11.DEPARTURE

EAST DISTRICT OF

KONOHAGAKURE,

DANZŌ'S QUARTER....

"How was the case?" asked an impatient Danzō.

"This is the report regarding the case! My Lord!" said the Root anbu. The Root ANBU then handed over the report related to the case to Danzō who took it and started reading it.

"Seven years?" asked Danzo in disbelief. The Root ANBU nodded in affirmative.

"What was Hiruzen doing there? Seven years is just too much, the Jinchūriki won't be able to even learn to properly wield his chakra with the Chakra Restraint Seal let alone become a powerful weapon for Konohagakure. It would be too late by then. What was Sarutobi thinking! You... You incompetent fool of a Hokage!" screamed Danzo in frustration and then thought angrily, "Curse you Itachi! Curse you Uchiha clan! Even in death you are harming the village. Damn you all! Damn you all to hell!"

He was seething in anger and is close to losing his temper. He had no doubt Hiruzen will upgrade the security and switch out all of the guards at the shinobi prison which will made it nearly impossible to get one of his Root ANBU inside the prison to train the container since extricating the Jinchūriki from the prison is now out of question. The only thing that he was a bit pleased with were the orders that Sarutobi had passed concerning the container. The Third Hokage has made it illegal to talk about the boy or the incident which led to the imprisonment. Danzo didn't want any information to get out about the boy.

After the Nine-Tails' attack, he had wanted everyone to think that the Nine-Tails was gone for the good and had been defeated by the Fourth Hokage. But Hiruzen losing himself to sentiments had stupidly revealed to the entire village about the existence of the boy. How naive! Unfortunately now because of both, his and Hiruzen's blunders, the boy will be sent to prison and his chakra will be completely sealed. By the time the container will be released from the prison, his effectiveness as a shinobi would be slim to none and his effectiveness as a weapon would be almost zero. This had been terrible. His plan was so good but now it has become his ultimate failure. All because of that incompetent Hiruzen who can't even control a bunch of civilians due to the softness of his heart.

"Lord Danzō! I am sure the Hokage must have thought something. He was unusually calm despite the sentence being passed against his beloved Jinchūriki. And the fact that he is a Jinchūriki can be used for the boy's early release from the prison. Can't he do that?" asked the Root ANBU.

"Ah... Yes! I forgot about that. Then Sarutobi will probably recall the Jinchūriki back to Konohagakure in one or two years time after everything cools down. That's good!" said Danzō in a pleased tone.

ONE DAY AGO,

ANBU HEADQUARTERS,

SECTOR-C,

HOLDING CELL.....

Naruto Uzumaki was sitting on his cot in the holding cell that had been his home for nearly five days. The cell was about four foot by eight foot and had a sink, a toilet, a cot, and a single light on the ceiling. The walls were the same concrete that the rest of the facility was made with. He was currently staring at the opposite wall from his cot... again.

The walls were partially covered in graffiti and etchings that probably the previous prisoners had drawn or carved into the wall. Numerous individuals had tallied out the number of days of their stay in this cell, apparently the longest was twenty-three days. In another area, a deranged individual had copied the same phrase over and over again, "'THE CAKE IS A LIE.'" Of course, Naruto didn't know exactly what the phrase meant but believed that he should turn down cake, if he was ever offered one. No one had offered him cake yet and given that the rest of the food he had been given was terrible, the cake must be just as bad.

Hokage-jiji has yet to visit him. He had sent an ANBU who had informed him about the charges against him. He wanted to believe that Hokage-jiji will protect him and he will be released soon but the grave tone in which the ANBU(Dog) had informed him of his predicament did not help Naruto's mood or calm his fears. They had a long talk. Well, the ANBU talked and Naruto listened. The ANBU had assured him that everything will be fine, that Hokage-jiji will help him and he will be released but with each passing day he is losing hope because if everything was going to be fine then why has jiji hadn't come to visit him. He had started regretting his decision to accept the apartment from the Hokage-jiji because if he hadn't, he would have been fine in the forest. He wouldn't have been imprisoned. Ever since he got the apartment, the Uchiha Police had been very mean to him so he had thought that by pranking them he will not only humiliate Sasuke but also get back at the Uchiha Police Force for being mean to him. And now because of that he is in prison and from the tone of the ANBU, he had concluded that the case isn't in his favour. While Naruto did not ask, he had wanted to know why hasn't Hokage-jiji had visited him yet, he had felt very betrayed and also what are the chances of the case getting in his favour.

After he learned of the charges against him which indicates that he may have killed two people and is an accomplice of a clan-killer, Naruto had never felt so much fear in his life. Jiji has always asked him to be patient and assured him everytime that one day the villagers will understand him.

"I mean seriously, I am just an eight-year old child and they are the adults for a reason and Hokage-jiji wants me to understand, not them. What is wrong with the people of Konohagakure?! I will never understand!" He wanted to scream. He wanted to go back to his apartment and eat ramen, not some yucky prison food. He wanted to wear his orange jumpsuit again not some stupid prison clothes. He wanted to scream at jiji. He wanted to ask jiji, why he hasn't visited him a single day in the prison. Jiji has promised him that he will always help him and stay by his side. Isn't promises are meant to be kept? That's what jiji has always told him. So why jiji isn't holding up his promises? Why can't he be allowed to be present at his own trail? There are so many unanswered questions and these questions are slowly, very slowly eating away his faith in Hokage-jiji.

The ANBU had informed him that the trail is going to take place tonight and that jiji had selected Morino Ibiki to represent him and a lawyer to defend him; and an arbitrator had been provided from outside of the village to preside over his case. But no matter whatever he do, the ANBU won't tell him about his chances at the trial of being declared innocent to at least give him some glimmer of hope.

Before the ANBU left, the said ANBU had assured him that jiji would do everything in his power to keep him safe and that for the time being, staying in this cell was the safest place for him in all of Konohagakure. He was losing his faith in Hokage-jiji with each passing moment because if jiji really wanted to save him then why hasn't he visited him so far. But he had no choice but to wait anxiously for tommorow, for the judgement day.

PRESENT TIME,

THE FIFTH DAY

SINCE THE MASSACRE,

ANBU HEADQUARTERS,

SECTOR-C,

HOLDING CELL.....

The trial had taken place and finished hours ago. Naruto hasn't been the same, ever since the visit of the ANBU Dog, yesterday. He hasn't even eaten or drank anything because everytime he thinks about the charges against him and the trial, his stomach churns. He was waiting for the ANBU for the past twelve hours to find out about the result of the trail. He had dark circles under his eyes due to the lack of sleep. He hasn't slept a single moment since yesterday and has almost lost his mind thinking about the trial.

"Hello Naruto-san!" said a voice.

Naruto snapped out of his trance and looked in the direction of the voice. Said voice belonged to some different ANBU(Boar).

{{{{A/N: Kakashi aka Dog didn't came because of the stress and he didn't wanted to face Naruto to tell him the result of the trail. That's why Boar came in his place.}}}}

"What happened? I was proved innocent, right? Jiji helped me, right?" asked an impatient and anxious Naruto with a voice full of hopefulness.

The ANBU remained silent for a moment and then said, "I am sorry!"

"What do you mean you are sorry?! I am innocent! I didn't murder anybody! I didn't do anything...." said Naruto and started snobbing and sniffing.

The ANBU remained emotionless and further explained, " Lord Third did everything in his power but despite his best efforts, the Arbitrator from the capital of Land of Fire that had presided over the case in place of a judge and jury had found you guilty on the basis of the evidences and proofs. I am sorry! You will be relocated to Konoha Strict Correctional facility the day after tomorrow. Your chakra will be sealed. Your punishment is seven years of Imprisonment."

The ANBU then moved towards the gate when Naruto grabbed his feet and said crying, "ANBU-san! sniff! sniff! Please! sniff! Please help me! sniff! I didn't do anything! sniff! I am not a murderer! sniff! I am just a child! sniff! I can't even depend myself from bullies at the academy! sniff! let alone kill two grown-up adult shinobis! sniff! I am begging you please help me! sniff! The villagers hates me for some reason I don't know! sniff! They must have framed me! sniff! I will never prank anybody! sniff! I will leave Konohagakure! sniff! I will go away somewhere else! sniff! Please help me! sniff! Don't send me away to prison! sniff! The bad people lives there! sniff! I am not a bad person! sniff! Please! sniff! I am just a child! sniff! You too probably would have a son or daughter of my age! sniff! Please have mercy on me! sniff! My parents died for this village! sniff! To protect them from the Nine-Tails! sniff! They were just like you, a Shinobi of the Leaf! sniff! I am innocent! sniff! Please don't do this to me! sniff! Please help me! sniff! I didn't do anything! sniff! Hokage jiji! Where are you?! sniff! I am scared! sniff! I trusted you! sniff! You promised me you will be forever by my side! Please! I need you now more than ever! sniff! I don't want to go to prison and live with those bad people! sniff! Please help me! I am begging you..."

The ANBU tried his hardest to free himself from Naruto but he won't budge. "To think I was celebrating the imprisonment of this miserable child! How blind I could be to not see the truth! To think I hated him all those years for the death of my brother, thinking he is the demon incarnate! I am ashamed of myself! How would I ever be able to face my son after this! He is no demon! He is just a unfortunate child! What will their parents think about us? What if... I am sorry! Naruto-san! I will make it up to you one day! I promise you! But I don't have a choice in the matter!" Boar thought feeling ashamed of himself for rejoicing Naruto's Imprisonment. He tried his best to free himself again but didn't succeeded so he gave a swift chop to the back of his head and knocked him unconscious, he then put him on the cot and left the cell.

ONE HOUR LATER,

HOKAGE TOWER,

HOKAGE CHAMBER.....

The Third Hokage has never been this ashamed of himself. For years, he had believed that Orochimaru, his beloved discipline's fall into darkness was his greatest failure but recent events had changed his mind. The boy who is like a grandson to him in all but name had now become his greatest failure. He only hoped and prayed that things would get better for the boy.

"How could they become so cruel to an orphaned child? To think I put my life on the line for this village!" He thought while ashamed.

"Knock! Knock!"

"Enter" commanded the aged Hokage.

"Hokage-sama! I have informed Naruto-san... I am sorry!" said Boar in a regretful tone.

"Huh! For what?" asked the Hokage in surprise.

"For being a sheep of the herd. For years I have blamed him for my brother's death. But now I have seen the truth. He is just a miserable child who just happen to have the misfortune of being chosen to carry that nightmare. Instead of us thanking him for holding that beast back and protecting Konohagakure everyday, we have made his life hell. I have never been so much ashamed of myself. Please let me have a chance to redeem myself. I could let him escape Lord Hokage. I am ready to bear the responsibilities. Please! Lord Third!" said Boar earnestly.

"I can't let that happen Boar! Currently, the prison is the safest place for Naruto at the moment." replied an astonished Hokage and then resumed, "Don't worry, Boar! He will be fine there. I have taken care of everything. You may leave!" ordered the Hokage.

Boar nodded and left the chambers.

THE NEXT DAY,

ANBU HEADQUARTERS,

SEALING CHAMBER.....

Naruto was currently unconscious, laying inside a large sealing area in a special section of ANBU Headquarters. The Third Hokage has personally sealed Naruto's chakra before he would be escorted to prison. A 'Five Elements Seal' was placed over the seal holding the Nine-Tails to make sure that Naruto cannot unknowingly access the fox's chakra due to the emotional turmoil which will prevent the fox from sending it's chakra into Naruto's Chakra system. The reason that this seal had not been placed on Naruto earlier was because the Third Hokage wanted to see if Naruto would have another episode of being possessed or influenced by the fox, which did not occurred at all in nearly the last five days, he stayed in the ANBU headquarters' holding cell. He was constantly monitored the whole time.

The Third Hokage was also placing several chakra seals to repress Naruto's own chakra and stop him from molding it. These seals were placed on both of his shoulders on the backside. While only one seal was needed, a second was placed as a contingency. All seals fail eventually. The weaker the seal, the faster it could fail. Even with Naruto's higher than average reserves, these two seals should hold for several years, until the time of his release from prison.

He wished that Jiraiya had been able to make it back to Konoha but his messengers had been unable to find his student before the trial. He had spread the word to several of Jiraiya's contacts that he knew of in Land of Fire and could do nothing but hope that the Toad Sage would eventually get the word. The Third Hokage sighed heavily as he looked down at the unconscious blonde haired boy laying on the floor. He really wished he could do more for the boy but even the Hokage had limits which most shinobi in Konohagakure didn't understand. They seemed to believe that the Hokage could do anything. Oh! How he wished that it would have been true.

It was obvious to the Third Hokage that the boy had been crying on and off after he heard about the outcome of the trial and the sentence. Naruto had been looking forward to become a ninja with the other students of his age. With the recent events, it looks like this was not meant to be for him and he was not going to tell the boy about his extremely limited chances of ever being a shinobi due to his chakra being sealed up. After going through such an ordeal, a news like that might cause the boy to suffer some kind of breakdown. Naruto was already near his breaking point when the ANBU sadly informed him that he had been sentenced for seven years of imprisonment for a crime he didn't committed. That had hit the boy really hard but it wasn't something unexpected afterall Naruto is just a child.

The Hokage had spent the entire day, since the ordeal of the court session had ended, going over the information on the shinobi prison facility and was getting help from Ibiki. They had already replaced nearly every guard with the ones that they knew could be trusted to treat the boy fairly and created a room just for Naruto. It wasn't like the regular prison cells there and he was also tucked away from the main population of the prison otherwise he might get corrupted. And the Hokage didn't want that to happen to Naruto of all people.

Various changes in schedule of the prison also had to be made to make sure that Naruto wasn't around any of the more infamous inmates at any point in time. Especially the ones incarcerated for committing heinous crimes. Ibiki had also suggested a brilliant idea of bribing several of the prisoners in order to watch out for the boy in the prison, and he was in complete agreement with the idea. Unfortunately only two inmates fit this criteria and they are perfect because no one in the prison messed with those two. They are non other than the Legendary Stupid Brothers who were in the prison serving a sentence for killing several fellow Shinobis over a food dispute. They were apprehended in Land of Fire and were placed in the ninja prison facility. They were both exceedingly strong and their bodies are extremely durable. Both had monstrous chakra reserves and were among the stupidest people the Third Hokage had ever met.

But their power is no joke. No one in the prison messed up with them or their food. They really only ate, slept and performed manual labor. If you fed them regularly, they weren't a problem. The guards didn't even bother locking their cell door cause they wouldn't run away from the free food that they were provided at the prison. He had decided to bribe them with a little bit of extra rations if they agree to watch out for Naruto during his stay at the prison and the most likely outcome is, they will readily accept this deal without any problem. Their cells were going to be moved close to Naruto's cell so that they could better protect Naruto.

The Third Hokage sighed once again. He wished he could do more for the boy. Dog and, surprisingly Boar had already volunteered to safely move Naruto outside of the village instead of the prison, despite the fact that they have full knowledge that it will be like committing treason against the village. But he had clarified them that it wasn't a good idea nor could he let them suffer such a disgrace.

The new orders/laws that he had placed over the village was accepted without any problem, everyone hated it but are willing to follow them atleast in public. Eventually though he knew that people would start to forget about Naruto and what he had been found guilty of, which was actually what he hoped for. In four or five years, he will recall Naruto back to the village and he hoped that the villagers won't see the boy as they do now or might even forgot about him altogether. It would make his life far better in this village, but that was just wishful thinking at best.

Both councils had demanded that they be given regular updates on the boy, at the very least once every six months. He could only guess the reason behind this that the Shinobi Council members just wanted verification that the boy is where he was supposed to be and the Civilian Council members wanted to feel assured that the boy was locked far away.

In any case, he had done all that he could. If Jiraiya was here then it may have been a different story. Oh! How he wished that his wayward student would arrive before the trial then they together might have possibly convinced the arbitrator to have Jiraiya watch over the boy and take him on outside of Konohagakure on his trips instead of to the prison facility. That way someone who was knowledgeable enough about the seals would have been always near the boy and Naruto would be away from Konohagakure. He had nearly suggested it at the meeting after the trial but because Jiraiya was not there and there was no guarantee when or if he would arrive, he could not put forth that suggestion with any hope of success.

He had upgraded the security and have changed the guards at the prison facility for Naruto's safety purposes. From now on, he would also have to screen all of the guards before assigning them to guard the prison facility. Before Naruto was relocated there at the prison facility tommorow, he would be making several arrangements and changes at the prison at the monetary expense of the village. If the civilian council disagreed with it then he would simply tell them that it was done to upgrade the security at the prison so that Naruto won't be able to break out of it. They would easily accept that lie and will probably put forth a small fortune of the villages budget to keep Naruto as far away from them as possible and locked up as tight within the prison as possible. That would make the villagers happy and will keep Naruto as safe as possible.

And unfortunately, the boys career as a shinobi would be almost finished by the time his sentencing is over. He had unlocked his chakra but hasn't learned to properly mold or channel it. And now it will be sealed off for at least four to five years. It would made it extremely difficult for him to either train him or to harness his chakra. The seal would made him suffer and probably create some problems for him. It wasn't a case of chakra reserves but more of the Chakra pathways not being properly developed before a person finished puberty which inhibited them from being able to correctly mold and channel chakra. After puberty is over, chakra pathways are 'locked' in a way for those that have not developed them properly or extensively used their chakra will make it all but impossible to correctly use the chakra. No amount of training would rectify this problem.

When someone unlocked their chakra at an early age, with training, it begins the process of enlarging the Chakra pathways and strengthening it for proper molding and channeling. The Chakra pathways will continue to enlarge with continuous usage and training throughout a person's early adulthood and then it's growth slowly diminishes until it completely stops at around the age of twenty-five years, the age at which a Shinobi is considered to be at prime of their life.

If a person did not properly unlock or make use of their chakra at all before puberty then their usefulness as a Shinobi is slim to none. They would not be able to properly mold and channel chakra. In accordance with the punishment, Naruto's chakra would be sealed off completely and he would not be able to access it at all until after his sentence is over, which would made it very difficult for him to become a Shinobi. No matter how much chakra reserves he had, his pathways would not be able to mold or even properly channel Chakra.

THE NEXT DAY,

DAY OF THE DEPARTURE.....

Once Naruto had woken up after the sealing process, he had been introduced to five Shinobis who will proceed to take him to his final destination, the prison facility and they also explained the Seals placed upon him. The Third Hokage had finally visited him to apologise and had assured him that he is doing everything in his power to help him. But like a dead person Naruto had remained unresponsive. His eyes which, once were full of mischief is now dull. It broke the heart of the Third Hokage to see the once bundle of joy like this.

The Third Hokage then secretly smuggled Naruto outside the village with the squad of ANBU captain Dog aka Kakashi's squad. This was the first time in his eight long years that Naruto had been outside the walls of the village. He had expected that to happen when he would have become a Shinobi, alas fate seems to have some other plans for him. He never expected that he will go outside the village for the first time during a prison voyage.

During the entire journey to the 'Konoha Strict Correctional Facility', Naruto has remained silent, quiet and curled up to himself while hugging his knees. He looked broken. He didn't responded to anybody, not even when they reached their destination and the Prison Warden greeted him or the squad who had brought him here to said their goodbyes or any sort of response.

And why shouldn't he?! He isn't going on a happy journey or anything, he is going to a prison to serve a sentence of seven years, even though the Third Hokage had assured him that he will be released in four to five years, for a 'CRIME', he didn't committed.

He didn't believed Hokage-jiji... No! Lord Hokage even for a second anymore.

He will be back and he will get his revenge on those who had wronged him. He won't anymore try to win the hearts of the villagers, if they even have any nor will he forgive them. He will make them pay. He will made them experience hell on the earth, "To hell with their acknowledgements. To hell with the Hokage. To hell with the village of Konohagakure. From this day onwards... No! From this moment onwards, I will solely live for myself and myself alone!" thought Naruto angrily and very darkly as he took his first step inside the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, alongside the Prison Warden...