Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 20

Please read and review. I love reviews! Thanks!

Naruto's eyes snapped wide open. "Burn it?! Why?!"

Gamabunta set his jaw. He had a very good reason behind his command. "Do as I say."

Naruto glared at the giant frog. "Not till you explain why!"

Gamabunta matched Naruto's glare. "This is not a matter to be discussed with humans."

"Gamabunta," Jiraiya interrupted, "are we not your subordinates?" He knew he was being very bold and possibly rude but he also knew how important this whole thing was to Naruto and he could not allow the boy he loved like a grandson to be denied something from his family unless there was a damn good reason.

Gamabunta frowned in thought.

"Does that not that make us family?" Jiraiya urged on.

Gamabunta let out a sigh which caused the tree tops to bend a bit. "Alright," he relented. He looked at Sasuke. "But he must leave."

Naruto shook his head. "He's my brother. He stays," he said firmly.

Gamabunta knew the look that had entered Naruto's eyes—it meant he would not budge. "Very well then." He looked at the sky, which was beginning to cloud over. "It was nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. I wasn't much older than Gamakichi." His face saddened a bit when his son's name escaped his mouth. "Back then, dragons were the most highly respected of the summoning creatures—but that changed when a female dragon broke one of our most sacred laws...She mated with a human."

Naruto's shock at this news quickly turned to confusion. "How is that even possible?"

"Dragons are one of only two summon species who can take human form—the other being foxes." Gamabunta saw the look on Naruto's face and held up a webbed hand to halt the oncoming question. "The fox summons have nothing to do with the Kyuubi."

Naruto seemed to accept the answer and nodded. His expression showed that he was somewhat uncomfortable with the topic of the question he was about to ask. "Why is it bad for summons to...mate with humans?"

"Because any resulting children...are monsters," Gamabunta said with foreboding tone.

Naruto suddenly became angry. "Just because the kids would be different doesn't give you the right to call them monsters!" he yelled.

Gamabunta sighed sadly. "You're not understanding me. I don't mean monsters as a derogatory term. I mean they were truly...monsters."

Both Naruto and Jiraiya felt a frightening chill from Gamabunta's proclamation.

"They were deformed, terrifying...and violent." Gamabunta wiped some of the water that had collected on his forehead from the misting rain which was now adding to the gloomy atmosphere. "When I was barely sixty-three years old my father told me something terrible had happened and that I was to block myself from being summoned until he said otherwise. I asked everyone I knew, but no one would tell me the details. Finally my curiosity got the better of me and I snuck into the human world."

"It didn't take me long to find the place of the disaster. There were ninjas guarding the perimeter along with authorities from several summon clans. It was difficult, but I managed to sneak past them." Gamabunta looked to the ground. "Even now...I wish I had listened to my father."

"Now, I know you think you have seen some horrible things, but the carnage I saw that day...there's just no comparison. When I walked into the village everyone had been guarding there was not an inch of the ground free of blood and bodies. You must understand when I say that these people hadn't just been killed—they had been shredded. Men…women… children—all of them barely recognizable as anything but strips of flesh. And the thing that killed them all...was the five year old child of a dragon and a human."

Naruto and Jiraiya were stunned into silence—their mouths and eyes wide with expressions of abject horror.

"We had no warning. The child had been hidden from us in an effort to keep the other summon clans from killing her. By the time her presence was made known it was too late—and an entire village paid the price." Gamabunta's face hardened into anger. "It was not just the female who had committed the crime. The entire clan knew of the child and kept her secret from us. The dragons are a disgrace and should never be allowed to work with our human comrades," he said bitterly.

The rain had become a light summer shower, which would have been refreshing if the situation had been different. "The father of the child was a Namikaze." Gamabunta ignored Naruto's reaction to this revelation and continued. "The head of the clan put a blood seal on the contract. Suna had only been founded three years before but they already had some good shinobi so the contract was given to the first Kazekage for safe keeping. I still don't know why your ancestor refused to destroy the contract outright." He looked at Naruto. "So...now will you burn it?"

Naruto looked to the ground as rivulets of water made their way down his face. For a long time the only sound that that could be heard was the rain hitting the soft earth. "No," he said in a voice so quiet Gamabunta almost didn't hear him.

"Excuse me?" Gamabunta asked, incredulously.

"I can't..." Naruto looked up. "I can't condemn an entire race because of one mistake—especially one...made out of love."

Gamabunta's resolve crumbled a bit at seeing the pleading expression on Naruto's face. "Even if it was done for love, they knowingly put innocent lives in danger. It was selfish and cruel," he explained.

Naruto clenched both his jaw and his fists. "I know. I understand that, but..." Silence. "I think if I was that kid's dad...I might've done the same thing. Love makes you do things that don't make logical sense. I know you hate them for what they did, but put yourself in their place. If it was your kid...what would you've done?"

Gamabunta felt his chest tighten. Not once in all the years since the disaster had he heard anyone disagree with his opinion on the matter, but what Naruto said made sense. "I...I might have done the same," he said with shame in his voice.

"What happened to the child?" Jiraiya asked.

Gamabunta's face was filled with regret. "She was killed."

Naruto gritted his teeth and his fist clenched. He knew in his heart it was something that had to be done, but the idea of killing a five year old child, no matter what the reason, made that same heart terribly heavy.

"You came here to ask me if you could break our contract...didn't you?" Gamabunta asked sadly.

Naruto looked up at the sudden question and winced. "Yeah..."

Gamabunta squeezed his eyes shut. "There's no way I can change your mind?"

"No..." Naruto answered as he looked down.

"Alright..." Gamabunta sighed. "Jiraiya, take out the frog contract please."

Jiraiya nodded. "Sure," he answered solemnly. He unrolled the contract and laid it down on the ground.

Gamabunta stabbed the tip of one of his fingers with his sword and smeared the blood over Naruto's signature and fingerprints. He felt sad. It was like he was breaking ties with one of his children and the loss of Gamakichi seven months before hand made it even worse. Tears nearly made their way to his eyes when he spoke. "It's done. You are no longer my subordinate."

Naruto nodded. "I have something else to ask you."

"Hm?"

"Can Sasuke be your subordinate?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"What?!" Sasuke asked in surprise.

Naruto looked at him and gave him a small smile. "I thought it'd be great if we could both use summons in battle."

Sasuke smiled. "Thanks, dobe." He shrugged and looked up at Gamabunta. "How about it?"

Gamabunta cocked an eyebrow. "That would be interesting." He smiled. "Alright." The smile turned wry as he lowered his head a bit towards Sasuke. "But you have to earn it the same way your brother did."

Sasuke's body leaned back a bit of its own accord. He didn't like the look the giant frog was giving him. "What do I have to do?" he asked tentatively.

Gamabunta straightened up. "Well, first you have to sign the contract."

Sasuke looked at Naruto and his nervous expression turned into one of resolve. If Naruto can do his little test I sure as hell can. He signed the contract and placed his fingerprints. "Okay. Now what?"

"Now Naruto will teach you how to summon, and when you can manage to summon me your real test begins." Gamabunta turned to Naruto. "Be careful when you try to summon the dragons. Who knows how they'll react after not having been summoned for nearly one hundred and fifty years."

Naruto nodded. "Hai."

"Ja!" Gamabunta said right before he disappeared.

Sasuke turned to Jiraiya. "When can we start training?"

Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow. "We?"

"Hey! Gamabunta said I'm supposed to train you!" Naruto said indignantly.

Jiraiya smiled evilly and nodded. "He did say that."

Sasuke suddenly looked like a rabbit caught in a bear trap. "But...but he..." he sputtered as he pointed at Naruto.

"...knows more than you do and I don't have the time," Jiraiya finished for him. "Ja." And he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke looked at his brother with extreme apprehension.

Naruto folded his arms. "You don't gotta look like that. I know what I'm doing," he said with an insulted frown. "Oh crap! What time is it?!"

Sasuke blinked at the sudden change in topic and reached inside his equipment pouch. After a second or two of rummaging around the bottom he produced a small pocket watch. "It's three thirty."

"Crap! I gotta go get changed!" Naruto proclaimed. "I'll see you later!" he said as he began to run.

"But..." Sasuke began.

Naruto jogged backward for a moment to answer. "Sorry, Nii-san! We'll hafta train tomorrow!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, sighed and left the field.

You better hurry, Naruto-kun or you're going to be late!" Nabiki warned as Naruto ran by her.

"I know, I know!" Naruto replied as he bolted up the stairs to his room. He opened his closet and looked at the formal kimono in front of him. He had no idea how to put it on and the idea of asking his mother made him cringe. I'll just hafta figure it out for myself. He took the kimono off the hanger and took off his shirt.

Nabiki stared at Naruto as he came down the stairs and then giggled. "Ano, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at her quizzically. "What?"

"You're dead," Nabiki laughed.

"Huh?"

"The way you have your kimono wrapped—it's only done that way on dead people for funerals."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Aw crud," he said as he began to fiddle with the obi.

Nabiki giggled again. "Here. Let me." She rewrapped the kimono for a him and stood back to admire her work. "Much better," she said with a grin.

"Thanks." Naruto looked down. "Do I look dorky in this?"

"Nope. In fact if you were a few years older Hinata would have some competition," Nabiki said with a slightly feral grin and a wink.

Naruto blushed. "Thanks. I'll see you later," he said as he began to walk away.

"Ja na," Nabiki called after him.

The room was fairly simple, yet elegant. There were lotus blossoms in vases next to each side of a traditional Japanese wedding alter along with a set of incense burners in the middle of the kneeling height table. Tomoyo, Kakashi, Anko, and Tsunade waited for Naruto to appear. Tomoyo tapped her fingers on the doorframe that lead to the outside. "Where the heck is he?"

Kakashi smiled in amusement at his soon-to-be wife's impatience. "Don't worry. He wouldn't miss this."

Tomoyo suddenly noticed a speck on the horizon which was slowly increasing in size. Soon, Naruto was jogging up to the temple entrance. "Gomen. I had trouble getting this thing on," he said, pointing to his outfit.

Tomoyo smiled. "That's okay—but this is only a rehearsal. You didn't need to wear that."

Naruto's arms dropped slack to his sides and he bent over a bit. "Gah! You coulda told me that."

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I thought you knew." Tomoyo led him to his starting point. "Alright. Let's get this started."

Sasuke's heart felt like a lead weight in his chest as he walked through the gates of the Uchiha compound. It was on that day, so many years ago, that his family was slaughtered. It was also the only day of the year he came anywhere near his old home. Every grain of dirt on the road, every shingle on the houses, every whisper of the wind carried him back to the days when everyone was alive—when he was happy.

He walked into his house and headed for the kitchen. As he looked to the stove he could almost see his mother standing there—making dinner for everyone. His own childhood laughter floated to his ears through the mists of time as Itachi's best friend, Shisui, tickled him. Itachi only smirked as he watched them from his place at the table.

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again the memory was gone and the cold cruelty of the empty house came rushing back to him. He gritted his teeth and headed back outside, pausing in his step when he saw the spot where Itachi had damaged the wall. He felt the dam inside of him burst and ran to the spot. "DAMN YOU!" he yelled as he punched clear through the wall.

As soon as the hole was made, Sasuke felt his blood run cold. Something was very very wrong. He swallowed, turned around...and screamed...

...TO BE CONTINUED

((Sets Lygamorte as body guard with slender clawed gauntlets as weapons and slams the door to the RPR)) Ummmm. ((cough)) I will repeat what I said last time, you kill, you no get shiny continuation.

I will warn you though; the next chapter is mainly an excuse to get some horror in there. I haven't done much horror/gore wise for a long time. It also gives me time to work out some plot points of the main storyline that are giving me a headache.

Nothing else to report really. See you guys next time. :)