Hey my loyal readers, I'm very happy to see you all like this run. Another shout out to pain17ification for being awesome!
Please note: pain17ification doesn't own Naruto and neither do I.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Higher Being Speech"
'Higher Being Thoughts'
"Jutsu"
(Technique Translations)
Scene Shift
Chapter 3: Maelstrom's Trial
'Great to see I'm still the most unpredictable person they know' Naruto grinned.
Everyone in the room, save for the hugging blondes and Anko, stood in shock as they saw the missing Uzumaki back in Konoha. They honestly had low expectations of finding the whiskered blonde, but here he was hugging Tsunade, making them again look like idiots for doubting him.
"I can't believe it's really you," Tsunade commented as she held the closest thing she had to family at arm's length. "How did you…?"
"Anko found me during the raid she and those three ANBU performed at Orochimaru's base near Ta no Kuni. I was just preparing to leave myself before Anko stumbled upon me," replied the Jinchuriki. "Although, she could have done it a bit more gracefully…and with less clothing," he added with a smirk in the woman's direction, making her playfully stick her tongue at him.
"Just be happy that I actually decided not to kick your ass earlier, gaki."
Naruto rolled his eyes before he turned back to the others. "Too bad I'm not into to whole S&M thing. So, after she found me, she convinced me to come back and-"
"Wait, what do you mean 'convinced'?" interrupted Jiraiya. "This is your home."
Naruto actually frowned at the question. "Some things change with the right circumstances, Ero-Sennin. My view of Konoha is a prime example of such change."
The others in the room, Anko included, looked confused at his statement. "Well, how does your view of it compare from before?" asked Kakashi. He remembered seeing Naruto's love for the village years ago and wondered just what had caused his view to sway.
"Simply put, Konoha is full of idealistic and short-sighted fools who saw a single man, who had no qualms with leaving the village, as their 'golden boy' and practically kissed the ground he stepped on. And while this happened, the real hero and hope for the village was scorned and ignored for something he had no control over," explained the blonde with narrowed eyes. "Sasuke will always be the man Konoha would sacrifice the most for while I would be the first thing on the list to go. He'll always be the boot and I'll be the pile of shit underneath it."
The Jonin sensei in the room flinched at his factual statement while the Sannin looked down in shame, Anko looked away with slightly clenched fists, and the rest looked confused. "That isn't true, Naruto," said Tsunade in hopes of getting Naruto to reconsider. "I wouldn't give you up so easily."
"I never said that you would, Tsunade. The 'honorable' members of the Council were who I was referring to. C'mon, they never gave a damn about me and gave Sasuke everything he asked for. And the teme still left this place!"
Sakura scowled at her old teammate and yelled, "Sasuke- kun was being influenced by his Curse Mark! He wouldn't have left if it weren't for that!"
Naruto actually glared at the pinkette, making her take a hesitant step back, and retorted, "Then explain why Anko is still perfectly sane and a loyal kunoichi of the village! Explain why she stays when she has just a good a reason as Sasuke to leave this place! She wants revenge against someone too, just like Sasuke, yet she's still here! I didn't come here to deal with your teen angst bullshit, Sakura. You're a shinobi now, so act like it!"
Each sentence made Sakura take another step back while Anko actually gave the Uzumaki a small smile for his words. Everything that he had said was perfectly true and she couldn't have said it better than he just did.
Sakura gained back her confidence and yelled back, "You're just jealous of Sasuke! You always were jealous of him because he's a member of the great Uchiha Clan and you were nothing more than a homeless loser! A wannabe shinobi!"
The rest of the Konoha 10 looked surprised at her hurtful words while the adults narrowed their eyes at her. To everyone's surprise, Naruto started laughing loudly and holding his sides. He kept laughing for at least three minutes straight, making the others grow concerned before he calmed down and looked to his old teammate. "I can't believe this! You still haven't changed, have you Sakura? Still the ever-loyal fangirl of an egotistical bastard. Unless you grow up this word is going to chew you up and spit you out like the piece of weak meat that you are," he commented with his smirk slowly turning to a straight face with every word. "I can't believe that I actually expected you to have matured when I saw you again…"
Sakura saw red and rushed the blonde with her fist cocked back and pouring with chakra. The others were too slow to react as her blow struck and the force reverberated off of the walls. All eyes in the room widened in shock at her actions before they saw her step back with a hiss of pain and cradle her bleeding fist. Naruto had a blank face as a glowing chain floated in front of where Sakura was intending to hit him. The girl's blood dripped from the chain to the floor before the chain retracted back into his chest.
Sakura glared at Naruto who gave her a disappointed look and shook his head. "This is exactly what I was talking about. Sakura, along with many others in Konoha, could give less than the shit they walk on about me. I bet that if Sasuke was the one who had returned, he would receive a hero's welcome and not even face trial for his actions. And I'll go even further and bet that I will be forced to stand trial for 'failing to bring back the Uchiha'. I honestly expected more from the apprentice of the Hokage. Shame on me, I guess."
While the others looked ashamed at the blonde's words, Sakura had healed up her fist and stormed past him before she left the office and slammed the door closed. Tsunade frowned at her student's actions while Kakashi sighed in disappointment.
Throughout the whole exchange, the newest additions to Team 7 were silent and observed the whole thing. Unknown to the rest of the room, the pale teen had released a rat made entirely of ink as soon as Tsunade hugged the Uzumaki. Now, all there was left to do was wait.
Danzo would be pleased.
It wasn't a long wait, for not even a minute after Sakura had left the office, the door opened up again and a bandaged and scarred old man stepped inside of the office. His only exposed eye took a quick scan of the room before it rested on the returned Uzumaki.
"Well, it seems as if we recovered our Jinchuriki. That's good news, but where is the Uchiha?" asked the man, making Naruto and the two Sannin narrow their eyes; Naruto for the title given to him and the other two out of suspicion.
"Who let you into my office, Danzo?" questioned the Godaime.
"I, being a member of the Council and an Elder of Konoha, do not require something as menial as permission, Tsunade," said the man in a curt tone, making her grit her teeth in anger.
Naruto growled at the disrespect shown to his pseudo-family member," Show some respect, fuckface."
"And I, as Godaime Hokage and a revered member of the Sannin, will not be addressed so disrespectfully, Danzo. Why are you here?"
"A simple reason," he answered before he snapped his fingers and to ANBU appeared. They quickly grabbed Naruto's wrists before they slapped to seals on his bare chest. "Uzumaki Naruto is under arrest for treason by serving Orochimaru."
"What?!" yelled the Sannin and Naruto while the others looked on in shock.
"I was held prisoner by that damn snake! I was tortured for two fucking years before he deemed me 'worthy' of becoming his weapon! Even then, I never truly served him!" raged the blonde as he tried to summon Kyuubi's youki to destroy the seals.
"It's no use… They've slapped on a youki repressor," called o9ut the fox from his mind.
'Damn it!' Naruto mentally cursed before he stopped struggling. "I'm not a traitor!"
"We'll let the jury decide that," stated the war hawk before he had the ANBU transfer Naruto to a prison cell to await trial. "The Council has already been informed of a trial and they will conduct in less than an hour, Hokage-sama. I suggest you head there now."
As he left, Tsunade slammed a fist on her desk, cracking it, and growled out, "Damn that one-eyed bastard! How the hell did he know that Naruto had returned anyway?!"
Kakashi and Yamato, the older addition to Team 7, narrowed their eyes in suspicion before they gave discreet glances to Sai and his smiling face. "Maybe someone sent out a message while we were distracted," Kakashi suggested.
"Does that really matter right now?" asked Anko in irritation. "The gaki's headed for a trial that I'll bet all the dango in the world is rigged, and we're just standing here pointing fingers!" She made her way to the door before turning back and saying, "I don't know about you, but I'm heading over there. Hokage-sama, you better start tightening your fist on the Council or I will for you."
Once she left, the others quickly made their way to the Council Chambers as well. Well, everyone but Sai who made his way to one of Danzo's hidden bunkers.
Prison Cell
Naruto, cuffed and tagged with seals, glowered at the ANBU who was trying to unseal the large scroll he had. It made him mentally smirk at the fact that his Chi Fuiin (Blood Seal) held true and left the guard frustrated.
"You won't be getting into that, tell Danzo and his goons he can kiss the fattest part of my beautiful ass. When I get free…he's first on my list of 'Accidental Stabbing Victims'!"
The ANBU just looked back at him before sighing," Look, I don't like doing this; you completed a mission and did what you needed to survive. Really, I take no pleasure in this."
'I need to figure a way out of this, I have a feeling this trial is going to be anything but fair… And I need to deal with that Danzo guy… I should've known that I'd get arrested as soon as I came back.' He sighed in frustration before he calmed himself and thought, 'Nothing left to do but wait it out, I guess…And plot...and think dirty thoughts about Anko.'
It was over half an hour later before a pair of ANBU came to his cell and escorted him to the Council Chambers. Naruto frowned at the sight of the Clan Heads and Civilian Council giving him suspicious looks. The only ones who did not were Tsunade, who sat at the head of the chamber, Tsume Inuzuka, Shibi Aburame, and the people he saw in Tsunade's office earlier. It slightly surprised him that they were allowed to see his trial, but he shook it off in favor for what was currently happening.
The ANBU led Naruto to a chair with wrist and ankle locks before they strapped him in it and made him face the Council. Danzo stood up and declared, "The trial of Uzumaki Naruto will begin now!"
Murmurs filled the room before Tsunade silenced them and called out, "Uzumaki Naruto, you are accused of treason and defecting to the Nuke-Nin Orochimaru. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty on both accounts, Hokage-sama," he answered respectfully. He may call her baa-chan, but now wasn't the time to be so familiar with her.
"Why are we even having this trial? We all know that he's guilty! He's nothing more than a demon child who wants to destroy the village! I say we execute him right now!" yelled out a pink haired woman who Naruto easily deduced was Sakura's mother.
"Sakoto, you will not speak unless you are granted the floor!" ordered Tsunade, making the pinkette scowl and reluctantly sit back down. "Naruto, can you tell us what happened back at the Valley of the End? Hatake Kakashi, your old teacher, was unable to locate your body or Uchiha Sasuke's."
Naruto took a small breath before he answered, "Sasuke was defecting from Konoha and going to Orochimaru." He was halted from speaking any further by the Civilian Council and the Elders Koharu and Homura calling him a liar. They were shut up by Tsunade's small flare of chakra that weighed down on them. When she motioned him to continue, Naruto stated, "Now that the peanut gallery has shut up…Sasuke openly expressed his desire to go to Orochimaru for power to kill Uchiha Itachi, his older brother and killer of the Uchiha Clan. I, along with four other shinobi of Konoha, was given the mission to retrieve him. The mission itself led us into many encounters with Orochimaru's subordinates, but I was able to catch up to Sasuke at the valley. At first, I tried to convince him to come back through words, but he refused and initiated a fight between the two of us. He and I fought viciously, so much so that he actually struck me with two Chidori and forced me into using the Kyuubi's power."
"So, you willingly called on the fox's power? See?! He's nothing more than a demon!" called out a random civilian.
"Yes, that's exactly what I am you dimwit" Naruto scoffed at the man.
"Silence! I will have no more outbursts in these chambers!" yelled Tsunade, shutting up the man. "What happened next, Naruto?"
"After I called upon the fox's power, he in turn called upon the power of his Curse Mark and our fight grew to a whole new level. In a final clash of his Chidori and my Rasengan, our power scarred the land even further than it already was and I was rendered unconscious from it all. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a dark room with my arms and legs chained to the ceiling and floor with my chakra cut off. It turns out that Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand, was ordered to take my unconscious body back to the snake's base in Ta no Kuni where I suffered two full years of imprisonment and torture of the physical and mental kind."
"You were gone for three years, Uzumaki," reminded Danzo. "What were you doing during the third year?"
"…I was released from my imprisonment, but only to the point of being able to walk around the base. Guards kept me from leaving and Orochimaru had me study from his collection of stolen scrolls and documents. Due to my torture and my fear of being put back in prison, I agreed to study and become his 'ultimate weapon'."
Once again, the Civilian Council called him a traitor and for his execution before Tsunade had had enough of it and ordered the ANBU to take them out of the chamber, leaving her, the Elders, the Clan Heads, and the other spectators.
Danzo once again stood and asked, "What exactly did he have you study? It must have been important if you placed a seal over your scroll that prevented anyone else from opening it."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and bit back a spiteful comment before he took a deep breath to calm himself. "I studied Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, some taijutsu forms, a couple of kinjutsu, and…the diagrams for the Curse Mark."
The audience all widened their eyes in surprise for varying reasons. Mainly, it was because he said that the fuinjutsu belonged to the Uzumaki while Anko was shocked that he studied the seal on her left shoulder blade. She unconsciously rubbed it and looked to the cuffed blonde in worry.
Tsunade was the first to recover and she questioned, "What exactly was the kinjutsu you learned, Naruto?"
"I learned two. One was the Juinka (Curse Seal Transformation), which was his way of implanting people with the Curse Mark. He had me implant many other prisoners with Curse Marks empowered by the Kyuubi's youki; however, no one survived the procedure. So, Orochimaru quit having me use it."
"You're saying that you could kill people with a simple youki-enhanced bite?" questioned Koharu.
"It not as simple as that, and explaining it would take way too long. Besides, I destroyed those notes and kept the ones on the mechanics and chemical properties of the Curse Mark. As far as anyone is concerned, no one will know how to give someone a Curse Mark unless I tell them how. And I don't plan on doing that anytime soon."
Tsunade nodded at his statement. "While that is good to hear, what was the other technique?"
"…" She was met with silence.
"Naruto, answer the question. What was it you learned?"
"I can't say."
"Why not? If you keep this up, you will be found guilty and be executed," Homura stated.
"I can't say because it is a secret of the Senju Clan," answered Naruto while looking Tsunade dead in the eyes. "Unless Tsunade-sama is willing to share Senju secrets, I cannot say what it is. I mean no disrespect to the…esteemed…elders."
The other members of the Council, as well as the other spectators, turned to the Godaime who looked to be in deep thought. "How important or powerful is this secret?"
"Easily S-Class; A-Class at the bare minimum…And not for the eyes of those who can't handle it."
She nodded and declared, "I won't have you tell us then. However, you will tell me in private later as well as tell me who else knows of this secret." Naruto nodded in understanding, and she continued, "Well, is there anything else you wish to say before we vote on your verdict?"
Naruto nodded and replied, "I know where some of Orochimaru's bases are, who runs them, and what they were made for. I also have the information that Orochimaru had gathered on Akatsuki during his time as one of their members. If it could lessen my sentence, I will tell you everything."
Tsunade nodded while Danzo narrowed his eyes in thought. While he wished to see Naruto imprisoned before he took him into his ROOT program in secret, the information on Orochimaru was hard to pass up.
Danzo was not stupid.
"We will now take a vote. Those who find Uzumaki Naruto guilty of treason and defection raise your hand," ordered Tsunade. Koharu and Homura did so, as well as Hiashi Hyuuga, much to Hinata and Neji's shock and anger.
"All against?" she asked before raising her own hand. The remaining Clan Heads and Danzo, much to the shock/suspicion of the others raised their hands in agreement. "The vote stands at three 'guilty' and seven 'not guilty'. Uzumaki Naruto is hereby not to be charged and/or imprisoned. However, he is still ordered to tell us what he knows of Orochimaru, as well as stay on a two-week probationary period before he could return to the shinobi ranks."
Naruto gave a small smile while the other spectators all had smiles of relief on their faces.
"This trial is officially over. Naruto, come with me to my office before we see Ibiki. Anko, you come as well!"
The snake mistress nodded before she appeared next to Naruto in a Shunshin and removed the cuffs and seal tags. Naruto sighed in relief as his energy returned to him and he gave Anko a foxy smirk. "Thanks for that. Although, I bet you wish you were the one that cuffed me in the first place, ne Anko?"
She smirked back and began walking away while retorting, "While the idea is thoroughly tempting, I think I'll pass…for now anyway."
The duo chuckled at their banter before they headed to Tsunade's office. Behind them, the Godaime had a smile on her face at Naruto's 'not guilty' verdict and couldn't help but shake her head at how he and Anko interacted with one another.
Although she didn't know if she was ready for grandkids yet.
When they reached her office, she set up the privacy and silence seals before she motioned the two to take a seat. "So Naruto, what exactly was the secret of the Senju Clan that Orochimaru had you learn?"
"Why is Anko here if you're having me tell such a high level secret?"
The Godaime snorted and answered, "I'm willing to bet my drawer full of sake that she already knows what it is, especially since she was the one who found you."
"Drawer full? I was expecting at least a vault."
Anko smirked and commented, "She has a point there, gaki. Plus, she is right that I already know."
Naruto nodded. "I just needed to be sure before I spoke." He looked to Tsunade with dead seriousness before he spoke, "The kinjutsu was Nidaime-sama's creation; the Edo Tensei."
The blonde Kage's eyes narrowed at that before she sighed tiredly and pulled out a bottle of sake. "It figures that he'd have you learn such a dangerous and forbidden technique. With your reserves, and the Kyuubi's power, the jutsu would be no problem for you to get down."
"Yea…" he agreed before he sighed. "I'm gonna keep it, Tsunade. While seen as a taboo to humankind, I can't deny the usefulness of it."
"You're playing with fire here, Naruto. That jutsu is disrespectful to the dead and there are bound to be consequences," warned Tsunade.
"We all take risks as shinobi, Tsunade. Mine just happens to be one of the more dangerous ones. Besides, it's not like having the Kyuubi sealed in me is less of a risk than using this jutsu."
"True… However, I am ordering you to keep this technique a secret. Only use it in front of those who I deem trustworthy or if there is no other option. Understand?"
Naruto nodded before he asked, "Can I have my scroll back now? It has my supplies for the jutsu as well as my other possessions. And a few pictures I took of Sasuke when he fell asleep."
"I'll return it to you after we speak to Ibiki. Now, the other reason I had Anko here was because of what you said concerning the Curse Mark notes."
Anko perked up at that, but Naruto spoke before she could. "I'm not able to remove it yet. I can lessen the effects and pain flashes, but nothing more than that."
Anko sighed in disappointment before she shrugged. "I'll take what I can, I guess. How long do you think it will take before you can remove it fully?"
Tsunade was curious as well and turned to Naruto, who had a thoughtful frown on his face. "…If I work uninterrupted, I should have it figure out in a couple of months tops. At the earliest, one month."
"Well, your probation period will allow you a guaranteed two weeks. That should give you plenty of time, especially with your most used jutsu."
Naruto raised a brow and asked, "How exactly will Kage Bunshin be of help here other than allowing me to multitask?"
"Kage Bunshin are capable of transferring anything they experience, barring physical training, to the main body. If you have your clones study the notes and dispel while you work on the reversal seal, a solution should come to you faster. You've been using it for this long and had no idea?," explained Tsunade, making Naruto's eyes widen in surprise.
"T-That's brilliant! Not only will it help me with the Curse Mark notes, but it could help me with learning other jutsu as well!"
Anko was also surprised at the revelation of the Kage Bunshin, but she quickly got out of her shock in favor of an excited grin. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and talk to Ibiki so that the gaki can get to work!"
"You're not going to stop calling me that, are you?"
"Get rid of my mark first. Then I'll call you something else, gaki," she said with her grin still in place.
"As long as it's something that accurately describes my sexiness" Naruto winked.
"Alright then, let's not keep Ibiki waiting any longer," Tsunade said before the three made their way to the IT Dept. of Konoha.
Things were starting to look up.
The Hidden Leaf Village had just gained a necromancer.
(End)
I really hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter because I love doing these. See you later bro's!