[62] Help

Kakashi stares at the scene in front of him, part of him not wanting to believe anything he is hearing and seeing. She wasn't on a mission, she was being held all along. He grabs onto the rail tightly as he looks down on his sister, assessing her for any wounds or damages. She seems relatively untouched from here.

'That means Root didn't have her.'

He glances around at Inoichi, noticing him glancing at Kagami every now and then when the attention isn't on him. He sighs and looks to his left where the Nara's are sitting. They are sitting silently, starring down at his sister. Yoshino is covering her mouth with her hands and her eyes have gone wide.

Kakashi shakes his head and looks away, he has to think of a way to get Kagamio out of this situation. It has become apparent to him that this is set up to end with Kagami dead.

s.h.o.u.t.

Kagami looks to the side to see her one and only Hokage walking through the doors and towards the village officials.

"I would prefer it that in future you inform me when you are trialling my elite Jonin." She glances at Kagami momentarily before looking back at Danzo. "You will not be executing shinobi without my permission."

Danzo scowls at the woman before sitting down in his chair again and waiting for her to talk.

"Kagami, state the mission details." Tsunade turns to the girl, but she just shakes her head and tries to reach for her mask.

Multiple Anbu rush forward ready to attack if needed.

"Stand down." Tsunade walks forward and reaches into the cage, snapping her cuffs in half.

Kagami immediately reaches up and tugs her mask down. She sticks her tongue out just in time for Tsunade to notice the irritated lines before they calm down. Tsunade groans and nods at the girl to cover her face again.

"From what I've heard so far, Kagami is completely innocent. All laws are bypassed during missions." Tsunade walks up to the officials, astonished that the thought they could pull this off and not be caught.

"But she has no proof that it was during missions." Danzo stays in his seat as he replies to the woman.

Kakashi grips the railing tightly, watching the exchange between the two. He moves his gaze to Kagami, watching her as she quietly stares at the wall in front of her and doesn't move a muscle. She's scared, he can feel it.

"You have no proof that it was her, from what I can see, this trial is a waste of resources." Tsunade turns around to motion to an Anbu to let the girl free.

"So you are just going to let a killer walk free?"

This time Danzo wasn't aiming to get a reaction out of his Hokage, he was trying to get one out of the crowd. Once the civilian's pick a side, they are hard to persuade. Kagami looks to Inoichi, who is already staring at the girl. He nods slowly to the girl, trying to calm her down.

"She is innocent." Tsunade walks to the cage herself as the Anbu refuse to follow her orders. "And this should have been dealt with in private."

"Kagami Hatake just emitted to committing her crimes." Danzo's gaze hardens.

That's when Kagami feels it, her tongue stops stinging suddenly. Her eyes go wide. Tsunade healed her during that split-second touch between them.

"I admitted to completing my missions, given to me by you." She looks over at Danzo, her gaze hard. "I completed every mission given to me by you. Anything I am convicted of, you should remember handing the scroll to me."

"Are you trying to say that the Anbu is corrupt?" Danzo turns his gaze on the girl.

"No, I'm saying I follow orders."

He narrows his eyes at her, "Even if some of these so-called 'missions' covers these crimes. She must be punished, everyone has a choice."

Kagami grits her teeth.

"Kagami, tell me about this 'sister mission' you mentioned." Tsunade looks over to the girl.

"Sister mission are missions that take part within another one to help support each other." Kagami glances at her brother before looking back to Tsunade, "My mission was a distraction for another."

"Which other mission?" Tsunade turns to the girl, just mission Danzo's smirk.

"I can't say, it wasn't my mission so I don't know anything about it. I only know the other mission was being carried out by Itachi Uchiha later that week." She stares stonily at her Hokage.

"I never issued such a mission." Danzo simply waves his hand, infuriating the girl.

Her grip tightens around her cuffs, her knuckles going white. She continues to look at her Hokage, unflinching.

"She is a liability, she cannot be allowed out of the village," Danzo says airily, thinking he has won the case.

That's when it became apparent to Kagami what is going on. This entire time she has been asking herself where she left a loose end or didn't finish someone off. But the whole time it was her. She is the Root's loose end that Danzo is desperately trying to cut off, he has realised she isn't loyal to him anymore.

She suddenly becomes enraged.

"Do you enjoy ruining peoples lives Danzo-sama?" Kagami glares at the man, her rage building up.

"You don't get to ask the questions here." Dazo avoids the girls gaze.

"I have spent the last decade of my life, fulfilling every order and completing every mission under the pretence that I was protecting this village. I hardly see how I am now the criminal." Kagami's voice is dangerously low.

"How is setting fire to a forest protecting the village?" Danzo asks the girl.

"You are the one that handed me the mission scroll, you should know." Kagami is becoming fed up with the man and his antics.

"But you see, I never handed anything to you." The man knows that if he continues to deny any involvement he can get away with this.

"Just like you didn't ask a boy to murder his family." Kagami hisses at the village official quietly, knowing if anyone else heard there would be major repercussions.

Tsunade turns to the official, her brows knitted in confusion over the statement. Danzo's face goes red in anger. He steps past the Hokage and closer to the girl.

"Just like how you murdered Shisui and stole his eye. You have done more to ruin this village than help it."

Tsunade hears the girl but doesn't say anything, she keeps silent, knowing the longer Kagami talks the more of a chance they have to win. Danzo just stares at the girl before turning away and walking back towards his seat. Kagami snaps.

"They were innocent!" Her voice rips from her throat, causing Danzo and everyone else to stop. "They were innocent and then you took that from them!"

Kakashi's eyes go wide, his sister doesn't yell. She handles things as calmly as possible and moves on.

"I have spent my life, protecting these ignorant, protected people! And in return you executer me?" She throws herself forward and clashes against the bars of the cage, her morals disappearing. "I have done everything for this village! I have listened to every order! I KILLED EVERY PERSON!"

She struggles against her restraints, causing the Anbu to move forward, ready to subdue her.

"I never questioned an order! I never refused anything! I have spent my life being used as a tool! And as soon as I'm free YOU TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!"

Danzo's eyes widen. She had caught on quickly, she knows what his plan is. The photo's the stalker, the notes. All things that make the victim feel like they aren't free, make them feel like they have to go into hiding to get away. Things that would drive her back into the Root.

He was either going to drive her back to him, or to her grave.

Kakashi leans forward, desperately wanting to go towards his sister, but he knows that wouldn't help anything. He once again glances to Shikamaru, who is now patting his mothers back. Yoshino is sobbing, holding her son and husbands hands desperately as she stares down at Kagami.

"You need to calm down Hatake," an Anbu steps forward, blocking her view of the Hokage and the officials, "otherwise we may need to subdue you."

That's when Kagami backs down. She pushes off the railing and steps back, once again returning to her stand and staring at the wall in front of her stonily. Silence rings out as the entire field stares down at the girl in the cage.

Danzo wants to move ahead quickly, he sits back down in his seat quickly and glances around.

"If nobody objects-"

"I object." Ibiki appears next to Inoichi, his hands deep within his trench coat pockets. He glances at his partner before looking up at the officials, knowing they are the ones he needs to convince, not the crowd.

"It is easy to brand Kagami as a criminal." He doesn't falter, "You ask anybody you know and they will say they know her as the heartless Anbu who spends her days insulting Genin."

Kagami starts to wonder if Ibiki is on her side or not.

"But they will never say she isn't loyal, or that she is a criminal. Like she said, she has never once disobeyed an order, not once under her working for me. She has been present in I and T for almost nine years now, and she has spent every second doing something beneficial to the village." He doesn't waver, not even with Inoichi suddenly turns to the crowd.

"Her cold personality can be easily traced back to the way Root trains its Nin. She is lacking in many area's in her upbringing, but she isn't one to waver away from her origin. You may forget this Danzo-sama, but Kagami is a child. Under all the fighting and intellectual speaking, Kagami is a thirteen-year-old girl who grew up with no parents and someone constantly yelling at her to improve and kill."

Inoichi suddenly moves towards the crowd, something catching his eyes. Danzo's eyes follow him as he walks, but Ibiki keeps him occupied.

"If I can, I would like to say that Kagami is the most loyal Nin to pass through this village." Ibiki turns away from them And walks back to his post at the back of the field。

"That was very heart-warming," Danzo glares at the man, "But that doesn't stop the fact that she is lying. It would be wise to finish this up quickly, we have more to get through."

While all that was happening, Tsunade had inched her way towards the cage, and held out a little note to the girl hidden within it. Kagami opens it quickly, staring down at the tiny scrawl.

'The mission.'

She looks up at the Hokage before nodding to her, understanding what she is trying to say to her. She tucks the note into her shirt before anyone sees is and lets the trial run its course from here on out.

"Give me your worst," Tsunade nods to her officials, seeing what they can come up with.

"Execution seems to be the only suitable punishment for her crimes." Danzo stands, ready to call her sentence.

Tsunade smiles lightly, "Since we have a lack of evidence from both parties. I, as Hokage, will overrule that decision. Since I obviously can't let a possible murder walk around our village, I will decide a more suitable punishment."

"And what is that?" Danzo narrows his eyes at the woman.

Kakashi stares ahead, his hands tightening around the railing once again.

"Banishment." Tsunade smirks down at the man, catching him off guard, "Kagami Hatake is henceforth, no longer a kunoichi of Konohagakure."

Danzo's face drops, he hadn't expected that.

"Hokage-sama, please reconsider, banishment is a very outdated punishment." He sits back down, glaring at the woman.

"So is execution," She waves to an Anbu to collect the girl and take her to a cell. "I will handle it from here. Cancel the rest of today trials."

Suddenly the ground around Kagami cracks open. The said girl closes her eyes and sighs.

'Yua, calm down.'

'How can I calm down?! After everything we have done for this village you get banished?!'

Silver chakra starts to swirl around the girl but she suppresses it, forcing it back down into herself. She needs this to go as smoothly as possible form here on out, and Danzo finding out she is a Jonchuriki won't be smooth.

s.h.o.u.t.

Kagami stares at the roof in pain as she sits on the cold floor, her hands still cuffed together. She glances to the side to see Tsunade walking towards her, papers in her hands. She pushes off the wall and sits up straight.

The woman dismisses the guards and lets herself in. She frowns down at Kagami.

"I wish it didn't work out this way, but I promise you will have a home to return to once this is over." Tsunade shows her the papers and scrolls her dumping them all into one, smaller scroll. "Everything is in there. I apologise for using you and your misfortune for this."

Kagami looks up at the woman as she grabs the scroll, "I trust you Tsunade-sama, more than I ever trusted Danzo."

Tsunade smirks lightly. "You know what to do if you need help."

s.h.o.u.t.

AH! one chapter to go!

question of the chapter:

are you keeping up?

~shadows