The Sound of Dreams

AN: Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It is a build up to next chapter really since I just can’t randomly teleport people around, lol.

Nomme de plume, no Ryou isn’t related to Sai in any way. They just share a love for art! Ryou and his father are both OC’s (as much as I hate OC’s at times, they can be necessary to move things along.)

Since I can’t draw worth a crap, I’ve decided to throw a little something together on the side to help celebrate the 50k hits/1k reviews with which you have all graciously showered me!!! (*does happy dance of joy**) So, be looking for a little something probably Saturday. This story will be updated on Tuesday again!

Thanks for reading!


Chapter 55


Ren stared down at the scrolls in front of him. They contained various reports on the happenings throughout Rice Field Country. Things were almost too quiet as if the shinobi of Sound were holding their collective breaths, waiting to see which way the wind would blow.

The disappearance of both Uzumaki and Uchiha disturbed him. It was through their efforts that Rice Field and the Fuuma clan recovered its standing in the eyes of its citizens. The quick retrieval of Katsuro and the closure of the bases helped prove that the clan wasn’t weak and could stand up to what was thrown at them. Even with the death of Hanzaki, the village had persevered and not faltered.

While Ren had his doubts that Rice Field would ever become a major ninja power, he felt that they would be able to hold their ground amongst the stronger villages and not get swallowed whole.

The main thing that concerned Ren about the disappearance of the two shinobi was the soul half-trapped within Naruto. Ren had been around long enough to listen to his instincts and they told him that his involvement with Uzumaki and, by default, Orochimaru wasn’t over.

By all rights he should send a missive to Konohagakure and subtly let them know that they appreciated the help given to them by their shinobi that had been passing through. He didn’t want the larger super power accusing them of harboring missing-nin and using it as an excuse to invade and wipe out what little progress they had made. Of course by sending the missive he was practically inviting them to stick their noses in Rice Field’s business.

But perhaps that was better than the alternative. Sound and Leaf were still technically involved in hostilities towards each other even if things had been quiet since the attack on Konoha three years ago.

If the reformed Sound was going to survive, it needed to make friends and allies. He only hoped that the boys’ friends could help them out of whatever had befallen them.

The slight sound of a balcony door sliding open caught his attention. His eyes narrowed as four men eased silently into the room. They should have been detected by the guards surrounding the building as soon as they had recognized the headband proudly displaying the musical note. His own men had stopped wearing theirs in the village until the situation with Kyoshiro was resolved. As the men positioned themselves around him, he couldn’t help but wonder if his guards were still alive.

“Fuuma Ren,” one man spoke quietly but in a firm tone, “your presence is required.”

“Just who is requesting it?” he asked calmly, not intimidated by being outnumbered by younger, spryer men.

“Requiring, not requesting,” came the quick correction. “Orochimaru-sama wishes for you to be brought before him.”

Ren’s lips twisted slightly at how quickly his thoughts had manifested into reality. “And if I do not wish to accompany you?” he asked, although he knew that he would probably not like the answer.

“Then the other two teams that are in this village will make sure that you regret your decision,” he answered angrily. “There will be bloodshed and many of your precious villagers will die. Submit to us willingly and we will spare their lives.”

“What guarantee do I have that you will not harm anyone even if I do submit?” he asked. He knew that this was just a delaying tactic, a last ditch effort to salvage some of his pride by not immediately surrendering. He knew that they would indeed kill many if he resisted before he could find and slay the others. He did not want another battlefield within their village this soon while the blood was still drying from the last attack.

He slowly stood up, the shinobi tensing up around him, prepared for an attack. He calmly straightened his yukata before standing serenely, awaiting his fate. After a long moment, one of the ninja moved up behind him and secured his hands together before blind folding and gagging him.

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Orochimaru set the brush soaked in black ink down carefully on the tray as he looked at the design encircling his left forearm. He picked up the scalpel and started at the tip of the tail and began to cut enough to draw a good bead of blood as he followed the lines of the snake summoning symbol down to the head that rested upon his wrist. He channeled chakra into the lines of ink and blood and watched as the pattern stained itself into his skin, becoming permanent.

It was strange seeing the design imprinted in tan skin, but soon enough he would have his pale complexion back. He was determined to bind Naruto-kun tightly so that he could once again have the appearance of his own body back. Much rested on the ability of his men to retrieve Fuuma Ren.

He could feel the boy stirring inside of him, not quite conscious yet but close. The beast was asleep as well, still recovering from the massive drain on his power from the fight and the subsequent healing. A part of him wanted to go in and check on the two of them, but he was honest enough to admit that he was leery of facing the boy and his demon. There was no way in all of the hells that he was going to be trapped in that cage again. He would wait until he had the means to bind them both to his will and then he would gloat. The boy had too much of a history of pulling last minute plans out of his ass for Orochimaru to be careless enough to confront him until everything was in place.

The vision of red eyes sent a shiver through his body, causing his pupils to contract in fear before expanding in the beginnings of arousal.

He shook his head, trying to dislodge his thoughts from the path they were traveling. He wiped his arm down, the wounds already clotted and only leaving a thin line behind. The creature’s healing powers were speeding back up again, denoting that soon the beast would stir.

He quickly made a series of seals, opened a wound on his thumb with a sharp canine and then smeared the blood down the newly made tattoo-like seal on his left arm. He dropped the palm on the large table, completing the summoning jutsu. He smiled as the smoke cleared to reveal a seven meter long constrictor coiled up on the wooden surface.

The snake immediately flicked out its tongue to scent the air and then relaxed almost indolently. “You have been quiet lately,” it hissed out.

“I’ve been occupied,” Orochimaru said with a slight sneer. He opened the catch on a small cage nearby and pulled out a tanuki that had been raised in the lab for experimentation before dropping it down in front of the suddenly alert ophidian.

The furry creature belatedly realized that it was in danger and its attempt to run was quickly impeded by the coils that wrapped around it. Orochimaru waited calmly while the summons devoured its meal.

Once the furry little creature was just a lump in its belly, the snake turned its attention back to Orochimaru. “What did you wish of me?” it hissed out contentedly.

Orochimaru made a careless motion with his hand. “I just wanted to be sure that this new body accepted the seal. I have no task for you at the moment. You may return.”

The constrictor dipped its head in a facsimile of a bow before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Now there was nothing to do but sit back and wait.

*****************
Tsunade glared at the report lying in front of her on the desk. Her fists clenched impotently in frustration but she would be damned if she was going to destroy another desk. As it was a sake cup laid in ruins against the wall, its contents pooling on the polished wooden floor.

She was torn as to what she should do. She wanted to find Naruto, but she already had one team on it and they were closer than anyone else would be. If she sent others, it would draw the attention of the council and they would start asking even more questions than they already had. She had to keep the fact that he had been aware and in control of himself lately a secret from them or they would demand even stricter controls on him when he returned. As it was, he was only guilty of going off half-cocked to rescue Sasuke without permission. If they found out he had been deliberately staying away from the village, they would label him a missing-nin.

“Tsunade-sama,” Sakura said hesitantly from the doorway. She had a stack of files in her arms to deliver to the obviously distraught Hokage.

Tsunade looked up at her apprentice and away just as quickly. She really didn’t want to have to be the one to relay the disturbing news to the girl. Especially when the girl in question not only had an interest as a teammate but, by all indications, seemed to have had a crush on both of the ninjas at one time or another as well.

Tsunade couldn’t help but frown slightly at that last thought. If, when, those two came back, the possibility of someone getting hurt, even if unintentionally, was pretty high. The girl needed to make up her mind which one she wanted before she went after either one. Neither of the boys were emotionally stable enough to just bounce back from a relationship that ended badly.

Tsunade knew that Naruto had had a crush on Sakura for the longest time, but she also remembered seeing the girl holding onto Sasuke as if she was afraid he would vanish if she so much as even blinked. Naruto deserved someone that would be devoted to him, not someone who was still caught up in a past infatuation.

Sasuke would benefit from having an emotional tie to the village other than ones of grief and betrayal, both his own and his brother’s. Not that he had ever acknowledged Sakura’s attentions before, but perhaps puberty had made an impact on him. Kakashi had told her of his goals in life, perhaps they could reign him in if he made progress with one particular goal; the restoration of his clan.

Of course all of this would be moot if they didn’t find the two, eliminate Orochimaru without harming Naruto and bring them back home.

“Tsunade-shishou,” Sakura tried again as she placed the folders off to the side on the desk.

Tsunade wordlessly turned the scroll around for Sakura to read. She watched the girl furrow her pink brows in concentration as she deciphered the code in which it was written. The green eyes then widened as comprehension set in.

“What…what are we going to do?” Sakura demanded tremulously. She couldn’t help but think that this was partly her fault. She should have gone to Shikamaru like she had planned. She should have had the genius help her find her two teammates. Instead, she had held off like a good little ninja following the Hokage’s orders. Now her friends were in serious danger.

The Hokage sighed heavily. “We will have Team Eight keep searching for them. In the meantime I will send for Jiraiya. Once the two are found, I will send him and you since you are a medic-nin to go assist in their retrieval. If Naruto is in control by that time, you have the best chance of talking that brat into coming back. If Orochimaru is in control still, you and Jiraiya will be needed to take him out.”

What she didn’t want to tell the girl was that if Orochimaru was in control, then they were unlikely to find him. The snake had a bad habit of disappearing when he wanted and not being found until he was ready. It was unlikely that Team Eight would locate Naruto or Sasuke.

At least they hadn’t been captured by Akatsuki. With Orochimaru they had a good chance of surviving until they could be located once again.

Sakura gave a nod, satisfied now that she had been included in the plans. That had been the other goal that Tsunade had been aiming for, of course. She wouldn’t have put it past Sakura to have gone searching for them on her own if the kunoichi thought she had a chance of finding them.

The blonde Hokage sighed once again. The only thing she could do at the moment was to give Team Eight another two weeks to search before recalling them back to the village.

She quickly wrote out her orders on a scroll and handed it to Sakura. “Take this to Aburame. They still have Shino’s kikai that he sent his message with; have them return to him with these orders.”

Sakura nodded firmly, glad to be helping in some way, and took the scroll.

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The leader’s image flickered in the dim light of the cave as he stood, silently absorbing this new information. Itachi stood motionlessly, waiting for his next set of orders. One would think that the Uchiha stood there passively, or as passive as one who could spring into killing mode at an instant’s notice possibly could.

However, he could see the ripples of thoughts swimming through Itachi’s eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder what the man was thinking, but he had a fair idea. It always seemed to happen thusly. Whenever the youngest member of the Akatsuki would encounter either his brother or the blonde jinchuuriki, he grew even more quiet than usual and his eyes would turn inward.

As usual, he used the opportunity to impress his ideals upon the younger man even more firmly.

“Apparently the jinchuuriki isn’t as strong as we thought if he allowed himself to be taken by that pathetic wretch Orochimaru,” he murmured as if thoughtfully to himself. “I wonder why your brother stayed with him. Of course, he is even weaker.”

“I will kill him the next time I see him,” Itachi replied almost distractedly. He didn’t clarify to which “him” he referred.

The leader frowned, but decided to brush it aside. The man had been loyal to him all of these years, he would remain so. “Take Deidara and find Orochimaru. Capture him and bring him to the statue so that we can extract the Kyuubi,” he said sternly.

Itachi bowed slightly in acknowledgement of the command. The shimmer faded and he was once again alone in the cavern.

No matter what Leader stated, Itachi was very aware of one fact. Until he had released all of his and the demon’s chakra, Naruto-kun had been in control not Orochimaru.

******************
Togimeishu looked at the girl with milky-white skin in concern. Orochimaru had left the room not too long ago and the seventeen year old had been quiet since then. Granted she rarely spoke anyway, but she had opened up to him when he had treated her like a human being rather than a glorified lab rat.

She gracefully brushed her long, dark hair back out of her eerie yellow eyes as she glanced up at his movement about the room. It seemed she was done contemplating whatever it was that her sire had said to her and was either now ready to talk or ready to forget about it. She was very adept at putting things out of her mind that she did not wish to face.

“He told me that I was finally going to be useful. That I would finally have a purpose,” she said in a quiet but smooth voice. She sounded both relieved and fearful at the same time. She wanted to have a purpose, she wanted to be useful to him but she was also afraid of what that purpose was going to be. “He wants me to reproduce.”

Togimeishu scowled. He had hoped that he had been wrong in his assumptions regarding the sudden interest in the Uchiha’s genetics, but he should have known better. Orochimaru would do anything to further his efforts in producing the “perfect host” and it was apparent that he had failed miserably with this girl. Scientifically he could understand the match. Theoretically, it would stabilize her genetics as well as pass along the superior genes of the Uchiha clan. Theoretically. In reality, if the child survived to be born it would probably be another psychotic super-genius considering the mental problems that seemed to be prevalent in both lines.

However, the whole problem was going to be moot because there was no way in hell that he would allow the girl to be used in such a manner. There was no way that she was physically capable of carrying a child without great danger to herself and the fetus. It was reckless, it was dangerous and it was downright irresponsible and idiotic. It was a failure waiting to happen.

‘No wonder Orochimaru had thought of it,’ he mused darkly.

“If you do this, it will most likely kill you,” he explained carefully. “It was hard enough just getting you healthy from moving you from the previous base. If you do this, the chances are slim of you carrying a healthy baby.”

“What choice do I have,” she murmured as she looked away. “What choice do either of us have?”

The doctor looked away from the truth in her words. He was just as much a prisoner here as was she. A wave of despair threatened to overtake him as the thought of never seeing his son made itself into the forefront of his mind once again. He would do anything to keep his son safe, but would he be willing to sacrifice her life to do so? Because he had been too afraid to act?

There had to be a way. There had to be a way out of this trap for all of them.

TBC