The Sound of Dreams

AN: A few things of note:

1. This was written before certain things in the manga were revealed, so I have to go with everyone’s previous assumption that Sasuke was a psycho idiot and Orochimaru was going to take over his body. Hence no mention of the recent events in the manga.
2. Since there is very little information on Itachi and the events concerning the Uchiha massacre, I had to go with some interesting tidbits thrown into the mix (the fact that pre-time skip, night of the massacre, that Itachi mentioned there was someone else besides him that had the Mangekyou… and at that point it wasn’t Kakashi as well as Kyuubi mentioning the name Uchiha Madara). I am of the opinion that usually things like that aren’t mentioned unless there is a point… so I am making my own assumptions for the sake of my story until we all know the real truth!
3. THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE!!! If you only watch the anime (even Shipuuden) then there will be a few spoilers… sorry, but the timeline moves on and it effects what I write (i.e. why Itachi is paired up with Deidara since I waxed Kisame.)

Luthien: Have faith in me!!!

Kimra: I am flattered that you were so taken with “Anbu Training” that you want to see a sequel so badly even if you have to write it yourself, lol! :-) However, it may or may not be something that I will come back to in the future, so I would like to leave as is for now. But thank you so much for your praise of it!

I hope everyone enjoys!!


Chapter 59

Itachi moved through the forest swiftly, Deidara following in his wake. They were currently heading towards Grass Country by cutting through the northwest corner Fire Country. Knowing that Sasuke and Naruto had shown up with the kidnapping of the Rice Field Country’s prince, Itachi had decided to check out Otogakure first and foremost. It had been simple to obtain information on the village as it was on everyone’s tongue with the election of a new Otokage.

It had been ridiculously easy to enter the village undetected and find one of the dozen men that Orochimaru had apparently stationed around the village, awaiting orders. It was even easier to allow Deidara to torture information from the unfortunate soul as to their master’s current location. Deidara, still upset over the loss of Sasori, had enjoyed taking out some of his anger and frustration on the poor shinobi. It was truly amazing how long you could live after losing several limbs, especially when the small explosions cauterized the wounds.

The snake was vulnerable right now. His resources were scattered and his defenses were thin. They would find him, take great pleasure in ripping his soul from the vessel’s body and then pull the demon out afterwards. Once that was done, then their Leader’s plan for domination could continue practically unchallenged.

Not that Itachi really cared about the plans nor their outcome.

The leader of the Akatsuki was one of the very few individuals that Itachi knew, without a doubt, could defeat him. He had been the one to open Itachi’s eyes to the slow decay and decadence of his clan and had been the one to tell Itachi which tatami mat to look under for the true power of his bloodline. He had been the one to show Itachi what that power could truly do when wielded by one who was not afraid of it. After gazing into that swirling red gaze, everything had made so much sense to Itachi. He had known what it was that he had to do.

It was only after he had used his new ability did the full impact of his actions assault him. Bathed in the blood and guilt of the massacre, he did the only thing he knew to do at the time. He left his brother alive to avenge them and to punish him for his crimes. While he had known that his brother had yet to reach his level, he had believed that since the blood of their father flowed through both of their veins that his brother would achieve the strength necessary.

He had just not realized that his brother would be so reckless in doing so.

Itachi did not regret his departure from Konoha nor did he regret joining forces with Akatsuki. There had been no future for him in the Leaf. Nothing but the mindless monotony of ANBU missions completed with numbing ease. There had been nothing to strive for, no goal for him to accomplish and it had left him feeling empty, detached and apart from everyone else. It had taken finding someone more powerful than he, or perhaps being found by that person, that had awakened him from his zombie-like state. It had given him a new goal to push himself towards, a new instrument by which to measure his abilities and a new purpose to his existence.

He still had yet to achieve his objective.

So he remained with the Leader, still trying to become as strong as the only other wielder of the Mangekyou and still trying to become the perfect weapon that his clan had started to forge when he had barely been able to walk.

**********************
Tsunade hastily dodged the multitude of blades that came at her. These weren’t just thrown projectiles however, the kunai were attached at the handle by a sinewy tendon tightly corded with threads of muscles that lead back to the light-brown haired boy that the team had brought in with them.

She could see where the blades had erupted through skin, slicing it open as they pulled themselves out from his body. There were eight total; two from his upper arms, two from his shoulders and four emerging from his back, each with a ten meter range. Either the child had an amazing mind with a phenomenal ability to multitask or the blades had some sentience of their own, for they seemed to move individually as the child stood his ground in front of Sasuke.

He bled slightly from where they were still attached to his body, but not as much as she would have expected. She dodged and weaved her way in towards him; the other ninja starting to move as well as their shock wore off. A blade peeled off of its attack on her for each of the other shinobi in the room minus Sasuke who was still against the wall. In the compact quarters of her office, the lack of room to maneuver went to his advantage as all he was trying to do was keep everyone away from his “nii-san.” As she evaded the three weapons still upon her and closed in on him, she received another surprise. A double-edged blade formed of chakra emerged from each wrist, sliding out to a meter’s length before turning to metal.

The weapon sliced through her clothing with no resistance as she danced away again. She was contemplating bringing the ceiling down on the brat’s head or perhaps collapsing the floor out from underneath him when the Uchiha finally moved.

Sasuke knelt down behind Hiroki and watched warily as the corded blades twitched in his direction before returning to the others. Everyone backed off at Tsunade’s gesture, allowing Sasuke to try to talk the boy down.

Hiroki was panting heavily as his eyes darted wildly between each of his opponents. While it was hard to keep track of everyone, he had done it before with this many opponents in training and knew that he was capable of it, even if at a reduced duration before he ran out of chakra. He would do what he had to do in order to protect his brother though; he couldn’t let him down any more than he could let Naruto down. The people in front of him ceased being friends, ceased being humans and merely became targets.

Sasuke watched the boy assume a more aggressive stance and quickly called out the child’s name once more, hoping he would be heard this time. When his voice was ignored, he decided to move in. Someone needed to reach the child and it seemed as if it would have to be literally.

Ignoring the advice to be cautious from those around him, he slowly moved forward, keeping a wary eye on the blades that were bobbing and weaving around the child, perpetually in motion much like snakes reared to strike. The weapons again twitched in his direction before relegating him to a non-threatening status. When he was within reach of Hiroki however, they whipped around and flew toward him in what seemed like an almost automatic defense.

Hiroki turned and his green eyes widened fearfully. He twisted his body, trying to throw the weapons off their trajectory as Sasuke maneuvered in between the blades, body moving faster than the child could track. His friend was then kneeling right in front of him as the metal tips “thunked” into the floor, his hands on Hiroki’s shoulders, holding him gently.

“I’m not in danger. You’re not in danger. Put your weapons away,” he told the boy firmly. “Do you not think I would have defended myself had I needed to?”

Hiroki looked almost mortified that his older brother was scolding him lightly. He looked down at the ground as a blush infused his cheeks. “I’m sorry, nii-san,” he whispered quietly as the multitude of weapons retracted into his body.

“Hn,” Sasuke said with a smirk. “You’re as impetuous as Naruto. He would have done the same thing.”

Hiroki looked back up with a hesitant smile.

“That’s what makes him an idiot, too.”

Hiroki’s smile dropped in consternation.

“Now turn around so that you may properly introduce yourself to the Hokage of the village,” he instructed the boy. “And then apologize,” he added.

The boy dutifully turned around to the amused looking Hokage and drew himself up to his full shorter than average five-year-old height. “My name is Hiroki, Hokage,” he began as if reciting something he had memorized.

“-Sama,” Sasuke prompted.

“Hokage-sama,” the boy amended before chewing his bottom lip. “And I’m very sorry for protecting my nii-san.”

Tsunade gave the child a serious look though her eyes were still warm. “You should never apologize for protecting someone. You should be apologizing for acting without thought or full knowledge of the situation,” she informed him. Her eyes lifted up to Sasuke’s and immediately frowned at the sight of the brilliantly deep blue gaze. “Your nii-san has a lot of explaining to do, however,” she murmured.

Sasuke stood, ready to face the Hokage’s wrath as Hiroki glued himself to the black-clad leg next to him and buried his face halfway into the fabric. While Sasuke might have been a security blanket for the kid, he had a feeling that it worked both ways as he made no move to remove the little leech.

“Start from the beginning,” the Hokage informed him as she set her chair upright before placing herself in it.

“We really don’t have the time for chitchat, Godaime-sama,” he said shortly. “There is an invasion coming this way and-“

“Start from the beginning,” she practically growled.

His lips tightened in irritation before he relented. If it would get him what he wanted faster, then he would do so. “Naruto had already been taken over by the time-“

“Start from the beginning,” she stated implacably once again.

His fists clenched as his body went rigid. The bitch was asking for explanations for something that he had yet to fully understand himself. He felt the squirm against his leg and absently relaxed a hand to run it soothingly through the child’s light brown hair. He himself calmed with the action as well.

“The Sound Four came to the village, fought with me, showed me a power that I had never seen before and then offered it to me. They said that they had been placed under my command and that they would escort me to Orochimaru where he would give me this power so that I could…” he trailed off, slightly uncomfortable with revealing something so personal in front of others.

“So you could have your revenge,” Tsunade finished for him.

“Not my revenge,” he denied although he knew deep down that it was a large part of why he had done what he had. “But my clan’s vengeance.”

“And did it not occur to you to question why they were told to follow the orders of a mere genin?” she asked.

“I am an Uchiha,” he stated confidently, with all the arrogance that came with the family name.

“Indeed,” she drawled. “And did it ever occur to you to ask what he wanted in return?”

“At that point in time I didn’t care. My only concern was to become stronger,” he replied emotionlessly.

“And when you did find out what he wanted?” she asked, almost curious despite herself.

“Had it come to that and if it would have meant Itachi’s death, then it would have been worth it,” he replied evenly. “But then Naruto showed up and everything changed. All my plans…” he accompanied the statement with a gesture that indicated something vanishing.

Tsunade let out a soft snort, familiar with the effect Naruto seemed to have on everything within his vicinity.

“At first I thought the dobe was gone,” he said, eyes lowering slightly as if the thought still hurt. “But then I started seeing signs of him. Flashes of his eyes, familiar movements and then it was quick conversations when he could. He was slowly breaking out of the prison that Orochimaru had locked his mind into. Orochimaru knew about it and was planning on trying to eradicate him. I don’t know how.

“He came to me one night and we made a deal. He would help me kill my brother and I would help free him so he could fight back against Orochimaru. I killed Kabuto while he forced the Sannin into the cage with Kyuubi before wiping out the rest of the Sound-nin in the base.”

Tsunade flicked her eyes to the others in the room, but no one seemed surprised at the mention of Kyuubi. She noticed Sai smiling widely at her and shot him a scowl. She would have preferred that nobody knew about the demon within Naruto, but she supposed it had only been a matter of time as Jiraiya had been training the boy how to utilize the creature.

Sasuke gave a shrug as he continued his narration, his fingers still combing through the boy’s hair. “We traveled after that, trying to gather knowledge from Orochimaru’s other bases that I knew about. We fell in with the Fuuma clan in Rice Field while we were looking for a place to train and started to work with them. It was when the daimyo’s son was kidnapped that we ran into Itachi and his partner. We fought and Naruto caused a large explosion by force feeding his power into the chakra eating sword. I woke up later with...”

Sasuke swallowed and looked away. “With Naruto’s eyes and some doctor telling me that Orochimaru had taken control again.” His blue eyes swung back to Tsunade. “I need Kakashi’s help. He’s the only one that can get to Naruto now. He’s the only one that can free him.”

“You said something about an invasion,” Tsunade prompted.

Sasuke’s jaw tightened. “Only if I go as well,” he countered.

“No. Tell me about the invasion.”

“Naruto risked everything to come for me. I will not sit back and not do the same,” he growled back.

“Tell me about the invasion,” she demanded again.

“Only if you agree that I can go as well,” he said adamantly.

“Dammit, Uchiha,” she yelled as she jumped back up to her feet. “It’s your fault that he is even in this situation to begin with, what makes you think I am going to allow you to get anywhere near him?”

Sasuke felt a surge of anger wash over him, followed by a piercing pain in his head as his chakra tried to activate something that was no longer there. His hands immediately lifted to his eyes as he let out a strangled noise, trying not to cry out.

Cool, soothing hands were suddenly rubbing his temples and he felt the warm wash of healing chakra. The pain drained away, leaving only a dull ache behind.

“You need to be more careful,” she muttered. “Your body hasn’t adjusted to the transplant completely yet.”

“Let me be there for him,” he said quietly as he opened his bloodshot blue eyes.

“You should know that I have to place you under arrest. You betrayed the village to go join a murderer,” she returned just as quietly, but still firmly.

“Let me help him,” he said simply.

“And will you return of your own free will afterwards?” she asked, searching his eyes closely.

“I will do whatever he wants me to do,” he replied honestly.

Knowing that Naruto had never wanted anything more than for Sasuke to return home, she finally nodded.

“Kiba,” she said, looking over at the wild-haired brunette. “Go get Shikamaru and Kakashi. We have plans to make. The rest of you go get cleaned up and get as much rest as you can.”

**********************
Kakashi lowered his green covered book to see a large white panting dog staring at him. He felt a surge of interest as he readily identified the canine. Team Eight was back.

“Something I can help you with, Akamaru?” he inquired in a cheerful voice.

The dog barked in a chipper (if a dog could be said to be chipper) tone.

“Ahh, sounds like good news then?” he asked hopefully.

The dog gave a short whine before a short “woof.”

“Hmm, bit of both, huh?”

The white beast stood and wagged its tail, taking a few steps away before waiting expectantly.

Kakashi gave a put-upon sigh before closing his book and stowing it away in his weapons pouch. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” he grumbled good-naturedly before standing up and following the hound.

They both took to the roofs, bypassing the civilian traffic while making a bee-line for the Hokage’s tower. Kakashi ran up the side of the building like he usually did and approached the Godaime’s windows. He slipped into the empty room and saw that the door to the sitting room was open and quiet voices were coming from within.

He pulled his book out and, after sticking his nose in it, casually walked into the comfortable room with its couches and low-lying tables. He glanced up to flash the Hokage a smile and saw the last person he expected to see sitting on one of the sofas with a small boy in his lap. He blinked for a brief moment before turning his smile on his wayward student.

“Ah, Sasuke,” he said by way of greeting. He glanced down at the boy pointedly. “I see you’ve been busy while you were away.” The dark head lifted, annoyance clearly painted on the pale features and blue eyes narrowed in irritation. Kakashi found himself blinking again, the rest of his expression falling blank.

“He’s not mine,” the familiar deep, smooth tones announced. The boy glanced sleepily up at him with a slight pout on his face. “Well, he’s mine but not in that way,” Sasuke amended in spite of himself. The smaller boy smiled slightly and rested his head back on Sasuke’s chest, closing vivid green eyes.

“So,” Kakashi said almost hesitantly. “Should I ask where Naruto is?”

Blue eyes looked back up at him. “That’s why you are here,” the younger man stated. The direct, emotionless gaze didn’t fit with those eyes and Kakashi found himself slightly disconcerted.

“Have a seat, Kakashi,” Tsunade told him. “We are just waiting for Shikamaru and then we can get started.”

*************************
Sakura watched as Kiba flew by overhead on the rooftops, eyes searching as he went. She felt her heart jump slightly. Team Eight was back! He was past her before she had a chance to call out to him so she decided to go to the one place where she could find answers. She turned and started running toward the Hokage’s office, hoping her sensei would share any news with her.

Sakura raced up the stairs, her only thought was to get to Tsunade to find out if Naruto and Sasuke were back. While a part of her hoped wildly that it was so, another part, a more grown-up and cynical part, told her not to get excited that they were probably as unsuccessful as everyone else had been.

“Sakura!” Shizune called out urgently as the girl sped by.

Sakura ignored the call and dashed over to the Hokage’s office. Composing herself quickly, she knocked and opened the door simultaneously. She quickly looked around and spied the open door to the Hokage’s sitting room. Hurrying over before Shizune could come in and drag her away; she spotted a profile that she immediately recognized. Nobody else had hair that stuck up that way in the back.

Eyes widening, she stepped into the room, seeing nothing but the young man sitting on the couch.

A confusing swirl of emotions swept through her; emotions that she could barely name before they were swallowed by others tumbling through her. But the strongest of them all was joy. She was so happy to see that their long, lost teammate was back home where he belonged. Her eyes darted around to try to spot the blonde mop that she knew wouldn’t be far away, only to be unable to locate him. She frowned slightly before she brushed it off. She was sure Naruto was around close by.

“Sasuke-kun,” she breathed as she stepped into the room.

That aristocratically shaped face turned towards her, though she knew he had been aware of her presence already. A pair of beautifully vivid blue eyes met hers and her breath caught in confusion. Those eyes did not belong in that face.

“Sakura,” he greeted quietly.

She took a couple of quick steps towards him, unsure of what she would do once she got to him, when something moving in his lap caught her attention. A little boy squirmed until he was sitting upright, leaning his head against Sasuke’s chest. Green eyes, a darker hue than her own, studied her for a moment, as if trying to gauge if she was a threat or not.

Sakura felt an irrational stab of anger and jealousy until she noticed that the child was too old to belong biologically to Sasuke. A part of her couldn’t help but wonder, now that Sasuke had returned, if something of a more mature and serious nature could develop between the two of them. Another part of her immediately tried to veto that idea. She knew that Naruto would be very upset if she and Sasuke entered into a relationship and she would do anything to keep from hurting the loveable idiot.

“Who is she?” the boy asked curiously albeit warily.

“That is Sakura, she was Naruto’s and my teammate at one point in time,” Sasuke explained calmly. “Sakura, this is Hiroki.”

“Teammate?” Hiroki said as if tasting the word in his mouth. “Does that mean she is a part of our family, too?”

“No,” Sasuke said with a slight shake of his head. Sakura felt a piercing through her heart as the young man denied the statement. “Not our immediate family. She is more like our sister, which would make her your Aunt,” Sasuke continued thoughtfully, but with a slight smirk.

Sakura felt the tightness in her chest loosen but at the same time understood what Sasuke was doing. He had let her know, in the kindest way he was capable of, where they stood with each other. She let a shaky smile cross her face. She could live with being their sister, but weren’t sisters immediate family, too?

She leaned forward with a brighter smile for the boy. “Hello, Hiroki. I’m glad to meet you!”

He eyed her in a guarded manner for a moment longer. “And Naruto likes her, too?” he asked hesitantly.

“Naruto likes her very much,” Sasuke assured him.

The boy slowly nodded and gave her the beginnings of a shy smile before burying his face in Sasuke’s shirt once more.

Sakura gave a small chuckle and stood back up. “He’s adorable, Sasuke-kun. Where did he come from?”

“We found him in one of Orochimaru’s labs,” he said quietly while stroking the boy’s hair. He gave a slight smirk that seemed to be tainted by sadness. “The dobe took it upon himself to adopt him although I think it would have been the other way around even if he hadn’t.”

Sakura smiled in return before letting it slowly fade. “Sasuke… why do you have blue eyes?”


TBC