Chapter 1 My Own

A strand of blond hair was impatiently pushed back behind her ear. It was the first time she had ever stepped foot into the famed council chamber and couldn't help but be awed by the artistic design of the room. The auditorium was painted a royal cream colour hardly recognizable due to the darkness caused by the drawn curtains of the cylinder windows. They were stationed symmetrically yet randomly around the stoned walls of the hall. Rows upon rows of oak benches spiralled up towards the ceiling, stopping just below the window sills. They were built circling the centre of the first floor, where a lone wooden chair had been nailed into the black marble; rusted chains hanging loosely from the armrests and legs. Walking from the entrance she pushed the strand of her hair back behind her ear, she could just make out the Hokage's throne glistening as it reflected the little light escaping from the curtains. Her stomach tightened as her eyes landed upon it, it was empty. She didn't know why but the absence of the Hokage unnerved her giving her a bad feeling. It wasn't until someone spoke that she realized she was already standing in the centre next to the chained wooden chair. Pushing the strand of blond unruly hair behind her ear for the third time she looked up in search of the speaker.

"Uzumaki Naru...Born 10th October, 15 years old, chuunin". The man paused, the tone in his voice seeking conformation. Seeing the hesitant nod he continued, Student of Hakate Kakashi, teammate of Haruno Sakura and missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke, apprentice of Jiriaya of the sannin...Orphan correct?"

She winced at the belittling tone in which he addressed her but ignored it as she concentrated on trying to hide her discomfort, she cleared her throat standing a fraction straighter than necessary. "Yes s...sir" she answered awkwardly. Biting her lip; she mentally berated herself for letting her nervousness show. She didn't know how to address them as the speaker and the rest of the council's identities were hidden beneath the veil of shadows that coated the room. She felt like a cornered animal, all she could see were a dozen pairs of eyes boring down onto her. It was suffocating.

"You have been called, like the others before you to discuss the events that took place on the 12th of February during a mission. Teammates; Hakate Kakashi, Hyuuga Neji and Haruno Sakura, mission was to investigate what was believed to be Orochimaru's latest base. Not to engage enemy-nin unless absolutely necessary..." She winced at the emphasis he put on the last sentence and tuned out his voice already knowing what happened and not wanting to hear it again. However it was the only trigger needed, swallowing came difficult as memories of the mission started to replay in her mind. She wiped her sweaty palms on her new black trousers that Sakura had bought her along with a matching sky blue shirt, dully noting that the man was still talking. She didn't understand why she was so nervous, the rest of the team had come, given their account and gone, she had already given her account yet they had called her back, truthfully as much as the others tried to deny it, she knew she had messed up big time, but Tsunade said that they would probably just give her a warning or a week's suspension at the most...but then why did it feel like the end of the world?

"...two injuries and your group returned to Konoha three's days prior, correct?" hearing him finish his retelling of what took place, Naru snapped back to reality. She pushed a blond strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah that's right". A pair of white lavender eyes narrowed at the lack of respect and she could feel his chakra spike in anger. 'Yep...he's definitely a Hyuuga'

"Uzumaki, kneel and accept your punishment!" At the tone she knew it was time to get serious, she knelt down on her left knee with her left hand in a fist on the ground in front of it, her right elbow was resting on her right thigh with the hand position on her chest over the heart, just like it was taught in the academy. She hung her head low and frowned as her shoulder length hair tumbled down onto her heart-shaped face; tickling her nose. 'It's almost over' she chanted over and over in her head, all her friends were outside waiting for her. They were going to go for ramen after her sentence, even though things had changed, nothing could change her love for the spicy noodles; she sighed longingly as she thought about the new special that was being released today, she could almost taste it...

"Uzumaki Naru, for crimes of insubordination, wild use of demon chakra and endangering the lives of your teammates...you are sentenced to be stripped of your ninja status and banished from Konoha!" Silence, not a sound was heard. The temperature in the room dropped dangerously as the tension rose. Many mouths opened and closed but none either in shock or glee were able to say a word, instead they all looked down at the young teen frozen on the spot below on the chamber floor.

She didn't move, no, she couldn't move. She knelt there replaying the sentence over and over in her head. Of all things she was not expecting that, she refused to believe it...maybe she heard wrong? No. Exiled... it couldn't be true, could it?

"Exiled?" she repeated out loud barely above a whisper but was heard clearly through the silent courtroom; the word seemed foreign and alien coming from her mouth. It scared her.
"You can't be serious Hiashi! This is overkill; don't let your personal feelings for the Uzumaki cloud your judgment!" A council member yelled, she didn't recognize his voice, neither did she recognize the other voices which rose to speak on her behalf, she was too busy watching as her dreams and ambitions came crumbling down before her...all her hard work...all for nothing...

"I can't die yet! I haven't become Hokage"
"I will become Hokage! Believe it"
"I want to become Hokage so the village will acknowledge me and I can protect my precious people..."

'My dream...my reason for existence...gone...'

"Enough! You should take your own advice Nara-san! She is becoming unstable! I am not just making judgment from this one occurrence, remember, this is not the first time she has lost control! How many times are we going to allow it to pass! What are you waiting for? Someone to get injured? Someone to die?"

"Hiashi!" A woman yelled above the uproar that his words had caused, "That is it! You have gone too far!"

"No Tsume! You haven't gone far enough...I am just doing what should have been done a long time ago...you're lucky I didn't call for execution! The council began to stand, shouting and shaking their fists with anger evident in their eyes but they had begun quieting, reluctantly seeing the truth in his words as much as they tried to refute it, whilst some sat intrepidly nodding their heads in agreement, happy to be getting rid of the demon. Even Naru, who had yet to move, grimaced as he spoke, reminiscing the times she had lost control...the wound on Jiriaya's chest...She shook her head and clammed her eyes shut, willing the memories to go away...She had been so careless...

"Quiet! Let us take a vote...all in favour raise your hand", Hiashi watched in triumph as just over half the council raised their hands, some boldly and firm, the majority hesitantly but rose nevertheless. "It has been decided, Uzumaki Naru you are hereby exiled from konohagakaru, you have three days to be beyond the leaf's borders or hunter-nin will be ordered to kill on sight...Dismissed!" The wooden beater hit the base hard awakening Naru from her daze. She stood robotically, still facing the ground, her hair hiding her face from view. She straightened and turned, her lifeless blue eyes catching sight of the door staring at her from the opposite side of the room. Exiled...With one simple word, her dreams had been snatched away from her, with one simple word, all the work she had done since she was a child...all the sweat and tears...for nothing...her fists clenched tightly as she began to place one foot in front of the other. She was stripped of her pride, her honour and branded a disgrace to her village, but what was worst was walking back down towards the entrance, past all the clan heads and nobles. The walk of shame. Being exiled was a fate worse than death, many would rather becoming missing-nin than be banished; for missing-nin choose to leave their village yet are still considered necessary, but when you're exiled; your village is throwing you out. Having the feeling that no one in the world needs you; your existence has no meaning. A broken tool...Unwanted. As she walked away she realized she was finalizing everything and there was no changing it, no turning back. Time slowed and the temperature seemed to rise. She felt sick. She didn't dare look up just in case she caught the swaggering faces of those who hated her; after all, this was like a dream come true, they were finally getting what they wanted. No, she kept her attention on her feet trying not to show her emotions, she was almost there...

"Uzumaki..." the smug voice that belonged to no other than Danzo, captain of the ROOT ANBU was almost enough to make her breakdown right there but she kept strong, if only for a little longer. "Your headband", he stated. She was sure she heard her heart break; she was hoping they would forget but as it was, lady luck was not on her side. Heartless old coots even waited until she was almost at the door so that she would have to walk back but she would not, she would keep at least a fraction of the dignity she had left.

They couldn't tell her what to do...I don't belong to them anymore, she thought bitterly. She slowly untied her headband, holding it in her hand as if it were the most precious thing in the world, her fingers trailed over the leaf insignia carved in to the metal and she almost gasped as a drop of water hit it right in the centre of the spiral. For a moment she thought it was raining but pushing that thought aside she realized it was coming from her eyes. Taking a deep breath she held the headband marking her as a leaf shin obi adjacent to her, arm outstretched as far as it could go and dropped it to the ground. It hit the floor hard and the clatter vibrated round the chamber bringing a ringing irritation to many ears. She inwardly cheered at her small victory. Continuing her track, she ducked her head even lower as she tried to stem the flow of tears that she knew she could not. She wouldn't let them see her cry. She wouldn't give them that satisfaction. The door unbolted and her eyes were quickly assaulted by the morning light. She exhaled deeply welcoming the liberation as the cool afternoon air hit her body but it quickly turned to one of despair when she looked down in front of her. Present in a contour were the smiling faces of her friends, all ready to cheer her up from her assumed suspension. Skimming through them her blue eyes landed on him. And that was all it took. She couldn't take it, staring deep into his beautiful dark, questioning grey eyes she broke. It was like a dam had been released, all the emotions she had tried to keep bottled up had begun to overflow, seeing Sasuke again, almost losing control, the seal weakening...exiled. She didn't even notice she had fallen to the floor trembling. It was then that the weight of her sentence finally hit her, and it was too much weight for her to bear, she couldn't breathe...

She watched in a haze as her friends expressions changed from that of empathy to worry as they rushed to her side, miming words she could not hear, deep grey eyes filled her vision before it was consumed by darkness.

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The chamber door swung open and her form was hit with light casting a shadow that stretched across the halls floor. They watched as it slowly began to recede as she made her way down the stone corridor before it disappeared entirely; out of sight. The door slammed shut and it wasn't long before the silence was broken. "Was that wise?" An elderly voice sounded, asking a question that rested on all their minds. Hiashi recognized the voice as one of the Sandaime's teammates, turning to face her he resisted the urge to groan. Hyuuga don't groan. A subtle glance was cast and he answered.

"I only did what was necessary; she was a danger to the leaf and needed to be eliminated for all our sakes".

Catching the faint glance, Danzo almost snorted, truthfully he was impressed by how the girl had taken the news, having been apart of the council for many years, he had bared witness to many exile sentences where the victim had reacted far worse than the teen who had just been standing there only moments ago. He was cut from his musing by a commotion that could be heard through the doors of the entrance causing many heads to turn and mutter. Then again...maybe he spoke to soon.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Hiashi stood, nodded tightly to the gathered crowd and strolled back to the exit made especially for the clan heads, seeing that as their cue, the others quickly followed suit, gossiping like women in a market. Hiashi watched as Danzo stood to exit, passing in front of him he slowed to hold his gaze before continuing onward towards the door. The moment lasted no more than a millisecond but he got the message, as the old war captain trailed after him he couldn't help the smirk that snuck onto his scarred, worn face, everything was going according to plan...

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Authors note:Confused? Then my work is done! Hello people, just an idea that wouldn't leave me so i thought i should try it out okay this is my first story so be nice :p, tell me if you think i should continue