Title: Missing
Author: vivpiv

Chapter 6 Nightmares

And if I sleep just to dream of you
I’ll wake without you there.

He was sleeping. His face was peaceful and relaxed; the tension on his body was gone. A few blond locks fell over his eyes and his left hand moved them away instinctively. His lips were slightly open and the ghost of a smile was gracing his face. It looked like he was smirking more than smiling. The blond teen was having a dream; however that particular dream was rather a memory only slightly different.

The dream Naruto’s pov

Tsunade-baachan sent us on a B-rank mission to return a scroll which was stolen. She warned us to be careful, cause the mission could easily become A-rank. Sometimes she is too worried for us. We are chuunins not some spoiled genins.

I leave my train of thoughts and look ahead. Damn, Sasuke has sped up again and Sakura is right behind him. I should hurry up or he’ll complain again. I caught up with them easily and now Sakura is telling us to stop to come up with a plan. We are hiding in some bushes not far away from a building.

Sakura is suggesting something but I’m not listening to her. I’m looking at the building, where the scroll is supposed to be, and count the number of the enemy ninjas by the scent in the air. I observe that there are 10 shinobi guarding the document and about 10 more as a backup. I look back at my teammates and notice that Sasuke is watching me and Sakura is trying to come up with a strategy. She is quiet now and I’ll voice my thoughts.

“There are about twenty shinobi. Ten are guarding the scroll and about ten more as a backup.” I spoke quietly in serious tone.

My eyes are closed but I know that they are looking at me. I can feel it. I open my eyes to see their faces. Sakura is a bit surprised but she is used to my behavior. Sasuke, however, is looking at me strangely. His lips are parted slightly and I can hear the question ‘How?’ trying to slip, but he is not going to voice it. The shock in his eyes is clear. It looks like he is going to ask me after all, but Sakura interrupts him.

“Well if there are ten guarding the scroll each of us will have to handle three shinobi.” She stopped suddenly, thinking it over. Then she continued again.

“Actually one of us will have to take four. The distribution is probably three on the left, three on the right and four in the centre. So Sasuke, you will go left and I right. Naruto, that means you’ll have to take the four in the centre.” She stopped talking once again and is looking at the building now.

Heh. I had a feeling that she’d say that. But it looks like Sasuke isn’t happy with his position. His eyebrow is slightly twitching. This is going to be fun. Let’s see Sakura’s reaction.

“Why does Naruto have to take the centre? I can handle four shinobi, too.” There is irritation in his voice as he spoke.

Sakura looked him in the eyes and spoke.

“Because I’m the leader of this mission and I say he takes the centre. No more objections. We don’t have time to waste.” She said it a bit coldly.

I guess she doesn’t trust him that much. Well, it can’t be helped. He’s been back from Sound for a little more than six months and the village is still a bit cautious around him.

I look at Sasuke and I’m not surprised that he is glaring at me. Maybe he wants to make holes in my head or is trying to kill me with that intense glare. God, I’m sure that if his look could kill I’d be dead by now. Well it’s not my fault that they don’t trust him yet. I sigh while closing my eyes and shrugging my shoulders. I guess I’ll have to deal with Sasuke later.

“Yosh! Let’s get this party started!” I say excited and smirk a bit evilly.

Sasuke is smirking too and I can see the challenge in his eyes. I sigh again. I think he should take the mission as a chance to prove his loyalty but it looks like he has his own opinion. Sakura caught the challenging look he shot me.

“Don’t mess things up.” She states firmly and saying so the attack began.

We crossed the small clearing to the building. Sakura prepares a smoke bomb and is going to throw it. She looks at us first. We all look at each other and nod our heads in a sign that we are ready.

She opens the door with her hairpin and throws the bomb. The smoke starts spreading and we rush inside. Sasuke heads left and Sakura goes right. I continue ahead for the enemies in the centre. We all take their shock as out advantage. But it looks like they recovered quickly from their stupor. They aren’t defending anymore; they are attacking with all their might. It’s not easy to fight four at the same time, cause they are pretty good. I’ll handle it though.

Two of them are landing hard blows on my upper body, but I block them and land my own a lot harder. The other one it trying to trip me, but I step aside. That was a mistake. The forth one hit me hard in the gut and I gasp. They immediately took the opportunity to charge at me with kunais. Damn it, that bastard stabbed me in the arm. Oh, they are gonna get it now. Growling I catch his wrist and glare at him, my eyes are flashing red. I grip his hand tighter and hit him hard in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs. He stumbles back to the wall and falls on the ground. Here come the other three. I take out my own kunai and throw myself at them.

I can hear screams and the sounds of punching and kicking. With a quick glance at my teammates I see that Sasuke is using the Sharingan. They hardly touch him but he has a few wounds as well as I do. Sakura is using her incredible strength and I guess a genjutsu.

I focus my attention back at my opponents. They try to punch and stab me but I won’t allow it. Through the sounds of clashing weapons I hear feet running towards the room. The backup is coming. I signal my partners with a whistle. Sasuke and Sakura heard it and are preparing themselves to take three or four more opponents.

I’m tired of this game. “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” I say while performing the seals. Two clones appear next to me. The backup quickly divides into smaller groups and five more are coming towards me. I guess I miscalculated their number.

More punches and kicks and I dodge as much as I can. Damn it! Aren’t they going to give up? I growl and make one more clone. My eyes are blood red, glaring at those fools. Most of them seemed stunned with fear for a few moments and I’m not gonna be idle.

I begin to concentrate the charka in my right hand. Soon the sound of chirping reaches my ears. Ah, Sasuke is using the chidori. The rasengan in my right hand is ready and I prepare to attack them.

I look at Sasuke first and our eyes meet. For the split of a second he freezes as he looks in my blood red eyes. I smirk at him and that seems to pull him back to reality. He shakes his head lightly and looks back at me smirking. Then we look ahead and shout in union.

“Chidori!” – “Rasengan!”

I took four down with my other clone and there are only three left. Sasuke has two more to deal with. Sakura is beating the crap out of her last opponents too. There is the chidori again and Sasuke defeats one of the two left.

I concentrate the charka in my right hand again, while looking in their eyes. Jumping in the air I disappear from their sight. The three shinobi look around panicked and I appear behind their backs. I take two of them but the third one managed to dodge it somehow. He smirks at me and then runs off to Sasuke.

Sakura shout his name but he didn’t hear her. He has just finished the last one of his opponents and is wounded in his left arm.

Shit. His guard is down. He won’t be able to block the attack.

“You’re not getting away from me!” I shout and run towards them while forming the rasengan. I’m ready to attack him but he throws shuriken and kunai at Sasuke. I block the weapons with my own but one of them manages to wound me on my left side. Despite the pain, I stretch my hand and hit his chest with the spinning ball. He falls to the floor unconscious or probably dead. I don’t really care at the moment.

Taking a step back I turn around to Sasuke. His eyes widen as he looks at me. Sakura rushes towards us with the scroll in her hands.

“Hey, you ok?” I ask them with a smile on my lips.

“Naruto, the wound is deep.” Sakura says with worry in her voice.

“Nah. I’m alright. It’s just a scratch.” I say still smiling to cover the pain I feel and in the meantime placing a hand over the wound to hide it.

“It’s not just a scratch, dobe.” Sasuke scolds me.

“Let’s go somewhere safer and I’ll heal them.” Sakura says and we nod in agreement.

The moment I stepped out of the building a sharp feeling of anxiety seized my whole body. For a second I can’t move. I struggle with this sudden emotion and start walking again. With every step I take this strange feeling of uneasiness becomes stronger. I’m slightly trembling and my right hand clutches over to my left side, pressing the wound there.

My mind is blank. I don’t notice that I’m slowing my pace. My legs feel weak and I fall on my knees. Sasuke comes back to me and helps me to stand up again. He puts my left hand over his shoulders and we continue walking towards Sakura.

“Just a scratch, huh?” he mumbles.

“Over here.” She calls us over her shoulder as she is standing beside a big tree surrounded by thick bushes. Sasuke and I went over there and he left to sit on the ground. He flops beside me and Sakura joins us.

She reaches her hands to remove mine from the wound but I stop her. She is confused and takes a breath to protest but I cut her off.

“Yours and Sasuke’s first, and then mines. I’m ok.” I look in her emerald eyes and smile.

“Alright.” She says and moves over to Sasuke. She heals his wounds and bandages them. After that she does the same to herself. She is panting slightly from exhaustion but comes to me.

I can’t let her see my wound. It’s already healing with Kyuubi’s charka and if she sees it now my secret would be discovered. I catch her hand again as she reaches to heal me. She sighs.

“Sakura-chan, there were a few herbs near the big tree. Will you go and get them for me, please?” I ask her while pointing at said herbs. She sighs again.

“Sasuke, help him bandage his wounds while I go get the herbs.” She says to Sasuke and then stands up.

I’m looking at the ground, my eyes are blank but this foreboding that something bad is going to happen doesn’t leave me even for a second. A soft sigh escapes my lips and I question myself quietly, forgetting that Sasuke is beside me.

“What is this feeling?”

Only when he touched my hand I looked at him a little startled. He squeezes my hand reassuringly and starts moving it away. I stiffen and shake my head.

“What’s wrong? Let me bandage your wound, dobe. I’ll be careful, don’t worry.”

With much hesitation I decide to let him do it and nod silently. He removes my vest and pushes up the black t-shirt underneath it.

With his pale hands he caresses my skin around the cut. My muscles tense and I stop his gentle touch. He sighs and takes out a bandage from his pouch. Sasuke starts wrapping it around my waist, carefully and gently as he said. He smiles in satisfaction when he’s done and rolls up my sleeve to do the same with my arm. Once done he looks at me with his black eyes.

“What’s wrong, Naruto?” he asks me again quietly with a hint of worry in his voice.

I glance at him for a second and then turn my eyes to the ground once again.

“Something’s going to happen. Something bad to Konoha and you.” I whisper and close my eyes. A cold shiver runs down my spine and I tremble lightly.

Sasuke puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles a little. At that moment Sakura came back to us. She hands me the herbs and looks at Sasuke.

“Thanks.” Is the only thing I say before standing up to stretch my body. I take the herbs and go to smash them between two rocks.

“He never lets me to tend to his injuries.” whispers Sakura and sighs. I hear everything clear though.

“He said that he’s got a bad feeling. Like something will happen to Konoha and us.” Sasuke whispered back to her.

“Usually his instincts are always right. I hope this time they aren’t.” she says quietly and looks at me.

“Hn.” is Sasuke’s response and he gets lost in thoughts.

I’m done with the herbs and go back to my teammates, pretending that I haven’t heard their conversation.

“Sakura-chan, will you hand me the cups in your bag and also the water?” I ask her smiling.

“Here.” She says after a minute of digging through her bag.

I put the herbs in the cups and then pour the water in them. I hand a cup to Sakura and then to Sasuke.

“What is this?” He asks me while eyeing the liquid suspiciously.

“It will help you to recover your charka faster. Think it is tea and drink it.” I answer while bringing the cup to my lips and drink it quickly. They did so and Sasuke mumbled something along the lines that it wasn’t that bad.

“Let’s rest some more and then we will head back to Konoha.”

“Ok.”

After about an hour our time for resting finished and now we are already moving through the forest towards the west gate of Konoha.

Even if the wound is almost healed it still hurts and slows me down. We are near Konoha but I think I should stop to catch my breath.

“Oi Sasuke! I’ll stop for a few minutes. You and Sakura-chan go ahead. I’ll catch up with you guys in no time.” I say while landing quietly on the ground. He pauses for a second and mutters an “Ok.” before continuing ahead.

“Be careful and hurry up.” Sakura says smiling as she waves her hand slightly.

I smile back at her. Then I sit on the ground and close my eyes for a little while. This feeling of uneasiness hasn’t left me but now it’s not so intense. Five or so minutes passed and I decide that I have rested enough.

Standing up I jump on a big branch and head towards Konoha. Almost 15 minutes later I can see the gate. But something’s wrong. Where are the guards? I enter and start walking towards Hokage Tower. I notice, as I walk, that the streets are empty. There isn’t anyone, not a single person. That’s strange. As I near the Tower the smell of blood hit my nose.

I run as fast as I can but the sight in front my eyes makes me stop abruptly. Right in front the Tower all my friend and the ones who respect me are lying on the ground, beaten up and covered in blood. I gasp and my eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

“This can’t be real. It must be a nightmare.” I mumble quietly and take a step back. They’re not moving, not even breathing.

“Oh God…wake me up from this nightmare.” hot tears start falling from my eyes and I fall on my knees a few steps before their bodies.

With my sharp hearing I hear the panting of someone. I turn my head towards the noise to the left and see that Sasuke’s chest is rising and falling heavily. I go quickly to his side and take him in my lap. He opens his eyes slowly and looks at me. With one swift move I untie his hands.

And if I bleed, I’ll bleed

Knowing you don’t care.

“Naruto…” he whispers my name and reaches his even paler hand to my face. I lower my head and take his hand in mine. I ask him who did this but he doesn’t answer.

“Look behind you…” are the last words he whispers before closing his black eyes.

“Sasuke…” I say his name and hug him close to my chest. The feeling of his beating heart becomes more and more faint, until it stops completely. I cry silently and the tears blur my eyes. But I don’t care.

Suddenly there is movement behind me but before I can turn around I’m punched hard. Someone pushes me to the ground and ties my arms behind my back. Even if I struggle against my attacker I can’t find the strength to fight back the way I can. I feel weak.

I’m kicked in the stomach, then to my left where the wound is. Pain is the only thing I feel as I curl up in a small ball. Somewhere in the back of my mind I notice that I’m surrounded by 11 people.

Someone crouches in front of me and pulls my head up by my hair to look in their eyes. The man before me takes off the mask he is wearing and I lift my eyes to see his face. Pale skin, red eyes with comas in them and black-blue hair. That’s Sasuke but…

“I can’t believe that you fell for this trap, Naruto.” He glares at me then continues.

“You’re a monster, Naruto. You are the Nine-tailed Demon Fox.” The cold and hatred in his voice makes me shudder.

“But how…?” I whisper unable to raise my voice. Someone stands behind me and says in my ear.

“That was a genjutsu, Naruto. We know everything now. You can’t hide your little secret anymore, Naruto.” That’s Sakura’s voice.

“Today you will die for everything you did to Konoha and us.” Another female voice says and I turn to my left to see Ino along with Shikamaru and Chouji. They are looking at me with hatred as well as with disgust.

A barking to my right makes me turn in that direction. Akamaru is growling and baring his sharp teeth at me. Hinata, Kiba and Shino are standing there, looking at me with despise.

“Hinata-chan…” Whispering softly her name I look in her eyes. They are ice-cold. I’ve never seen them so cold and unforgiving.

“Don’t you dare say my name!”

“What’s going on?” I ask looking back at Sasuke. He just smiles with malice and performs the hand seals for the chidori. I start trembling and struggling to untie my hands but it’s useless. Sakura grabs me and pulls me on my feet.

“Don’t play dumb, Naruto.” He says as he completes the hand seals.

“No, let me go! This is a misunderstanding.” I shout at them. The sound of chirping reaches my ears and I look back at Sasuke.

“This is not a misunderstanding, Naruto. You are the Kyuubi, you are the demon.” There is pure evil and hatred in his voice.

“Sasuke…” I’m scared. This is the end. Even if I try to explain everything, you won’t believe me. It’s over.

“Hold him steal.”

“Alright.”

Sakura tightens her grip and I stop fighting against her. There’s no point in fighting. I close my eyes for a second then I open them again. For the last time I look in Sasuke’s eyes and whisper quietly.

“Sasuke, I love you all even if you hate me.”

“Shut up, Naruto.” He hisses and then hits my heart with his deadly attack. He is so close to me right now and with my last breath I will whisper in his ear.

“I love you most of all.”

After that there is only darkness and silence.

Normal pov

“Nooo!” he screamed as his blue eyes shot open and he sat upright in the bed.

Naruto was trembling and mumbling incoherent things. He brought his knees to his chest and hugged them tightly.

Inari woke up from the blonde’s scream and quickly went over to his bed. The younger boy embraced the trembling teen and started rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“Shhh. It’s ok Naruto-niichan. It was only a nightmare. Everything’s alright.” Whispering calming words Inari rocked them lightly back and forth.

Tsunami and Tazuna were startled by the scream and went to see what happened in the boy’s room. When they opened the door they saw that Naruto was crying and Inari trying to calm him down.

Tsunami went over to them and hugged the scared teen. She looked towards Inari with questioning eyes.

“A nightmare.” Was the reply she got.

She started humming a soft melody in the blond’s ear. The melody and the gentle rocking calmed Naruto down. His breath became even and deep once again.