Thank you for the reviews and favorites everybody, I'm glad to see that there are people who like this story. And I want to apologize for the long break; however, I had tests every week and didn't have the time to write anything useful in my free time. Now without any further delay I present you the next chapter of 'Alone I Dream'. A little note, the first part will show the character of the members of Team 7, they'll be a bit OOC, but not too much (they might have traits they acquired later in the series)
Disclaimer: I know it's shocking, but in fact I don't own Naruto.
"Demon Speech"
'Demon Thought'
"Speech"
'Thought'
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Chapter 3: The lonely path
Some days had passed since Naruto had met the Kyuubi in his mindscape and he still hadn't woken up. The Hokage sat in his office and was taking a well-deserved break, not knowing about the events that had taken place after he had left the young dreamseer. The whole village was preparing for the coming days, the civilian side for the Chunin-Exams, the shinobi for the upcoming invasion of the villages of Sound and Sand. Checking that nobody was around to see what he was about to do, the Sandaime opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a small orange book.
'Finally, I didn't get to read the newest issue yet. Ah, it's good to be Hokage sometimes, especially if you get a free edition of Jiraya's latest 'Icha Icha Paradise' issue.'
But before the closet pervert Hokage could start reading he was interrupted by his secretary knocking at his door.
"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san and his team is here, they say it's about their next mission."
The old Hokage sighed. Why did Kakashi have to be on time today? Normally he was late so much that there had been the joke that even the Shinigami would have to wait for Kakashi. But there was nothing he could do against it; Team 7 had done remarkably well on their mission against the Sound 5. Okay, the leader had been struck by a rare disease according to the report and thus hadn't been much of a challenge. Furthermore there had been two Jonin level ninja – Kakashi Hatake and Momochi Zabuza – besides Kakashi's students Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura; and also Zabuza's apprentice Haku Hatsugoori (1), who had been given the rank of a Genin and joined Kakashi's team but was in fact high Chunin level. It wasn't really a surprise that they had been able to defeat Orochimaru's special team. But there was still something they had to take care of. Just when the Sandaime had put his book away again the door opened to reveal the famous copy-nin and his students as well as the man known as 'Demon of the Bloody Mist'.
"Ah, Kakashi and Zabuza-san, it's good that you could make it. You see, I wanted to thank all of you for dealing with this dangerous mission exceptionally well. I added a little bonus to your pay checks."
Sarutobi smiled at the group, although most of them probably sensed that there was more to this meeting than a simple 'thank you' from the Hokage. With his one visible eye Kakashi watched his students. Sakura had started to blossomed on their recent missions; she took her training much more serious than before. She was no longer the stupid little fangirl she used to be. She had even cut her hair and started to master poison techniques Kakashi had given her, it had turned out she had quite some talent for these, along with excellent chakra control.
As for Sasuke… The Uchiha massacre had been a heavy blow to everyone in Konoha, but of course Sasuke suffered the most from it (2). He had been until constant surveillance of psychologists, but this wound would probably never heal completely. But thanks to meeting with Haku he had seen what strength a person could gain when protecting someone. Even if it wasn't much, Sasuke had begun to open up ever so slowly. He still had a long way to go, but Kakashi was hopeful that he would one day overcome his dark thoughts.
Haku… This boy had changed Team 7 a lot. Since Kakashi's team was only consisting of two Genin the Hokage had added Haku to fill the spot. There had been some problems first of course, but no team was born over night. But day by day they had started to accept each other. For Haku, who had only had Zabuza as family the feeling of having friends was as new to him as it was to Sasuke. Kakashi remembered their last mission, the tracking and termination of the Sound 5. It had been a long fight, but luckily they had been able to catch them separated. While Kakashi and Zabuza had taken care of three of them, the Genin had been fighting with the last one. But just when they had defeated him, the leader, the bone user had shown up. It had been sheer luck that he had died before he could kill any of the Genin. But thanks to this near-death encounter Sasuke had managed to unlock his Sharingan, something that would prove valuable in near future.
"Well, now that we discussed that part I'll now tell you of the next mission I assign you too. It's a very important mission; if this one is a success it could prevent a war."
The Hokage's words stunned everyone in the room. Kakashi and Zabuza were speechless. They knew that Team 7 was quite strong for a Genin team, however, a mission that would decide over a possible war was definitely too much for them.
"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious! I know that they are strong for Genin, but that is ridiculous!" Kakashi almost yelled.
"Calm down Kakashi, I know very well of their abilities and the importance of this mission. However, it looks like the stars have given these children a destiny that has consequences for everyone in this village."
While the adults were still arguing about the mission, Team 7 had their own thoughts about what they had just heard.
'A mission that will decide over peace or war… If we really will get this mission I'll give it all I've got, I won't let anyone else suffer the fate of an orphan!' These were of course the thoughts of Haku, who had always detested war, since had suffered from the bloodline purge and the resulting civil war in his old homeland.
Sasuke's thoughts were mostly what they were always like. 'A dangerous mission, huh? I'll use it to increase my strength, I can't allow myself to die on a mission like this. He's still somewhere out there… Itachi! I will defeat you one day, with my own hands!'
Sakura was the only one who was still hesitant. 'That sounds really dangerous, are we really ready for a mission like that? Maybe it would be better if… No! I swore to myself that I'd become a strong kunnoichi, I can't back down if I want to accomplish my dream!'
The Hokage sighed when he tried to endure Kakashi and Zabuza trying to persuade him to send someone else, if possibly ANBU on that mission. He knew that this was dangerous, but he trusted Naruto. The least he could do was to ensure that Naruto's powers were used to prevent any more people from suffering. When the ranting continued, the Hokage had enough.
"Enough of this! My decision is final, and that's it. I'm fully aware of the dangers involving this mission, and be assured, there will be enough protection for Team 7. We're trying to catch a quite dangerous individual with this mission."
Before the two Jonin could say anything else the Hokage had already sealed the room from the outside world so that none of this would leave this room.
"Alright, I'll now tell you about the mission. Team 7, your task is to act as a bait to lure out one of Konoha's most wanted Nukenin. The man I'm talking about is ranked S-Class in the bingo book and as strong as a Kage."
With this realization dawned upon kakashi's face.
"That's right Kakashi, I'm talking about no one else but the Snake-Sannin Orochimaru. And we know he is after you, Sasuke."
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Meanwhile in the basement of the Hokage Tower
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Naruto opened his eyes. And immediately regretted doing so. This headache was worse than any other he had had so far. He closed his eyes again and tried to relax. What had happened again? Oh yes, he had talked to his tenant who had said something about a gift and then thrown him out rather impolitely. Then Naruto had fallen asleep. And a vision had shown itself again to him. That was a rather normal thing to Naruto. When a certain event drew near, the visions tended to repeat itself, especially when Naruto didn't try to see something else. But Naruto didn't want to remember this vision; it was never pleasant to see the outbreak of a war again and again.
In this moment Naruto noticed that something was different. He still couldn't move, but there was a strange feeling inside him. It wasn't strong in the beginning, but it grew stronger as time passed, and soon Naruto felt like he was about to burst. Little did he know, that inside the seal Kyuubi was grinning like the madman he was. One last push with a bit of demonic chakra did the rest. Naruto didn't scream as he once again felt pain like a soul totured in hell. He didn't have enough air in his lungs to do so. Darkness enveloped him.
'NOW LET'S SEE HOW YOU'LL DEAL WITH THIS, GAKI. I'M SURE YOU'LL BE CONFUSED FIRST, BUT IT'S LIKE A DRUG, YOU WON'T GET ENOUGH OF IT, I'M SURE OF IT!!!'
A menacing laughter echoed though the sewer that kept the Kyuubi sealed.
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Somewhere
in Konoha
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Team 8 had just returned from a mission to Wave Country and was quite happy to be home again. Their mission had been to protect the bridge builder Tazuna from bandits, but it soon turned out that it was in fact not as they thought a C-Rank mission but rather a B-Rank one. The shipping tycoon Gato had been oppressing the country by blocking off almost all trading routes and thus giving himself a king-like position. He had even hired missing nins to stop Tazuna from completing his bridge which posed a threat to his position. However, since there hadn't been many strong ninjas to hire out there Yuuhi Kurenai had been enough to deal with them while her Genin team finished off the thugs Gato had hired. It had been hard for Kiba, Hinata and even Shino to have their first kill. But every ninja was forced to kill sooner or later, mostly sooner. When they had passed the gate, Kurenai started talking to them:
"Okay everybody, listen up. I'll go to the Hokage Tower and give the Hokage our report, you can go and eat something, you must all be starving. Well, see you later."
And then she was already gone using Shunshin, leaving behind an indeed very hungry Genin team behind. It was Kiba who picked up the conversation again.
"Okay guys, how does ramen sound to you? It's been a long time since I had any, who's in?"
"The delicious aroma led me there more than once already. I'm in."
"O-okay, I-I'll come t-too."
They were about to visit Konoha's number one ramen stand when Hinata suddenly stopped in her tracks. A slight flickering had caught her eye, but she wasn't able to tell where it had come from. Her curiosity awakened and she activated the bloodline her clan was famous for.
'Byakkugan!'
There! Just one block ahead there was a flickering chakra signature, as if it was used and instantly drained again. This couldn't be good for the body.
"G-guys, I th-think there's s-somebody in t-trouble. It's o-one block ahead o-of us."
"I sense it too Hinata. My bugs are buzzing with excitement. It's quite secluded up there; we're probably the only one to sense it. We should check it." The ever-clam Shino was speaking pressed; it looked like he had a hard time to keep his bugs under control.
"Huh? I don't feel a thing, but I'm not that good in sensing chakra so – hey, what's wrong Akamaru?"
Kiba's partner was whimpering and grabbing Kiba's head like he was falling off. Seeing this, Kiba understood.
"I see, Akamaru can smell the chakra source, but it looks like he doesn't like it. It could be an enemy. Let's check it, who knows what slipped into the village."
The other two nodded and they ran to the alley the felt the signature coming from. But when they arrived there they couldn't see anything suspicious.
"That's strange. My bugs are resonating even more; this is the place where the chakra radiates from. Hinata, do you see anything else?"
"N-no Shino-kun. I o-only caught the g-glimpse of a p-person just before we e-entered the alley, b-but now it's g-gone. I c-can't see a-anything e- Behind us!"
The last part was shouted by Hinata. They all jumped back a bit and turned around just to see...
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In the Hokage Tower
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Just when the Hokage was about to further explain the circumstances of Orochimaru and his search for the Sharingan, he suddenly stopped and stared on a signal light on his desk like he had seen the world end. He stood up abruptly and hurried towards the door.
"I'm sorry Kakashi, we'll have to delay this meeting; I've got urgent matters I have to attend to. I'll send an ANBU to you, have a good day."
And with a speed betraying his old age he was gone, leaving behind a very confused Team 7 and an even more confused Hatake Kakashi. What the hell could be more important than an upcoming war?
The Hokage hurried down the stairs, passing though the countless security facilities. For a moment he felt like it was that night again, the night where the dreaded Kyuubi attacked the village. The night where he carried a crying Naruto to the hospital. The night where a young boy's future was forever destroyed. He would never forgive himself if this would happen again. Never.
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Back in the alley
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At the entrance of the alley stood a boy; not older than them. He was wearing a completely white kimono as far they could see. The only other thing they could see was that the boy had blonde hair; Since he stood with his back to them. It looked like he hadn't even noticed the three Genin behind him. But before Kiba, as brash as ever, could start to talk/yell at the boy, he began to talk, although it rather sounded like a monologue. His voice was lacking emotions, but it was shaking a bit, as if he was in a deep emotional tumult.
"Is this… Konoha? Is this real or just another dream? No… this is no dream… Is this the sun? The sunshine… It is… warm. I can feel it on my skin… What is this? I am standing on my own? What happened to me?!"
As the boy continued to speak his voice grew more and more desperate. He started clutching his head as if he was in agony. He sank to his knees, shaking his head and covering his ears and eyes with his hands as if he tried to block out the entire world. At this moment Team 8 finally snapped out of the trance like state they had been in and they approached the boy carefully, Kiba first.
"Uh, hey, are you okay? You look like you could need some help. What's your name?"
They boy slowly turned his head around when he noticed that somebody was talking to him. His hands were still clutching his head madly. The only thing they could see when the boy had turned his head around half way was his right eye, the rest was covered by shivering hands. Team 8 shuddered when they looked into his eye. It was dull and lifeless, but it held the clearest form of azure blue. It was a strange combination; they felt like they were looking into the eyes of a corpse, only a flickering in his eyes showed that there was still life inside this boy. They probably would have stared at him forever if the boy had not turned around again and started to run away. Or rather tried, to Hinata it looked like the boy had never walked before. She didn't know how true that was. Hinata tried to calm the blond down.
"Y-You shouldn't r-run away, y-you don't look t-to g-good. I think y-you should g-go t-to the hospital, y-you look l-like you w-were in it b-before. W-we can t-take you t-there."
The boy still looked at them with his lifeless eyes as if he didn't understand their language. Then finally he started talking.
"Who are you? No, what are you? Are you illusions created by him? Is he torturing me even now? What the hell is this? What is happening with me?!"
The boy's voice got more and more desperate with each word. Kiba, Hinata and Shino weren't really sure what they should do; they had never seen anybody talk like this. Shino was already considering if he should go and look for Kurenai-sensei, but he wasn't too sure she would still be in the Hokage tower. But what other options did they have?
"Guys, you take care of him, I go looking for Kurenai-sensei, the boy seems to have a deep mental trauma; perhaps it was a genjutsu. Take him to the hospital; I'll be back as soon as possible."
Shino took off, leaving behind a very confused Kiba and a very unconfident Hinata. However, the confusion of Kiba didn't last long and soon he approached the boy who had started to roll himself to a ball with the intent to carry him to the hospital. But just when he was about to touch the boy a wave of pure chakra emitted from the boy and sent Kiba into the next wall along with Hinata. Kiba was on the verge of unconsciousness when he looked once more to the spot the blond boy had been lying only to see that the boy was gone and had left no trace behind that he ever had been there.
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In the basement of the Hokage Tower
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Naruto opened his eyes. And immediately regretted doing so. His whole body was in pain, more than usual. His whole mind was one big mess. But admits the chaos there was one thought that described his momentary state.
'What the hell was that?'
He calmed himself down a bit and collected his thoughts.
'A dream? No, I've never dreamt of myself before. And it felt so real… It felt? That's strange… I remember how the sun felt on my skin. But I've never felt sunshine before… Am I finally going insane? No… It was you, right?! Answer me Kyuubi!'
But the demon inside him remained silent. Just when Naruto was about to travel back in his mindscape to confront the Demon King again he heard the door opening. He looked up, his eyes still a sign of the state he was in. The Hokage rushed in, and Naruto could see how a wave of relief washed over the Sandaime's face when he saw that Naruto was still alive and apparently unharmed.
"Kami, you really scared me Naruto. I think my heart skipped a few beats when the lamp on my desk that signalizes if you're in a critical condition suddenly started to blink. What happened? Was it another vision?"
Naruto's mind worked as fast as it could. Should he tell the Sandaime that he had found out about the Kyuubi? Or what had happened just now? Naruto decided against it. He still didn't have enough information and wouldn't confront the Hokage about it now. Naruto knew that the old man probably had his reasons for why he didn't tell him, and he didn't want to cause pain to the only person that cared about him.
"No, I think it was just a nightmare Hokage-sama. I was sleeping, sometimes my body requires it instead of the trance I spend most of my time."
The Hokage nodded at hearing this. With the terrors the boy had seen in his dreams it was no miracle he had nightmares. He smiled.
"That's good to hear, Naruto. If you need anything else, just ask, ok? You I want to make your life as comfortable as possible."
The Sandaime didn't notice it, but these words caused Naruto's face to harden. Why would he want to do this? To ensure that he would remain Konoha's dreamseer? To ensure that he would keep the Kyuubi locked up down here? Or were all these doubts nothing but a trap of the Demo King himself? Naruto didn't know, and he also knew that it would take a long time to find answers to these questions. But Naruto would still walk down this lonely path, he would continue until he found the answers he was earching for. Despite all this negative thoughts Naruto managed to perform a weak smile.
"Could you… tell me of the world out there once more Jii-san?"
Naruto didn't know how happy it made the Hokage to get called like this by Naruto. One day the blonde had suddenly stopped calling him like this. It had been the day where Naruto had seen the vision of the Great Shinobi War for the first time. A part of the boy's innocence had died that day. So the Hokage sat besides Konoha's dreamseer and told the him of the world he would never see.
Deep inside the sewer Kyuubi grinned madly.
"DON'T BE TOO SURE, PATHETIC HUMAN. YOU'LL SEE WHAT YOU DESIRE, BUT EVERYTHING COMES AT A COST, ESPECIALLY IF YOU DEAL WITH A DEMON…"
The Kyuubi chuckled evilly inside the seal. He was waiting for his chance. And he knew it would come.
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Notes:
(1) Hatsugoori = First Ice of Winter
I thought this name was quite suiting for Haku, also because in the prophecy I called him 'early snow'
(2) If you wonder why Naruto didn't foresee the Uchiha massacre, well, he did, but for reasons that were explained in the manga this prophecy was never used. Since I don't know how far you've read the manga I don't want to spoiler too much about it. I'll explain it in a later chapter. Let's just say Danzo has something to do with it^^