Konoha Legal

A/N: Sorry for the (relatively) long wait. Here's a (relatively) long chapter.

FULL Summary: Naruto is the Konoha District Attorney responsible for prosecuting Itachi. Unwittingly, he is thrown into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy, where blackmail and deceit become the rule of the day. Can he even trust Sasuke, his long lost best friend that he was just recently reunited with? SasuNaruSasu AU

Rating: Relatively harmless now, M for later chapters...

Disclaimer: Sasuke would only leave Konoha if Naruto went with him if I had anything to say about it.

Slamming the door to his car, Naruto walked up to his one roomed apartment without locking his car. Instantly being reminded of Kiba’s earlier comment that ‘no one would steal it anyway’, Naruto opened the door, and immediately locked and double bolted the door to his apartment, making sure that he double checked the door. It was not that he was afraid of being robbed; there was really nothing of value that would interest robbers.

Ever since that incident, he has always been slightly paranoid and extremely cautious about his security. Itachi and the Akatsuki’s attempt at blackmail today only served to remind him of his past.

He cautiously allowed his eyes to wander around his apartment. His bedroom door to his right, the red sofa in front of him, his television opposite the sofa, the simple dining table beside it that doubled as his work table and the simple kitchen through the arc in the wall opposite him all looked in place. Everything was exactly as he left it.

Sighing, he moved through the arc into the kitchen to fix himself something. He had not eaten since breakfast.

Opening the simple cupboard directly on top of the sink, he checked his supplies. Satisfied that he had enough supplies to last himself the week, he selected one of the many cups of instant ramen with his eyes closed. It’s always better to try to guess the flavor, he mused. After filling the kettle with water, he put the kettle on the stove located beside the sink, and turned on the stove.

After the water boiled, he made his instant ramen with a trained ease. Armed with a ramen cup and chopsticks, he walked to a sofa and sat down, while reaching for the remote control and flicking the television on trying to distract himself by watching something not related to the case.

“Today’s session at the Konoha High Court saw much drama…”

“The evidentiary hearing has been scheduled for the 16th of August…”

“Uchiha Itachi is represented by ten lawyers, all of them from the law firm Akatsuki which has come under fire recently for its illegally dealings…”

Silently resigning himself to the fact that the media haven’t seemed to have exhausted themselves at this case yet, he turned off the television and reached for his chopsticks instead.

“Ah… Miso Pork Ramen… One of my favorite” Naruto guessed then peeked at the cup, then raised his hands in triumph.

“If only everything was that easy”

Naruto was running, his only aim to outrun his pursuers. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Tensing, he struggled against the firm grip on his shoulder.

“Naruto-kun. Why are you running from me?” a rasp voice taunted.

“Let go of me you…” he managed to get out before a needle jabbed into his jugular, causing him to freeze up, unable to move. Naruto struggled, trying to get a look at his captors.

Failing, he then felt himself being hoisted and shoved into a van. Panicking and trying to struggle against invisible bonds that seemed to restrict his movements, he felt another jab on his jugular, before blacking out.

Naruto woke up with a start and discovered he was in his bed. Sighing with relief, he realized that he was only having a nightmare. Forcing himself to get up from the bed soaked with perspiration, he walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen and got himself a glass of water.

Settling himself on the sofa, Naruto inhaled deeply to remove the tension from his body, still active and pumping with adrenaline.

The last time he had that dream was years ago. Therapy had managed to help him forget a lot of things that seem to be resurfacing together with this case. Damn Itachi and the file. He thought back to the events today:

Sasuke seemed to be completely convinced that Itachi was innocent. Shaking his head slightly, he could only conclude that Itachi had somehow managed to brainwash his younger brother. Or… Sasuke could be in this for his own benefit. Naruto quickly shook his head. He refused to believe that his best friend would trade his moral principals for anything. If anyone knew Sasuke, it was Naruto. And Naruto knew Sasuke would never do something like that.

Itachi must have somehow managed to convince Sasuke that the massacre of the Uchiha clan had nothing to do with him. Satisfied with his conclusion, he then followed the logical train of thought: how did Itachi do that? Sasuke was always adamant that the older Uchiha was guilty. What did Itachi say to cause such a large turnabout?

Thinking for a few moments before glancing at the clock, he realized that it was 4am. Feeling his body still stiff and alert from the nightmare, Naruto concluded that he couldn’t go back to sleep even if he wanted to.

Walking across the room to get his briefcase, he sat down on the table and pulled out a few documents. After filling in the form to subpoena Sasuke, he began studying the facts of the case.

The entire Uchiha clan except Itachi and Sasuke, the two heirs of Uchiha Inc. found murdered in one night. Fifty six men, women and children killed in a night. Glancing at the causes of death, he realized that it was all the same.

A bullet to the head. Fifty six bullets to fifty six heads. How efficient, Naruto scoffed sarcastically. Definitely the work of a trained assassin. Point to the defense: Itachi has never handled a weapon before. At least he didn’t think so.

Which naturally places someone else at the scene. If Itachi did not kill the clan, someone else must have done it. A hired assassin perhaps? Naruto nodded at the conclusion, satisfied.

He looked at the evidence incriminating Itachi. Several witnesses place him at the scene during that time. One saw Itachi enter the Uchiha compound while three noticed Itachi leaving the scene hurriedly. Several strands of his hair were found on a few of the victims. His DNA was one that came up most frequently during the post mortems.

Perhaps the most incriminating piece of evidence, the one that ultimately led to Itachi’s arrest, was that one of the victims had a piece Itachi’s skin caught in between his fingernails, evidently from a struggle. Forensics managed to match the skin to a deep gash on Itachi’s left inner thigh. That was the evidence that enabled police to apply successfully for an arrest warrant.

Itachi definitely had motive. He and Sasuke were two heirs of Uchiha Inc. A footnote on the motives column caught his eye: The suspect’s brother, Uchiha Sasuke also had motive.

Frowning slightly, was Sasuke in on this? He thought back to the time when he and Sasuke were best friends. Sasuke was twelve at the time. Itachi was nineteen. Shaking his head once more and berating himself for even thinking that a twelve year old Sasuke could be in on this heinous crime, he crossed out the footnote.

No. Sasuke could be hiding something, but he would never ever be part of something like this. Calming himself once again, Naruto thought to the time he used to spend with Sasuke.

Sasuke was always a loner, and many always wondered how he could be best friends with the exact antithesis of himself. Naruto went back and relived the memory of him and Sasuke just after the funeral of the Uchiha clan.

FLASHBACK

Naruto was looking around the vast Uchiha compound trying to locate his best friend. Failing, he tried to think of where Sasuke could possibly be.

Smiling slightly after realizing how blinded he was, he ran out of the Uchiha compound to the river behind the compound. His eyes immediately found Sasuke, sitting on a pier staring at the blue water aimlessly.

Slowing himself to a walk, he carefully approached Sasuke. Hearing quiet sobs, he immediately stopped himself. Sasuke was crying? Sasuke never showed much emotion. Even, Naruto, his best friend, rarely got to witness a display of emotions from Sasuke.

“Are you going to continue standing there gawking at me?”A voice punctuated his thoughts.

“Sasuke… Are you okay?”

“Hn” That was more like the Sasuke he knew.

Walking cautiously up to Sasuke, he slowly sat beside him. This was unchartered waters. Sasuke never cried. Naruto carefully looked at Sasuke.

There were no visible signs of tears on Sasuke’s face, but the red surrounding midnight pools of black gave him away.

Sasuke stared back at Naruto, before being enveloped by a hug.

Tensing slightly from the contact, Sasuke allowed himself to be hugged.

Finally releasing him, Naruto said softly to Sasuke: “I will always be there for you”

“Hn…”

Staring at the water beneath his feet, Sasuke sudden broke the silence.

“It was Itachi”

“Huh?”

“It was Itachi. He killed them”

“Sasuke…”

“I saw him… I saw him do it… He…”

Getting enveloped in another crushing hug, Sasuke heard Naruto whisper: “Shh… Its okay…”

Angry that Naruto did not seem to take him seriously, Sasuke wrenched himself from the hug and repeated: “It was Itachi” before walking off.

END FLASHBACK

Snapping out of his memory, Naruto concluded for the umpteenth that Sasuke knew something. Sasuke knew something and he wasn’t telling Naruto everything. ‘Or anything for that matter’ he admitted begrudgingly. He would have to speak to Sasuke before the trial starts. He didn’t like surprises, and if Sasuke knew something, he would have to dig it out of him. Naruto figured that he would be the only person able to do such a thing.

Walking across to his wall phone, he planned to call Uchiha Inc. to leave a message requesting a meeting when the phone rang suddenly.

Raising his eyebrows at the coincidence, Naruto completed his journey towards the phone and picked it up.

“Hello…?”

“Naruto, come to my office now” A familiar voice was laced with a tinge of urgency.

“Tsunade?” Naruto ventured.

“Yes, yes. This is urgent. Come to my office now” The urgency in Tsunade’s voice did not recede. Instead, it amplified.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Naruto! This is urgent. Come now!” Tsunade practically shouted into the phone.

Naruto decided to enquire further to get some clue as to why he would be visiting a judge’s chambers at four in the morning. If he was meeting Tsunade then the Akatsuki had to be there too… Or else this would be ex-parte (1) .

“Tsu…”

“I think someone is trying to kill me”

(1) In legal proceedings, the judge can only meet either lawyers only if the judge meeets them together. Any meeting when only one side is present is called an ex-parte encounter, which is forbidden.

My first real attempt at a cliffhanger. Please tell me you like it. Puppy dog eyes

Next chapter probably tomorrow or in two days time.

REAL NARUTO SPOILERS

Who else cried when Naruto bought the ice cream? Who else then cried at the last frame where Tsunade sobbed? Who else thinks that they would remain depressed for the rest of the day when they watch it on anime? One minute silence for Jiraiya please.:'( :'( :'(

Please review!