AC_D2: Sound's Strange (Part 8)

For Day 2 of 2018's Advent Calendar, it's time for a little more of our favourite Otokage's illogical adventures.

Previous Parts of this AU
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6 
Part 7

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“We should go check what that was, right?” Harry said, when no other explosions followed the first.

“There’s no we,” Suigetsu retorted. “You ain’t going anywhere near the explosions.”

“You’re not supposed to head into danger!” Karin screeched at Harry at the same time.

Not one to be silent, Hideo also said, “Nidaime-sama, it would be much safer to wait for someone to bring us proper intel of what’s going on.”

All three of them shared unhappy looks, as though surprised they were all thinking the same thing.

Harry didn’t like their new found common synergy. “It’s probably something to do with Sasuke.”

“Sasuke is still unconscious in the west, Nidaime-sama,” Hideo reminded him.

“You don’t have to be conscious to cause trouble,” Harry said.

“Nidaime-sama,” a grey-masked man knelt in front of Harry. “There are missing-nin in the west.”

“Missing-nin?” Harry asked in confusion.

“They’re criminals who have defected from villages and live a life of crime,” Hideo explained helpfully.

“Missing-nin from here?” Harry asked.

“No, Nidaime-sama,” the masked man replied. “It’s Akatsuki.”

AC_D4: Sound's Strange (Part 7)

Had some internet issues, so I'm going to do some major uploading catch up over the weekend (thank heavens it's the weekend!).

Anyway it's time to revisit my current fav AU of AtO. According to the rough outline I made for this, this AU could end up with at least 15 chapters (if I stick to that outline).

How did this happen? I just wanted to write some dumb dialogue.

Previous Chapters are here:  Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3,  Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
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Under the room's dim and buzzing light, the redhead, Karin, woke with a startled gasp. Glazed red eyes, that were as red as her hair, looked around as though searching for something before they sharpened as she looked right at him.

"Your glasses are..."

"How?" she demanded, a desperate undercurrent in her low voice. "How did they find you? There's no physical way that they'd know who you are. Did you tell them? You look clueless about what's going on here."

Stunned at the onslaught of words, it took Harry a moment to collect his thoughts and admit, "I am confused. What do you mean by who I am?"

"You don't know?" Karin frowned as she took her glasses from him. "You're an Uzumaki! You might not have the red hair or loads of chakra but your chakra has a strong Uzumaki feel to it."

"You can tell that I'm a Uzumaki?" Harry asked, lowering his voice even though there were spells around him for privacy.

"I can," Karin said. "And they probably suspected that I can tell with my sensing abilities. Why else would they isolate us in here?"

"Isolate?" Harry repeated in confusion.

"This room is blocking everything outside. I can't sense anything but the two of us in here. They want me to know exactly who you are and why we're locked in here together."

Sound's Strange (Part 6)

Here's Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 of this AU in case you missed it.

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Harry jolted awake to the scent of sterile citrus in a grey room, the still silence around him bringing up a strange amount of worry.

Surely, silence was a bad thing in this place.

He cleaned up and walked out of the room he'd been given, taking off all the spells he'd put up, only to find Hideo about to knock on the door.

Hideo lowered his hand with a relief. “I'm glad you're already awake, Nidaime-sama.”

“What's happened?” Harry asked with a groan of resignation.

Sound's Strange (Part 5)

You can find Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3 and Part 4 over here 

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It had taken a fair bit of convincing before Hideo allowed Harry to come along to the source of the disturbance. Towards what Hideo had been certain was a very angry Sasuke.

A rather normal occurrence in Sound, apparently.

But instead of a violent and annoyed Sasuke at their destination, a giant purple snake loomed above them, hissing incoherently as blood dripped down his jaw.

“That's not Sasuke, right?” Harry asked with a cautious tone.

“That is Manda, Orochimaru's main summon,” Hideo explained, a tone of worry clear in his voice.

“That's my father,” Trouble hissed at the same time.

“Your father?” Harry repeated with a frown, wondering if he would have preferred snake-Sasuke instead. “This can't be good.”

Trouble tried to sink down under the collar Harry's shirt and would have if Harry hadn't grabbed a hold of him.

“Did he eat Sasuke?” Suigetsu asked, trying to sound amused instead of unnerved.

Manda turned to them. “Where is Orochimaru?”

Harry wondered if he was cursed. He glanced at Hideo, saw that he wouldn't get any help from there and took a deep breath. “He's dead.”

Sound's Strange (Part 4)

You can find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 over here.

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Hideo frowned at the ink on the large metal door. “Just like Kabuto.”

Harry finally spoke up. “What is it?”

“A seal of some sort,” Hideo said. “I don't have any experience with seals. I don't know if there's anyone who can deal with Kabuto's seal work.”

Harry frowned. “But you're sure that there's actually people in there?”

“Kabuto frequented this area,” Hideo said, his voice a soft whisper as he glared at the ink markings. “There were always screams.”

Trouble coiled tighter around Harry's neck at the words.

Harry moved closer to the large metal doors. “Let me give it a try then. If we can't open it, then we'll go to the next place you think has people held inside.”

Hideo frowned but moved aside, giving Harry clear access to the door. The thick ink characters on the door pulsed on the smooth metal door.

Having already considered all his options, Harry touched the cold metal door with his fingers. “Alohomora,” Harry tried with a soft whisper that sounded more like a hiss that made Trouble raise his head and rubbed against Harry's cheek.

With a click, the ink characters vanished and the door slid open with an agonizing groan of metal.

Sound's Strange (Part 3)

You can find Part 1 and Part 2 over here.

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“Look I keep telling you, I'm not your next leader,” Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, as his fatigue threatened to turn into a full blown headache. “Sasuke dealt the finishing blow to Orochimaru. I'm sure he'll clear everything up when he wakes up. It's been a while since the battle.”

Hideo, the sour faced ninja beside him who had started all the Nidaime nonsense, tensed with wariness.

Harry ignored him and entered the small room that Sasuke had been taken into.

Hedwig turned amber eyes to him from her spot on Sasuke's bed frame and hooted at him.

Sound's Strange (Part 2)

You can find Part 1 over here.

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“This Sasuke, will he actually help me?” Harry hissed at the purple snake around his neck.

The snake shifted, it's scales rubbing against his skin. “He didn't understand you calling him Itachi, so maybe. I haven't really heard anything much about him.”

The large grey snake that was coiled loosely around Harry, hissed in laughter. “That's because there's nothing to say about him. He doesn't summon us often and when he does it's all business. Isn't that right, Acid-eyes?”

“Acid-eyes?” Harry repeated as he looked at the yellow snake that Orochimaru had summoned. “That's your name?”

Acid-eyes leaned her large head close to Harry. “That's a name that humans don't know because they can't can't say like we do. Not even Orochimaru, though he has been our summoner long before I hatched.”

“I see,” Harry said, feeling slightly awkward at having all snakes' attention focused on him.

“And that's why Orochimaru is going to steal your speaking ability,” the grey snake said. “Even Manda-sama will have to acknowledge this ability to speak like one of us. No human has been able to do so before.”

AC_D12: Sound's Strange (Part 1)

Despite my big hopes to post tons of stuff, this is going to be the final post for Advent this year. For the posts that I didn't get around to putting up, I'll post them after all the holiday going ons.

Speaking of the holidays, I hope you all have a wonderful time within the next few days- whatever you are celebrating or not celebrating.

For this final advent post, I'm actually going to start a new series on the blog- based on one of my old brainstorms- mostly so that I can explore writing with some different characters in an AtO-ish setting.

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