OK, quick reference guide to who's kid is whos and their ages….

Akina (means spring flower), Masato (means justice)Sakura/Sasuke (not married, but children have Uchiha surname). Both 6 yrs. Old. Akina is older by minutes

Shouji Nara (combination of Shikamaru and Chouji)Ino/Shikamaru (married and pregnant again) 7 yrs. Old.

Sayuri Hyuuga (means little lilly)Tenten/Neji. 5 years old

Torao Uzumaki (means tiger)Hinata/Naruto (now Rokudaime) 7 months old.

Obito Hatake (pretty obvious who he's named after)Shizune/Kakashi 9 years old.

Jiraiya/Tsunade (no children, but are more like consorts with each other. No marriage, but the affection and the love without the commitment. I kind of see them as seeing Naruto as their own son and watching him grow.)

Also, Saito Kaneda (again, two last names I combined from various animes.)

ALSO, if you can guess what the random numbers I supply throughout the story stand for, you will get a surprise. The first number was the extension number to Naruto's office. The second is the cell block number. Good luck.

The arraignment hearing marked the start of the justice process. The Disciplinary Process, or DA process, in Konoha is quite simple. The Chief Council is made up of five people who inevitably determine the fate of the accused. There is the Hokage, two Village Elders, one Special Jounin, and one Chuunin. However, since the accused is a member the Hokage's genin team, he has been omitted so that the Council is fair and impartial. The purpose of the Council is to hear the testimonials of different individuals to determine the motive of the accused crime and to decipher the character of the defendant. Testimonials are gathered and submitted and then the authors of the papers are subpoenaed. They then appear and field questions from the prosecution as well as the defense teams and then they are excused. The cases have no jury except the Council. Other than the two Village Elders and the Hokage, the chuunin and jounin are randomly selected. Therefore, no one knows who the Council will consist of until the day of the trial. This eliminates any bribing. Basically, everyone's name that's available at the time gets put in a hat and the defendant picks two papers. If the defendant was found innocent, they would simply resume their lives. However, if the opposite were true, sentencing could result in anything ranging from repetitive D missions to loss of rank to death. Shikamaru did not want the latter.

In fact, it was Shikamaru who had spent all week interviewing people at the hospital and her friends. Kankuro and Gaara-sama had made an appearance earlier in the week and are sequestered in the VIP quarters. They had given statements and visited her in the holding pen. Shikamaru was talking with her when they made it on the scene.

"Halt!" One of the junior guards yelled at the foot of the hallway leading down and attempted to place his hand on Gaara-sama's arm to stop him.

"State your name and business…" He was summarily launched against the wall by a sand storm. His buddy shook with apprehension and let Gaara-sama in the door. It took him several tries to get the key in the lock.

"I am the Kazekage. My business is none of your pathetic concern. Touch me again and you will die." Behind him, Kankuro smirked and grabbed the keys out of the guards hands. Sometimes doing something one's self is just easier.

"Oh, by the way, you better check on your comrade. He has a few broken ribs for his insolence in not recognizing who I am." Gaara turned from the guards and made it to cell 6667.

They had spent a few minutes chatting and Kankuro kept complimenting her on how great she looked. She just smiled at him, but Kankuro knew it was an empty smile. Her world was truly shaken. After a few barbs about the quality of food and the living conditions, they left. They had to meet with Naruto to discuss official business.

Shikamaru also spent the morning filing all the necessary paperwork to the Council. His wife kept reminding him that the fate of her best friend was in his hand and he better not screw it up. He sighed to himself as he let himself in the holding area for prisoners. He walked to her cell and found she was already ready to face the Council for the first time.

"Ok, Sakura, when you appear before them, just remain calm. They will ask you a few questions and then your trial will begin shortly afterwards."

"Will there be a lot of people there?"

"Unfortunately yes. You are about to become famous, and this will be a pain in the ass for both of us. This whole scenario is so troublesome. Oh, Kaneda will try to make you out to be a bad person, so don't throw a fit if he offends you. This is his moment in the sun and he will do anything to keep the spotlight on him. It was his assignment to hunt down any possible spies, so he wants to show the public that he is doing his job.

"Will I be able to see my kids beforehand? I haven't seen them in two weeks."

"No, I am sorry. Kaneda subpoenaed them and the Council couldn't have you possibly influencing them. But Kakashi and Shizune have taken care of them. They are fine and so will you be. Well, here we are. Are ya ready?"

Taking a deep breath, Sakura turned to Shikamaru and nodded.

The chambers of the Council were beyond anything Sakura had ever seen. The walls were painted in a soft beige color and the carpet was extra plush to quell any echo. People were lined in the rows waiting for the defendant to enter. The lighting was blaring to her and ninja lined the walls in case any insurgents came to interrupt any proceedings. ANBU ninja were waiting with explicit orders to carry out any extreme sentencing and that made Sakura very nervous. The sad part was, she knew a lot of these shinobi. She had saved their lives, healed their various wounds and delivered many of their kids. Yet, here they were, waiting to see if their fellow comrade would be put to death for a moment in her life when she showed sheer stupidity by acting with her heart. She broke rule 25, she knew that, but being labeled as a traitor seemed a bit extreme.

The Council members were seated at the dais in the front of the room. She recognized the two village elders. One was Homura Mitokado and the other was Koharu Utatane. They were in their early 80's and were the teammates of the late Third Hokage. Naruto's seat was empty of course, so that he couldn't influence the panel. The other two seats were empty. Those would be filled later by the names she drew out of the box.

She looked around the room and spotted a gaggle of her friends. Naruto and Hinata were sitting in the front row holding little Torao, while Kakashi and Shizune sat next to them with her kids and their son Obito. She let out a gasp as she saw her daughter and son. They looked up, clearly miserable in their dress clothes, and started to rise to run to their mother. Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama, held them at bay and whispered something in their ear. They then quieted down and Sakura winked at them to let them know she was OK. Gaara-sama, Kakuro, Ino and her son, Tenten and Neji were all lined in the second row and each looked outraged that this was actually happening.

The Council members summoned her to the dais and she drew the two names that would affect her life. The first was Ebisu and she mentally cringed. Of all the anal retentive stickler for the book ninjas, she had to choose him. The other was Tonbo Tobitake, a chuunin she recognized from the chuunin selection exam who had a visual jutsu that he utilized underneath all of the wrappings. They walked into the room and the proceedings began.

"State your name, rank, and registration ID for the record." Mitokado looked at her with his piercing eyes.

"Sakura Haruno, Jounin, 012601."

"Miss Haruno, you have been charged with the crime of treason. How do you plead?"

"Not Guilty."

"Thank you. You may take the stand. Kaneda-san, you have the floor."

"Thank you." He ran his fingers through his hair and put on his best smile and approached the defendant.

"Miss Haruno, were you aware at the time of said incident that Sasuke Uchiha was in fact listed as a missing-nin?"

"Yes."

"Yet you still healed his wounds and let him go his merry way?"

"OBJECTION. LEADING THE WITNESS." Shikamaru protested.

"Sustained. Rephrase the question, Kaneda-san."

"Was he wounded?"

"Yes."

"You healed him, then?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. How did he escape?"

"I don't know. I went to sleep and when I woke he was gone."

"Did it occur to you to alert anybody?"

"No."

"Are those his children?"

"No, they are mine. He was merely the DNA supplier, nothing else."

"Interesting. No further questions." He sat down and waited while Shikamaru gathered his papers and approached.

"Sakura, take me through your day leading up to his arrival."

"Well, I got home from the hospital at eight in the morning after working third shift. I fed my cat and went to bed. I woke up around 11:30 a.m. after there was a knock at my door. One of my patients had developed a complication from his triple by-pass surgery. I rushed back to the hospital and it had started to rain. I fixed the complication after a few hours of surgery. After that, I grabbed dinner and geared up for my night shift. During the night, until the end of my shift at 9:30, I treated a poisoning, a broken leg, a bowel resection, and a kid with chicken pox. I clocked out at 10:00, tired and hungry and stopped by Ichiraku. They were open late and I grabbed a bowl of ramen to go. I got home and was soaking wet. As I entered my apartment, I noticed nothing extraordinary. I couldn't remember if I'd left my kitchen light on, so I thought nothing of it, until a voice from my past called out to me.

"Sakura, it's been awhile, but I need you healing touch." He had a wild look in his eyes. He was gaunt and dripping wet. His hair was longer than I remembered, and he was bleeding all over my floor."

"Sakura, what was your first reaction?"

"Mostly shock. The ramen I had, dropped unceremoniously from my hands and I just stood there looking at him. Questions raced through my mind, but I discarded them. Then I went into medic-nin mode. His arm was bleeding from a vertical gash along his ulna bone. His shirt was hanging off him showing a horizontal slash across his lower abdomen. He was in bad shape and it was my duty as a medic-nin to heal him, regardless of who he was. He was my teammate and I guess a part of me wanted him to return to the old Sasuke I used to know."

"What happened after you bandaged him? Did you ask him questions?"

"Well, he started talking. It was mostly jumble due to the excessive shock from his injuries, but through it all, I saw the lonely boy who grew up without parents for a majority of his life. He talked about how he was in the area due to a report of Itachi being close by. He had a run in with his brother, and according to Sasuke, Itachi had just left Konoha minutes before. A battle ensued about 10 km west of here, but that is all I know. If there was a battle, it should be in your border patrol reports and documented in triplicate."

"Now Sakura, I know this next part will be hard, but, what possessed you to sleep with the guy?"

"OBJECTION! Using the word "possessed" could be leading the witness."

"Over Ruled. Continue Miss Haruno." Utatane shot Kaneda an irritated scowl. After all, this is part of the reason Sakura was here today.

"Hmm, it was weird. After healing him, and trying to coax some answers from him regarding Orochimaru and Itachi, I felt light headed. I thought maybe I was just tired and overwhelmed with his presence that I didn't notice the red eyes. I couldn't really fight the Sharingan's power. It was impressive when he was a boy, but now it was just awe inspiring. I fell for his trap. I don't think he intentionally meant to use it, but I guess it was his defense mechanism to ward off my questions."

"Aren't you a Genjustu specialist?"

"Yes, but even the strongest jounin have had issues fighting the incredible power of the Sharingan."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, through the confusion of my brain, I hatched a plan. I knew that he responded to acts of love and so maybe, if I showed that I still loved him he would listen to reason and turn himself in."

"He didn't fall for it did he?"

"I guess in my heart, I had grown out of my crush and my love for him. Sure, I still loved him as a teammate, regardless of his transgressions, but I didn't love him as a man. I think that is why the trap failed. Anyway, between the two of us, me being confused, and him high on endorphins from the pain, ended up making love that night. It wasn't the slow stuff you see in the movies, it was like we both needed a release from our pasts. After what seemed like forever, we finally finished and the next thing I knew, I was knocked out. When I woke up, he was gone."

"Are you sure you had sex then? After all, you said you were confused."

"Yes, I was a virgin until that moment and my children are clearly of the Uchiha clan."

"Do you feel you were used?"

"No, a part of me wanted to show him love, but the rational side of me said sometimes female ninja have to make sacrifices to complete a mission."

"So you offered yourself as the sacrifical lamb?"

"I wouldn't say offered, but I volunteered, and like I said, he had to use his Sharingan on me to get me to submit. If you haven't been directly attacked by the Sharingan, you have no idea how strong of a jutsu it really is. The little girl in me saw my long time crush, but the woman in me saw a mission. I failed that mission, but gained two great rewards."

"Thank you. No further questions."

Mitokado looked at Sakura and told her she could leave the stand.

"Nara-san, Kaneda-san, do you have any witnesses you would like to call? Please submit your papers now."

There was some shuffling around and they each submitted four papers each. All were to call witnesses to attest to Sakura's character. Shikamaru knew that she had some fire power on her side and knew that she didn't really tick anybody off, besides his wife. He chuckled at the last thought.

"Council, I would like to call forth my first witness, Gaara-sama, of the Village Hidden in the Sand."

The red headed Kazekage stood up and the room stood still with apprehension. The case was now going to get interesting.

AN: Sorry about the delay, been on pain meds for pulled tendon in my foot, plus, FFdotnet has been strange. Also, all info comes from Wikipedia.

Those numbers again were: 6-2-7-8-8-6 and 6-6-6-6-7,