakura's ranting, and finally sat at the table, putting the noodles in front of Naruto.

"Oh man! I love ramen!" he clapped his hands together, "Itadakimasu!" Nevertheless, after all of that mental and physical torture, Naruto miraculously came out pretty strong; Sai didn't doubt that the kyuubi would not enjoy living in and supporting a blind vessel.

"Hey!" Sakura glared at Naruto, who already started to shove noodles into his mouth, "We're writing stuff here! You're going to get soup on the--"

Sai quickly placed a finger to Sakura's lips and looked up at her through his dark lashes. She blushed and jolted back from the touch, surprised and effectively shut up, Sai thought to himself. That technique he'd learned from studying television seemed to work in real life, too.

"Perhaps he's deserved this one," Sai said in a voice about an octave lower than his usual voice and leaned forward slightly. Sakura seemed to realize the effect and twittered incoherently.

"Yes, I...I suppose..." she smiled, batting her eyelashes. Kakashi had taken advantage of the brief distraction and whipped out his book under the table.

"And the important thing here is Sasuke-kun, correct?" Sai noticed that Sakura suddenly stiffened, and whatever had been in her eyes stopped irritating her, "It's no secret that no matter how much Tsunade supports his welcome back into Konoha, it's going to be very difficult to get him reinstated as an official ninja of the village. he's been in the missing-nin category for over three years and accused of assassinating a high-ranking Sunagakure official, so Sasuke's looking at some serious disciplinary action after they investigate his case."

"Disciplinary action is a cute term," Kakashi closed his book, "The department of martial offense's council doesn't slap teen shinobis on the wrist whenever they join Orochimaru's ranks and come back in chains."

"He didn't join Orochimaru just to kill people," Naruto said, face red from eating so fast, "He just wanted to get stronger and beat up his brother. You know, the brother that slaughtered his whole clan?" he said sarcastically.

"Whatever the reason," Kakashi said, "Sasuke knew that Orochimaru was Sandaime's murderer before he willingly left to train with him. Just looking at this fact, we can already assume that the council is not going to be lenient on Sasuke, whatever his noble intentions were. There are plenty of skilled shinobis he could train under who aren't psychotic criminals."

"Hey," Naruto growled, "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I'm just telling you...don't expect that by next week Sasuke-kun will be given a new hitai-ate and will be training with you in the forest," Kakashi sighed, "you thought you came out of the fight with Akatsuki alive, hey lucky lucky and all that. But depending on Sasuke and the council, the real fight begins when the hearing begins. Only this time, which's the fastest and strongest doesn't really matter. Bureaucracy is heartless."

"If we think in those lines..." Sai tapped his finger on the mission summary, "That means that anyone opposing Sasuke's reinstatement will be gathering as much evidence against him as possible." Kakashi, at that moment, decided that he really liked this deceitful little twerp. Hopefully, the two others on his team would buy into Sai and Kakashi's persuasion.

Naruto and Sakura followed Sai's gaze to the paper. Sai gave Sakura a significant look, and she nodded, looking back at Naruto.

"Perhaps...it's been a long day." Sakura said slowly.

"I'm still really really hurt, you know the whole using too much chakra thing and having your eyes melt and all that," Naruto said helpfully. He nudged Sai in the ribs.

"Uh? Oh! Yeah...hm...My injuries...they've been aching for a while, and the doctor prescribed lots of rest," Sai added.

"Of course! How thoughtless of me!" Sakura smiled, folding the mission summary up again, "Well, after all, whatever Kakashi-sensei wrote pretty much summarized everything, eh? Guess we should be leaving now, right?" Naruto nodded vigorously.

"Or! Or, the two of us could go out for some ramen, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. She stood up and smiled darkly at him.

"Didn't you say you're still really hurt? Perhaps you'd better stay at home and rest, Naruto-kun." she cracked her knuckles. Naruto deflated and played with the soggy vegetables pieces in his cup ramen.

When Sai and Kakashi excused themselves, Sakura lingered behind and helped clean up after Naruto. She took out his medicine and ordered him to take them at the proper times, kyuubi or no kyuubi. They argued, but he gave in, agreeing that he'd take the pills only if they were small enough.

While she checked his heart rate, body temperature and steadiness of breath, Naruto sat quietly. Sakura found this a little bewildering; every time a female nurse put her hands anywhere near his chest and back, Naruto wiggled and flushed like a proper disciple of Jiraiya's.

"Naruto, are you feeling okay? Do you feel faint?" listlessness was a common sign of the body starting to go into deep shock, something she worried--

"Nahh," Naruto batted her hand away, "And you don't need to examine my ribs. I know the cracks are already healed." Sakura ignored him and still held her chakra-fueled hand over his chest. He was right, the ribs had healed nicely. Thank goodness that the most reckless shinobi in the village was also protected by a powerful healing force.

"Okay, everything looks alright. I still want you to take vitamins. You can mend your own wounds, but you can't produce all of the vitamins and minerals you need. So only take the ones that I've marked with the pen or else the others will cause an interesting acid when they react to the medicine," Sakura put her gloves back on, but Naruto caught her hand. She looked up, startled, into troubled blue eyes.

"What Kakashi-sensei and Sai were saying, about Sasuke having a hard time with the council and whatever...is it true?" he asked. Sakura, expecting another forceful come on, was taken aback by his pensive stare.

"Naruto-kun..." she hesitated, "I believe that they- at least- weren't exaggerating. It's true...that Sasuke was actually just a few documents away from being added to the bingo book. No one expected that he'd come in so...peacefully."

"They thought he'd only return as a corpse...that the genius Itachi would destroy his brother..." Naruto muttered. Sakura pulled her hand away and tried to smile.

"Well, that didn't happen, did it? He returned to Konoha safely after all. I don't know what made him change his mind, but surely he'll be fine now, right?" Sakura punched Naruto's shoulder lightly.

The blond boy smiled, "Yeah! He'll be okay! And anyways, if any of those council people try to mess with him, they'll have to deal with me too!"

When Sakura left, Naruto decided to rest in bed with a few scrolls on weapons technique. After seeing the way Sasuke wielded his new sword during battle, Naruto had a passing moment to become rather jealous. Jiraiya never gave him a tangible weapon like that... But Sasuke...that Sasuke bastard...he was always...really good with...with blades...bl... Within three minutes of reclining, Naruto closed his eyes and fell asleep.

When he woke up after his nap, Naruto's eyes had blurred over, but he could make out the reddish glow of sunset. He rubbed his eyes, yawning, and sat up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, looked up, and flinched.

On his wall, written in dark watery strokes, was a message glinting in the dark sunlight.

SASUKE'S HEADING TOWRDS EXECUTION

As soon as Naruto read it, the message shifted and splashed to the floor, becoming formless water once more. Naruto strode quickly to his open window and looked outside, his head swinging to look around.

The buildings and streets seemed barren of suspicious people, only regular neighbors doing regular duties. The rooftops were clear of people and Naruto didn't sense anyone close by. He yelled out, calling for the hidden messenger, but didn't receive a response. Naruto gazed keenly around his apartment building, but after a few minutes, he finally withdrew back into his house.

Naruto sat onto his bed heavily and thought about the message. Execution? No way. Not after everything Naruto had done to bring Sasuke back...execution... Naruto scowled and made up his mind. He raced to the door, only pausing to pull on a jacket over his black tee.

With his headband securely over his forehead and his body thrumming with equal parts of fear and fury, Naruto set out.

With an orange colored book resting easily in one hand, the jounin watched as Naruto sped away, running down the street. Kakashi stepped out from behind the corner of the dumpster beside Naruto's apartment building. He grinned to himself, even though an old man sitting across the road glared at him suspiciously. He snapped his book closed and sauntered out of the shadow of the building.

As Kakashi walked towards the way Naruto went running, he had an overwhelming feeling of age. There was a sort of depression he felt when he finally conceded that the blond firecracker he mentored had a better chance of affecting politics than he did. Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. Ah well, chalk it up to Tsunade-sama's affinity for blonds. Although the argument sounded weak even to his ears, he decided not to dwell upon melancholic thoughts…not when it might turn his hair grey.

Kakashi laughed softly to himself and enjoyed the shape his shadow made in the glow of a red sun.

- - - - -

The Department of Martial Offenses didn't really like to deal with such high-level cases, Tsunade mused. Mostly because very rarely did any of the shinobis land their files into the department's hands. Shinobis dealt with education and punishment very privately. If a squad leader thought one of their members did something wrong, they kept it out of the mission report and took it to the training field the next day. It was almost embarrassing if any news of trouble leaked to people outside the group.

If ever a problem traveled as far as to the department, the old council-people generally enjoyed appointing probation in obscure parts of the government. Plenty of filing and beautification of grounds tended to snap the rebellious spirit out of anyone. But the Uchiha Sasuke case was far more interesting. He was tied intimately to Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru; a pair of relations that practically reserved him a seat in hell.

Tsunade stared at the five old council-people in front of her. She had only faced them once before, for causing an unnecessary level 3 earthquake very close to a merchant port. She had gotten away with a lenient sentence of two months of teaching students in ninja school. It was what she remembered as one of the darkest times of her life. She remembered how happily one of the councilwomen, Susumu-sensei, had been when she came up with the verdict. Tsunade was still convinced Susumu-sensei enjoyed acting out revenge on her former students.

"Hokage-sama," one of the old men said from behind the steaming cup of tea, "Honored as we are to receive a visit for the first time in…two years?"

"Five," croaked a woman whose age must have been that multiplied by twenty-three. But she was right. The Department of Martial Offenses' council was small but made up of competent people. The decisions they made were never contested by the hokage; a tradition that carried from the very first hokage.

"It cannot possibly be a social visit. Is there a problem?" the five peered at her questioningly.

"I came concerned about the Uchiha Sasuke case," Tsunade said flatly.

They stared back at her unflinchingly. Tsunade remembered why she never visited the council, ever. Then she jerked back when suddenly the old woman who spoke straightened herself and let out a piercing shriek of delight. The four around her muttered angrily and moved to around their things to look for their purses.

"I knew it! Whoever said an Uchiha cannot start a fire in a rainstorm?!" she cackled and the three other women and one man dropped money into her wrinkled hands.

"Tsu –chan," the woman tucked her purse away, "He's as doomed as the chickens in the Sojiro's yard. Uchiha'ed have better luck if he broke out and tried to live as a fugitive. Anyone who read his case could see that."

"Sojiro's been dead for fifty five years," another woman said. Hyuuga Kameko shrugged.

"That man would butcher the devil if he could sell its breast for a profit. What I'm trying to say is that it's almost useless to ask what our inclination on this case is. It's pretty unanimous that the boy is looking forward to at least five years," Hyuuga said happily, shaking her purse.

Tsunade hissed with surprise, "Five years? Are you serious?" that was enormously and ridiculously lenient for a shinobi who had committed as severe offenses as Sasuke. But another old crone gave a dry laugh.

"Totally joking," she cackled. Once again Tsunade wondered how the entire Hyuuga family seemed to come from such a jovial and sarcastic woman. But the single man in the group waved her aside.

"Kameko still can't forgive the Uchiha's for taking a strain of Byakugan and turning it into…what was that charming name?" he asked dryly.

"A 'Murder Tool Eye'! That's what our bloodline turned into! Just look at those brothers," Kameko snarled suddenly, ignoring the sighs from her comrades, "One slays the entire Sharingan blood for power and the other decides that two vessels are too many and tries to claim the power for himself! Disgraces if I ever met any!"

"That's all highly speculative, Hyuuga-san," Tsunade said loudly. But Hyuuga sneered, her pale eyes narrowing.

"Speculative? Tchach! If you ask me, the Uchiha clan should have seen this coming at them. Had the Uchiha's not paraded their kekkei genkai and their pride of power around, they wouldn't have this kind of tragedy. They flaunt their bloodline trait like women and their cleavage," she said without regard to Tsunade's narrowing eyes, "And this is what happens. If I ever saw a Hyuuga wearing those stupid little fans on all of their clothing, I would strike them down myself!"

The hokage waited for more to come, but one of the ladies croaked, "She's done now—she's always satisfied after ridiculing the paper fans." and buried her head back into the thick collar of scarves.

"Well, Hyuuga-san, the third natural Sharingan user was killed…"

"Thank all the gods of the universe," Susumu-sensei said with passion, "Uchiha Madara is one I will never curse anyone to battle." Murmurs of agreement came from around her.

"Yes, well, with Madara out of the picture… If we execute both brothers, as I assume that's what Itachi's fate is, that's the end of the natural Sharingan line," Tsunade reasoned. But by Hyuuga Kameko's snort she realized that the extinction of the Sharingan was not quite as meaningful to her as Tsunade had hoped.

The old man nodded though, "The Uchiha's have always served Konoha loyally. If not through their excellent ninja services, then they have done great service as the founders and backbone of our military police."

"My point exactly," Tsunade sighed, "So I humbly ask the council to consider Uchiha Sasuke's case with a trulygodlike leniency."

Hyuuga-san stood suddenly from her chair, enraged at Tsunade's request. "You would ask for my consideration towards Sarutobi's murderer?! I shall not have one slightest thought of mercy! This line of Sharingan is tainted; disgusting and impure. If a strain of Byakugan can create Sharingan once, then it can happen again. I would rather wait for a hundred centuries'-long evolution than have anymore Uchiha's with this malevolent bloodline!"

Tsunade stared at the oldest woman in the village. The pale eyes were strict; she was seriously incensed with Tsunade's request. Tsunade respectfully lowered her eyes and nodded.

"You see, let me explain something…" Tsunade said after a moment's hesitation, "I know a young boy." She looked back up again.

Hyuuga-san gazed down at her. Catching the change in conversation, she sat down onto the chair slowly. Tsunade took it as a sign to go on.

"In this young boy, I see the next hokage. Of course, if something happens before it is his time, Hatake will be there; I see him as a good successor as well. But in this young man I see a greater hokage." she frowned at the council, "I did something very foolish, elder ones. I promised this young guy that I would do everything in my power as a hokage to protect his friend."

There was silence among the council, but they could sense power behind her words. "And I will keep my promise. The only thing I can maintain is that I will refrain from subterfuge as means to protect Uchiha Sasuke. All I ask from the council, in return, is a fair trial."

"What do you mean, hokage-sama?"

She nodded, knowing they would not understand her, "I ask that you refrain from making a judgment ruled by inclination or bias. Review his files carefully and give your verdict by a fair study of the files. That is all I ask of you, elder ones. As strong as your instinct is to condemn Uchiha, as hokage, I must ensure that every shinobi undergoes a formal trial."

After she finished speaking, Hyuuga-san immediately sat up to begin to protest, but Susumu-sensei cut her off.

"Of course, Tsunade-chan. I agree with Rijichou-kun. It is Uchiha's fortune that his family has done much for Konoha; we will give him his fair trial," she said with a smile, "But remember you give us your word…you will also refrain from using underhanded methods to influence the Uchiha case. Understand?"

Tsunade nodded, feeling like a ninja academy student all over again, "You have my word."

"Very good, now, hurry up and leave before Kameko has anything else to say to you," Susumu-sensei made shooing motions with her hands. Tsunade bowed deeply to the council members, smiled gratefully towards her old sensei, and exited the Department of Martial Offenses.

When the hokage exited the Department of Martial Offenses building that evening, she had a skull-splitting headache. If she could go through the rest of the night without anymore disturbances or trials with ancient village leaders she would swear off gambling for a year.

Shizune greeted Tsunade as she entered the office. The hokage sagged into her chair and groaned loudly.

"Can I take the night off, Shizune? I don't think I can handle one more demanding, insolent person until tomorrow morning…" she sighed and kissed the hand that cupped her face, "…just the two of us tonight…won't that be nice?"

Shizune was about the respond, but quickly stepped away from the hokage and gazed at the closed door. Tsunade also felt the approaching presence and groaned loudly, closing her eyes as if not seeing him would make him go away.

"UZUMAKI," she roared anyways, "IF YOU SLAM THAT DOOR I WILL ROAST YOUR NUTS ON A STICK."

There was a pause the stomping footsteps immediately softened. They heard a tiptoe-gait and someone knocked very politely on the door.

"Come in." Shizune said sweetly.

Naruto shuffled into the room, smiling like an innocent blond angel. He allowed himself to sit down in a chair opposite the hokage (still with eyes firmly closed), inquired politely about her health, and mentioned the mild weather despite the storms the kazekage had written to him about. And perhaps would she like a cup of tea?

"Oh fuck," Tsunade opened her eyes, rested her elbows on the desk, "Naruto. Just get it over with. Hell, do it as loudly as you want. I want to hear it in one go, and then I want you out of here until tomorrow."

The boy's eyes blazed a cold blue and he began: "After everything I went through to get Sasuke back and as soon as he gets home I hear that his head is on the block—" okay, blahh blah blah, Tsunade yawned surreptitiously, "---after all of the lives lost after the conflict with Akatsuki, more useless blood shouldn't be shed, don't you think---," yeah, mm hmm. The guy sure could rant like a woman…

Naruto stood up now, his hands on her desk, "--Leaf village is supposed to be all peaceful and I've never heard of anyone getting legally executed—" oh boy, someone didn't pay attention in class, "---and he didn't even get a chance to explain himself! It wasn't even his fault that---" that he's got a revenge streak that overshadowed everything else in the world? "---and anyways you PROMISED you'd help me find him! Did you use me so that you could catch him and bring him back--" what a little idiot…Tsunade decided this was enough.

She held her hands up, "Naruto, I wholly agree with you." His mouth snapped closed and he stared at her, taking in her incredibly understanding smile, "Now will you calm down and sit down?" Naruto frowned, hesitated, and slowly sat back down. Tsunade leaned onto her desk.

"Your protests are almost exactly what I tried to tell the council of the Department of Martial Offenses. I'm asking you to trust that I'm doing as much as I can in my power to make sure your little bosom buddy doesn't become the equivalent to Sojiro's poultry stock."

"What?"

"But a hokage's influence can only go so far. I'm not the one calling the shots on this one; the council seems pretty adamant about the verdict. There's only two people leaning towards mercy for Sasuke, but even they're doing so rather reluctantly," Tsunade saw Shizune's pointed look and nodded slightly, "I promise you again that I will try to do anything in my power to stop the decision from turning totally sour. But Naruto, it's all on paper. Sasuke wrote his own death sentence with the decisions he made. We have almost everything he's done since he defected on file."

"No!" Naruto was gripping the arm of his chair fiercely, "He…what he did…he doesn't deserve to be executed!"

Tsunade's heart softened even though the boy's emotional turmoil was disturbing the atmosphere around them and clashing with her flow of chi. She folded her hands together and surreptitiously emitted a pulse of calming chakra through the room. Immediately Naruto relaxed again, his tense shoulders sagging and his neck straightening out, but his eyes were still dark blue with fear. Tsunade's gaze flitted to Shizune, who understood and nodded.

"Naruto-kun, I ask you to trust me. Now, it's been an entirely too long day for all of us. Moreover, as one of the doctors who examined you, I ask you to go home and rest. You're still undergoing repair from Uchiha's jutsu, so get out of my office and stop worrying so much," Tsunade said kindly. Shizune took Naruto's arm and led him back to the door. He looked back at Tsunade as if he had more to discuss. But she understood everything he wanted to say in his one mournful look. As she watched Shizune guide the boy out of her office through the wide office windows, Tsunade sighed heavily. She didn't know exactly how she was going to prevent the blond kid's heart from breaking.

The night had become cooler but with a heavy presence of a looming summer. Shizune offered to take Naruto for an evening snack before dropping him home and he accepted quietly. They walked through the government buildings towards the main market area. Lanterns had been lit already and although the children headed back home the teens and adults were free to enjoy the night.

Shizune looked at the boy who, judging by his glazed stare, was undergoing some kind of inner monologue composed mainly of friendship and the power of camaraderie. She shook her head slightly and shook his shoulder a little.

"What would you like to eat? Takoyaki or ice cream mochi?" she asked as they began walking into the shopping district. Naruto shrugged and looked around with that same blank expression, "Ice cream mochi it is," Shizune said sympathetically and steered him towards the convenience grocery mart.

"Naruto-kun," Shizune said while they browsed the freezers, "Tsunade was far too kind to you today."

He finally looked up and his eyes cleared of the stupor. Shizune smiled tightly and opened the freezer door, "She has always had a soft spot for you because of Nawaki, so she coated all of her words with sugar," she looked at the packets of mochi and chose the green tea flavor.

When Shizune finished paying for the packet and for the booze she picked up for Tsunade for later, she led Naruto outside. The shops and stalls glittered happily with lanterns and lights. A modest but chatty crowd moved around them, many of them clueless about the fierce battle that had taken place recently. They would never know of the insanely high leveled attacks the leaf shinobi were attacked and retaliated with. Few would understand what it was like to face an enemy who never lost a battle and had no intention of losing another. Naruto looked around. They didn't know what it was like to carry a weapon in their bodies and have that dark part of your soul nearly removed.

They walked as they ate the round rice paste sweets. Shizune winced when her teeth bit into the ice cream center.

"Then that's the end?" Naruto suddenly stopped walking, "Is that what you're trying to tell me? That Sasuke's going to die even though he came back without resisting?"

Shizune turned around and looked him in the eye, "Naruto, even if the council wasn't making a judgment based on simple instinct, they would review his files and see all of the damage he's done in the past few years. And it doesn't help that each of those files has a live witness to testify against Sasuke even if he were to contest the verdict."

This surprised Naruto, but he had to chew the sticky sweet before saying, "Live witness?"

"Yeah. It's a twist of fate or coincidence, but someone who's been there whenever Sasuke made a move-- he shows up on the files too. And the council makes stronger and more clearly-defined decisions if there is a witness to properly testify. So, like I said, if Sasuke wanted to use the files as hard evidence that he's clean—"

"Then they can call on the witness to testify against him," Naruto said miserably, "How did that happen?" Shizune patted his back. They walked towards the one of the circular plazas.

"I suppose there's no way to steal those files?" Naruto asked seriously. Shizune shook her head.

"The files I'm talking about are all mission files, not general reports, and those are protected. Some of those are even ANBU mission files, and those can only be accessed by the Hokage, especially since ANBU works under her private orders. So no, there is little chance one could steal them without getting Tsunade-sama into trouble. In fact the ANBU files are hidden so well that only four people in the whole village are allowed to know their location."

"If baa-san really wanted to help then she might accidentally let the files get stolen or something," Naruto said matter-of-factly, but Shizune looked upset when he said it.

"Don't say careless things like that, Naruto-chan. Every single patch of soot in a ninja village has ears," Shizune said quietly, "And that would get Tsunade-sama into a lot of trouble even if she did let those files get out by accident."

"Then I suppose it's impossible to alter the data on the files?" Naruto continued in jest. Shizune gave him a quelling look and resisted the urge to stick a mochi into his mouth and shut him up. He got the message and quickly closed his mouth. They were walking through the quieter part of the marketplace, towards the large fountain in the center of the circular clearing. People were taking out their late dinners and snacks, sitting on the many benches and at small booths selling delicious smelling treats.

"No," Naruto finally said, "It's just wrong to condemn him to execution. He might have joined Orochimaru, but he didn't become him. He's not disgusting and bloodthirsty or anything. He just wanted to kill his childhood demons. It's like trying to kill the monster in your closet, only Sasuke's monster was real," he said in a voice heavy with emotion.

Naruto's comment surprised Shizune. She looked down at him, somewhat lost for words. Instead of speaking, she offered him the last mochi and patted his soft head.

"Listen, Naruto," she said, "I have confidence in Tsunade. Perhaps too much…but I believe that she will try everything she can. But in the event that what she tries isn't enough to save Sasuke…" she squeezed his shoulder, "…steel your big heart, okay?"

Naruto digested her words slowly. Yet he felt their grave meaning, and it showed in the glistening eyes.

"Oi! Hey tough guy," Shizune smiled as best she could and gave him a rough hug, "Stop crying you great future village leader! Or do you want to lose respect from your future officers? Look over at the fountain, it's your buddy." She pointed to the fountain where a dark-haired boy was sitting on the edge and looked to be writing in his notepad. Immediately Naruto pressed his sleeve against his eyes and cleared his throat. He ran over to his dark-haired comrade and right away began bickering with him.

Shizune followed a bit slower, not surprised that two of the most injured shinobis currently in the village were not recuperating in bed as she instructed, but rather running around and possibly undoing all of the medic-nins' efforts that took to revive them. When the shinobis from the Akatsuki mission came back, the whole medical staff (including those still in school) were swamped with trying to treat the new and highly gruesome injuries. She remembered that one man who came in with a totally bizarre curse that had turned his whole left arm into paper-origami. Three apprentices fainted and one veteran doctor threw up upon examining him. When they unfolded his arm they noticed the curse was still spreading up into his torso; that was when Shizune was called to try to stop the curse. No one had ever seen anything like that before.

As for Naruto's friend, Patient 45 as Shizune remembered him, he was something like a gift from heaven. He should have died in that terrible battle. He had been totally exhausted of life when they found him, so much that they had written his name on the list of dead. But luckily Tsunade-sama was determined to personally view all of the dead before they cremated them. She entered the morgue, felt a chakra presence, and immediately rushed over to his gurney. What an embarrassment it was to the shinobis who were supposed to assist the hunter-nins and bring back the shinobis. Yet no one blamed them, Patient 45 came in looking like some a human needle-cushion. Wounds of all degrees lanced his body and all sorts of seals and curses had prevented him from properly circulating chakra.

Shizune finally reached them and nodded to the dark-haired boy. She immediately understood why Tsunade-sama's young apprentice had been so distraught when she saw this boy's name on the list of dead. He was certainly attractive. She looked down at what he was showing Naruto on his notepad. Ah, yes. Tsunade-sama had been interested in this young jounin when she discovered this interesting mastery over ink. He didn't even have to use a paintbrush anymore; just sit there with his hands in the 'hua' position. The ink moved by itself, shifting quickly and smoothly.

Shizune smiled as she stared down at the paper. His mastery of this unique jutsu really was impressive, and it was also pretty entertaining. She continued to stare as the ink twisted and formed different faces and caricatures. Naruto laughed and asked the boy to form Sakura-chan in a nurse's uniform.

Then, the Idea struck. It startled Shizune so terribly that she physically reeled away from the two boys. It was preposterous…but the Idea was unfolding and her mind was already providing stratagems and schemes. Shizune's heartbeat rose rapidly and she stared from Naruto back to Patient 45. She clenched her fists unconsciously. This was absolutely crazy!

But would it work?

The medic-nin took one long look at the dark-haired boy, excused herself, and strode quickly back towards the head office. She tried not to run and arouse suspicion, but the idea unraveling in her head was burning and flaring with excitement.

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it became.

This insane idea that Naruto jokingly suggested…