I don't own Naruto. But if I did, Sasuke would not be alive at the ending.
Chapter 38: The Trial of Sasuke Uchiha
4:00 pm came and the trial to determine Sasuke's fate had begun. Word had spread amongst the village regarding the capture of the last Uchiha and many came down to the courthouse to see what would happen. Oddly, more came for a sense of closure to the whole issue than any love for the Uchiha. Over the years gone he lost more and more supporters, and those that did support him kept finding it harder to, especially regarding his most recent actions.
Konoha's courthouse, using for trials regarding civilian crimes and great ninja crimes, was packed with people. If possible the whole village might have been there. But they couldn't all fit in and since this was a ninja trial the clans got first entry. Most civilians had to watch the broadcast at home on TV; ninja trials were often allowed on TV in the village so the civilians would know of their crimes and punishment. And in a case like this, it was best if no one in the city was kept ignorant or uncertain of Sasuke's fate.
Sasuke Uchiha was kept chained to a chair. A few seals placed around his eyes the previous night, by Kakashi on Tsunade's order, would ensure he couldn't activate his sharingan, at least not painlessly. His one remaining arm was chained to his side so he couldn't attempt any hand signs if somehow possible for him and he had been stripped of all weaponry. As expected, he did not look in a good mood right now.
In front of him was Tsunade acting as judge. To her left were the shinobi council members and to the right were the civilian council members, giving a supreme court feel to everyone. No jury, for they were the jury here, with Tsunade acting as official head and declarer. Behind him were the audience and witnesses to be called.
Naruto and Hinata were present with Akane, seated not too far behind Sasuke. To Naruto's left were Sakura and Kakashi, who were aware they were going to be called on to testify regarding Sasuke. Naruto was worried about what they may say, considering their past favoritism to the Uchiha. Even if now they were past that, what if they still tried to defend him or call for a light sentence? Naruto figured that if they did, he would have to break away from them completely. For he simply couldn't be a team with those that continued to be blinded by the Uchiha name.
To Hinata's right were the Inuzukas, which usually stayed close to the criminal to detect anything odd about them or apprehend them if they did anything foolish. None had their animal partners present, as was ruled in the courthouse. Kiba was about to sit next to Hinata, but when Shiba saw Akane, the two adults decided to let the two kids sit next to each other between them.
"Good to see you again Shiba-chan. Everything going well?" Akane cheerfully greeted.
"Yeah, been practicing but I'm still not much better." The shy Inuzuka answered. "I can do that tree-walking thing your father showed me now though."
"Keep it down you two. It's about to start." Hinata gently warned.
"Akane-chan?" Someone asked behind them, and she turned to see Noburo sitting there with Tenten and her father. "Thought I recognized you. Hi."
Akane remembered the last time the two were together and blushed. "Oh, h-hi Noburo-kun. N-nice to see you again." She looked forward before her blush was painfully obvious.
Nevertheless, Hinata witnessed all of it and grinned. 'I always knew she was Naruto's daughter at heart, and apparently she really is mine too.'
With a voice amplifier jutsu used to enable everyone to hear what was being said, Shizune started the trial then. "The trial of Konohagakure versus Sasuke Uchiha will now begin. Everyone be seated and stay silent." She paused for a moment to ensure everyone did. "Sasuke Uchiha has committed several atrocious crimes against the village, and here we shall determine his fate."
"For the record," Tsunade added once Shizune finished, "Sasuke Uchiha will not be allowed to continue being a ninja after this is over. Nor will he have access to any funds and deeds in the Uchiha name. He forfeited all rights to claim them when he left the village."
"You can't do that! Those are mine by right!" Sasuke argued loudly.
"And you waived that right." Tsunade countered, not the least bit intimidated by him. "Please continue Shizune."
The poison-using medic nin nodded. "You are charged of the following crimes. Betrayal of the village to a well-known and confirmed enemy. Attempted murder of a leaf shinobi with lethal intent on several occasions. Conspired to aid a criminal organization. Attempted kidnapping of a leaf shinobi with lethal intent. And endangerment of a leaf village child on one proven occasion. How do you plead?" A few whispers were heard in the audience after the last charge, as not even the ninja had heard Sasuke had tried to harm a kid in the village.
"Not guilty." Sasuke plainly answered.
Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "Care to explain exactly why? And I better not hear the words 'because I'm an Uchiha' or so help me you'll be held in contempt of court."
"I have my reasons for what I did, so everything was justified." Sasuke plainly answered again.
"Every criminal has a reason for what they do. That doesn't make it okay to break the law." Hiashi said firmly from his seat on the ninja council side.
"My duty and quest is more important than some mere set of rules that are meant for other people." Sasuke claimed irritably.
This did not go over well, as all council members gave each other looks. "So you believe that the law applies to everyone except you?" One of the civilian members asked.
"My goals are too important to be deferred by what others think should be done."
"Goals?" Inoichi repeated. "My best recollection is that your biggest priority is to kill your brother. Is there more?"
"To kill those that made Itachi do what he did to my clan. Which is all of Konoha." He answered, making almost everyone gasp or glare at him.
"Explain." Shikaku demanded.
Sasuke scoffed. "I owe you nothing."
"Since you're on trial you have to tell us everything you little..." Tsunade started, but had to calm herself or the ruling could be considered based on emotions rather than facts later thus a mistrial. "In that case, we can add 'intent to endanger village and occupants' to the list of charges."
"Speaking of charges, Hokage-sama," One of the civilian members started. "Would you care to elaborate on the charge of attacking a child? That one's new to me."
"Us too." Virtually all the council members said.
"Well, not too long ago Naruto Uzumaki was on a trip to Wave, and accompanying him were Hinata Hyuuga and their adopted child Akane Uzumaki. During their time there they encountered Sasuke Uchiha and tried to incapacitate him, but he dragged the young girl into the battle and wounded her by direct physical assault. She's fine now though."
Everyone in the courtroom not already aware of that event gasped. Most that knew Akane were ready to cut off some random body part Sasuke had. Sasuke himself just snorted. "You mean the girl with the red hair? That's no ordinary child. She's a monster and should be killed." He stood up as if that would make them believe him more and two Anbu rushed to press kunais against him as a warning. "I should have known idiots here would be willing to defend a monster. They did with the dobe too."
"On what grounds do you have that a mere child is a monster?" Tsunade asked, hoping he didn't say anything that could ruin Akane's chances for a normal life.
"Why don't you see for yourselves?" Sasuke asked. He then snatched one of the kunais out of the Anbu's grasp with his remaining hand and threw it as best he could at Akane. Expecting her to defend herself in some kind of demonic way, Sasuke watched as she instead got impaled in her left shoulder and screamed in pain.
Hinata and Naruto immediately pulled out the kunai and checked the wound. Nothing serious, just a flesh wound. Everyone else who could see checked too and saw she was bleeding pretty badly. Naruto and Hinata glared at the Uchiha with so much hate right then that everyone knew no matter what happened today Sasuke was going to bleed even worse later. In fact, they didn't want to wait, as Hinata charged right at him to beat him worse than an unweighted Lee could while Naruto kept anyone from interfering.
All the shinobi looked at this with grins, none bigger than the one on Hiashi's face. 'Damn, what a backbone. Hitomi you would be proud of our daughter, and I hope you would adore her daughter as well.'
"Hokage-sama, shouldn't we stop this?" A civilian member asked.
Tsunade shook her head. "To do so would mean condoning the Uchiha's attack. And Hinata Hyuuga's actions are well within her rights, since she is legally the injured child's mother." Tsunade had made that part official right after the engagement between the two was confirmed to her.
"Maybe, but shouldn't we stop it anyway?" Another member asked.
"If it had been your child he struck, what would you do?" Tsunade asked.
Nobody said anything, because ninja or not, each one of them would assault someone who dared to throw a kunai at their children. At this point anyone who had been supporting the Uchiha had decided not to, as there was just no good reason to defend someone who admitted he wanted to destroy the village and would openly attack a child with weapons. And if they pushed for any form of leniency in his sentence they would potentially lose all business and connections. For all basic purposes, the Uchiha had dug his own grave.
Hinata stopped when her adrenaline rush died down, and stood panting over the Uchiha. Her knuckles were bruised and bleeding from hitting so much, especially the chains that sometimes took the hit for Sasuke. But it was those same chains that made him unable to fight back, so he took a rather good beating. Only Sakura or Tsunade could have done better. Naruto came up behind her and put his arms around her. She relaxed, and then spat on Sasuke as a final insult before turning back to her seat.
"For the record Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki will not be held accountable for their actions here. They were well within their rights to do such a thing. And on a personal note, I'm rather impressed." Tsunade declared.
Sasuke managed to sit up and glared at the hokage. "They're allowed to attack an Uchiha and get away with it but I'm being held on charges for attacking a dobe everyone else wanted to have die? You bitch."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Your name will not grant you any privileges here traitor. And at least Naruto never actually tried to hurt anyone, unlike you." She then looked over the audience. "Is there anyone here who wishes to speak on the Uchiha's behalf?" No one spoke up or raised a hand. "Anyone?" Again, no response. "Alright then. In that case, would Sasuke's former team members come up to give testimony regarding his behavior since you're the closest ones to knowing him?"
Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi came forward and stood before the council, with Naruto giving Sasuke a look that clearly said 'don't you dare try anything'. Tsunade faced the masked jounin. "Kakashi Hatake, formerly the sensei of the Uchiha. What is your professional opinion of him?"
"Well, I did tell him when he was younger to let go of the past and try to enjoy the people around him, but he apparently chose not to. While he does have talent and drive, he clearly isn't using it in honorable ways. Whether or not he was being influenced by Orochimaru is a moot point, since irregardless of the reasons, the fact remains that he has committed crimes and obviously intends to commit more if given the chance. I say do what needs to be done and nothing less."
Tsunade nodded to show she had listened, then turned to her second apprentice. "Sakura Haruno, formerly a teammate of the Uchiha. What is your professional opinion of him?" Given the pink-haired girl's past history, she had to emphasize the professional part here. She saw Sasuke smirk here, and figured he believed she'd blindly defend him like always.
Sakura sighed, thinking of her words carefully. "In all honesty, I admit long ago I wanted to believe he had good reasons for what he did, even if we couldn't understand them. But after everything I've learned and seen, all I can see now is a maniac that's willing to hurt anyone to make himself feel better. I trust your judgment regarding him, sensei."
Tsunade smirked and Sasuke scowled. "So bitch you desert me too?"
Sakura gave him a cold look. "Well it's not like you've done anything to make me do anything else."
Before more could be said, Tsunade turned to the orange-loving shinobi. "Naruto Uzumaki, former teammate of the Uchiha. What is your professional opinion of him?"
"He's committed many crimes, endangered many people, and shows no sign of repentance. I say throw the book at him."
"Dually noted. You three may be seated." The hokage told them. As they walked back to their seats, the council members started whispering to one another regarding what to do. "With no other statements to be made the council and I will take a one hour recess to decide on proper sentencing. Court will resume then. Anbu, take the Uchiha to a holding cell in the meantime."
As everyone got up and ready to stretch their legs, Akane grabbed the copy of Icha Icha Kakashi had pulled out and hurled it at Sasuke, hitting him in the back of the head. Everyone around her gave her a surprised look. "What? Otou-san said to throw a book at him."
"Let's go out before he tries to kill you." Naruto said as he picked her up and on his shoulders, taking her away from the fuming emo.
Kakashi quickly went to grab his precious porn. 'Sure hope she didn't damage it.'