Chapter 22 Dreamscape.

Maintaining a genjutsu was really hard while unconscious. Maintaining dead clones, even more so. Having to constantly feed chakra into the clone, to prevent them from disappearing was torture for my chakra reverses. I will be the first to admit, I didn't think this plan through.

In my head, all I would have to do was maintain a seal that was using natural chakra as a battery. That was easy enough as it was proven that the seal could survive even after the caster died. What I account for was my near-death experience and there being Hyugas investigation.

I was foolish.

I underestimated the bond the clan heads had formed and the demon that was Danzo. Of course, eye stealing, cell manipulation, the bastard would find a way to get me involved. I was supposed to be home asleep when the massacre took place. The barrier would become visible the local shinobi would investigate in time to stop the Uzumaki from killing Itachi and Sasuke, bada-bing bada-boom. Madara being there would be the icing on the cake. I knew he was near the village at the time of the massacre, but I didn't think to involve him.

I was generally unconscious for must of the night, but with my chakra senses, I could never truly be unaware. I sensed the anbus following me, though I could have predicted the actions my parents would take. Running from the police was now what I expect from them.

A fleeing party is a guilty party, and so to clear their name I had to do something drastic. Helping in Sasuke's recuse was my redemption arc, if only Obito didn't show his ugly face.

Now Naruto knew the truth years in advance. The original timeline was already crap with my interference, but I'm pretty sure telling the main character about their secret power before the series even starts, is a big no-no.

And as if to rub salt on the wound Sasuke awaken his Sharingan and his mangekyou Sharingan? That was something I would have to confirm as I wasn't entirely sure. Could someone awaken their mangekyou just moments after awakening his base Sharingan?

The Uchiha clan didn't make a habit of telling outsiders about their clan dojutsu. Knowing someone's strength is also knowing their weakness, after all. I knew that Kakashi had two tomoe when he awakened the mangekyou so it was possible.

I sighed into the nothingness of my mindscape. I was the only consciousness present, Inner nowhere in sight. I don't regret what I did, humans are supposed to have more than one consciousness anyway, so her absence shouldn't bother me.

But it did.

I was alone again if only in my own head. Now there was truly no one to confide in, on one celebrate with the genius that was my plan. No one could know, I would take this truth to my grave. I achieved a great feat and no one could know about it. was this how Itachi felt after he killed his clan?

I was used to the lack of praise from my old life, but somewhere deep in the ravine that was my soul, I wanted just once to be acknowledged.

"As expected from his child."

"If she wasn't a genius, I would think her a bastard child."

I was never praised for my own hard work. I was their child and so everything I did was credited to their genes. I was used to it by the time I turned five. Before then I was always trying to win their approval. I would spend days in the library studying.

At the tender age of nine, I could hold conversations with adults. I had no challenge and pretty soon nothing was interesting. I learned new things and out shinned all my peers, but even then, they never once glanced at me. Never once praised me. No matter what I did it would never be good enough in their eyes.

Standing in this hell loop I watch as a little girl approached the large desk timidly. Her long blond hair flowed in waves down her back as her wide eyes looked up at the stoic man.

Sapphire eyes looked up from the documents and met hers. Obsidian hair framed his handsome face that was always serious. He was a businessman first and a father never.

"What is it, Marinette?" he asked, his voice deep and firm. The child trembled as she walked forward and handed in the paperwork. She placed it on the table and stepped back. He looked down on the paper and then back at her before taking it in hand.

It was a report he requested, I way to restore a company on the brink of collapse. After going through the finances, I was apparent someone was stealing from them. The investigation work wasn't hard and I discovered not only the thief but also proof of thief theft. They had an account that still had the stolen money. With a word, I could hack the account and transfer the money back.

His facial expression didn't change as he read through the report. When he was finished, he placed it on the table and looked back at her.

"You're dismissed," he said simply. "you have permission to transfer the funds." Was all he said before going back to work. Her body trembled but she bowed her head and walked away holding back the tears. He never praised her. Nothing she ever did was good enough.

When the door shut with a chick, she let the tears flow down her cheeks. She gripped her pale pink dress with trembling hands. She worked hard to procure that information and it wasn't enough to get acknowledged. She was seven years old and hadn't yet learned how pointless her struggle was. As the little blond rushed down the halls in sorrow, I could only watch with blank eyes.

She would suffer many more years before she learned the futility of her actions. It was then that I heard the rustling of metal armor.

"How pitiful."

Inner!?

No.

His voice had deep and gravely, it had an authoritarian tone, like a military commander. I looked back at the man in red samurai armor. His dark narrow eyes stared down at her, his broad frame towering over her. His black hair, spiky and long, reaching his lower back, swayed with his movement. He was definitely not Inner.

He stopped by my side watching the blond retreat.

"Falling apart over something so minuscule, truly you are pitiful." He said his dark eyes looking down at me. For some reason, I had the final form of my old life while here. Long curly blond hair blue eyes, dressed in a white gown.

I sighed. Turning away as the scene changed and the scenario repeated. I wasn't sure why this scene was the one to repeat over and over when there were arguably worst situations.

Like the time I decided not to fight the current and fell out of the competition. The time I was told I was a disappointment. The time my brother was credited with my hard work. My shoulders began to tremble and I bit my lips that were doing the same.

Never good enough.

I sighed blond ran out of the room again.

"How stupid," I muttered. Suddenly the scene changed to the Uchiha compound, surprising the samurai. Blood formed puddled under our feet like it recently rained blood. Above the sky were clear and the moon shining a brilliant silver.

It was a stark contrast to the horror before it.

Lines lined the sky like telephone wires, and draped over them were bodies. Like clothes life out to dry, the bodies of the Uchihas hung unmoved over the chains. Their blood dripped to the ground causing ripples in the pool beneath them.

"Mother, father!"

I didn't move my head as I heard the cries of a child. A young boy that I knew very while. Sasuke cried at the feet of his parents, whom for not spared, also draped over chains. The sobbed and wailed, begging his family not to leave him. Tears of blood streaming down his face.

The pain in my chest was nothing like the pain I felt from being impaled. I couldn't breathe.

Heat erupted behind me, and I looked back to see Naruto writhing in pain as his skin burned off, and a black sphere of his own blood, formed around him.

He cried in agony begging for the pain to stop, but it never did and so he kept screaming. I crouched down, covering my ear in an attempt to silence the misery. It was then that I noticed the blood covering my hands, and the chains protruding from my back.

That's right I did this. I'm the reason they're in pain. It's my fault.

The pitiful child curled in on herself, sobbing and apologizing over and over. Was this what the shinobi world has come to under Hashirama's rule.

"I want to create a world where children down have to die in war," He gritted his teeth, thinking of the naïve ideals his childhood friend proposed. I world with now war was what he – they wanted, and yet here was a child slaughtering a clan and for what? He knew it was the Uchiha clan, his family, but as they had abandoned him, he felt nothing for them.

Why the child killed them and how intrigued him however and so he had to ask.

"Why?" he asked, and the child froze in her self-loathing to look at him. "Tell me."

"To protect them," She said in a small voice. "The village would have killed them all and so I had to do something."

The scene changed again to show her smuggling the Uchihas out of the village. Men women and children were among those spared. He stared in disbelief. If she didn't kill the clan then what was this. He looked back at her for answers.

"While I could just weed out the bad seeds, the garden was already seen as tainted. The only way to redeem the Uchiha of their past crimes was to uproot them and put them elsewhere." She showed him a village overrun by red- and black-haired civilians. The Uchiha were infamous for their black hair and eyes as the Uzumaki were for their red hair and long lifespan. There were others, some from clans he barely recognized. It looked like Konoha when it was still young, only smaller.

"Sakuragakure," she snored and sniffled, "Mikoto, is terrible at names."

The village was hidden away behind a forest of cherry blossoms making the name very fitting. He knew it was merely an illusion but he'd like to think someone had succeeded where they failed. He knew it was asking too much, he was dead and this was merely a dream or perhaps a form of torture. Wishing for peace and knowing it would never happen. Yes, that would be torturous.

His hand moved on their own and he patted the blonde's head. She stilled under his touch, looking at him with worry. It had been years since he'd last done it and he was sure he forgot how, but since this was just an illusion, he thought he could manage it. The childish grin that spread across his face was oddly nostalgic.

"You did good, you're not as pitiful as I once thought," He said. "If your stupid plan works, you will be worthy of the title, Hero." He was impressed she had thought of such a plan, but there was also the possibility it would fail as Konoha did. Though for the torment it clearly caused her, she deserved the small praise at least.

Her blond hair bleed into pink and her eyes became emerald gems, suddenly she was a child standing before him with wide eyes of… admiration? Those were the eyes his brother looked at him with, long ago, as though I was his whole world. After their parents died and he became the heir to the Uchiha clan, he was.

Comparing her to his brother was a mistake as could now only see his naïve little brother before him. He did miss his foolish little brother, but every time he used his eyes, he was reminded that he would always have him with him.

Uncharacteristically, he crouched before the child smiling lovingly as he continuing to stroke her hair. Her wide eye never leaving his. She chuckled nervously before a pleased smile broke out across her face, that turned into a full-blown grin. For his own personal hell, this wasn't so bad.

"Naruto, wake up."

The young Uzumaki obeyed, opening his eyes blue orbs only to close them in a hiss at the bright light. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

"Wake up, dattebayo!"

He felt a fist crash into his chest, driving the air out of him. He sat up then, holding his stomach and groaning in pain.

"What was that for!?" he yelled, opening his eyes to glare at the one who attacked him and froze.

Red hair stood and danced as though possessed by snakes. Violet eyes looked down at him, displeased. It was those violet eyes that made him relax; it wasn't the same person. Though that brought the next question, who was this woman?

"You're going to be late, Naruto," she scolded him. "Wash your face, and come get breakfast." She turned and walked out of the room with a huff, her long crimson hair falling behind her reaching her angles.

Naruto looked around in confusion; it didn't look like his room. For one, it was clean with no scattered clothes and Raman cups. It was clean and smelt fresh, like when sakura cleaned it. Something – a memory tried to breach his mind but was blurred before he could comprehend it.

Shaking his head to clear his foggy mind, he followed the woman's instructions. As he washed his face, he noticed three toothbrushes in a cup. Blue, red and, a small yellow with frog designs, he recognized the yellow brush as his so who owned the remaining two.

He followed the smell of fried egg to the kitchen and stared.

The scary lady was talking with a blond man that seemed more interested in her hair than what she was saying. He twirled it on his finger as he smiled up at her. She must have noticed his disinterest because her hair came alive again, drawing a gasp from both blondes.

She turned to look at him in the hallway and smiled, her hair falling lifeless.

"There you are," she said in a sweet voice, "come eat your breakfast are you'll be late for the academy."

Her tone was so different from when she woke him; that he remained rooted for a few seconds. The man looked at him and smiled so warmly Naruto thought he was the sun. that and he swore he saw him somewhere before.

"Morning, Naruto," he greeted, "did ya sleep well?"

"Ah, yeah," Naruto replied, making his way over to the vacated spot at the table.

The scary lady placed a plate with a sandwich in from of him and another in for of the man placing a kiss on his cheek. She was beautiful with fair skin and a slender body. Her face was framed with shoulder-length strands and a black clip that parted her hair to the left. She wore a white high collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, pale orange dress.

The man whose face he still couldn't place looked a lot like Naruto. His spiky hair with jaw-length bangs that framed his face, and narrow blue eyes, was the same as Naruto's. Sasuke looked like his mother, Itachi, like his father. The Haruno family was an anomaly, and Hinata looked like her mother, or at least he thought the sick lady was her mother.

It was possible he too would look like his parents.

"Father?"

The man looked up from his newspaper and looked at him, "hmm?" he asked. Naruto's eyes widen in shock, he answered. And now he's waiting for patiently for a response. Naruto, in a panic, said the first thing that came to mind.

"Blue toothbrush?" he said weakly. The man blinked and chuckled.

"That one belongs to your mother," he said, coming to his own conclusion, but his words captured naruto's attention. Mother?

He looked over to the scary lady with a fond smile. "I like the color red, so the red one's mine, Kushina is the one who owns the blue one," He said.

Kushina huffed and walked back to the table with three cups.

"You would know whos toothbrush was whos if you got up early in the morning, ya know," she poured him tea and smiled warmly at him. "Think of how fun it would be if we all wake up at the same time." She kissed his forehead before heading back into the kitchen.

Naruto watched her go, his eyes filled with awe, that was his mother?

"Ah, Naruto-chan," his father whispered to him, his face bashful. "How about not "exactly as we wake up." Naruto blinked in confusion. "You know we might go back to bed for a bit, and we wouldn't want you to be up alone, hehehe," he chuckled nervously. He froze when Kushina stood behind him, like a grim reaper.

"What are you telling our son, Minato?" she demanded. Minato feigned innocence as Kushina threatened to strangle him.

Naruto smiled as he watched his parents argue about what was best for him. If this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up.

Tenzo placed the necklace back around the boy's neck, and watched as his breathing slowed and his face relaxed. He wasn't sure why the jewelry was important to the child, but the moment they took it from him, his breathing became harsher, and his face contorted into pain. It had something to do with the light that appeared before he knew it.

He was stationed to watch over Naruto and restrain him should anything happen. He wasn't hurt, merely chakra exhausted as was to be expected. Tenzo had no experience restraining something like the nine tails, but everyone was relying on him, so he would have to do his best. He was useless in the battle at the Uchiha compound. He would not fail them this time.

And now you all know the plan as well as some backstory. Now all the scattered pieces should come together, you know, if you were paying attention. The next chapter is going to be explosive, so look forward to that.

Until next time, night song~