The next chapter is here my beloved readers! I must say it was incredibly difficult deciding what to write for this chapter and what should be written in it. But it's here and I'm happy with how it turned out and I hope you all like it. Now before I raise the curtain for the chapter to begin, I have a question for you my readers. Instant or gradually? Now that I asked my question, on with the chapter!

Chapter Six: A Possible Dream Found?

3rd P.O.V.

Kojiro laid in his futon clutching the hair stick and blood soaked headbands close to his chest, his back facing the door that was opened a crack where a worried Noriko and Mrs. Shinomiya were on the other side watching the five year old's shoulders shake trying and failing to hold back a small sob but he ignored them. It wasn't until he heard the door that Kojiro let the tears he was holding back fall and brought the objects to be across from his face. The blood on the cloth of the headbands were so dry that no amount of washing could get it out and Akane's hair stick doesn't look that different except that the paint on the tip is a little scratched.

"They can't be dead." He muttered to himself bringing them to his chest again curling himself into a ball under the covers. He tried to wipe away the tears from his eyes, but they refuse to stop that he gave up and just let them fall. "Their bodies weren't found, so maybe they're still alive." He bit the bottom of his lip when he felt a sob struggling to get out. "But what if they are dead?" Kojiro may only have known them for five years, but they're still his parents, just the thought of them dying out there was enough to let the sob out.

"Kojiro?" Kojiro turned his body to face the door when he heard the familiar voice to see Noriko hesitantly open the door with a concerned look on her face. "Dinner's ready."

"Not hungry." Kojiro mumbled turning away so his back facing her. "Go away."

"Come on Kojiro, you haven't left this room or eaten anything for over a week now." Kojiro could hear the concern in her voice, but he just continued to ignore her. He heard footsteps and felt a hand gently stroked his head and couldn't help but look over to Noriko who pushed some of his hair behind my ear. "I'm sure your mom and dad are alive, there's no way they would die and leave you alone."

"But what if they are?" Kojiro replied sadly looking away from her bringing the headbands and hair stick closer to his chest to reassure himself they were still there. "Just because they didn't find bodies doesn't mean they aren't dead." He pushed Noriko's hand off his head and brought the blanket to cover his head. "Just leave me alone."

"Kojiro, don't be like that." Noriko said gently reaching to remove the blanket from the five year old's head.

"I said leave me alone!" Kojiro shouted as blue spikes burst around him and Noriko had to jump back to avoid being pierced.

"Kojiro." Noriko muttered in astonishment as the spikes surrounding the five year old shattered and vanished like they weren't even there. It was then she noticed that the blanket on top of Kojiro was shaking and she heard was sounded like a sob. Shaking off her surprise, she silently approached and removed the blanket to see tears falling down the boy's face. She gently lifted the boy up who dropped the headbands and hair stick bringing him closer to her in a hug being careful not to smother him with her breasts and gently rubbed his back resting his head on her chest so he can hear her heartbeat. "It's going to be okay Kojiro. If your mom and dad love you as much as I think they do, then they'll definitely be back." She loosened her grip on the boy enough for him to back away slightly to look up to her warm smiling face and she placed a hand on his cheek. "And when they do, welcome them back with a big smile. Okay?"

Kojiro just looked at Noriko's smiling face and couldn't help but think about his mother's smile and thought back to when he was a baby where she would hum a soft lullaby so he would fall asleep. Kojiro felt his eyes start to water before wiping the tears away before giving a small smile to Noriko. "Okay." It was then that they both heard a rumbling sound and Kojiro blushed when he realized what made the sound.

Noriko laughed before letting Kojiro go and standing up. "Sounds like someone's appetite is back." She walked over to the door stopping when she opened it and looked back to Kojiro. "I'll go warm up your dinner and you come eat when you're ready." She then left closing the door.

'I must've really worried them.' Kojiro thought feeling bad for making them worry the past week. He picked up his parents' headbands and Akane's hair stick and started placing them in his backpack. He paused when he was putting the hair stick away and brought it closer to get a better look at it. On the end was a blue lotus with green vines wrapped around the stick itself. 'Strange, aren't lotus flowers usually pink and pale white? Were they going for uniqueness when they made it?' Kojiro placed the hair stick next to his hairband by his futon and looked to the window to see his reflection to see that his hair was down reaching to his shoulder blade and was a huge mess. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a comb and started to straighten his hair and gathering it into a ponytail reaching for the hairband by the futon when his eyes landed on Akane's hair stick and had a thoughtful look.

Kojiro P.O.V.

"You sure you're alright now Kojiro?" Noriko asked me with uncertainty as she stood outside of Mrs. Shinomiya's front door resting her hands on her knees to look me in the eye. "I can stay longer."

I just shook my head and gave her a smile. "I'm fine now Noriko!" And I was, after the hug and the words Noriko gave me, I decided that I've cried enough and that I shouldn't think that my parents were dead just because only their headbands and my mother's hair stick came back. 'Until I see proof that their actually dead, I'll believe they're still out there somewhere.'

"Besides, you can't hold off on your missions any longer than you have already Noriko." Mrs. Shinomiya pointed out.

"Yeah, you got a point." Noriko admitted rubbing the back of her head before kneeling down to me giving me a playful wink. "Take care of yourself Kojiro, no unhappy thoughts or I'll have to cheer you up again." She noticed that my hair was back to it's usual spiky ponytail, but I was wearing my mother's hair stick at the base in a diagonal position being held in place by my hairband. "Kojiro, is that your mom's hair stick?" I nodded with a small smile, my right hand reaching to lightly touch the blue lotus on the end as if it would dissolve if I wasn't careful. She gave me a warm smile. "Then you better take care of it then, kay?"

"Kay!" I replied grinning.

"Now there's the grin I know so well." Noriko nodded in approval as she straightened herself looking to Mrs. Shinomiya. "Well, I better be off now."

"Of course." Mrs. Shinomiya nodded. "Rest assured that Kojiro's in good hands with me."

"I know he is." Noriko said smiling as she turned and started to leave.

"Bye-bye Noriko!" I called out waving to her as she waved back.

"Let's go back inside Kojiro." Mrs. Shinomiya said as she opened the door.

"Coming!" I followed Mrs. Shinomiya back into the house and through the engawa picking up me pace so I could be next to her. We walked in silence as I looked to the side to watch the last of the cherry blossom petals fall into the white sand of the zen garden. We walked into the sitting room where I took the cushion that was across from the shoji doors. I reached to the plate of senbei that was next to a pot of tea on the table and ate it quietly.

"It looks like you're feeling better Kojiro." Mrs. Shinomiya took the cushion to my left placing a cup in front of me and reached for the pot and poured some in my cup before pouring some in her own cup. I looked to her to see she had a relieved smile. "That's good, I was so worried when you wouldn't leave your room."

I swallowed and looked down with a glum look on my face. "I'm sorry for worrying you Mrs. Shinomiya."

"It's okay Kojiro, you don't have to apologize." Mrs. Shinomiya said as she took a senbei for herself. "I'm just glad that your finally out of that room." She was about to eat her senbei but paused and had a thoughtful look on her face before looking to me as I took another bite of my senbei. "By the way Kojiro, have you been practicing chakra control recently?"

I choked on the mouthful of senbei I was about to swallow at Mrs. Shinomiya sudden question and pounded my chest before reaching for my cup and gulped down my tea to wash it down. Mrs. Shinomiya patted my back as I put my cup back on the table and I gave her a surprised look. "W-what would make you ask that?"

Mrs. Shinomiya just chuckled and removed her hand from my back to reach into the sleeve of her kimono and pulled out a familiar looking leaf that was burnt around the edges and damp in the middle with the stem dry and brown. "I found this while walking down the engawa a few days ago." I just stared with wide eyes as she placed the leaf on the table. "Did your parents taught you this?"

I didn't answer right away as I looked down to my cup to stare at my reflection. "No, they didn't teach me."

"Then who did?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked as she looked to the leaf.

"No one taught me." I mumbled fidgeting nervously as my gaze moved from my reflection to the leaf.

"You mean you were teaching yourself?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked in surprise and I just nodded my head. When she got over her surprise she giggled causing me to look to her in confusion. "You really are a smart boy if you're already teaching yourself chakra control." She picked up the leaf to inspect it closely. "But I can tell that your chakra is unstable just by looking at this leaf."

"Unstable?" I asked tilting my head to the side in confusion.

"Yes." Mrs. Shinomiya nodded putting the leaf down to look me in the eye. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that you aren't doing the exercise properly. That's probably why the leaf always end up like this."

"But I am doing it properly!" I complained resting my chin on the table.

"You are?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked as she refilled my cup with a thoughtful look on her face. "Kojiro, is it alright if I show this leaf to a friend of mine?"

"Why?" I asked wondering why she wanted to show a leaf to a friend.

"He's an instructor at the academy." Mrs. Shinomiya explained. "He might know why the leaf always end up like this." She gestured to the leaf lying on the table. "But if you want to keep this a secret then I understand."

"No, no, it's okay!" I said quickly after hearing her reason. "You can show him, I want to know why this happens!"

"Alright, I'll ask him when I next see him." Mrs. Shinomiya said as she took the leaf and stuffed it into her sleeve before giving me a smile. "Are you practicing for the academy Kojiro?"

"Yeah!" I knew I had an excited smile on my face at the thought of going to a place that teaches you how to be a ninja. "I'm going to learn a lot of cool jutsu and show mama and papa when they come back!"

Mrs. Shinomiya nodded to that chuckling as she took a sip of her tea. "So Kojiro, do you have a dream?"

"A dream?" I asked in confusion taking another senbei to eat.

Mrs. Shinomiya nodded. "Everyone has a dream to chase. Even your parents had a dream."

"What were they?" I asked curiously as I never heard them talk about their dreams when they're both at home.

"Your mother's dream was to a great medical ninja like Tsunade of the leaf villages Sannin." Mrs. Shinomiya replied and my eyes widened at hearing the name of Tsunade. "As for your father, his dream was to one day wield one of the seven swords that our village is known for having and join the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist." She took another sip of her tea before looking me in the eye. "What is your dream for being a ninja Kojiro?"

"My dream?" I mumbled to myself as I looked down in thought staring at my reflection on the surface of my tea. 'I know I want to be strong, but for what reason? There's no point in being strong if there's no reason to it, even Naruto had a reason for his dream to be Hokage.' I nibbled on my senbei as I continued to get lost in my thoughts. 'I could go for being Mizukage, but that isn't a dream, that's just me copying Naruto's dream.' After I finished eating my senbei I reached for another as I replied to Mrs. Shinomiya's question. "I don't know what my dream is."

"That's quite alright dear." Mrs. Shinomiya said reassuringly placing a hand on my shoulder. "Not everyone has a dream right away, you must first find a reason to have a dream before you follow it. Don't let others decide things for you, follow your own path and I'm sure that you won't be lead astray." She got to her feet and walked to the shoji doors to the left of the room where the kitchen is and opened them. "It's almost lunch time, I'll prepare something for us." She closed the shoji doors leaving me to my thoughts.

"Follow my own path and I won't be lead astray." I quietly repeated Mrs. Shinomiya words as I thought carefully of what could she possibly mean when she said them. "What could she mean by following my own path?" I tightened my grip on my cup slightly staring at my reflection that stared back at me with lime green eyes. "Or was that just her fortune teller side speaking?" I sighed and got to my feet to leave the sitting room to sit on the engawa to look at the zen garden. I watched as the very last petal from the cherry blossom tree fall off its branch before slowly float down towards me by the wind and I held a hand out as the petal gently fell on it. I stared at the petal using a small amount of my chakra to keep it on the palm of my hand only for it to get damp before turning brown and dry and burst into flames. "Why is my chakra so unstable?" The wind blew the ashes off my hand and I watched the ashes do a little dance in the air before going over the wall and out of sight.

A Week Later

I sat in my room combing my hair to get rid of the tangles before tying it into my usual spiky ponytail and placing my mother's hair stick at the base supporting it with my hairband. I looked as my reflect in the window from every angle to see if I missed anywhere and nodded in satisfaction to see that I did my hair perfectly this time after seven tries. I left my room and walked down the engawa to enter the sitting room to see Mrs. Shinomiya was setting the table for breakfast.

"Pleas, let me do that Mrs. Shinomiya." I said taking the bowls and plates of food from her and started to set the table.

"Why thank you Kojiro." Mrs. Shinomiya said gratefully taking a seat at the table. "Such good manners, it's good to see Akane and Kosuke are raising you right."

"It's the least I can do after letting me stay here." I replied sitting down clapping my hands together. "Thank you for the food." I picked up my bowl of rice and chopsticks and started to eat. Mrs. Shinomiya did the same as me before eating her own food.

"Kojiro." I looked to Mrs. Shinomiya as I swallowed my mouthful of food. "Do you know what kind of ninja you want to be?"

"What kind?" I asked in confusion lowering my bowl.

Mrs. Shinomiya nodded. "I was thinking it would help you find your own dream if you knew what kind of ninja you want to be." She placed her bowl on the table and looked to me. "Do you want to be a medical ninja like your mother? Or do you want to be a hunter ninja? Try asking yourself that question and the answer will surely make itself known to you."

'Is this wisdom of the elderly, or another of her fortunes?' I thought in confusion as we continued to eat. 'What kind of ninja do I want to be, that's a good question. A question I haven't even thought about since learning I did get reincarnated in Naruto.' I finished my food and put my bowl on my empty plate placing my chopsticks on it next to the bowl and carried them to the kitchen. 'What ninja do I want to be, there are so many choices. There's becoming the Mizukage, but I already ruled that out.' I put my dishes in the sink and started to wash them as I continued to get lost in my thoughts. 'I could try being a hunter ninja or a member of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist.' After drying the dishes and putting them away, I ran my still wet hand through my hair in frustration. 'Naruto had it easy choosing a dream! I don't know what the hell I want to be and he chooses to be Hokage like it was as easy as snapping your fingers!'

"There's no need to get frustrated Kojiro." Mrs. Shinomiya said as she entered the kitchen and placed her dishes in the sink. "You have plenty of time before you're old enough to attend the academy to decide what your dream is going to be."

"But I can't stop thinking about it!" I complained as I wash Mrs. Shinomiya's dishes.

"Tell me Kojiro, do you have a hobby?" Mrs. Shinomiya asked as she stood next to me holding the dish rag and started to dry the dishes I handed her. I nodded my head wondering what that question had to do with what kind of ninja I wanted to be. "What is your hobby Kojiro?"

"Learning about different medicinal herbs." I replied giving her a side glance. "Why do you ask Mrs. Shinomiya?"

"Do you enjoy it Kojiro?" Mrs. asked placing the now dry plate away completely ignoring my question. I gave her a confused look before nodding my head and she looked to me with a smile. "Then why not try to become a medical ninja?"

"A medical ninja?" I asked in surprise as I haven't even thought about that.

Mrs. Shinomiya nodded. "You enjoy learning about medicinal herbs, the same as your mother, and by being a medical ninja you can save many lives." She chuckled a little as she dried her hands with the dish rag before hanging it on a hook that was attached to the wall next to the sink. "But it's your choice Kojiro. Like I said yesterday, don't let others choose your path for you, it's a choice that you yourself has to make."

"A medical ninja." I mumbled to myself as I gave the idea some thought. 'It's true that a medical ninja will be a great help if a teammate is injured. And I do love to research different herbs and how they can be used, but will I be any good at being a medical ninja? You need medical knowledge and excellent chakra control in order to be one, and with my unstable chakra, I'm not sure if I can do it.' I frowned at that thought as I dried my hands and decided to let my thoughts be known. "But my chakra..."

"Your chakra is indeed unstable." Mrs. Shinomiya nodded already knowing where I was going. "But if my friend can find the reason for why it is unstable, then being a medical ninja wouldn't be that impossible."

"Hey, Midori!" A loud voice called from the front.

"Oh, speak of the devil." Mrs. Shinomiya said as she walked to the sitting room. She looked back to me nodding her head telling me to follow which I did and we walked to the front of the house. Mrs. Shinomya, or rather Midori, opened the door and standing outside was a man in his eighties with grey hair and a bald spot on the top of his head. He was wearing a green kimono, white socks, and straw sandals. "Welcome Ryuji, I'm glad you could make it despite you being busy at the academy."

"I got curious about this kid you told me about." Ryuji said looking down to me. "I take it this is her?"

"Him." Midori corrected. "And yes." She looked down to me. "Kojiro, I would like to introduce you to Ryuji Yozakura. He's the instructor I told you about."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Ryuji yelled looking from Midori to me and back before pointing at me. "You're telling me this brats a boy?!"

'I don't like this guy already.' I thought my eyebrow twitching in annoyance at the fact I was mistaken for a girl again.

Hope you enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now onto the reviews!

Hayate Hyuga: Yeah, poor Kojiro. But what about my poor heart? It broke to pieces when I wrote that part. T_T

Athan243: In a way. I was just doing some sketching and the idea for blue hair in a ponytail popped up. Fate/Stay Night may have helped me with the name though.

SilverDragon1218: I know, don't remind me T_T! It killed me inside when I wrote that part! I'm glad to hear that you were on the edge of your seat, and that good sir/ma'am is music to my ears. Glad you loved their conversations.

guest reader: You called it you say, and what exactly did you call? Only time will tell the fate of the Akatsuki.

KitKedd: Don't remind me, I teared up when I was putting the finishing touches. And I'm making Kojiro Isobu's jinchuriki due to the votes from my poll to decide whether I should or not.

Thank you all for taking time out of your possibly busy schedules to read this chapter and I look forward to seeing you all again next chapter!