POV Shin

I walked through a forest, listening to the sound of water. I came to a cliff and saw a temple in the distance.

At the top was an impressive creature: at the top, a huge black beetle, and at the bottom, a delicate white dragonfly with wings. It was moving around the temple, while I watched what appeared to be people walking around, moving cautiously due to the creature's presence.

Everything went dark.

I heard a noise and, as I looked, I realized I was in a desert. A few meters away, there was a cloud of sand and loud noises. I approached slowly and saw a person with light green hair, fighting a huge scorpion.

After a while, I saw more people, but I stopped paying attention to them when I noticed that the one with green hair had dragonfly wings, they were very beautiful. I didn't quite understand what was going on, but they didn't seem to have any trouble defeating the scorpion.

I tried to get closer, but I was afraid to get too close. The scorpion looked great, it's one of my favorite insects, along with beetles.

I woke up from my dream.

I checked to see if mom or grandpa were around, apparently not, meaning at least I didn't scream in my sleep. I washed my face and sighed. I drank some water and, looking at the dark sky, I guess it's not as late as I thought.

I have been dreaming about different creatures for weeks. Today I had a new dream, this is the fourth creature I've seen. This time the beast looked better than the previous ones, and it didn't give me a bad feeling.

Later I will draw it for the doctor, and for mom and grandpa to see. It's getting very annoying to sleep badly, grandpa was right when told me that it makes us sick not to sleep well. I even feel that my drawings are not as good as before, it was very frustrating, even if they are just nightmares as they say.

If they were nightmares they should have stopped. Mom stopped telling me stories about hokage and ninjas because they thought that was the cause, but I know that's not true. Dreams don't feel like that. It's frustrating not being able to see what's really going on; I can only make out hair color and sometimes people's eyes. I don't hear anything; it's like trying to hear while I'm submerged in the bathtub. I only remember the scream of the ten-handed man in my first dream.

It doesn't make sense that the only thing I see clearly are the beasts, it's all very weird, but even though my grandpa at least admits it's weird to have so many nightmares, he and mom are only focused on the dreams stopping, not what they are or what they mean. A few days ago I decided to write down everything I dream, also to tell dad, maybe he will believe me.

The next day was normal. Mom had to go to work at the hospital and Grandpa couldn't stay. I was with a friend of Mom's, Kurama Uroko, who is nice and was Mom's classmate at the academy. She is an important member of her clan, but she doesn't talk to me much about it. I suspect Mom asked her not to talk to me much about such matters.

Today I went to the park and saw my friend Yamanaka Hiroto, the son of one of Dad's classmates. Mom says he and dad have done some missions.

Hiroto is a year older than me, but I get along with him very well. I can talk to him without any problems, unlike other kids my age. Besides, he belongs to a famous clan and always has interesting stories to tell.

"Hi Hiroto," I said

"Hi Shin, what a coincidence," we both knew it wasn't, we had agreed on possible days and times we would be at the park to meet.

"Do you want to play -tag-?"

"Sure." Ever since Hiroto's dad Sora told him that certain games are great for ninjas, it's become our favorite game.

We played for more than half an hour, until we decided to sit on the swings. We chose this place to talk about private things, since they were far away from the adults.

"How are you doing with the nightmares?"

"Same, although they don't scare me so much anymore, but they are annoying, today I dreamt of something different, do you want to see it?"

"Sure, you finally had a dream about a dragon?" Hiroto had a theory that I dreamed about creatures of legends and sooner or later I would dream about a dragon.

"No, but it was different." I showed her the drawing I did this morning. It's a little crumpled from being in my bag, but it looks good.

"It's amazing, like a dragonfly beetle," said Hiroto looking at the drawing.

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Happy that I can draw something very similar to what I saw. I said, "I thought the same thing, when I saw it was above a temple in a forest with waterfalls."

"How are you doing? Have you been to the doctor more often?”. Hiroto had an illness that sometimes forced him to spend nights at the doctor's, so we agreed on a time to see each other, since he couldn't always go to the park.

"No, this week I haven't gone, mom is happy about it, yesterday we went for sushi to celebrate."

I don't know what illness he has, and Mom told me that sometimes it's better not to ask. Hiroto is thin and pale, and although he plays with me, he gets tired quickly.

"Congratulations, it's been almost two weeks since your last doctor's visit, soon you'll have to go less and you may need to take less of that medicine."

Hiroto complains about the big pills he has to take, his dad ordered them from the Akimichi clan, they are special and help him grow strong and healthy. Although they taste awful, Hiroto admitted that he felt much better when he started taking them.

"I hope so, but mom always says I need to take them longer. By the way, my mom told me about a jutsu unique to my clan."

"Your clan is good at mind stuff and getting information, right?", I asked him, apparently they are very famous for that, and for working very well with the Nara and Akimichi clans.

"Yes, I'm talking about my clan's best-known jutsu - Mind Body Switch Technique- what it does is..."

1 week later

POV Byu

Although it hasn't been long, seeing the walls of Konoha always gives me a sense of security and calm, like coming home. Shin and Yumi came to mind at that instant, and the desire to meet with them. But this mission was necessary and one of the best options for my promotion, after this I could spend more time in Konoha.

We meet more ninjas, but rumors indicate that the war is losing intensity, and there are rumors of conversations to end it. This is some of the best news I could have received.

First we took a wounded comrade, although it was not fatal, to the hospital. As soon as they let us in, I went to get him treated. On the way out, I noticed that it was getting dark and I doubted whether I would see Shin awake, as we still had to report on the outcome of the mission.

When we left the -Mission Assignment Desk- it was late, I said goodbye to Keiji and headed home. When I arrived, I tried to be quiet. I went to the kitchen and Yumi was waiting for me; it seems that my carrier pigeon did reach her.

I kissed her and she wrapped me in her arms. Afterwards, we sat down to talk about the mission. Yumi wanted to heat up some dinner, although I told her it wasn't necessary, even though I was hungry, because I didn't want to hear her reproaches if my stomach rumbled, in the end I agreed.

The mission was a success, we even helped catch other criminals who escaped from Kusagakure prison, even though they were not part of the mission, the result should be a very good performance, being quite humble. There was only one injured and not seriously. Now I have to wait for the call for my promotion to Chunin. If they delay, Sakumo could help speed up the process.

As I helped with the dishes and recounted our return to the village, I asked her how she was doing. I knew she was being asked for more help at the hospital and that Ren or her friend from the Kurama clan had helped her to be with Shin.

I noticed that Yumi was quiet for a long time. I looked at her and knew something wasn't right. I asked her if something was wrong, whether it was with her, Shin or a friend.

Seeing her eyes welling up with tears, I put down the plate and hugged her. She shed some tears on my shoulder and shared with me what happened with Shin.

He had nightmares and woke up to Shin's screams, believing he was being hurt. He described the screams as fearful, something he had never heard before. Shin had wet the bed, when Yumi went to him, Shin hugged her and began to babble as he trembled.

Yumi changed him, cleaned the sheets and futon, and slept with him, thinking it was a nightmare. She could not sleep that day. The same thing was repeated three days in a row, she asked Ren for help because she had not slept at all, and so she would not be able to work at the hospital.

As the days went by, the screams were softer and he trembled less, but the nightmares continued. He dreamed of a giant man with ten hands on his back and the Kyubi.

The nightmares did not stop. Yumi decided to take him to consult with a psychologist who specialized in helping those who had been deeply affected by war. Although she had worked with ninjas dealing with traumatic memories, she had no experience with children. However, it was the best alternative she could think of at the time.

It helped Shin not to wake up shaking or screaming in his sleep. Despite this, she confessed to me in tears that, after one night Shin slept with Ren, the next day Shin told her that he couldn't sleep all night, and she felt bad for getting a good night's rest while our son had been sleepless for almost a month.

I hugged her tightly and told her.

"Yumi, don't feel guilty; you did everything you could for Shin. Taking him to a psychologist was the right decision. Besides, you have your responsibilities at the hospital. If you don't rest well, you could make a mistake."

I pulled away from her a little and took her face in my hands.

"It's been difficult, but I'm here now. Don't worry, I'll take care of Shin as long as I don't have missions. You rest, things are getting better and will stay that way. When I'm Chunin, I'll try to be in the village more. I promise."

After hearing about our son, I was a little more relieved to hear that he is eating well; even if he doesn't sleep at all and has some dark circles under his eyes, Shin seems to be healthy. So we went to bed. Tomorrow Yumi didn't have to go to the hospital, so Yumi was going to sleep next to Shin.

I pondered, not knowing how much time had passed. Yumi is asleep, I could tell by the sound of her breathing and heartbeat. Shin began to stir and make noises. My heart fluttered.

I hugged him and whispered that everything would be okay, that I was home.

After a few minutes he woke up, looked at me in surprise and I put a finger over my mouth, indicating silence.

"Mommy's asleep," I whispered to him.

"Dad, you're back!" he said as he wrapped me in a hug. I gave him another one back.

"I got to the village late, we didn't want to wake you up" I whispered to him.

"Dad, my dreams are not normal," he whispers to me.

"I know, I know, mom told me. I believe you that they are not normal, but tomorrow we can talk about it and you show me your drawings. Now you must try to sleep, it's late."

He pouted, but I convinced him by telling him that tomorrow we will go to the forest and buy candy, only if he sleeps now.

I was relieved to hear that he fell asleep soon. Yumi told me that sometimes it takes him hours to go back to sleep. I watched my son for quite a while; even though I had only been gone a little over a month, I noticed that he had grown.

A deep sense of guilt overwhelmed me for not being by his side in these difficult times. I am aware that I could not anticipate what was going to happen, but the thought never ceases to torment me. I do not blame Yumi for not informing me; I was in an extremely dangerous situation, where it was complicated to send messages.

Also, I could not have been very focused on the mission if I had known. Although everything went well, this was the most challenging mission I have ever participated in. The vast majority of the prisoners were captured through traps or ambushes. We were outnumbered, so we had to employ a variety of strategies.

I tried to distract myself with other thoughts. Seeing Yumi and Shin sleeping, I felt relieved to be with my family again. I would like to say that I managed to get some rest, but that night I couldn't sleep at all.

At dawn, I woke up, took a shower and started tidying up the house. Afterwards, I started preparing breakfast to keep myself busy.

Now that I was at home I would take it upon myself to help Yumi as much as possible. I am going to be a Chunin, my minimum goal with the village was accomplished, my priority now is my family.