The Sound of Dreams

AN: Nothing interesting to say this morning! Hope you all enjoy and thanks for the reviews!!


Chapter 48


Tsunade carefully reread the scroll in front of her. The news was good for a change, if not a little frustrating as well.

Strangely enough, the scroll wasn’t written by the leader of the mission, but rather one of the subordinates. The report implied that it had been written without the team leader’s knowledge.

She should have known that anything that involved Uzumaki Naruto would never be simple and straight forward. The boy had too much of a tendency to pull people into his schemes, even the well intentioned plots.

According to the report that Shino had sent via his insects, both Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were alive and well in Rice Field Country. Naturally, he left out where exactly.

Kabuto was supposedly dead by the Uchiha’s hand and Orochimaru had been sealed inside the Kyuubi’s prison. That was definitely an odd turn of events to Tsunade. She wasn’t even sure that it was possible, but if the report was accurate, then she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for her former teammate. She didn’t even want to theorize what a several thousand year old demon would do with a new form of entertainment. She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that his soul had been torn apart by now.

The frustrating part was that even though Naruto was apparently in control and Sasuke was with him, he refused to come home. According to Aburame, the blonde idiot not only was planning on facing down Itachi but was also mixed up in the Sound Village/Rice Field Country politics.

She had received the announcement that Otogakure was in the middle of raising a new Otokage. She half snickered at the title. Only the five main countries had the power to call their leaders “kage.” She paused as a sudden thought shot a cold rush through her system.

Surely Naruto wasn’t… ‘No, they wouldn’t,’ she tried to reassure herself. It was an idiotic thought. Still, she frowned down at the scroll.

She had to get Naruto home. The longer he was gone, the more the council was convinced that they were right. The longer he was gone, the more of a chance that he would be sealed and confined to the village when he returned.

Tsunade hated to have any ill feelings towards her village, but if she knew for a fact that that was indeed to be his fate when he returned, then she would do what she could to make sure no one ever found him. At least the council would never get wind of his whereabouts. She would rather he be a missing-nin than chained down like that. She knew what it would do to his spirit.

A knock on the door interrupted her musings.

Izumo stuck his head inside the door. “The three that you requested are here, Hokage-sama.”

“Send them in,” she instructed.

Naruto’s academy instructor, his jounin instructor and his teammate walked into the room. Tsunade waited until the door was shut before she addressed the three.

“What you are about to hear is classified,” she stated. “No one, and I mean no one, is to hear what I have to tell you three. Do you understand?”

All three nodded solemnly and with great curiosity, although Kakashi was better able to hide it than the other two.

“I called you three in here because you are the closest to Naruto and I think you deserve to be updated on his situation,” she continued.

By now, Iruka and Sakura both had a concerned expression.

“Team Eight and Sai have located both Naruto and Sasuke,” Tsunade stated quietly.

Kakashi immediately straightened from his bored slouch.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as if he is ready to come back yet,” she added wryly.

“Do you want me to go and fetch him?” Kakashi asked casually, as if asking if he should go down to the store for some milk.

“Have you forgotten what they want to do to him when he gets back here?” Iruka asked bitterly.

Kakashi slid a look at the academy teacher. “He made a conscious decision to disobey orders and left the village. I understand he wants to save his friend, but he also has to face the consequences for his actions,” he explained calmly.

“You’ve never understood anything about him,” Iruka said tightly.

Kakashi’s single eye widened slightly in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Iruka said loudly, trying to keep himself from shouting like he usually did when his temper got the best of him. “You’ve underestimated him and disregarded him from day one! The only thing you were ever concerned about was your precious Uchiha prodigy. Hell, look at the Chuunin Exam! You dropped Naruto onto someone he didn’t even know and used to hate his guts so you could spend all your time training Sasuke. Face it, you never had faith that Naruto would win against Hyuuga Neji so you didn’t even try training him.”

“No, I never figured Naruto would have won, but that isn’t why I didn’t train him,” Kakashi growled out. “Sasuke had other problems at that time. He was going up against a killer-“

“And we saw how well that one worked, Naruto is the one that defeated Gaara,” Iruka interrupted with a thoughtful tap on his chin.

Kakashi clenched his teeth beneath his mask. “And I had to train Sasuke to try to keep him away from Orochimaru.”

“Again, another shining success,” Iruka said sarcastically. “He got one look at how much Naruto had advanced under a real sensei and bailed on you.” He shot a look at Sakura. “It didn’t take much longer to lose your last student after that, did it?”

Kakashi felt his blood boil. He didn’t know how or why, but it never took Iruka long to get under his skin.

Tsunade watched expressionlessly as Kakashi’s hands clenched into fists. She could have easily stopped the two but for one, it was amusing; two, perhaps Kakashi needed to hear it and three, perhaps Iruka needed to say it.

“It was only after Naruto spent those two and half years with Jiraiya that you finally saw the potential that the rest of us had seen all along,” Iruka said with self-righteousness. “Of course,” he added darkly, “I’m sure it helped that your precious prodigy wasn’t here to blind you once again.”

Sakura, who had been stunned throughout this whole exchange, watched in astonishment as her usually laid back instructor grabbed Iruka by the shoulders and slammed him into the wall.

The two men glared at each other for a long moment. “If you were a jounin instead of just a chuunin, then perhaps you would know what you were actually talking about,” Kakashi gritted out.

The slight shift in balance warned Kakashi that the man was about to try something, however he wasn’t expecting the knee that slammed up into him.

Iruka casually pulled himself out of the loosened grip as Kakashi continued to lean against the wall, trying to breathe through the pain. To the jounin’s credit, he didn’t drop to his knees or give any other outward sign of the blinding agony he was currently suffering.

Iruka turned to the Hokage, who quickly stopped biting her lip to stifle her laughter, and bowed slightly. “If there is nothing else, Hokage-sama?”

“You’re dismissed, Iruka,” she said with the stoic dignity that her position demanded. However, he didn’t miss the honey-colored eyes dancing in amusement. “You as well, Sakura.”

After the door had closed, Tsunade turned her attention to the jounin that was still currently leaning against her wall. “Need a hand with those, Kakashi?” she asked, trying to mask the snicker with a cough.

“No, thank you, Tsunade-hime. I’ve found some rather interesting textures on your wall and will just stand here and observe them a little bit longer if that is alright with you.”

Tsunade didn’t bother hiding the snort of laughter this time. “Feel free. Perhaps you can also meditate on whether it is wise to upset ninja school teachers or not.”

Beneath his mask, Kakashi’s lips twisted self-deprecatingly. How in the hell had a school teacher gotten the drop on him? Was he losing his touch?

Iruka was partially right in one aspect. Kakashi had never truly understood how Naruto’s mind worked, but the jounin had always tried to do what he thought was best for the boy. When he thought that the boy would improve the most by gaining control over his chakra, he got the most patient and most thorough instructor that he could find. If Ebisu could handle Konohamaru on a daily basis, he would have been fine with Naruto.

It had only become obvious to Kakashi much later that Naruto’s control was directly proportional to the amount of power he used. He hadn’t understood it. The opposite should have been true, but there it was. That had been the reason why he had designed the training with the clones. By having him maintain and utilize quite literally a thousand clones at a time, it forced him to become more aware of his limits and to learn to manage his power more efficiently.

And, yes, while he preferred working with Sasuke, it was only because they were more alike and he could understand the Uchiha better.

He only hoped that Naruto could work whatever magic that he had when it came to others and convince Sasuke to give up his quest for vengeance and come back home.

******************
Sakura wasn’t sure what to think about what she had just witnessed. She could never have imagined either sensei losing their cool in such a manner, at least when it came to another adult. Iruka-sensei had lost his temper at times at the Academy, but it was usually only with students that didn’t try very hard, skipped classes or pulled pranks. Students like Naruto.

It was enough to shake her perspective slightly, to make her realize that even her teachers were human at the end of the day.

However, that was rather minor to the other issue her mind was trying to wrap itself around. They had found Naruto and Sasuke, both boys were alive and well, but neither of them was coming home.

Her lips firmed in a hard line. They both were stubborn to a fault and needed to have their heads knocked around a few times to make them see the error of their ways. Her expression faltered slightly when she came to the conclusion that she couldn’t do much to convince them to come home when she didn’t even know where they were.

Maybe she should talk to Shikamaru. Maybe he would be able to figure out where they were so that she could persuade them to return.

She felt slightly hurt that Naruto wasn’t returning with their teammate. He had promised to bring Sasuke back. Naruto always kept his promises. She paused as her mind tried to come up with reasons for him refusing to come back. The only thing that she could think of was that Sasuke refused to come back and Naruto was biding his time, waiting for the right moment to bring the other boy home. From the last real fight that they’d had at the Valley of the End, she could understand Naruto hesitating to go up against Sasuke again. Sasuke had almost killed him last time and he had seemed even more powerful when they had seen him again with Orochimaru.

She suddenly scoffed at her thoughts. The Naruto she knew would go up and kick Shinigami himself in the shin if the Death God pissed him off enough. Naruto wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything.

Not watching where she was going, she felt herself bump into someone. Jerking her eyes up, she met the dark eyes of Rock Lee. She looked away uncomfortably and murmured an “Excuse me.”

Lee gave her a strained smile. He also had been lost in his own thoughts and had not seen his ex-girlfriend coming his way. Had he done so, he would have avoided her as he had been doing recently.

“Oh, the fault is mine, Sakura-chan,” he said quietly. There was a long awkward moment where both of them desperately searched for something to say.

They had gotten along well enough while they had been dating, but Sakura had realized after awhile that there just wasn’t any “spark” for her. Lee was sweet, kind, funny and romantic, but she just couldn’t lose herself in him. The break up had been hard on the male shinobi since he had loved Sakura for so long, but there wasn’t much you could say to someone who didn’t share your love.

“Sakura-chan,” he finally said. “I have missed your company and your conversation. It is silly to try to avoid each other in such a small village. Let us try to be friends again. Life is too short to feel such negative emotions all the time.”

Sakura felt a hard twinge of guilt. “Are you feeling negative emotions towards me, Lee-kun?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer. Lee would never lie to her, he would tell her exactly how he had been feeling.

“It would be difficult not to feel some kind of bewilderment and pain, but my care for you overshadows those emotions.” He straightened up and gave her a smile. Not the large, brilliant smile that radiated his joy and happiness, but a smile. “Allow me to take you to lunch as a friend, where we can catch up on our youthful adventures in the time we have been separated.”

Sakura hesitated. “I don’t want to lead you on,” she murmured, refusing to look away cowardly like she wanted to.

“I understand,” he assured her. “As friends.”

She slowly smiled and nodded. “As friends.”

**************
The man sat, shrouded in the shadows. His lacquered nails slowly unrolled the scroll as he read its contents. The only light in the room was a desk lamp and it was pointed directly upon the scroll, giving little illumination to the rest of the room. The high collared cloak concealed most of his features except for the silhouette of spiky hair, the dark cloth non-descript excepting the red clouds that seemed to float on the dark fabric.

While he was not entirely ready to put his plans into motion, the current state of unrest in Rice Field Country was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. He wasn’t sure where Orochimaru was currently, but it was obvious that the snake wasn’t concerning himself with events in Sound. Now was the time to take advantage of his lapse and stir up some mischief.

It wouldn’t take much to cause the daimyo to start up another war, especially with those who had been responsible for his wife’s death. All he had to do was take the son and leave behind subtle evidence leading to the same individuals. War would break out in no time.

He didn’t want to outright kill the boy. There might be some wealth had in keeping him alive. If nothing else, it might draw out the Sannin, forcing him to defend his territory. Pride was a useful tool when used to manipulate others. He needed to be brought in for the appropriate discipline for leaving the fold. He had set a bad example for the newcomers. One that had to be rectified in a most gruesome way.

He would send Itachi and his partner to take care of the matter. Both of them were excellent at infiltration and being sent on what Itachi would see as a menial task would serve as a subtle reminder that he was unhappy with the Uchiha’s lack of progress with the Jinchuuriki that he was supposed to obtain.

It amazed him that the best shinobi he had was constantly being thwarted in his mission. It seemed that the vessel had an unseemly amount of luck as well as very powerful friends. Of course there were rumors that the child had left the Leaf, whether on a mission or because he defected was unknown. There were also rumors linking him to Orochimaru. It just gave him another reason to send Itachi to ensnare the old man and get answers from him.

It wouldn’t be long before he had his war, Orochimaru and the Nine-tails.

*******************
The young boy hid within the armoire as he listened to the sounds of fighting. He wanted the blue-eyed boy that they called Naruto back or the darker one that was his friend. He had thought that he was safe with these people that had taken him in, but he had been wrong.

He remembered the looks of horror on their faces when they had entered the room after the assassin had stopped screaming. Not that her screams had lasted long. He could tell immediately that they blamed him for both deaths even though it was apparent that Hanzaki-san had been killed with a precision cut. He made cuts, but they were never that clean.

His sensei had said that as he got older and learned better control, his cuts would be better. He had made sure he looked happy at the news because he didn’t want to make his sensei angry. When his sensei was angry, he was punished even if he had done nothing wrong.

Now, however, he didn’t even have that familiarity to give his world a sense of stability. The next day had been spent trying to decide what to do with him after they had locked him into this windowless room. That night, the attack had come.

He didn’t know who was attacking the village or why. He just hoped that they didn’t blame this on him as well.

He wanted Naruto to come back.

**********************
Sai walked beside Hinata as they explored the rooms down the corridor that they had chosen. He had to admit that he didn’t mind being paired with the pale-eyed girl. Unlike many other people, she had an openness to her that put Sai at ease. He didn’t have to guess what she was thinking or feeling because she didn’t try to hide it. He didn’t have to worry about how to act around her because she accepted him as he was. Sure she tried to correct his behaviors and make him more socially acceptable, but she wasn’t doing it to make him more of how she thought he should be, but rather to make it easier for him to move about in society.

And she was fun to provoke.

They entered a larger room, her moving ahead with her bloodline limit activated to look for any traps. Hinata’s only warning was a sudden flare in chakra before the room was shrouded in fog.

She frowned in confusion. Even with fog, she should still be able to see something. Unless it was…

‘Genjutsu.’

Sai’s head immediately tilted as the girl paused before him. A moment later, the fog rolled into his vision as well. He quickly brought his hands together and tried to dispel the illusion. “Kai!”

The fog seemed to shimmer a moment, but then solidified. He reached over to grab Hinata to make sure they didn’t get separated and cursed when his hand passed right through the form of the girl next to him. His ears picked up a hissing sound that was immediately familiar. Smoke bombs. Noxious fumes started filling the room, causing his eyes to water and his head to spin.

The tone of the hissing changed and he frowned in confusion. He didn’t recognize it at first. As the fangs sank into his leg, he belatedly identified the noise. Snakes.

He hesitated, torn between wanting to find Hinata and removing himself to safety to better ascertain the situation and how to deal with it. Finally deciding that he wouldn’t be any use to the girl wandering around in a genjutsu fog, he made the motions to teleport himself back to one of the outer rooms. He reached down to draw up his chakra and found… nothing. There was something preventing him from using his chakra. Had it been totally gone, it would have killed him, so he knew it was still there. Yet, it was out of his reach.

His head whipped up as a monstrous figure came out of the fog, body in the air in the middle of a flying kick aimed at his head. Sai’s instincts immediately took over as he side-stepped and grabbed the ankle of the thing then used his hold to throw the creature to the other side of the room, where it disappeared into the fog again.

*************************
Kiba retched again as the noxious fumes assaulted his perceptive olfactory senses. He had lost track of both Akamaru and Sasame in the accursed fog that had enveloped the room. As he was busy on all fours trying to empty his stomach of things that he had eaten a week ago, he didn’t see the serpent until it had sunk its fangs into the back of his hand.

Hissing in a mix of surprise and pain, he grabbed the creature intent on ending its miserable life, but he found it unnecessary. After it had delivered the strike, the thing had stopped moving and promptly shriveled up almost looking mummified.

Putting aside the need for stealth, he let out a bellow. “Akamaru!”

His companion didn’t respond, but he did hear something behind him. Turning, he saw a creature that resembled some kind of human/wolf hybrid raise it eyes to glare at him with shining silvery eyes, as if the moonlight had been captured and contained in them. The thing gave a howl and started barreling at him on all fours.

He grabbed his kunai and crouched, ready to dodge at the last moment. Just as the beast reached out for him, he leapt to the side, throwing his dagger. He scored at hit in its side, causing the monstrosity to yelp out in pain.

He yanked out another kunai and set himself to prepare for another charge. Where the hell were his teammates?

**********************
Naruto quickly blocked several rapid kicks before jumping back to get some range away from the bulky, furred bi-pedal creature. The damn thing was fast however and was immediately in his face, clawed hand balled up in a fist the size of a sledgehammer that could probably hit just as hard as one. He ducked and swept his foot out, trying to trip the thing up, but it adroitly flipped back out of the way.

The thing raised its muzzle and gave a howl. As Naruto surveyed it, trying to find some kind of weak point or something, it gave a sharp bark. Then the damn thing reached out a clawed hand and gestured him toward it tauntingly.

Scowling, Naruto launched himself up in the air, letting several kunai fly toward it. His stomach lurched as the rank fumes played havoc with his lunch again, but he fought to keep from gagging. He couldn’t reach his chakra after the two damn snakes had bitten him, but he could always pull up Kyuubi’s if he was pushed to it. However, the venom must have had some kind of side effect because he kept getting dizzy spells as well as stomach cramps.

“Naruto!” Sasuke called out again, warily watching the creature in front of him. He had lost track of the dobe when the fog had risen up and hadn’t been able to locate him before this thing had come out of the mist. He couldn’t use his Sharingan because of the damn snake venom. He had recognized the damn serpent after it had bit him.

Something that Orochimaru had dreamed up early in his career, the snake had one dose of a chakra blocking venom that it could inject before then subsequently dying. The side effects were dizziness, nausea and could sometimes cause a chakra imbalance that laid a person out for several days. Luckily it wore off and didn’t do permanent damage. It was usually used in traps where someone could then capture the weakened enemy. It was also useful as a delaying tactic.

Sasuke let out a curse as he wondered where the hell Naruto was and if he was safe. He frowned and shook his head. Better that he worried about himself first and then try to find his friend, but to do that he had to take out this thing in front of him.

He stuck out his arm and waved it toward him, hoping to goad it into attacking. It was apparent that the furred beast had some kind of intelligence; he just hoped that it wasn’t a lot. He watched as the thing before him extended it claws several inches before somehow detaching them and throwing them at him as it leapt into the air.

He flung himself into the air as well to meet the beast before he could get his feet back on the ground. Clawed hands flew at him and he had to do some fancy blocking to keep himself from being sliced open. He landed a kick to the thing’s ribs and it went hurtling off in a different direction than its original trajectory.

He felt his stomach clench and had to remind himself to not make any more sudden moves like that. He had to defeat the creature but he couldn’t protect himself if he was emptying his stomach.

The fighting continued for a short while between them. The creature seemed to only possess physical attacks. Strangely enough, the flow of the fight was almost familiar, like a dance he had performed before. While he couldn’t use his Sharingan, he still had a very analytical mind and his memory from which to draw.

Naruto glared at the beast before him. He just wanted to lie down and baby his stomach for the next week. It was time to end this damn fight because, frankly, he felt like shit and wanted to rest. He reached inside and pulled on the Kyuubi’s chakra. Not enough to surround himself with an aura, but enough so that he could perform his Kage Bushin no jutsu and a Rasengan.

Sasuke’s eyes widened as two more of the creatures suddenly appeared before him. The two new monsters held out their hands and shot fire into the hand of the first being.

Everything suddenly clicked in Sasuke’s mind.

“Shit! Naruto, damn you, it’s me!” he yelled out at the beast before him.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow as the man-like beast before him started howling and growling. The blonde couldn’t help but smirk. “Yeah, you know I’m about to kick your ass, don’t you?”

Sasuke bit off another curse as the illusion that covered Naruto’s form came at him, the ball of fire, which he knew was really a whirling ball of chakra, aimed at his chest. He leapt back out of the way, trying to stay away from the seemingly flaming sphere.

Naruto frowned as the beast kept hopping about like some rabbit strung out on crack. “Hold still, fucker!” he growled out, his aching head and stomach shortening his already volatile temper. Finally he was forced to let the jutsu dissipate as the concentration was making his dizziness worse.

He was surprised when the creature merely crouched a moderate distance away from him and made no further move. He studied for a long moment before deciding it was finally safe for him to vomit all over the floor.

Sasuke winced as Naruto was sick all over the floor. He felt his own stomach churn at the sight and sound, but he forced himself to hold it in, even if he did look away. Afterwards, he sighed and, although it grated on his pride, kept his body low to the ground and crawled towards the blonde, keeping his head down in a submissive posture.

Naruto frowned in confusion as the animal-like creature crouched down and scooted closer to him. It moved slowly, hesitantly and kept its eyes lowered away from his own. He recognized the posture on some instinctual level that had nothing to do with his evolved humanity and everything to do with his more primitive ancestors.

He tensed, ready to fight or spring away at the slightest provocation. The beast carefully rested itself against his leg, lying down completely on the cold, hard stone floor. Naruto cautiously moved a hand toward it, but it lay still and didn’t react. He dropped his hand onto coarse fur and gently petted the things neck, staying well away from its mouth.

It growled and rumbled something at him, which caused him to freeze for a long moment. When it just heaved a big sigh and closed its eyes, he resumed his caresses. He wanted to do nothing more than sleep right now to try to be unconscious while his stomach was upset, but there was no way he was going to let his guard down around the monster.

Sighing, he settled himself more comfortably by crossing his legs under him. He would start looking for a door and a way out of this place in a moment. Right now, he just wanted the room to stop spinning.

*************************
Shino frowned as the appointed time arrived while his teammates did not. Not wanting to leave and not be there if they did show up, he sent out his insects down each corridor to try to locate his missing companions.

It didn’t take long for the miniature scouting party to return with news of their whereabouts. It seemed that most were injured and all were immobilized. They further expressed their confusion over his teammates’ chakra. Naturally the insects couldn’t give him details and complicated situations were beyond their ability to comprehend, but they were clearly agitated over the state of his friends’ chakra.

He had the creatures lead him to the left down the intersection in hall, heading toward Sai and Hinata. If there was indeed something wrong with their chakra, then Hinata would be the first choice to retrieve so that she could help figure out what was wrong.

When he got to the room to which he was led, he found the two shinobi laid out on the ground. It was apparent that they had been in some kind of fight and that they were both injured, but not as severely as he might have feared.

He cautiously entered the room and when nothing untoward occurred, he hurried over to his companions. They were both unconscious with multiple bruises and cuts all over their bodies.

It was while he was quickly bandaging them up that he found the evidence of snake bites on both of their bodies. Scowling in concern, he had his insects find a room that was free from any kind of chakra signatures and relocated the Leaf-nin there. He then went the opposite direction in search of Naruto and, more importantly, Sasuke. Out of all of them, he would probably be the most familiar with snake venoms.

When he found the two teens, he became even more concerned over the poison. The two were just as unconscious as the first two had been. Sasuke with his head on Naruto’s knee and Naruto sprawled on the floor like he had fallen over while sitting. Neither boy looked as badly cut up as Hinata or Sai, but they were both just as unresponsive and both had the bite marks.

Scrunching his nose at the acrid smell of bile from nearby, he carefully moved the two into the same room with the others. He felt Naruto stir in his arms as he set the teen down.

“Sasuke,” the blonde murmured before sinking back into oblivion.

“You always did have a one-track mind,” Shino sighed as he settled him down next to his best friend.

He found Kiba, Sasame and even Akamaru in the same state. The only thing he could figure by the wounds on their bodies is that either the snake venom induced hallucinations to make them turn on each other and/or made them unable to use their chakra. None of them had wounds that denoted the use of ninjutsu. He wasn’t completely sure and would have to wait until someone regained consciousness to be sure. If they stayed in their catatonic state, then he would have to send for help. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure if he could direct the insects back to the Sound village. However, he knew where he could send them that they associated with home.

He just hoped that Naruto would forgive him if it came to that.

TBC