Chapter 4: The Conspiracy Exposed.

The mood was tense as the clan heads entered the council chambers. Each member was silent as they entered the room. Even the normally lazy Shikaku Nara had a serious look on his normally bored face. Each member quickly took their seats, at the half circle table and began to wait in tense silence. The clan heads didn't know why they had been called here, but it was apparently serious as the civilian council members had not been invited. Curiously, the only civilian present was Mebuki Haruno.

After a few moments, the silence was broken when the doors opened.

They saw Tsunade and Jiraiya, holding a large folder in his hands, walked into the room, both looking incredibly serious. Soon after was another man. The man was old and thing with round eyes, and dark pupils. He wore a headpiece that consisted of a gray band around his forehead and a dark blue cloth framing his head, reaching his shoulders. The rest of him was covered in royal, expensive looking robes. This was the daimyo of fire country, Ozai. Flanking him were two samurai guards, and a third man.

He wore white and dark purple robes, with the Yamanaka clan symbol on his back, and had blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was not known to the members of the council, but he was clearly here at the daimyo's behest.

The three walked across the room. Ozai took his spot at a podium at the front of the table, and took a seat.

Jiraiya and Tsunade approached the man.

"First, before we begin are all the members here?" the daimyo inquired, looking around with a blank expression, seeing no empty seats, "Are any of the clan heads being substituted today?"

Upon receiving "No" for an answer the daimyo spoke.

"Good," the daimyo said, "Now, you are probably all wondering why you have been called here today. Tsunade, please explain."

Tsunade nodded and said, "Before we begin, I have something to announce. As of two days ago, the civilian council has been disbanded as they have shown they have been unable to keep secrets or remain unbiased in certain situations. As she has shown maturity, and the ability to see past her own issues, I have allowed Mebuki Haruno to sit in as a single councilor who shall remain in charge of civilian matters."

The woman in smiled thankfully at the woman. She had seen how out of control and arrogant the civilian council was beforehand, and she had a feeling if it kept up something very stupid was going to happen. The ninja council members all nodded in understanding as they had seen that Mebuki was capable of remaining unbiased and acted as a gray area in these times.

Tsunade continued, "Moving on, the first matter is the sentencing of Sasuke Uchiha. The second is the running away of Naruto Uzumaki."

The daimyo nodded and said, "After looking through all the evidence I am surprised that this has been allowed to go on. I have read up on Sasuke Uchiha with the information given to me by the various reports found across the village. He had been already marked a flight risk before his desertion. In accordance for his crimes Sasuke Uchiha shall be stripped of his ninja rank, have all information from the hidden sound village extracted, and any information involving Konoha wiped. After having his chakra sealed he shall be sentenced to life in the Blood Prison. Upon doing so, his assets shall be liquidated."

This brought a few nods from the group. Sasuke was an asset sure, but the boy was an obvious flight risk and he was obviously mentally unstable. It was clear that something needed to be done. Mebuki knew she was going to be getting an earful from her husband, but she didn't care.

Tsunade said, "With that matter taken care of, we shall move on to the matter of Naruto Uzumaki."

Tsume suddenly said, "If you are ready to bring him back to face trial, I can send out some of my best trackers on your orders, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade nodded and said, "While I thank you that Tsume, we have a more pressing matter to deal with involving Naruto Uzumaki, besides his defection."

There was a moment of confusion from everyone, except for Inoichi who nodded in understanding.

Tsunade continued, "We have come to believe that there was a conspiracy put in place that would have Naruto Uzumaki expelled from the village on false charges. A conspiracy that some of your children may have unknowingly participated in."

This was greeted with looks of surprise from the council and outrage from some of the more brazen ones, namely Tsume.

"My son Kiba would never willing betray one of his comrades," she shouted, "Loyalty is something that is hardwired into every member of the Inuzuka clan."

Similar shouts came up from the clan heads defending their children.

The daimyo banged his gavel causing the chatter to die down.

He said, "We are not here to accuse blame. Thanks to the investigative skills of Inoichi Yamanaka and Jiraiya we have found proof that they did not willingly take part in this conspiracy. We also believe that we have those in charge of this conspiracy as well."

This resulted in a series of mumbles from the group. The fact that a conspiracy had been set up in the infrastructure of their own village.

The daimyo then stood up and said, "Bring in the accused."

The doors to the tribunal opened and someone was guided in. The figure was wrapped tightly in chains covered decked out in special chakra suppression seals. His hands were cuffed with special cuffs that kept his hands apart, and put metal lines between his fingers to prevent him from using hand signs for techniques. Standing in front and back of him were two ANBU each, for a total of four, all of them were ready to execute the man should he move in a way they don't like.

After being brought in, Danzo was pushed by the ANBU to his knees.

The sight of the hokage's advisor down on his knees and in chains shocked the clan heads as they looked on with shock. It made them incredibly nervous as they realized that this conspiracy was high up in Konoha's power structure.

Tsunade didn't allow herself to smile, but she felt a large amount of achievement at seeing the man who attempted to have her godson charged and arrested, while the traitorous Uchiha went free.

Flashback, three days ago, …

Tsunade sat in her chair as he drummed her fingers on her desk feeling a bit nervous. Why wouldn't she be nervous? She was about to go into a deep battle of politics with the Daimyo to determine the future freedom of her godson. She, Inoichi, and Jiraiya had spent many hours trying to get the information needed. She went through various mission reports with Jiraiya sending out word to his spy network to contact the clients who had paid for the missions, which was rather easy thanks to the smaller summons he used. Inoichi had gone through every member of the Konoha teams, even the sensei to help get their perspective of the missions, at least the ones they were on. The members of each team were quick to point out the inconsistencies in the mission reports. Well, except Sakura when it came to the wave mission as she, along with Kakashi hadn't witnessed much due to the mist at the time and being stuck guarding Tazuna.

The three were shocked to find that they mission reports that they found were altered, showing Sasuke to be an exemplary ninja, Sakura to be above average, and Naruto to be, in summation, dead weight. They originally suspected Kakashi, but after comparing his hand writing from some recent paperwork, having been framed by a teacher at the time, to commemorate the time. After realizing minor differences in the writing that couldn't be done by Kakashi, they believed they had enough evidence to put him out of suspicion. They would have gone into more detail on who was dirty, but they had to bring enough evidence to convince the daimyo and they didn't have the time.

She discreetly glanced out the corner of her eye at Danzo, Homura, and Koharu. The trio were currently in their office waiting for the daimyo to arrive as well, no doubt to bombard him with Naruto's trumped up charges and false evidence. While Danzo hid his well, the other two held a level of smugness about them that old her that they thought they hadn't been exposed.

Tsunade took another breath to calm herself, before the intercom on her desk fired up.

"Lady Tsunade," the voice of the secretary said, "The daimyo has arrived."

Tsunade let out a breath to calm her nerves and said, "Let him enter."

The door opened to reveal the Daimyo flanked by two of his personal ninja guards, wearing the familiar garb of the ninja guardians. Though she couldn't see them, she could only guess that the others were currently moving around the tower just in case.

"Lord Daimyo," Tsunade said with a respectful tone, "I welcome you to our village, but I wish it were under much better circumstances."

The daimyo nodded and said, "I understand that this matter is of the upmost importance especially given how it revolves around the security of my ninja village."

Tsunade nodded before she turned towards the three advisors and said, "You three…out."

The three advisors looked shocked at Tsunade's sudden dismissal of the two did not sit well with them.

"Lady Tsunade…" Danzo said as he tried to convince her to let him stay, but she cut him off, with a cold icy tone that left room for no argument.

"Danzo Shimura, I don't know who you think you are given what you pulled a few days ago, but I will not allow you to try to undermine my authority again. Now, you and the other advisors can get up and leave. This is a very important matter and I don't want any unnecessary information getting out."

Homura and Koharu looked upset, and Danzo didn't say anything, his years of mental training keeping him from showing his annoyance. He began to focus his chakra into his hidden Sharingan eye, putting suggestions in the woman's head.

However, after discovering the use of genjutsu on the members of Konoha, Jiraiya and Tsunade had come prepared. Under her desk, Tsunade applied some chakra to a seal that was hidden from view. A special-anti-genjutsu seal that Jiraiya had developed.

"I told you to get out," Tsunade said just as firmly.

If Danzo was surprised, he didn't show it. He simply frowned and walked out followed by the other elders. The daimyo's guards eyed the group curiously and were making sure that the two old men and old woman left the office and stayed out.

As the door shut the daimyo turned towards the remaining trio in the room.

"I am surprised that you have gotten rid of your advisor's Tsunade," the daimyo said, curiosity clear in his tone.

Tsunade answered, "I trust him as far as I could throw him."

Jiraiya stepped forward and said, "Lord daimyo, you are aware of the situation involving Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, correct?"

Daimyo nodded and said, "Yes, I was told that the Uchiha boy, had returned from an S-rank mission to spy on the hidden sound village and was attacked by his former teammate Naruto Uzumaki. Now I hear that the same boy has deserted the village."

Tsunade sighed and said, "Lord daimyo…there was no mission to spy on the sound village."

The old man looked shocked upon hearing that.

Using the silence as a chance to continue, Jiraiya said, "First of all, Sasuke was considered a flight risk by the sandaime before his passing. Following being given a curse seal, he willingly left the village to join Orochimaru in the hidden sound village."

Jiraiya then proceeded to hand the man a folder. The daimyo took it and skim through the various papers. He was surprised to read that multiple things in the files did not match up with what was sent to him.

Inoichi continued where Jiraiya left off, saying "We have learned recently the psychologist who was put in charge of Sasuke's mental evaluations had been bribed into keeping Sasuke's mental state a secret. Apparently, Sasuke was horribly traumatized by the death of his family."

The daimyo was shocked as he was shifting through the papers. He found a bunch of financial papers that had the name of the psychologist. There were some rather large amounts of money sent in, on dates that lined up with the dates of the evaluations.

Inoichi continued, "After realizing the corruption, I went through Sasuke's mind myself. He suffers from a massive inferiority and superiority complex, as well as PTSD, after being trapped in a powerful genjutsu by his brother Itachi when he left the village."

The daimyo went through the papers and was shocked about this. The papers he had been given were completely wrong. Sasuke wasn't some prince who was given a great mission he was a traitor and a liar. However, he was also curious about something.

"What about that Uzumaki boy?" Ozai asked, with a raised eyebrow, "How does he fit into this?"

Jiraiya said, "I can answer that for you. You see, Naruto was considered the dead last of his class. However, that was not due to a lack of talent, but rather bias towards him. Naruto, it turns out, had rather large reserves of chakra. Far more than what a normal academy student should have. The teachers didn't realize this immediately and labelled him a lost cause. At one point, I myself started training Naruto and I found that the boy was a diamond in the rough."

The daimyo was now going through a few more of the papers. He found the mission reports that praised Naruto for the work he did. As well as an observation from Jiraiya of Naruto's skills and abilities. He had to admit, despite not being a ninja, that Naruto's accomplishments were quite impressive even though people didn't seem to want to train him for being a "lost cause". He also compared them to the fake reports and was immediately able to pick out the biased words and fake praise of the Uchiha boy.

The daimyo then turned towards the trio and said, "Why would they do this? Why such blatant favoritism."

Jiraiya answered, "We aren't entirely sure. At this point we can only speculate that the civilians, and some of our shinobi, show favoritism towards Sasuke for his status as an Uchiha clan member. Some of them probably think that by getting in Sasuke's good graces, he would repay them in kind in the future."

The daimyo nodded. He had seen some people treat the nobles and wealthy in the capital better than some others. However, there was one last thing that had him concerned.

"And the Uzumaki boy?" he asked, "Why would they hold such a grudge against him?"

Tsunade sighed and said, "Naruto Uzumaki…is the jailor of the nine-tailed fox."

The daimyo looked surprised at this and was shocked. He had heard through some members of his court that the nine-tailed Jinchuuriki was amongst the leaf village. The thought of Naruto turning that massive beast upon the village in revenge made him break out into a cold sweat.

Tsunade quickly saw the look on his face and quickly added, "Inoichi did a mental evaluation a while back. He was mentally sound. However, we have found that there may have been a conspiracy to frame Naruto for assaulting Sasuke, possibly attempting to murder him, sending Naruto to prison and getting off with a slap on the wrist."

The color returned to the man's face as the realized the threat of the nine-tails wasn't present. However, the word conspiracy immediately made a deadly serious expression come up to the older man's face.

"What conspiracy?" he asked.

Jiraiya answered, "Between the faked mission reports we discovered, I did a mental evaluation on the retrieval team to get some clear images on what happened. In their memories, I sensed a genjutsu, a very discrete one, being put on them to make them go after Naruto. All of this centered around one person…Danzo Shimura."

Flashback End…

Tsunade smirked to herself as she saw Danzo pushed down to his knees. After giving him their evidence, Ozai had given the three days to get the evidence they needed. With many Yamanaka, after making sure they weren't in Danzo's pocket, found out some very interesting things about Danzo. They found out that Danzo had either bribed, blackmailed, or just straight up owned several people in the records department, allowing them to fake mission reports. They also found that the Uzumaki clan had been wiped out from the village historical records, which seriously pissed the blonde kage off.

Knowing that Homura and Koharu were somehow involved, the two advisors were taken to the I&T department. Depending on who they were, some of them were difficult and others caved in immediately knowing the jig was up in exchange for a lighter sentence, or just to get out from under Danzo's thumb. They also found out that Homura and Koharu had a part in this conspiracy. Almost immediately, and very discretely, the two elders were placed under hour arrest with their assets being seized.

The daimyo looked at the man and said, "Danzo Shimura, you have been brought before this tribunal to face the following charges: Conspiracy against a ninja of Konoha, conspiracy to commit treason, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. How do you plead?"

Danzo looked up to the daimyo and answered, "Not guilty."

The daimyo answered, "The defendant has plead not guilty. Let the records show this."

The rest of the council muttered amongst themselves.

The daimyo continued, "You may say you are innocent, but we have plenty of evidence that go to the contrary."

The man listed all the evidence provided by the trio's investigations and examinations. Obviously, the council was shocked at what they heard. They too had taken the words of the academy instructors at face value when it came to the grades. Many of them were smacking themselves for not realizing that there would be some prejudice and anger towards the boy for his burden. They were also shocked that Danzo managed to pull of all of this.

Danzo was shocked to find that many of his dirty dealings had been exposed. While they were recent, they were unable to get anything damning form the past, thankfully. However, if their investigation continued it would only be a matter of time before that happened.

"You have heard the evidence," the daimyo said, "Do you have anything to say in your defense, Danzo Shimura?"

Danzo looked up at the daimyo, realizing that the jig was up. He growled, "I did this for Konoha."

Tsunade scoffed and said, "Working to have an innocent boy banished, or worse, and have a traitor pardoned? How was that for the good of Konoha?"

Danzo answered, "The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was becoming too powerful! The Jinchuuriki was meant to be our villages main defense against the other villages and by holding the most powerful of the tailed beast, makes him our most powerful weapon!"

Inoichi asked, "And what does the Uchiha play into this?"

With a huff, Danzo answered, "I don't have to explain everything to you. History will know that I am right. The Jinchuuriki were made to be weapons of war and they should have remained weapons of war!"

Jiraiya snarled, "And you wonder why the second didn't nominate you for the title of Hokage."

Danzo's exposed glared hatefully at Jiraiya, while his hidden Sharingan eye burned as he wished to use it.

"You are a sentimental fool Jiraiya. You were brainwashed by Sarutobi's bleeding heart. His notions of peace made this village weak! With the nine tails as our personal weapon we would have wiped out the other villages, leaving Konoha at the top of the world, where it should be!"

To the others Danzo sounded like a patriot gone mad. He was not winning any allies here or anywhere else in the room.

"I have heard enough," the daimyo said, "You have heard the evidence. What is your judgement? Those who find him guilty?"

Practically every hand raised in the room.

"Innocent?"

No hands were raised.

"The verdict is set. Danzo Shimura you are hereby found guilty of all charges. You are to be sentenced to death tomorrow at 10 AM. Court adjourned."

Despite the setback, Danzo didn't go into a tangent like many of them expected. He was guided out of the room, not very gently, by the guards, he held his head high with dignity, at least the dignity a man condemned to die had.

"I'm glad that matter is settled," the daimyo said, "Now onto our next matter. The issue involving Sasuke Uchiha."

As he said this, Mebuki Haruno stood up and asked, "Daimyo-sama, permission to speak?"

The old man turned towards the woman and said, "Permission granted, Lady Haruno."

The woman said, "I understand that the boy committed treason, and the punishment for that is execution. Is there a reason he is being allowed to live? Also do we tell this information to the rest of the village?"

The woman wasn't trying to keep the treacherous boy alive, she had merely pointing out a fact. She knew herself how the members of the village practically praised the ground the Uchiha walked on because of his status as a member of one of Konoha's founding clans. If the Uchiha was executed there would likely be a riot, which could put people in danger.

The daimyo said, "I understand your concerns, Lady Haruno. However, this is not up for discussion. Inoichi, please share with us what you learned from the Uchiha's mind."

Inoichi stepped forward and said, "First, Sasuke Uchiha was not kidnapped as many of the civilians would like to believe. He left willingly. After examining the memories of that mission from the retrieval team members, Choji Akamichi, Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, Shikimaru Nara, and Kiba Inuzuka, we learned that Sasuke had apparently gone for power, as he was seen, by Rock Lee, briefly in a transformed state like the members of the now deceased Sound Ninja."

The members of the shinobi council were mumbling amongst themselves. After hearing that, it was obvious that the Uchiha was a traitor to the village, especially since he went to that monster Orochimaru.

Mebuki Haruno sighed mentally from her seat. She had heard of how Sasuke was some prodigy amongst the remains of his clan, but she didn't see it. When her daughter was growing up she had heard of how he was some great student, and it seemed that was true. However, she saw him and how cold he was. It honestly made her afraid of what would happen if he did marry her daughter. Now she just hoped that what happened after this would snap her daughter out of this love struck fool phase she was in.

Inoichi continued, "Also by examining Sasuke's most recent memories I learned that the tales of Naruto accessing the Kyuubi's chakra was in fact true, but it was only after Sasuke willingly activated his curse seal. Naruto's fight was clearly a fight to survive, not an attempt to murder him like Danzo tried to make it look like."

The daimyo nodded and said, "In light of this, I believe death would be too swift for him, that is why I am having him sent to the blood prison, however, I understand many of you are for the usual punishment of execution."

The council members were split on the punishment at this point. While many of them wanted Sasuke to be executed they could also see the reason for this. Sasuke, like many an Uchiha before him, prided himself on his Sharingan. Doing this would no doubt be a far more fitting punishment and could see the reasons.

The daimyo said, "With that in mind we shall bring it to a vote. All for Sasuke Uchiha's execution?"

Tsume and Mebuki both raised their hands.

"Now those set for life imprisonment?"

Hiashi, Shibi, Inoichi, Chouza, and Shikaku all raised their hands.

The daimyo said, "The motion is carried. Sasuke shall be placed in Hozuki Castle, for the rest of his days. Inoichi Yamanaka, you are to immediately begin scouring Sasuke Uchiha's mind. Pull every secret from the sound village and wipe out all things he knows from Konoha. Are there any other matters we must discuss?"

It was at this point that Hiashi asked, "What is to be done about to Uzumaki boy? Is he to be put in the bingo book?"

The daimyo said, "After looking things over, it was decided that Naruto fled out of fear for his own safety. He will not be put in the bingo book as he has performed no great crime. However, if he should be encountered the shinobi should attempt to reason with him and convince him to return. We must keep this quiet, however, as we cannot let the other villages get wind that we have lost our Jinchuuriki."

The others nodded in understanding. It was clear Naruto left because he believed that there was no other way to get away from those who wanted to control him and had sent the group of ninjas after him. Plus, without their resident Jinchuuriki, the phrase sounding odd on their tongues, some of the other villages might become emboldened.

As the group filed out, they didn't notice that they had an unwanted visitor. Up in the corner of the room. A small object sat on the corner, hidden from view. The object was spider-like in shape and had a large camera set up on its back. The camera was on a ball joint allowing it to move around. It was also camouflaged, making it appear invisible.

Back on the moon with Merlin and Naruto…

The main screen in Merlin's base showed the image of the trial to the Galvan and human. Naruto just stared in shock at seeing the trial and was surprised to see Tsunade take charge of things alongside the daimyo, Jiraiya, and Inoichi.

"And they say there isn't anything good on TV these days," Merlin mumbled as he took a bite out of what looked like a bug, "I figured out about the trial through my spy drones. I had a feeling you would want to watch, Naruto."

The blond in turn nodded and asked, "Thanks. At least I know that not everyone turned on me. There is one thing I don't understand though. Why would that Danzo guy try this? I mean I know that a lot of people hate me because of the fur ball, but why?"

Merlin sighed and said, "Truth be told, it is hard to understand motives. In Danzo's case, it was for power. He saw a chance for his village to become great and eternal with the power of the nine tails and he went with it. Damn whatever consequences there might have been. You need to understand that there are people like that Naruto. Those who will throw away their comrades and allies for power, money, or any number of things. But worse are those who have no meaning behind their actions. They only want to watch the world burn."

Naruto shuddered at the thought, and nodded. Orochimaru had experimented on humans to get power and betrayed his village. Sasuke joined him in his quest for revenge. Danzo had been a puppet master.

"So, what does this mean for you boy?" Merlin asked, "Do you intend to return to your village now that you know that Danzo was behind it all?"

Naruto sighed and said, "I don't know, Kaeru-sensei. After everything that's happened…I don't know if I should go back to Konoha or not."

The amphibian alien nodded and said, "Don't worry, Naruto. When the time comes…you'll know what to do…and don't call me Kaeru!"

Naruto chuckled a bit at the alien and took a bite out of the bar he was eating. Naruto immediately blanched and gagged slightly.

He looked the bar over and said, "I know these bars are supposed to be nutritious, but do they have to taste so bad?"

Merlin moved towards his own meal and said, "Well, if you have problems with that, maybe you should have some of mine."

Upon seeing a collection of what appeared to be dried up old bugs, Naruto immediately denied it.

"No thanks, I'm good," Naruto said quickly before taking another bite out of the awful tasting bar.

Naruto mentally wept and thought, 'I miss Ichiraku."

Cut! Okay, this was mostly a filler chapter. We learn of Danzo's punishment and the results of Tsunade's, Jiraiya's, and Inoichi's investigation into the strange happenings. Next chapter will feature a time skip, but not too big.

Sorry about the long wait, but I got caught up tin the holidays and my classes started up again and it's been taking up a lot of my time.