Disclamer: Don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: Betrayal

A bloodied and half-conscious Naruto stumbled through the Konoha gates carrying an equally injured shinobi over his shoulder. It had been a painful battle to retrieve the last Uchiha, but in the end, Naruto managed to overpower Sasuke's chidori with his own rasengan. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke, emo-king, bastard of all bastards was back in town and ready to wreak havoc once again. That is if he wasn't unconscious at the moment, but such a trivial matter had never stopped the Uchiha bastard before, right? Didn't the great Uchiha Sasuke-sama defeat the hunter-nin in Wave country after falling into a coma? Didn't he manage to single-handedly defeat Gaara of the Sand, effectively stopping an entire invasion force? Yes, Uchiha Sasuke was one bad mofo, even when unconscious.

In any case, just minutes after their arrival, the rest of Team 7 made their way to the struggling duo. Sakura was the first to step up. She quickly took the would-be brooding bastard and ran off to the hospital, whispering, "Sasuke-kun." Kakashi turned to the blond and gave him an eye smile. "Go get yourself to the hospital, Naruto. I have to go check up on Sasuke now." With that, the lazy copy-nin shushined away, leaving Naruto alone in the middle of the street.

Naruto sighed, it was always like this. Make sure the Uchiha is safe and happy, and Naruto will be all right by himself. He slowly made his way to his apartment and collapsed onto his bed before slipping into a dreamless slumber, allowing the darkness to once again envelop his mind.

At the hospital, Sakura turned to Kakashi with tears streaming down her face.

"Will Sasuke-kun be alright?"

Kakashi sighed; he knew that Sasuke would be in deep trouble once he woke up. Leaving Konoha as a missing-nin to go over to Orochimaru was bad enough, but to attack a group of Konoha shinobi, and using an assassination jutsu on one was grounds for immediate execution.

"Physically, yes, but I'm more worried about the legal consequences Sasuke could face."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Sasuke took a rasengan to the chest, but the medical staff says that he should be back to normal in a week or so. However, he ran away to join Orochimaru, one of Konoha's greatest enemies. Pakkun also says that he used the attacked Naruto with a chidori before Naruto countered with his rasengan. According to standard shinobi protocol, Sasuke would be forcibly removed from active duty and serve as breeding stock for future generations of Sharingan wielders."

Sakura's eyes widened. She didn't go through all that suffering, waiting for her Sasuke-kun to come back, just to watch him be punished so severely.

"B-b-but Kakashi-sensei, is there anything we can do to save Sasuke-kun"

"Well there is one way, Sakura. Sasuke, You, I and Naruto will likely be called upon to testify during his trial. Sasuke has many supporters on the council, so we only need to bend the truth slightly in Sasuke's favor to ensure his continuation on our team. Hopefully Naruto won't mind."

"He won't, since when has that baka ever been serious? So let me get this straight, we tell them everything we know and leave out parts that make Sasuke look bad like the chidori and the curse seal?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, things just might work out after all.

"Right, Sakura. Soon things will be back to normal."

Meanwhile, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya were leaving Whirlpool country with identical smirks on their faces. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't because Jiraiya managed to scheme his way into either of the kunoichi's pants. The reason for their mutual satisfaction was the birth certificate that Tsunade had finally secured and was currently holding in her pouch. The trio had left Konoha to investigate Naruto's ancestry, and was not at all surprised at the results. In fact, Tsunade felt rather stupid that she hadn't noticed it before.

"Makes you feel rather stupid, doesn't it, Tsunade-hime?"

"Yeah, but it explains a lot, really. I can't wait to see the old farts' faces when they see this." Tsunade gleefully imagined the looks of shock on Koharu and Homura's faces. Maybe they'll die of a heart attack. Tsunade giggled, causing Jiraiya to look over in concern.

"You okay, Tsuna-"

He was cut off by the chakra-laced punch colliding with his skull.

"Come on, you pervert, let's hurry up and get back home."

With that, the two Sannin and one assistant set out to return to Konoha, blissfully unaware of the disaster that lay ahead.

The next day, Naruto was waiting at Team 7's normal training ground waiting for his teammates to show up. Patience and tranquility were not traits that were generally associated with Naruto, so after sitting around for a few minutes, he decided to get started himself. After a few light stretches and warm-ups, Naruto crossed his hands into the familiar hand seal and shouted out Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Twenty clones surrounded the Jinchuuriki and leapt as one towards the original. 'Showtime' he thought, pulling out several shuriken.

Throwing the shuriken, he was pleased to see that most of them hit their mark, effectively dispelling the clones. An intrepid clone leapt forward only to be kicked in the face. The remaining clones started to cautiously circle their creator. The original Naruto charged forward, 

fists flailing and managed to catch the clone in the ribs. The remaining clones ran straight at Naruto, who started to charge up a Rasengan. The clone army and the swirling maelstrom met, causing the remaining clones to poof out of existence.

'Heh, looks like I'm still the best Naruto after all, gonna be Hokage-dattebayo. Hmm, when will Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan come? Maybe I'll ask Sakura-chan if she wants to go eat ramen. Mmm ramen. 

Oh boy oh boy miso ramen, pork ramen, and some shrimp ramen, I can't wait. Hey! I have a coupon for a free bowl at Ichiraku's. Ramen, ramen, ramen, ramen, ramen… what the…?'

Naruto was roused from his musings by the appearance of several ANBU who quickly flanked the jinchuuriki with drawn weapons.

"Uzumaki-san, your presence is requested at the council immediately. You will come at once."

Naruto shrugged, maybe Tsunade was resigning and he was named immediate successor. Wait a second, Tsunade was out doing some secret Hokage stuff, so what the hell did they want? Naruto allowed himself to be shushined out of the training grounds and into the Hokage tower. 'I so have to learn that. Then teme wouldn't stand a chance against me-ttebayo!'

Walking down the hallway, Naruto tried to strike up a conversation with the ANBU, asking them about their missions, weapons and training, but they all stayed silent. Finally, they reached a large wooden double door, which Naruto knew led to the council's chambers. He was surprised when the door opened, revealing Sakura and Kakashi with smiles on their faces. 'Hey, maybe we're all getting promotions from bringing back Sasuke-teme. One step closer to Hokage and all the ramen I can eat.'

"Hey there, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Ah, Naruto, sorry about being late, but we were summoned to the council earlier."

"That's alright-ttebayo, Kakashi-sensei; they called me in as well. Ne, Sakura-chan, how about we go get some ramen later today?"

Subduing her immediate rejection reflex, Sakura thought for a second. 'It couldn't hurt, and I guess I ought to do him a favor for helping save Sasuke-kun.'

Sakura smiled and nodded.

"That's alright, Sakura-chan, I'll just- EHH?"

The pink-haired kunoichi winked at Naruto and walked out with Kakashi. Before Naruto could turn around to make sure his ears weren't playing pranks on him, he was roughly pushed inside the council room. Naruto was about to yell at the rude ANBU, but bit back his retort and silently gulped as the door slammed shut. Dense as he was, he somehow knew that he wasn't getting that 

promotion today. The grins the council members were sporting weren't the same grins that Teuchi and Ayame wore when giving him an Uzumaki special 'on the house.' These were smiles that brought to mind visions of Orochimaru getting ready to play with little kids.

Over at Ichiraku's ramen stand, Teuchi and Ayame sneezed, which caused Ayame to unwittingly knock a dish of Suna death peppers into a bowl of Ramen. The buxom waitress then placed the hazardous bowl in front of an unsuspecting Rock Lee.

Elsewhere, Orochimaru was giddy with excitement. He was furious when he found out that the Uchiha had been recaptured by a genin squad that had managed to kill his elite Sound Four and Kimimaro. The reason for the Snake Sannin's happy demeanor was the Playboy scroll in his hands. Indeed, lured by the promise of underage boys at play, Orochimaru was conned into purchasing common softcore smut. Stifling the strange urge to sneeze, he gingerly opened the scroll, only to scream in fury when the busty blonde bombshell was revealed.

Back in the council chambers, Naruto had finished describing his battle with Sasuke and the events leading up to the confrontation, as well as snippets of their past interactions.

"… so then I picked up Sasuke-teme and brought him back to Konoha, and then Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei to the hospital."

The council members looked at one another without speaking. An imperceptible nod passed among the members before Danzo, leader of the mysterious ROOT, spoke up.

"Boy, do you swear that you have told us the whole truth? Know that lying to the council is a serious offence."

"Of course I do, dattebayo!"

Homura smirked and snapped his fingers, instantly summoning two ANBU. The first slapped a demon suppression seal on his forehead while the other clasped his hands and feet together with chakra-binding handcuffs, causing Naruto's eyes to widen.

"What the… what's going on?"

Hyuuga Hiashi stood up.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are charged with reckless endangerment of your team, attempted murder of a Konoha nin with an assassination jutsu multiple times, attempted release of a demon, and perjury during your testimony regarding your crimes."

Through his constricted throat, Naruto could only ask, "Huh?"

Danzo cleared his throat, holding up two scrolls.

"I have here the recorded testimonies of Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi, both of which concur with each other and to an extent match with yours. However, there are a couple of critical points where the details don't match"

He unsealed the first scroll and pumped some chakra into a seal, causing an image of Kakashi to float above the scroll. The masked-nin was speaking.

"Honorable Elders, although I was not part of the retrieval team, I had my summon Pakkun travel with them to assist the search. Before I came here, I asked him to give me the details of Naruto's battle with Sasuke.

"The two were evenly matched throughout most of the fight. Fortunately, neither of them was using lethal force, they were trying to knock the other out. Right when the fight was about to come to a close, Naruto started to use Kyuubi's power, which gave him the advantage momentarily. From the account given to me, it appears that he was being possessed by the demon in order to defeat Sasuke. Before Naruto could deal the finishing blow, the curse seal started to activate.

"From what Pakkun has said, it appears as if the presence of Kyuubi's youkai was strong enough to draw out the evil influence of the curse seal, which Sasuke had been fighting for the past few months. By then, both sides were ready to collapse from exhaustion. Naruto created a rasengan and Sasuke countered with the chidori.

"However, before the attacks met, Sasuke was able to partially regain his senses. He powered down the chidori, but was struck by the rasengan in the chest. We were lucky enough to retrieve the last Uchiha and get him to the hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery. We estimate that he should be ready to return to active duty in a couple of weeks…"

The image slowly faded, leaving a stunned Naruto. Why the hell did Kakashi lie about the fight? The way he described it almost made Naruto seem like the bad guy…

Before Naruto could speak up or object, Danzo had unsealed the second scroll, and an image of Sakura was projected.

"Sasuke-kun has always looked out for the good of the team. It was thanks to him that we became genin in the first place. He was the one who impressed Kakashi sensei enough to not fail us right away, and then he figured out the true meaning behind the exam when he gave Naruto-baka some of his food.

"Then, on our first C-ranked mission, Sasuke-kun saved us multiple times, even when Naruto and I were too frightened to move. In our first fight, he managed to save the both of us before Kakashi finished things up, and then later, when Zabuza trapped Kakashi, Sasuke-kun managed to save him by getting Zabuza to release Kakashi.

"Even after he got that horrible curse seal, he was still thinking about Team 7. He saved Naruto and me from that Gaara, even after Gaara knocked me unconscious. Then, when Naruto 

challenged Sasuke-kun to a fight in the hospital, Sasuke-kun only accepted to try to help the baka to blow off some steam. Thank goodness Kakashi-sensei managed to stop Naruto before he could use his rasengan…"

Naruto didn't bother to listen anymore and instead closed his eyes. The pain of betrayal was too much for the jinchuuriki. A familiar voice growled in the back of his mind.

'Kill them, rip them to shreds'

'Let me take control. That seal and those puny mortals mean nothing to us if you let me take over'

'I will grant you the power to take your revenge. You will be a god among ants'

'I will never give in to your false promises and evil intent. I intend to honor the sacrifice of the Yondaime Hokage to the end of my life. If I can cast you back into hell with me, then even better.'

'You foolish mortal, we could rule the world, and yet you shun my power for a village that has turned its back on you from the moment you were born. I know of the hatred you harbor. You just need to let it go, and I would lead you from there.'

'I am not afraid of you, Kyuubi.'

With a hardened resolve, Naruto once again faced the smirking council members. Apparently, the recording of the pink-haired kunoichi had finished playing.

"We also have a written testimony from Uchiha Sasuke confirming these statements. We will now pass our judgment."

"Uzumaki Naruto, we find you guilty of all aforementioned crimes. You will be placed in a maximum security prison until we decide on your punishment. For your sake, do not make any attempt to escape."

With that, Naruto was whisked off to prison.

Once Naruto was gone, Danzo turned back to the other council members.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the opportunity of a lifetime has been laid before us. The Hokage has left town, making Homura and Koharu the final decision makers regarding shinobi matters. Normally, a situation like this would warrant a harsh reprimand as well as a two month suspension from missions. However, in the case of an extreme violation of the shinobi conduct, as determined by a unanimous vote by the council members, the punishment can be immediate execution, public or private. I trust that all of you on the council are in support of the motion to immediately execute the demon?"

Looking over the nodding heads and shouts of assent, some more enthusiastic than others, Danzo couldn't help but smile.

'If I can't have the demon as my tool, then I must exterminate him.'

"I assume you all wish to make this a public spectacle. We must hurry if things are to run smoothly."

A few days later, over at Team 7's training ground, Sakura was fiddling with a scroll that the council members had given her earlier that day.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, is Naruto be alright?"

Kakashi smiled. "Of course, Sakura, since when have we ever had to worry about our blond baka? He's probably taking a break for a while. Maa, looks like I'll have to scold him for that when he shows up. Now why don't you open that scroll and see what's inside."

Sakura opened the scroll and pored over the contents. Her eyes grew wide and she squealed.

"I'm being promoted to chuunin!" 'One step closer to winning Sasuke-kun's heart'

Kakashi ruffled Sakura's hair, with his eye curving into a 'u'.

"Congratulations, Sakura, you're the first one on the team to be promoted, although you can be sure that Sasuke and Naruto are sure to catch up quickly. There should be a storage seal with your chuunin vest inside, take a look."

Sakura complied, and with a poof of smoke, her very own chuunin vest fell into her waiting hands. While she stood, admiring her new vest, a messenger bird flew overhead, summoning all available shinobi and civilians to the village's main plaza. Kakashi placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, breaking her off from her fantasies, and shushined the two of them back into the hidden village to pick up Sasuke and answer the summons.

Tenten was not a happy kunoichi at the moment. Her teammate Neji had been hospitalized with a stab wound through the hand, which was especially bad since Neji's Jyuuken relied on his hands. That meant that she had been stuck with the twin Green Beasts of Konoha alone. They were currently catching a light lunch at a nondescript ramen stand when suddenly, Lee's face turned dark red and smoke started to leak out of his ears. Tenten started to back away, not knowing exactly what was wrong, but wanting nothing to do with her youthful teammate.

"YOSH! THIS RAMEN HAS STOKED MY FLAMES OF YOUTH LIKE NO OTHER! AYAME-CHAN, YOUR YOUTHFULNESS HAS INSPIRED ME TO NEW HEIGHTS! IF I DO NOT MATCH THIS YOUTHFULNESS TODAY, I WILL RUN AROUND KONOHA 500 TIMES BACKWARDS, AND IF I FAIL THAT, I WILL CLIMB UP THE HOKAGE MONUMENT WITH ONLY MY THUMBS."

"LEE! YOUR UNDIMINISHED FLAMES OF YOUTH SHINE BRIGHTER THAN EVER BEFORE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

The two met in an incredibly manly man-hug while Tenten and Neji looked away in disgust. Since when was Suna Death Pepper Ramen an actual menu item? It was then that Neji spotted the messenger bird flying overhead.

Team 8 and Team 10 were gathered together at the barbeque restaurant eating lunch. Actually, Chouji was the only one eating while the rest tried to pick out uneaten pieces of meat from the grill. Ino and Kiba were yelling at Chouji for eating all the meat while Hinata tried to calm the two. Shikamaru was sleeping and Shino was calmly observing the group. It was good to be back and walking around. Shino wondered if Naruto would show up, as none of the rest of the retrieval team had seen him since the mission.

"Time to go, it looks like we've been summoned."

Asuma's gruff voice stopped the commotion. Why were they calling for a village-wide gathering? They had already announced Sasuke's return the day after the retrieval team made it back, and the Hokage was apparently still safe, according to the shinobi grapevine. The two teams decided to head towards the Konoha plaza, following the growing throng of people, civilians and shinobi alike.

Danzo looked over the large gathering before him. The citizens of Konoha were all together to witness the elimination of one of Konoha's greatest enemies. Surely a new era of prosperity was about to shine on Konoha, a rebirth out of the ashes since the passing of the late Yondaime. He raised his arms benevolently and began to speak.

"Friends, I stand before you as the bearer of great news. This past week has been a blessing to Konoha. Our beloved Sasuke Uchiha has been returned to us, our relationships with our allies are stronger than ever before, and our enemies are weaker than before."

There was a loud cheer from everybody as they reveled in the power of Konoha, the unity, brotherhood and compassion that defined their existence. Uchiha Sasuke, standing with Kakashi and Sakura, smirked and waved at the crowd.

"It is thanks to the hard work, dedication and sacrifice each of you have made for your village that has made this possible. The will of fire is strong within you all."

The cheers and applause rose to new levels as the people in the crowd turned to one another and congratulated one another, smiling. Indeed, they were all proud to be a part of Konoha.

Kiba grabbed Shino in a headlock, much to the indignation of the bug user.

"You hear that, bug-boy? We're fucking awesome!"

"Inuzaka Kiba, I share your enthusiasm, but you will kindly remove your body off my person before by insects drain you of every drop of chakra running through your coils."

Kurenai simply shook her head, except for the fact that they weren't both excellent trackers, the two were complete opposites and a general headache to be around. Enough was enough.

She hit the two upside the head to silence her bickering team. Danzo looked like he was about to start speaking again. Kiba turned his attention back to the stage, and Shino pushed his glasses further up his face.

"There are two shinobi amongst who have recently exemplified this spirit to its fullest, and although the details are classified, I wish for them to receive the recognition they deserve. Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura!"

Thousands of heads whirled as one to focus on the surprised, but smiling jounin and the slightly bashful new chuunin. The pair raised their hand to acknowledge the crowd. Sakura waited for the inevitable insult to her forehead from her long-time rival, but all she heard was applause. How strange.

Fifty feet away, a blonde kunoichi was seething. How dare Sakura surpass her once more! She didn't even go on the retrieval mission to recover Sasuke-kun. If this kept up, Sakura would continue to advance and maybe even become Tsunade's apprentice. Before she could shout out in protest, Shikamaru's shadow froze her in place and Chouji clamped a large hand over her mouth, effectively muzzling the loud kunoichi.

"Man, so troublesome."

"Yeah, but what about Naruto?"

"MMMPHHH!"

On the inside, Danzo was laughing. Things were going so easily, why hadn't he done this before? Soon, his position as Konoha's savior would be secured by finishing the job the Yondaime started sixteen years ago.

"Thanks in part to the efforts of these two brave shinobi, we have finally been able to subdue one of our greatest enemies, a menace that has prowled through Konoha these past sixteen years. Too long, we have let this danger walk through our streets, threatening our women, elderly and children. But no more. From now on, my friends, we can walk down our peaceful streets without fear of being killed in cold blood. We can put our children to sleep knowing that they are safe from the evil influences of Konoha's greatest villains. Sixteen years. Sixteen years we have lived in fear of its terrible wrath, but I stand here today, Konoha to tell you that we may cast away these shadows of fear and instead step into the light, for today is the day that we slay the demon once and for all!"

Most of the older citizens erupted into the loudest cheers yet while the younger generation looked around, slightly confused but still applauding. Danzo's face, projected onto the large screen behind him for the benefit of those too far to see clearly, shone with righteous self-conviction.

In a poof of smoke, four ANBU appeared and started to perform a set of identical hand seals. Then, with a second poof, a large, hooded shinobi appeared with a mace in one hand and his masked prisoner's shoulder in the other. The four ANBU finished their hand seals at the same time and simultaneously called out Shishienjin no Jutsu. A shimmering, yet semi-transparent purple barrier of flame rose up, separating the crowd from the stage. For the four ANBU maintaining the jutsu, it was rather ironic that the very jutsu that prevented the rescue of the Sandaime during the Sound/Sand invasion was being used as to power Danzo's ideal of a new Konoha.

The executioner smirked. He lived for moments like this. The Sandaime rarely approved of public executions, and the Godaime had outright refused to allow such a practice. As the head executioner of Konoha, he had the privilege of watching countless criminals die by his hands in numerous manners. The moment when the Shinigami claimed his victim's soul, the fleeting terror that flew over the visage of all of the captives gave him an indescribable pleasure. Today, he was going to share this delight with all of Konoha. It was time, he noted, as Danzo gave the signal. He pulled out his knife and got prepared, removing his captive's mask and with a quick slash of his knife, his shirt.

Naruto felt the mask slip off his face, but kept his eyes screwed shut. Then he felt his shirt slide down to the ground as cool metal snaked its way up his body, ending at his throat. On the outside, he stayed silent without moving a muscle, but inside his mind, he was waging a fierce battle with the great fox demon.

'BRAT, THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US! WE STILL HAVE TIME, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE OFF THAT SEAL'

'I will not. I must protect those precious to me, even at the cost of my life.'

'THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU, YOUR WHOLE TEAM ABANDONED YOU! THE UCHIHA SENT A CHIDORI THROUGH YOUR CHEST! THE OTHER TWO BASTARDS STABBED YOU IN THE BACK JUST TO SAVE HIS SORRY ASS!'

'Say what you will, but I will not yield. You refused to heal me while I was being tortured in hopes that I would give in to your plans, but I did not. You're scared, Kyuubi, scared that a mere mortal, a child is capable of killing you.

'DON'T YOU GET IT, BRAT? AS PARTNERS, NOTHING WOULD STAND IN OUR WAY. YOU COULD DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, DESTROY THE WORLD, SAVE THE WORLD. HELL, YOU COULD CREATE YOUR OWN WORLD. FUCKING THINK ABOUT IT! DON'T DO ANYTHING FOOLISH!'

'I have and I refuse to listen to you anymore. Farewell for now, Kyuubi. I'll see you in hell soon.'

'AAAAARGH'

Resigned to his fate, Naruto raised his head to face for the last time the village that he had fought and bleed for.

Kakashi's lone uncovered eye widened in horror. 'This can't be happening… it wasn't supposed to turn out this way.' Next to him, a pale-faced Sakura was trying to understand the situation.

"K-kakashi-sensei, why is Naruto up there? Why are they going to kill him? What did he do?"

The copy-nin was stunned and couldn't answer. Dimly, the shinobi part of his mind registered the fact that Naruto was at the complete mercy of Danzo and the ANBU locked within the barrier. There was no way to save the blond jinchuuriki even if his muscles would obey. He could only hang his head in shame. Then, Naruto lifted his head and Kakashi reluctantly mirrored the action and looked his student in the eyes. Or he would have, if they were still there.

Knowing of Kyuubi's incredible healing powers, Danzo gave his ROOT free rein to inflict whatever torture they wished. The more sadistic shinobi were more than happy to oblige. By the time they were done, even the cruelest ROOT member held a grudging respect for the jinchuuriki. The boy, correction, young man had withstood every punishment ROOT had given without complaint. Even when they carved out his eyes, one by one, the only sign that he had felt any pain was the slight twitch in his neck. When they branded him in the forehead, Naruto acted as if he didn't notice.

'My God, what did they do to you, Naruto?'

As a battle-hardened kunoichi, there was little that Kurenai hadn't seen already. Watching shinobi kill each other was normal, and with the brutality of battle came shattered limbs, internal organs spilling out of bodies and the pervasive stench of death. The sight before her, magnified by the screen set up behind the stage, horrified and sickened her.

She fought the urge to throw up as she tried to tear her eyes away from the grizzly spectacle. Subconsciously, her medical training kicked in as she looked over his injuries. It looked as if both eyes had been dug out by a kunai. There was a large burn that started along his right cheek and trailed all the way down his body. His left arm looked as if it had been broken multiple times. She counted three, maybe four broken ribs. There was a stab wound in his stomach that had left a visible scar, which was almost as large as the fist-sized scar over his sternum. Finally, branded across his forehead were the words, "DEMON OF KONOHA."

Kurenai once again warded off the wave of nausea that had risen in her throat as she ended her brief medical diagnosis. Nearby, Ino was not as lucky as she emptied her lunch all over the ground. Kiba was about to launch into action to break through the barrier, but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Shikamaru shaking his head.

"SHIKAMARU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? WE CAN'T JUST LET HIM DIE LIKE THIS!"

"Kiba, calm down. An assault on the barrier is suicide itself. Even if we manage the impossible and disrupt the jutsu, our actions would qualify as treason and we would be declared missing-nin to be killed on sight. Is that what Naruto wants?"

"Shikamaru is right," confirmed Asuma while Shino nodded his assent.

"A-a-ano, Na-naruto-kun…"

The group turned towards the Hyuuga Heiress, wondering what she would say.

"He's smiling, but it's a sad smile, his real smile…"

And with that final thought, the execution of Uzumaki Naruto began to rousing cheers.

The executioner hit Naruto in the stomach with the mace, which sent him tumbling to the ground. A muffled scream pierced through the cheers of the crowd. Using his foot, he then flipped the blond over onto his back, face up. A swift swipe of his knife opened up a slit in his throat. 'Now, it's time to see how you die.' He lifted his foot and stomped down on the boy's chest; the increased pressure sent jets of blood spurting out of his throat. The executioner continued to pump on the boy's chest with his foot to the increased cheers and shouts of the crowd. 'Show me your face, the terror that grips man and demon alike in their last moments.'

Tsunade rushed through the gates, anxiously clutching her necklace. What was this feeling of dread that was overtaking her senses? The village looked normal enough, so it didn't look like there had been an attack by a hostile village, but the deserted streets were somewhat unnerving. Where were all of the villagers? Fingering her necklace, her mind wandered to her last meeting with Naruto before she left on her trip.

Flashback

"Nani? Baachan, you're going on a mission? Ne, ne can I come with you?"

Tsunade resisted the tempting urge to punch Naruto through the wall and instead smirked.

"Sorry brat, but this is a super-important Hokage-level mission that only Jiraiya and I can do, although Shizune is probably going to tag around."

"That's why I'm going to come along; I've got to get the experience if I'm going to become the next Hokage-dattebayo! Plus, you haven't been on a real mission in decades, so I should go with you to make sure you're safe."

"You think I'm weak, brat?" Tsunade brandished a glowing fist, causing Naruto to back up a few steps in caution. Insinuating that the Hokage was weak was almost as deadly as calling her old.

"No, it's just that you're one of my precious people, and I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you while you were gone."

Tsunade softened. She knew she was close to Naruto, but to hear his say it warmed her heart. She got up from her desk, walked over to Naruto and gave him a big hug, unwittingly sticking his face between her large breasts.

"Mmmrph"

She blushed and released the hug when she noticed the struggling Naruto. Naruto pouted for a while, but then suddenly brightened.

"Hey, Baachan, close your eyes for a second."

"Huh?" Tsunade warily complied.

She heard a light click and felt a light weight hanging from her neck. She opened her eyes and looked down, seeing her grandfather's necklace.

"Naruto…"

"This way, you'll be safe, ne? It's worked for me, so it will work for you, Tsunade-chan"

Narut stood up on his tiptoes and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead before leaping out the window into the streets. Tsunade stood there, dumbstruck with a slight blush creeping onto her face.

End flashback

Tsunade could hear a loud roar in the distance, in the direction of the village plaza. Something big was happening, and she didn't like it one bit. She gave a signal to Jiraiya and Shizune and they rushed forward with greater haste.

'Something is definitely wrong here'

For Naruto, everything was quiet for once. The incessant whispering for blood and gore was silenced, as the demon fox had likely retreated to some dark recess to contemplate its final moments of existence. Indeed, his mind was clearer than ever before. Was he alive? Was he dead? Pretty soon it would be all over. He barely registered the blow to the stomach and simply allowed gravity to pull him to the ground, reveling in the absence of the demonic presence that had plagued his entire life.

'It's so peaceful. Is this what it's like to be normal? It's nice.'

He continued to smile, enjoying his final moments of peace and allowed the light of death to chase away the darkness of his life.

Outside the containment barrier, smiles and nods of approval could be seen on many of the onlookers' faces, but interspersed through the crowd were various ashen faces. The sheer brutality of his incarceration and subsequent execution was something only seen within the deepest bowels of the Interrogation and Torture Department. The mere thought that something to this degree could be carried out in public and on a fellow leaf-nin was shocking.

It was sickening how the shinobi could monitor Naruto's passing life by the amount of blood that spurted out of his throat after each stomp. After what seemed like an eternity, the jet of blood started to die down, and with that, the life of the blond jinchuuriki came to an end. The executioner lifted the blond by the back of his neck and presented the still body to the crowd.

This was it, the culmination of Konoha's redemption. The shouts of joy from the audience continued to rise in volume, only to be shattered by the heart-rending cry.

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

It was the desperate plea of a lover finding her true love dead, or that of a mother nearing her deceased child. There was a bone-chilling silence as the crowd watched Tsunade rush forward to the execution platform, closely followed by Jiraiya and Shizune.

A chakra-enhanced punch sent the executioner into a wall, and a follow up rasengan sent him through the wall. Shizune, seeing that the executioner had been disposed of, launched a series of paralyzing senbon at Danzo, who quickly crumpled onto the floor.

Tsunade cradled the boy's head in her lap. Today was supposed to be the day Naruto would finally gain the recognition and love he rightfully deserved, but instead, it marked the end of his dismal life as the container of the Kyuubi. She looked at his face, blankly staring at the two holes where his eyes had once been. Those sapphire eyes that had always shone brilliantly whenever 

Naruto talked about defending Konoha and protecting his precious people were gone, plucked away by the ignorant bastards overseeing Konoha.

She raised her head and looked over the village with disgust before shushining away with Naruto in her arms.