Hey, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter.

Please R&R!

ANBUszechuane

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Sasuke's trial started the day after and was held in a large dome, with tribunes almost all round the centered court.

Everyone in Konoha that was able to come was there, including Kakashi and Naruto. The last one yelling things like 'HES INNOCENT!' and 'FREE OF CHARGE!' fiercely.

Several minutes later they had arrived the judges entered. Jiraiya, Iruka and a unfamiliar man, named Kindo who was replacing Tsunade who was still at the hospital.

Jiraiya raised his hands and called out for silence and when everyone was paying attention he started the trial.

"Very well, now that all the people concerned are here, and also a awful lot that aren't, we can start the trial of Uchiha Sasuke. The charges are high treason and offending of the state Konoha."

Now Iruka stood up and spoke; "You are allowed to have a assistant or friend to help you in this trial, who will it be Uchiha?"

"I'm his assistant." Neji spoke loud and clear so that everyone could hear him.

"You, Hyuuga Neji?" Iruka asked surprised; "Forgive me for saying this, but didn't you have a hostile rivalry with the Uchiha, and didn't you think about him as a honourless man?"

"That we were rivals shows mutual respect, and yes, I didn't like him but when I heard what happened and he asked me for help I started to understand his position. And now I'm honoured to be counted for as one of his friends."

Sasuke smiled, again, this was happening a lot since he had returned. Maybe he was changing, but it didn't matter, it was better this way.

The trial lasted for over a hour, by then the judges had heard all stories and since the charges were based on Sasuke harming Konoha, which he didn't, they managed to clear him of any punishment. Although he had to accompanied by a ANBU or other qualified individual for the first two months.

Sasuke and Neji got a loud applause when they left the court, and it took them five minutes to get away from them.

"Thanks Neji, I owe you one, or more actually."

"Ah, don't mind, that's what friends do. O, Sasuke, I need to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You seem to know that Naruto guy pretty well, what kind of guy is he?"

"What do you mean? I'd trust him alright, and he's honest, and a little shallow but he's a good friend to have."

"Ok, then it's all right, he's dating my cousin you know, and I just wanted to know something about him."

They headed to the hospital, 'to tell Tsunade about the outcome of the trial' as Sasuke told Neji, but lying to a Byakugan user isn't the best thing you can do. Neji didn't mind though, if that was how Sasuke coped with it, he'd let him do so.

They arrived at the hospital about five minutes later and asked where they could find Tsunade.

"Sixth floor, room seventy-three but its off limits to civilians, so only if you have a level four clearance you're allowed to go there."

"Do you Neji?" Sasuke asked, and Neji held his ID against the scanner for an answer.

'Granted' The machine replied and Neji smirked. "Yedi clearance, Im allowed to go anywhere I want, which comes out handy when you need it."

They stopped at the door to knock, and when they heard Tsunade yell 'Come in' they entered.

Sakura was still unconscious but looked a lot better then before. Tsunade looked awfully tired, she probably had been working trough the night.

"Hey, why are you two here? Weren't you supposed to be in court right now?"

Sasuke replied with a grin; "Why should I be in court when I'm cleared of the charges?"

By then Neji took a look at his watch. "Hey Sasuke, I've got to go so I'll just leave you here with Tsunade because I've to go and pick Tenten up, so see you later." Neji said and walked back trough the door.

When the door closed Tsunade and Sasuke remained silent, watching Sakura breath lightly.

Until after a while Tsunade spoke; "I heard what happened by Kakashi… about what happened on board the ship. He said that if I had any questions I should ask you, not him."

Sasuke kept looking at Sakura and answered a little uncertain; "What did he tell you?"

"Just what happened on board the cruiser, he was reluctant to tell more, in that he's like you. Always loyal to friends and himself."

Sasuke told her most of the story he had told Kakashi and Naruto the day before. As hokage she had to know, and she'd probably get it out of Kakashi anyway, this was more like a formality to see rather he was willing to tell it himself.

Sakura was recovering well but remained asleep until her vitals were fully recovered, Tsunade didn't want to take any risks after a fight with Itachi.

When Sasuke woke up four days after the trial he immediately noticed something was wrong, tension was present in the cold morning air. Evil was on the move, and it wasn't far away.

'Its probably Orochimaru or one of his followers looking for me. By now he will know that I wont come back, so he'll probably try to kill me.' He sat up right in his bed, thinking about what would happen next.

'He probably assumes I'm still injured from the fight with Itachi, so he will start looking at the hospital. Wait, Sakura! If anything they wont let a injured Yedi live!' His eyes turned deep red again and energy surged trough him again. Now that he had used it once, it had become easy to reactivate. He didn't care about calling Neji or Naruto, the only thing now was to get to the hospital as quick as possible.

Kabuto stopped and looked to his left, a huge power had just awaken. He looked over to Orochimaru at his right who had clearly felt it as well.

"Quicken up your pace, Kabuto, probably Jiraiya has awoken. We need to fulfil our mission quickly before we are detected."

Kabuto nodded and increased his pace, several moments later they reached the hospital.

The two of them walked trough the corridors, sensing for presence of the force. Orochimaru stopped at a door labelled seventy-two; "Kabuto, I think he's in here, I feel a weakened presence of the force in here, clearly Itachi has put up a fight."

"That makes it a lot easier for us." Smirked Kabuto as they silently opened the door.

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In the next chapter there will be more action again for those who like it. The serenity ends there.

The next one is probably the second last chapter.

ANBUszechuane