CHAPTER 29

Tension and Pressure
(緊張と圧力, Kinchō to Atsuryoku)

At the hospital, there was complete reticence. The only sounds that were made was the sounds of the harsh wind blowing furiously in the bright sky. Miyuki was shocked, Nariko felt her mind and speech go completely numb and Sarina had a concerned expression. This was not good. Not good at all.

"That...that can't be right..." Miyuki said in disbelief from what Kei had told her and the rest of the group.

"I'm afraid it is, Miyuki-san..." He concurred sadly. This was something that he wished he wouldn't have to tell the girls. Knowing Nariko, she was going to rage in anger the moment that information sank in.

"Bro, please tell me there's something we can do." Sarina inquired hopefully.

"No, there isn't, Sis." Kei stated as he crossed his arms. "Unfortunately, this is one event we can't involve ourselves in.

"Please tell me you're joking, Kei." The raven asked calmly, walking up to him.

"I wish I was-"

Before Kei could finish his sentence, Nariko harshly grabbed the front of his shirt with both of her hands, pulling him down to look at her face. She gripped his shirt tightly and was stretching it in the process. "Kei, me and my sister had just saved them from the 'Bakudai' and that was no problem. Now you're telling me that we can't do anything about this? The Elders will eat our Father alive if we don't do something! Don't you understand the severity of the situation?"

"And you're ignoring the consequences if you were to take those actions. Don't you remember what he said? He made it perfectly clear not to interfere with actual events." Kei said and looked at Nariko warningly, his pure red eyes telling her to let go of his shirt. Being touched unnecessary was the one thing he could not stand. It irked and irritated him immensely. "If we were to try and step in and fix something that was meant to happen, it could cause a serious rip in this timeline we're in..."

"The timeline could be ruptured for all I care!" Nariko answered in a frenzy, trying to control her anger. "I'm not coming this far just to sit here and do nothing! We can't let this happen!"

Kei hoped that piece of information would calm her down and let her think rationally, but it only had the opposite affect on her. "Nariko-san, you're blinded by rage and you're not thinking clearly. We all know how much you want to save Sasuke-sama, but this is something that Naruto-sama has to do on his own. If he saved him in the past, then he can do it again."

"He's right. Our mission is getting more and more dangerous by the day. We're getting to the point where we can't afford to make any mistakes. Now is not the time for us to be reckless." Miyuki said while walking up to her. "As terrible as it sounds, we can't just-"

"This is bullshit!" Nariko spat back in venom, causing Miyuki to throw her hands up in exasperation and turning away from her older sister. The blonde couldn't believe the mess she was hearing from her older sister.

"Okay. Two things. One: Stop raging at us like your damn hormones are on fire. And two: you need to shut the fuck up and chill out some damn where." Sarina pointed out, clearly annoyed by how childish she was acting.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Nariko asked, ready to slit the redhead's throat for being so abrasive towards her. Sarina was truly asking to get her ass kicked.

"I'm talking to you!" Sarina challenged back with a vice. "You need to calm down!"

"You expect me to be calm while my Father's life is hanging by a thread?" The raven questioned.

"My brother has never been wrong when it comes down to stuff like this, so why would he be wrong now? Maybe you've forgotten, but we only have one chance at this mission! If we fail, I'm pretty sure you already know what will happen!" Sarina declared in animosity.

Not wanting to hear anymore of what they had to say, Nariko turned her back on them and trudged to where the fences were outside of the hospital. Leaning her head against it, she let out a calm sigh and let herself calm down from her strong rage.

Sarina made her way towards Nariko and placed her hand gently on the raven's shoulder. "Believe me, I understand how you feel and...we're gonna change the fate of everyone in this world. We just...have to be...a little patient..." The redhead said with more comfort in her voice.

There was truth to what they were saying. She couldn't lose her cool. Not right now anyway. "You're right, Sarina. You're absolutely right." Not bothering to turn around, Nariko laid her hand on top of Sarina's and gripped it in reassurance. "Thank you..."

"Okay. That's not right." Kei said, slightly miffed by the turn of events that had occurred. "How come I state the obvious, she gets upset, but when Sis talks horrid to her, she calms down. What the hell is that?"

"Beats me." Was Miyuki's only explanation for that question. "I hate when she gets like that...but I'm glad that Sarina was able to calm her down. Those two are like 'ice and spice'."

"Since the Konoha Precinct House is nearby, I can tell you what's going on by analyzing the frequency waves and vibrations in the chakra network of Naruto-sama, Sasuke-sama, and everyone else there."

Hearing that, Nariko had turned around and stared at him with wide eyes. "Wait a minute. You can do that? You have that level of sensory skill now?"

"Yes. So everything isn't a lost cause. I just need to concentrate and I'll interpret everything the best way I can." Kei answered and brought his hands together to form the Ram seal. Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate and focused on the multiple chakras that were inside of the place. Maybe there was hope after all...

XxX

As the crowd hurried and calmed down, they had settled down in their chairs and got ready for the trial to begin. Kakashi was not comfortable about sitting in a courtroom full of people that wanted one of his former student dead and it was taking a serious toll on him. Out of all his students, Sasuke was the one that he could relate to the most. He understood him about certain things, and talk to him about things that Naruto and Sakura couldn't begin to understand. So, this was slowly hurting him, even though his feelings didn't show on the outside.

"Will the defendant please enter the courtroom." The moderator announced as the wooden double-doors on the left side of the room slowly opened with an agonizing creaking sound. As it continued to open, the entire room full of people turned to where the door was and focused their attention on who was about to come in. A few moments later, the young man known for his crimes had stepped forward and he had two ANBU on either side of him. His eyes were bandaged up and his arms were tied behind his back, securing them tightly with thick rope.

Kakashi looked worriedly at the sight of his student being escorted in the room. His earlier hypothesis on what would happen had came true. Whispers of disgusting words escaped the lips of the shinobi as he continued to gaze upon Sasuke. As he walked, the raven had held his head down in shame and contempt and sneered in disgust from what the people in the room was saying about him. They were judging him and they didn't really know what his life was like.

Pain.

Destruction.

Obscurity.

Surrounded in darkness.

These people did not understand nor would they ever understand what he had to go through. The decisions he made...following and fighting for what he thought was right. It was not an easy thing for only one person to do. To shoulder the entire hatred of the Uchiha...was not something anyone could do.

When the Anbu got to the middle of the room, they forced Sasuke to sit down in the chair that had been placed there earlier. Not taking any chances, the ANBU carefully tied his wrists onto the armrests of the chair, making sure that he can't cast a ninjutsu or even weave a single hand sign.

"Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokada have volunteered to be the prosecutors and the Daimyō will be the judge for this particular case. We will begin the trial with your opening statement, Homura." The moderator said firmly.

"Thank you." From the table, Homura stood up and made his way up to the front of the room. "Ladies and gentleman of the Konoha Precinct House, this is a case about good and evil and the impossible roads between light and darkness. You all are here today because Sasuke Uchiha has been accused of multiple charges of attempt, disturbing the peace of another nation, and conspiracy with a criminal organization."

"This is not good..." Kakashi stated in a low voice, evaluating the situation.

"Sempai, how much do the Council know about Sasuke's life?" Yamato whispered, feeling the tension starting to build up in the room.

Kakashi propped his arm up on his leg and rest his chin on the back of his hand. "Tch. They know everything and it's about to come out in the open for everyone to hear..."

Homura was now on the opposite side of the room, leaning on the bench where Tsunade and other officials of the Fire Nation were sitting. "At one point, Sasuke even thought more about his teammates and started seeing them as family and he began to lose some of his hatred. During the Chunin Exams however, he was branded with Orochimaru's Curse Seal. Because of this, his disregarded his allies and his home and and his lust for power and vengeance has became his number one priority once again."

Multiple quiet responses erupted from the room and Kakashi grunted in frustration, wanting so badly to speak out. The copy nin knew by doing that would give him a 'Contempt to court' charge on his shinobi record. God, he didn't like not being able to do anything about this situation. He hated the fact even more that he couldn't help his student.

"To gain the power that he longed for so badly, Sasuke decided to take up Orochimaru's offer and left the village. Three years had passed and his teammates had made an attempt to rescue him while he...made an attempt to kill them. Sometime later, it was revealed that Orochimaru had been killed by Sasuke and formed his own team under the name of 'Hebi'. It was then that Sasuke had confronted his older brother, Itachi and the two of them fought at the old Uchiha Hideout. In the outcome of their battle, Sasuke had won, but after being taken in by Tobi of the Akatsuki, he later joined the organization after finding out the truth behind his brother." Homura finished and the shinobi in the room gasped in horror from what he had said. Tsunade on the other hand had narrowed her eyes in irritation.

Yamato had shook his head and covered his eyes with his palm after hearing that last statement.

"They must of done some digging around in the mission files. That's the only explanation I can come up with..." Kakashi speculated.

Sasuke grounded his teeth in vexation, squeezing his bound hands into the armrest of the chair. 'How dare they speak my brother's name...and in front of all these people. They're the ones who caused all this to happen in the first place. Those bastards...Those disgusting, filthy, back-stabbing bastards!'

"Now as you listen to the testimony of the witnesses present here today, listen very carefully to was they have to say and throughout this entire trial, the prosecution will be proven without unreasonable doubt that this young man is indeed guilty." Koharu explained.

'Witnesses?' Kakashi thought. 'Sasuke's chances are getting slimmer by the second...'

"Daimyō, if I may, can I bring in the witnesses?" Koharu questioned.

He nodded in approval from Koharu's request. "Please proceed."

"Would the witnesses step into the room, please?" Koharu announced. When the front doors opened, everyone was greeted with two male shinobi who were clad in standard uniform from the Land of Lightning...

XxX

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was standing inside Naruto apartment. Said blond had a look of hysteria on his face from what Shikamaru had told him.

"How...How did you...figure it out, Shikamaru?"

"It wasn't that hard to put everything together, Naruto." Did Naruto seriously think he could hide that from the sharpest mind in the village? The young genius smirk at the dumbfounded blond. He really was a hopeless one.

"I never showed any signs." The blond retorted back in defense.

"There was one thing I noticed...and it happened last night. When we were leaving last night, I noticed a tiny molecule of liquid glistening on your cheek. You didn't even bother trying to wipe it off your face." Shikmaru pointed out as he leaned against the nearby wall in Naruto's apartment.

"I see..." Naruto felt like there was no need to try and hide it from Shikamaru anymore.

"Naruto, when did your feelings for Sasuke began to change?" The shadow user inquired.

"About a year ago."

"And yet you harbored all these emotions and kept them to yourself?" Shikamaru knew the blond too well and the only thing he did not like to see was friends or comrades in physical or mental pain.

"Yes, I did. Shikamaru, it's bad enough that I want my bond with Sasuke to become something even deeper and stronger, but it's also wrong for me to have feelings for another man. It's unnatural, but I can't stop myself from what I'm feeling. And even now as we speak, the Council and just about everyone in that Precinct House is enjoying watching Sasuke suffer. Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taicho are the only ones who will show sympathy towards him. The Elders are not gonna give him a chance to fight or defend himself. I want to save him so badly, but I can't do anything and it's killing me." After literally pouring out his, he buried his head into his hands.

"Naruto, I want you to stop angonizing over what you can't do and do something about this situation." He suggested, rubbing the back of his head and upset that Naruto was driving himself into a spiral of possible mental trauma.

Not listening to him, Naruto turned away from Shikamaru in his chair.

"I'm gonna regret this later. Since I can't get you out of this depression, I'm gonna have to force you out of it." Shikamaru swiftly turned Naruto around in his chair, startling the blond with his sudden action.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" Naruto exclaimed in shocked from the shadow user's unusual and forceful behavior.

Shikamaru then place his right thumb on Naruto's forehead and grabbed the back of his head. Closing his eyes, he focused his chakra, letting it flow until it reached his eyes and the tip of his fingers. "I can't take seeing you like this anymore. You need to get it back. You need to get back your Will of Fire."

"Nara Hiden: Mugen Shin'en."[奈良秘伝:無限深淵 (Nara Clan Secret Technique: Black Abyss)]

In moments, Naruto's mind was being overflowed with chakra and his vision was starting to become hazy. After trying to fight it, the blond had blacked out and he was steadily being pulled into a world of darkness. Shikmaru was gonna release Naruto from his depressive state...no matter what it took...

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:

Konoha's New Light
(木ノ葉の新しい光 Konoha no Atarashī Hikari)

Shikamaru still has Naruto under his genjutsu, but will it be enough to give him back his will to fight again? Meanwhile, Sasuke's trial is reaching its climax! Will the power of the Uchiha finally be put to rest?