"Naruto?"

He opened his eyes slowly at her voice and looked over. Something hurt when he did and he paused for a moment to let his head clear.

"Easy," Sakura said softly.

"What happened?" he muttered from his space on the ground.

"The monster threw us into here and then…" she trailed off. Naruto looked at her eyes and frowned.

"He got her again," Naruto replied, slowly pushing himself off the ground. He took in the surroundings and frowned. Several people were staring at him.

"It's okay now," Sakura told them, helping Naruto stand. "We're sorry for the trouble we caused."

Naruto tried to add something but Sakura quickly dragged him outside the store and into the main hallway. "A shopping mall?" Naruto asked as he glanced around.

Sakura nodded. "It was really strange. I was asleep on the bench and then I saw you. Everyone was standing around you saying you had just fainted."

"And Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shook her head. "I didn't see him."

"That's because I was on the other side." The two jumped and turned to see Sasuke standing there looking at them. "Look around, what does this remind you off?"

Sakura looked around, noting the row of shops that lined the second floor of the mall. "It's like the street we were just on," she whispered. "How much time passed this time?"

Sasuke glanced at his watch. "Two hours."

"So it's late evening now," Sakura said. "We need to start making notes. There has to be a pattern in here somewhere."

"There's a stationary store over there," Naruto pointed. The trio quickly went in that direction, purchasing some paper and writing utensils. On Naruto's suggestion, they ambled towards a food court and got something to eat while they hashed out the problem.

"So, where do we start?" Naruto asked, sipping from his drink.

"We start with the last thing we remember," Sakura said. "All of us woke up in the middle of class and none of us remembered getting there."

"Or several days before that," Sasuke added. "I remember a bit about yesterday but nothing concrete."

"Something about a trip," Naruto frowned, scratching his head. "Were we on a mission?"

"Maybe," Sakura whispered. "We're assuming that this is all an illusion. If we met a person who was highly skilled in genjutsu, he could have trapped us here."

"What about our bodies?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shrugged. "If he wanted to kill us, I think we would already be dead. And then the illusion wouldn't exist."

"What if we were captured," Sasuke suggested, trying not to sound too disgusted with the idea. "Could this be some form of torture?"

Sakura paused. "If it was torture without purpose, then yeah, it could be. Only, I don't see the point. Torture is really only used if they're trying to extract information from you and no one in this world has asked us about anything that would be of use to an enemy."

Sasuke frowned. "Unless they were just sadistic."

Sakura looked at him. "You said it yourself. There's no way Itachi could create a world this complex."

"I say forget how we got here," Naruto interjected. "Let's think about how the hell to get out."

Sakura switched her attention back to him. "You're right. Once we're out of here, we can deal with whoever put us here." She opened the notebook and gave him it with a pencil. "Every good genjutsu creates an illusion that makes the victim believe it's real. But humans can only create a certain level of complexity in an imaginary world. Things start to repeat and if we can find those repetitions then we can find a way to break out."

"In this world or the other?" Naruto asked.

"Both," Sakura replied. When he still looked confused she struggled to think of something to use an example.

"The monster," Sasuke stated. "Each time we've gone there, it's grown two extra limbs."

Sakura nodded to Naruto to write it down. "That's a good one. It's safe to say, if we end up in that world again, the monster will eventually have six limbs to worry about."

Naruto smiled as he continued to scribble. "And if we know that, it can't take us by surprise anymore and maybe we can save Hinata."

"That's another thing," Sakura said. "It's consistently after Hinata. That's how we can exit the nightmare world. Forcing someone in this world to see what is 'against the rules' sends us to it."

"So do we avoid that other world?" Naruto asked.

Sakura frowned. "I don't know. It's a horrible place but… it's the result of us trying to break the illusion. If we want to completely dispel this genjutsu it might have to be done from there."

"We should be more prepared though," Sasuke said.

"I agree, only it seems like we can't take our weapons from this world to the other and vice versa," Sakura said.

"Yeah, we could have used that axe from your house last time," Naruto added.

"Your house is here?" Sasuke inquired.

Sakura nodded hesitantly. "Everything from our lives is here."

"But reversed. Is that a pattern?" Naruto asked.

"It is," Sakura replied. "It's more of a pattern across our real world and this one."

"So maybe the answer is here," Sasuke said. Sakura and Naruto fell into silence as they contemplated it. As much as all three of them wanted to believe that the answer was not in the Nightmare, somewhere in the back of their minds, they knew it was their only way out.

"Naruto!"

Naruto blinked up and watched as his posse from school approached. They shot a few distasteful looks at Sakura and Sasuke before concentrating on him.

"Naru-kun," Tenten purred, quickly sitting on his lap. "Lose the rejects and come hang with us."

As discretely as possible, so as not to break the illusion, Naruto maneuvered himself out of the seat and away from her into a standing position. "Ah… I was just working on something," he laughed, shoving the notebook at Sasuke.

"If it's homework maybe you should stay," Kiba added.

"Its fine," Naruto said, making sure his tone was believable. "Let's just go."

The group moved away, leaving Sakura and Sasuke in silence. Sakura took the chance to just watch her blonde teammate, stifling a laugh at his antics. Even in such a grave situation, Naruto's natural self always came to the surface.

"It's exactly what he wanted," Sasuke said suddenly.

Sakura blinked and looked over at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The popularity. Look at everyone staring at him. It's like his dream come true."

"Do you think… that's what this is?" Sakura whispered. He glared at her but she pressed on. "It's just… to have your brother... like in the picture…"

"And your dream is to be an unpopular, illiterate outcast?" he retorted.

Sakura flinched slightly. "I guess not."

"This isn't what we've always wanted," Sasuke continued. "It's just someone's twisted form of a joke."

She frowned and looked over at Naruto. "But he looks so happy." She looked back at Sasuke. "You don't think, that maybe, this could be Orochimaru?"

Sasuke paused for a few minutes. "No," he replied. "This isn't his style." He stood up. "We're wasting time. We should map out this area in case one of us trips the nightmare trap."

"Oh… okay…"

"You go left, I'll take right," he finished before walking away.

Sakura sat at the table with a little sigh. She had messed it up again. Of all the things to bring up, why did she have to remind Sasuke of his transgression against them? It only ever pissed him off to be reminded of that.

She finally got up and started to wander the mall in the direction he had ordered her. Reaching the other end, she looked down the long corridor and realized it was the furthest from him she could be in this situation. That was probably what he wanted.

With a sigh, she leaned back only to press down on the handle of a door. It creaked a bit but swung backwards, revealing a back hallway. She peeked inside and made sure no one was coming. When the coast was clear, she slipped through.

The walls were monochromatic, the dull beige color that was used in most maintenance areas in Konoha. She moved silently down the hall, trying to avoid anyone who might show up. But there was no one around. The steady rumble of the heating system drowned out any noise from the mall itself.

She retraced the map in her mind and tried to follow a path that should lead her across the mall. With any luck, she could exit at the end Sasuke should be in.

Something down the hall fell onto the ground and she moved quickly behind a stack of boxes. She glanced around for anything that might be used as a weapon and found a mop left near the boxes. A quick movement and she had the ragged thing in her hands, preparing for an attack.

A shadow fell on the floor and she waited as it grew longer. A shoe appeared and she attacked only to find it repelled. She was pushed back against the wall and struggled a bit before the familiar voice cut in the air.

"Sakura."

She blinked and looked up at her attacker. Sasuke frowned as he pressed his hands against her mouth to prevent her from screaming. "You found a door too?" he asked. She nodded. "There was someone in one of the rooms down the hall so don't make a sound." She nodded again and he slowly let his hand drop.

He took her arm and slowly led her around the boxes until they reached a corner. He pointed around the corner and she quickly leaned over him to get a look. Sure enough, there was an office down the way, television blaring. The sign over the door was garbled to her but Sasuke saw her confusion.

"Security," he whispered. "If we can get in there, there are probably cameras all over the place that we could use to…"

"Hey!"

Sakura jumped at the strange voice but Sasuke simply grabbed her hand and started down the hall. Over her shoulder, Sakura could see the security guard yelling at them as they tried to get away. For a moment, Sakura thought she recognized the face but Sasuke had already pulled her outside the door and back into the main mall.

They moved quickly, hiding in a nearby clothing shop and waited until the security guard had passed. Sakura let out a sigh as soon as he was gone and looked to Sasuke for his next direction. But he was staring at the woman at the counter.

Sakura eyed the woman carefully before she saw why Sasuke had paused. There were subtle things mostly, the color of her eyes, the shock of blonde hair, even the structure of her face. It was like Naruto's sexy no jutsu in middle age form.

"Oh!" she jumped seeing the two of them. "I know you," she smiled. "You're some of Naruto-kun's classmates aren't you."

Somehow Sakura managed to nod in response. The woman's smile increased and nodded. "I thought that was you, Haruno-san. I'm sorry about your parents," she said softly. Sasuke looked over at her but Sakura had bowed in thanks.

"You haven't seen my son have you?" she asked.

Sakura was dumbfounded but Sasuke managed to get an answer out. "Not for a while."

She nodded. "It's fine. His father went to look for him. I'm sure they'll find each other." She walked forward a bit and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "If you need anything, please let us know."

Sakura couldn't respond, she just watched the beautiful woman leave and stood there like a fool.

"We need to find Naruto," Sasuke stated, his voice relaying his own discomfort with the situation.

He started to walk away but Sakura grabbed his hand. "Should we?" she asked. "I mean… that woman… she's probably everything Naruto wanted his mother to be."

"So?"

"So shouldn't we… at least let him get the chance to see her." She said. "I don't think that it would trigger the nightmare."

He looked at her as he thought over the situation. It was all an illusion, he repeated to himself. These parents of Naruto's were no more real then Itachi had been. And the lie could hurt more then the truth.

"No," he said finally.

"Why not?" she asked.

He paused, trying to find a way to convince her but only the truth came to his head. "Because he shouldn't have to see what could have been."

Sakura blinked and looked at him. "Sasuke-kun…" she whispered realized he was talking about himself as well. He didn't say anything but waited for her to speak first. She did so with a firm nod. "Let's go find him, then."

They left the store and it wasn't until several minutes later that she realized she'd never let go of Sasuke or more importantly, he had never tried to get her to.

"There," Sasuke said, motioning to the crowd bustling through the mall. Naruto was barely visible in the middle of group but his laughter trickled down to them. Quickly, they found the nearest escalator and bounded up to him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called just as he felt Sakura being ripped away from him.

He turned around and came face to face with the security guard. A long scar ran across his face and he was gripping Sakura tightly enough to make her eyes water.

"Iruka…" Sasuke whispered.

"Damn teenagers," Iruka spat. "Always causing problems. They should lock you all up until you're adults."

"Let me go," Sakura cried, trying to get free but only succeeding in hurting herself more. Sasuke advanced but Iruka had grabbed the night club at his side and hit him across the face.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried.

"Did you see that?" Iruka demanded of her. "He tried to attack me!" he continued to yell, making sure the people in the mall had heard him. Sasuke tried to stand up but Iruka was faster, tossing Sakura away and against the guard rail.

He raised the club to attack again but someone caught his arm. Iruka looked down and found Naruto digging into his hand.

"Fuck what happens," Naruto said, smashing his fist into Iruka's cheek. "You're not him." Naruto yelled, kicking the fallen guard in the side. "Get out of his body, you monster. Bring the nightmare on, I want to be able to kick your ass for thinking you could use Iruka-sensei like that."

Iruka smiled beneath the blood and the world started to warp. The noise came next and Naruto fell to the ground never losing his stare with the pseudo-Iruka and never seeing the tall blonde man behind them trying to call out to his son.