The Sound of Dreams

AN: I know you all probably get tired of hearing me say how much I appreciate your reviews every chapter, but I can’t help but reiterate it. I do so love the feedback! It’s addicting as hell.

I just wanted to also warn my avid smut fans that the sex-scenes are going to be tapering off. I only have 3-4 more planned out at this time (that isn’t to say that there won’t be more, but that is what is planned.) The plot is about to take off and our boys are going be a little busy soon! Don’t worry, if you guys get hard up enough just yell and I will write a smutty one-shot either set in the future (leaving vague details to circumstances) or in-between chapters.

Jelp: Yes, Sasuke knows at this point that the council wanted to lock up Naruto.

Conquerors_star: Don’t ever be shy about leaving a review! I cherish each and every one!!

Hahathatsfunny13: I think Kishimoto is lurking around our forum!! (I could only wish. Might give him some good yaoi influence!)

Elict has drawn/colored in her pic of Sasuke in his new outfit. Hope you love it as much as I did!!
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50641434/?qo=2&q=by%3Aelict&qh=sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps

Much love to you all! Hope you enjoy!!


Chapter 39


Hanzaki looked up as a soft knock sounded on the door to the room where he and Katsuro were going over the last details of what they wanted to do with the information provided to them by Uchiha Sasuke.

"You have visitors, Hanzaki-san," a feminine voice said quietly.

Hanzaki recognized the woman's voice. He waited until Katsuro stepped behind the folding screen before going to the door and opening it. Once he was assured it was in fact who he thought it was, he removed his hand from the kunai hilt.

"You know that I am very busy and asked not to be disturbed," he said sternly.

The woman bowed her dark head. "Yes, Hanzaki-san, but I assumed you wanted to see these particular individuals. They are the same boys that were here the other day."

Hanzaki's eyebrows went up. "Send them up here," he said firmly. After the woman left the doorway, he looked over his shoulder. "I assume you will want to hear what they have to say to me?" he asked respectfully.

"Indeed," came the quiet voice from behind the screen.

A few moments later, the two teens were walking through the hall to where Hanzaki leaned against the doorway. Uzumaki had a fierce and determined look on his face and Uchiha looked distinctly disinterested in his surroundings. It was an interesting contrast.

He stepped aside to let them into the room and shut the door after himself. He gestured to the low table where they had conversed previously. "Please, sit."

Sasuke knelt down gracefully while Naruto was a little stiff and jerky.

"Can I offer you some tea?" Hanzaki asked, trying to get niceties out of the way so he could satisfy his curiosity.

Naruto opened his mouth but Sasuke was the one who answered. "No, thank you. Hopefully we won't be troubling you for very long."

"Then what can I do for you?" he inquired.

Sasuke gave Naruto a look as if to say, "It's your show."

Naruto drew a deep breath before beginning. "Let's pretend for a moment that you honestly believe us when we say Orochimaru is gone," he started.

Hanzaki raised an eyebrow at the comment but didn't bother to contradict the blonde.

"I think that this can be used even further to your advantage than just attacking some of his bases in hopes of eliminating supposedly enemy ninja."

Hanzaki wasn't sure he liked the "supposedly" comment, but still he remained silent and let the teen continue.

"I think that you are too stuck in the "him vs. us" mode. This can be an opportunity to step in and recover some of his belongings and shinobi and do so in a ...." Naruto trailed off, his face scrunched as he searched for the word he wanted.

"Legitimate," Sasuke supplied.

"Thanks, teme," he whispered. "Legitimate manner," he picked up in a normal tone of voice.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Hanzaki asked in a mild tone.

"A Hidden Village doesn't belong to the kage. If a kage dies, either the village council or if there isn't one, the country's daimyo along with the higher ranking ninja should choose the next kage. Most of the time I would imagine it would be up to the higher ranking ninja, but in this case I think the daimyo should be involved as well. It will give the new kage firmer ground to stand on," Naruto explained in a serious tone. It was obvious that he had given the subject a lot of thought.

Hanzaki blinked. "You're saying that the daimyo should step in and elect a new Otokage?"

"Exactly! A new Otokage will be able to put a stop to any dubious activities that are being carried on as well as recall many of the ninja that are spread throughout the country. Even the ones that are stationed outside of Rice Field Country. And since he is the new kage, anyone who doesn't return would be classified as a missing-nin and would be subjected to being hunted down," Naruto was warming up to his topic now.

"Why bother to go to all of the different bases and try to either eliminate or capture everyone when you have an opportunity to get the more honest ninjas on your side? Surely not all of the shinobi employed by Orochimaru are power hungry jerkwads that are out after their own gain."

Sasuke deliberately ignored the blue eyes that slid momentarily in his direction. He did, however, make a mental note to cuff the blonde later.

"If no mention is made about the status of Orochimaru and a new kage is appointed, you will give yourself a small space of time to pull in shinobi as well as any other stuff..."

"Resources," Sasuke interjected.

"Any other resources," the blonde almost growled while glaring at his friend. "So that you can be better prepared. Plus, it leaves the Sound Village intact which means you still have an operating ninja village which your neighboring countries still don't have. You still have a deterrent."

"There are a few problems with that," a voice said from behind the screen. A young man stepped out, a hand full of years older than the two teens kneeling at the table. His dark amethyst eyes took in the two boys clearly for the first time.

Hanzaki spoke up. "This is Kat. He's my eyes and ears." It was true from a certain point of view.

Sasuke refrained from expressing his dubiousness at that statement. The dark-haired young man before him may have been wearing old clothes but he carried himself as someone from a much higher station.

“First off, you will have to provide some proof of Orochimaru’s status before the daimyo will make any move. Secondly, it is the ones that are loyal to Orochimaru that are in positions of leadership in his lairs. If we make someone else Otokage, those men will take action and command the others below them to fight anyway, regardless of whether or not we offer them sanctuary. That will result in what in essence will be a shinobi civil war. Thirdly, with that kind of turmoil, our enemies will make a move against us. Especially if Orochimaru fails to show up and quell the rebellion.”

Each point was like a nail driven into the coffin containing all of Naruto’s idealistic beliefs.

Sasuke spoke up after a moment of silence. “Assassinate the leaders,” he said in his chilly, emotionless voice. He felt three sets of eyes fall on him. “If you get rid of the leaders, you can bring in the followers.”

“I think they would notice if their numbers start dropping off,” Kat said dryly. “They will start taking measures to capture the assassins. Plus you have to go through the bases to get to the leaders to begin with. In essence you are back to attacking the bases like we had originally planned.”

Naruto raised his head that had momentarily drooped in his disappointment. "Then we will just have to make an example. The labs that do the experiments will not have any shinobi that we would want anyway. They have to know what is going on in those places and yet have done nothing to help those people. When the daimyo announces the new Otokage, the labs should be shut down in a way that will intimidate the others."

Katsuro raised an eyebrow at the "we" statement, but didn't interrupt.

"Quickly as well," Sasuke added. "While they are still absorbing the announcement."

"Rice Field is small enough that most of those labs can be taken out within 48 to 72 hours if you have the right people doing so," Naruto said emphatically. "If you take out the labs, you are going to get the backing of the civilians. They can make things harder for any rebels since most of them don't like Orochimaru's men and will at least pass information along of their whereabouts."

"You can also leak out the locations of the labs to the countries in which they reside," Sasuke pointed out. "That will occupy them enough so that they won't be a problem for you."

"You'll have to make sure that you have some decent people on hand when others start showing up since they will probably try to send spies in as well," Naruto pointed out. "But if it will save lives and give you a strong base to build on, then it will be worth it.

"If you just go out and start attacking bases, you are going to lose a lot of good ninjas that might have worked for you and you will also end up losing a lot of your own limited number of men," he concluded.

Kat was quiet for a long moment, trying to think over this new set of ideas and trying to find any potential drawbacks that didn't already exist in their other plans. "You both are in agreement with this plan?" he asked.

Two sets of eyes swung his way and he was immediately struck by the depths of the gazes. Both of these young men had seen many things in their short life spans. Naruto immediately nodded. Sasuke looked like he would rather not have been involved at all, but he reluctantly nodded as well.

The things that he did for his idiot blonde.

"There are two things that need to be taken into consideration," Sasuke murmured. "One, you will need a place to put all of the ninjas that we bring in. Two, you will need a place to put the prisoners that we take." 'Not that I would take any,' he thought to himself.

Hanzaki spoke up at that point. "We can use Rice Field's prison. We can add what extra security measures that we need and man them with shinobi that we know are loyal to our cause."

"And the other?" Sasuke asked in his usual slightly condescending manner.

Kat turned his piercing amethyst eyes to the pale teen sitting at the table. "I'm sure there is plenty of room at the base in which you are currently staying."

Naruto choked slightly, causing himself to go into a short coughing fit as Sasuke leveled a glare at the young man.

"That's a good idea," Hanzaki added. "There certainly isn't room in the village and we wouldn't want all those ninjas harassing the villagers anyway."

"Half of it is falling down," Sasuke protested.

"I'm sure we can spare some men to come out and repair it. Right, Hanzaki?" Kat said, looking over expectantly.

"I'm sure we could," the older male agreed.

Sasuke's lips tightened and he shot a look at Naruto as if to remind the blonde that the whole situation was his fault.

Kat looked the two teens over a long moment before speaking. "I guess the first order of business then is the proof."

Naruto blinked. "Proof."

"Yes, proof. While everything you propose sounds very good, there is no guarantee that Orochimaru won't show up and eliminate us all. The only thing that we have is your word that he is sealed away. Before we quite literally put the future of our country in your hands, I want proof. As far as I know, this could be some convoluted plot on Orochimaru's part to expose the rebel shinobi so he can get rid of them once and for all."

Sasuke declined to point out that their little "rebellion" had been merely annoying to the Sannin, much like a flea, and about as dangerous.

Naruto's brow scrunched in thought as he tried to find a way to prove without a doubt that what they said was true. Preferably without exposing all of his secrets, but he had to admit that it was likely impossible not to. Sasuke stayed silent, allowing Naruto to make the decision of how much they would tell the men in front of them.

"Does the Fuuma clan still specialize in chakra threads?" Naruto asked.

Hanzaki nodded. "We do."

"When I helped Sasame with her cousin, there was one person who connected my heart to theirs so that if they died, I died." Naruto ignored Sasuke's sharp look as he continued. "Do you have someone that can connect their eyes to another person's to gain their vision?"

Sasuke's look sharpened even further since he had a fair idea of what the blonde was planning.

Naruto looked over at his best friend. "If that is okay with you."

Sasuke didn't like the idea at all. His eyes were what made him an Uchiha. His eyes were his source of power and his means to defeat his brother. The idea of someone connecting their chakra to them was unnerving in the best of circumstances.

"There is an elder in the clan that can do that kind of precise work. He is very skilled. One of the best," he said, trying to reassure the tense Uchiha.

"If you bring him here, we will be able to prove to him that Orochimaru's sealed," Naruto informed them.

Kat nodded and Hanzaki immediately headed toward the door once more.


It was almost thirty minutes later and the room was filled with a tense silence. Sasuke said nothing to alleviate the atmosphere; rather he merely sat on his cushion and plotted different means of making the dobe's life miserable for getting him into this situation. The things bonds caused him to do. Perhaps his brother was right after all.

The soft knock on the door sounded thunderous after the quiet. Hanzaki walked over to the door and opened it only enough to peer out. Once he had identified the visitor, he stepped back and pulled the door open wider with a bow. An elderly man walked in.

While it was obvious that the snowy-haired man was advanced in years, there was nothing frail about him. His gliding stride carried him into the room and it became obvious that this man had once been a shinobi. Naruto had the sudden realization that if he and Sasuke ever lived that long (which he sometimes couldn’t help but doubt) that they would be like this man in front of them.

The man practically floated over to the table, his silvery grey kimono flowing with him. He bowed to all in the room but Hanzaki before kneeling upon a cushion at the table.

Hanzaki walked back over to the table and bowed reverently to the older man. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, Ren-sama, but we need your skills to verify something.”

The man didn’t respond but merely looked up at Hanzaki as if waiting for him to continue.

“We need you to link with this young man’s eyes,” Hanzaki continued with a gesture toward Sasuke. “So that you can see the truth that lies within this boy’s mind.” He indicated Naruto, who was still peering at the old man with acute interest.

“One holds the truth and the other can see this truth and you need me to witness it,” Ren stated. The man looked over at Naruto and seemed to study him with his piercing silver-eyed gaze. He then shifted his look to Sasuke and treated the pale teen to the same intense scrutiny.

“Are you sure you wish to do this?” he suddenly asked Sasuke, as if sensing that the young man was dubious at best about this whole venture.

Sasuke shifted his dark gaze over to Naruto for a long moment reluctantly nodding. His stare locked onto blue eyes gravely. “If something goes wrong with this,” he said with a tone of voice that held a dark promise, “you can expect there to be repercussions.”

Naruto swallowed with difficulty at the look in Sasuke’s eyes, but nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, teme,” he tried to reassure his friend. “I’m sure everything will be alright.”

“Turn and face me,” the older man said to Sasuke in a tone that brooked no arguments or discussions.

Not allowing his trepidation to show, Sasuke turned and faced the older man, his head lifted at an arrogant angle. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do for Naruto. The dobe owed him for this.

The elderly man placed his hands on either side of Sasuke’s face and stared into his eyes for a long moment as if searching or mapping out what he was seeing or perhaps what he needed to do. He drew his hands away and started to make a series of complicated seals that varied in between the ones that they were familiar with and motions that almost looked like weaving.

After a minute of this, the man made a final gesture and Sasuke’s head snapped back from the force of the chakra entering his brain through his eyes. His vision blurred for a moment and he felt the panic rise up in him, but things soon cleared. His eyes felt strange like they were over-pressured but they seemed to be working.

“Now,” the older man said, “do what it is you need to do and let my eyes see along with yours.”

Sasuke took a fortifying breath and turned to face Naruto. Naruto met his gaze and allowed himself to sink down inside to where he knew the Kyuubi’s prison lay.

TBC