The first thing that Uzumaki Naruto noticed when he entered the council chamber was the Fifth Hokage, one of the legendary sannin, Tsunade… his baa-chan. She had a look of pure fury and sorrow on her face, and she was glaring at all the members of the council. Standing next to her was Jiraiya, another of the legendary sannin and one of Naruto's sensei's, who was like a grandfather to him.
The toad sage was the first to sense the presence of Naruto and the others. He put a hand on Tsunade's shoulder, so she would turn her attention away from the horrid council and acknowledge Naruto. Her eyes softened when she set her gaze on Naruto. "Good. You're here."
Naruto walked up to the two sannin and stood next to them. He turned and gazed at the council. He was curious as to what was going on. Whatever it was… he could sense that this discussion would drastically change everything. But, he was ready… at least, he hoped he was.
Danzo, the leader of the Ne, spoke up before anyone had a chance to say anything. "What is the meaning of this?" His gaze was settled on the shinobi that had arrived with Naruto. "Why are all of you here? Leave immediately!"
"No," Tsunade said fiercely. "They stay. You've got your witnesses. I've got mine." She smirked. The council had refused to let her call all of Naruto's teammates and friends to this meeting, but they had arranged for witnesses of their own.
Koharu, one of the Sandaime's old teammates, spoke up. "I agree with Danzo. They have no need to be here. This does not concern them."
Jiraiya chose that moment to raise his voice. "Of course, this concerns them, you old bat. They are Naruto's friends and teammates. This involves them, so shut your trap!"
"How dare you speak to me that way?! Address me with respect, otherwise…"
"Quiet, Koharu." Danzo sent her a look telling her to stop talking. "They can stay."
"If I may ask, exactly what is the purpose of this meeting?" The great copy-cat ninja, Hatake Kakashi, had put away his book understanding that this was not the time or place… that this was going to be serious business. He took a few steps forward, and the others followed him with determination. If this concerned Naruto, it concerned them.
Danzo answered Kakashi's question. "We have called this meeting to discuss the banishment and exile of Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto's body froze up as he heard those words and his sapphire, blue eyes widened in total shock. His friends had similar reactions. Their eyes widened, and the single thought that raced through their minds was, "No! This can't happen!"
No one was as shocked as Iruka, however. "WHAT?" He rushed towards Naruto. "You can't banish him. He hasn't done anything wrong! On what grounds are you banishing him, you bastards?!"
The head of the Haruno household sneered at him. "Address us with respect, you filth! We are better than you!" Sakura Haruno's father, Haruno Ichigo, was a member of the civilian council.
The head of the Nara clan, Nara Shikaku, made his voice heard. "Calm down, Haruno-san. They all have the right to speak freely. What the majority of you are doing is…"
"Why?" whispered Naruto, interrupting the Nara. "Why are you doing this to me? I haven't… I haven't done anything wrong. I've always done all of my missions. I've never harmed anyone in this village." The blond's voice wavered with each word. "Why?"
Naruto felt a comforting hand rest on his shoulder. Tsunade found she was unable to say anything. If she did, she would probably break down right there.
"LIAR!" shouted Haruno Ichigo. "You wounded the heir of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Sasuke!"
Naruto and the others looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Let me answer that Uzumaki," said Koharu. "When you and your team were sent to retrieve Uchiha-san from the hands of Orochimaru, you inflicted major damage on him. It took him weeks to heal!"
"What are you talking about?!" shouted the slug princess. She had gained control of her emotions and addressed this outrage. "I was the one who healed him. He only had minor injuries, and it took him only one week to heal! The others that were sent on the retrieval mission, on the other hand, actually did take weeks to heal. Naruto, despite his quick healing, took a week and a half to heal. He had major injuries such as a chidori wound. Even when he was first sent on the mission to retrieve the Uchiha, he received a chidori wound to the chest that was fatal!"
Kakashi's eyes drifted toward the ground in shame. Why had he taught his accursed student that jutsu? Naruto had once told him that it wasn't his fault, but he could still not rid himself of the guilt. At the time, he had assumed Sasuke would be responsible with that kind of power. But, he was a blind fool. He should have known that Sasuke was power-hungry. He should have noticed the mental instability that possessed the Uchiha. He ignored all the hints of instability because he had felt that he owed it to his deceased teammate, Uchiha Obito, to train Sasuke. But, he was wrong. Obito would not have wanted Kakashi to favor one student over the other. His mistakes had caused a great deal of pain and problems. However, he vowed to not make mistakes like that again. He would do what was right, no matter what. He would not abandon any of his friends.
The others were completely shocked! They knew that Naruto had gotten hurt on the first mission to retrieve the traitor, but they had no idea that he had taken a chidori to the chest. They didn't even know about the chidori that he received this time around!
"We all know how much you care for him, Tsunade," said Hyuuga Hiashi, a man who hated Naruto. "How do we know you're not making this up just to protect him?"
"First of all, Hyuuga, address her with respect. She ranks higher than you." Jiraiya was getting tired of hearing the words of Danzo, Hiashi, and their supporters. "Anyway, why would she lie? She's the Hokage. She's not going to lie about something like this!"
The head of the Hyuuga clan sneered at the sannin. "I won't waste my breath arguing with you. So, instead, I think that many on the council would agree with me in my choice to call upon our witnesses." He nodded to Danzo, who signaled one of the anbu (who was also a part of Ne) to bring in the witnesses.
Everyone (excluding the council members) stared at the door that had started to creak open. They were all curious to know exactly who the council's witnesses were. They had been expecting Uchiha Sasuke to walk in as one of the witnesses, but they were just a little bit shocked to see that Haruno Sakura was also a witness testifying against Naruto.
"Sakura… Sasuke…" thought Naruto, "... I … I should have known they would be the ones testifying against me. How could I have ever considered them my friends?"
Naruto was broken out of his reverie by Hyuuga Hiashi. "Sakura-san… Sasuke-san… We, the prestigious members of the council, thank you for coming to testify against the injustice that has taken place."
Naruto noticed that some of the council members rolled their eyes at the Hyuuga's words. "Inuzuka, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame… at least not all of them hate me." Naruto recalled other council meetings from long ago. The members of those clans had always supported Naruto and had the sense to know that the boy was not a demon.
By the time he started paying attention, he realized that Sakura and Sasuke were almost done with their testimonies.
"So, basically, Naruto was always mean and rude to Sasuke-kun when we went on missions. And, on the one to retrieve Sasuke-kun, I noticed that Sasuke-kun wasn't really attacking Naruto, but Naruto wouldn't stop hurting Sasuke-kun. He was doing it on purpose, and he critically injured poor Sasuke-kun!"
"It's true. The dobe kept attacking relentlessly with no mercy. I was in… a lot of pain." Sasuke smirked at Naruto. He didn't care if he was making himself sound a bit weak with that statement. But, he was furious at the fact that Naruto was stronger than him. He was an almighty Uchiha avenger. No one could be better than him! He was seething on the inside.
"There you have it," sneered Danzo. "A first-hand account of the fight and some information on the behavior of the Uzumaki. I think this proves that we, the council, are right in banishing him."
"Just one moment, Danzo-san," drawled Yamanaka Inoichi. "I believe that Tsunade-sama would like to offer a different view."
Tsunade sent a smile of thanks to the Yamanaka clan head. "I believe that all of these young shinobi can share their accounts of Naruto's actions and behavior."
"Fine," grumbled Danzo. This was a waste of time. The demon brat would be banished anyway. They were all delaying it unnecessarily.
Before anyone even had the chance to open their mouth, Yamanaka Ino stepped forward and started speaking to defend Naruto. After Uchiha Sasuke had first fled the village, she finally opened her eyes. When she thought of her attitude in those days, she was disgusted with herself. She was probably one of the weakest kunoichi during that time. After the traitor's defection, she began to take her training seriously. She began to train with her father and her friends. One of those friends happened to be Uzumaki Naruto.
During their first session training together, she got a first-hand view of just how powerful he was… and just how innocent, sweet, and loyal he was. They argued quite a bit, but their arguments were never serious. They were actually fun. She and Naruto began to trust each other. They opened up to one another, and that was when she began to develop feelings for him. She had fallen for Konoha's most unpredictable, hyperactive ninja, Uzumaki Naruto. Of course, she had never told him. After all, what good would it have done? He was always after Sakura. Of course, that wasn't the case any longer, but she just couldn't tell him… at least not yet.
The beautiful, blonde haired kunoichi mustered up her courage. "Those two are ungrateful liars, who care only about themselves. Naruto is a great person. He would never harm anyone unless one of his precious people was in danger. I was there on the retrieval mission. Naruto didn't…"
Ino was interrupted by an anbu who burst the door of the council chamber open. "Danzo-sama!" It was one of Danzo's men.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" shouted Tsunade.
"Er… I apologize," he said, brushing her off. "Danzo-sama and prestigious council members, I have been searching through the council's archives and have found an old law that might be of some use to you." He rushed toward Danzo and handed him the scroll.
Danzo smirked with glee. This was it. Now, he would be free of the demon brat, and no one would care if he were to accidentally be … killed while he was living in exile. Hopefully, Tsunade would follow him, and then he would have a chance of becoming Hokage. This was one of his personal revenge missions. He had recently found out that the boy was the son of the accursed Yondaime Hokage, one of his greatest enemies. At first, he was against the idea of banishing the boy on account of his power. He had hoped that he could get the boy to support his ideals, but the boy ended up turning out to be too bloody loyal to the Hokages. He had no use for him now. No… he just needed to get the boy out of the village. The boy should be killed. He didn't want to risk the boy becoming too strong and attacking the village… or him.
"Ah… now this is truly interesting. This scroll states that the council has the power to override the wish of the Hokage and pass a banishment or rule … with the approval of the majority of the combined shinobi and civilian council."
Tsunade glared at him. "Let me see it." She scanned over the scroll, and her heart dropped knowing that there would be nothing she could do now. She sensed Jiraiya reading the scroll along with her and could sense his worry. She was worried for Naruto, the boy who was like her grandson. He was being extremely quiet. Clearly, he was shocked, but she had assumed he would have argued more. It was as if he was ready… as if he had already accepted this fate. But, the Naruto she knew would never accept fate so easily.
Tsunade could not think of a way to counter this law. She had no idea what to say.
Danzo, as if sensing her defeat, said, "All in favor of banishing Uzumaki Naruto." The majority of the council raised their hands. "All against banishing Uzumaki Naruto." A minority raised their hands. Danzo smirked in victory and looked at Naruto. "It seems you have officially been exiled."
So, what do you all think? R/R. Constructive criticism appreciated. :D Until next time… and also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story!