A/N: ahhh things come to a head.
"Taichou, you should sit," Yugao whispers as she nudges Kakashi towards the chair she'd brought. "You're shaking."
Kakashi's lips thin in frustration but he sits. "Thanks." Yugao beams at him and passes him a cup of water, placing it carefully away from notes that Kakashi has written for himself.
They're back in the courtroom which had pardoned him for Rin's death, but this time, Kakashi has an opponent. To his left, Danzou takes his place at the accused's stand self-assuredly, his back straight and his expression one of calm displeasure. Sakumo is mildly surprised that Danzou is here at all, but where would he go? Konoha is his everything. Unlike Orochimaru, who could just set up another lab elsewhere, escape is meaningless.
Seated at the back of the court, there is a modest audience comprising of the rest of the clan heads and several ghosts, as well as ANBU there to keep order. There has been enough scandal and rumour ever since Danzou's house was raided, and no-one wants to feed the fire by allowing this trial to be held publicly.
There are five judges today, the largest number that Sakumo has seen yet. Some of the choices are not surprising: the previous Jounin Commander Nara Shikane and the clanless ANBU Commander Ox had shown themselves to be impartial when they'd taken over the Sandaime duties briefly. The Aburame clan has always maintained a policy of neutrality, making Aburame Shibi an easy choice. The last two judges are Sarutobi Kazuma, Hiruzen's eldest, and Hyuuga Hizashi, Hiashi's twin.
Kazuma has always been a critic of his father, just like his younger brother Asuma, but unlike the younger, he is not one to let that affect familial relationships. If Danzou uses Hiruzen as a shield for his actions, Kazuma might be put in a difficult spot. As for Hizashi, it is only a question of why Hiashi isn't there instead. The Hyuuga do not appear to have much stake in this, so perhaps that is why Hiashi had passed off the responsibility (and the potential of offending either Kakashi or Danzou) to his brother.
Shibi calls order to the court and Sakumo unconsciously straightens, eager to see all this come to an end. "Kakashi-san, we've read your testimony regarding the year or so that you spent in ROOT," Shibi says, indicating at the towering pile of documents that had been painstakingly put together. "The T&I has independently verified this transcript from your memories... do you swear that it is true?"
Kakashi's hands tighten over the edges of the table before him. Behind his eye, Sakumo can almost see all that had happened flashing through his mind. The first time Danzou had approached him. Snake's death. The ROOT agents he'd met and worked with—Kinoe, the boys, Hinoto, Tiger, Inoue, Kabuto, Tatsuma and all the others who remained blank masks. The covert assassinations, the graduation exam, and the time he'd spent in that small cell.
Kakashi stands briefly. "I swear that everything contained in my testimony is true."
With a somber nod, Shibi calls upon the T&I personnel who had examined Kakashi's memories and the judges question them one by one, asking them about Kakashi's mental state and whether these memories could have been false in any way. "Perhaps," Shikane says, "a continued hallucination due to the immense stress he has been under."
"It's not possible," says every one of them. Danzou's calm dissipates a little as his mouth tightens.
The weight of the courtroom's attention turns upon the elder. "Kakashi-san's evidence is enough to put you in a very bad position, Danzou-san. Do you have anything to say in your own defence?"
"I do." Danzou raises his chin slightly, his eye opening a little wider. "I accept I have ordered these things that Kakashi speaks of. But I am not ashamed of it and neither should my ROOT agents be. We all for worked Konoha's benefit and it was all done with the blessing of the Hokage."
As if he'd invoked something sacrosanct, an uneasy tension fills the room. It rattles off the wooden-panelled walls and into their hearts, making them all restless. In some ways, the Hokage is Konoha. He is the embodiment Will of Fire and all shinobi have sworn to obey him.
If the Hokage is rotten; Konoha is defeated at its core.
And Danzou knows this. He produces an old scroll and hands it over to one of the ANBU with flair. "His seal is on it. ROOT was formed and given authority to act under his name."
The judges pore over the document. "We should call the Sandaime," Shikane mutters. "Why isn't he here?"
"I haven't seen him either," Kazuma sighs, his face darkening. "Seems like he's determined to let this blow over or blow up."
"We don't need his testimony," Ox retorts. "Everyone knows what this says about ROOT is true. ROOT was formed long ago, after the Second Shinobi World War. Because of the Hokage's standing orders, even I can't question ROOT's functions." This has obviously peeved ANBU Commander Ox for a while.
"I was given full discretion to manage ROOT's affairs," Danzou says, and Sakumo can see the smile in the corner of his eyes even though the rest of his face is just as severe as usual. "You can disagree with my methods but I've done nothing you can put me away for."
"No," Shibi says, his shades flashing. "There is always a limit. Just because you have a document saying that the Sandaime approves, does that mean that nothing you have done can be put to scrutiny? That all of it can be justified? No. Even the Hokage cannot excuse some actions. Or else this court will be a farce and a mockery of logic. I refuse to let Konoha go down that path."
A spark of energy returns back to the courtroom as the audience murmurs to each other and Danzou's face turns sour.
Kakashi speaks up, his voice quiet but strong. "There must be some things that a no proper shinobi should be excused for doing. And that would be harming and killing our own. Whether for training, or for politics, or for science... if we harm each other, it will only shatter this village from within. ROOT's methods deliberately reduced individuals into emotionless tools by forcing them to kill each other, and then used these shinobi to manipulate Konoha's clans and administration through blackmail and assassination. Perhaps, Danzou-san, you really thought this was for the good of Konoha, but the truth is that you've been acting as a shadow Hokage the whole time. You've been destroying people in Konoha - and this includes the ROOT agents that you've brainwashed since they were children - for your own personal vision of what this village should be. But these people, all these Konoha nins and civilians, they are all Konoha."
"You say all this as if this is anything different from what we do on a daily basis," Danzou snarls bitterly, turning on Kakashi. "When the T&I takes out torture implements to carry out resistance training, is that not harming Konoha-nin? When the Academy teaches you about the Will of Fire and how the Hokage's orders must be obeyed, is that not brainwashing? But these are all for the good of the village! Why is it that only the Hokage's personal vision of Konoha is grand and glorious, and when I do what needs to be done, it becomes some kind of evil? Hatake Kakashi, if you dare to accuse me of wrongdoing, then first tell us about Snake. If you still think that the Hokage is unimpeachable, tell us about Hawk."
Suddenly Kakashi seems very small, seated in his thin-legged wooden chair and faced with the truth of all that he has done. He turns to Yugao, his single eye weary. "Can you get me Snake's letter?"
She hurries off and sorts through the pile of documents as the court waits with bated breath. Fugaku has been on the edge of his seat ever since Hawk was mentioned, but the rest are murmuring about Snake.
"Isn't that Kakashi's senpai...?"
"It is..."
Kakashi unfolds the letter in his lap and the crinkling paper reveals Snake's thin scrawl. Her seal sits at the bottom of it, a bold dark press of ink into the paper. "This is evidence that my time in ROOT is a mission assigned by Snake-senpai. At that time, she was my direct superior in the ANBU forces. We both agreed that her death was a necessity, as it was specifically demanded by Danzou in order to prove my loyalty to ROOT. Her death was carried out during a mission with her full consent. My subsequent actions in ROOT were purely to maintain my cover and to gather the necessary information to support the accusations which I bring today." Handing the letter back to Yugao, Kakashi gestures for her to bring it up to the judge's bench.
There is nothing personal about the letter's contents, but Sakumo knows that she must have put a lot of thought into it, trying to craft a case that would put the blame on her instead of Kakashi. They can't do anything to a dead woman, but with this letter as evidence, maybe Kakashi can be saved. Sakumo clasps his hands, hoping for mercy, and Rin does the same beside him.
Danzou, however, seems on the verge of incredulity. "You're going to rely on this? A letter from your dead captain? If even the Hokage's authority can't excuse my actions - according to you - why should your captain's permission be any defence?"
"The motivations are different," Hizashi says, speaking up for the first time. "We have to recognise that. Kakashi-san did these things to expose ROOT, so that these things will no longer continue, but Danzou-san is the one who initiated them. There is a difference."
"Is there?" Shikane questions quietly. "Does motivation really matter? If you want to talk about motivation, Danzou-san has always insisted that this is for the good of Konoha. It is much too subjective. I say that it is enough that Kakashi-san had the intention to kill Snake. He wanted it to happen and he carried it out. A loss was suffered."
"She consented to it, however," Ox argues, and it becomes a muttered discussion about who should bear the responsibility, if anyone.
"Kakashi-san, you assassinated other Konoha-nin during your time in ROOT, did you not?" Shibi suddenly asks.
"I did."
"The issue regarding Snake's consent doesn't matter, then," Shibi says. "Why? Because there are other killings which do not fall within the same special circumstances."
The other judges agree and Sakumo's heart sinks.
"What about motivation?" Hizashi asks again, leaning forward earnestly.
"An assassination is an assassination," Shikane retorts. "A murder is a murder." The other judges seem to agree, and Hizashi lets the point go.
"Did anyone else know about this mission?" Ox asks.
"No," Kakashi replies. "Only the two of us."
"So it was your own undertaking?"
"…yes," Kakashi admits soberly.
There is more quiet discussion and much frowning. "Missions must be approved by the Hokage," Ox says. His stern voice rings in Sakumo's head like a death knell and Rin covers her face. "And this is not."
"We are the same, in the end," Danzou sneers. "By your own logic, you are also guilty of destroying those precious people you're so desperate to protect."
Kakashi meets his narrow-eyed glare unflinchingly. "I know. And," his eye crinkles slightly as he smiles. "I will pay for that."