The Sound of Dreams

AN: I’m glad you guys liked the last chapter!!

Kimra: Wow you sounded wiped out, hun! Hope you got some serious sleep!
Ukestalker: yes, there will be clones, but not for a while!
Andrew Shumway: Glad you are enjoying this fic as well as Wrong Number!
Aki: Be sure to say “Hi” to Mr. Bunny for me!
Armina: I’m surprised you didn’t spot any errors! I just bought a new copy of Microsoft Word and started going over my chapters. OMG, I can’t believe how many booboos I had in the beginning chapters! But I will be working on those!

A big “Thank You” to everyone that reviewed!! I love your reviews so much!! And thanks to everyone who is reading as well, you make it enjoyable to write!

Anyway, now for something completely different! Hope you enjoy!!


Chapter 43


The second lab had gone down without a hitch and, in their arrogance; they believed that the third would be the same.

They were wrong.

****************
Flicker on

The lights came up, illuminating a scene of chaos. Fires raged out of control and people ran in all directions, screaming in terror. The sounds of metal clashing against metal could either mean a fight or something trying to get loose from its cage.

Flicker off

The orange glow lit up the area like a back drop. A woman wearing rags came up to Naruto, weeping for help. As soon as she got near, the kunai buried itself in his stomach. A slash to the throat revealed the clothing of a Sound-nin.

He held his hand to his stomach, hoping that the Kyuubi’s powers would stop the flow of blood soon. He couldn’t afford to lose much more and he didn’t dare call upon the demon’s powers in this madhouse. It would be too easy to lose control.

Flicker on, Flicker off

He kept everyone away from him now. He had four clones stationed around him to take the brunt of the surprise attacks. Traps, shinobi, test subjects and even the scientists were playing every-man-for-themselves. When he knew it was a prisoner, he tried to reason with them and have one of his clones lead them out to freedom. Sometimes they stayed with the clone; more often than not they ran as soon as the smelled the forest air. Sometimes they stopped to kill the clone before making a bid for escape.

Flicker on

He didn’t know where his other two teammates were. Lost somewhere in this maze like he himself, no doubt. Well, maybe not Sasuke, he had probably memorized the way out with the Sharingan. Bastard.

Something roared from down below and the sound shook the walls and reverberated through his bones. The bellow was the fuel to people’s terror and they raced that much faster either toward freedom or their own deaths.

He knew one or two of the people he killed did not change into Sound-nin after they died. He knew that their faces would stay with him for a long time, their terror-contorted expressions frozen in his mind’s eye.

Flicker off

Something large slammed into the side of his shoulder, throwing him several meters until he hit a wall hard enough for it to crack under the force. He thought he felt a few ribs crack, he knew that his left shoulder was out of socket.

He could barely see in the flame-lit darkness. Shadows shrouded everything, hiding both those who needed to be saved and those who needed to be killed.

Flicker on, Flicker off

Naruto’s breath froze in his lungs. The flash of light had revealed his opponent. It was too many, too big. Twice his height, too big. Too many arms. Too many legs. At least as long as it was tall, too big. Too many heads with twisted faces. Twisted in anguish. Twisted in terror. Twisted in rage.

He instinctively ducked as the huge paw of a hand slammed into the wall, crumbling stone in its wake. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see the dim outline lit up by the distant fires.

Another deep, rumbling bellow sounded from down below. He couldn’t believe that it hadn’t come from this damn thing. How many fucking freaks of nature did this place contain? Where the hell were Sasuke and Sasame?

He had to get his arm back into place. He had to kill this thing. He had to find his friends and protect them. He had to get everyone he could out of this fucking macabre asylum while he was still sane!

The thing in front of him screamed. Too many screams, so many screams coming from too many mouths. Facing Gaara had been a nightmare, or so he had thought. Now, he realized that while it had been terrifying, this was a real nightmare.

He felt like emptying his stomach. He felt like destroying every damn thing here so he could be sure nothing escaped.

Flicker on

The lights revealed everything that he hadn’t wanted to see on the patchwork creature before him. It charged at him, moving faster than he could believe something that awkward and hideously malformed should be able to. He jumped out of the way, throwing kunai wrapped in explosive tags. He triggered the tags and body parts flew everywhere.

Blood splashed, organs splattered and still the damn thing stood there with half of its body gone. Bile rose acridly in his throat. Oh fucking god, one of the heads was weeping.

Flicker off

He could feel his guts churning. He could feel the power of Kyuubi trying to surface, to come to his aid for its own selfish purposes. With it, he could feel the snake squirming, trying to wriggle free and it was enough to push him to vomit. He was somehow shocked that he didn’t feel something long and slimy and writhing sliding up his throat.

Puke flooded his sinus cavity on that lovely thought and he couldn’t blow it out. Sucking it back down, he gagged again and started heaving, unable to catch a breath, practically choking on his own half-digested dinner.

He simultaneously did the correct thing as well as made a mistake in checking on his opponent.

The fucking thing had joined hands and was holding the rest of its entrails inside as it made its ponderous way over to the still gagging shinobi.

Between the choices of puke while fighting or puke while dying, Naruto decided he would go down swinging. He awkwardly brought his right hand to his dislocated left arm and made the seal for his clones. Three sprung into being; looking as awful as he himself was feeling.

One immediately threw itself at the abomination, trying to hold it off for the few moments it would take to get the Rasengan going. Getting his gag reflex under control, he held back his right hand as he and the other two clones formed the ball and added wind chakra to the mix. He then charged at the thing, thrusting his signature jutsu right into its ‘too many, too fucking many’ main

Flicker on

torso.

Blood and bone and unnamable things flew in all directions, covering everything within a three meter radius. He felt the wind-driven Rasengan explode into the creature, but some of the power back-lashed into him as well. Somehow it was more powerful with him using it as a melee technique as opposed to the ranged jutsu that he used to combine with Sasuke’s fire. Bone crunched just before he was thrown against the wall, his head bouncing off the immovable surface.

He was thankful that the other two clones were still up since they had more working arms than he himself did at the moment. He seriously thought about waiting for a few moments to see if Kyuubi was going to help him, but decided against it. If Zabuza could fight without the use of his arms, then so could Uzumaki Naruto.

Flicker off

*****************
Flicker on

Sasuke strode down the hallway, his bloodline illuminating what the lights would not. After the first time someone had tried to stab him, he had kept everything at a distance. If they looked like civilians, he directed them towards the hallway that led to the stairs that went up to the first floor in this hellish dungeon. If they attacked anyway, a swift kick to the head usually knocked them out or discouraged any further aggression on their part.

If they looked like Sound-nin, they died quickly and efficiently with a flick or two of his sword. Okay, so a few took a few flicks, a couple of stabs and a slash, but they were few and far between. Well, at least they had been on the first floor. He was finding that the guards on this floor were a little better armed and trained and actually presented a minor challenge for him.

Flicker off

A shinobi, who had apparently been waiting for the darkness, chose that moment to strike. Not realizing that his opponent was not as blind as he thought, the man charged at what couldn’t be more than a boy and a slim, pretty boy at that. It was only when red eyes turned his direction did he understand the full depth of his mistake.

Flicker on

The man’s head rolled off to the side. Crimson eyes registered it, categorized it and then ignored it as it was no longer a threat. He had seen so much worse when he had been a student to Orochimaru. Little things like decapitated heads no longer bothered him.

Ahead of him, lost somewhere within the twists and turns of the corridor, something roared.

Sound-nin as well as a few prisoners streamed out of the halls like rats from a burning ship. No one raised a hand to him as they raced by in their mad, headlong rush to freedom. Naturally Sasuke took advantage of their distraction, unwilling to let the opportunity to kill a few Sound-nin pass him by. After all, they were shooting for a hundred percent fatality within the enemy ranks that were stationed in these labs.

Flicker off

The ground trembled under both weight and power as the something came nearer. The crunching of stone could be heard both underfoot and along the walls as if claws were sinking into concrete.

Sasuke moved forward, knowing that whatever it was, it had to die. He couldn’t allow something like that to live to terrorize the countryside. Not only that…

…it sounded as if it would be exciting to fight.

He rounded the corner and there it was towards the center of the hall. The first thing he saw was the flaming green eyes. The feel of the chakra and the killing aura were impressive. Not as much as Orochimaru, but more than your average jounin.

He could feel the eyes trying to capture his gaze, trying to instill fear in his mind. However, he knew that game as he could play it himself. Pulling his eyes away from the green glow, he noted that the thing was almost twice his height and took up most of the corridor. That could be both beneficial and a hindrance. He wouldn’t be able to move behind it, but then it wouldn’t have a lot of room to maneuver either.

Flicker on, Flicker off

Sasuke felt his eyes widen from both shock and an attempt to recapture the vision. He quickly reminded himself of the feel of its aura and hoped that it wasn’t holding anything back. Those features…

If he had ever thought that Naruto could look demonic, he was sorely mistaken. The thing made the Kyuubi look like an overgrown plushie. It wasn’t youkai.

It had looked like an oni.

The black scaled body had sported spikes protruding from knees and elbows. Talons had adorned both hands and feet and looked razor sharp. The head had appeared draconian with more than one set of horns, each pointing in a different direction. The snout was full of wickedly sharp teeth that were easily those of a carnivore.

Sasuke honestly didn’t know if Orochimaru had successfully summoned a true demon or if some poor soul had been transformed beyond all recognition.

The thing moved incredibly fast, charging down the hall. Sasuke crouched, ready to dodge and launch a counter attack.

Flicker on

Light flooded his eyes, blinding him for a split instant. A large clawed hand connected, slamming the shinobi into the wall with crushing force causing stone and mortar to crumble under the impact. Sasuke’s head rang with the beginnings of a concussion but he forced himself to move as the other clawed fist came at him, ready to pulverize his skull.

He rolled to safety and tightened his grip on his sword. Shaking his head once to clear it, he leapt at the creature that was in the process of turning towards him. Gripping the hilt in both hands, he brought the weapon down in an overhead swing, intent on doing as much damage as possible.

He scowled as the sword’s edge slid off the diamond hardness of the scales and dodged almost automatically as a claw swiped at him.

He had to move and weave as best as he could within the tight confines of the corridor as he looked for an opening. Once found, he called up his Chidori Nagashi and allowed the lightning to flow into his blade. He dodged under the thing’s guard until he stood directly before its belly. He swung the katana and almost swore out loud as the creature blocked the attack with its forearm.

The worst part was that while the lightning enhanced weapon did damage the demon, it only scored the scales, leaving behind a crease in the armored hide. He allowed his jutsu to dissipate and once again dodged as this time the thing tried to bite him.

Flicker off

Sasuke turned and ran, leading the thing back down the way he had come. He needed room to maneuver, needed room to be able to use his full abilities. He had to find a way past the creature’s defenses.

As soon as he entered a larger area, he immediately went up the wall to the ceiling and masked his chakra. As the demon stepped into the room below him, he had a sudden idea. If he could rip the scales off first, his Chidori would have no problem piercing the tough hide. From what he had seen, Naruto’s Rasengan would be excellent for what he needed. The jutsu could grind stone; surely it could peel off a few scales. He had watched the blonde countless times with his Sharingan activated, surely he could duplicate the jutsu.

After all, it couldn’t be that hard if Naruto had learned it.

Knowing that as soon as he started pulling his chakra into his hand that the beast would sense his presence, he waited until it was across the room so as to give himself more time.

Realizing suddenly that there were no hand seals to gather and mold chakra with, he did the only thing of which he could think. He reached inside of himself and pulled his chakra out toward his palm. He smirked triumphantly as a ball of light formed. His smirk faded when he realized that it was half the size of the one that his friend usually created. Trying to pull out more chakra, he started spinning the strands of power as he had seen the blonde do.

‘How in the hell can he make dozens of these at once?!?’ Sasuke thought in disbelief as he felt his power reserves being dumped into the jutsu. He hoped he had enough left for his Chidori or this was going to be a moot point. Maybe he could get his sword through if it ripped enough scales off for a clean hit.

The demon turned and saw its prey on the ceiling above it. It turned to the nearest wall and, digging in its claws, began to scale it.

Sasuke cursed as his eyes glanced towards the creature crawling its way towards him. He wasn’t happy with his form of the Rasengan. It was smaller, less compact and had less spin than what Naruto could do, but it would have to suffice.

Flicker on

The lights in this place were really fucking starting to irritate him.

He launched himself at the demonic-looking thing, aiming the ball of spinning chakra towards the creature’s left side. He wanted to get a heart shot if he possibly could.

The Rasengan connected, but instead of the ripping and tearing of flesh that he expected, it seemed to collapse in on itself, impressing the scales with a spiral indentation. He was about ready to start cursing fluently until he saw a space where a few scales had been neatly filleted off.

That was also the moment that he noticed that the creature had a tail. One with many spines and spikes set into it. He noticed this because some of those spikes were currently embedded into his side. The thing whipped its tail back away with lightning speed, tearing flesh as it pulled the spines out from its victim’s body.

“Fucking piece of shit,” Sasuke muttered as he felt pain and the warmth of blood spread over his side. ‘Fuck this,’ he thought. There was one way to make sure the damn thing didn’t live past the next few minutes. He ripped the armored Anbu vest and mask from his body.

Launching himself away from the scaled monster, he allowed the curse seal to activate. Black fire spread over his skin bringing both pain and power to him. He then let it go further, the fire encompassing and staining his skin as his hair greyed out and wings ripped from his back.

The sight was almost beautiful in a macabre sort of way. The dark archangel was hovering on grotesque wings, clutching his sword and facing the demonic beast, ready to send it back to hell.

The angel sheathed its weapon and called holy, or perhaps unholy would be a better description, lightning to its hand. With a flap of wings, he charged. The beast thrust itself away from the wall, turning to face its foe with all claws extended.

Sasuke waited until the last moment before flicking a wing, causing him to pass to the creature’s side. His wildly glowing hand shoved through the weak point he had made earlier and into the thing’s chest. He could feel the muscle pulsing rapidly against his hand and clutched his fingers around it. He ripped his arm back out of the warm body, holding his prize in a clenched fist. The smell of burning flesh filled the room as the lightning sizzled and cooked the organ.

The creature continued forward with its momentum until it landed on the ground, unmoving. Sasuke tossed the heart down and landed. He then tried to pull himself back from the brink, tried to pull the power back under control.

Flicker off

*********************
Sasame felt herself get knocked against the wall by the larger of the two men. He was a well trained individual and it showed in the number of cuts and bruises that her body had sustained. The smaller of the two males was not as well trained and she could have handled him easily had the other not been here.

She had gotten the last thread tied on anyway, no matter if she was going to be sore for a few weeks after this. She turned to the smaller man and attacked him, her motions disguising her real intent. After securing her last thread between the two, she pulled out a kunai and shoved it into the guts of the lower ranking shinobi.

Both men spit up blood as their bodies jerked. Taking advantage of the momentary shock of pain, she pulled out the dagger and shoved it back in harder, going up under ribs. There was a long moment of silence before two sets of eyes glazed over and two bodies hit the floor.

Wiping off her kunai, Sasame limped out of the room, favoring her sprained ankle.

She believed that all of the people were finally out of the lair. Only a few that were too injured or too scared to move were left. She carefully combed the place, helping anyone that she could outside before moving back into the building to find another lost soul.

She stumbled across Naruto who was trying to shove his shoulder back into place with the help of two clones who only had the use of one arm each. He gave her a relieved look when he spotted her, grinning around the bloody kunai clenched between his teeth.

She quickly moved the clones out of the way and grabbed his arm, rotating it carefully until it was where she needed it; she abruptly shoved the arm back into its socket. The blonde let out a pained sound around the dripping dagger, but kept his teeth clenched together around the weapon.

He gingerly tested his arm before reaching up and taking the kunai from between his lips.

“Thanks, I needed that,” he said with a grimace.

She grinned at him. “My pleasure.”

He took his mask back from where it hung on one of the clone’s belts and placed it back over his face. “Let’s find Sasuke.”

She noticed that his other arm was held against his waist and that he tried not to move it.

“Broke, I think,” he told her as he noticed her gaze.

She hurriedly ripped a piece of cloth from a body that she didn’t look at too closely and helped him form a make-shift sling.

Once done, they moved further into the base.

The flickering lights illuminated some scenes that the two wished they hadn’t seen and then shrouded them in darkness, leaving them to stumble blindly onward. Naruto found the stairs by almost falling down them, but his clones grabbed him at the last moment and pulled him to safety. They carefully made their way downward, stepping over bodies as necessary.

They quickly searched through the debris, going from room to room looking for both survivors and their other teammate.

They entered into another room and their eyes were immediately drawn to the winged figure crouching on the floor. His chest heaved and his body trembled and a small pool of blood was slowly forming under him. His hand automatically fumbled for his katana as he sensed an approaching presence.

Sasame, reacting more than thinking, drew her hand back and let her kunai fly. If one of Orochimaru’s creatures was injured, it would just be that much easier to finish it off. She looked on in astonishment when one of the clones threw himself into the path of the weapon before dissipating in a puff of smoke.

“Sasame! NO!” Naruto yelled as he put himself in between the two figures. “Don’t,” he said, holding out his good hand to stop any further actions. He left the clone standing in his place and turned to go to Sasuke.

“Sasuke,” Naruto murmured quietly as he placed his hands on the injured angel. Even like this, he couldn’t deny that there was a devastating beauty to his beloved.

Red eyes looked at him as if not recognizing him at first, but then they slowly faded to black. The body convulsed as wings were drawn in and colors started to revert from their negatives. Skin lightened, hair darkened, lips paled.

Naruto gently pushed the dark shirt up on his friend. There were a few puncture wounds on his side where the blood was oozing out. He quickly yanked his sling off of his neck, hissing in pain as his arm was jostled.

“Come give me a hand,” Naruto called over.

Sasame hesitated a moment, but came over and started to help wrap Sasuke’s wounds. She pulled the cloth tight and aided in getting the older shinobi back up to his feet. He swayed slightly from both blood loss and exhaustion. She grabbed the ripped chest piece from the Anbu uniform from the floor as the clone grabbed the discarded mask. She then got under his shoulder so he could lean on her. Naruto had already claimed the side where he could actually help with his one good arm.

Once they had made their way outside, Sasame eased out from under Sasuke’s arm and ran back into the fitfully burning lair. A few moments later she came out with a few poles and several strips of cloth. She hastily made an impromptu stretcher as Naruto lowered Sasuke down to the ground.

“We’ll be able to travel faster this way,” she explained shortly. “Put him on it and I’ll take the end since I have two good hands and you and your clone can take the front.”

He nodded and quickly moved to maneuver Sasuke onto the stretcher. He paused when he saw some of the people still around, looking dazed and a little confused.

“Let me make a few clones to take the stretcher. You think you can help these people back to the village?” he asked. “If not, I’ll send the clones with you and I can stay back.”

“What’s the range on your clones? You’ll need to stay with them if they are carrying the stretcher,” she said firmly.

“I’m glad I’m not in critical condition,” a faint voice said dryly from below them. “I would be dead by the time you two got around to making a decision.”

“Sasuke!” Naruto protested as he tried to prevent his friend from getting up.

“Shut up, idiot. I’m not an invalid.” Sasuke pushed Naruto back slightly as he stood up. He felt like wincing in pain, but forced himself to not do so. The last thing he needed was Naruto even more worried about him. “Grab me some tape or needle and thread and either tape me or sew the wound shut. Sasame, tend to the others while he does so and then we can all go together.”

They both hesitated as if afraid he would fall over at any second. While the black cloth hid the blood well, it was apparent that he had lost a lot of it.

“Move it!” he growled.

They both sprang into action.

TBC