The Sound of Dreams

AN: I hope everyone enjoys the chapter today! I’m sorry if it might seem a little scattered, but I wanted to touch a little on several different POV’s as the story is winding towards its conclusion.

While the chapter might seem short, it is actually the average length for one of my chapters. The last few before this were longer than normal in my attempt to end this in a timely manner, lol. I also didn’t have quite as much time as I normally do to finish this and wanted to make sure that I hit my Tuesday deadline as usual!!

New fanart from Glorial!! This is the scene from chapter 17 where Sasuke and Naruto had their first bit of smexing!! Thanks so much again, Glorial!!
http://glorial.deviantart.com/art/What-about-kissing-63818952

Thanks for the wonderful reviews and thanks to all of my readers!! I’m sorry I don’t respond to all that I receive, but I covet each one of them!!


Chapter 71


Iruka watched in amusement and fondness as Naruto inhaled the ramen in front of him. It seemed like it had been ages ago since he had been able to indulge in the simple pleasure of the blond shinobi’s company. The boy had grown considerably since he had seen him last, and not just physically.

There was a wariness or perhaps an awareness about him that had been lacking before, as if he had learned to stay in tune with his surroundings. It both gladdened Iruka since this awareness was essential for longevity in the shinobi world, but it also saddened him as well that Naruto had finally been forced to learn this lesson and leave some of his oblivious innocence behind.

The other, even odder observation that Iruka made was that Naruto seemed more at ease within himself even with the radical changes in his appearance. Although Iruka had a feeling it was due more to the dark-haired shinobi that was currently talking to Sakura being back in the village than anything else. He didn’t miss the small, quick glances that Naruto frequently cast in Sasuke’s direction as if assuring himself that his friend was still present.

Iruka had known that Naruto had a large heart and was very forgiving, but he couldn’t help but wonder under what circumstances they had been reunited and how their reconciliation had come about. He was sure that he would hear at least some of it from Naruto eventually but for now the young man seemed almost evasive when Sasuke’s name was brought up.

A red furry tail flipped negligently as Naruto explained about being imprisoned in his own mind the first time Orochimaru had taken over his body, drawing Iruka’s attention to it. He had been warned by Sakura of the demonic overtones of Naruto’s appearance, but it had still caught him off-guard when he had seen them for himself. It had immediately caused a small flashback of the brief glimpse of the gigantic red fox he’d had before being dragged off by a chuunin. The fur was the same blood red of the animal that had killed his parents and he had felt the familiar surge of anger sweep over him. When he had lifted his eyes, however, he had only seen the shining blue gaze of Uzumaki Naruto smiling happily at him.

Even if the fox’s chakra had bled over, even if the monster was somehow tied into the young man that had been his student, it didn’t matter because inside it was still Naruto.

“Has Tsunade-sama told you anything about what will happen to Sasuke yet?” he asked quietly when Naruto took a break to inhale the last bit of his ramen.

Iruka watched as a strange mixture of expressions crossed Naruto’s face; anger, sadness, and, oddly enough, embarrassment and delight.

Naruto nodded as he swallowed his last bite. “She has, but Sasuke thinks that the conditions of his return are workable.”

“Workable?” he asked with a slightly raised brow. He hadn’t been informed naturally, he was only a chuunin, but he couldn’t believe that the council would just let the boy waltz back into the village without some repercussions.

His confusion only increased as Naruto blushed under his scrutiny.

He would have continued the inquiry but the subject of their conversation chose that moment to return, sitting down rather closely next to Naruto. Hiroki climbed into Sasuke’s lap and started sharing the older boy’s lunch as Naruto casually placed his hand on his own knee, brushing the back of his hand against Sasuke’s knee in the process.

He was rather surprised when Sasuke made no move to reclaim his personal space. He couldn’t help but remember the man as a young boy pushing everyone away even as he drowned in his own loneliness.

It seemed as if Konoha’s Number One Surprising Ninja had yet pulled another unexpected feat from his proverbial hat. He had actually reached beyond Uchiha Sasuke’s icy walls and touched his heart.

Sakura rejoined the group after casting a longing look at Sasuke and a slightly worried, slightly envious look towards Naruto.

Iruka frowned slightly at the undercurrents around him. Hiroki was now staring at Sakura as if weighing her within his mind and was unsure if he liked how the scales were tipping.

If Iruka didn’t know his three students so well, he wouldn’t think anything was amiss. But with the way everyone was behaving, one would almost think there was something deeper between Sasuke and Naruto than just friendship.

Iruka schooled his features to not show the shock that he was feeling inside. A small part in the back of his mind was telling him that he shouldn’t be surprised however, considering the blond’s incessant obsession with Uchiha.

Iruka felt his own heart twist with sympathetic pain. It wouldn’t be easy for the two boys if what he suspected was true, not with who they were, not by a long shot.

While same sex relationships were not unheard of, they were not advertised in their village. It was understood that it sometimes happened, but it was never displayed. Iruka had a hard time seeing Naruto in any kind of relationship where he had to hide his emotions. Whatever Naruto was feeling was soon known to anyone within a thirty meter radius of the teen. Restraint had never been an operative word in the boy’s vocabulary.

Then again, Naruto had always had a strange effect on people. If anyone could influence people into accepting them, it would be him. The boy was like a magnet, like the whirlpool for which he was named. He pulled people in and, for the most part, they were unable to escape his mischievous but benevolent influence.

Iruka was pulled out of his musings as he heard Shikamaru greet the Hokage out in the hall.


Sasuke gently stood Hiroki up before getting to his own feet as the Hokage entered the room with a familiar orange-haired female trailing her. He kept the scowl off his face as he reminded himself that they might need the girl’s help in the future. It wouldn’t do to piss her off at this moment in time.

Sasame looked over at Naruto, her face betraying her surprise at his appearance. At his hesitant smile, she beamed back at him before giving him a warm hug. “Naruto,” she greeted in a friendly manner.

“Hey there, Sasame,” he returned with a sense of relief.

“Sasuke,” she greeted as she stepped back from the blond.

Sasuke simply nodded in reply.

“Sasame-chan?” Sakura asked hesitantly, wondering if the girl remembered her.

“Sakura-chan!” came the pleased exclamation. “You look wonderful!”

Sasuke felt Hiroki’s hand tighten around his own as he watched the Fuuma girl with a look almost like fear. Frowning, he knelt down and turned the boy to him. “What’s wrong, Hiroki?” he asked in concern.

The boy looked up at him with large, green eyes. “Is she here to take me back?” he whispered dejectedly.

Sasuke felt a jolt of bewilderment pass through him though he didn’t show it. “No one is taking you away, Hiroki,” he told the boy firmly.

Hiroki’s expression was one of dawning hope. “She’s not here for me?”

Sasuke sighed and shook his head at the boy. “Didn’t Naruto and I tell you that we’re a family?”

The boy nodded with only a sliver of hesitancy.

“Family stands by one another,” he said, his voice thickening slightly. He swallowed around the lump, trying desperately to shove back his own childhood memories.

Hiroki nodded with more enthusiasm before latching onto Sasuke’s neck with both arms. Sasuke wrapped his arms around the boy and picked him up. He glared at the other occupants in the room as if daring anyone to say anything.

Tsunade cleared her throat and turned to the girl she had brought in with her. “If you don’t mind taking a look at Naruto, why don’t you see if there is anything that you can do.”

Sasame nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Iruka, Sakura, why don’t you two find Neji and Hinata and send them this way?” Tsunade suggested pointedly.

“Of course, Hokage-sama,” Iruka agreed readily enough. He didn’t want to leave but he knew that whatever they had to do would be best done without distraction. “Hiroki, do you want to take a look at the village while Naruto is busy?”

The small arms tightened around Sasuke’s neck in an unvoiced protest. Sasuke put his lips to the boy’s ear. “Iruka-sensei is a good man. He won’t let anything happen to you and Naruto and I would tear this place apart if anyone tried to take you from us,” he whispered reassuringly.

After a moment’s hesitation, the boy nodded compliance.

Sasuke set the child down and the little boy readily went to Iruka to take the man’s hand. Iruka smiled kindly down at him. “Let’s go get you dressed first. I brought you some clothes and left them in the room that you were in before.”

Hiroki seemed to perk up at the prospect of clothes.

“We’ll see you later, Naruto, Sasuke,” Iruka said pleasantly.

Sakura gave a quick hug to Naruto and had turned to Sasuke when she was brought up short by the cool look. He hadn’t forgotten her admonishment to not hurt Naruto again.

She merely nodded to him before heading out the door as well.

Tsunade had turned back to the other three occupants in the room when they were interrupted by a little boy dashing back into the room.

He stopped in front of Naruto and held his arms up. Naruto bent down to give the boy a hug and received a kiss on the cheek. He then ran over to Sasuke and repeated the gesture. Sasuke tried to look stoic as he bent down to receive his hug and kiss as well.

“Bye, Nii-san! Bye, Chichi!” he yelled out before running back out of the room.

Tsunade watched the soft smile form on Naruto’s face which was matched by a slight warmth in Sasuke’s eyes. Her heart went out to them even if she couldn’t allow them to see it.

“Let’s get to work, shall we, boys?” she said calmly.

They both nodded and moved over to the futon where Naruto sat down cross-legged. Sasuke knelt down next to him as Sasame did the same in front. Sasuke tried not to frown as the girl took Naruto’s face in her hands and started to gaze at him with a look of concentration.

He knew that she was trying to help, but it still bothered him when someone that obviously liked Naruto touched him a little too casually.

“What were you tied to?” she whispered a little shakily, her eyes still focused on whatever she was seeing.

No one answered.

She released his face and looked back at Tsunade. “I am used to working with threads that were tied on a physical level. I don’t know what Ren did to him,” she admitted. “It looks like the threads were just tied and looped back onto themselves and sink into his body.”

She shook her head slowly. “I wouldn’t know where to start or even begin how to undo them.”

Tsunade’s shoulders slumped slightly as her hope left her. She hadn’t wanted Naruto to show up with his features still obviously influenced by the Kyuubi. It was one thing for the council to know it; it would be something totally different for them to see it.

“Very well,” she said, masking her disappointment. “I will have Shikamaru take you back to Ren and then get you a place to rest up. I’ll make sure that Yuni is sent to you.”

“I’m sorry again, Hokage-sama,” she said with a bow of her head.

“Don’t be,” Tsunade said, brushing off the apology. “This situation is outside of the norm on most accounts.”

Sasame turned to Naruto with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Naruto, I wish I could help you.”

Naruto gave her a large, dazzling smile. “It’s okay, Sasame! They can still help me out, but it just takes a little bit. I just hope Ren will be okay so that he can get back to leading your village.”

“I hope so as well,” she said with a sincere smile. “I’d like to talk to you again before I have to go.”

“I’m sure we will,” he said reassuringly.

With that, she stood and took her leave after one last bow to the all.

After the door closed behind Sasame, Tsunade turned to the two young men. “How are you feeling, Naruto? Any effects from what was done yesterday?”

“It hurt like a bitch for awhile, but it went away,” he said with a shrug.

She nodded thoughtfully. “Sasuke, I want to try to remove the tails today. Think you can pick them out?”

“A lot of the threads are tangled, some are melded together. It will be hard, but I think I can do it,” he replied, trying to give her an honest assessment.

“Neji told me that even with your help that we were still looking at only an eighty to eighty-five percent recovery depending on how Naruto reacts to some of the threads being cut. I want to make sure that included in that eighty percent are those tails. I don’t want everyone to suddenly start thinking that the Kyuubi is getting loose,” she told them with a serious expression.

Both teens nodded in understanding.

“I’m sure everything will be fine, baa-chan,” Naruto said confidently, hands automatically going to the back of his head.

“It will be,” Sasuke added, trying to tell her in his own way that he would do what it took to make sure it was so.

“We’ll see,” she allowed with a small smile towards him. She glanced away before back again. “The council doesn’t know about your… involvement with each other. I think it would be best to keep it that way for now.”

Sasuke nodded. “I agree.”

She looked over at Naruto. “That means no funny business in public. You keep your feelings private and behind closed doors. In public you are friends, nothing more.”

Naruto hesitated, not liking the thought but understanding why it was important. “I’ll do my best,” he said seriously.

“Do better than that,” she emphasized. “If the council even suspects, they will do everything in their power to separate you.”

Sasuke scowled lightly, but knew that what she said was true.

“I don’t know whether this will make it easier for you or harder,” Tsunade grumbled while shifting uneasily, “but I have arranged for you to be housed in the same apartment. I used the excuse that we could watch you both at the same time that way.”

Naruto gave her a big grin.

“I’ll make sure that it is someone you know watching you at night,” she added.

“Watching us?” Sasuke asked suspiciously.

“You’ll be under surveillance for the first few months. You aren’t supposed to know naturally. It is to see if you can be trusted, but I already trust you.” Sasuke couldn’t help but notice that her gaze rested solely on Naruto at this point. “It’s a two bedroom apartment. I figured you would need the extra room for Hiroki and your old apartment is too small for all three of you.”

Naruto nodded, saddened that he was leaving his old apartment behind but glad that they would all be able to stay together after all.

“You’ll appear before the council tonight and, if everything goes well, move into your new place tomorrow,” she continued.

“Tonight?” he asked in trepidation.

“They saw no point in delaying it any longer,” she answered sourly.

There was a light knock on the door before it opened to reveal Neji and Hinata.

“Hokage-sama,” they both greeted with a bow.

She acknowledged them with a nod.

“Hi, guys!” Naruto chirped up cheerfully. He received a small, reserved smile as well as a shy one.

“On your stomach, dobe,” Sasuke told him calmly.

Naruto eyebrow climbed up and he opened his mouth to make what was obviously going to be a perverted remark. Sasuke was quick to cut him off.

“We are supposed to work on your tails. The Hyuugas need to be able to see them to do so,” he said repressively.

Naruto snickered before turning around and lying face down on the futon.

“Pull your shirt up, brat, so that they can see better,” Tsunade ordered as she led the other two over to where he was.

“O-oh, that’s n-not n-necessary,” Hinata stuttered out, blushing darkly at the thought of Naruto without his shirt.

“Sure,” Naruto answered Tsunade as he easily peeled his shirt up and over his head.

Sasuke took in the broad expanse of his back to where it tapered down to his hips and his half revealed buttocks where the tails began. He felt a familiar tingling sensation in his groin and forced himself to look elsewhere. His gaze immediately caught blue eyes that were looking at him with a smug expression. Even as his gaze hardened irritably, those blue eyes dropped down between his legs where he knelt on the futon and slowly, languidly lifted.

Not waiting to see if the others were in place yet, Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

He appeared out in the middle of the room containing the bars to the Kyuubi’s prison followed immediately by Naruto. Without hesitation and without useless words, he grabbed the blond and planted his lips demandingly upon Naruto’s. One hand buried in yellow sunshine hair, the other reached down and clasped an ass cheek to pull the other boy hard into his body.

Naruto moaned and wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s neck, opening his mouth under the older teen’s onslaught. They spent several moments tasting each other’s mouths and caressing each other’s bodies before they slowly pulled away.

“As soon as we get into that new apartment, your ass is mine, Uzumaki,” Sasuke growled a little breathlessly.

“Heh, we’ll see about that, Uchiha,” Naruto returned, enjoying the implied challenge.

Sasuke pulled his mind back to the task at hand and began to visually sort out the threads draped artlessly around Naruto’s body.

He pulled a few up and infused his chakra into them, needing them out of the way before he could get to the heavier ones around Naruto’s backside. One by one the threads dissolved away as one of the Hyuuga cut them. Once the heavier, mangled threads were revealed, Sasuke took a moment to examine them more thoroughly.

“I’m going to assume that these are connected to the tails,” Sasuke murmured from behind as he brushed his hands lightly over the mass of threads. He tried to isolate what he thought would be the most likely candidate and slowly fed his chakra into it.

He felt a worried premonition when Naruto let out a slight whine at the touch of his fire-based power.

He quickly withdrew his chakra as he felt the cool waft of someone else’s about to cut the cording.

The chakra seemed to fill the thread but the thread didn’t part underneath it. More power was poured into it but instead of bursting the single thread, it started to funnel into the threads that it had tangled with and melted into.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cried out a little worriedly as he felt the steady, painful build up within him.

There was a sudden surge of power as if someone out there had decided that either the cord was resistant or it was best to sever it all at once. Threads started to split and burst apart as the power slid down the line towards the seal.

There was a strangled cry from Naruto as he swayed on his feet, trying not to scream as it felt like acid was spreading through his body, melting and burning everything in its wake. Claws pierced palms as he clenched his fists, fighting the pain, fighting to stay conscious in this place.

There was a final burst from the bundle of threads as they broke away from his body right before a roar of rage and pain was heard from within the cage.


Tsunade watched as Neji tried to flood the thread that Sasuke designated with enough chakra to cut it from the others. However, unlike the others before it, it seemed stronger and was able to withstand the current level of chakra that he was feeding it.

Frowning, he increased the power, determined to detach the bindings from Naruto’s chakra paths and thereby further separating him from the demon within him. He knew he was on the right track as one of the tails started to take on the light blue glow of his chakra. Feeding more into the procedure, he saw the tail fluff out and quiver within that glow.

Naruto’s hands clenched, causing them to bleed as claws dug into the meat of his palms. Tsunade tried to pry his fingers open, but couldn’t do so without causing him more harm. The cuts kept trying to heal around his nails but were unable to do so.

With a final burst of power, the tail seemed to almost rip out by the roots before disappearing in a burst of red chakra. There was only a second for them to collect their breaths before Naruto was suddenly screaming a deep, rumbling roar beneath them.


TBC