Disclaimer Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

Prelude

The war of the Shinobi Five Nations versus Madara's Eye of the Moon plan has ended. The Shinobi Alliance settled their differences and came together to fight alongside one another. Peace talks went on after the war and many things have changed in the relationships of the Five Nations and Gokage. Sasuke lost his battle with Naruto and was brought to justice before the Rokudaime Hokage Hatake Kakashi. As a part of the peace agreements made between nations, Sasuke's punishment for war crimes was left to be decided by Konohagakure. With the eyes of all nations on Konoha Naruto was named ultimate successor to Kakashi. The last surviving Uchiha clan member busied himself in the post war period traveling the world as he said he would. This story takes place prior to Naruto becoming Hokage in the postwar period of Konoha. Naruto is preparing to become Nanadaime Hokage. He will lead the village of Konoha and pass on the Will of Fire and the teachings of his infamous teachers. In the tradition of the legendary sanin before them Team 7 are all working to surpass the previous generations and build a peaceful Shinobi world. This story is Post War Post 699.99 (Or AU Post Series). The main couples are NaruSaku, SasuKarin, SaiIno and ShikaTema.

000

Nightmare Begins

Yamanaka Ino woke in a panic, gasping for breath she sat up in bed. It took her a second to calm down and one would have thought she ran a marathon by how drenched with sweat her body was now. The nightmare felt so real to her. She replayed the scene in her head; her child was taken while she was left behind unable to move, frozen in place. It was the same nightmare all over again a nightmare of snakes.

Orochimaru was no longer a threat to the village as far as she knew. The knowledge of that did nothing to keep her from this current nightmare. She had an entrenched fear that her child would be taken from her. In the past she dreamed of motherhood but never expected to be a mother until the very moment she found out she was pregnant.

She was absolutely not going to admit to being terrified of a nightmare. She threw off the covers careful not to wake Sai. Fumbling for the nightstand she sighed realizing the glass of water she usually kept beside the bed was not there. In the darkness of night she made her way to the kitchen to get some water. The night breeze made leaves flutter around tapping the window.

Something was wrong. She couldn't stop from seeing the nightmare again. But she was awake. The sound of breaking glass echoed through the house. Sai rushed over to find his wife holding a bloodied hand under the sink. Glass and water covered the floor of the kitchen. The moonlight revealed it was much more than water.

Ino's long blonde hair hung down undone covering much of her face. Sai pushed aside her hair and noticed the tears that sprang forth in her Cyan colored eyes.

"Ino are you alright," Sai asked in a calm voice. He was unsure of the situation and his eyes darted around for any sign of an intruder in his home.

"I don't know what happened," Ino said holding the water over her wound.

"Let me take a look." Sai examined her wound for glass then wrapped a dishtowel around her hand. Her feet were also cut and bleeding and she had a large shard of glass imbedded into the soles. She must have been in shock because ordinarily someone with that injury would feel the pain of it. He scooped her up in his arms and laid her on the sofa.

"Did someone try to break in," Sai asked still wary of his surroundings.

"No. I…um…I am not sure what happened," Ino said shaking her head.

"It is ok just try to stay calm," Sai said lifting her legs and examing her wounds. There was no sign of any intruder in their home and so far no strange noise since the sound of glass breaking was heard.

Removing the glass from her foot he wrapped another towel around it. She just kept repeating that she didn't 'know what happened.' Sai wrapped a blanket around Ino's shoulders and carried her bridal style out the door of their home.

The night was freezing and clear of any cloud cover. Stars could be seen for miles a perfect view for sky watchers. Along with a handful of villagers only the nightshift Shinobi could be seen through the village. Sai rushed to get her to the hospital explaining quickly to the nurses on duty what happened. Normally she would have brushed it off telling him that she was fine but she was completely out of it.

000

Sakura was tending to patients when they heard a bit of a commotion. Nurse Kaori asked her to tend to a new patient. Sakura knew Kaori as far back as when Lee was injured during the Chuunin exams so she knew this was a serious case by the woman's expression.

"Sai what happened," Sakura asked thankful that finally she had something to do in the hospital. Lately traffic to the hospital had died down considerably.

"We're not sure. She can't remember," Sai replied. He had alook that Sakura rarely seen of panic across his features.

"Forehead! I just had a nightmare,"Ino said shaking her blonde head as if to rid herself of the images.

"A nightmare caused you to cut yourself with glass and end up in the hospital," Sakura questioned examining the wound on Ino's hand.

"Sai brought me here all I remember was going to get a glass of water. I don't remember anything else. I don't know what happened," Ino added. Her blonde hair was a bit of a mess but she still managed to look pretty despite the frightened stare she gave Sakura.

"You were cut by quite a bit of glass. Thank goodness you didn't faint or injury yourself further," Sakura flipped through the chart then went to work healing Ino's wound and removing the remaining shards of glass, "the injury is minor so you shouldn't have any worries."

"Thank you Sakura," Sai looked as if he might hug her.

"Try to at least relax," she said to Ino and the woman took a deep breath. Sakura added with a bit more understanding, "I know the nightmares seem real to you and we hate to give anyone medication when they are pregnant but perhaps an herbal remedy will help you sleep."

"I don't want to sleep," Ino protested back on edge again adding, "I know I sound like a crazy person but these aren't ordinary nightmares. Maybe some jutsu was cast on me."

These are the nightmares they mentioned at the hospital meeting. If only I paid more attention.

"Genjutsu," Sakura asked.

"Perhaps," Ino responded her large blue eyes caught Sakura's attention and she quickly added, "But we know how to fight that. I can't find a way out of this."

"Maybe you hurt yourself to take yourself out of it," Sakura reasoned.

Why didn't I pay more attention?

"She wouldn't have done that with the glass," Sai said. Sakura nodded and thought to her self that scars would definitely dissuade a person like Ino.

"Besides there are plenty of kunai knives around why not those why glass," Ino wondered aloud. Glass and snakes were all that she could see in this moment. She hated feeling so helpless against whatever was happening in her psyche. Tonight was by far the worst of the nightmares and had it not been for Sai shouting out to her who knew how badly she would have been hurt.

They talked about possible reasons for Ino's nightmares for a good amount of time. Everyone was confident that genjutsu had been used. It made little sense to attack her unless someone was after something. They spoke of many things to narrow down a list of anyone who she could have come into contact with who may use genjutsu.

Sakura's assignment was the hospitalfor the day. In the course of a fewhours cases kept coming in with people suffering minor injuries and complaining of strange nightmares. Sakura looked up at the clock remembering that she was needed on a mission and her hospital duties were over. Kakashi called Sakura on a mission away from the hospital; placing another medic-nin in Sakura's place to screen patients who came to the hospital. Sakura knew little about this new mission but it made her happy that her team could spend sometime together.

Sakura excused herself to talk to her replacement. The two spoke for a while some small talk before Sakura explained she had to be on time for her mission. Sakura quickly relayed the assignment for the day and updated the medic-nin on a few things before turning back to Ino and Sai.

"Well I have to head out for a mission but my replacement has been called in to help figure out what happened," the pinkette medic nin said placing the chart in the holder and preparing to leave.

"Great I'm a crazy person," Ino said.

"You're not a crazy person," Sai said rubbing her shoulders.

"This isn't the first case we've had here at the hospital. Tsunade-sama says she will try to help with the nightmares with a new jutsu she...developed or was it researched…anyhow she will be of great help," Sakura said as she moved out the door.

"We should try the tea for now to get her some sleep," Sai said. He wanted to talk more about Tsunade's jutsu but he also wanted Ino to get some rest. He also needed to get in contact with Yamato regarding the possible threat from Orochimaru.

"I know you have to leave Sai," Ino said holding his hand, "you should get going you'll only delay your team."

"Please get some rest and try not to argue with the doctors," he begged and kissed her goodbye. He left the room to go find Sakura he wanted to know more about Tsunade's technique. If anything Kakashi would be willing to let his mission slide but he didn't like the thought of putting off his duties.