The Trial of the Century: The People v. Ken Tetsudashi

The Courtroom

Spoiler:

The trial of Ken Tetsudashi was set to begin. It would be taking place in a courtroom within the village's Administration district. Normally, the court was reserved for military tribunals convened to hold Kumo shinobi to account. However, today it would serve to deliver justice (or not) to a member of a foreign military. Ken Tetsudashi had willingly come before the Court to answer for his crimes against humanity. Fortunately for him, the whole thing was a charade. A carefully orchestrated ruse that would permit Ken to infiltrate Kumo's enemies and bring them down. Few people in the room knew what had been planned. All but the most important shinobi present genuinely believed that Ken would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison, or if he was unlucky summary execution.

Lady Superior Mora sat in the center chair of the elevated bench. She would be presiding over today's proceedings as the Chief Justice. Mora's Brother and Sister Justices consisted of a mix of learned judges. Some from the Orthodox Church of Jashin and others from the Kumogakure military court system. They all knew today's trial was for show but the anger and hatred they felt towards Ken was all too real. He had committed serious war crimes during his conquest of the Land of Demons. Despite his defenses and pretenses, they were not buying his "stoic liberator" story. They saw him as scum who trafficked in human beings. He was strong enough to help further Kumo's military objectives but that was the only reason his existence was tolerated. If the Raikage had not signed off on the infiltration strategy, he'd have been beheaded and returned to Kirigakure in pieces.

Ken would be led into the courtroom by a squad of A-Rank Guards. The man would be covered in chains. The chains had been made so that they'd be easy for him to break out of. Once the "rescue" operation got underway, he'd be able to use Tetsudashi steel to cut his way out of his bonds. For now, he was told to remain in chains so as to create the appearance of capture. Ken would be marched up to a podium where he would be made to plead his case before the Court.

Lady Superior Mora was wearing a priestly black and red robe with a mitar on her head. In one hand she held an ivory staff topped with a twisted crucifix. The symbol of the Necrossiah and her authority to speak in his name. The flag of the Orthodox Church of Jashin hung in the background behind her. Some in the crowd murmured their disapproval of the Church taking such a powerful role in the prosecution of such an individual. Others were amazed, while a few were pleased and delighted. The Jashinists had gained a tough-on-crime reputation among the people of the village. For whatever their faults, they would not allow a guilty man go free.

Mora slammed her staff down twice on the hardwood floor of the bench. The audience fell silent as the Court was called to order. The old crone stared Ken down and spoke to him directly:

"Ken Tetsudashi of Kirigakure. You have been charged with committing atrocities against the people of the Land of Demons. You are accused of engaging in slavery, rape, the murder of non-combatants, and worst of all....blasphemy against Jashin. How do you plead?"

Ken played along with this farce trial as he would enter the courtroom with many booing him and telling him to die. He would simply look toward them and smile even laugh on the way to where the trail would take place. As he listened to the old woman he would burst into laughter, international law, him violating Kumos laws when the land of demons was still under Kiri control.

"I plead not guilty by ruling you do not control the land of demons and it is, in fact, a part of Kiri. There is also no international laws, no kages have agreed to such things as for insulting your religion I don't want to hear this from people that sacrifice and murder many times more people than I ever have. I simply turned myself in to see what sort of joke justice system this country has when you let religious nutcases control your lands this is the result. Your nation will fall into ruin and when it does don't come begging me for forgiveness even in my afterlife I will hunt and kill your souls."

The crowd would begin to boo as Ken would throw a middle finger toward the crowd, nothing but stupid sheep. He couldn't believe they thought this trial meant anything, in fact, him being tried could put a big strain on Kiri and Kumo as nations.

The bench sat back in disgust and anger at Ken's open disrespect for the court. The man was brutish and had no sense of decorum. The crowd began to boo loudly as she attached the court and the Church. A few nodded their heads in agreement, at least with respect to the perceived hypocrisy of having Jashinists of all people pass judgment on other individuals. The old crone began to bang her staff to bring the court back into order. Mora was angry with him. She wanted to hurt him. Torture him. Sacrifice him in Jashin's name and demonstrate the almighty power that the Church wielded. She could unload into him. Give him a true piece of her mind. Refute his objections and bring him low with the law and scripture. Yet, that was not her place for today. Ken was to be set free so that he could serve the village's interests and rather than drag out the proceedings she decided it was best to get this over with. The faster the disruption happened the more likely people would forget his disrespectful words. She couldn't have the people of the city think that challenging the Church's authority was acceptable. Mora leaned forward and spoke directly to Ken.

"The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. We will commence wit-"

As she spoke the first set of words, she tapped her foot in a specific sequence releasing chakra into a seal that would give the signal. Go time.

Before Mora could finish her sentence an explosion rocked the building. It was carefully calculated so as not to harm any of the spectators. The judges immediately hit the deck, Mora included. They feigned surprise, anger, and outrage as smoke filled the room. Almost nothing could be seen, aside from the occasional arc of lightning. A staged fight was taking place but with the smoke and debris everywhere no one could see who was winning. People screamed and scrambled to get out of the courtroom. The attack was staged by professionals and so they excelled at simulating an actual jailbreak without causing a single casualty.

A set of shinobi dressed in demon masks would rush over to Ken and "incapacitate" the guards assigned to him. Ken could now break out of his bonds if he so chose. At this point, the mysterious band would fire a technique into the opposite side of the court, hitting it with even more effects and causing fire and smoke to fill the room.

"LONG LIVE THE GREAT LIBERATOR! THE STEEL-ONI STAND BEHIND KEN!" they screamed as they rushed him out of the courtroom. A few stayed behind to keep up the appearance of a struggle and fight. Ken would be taken to a manhole where he'd be able to escape with his new band of minions through the city's underground sewer system.

Mora choked out loudly: "Secure the prisoner! Do not let Ken escape this village!". The words were hollow. Ken's escape was predestined, but she had to make it look good. Some shinobi would try to follow only to be attacked and misled via genjutsu. To the naked eye it would appear that a group sympathetic to Ken's actions had freed him.

A grim air hung over the courthouse of the Hidden Cloud. Rain and fog had prowled in from the valleys, and clung to the village proper; wreathing in the gloom. Flash of distant light, and the low rumble of thunder resounded off the peaks. Irui pulled his cloak tighter around himself as a brisk wind whipped through the street.

He stooped down, and snatched a paper flier from the air. Plastered across the page, "Ken Tetsudaki vs. The People!" shouted from the paper in red and orange. The man's face depicted with deep shadows and sour disposition. The packed court house only fueled his curiosity, with throngs of people lining the steps, packing the lobby to see the trial unfold, even if they couldn't get into the courtroom itself.

Irui steeled himself back from the blistering temper of the crowd, his eyes scanning the exterior of the building proper for an opening; a foothold, something he could use to navigate and perhaps infiltrate the building. The flags of the Orthodox Church rippled in the wind. Mora Mikiri presided over the house as if it were her temple, wielding the staff of the church and hammer of justice; a dangerous and ever-zealous combination. Even from the outside, Irui's ears perked at the thrum from the courtroom; the jeering and booing, all of it was so strangely uncontained--frenetic, volatile. It was anger that was felt, rather than heard, a vibration that resonated through the foundations of the building into the people beyond.


It raised the hairs on his neck.

Irui raised his hood, and fastened the clasps of his coat, moving closer to the action, keeping to the outermost edge before mounting the wall of the adjacent building and rapidly scaling its flank like he would any Kumogakure cliff. He pressed himself against the face, and crept up, finding himself purchase to hoist himself to the nearest ledge-- and just in time. He peered over his shoulder to the street below. Six shinobi, dressed in Hidden Cloud uniforms entirely of white with flecks of red had arrived, bearing chrome staffs-- police for crowd control.

He swallowed hard. The Hidden Cloud was expecting this event to reach a fevered pitch, for it to break from its chains and set itself loose.

Mora Mikiri.... He thought, as his attention turned to the window and into the trial below.

"--I simply turned myself in to see what sort of joke justice system this country has when you let religious nutcases control your lands this is the result!" Tetsudashi retorted on the stand, "Your nation will fall into ruin and when it does don't come begging me for forgiveness even in my afterlife I will hunt and kill your souls."


"--"The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty." Mora answered evenly,"We will commence wit--"

Her words were annihilated by the report of an explosion; it ripped through the building, sending everyone to the floor. The windows shook and shattered, the stone vibrated beneath him while Irui held on to his perch. No sooner had the blast ripped through the courthouse had combat ensued, and armed guards rushed to secure Tetsudashi. Flickering bursts of light and white hot-energy exploded through the smoke-- heralds of the Hidden Cloud's Lightning Style ninjutsu.

"Shit, shit, shiii...." Irui's panic quieted the longer the fight drew on. He narrowed his eyes on the scuffle below. Flame licked the far wall, and smoke poured from the building. "... What is this....?" He breathed, there was a flicker to the air, a wavering that permeated the smoke and chaos, like a distant ringing on the edge of hearing. He could see it too, more thickly around the closest civilians, some lay sprawled haphazardly, eyes glazed and jaws slack. Alarms blared, around the other side of the building; more police were likely en route now. Irui looked back, then forward at the shattered courthouse below him, and leapt through a broken window.

Immediately the smoke stung his eyes, the heat from the fire prickled his skin. he hit the nearest table hard, the furnture wobbling beneath his weight as it took the full force, and he rolled off it to the floor. Glass crunched under foot.

"MORA!!" He shouted and drew a kunai knife, "LADY MORA!! Are you all right?!"

A hand grasped him by the ankle, and he drew back, pointing the blade at the offender. A man in his thirties lay atop a broken bench, his uniform stained with red and other fluids. "G-get away from here...." He groaned as he released the boy, "... Its not safe...The Steel Oni freed Tetsudashi...."

Irui kneeling alongside him, could only nod in reply and swept his eyes across the scene of violence. He coughed on the smoke in his lungs, and choked out another "LADY MORA!"

This trial was certainly a joke but the dramatical flair of having someone bust in and break him out was amusing as he was being taken away from this silly trial he could only smile. He seemed to have a squad of shinobi with him as he easily shattered the chains with him summoning his massive blade as he continued to run through the sewers to a predetermined exit. The path lead him outside of the gates of the village with him simply turning toward the soldiers with him and smiling.

"If you want to head back now its the time but let me tell you if you go back you will be used as scapegoats and killed. I suggest you come with me and we can change the world together, I have many plans and need to make a safe world for my daughter. Either way, I won't stop you if you wish to head back just understand I will pray and make graves for you in your honor can I get your names if you are going back."

He would wait to see if they would stay or go with him, if they chose to go with him he would gladly take them under his wing and show them he really was not an evil man. He was someone that wanted a better world a world where they could have a country free of corruption, sadly he had little choice he would need to try to get into the society and end their insanity one way or another. He would certainly try to track them down but he had been in prison so he had no idea where they truly were. He would continue his trek knowing they would be hunted, this was going to be quite interesting for sure as he wondered just who they should get the information from.

-Exit Thread and Kumo-

The stampede of movement. The smoke and fire. The utter chaos and violence. Mora relished this kind of action. She was a death cultist at her heart and the madness was exciting even at her old age. She hated Ken and the idea of freeing him infuriated her. But it was for the best. The Society was a greater threat to the Church then Ken which meant that letting him go was the best option for the time being if it meant taking down the aforementioned organization. The civilians and shinobi in the crowd, however, didn't know that this was all a set up. There was shouting, screaming, and an evacuation of the bodies. Much to her surprise, Irui was here!

The boy was watching from a window and the blast had knocked him from his perch. A table broke his fall and she could tell he was okay. He called out to her loudly and she could here the concern in his voice. It was quite touching in all honesty.

"I'm here Irui!" she called out. A group of guards rushed onto the scene and accompanied her. The woman struggled to her feet and allowed herself to be helped by the shinobi. The other judges were gathering themselves as well. The Steel-Oni had made off with Ken just as planned. She was escorted out of the building by the ninja, she held her staff high to let her disciple know that she was okay.