Dreams of Passion turned into Reality

by Zowieyaoi

Dream have a stronger hold on us than we think. Dreams can even tell us who our Soulmates are. Naruto has yet to have seen that dream, but he hopes to. So in the meantime he does his best to help others find their Soulmates as the son of the 4th Hokage. Problem is, it's not his job. It's the job of the Dream Empath. Rating it actually between T and M

10. Chapter 9: Until the Exams

Dreams of Passion turned into Reality, Chapter 9; Until the Exams.

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Kurenai's Team, Asuma's Team, Gai's Team, and Kakashi's team were at the Hyūga Estate. All of them had just learnt that they will be participating in the upcoming Chûnin Exams. Which will start in four days.

Kakashi was telling everyone that while they should try to pass the Chûnin Exams, they MUST also protect Neji at all cost, since he's a Dream Empath.

"Sensei-sama, I do not need any protection. I am perfectly capable of defending myself, besides I'm not going in anyone's Dream Plain during the Chûnin Exam," Neji stated sternly. He was pretty peeved because his sensei was, somewhat, treating him like a small child.

Kakashi sighed and said "That may be true, but you are my protégé and the one who will be taking my place as the Dream Empath of Konohagakure one day. I'm also well aware that there are people who would do anything to get a Dream Empath, and events like the Chûnin Exams are perfect times for these people to strike." Neji eyed the ground.

Naruto clenched his fist. He remembers Bridge Mission all to clearly. How that Gatō used to villagers as bait to lure Kakashi, the pain his sensei was in, and especially the aftermath. Haku lost his most precious person in the world because of that rotten bastard.

Asuma told all of the Genins to basically train their asses off.

"Asuma-senei! Watch the language! There's a baby present," Kiba stated as he rocked the stroller. Ziv was sleeping peacefully in the stroller, completely unaware of the foul word.

Asuma rubbed the back of his head and said "Sorry."

Kurenai glanced at the dog-nin and bug-nin and said "I understand that the two of you are new parents and all, but you can leave Ziv with a family member while you train."

"Can't. Ma's training some of the pups that are of age, Sis is real busy at her veterinary clinic, and Shibi's still on that mission so he's not home," Kiba said when he stopped rocking the stroller. Shino added that Haku was currently applying to be an advance student at the Ninja Academy.

"Would some of the older dogs watch Ziv?" Ino asked the two new parents. She thought that it was a good idea. "No," Kiba and Shino stated at the same time. A little too quickly according to anyone's opinion. Sakura raised a brow when Kiba said "Don't ask."

"Anyway," Gai said with a small smile before adding "Shall we start training?" Everyone agreed to that. Baby Ziv rolled his head to one side as he continued to sleep.

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After about an hour of training, everyone heard baby Ziv cooing happily. Everyone turned to the stroller.

An older version of Shino was cradling the cooing baby in his arms.

"Father!" Shino said at the same time Kiba said "Shibi-san!"

Aburame Shibi looked up at the other ninjas and said "Some of the Shinobis at the Mission Hall told me that you took in this little one in when I got there. So I had to see the child for myself."

"You're... Not upset that we adopted him?" Shino said wirily.

Shibi shook his head and said "No, it was your choice to do so. Besides, this little one has a good amout of chakra, so implanting a Kikaichū hive in him shouldn't be much of a problem when he's older." Ziv happily cooed as he reached up and grabbed Shibi's oversized collar.

"Sooo," Kiba started, then said "You wouldn't mind watching him when we're taking the Chûnin Exams?"

"Not at all. In fact, it gives me time to bond with this little one," Shibi said as he rocked his new grandson, whom was giggling happily.

Well, that's one thing not to worry about during the Exams.

}i{ }i{ Two Days Later }i{ }i{

Naruto was babysitting, or rather, watching Sarutobi Hiruzen's grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru, and his team. Their sensei had the day off and the former 3rd Hokage asked the 4th Hokage's son to watch his grandson's team in the meantime, with a good pay.

Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were practicing some of their basic jutsu as Naruto watched them, making sure they were actually doing their jutsus. Things were fine until Konohamaru missed his target and the kuni he was throwing flew off into a semi wooded area.

Well... This is why they're practicing...

Konohamaru was about to go after the kuni when two strangers walked up to the group with the kuni in hand. Based on the fact that the two had headbands that stated that they were from the Sunagakure area, Naruto figured that they were here for the Chûnin Exams.

"Sorry," Konohamaru said with a dusting of red on his cheeks.

The one in black tossed the kuni back at Konohamaru, whom caught it pretty easily, and said "Next time, practice away from people. Unless you want that kuni to actually to go into YOUR neck."

Naruto then snapped at the duo "Oi, that was uncalled for! He's only a student ninja!"

The Sunagakure in black scoffed and stated "Whatever." The blond girl looked at Naruto and ask "Aren't you the son of the current Hokage?" Naruto folded his arms and stated "I am, what about it?"

The blond girl tugged on the guy in black's arm and said "Kankurō, let it go. We don't need to get on Konoha's bad side right now, beside's we're guests here." The teen in black huffed and said "Seriously, Temari?" The blond waked the war-painted teen in the head and dragged him off.

Naruto watched them head off. The blond figured he'd need to keep an eye on them.

}i{ }i{ Two Hour Later }i{ }i{

Naruto was walking Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi into Konoha General Hospital to meet a classmate of theirs, when they ran into Kakashi.

"Evening, Kakashi-Sensei, what brings you here?" Naruto asked curiously. His team leader seemed fine, so why was he here? Kakashi's visible eye sparkled when he said "Just finished seeing a client. He had to come here for an appointment, so I met him here after that appointment."

Ah, that made sense.

The next thing Kakashi, Naruto, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi knew, the sound of a stretcher echoed through the hall. They moved out of the way of the oncoming emergency response that was pushing the stretcher. The blond quickly recognized the person on the stretcher pretty quickly.

It was Lee! And he was in pretty bad shape.

That's when the group heard the sounds of Lee's team trying to keep up with the stretcher, telling the green clad teen to hold on and to stay with them. Team Gai had to stop when the stretcher passed a set of doors. Gai and Tenten were obviously worried, but Neji... Naruto could actually see that the Hyūga seemed very distraught. Neji had his hands covering his mouth and he was visibly shaking.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as he and Naruto walked up to the group. "Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-kun..." Tenten said when she saw the two while Neji said "Sensei-sama..."

Next thing everyone knew, there was some chirping sound. Naruto looked down to see three finches, hopping and chirping around Neji's feet. 'How'd those get in here?' the blond wondered before he noticed that another finch materialized out of thin air. Apparently, Kakashi saw them too when he asked for Gai, Tenten, and Neji to tell him the whole story and asked what happened to Lee.

So the three did.

They explained that they were doing some training on the Hyūga estate. Explained that Gai offered to treat them to lunch, and that Neji tried to refuse but his father told him to go. So they left the estate to head to where Gai was going to treat them. They explained that some group of bandits thought that Neji was the Hyūga heir and used a flash bomb to kidnap him. They explained how Lee, Tenten, and Gai managed to track them down to their hideaway (wasn't too hard, they left a obvious trail). They explained how Lee volunteered to distract the bandits while Tenten and Gai freed Neji. They also explained how all 15 bandits ganged-up on Lee by using some kind of paralyzing gas and practically beat him to a pulp.

"That was when your Dream Defense awoke?" Kakashi asked as he placed a hand on his protégé's shoulder. Neji sniffed and said in a shaky tone "I-I-I t-told them to s-stop, but..." The Hyūga hiccuped and buried his face into Kakashi's chest. The Dream Empath rubbed his protégé's back, trying to sooth him.

Tenten decided to finish off the explanation "I'm pretty sure that it was Neji's Dream Defense, because the next thing we all realized was that we were surrounded by birds of all kinds." "The raptor birds started attacking all of the bandits a-a-and all of the doves started landing on Lee and turning into bandages," Gai said, trying his best to explain what happened.

Kakashi closed his visible eye and said "Neji, I told you that every Dream Empath's Dream Defense awakens when they NEED it, meaning that they have to feel like they have absolutely no other option in a life-or-death situation. You felt like you had no option when Lee's life was in danger, so your Dream Defense awoke."

Neji hiccuped and said "But..." Kakashi quickly hushed his protégé and said "Lee might be hurt, but he's still alive, and knowing him, he'll be up on his feet before you know it." Tenten thought the older Dream Empath was simply saying that to calm the Hyūga down, but the look in his visible eye told otherwise.

"Why..." Neji asked softly, gripping Kakashi's vest. "Why would he would use his own life to save mine?" the Hyūga added softly. "You are his teammate, and his friend," Gai said with a small smile. The Green Beast knew he couldn't tell the younger Dream Empeth the truth just yet. "He... Considers me a friend? Even after the way I treated him?" Neji asked in a soft curious tone. "Lee has a big heart, a tad naive, but it's in the right place. And I'm pretty sure that heart is what saw you as a friend," Kakashi said placing a hand on the Hyūga's head.

Naruto couldn't help but see the similarity Kakashi had with his own father, but then again... 'Dad was Kakashi's mentor," the blond thought as he watched the older Dream Empath sooth the younger.

The doctor came out of the operating room and told the group that Lee was going to be alright, but because of the nature of the injuries, Lee wasn't going to be able to participate in the Chûnin Exams or go on any missions until he is completely healed. "Gai, don't worry, Lee will be fine. Besides, he can participate in the next Chûnin Exams," Kakashi said, doing his best to prevent Gai from doing one of his overdramatic outbursts.

"He can also watch the final part of this Chûnin Exams, if the doctors give him permission to," Naruto stated with a small smile. Gai calmed down pretty quickly after hearing that.

The finches were chirping happily in the ground.

Kakashi looked at the little birds and said "I'm going to have to restrict your access to your Dream Defense until the Chûnin Exams are done." "Can you do that?" Naruto asked curiously. The blond wasn't all that familiar with this kind of thing, but it seemed weird that the older Dream Empath said he could do what he said he could do. Kakashi glanced at Naruto and said "Yes, but only on certain levels. I cannot make a Dream Defense dormant or erase it, but I can make it so that Neji doesn't accidentally use it during the Chûnin Exams."

Okay, that makes more scenes.

Kakashi gently placed a hand on Neji's head. Both of their eyes closed for a minute or so, before opening them again. The finches faded away slowly into a soft mist before disappearing completely. "There, I can re-awaken it once the Chûnin Exams ends," the older Dream Empath said as he patted the younger on the head. Neji buried his face into Kakashi's chest. The silver haired man turned to his allies and told Naruto and Tenten "I know one of the points of these Exams is to pass, but... Because Neji is a Dream Empath, I need you and the other Konohagakure Genins to protect him as best and as discretely as possible." Tenten and Naruto nodded as the blond said "That will be our #1 priority."

Kakashi knew the blond meant it.

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Today was the day of the Chūnin Exams...

Kurenai's Team, Asuma's Team, Gai's Team, and Kakashi's team were standing outside the building where the start of the Exams was being held. Minato and Kushina were there too, telling the four teams do their best, and also telling their son not to step on any toe of the visiting teams. "Mom, Dad, I'm not going to do anything like that," Naruto said with a pout, causing the other Genins to snicker (well, minus Shino and Sasuke).

The 4th Hokage noticed the bags under the younger Uchiha's eyes and asked "Sasuke-kun, did you get enough sleep last night?" Kakashi placed a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder and said "Just an unpleasant nightmare." Sasuke looked up at the older Dream Empath when he said "They're not that bad at the moment, but I want you to come to me if that nightmare comes back or gets worse." The Uchiha understood.

Asuma told his team to actually try during the Exams, Kurenai told her team to remember their basic training, and Gai told his team to attack the challenge with youthful energy.

With that, the four teams entered the building.

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To be Continued...

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