Overcoat hissed at Mana when she did the thing that she was not supposed to do until at least a handful more witnesses were questioned and the carefully engineered game led up to cornering Mana's contrived position into frames of guilt.
"I thought I did not care but… I can't just sit here and listen about everyone and every time I've failed someone. If I am to stay afloat, I need to keep moving and face new responsibilities as they come. Staying and staring at the depths of the ocean of tears I'm swimming it will only make me go under and never surface." Mana replied before the Ninja Tribunal demanded her full attention.
"Could you please repeat that and make yourself clear, accused? We were under the impression that you did not agree with the accusations and that our data was circumstantial and shaky at best?" Judge Laorth raised his eyebrow. Some of the judges looked relieved to have their works cut out for them, Laorth himself appeared to be walling off his ecstasy from having someone to point a finger at for Ayushi's misfortune but, ironically enough, those that Overcoat's organization had bought were those showing the most bitterness.
"Honored Tribunal, I thought I could just sit here and have my Voice lie through this. I thought it would be easy to just tie my hands up over my chest and smile through the struggle of the Tribunal to make something that sticks beyond a reasonable doubt in a space of unknowns and question marks. I may have overestimated my shrewdness because I can do neither of these things. I did it, I hurt Guru Ayushi." Mana repeated, solidifying her new position. Overcoat did not look pleased but he behaved and expressed himself better than Mana would have taken it.
"Well…" judge Sheniyur sighed, Mana was a tad alleviated to find out that the organization's lapdogs were not about to erupt and have their wrath crack down on her and her family. After all, Mana was still honoring their deal and very much intended on keeping her word to the final letter, it was just that she was a bit rushing through it. "In that case, to settle all questions there is only one more witness to question. Accused, would you please make your way to the stand?"
With a sense of wild nausea in her gut, Mana stood up, it felt like the tiniest breeze in the hall penetrated her whole, as if her skin was made of linen cloth. She probably looked about as pale as a linen shirt as well.
"You are the accused in this procession, therefore you do not have the obligation to tell the Tribunal the truth as your rights to defend against accusations comes first." The secretary explained, wasting no time after Mana had made her way to the stands.
"However… For the sake of clarity… If you will…" judge Kikuzen pleaded with the magician, possibly relaying the change of plans given the current predicament. The judges bought by the organization that employed Overcoat adapted but demanded that Mana stuck to her intentions of telling the truth now. The made-up truth but truth in the context of this procession.
"Of course." Mana nodded. "The truth is that I beat Guru Ayushi. I did it out of revenge and blind rage. It was childish, irresponsible and… I deserve whatever is to come. I welcome it even… Maybe it will make whatever time I've got left as a ninja more tolerable, maybe it will make me sleep better in the case of forced retirement. All that's certain is that I will have to live and deal with the fruit of my vengeance for what still remains."
"Your Voice raised some fine points that shook the validity of the accusation, could you perhaps address those arguments yourself just for the sake of solidifying the Tribunal's judgment?" the secretary wondered. "At the same time, please explain why and how you've managed to do the deed."
"Understood." Mana nodded. She sighed from the depths of her heart and looked down, then, lifted her eyes up and looked at as many of the eyes in the spectator seats as she could reach. Bewildered, frightened eyes, eyes of people that have just seen their hero exposed and would rip her to shreds themselves once they recovered from the shock. The jounin protecting the order in the Tribunal session tightened their stances in anticipation of the following outrage, Mana may have wanted to speak faster and explain herself before all hell broke out.
"I never meant to express this apology and speak this in public but… My father, Nakotsumi Tsukumo, a relatively known Konoha chuunin, more so than most chuunin, was injured in an incident a handful of years ago. An incident involving either Kirigakure ninja or rogue ninja wearing the headbands of Kirigakure ninja. The wounds he suffered forced him to retire, he suffered through great pain every day since then. He was one of the people to have been involved in the black market of pain killer drugs created by a cult that, apparently, mystify and deify Guru Ayushi and his beliefs. The day I did the crime my father passed out into a coma he will never wake up from… It tore a part of my soul out and as things are with voids, they're filled by the first thing that's available. In my case it was anger." Mana said, mirroring the faked apology segments in the "reality" TV shows that were becoming popular and that consumed a lot of mother's evening time as of recently.
"Anger?" Tokui finally opened his eyes and glared at Mana with a judging glare. At first glance it may have been confused as the young jounin being mad at the magician for hurting the world-famous spiritual icon, Mana saw it for what it truly was – he saw through her lies instantly. "As it was established, I have met you, Mana-san, you were never a person driven by anger or one that let anger in altogether. You've struck me as a young woman after my own soul – calculated and driven, perhaps warmer in your drive…"
"It may just be because of my unwillingness to accept anger in the past that this particular rage spilled over," Mana answered. This offensive came out of nowhere, her reply felt like wild, defensive flailing of a fencer overwhelmed by the opponent's one-track offensive. "The moment the consequences of my father's methods of dealing with pain became clear, I knew I had to hurt Ayushi-san."
"Hurt? And how exactly would you hurt Guru Ayushi?" Tokui wondered.
"Indeed, I believe your Voice also raised these doubts and they were rather effective with me. I wondered about the point of this procession from that moment on, in fact." Judge Nokubi of Iwagakure cupped her curious face in her palms, like a cute face that bloomed from a flower.
"Truth be told, I was unwillingly involved in some of the incidents related to the cult that I spoke of before. Ever since those incidents three years ago, I was readying myself to face Ayushi-san too, in the case that Guru was not as oblivious to the cult's activities as everybody believed." Mana made up an explanation on the fly, truthfully though, it was a good one as it may have been corroborated by a whole bunch of librarians and also her own summons, if need be, even though it was more of a case of a half-truth.
"And you've come up with a way to hurt Ayushi in your three-years long quest of making precautions?" Lord Mizukage appeared extremely impressed and intrigued by Mana's revelation. "A person that can hurt Guru Ayushi himself might be capable of defeating just about anyone."
"Lord Mizukage, with all due respect… We're discussing grievous injury of a respected man here." Judge Yurisa slapped both her cheeks with her hands in an exaggerated expression of offense.
"Of course, apologies." Osumo Fuma faked a serious face of a man that's caught himself something worth regretting.
"When I returned to the village from my equal part recovery and training trip, I was on the fence about how serious my intent on acting on my darker impulses was. The moment my father went comatose, all limiters went busted, every regard for the well-being of Guru Ayushi, or anyone else for that matter went straight out the window. Had Ayushi not devoted strenuous amounts of chakra to protect the village and the people around him, I may not have won the village would have lost much more." Mana added.
Just as the magician had predicted. The last factoid sent the people that weren't supposed to be sitting in this hall and listening to mild village secrets that the village may not have wanted out mad. Where Mana's confession filled them with confusion, the more details she added on top, the more she achieved the desired effect.
Mother. Mother was here too. Not in the hall, mind you, but outside it. Mana could sense it, pinpoint a chakra signature as small as a needle hole surrounded by stars and planetoids, had it not been this familiar to her, she'd have stood no chance of pulling it off. She must have heard from someone that they were letting people in. Maybe she saw it on the television. Could someone have been broadcasting this? That was unlikely, recording equipment was bulky and much heavier than in the universe Mana brought its samples back from.
Whom was she trying to fool? She should have known all along that this was the organization's plan all along – spread false narratives about people being not allowed inside the hall's premises but then have the "order" heroically "cave in" to the pressure. Demonstrate that these small folk had real power in their hands. Just like the Mizukage's previous mimic, this was a game. Had the organization or the village either wanted every civilian out of the hall – they'd have had it with a snap of their finger. What true power exactly did the civilians have against even a single ninja? Someone training since childhood to not let their cosmic power destroy their own and everybody else's homes.
"I see… You show a lot of regret, Mana-san. That is to be respected, even in a criminal. Reformation has always been the core principle behind the justice system of any ninja village or any country. Regret is the caterpillar for redemption. It will be curious for the Tribunal to see what your regret morphs into." Sheniyur Kagetsu nodded and looked at the other judges with eyes that were ready to declare the sentencing part of the procession but too faltering in the presence of greater peers to take initiative.
"The only thing I am interested in is how a handful of smart and resourceful ninja can be fooled by this nonsense," Tokui grumbled as if through his sleep. The young jounin opened his eyes and looked around, fencing with any judging stare sent his way.
"Are you suggesting that there's something deeper at play here?" judge Nokubi grinned. "How interesting. Tell me more…"
"I don't know all the details. All I can say for certain is that Mana-san did not assault that man. It is not within her character to do so." Tokui intensified his glare at the woman even though she outranked him in experience.
"I thought you've only met the accused for a single mission?" judge Laorth raised his eyebrow, ready to drill a whole other target than the one the Tribunal should have focused on.
"I've studied the more public acts of Konoha's Sorceress. She was someone of great interest to me. Someone to have survived the Imarizu, someone who became the champion of the Sun Disc arena." Tokui looked up at the ceiling with dreamy and almost a tad nostalgic eyes. "Even if I met her in person once before, that person was not someone who would have done this."
"Judges, this is childish, sandbox behavior you are showing here. One of the first public Tribunal hearings and you are squabbling with each other instead of fulfilling your duties. You have disagreements, that is fine. Those happen in just about every Tribunal case. That is what the Verdict Phase is for." Kikuzen Shimura calmed the quarreling judges down. "If all of you are ready and see no more need to examine any more data or call any further witnesses to be questioned, we can perhaps proceed?"
"There is little point in questioning any witnesses when the accused is the first person in history to so easily admit her blame." Tokui retreated inside himself and walled himself off with sarcasm again. The young man was just as skilled at alienating everyone in the room as Mana remembered him being…
"It seems the Tribunal is ready for the Verdict Phase. May the accused and her Voice know that they will have a chance for a final word afterward, that includes a plea for being excused and other requests related to the verdict." The secretary announced the beginning of the next phase.
"I vote guilty. While I was having my doubts initially, the confession of the accused drew a fine line in the sand between right and wrong. Men would be wise to take the easy wise decisions where they make themselves apparent." Osumo Fuma rested in the back of his fancy chair double his size while he scratched his rugged chin.
"I would have voted guilty is asked to vote five minutes ago but there's something in what Tokui-san said. Since I have even the tiniest speck of doubt, I'll say innocent." Nokubi Sarutobi pointed her index fingers at the audience while winking to them at the same time.
"I have no doubts that the accused is guilty. She's admitted to it herself, I have no grounds to question that solid fact or to believe in some outlandish conspiracy theories." Sheniyur Kagetsu spoke with passion behind his voice. Had certain knowledge not been there before she saw the man speak, Mana would have been certain that conviction such as this could have only come from man's own words.
"I vote guilty." Laorth Karatachi waved his hand as if signing himself off of the procession.
"Could you please motivate your decision?" the secretary butt in.
"I mean… The accused confessed, whether it's because she really did it or because she likes the prospect of imprisonment, who am I to stand in her way?" the Otogakure chuunin shrugged.
"Oh my… I wouldn't like to see such a lovely young lady in prison. She regrets what she did too… Oh my… I'll vote innocent." Yurisa Akimichi got worked up over Mana's baby-doll eyes and her acted regret that came from something very real from deep down in her heart.
"I vote guilty. I believed in the accused's guilt even before her confession. Her reasoning is one I understand and can relate to, I know the depths to which those dark thoughts can take a person and I hope that your punishment will assist your redemption in some way." Kikuzen Shimura nodded.
The rest of the judges turned to Tokui who remained in his seat, hands tied over his chest and his face still shut out from the rest of the people in the building. Chin lowered, eyes closed, face as sour as a plate of kimchi with fermented lemon. It did not take too long for the audience to settle down their restless, ground-level bickering and turn to the final judge as well.
"Uhm… Judge Tokui-san." The secretary was the first to cut the silence down without mercy. "Your vote?"
"I abstain," Tokui grumbled with all the cheerfulness of a grumpy toddler.
"You cannot abstain, judge Tokui-san…" the secretary shook his head. "It is the duty of a Tribunal judge to cast a vote. No matter if they've come to a decision or not."
"In that case, I vote to leave." Tokui stood up and walked to the door on both sides of the northern wall, leading to the judges' restroom. Some of Konoha's flak jacket greens scurried to intercept the judge fleeing at a casual if not sluggish rate but Kikuzen Shimura stopped them with a gesture.
"Young man…" Yurisa Akimichi tried to call out to the fellow judge but Tokui gifted her the most death-inducing stare he could muster up. One that was enough to freeze a woman four times his dimensions and twice his experience with goose skin.
"I do not take part in jokes. I've wasted enough of my time here." The Kumogakure jounin growled again before leaving the hall for good.
"Very well…" the Tribunal secretary blew out a chest-full of stress air before doing a quick headcount. "It appears that the votes have settled four to two, in the favor of the accused being guilty. May the head of the Tribunal, judge Sheniyur please read the sentence?" the secretary turned to the most-way bald man with the world's thickest pair of glasses to stand up and read the document he had been cradling in his hands for a while now.
"Fellow members of the honored Ninja Tribunal, accused, Voice of the accused, the head of the Tribunal proposes the punishment of three years in Rengoku prison with the accused's ninja license being suspended for the duration of the punishment. It is a steep punishment, I understand, but the injuries inflicted upon the victim are severe and his legendary stature needs no further reminder. While the actions of the accused were those of a reckless youth, the damage her recklessness inflicted left the entire world a far lesser place, even if that was not her full intention." Sheniyur declared while switching his point of attention from the fellow Tribunal judges all across the audience, to Mana and Overcoat and then back at the other judges.
One by one, the other Tribunal judges agreed with the proposed sentence, nodding and bobbing their heads about. This was not entirely the "purely symbolic" punishment that Overcoat claimed it would be but Mana understood what it needed to be – it needed to convince a bunch of people who would have likely seen the perpetrator flayed alive that justice was served. It was about as symbolic as the sentence could have been given its intended goals.
"Will the accused use her right for a final word?" the secretary inquired.
"Yes." Mana nodded.
"What are you doing?" Overcoat wondered with a wary tone.
"The accused would like to serve the punishment in a different correctional facility." Mana declared after standing up. This caused a great deal of unrest amongst the audience.
"That is a possibility and your right to request that, however, please have in mind that your sentence might be affected by the facility you serve in. Given how the Tribunal has not terminated your license, it was thought that it would be within everyone's best interest to not have you serve in Eden for decades…" the secretary warned Mana but he misunderstood her intent entirely.
"If it is all the same, I would like to serve my punishment in Jigoku," Mana replied, silencing those growing unruly after her initial declaration and causing a cascade of whispers and frightful discussions amongst the crowd.