In The Leaves | A 'Naruto' fan story | SasuNaru

Just a nightmare?

Sasuke sat on Naruto's bed, staring at Naruto, who was sitting on his floor rereading one of Jiraiya's books.

"What book is that?" Sasuke asked him.

"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi." Naruto said, flipping to the next page. "The name of the hero is Naruto, and that's who I got named by. My parents believed that I'll become strong and a well-known shinobi."

"They were right. You did turn out strong and a hero."

Naruto closed the book. "It's too bad that there's not a story with your name in it."

"I am not a hero, I'm a former runaway."

"Still," Naruto sat next to Sasuke on the bed. "It would be nice to see it in the books, it would be titled 'The story of the sole surviver"."

"No," Sasuke shook his head. "That wouldn't catch anyone's eye. It has to be something better."

"Then what about 'Sasuke Uchiha, the shinobi of strengths'?"

"Still a no."

"Then what about just 'Surviver'?"

"Sounds better, but if I ever did have my own book with my name in it. It better be good, nothing dumb."

Naruto laughed. "Okay, nothing dumb, got it."

Sasuke rests his head on Naruto's shoulder. "Will everyone accept me again?"

"Same goes for me." Naruto sighed. "After I saved the village from Pain, I left it ten days later, and returned after six months. Everyone must've thought the worst of me."

"They probably think you were kidnapped, and held hostage for defeating Pain. Everyone knows that I went after Orochimaru to kill Itachi. They think i'm a lost cause."

"I'll stay beside you until they do accept you."

"As I thought, you are a loser."

"Yeah," Naruto rests his head on top of Sasuke's. "Because I hate losing."

"You do hate losing. I hated losing to Sakura."

Naruto blushed. "S-Shut up, dattebayo."

Sasuke giggled. "I'm just teasing, Dobe. But we're not rivals anymore, there's nothing to lose to except my feelings."

"Speaking of feelings, did you dream of me while you were away?"

"I got annoyed by how many dreams I had of you, I even had to avoid sleep sometimes to not see you."

"Why?"

"Because it made me want to give up on getting my revenge, and come back like a lost puppy."

"I wished you did come back, I had nightmares. Too many nightmares. You and I were fighting by this waterfall, and you left me under the rain to go to Orochimaru. There was another nightmare where we lost our arms, and finally understood each other by talking. Not like we could do anything else but talk."

"Those are some weird dreams." Sasuke said. "Any others?"

"Sakura was the one that tried to stop you from leaving, but you knocked her out after thanking her."

"Mhm."

"There was another nightmare where you helped the Akatsuki, and everything went downhill to create another Ninja War."

"Sounds strange, I would never run to the Akatsuki, unless I had an extremely strong reason to."

"Heh, I know, and there was another nightmare where you went on a killing spree and tried to attack the Kage."

"I'm not a killer, yeah I killed Itachi, but for revenge-he killed my entire clan."

"I know you wouldn't be a killer, but what if there was a reason Itachi killed the clan?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not on his side or anything, I'm just saying hypothetically, he killed the clan because someone told him to, and since you two are brothers. What if he was trying to protect you?"

Sasuke went silent for a moment, before he replied with: "Okay, hypothetically, he was told to kill my clan, who told him to do it? And why did they tell him to do that?"

"I, um..."

Sasuke took his head off Naruto's shoulder to look at him. "What?"

"I had another nightmare, it was about Itachi...he spoke to me through a black bird, and said that the Hokage asked him to kill his clan before they succeed in their coup de tat. He said, in my nightmare, that the clan wanted to overthrow the Hokage, and seize control of Konoha."

Sasuke pursed his lips. "That doesn't sound like a nightmare, that sounded like Itachi did talk to you."

"Why talk to me and not you?"

"Because you're the closest person I made a connection with. He trusted you with the information, and knew you would tell me one day."

"Well, we can't say if it's true or not without proof or evidence of this." Naruto said. "We can try to talk to Kakashi about this, he is old enough to have been around the time of Itachi's assassination spree."

"I doubt the Third Hokage would tell him anything, but we can ask to find out."

"I'm surprised you're not upset or..."

"Against the idea?" Sasuke shrugged. "I just think it'll be better to find out, and see if Itachi really did talk to you."

"And if it turns out true?"

"I'll accept the truth as it is. My clan was going to take over Konoha, and Itachi stopped them by killing them and saved me."

"If it does turn out that way, can we bury him somewhere nicer?" Naruto asked, looking down to his floor. "I-I mean we don't have to, I just want him buried somewhere in Konoha. It was his home before he died."

"Naruto," Sasuke caressed Naruto's cheek, causing him to look at Sasuke. "I'm fine with that. If you want to move his body somewhere else in Konoha, we can do that."

"You sure? I don't mean to pry into your personal feelings for Itachi."

"He's my brother, whether I hate him or not. If he was just a innocent shinobi that protected Konoha, I'll move his body to let him rest in peace."

"Thanks, Sasuke."

"Don't thank me, I should be thanking you. You're the only one that ever wanted to involve themselves in my family life like this, and try to change my view on everything for the better."

Naruto smiled. "Tomorrow then?"

"Sure, let's go tomorrow."