sasukerevolution:

changing the goddamn shitty Shinobi system still established, how would you handle Sasuke’s criminal record? Not as bad as how it was in canon, but he really did do some shitty things, so how should we… er, for a lack of a better term, “punish” him?(2/2)

Hmmm. I think to answer this question I need to break down what’s actually on Sasuke’s criminal record. This is a list that doesn’t include my personal feelings:

– Left the Hidden Leaf Village to train under Orochimaru: In the Naruto universe, this is an offense punishable by death. According to the rules of the Narutoverse itself, Sasuke automatically gets a death sentence for this. However, as a favour to Naruto, Tsunade chose to have this not be listed as a crime nor to pursue Sasuke as a criminal. Then Danzou redacated Tsunade’s decision, and then Kakashi redacted Danzou’s. Assuming the same things go down with regards to the line of Kages in this scenario, to avoid complications, we’ll work under the assumption that Sasuke is pardoned for this crime.

Sasuke committed no crimes that we know of while working under Orochimaru, so none will be counted. I would argue that Sasuke is not responsible for the death of Deidara or even Itachi, but regardless of how one views it both were criminals and their deaths caused no direct harm to the Leaf.

– Fought Naruto: The first two times this happens (Sasuke Retrieval arc and Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission arc), it’s in response to pursuit. This would maybe count as a crime of resistance to apprehension, but I don’t recall that ever being specified as a crime in the series so we’re going to pass over it.

– Joining the Akatsuki and attacking Killer Bee: If I recall correctly, the Leaf had already decided to pursue the Akatsuki before Sasuke even joined it, but the window of time between Sasuke joining and the Kage Summit that affected the law is so brief I’m not going to speculate on it too much. I say that Sasuke attacked Killer Bee because he actually did not succeed in killing him or in capturing him: as a ninja not affiliated with any Village, this is not an act of war. As we know, this led to the mobilization of the Five Great Shinobi Countries against the Akatsuki and to Sasuke’s subsequent death sentence, which was actually in effect this time. I’m not sure, however, what the punishment in the Naruto world is for attempted kidnapping. When Itachi and Kisame failed to kidnap Naruto, they weren’t even subsequently pursued for it, but that may be because they were already in the Bingo Book. Personally, I think Sasuke’s aid of the Five Great Shinobi Countries during the Fourth Shinobi World War may entitle him to a lighter sentence.

– Attacking Karin: Karin is not affiliated with any Village and was an affiliate of Sasuke’s. I don’t think the Leaf Village has a system that deals with crimes committed between criminals, so we’ll say he’s off the hook for this one.

– Killing Danzou: Since he’s no longer affiliated with the Leaf, this doesn’t count as treason. However, he did murder a leader of the Leaf Village. I’m not sure what “punishment” was attributed to Orochimaru when he killed the Third Hokage, which in my opinion is a precedent, but just based off of how the Leaf works in general I’d venture Sasuke earns a death sentence for this. This is without taking into account Danzou’s own illegal operations and lengthy criminal record.

– Threatening the Leaf Village: Threatening to harm a Village isn’t the same as actually harming it, but, again, considering the way the Leaf tends to handle stuff in general, I’m gonna say they’d throw a death sentence at him for even uttering his intent to destroy the Leaf. He fought Naruto again here but since it was in response to pursuit I’m going to go with the same thing I said above.

– Threatening to kill the Five Kage: Yeah, I think I’ll put this one under “probable death sentence” too.

– Challenging Naruto to a fight and attempting to murder him: This one wasn’t in response to being pursued. I don’t know what the punishment is in the Naruto world for challenging a shinobi to a fight when you are unaffiliated with any Village is. After all, rogue ninjas are supposed to be kill-on-sight just, like, in general.

Basically, by Naruto world standards, just judging his actions, Sasuke should be dead a couple times over. But if we’re discussing justice for Sasuke, we have to account for the crimes that were committed by the Leaf Village as a state against him.

– The biggest and the most obvious, The Uchiha Clan Massacre: Genocide is a very serious crime, and as the survivor of a state-ordered genocide, the Leaf really ought to be kissing Sasuke’s ass just in apology for the injustice that was committed against him.

– Negligence: In a fair system, the Leaf would have to acknowledge their failure to provide any sort of support or accommodation for an orphaned and traumatized child who is registered and that they are perfectly aware of. Especially because the reasons for his trauma are their fault.

– Negligence again: Namely, during the Chuunin Exams. The Leaf Village became aware that Orochimaru was a participant in the Chuunin Exams even while the second stage was still occurring. At that point, it was too late for them to do anything about Sasuke’s cursed seal, but even at Anko’s request to pull Sasuke from the exams during the preliminaries, the Hokage still insisted on allowing Sasuke to continue. They already knew that Sasuke was Orochimaru’s target as well; he should have been heavily guarded during the entirety of the exams.

– Inadequate retrieval measures: Though the Village was aware that Sasuke had left the Village, they sent genin who were Sasuke’s age after him instead of well-trained Jonin during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. He wasn’t yet a missing-nin, at this point all they needed to do was apprehend him and bring him back to the Village, but their attempt was half-assed and they let him get away.

If this system is fair, then the Leaf Village’s own hand in creating Sasuke’s motives for his crimes must be acknowledged. I don’t think the Naruto universe even has a fucking court, lmfao. Sasuke had no lawyer or even an opportunity to represent or defend himself. 

Personally? I think all things considered, Sasuke is a victim far more than he is a criminal. As you can see from my list above, many of his crimes were mere threats or unsuccessful attempts: the only crimes he actually successfully committed were leaving the Village, which as you can see above the Leaf is at least partially if not entirely at fault for, and killing Danzou, which considering the crimes Danzou committed against him and his motivation I think a fair court would pardon him for. 

If I were the Leaf Village, I’d be on my knees begging for his forgiveness, not daring to so much as consider punishing him.