A.N. Hello everyone, I'm back with a different story. This one takes place in the Naruto universe. Hope you like it, and please try to review! Oh, a warning: If you don't like powerful SI characters you should stop reading. Now on with the tale!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Sandman.

Rated M for swearing

Yume

By Corran Griffin

Prologue

Corran entered the mall with a spring in his step. Yesterday had been his 16th birthday, and he decided one of the first things to do with his new-found mobility would be to take a trip to the local mall's anime store. Some of his more distant relatives had sent him some money, so now he only had to decide on what to buy.

Nearing his favorite store, Corran noticed that it seemed to expand since the last time he was here, or so he thought, since directly next to it was another store, which also prominently featured anime. Deciding to check it out, Corran moved up to the window of the new place.

Hmm, he thought. I don't recognize this anime. In the windows were displays depicting an anime called "Naruto." It must have been just imported from Japan. They probably set up this new store to get people interested in it.

What Corran didn't seem to take note of was how everybody else appeared to walk by without noticing the place. Since he didn't notice the strangeness surrounding the store, he opted to get more info on this apparently new anime, so he headed into the store without a second thought. The moment he walked through the door he disappeared in a flash of light, closely followed by the exact same thing happening to the store.

oooooooooo

Corran was out like a light after the light flashed, so he wasn't able to see what happened next: his body, once unconscious, vanished from the store.

(Insert Stargate wormhole sequence here)

A new body appeared in another flash, lying sprawled out in the middle of a forest. This body, while still housing the mind of Corran, looked very different from before. For instance, instead of being 16 years old, it was now six. Another change – Corran's hair (formerly red) was now a pale shade of white. It remained the same length (down to his shoulders). His clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, were the same, but they had shrunk to fit his new body. The last two changes were the strangest. His skin tone, which used to have a healthy tan, was now as white as his hair. The most disturbing change, however, was his eyes. The entire eye socket area was now a deep black. There were no eyeballs, just an endless pool of darkness. This was the scene that a man in red robes came across as he was making his way back to his camp.

"What the hell?" the man thought out loud. "What's a brat like this doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Damn it, I guess I'll have to bring him along with me."

The man picked Corran up and continued on his way, all the while muttering obscenities about weird albinos and how he was glad he normally didn't have to deal with kids anymore.

oooooooooo

Corran slowly came to, wondering what had happened. He glanced around. What the fuck? he thought. He noticed that wherever he was, it must be somewhere near the ocean, because the only thing visible as far as he could see was some kind of mist.

"Nope, we're not by some ocean."

Corran's head whipped around, trying to locate the person who had just seemingly read his thoughts. His mouth fell open as his eyes settled on a huge gold bird with ten tails hovering a few feet away from him.

"What the hell are you, where the hell are we, and how the hell did you read my mind?" Corran yelled.

The bird fluttered down to, well, what would be the ground if there was ground in whatever place they were at.

"My name is Suzaku, and I am the almighty 10 tailed phoenix!" the bird stated with pride.

"Right. Care to explain a bit more?" Corran replied.

Suzaku sagged. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't really know me or anything. Well, I'm assuming the last thing you remember was entering that new anime store, correct?" Seeing Corran's nod, the bird continued. "Well, that was all a ruse in order for me to get you to a different world."

"What the fuck!" Corran screamed. "Why would you do something like that to me?" He didn't seem at all amazed by this statement, which most people would take to be crazy talk. Of course, this was probably because there was a HUGE FREAKING BIRD right in front of him.

"Well, you could say I'm sort of the god of this world," Suzaku said nonchalantly. "I looked into the future and didn't like the way things were going to turn out, so I decided to find someone to try and make things better. You were the first one to notice my little test," Corran assumed he meant the store, "So now you're the one who gets to help me out."

"This is insane!" Corran said. "What could I possibly do to help a whole world?"

"I can't really tell you. Rules and all that. Anyways, aside from explaining this to you, there's another reason I'm talking to you right now." Suzaku waved a wing and a full sized mirror appeared nest to him. "Take a look at yourself."

Corran walked over to the mirror, looked in, screamed in shock, and abruptly fainted. The phoenix sighed and waited about five minutes for Corran to wake up. When he did, he jumped to his feet.

"What did you do to me?" he asked. "I look like a mini version of frickin Dream of the Endless, for god's sake!"

"Most of the people who you'll meet in this world will be ninjas. In order for you to be able to help out at all, you'll have to be trained to be one as well. Most kids start learning the skills when they're six, hence the age regression. As for your appearance, well for one thing, I know you liked that character. The main reason, however, is that there are certain families in this world with what's known as a "bloodline limit." These are certain skills that only a person of that family can use; it has to do with genetics. I decided I'd give you one in order for you to be better equipped. This involves your eyes."

"What eyes?" Corran muttered. Suzaku's own set narrowed.

"Moving along," the bird shot Corran a glare, "they're called the Saimingan."

"Hypnotism eyes?" Corran murmured. "Wait, how do I know what that means?"

"Everyone in this world speaks Japanese, so I just downloaded the language into your brain. Congratulations, you're now bilingual," Suzaku said dryly. "Your new eyes have four different levels. The first level enables you to put your opponent into a trancelike state for a limited amount of time. It's kind of like a battle of wills. If you have more willpower than the enemy, he'll be in the trance longer. If the opponent is significantly weaker than you, you might even be able to have a somewhat limited control of his actions. This level is signified by a glowing blue pupil-like dot in your eyes."

Corran nodded. "Sounds good so far."

"The second and third stages of your bloodline limit kind of tie in to each other. They're also indicated by a glowing dot: red for stage two, yellow for stage three. When you use level two, you can put your opponents to sleep. How deep and how long depends once again on their strength compared to yours. A weaker person could be easily put into a coma, whereas a stronger person would probably be in for a light nap, if even that. The third level is one of the most powerful techniques, and will require a lot of training on your part to achieve. Using this level, you can actually enter and control a sleeping person's dreams. Whatever you want to happen can and will. This will also reflect in the waking world. Not physically, of course, but psychologically." Suzaku gets an introspective look (if birds can look introspective, that is) on his face. "Now that I think about it, that level has a lot in common with the Mangekyou Sharingan…" he muttered to himself.

"And what would that be?" Corran asked.

The phoenix lord came back to himself. "The highest level of a different bloodline limit. Like I said, it basically does the same thing as your third stage, but the victim has to be awake, and the user has to look into his eyes."

"Okay. Anyway, you said my eyes have four levels. What's the last one?"

"Well, that's kind of a misconception. Once you gain the third level, the fourth will be unlocked as well. It's not as all-powerful as the third level or anything, but it's still cool. Anyway, what it does is allow you to create your very own little dream area. You don't have to be asleep to do this. I suppose since we're going with a "Sandman" theme here, you could think of it along the lines of the Dreaming. You'll be able to create whatever you want there, plus you'll be able to instantly transport yourself and anyone touching you there. A star shining brightly in your eyes signifies this last stage. Since this stage is always at least subconsciously active (in order to keep your dream world from disappearing), the star will appear every now and then even when you're not in your realm. Rather like the Dream King's eyes. Bye the way, that's where we are now. This mist is all that's here right now, obviously. You won't be able to get back and change things until you reach level four."

Lots of thoughts ran threw Corran's head, most of which went something like, Cool, or Whoa. He shook himself out of his daze and looked back at Suzaku. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, one more thing. When you wake up, you'll notice a man with you. I'd highly advise you to get ninja training from this man, as he's one of the strongest shinobi on this world. If he asks who you are, give him a fake Japanese name (to sound more realistic) and say you're a refugee from Hidden Sky village. That village was completely wiped out very recently, so he shouldn't have any reason to doubt you. Also, tell him you want to get to Hidden Leaf village for the Genin exam. This shouldn't be a problem either. Oh, and as one final gift from me to you, I'm going to directly insert some basic knowledge about shinobi and this world into your brain. It will hurt like hell and knock you out," Suzaku said, entirely too cheerfully. "When you wake up, you'll be in the real world. See ya!"

The phoenix disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Corran suddenly felt great pain. Screaming, he passed out once again.

oooooooooo

This time when Corran came around, he knew what to expect. Unfortunately, something he didn't expect was the pounding headache. He looked around and saw he was somewhere in the woods. There was a small campfire burning a few feet away. He groaned as he slowly sat up. Damn bird, he thought bitterly.

"Ah, I see you're awake now, kid," a strange voice said. Corran glanced up and did a double take when he saw who the voice belonged to. It was a man probably in his fifties with long white hair and red paint below his eyes, looking somewhat like teardrops. He wore red robes and a forehead protector with the kanji for "oil" in it. From Suzaku's knowledge implant, he knew the forehead protector meant the man was a ninja.

No way. He looks like a kabuki freak, Corran thought, but he decided to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

"… Yeah… Who are you?" questioned Corran.

The man leapt up. "Glad you asked!" He started to do a little dance. Corran sweatdropped. "I am the great Jiraiya, Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin, also known as the toad sennin! Remember it!"

Corran facefaulted, a hard thing to do when you're sitting down. For the second time since he woke up, he mentally swore at the phoenix. I can't believe this is the guy I'm supposed to get to train me. He's an idiot!

Jiraiya glanced down at Corran's body, which coincidentally looked like it was bowing to him. "I see," he said solemnly. "My presence obviously overwhelms you, so you feel the need to bow down to my greatness! If only there were more like you!"

Quickly getting to his feet, Corran yelled, "Hah! You wish! In fact, I'm trying my hardest not to pass out laughing at you! You're just some crazy old man." Jiraiya looked affronted. "I can't believe I was supposed to get you to train me," Corran accidentally blurted out. Oh shit. Can't believe I said that.

Hearing this, Jiraiya got a skeptical look on his face and observed Corran carefully. Right, as if I'm going to train another punk kid, he thought. And who would tell him to find me anyway? Not that it matters, of course. There's no way he could stand up to my training, even if I did decide… his thoughts abruptly derailed when he saw Corran's eyes. What? No way! Impossible! That bloodline has been missing for at least a century! If that's real, I'll have to train him!

"Kid, before I even think of training you, you need to tell me your name," Jiraiya ordered.

Luckily, Corran had picked out a name soon after being told by Suzaku to do so. "My name's Yume. Just Yume," the newly named albino informed Jiraiya.

"Dream, eh?" Jiraiya asked, rhetorically. Damn! He doesn't have a family name, so I still don't know where his bloodline came from. "Well brat," Yume scowled at the appellation, "You have interesting eyes. Do you know anything about them?"

They were both sitting back down by the fire again.

What do I say? People will eventually find out. I might as well start with him. "There supposed to be my bloodline limit. They're called the Saimingan. I was told they have four levels."

If Jiraiya was surprised at the knowledge of the apparent six year old, he didn't show it. Hell in a hand basket! he swore to himself. It really is that bloodline. Shit! I didn't want to teach some kid again! There goes my research time.

Yume watched in amusement as Jiraiya almost broke down crying. "Hey, old man! You gonna train me, or what?"

Jiraiya smacked Yume in the back of the head. "Dumb punk, I'm not old!" he growled. "But yes, unfortunately I'm going to train you. But first, tell me a little more about yourself."

Yume explained to Jiraiya that he was a refugee from Soragakure, whose entire family had been killed when the village was razed. Jiraiya gave him a sympathetic look, which Yume ignored, since none of that really happened. Jiraiya didn't know this, however, so he assumed that Yume was trying to be strong.

When Yume was through with his speech, Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Okay! It's too late for anything tonight, but in the morning, ho ho! You'd better be ready. You wanted my training, and that's what you're going to get, whether you like it or not." With that ominous statement, Jiraiya promptly slipped into his sleeping bag and fell asleep, leaving Yume staring at the fire. A few minutes later, the extra-dimensional albino decided to hit the hay as well. He looked for another sleeping bag, before realizing that having only arrived that day, there wasn't one for him.

"Damn it, old man! Where do I sleep?" The shout was heard for miles.