The eastern sky had just begun to lighten.
Naruto slowly woke from his sleep.
He opened his eyes groggily, seeing that it was still dark outside and everything around him was quiet.
Rubbing his bleary eyes, he sat up and noticed that it was still pitch-black beyond the window. It looked like dawn; the sun hadn't fully risen yet.
He looked around the room, and familiar furnishings came into view.
The messy bedding, clothes strewn everywhere, and instant ramen cups piled in the corner...
Every bit of it was more familiar to him than he could say.
Yet for some reason, Naruto's heart sank.
Last night, he hadn't managed to enter that dream, so naturally he hadn't seen his mom and dad, let alone trained in ninjutsu with his father.
Instead, he'd somehow ended up watching Sasuke's "dream" from the sidelines in some strange place.
In front of Kakashi-sensei and Sakura last night, Naruto had pretended to be fine and hadn't shown much disappointment.
But now that he was alone, he could no longer suppress the unease in his heart.
The dream of reuniting with Mom and Dad the night before last...
Could that really have been the last time?
"No... No!" Naruto shook his head hard, trying to chase away the terrible thought. "I'll see them again someday. I know I will!"
The warm memories of the dream from the night before came unbidden to his mind.
His father had held his hand and patiently guided him through practicing the Rasengan, over and over, while his mother stood nearby with a gentle smile, handing him a towel to wipe away his sweat...
He wished that happiness could last every day.
Yesterday, he'd even eaten pork ramen that his mom had made herself. It had tasted ten times better than the ramen he usually got at Ichiraku Ramen!
Watching his father smile at him with affection and his mother bustling around, Naruto had felt like the happiest person in the world.
After tossing and turning for a long while, Naruto still wasn't sleepy. At last, he threw off the covers with a sigh. "Sigh..."
He changed clothes listlessly, tidied up a little, then left with his head hanging and headed for Team 7's usual meeting place.
Konoha was quiet and chilly in the early morning.
There were only a few people on the streets, and the lights were on in just a handful of breakfast shops.
Naruto walked along the roadside, lost in thought. He didn't even notice the strange looks from passersby, which he usually cared about so much.
The contemptuous stares that had once tormented him now seemed meaningless.
Before long, he reached the training ground where Team 7 gathered.
It was quiet all around, with no one in sight.
Only then did Naruto realize he'd gotten up far too early.
He gave a wry smile, sat down on the ground, and stared absently at the sky as it gradually brightened.
What if... what if he could never enter that dream again and see Mom and Dad?
Lost in thought, Naruto suddenly slapped his cheeks hard, trying to clear his head.
He silently encouraged himself.
No, he couldn't keep moping like this!
Mom and Dad would surely want him to pull himself together.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had also woken up.
When he opened his eyes, his cheek felt cold.
A chilly dewdrop had fallen from the branches at some point, landing right on his face.
Sasuke jolted and woke up properly.
He sat up abruptly and realized he was lying on the grass in the mountains behind the clan grounds, his back against a cold rock wall.
In the faint morning light, the ruins of the compound behind him still looked desolate.
Sasuke froze for a moment, then realized—
So everything that had just happened really had been a dream.
But even though he knew it was a dream, the images were still vivid in his mind, and he couldn't let them go.
"It felt so real..." Sasuke murmured.
It wasn't as if he'd never dreamed about his parents.
On the contrary, the tragedy of that night haunted him. He was plagued by nightmares so often that they had become a shadow over his life.
He often dreamed of his dead parents, and of the person who had slaughtered the entire clan...
But last night's dream had been completely different.
There had been no bloody night, no endless fear or despair—only a loving mother, a stern but reassuring father, and... the older brother who had once cared for him.
Every last detail had felt so real!
Sasuke could even vaguely recall the delicious smell of yesterday's lunch.
He pressed his lips together, his heart in turmoil.
Had it really been only a fantasy?
And Itachi in the dream had been living at home just like everyone else. He'd even earned their father's trust, joined the Police Force, and worked alongside him.
Sasuke recalled the Itachi from his dream, and his brows furrowed of their own accord.
Unlike the Itachi who had cruelly slaughtered the clan that night and repeatedly tortured him with the truth of his birth, the Itachi in the dream had seemed just like the one from his childhood.
Gentle, talented, and reassuring.
He remembered how clingy he'd been with his older brother as a child, and how much Itachi had cared for him. Until that night—
The scene from that night rose unbidden in his mind.
A blood-red crescent moon hung in the sky, the bodies of his clan members lay strewn across the ground, and blood stained the stone path through the compound.
In the darkness, Itachi Uchiha stood above him, looking down at him as a child...
"You foolish little brother... If you want to kill me, then hate me. Resent me. Then cling to life in disgrace..."
Those icy words still sent a chill through Sasuke.
His expression darkened.
He clenched his fist, his nails nearly digging into his palm.
It had only been a dream. It was all fake!
It was a false dream. I, Sasuke Uchiha, will never lose myself in it!
Elsewhere, at the Hyuga Residence.
Soft morning light filtered through the paper sliding doors. Hinata Hyuga rubbed her bleary eyes and gently sat up in bed.
The night had been no different from usual. She'd slept peacefully as she always did, and when she opened her eyes, morning had come.
Hinata sat dazed on the bed for a long while before coming to her senses.
Could it really have been nothing more than a dream?
When Sasuke jogged to Team 7's meeting place, he spotted Naruto from a distance, sitting alone on the open grassy field and fiddling with the weeds. He had no idea what Naruto was thinking about.
Suddenly, Sasuke's heart lurched as he remembered an extremely important question.
He'd entered that dream last night... but what about Naruto?
It would be fine if Naruto had been in the dream too.
But if Naruto had been in that strange, movie-theater-like space they'd visited before, wouldn't he have seen everything that happened in Sasuke's dream?
And Kakashi-sensei and Sakura, too!
Sasuke had been too emotional last night and had completely overlooked the question.
He'd forgotten that people could see into the dream, and hadn't even thought to keep his behavior in check!
Didn't that mean they'd seen all the ways he'd lost control last night?
At the thought that the idiot Naruto might have seen how he'd acted in his dream, Sasuke's ears burned with embarrassment!
"Damn it..."
Sasuke held his forehead, his cheeks burning.
What exactly had he done in the dream last night?
He'd... first grabbed Itachi and beaten him up, then cried like a baby when he saw Mom, and clung to her, acting spoiled all day...
The more Sasuke remembered, the more mortified he felt. He wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
The mighty Sasuke Uchiha, who dared to face powerful enemies head-on, was now at a loss.
He'd rather trade dozens of real blows with Itachi right then than walk out and face Naruto.
Sasuke had never hesitated like this before.
He even found himself afraid to go over and greet Naruto...
Before you continue