A/N: Ok, I can't tell you how much trouble I had with this chapter! I tried repeatedly over the past, how long has it been? Six months? To get back to this project, but I was blocked. So, over the past month or so I entirely revamped what was going to be in this chapter and started over. And then it was still an up-hill climb from there. --;;

Anyway, here is the next chapter. I made it pretty long partially to make up for how long I have been gone. (I'll try not to disappear for quite that long again.) I made this chapter a bit more tense and serious since it has been very light-hearted as of late, so I hope you like this little turn, though the next chapter should be a bit lighter again. Hope you like it.

-Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi-

"…" speech

("italics") thought

boom sound effects

Chapter 6: Living in Dreams

Domp. Domp. Domp.

Pa Da Pa Da Pa Da.

A small girl, no older than four absent-mindedly admired the great long strides taken by the man beside her and the soft sounds he made upon the earth. She was always amazed at how large and great he was, how great and strong her father was.

Right now, he was holding her hand, walking along the hidden path through the trees to the village. She had to reach a great distance it seemed just to grab his gloved hand, but she didn't mind. She loved to hang onto those big hands that engulfed her own in their warmth. She opened her eyes, dark blue like his, which she had closed to listen to the sound. She looked up at him. He was looking ahead, but she was happy, walking along with her father, her hand in his.

She looked ahead just as they came out of the shade of the trees. She shielded her eyes from the light until they had adjusted. Down the hill below her, she saw the village, teeming with people going this way and that, absolutely buzzing with activity. They were celebrating the holiday with a festival that went up and down many of the main streets. There were carts with games and food and bright banners everywhere. Her face lit up. There were just so many people! Well, a lot compared to her secluded home in the woods anyway.

Her father glanced down at her and saw the look of awe which made her wide eyes sparkle. He proudly smiled down at his little daughter, to whom he said in his quiet and kind voice that didn't match his rough exterior, "Look close, Tsuyu. This is only part of what we shinobi protect." At that, he patted her head lightly. Tsuyu was very young, but she understood. It was the same way she could understand her father even though he spoke very little. It wasn't just a thought, it was a feeling, 'I want to protect something like this, this place where people grow and live and die, a place where one can be happy to spend all their lives.'

That was Konoha, the village hidden by the leaves.

Tsuyu gave only a knowing smile back to her father. That was their connection, they always understood, words were never necessary. They were father and daughter, so alike in appearance and temperament. Both had black hair and those deep blue eyes. All of her features resembled her father's although they were softer, more feminine. However, she was paler, her complexion the one trait she inherited from her mother. She was also strong, like him. Even at four, she already could throw a kunai very accurately, quite an achievement for her age. But that was part of her dream. She wanted to be like her father. To be strong enough to protect the ones she loved, and to protect Konoha like he did. That was her dream.

All of this was understood by the other without a word. That's just how they were. Words were never necessary. So they stood there and looked out over the village and listened to the people bustling about and the wind in the trees behind them.

But then, suddenly, all the noises were gone. The birds, the wind, the people below, the noises were all gone. Tsuyu was puzzled and scared and looked to her father, but he hadn't moved. He hadn't noticed how everything went quiet. Next, her father's face began to fade before her eyes and everything went black.

Many images went by quickly in the darkness which she couldn't make out, but she could feel them. Some were painful, pitch black, while others shined and made her feel warm.

And then it all stopped, and she felt cold, but… but it wasn't the world around her that was cold. It was something inside of her. The blackness was still there, or was it? It was certainly dark, wherever she was, and very familiar. She stood there, very still, and then all at once she knew where she was and what was going to happen and the coldness inside of her grew. Then, it happened.

Her hands began to ache and she clutched them to her sides. But, then the feeling spread. Spread? It wasn't supposed to spread! No! Now her whole body hurt and she was on her knees. At first it was an ache, but then it got worse. Now, it felt like knives! She tried to stand, to go get help, to go get her father. She failed the first time, but the second time, she managed to stand on her own legs. She struggled as she tried to move through the hall. Wait! She knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't stop herself. Her body had to do this; she had to live it again.

The pain surged up again and she collapsed against the wall. She couldn't move anymore, it was simply impossible through the pain. So, she screamed. She screamed for her Father.

But then everything started coming apart. Everything in front of her eyes, all that she knew was there in the darkness started falling down around her. And then there was her father, just a few feet away in the dark. He was screaming too, but she couldn't make it out. Everything was falling to pieces; everything was growing darker than it already was. She couldn't see her father anymore and she screamed.

"Daddy!"

Tsuyu woke up with a start. She was panting, gulping down air, as if she really had been screaming. She wiped her forehead and found that she was covered in an eerie cold sweat. Her whole body felt weak.

As she propped herself up a little better against the trunk and calmed her breathing, she noticed that she still felt cold, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had slept in a tree all night. This cold was inside her. She looked down at her gloved hands next and saw that they were trembling harshly. She wrung her hands repeatedly until she took notice of something. On the back of her hands, carved into the plates were symbols, symbols greatly similar to the sign which adorned her back, only they were more detailed. She lost herself in them, studying each line and angle, even though her hands still shook.

(Why? Why did I have to have that dream?)

It was the call of a bird that brought her back to life. In the dull light she looked up and found the origin of the sound just above her, perched farther up the tree, and it, oddly enough, was looking back. The bird, red-breasted and shining, fluffed itself and dropped one lone feather on her lap. She knew what this meant. It was a call from Tsunade. It took a moment for her mind to come back to the present. That's right. The call must be about last night.

As she became more aware of her surroundings, she looked out over the cleared expanse of grass below her to see a very pink horizon. It was almost dawn. She sat there as the sun rose and the land before her began to shine from the new light, but she took little notice. Her hands were still shaking violently. She struggled with herself for several minutes, unsuccessfully trying to stop her trembling, clenching and unclenching her fists. All that time, her face was tense, perturbed with her inability to control her body.

When her hands had finally calmed to a low tremor she took her mask, blank with two slits for eyes and examined it carefully. She then turned it back around and placed it carefully over her face from which it had slipped over the night. As her hands fell from her face, they were steady.

She got up slowly and stood on the branch that had been her bed and looked out once more.

The tall grass in the clearing before her began to wave in the wind and each blade reflected the light of the pink morning sun. The effect was glorious. It was as if the earth had become jealous of the sea and had set to imitating it.

Tsuyu, now "Ghost" under the mask, jumped down from her perch and walked forward into the light. She began to wade through the green sea slowly, which came to her mid-thighs. As she strode through it, she extended her hand and caressed each blade with her exposed fingertips.

She was about in the middle of the clearing when she stopped. Her head turned and looked around a little, but her body remained still. A small drop slide down her chin and fell, free from the confines of the mask.

"Father," she said softly.

With that, she disappeared.

XXXXXXXX

A little later in the day when the sun had managed to clear the tops of the trees, something orange, something red, and something blue were uncovered from the cool shadows of the morning and they happened to be three very tired somethings.

As the three Genin laid their chins upon the railing of the familiar bridge where they frequently met their sensei, their mouths gaped and they all yawned and then stared at the shimmering water below them. Each of their faces was a mask of apathy as they found that their early starts were for nothing. A messenger had been sent to notify team seven that their sensei had not yet returned from his mission, though they had no reason to worry, and that their duties for the day had been canceled. If only they had known that sooner… they all could have used the sleep.

"Now what?" Sakura mumbled. It was obvious from the purple bags under her eyes that she definitely did not get her "beauty sleep."

"Sleep…." Naruto murmured as he pushed away from the bridge and began to scuffle sleepily in the direction of his apartment. The sun may have been up, but it was still a little early for his sunny disposition.

He had barely gotten a step when Sakura reached out and pulled Naruto back by his collar. Her eyes were heavy-lidded and scary as she set a death-glare on Naruto. "That's not what I'm talking about, Idiot. I mean after last night!" Sakura at least had revived enough to scold Naruto as she normally did, though she was aggravated beyond normal capacity due to her lack of sleep. "We managed to get in and out, but we were almost caught! We could still be caught!"

"Un." Sasuke grunted in agreement with Sakura. His face had his usual scowl, hands intertwined before his mouth, but his eyes were closed as he faced the water.

Naruto just glowered at them both and muttered to himself. "You guys seemed to be fine with the idea last night…."

However, Sakura did not relent. "And now what do we do? What will happen if we are caught? Gah! I don't want to be stuck as a Genin forever!" (Another death-glare in Naruto's direction.)

"Un." Sasuke tiredly agreed again.

"I can't be a Genin forever either! And how am I supposed to know what to do?" Naruto yelled at the two, huffed, and roughly set himself back on the railing, head on his crossed arms.

They stayed like that in a tense silence for a time, staring at the water. The atmosphere around them was so dense with killing intent that half the Jounin in the village could have sworn the village was about to be attacked by an army.

Naruto, of course, was the first to speak after several minutes. His anger had faded, or at least it had changed from rage to agitation. "I just can't believe we didn't find anything."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched dangerously. Naruto's anger may have ebbed away, but hers was far from gone. She could at least speak calmly this time, "Naruto, it was a long shot to begin with. You expected to find information on one person out of all the people in this entire village in one night. Idiot…." (although speech was deliberately cold and condescending.)

The railing shook as Naruto put his fist down and stood straight. "Then we break in again!" There was that resolute look in his eyes again….

It was true that Sakura had agreed to the plan the first time around, but this was a different situation all together. Before they had tried to break in, they were confident in their skills, prepared to get caught if it meant they could find something. Sakura wouldn't admit it now in her bad mood, but she believed that, last night, it might have actually been plausible that they could have gotten some information on this mysterious girl, even if it was a long shot, which she knew from the beginning. But they had failed. By chance, it seemed, they had too little time. To try again would be suicide, since now Tsunade would know that someone had broken into her office and more guards were more than guaranteed. Also, the attempt was a bit of an awakening for the group. Sakura realized that getting caught wouldn't just result in a slap on the wrist, but could mean Tsunade pounding them into a pulp. Sakura actually doubted very much that they would be made Genin for life if they were caught, but had they been found last night, when Tsunade was drunk, there's no telling what could have happened. Sakura wasn't about to risk her life for a second trip, even if they could find some information.

So, Sakura replied, very adamantly, "No! Bad Idea! That'll just make things worse!" she yelled at him.

Naruto responded, yelling right back, "Well, you come up with something better then!"

A spark flew between the two as they stared daggers toward each other. They growled.

"Stop, idiots."

Sasuke's blunt words had cut through the tension and they turned to unleash their anger on him, but his glare made them stop. Naruto and Sakura finally snapped out of it. Obviously Sasuke was worried too, but it was pointless to be arguing just now.

Naruto turned away and folded his arms, "Hmph!"

Sakura heavily leaned back on the railing next to Sasuke. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun," she sighed, looking back down at the water. After a moment she said, defeated, "Maybe we should just give it up. It's really not that important…. She was just some girl."

"No."

Naruto had spun back around and looked like he was about to say something, but it was Sasuke who had spoken.

"She's very strong, I know it. I have to meet her. I have to…." Sasuke trailed off. He had a very hungry look in his eyes as he stared, unseeing, down at the water below. He looked strangely like Orochimaru. Too much like Orochimaru….

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura looked at him, her eyes full of worry.

Naruto looked worried too.

Sasuke closed his eyes and came out of it quickly, stood straight, and looked into the eyes of the others. "We still haven't looked into the leads I picked up yesterday. You can quit if you want, but I'm going to keep looking. I don't need your help."

Naruto and Sakura were shocked. They knew that look which had just flashed behind his dark eyes. For a fleeting moment it looked like Sasuke was slipping away from them again, back into himself, back into his memories.

Sakura nervously mumbled an apology, "Sorry, Sasuke-kun…. Of course I want to help you."

"Yeah, don't think you can get rid of me that easily, show off. I want to know too!" Naruto grumbled angrily behind folded arms. He wasn't about to let Sasuke get away that easily, physically or mentally, not that he thought about it much.

There was an odd pause in which Sasuke and Naruto glared at one another. Sasuke obviously didn't like being called a "show off."

Sakura broke in and asked, "Ok then, Sasuke-kun, what information do we have?" She was still a little apprehensive about continuing this mission, but if they didn't, who knew what Sasuke would do.

And so, Sasuke pulled a scroll from his pouch and began to write out what little bits of information each of them was to investigate. Naruto seemed to be back to normal after Sasuke's short out-burst, excited and laughing about today's task, although Sakura couldn't help but notice how he took orders a lot more passively than he usually did. She wondered for a moment where all of this would bring them but, after a moment, she put it out of her mind and managed a weak smile as Sasuke gave her a task.

XXXXXXXX

(In the office)

XXXXXXXX

About the same time across the village, Tsunade sat in her dim office even more sorry than the young Genin had been that she had to be up this early this morning. Her head was absolutely pounding from her intoxication the night before, not in the least bit lessened by the ice pack which she held to her head. Tsunade could heal almost any wound, but a hangover was just one thing that could not be treated. Next to her chair, Shizune stood with a bandage wrapped around her head though her wound gave her no pain since it had been healed. However, Shizune did look like she was very tense, no doubt because the woman next to her was shooting one of the worst scowls Shizune had ever seen at the figure across the desk. Ghost stood rigid with her masked face bowed as she always did in front of the Hokage, seemingly unaware of the knives that were shooting from Tsunade's eyes, although her shoulders did droop a little more than before. All was lit by the same small desk lamp, although a little of the morning sun did manage to reflect into the window behind Tsunade, which faced the west.

Tsunade set down her ice pack slowly as she spoke and leaned over her desk. "So you're telling me three Genin were the ones who got in here last night?"

"With my help. That is correct, Godaime-sama."

Tsunade's face tensed and a vein protruded on her forehead. This was absolutely the last thing she needed, today of all days. She had woken up this morning with a pounding headache, made worse by some peon assistant pounding on her door, found out that someone had invaded the Hokage office building, not only the building, but her personal office, that some files had been moved, including a top-secret file which had information on a very high-profile ninja which was worse than moved, but missing, and here in front of her was none other than the ninja in the missing file, admitting that she had aided some kids in the break-in.

"Well, I hope you had fun, cuz those kids got a hold of your file," Tsunade gritted her teeth with every word, making it very clear how angry she was, despite her use of sarcasm.

"No, I have the file right here." Ghost pulled the file, a little crumpled, but not much worse for wear, from the pouch that was tied to her hip and held it out for Tsunade to take. "I took it to make sure they did not see it."

The look on Tsunade's face was indescribable. Her mouth had dropped a bit at first, but when she recovered she looked even more fierce than before. Her head also gave a particularly hard throb. She took the file but never took her eyes off of Ghost.

Ghost did not acknowledge Tsunade's glare. Instead, she turned her head a little to Shizune and said, "I meant to apologize to you too, Shizune-san. I did not mean to harm you more than necessary. I am sorry." This was the strongest bit of emotion Ghost had shown through their short conversation. Mostly she spoke with a steady voice, speaking only when spoken to. Her mask didn't help either, as it hid any form of expression that could have crossed her face. It was like talking to an emotionless statue.

Shizune, who had been quiet until now although she was very uncomfortable with the situation, gave an awkward smile in response as a bead of sweat slipped down her forehead. "It… It's ok…."

"Well, I would like to know why you had to harm her to begin with!" Tsunade broke in angrily, a little more loudly than her head would have liked.

"Again, I am very sorry Godaime-sama, but it was a lesson for them."

Tsunade spoke a little more softly this time. "A lesson?" Her eyebrow twitched upward.

"Yes. They forgot the first lesson which they were to learn as Genin: teamwork."

"So you told them to break into the Hokage building?" Her head throbbed again.

"No, I did not tell them to do this. They were self-motivated. They do not know I was involved."

Tsunade couldn't hide a slightly puzzled look. "They didn't know you were involved? Then how much did you do?"

"I stopped Shizune and the ANBU, moved the files, and borrowed your key." Still, Ghost stood still and spoke with no emotion, simply stating fact.

Now Tsunade was far more than "slightly puzzled," "My key? When did you…?"

Ghost, "I showed you out last night as Jiroubu Aki."

Tsunade turned to Shizune to confirm this information, quite amazed that something like this could happen right under her nose, even if she was drunk. Shizune nodded nervously and said, "Jiroubu-san, who woke up in the lobby with the other assistants, did not recall escorting you out last night, despite the fact that the others witnessed him do so."

Tsunade turned back to the still girl in front of her, "But why the key?"

"I had to limit their time. It would be dangerous to leave them in control of the building."

Now that was just the icing on the cake. Not only did she decide herself that she would allow those kids into the Hokage building, but now she was throwing the obvious back into her face. Of course it was dangerous letting kids trample through her office! Tsunade knew this wasn't supposed to be any sort of prank against her, but this was getting insulting. And now the throbbing in her head just kept getting worse and worse.

Tsunade rubbed her temple and closed her eyes, looking utterly exasperated as she said, "So, you took out four ANBU guards before they could radio for assistance, impersonated one of my personnel and stole two files, your father's and your own, pick-pocketed the Hokage, myself, and then slipped out of the building, leaving the key and one file on my desk, as well as Shizune on the floor, without being detected?"

"Yes, Godaime-sama."

"All to help these kids' mission, which they planned on their own, although you call it some kind of 'lesson'?"

"Yes."

Ok, now this questioning was going nowhere. One question just kept leading to another and it was starting to go in circles. Tsunade needed to get some answers to figure out what the hell had happened, not that her hangover was making anything less confusing. Tsunade paused for a moment to get her thoughts in order while she pinched the bridge of her nose to sedate the pain in her head a bit. I wasn't helping much.

Tsunade, "Ok, let me start over. How did these kids get the idea to break in here? And no more of your short answers! Explain."

"They saw me previously, as Kakashi can tell you, and wanted to learn more about me. So, Naruto came up with the idea to look here, because of his previous experience when he stole a scroll. That was the time he found out about Kyuubi and Mizuki was imprisoned. The others followed along."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. Of course, Naruto. Only he would think to break into the Hokage office building, even if he was still a Genin. (Another throb.)

"So you've been spying on them. And looking at their files. At least you're doing your job. Why did you help them?" Tsunade continued her interrogation.

"To teach them a lesson, as I said before. I never intended to start this when I showed myself to them, but when I saw that they were beginning to work together; I supported their behavior and helped them. They need to learn that they can accomplish more by working together."

"Yeah, and you're the perfect one to teach them that." Tsunade spat out. "I think I have enough information now. I won't punish the kids, although I may ask Kakashi to have a few words with them. Instead, I'll be docking your pay indefinitely. Now just get out of here." Tsunade waved her out with that, moving her eyes back to her paperwork. She couldn't help but be nasty and hurtful. This girl had caused a lot of crap and on the wrong evening too and was getting off with a very small sentence.

Ghost didn't move for a moment and said with a sincere murmur from behind the mask, "Sorry, Godaime-sama." With that, she quietly turned and left, the door swinging closed soundlessly behind her. Tsunade never looked up and just kept scribbling angrily on the page before her, trying to write down every detail of the break in quickly so she could put the whole thing out of her mind.

A few seconds after the door had closed, Shizune had brought up the courage to speak to Tsunade, even in her current state. She bent down and spoke softly, trying as hard as possible not to aggravate her superior or her hangover. "I don't mean to criticize, Tsunade-sama, but… but shouldn't she receive a more severe punishment?"

Tsunade set down her pen and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and pinching that same spot between her eyes. By now she had seemed to calm quite a bit. "And what would that solve? There's nothing more I can do in this situation. As much as I would love to punish her right now, we need her out and working."

Shizune looked concerned, "But Tsunade-sama…."

Tsunade glared sideways at the woman next to her, silencing her instantly.

"Shizune, just be glad that she's on our side."