The Dream and Foreshadowing Room is eerily quiet. Actually, it’s way too quiet that Quietude is forced to trot towards the room Fate and Dream are currently in, troubled and curious because a room has passed Quietude's room in term of... well, quietude.

Knock. Knock.

The door slowly budges open, leaving a crack for Quietude to peep in.

“Fate?” Quietude quietly calls.

“Wha—oh, Quietude.” A flick. The door moves, allowing Quietude to enter now. “What brings you here, my friend?”

Quietude stares at the sick Dream in the bed. Maybe… the room is quiet because no one is there? Then again, someone must’ve replaced Dream to do his job while he’s sick. Someone must've been there. Quietude frowns.

“Fate?”

“Hm?”

“Is the Dream and Foreshadowing Room empty?”

Fate blinks. “No—Kami should be there…” his brows furrow in deep thought, “…why are you asking, Quietude?”

“It’s way too quiet there,” Quietude whispers.

“Then maybe Kami is doing the job right,” Fate muses, “...else he would’ve been running around screaming for help.”

“No problems, then?” Quietude inquires, softly.

“Hopefully, no.” Fate smiles, “Hey. Wanna play a shouting game?”

The Fourth felt that he needed to drink. A strong one, if he could. He thought the reports session would go short for today because he’s only evaluating four teams, the rest having gone on C-missions or more and hadn’t yet come back to the country... but these four teams, by Kami… the Fourth shook his head, feeling his headache worsen.

“So, Kanzo, why’s your summon wrapped around your arm?”

Kanzo’s expression turned sour. “Mandu is traumatized because the minute I summoned him, the uncle-like Kim suddenly screamed war and threw a kunai towards her.”

“Your snake is a she?” Kakashi asked. Kanzo glared at him, and Kakashi shrugged, waving away. “Right, forget I asked. No judgment here. Carry on.”

The Fourth hummed, “You summoned Mandu in front of your genins?”

“I was going to introduce them anyways,” Kanzo explained, obviously regretting his decision. “And since Yamanaka Yuki—the third member in my team—adores snake, I thought…” he shrugged, his face soured even more.

“Alright,” the Fourth nodded. “I hope Mandu will be better soon. Next, Nayoung.”

Nayoung stepped forward.

“I’m here to report team thirteen,” she began, “and nothing fancy happened—just Uchiha Hemo screaming bloody imposter and attacking my other two genins and I.”

The Fourth nodded idly, “Of course, right…“

…………

“…what?”

“So what now?” Yeonjung asked. They had left Ichiraku Ramen, with Chaeyeon pointing out that the owners suddenly closed the shop the moment they stepped out. Out of the ten, Sohye had been the one to solemnly acknowledge that their conversations could’ve been too much to bear for outsiders.

“There’s a park near the Jeon compound,” Somi cheerily said. “Let’s go there and discuss things.”

“You just want us to walk you home,” Mina said, her tone accusatory.

“Be as it may,” Somi sing-songed, “the park is also vacant at this hour. No shop owners to bug, no outsiders to traumatize.”

“Alright, the park it is,” Chungha announced, pushing Somi to walk in the front, leading them.

“Anyone remembers what happened in our Harry Potter dream?” Doyeon asked. “You know, the last time.”

“Nayoung unnie bought an owl and named it Stone,” Jieqiong answered.

“Somi traumatized the Sorting Hat and caused the birth of a new House called Crushader,” Yeonjung added.

“And we accidentally helped Voldemort to kill Dumbledore,” Sejeong finished.

“Idiots,” Chaeyeon grumbled under her breath.

“I don’t think that’s what Dodo meant,” Yoojung interrupted. “I think she’s trying to refer to how we gained knowledge about the world in our dream, and what caused the dream to end.”

“Shorty is right,” Doyeon nodded, ignoring the sudden sharp pain coming from her left foot. Yoojung had stepped on it with the greatest force she could muster.

“Well, adding to that, I do wonder about one more thing,” Mina said, “if this is a dream then why are we capable of experiencing pain?”

Somi clasped her hands together. “My face!”

Doyeon nodded vigorously. “My foot!”

Sejeong tilted her head briefly, as if pondering, then leaned in to kiss Chungha’s cheek. Chungha yelped, pinching Sejeong’s arm in surprise.

“Ow!” Sejeong covered the part Chungha had pinched, grinning. “My arm! Mina is right. It hurts.”

“Why, though?” Sohye mused. “Aren’t dreams painless?”

They resumed their journey, all deep in thoughts over the presented questions.

Nayoung cracked the stiff joints in her fingers, looking outside the window. Being a ninja now, she was tempted to open one window and just jump off from there. She wondered why she hadn’t witnessed one instance like that today. Everyone used doors like a boring, uncreative human who didn’t have ninja blood running in them.

“Im!”

Nayoung stopped walking. She turned to face Kanzo, who’s lightly running towards her—why didn’t he just teleport? Surely there’s a jutsu to move from place to place quickly. Maybe it consumed a large amount of chakra? Nayoung wrinkled her nose.

She’d have to look it up later.

“Im?”

Nayoung stared at Kanzo, nodding to sign him that she’s listening. And—is he blushing???—Nayoung blinked, suddenly getting a gist of what question would be asked.

“I umm… is our date for tomorrow still going?”

Nayoung mentally groaned. The Nayoung before Nayoung popped into this universe must’ve accepted a date from Kanzo. What should she do now? Kanzo was an okay guy—handsome, even. Shallow, though. But the most important thing was, Nayoung couldn’t see herself spending a date with the man, and that only meant wasted time.

“I’m sorry, Kanzo.”

Kanzo locked her eyes in his. The snake in his arm hissed, and Nayoung’s gaze flickered towards the slimy animal. Nayoung grimly smiled at the summon.

“I’m not fond of snakes.”

“What—“ Kanzo began, and Nayoung wondered if the Nayoung before her had actually liked snakes. Maybe she shouldn’t declare her likes and dislikes before she learnt more about the original Nayoung.

Kanzo struggled for a while after his ‘what’, but then settled with a sigh, “—I see.”

Nayoung nodded.

“Then I will… excuse myself,” Kanzo shrugged. He looked at Nayoung for a minute, and Nayoung wondered if she was supposed to notice the hurt in his eyes. “Good night, Nayoung.”

Kanzo turned around, walked several steps, then vanished into thin air, the snake hissing seconds before it’s gone. Nayoung stared at the spot for a while, mentally unlisting ‘teleport takes a great amount of chakra’ assumption from her mind.

“Goodbye… colleague.”

She opened a window and jumped off, ten faces filling her mind. Jumping from roof to roof, Nayoung checked the tracker she had secretly stuck on Jieqiong’s forehead protector before they parted earlier. Her hard works of immediate reading and figuring jutsus the moment she woke up this morning had paid off.

Nayoung glanced at the moon, and smiled.

She really, really wanted to quickly meet them.

“So memories from the Sejeong in this world will grace my mind tomorrow?” Sejeong asked. They were sitting in the park’s sand box, building little castles and towers.

“Supposedly,” Mina nodded.

“Does that mean we’ll suddenly feel remorse?” Chaeyeon wondered, chewing on her lower lip. “Since the pain of losing a friend will grace Yeonjung and I tomorrow.”

“I guess we’ll just see,” Yeonjung said when an arm went flying towards her masterpiece. “ACK! Doyeon! Go bother Yoojung’s castle and stay away from mine!” She glared at the tall girl, who accidentally knocked the roof of her tower off. Doyeon put her hands up in surrender, inching away from the crime scene.

“Jieqiong unnie? What are you building?” Sohye asked, pointing to the unidentifiable lump Jieqiong made.

“A stone,” Jieqiong huffed.

“I don’t think that looks like Nayoung unnie,” Somi commented.

“Right,” Sejeong nodded. “That looks way more like Nayoung unnie.” She pointed to a distance behind Jieqiong.

Jieqiong looked up, about to scold Sejeong that it’s not funny to pretend that a night breeze is Nayoung unnie, when a voice she had memorized way too perfectly filled the silence.

“Hey, guys,” then in a softer voice, “hi, Jieqiong.”

Ten cheers. Ten smiles. Ten pairs of arms about to welcome her, when the ground suddenly shook, and everything went black.

Kami stares at the screen, then to the several buttons adorning the panel before the screen.

“Hmm~” Kami presses several buttons, watching them beep. A small screen on the far left displays blackness with a red exclamation mark on it. Kami chuckles. “Ah, it seems like I’ve messed up~”

The divine being continues chuckling, fingers pressing several more buttons and turning some adjusters that read: period, reality, and degree of ery. The last adjuster seems broken, as it doesn’t give any response when turned around.

“Dream?” a voice comes from the door. Kami swirls around, eyes twinkling.

“Oh, Shady~”

“That’s Foreshadow to you, Kami,” the figure frowns. “Why are you here?”

“Why, temporarily taking Dream’s place, of course~” Kami subtly moves to cover the small, black screen, grinning atop of nervousness. “Why’re you here yourself?”

“This is my workplace,” Foreshadow sneers. “Do you have everything under control?”

“Of course~”

“Huh.” Foreshadow nods, “I shall take my leave, then. I will check in again later.”

“Shady bye bye~”

“Foreshadow, Kami.”

Kami laughs it off, waving away. The moment the door clicks back into place, Kami turns around and studies the big screen with a thoughtful, cheery hum.

Whirrr… whirr…

“Hehe…” Kami grins. “I totally mess up~!” Kami bounces lightly on the chair. “Merlin is right, this is fun~”

In the resting room, Dream shivers.

Wake up, cub.

Huh? Who?

I’m the ten-tailed stranger, as you put it. Now wake up.

What’s the ground shaking just now? Is everyone okay?

*sigh* They’re fine, cub. I don’t know why the ground’s shaking, but you really have to wake up.

What about Chungha? Is she okay?

Dear Kami, cub, you’re so annoying, you know that? Your mate is fine. Now wake the Hell up.

Wha—? She’s—

“—not my mate!” Sejeong protested, eyes wide open.

A bored looking gigantic Grim with ten tails sprouting from its rear lazily waved at her.

“Yo.”

Sejeong blinked, and mutely waved back.

“Good gracious, cub, you’re way too quiet when awake.”

Sejeong blinked again. “Um, are you perhaps…” the Grim cocked a brow, encouraging her to continue, “…in any way, are you affiliated with Sirius Black?”

Silence.

“Who?”

Sejeong shook her head, “Never mind, crossovers effect.” She smiled nervously, “So, why are you here… or why am I here? Where’s here anyway?”

“Your mindscape,” the Grim chucked a finger towards Sejeong’s head, to which the latter flinched. “Whoops, does that terrify you? Sorry. I rather like speaking while moving my hands around.”

“Just,” Sejeong exhaled, “maybe don’t sway any gigantic sharp objects towards my direction?”

“Do savage comments count?”

Sejeong pondered for a moment, “They do when my ego is fragile.”

“Noted,” the Grim nodded. “So, as I was saying… I want to wake you up because we’re not supposed to be there.”

Sejeong looked at the Grim curiously. “You mean because this is a dream?”

The Grim cocked an eyebrow, and snapped its fingers together. Sejeong yelped—something had slapped her thigh!

“Aren’t dreams painless?”

“What did I say about sharp objects—“

“It wasn't a sharp object, it was condensed wind animated to collide against your thigh in enough speed to inflict slight pain as if slapped,” the Grim explained.

“Riiiiight.” Sejeong frowned, “So this isn’t a dream?”

The Grim’s fingers moved.

“AND NONE OF THAT CONDENSED WIND AGAIN!” Sejeong screamed.

“Right,” the Grim grinned, fingers stopping just before they could make a snapping sound. “Sorry. Well, I don’t think this is a dream. But if you’re dreaming of someone telling you it’s not a dream, does it make your dream less a dream?”

“I’m stuck with a giant philosopher dog,” Sejeong moaned. “Did I drown kittens in my past lives?”

The Grim barked a laugh. This human was funny. He might grow to like her, Hell—he could feel that he’s already warming up to her.

That was rare.

“But if this isn’t a dream, what about IOI? What about Gu9udan? What about our ot11 comeback? Damn YMC hasn't dropped any new things...” Sejeong’s musing drew the Grim out of its own thought.

"Cub?"

“If this isn’t a dream, what about Produce 101? Is that a dream, instead? What about my mum? Well, I still saw her this morning when I woke up, and Oppa is supposedly a ninja too, but does a ninja even dream about kpop idols audition?” Sejeong stared at the Grim with a deadpan expression on her face, “User Sejeong is entering insanity in three… two… one…”

“Easy there, cub,” the Grim grinned, resting on its front legs. “You haven’t gone bat crazy. Not yet, at least. And your life is exactly that, your life. You’re just currently trapped in another dimension. An alternate universe, you see...”

“Hold up a second,” Sejeong interrupted. “Does this mean I always have you in my mindscape?”

“Do you?” the Grim asked back.

“I asked first.”

“Hmm, funnily enough, I don’t know,” the Grim replied. “I have memories of your life, though. Maybe I’ve always been there, as a part of your brain.”

“Life is strange,” Sejeong mumbles.

“Isn't it always?” The Grim grinned, “But as I was saying, we’re not supposed to be there. Wrong dimension, you see. Someone in the highest realm messed up, and Kami thought it will take a while before everything’s get cleaned up, so He gives me permission to talk to you.”

“Kami,” Sejeong repeated. “The Merlin of this universe?”

“The one who placed me in your mindscape and tied me to your chakra coil, yeah.” The Grim tilted its head, “Kami is a prankster at heart,” it suddenly said.

“What?”

The Grim shook its head. “No. A thought just occurred to me—what if Kami actually messed things on purpose?” It let out a barking laugh. “I wouldn’t put it past Him, that sneaky bastard—“

“Language…“ Sejeong blinked mid-scolding, “…right, I haven’t known your name.”

“My name, cub?” the Grim asked in amusement.

“Yup, doesn’t a bijuu always have one? The nine-tails is Kurama, isn’t it?” Sejeong said, head tilting slightly to recall one of Hana’s long- rants. “Hana unnie told Mina and I plenty about this universe but—hold up again. Are you telling me that Naruto universe is actually real?”

“My name is Kex,” the Grim told her, smiling. “and that, cub, is a discussion for another day.”

A flick. A snap.

“Wha—?”

Blackness fell over, and Sejeong lost consciousness.

Jieqiong woke up in the same bed she woke up yesterday, again. She blinked. What happened? The last thing I remember is the ground shaking, she thought, removing blankets and neatly folding it up. Who brought me back to the Zhou compound? Jieqiong rose, attempting to comb her hair but ending up with fingers tangled in her bedded locks instead.

Is it even possible to sleep inside a dream?

Jieqiong freshened up, taking a bath and changing into the dark attire she found in her cupboard. The compound was quiet, like yesterday, and Jieqiong wondered if the Jieqiong before she popped into existence had always lived alone. No father, no mother, no siblings. No relatives at all.

Jieqiong stared into the mirror, frowning at her thoughts.

This is a dream. Don’t feel bad, Jieqiong. This is a dream. You’ve got a family in the reality.

She picked up a carton of milk from the refrigerator, not feeling quite in mood to cook breakfast, and walked to exit the compound. When she reached the gate, though, her steps halted at the back view of a familiar figure.

“Nayoung unnie?”

The said woman turned slowly, blinking at Jieqiong—she looks like she lacks sleep, what time did she wake up?

“Hi, Jieqiong.” Nayoung let a small smile to form, and Jieqiong mentally heard her teammate billowing about how their jonin sensei couldn’t smile. Jieqiong snickered, and Nayoung’s smile widened at that. “Well, good to see you off in a good mood this morning.”

Jieqiong shrugged, grinning at her. “Maybe because I see you?” She opened the milk and took several sips, walking alongside Nayoung to leave the compound. “What are you doing here this morning?”

“Waiting for you,” Nayoung replied.

“That would be called favoritism,” Jieqiong teased, smiling.

“Not if we pick up Sohye next and I treat both of you to breakfast,” Nayoung corrected. “I can always say that I happen to pass your compound on my way if anyone’s asking.”

Jieqiong stared. “Now I understand why you’re in Slytherin during our Harry Potter dream.”

“Despite the fact that I seem to attract snakes?”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Nayoung replied, pushing the thought of Kanzo in the farthest back of her mind. Jieqiong looked at her, questioning, and Nayoung merely smiled with a shake of her head. Jieqiong pursed her lips, but let the matter drop.

"So, where's the Im compound located at?"

Nayoung snorted. "No such thing," she answered. "I live in an apartment."

Jieqiong emptied her milk carton, her lips to catch a drop she hadn't swallowed. "Can I come over sometime?"

"You can come over anytime you want," Nayoung smiled.

"Careful, Nayoung sensei," Jieqiong teased, "lest a certain boy would scream bloody imposter again."

Nayoung shrugged. She didn't know how the Nayoung before her behaved, but judging from the stuffs left in the apartment, she's just the same as Nayoung, except that she hadn't known the ten lights Nayoung had come to welcome in her life now. And she wasn't going to change how she behaved around Jieqiong and others just to make a genin stop accusing her of imposing as his sensei.

People grew and changed.

The boy just had to accept that his jonin sensei and two teammates had changed overnight.

“So," Nayoung spoke again, breaking the comfortable silence between them, "have you studied some jutsus?”

Jieqiong’s following groan was an answer enough.

“Then Doyeon put her feet in front of me when I wasn’t looking,” Yoojung scowled. “Stumbled right into a dirty puddle.”

“Doyeon,” Mina sighed, “you really should stop bothering Yoojung—“

“But did she die?” Doyeon asked. “Hint, no. So really, I just did what I did to liven up her rather dull life—“

Yoojung screamed and launched herself to bite Doyeon’s shoulder, while Mina immediately tried to pry the two off of each other, exasperated. It was to this sight that Kakashi arrived, hopping down from a tree nearby and leisurely making his way to the wrestling genins. He could feel his visible eye twitching as he thought sarcastically to himself, what now, do they suffer another temporary amnesia and think they’re carnivores?

“Dodaeng, behave!” Mina yelled, restraining Yoojung from taking another bite at Doyeon, “Kakashi sensei is there!”

Yoojung growled, eyeing the bite mark in Doyeon’s shoulder with satisfaction.

“Yo, team,” Kakashi said. His gaze rested at the bite mark on Doyeon. “I’m tempted to ask ‘rough night?’ but I don’t think that’s appropriate, so I’ll just nod and say, nice mark.”

“Thanks, sensei,” Doyeon solemnly replied. “Don’t get too excited, though, it’s temporary. My family refuses to get me a permanent tattoo, so—“

“While we wait for your teammate to finish her life story,” Kakashi continued, “how’s your temporary amnesia going?” He looked at Mina and Yoojung.

Mina nudged Yoojung. Yoojung stopped growling at Doyeon, and blinked at Kakashi.

“What?”

“Not better, I see,” Kakashi dryly said. “Alright then, might as well postpone doing missions for today. I will get you some training.”

Doyeon had finished her made up story just in time to gasp with Mina and Yoojung. Yesterday, after nearly failing their mission and confessed to have ‘forgotten’ about anything ninja, Kakashi forced them to climb trees to re-learn about chakra with their body rather than just their mind.

“We’ve managed to climb trees before the day ends, though!” Mina pleaded. They had struck a deal that if they reached the top before Kakashi felt sleepy, Kakashi would stop being mad at them and their temporary amnesia.

Kakashi hummed. “Yes, it was rather surprising because you got it down so fast.” The three got a sudden impression that behind that mask, their sensei was grinning. “That also means that you shouldn’t have a problem with this training, either.”

“But what about pocket money for our meal?” Mina pouted.

Kakashi sighed. He’s usually not affected by human cuteness, but his brain had somehow deemed a pouting Mina insanely adorable, which was good for his team, but bad for his wallet.

“I will give each of you enough for a bowl of ramen,” Kakashi promised, sternly adding, “double if you could master the training before the sun sets.”

“What is the training?” Doyeon asked, feeling a little bit better now because of the promised pocket money.

“Why,” Kakashi curved his visible eye into a cheerful eyesmile, “walking on the Nasty Lake’s water surface, of course!”

The Nasty Lake had gotten the name for a reason: it’s polluted with yucky industrial wastes, not to mention questionable living beings inhabiting the deep part of the Lake. Practicing walking on water surface on top of the Nasty Lake meant experiencing falling down into the very same yucky liquid, and team 17 really, relly liked not to do that today.

The three’s chorused ‘nooooo’ buried Kakashi’s evil cackles, carried by the wind way, way further, into the Hokage Tower where the Fourth was sipping on his coffee, scrolls of untended missions sprawled across the table in front of him. Some knocks on the door were heard, and the Fourth craned his neck.

“Come in.”

The door creaking open, Obana and his team stepped into the room. The Fourth smiled,

“One D Mission for today, Obana?”

Obana cleared his throat, “Actually—“

“We want a more challenging mission,” Somi interrupted, “like saving a princess from a misunderstood dragon before a plumber who goes by the name Mario declares a war against the Mushroom Nation to save her.”

The Fourth blinked.

“That, or something,” Yeonjung added, her voice dead serious.

“Pardon our maknae, Hokage-sama, she’s rather riled up about Super Mario,” Chaeyeon politely said.

Obana groaned. “Before you ask, Hokage-sama, no, I don’t know what maknae means, nor do I know what they meant with Super Mario and a princess with a dragon, never mind where Mushroom Nation is, or whether it’s real or not.”

“Maybe we should really see to hold the Minimum Sanity Requirement test again…” the Fourth mumbled under his breath. Then, speaking in a louder voice, he said, “Very well, I have several C missions, and here’s hoping every one of them is assigned according to the standard.”

Obana nodded. By an unfortunate of luck, some C-rank missions could get bumped up into B-rank missions and A-rank missions as they went.

“Escorting mission, Hokage-sama?”

“Yes. Where is it… ah, found it.” The Fourth cleared his throat, “You are to Uchiha Yasushi to the border to Iwagakure and back. It will probably take a week.”

“Uchiha?” Yeonjung asked. “Aren’t they ninjas, too?”

“Not every Uchiha is a ninja, just as not every Namikaze a ninja,” the Fourth explained. “Sometimes, one doesn’t develop enough chakra reserves to perform any types of jutsu, even though he or she comes from a ninja family.”

“Uchiha prides the clan in their ninja abilities, though, so when a newborn is found to have no ounce of chakra in them…” Obana trailed off.

“Let’s leave the clan discussions from this,” the Fourth smiled. “If you’re going to take up on this mission, I will still need you to choose a D-rank mission. The C-rank mission will start tomorrow.”

Obana glanced warily at his genins. “What do you guys th—“

“I'm in,” Somi confirmed. "Chaeyeon unnie? Yeonjung?"

“I'm in. Whatever your choice is, you’re outvoted,” Chaeyeon informed Yeonjung.

“Boo,” Yeonjung huffed. “But I’m in anyways.”

The three stared at their jonin sensei, smiling.

Obana looked at the Fourth again, gesturing helplessly to his kids. The Fourth smiled sympathetically, having erased any thoughts that his jonins exaggerated their reports yesterday.

“Okay, so for today, team 11 will take on the mission to…” the Fourth scanned the scrolls for a while, “…find the daimyo’s dog, Inuki.”

Collective groans accumulated from the genins. “Not again…”

Obana held back a groan himself, and bowed to the Fourth, prompting his genins to do the same. It was not until they exited the room that he finally sighed a long, agonized sigh. A princess? Misunderstood dragon? Mario the plumber? Mushroom Nation?

Then Somi randomly started saying, "Yum yuuUUUUUUM~"

Chaeyeon and Yeonjung skipped happily after the youngest, adding, "Come oooOOOOON~"

Obana's head spun.

Kami-sama, my genin team has totally gone senile...

(to be continued...)
if I actually manage to get around to finish a chapter three. *is bricked*
no but really, this chapter up there is a result of my stress after doing computerized tomography stuffs, and surprisingly the words flew in quick in what little time I had, so here you go. don't expect the next chapter to be up this quickly, though, seriously. because it's just unusual. XD
thank you for reading <3