The Sound of Dreams

AN: I had to speed proof this tonight, so hopefully it all came out okay. Lemme know if you see any errors!

BlackWulff: I will shoot you an email prolly tomorrow, so don't think I'm ignoring you!!
Adi: Just think of it as: Yes, they might be 15-16 year olds, but they had to grow up really fast because of all the shit they had to go through. Compared to most modern day teenagers (who can be surprisingly mature at times), they have had to mature at a much faster rate being in many life and death situations. And you have to admit, even in the manga kids seemed to grow up really fast!

I just want to take a second to say thank you so very much for everyone who reviewed!! Your comments mean a lot to me and I appreciate each and every one of them!! I hope you continue to enjoy the story! The next few chapters are kind of transitory chapters. They are here to set up the next stage and get the story moving onward again. Feel free to question/comment!

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 37


Naruto tried to keep his eyes off of Sasuke as both he and the dark-haired boy knelt on the cushions surrounding the low, black lacquered table. Across from them sat Fuuma Hanzaki and to their left was Sasame.

They had arrived at the alley that the rebels had claimed as their area shortly before noon. They both had kept their hoods up as they had entered the gentlemen's club. Two young but experienced looking females had immediately sidled up to them and laughingly had led them away with promises of "getting what they came here for."

They had been led up to the room that they were currently in and the girls had taken their coats and then withdrawn. The room wasn't spacious but was well appointed for a club. Gleaming bamboo wood floors, light colored walls and currently closed shoji doors that led out onto a balcony overlooking a small courtyard gave the room an airy feel. A corner was screened off with elegantly painted rice paper framed in more black lacquered wood depicting cranes in flight over a pond complete with water lilies. The screen was pleasing and distracting to the eye, but did nothing to hide the presence of a person hidden behind it to ninja-trained senses.

Of course none of that was the reason why Naruto was not looking at Sasuke. The reason why he was studiously trying to avoid looking at him was because even rude and crude Uzumaki Naruto knew it was socially unacceptable to tackle and molest your lover while a guest in someone's home. Especially over tea.

Naruto knew that the bastard was aware of his predicament and had obviously decided to torment him. It was the only explanation for the occasional shifts and subtle movements the other made. Sasuke was usually a very still person while he was sitting, especially in an unknown situation. He kept everything inside and let nothing out that might give evidence to what he was thinking or feeling. He knew that any little twitch on his part would draw Naruto's eyes to him.

The grounds behind Naruto's overwhelming desire to fuck the Uchiha's brains out was very simple. He had donned something that hid, showed and suggested more than the gay pirate outfit (complete with the ugly ass purple bow) could ever hope to.

Sasuke had raided the store room the night before, pulling out and washing some different clothes that he could wear to this meeting. Naruto's jaw had dropped the next morning as he dressed.

Comfortable black pants with several pockets to hold ninja paraphernalia showed off his ass rather nicely. A deep blue muscle-tee hugged his toned and developed chest, leaving his flexing shoulders bare for Naruto to ogle. A midnight, navy blue leather belt wrapped twice around his waist and seemed to have at least one or two buckles more than necessary. His katana was tucked through it in its traditional place at the small of his back. Dark ninja sandals adorned his feet with straps and buckles crawling up his shins to his knees. A thin buckled collar the same color as his belt sat snugly around his neck. Of course the clincher for the blonde had been the arm and hand guards buckled into place, covering the lower half of the sleekly muscled pale arms and the backs of his hands.

Naruto, who admitted readily that he could easily develop a fetish for buckles, had been practically drooling ever since.

Sasame introduced the two teens to her superior and vice versa before pouring tea for each of them. After the first sip, Hanzaki started talking.

"Sasame has told me of her talk with the two of you. Orochimaru's defeat is news that we have fervently wished to hear about for many years. You will excuse me the need to find out more about the details so that we can confirm her information?" Though he kept his eyes on Sasuke quite a bit, he seemed to be directing his words more towards Naruto.

Sasuke sat unmoving as the blonde nodded. "I can understand needing to know more. It's gotta be quite a shock," he said with what his friend recognized as a slightly forced smile.

"I'm surprised that Jiraiya-sama has not sent word of this to us," Hanzaki murmured as he sipped from his cup.

"It happened rather recently," Naruto explained. "And ero-sen... er, Jiraiya-sensei has been abroad lately hunting down information on another matter."

"Yes, he sent the occasional word our way when he found out something he thought we should know. I'm sure traveling with him was rather exciting for a young man your age," the older shinobi said with a slight smile.

Naruto let out a genuine chuckle. "It was great. I got to visit a lot of different countries with him and learned quite a bit." Mentally he added, 'Like not to loan him money, not to let him drink too much, how to entertain myself while he was spying on girls, how to train myself...' He ended his mental ramble as Hanzaki continued.

"So, what exactly happened to Orochimaru? Sasame mentioned a seal," he said, trailing off as if in anticipation of an answer.

Naruto drew a breath. "It's as I told her. The fight that occurred here about a year ago was between Leaf-nin and Orochimaru. During the fight, Orochimaru took me prisoner and escaped. It was several months later that Sasuke was able to contact me and we worked out a way to free me and fight the bastard. Between the two of us, we sealed his spirit away." He felt compelled to add, "We can't say the seal is full-proof, but like Sasuke explained to Sasame, the chances of him getting out are pretty slim." Naruto only hoped that was the truth. He didn't like how the snake had been pushing at the seal lately.

"Where is he sealed away at?" Hanzaki asked after contemplating the information for a long moment.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but before he could say anything Sasuke spoke up. "We aren't at liberty to say," he said in a chill voice.

Hanzaki lifted an eyebrow. "Surely we have a vested interest in knowing his whereabouts so that we can either eliminate him or protect the seal from others."

"The fewer people who know where he is, the less of a chance he will have to be freed," Sasuke said adamantly. "You should be more concerned with what you are going to tell your daimyo so that you can make preparations to protect yourselves from your enemies."

Hanzaki took another slow sip of his tea, seemingly unperturbed by Sasuke's refusal to answer his question. "I hear you are staying at the old Sound Village base as you train for a mission," he stated easily.

"Yeah," Naruto affirmed readily enough.

"It's strange that a Konoha ninja and a Konoha missing-nin are working together." He paused as he met Sasuke's gaze. "Unless you have been reinstated?"

Sasuke began to quickly strategize the quickest way to escape alive and where they could run to afterwards. He should have known better than to stay in this area once they had been discovered.

Although nothing changed in his outward appearance, Sasuke's thoughts were plain to Naruto. He decided rather quickly that certain things needed to be said clearly before the dancing around led to misunderstandings.

"Sasuke may have left Konoha when he was younger, but he did so in an effort to avenge his clan," Naruto stated firmly. He held up a hand as his friend began to protest him handing out personal information. "Whether he was right or wrong is something that I'm sure the two of us will argue about for a long time. At least until he sees I'm right," he added with a mischievous grin.

Sasuke shot a look his direction but didn't comment.

"But that's what we're doing. Training to prepare to hunt down the one who..." Naruto trailed off with a look at his friend.

"The one who massacred my clan," Sasuke finished darkly.

"Why are you here instead of Konoha?" Hanzaki asked quietly. "Surely there are plenty of great teachers to help you train for this mission."

"I'm sure not too many would approve of our mission," Naruto explained. "It's personal."

"The way you say that leads me to believe that your presence here is not generally known," the older man ventured. He had to find out the two's current status with Konoha. A lot depended on whether they were hiding or not and whether he could use it as leverage.

"It's not generally known," Naruto allowed hesitantly.

"Cut to the chase," Sasuke spoke abruptly. "What do you want from us?"

"Information," Hanzaki said succinctly. "Everything you know about Orochimaru's activities and the locations of all of the bases that you are aware of. I want to know everything that you know about that snake."

"And in return?" the teen asked coldly.

"No one will learn where you are from us."

Just as Sasuke opened his mouth to deliver a sneering retort, Naruto jumped in. "Done." Sasuke shot him a dark look. "They need to know anyway. Anything that gives them an edge to clear out his cronies and to protect themselves from their enemies, they deserve to know."

Sasuke settled back onto his cushion and moved his cold stare to their host.

Hanzaki was studying Naruto in a considering fashion as if the boy had done something that he hadn't expected or perhaps had hoped he would. "There is one other thing that we would like from you," he said after a long moment of silence.

Naruto gave him an inquiring look.

"We want to hire you."

Sasuke maintained his bland look with effort while Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

"Hire us?" he repeated unnecessarily.

"If you were able to defeat Orochimaru, then you are obviously powerful ninja in your own right. There are many remnants of his rule scattered throughout Rice Field Country that will become problems when it becomes known that he is missing. If we are able to disable them while they are still unaware, then they will cause less damage when they find out they are no longer controlled."

Hanzaki paused and took in a deep breath before continuing. "While we have been making some headway in trying to protect our people from Orochimaru's rule, we still lose too many. We are not numbered enough nor strong enough to take on the most powerful of his special shinobi."

"The people of Rice Field Country need your help," Sasame added quietly, gazing at Naruto with large, dark eyes full of hope.

"Yes."

"No."

Naruto shot Sasuke a blazing blue glare.

"This isn't our fight," Sasuke reminded him. "We have bigger game to hunt."

"And this would be the perfect practice field. Between missions we'll train. Then we'll take what we've learned and use it against their enemies. It's been three years since we've really fought together against someone else. This will be the perfect opportunity to test ourselves as well as our new techniques." Naruto paused before adding, "We can make a difference here."

Sasuke took a slow calming breath, buying himself time to think. He turned dark eyes on Hanzaki. "What do we get out of it."

"We are not rich, but we can provide weapons, supplies and food. We will protect your secrets as if they were our own. Any information that we have obtained and you require will be yours for the asking."

Sasuke studied the rather non-descript man in front of him. Just glancing at him, you would forget him in a matter of minutes, but he had to be a decent ninja to have lived this long opposing Orochimaru. Now it seemed Sasuke would be working for him. "Very well," he said rather reluctantly.

"Excellent," Hanzaki nodded calmly. "Sasame, the scrolls and ink, please."

Sasame nodded and fetched the requested items. She sat them down carefully at the end of the table next to Sasuke before moving back to her own seat. She flashed Naruto a happy smile as she sat down.

Repressing a sigh, Sasuke grabbed the writing materials and got to work.

As Sasuke began writing, Naruto began talking to Sasame and Hanzaki. He told them of his travels with ero-sennin as well as all the interesting people he had met. It had been a while since he had been able to sit down and hold a real conversation with anyone besides Sasuke (if one could call talks with the dark-haired shinobi conversations) and he took full advantage of the opportunity.

By the time Sasuke set his brush down, both members of the Fuuma clan had smiles on their faces and laughter in their eyes. If one thing could be said for Uzumaki Naruto, it was that he could charm the pants off of anyone. One only had to ask Sasuke to confirm it, as long as one didn’t mind getting incinerated by a fireball afterwards.

“Sasame will be in contact with you once we have had a chance to review the new information and decide a plan of action,” Hanzaki informed them.

Sasame retrieved their coats for them and the two boys took their leave. As soon as they were out of sight, the two Fuuma ninja sat at the table once again, but with Hanzaki on the side that the boys had been.

There was movement behind the screen before Tsukuda Katsuro stepped out. Dressed in the clothes of a lower class civilian to help hide his identity, the daimyo’s son made his way to the cushion that Hanzaki had just vacated.

The two ninja waited until their lord was seated comfortably before speaking.

“What was your impression, my lord?” Hanzaki asked respectfully.

“I told you not to call me that when I am dressed in this manner,” Katsuro gently reprimanded his subordinate.

“Of course… Kat,” he said the name rather awkwardly.

“I think it is rather obvious that they have secrets,” the younger man said thoughtfully.

Hanzaki smiled slightly, “They are ninja. All ninja have secrets.”

A smile flickered briefly over “Kat’s” features before vanishing, as if expressions had been something that he had been taught to hide.

“The blonde boy, Uzumaki I believe, is interesting. It isn’t his country, yet he feels strongly for its people. You wouldn’t think that a ninja would be so emotional, but rather more like the other one.”

Sasame smiled in that slightly sappy way that usually denoted either hero-worship or a crush. “Naruto has always been very passionate about things. Especially helping other people.”

“The Uchiha could be a problem,” Katsuro continued thoughtfully. “He could easily pick up where Orochimaru left off, if the Sannin is truly gone, but it would appear as if Uzumaki has a pretty good hold on his leash.”

Sasame blushed a bright pink. “The two appear to be… involved.”

Katsuro’s eyebrow went up in a way that would have been a startled exclamation for another, but he refrained from commenting.

“Let’s review the information provided to us and see in what manner that we can utilize their talents,” the lordling suggested after a brief pause.

Pulling one of the scrolls over and unrolling it, the three began to work.

***************
Sasame gave a stretch as she made her way to her room in the club several hours later. It wasn't her first choice of places to stay, but after three years she was used to it.

It was both painful and yet odd to think back that many years ago. At that point in time, he clan was blindly following Orochimaru in hopes of restoring their former glory to what it was before the time of the ninja wars. They had lost many of their stronger warriors in the battles with the neighboring countries. The elders had hoped they would become stronger by joining the new Hidden Village.

There was a sect of the clan that didn't agree with the decision however. They didn't trust the outsiders and were branded as traitors when they refused to work with the Sannin and left the clan. Those men and women, led by Hanzaki, came into the village and essentially took to theft for their living. They were little more than glorified thugs.

Her favorite cousin, Arashi, had been offered a position of power by the snake in which he could learn more and become stronger. Eager to serve his clan as well as this new kage that promised them prosperity, he agreed without hesitation. What they didn't realize was that Orochimaru only wanted the techniques that the clan had developed.

When he seemed to have disappeared, Sasame had decided to go looking for her beloved cousin. It was then that she had ran into Uzumaki Naruto as well as his teammate, Sakura, and his sensei. He also had been looking for someone that had joined the Sannin on the promise of strength and power.

Even though she had betrayed Naruto and his friends by trying to hand them over to her kinsmen that worked for Orochimaru in exchange for a chance to see Arashi, the blonde had stuck by her. He had done everything in his power to help her rescue her cousin from the snake. Neither one of them had known that it had already been too late. Changed into some kind of creature by the evil shinobi's experimentations, there had been very little of her cousin's spirit left.

There had been one shining moment at the end where he had held the darkness at bay and had saved her from being crushed by the crumbling ceiling in that section of the lair, he had chosen to remain however, ending his existence and allowing him peace.

After that incident, Hanzaki, who had been inspired by Jiraiya-sama in much the same way that she had been by Naruto, dedicated himself to fighting against Orochimaru in whatever way he could to help the people of Rice Field Country. She had left her clan, which refused to abandon their loyalty to Orochimaru, and joined her kinsman in his efforts.

Over the last three years more and more of her clan had trickled in until those who followed the snake were now the minority. However, they were still denied their original homes by the fear of discovery by Orochimaru and his henchmen. The remainder of their family would turn them over in a heartbeat if they thought they could gain favor through such action.

Being with Hanzaki and the rest of the "rebels" had been an eye opening experience. It had been then that she learned of the full extent of the evil that was the snake Sannin. People taken from their homes in the middle of the night, travelers disappearing from lonely stretches of road and the absolute terror everyone seemed to have of the new ruler of Sound.

However, it was his cronies that caused most of the problems. It seemed that the snake moved around a lot and left many of his projects under the leadership of his underlings. It had been those individuals, drunk from their power and heady with their own importance, that made life a living hell for any towns or villages that they happened to be near.

Demands for tribute whether in the form of money, food or women were invariably made from the local population. Refusal meant strong arm tactics at best, at worst it meant deaths.

Sasame could only hope that with the new information and the help of the two shinobi that they would be able to make a meaningful dent in the stranglehold that Orochimaru's subordinates had over the villages without endangering too many lives. Now that the Sannin himself was gone, there had to be a way to keep the people safe from their enemies, get rid of the remaining villains and establish their own strength.

She sighed as she pulled off her clothes and readied herself for sleep. Who would of thought that the death of the man responsible for so much pain could bring even more suffering if they didn't act in time?

TBC