Perhaps you guys don't understand the point of this story.

It's not time travel, and never was meant to be time travel.

And perhaps you don't read very key parts to many of my chapters. If you go back to #8, Chapter 7, and read it, you'll see the biggest foreshadow in the history of foreshadowing. If you don't care to go back to Chapter 7 and read the first paragraph, you don't have to, but it proves I'm not just… trolling you guys. Entirely. :P

Special thanks to Squad 3rd Seat for entertaining reviews! XD

Thanks, and keep reading! (And I might be insane when I say this… but I think Kishi is gonna do something with NaruSaku… things just aren't lining up to me… so if that means closing it off correctly, or not, I dunno...)

Chapter 20

Is it possible to reach perfection, or do we instead strive to see it in all the imperfections? Must one deposit their own heart to the war? Must one feel pain of loss in every gain? Must one love for a night, only to wake up to reality once more? As if selling their bodies, people share their stories, and with no cup to hold the leaks of a swollen heart, it covers the ground like blood. Will we come further up and further in, or will we sink and get caught up in the net bound with pity and pride?

Like a moth, we are drawn to the light… touching it only to die.

Is it possible to reach perfection, or do we instead strive to see it in all the imperfections?

xXxXx

"But I can't talk to them!" Naruto insisted, grabbing the ends of his hair. "They're fake, and I can't deal with that…" he sighed, leaning back against the wall of his apartment. "…Emi," he whispered, lonely and shallow.

Sakura watched him. Normally, he stayed with his parents, but he had gotten an apartment for himself for many reasons, one being crap like this. "Naruto, even though she's not real, you can't just not talk to them. If you created this dream… then…"

"Then you're going to have to face your own creations. Come onto even terms with your unconscious. That's probably our ride out of here," Kakashi said. They had gotten him shortly after the encounter with "Madara" and gone back to Naruto's place. "I'm sure the people outside our figuring it out too," he added.

Naruto looked sideways, his profile facing them. With furrowed brows, he stared at the wall across from him. "What of Sasuke? How will I come to terms with him?" he asked, almost bitterly. Not because of what his friend did, but because of the irony of the situation.

Sakura gave an encouraging smile, "Maybe you've already come to terms with him." She walked over to him, leaning against the wall along side the blond. "After all, you've grown up with him again. Maybe all you've got to do is face the real past with him," she said.

He nodded, looking back at her. "Thanks," he mumbled, hesitantly moving closer, only to stop and awkwardly place his head against the wall, no longer facing her.

"Ahem," Kakashi raised his eyebrows, watching his students. "Back to the main point; my biggest question is how they all are functioning independently," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head in thought.

"If we're in Naruto's dream land," Sakrua began, "Then it'll have the ripples of everything we do. Think about it, when you dream, you're still surprised it happened inside it. Your unconscious is directing everything as if it were a puppet show, and this is no different."

Naruto scrunched his face, "That's confusing to think about."

Sakura ignored him, "And that's why you can't control your dream, because you're unaware of it, your unconscious is controlling it."

"Hm, I didn't realize you could make a fully functioning society inside someone's mind…" Kakashi drawled, hinted with sarcasm.

Sakura waved her finger, "The mind is a powerful tool." She glanced at Naruto, seemingly listening to the conversation. She could tell though, no matter how convincing, that his mind was elsewhere. "Naruto," she said, his head swiveling towards her once more. "You're going to have to face some people in this dream, otherwise your subconscious will never be at ease."

Naruto sighed, looking up at Kakashi, "What about you?" the blond spoke, "Don't you have some teammate to face? My Dad? Your Dad?" he asked.

Kakashi sighed, "As much as I hate to admit it, I've come to terms with my teammates before we ever time-traveled. It's true, I murdered Rin, and it's true, Obito saved my life in exchange for his, and it's true, my sensei died in the hands of the demon fox, in the hands of Obito…" he let his eyes fall towards the window Naruto once look outside of. "But such is the life of a ninja… I suppose."

Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand, "This is your dream Naruto, even if we tried to make means with others, it's not our mind that controlling it."

He nodded, "I know… it's just hard to wrap my mind around."

xXxXx

In her room, reading a book, and calmly laying on her bed, was Emi. Training with Obito was great, but way more tiring, even if she was the daughter of the Hokage. She sat up, it was early in the morning, training would be happening in about an hour, and her brother hadn't come home all night. He wasn't on a mission, he would've mentioned that, probably bragged about it…

She took in a deep breath.

Her brother was strange, but lately he'd been acting really strange. Her Mom said it was simply because he was doing some tough training, but Kushina had never been a good liar. Even her Dad was on edge, and that was surprising. Minato was usually so calm, so collected.

There was something up, and she wasn't sure how to deal with it exactly. She didn't even know what it was… It was as if her mind could only think so much before… nothing. As she ran her hand down her face, straitening her jacket, she stood up, walking into the kitchen. There was a note on the counter.

Hey sis, I stopped by really quickly. Don't worry about me, I'm just at my own apartment… finally.

I've been busy lately, so if I can, I'll stop by later to say hi… there's been some things I wanted to

talk to you about anyway. Sorry if I worried you, but don't worry… your big bro's a strong dude

after all, and Sakura-chan's keeping close tabs on me.

No matter what, I love you…

-Future Hokage

It was strange to say the least. There were droplet stains on the paper… why? And though she knew it, it was weird to see "I love you" in a letter so simple as this. Besides, what did he want to talk about- and what's this "don't worry about me" crap? She wasn't worried about him! …Entirely. Now she might be… However, she was worried about the situation, and this letter only confirmed her suspicions. Something was definitely going on.

And she was going to get to the bottom of it.

Walking outside the door, she set out to find her brother.

xXxXx

Shikamaru looked from the window into the interrogating room where the three Shinobi sat. The flicker of the flame danced in the dull reflection, his face barely visible. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. All of them were right there in front of them, and that was all he was instructed to do; bring them together. The Nine Tails had said that they would seize when they decided to touch the seal. Whatever that meant.

He turned from the observing window and nodded to the ANBU who stood close by. "Keep watch, tell me if anything happens. Got it?" he commanded, not even waiting for a reply.

As he walked outside, he noticed it was still clouded outside, a gray hue seemed to cling to the village. It was unusual weather for the year, but he didn't think about it much, his mind was preoccupied with other things. Like awaking his friends. Becoming a Dad. A Dad… He couldn't help it when his lips tugged down. He truly wanted to be a father in his life, marry, be a successful Shinobi, have a kid, teach him about the Shinobi ways- but the thought was daunting. Being a father meant being in charge of a life. A mini life. Not just his wife and himself anymore.

Shaking his head of the thoughts, he looked up to notice he had already reached his house. Reaching for the door knob, he opened the door. Normally, at this time of day, Ino would be in the kitchen cooking, or sitting on the couch perhaps. After all, she got off work before he did, seeing as he almost never got off of work. He would go to his office like he was suppose to today, but since he sorta left things open handed with his wife and their… child… he probably should talk to her to tell her more specifically what he was thinking.

But she wasn't anywhere. He couldn't feel her chakra in the house. "Ino?" he called, even though he was positive she wasn't home. Probably got stuck at the hospital. The thought almost made his stomach turn, she was pregnant, why was she working? He hadn't even taken off his coat yet, so all he had to do was turn around and walk out. But he didn't.

He didn't know why. But he didn't.

He remembered Ino telling him to not use logic all the time, that some situations required an untouchable faith, even imagination. It wasn't that he wasn't imaginative, he was, but he lets logic trump imagination. But, on pure instinct, he hung his coat up, approaching the stairs to go into their room. As soon as he planted his foot on the first step, there was a shuffle from the hallway above him.

Quickly rushing up the stairs, he shoved open the door. "Ino!" he shouted, looking for her. He didn't know why he was so nervous, but something was eating at him. "Ino," he called again, looking from corner to corner. But nothing. The window blinds flew up from the wind outside. The storm must be picking up, he thought. He rushed to the window, only to realize a scroll had been stabbed just at the sill, dangling in the breeze.

His body tensed. His thoughts invaded by irrationality. He ripped the scroll from it's hold, opening it forcefully and scanning over it.

Congratulations are in order, Hokage, so congratulations. However, we have our own surprise for you.

Just how far will you go to get your wife back… and your unborn child?

"Shit!" Shikamaru cursed, throwing the scroll to the ground. How the hell were they able to capture Ino quietly? She was a jounin, one of the best ninja of Konoha, so who was he dealing with? Was Ino actually captured? Was this simply to rile him up? Hell, it could be Ino getting back at him. After all, there was no signs of a struggle, nothing pointed to an actual kidnapping.

But then what was that scurry? What the hell was the scurry earlier!?

Unless…

Shikamaru turned around, practically falling to the ground and crawling towards the bed, looking under the wooden frame. His eyes widened, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. There, under the bed, just in the shadows, the remaining piece of a sleep-gas bomb. Sleeping gas wasn't in Konoha, they hadn't developed the technology correctly, the only people who used sleep gas were the Sound, and robbers or assassins often bought weapons from the Sound village.

Picking up the little piece of metal, a small clip-like thing, he shoved it into his pocket and twiddling it between his fingers. She was put to sleep, probably while taking a rest, or even gazing out the window. The image of Ino sitting on the edge of the bed as she always does, looking out the window contently. It pulled at his heart-strings. This was all happening too fast, and nothing made sense. How was someone even able to get inside of this place? ANBU were almost constantly scouting it!

ANBU.

ANBU often traveled to the sound. They also took left-over weapons from the bodies of enemy ninja, seeing how they were made, even duplicating them.

This was the ANBU. He knew it was them. It made sense, coming in without much hesitation, probably sneaking up on Ino and the baby. The baby. Dammit, he swore he'd get to the bottom of this.

xXxXx

Naruto walked along-side Sakura, his hand daring to take hold of her small and delicate one. Not delicate, he corrected himself, destructive. He chuckled quietly, enjoying his thought process.

"What'cha laughing about?" Sakura questioned, looking up at him.

He looked to her, a growing grin on his face, "Just thinking."

Sakura shook her head, "That's not good," she mused.

"Neh, Sakura-chan, you're mean…" Naruto flipped his grin into frown, quickly turning back towards the road. He let his thoughts wander again, thinking go what had been happening the past few … well hours. If this was all his dream, then what were the other people? Memories? What? He looked down at Sakura again, and she must have felt his stare because she looked back up to him once more.

"What?" she asked, a bit tentatively.

"Well," he started, using his other hand to catch the back of his head, "I was just thinking about these people. Are they memories? They can't be, if they function on their own. So… what? Are they, I dunno, ideas? Inspirations? Epiphanies?"

"I'm surprised you know that word," Sakura teases, but the tease didn't last long. She furrowed her brows as she soaked in what he was asking. "I suppose they'd be your subconscious. You can't control your subconscious, and no one can, so they must be… reflections of your subconscious."

"So.. they're… they're all me!?" His eyes widened in shock as he gazed indulgently at the people walking around. "That's ridiculous!" he said.

Sakura scoffed, "Well it's only an idea, I'm not sure if I'm actually right."

It was silent for a moment, and he took the time to look back at her, a large smirk growing on his features. "You know…" he said, coming to a stop, leaning closer to Sakura as if she were prey.

"What?" she quietly replied. He continued to get closer and closer, looking over her, from her eyes to her lips, but not daring to go below her neck-line. "Naruto!" she whispered sharply, trying to get his attention.

His smirk was steady as he lowered his face down to hers, slowly and yet gracefully capturing her lips. They had only kissed a few times, but he had seemed to memorize how they fit together. Sakura, at first, was hesitant, tense, and a bit awkward. She wasn't expecting to be so… open about their predicament. No, predicament was the wrong word… but at the moment, it felt like one.

But when he pulled away, he still wore that damn smirk.

"If they're all my subconscious," he begins, pressing his forehead to hers, "Then they already know about this."

Sakura reddened, "N-not exactly, Naruto. The subconscious is something you can't control, and the reflections know only what you want them to know. Unless directly told otherwise-"

He leaned forward again, kissing her. "I'm pretty sure I don't mind them knowing about this…" he whispered, bring his hands to her face and gently rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs.

And here's another chapter. Not too long of a wait this time, but I still apologize for the slow updates. Anyway, thanks for reading guys!

(Don't forget to check out my AMVs! Link in profile!)

-LovelySheree