The Sound of Dreams

AN: Hi there, nothing intelligent to say this morning, except “yawn.” I am so not a morning person.

Makkura Arashi: Chapter 347 gave me conflicting emotions. The whole yaoi thing was funny and the look on Sasuke’s face when he saw the bridge was cute, but the whole “I don’t care” bit was kind of depressing. Also, my guess is that the two people that he is going to pick up know something about earth and wind elements. Think of it; he uses fire and the new guy uses water. Of course, I might be reading more into it than there is, but that was the first thing that popped into my head. Sometimes I can’t help but agree with the people that state the fanfiction has become their universe as opposed to the manga because it is obvious that we will never really see sasuxnaru in the real world. Can’t help but get this weird vibe every once in a while that there isn’t going to be a happy ending (ie I think someone is going to end up dying).

Anyway, hope you like the chapter! It may seem a little short, but I just couldn’t chop up the next section. It’s too long and too important to leave in one piece.

Thanks for your reviews!


Chapter 42


Sasuke and Naruto stood outside, well away from the quickly reforming base. They had recently realized that they had never practiced their combined jutsu outside as of yet and had no idea of its full range or power.

While Sasuke knew that this step was important, he was frustrated that he had yet to find a way to make the chakra barrier mobile. He wished he knew what jutsu Orochimaru had taught the members of the Sound Four when they had set up the barrier around the Sandaime. If he’d had that particular jutsu, then Naruto could just use four clones whenever they wanted to use the combination attack. Of course getting the timing down could be tricky since they couldn’t raise the barrier until after the jutsu was initiated and he had to use his chakra to guide the flames to the Fuuton Rasengan. That left them with only a precious few seconds before they were engulfed in flames.

There had to be a way without resorting to the Kyuubi’s powers.

Naruto and his clones made the advanced Rasengan. As he threw the spiral away from him, still concentrating on all the aspects within it, Sasuke used his jutsu and directed the fire immediately after it. As the jutsu passed the range of where they used it inside, the different elements unraveled, causing the Rasengan to collapse with a gust of air.

The fire had nothing to join, so Sasuke allowed it to dissipate.

“What happened?” he asked in confusion.

“Once it got more than thirty meters away, it collapses in on itself. I can’t keep it together past that point,” Naruto explained.

“Okay, let’s do it again and this time keep it where we usually do.”

Naruto reformed the jutsu once more and, once Sasuke nodded he was ready, he cast the swirling sphere. Sasuke hurriedly completed his hand seals and the bluish fire raced to merge with the wind. The two combined and ignited. A ball of flame swelled and then burst outward, just as it was supposed to. The two clones tried to intercept the flames as the two ninja tried to jump back out of the area of effect that the jutsu usually charred.

Blue eyes widened as the flames didn’t stop at their usual boundaries (artificial boundaries formed by the walls of the lair, he realized) but kept expanding. A few quick hand seals enabled them to be dog piled by a horde of clones which took the brunt of the fire. They were still in the middle of the flames when the last of the clones had been destroyed.

Sasuke hadn’t been idle however as clones were getting roasted by fiercely hot blue flames. He finished the last seal that allowed him to teleport himself and Naruto to a safe distance. Once the smell of charred wood died down and the presence of chakra all but vanished, they moved back through the few trees that they had been transported through. Two sets of eyes widened at the devastation that they had wrought.

An area half again the size that they were used to had a haze of grey ash drifting around, sometimes whirling for a brief moment before settling into a lazy float towards the ground. Trees, plants and any other signs of life were simply gone. The area was barren except for the black soot that coated the ground and the grey snowing ash.

Once again the two boys were soot covered and red skinned from the heat of the flash fire. It looked as if both had spent way too many hours in the sun and then rolled around on a dirty hearth.

“Hey, Sasuke…”

“What, usuratonkachi?”

“The trees are on fire.”

Through the haze, Sasuke was able to spot several small fires that were slowly crawling outwards along the forest floor. The two boys looked at each other a moment before bursting into action. Several dozen clones in a fire brigade stretching from the nearby river to their practice area made short work of the flames before they could get totally out of control.

“I think that before we practice again we need to clear a few more trees out,” Sasuke said through soot streaked lips.

Both boys sat on the dirty forest floor covered head to toes in sweaty ash and smoke stains. Their breaths came in light puffs as the incident had definitely tested their speed and endurance.

“Just think,” Naruto said with a huffed exhale, “if I get tired of being a ninja, I can hire myself out as a one-man fire department.”

Sasuke gave a snicker before easing himself up to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go get cleaned up. I don’t think I can stand to smell this badly for another minute.”

The two made their way back to the base and into the showers. Sasuke was being his normal, efficient self until a certain blonde haired shinobi slipped into the shower with him. They quickly decided that mutual bathing would be fun, which then digressed into play, which then morphed into mutual fondling, which then progressed to a heavy make-out session. It was then that a disagreement broke out about who was going to be blown first. That was until Naruto pointed out that after an orgasm Sasuke couldn’t even blow his own nose let alone Naruto’s dick.

Once the point was conceded, amongst many protests and counter arguments, they both were able to conclude their shower most satisfactorily. They then moved to the kitchen so that Naruto could fix a late lunch while Sasuke recuperated.

**********************
“I hate you,” came the muffled announcement from where Sasuke’s head was buried in the crook of his arms on the kitchen table.

“Oh?” asked Naruto in a seemingly unconcerned voice. He set down the bread and walked over to the table.

“Yes,” Sasuke affirmed, apparently addressing the table.

Naruto gently pushed the dark hair out of the way, clearing the view of one dark eye that glared up at him. He grinned and rather awkwardly kissed Sasuke’s temple. They usually didn’t kiss outside of sex and only touched when they teased each other. It felt a little strange to bestow the affectionate gesture out of the blue. Nice, but strange.

“And why do you hate me this time?” he asked curiously.

“Pink,” was the succinct answer.

Naruto chuckled in response. “I don’t know whether to find it funny or be insulted you were thinking about pink hair while you had my-“

“It’s all your fault,” Sasuke cut him off with the faintest of blushes. He really didn’t need a blow by blow, ‘I didn’t just fucking think that,’ he denied, description of what they’d just done.

Naruto merely snickered and walked back over to finish making their sandwiches. That was the one nice thing about working with the villagers. They were able to get a better variety of food as well as larger quantities. His stomach was once again a happy camper.

Once finished, he put a plate in front of his lover and then sat down to eat as well. Sasuke pulled himself together and dragged the plate closer. The two ate in silence until they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

“I have news,” Sasame announced with a sense of suppressed excitement. “The daimyo has supported our decision and is backing our plans. They will be announcing Hanzaki as the new Otokage.”

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at the news. Hanzaki wouldn’t have been his first choice for a position that was supposed to be for the strongest ninja in the country. But then, the man was already in charge of the shinobi that worked against Orochimaru, so he was used to being in a leadership position. He finally acknowledged that his promotion would cause the least amount of waves within the rebellion and since they were going to be the core of what was to become of Otogakure, it was probably the wisest move to make.

“That’s great, Sasame!” Naruto said happily. “So when do we start kicking some serious butt?”

“We’ll be leaving in two days,” she said with a fierce grin. They were finally going to pay back the Oto-nins some of what they deserved.

Sasame paused in the act of walking from the room. “By the way, Naruto, if you are still trying to keep people from finding out where you are, you might want to think about some way to hide your features. Otherwise someone might see you and recognize you.”

*****************
“Fuck you, bastard. I know I look stupid, you don’t have to rub it in,” Naruto growled from behind the black cloth mask that covered his lower half of his face.

He was dressed in a tight but comfortable black catsuit outfit with a hood covering his hair and the mask covering his nose and mouth until only his bright blue eyes showed. His hands were covered in black fingerless gloves and his feet were in some kind of soft soled shoe/sock thing that went between his toes. He felt like he was wearing pj’s and a ski mask. What kind of self-respecting ninja would run around dressed like this?

Sasuke, for his part, merely stood there with this half sneering, half smirking expression and his eyes dancing with unholy amusement.

Grumbling about pain-in-the-ass mates, Naruto undressed quickly, shedding himself of the ridiculous outfit.

Sasuke quelled an irrational spark of warmth at Naruto’s running commentary and decided to take pity on his fuming lover. “Luckily for you, usuratonkachi, I was more successful in finding outfits for us to wear.” He gestured to a rather large stack of black and white clothing sitting on the table against the wall. Sitting next to the clothes were two very familiar white porcelain masks.

“Anbu uniforms?” Naruto asked curiously and with a touch of confusion.

Sasuke nodded. “They were in one of the rooms that had been uncovered. Maybe they were going to use them for infiltration. I don’t know. But I figured if we were going to play the part of Hunter-nin, we might as well look the part.”

“Cool!” Naruto, now down to his black briefs, bounded over to the uniforms and shook them out. “I always wanted to be Anbu!” His expression faltered for a moment, but then hardened up into a smile once more.

Sasuke suppressed his own expression at his lover’s fake smile. He walked up behind him and ran his fingers through Naruto’s ponytail. “Try it on, see how you look.” He smiled and leaned in closer. “I bet you look hot in it.”

Naruto’s grin was genuine as he grabbed the clothes and started sliding into them. Sasuke felt tension ease out of his shoulders. He hated it when the dobe tried to hide what he was feeling. The blonde should know by now that he didn’t need to hide his pain. Sasuke would accept it just as he accepted everything else about Naruto.

*******************
The three ninjas were hidden in the shadows as they watched the entrance to the first base on their list. There were only a few guards outside of the innocent-looking shack and they had become lax in their duties as a result of the lack of incidents in a long period of time. They were child’s play to eliminate and if Naruto had at first hesitated, he only had to think back to the lab in Lightning Country for his kunai to become swift and sure.

They slinked into the run-down cabin and to the back room. They dispatched another bored guard before lifting the large trapdoor that covered a set of descending stairs. Gesturing for continued silence, Sasuke led the way down the stone steps.

The underground complex wasn’t very large, only housing two dozen shinobi as well as a small handful of technicians. The three-man team swept through the laboratory with silent and deadly efficiency, leaving nothing alive in their wake.

Naruto was almost disappointed with how easy it played out.

They found three small children kept in cages towards the back of the complex as well as one young boy kept in a separate room. While the other children had a few fine, thin surgical scars on them, denoting possible experimentation, the last boy was literally covered in them. As soon as he saw the three masked figures, one in black that showed her eyes and two in scary white and red masks that only showed hollow slits where eyes were supposed to be, he tensed up and ripples started appearing under his skin.

Naruto quickly pulled off his face cover and smiled at the young boy, large blue eyes crinkling with the expression. The boy’s muscles loosened slightly and the rippling slowed.

“Hi there!” Naruto said in a cheerful, but quiet voice. “We’re here to get you out of here!”

The boy, who couldn’t have been older than five, managed to look both hopeful and suspicious at the same time. Soulful green eyes blinked up at them through a veil of brown hair as the boy looked from one person to the next. His eyes landed on Naruto again and, after a long moment of staring into the bright blue gaze, he slowly held his arms out.

Being sure not to make any sudden moves, Naruto carefully walked over and picked up the small boy. Tiny but strong arms wrapped around his neck and held on tight. Naruto quickly formed a clone to take one of the girls while Sasame and Sasuke picked up the other two children, a boy and girl respectively.

The three shinobi then placed explosive tags all over the lair before heading out. Once they were a safe distance away, Sasame activated a tag. The explosion set off the others until the night sky was lit by burning embers where the shack had collapsed as the ground beneath it caved inward.

Satisfied, the figures moved off into the night.

*******************
“What are we going to do with him?” Sasame asked as she looked over at the sleeping boy.

They had made it back to the village easily, even with carrying the children. The kids were all tucked into beds at the gentleman’s club for the night. Not the best of environments for the young ones, but they were surrounded by shinobi so it was probably the safest. Others would start to look for their parents the next day to see if they could be located.

“At the moment we can’t do anything,” Sasuke stated firmly. “We still have three other labs to take out and only two days to do so.”

“We’ll need to find out what was done to him and see if there is any way to reverse it,” Naruto murmured. He wanted to do whatever he could to ensure that the boy had a normal life after this. He knew what it was like to be thought of as a monster and he wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone, especially an innocent child.

“I’ll report to Hanzaki. Then we can get a couple hours rest before we head out again,” Sasame told them as she stepped out of the boy’s room.

“I’ll stay here for now,” Naruto said. “To make sure nothing happens while we’re here.”

Sasuke looked at him for a long moment before walking over and pulling out a spare futon from the wardrobe. He spread it out on the floor not too far away from the boy and fetched a blanket to go with it. He pulled off his mask and sandals and settled down on the soft mattress.

“Come on, idiot, you’re wasting your sleeping time.”

Naruto smiled at him warmly before pulling his mask off from its perch on top of his head and his sandals as well. He slid in next to Sasuke and was enclosed in a strong, comforting embrace. He would probably end up on his back before too long with Sasuke using his shoulder for a pillow, but he would enjoy being held while he had the chance.

******************
Sasuke’s consciousness flickered to wakefulness as he felt the weight of eyes upon him. His lids fluttered open to immediately reveal a green gaze from across the expanse of a tanned, broad chest. The boy that they had rescued had taken up residence on Naruto’s other shoulder, his small arm thrown across the blonde’s torso much like his own.

“Do you have nightmares, too?” the boy asked in a small but curious voice.

Sasuke’s eyes flickered up to his lover’s face, but saw that he was still in his own dreamland. “Sometimes,” he reluctantly admitted. He didn’t know why he bothered to reply, but there was something about the boy that reminded him of himself when he was younger.

“He makes them go away,” the boy stated confidently, looking up at the whiskered face as well.

“Yes, he does,” Sasuke agreed.

Both males snuggled their heads back into strong shoulders, closed their eyes and drifted back into a sleep without scary dreams.

********************
Kiba listened to Akamaru as he gazed around the old, worn down shrine. The walls were about to collapse and the place had more field mice holes than an owl could eat in a year.

“Are you sure?” he asked dubiously. Apparently offended, the canine let out a long string of barks and yips. “Okay, okay, I was just asking!”

The brunette turned to the other members of his team who were currently bedding down for the night. “Akamaru says that Naruto has been here. It was a long time ago, but the scent has lingered since this place is sheltered from the elements.”

“All I smell is rat dung,” Sai grumbled as he shifted his blankets around once more, trying to avoid all of the tiny black pellets on the floor.

Hinata covered her mouth to hold in the giggle at the Anbu member’s expression of distaste. It seemed that he definitely had one expression down well.

“You’re telling me,” Kiba agreed in a disgruntled tone. “Akamaru also says that someone else was with him.”

“Sasuke?” Sai asked curiously.

Kiba shrugged. “Could be. It’s been a long time since he’s smelled the bastard. He thinks it might be him, though.”

“It was Sasuke,” Sai said confidently.

“How do you know for sure?” Shino finally asked. His teammates could pick up the slight tone of annoyance in his voice that no one else, including Sai, would have noticed. “He could have been here with Itachi for all you know.”

Sai looked at him strangely. “If he was with Itachi, then I doubt if they would have stopped here for the night. They would have immediately headed for whatever hole in the wall that the Akatsuki are currently using to extract the demon. I don’t believe that has happened since I don’t think they would just sit on their fingers once they had done so.”

“Thumbs,” Kiba corrected.

“Excuse me?” Sai asked.

“…they would just sit on their thumbs…not their fingers” Kiba tried to explain.

“Why would they sit on their thumbs?” Sai asked in confusion.

“Exactly, they wouldn’t,” Kiba agreed.

“But, didn’t you just say…?”

“He was correcting your saying, Sai-san,” Hinata intervened. “The saying is not ‘sit on their fingers’ but rather ‘sit on their thumbs’.”

“Besides,” Kiba added. “Shino wasn’t being serious, he was just being funny.”

“What’s funny about the Akatsuki having Naruto?”

Kiba took a long, deep breath. “Nevermind.”

“I’m confused,” Sai admitted in a quiet tone almost to himself.

TBC