Okay, so I don't think I can do this with Death Note like I thought I could so- Naruto/Inception! XDDD Yeah! We're starting this maybe a half-month after the Chuunins, before Suna has been allowed the knowledge of the Kazekage's death.

Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor Inception is mine. Everything I don't own in this fan fiction belongs to their respective owners. I gain no profit from this.

The air was rushing loudly in Gaara's ears as he, Temari, and Kankuro progressed through the forest, from tree branch to tree branch. This mission was almost as ridiculous as their attempts to hide the true reason behind it.

A fairly innocent looking girl with dark, soft-looking hair and big green eyes was accompanying them. According to Temari and Kankuro, she was a gennin who was assigned to help them. She was wearing weapons much too advanced for a gennin, and that combined with the hopelessly simple nature of this mission, showed they needed no help, and his siblings were lying to him. This girl was probably being briefed by those close to the Kazekage to see if they could finally find a weakness- the perfect assassin to finally get rid of him.

Nothing new. Nothing Interesting. He just wished the girl would go away, so he wouldn't have to kill her.

Temari, Kankuro, and their guest stopped at exactly the same time. Gaara backtracked, completely unembarrassed as everyone knew he had paid little attention when the finer details of this mission, including the placing, had been related.

Upon closer inspection, he found the girl really was what others would find "attractive". "Cute". Pointless things that just made her look more like a disguised assassin than before. Sigh. He couldn't believe Temari was going along with it.

"Are you one hundred percent positive Kazekage has OK'd this?" Kankuro asked, sounding utterly bored. That didn't really bother Gaara in itself. It wasn't like he'd actually be hurt.

He wished the Chuunin exams hadn't turned into that ridiculous "Operation". Maybe if he was advancing up the shinobi ladder, he'd eventually be able to change villages. It would be easier to try and live by Uzumaki Naruto's ideas on developing "friends" and "important people" when he wasn't forced to kill assassins every few days. He'd visit Temari so she didn't feel like a bad sister, too.

"Positive. From what I understand, Gaara-sama's protection is Kazekage-sama's top priority," the girl said confidently, smiling sweetly.

Both his older brother and sister winced at that. If Gaara was more of the laughing type, he might have laughed. Protection? This was the most ridiculous ruse Father had created yet.

"Fine then," Temari rubbed her forehead like she had a headache. "We'll let you two talk it over, and go ahead with the mission."

They gave bland waves goodbye, and took off. Gaara wondered mildly if they'd fair as well without him killing everyone and smashing every booby trap in their way.

"Hi, Gaara-sama," his remaining companion smiled, holding a hand out to him. Ignoring it, he turned and hopped right off the tree branch to the dark forest floor. However long it took this woman to get past the pleasantries, he figured it would be better if the body wasn't mangled beyond recognition from the fall.

"Well, my name's Yasumi, and I'm here to talk to you about a new form of protection I think you'll be interested in," she brushed her hair out of her face prettily, a motion Gaara was quite certain was meant to distract from her other hand reaching for her dagger.

"Already not interested," he said, blank. Uncaring. If she wanted to die…

"Listen to me a little first," she said. And then let me take you off guard, he guessed she was thinking. "I am one of a few in this world who know, and am adequate in a new technology in thievery. One that allows the thief to maneuver it's victims dreams and learn all their secrets."

He rolled his eyes a bit and leaned against a tree. Sounded like she wasn't going to shut up for a while.

"Now we'll say you were targeted- and I and others close to you have reason to believe you may be- so we'll say you were targeted. A thief can put you into a forced sleep, and steal all of your village's secrets straight from your subconscious. You could have your secrets laying anywhere, in a dream, many of them easily decodable for those who've been doing this for a long time, like me. Not to mention the times where it just shows up in saves and things- we know how to make that happen," Yasumi took a breath. Gaara wondered where all that hot air came from. "Now as for the way I could protect you. The thing your father is trying to hire me for, but you have to agree with or I can't make it happen. You have to let me straight into your mind. You have to let me know you, better than anyone else, all your secrets, everything you have to hide, thoughts, memories. So that not only can I protect you, but I can teach you how to protect yourself within a dream. Realize when you're dreaming, how to handle it, how to fight them off and help you know, in the blink of an eye, where the things that need protecting are. But I can only do this with your help, Gaara-sama. You have to let me in. Kazekage-sama can't give me the ability, Kankuro-sama and Temari-sama can't give me the ability, you have to commit to this wholeheartedly. What do you think?"

"I think that was so close to entertaining, I'll actually play along for a minute," he said, voice showing that he'd really found nothing close to entertainment in this monumental lie. "First of all, traveling into someone's dreams, beyond creating dreams through genjutsu, is complete fantasy. In your case, science fiction."

"Many believe that," the girl was relaxed, completely undisturbed that he wasn't fooled. Hmph. Better confident than terrified, he guessed.

"Second of all, when put under with a forced slumber technique, I would unconsciously let the One-Tailed Shukaku come to the surface, and would probably end up killing everything, including the one invading my dreams. That is an inescapable fact, that not only would apply to you if I were to 'allow you in my dreams', but any ninja respectable enough to have means to this technology would have been informed when briefed for the mission, and automatically give it up."

"The One-Tails would certainly be a hindrance," Yasumi was smiling a little now, like something was greatly amusing her and she was trying not to show it. Probably thought if she attacked while he was talking, she'd still have the advantage. "Is there a third inconsistency here?"

"Yes. Thirdly, regardless of if any of this was possible, I'm a twelve-year-old gennin. Being the son of the Kazekage doesn't reap me any benefits right now. This system is held the same in most villages- I know nothing about the internal workings of my village these shinobi couldn't find out through much easier means. That makes this entire conversation invalid. If you're not an assassin, and there's some drop of truth to your story, you'd only be trying to get in my head with this. Neither I nor my father has any reliable evidence you won't just pull the curtain once you get in my head and try to find what isn't there." Gaara straightened up. "So I think it's about time we fought."

Yasumi stretched and put her hands behind her head, unaffected. "I'm not fighting with you, Gaara-sama- and by the way, letting me into your head isn't exactly what I was asking permission for. You've already done that."

"Already done what?" Gaara said, uncomprehending.

"You've already let me in your head."

Very abruptly, the world didn't seem to be quite in the right colors. He blinked, eyes focusing on his surroundings. The forest, the leaves. Was this a genjutsu? But it all looked so real regardless… Yet also somehow wrong.

"Gaa-ra-sa-ma-" Yasumi sang with her same bright smile. "How old are you, again? Please repeat that for me."

"Twelve. I'm twelve-years-old," he responded curtly, glaring at who he now assumed was his captor.

"Really? I don't think so. In fact, didn't you have a birthday just recently? Maybe yesterday? How old were you turning then-?"

Gaara glared harder. Then his eyes widened. Holy- he'd just turned seventeen.

"You noticed the inconsistencies with my story," Yasumi hopped around. "Well, most of them, but you didn't notice anything with yours. Like this mission you were sent out on with Kankuro and Temari. What was the mission really about?"

"I… didn't really get much of the details-"

"You have no idea. But it didn't bother you up until now right? You didn't think about it thoroughly. What about this place- where are we?" she was obviously enjoying herself quite immensely with this. Helplessly, Gaara let his eyes wander the surroundings.

There were no forests for miles from the Sand Village.

Damn it, this was a Genjutsu. It had to be. Quickly he made a hand seal and closed his eyes tightly.

Cancel.

"You're father's been dead for years, ever since Orochimaru took on his identity and had the Chuunin exams infiltrated so he could destroy Konoha."

Cancel. Cancel. Cancel.

"Forcing you into sleep won't cause the deaths of thousands anymore because the One-Tails has been removed. You have a lot of information running loose and unstable in here, actually. It's a good thing I came around when I did. Though it was admittedly entertaining to hear bits and pieces of your deduction that I was so definitely an assassin, you don't have to be very skilled or go very deep to pick your way through these thoughts, Kazekage-chan~"

"If I chant too will it help? Can-cel-can-cel-can-cel~"

"Shut up," Gaara spun on her, glaring fit to kill, and poising to attack. His sand… damn it, his sand wasn't responding either.

She put a hand on the back of his neck. Her smile had gotten less relaxed and amused… more cautious and watchful.

"Stop panicking, okay? The projections were already being stirred by my resistance to your dream's flow. We don't want your irritation to start something."

Her cool fingers were distracting enough to calm him somewhat, and he actually did try and focus on that for a moment before shaking off her hand. He had no clue what she was talking about, but regardless, getting worked up wouldn't help matters.

He was still quite obviously readying himself for attack when Temari and Kankuro reappeared.

"You two…" his mind was spinning as he took in the two arrivals. It was almost exhausting. If he was really asleep, this forced-sleep technology must be awfully good to keep him unconscious through his stress. He had enough problems with insomnia without this to plague him.

"Projections…" Yasumi whispered, just a breath, before distancing herself.

"Gaara, is everything all right?" fourteen-year-old Temari asked, tone trying to be worried. He sensed suspicion, radiating off both of them.

Now that he was thinking more clearly, seeing Kankuro and Temari at this age was bringing on immense waves of nostalgia. He wasn't sure he liked that- he spent the majority of his free time avoiding his younger years.

But if this was a dream- what had she said, projections?

Something was off about these two, now that he was looking for it. He wasn't sure he could quite pinpoint it.

"Are you two done… talking?" thirteen-year-old Kankuro(projection?) said.

"The projections were already being stirred by my resistance to your dream's flow."

So Yasumi had been going along with his dream, conversing with Kankuro and Temari exactly like she was one of the many faceless, poorly hidden assassins who had plagued his childhood, as that was what his subconscious had recognized her as. The less she pretended to go for her knife and the more she spoke about reality, the more his dream realized something was going astray.

And since we didn't start fighting till I woke up, Kankuro and Temari came back to find out the problem… and probably why I was getting upset.

Part of the difference in these two was the eyes. He could tell that at least.

"Yes, I suppose we are," Yasumi smiled warily at his "brother".

Both of his siblings' eyes were trained on Yasumi, now. He realized he was trembling violently. He'd thought he'd calmed down, but he was still panicking. The whole situation just became more and more surreal, and for this to be his own dream he'd never felt so powerless… which was most likely why "Kankuro" and "Temari" were looking for holes.

"Umm… Temari, Kankuro… should we go home or… was the mission…?" he could barely speak. Why was he so scared? So powerless… his hands balled into fists as he struggled to control the shaking.

Yasumi sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have tried to be so theatrical with this," she seemed resigned.

Temari slipped a kunai from her pocket and Kankuro moved quickly, more quickly than Gaara remembered him being capable of, to the other side of Yasumi.

"W-wait…" he tried to take a shaky step towards Yasumi- if they killed her he didn't know what would happen to him- and very suddenly, a head of blonde hair appeared before him. Though the whole time it must have been him, it felt more like Gaara himself was morphing until the figure was Uzumaki Naruto. His face was quite impossibly out of view, but it was certainly the same jumpsuit standing in front of him.

Suddenly, a rock hard grip had his arms held tight behind him.

"I apologize, Gaara," it was Rock Lee's voice, yet it sounded more composed and calm then Gaara remembered it.

"It'll be fine," Temari never looked away from Yasumi's face as she spoke. "Just let us take care of this, Gaara."

Yasumi just continued to smile as the kunai was aimed at her. Temari struck- and something had a hold of his ankle.

"Wh-what…?" Gaara was dragged downward, under the hard ground, and continued down…

He jolted, finding himself positioned quite comfortably at his desk in his office, unharmed. His head was on his folded arms and his body was sluggish- not used to sleep in any form.

"Will he be okay?" Temari was worried.

"Oh he's fine, calm down. Aren't you fine, Ka-ze-ka-ge-chan? Wakey-wakey~"

I'd like to say I have no idea how this monster happened, but this story has been in my head for weeks. So yeah, this is the longest chapter I've ever written and- I hope something good comes from it. Review pwease! (PS: Sorry for lying about the setting, I had to see if I could trick somebody).