I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Accused
Naruto stepped into the office to see Tsunade, Yamato, Sai, Shizune, Kakashi, and Sakura all standing in the room. He looked to Tsunade and she sighed.
"One day before you left to come back here, someone attacked the Lord Raikage," Tsunade stated. "Minato is there formally apologizing and negotiating to keep the Shinobi Alliance from falling apart."
"Apologizing for what?" Naruto questioned.
"The attacker killed three Hidden Cloud Shinobi and was able to hold his own against Lord Raikage, even if only briefly," Tsunade stated. "The attacker, was you, Naruto. He was using your weapons, your fighting style, and your Wind Style Jutsus."
"They...but...I was with the others!" Naruto stated. "Captain Yamato, tell them!"
"You are more than skilled enough to send a clone to do it and would have had plenty of time," Captain Yamato stated.
"But I didn't do it!" Naruto pleaded.
"I'm sorry Naruto," Tsunade sighed. "But until we can figure out who it was, I have no choice but to send you to Hozuki Castle."
Naruto froze. He had heard Fugaku telling Sasuke what Hozuki Castle was like. He knew that he would never be able to break out if he tried but also knew that even if he was innocent, he would want nothing more than to break out.
"I'm sorry Naruto," Yamato sighed making hand seals. "Wood Style, Four Pillar Prison Jutsu!"
Wooden beams shot out of the floor around him, forming a cage around him as more beams extended inside binding Naruto's hands together behind his back and around his torso and neck. Tsunade stepped forward and put a seal tag on the cage then pulled Naruto's headband off.
"You're not going to resist?" Tsunade questioned.
"Why should I?" Naruto questioned. "Fleeing would make me look more guilty. And you won't believe me, or even listen, no matter what I say."
Tsunade sighed and sat behind her desk again.
"Does the village know?" Naruto questioned.
"Yes," Tsunade nodded.
"I can't imagine Mom is happy about this," Naruto stated.
"No," Tsunade sighed. "She's decidedly peeved that we aren't taking your side over Lord Raikage's. However, if it makes you feel any better, Hinata refused to even listen to the evidence once she heard what you are accused of."
Naruto smiled and lowered his head snickering to himself.
"I can't imagine she would no," Naruto smiled. "If you're sending me to Hell, let's get this over with."
"It's only Hozuki Castle," Tsunade stated.
"Exactly, Hell," Kakashi stated agreeing with Naruto on that point. "Come on Yamato. Let's go."
They picked Naruto up carrying him out of the building then through the street crowded with people who watched in near silence, muttering amongst themselves once in a while. Naruto's mind flashed to when he was young and they would react like this simply because he was alive. He saw Nagato in the crowd and Nagato simply shook his head, showing that he believed Naruto didn't do it. Hinata and Kushina were standing at the front of the group a ways further and Fu a bit beyond them, though he could tell she wasn't as sure as the others on either side.
Finally they left the gate and Naruto saw that Konan was just arriving with her village and was watching the scene in shock.
"Ask Nagato or Hinata," Naruto said knowing she wanted to ask.
Kakashi and Yamato set the cage down and several Konoha ANBU arrived picking it up and running into the woods. After a while, they reached a lake and boarded a ship the ANBU leaving and the crew working around Naruto as they sailed toward an island where the sides were cliffs well over a hundred feet with massive rocks dotting the water below and the lake itself was raging too hard to swim. There was no way to swim away, though Naruto would have to try if he did try to break out. Finally the ship docked and the crew carried Naruto and his cage up a long flight of stairs to the main gate where the symbol for each of the Five Great Shinobi Villages was painted and the door opened. Naruto was set in a line of convicts each standing in a circle. Naruto glanced at each that he could see and smirked. Including himself there were five. The one to his left was a short man with brown hair, a green scarf, and a red bandanna, the man to his right was an older man with grey hair and a green vest, beside him was a man with black hair in a ponytail, a mask-style forehead protector with no symbol, and a faded blue shirt. And the last was, as near as Naruto could tell, a woman with a green bandanna with a lime-green stripe, an off-white sleeveless kimono, a green shirt with the left sleeve missing, black pants, black sandals, bandages up to her elbows, white bangs over her right eye and hair framing the left side of her face, and had grey irises with a single circle in them that reminded Naruto greatly of Nagato's Rinnegan.
"Now listen up!" a fat man in front of the line ordered holding his hands behind his back. "Lord Mui, the master of Hozuki Castle, will now address you."
He stepped aside bowing as a tall lean and gaunt man with long black hair with a single lock over his left eye, a red robe under a black cloak and a cold emotionless expression walked forward eyes staring into the distance, likely not even seeing the prisoners.
"Let me explain your situation," Mui spoke, voice even and practiced from years of giving the same speech. "Whatever you may have been in your former lives, the fact that you were sent here means that you are no longer of value to anyone."
Someone should tell the Akatsuki then, Naruto thought restraining a smirk.
"You have lost the trust of your people and are considered a threat to the peace and stability of each village-"
"No offense but can we get this over with?" Naruto interrupted feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "I'd rather get inside before some very undesirables find out I'm here."
"Undesirables?" Mui questioned. "You are being hunted and were sent here for protection then?"
"No fucking way!" Naruto scoffed. "No offense but they would level this place in half a second if they wanted to get in. No, I was sent here because some asshole went and attacked the Raikage while disguised as me. The undesirables are simply a constant fact that I will never escape. At least, not yet."
"I see," Mui stated. "We of the Hidden Grass have an agreement with the other villages whereby anyone that is sent here will not escape."
He tore the sealing tag Tsunade had placed on the cage off and the cage exploded into a cloud of smoke.
"Your personal circumstances are none of our concern," Mui continued, making the Seal of Confrontation. "Fire Style, Celestial Prison!"
He slammed his hand into Naruto's chest and Naruto was instantly blasted backward into the door where he fell ten feet to the ground, his entire body feeling like it was on fire.
"That imprisonment jutsu is unique to my clan," Mui stated. "It's the reason the Hidden Grass chose us as overseers of Hozuki Castle."
Naruto pulled his jacket up and saw a glowing red seal on his stomach.
"As long as you where this seal formula, you will not be able to infuse your chakra," Mui stated. "There are only two ways that you can leave this place. The first is by official request by the village that sent you here. The second, and by far the most common is by dying."
"I really wish you would take this thing off me," Naruto stated pushing himself up. "If I go to far from you I burn to death. If I use too much chakra, I burn to death. I had a friend locked up here for five years."
"Ah yes, Fugaku Uchiha," Mui nodded. "He was lucky to only have that as his punishment for an attempted coup d'etat."
"I know," Naruto nodded. "As I was saying, I really don't want this thing on me when the Akatsuki show up in full force to haul me off to God knows where."
"Akatsuki?" Mui questioned. "Well, you are a popular one aren't you? In any event, the seal will not be removed. You may have heard from Fugaku that the Fire Style Celestial Prison is ineffective under water. That is true. However, the surrounding sea is far to treacherous to be used as an escape. You would drown before you could infuse your chakra."
Mui walked away and the five prisoners were led through the courtyard and several other areas to a cell block. The cells were made out of wood and the moment the door was open, faces were pressed against the cell doors trying to see the new arrivals.
"These are some of our old-timers," the fat man explained. "I'm sure their make you feel right at home."
Several shouted something out but Naruto stopped listening when he thought he saw a Sharingan.
"Do you currently have any Uchiha locked up here?" Naruto questioned.
"Of course not," the fat man scoffed. "If we did they'd have their own wing of the prison. The first thing you'll be doing is a physical exam. A very thorough one. I hope you're not bashful, Blondie."
"Nope," Naruto grinned. "But Celestial prison or no. You lay one hand on me, and you'll be shopping for a prosthetic."
The fat man blinked in surprise and took a tiny step back before continuing. They reached a room with a statue of a woman on the ground with a cupid-like angel over her with an arrow pointed at her. A short while after that, they reached a dark room lit only by one lantern where they sat to wait their turn for their "physical" and most of them passed out instantly leaving Naruto, the girl, and the man with grey hair left.
"Hey, so uh, what are you in for?" the man questioned turning to Naruto.
"You don't listen do you?" Naruto questioned. "An impostor of me attacked the Raikage and I got blamed."
"Must have been a fast mother fucker," the man noted amazed that someone could survive that. "I failed a mission. I was told to slaughter every living soul in a village but in a moment of weakness I let this one little kid get away. When my village found out, I got shipped off here."
"You got punished for sparing a child?" Naruto scoffed. "Your village sounds horrible."
"Where did you say you were from again?" the man questioned.
"Konoha," Naruto stated.
"Well that figures," the man smirked. "I heard they raise all of their shinobi to be soft."
"Soft huh?" Naruto questioned raising an eyebrow. "You ever hear of Zabuza?"
"Yeah, man was a legend," the man nodded.
"Beat him when I was twelve," Naruto smirked. "Beat Orochimaru a few months later. Beat the One-tails about the same time. Beat an entire army several times. Beat a guy who had enough power to be considered a God. Beat three guys that could level this place in ten seconds. Beat Kisame Hoshigaki. Beat Danzo Shimura. Beat the Leader of the Akatsuki, six times. And beat the Nine, Seven, and One-tails again, all at once. What did you say were were again?"
"I said nothing," the man stated shaking his head hearing the honesty in Naruto's voice and not knowing Naruto had help for most of those and didn't actually do a couple so much as take part in a fight near that one."
"That's a lot of impressive claims," the girl finally spoke up walking over. "Something I'd expect of the great Naruto Uzumaki. Though, I heard it was Kakashi who beat Zabuza. In any event, the guy had a point. Hozuki Castle is where a ninja is sent when he can no longer serve his village. And, for the record, I doubt you would be dumb enough to leave the Raikage alive if you really did want him dead. I don't know or care if you actually attacked him."
"Bandanna!" a guard behind the gate at the end of the room shouted. "Out."
"Listen, when you look around and see you're in a deep hole, it's time to stop digging," she stated before walking away.
"I would if I was only digging for myself," Naruto muttered.
"I take it you had a girlfriend," the man guessed.
"Have," Naruto corrected. "When I get back she'll be the first one to greet me."
"You really don't intend to stay do you?" the man questioned.
"If I stay, the Akatsuki will come for me," Naruto stated. "Pein wasn't the most powerful among them."
"The Akatsuki?" the man questioned. "But...they'll kill us all!"
"No," Naruto smirked. "Me they'll let live. For a while. Shame I can't use chakra."
The man nodded an agreement and Naruto leaned against the wall sighing. After a few minutes, it was his turn.
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