With Konoha on the edge of war, Naruto was sent to aid an ally in a different fight, and went missing in battle. His friends are sent to find him, but what they didn't expect was to find him deaf, mute, and silent as the grave. Whoever the fool was that said "silence is golden" was sorely mistaken.

Printed Words

"Talking"

"Thoughts"/ "FlashBacks"

The Loudest Silence

Chapter Three

The streets around him seemed to be nothing but a blur. He stormed through the village, refusing to acknowledge the outraged cries of the people who he pushed roughly past, sometimes even sending them to the ground. Or perhaps, he truly didn't notice them at all.

His head felt muddled and clouded as emotions swirled like a rampaging storm inside his dark mind. Those damn words kept echoing though his mind and he growled in frustration that he couldn't tune them out.

…he died…he died…he died…

But it wasn't true. It couldn't be true. That blond idiot, with his loud mouth and his hyperactive nature, he couldn't be dead, because…because he was Naruto. And Naruto wouldn't die…he wouldn't leave him here alone. He had promised.

He didn't even think about where he was going. His feet carried him to the place he visited more frequently than he did his own house. The dobe would be there…scarfing down cold noodles or passed out on the small bed, as he always was whenever he visited the blond at the apartments. He must have just been exhausted after he returned from his mission. The moron had gone straight home instead of reporting to Tsunade as he should have, which was why the old bat had jumped to conclusions like she did.

Naruto wasn't dead. And he was going to prove it.

Approaching the door, he banged his fist forcefully on the wood. "NARUTO!" he yelled harshly. "OPEN UP!"

Silence.

He tried again, hammering louder this time. "WAKE UP, USURATONKACHI! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

Only the sound of his heart beating irregularly in his chest could be heard.

"DAMMIT I'LL BREAK DOWN YOUR FUCKING DOOR, DOBE!" he roared, but still there were no signs of life from the jinchuuriki's lodgings.

With a frustrated growl, he pulled back his fist, putting all his chakra into his clenching fingers, and slammed into the fragile wood, causing it to splinter into a thousand pieces.

Naruto might be pissed, but he wouldn't be paying for it.

The idiot should learn to answer his door.

Bursting into the room, his eyes roamed the small apartment feverishly, searching for that flash of familiar blond hair.

But there was none.

A cold feeling of dread began to well up, deep inside his stomach, and the words from earlier chanted louder inside his head.

…he died...he died...he died!

"COME OUT!" he bellowed, charging through to the bedroom. He refused to give in to that damn Tsunade. How dare she say Naruto was dead! She didn't know anything! She knew nothing of Naruto! Nothing!

The covers had been pulled up in a messy attempt at tidying the bed up, but something was wrong. Dust clustered in the crevasses of wrinkles that lined the sheets, making it obvious, even to the untrained eye, that no one had touched the bed in at least a few weeks.

Perhaps even longer.

With a growl of frustration, he ripped the coverings clear from the mattress, as if Naruto was simply hiding beneath them.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" he cried, ripping apart the bed, going as far as to fling the mattress and frame from the wall. When this did nothing to produce the one person who still called himself his friend, he continued on, pulling things from there places, searching even in places that weren't logical for the shinobi that was simply hiding somewhere in this apartment.

That had to be it, he thought to himself, because Naruto wasn't dead. He couldn't be. Naruto wouldn't leave him…he had promised.

"…Why won't I give up? Because I made a promise…"

That moron's words seemed to echo through his head as he continued to tear apart the small dwelling, fresh and as heart wrenching as they had been the first time he'd heard them, three years prior.

"…to Sakura-chan and your brother, to myself, and to the memory of the first person who ever acknowledged me as their friend…"

The sound of the refrigerator slamming with an earth-shattering force as it hit the floor didn't even register over the sounds of his heartbeat that drowned out all noise from the outside world, forcing him to only hear the words he would never be able to forget, no matter how hard he tried.

"…Orochimaru put his curse seal on you in the Forest of Death, and brought all your hatred to the front of your mind. But you let it consume you! You let it fester and boil until it was the only thing you could see, even after Itachi spent his last moments to free you from its hold!"

A strangled roar that came out more like a sob ripped from his throat as he grabbed hold of the stand-alone stove, hurling it to meet the same fate as the broken appliance on the floor.

"…Come back to yourself! Stop hiding behind your revenge and your avenger mask! You don't have to live in misery for the rest of your life…you don't have to live alone…"

He picked up a wooden chair, hurling it at the wall with all his strength. It broke apart, causing a sizable hole in the wall, but the damage didn't even register to him. Already, the other chair that he himself had often occupied, sitting across from a loud, ramen-enthusiast, was in his hands, and in the next second, it joined its partner in broken pieces on a pile of ruble.

"…Come home, Sasuke. No matter what choices you've made up until now…none of it matters. I know the friend I knew is still in there…otherwise you would have killed me a long time ago. You don't have to make a place for yourself out of hatred anymore…you still have a place back home, in Konoha, because you're still my best friend…"

His mind was completely gone, as he overturned the small sofa. He was too lost in the memories of that time…forced to the ground on his knees from exhaustion, surrounded by ash and charred earth; the destruction of the man who had claimed himself to be Uchiha Madara. The man who had aided Itachi the night of the Uchiha massacre, and who had attempted to betray him yet again.

The man that the dobe had just killed.

"…and as long as I'm still alive, you'll never have to be alone again. All you have to do is grab my hand…and with that, I'll promise you that I'll never leave you to be alone, and I never break my promises…its my ninja way!"

He could still see it…that hand that was smeared with blood, dirt, and ash, held steadily, right within his reach. He could still feel those piercing blue eyes on him…watching him with the same damn smile and kindness that only Naruto was capable of holding. He remembered, with painful clarity, how much his head was spinning, how much his gut was churning, how much his heart was hurting.

And perhaps…perhaps it had been because of his brother's last words to him…

Perhaps it had been because of the indisputable proof of his clan's betrayal he had witnessed…

Perhaps it had been because of the blond who had chased after him for years, never wavering in his mission, never giving up on bringing him to the village he had once shared with his beloved aniki and the rest of his family…

But staring at that hand…unable to force himself to meet the eyes that bore down upon him, he had taken it. Slowly, almost as if he wasn't even moving the hand himself, as if it took all of his remaining strength and will power to do it, he brought his shaking fingers up to meet the boy who had continued after him, despite everything he had ever done.

He would never forget it, that moment when his hand had barely even brushed against his former teammate's. Naruto's hand had grabbed his in a vise like grip, using the contact to pull him forward as Naruto himself fell to his knees, pulling the traitor of Konoha to him in a familiar embrace, one arm from the blond around his shoulder as his arms simply hung loosely at his side.

His knees hit the ground in the center of the demolished apartment, falling in the same way he had been on the ground that day that would always seem like yesterday to him.

"…you promised…" he heard his own voice say quietly, as if he were whispering the words to him. "You damn liar."

And even as he sat there, fully aware of the ANBU that were watching him, unseen from the shadows, the great Uchiha Sasuke cried at the loss of his best, and only, friend.

For those of you who are caught up with the Manga…I tried to use the last chapter without being specific ^3^ sorry if I failed! Anyway...augh Kishimoto better get another chapter out soon! I'm DYING!

Special thanks to my new Beta, qurt7 ! He'll be making sure I don't screw up too badly from now on ^-^ THANKS DUDE!

Thanks for reading! If I get at least five reviews for this chapter, I'll update by Tuesday!

lol sorry I'm a review whore ^-^

And thanks for the ton of reviews I got last chapter! I really appreciated them all so much!

(btw I accept flames...but that doesn't mean I'll always take them lying down!)

~Ducky