Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 31

Sasuke lazily swirled the coffee in his cup around in a circle. He'd been dragging his feet all morning in fact. He was happy everything with Tenten was out in the open, but now he didn't really know how to continue. This was new territory for him and it made him uneasy. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Yeah?"

Naruto's voice came from the other side of the door. "Come on, Teme! Kakashi was at the training field before you!"

Sasuke glanced up at the microwave clock. "Crap!" He guzzled what was left of his coffee, grabbed his equipment pouch and threw open the door. "Why the hell didn't you come get me sooner?!" he scolded Naruto as he ran past.

Naruto frowned. "When the hell did I become your keeper?!" He ran after his brother. "OI! Wait up, Teme!"

Kakashi and Sakura met Naruto and Sasuke half way. Kakashi had on an odd smile that had taken team seven a while to get used to now that the mask was gone. "Hey guys, the Hokage wants to see us."

Team seven walked into the office to find Ino and Chouji already standing in front of Tsunade's desk. Tsunade took notice of the new arrivals. "Ah, you're here. Good." She interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them. "We have a problem. A replacement is supposed to be coming for the open slot on team ten but I just received a report stating that they never reached the village they were supposed to be buying supplies at this morning. I need you five to go look for them."

"What about Asuma-sensei?" Ino asked.

Tsunade cleared her throat. "Asuma is...busy." She held up her hand to stop any further questions. "I really can't say any more than that at this point. The matter is private."

Ino and Chouji exchanged looks but kept silent.

"You'll be leaving immediately," Tsunade said, handing Kakashi a sheet of paper. "This has any instructions you'll need. Dismissed."

An affirmative shout sounded from the group and they vanished from sight.

As they ran out from the gates Naruto's mind, oddly enough, wasn't on the mission. He kept thinking about what Tsunade had said the day before. "There's always a chance it could pass down to his children as a kekkai genkai." He sighed. Could it be possible?

Ino noticed Naruto was spacing out. "Hey, Naruto. You okay?"

Naruto decided to ignore the fact that Ino asking about his welfare was very odd. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff."

Ino shrugged and continued leaping through the trees.

Suddenly they heard an out of breath voice calling out to them.

"Wait!"

Naruto turned around to find Hinata leaping at full speed towards them. "Hina-chan?"

The group stopped and let the Hyuuga heiress catch up.

"Tsunade-sama told me to go with you so you had a team member with byakugan," Hinata explained between breaths.

Kakashi looked suspicious. "Why weren't you at the meeting then?"

"I was waiting for her for something else. When she came out of the office after you left she said it would be a good idea if I went with you."

Kakashi sighed. Why can't Tsunade think of these things all at once? He cleared his throat. "Alright. Let's get going then."

Hinata nodded and they set off in the direction of their intended location.

"Anything yet, Hina-chan?" Naruto asked.

Hinata frowned. "No," she replied dismally. Suddenly her eyes widened and she pointed north west. "There!"

The team sped off in the direction indicated and when they were finally within the range of normal vision they looked to see a stretch of road underneath a high cliff. A section of the cliff had fallen away and lay in a pile of rubble.

Ino's eyes went wide. "Are they under that mess, Hinata?"

Hinata nodded somberly and the team's collective spirits sank when they realized they were probably already too late. They landed next to the pile of huge rocks. It covered at least eighty percent of the passage width-wise and continued down the length of it for nearly two hundred feet.

They didn't have any time to escape, Kakashi thought sadly. "Hinata, where exactly are they?"

Hinata pointed at a spot to her right. "Here—about eight feet in and...near the bottom," she said with a wince. "It looks like they're alive but one of them won't be for very long. His chakra system is starting to fail."

Kakashi looked around the scene for a starting point to dig from. He needed to make sure that their actions would not cause the rocks to crush anyone who might have survived. Once he had picked a suitable spot he turned to Chouji. "Chouji, we need your Baika no Jutsu to move the rocks. Naruto, can you summon Kazehana?"

Naruto nodded and poked his thumb with his summoning ring. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A large puff of smoke later Kazehana stood before the group, yawning and looking around in confusion. There didn't seem to be a battle going on. "What's going on?"

Naruto spoke up as Chouji activated his jutsu. "We need you to help us move these rocks. There's some people trapped under there."

Kazehana's eyebrows went up. "Of course," she quickly answered.

"Start here, you two," Kakashi said, referring to Kazehana and Chouji.

As they moved the largest rocks the rest of the team busied themselves with the smaller ones and Hinata kept an enhanced eye on the life signs of the people they were trying to free.

Nao was starting to lose her battle with the rocks above her head. She had managed hold off getting crushed temporarily by making a dome of rock with an earth jutsu, but she wasn't very good at it yet and the weight of the ceiling was quickly exhausting her chakra reserves.

She heard what sounded like voices outside her prison and looked down with hope at her sensei, whose head was bleeding quite profusely. "Oh God, please don't let me be hallucinating."

After a few minutes of digging Kazehana pulled a rock away to reveal something that made her stop. "Naruto-kun, the rock is different here. It's locked together. I think it's a jutsu!"

"Alright everyone," Kakashi commanded. "Concentrate your efforts here!" He pointed to the area Kazehana had indicated and the team went straight to work.

It wasn't long before the area was clear enough that the pair they were trying to save would be safe without the dome. "That should do it," Kakashi commented. "If the ones in the rock can hear me—you can release the jutsu. It's safe now!" he shouted to the dome.

After a few seconds the dome receded back into the ground, revealing a man on the ground who was badly hurt and a girl who had dropped to her knees from exhaustion, arms hanging limply by her sides. Sakura went to work on the man immediately.

"He'll be okay. He has a concussion and a decent sized gash but it's nothing I can't fix," she reported with a smile.

Kakashi nodded toward Nao. "And what about her?"

Nao shook her head when Sakura tried to check her over. "I'm fine. Just...just tired...is all," she said in-between breaths.

Kakashi smiled. "It's good to see that you're alright. The Hokage was rather concerned when you never arrived at the supply point."

"I don't know what happened. That cliff should have been safe," Nao said as she got into a more comfortable sitting position.

Sakura looked up from her work to examine the place where the rocks had fallen from. After a moment she nodded in affirmation. "See that red colored rock along the new edge?" she said, pointing to what she what she was talking about. "It's sandstone, which is very fragile. We've had heavy rains the last of couple nights. It must've weakened it just enough to break away."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Well, we should get them back to the village."

"Nao, can you walk?" Sasuke asked.

Nao slowly got up, carefully testing her footing as she did so. "Yeah...but I'll be slow as hell."

Naruto chuckled and turned away from Nao. "Come on," he said, nodding towards his back, "I'll carry you."

Hinata knew Naruto was true to her, but she couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy towards Nao. She chewed the inside of her cheek a bit, willing herself to stay quiet. Ino, however, made no attempt to hide the expression she had on her face which clearly said that she thought Hinata should be pissed.

Nao cocked an uncertain eyebrow but walked over to him. "Thanks," she said with an embarrassed blush as she climbed onto Naruto's back.

Naruto smiled. "No problem."

Kakashi looked over at Kazehana as they began to walk. "It might be a good idea for you to change into human form if you're coming back tot the village with us. You'd cause a bit of a ruckus."

Naruto's eyes widened when he realized he'd forgotten to bring along some clothes for the female dragon.

Kazehana glanced at Naruto, saw the look of trepidation on his face and decided to save him the embarrassment. "That's okay. I was kind of summoned in the middle of a nap anyway," she replied with a sheepish smile. Kakashi chuckled and Naruto visibly relaxed. She held up a clawed hand. "Ja."

Naruto and Hinata sat in the hospital waiting room with Sakura, Nao, Ino and Chouji. They were waiting to hear the status of Nao's sensei. Hinata turned to Naruto, her heart beating just a little quicker than normal. "Neh, Naruto-kun?" she asked softly.

"Hm?" Naruto replied with a smile.

Hinata couldn't help it—Her fingers tapped together in that familiar tent formation from her old habit. "Ano...carrying Nao...that... that didn't mean anything...right?" She knew the answer. She really really did, but she was still learning to not be so insecure.

Naruto frowned. "Of course not. How could you think that?"

Hinata suddenly looked ashamed of herself. How could she have thought such a thing? "I...I don't know. I guess I...Sometimes I worry that you'll find s-someone prettier than me and...." The tears that had wet her eyes now began to leak out from the corners and she looked down at her feet. A gentle hand lifted up her chin and she found herself staring into Naruto's eyes. She was surprised by the intensity she saw in his gaze.

He spoke slowly, making sure every word carried weight. "There is no girl prettier than the one I love." He moved his hands to cup her face. "You got that?"

Hinata's lip quivered and she nodded, a meek smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Please don't doubt me again," Naruto asked with pain in his eyes. It wasn't just that Hinata had said what she did that made his heart heavy—It was also that he was worried he hadn't been doing enough to assure her of his loyalty.

Hinata quickly shook her head. "I won't." She hugged him. "I promise."

Suddenly a nurse burst through the double doors of the emergency room. "Sakura-san, we need your help with the Suna shinobi!"

Sakura jumped up from her seat. "Hai!"

As the others watched Sakura and the nurse disappeared back through the double doors. All eyes drifted to Nao, who now looked very worried.

"Are you guys close?" Naruto asked, hoping to distract her from her thoughts.

Nao let out a worried sigh. "Well...we're not extremely close, but he's a great sensei...and he's my friend," she said with a trembling voice.

"He'll be okay," Naruto said with a reassuring smile. "Sakura said it wasn't that bad."

"Then why'd they just call her in to help?" Nao asked.

Naruto frowned. "I don't know."

After several minutes Sakura came back through the door with a smile on her face. "He's okay." She paused as everyone exhaled in relief. "There was some swelling around his brain. It took both of us but the doctor and I managed to use chakra to repair the damage."

"When can I see him?" Nao asked with a grateful expression.

"He should wake up in a couple of days," Sakura replied. She noticed Nao's dejected look and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you did everything you could. If it weren't for your jutsu you'd both be dead right now," she said with an approving smile.

Nao nodded.

"Why don't we take you to Tsunade-sama, then we'll get you settled?" Kakashi offered.

Nao smiled. "Okay."

Tsunade smiled. "I'm glad to see you made it. I was a little worried."

Nao bowed. "Arigato, Tsunade-sama."

Sakura stepped forward a bit. "Her sensei will make a full recovery. "

Tsunade's smile widened with pride in her student. "Good work, Sakura."

Sakura smiled in return. "Arigato, Shishou."

"Well, I think formal introductions are moot at this point, so Ino and Chouji should just show Nao around Konoha," Tsunade said.

Ino bowed. "Hai. Please excuse us then, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled and nodded.

Ino turned to Nao. "So," she said. "What do you wanna see first?"

Nao blushed a bit. "Do you know where Inuzuka Kiba lives?"

Ino looked both confused and surprised. "Kiba?"

"How do you know Kiba?" Ino asked as they stepped out of the Hokage tower.

"I helped him when Akatsuki attacked my village. And then later he brought me a flower when he visited me in the hospital," Nao answered with a little embarrassment.

Ino instantly had feral smile on her face. "Oh really?"

Nao suddenly looked nervous, realizing she may have divulged this information to the wrong person. She waved her hands in front of her face. "I'm sure it didn't mean anything!"

Ino giggled. "Boys don't bring flowers to a girl they just met unless it means something."

The gears in Nao's head began turning, but she still protested. "He was just saying thank you."

Ino sighed and shook her head as she placed a hand on Nao's shoulder. "You poor poor naive girl.

Ino, Chouji and Nao stood on the road near Kiba's home. "Ino-san, I really don't think this is a good idea," Nao insisted.

"You like him, don't you?" Ino asked.

"Hai, but I'm not in love with him or anything," Nao quickly replied.

Chouji just stood off to one side and said nothing. He knew trying to stop Ino when she was on a match-making mission was hopeless.

"Trust me. You'll thank me for this later," Ino said.

Nao looked suspicious. "Thank you for what?"

Ino's hands flashed through the seals for her signature jutsu and Chouji's eyes widened. "Ino, wait!"

He was too late, however as Ino's body had already fallen to the ground. He caught her and propped her up against the tree. Ino in Nao's body smiled an Chouji glared at her. "This isn't right, Ino."

Ino rolled Nao's eyes. "It's fine. I'll just get them started and then Nao can take it from there," she said with a smile.

Chouji set his jaw. "Fine. I'm getting Asuma-sensei."

Ino's expression turned menacing. "You do that and I'll take you over someday when you're not expecting it and make you eat broccoli," she threatened, putting emphasis on the last word.

Chouji looked horrified for a moment, then his expression turned into one of angry submission. "Fine," he growled.

Ino looked over Nao's outfit, which was a simple pair of blue khakis, a white T-shirt with a daisy on the front and a green short-sleeved jacket that had hung open. "Not bad. But it could be cuter." She pulled on the sleeves so that the jacket came a little off Nao's shoulders and then pulled the bottom of the shirt a bit to show off Nao's navel.

Chouji just shook his head in disgust and opened a bag of chips.

Ino walked up to Kiba's door and rang the bell. Kiba opened the door and surprise showed on his face. "Nao-san? What are you doing here?"

Ino poured on the charm. "I couldn't stop thinking about you after you gave me that flower," she said in a shy school-girl way with a hint of seductiveness.

Kiba frowned a little, came outside and shut the door. "Umm...that was just a thank-you. If I gave you the wrong idea, I'm sorry."

Ino smiled coyly. "Are you sure about that?" she said as she traced along Kiba's jaw line with Nao's index finger.

Kiba's frown deepened and he pushed her hand away. "Yeah. And what's with you? Back in Suna you acted like ninja, now you're acting like some bubbly airhead like Yamanaka Ino."

Nao's eyes flashed with anger and she grabbed the front of his shirt in her fists. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Ino said, completely forgetting who she was supposed to be.

Kiba angrily pushed Ino away. "You know what?!--Now I remember why I can't stand most girls!" And with that he turned around, stomped into his house and shut the door in Ino's face.

Ino stood there like a stunned rabbit. She could hear Nao freaking out in the back of her mind and she felt very guilty about it. She immediately released the jutsu. Once she was back in her body she looked nervously at Nao, who looked as though she might start crying.

"Nao-san, I...I was only trying to help," Ino offered, although she knew she'd already done serious damage. "I'm sorry."

"Save it!" Nao snapped. "I'm going to ask Tsunade-sama if I can go home tomorrow. I can't be on a team with someone like you."

Ino looked at Chouji for help. Chouji just shook his head.

"This is your mess. You figure it out," he said. He then walked away.

"Nao-san. Wait. I can fix this!" Ino pleaded.

"How?!" Nao asked.

"Just wait here." Ino walked up to Kiba's house and rang the bell for a second time.

The door opened slower this time. "Yo, Ino" Kiba said when he saw who it was.

"Kiba...um...that wasn't Nao a minute ago. I took her over to try and get you two together," Ino said with a wince.

Kiba sighed and shook his head. "You've really gotta learn to stay out of other people's business," he said tersely.

"Sorry," Ino said quietly. "Nao's over there." She looked in Nao's direction. "Can she come talk to you?"

"Yeah. But I'd make myself scarce if I were you," Kiba said.

Ino nodded solemnly and walked away.

Kiba walked up to Nao. "Yo, Nao-san. Sorry about Ino. Sometimes she just doesn't know when to back off."

Nao smiled a little. "It's okay. I mean, I'm still mad at her, but I guess she was trying to help." She shrugged. "And she did fix it."

"So anyway, what are you doing in Konoha?"

Nao's smile widened. "I'm taking the chuunin exam."

"Aren't you kinda early?"

Nao giggled. "I was the only one from my Suna team who didn't make chuunin when I took the exams last time. I can't take them by myself and team ten had a slot open so Hokage-sama is letting me fill in for Shikamaru. I'm here to train with them before the exams start."

"Oh. Well, don't let Ino get to you. She's a pain in the ass sometimes, but I think you can handle it," Kiba said with a smile.

Nao suddenly remembered the 'changes' Ino had made to her wardrobe and hurriedly fixed it.

"Hey...you don't really think that flower meant anything...do you?" Kiba asked gently.

"No," Nao replied firmly. "I mean, you're kinda cute," she said with a little blush, "but not too many of the guys in my class treated me like anything but a girl. You're different, so I thought it'd be nice if we were friends."

Kiba grinned. "No problem. Want me to show you the village?"

"Hai," Nao replied and both teens walked off toward the center of town.

As Chouji walked down the road he noticed Asuma kissing Kurenai goodbye as he left her house. Once Kurenai had gone back into the house Chouji jogged to catch up to his sensei.

Asuma noticed his student and felt a bit nervous. He hoped he hadn't been seen a moment ago. "Y-yo, Chouji," he said, trying to act casual and doing a terrible job of it.

Chouji decided to see if he could ease into the topic and that way make Asuma less skittish. "Is everything okay?"

Asuma cleared his throat. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

Chouji scratched the back of his neck. "We were just a little worried since you couldn't come on the mission. Tsunade-sama wouldn't tell us why. She said it was personal."

Asuma let out a long sigh. "Well, I don't want you kids to worry about me, but it's not exactly something I can talk about without...a certain someone's permission."

Chouji frowned. "But you're okay right?"

There was something in Asuma's smile that seemed almost wistful. "Yeah, I'm fine." He chuckled at the odd look on Chouji's face. "I'll tell you all soon. I promise."

Chouji nodded. "Okay, but if you need us...."

"Of course."

"You're sure you two want to do it this way? I'm sure your relatives would be none too pleased," Tsunade warned.

Asuma nodded. "It would be worse if we told them beforehand."

Tsunade sighed.

"And besides. Both of us have no living parents and they're really the only ones we would want to be there."

"Alright, Asuma. Come see me about eleven tomorrow morning. We'll do it then," Tsunade said with a slight smile.

Asuma arrived at the training field the next day at noon on the dot, his face beaming. Ino noticed and cocked an eyebrow.

"So are you gonna tell us what's going on or should we guess?" she asked.

Asuma chuckled. "Alright, Ino. Well," He cleared his throat. "Kurenai-sensei and I got married and hour ago."

Ino and Chouji had been stunned into silence. Nao, however, didn't know that this would be a shock so she smiled widely. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Nao-san." Asuma turned to Ino and Chouji. "You can close your mouths now," he said with a laugh.

Ino and Chouji seemed to come out of their shock at the same time. "Gomen, Asuma-sensei," Ino said. A smile grew on her mouth. "That's wonderful! But we never heard about any wedding plans."

Asuma looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, that's where my other piece of news comes in. I couldn't really tell anyone until everything was official."

"What is it, Asuma-sensei?" Chouji asked.

"I um...." Asuma's smile became one of pure joy. "I'm going to be a father."

.........TO BE CONTINUED

I promise I won't leave you hanging with that for long. I've got some new ideas so the next chapter should be out soon. Thank you so much to the readers who stick with me despite my long times between chapters lately.

Oh, and the RPR is now the RPB Reader Proof Bunker. One of my readers (Who is now one of my beta readers) suggested it needed an upgrade. Lol.

Someone made a fanart of Tomoyo. :) You can find it in the COLAD gallery on deviant art.

Ja na,

Song