The Real Me

50

Lady Tsunade sighed. She held her hands in front of her head and her eyes were closed. She seemed to be in deep thought. Probably thinking about Naruto's "punishment".

She sighed a few times, and then finally she sat back and opened her mouth to speak but, was rudely interrupted by a middle aged woman from the Civilian Council. The woman was fat and ugly. Just the kind of person who would rejoice in personally slaughtering Naruto.

She banged her hand on the table and spoke in a loud fat lady voice," Kill him already."

This simple statement was backed by the rest of the Council which nodded and agreed.

The lady smirked and turned to Lady Tsunade. She was met with a pair of fierce eyes that glared at her and that was enough to shut the council up.

Lady Tsunade cleared her throat once again and spoke, "Naruto Uzumaki. You harmed Sasuke Uchiha didn't you?"

Maybe, just maybe she would understand? Naruto held on to the thin thread of hooe that he had, but still somewhere in his heart he knew it was bound to break.

"No." He replied. He had just finished saying it when the Hokage banged the table and shouted at him to stop lying.

Naruto was clearly taken aback.
What was her problem? When did he do anything to her? Did he ever say anything to her that would've made her hold a grudge against him? Not that he remembered?

"Lady Tsunade..." he said in a small voice. This wasn't how he would've reacted usually but she was Jiraiya's friend right? Surely Jiraiya would've told her that he wasn't like how the villagers spoke of him...

Lady Tsunade seemed to be having a hard time trying to decide what to say to him.
Of course, it wasn't an easy decision for her either. She knew that Naruto was not a monster. She knew that the villagers were a bunch of liers.
But she had responsibilities too. The elders pressurised her. The Civilian Council and the whole village was against this boy. What coukd she do?

A Legendary Sannin can't battle a whole a village. Especially the one she was supposed to protect.
But was it right to blame an innocent boy for things he hadn't even done? Of course not!

This was something that she absolutely couldn't agree with!
But then, then elders would demote her from this position and she would have no way of ensuring Naruto's safety.

This put her in a tough spot.

The Civilian Council grew impatient. A man stood and one of the ANBU stepped forward from the shadows. The man sat down.

Kakashi stepped forward and spoke something to Lady Tsunade. She nodded and he turned to the Council.

"The Hokage would prefer to talk about this with him in privacy. Please leave." He declared.
Naruto eyed the Council as a ruckus exploded.

"What! Absolutely not! We want to see it woth our own eyes! What if you let him go? "
"Yes! We need to be sure that he is punished in the exact way we declared! EXECUTE HIM!"

Execute? A weird feeling rose within Naruto. His legs seemed weak, but enough to keep him standing. He felt queasy, and feverish. He felt as if his while body was hot and a thin layer of ice surrounded him.

"Kill him! How would you know what the Demon did to our village!"
"You just want to help him! You think he's innocent! We know you'll protect him! You're just a-"
Whatever the man was about to say stopped right in its tracks.