Away

"What the heck do you mean they're convicting him?" Fugaku roared.

"The Kyuubi will have to account for his sins. That is the Will of the Village."

It was broadcast throughout the Fire nation for a month.

The Trial of the Kyuubi.

Every household in Konoha signed petitions and held protests to punish the Kyuubi for the massacre it caused.

The Council decided to hold a trial to calm public outrage.

Fugaku stood there terrified in the Hokage's office. Five months. They were convicting a five month old child. Ridiculous.

Danzo and the rest of the Council sat cold faced and stoic.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent. He couldn't look at Fugaku.

He had no face for it.

He had let his successor down.

Kushina.

Uchiha.

Naruto.

The child was going to atone for the mistakes of adults.

Tonight, his fate would be decided.

Tonight, Namikaze Naruto would be damned to reach the gates of his hell on Earth.

Mikoto was hospitalised with Sasuke. Itachi stayed with her as her caretaker. He was waiting in the crowded lobby with Sasuke while the nurses bathed his mother.

He got used to the smell of disinfectant after staying at the hospital for a month. Mikoto was improving but she had rapidly lost a lot of weight and gained some white hair. Itachi worried a lot and he didn't have enough sleep.

Today, the hospital lobby was noisy unlike any other day. It was evening time but many nurses, doctors and patients clamoured together in excitement. They all had happy faces. Those happy faces stared at the T.V. screen waiting.

A news channel was on with a live telecast. It showed a courtroom with a man garbed in red and white sitting on the judge's seat. He was the esteemed Fire Nation's Fedual Lord.

They were waiting.

Waiting for good news. And it came.

"The Kyuubi no Kitsune... for its crimes of genocide...will be sentenced to..."

He was interrupted by a cry.

"Uwaaaa!"

Naruto was crying. No. The Kyuubi no Kitsune was crying. It was no child. It was a monster.

The people in the lobby shuddered at the image of the monster.

A skinless creature lay in a cage covered in lacreations that burned with red fox fire. 

"Uwaaaa!"

A monster with a child's voice.

"...w-will be sentenced for..."

Itachi recognised that creature. It was his milk brother. The one responsible for making his mother despair. And under countless gazes...

"..for life."

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Dark thunderclouds rolled through the skies of the Fire Nation. It clad the ground in a continuous shadow joining every living thing together with the dead.

An ebony box was being transported away by eighty ANBU agents some samurai and the Third Hokage. It was a major S ranked mission and no other nation could get its hands on the box or there would be grave consequences enough to start the Third Shinobi War from erupting all over again.

It was small and black with tubes running through some holes. Sarutobi Hiruzen held it close to his chest, tenderly as if it would break if he tilted it even a little.

They soon reached their destination. Deep within the forests of Hi no Kuni, at its shared border with Yu no Kuni near the Valley Of Hell sat a newly constructed structure. It was merely a stump—a single storey but its roots stretched out in deep into catacombs.

A group waited at the entrance for them. At its head stood a man seven feet tall with white hair and butterfly blue robes. He had a smile on his face that lit up as soon as he noticed the Third coming.

Both sides were at a standstill.

"What are Yugakure shinobi doing here?"

The white haired man– Ryūki, spoke with a leer.

"Could it be that the Hokage was unaware?"

"Your Fedual Lord as signed a pact with us. From now on, we will also be authorised to work on this case along with your men."

Hiruzen was furious. They knew. The council knew but hid it from him. They knew he an Fugaku were against this so they excluded them despite being their superior. And who was the one who whispered into the Fedual Lord's ears this time? Danzo?

"Well, Lord Third, your men are already waiting below. Your mission has ended. Hand the box over."

Ryūki interrupted the Third's  thoughts.

Hiruzen's grip tightened. His throat had a lump. He couldn't. He couldn't raise his hands to give the ebony box away. He stared down at the box with blurry eyes yet he couldn't do anything. Tbe fedual lord's samurai were watching.

Ryūki got impatient. He stepped forward and grabbed the box but it wouldn't budge. The hokage held it too tight.

"Lord Third, your mission had been completed let go."

Hiruzen couldn't. He would hold on for just a second longer.

"Or could it be that the Third Hokage is going against the Fedual Lord? Could it be that you can't bear to let go?" Ryūki sneered.

His sneer jolted the Third and his fingers were pried open.

And so, the box was personally handed over by the Third Hokage's hands.

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Author's note:

What could that box be? Comment your theories :)