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Naruto clutched his shoulder at the sharp pain flowing through it. His head felt fuzzy. He groaned "What? Why..." He looked around and just then he was piled on by anbu. He looked. The red haired boy was gone. He tried to break free, then found the Hokage in front of him as he was still held in place by the anbu. "Uzumaki Naruto."
Sandaime sighed and saw all the harm this fight had caused. The boy had tried so hard to be accepted, and now this. He said "Bring him to my office. Iruka, Kakashi, I want you too. Genin, stay with your jonin teachers, Sasuke, Sakura, stay with Kurenai."
The black haired, red eyed woman looked at the Hokage, still in shock from what had just happened. She looked down at her charges. She thought she could even see shock coming from the stoic Shino and Hinata looked dazed. She said "I will take good care of them."
The Hokage turned to the villagers "Back to your homes, there is nothing more to see." They dispersed and Kakashi and Iruka followed behind the Anbu who escorted Naruto to the Hokage's office, zipping along the rooftops.
Naruto was forced to his knees by six anbu and more than one kunai held to his neck. He said "Ojiisan..."
A kunai pressed farther into his neck "Adress your kage with respect, demon."
Naruto's heart panged at the look the old man was giving him as he looked up. The rage was gone, all there was was a bottomless sadness now. He had never seen the old man look at him with those eyes. Eyes like the villagers, like he was expecting him to attack. He looked down, tears forming. Memories began to filter back, still vague. He remembered, he had attacked him. When he found out...He asked, quietly, sadly "Why, why didn't you tell me?" His voice caught. "You knew."
Iruka said "If you would have known, you would have told everyone."
Kakashi continued "The fourth had a lot of enemies. You'd have been in more danger than you were already."
Naruto felt himself slip farther into his personal pit of despair. "You both knew. Does everyone know but me? Another secret no one saw fit to tell me?"
Sandaime said "No, only Jiraiya, Kakashi, Iruka and myself know. You probably just let everyone else know who didn't."
Two of the council members walked in. "Sandaime, it is time to meet about the current...situation." He looked at Naruto with disgust, like he was something that had crawled from the sewer.
Naruto waited with his head hung, crying on the inside, not aware that tears ran down his face as he hung his head. He had thought he had people who cared about him. He was wrong. They all just wanted to manipulate him or they didn't want him at all. No one loved him.
Iruka looked at his young former charge with mixed feelings. He had identified with the boy, but what he had done and what he had seen, he wasn't sure any more about him. Was he really the Naruto he knew, or had he really become a monster?
Inside the meeting...
The hokage walked in and sat down.
The meeting started quickly. "You are all aware of what occured in the city today. The jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto destroyed several buildings downtown, displaying the demon's energy and a seal from Orochimaru. The seal is weakening. We should execute him before the kyuubi breaks free."
Sandaime said "The seal is intact. The boy seems to have no memory of what took place. The seal Orochimaru uses has an affect on the mind..."
"The 'boy' told you of what happened in the forest of death, that he met with orochimaru. Did he tell you about the seal?"
"He did not."
"The only reason why he would hide it is if he is working with your former student."
Sandaime frowned. It was true that Naruto had kept information from him and that counted against him. He said "I will speak with him about that."
One of the elders spoke up again "We have let the boy live for far too long. It would make more sense to kill him now, before either the seal or demon take over and he betrays or destroys konoha!"
Sandaime frowned. He had to find a way to save Naruto. He said "I will have Jiraiya take a look at the seal and Hatake Kakashi to restrain the curse seal. Let us wait to see if this can be fixed."
A member stood up "He threatened the village. He will do it again! He has been a monster since the day he was born! You saw him fighting with the other one! He has no control! Would you keep jonin and anbu off missions to guard one boy when it make more sense just to kill him?"
Another elder spoke "You must put the needs of the village over an individual. The council is aware of the feelings you have for the boy, but which is most important to you? Would you spare the boy and have him destroy the village and kill the people you have sworn to protect?"
Sandaime knew that it would be almost impossible to stay the execution of the blonde. His mind raced, trying to come up with an alternative. He said "What of exile?" He hated the option, but at least the boy would live.
"And give him the option of defecting to Orochimaru without consequence? He must be killed!" Sandaime's heart sunk as he felt and heard the agreement of the council on this. He pleaded "A month. Allow Kakashi and Jiraiya to look at the seals. If he can not be stablized in that amount of time, then...I will assent to the execution."
He could see they didn't like it, but they didn't want to directly challenge him. They spoke amongst themselves. Then, the eldest spoke up "The jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto will be given a month to stablize. During this time he will be under anbu and jonin guard at all times. In addition, he will have his chakra sealed away during this time and he will not leave his cell. If he stablizes by the end of this period, he will be stripped of his rank and be given permanent charkra restriction seals and allowed to live as a civilian under supervision."
The sandaime frowned. He wasn't sure if the boy wouldn't be happier dead, but he couldn't sign his death warrant, at least he would live. Alive was better than dead, right? He sighed "I assent to this arrangement."
Naruto sat in his cell, broken. He had been interrogated by Ibiki and Kakashi and then he had been subjected to a very painful evil sealing technique and the equally painful chakra restriction seals. Finally, he had been told of his sentence by Iruka. He looked up out of the bars and saw 2 Anbu guarding the door. He suspected there were more than that. He thought 'What's the point of living. Everyone hates me, even those that I thought...' His throat grew hot and he choked out a sob 'Even those that I thought loved me and I worked so hard, so hard to get them to like me and now...everyone knows that I'm a monster. Even if all of this works, I'll never be a ninja. I'll be under guard for the rest of my life.' He hadn't failed to notice that the Anbu had left him a kunai, even though they weren't supposed to. It wouldn't do any damage to the cell, but...if he cut deep enough... He took out the kunai and looked at his reflection in the knife. His hair was a mess without his hitate, which they had taken from him. His eyes were red, but not red like Kyuubi, red from crying. He smiled a sad smile "I was stupid to think I could be something I'm not. I really am a monster." He held his kunai to his wrist and cut it deep, gritting his teeth as the pain came. He cut his other wrist and hoped that the chakra restriction seals would keep kyuubi from healing him, this once. He watched, detached, as he blood flowed down his arms and dripped into puddles on the floor. 'drip..drip..drip...' It wasn't long before he descended into nothingness.
Sandaime decided to check in on Naruto, since he hadn't done so since the boy had been confined. What he saw alarmed him. He saw a still Naruto and puddles of blood beside him. He immediately went to the cell and saw the anbu standing outside like nothing had happened and he regretted sending kakashi and iruka back to their jobs. He yelled "You're supposed to be watching him!"
Some of the anbu looked startled. Some didn't. "What is the matter, hokage-sama? We are making sure the prisoner doesn't escape. Those were our orders." Sandaime frowned. He went in to the protests of some of the guards and picked Naruto's limp form up. He was still bleeding and barely alive. He had lost a lot of blood on the floor. Sandaime's heart panged. Had the boy wanted to die that badly? He could only hope it was the effect of the seal on his mind. He ordered a Anbu to come in that had medic training and watched as she healed the cuts, but she wouldn't touch the mess on the floor. She had to be forced to heal the boy. He cleaned it away himself with a water and sand jutsu and left. 'I'm so sorry, Arashi. I couldn't keep my promise...'
Meanwhile...Kabuto had stayed in leaf as his master had ordered and he had returned to Orochimaru to report the fight.
Orochimaru took the news with a frown. He had been patient, although it had been difficult. The fight between jinchuriki might upset his plans to invade during the final stage of the chunnin exams. Then, he realized, what had happened was to his advantage. Before, the boy had been loyal to leaf. Now...he doubted the boy had any ties left, if Kabuto's telling of the story had been accurate in the slightest. He smirked. It was time to pay the boy a visit.
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I know, this chapter was a little heavy on the angst side, but this is not going to turn into an angst fic. The thoughts of the genin/jonin/villlagers will be in the next chapter, so will Orochimaru's visit. Let me know what you'd like to see. Also, let me know if you think Orochimaru's plans should change from what originally happened.