The Sound of Dreams

AN: Well, here is the wrap-up to the fight scene! And I can tell you that we won’t hit chapter 70! *Runs around screaming* “The end is near! The end is near!” Erm, sorry.

Anyway on a side note, if you are an avid Harry Potter fan, “Blackmail and Betrayal” chapter 5 was released on Harry Potter day (never doing that one again) and it needs a little love! Drop by and say hi to it! *shamelessly pimping*

Xpyne: Thank you for your awesome offer! I have a scene in mind but it is from chapter 66. If you could either email me at: zrina6576@hotmail.com (new email address for those who noticed, had to get one for messenger!) or leave a message on my page at Y!gallery with the same username, I will be happy to describe the scene for you!

I hope this chapter answers any questions anyone may have. The switches in PoV have a tendency to back up just a little so that the action is described from everyone’s view.

Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews!!!

Chapter 64


Togimeishu tried to keep a decent pace as he and his other two companions traveled through the forest. He had been able to heal the worse of the damage that had been inflicted upon the one named Ren from the beatings that Orochimaru’s men had given him. However, the man was older than Togimeishu and could only go at a certain pace.

Not that they were hobbling along, far from it. The old man was still shinobi trained and could move faster than a hearty and hale civilian even on his worse days, but they weren’t moving at a speed fast enough to slake Togimeishu’s paranoia.

As he resettled the young girl on his back, he couldn’t help but hope that the men that they had left back at the base were too busy dealing with their wounded from their encounter with Orochimaru’s daughter to come immediately looking for them.

Hopefully he had thrown them off of their trail, but he didn’t have as much faith in his own shinobi skills as he used to.

They paused in the trees to let Ren catch his breath and the doctor happily set Yuni down so that he could stretch his tired muscles. The sound of wooden wheels rattling pulled his attention to the south. Just ahead of them was a small caravan of travelers and merchants slowly making their way along the road; their wagons pulled by strong oxen.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the Uchiha had actually kept his word and had arranged for his son to be brought to Konoha. He could only hope and pray that it was so, since his current actions were basically sentencing his son to death had the half-blind teen not done so.

Shaking his head of the unproductive thoughts, he tried to tell himself that what was done was done and there wasn’t any changing it. He would just have to trust in the boy and hope for the best.

Now, though, they had to move around the caravan to prevent themselves from being seen. The less people who could identify them and pin point their location, the better.

“Do you think,” Ren began in a calm, quiet voice, “that they will be able to stop him?”

Togimeishu let out a soft sigh, giving the question serious thought. “Konoha is strong. Many people cannot see through the façade of peace and prosperity to realize that they have it because they are strong. It is the origin of the Legendary Sannin after all, and they have successfully fought off attacks before.”

Togimeishu gave one last stretch as he looked at the position of the sun in the sky. “With advanced warning, they will be able to meet the threat before it reaches their gates and while Orochimaru is much more powerful now, he doesn’t have the man power needed to conquer a whole shinobi village. They will be able to concentrate their counterattacks against him specifically.”

Ren closed his eyes, slightly reassured by the doctor’s words. “I only hope that they have someone powerful enough to stop the monster that I have created.”

“That we created,” the doctor said softly. “For now we have to hope that they can and that we will have an opportunity to undo what we have done.”

With that, he urged the child to climb upon his back so that they could continue their journey. Both men turned and leapt from the tree, angling away from the populated road.

In mid-air, Ren suddenly gripped his chest as he let out a harsh cry. He started falling down to the forest floor below, his body going limp and unable to cushion his fall.

“Hold on!” Togimeishu told Yuni sharply as he sped down to the other shinobi. He was able to push himself off of a tree and grab the old man before he hit the ground. Togimeishu landed on a lower branch and dropped Ren down as he shrugged the child off his back.

He immediately dropped to his knees beside the other man, his hands glowing green as they skimmed over the weathered body, checking vitals. The doctor’s eyes widened as he registered the still heart. He quickly went to work, pulling upon his vast knowledge to try to revive the older man below.

*******************
Leaving Sai to back up Sasuke, Gai ran over towards Kakashi and his team, already forming the seals needed. Once in place he slammed his hand into the ground, summoning the nin-kame in a puff of smoke.

“I need a shield, old friend, quickly,” Gai said hurriedly, watching as the explosive tag burned to the end.

The red-shelled tortoise gathered it chakra and threw it outward, a large turtle shell forming to cover an area approximately twenty meters across. The explosion radiated outward, heating up the hard surface of the organic shield as the flames roared against it; causing the summoned creature to strain to maintain it.

Gai quickly looked behind them to make sure that the shell had protected everyone from the worst of the blast. He was relieved to see that no one had apparently been harmed.

It was at that point that Yamato was flung back with a sharp cry as the full-fledged, four-tailed red aura surrounded Naruto’s body in an explosion of power. Seconds later, Kakashi was thrown back as well as a white misty shape formed in front of Orochimaru/Kyuubi/Naruto.

Gai quickly re-evaluated that statement as the raging being spoke. It was the Kyuubi and it was addressing the spiritual remains of Orochimaru. While he was glad that their plan had worked and Orochimaru had been exorcised from Naruto’s body, he now wondered what they would do about the demon whose blood red eyes seemed filled with madness.

The shrill scream of a soul being destroyed seemed to echo hauntingly in the area followed closely by the howling of a raving demon.

It was when the Kyuubi lowered its head that Gai realized that the Sharingan in the creature’s eyes was shaped the same as Kakashi’s recently developed Mangekyou.

Gathering his resolve, his thick eyebrows pulled down in determination as he turned towards the creature, ready to do battle.

*********************
Kakashi struggled to his feet, intent on trying to do something (what, he had not a clue) to prevent the Kyuubi from killing them all in its rage and pain.

“Naruto!” he yelled, hoping that his student could somehow hear him inside of the demon’s prison.

The demon’s gaze swung to him, pinwheels spinning in response to the beast’s chaotic emotional state. Eyes locked, he tried to force himself back into Naruto’s mind only to have himself blocked by fiery red power. The demon swung a clawed hand at him and its red shadow followed, slamming Kakashi back to the ground.

A wave of malevolence washed over the area. “I’m going to kill you ALL!” the creature roared out as the power started to gather and pulse around it.

Kakashi was wondering if any of them would live through this when a piercing voice cut through the air.

“Naruto, wake your lazy ass up, you poor excuse for a shinobi!”

Kakashi winced as the demon swung its pissed-off gaze over at the pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura stood defiantly, battered and bruised, but ready to face down the monster before her. “You hear me, baka? You better not lose to this thing! If you ever want to become Hokage, you better prove that you can control it!”

There was a long moment where nothing moved, where there was no sound, where even the creature before her was silent. Suddenly, purple laced through the red chakra surrounding Naruto’s body, slowly engulfing the red. The whole aura flickered wildly and the creature’s gaze turned inward. The purple was then striated with blue and the bands of azure painstakingly crept outward, swallowing the darker color until the fox aura itself collapsed. The blue chakra morphed into a sphere surrounding the teen until that, too, flickered and went out.

The unconscious body swayed for a moment, before collapsing to the ground.

***********************
Naruto lay quietly on the water soaked floor, wanting to stay that way for just five more minutes. He was alone inside his head for the first time in a very long time. It felt so nice to hear only silence. He felt as if he were missing something important, but in his exhausted state, he couldn’t quite remember what it was.

“Naruto, wake your lazy ass up, you poor excuse for a shinobi!”

He gave a groan. “Sakura-chaaannn,” he mumbled. He wasn’t ready to go on a mission yet, he was tired. He only wanted to sleep.

“You hear me, baka? You better not lose to this thing! If you ever want to become Hokage, you better prove that you can control it!”

“Huh?” He blinked and looked around blearily. He noticed that he truly was alone in the Kyuubi’s prison room. His eyes widened as an icy sensation shot through his gut. The demon was loose!

He scrambled to his feet, he noticed the red chakra filling the room like a thick fog, almost choking him with its power and presence. He reached into himself and pulled what little reserves he had left. He had to put the demon back into its cage. He had to protect everyone from its rampaging.

Drawing his power up, he fed it outwards, filling his body up and pushing his consciousness towards the surface. As expected, Kyuubi fought against him, wanting to stay in control, wanting to stay outside of his prison so that he could wreak havoc in his pain and misery.

Back and forth they went, until Naruto could feel that he was successfully pulling the creature back into his subconscious, back toward its prison. Naruto suddenly staggered as the beast abruptly stopped fighting. His eyes widened as he heard the sound of claws hitting the concrete rapidly as the creature ran toward him through the maze leading to the cage where Naruto stood.

The beast barreled through the door and straight at Naruto, growing to its full size as the room allowed it. A huge paw caught the teen and flung him up against the metal bars of its cell. Amazingly enough, the claws didn’t touch him.

“I hate you!” it roared out at him. “I hate you, I hate these damn emotions, I hate what you’ve done to me!”

Naruto looked up into a pair of red eyes that were drowning in pain and, jolting him in surprise, loneliness. Not even thinking about the possible consequences, he reached out a hand toward the enormous snout in front of him.

The demon jerked its head back, almost as if it had been dodging a blow. It glared balefully down at the small teen before it. “If you think what I did to your pathetic village was bad, just wait until I get out of here next time. I will fucking kill you all! Nobody will be safe! I will kill every last one of you fucking pathetic worms if it is the last thing I ever do!”

Red eyes narrowed at him. “I think I will start with you!” The creature lunged at him once more, maw open to rend and tear.

Naruto waited until the last moment, before dodging underneath the great beast. Gathering his chakra together as well as his own stubborn will, he used them much like an underpowered Rasengan to push the beast against the cage doors. As soon as the furred body struck the thread-choked seal, the kanji upon the paper flared and the demon desolidified into red mist that was sucked into the cage.

Naruto absently brushed aside the glowing strands that were getting more tangled by the moment and walked to the barred door. The lines disappeared into the cage from the seal, the demon itself lost in the darkness beyond.

A keening howl broke the silence and Naruto felt his heart constrict.

Dammit, he knew what it was like to be alone. He knew what it was like to be rejected. He felt a familiar burning in his chest as the demon’s pain touched the memories of his own.

Lifting his head in determination, he walked up to the bars, turned and pushed himself through to the prison beyond. While Orochimaru had been unable to leave except via the seal, Naruto was the warden, he was the prison itself and he was able to do so.

He had never been inside while conscious before. It had always been when he surrendered to the demon’s power that he would slip inside the cell. He got the impression of an immense space that was almost completely taken up by the occupant.

He took a few steps inside, feeling the pull and tugs of the threads leading back out through the metal rods of the door.

His breath was unexpectedly knocked out of him as a paw slammed him to the ground and pinned him there. His body was easily dwarfed by the large appendage and claws gleamed wickedly to either side of his head. Hot, musky air washed over him from the beast’s snout as it lowered to his face. Red eyes pondered his fate briefly, before sliding shut as the head tilted further until its maw was tucked under and its forehead was less than a meter away.

“Why does it hurt so much,” the deep bass voice asked, vibrating with something close to despair.

The paw moved away and Naruto hesitantly reached out to lay a small hand upon the great furred head. “I wish I knew, Kyuubi, but all I know is that it does.”

******************
Sasuke didn’t let go of the curse seal as he made his way, staggering, across the battlefield. He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to make it. He watched as the blue aura surrounded Naruto’s body right before it collapsed.

He stumbled the last few meters, approaching as Kakashi was pulling down the headband to cover his Sharingan.

“It seems to be over now,” Kakashi was saying. “The Kyuubi looks to be contained once more.”

Pushing past Sakura and Kakashi with a brush of his remaining wing, Sasuke practically fell to his knees as the strength slowly drained away from him.

As he had hoped, Naruto didn’t retain all of the fox’s characteristics once the demon was back where it belonged. Much like before when his whiskers would darken, his eyes turn red and his fangs and claws grew, channeling the fox’s chakra caused physical manifestations, although more severe.

However, what worried him was that his friend, his lover, still didn’t look completely human. His beautiful blonde hair still had streaks of red through it, his ears were more pointed, but no longer perched on top of his head, his face was clear of fur, but his mouth was still pulled out slightly in a pseudo-snout. His forearms were covered in short, fine, silky blonde fur and four reddish tails still protruded from his tail bone. His whiskers were still pronounced as were the fangs and claws. His legs had straightened back out to bend like a human’s however.

Of course, none of that truly mattered to Sasuke. The only thing that truly mattered was that it appeared as if Orochimaru was finally gone and that the Kyuubi was back where it belonged. However, he hoped that Naruto could deal with the changes in his physical appearance. He knew how he had always wanted people to look past the demon and acknowledge him for himself. With his current state, Sasuke was afraid that things were about to become a lot harder for him.

If it became too hard, Sasuke had no qualms about leaving the village again and taking Naruto along with him.

He didn’t notice the others relax as his curse seal form finally faded. He could feel himself fading just as rapidly and, as he was in the midst of lowering himself beside his lover, he pitched face-forward across Naruto’s chest.


“Sakura!” a voice called urgently.

The medic-nin turned at Shikamaru’s cry and saw him kneeling over a small form. Her eyes widened and she rushed over to him, pulled on her chakra before she had even fully settled beside the deathly pale child.

“We need to get to Konoha as quickly as possible,” she said, her voice shaky but professional as she spoke to Shikamaru. “I can stabilize him, but we need to get him to a medical facility.”

Shikamaru nodded and looked over the rest of the battlefield. Kakashi was carefully tending to Sasuke’s wounds which looked as if they would need a medic-nin’s attention soon, if the large gash on his back was anything to go by. Ino was tending to Lee’s wounds, while everyone else was getting rudimentary first aid for the smattering of minor injuries.

They didn’t have time to deal with what scattered Sound-nin were left nor did he feel a great need to waste medical attention on those that were wounded. They needed to get to Konoha posthaste.

“There’s no sign of Deidara,” Tenten reported to Gai. “We found some scraps of his cloak, but that was all. It’s doubtful he could have survived that explosion.”

Sai walked over, giving a large stretch. “That was one brutal fight,” the ex-Anbu claimed, seeming to forget the fact that he had spent the entirety of it merely watching.

Kiba looked up from where he was finishing bandaging Akamaru’s front leg, appearing as if he wanted to go over and smack the dark-haired ninja upside the head.

Gai picked up Naruto and slung him over a shoulder as Kakashi carefully slipped an arm under Sasuke’s knees and shoulders to lift him up to carry.

Kiba quickly came over as Sakura gently woke up the five year old. “I need to get a blood replenishing pill in him,” she said when the brunette asked what he could do to help.

Kiba gently lifted Hiroki up when the kid gave a soft moan so that Sakura could get the small red pill into him. Making a face, Hiroki obediently chewed it up at the medic-nin’s urging.

“I need to tend to Sasuke-kun, Kiba, do you think you can carry him for me?” she asked hastily.

He nodded in answer and easily picked up the light weight as Sakura ran towards Kakashi. Hiroki blinked a few moments, taking in the fact that they seemed to have won. His eyes fell on the still form of Naruto slung over Gai’s shoulder and couldn’t help the impulsive squirm he gave the desire to go over to his father figure filled him.

“Hold still now, squirt. He’s fine as far as I’ve heard and back to himself,” Kiba told him, concern for Hiroki’s well-being lacing his tone.

Akamaru agreed with his partner, giving a small whine as he nuzzled the child.

Hiroki stilled once more, but frowned curiously as his eyes fell upon something else. “What is that?” he asked, pointing at Gai’s summons.

Kiba gave a laugh. “What? Never heard of a ninja turtle before?”

Hiroki opened his mouth to reply, but it turned into a huge yawn instead and he snuggled up against Kiba before promptly falling asleep.

After giving Sakura and Ino a moment to stop Sasuke’s bleeding and to patch him as best they could, all of the Leaf-nin turned and started back as quickly as possible towards their village.

********************
Togimeishu cringed at the slow pace of the wagons, but could do nothing about it. As a doctor, there was no way he could abandon the old man who hovered on death’s door.

Ren had apparently suffered some kind of stroke, but the residue of a jutsu remained behind, making the medic-nin wonder if Orochimaru had had a hand in the attack. Whatever it had been, it had done extensive damage internally to the old shinobi. Togimeishu couldn’t help but doubt that Ren would ever be able to mold chakra past the level of a genin again if he ever recovered.

He lifted his head and looked towards the southeast, toward Konoha. It wouldn’t be that long of a trip, he tried to reassure himself. It wouldn’t be that long before he would get to see his son again.


TBC


For the reason why Ren collapsed, see chapter 56!

For those that don’t read the manga, the part about Naruto entering the cage was directly from there. When he pulled on the Kyuubi’s power to the point where it took him over, his unconscious form drifted inside of the cage doors.