Today's Mission Is Canceled, Team 7 Gets a Day Off

Kakashi said in a deep voice, "Calm down, Sasuke. I know you're hurting. But remember, it was only a dream."

However, his words were nothing but background noise to Sasuke right now. Sasuke's gaze remained glued to the screen, unwilling to look away for even a moment.

He knew perfectly well that it was a dream, but reason could not suppress the surge of emotion in his heart.

The sight of his mother being alive and his brother standing at the family gate, smiling as he welcomed guests, was like sharp kunai stabbing into his heart again and again. The pain nearly robbed him of breath, yet he could not bear to look away.

Seeing that Sasuke had temporarily calmed down and did not lash out again, Kakashi said nothing more.

His own heart was far from calm as well.

Itachi Uchiha's sudden appearance in the dream, along with all the differences shown before that, indicated that this dream seemed to be another possible world.

If his guess was correct...

Kakashi's thoughts raced as countless fragments gradually came together in his mind, forming a clear picture.

In this dream world, Minato-sensei had dealt with the mastermind behind the scenes ahead of time on the night of the Nine-Tails incident. Then the chain of tragedies that followed would never have happened.

Without the Nine-Tails, controlled by the Sharingan, going on a rampage, the village naturally would not have blamed the Uchiha clan for the disaster.

Minato-sensei had a good relationship with Fugaku Uchiha. On top of that, Kushina and Mikoto were close friends. With Minato-sensei mediating between them, the conflict between the village and the Uchiha would not have escalated beyond repair.

Minato-sensei himself was immensely powerful, and with the Third Hokage, who had stepped back from the front lines, at his side, the strength of the higher-ups would have been enough to deter the hawkish, warlike faction within the Uchiha clan.

At the same time, it would have influenced the decisions of certain factions among Leaf Village's upper ranks.

That way, the Uchiha clan could naturally have remained in Konoha Village in peace and harmony. The massacre that came later would never have occurred.

Therefore, in this dream, Itachi Uchiha did not have to bear the burden of bloodshed and naturally would not defect.

The Uchiha clan remained prosperous, and Itachi could even step forward openly and earn honor for his family through his own strength.

As Kakashi thought of this, something soft deep in his heart seemed to be gently stirred.

This scene now felt as though everyone's wishes had been fulfilled in the form of a dream.

Kakashi looked at the composed young Itachi Uchiha on the screen, then glanced at Sasuke beside him, whose eyes were red as he stared fixedly at it, and let out a soft sigh.

Naruto's dream... was far too logical, far too real.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, it would have been difficult to imagine that Naruto, at such a young age, could have imagined such a meticulous and coherent world.

To be honest, when Kakashi first saw Naruto's dream on the first night, he had found it somewhat absurd and laughable.

Perhaps it had merely been the wild imagination of a child's subconscious.

Yet at this moment, he had to admit that the dream was so rich in detail that he could not find a single flaw in it.

If he did not know reality so well, he might have believed that this was a real glimpse into some parallel world.

Thinking further, if Minato-sensei had not died, if Naruto had grown up with his parents by his side to care for and teach him, and if he had never suffered coldness and discrimination for being the "demon fox"...

Then, as the son of a hero, living comfortably and receiving careful guidance, it would have been only natural for him to take first place at the Ninja Academy.

Kakashi lowered his head slightly, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

Shigure watched all of this from the shadows, already laughing inwardly with delight.

In just one night, he had quietly glanced at Sasuke, who was still immersed in shock, and thought, This kid really didn't disappoint me.

Itachi's entrance alone had given him so much...

On the screen, the dream continued unfolding at an unhurried pace.

At the entrance to the Uchiha residence, Naruto and Kushina had already arrived.

"Sasuke, congratulations!"

Kushina called out from afar, her face full of a bright, hearty smile.

Holding Naruto's hand, she walked forward and warmly greeted the two boys at the gate.

The Sasuke Uchiha in the dream stood at the entrance with his chest puffed out, helping welcome the guests. Upon seeing Kushina and Naruto, a rare smile appeared on his usually reserved little face. "Aunt Kushina! Naruto, you're here."

Standing beside him, Itachi Uchiha also smiled and nodded. "Aunt Kushina, it's been a long time."

Itachi's voice was clear and polite, his gaze gentle. "Naruto is here too. Welcome."

"Why be so polite?" Kushina waved her hand cheerfully. "How could we possibly miss such an important day?"

As they spoke, Itachi and Sasuke had already come forward to greet them.

Itachi bowed slightly and exchanged pleasantries with Kushina. "Mother is still inside entertaining guests. When she heard Aunt Kushina was coming, she prepared your favorite osmanthus rice cakes early this morning."

The next morning, the rising sun cast its first light over the land.

Naruto arrived at Team 7's training ground in Konoha Village, humming a little tune.

He was in great spirits. The happy moments from last night's dream still lingered in his mind, making the corners of his mouth rise unconsciously.

"Morning—"

Naruto waved from afar, greeting Sasuke and Sakura, who were already there.

However, before his words had even faded, no friendly response came his way.

Sasuke suddenly turned around, his dark eyes fixed dead on Naruto.

"Naruto..."

He abruptly stepped forward, grabbed Naruto by the collar, and slammed the stunned Naruto hard against a tree trunk!

"S-Sasuke?!"

Naruto was startled by the other's sudden action.

"What are you—"

"What am I doing?"

Sasuke's face darkened as he growled through clenched teeth, "I should be asking what the hell you did!"

Naruto was completely baffled. "I... I didn't do anything!"

He raised both hands in surrender, looking utterly innocent.

In truth, his mind was a complete mess.

Why was Sasuke going crazy first thing in the morning?

Why was he suddenly charging at me and picking a fight for no reason?

Naruto thought back over the previous day. He had been training the whole time and had not provoked Sasuke at all.

"Stop it, Sasuke!"

Kakashi appeared beside them at some point. He grabbed Sasuke with one hand and forcibly pulled him away from Naruto.

"Calm down. What do you think you're doing?"

Sasuke's chest heaved violently. Stopped by Kakashi, he did not continue attacking. He merely shook off Kakashi's hand fiercely and turned his face away in anger.

Only after being rescued did Naruto realize that a thin layer of sweat had formed on his forehead.

Somewhat confused, he rubbed at his wrinkled collar and muttered quietly, "Kakashi-sensei, is Sasuke okay? Why does he seem like a completely different person..."

Kakashi raised a hand to signal Naruto to stay calm, then turned to Sasuke.

Sasuke clenched his teeth and awkwardly looked away, refusing to look at Naruto or Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed and said helplessly, "Sasuke, I understand how you feel. But you should also be able to tell that many things in that dream weren't things Naruto himself could possibly know."

After a pause, he continued in an especially solemn tone, "In other words, although Naruto was the protagonist of last night's dream, the person who created that dream might not have been Naruto."

Sasuke's entire body trembled. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Kakashi. "You're saying..."

After calming down, how could he not understand that there was something strange about it?

The location of the former Uchiha compound, the details of how his father and mother interacted...

There was no way Naruto could have imagined such things out of thin air.

What was more, Naruto had been a participant in the dream too. Judging by his reactions in many places, it seemed that even he had not known what would happen beforehand.

Reason told Sasuke that Naruto might truly be innocent.

But when he thought of the pain he had felt last night, that agony of hope and despair intertwined, all stemming from Naruto's dream, he could not stop himself from taking it out on Naruto.

Now that Kakashi had laid it out so plainly, he finally calmed down somewhat. His fists slowly loosened, and the vicious light in his eyes faded.

Naruto listened from the side, utterly confused. "W-Wait, Kakashi-sensei, what do you mean by dream protagonist? What do you mean by things I couldn't know? What are you two talking about?"

He scratched his head, his face full of confusion.

He only remembered having a wonderful dream last night, but judging from Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke's conversation, it sounded like they had seen his dream too?

How could that be possible?

Kakashi turned around and said gently to Naruto, "Naruto, you don't need to ask about this. Don't think too much about it for now, either."

He patted Naruto's shoulder to reassure him. "In any case, Sasuke was just acting on impulse. Don't take it too much to heart."

Naruto blinked, even more bewildered. But seeing Kakashi's serious expression, he could only rest his chin on his hand, squint as though he half understood, and nod. "Oh..."

He had been in a good mood recently, and he could not be bothered to think too deeply about such complicated matters.

Seeing that both of them had calmed down, Kakashi pondered briefly before announcing, "Today's mission is canceled. You have the day off, so go home and rest."

"What?" Naruto stared in surprise. "Why are we suddenly getting a day off?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei—" Sakura also spoke up from the side in confusion.

Kakashi waved a hand.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, all of you should go back and take some time to adjust yourselves."

"Hmph."

Sasuke snorted coldly, turned away first, shoved his hands into his pockets, and headed out of the woods.

He was filled with frustration and pain right now and only wanted to be alone for a while.

Since Kakashi had said Naruto knew nothing about it, he did not want to see Naruto's face again and let it provoke him further.

He might as well take this chance to leave.

"Sasuke, you..." Sakura watched Sasuke's resolute departing back and could not help taking a step forward. Yet in the end, she did not have the courage to chase after him and could only watch helplessly as he disappeared among the trees.

After Sasuke had gone far enough away, Kakashi turned to Sakura and said gently, "Sakura, don't worry about Sasuke. It's better to let him calm down for a while. You've had a hard time too, so go home and get some rest early."

"Sensei, but..." Sakura wanted to say something more, but ultimately nodded obediently. "I understand."

Although the dream last night had not affected her as deeply as it had Sasuke, it had still shaken her greatly.

A day off for her to sort through and process it all was not necessarily a bad thing.

Soon, Sakura also said goodbye and left.

Once everyone else had gone, Naruto could only scratch his head and head off alone to practice ninjutsu, his face still full of confusion.