Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Love and Death ❯ Trial - First ( Chapter 10 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I forgot to put this, but it should be obivious- I own nothing. I don't own Naruto.
This is dedicated to Nejidragon- the lone reviewer! I'm so glad you liked 'Sorrow', by the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Naruto's words were met with silence.
"You sure, dobe?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded.
"Gambate ('Good luck') Naruto." Sakura said.
"Just spit it out already!" Kiba said. Naruto looked up.
"Okay then. Anyways, once upon a time there was this big mean fox." Shikamaru rolled his eyes- Naruto was obviously trying to make this 'secret' of his into a small, insignifigant little story.
Ino hit him over the head.
"Seriously now." she growled. Naruto gulped and then took on a serious look. It wasn't one they were used to seeing from Naruto, so all were properly shocked.
"Kyuubi attacked the village a little over a decade ago. The Fourth gave his life to defeat him, but he couldn't quite kill him. Kyuubi is still kinda alive, but kinda not."
"What is it that you are not telling us?" Shino asked. Naruto sucked in a deep breath, then let it all out before saying the next part rather quickly.
"Kyuubi was killed, he was sealed inside the body of a newborn baby- the baby had just been born a few hours earlier." Naruto looked down, looking at the seal on his stomach. "Not many in the village know that Kyuubi is still alive inside that baby boy- many assume that the Fourth killed Kyuubi." He heard sharp intakes of breath- the quicker genins and Shikamaru had picked up on what he wasn't saying. Ino's face- though he couldn't see it- had gone completely white, and Hinata was- if this was possible- was looking paler than usual.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata stammered.
"Don't tell me..." Ino said, backing away a step or two from Naruto in shock and fear. Naruto looked up, a guarded look in his usually carefree eyes.
"Yes. I was that baby. The Kyuubi lives on inside of me." Ino laughed shakily.
"Yeah, very funny Naruto. what's the real secret?" she asked.
"It's true." Kakashi said. He surveyed the room. "Any who don't wish to defend Naruto because of this information may leave now." No one moved. Naruto glanced around at all the determined faces of his friends.
"We will defend Naruto-kun to the end!" Lee said, giving Naruto the thumbs-up sign. "He is our friend!" The genins and Shikamaru nodded, though Shikamaru mumbled something that sounded like "How bothersome..." before yawning.
"Thanks guys..." Naruto said.

The noise in the open-air stadium was loud. That was the only way to describe it. Loud. It seemed to have a presence of its own- and it was all adults making that much noise. No one unaware of Naruto's secret was allowed to attend, and the rest were taken on drills outside of the village to ensure that no one would eavesdrop. Naruto caught some of the words spoken as he and his defense team walked into the stadium. First came the Hokage, then Naruto as the accused, then the jonin, the chuunin, and the genin.
"There's that kid-"
"Kyuubi's vessal? Why bother with the trial?"
"That murderer-"
"-planning on repealing his sentence?"
"They should have killed it right off-"
"I heard he killed eleven people-"
"Really? Dumb brat couldn't stop him, eh?"
"Probably let it out-"
The Hokage cleared his throat loudly, stopping. Naruto almost bumped into him, but stopped himself. The crowd quieted down, but you could see hateful glares shot at Naruto.
"As you know, we are here to see if the death sentence on Uzumaki Naruto's head should be repealed. First we shall hear the crimes he is accused of, then we shall hear his friends and finally himself speak in his favor. Is this acceptable?" A few nodded their heads, and many shouted back with an affirmative answer.
"Good. Uzumaki Naruto went missing for a few hours after Kyuubi attacked Konoha. As we all know, Kyuubi was sealed inside of Naruto when he was just born. Kyuubi killed eleven people and wounded thirteen before fleeing Konoha, for reasons unknown. Also unclear is the reason why Kyuubi broke free in the first place. We are here to see if this boy truly does deserve teh death sentence." The Hokage took a deep breath before continuing. It was dead silent in the stadium- even birds were afraid to chirp.
"Ordinarily, an ANBU member would speak first. I will be speaking instead for Naruto." Gasps of shock could be heard around the stadium as people looked at those seated next to them, confused. A dull murmur ran through the crowd until the Hokage held his hands up. The crowd quieted.
"Hatake Kakashi offered to be an ANBU captain again, but I refused saying that I would do it myself. Uzumaki Naruto is a good boy, despite housing Kyuubi. The worst he has done is play pranks on people. He has never failed any of his missions, and is a strong ninja. He will be of great use to Konoha when he is older." The Hokage nodded his head at Kakashi, the next speaker.
"Hatake Kakashi will take over." Kakashi came up.
"Naruto is a good student. He tries hard. He, along with Sasuke and Sakura- are the first genins I allowed to take the chunnin exam, which they did not pass only because it was cancelled. I'll vouch for his character." He glanced at Gai, motioning for him to come up. Gai did, then spoke for Naruto. One by one, Iruka, Shikamaru, Ino, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Choji, Lee, TenTen, Shino, Sakura, and Sasuke came to defend Naruto, No matter what anyone said, the looks on the faces of the crowd didn't change. As far as they were concerned, Naruto was a demon and should have been killed off a long time ago. It didn't help when both Ino and Sakura started yelling at the crowd for thinking that way.
Unbeknownst to them, members of the Leaf weren't the only ones witnessing the trial.

The Sound ANBU captain motioned for his team to follow him, making sure to mask his chakra. He and his team were right outside the gates of Konoha.
"Remember to leave the Uchiha kid alive- master Orochimaru needs a new body." he said quietly. His team nodded.
"Let's go." he said, sensing that the other ANBU captains had started forward, as well as their teams of jonin and even a few chuunin.
They snuck up to the gate, quickly scaling up to the watchtower. The two chuunin watching the front were quickly overpowered- neither had time to scream. From behind his mask, the ANBU captain watched as the other watchtowers were taken care of in a similar manner.
"Phase One: Entry. Status: Success." he whispered, continuing on. His team followed.
The small group cautiously dropped down to the streets of Konoha. No one was there- not even civilians.
'Did they find out about the attack ahead of time?' the captain thought. He glanced around. 'No. If they had, we would have been greeted by their elite ninja. So where...?'
"ANBU-sama." a Sound scout said, approaching him quickly. "We have seen no resident of Konoha in the city, but there seems to be a large crowd over in the stadium. We believe that all the residents of the city are there."
"Good work." the captain said, nodding. The scout disappeared. The captain nodded at his team and they sprang forward, heading for the stadium. The ANBU noticed that all the Sound nins were heading in the same direction.
'Good- we can all attack together.'

Naruto uneasily shifted as he sat on the stage. Something big was coming. Naruto could even sense Kyuubi pacing in his cage.
"Hold still, dobe." Sasuke whispered to him. Naruto stilled, though the uneasy feeling remained.
'What is going on?' Naruto thought. 'Why do I think something's going to happen?'
'Unfamiliar nins.' something hissed in his ear. It sounded almost like... well, Kyuubi.
But that was impossible- Kyuubi couldn't talk to him unless Naruto was inside his own mind or in seriously deep trouble.
'Yes, it's me you stupid boy.' Kyuubi said, growling at Naruto stupidity.
'How?' Naruto asked, still a bit bewildered. 'You shouldn't be able to-'
'I do as I please. Let me out of this damn cage- there are unfamiliar nin-'
Kyuubi never got to finish. The Hokage had stopped speaking and a few members of the crowd were looking up at the top of the stadium.
Ninja from the Sound were clearly visible as they moved over the top of the stadium and then fell into the crowd, some drawing shuriken and kunai and some making seals for jutsus.
Naruto watched in fascinated horror as a few civilians fell- bleeding but not yet dead- beneath kunai and shuriken and as other were caught in the crossfire between the Sound nins and the Leaf nins. Most were caught by surprise, but they tried to fight back and it was clear that the Leaf was losing.
Naruto saw Kakashi take a shuriken in the chest- close to his heart. He went down as a few other shuriken and kunai peppered him. Gai held out, blood dripping from cuts he recieved as he cut his way through the battlefield.
Shikamaru and his fellows genins tried out a few jutsus, but they were no match for the ANBU and jonin of Sound. A few used the podium and their chairs to blocks, but those couldn't last forever. Shikamaru eventually resorted to just blocking Ino with his body as Lee sprang to protect Sakura.
'Let me out!' Kyuubi growled at him. So caught up in listening to what Kyuubi was saying and the screams of the people around him, he didn't notice the flying weapons headed straight for him. He turned slowly, seeing them pointing straight at his face. he tried to duck, but he knew a few would hit anyway.
He shut his eyes tight as a shadow fell over him and the shuriken and kunai embedded themselves in flesh and blood leaked from the cuts.

Sorry for taking so long! I honestly didn't mean to, but I had to get my lazy behind motivated again.
Again, kudos to Nejidragon for reviewing! It's because of Nejidragon that this chapter didn't take until next week!