The Sound of Dreams

AN: Good morning! Am running late for work so I can’t spend too much time babbling at you today!! Just wanted to thank everyone for reading and reviewing! You guys keep me going!!

Also, wanted to apologize that I didn’t get chapter 9 of Blackmail and Betrayal up Saturday like I was supposed to. This past week has been hectic and I have been playing around with my outline for the story. A chapter should be up this Saturday for sure.


Chapter 72


Tsunade watched worriedly as the red chakra surrounded Naruto’s body. She knew that he couldn’t escape the room with the seals activated, but it concerned her that Naruto and Sasuke both were probably in the same area that the demon was confined. She only hoped that they were both holding their own against the creature.

Even as Naruto growled and whimpered, his now red eyes remained locked upon Sasuke’s own crimson gaze.

“Hokage-sama?” Neji asked, unsure of how the Sannin wanted to proceed.

“Give them a few moments,” she said slowly, not wanting to make the situation worse by interfering at the wrong time.


With a loud roar of anguish, the slumbering beast awoke and threw itself at the bars of its cage. The chakra form flowed off the beast like some gaseous red afterimage that passed through the bars and confronted the two young men, or rather one in particular.

Rage and Pain. That is all the demon knew at this point in time. Rage and pain of heart, mind and soul. The only instinct was to kill, to find the source of this agony and eliminate it. And if that wasn’t possible, destroy everything until its rage was spent.

Right now the prime target was the cursed Uchiha. A member of the family whose arrogance surpassed most demons’ just as did their bloodlust. He would be the perfect one to start with, one of the few that could reign it in and force it into submission. One who now had everything that Kyuubi had ripped away from it. Freedom, power, pride and the respect and fear of others. Not to mention the one he cared about most by his side.

That reason more than any others made the Kyuubi want to rip him to shreds. Just like… Just like it had done to… done to…him.

A roar blasted itself into Sasuke’s face, the force of the chakra behind it blowing his hair back as if in a wind. He merely stood there, allowing the creature to vent, to try to intimidate him. As it brought a claw back, he moved. Drawing back his hand, he deftly dodged the swipe and punched through the thick chakra before him, throwing his own power into the swing.

The red mist parted around his arm, almost lingering in the stagnant air for a suspended moment in time before the bubbling chakra collapsed in on itself and burst.

Inside of the cage, the demon let out a furious howl.

Naruto walked up to the bars, face still twisted as his back continued to radiate agony. “I know it hurts,” he wheezed, “but he is trying to help. They are trying to untie us so that we can go back to normal.”

“Normal,” the beast sneered. “What do I care about your normal? The only normal I see is if you rip that damn seal off and free me so that I can level that pathetic fucking village that you so covet for locking me away in some imbecile of a vessel who is too fucking weak to save his own life!” The demon was ranting now, its shouted words echoing off of the damp walls.

“Shut the hell up, you overgrown furball!” Naruto suddenly yelled back. “You don’t like it, I don’t like it and I wish you had fucking died instead of being stuffed inside of me, but neither one of us can do any damn thing about it! So fucking deal with it!”

Naruto turned back to Sasuke with a determined, icy blue stare. “Find the next one,” he ordered curtly. “I want separated from him as soon as possible.”

Sasuke reluctantly nodded and waited as Naruto left the bars of the prison to rejoin him in the center of the room. While he wasn’t afraid of the demon necessarily that didn’t mean that he was dumb enough to let his guard down around the thing.

Kyuubi watched with half a snarl upon its lips as its vessel went back out to his lover. Jealousy and hatred twisted its insides at the gentle touch laid upon the boy’s shoulder as the Uchiha smoothly turned him around to study the binding threads.

The next time he managed to gain control, the Uchiha would be the first to die.

***************************
Neji watched as the red chakra vanished from Naruto’s system as if pulled abruptly back to its source. There were a few tense minutes as nothing seemed to happen and then Sasuke’s power slowly shimmered through the threads, guiding them once more.

A few threads later and they encountered the same situation as before. The lines seemed to disperse the chakra rather than be filled with it, shuttling the power to the connecting threads. Neji suppressed a wince, hoping it wouldn’t be as painful this time. Rather than slowly bursting all of the threads one by one and prolonging the ordeal, he once again flooded the mass, hoping to get it over with quicker and spare Naruto as much as possible.

The blond yelled out as the lines burst under the pressure of Neji’s cool blue chakra, but kept his eyes riveted on the spinning Sharingan. A tail once more lifted, fizzling with power before bursting into red mist. This time however, the demonic chakra stayed locked away.

As the tail disappeared, the body below started writhing, pulling itself up into fetal position.

Neji noted that Sasuke’s eyes had turned back to their usual dark luster.

“Bastard,” Naruto whimpered hoarsely, “I said another one.”

“No,” Sasuke refused flatly. “You’re in no condition to go through it again today.”

“What do you know about my condition? You don’t know what I am capable of handling,” he said in his gravelly tone as his body curled tighter in on itself.

“That’s enough,” Tsunade said shortly, interfering before they could get into a full blown argument. “How do you feel, Naruto?”

Naruto wanted to say ‘Like Sasuke’s fucked my ass raw,’ but didn’t think Tsunade would see the humor in it the same way he did.

“I want to get this done,” he said instead, trying not to wince with the fiery sensations coursing up his spine. “I want to get it over with.”

“Do you think you can handle another?” she asked, masking the hesitancy she felt the best that she could. She didn’t want him to go through the pain again, but at the same time she shared his sentiment that it needed to get done.

“Yeah, two more,” he muttered roughly.

Tsunade looked over at Sasuke. “Do it,” she commanded.

Sasuke’s mouth thinned into a line. “I refuse,” he said adamantly.

Honeyed eyes merely glanced over towards Neji and Hinata. “Very well. Neji, start cutting until you find it.”

Naruto’s darkened blue eyes glared up at Sasuke. “Bastard, help me.”

Sasuke returned the glare. “I’m not going to help them rip you apart.”

“Naruto-kun, are you sure? You can rest and we can do this later when you get your strength back,” Hinata said hesitantly in her quiet voice.

“I want to do it now, Hinata,” Naruto said, weariness edging his voice. “I want to look normal again. I don’t want those bastard councilors to see Kyuubi, I want them to see me.”

“I have a fair idea what I am looking for, Hokage-sama,” Neji assured her. “I should be able to do it without Uchiha’s help.”

“Then do it,” Tsunade said with a nod.

Sasuke’s jaw tightened as Hyuuga bent his head back to the task. Hinata reactivated her Byakugan as well and helped him in the endeavor by sorting through the crisscrossing lines and trying to find the larger cords.

“I think I found it,” Neji said after a few moments. “Are you ready, Naruto?”

Naruto stretched out his limbs in the careful manner one uses when they are aching and sore. Once done, he looked up at Sasuke who was busily glaring at the futon and avoiding his gaze. He took the young man’s pale hand in his, drawing a startled look from his lover. Without relinquishing his grip, Naruto nodded.

“Do it.”

“Idiot,” Sasuke muttered even as he tightened his hand upon Naruto’s.

The process was repeated as it had been done before. Only this time Sasuke was outside watching the process. His eyes narrowed as the tail was surrounded by chakra, frizzling the fur out as if it was filled with static electricity.

Naruto’s grip tightened almost painfully on his hand and he glanced down to see the fanged mouth clenched shut as shudders started to wrack the tanned body. He wanted to stop things before they got worse but was unsure if stopping them would help or harm more than continuing would.

Naruto’s expression became more strained as more of Neji’s chakra was forced into the threads, trying to rupture them. Expecting the pain that was sure to follow, Naruto gripped their clasped hands with his free one, tensing up as if waiting for a blow.

The familiar acidic fire raced down his spine and his mouth was open and emitting yells of pain before he even realized it.

Sasuke buried his other hand into Naruto’s hair, trying to give him some form comfort and feeling helpless to do so. While he maintained his calm façade in front of the others, inside he cringed as Naruto screamed his throat raw.

Finally it was done and Sasuke carefully pulled Naruto’s quivering body closer to him. The blond’s breath came jerkily, hitching on the edge of tears, but refusing to give in.

“Enough,” Sasuke growled at the others. “He’s had enough, no more.”

Neji swayed slightly and nodded in agreement. “I don’t think I am able to do any more at this time anyway, Hokage-sama.”

Tsunade gave a long, hard stare at the single remaining tail before lifting her gaze up at the exhausted boy to which it was attached. She hoped and prayed that it would be enough. That they could find some way to conceal it before the council was could see it.

She gave the young people, children really in her mind, a reluctant nod. “I’ll have Iruka keep the boy busy for a while. I want you two to rest and get prepared for tonight.”

With that she gestured the other two to follow her from the room.

Neji nodded to each of them, his gaze lingering on Naruto’s form before turning away. Hinata hesitated a moment before rushing over and giving Naruto a quick hug before practically running from the room.

Naruto gave a wheezing laugh at the look on Sasuke’s face as he watched the Hyuuga girl dart out of the room. He limply moved a tired hand to Sasuke’s cheek, directing the teen’s dark, graphite-colored gaze to his own.

“Yours,” he murmured succinctly.

Sasuke tightened his grip minutely before relaxing it, acknowledging his understanding and agreement of the statement.

**********************
Sasuke adjust his clothes one last time as Hiroki looked up at him with interest. He had asked Iruka to pick up some to his specifications once he had taken a look into the bag that the man had brought earlier. Nothing against his Academy school teacher, but the man had no sense of style. Not that Sasuke cared about style really either, but he had remembered how Naruto had stared at him the first time he had dressed this way.

He kind of liked the look of shell shock on the other boy’s face.

Once more clad in the black loose ninja pants with the buckles running up his calves, Sasuke adjust the collar around his throat above the black sleeveless Anbu top before pulling on his dark armguards. Looking in the mirror, he caught the look on Naruto’s face as the blue eyes watched him. He almost felt as if he were putting on his underclothes with the way Naruto avidly watched the armor slide up his forearms.

Naruto himself was once more in orange pants, but unfortunately they didn’t have the mesh side panels. Sasuke made a mental note to find some or have some made as soon as they could get settled in. He enjoyed the teasing peeks of tanned flesh along Naruto’s thighs and hips as the young man moved about.

The one remaining tail was wrapped around Naruto’s waist under the orange pants. It would have looked peculiar, but Iruka had found a black and orange jacket and the bulky clothing helped disguise the appendage.

“You look good,” Hiroki pronounced once Sasuke was done fiddling with the buckles on his arms.

Sasuke glanced down at the boy, now dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a black t-shirt with the green Leaf symbol that brought out his eyes. He ruffled the kid’s hair before moving out into the main room where Naruto was waiting for him.

Hiroki ran over to Naruto and gave him a big hug.

“Don’t give Iruka too much trouble,” Naruto said with a grin. “A little bit is okay; it keeps him on his toes, but not too much.”

Hiroki grinned up at him and then looked over to Iruka who was watching the both of them with a warm smile. He nodded as he chirped out, “I won’t. I like Iruka, he’s nice!”

Iruka just smiled wider at the complement.

“Now, go give your nii-san a big hug and kiss so we can go,” Naruto said with a smirk.

Hiroki wiggled out of his embrace and, after bounding the few steps over to Sasuke, gave the pale teen a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Sasuke withstood the affectionate attack with aplomb.

The knock on the door put a sudden damper on the cheerful atmosphere as it was brought to their minds once more the meeting that was about to take place.

Naruto gave Hiroki one last peck on the head as Sasuke opened the door. Kakashi, Gai, Shikamaru and Sai stood before them, ready to escort them to the Hokage’s tower.

Still feeling worn out and sore from his earlier ordeal, Naruto moved slowly up to the door as Kakashi deactivated the seals.

“Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke. If you will please come with us,” their former jounin instructor said formally.

Both teens stepped out into the hallway and the four shinobi formed up around them, boxing them in. There was an uncomfortable silence as the six ninjas started down the hallway.

The evening meeting insured that there wouldn’t be a lot of people outside as they walked through the streets to the tower. However, the ones who were could only stop and gawk at the party passing them by. It wouldn’t take long before the news was all over town. To some, the last Uchiha and the Uzumaki boy were back home in their village. To others, the traitor and the demon had been found.

They were escorted up the ramps and stairs until they arrived at the council chambers. Inside Tsunade sat at the head of the table while the council elders Utatane Koharu and Mitokada Homura sat slightly behind and to either side of her.

There were three Anbu guards arrayed on either wall as well as two behind the councils. The four members of the escort team bowed and then Sai and Shikamaru stepped outside of the doors. Kakashi and Gai closed the doors and took up a position on either side.

Tsunade spoke. “Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, you have been called before the council of Konohagakure to have judgment passed upon you for your actions in regards to leaving the village without permission and upon the subsequent actions after you had done so. Do either of you have anything to say in your defense?”

There was a long moment of silence as neither spoke up.

Naruto could not deny that he had done so and Sasuke felt that they had no right to judge him.


Mitokado Homura listened as Tsunade recited their judgment upon the two deserters. He couldn’t help but note with some interest that they didn’t react to the news. While he would have expected such of someone from the Uchiha clan, he was familiar enough with Uzumaki Naruto to know that it was out of character for him.

The boy should have been shouting, protesting and giving the council members ample opportunity to make his punishments even more severe by his disruption.

Frowning, he searched for the evidence of what their plant in Tsunade’s elite medical corps had informed them to be true. The snake tattoo was covered naturally by the long sleeves of the jacket, but the facial features were not the malformed twisted muzzle that had been described, nor were there a multitude of tails protruding from the boy’s backside. The brief glimpse that he had had of the boy’s hands had shown him that the nails had indeed grown and he could see the fangs in the boy’s mouth as well. However, that wasn’t anything that you couldn’t find on a member of the Inuzuka clan.

The whisker marks were a little more defined, true, and the boy’s hair had red streaks through it. But again, it wasn’t anything to make anyone look twice.

His eyes lowered down to where the jacket bulged around the boy’s midriff. The bulk wasn’t large enough to be hiding the numerous tails of the Kyuubi, but then the boy wasn’t supposed to have all of them.

Homura waited until Tsunade was done talking, waited while the boys acknowledged her words with reluctant bows before he spoke.

“Uzumaki Naruto, remove your jacket,” he ordered directly.

Naruto’s eyes widened slightly as if he had been caught red-handed in one of his infamous pranks.

“Councilor,” Tsunade began, “I don’t think Naruto needs to be stripping-”

“Remove your jacket,” Homura repeated inexorably. His sharp eyes noted that Naruto’s gaze darted to Tsunade, that Sasuke swayed just ever so slightly as if he wanted to step towards Naruto and that Kakashi and Gai both tensed almost imperceptibly.

Knowing that she was going to lose this one and wanting to save as much face as she could, Tsunade merely nodded to Naruto.

Naruto hesitated a moment, but then his eyes hardened to a blue steel and he roughly jerked the jacket from his body.

Homura couldn’t help but notice the distinct lump beneath the waist band of the pants.

“Show us,” he said sharply.

“There were some side effects to him being bound,” Tsunade interrupted angrily. “They are temporary side effects and some have been eliminated already.”

“And when were we going to be told about this?” Koharu’s voice cut in like stiff lace, rough and scratchy.

“I didn’t realize that you had wanted to know every little detail,” Tsunade said with a growl. “It was a medical condition that is being reversed. Something that falls within my expertise and something that I had under control.”

“When it comes to the jinchuuriki, every facet of his life is our concern,” Koharu bit out. “When it comes to him, it involves the safety of our village and when it involves the safety of our village, then nothing is to be taken for granted.”

“Uzumaki,” Homura prodded.

Naruto took a shuddering breath, anger and sadness warring within him. He reached down and simply pulled out the tail from underneath his waistband.

Immediately the eight Anbu within the room tensed, ready to spring to action to defend the council and to subdue the demon in front of them.

Both council members fell silent for a moment, taking in the crimson red fur of the twitching tail that brushed the ground.

“I want the jinchuuriki monitored,” Koharu said stiffly. “I want to know every breath, every move, every single thing he does. We need to make sure that the creature within him has not gained a foothold within his soul. We need to make sure that it stays locked away. And we need to make sure that Akatsuki or anyone else never gets their hands on him.”

Sasuke trembled with anger as they continued to speak about Naruto as if he were a thing and not a person born and raised in this pathetic village. He glanced over and saw almost the same reaction on the tanned, whiskered face. Those eyes were blazing with fury and pain, causing the Anbu to start fingering their weapons, ready to draw and act.

“Naruto,” Tsunade spoke, pulling the distressed blue eyes to hers. “Go with Kakashi and Gai and prepare to be moved tomorrow. We will talk more then.”

Naruto nodded before grabbing the tail and shoving back under cover and tying his jacket around his waist. But it was too late to pretend it wasn’t there. They had seen it and they had reacted to it and now they didn’t trust him.


Homura watched as the two left the room, secretly pleased. It would only be a matter of time before someone let the truth spill out. Even in a village full of shinobi, nothing was ever truly secret for long unless it was on a sealed scroll that only the Hokage could open. Everything else eventually found its way out.

And when it did, people would start to remember what was inside Uzumaki Naruto. And they will start to wonder if the demon is really as tightly sealed as the Sandaime had claimed. They would eventually turn on him and he would lose his support.

At that point in time, he would be vulnerable.


Sasuke kept his eyes straight forward even as he kept his awareness on the young man beside him. The old fucking goats just had to put their noses into everything.

They thought that they could control them; they thought that they had a right to tell them how to live outside of their lives as ninjas. They had been in power so long that they thought their word was above reproach and that whatever they said would be obeyed without question. They would learn that they were wrong.

They could not control him. He would follow their dictations but in his own way. He was patient and he could bide his time. He would make his plans and prepare.

After all, the old bastards couldn’t live forever.


TBC