Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 19

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After three days of going to work with his mother Naruto decided the first thing he was going to do as Hokage would be to find some way to reduce the amount of paperwork. He yawned for what seemed like the millionth time as Tsunade finished signing yet another paper.

Tsunade picked up a manila envelope from her desk and pulled out a new set of papers. Naruto looked up in minor interest. The papers Tsunade had been signing until that point had all just been stacked on her desk. Why were these different?

"What are those, Kaa-san?"

Tsunade looked at Naruto thoughtfully. "You know what? These are some things you might actually be able to help me with," she said with a smile.

Naruto immediately hopped off his chair. "Really?!"

Tsunade nodded. "Yup. Drag that chair over here."

Naruto did as instructed and sat down.

"Okay," Tsunade said as she picked up the top paper, "these are the newest mission requests. One of your jobs as Hokage would be to go through these, decide which ones we will take on and give them a rank." She pointed at the top right of the page. "This tells you what kind of mission it is."

Naruto looked at the mission type curiously. "Grunt work?"

Tsunade laughed. "Anything that doesn't involve fighting or potential fighting gets this title. Most of these get a D rank."

As Naruto looked over the mission specifics he was very glad he was no longer a first year rookie. "Tilling a farm field. Yuck."

"Okay then," Tsunade pointed to a space in the upper left. "The mission rank goes here."

Naruto wrote a 'D' in the space and they moved on to the next request.

Anko's arms were folded and she walked along stiffly, trying desperately to ignore her current living shadow.

"Pleeeeeease, Anko-chan?" Tomoyo pleaded as she hopped backwards in front of her friend.

Anko's eye twitched. "No."

"Come on! You're the only adult friend I have left from the old days."

"No I'm not. Ask Iruka. I'm sure he'd look great in a dress Kimono," Anko answered as she continued walking.

Tomoyo's smile dropped off her face like a stone and she stopped walking, causing Anko to halt in her tracks. "You'd really say no to being part of the most important day of my life over a stupid dress kimono?"

Anko groaned. She could easily say no to Tomoyo when Tomoyo was being all perky and cute, but that pout—that god dammed depressed pout. It made her feel guilty like nothing else in existence. She sighed loudly in defeat. "Fine."

Tomoyo's face pulled a complete one-eighty. "YATTA!" She proceeded to squeeze the life out of the woman in front of her. "Thank you, Anko-chan!"

"Yeah yeah. Get off already would ya?" Anko said as she tried to move Tomoyo's arms.

Tomoyo let go. "Sorry. I'm just so happy!"

"But if that dress kimono is pink I'll use your intestines for Christmas garland," Anko threatened with a finger pointed at Tomoyo.

Tomoyo sweat-dropped and laughed nervously. "Oh come on. Who would want pink kimonos for their wedding?"

Anko eyed her suspiciously for a moment. "Okay. I'll see you later. I need my dango fix."

As soon as Anko was out of site Tomoyo pulled a pen and a small notepad out of her pocket. She looked down a list that said 'wedding shopping' at the top. Next to 'kimonos' she crossed out pink and quickly wrote purple.

Naruto marked an A at the top of the last paper and Tsunade smiled in satisfaction. "I think you did really well, kiddo."

Naruto grinned but it faded a bit as he caught sight of another envelope on the desk. This one was black. "What's in that one?"

Tsunade's face darkened. "Those are the assassination requests. You don't need to worry about those until you actually become Hokage." She took the envelope and put it in her desk drawer.

Naruto's expression became solemn. "Oh..."

A knock sounded on the door. "Hai?"

Tomoyo poked her head in. "Can I borrow Naruto for a bit?"

Tsunade looked at Naruto. "I think you've had enough for one day."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Kaa-san." He got up and followed Tomoyo out the door.

"That's great!" Naruto exclaimed as they walked down the main street.

Tomoyo's smile widened. "Now I just have to pick out dress kimonos in a different color. Originally the bridesmaids were going to wear pink," she said with a wince.

Naruto made a face. "So anyway, what'd you need me for?"

"Well, two things actually," Tomoyo answered. "I wanted to try teaching you how to make the special kunai for hiraishin today."

"Yosh!" Naruto exclaimed.

Tomoyo chuckled. "And I thought since I'm shopping for wedding outfits anyway we should see if we can find you a formal kimono too."

Naruto grimaced. "Do we have to?" Tomoyo gave him a withering look and he relented immediately. "Okay okay. Let's get this over with so I can train."

Tomoyo smiled and they continued walking.

Naruto waited on a metal bench next to the fitting rooms. He glanced around the store. Being one of only two wedding shops in the city allowed it to be very large. There were separate sections for bride, groom, children and bridal party—and of course the latter of the two were also divided by gender. He had lost sight of his cousin long ago and was now tapping his fingers impatiently.

It was about then that Tomoyo showed up with an armload of boy's formal kimonos, all in black. She unloaded them onto the counter.

"How many?" the clerk asked.

"Six."

The clerk handed Tomoyo a plastic card with a six on it, which Tomoyo promptly handed off to her cousin. "Okay. You try these on and I'll see what else I can find." With that she disappeared once again into the sea of clothing, completely ignoring the thunderstruck look on Naruto's face.

A half hour later Tomoyo and Naruto walked out of the doors of the wedding shop, loaded down with bags and packages. Naruto held two boxes and his kimono. Tomoyo had six boxes and two outfits in plastic bags on coat hangers.

After watching Tomoyo's pile nearly topple twice Naruto got an idea. "Hang on a sec."

"What?" Tomoyo asked around her mountain of boxes.

Naruto put his hands in his favorite seal. Four Narutos appeared. "Got a mission for you guys." He pointed at one bunshin. "You take my stuff home."

The bunshin gave a short salute. "Osu!" it picked up the stuff and walked away.

"And you guys take this stuff to Tomoyo-chan's place," Naruto instructed to the other clones.

The clones mimicked the clone that had left before them.

Naruto, who was quite pleased with himself, turned to his cousin. "See? Now we can go train."

Tomoyo nodded and laughed, although she was annoyed that she hadn't come up with that solution herself. "Okay then. Let's go."

Naruto turned his father's kunai over and over again, occasionally running his fingers over the sai-like prongs at the hilt. All kunai should be made like this. It'd be way better for blocking.

"Okay," Tomoyo said as she removed some rolls of paper strips and some paintbrushes and ink from her bag, "Today you're gonna practice writing the kanji for hiraishin. When you're done wrap them on the kunai. These," she said, pointing to Minato's kunai, "will be your shiki (a/n-rite). These markers will pull you to them when you activate the jutsu. It's kinda like a summoning in reverse. You can use anything, really, but kunai are very convenient." She unrolled a single strip that already had something on it. "These are the symbols for the seal. You practice—I'm going to do some more work on the field."

She slung her bag over her shoulder, took a few steps toward the middle of the field then stopped and made a face as she eyed all the stumps still left from her little demolition spree. She pulled a foot long scroll from her bag and unrolled it. "Good thing I brought this. I'm definitely gonna need help for this one," she said with a smile.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Tomoyo bit her thumb, made a few seals and slammed her hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" There was a popping sound and a cloud of smoke appeared.

When the smoke dissipated Naruto was surprised to see ten rodent-like animals of various sizes. The largest one being around the size of a moose. He'd never seen anything like them. "What are they?" he asked with wide eyes.

Tomoyo grinned. "Meerkats. I got the scroll from a foreign traveler while I was in Ganshou."

A meerkat the size of a medium dog spoke up. "Oi. Don't talk about us like we're not even here."

Tomoyo smiled apologetically. "Gomen, Idohori." She pointed at her cousin. "This is Naruto, my little cousin." Several greetings went to Naruto from the group.

"Hey guys," Naruto said with a grin.

"Okay everyone. I got a job for you," Tomoyo explained. She pointed to the stumps. "I need these dug up please."

Idohori cocked an eye ridge. "And what do we get for so much work? We have burrows to maintain you know."

Tomoyo chuckled. "Of course you'll get the usual treat."

A loud cheer went up from the group and they went to work on the closest stump.

Naruto looked at Tomoyo. "What's 'the usual treat'?"

Tomoyo grinned. "Dango."

Naruto laughed and went back to his seal practice.

"Are you sure?" Pein, leader of the Akatsuki, asked his subordinate.

Itachi nodded. "Hai."

"So, Naruto will be attending the chuunin exam. So many attempts to capture him and all we had to do was wait for him to show up on our doorstep." Pein allowed himself a small smirk. "The time has come..."

Tomoyo handed the last stick of dango to Idohori. "Thanks a bunch, guys. You really saved me."

Idohori nodded. "You know us—anything for dango," he said with a wink. He turned to his friends. "Mina! We're going!"

A shout of agreement sounded from the other meerkats.

Idohori held up a paw. "Ja!" and all of them disappeared.

Tomoyo laughed and went to check up on Naruto. "How're you doing over here?"

Naruto smiled and held up ten kunai wrapped in the seal covered strips. "All set. When do we start?"

Tomoyo look up at the orange colors of the sunset. "Friday. This isn't a jutsu you should practice in the dark and I have more wedding stuff to do." She sighed happily. "I can't wait till Saturday."

"Are you sure you won't make him get rid of those stupid books?"

Tomoyo just laughed and walked away. Naruto was a bit perturbed but he followed her anyway.

Friday morning Tsunade looked over Sasuke's latest psych evaluation report and sighed. Shizune looked at her with concern. "What is it, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers. "I'm starting to think the only way to settle Sasuke down is to have Itachi killed."

Shizune blinked in surprise. "An assassination?"

"I would...if I wasn't positive Sasuke would go even more off the deep end because he was denied his revenge," Tsunade said with a frustrated scowl.

Shizune sighed sympathetically and then perked up like she'd had an idea. "Tsunade-sama—What if we send him on the mission to that hideout Jiraiya found?"

Tsunade looked skeptical. "Send him to an abandoned Akatsuki lair? What good would that do?"

"It might at least let him feel like he's doing something towards finding Itachi," Shizune offered.

Tsunade frowned in thought. "Alright. Although I think I'll send all of team seven. They haven't had a mission above D-rank in weeks and Naruto's getting restless," she said with a wince.

Shizune giggled. "I'll send for them."

Tsunade held up a hand. "Not yet. I need to decide on other team members. Not to mention that Tomoyo's wedding is on Saturday and I know Naruto would be upset if he had to miss it."

"It'll be interesting seeing Naruto-kun in formal clothing," Shizune said with an amused smile.

Tsunade chuckled. "Indeed."

Naruto, Sasuke, and ten Naruto clones were cutting ivy off of various buildings and structures around the Namikaze complex. Sasuke was working on a particularly stubborn vine on a rooftop and it was pissing him off. "Remind me why I agreed to this?" he demanded of his brother who was several feet away, working on the dragon fountain.

Naruto looked up and resisted the urge to laugh at the leaf that was residing in Sasuke's hair. "Because we're family and this is partially yours now too," he stated. "Besides," Naruto said as he climbed to the top of the fountain, "It's nice to have company besides them," he said as he jabbed a thumb backwards at three of the clones who were nearby.

Sasuke smirked and went back to his current vine.

Tomoyo walked into the Namikaze complex with a spring in her step. "Naruto-kun!" she said as she passed through the gate. "I hope you're ready to work hard because..." Her words failed her and her mouth hung open. The complex wasn't finished by any stretch of the imagination, but ninety percent of the vines and other organic debris were completely gone.

In the middle of it all sat Naruto and Sasuke. The boys were sitting on the cobblestone street in front of the fountain. Naruto had a huge smile on his face and Sasuke wore a self-satisfied smirk.

"Naruto-kun! Sasuke-kun! It looks wonderful!" Tomoyo exclaimed in awe. She walked over and gave each of them a hug—Sasuke grimaced at this. "It's an awesome surprise! Thank you both so much!"

"Don't look at me. It was the dobe's idea," Sasuke explained.

Tomoyo laughed a little. "Yeah, but you still helped."

Sasuke smirked again.

Tomoyo held up her bag. "Well, let's get to work." She looked at Sasuke. "You gonna hang around?" she asked with a smile.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do."

Tomoyo smiled and led the way. Naruto and Sasuke followed behind her.

As they neared the entrance to the field Naruto thoughts began to wander. "Neh, Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"You think it's possible to combine rasengan and chidori?" Naruto asked offhandedly.

Sasuke's eyebrows went up and then flattened into a thoughtful scowl. "I don't think so. The way they use chakra is too different."

Naruto frowned.

"Besides—we don't know if you're the right elemental type to use lightning."

"Elemental type?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto with an incredulous expression. "Kakashi-sensei never told you about elements?!"

Naruto shook his head.

Sasuke smacked his hand to his forehead. "Of all the stupid—just ask Kakashi-sensei about it. I don't feel like explaining."

Sasuke sat down on a nearby rock as Tomoyo handed Naruto the kunai he had made five days before.

"Okay. First things first." She held out her hand. "Shiki please." Naruto handed her the kunai. "Lemme show you how it's done," she said with a grin. She took a few steps away from the boys and threw a seal kunai into one of the wooden practice dummies, then put her hands into the rabbit seal. There had been no smoke, no sound, no warning of any kind—yet she had instantly vanished and reappeared at her destination.

Naruto's jaw dropped and Sasuke's eyes were wide.

"A—Amazing," Naruto commented in awe.

Tomoyo smiled, threw the shiki at the boys' feet and teleported back. "Now it's your turn. Take one of your shiki and rub a small amount of blood on the seal. This will connect you to it." Naruto was about to bite his thumb when Tomoyo grabbed his hand. "Hang on a sec." She reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a pinky ring. It was silver and had a small bump on one side. She placed it in Naruto's hand.

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What's this?"

"This is something I've been working on in my spare time the last couple weeks. It's a special summoning ring." Tomoyo held up her right hand. On her pinky was a similar ring, only it was gold in color and thinner to be more lady-like. She pointed to the small bump which was situated on the under side of her finger. "This casing contains a very small pin. When you push in it with your thumb," she said as she demonstrated, "the casing is pushed back and the pin punctures your skin." She proudly showed the bead of blood ballooning out of the hole the pin had made and smiled. "Makes things faster and less painful," she said with a laugh.

Naruto looked at the ring for a moment, then shrugged and put it on.

"You remember what I did?" Tomoyo asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Let's see what you got then," Tomoyo said with her thumb up.

Naruto used the ring and smiled. It was much more convenient than biting his thumb. He rubbed the resulting blood on the shiki and threw it at the furthest part of the log wall surrounding the field. He let out a calming breath and formed the rabbit seal. He didn't even have time to blink before he vanished...and reappeared about two inches from his previous position.

Sasuke had not been so dangerously close to bursting out laughing since the incident with Tenten. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard that he began to notice the distinct taste of blood. He sighed with relief when the urge to laugh was gone.

Tomoyo made an odd sucking sound through her teeth. "Hmm. I think this is going to take a while," she a slight chuckle.

Naruto frowned at his failure and then set his face in determination. "I will get this."

Tomoyo smiled. "I know you will." She looked at her watch. "I have to get going. Gotta pick up my dress kimono. Don't forget about the rehearsal. Five-o-clock sharp."

Naruto nodded. "You got it."

Jiraiya had just walked through the gate when he noticed Tomoyo heading his way. "Ah, Tomoyo-san. Do you know where the brat is?"

Tomoyo laughed. "I just left him at our complex. He's learning hiraishin."

Jiraiya's eyebrows raised. "That should prove interesting."

Tomoyo smirked. "Indeed. Ja na!" she said with a wave.

"Hai. Arigato." Jiraiya then headed toward the Namikaze complex.

When Naruto saw that he had once again failed to move more than a few inches he gritted his teeth in anger. "Dammit!" He sighed and sat down for a moment to think. Okay. Concentration isn't the problem. I'm doing the seal right. He stood up and yelled to the sky. "What am I doing wrong?!"

"You're not putting in enough chakra," spoke Jiraiya's voice from behind Naruto, who turned around to see the older man with an eyebrow cocked in amusement.

"I'm glad you think this is funny," Naruto complained.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Not necessarily funny, but it is interesting. But seriously—just put more chakra into it."

"But what if I put in too much and hit a tree on the other side of Konoha or something?"

Jiraiya laughed. "You won't. In fact you could put every ounce of your chakra into it and you still won't go to anywhere but your mark."

Naruto gave him a questioning look. "You can use hiraishin?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "No, but I saw your father use it often enough to know how it works." He walked over to Naruto. "I was told you needed to see me?"

An expression of recollection blazed across Naruto features. "Oh!--Right!" He turned to Sasuke. "Hey, Sasuke. I'm goin' back to my house."

Sasuke stood up and the grass returned to its pre-squished condition. "Well, I'm going too then. Nothing to do here."

Naruto nodded and looked at Jiraiya. "Wait till you see what I got to show you," he said with a grin.

"Okay! Got it!" Naruto called out as he came thundering down the stairs. He cleared the last five with a jump and jogged into the living room.

Jiraiya's curiosity piqued when he saw the large scroll in Naruto's hands. "Is that a summoning contract?"

"Yeah," Naruto said with a grin, "It's for dragons!"

Jiraiya blinked three times and let out a huge belly laugh. Naruto's smile fell and he looked incredibly perturbed.

When Jiraiya managed to catch his breath he spoke. "Oh—Oh my stomach." Another volley of laughter ensued. "You..." he said with a wagging of his right index finger. "I gotta admit, that was a good one." His laughter stopped suddenly when he noticed the look of irritation on Naruto's face. "Wait...Are you serious?"

"YEAH!" Naruto replied in a 'duh' tone of voice. "You think I'd call you all the way out here for a stupid joke?! Come on! Even I'm not that irresponsible!"

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Gomen." He held out his hand. "Alright then. Let me see what you got here."

Naruto handed him the scroll and waited expectantly. Sasuke folded his arms. "I tried to tell him dragons don't exist. Maybe you can talk some sense into this dobe," he said, ignoring his brother's angry glare.

Jiraiya unrolled the scroll and looked it over. In the end he simply sighed and handed it back to Naruto. "I honestly don't know what to tell you. Where did you get this?"

"From the Kazekage. He said it belonged to my family once," Naruto replied defensively.

Jiraiya frowned. "Do you have proof of that?"

"It had a blood seal on it and my blood opened it," Naruto said firmly.

Surprise showed on Jiraiya's face but his opinion of the whole thing didn't change. "I don't know why it would be sealed, but it can't be a real contract. Dragons don't exist," he said with an apologetic expression.

Naruto sighed through his nose. "Let's just say for a second that it is real. Are you sure there's no way for someone to have two summoning contracts?"

"Positive. I would talk to Gamabunta before you do anything rash." Jiraiya's eyes widened. "You haven't signed it have you?!"

Naruto shook his head. "No. I wrote my name but I didn't put down my fingerprints."

Jiraiya sighed in relief. "Okay then. Let's go talk to Gamabunta."

Jiraiya, Naruto and Sasuke stood in the middle of Tsunade's training field. Jiraiya took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Let's hope he answers. He's had a summoning block on since Gamakichi died."

Naruto's expression became solemn. He clutched the front of his shirt and stared downward. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he still couldn't help feeling guilty for his friend's death—and the fact that the young frog's chakra resided in his body didn't help either. Gamakichi...

Jiraiya made the usual preparations. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

When the smoke cleared Gamabunta sat in the field with a small smile. "Hello Jiraiya."

The change in his long time friend made Jiraiya's stomach sick. "How are you doing?" he asked gently.

"I think I'm alright—my mate on the other hand..." Gamabunta sighed. "She's...coping. She tells me she's alright, but she still cries when she thinks I'm out of earshot."

Jiraiya nodded. "It's hard to lose a child. I felt the same way when Minato died," he said quietly.

Gamabunta nodded. "What is it that you need?"

"Naruto actually has a question for you," Jiraiya explained.

Gamabunta looked at Naruto in curiosity. "Oh?"

Naruto swallowed hard. Suddenly the idea of telling Gamabunta that he wanted to dissolve their contract seemed cruel. "I..."

"Is something wrong?" Gamabunta asked in concern.

Naruto showed the giant frog the dragon scroll. "A few days ago I got this from the Kazekage. It's a summoning contract that used to belong to my family." He unrolled it and laid it on the ground. "It says it's a dragon contract." He missed the stunned look on Gamabunta's face. "Could it be real?"

Gamabunta just stared at the contract as memories came flooding into his mind like a tsunami. "It's real...and you should burn it."

...TO BE CONTINUED

((Dumps crocodiles into the RPR moat and sets beta readers as guards b4 she dives inside and locks it tight)) ::Coughs:: I haven't hit you guys with a really mean cliffy in a while. Just remember. If you kill me you won't know what happens next.

I know this chap is two weeks late, but hopefully the length will make up for it. 4130 words ::Dies:: (It's the second longest chapter in all of COLAD). The Christmas rush is officially on and I am swamped with custom pony orders. Unfortunately, this takes priority over COLAD, so updates may be a bit slow till after Christmas.