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Naruto: Enter Sandman

The sun began to leak out its light across the Hidden Village of the Leaf.  Arihiro, Kiba and Hanako sat at a table eating breakfast.  Satori walked up yawning, holding his two sai in one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

“Well, it’s so nice of you to join us for breakfast, Satori-san. Hanako said

He sat down and mumbled something.

“What’d he say?” Arihiro asked.

“Coffee. Possibly cookie.”  Hanako said.

Satori smirked.

“Translation, Hanako-san.” Kiba said.

“Get out of my face or eat flaming terror.”  She replied.

“Rough night with Azumi last night, Satori-san?”  Hanako said.

“Not really. She ended up falling asleep at my place last night but the weird part was the dream I had. I kept dreaming of a guy in a black robe and glowing eyes and such. It was real strange.” Satori said as he reached for a muffin.

Just then Arihiro grabbed Satori’s wrist to get his attention.

“My aunt Yoshino always told me that the best way to deal with a bad dream is to keep telling yourself: ‘It’s only a dream’ then you can take control of the dream.”

“Thanks so much, Arihiro. Now move it or lose it.” Satori said while pointing to Arihiro’s hand.

Ino and Shikamaru came up behind Arihiro with a concerned looks on their faces.

“Have any of you guys seen Choji? He was supposed to meet us for breakfast and he’s usually waiting for us but he’s 20 minutes late.”

“We’ll go check on him.” Arihiro said.

Arihiro, Hanako and Kiba got up but Satori stayed seated.

“Come on, Satori-san. We gotta go see if Choji is ok.”  Hanako said.

“I’m not going anywhere until I finish my breakfast.”

Just then Akamaru jumped onto the table and ate Satori’s muffin. Satori got down to eye level with Akamaru with a mean look on his face. Akamaru rolled onto his back and stuck his tongue out.

“Ok, you win.”

Moments later the six of them arrived at Choji’s house.

“Should we knock?”  Hanako asked.

Satori sighed, fixed his sai belt and walked up to the door. He lightly knocked on it.  The door swung open and what looked like a leaf from a corn stock shot out and grabbed Satori by the wrist and pulled him in. The others jumped back in surprise.  Ino kicked the door down to see that Satori was wrapped up in a corn stock leaf.  The others were shocked to see something so unrealistic.

“What is this?” Kiba asked.

“Looks like a corn stock.”  Shikamaru said.

“I see that but why is it here in Choji’s house holding Satori?”

“I don’t know. We don’t have time to find out. We need to do something.”

“What if we used Shikamaru’s Kage Mane on it? Would it do anything?” Hanako asked.

“Might help.” Arihiro said.

Satori’s two sai landed right in front of the other Chuunins.

“Help would be quite nice right about now.” Satori pleaded.

“Let’s get it.” Kiba said.

Shikamaru used the rat hand seal and was able to capture the corn stock with his shadow.

“Kage Mane no jutsu successful.”

Arihiro came running with his short kitana blade pulled and sliced through the middle of the corn stock. The corn stock disappeared in a slight explosion. The blast sent Satori into another room. Satori landed in a chair and to his surprise he saw Choji floating above him and in his hand was an ear of corn.

“Can anyone explain what is going on?” Satori said.

The others walked in to also see Choji floating. Ino and Shikamaru walked up to him. Ino nudged him.

“Choji wake up.” Ino demanded.

Choji didn’t respond. Shikamaru felt for a pulse.

“He’s alive but appears to be sleeping. He’s holding an ear of corn and we just fought a corn stalk. I’m guessing he was dreaming about it and it came to life.” Shikamaru said.

“This reminds me about a time when I was reading on old folklore. I came across a being that put people to sleep and whatever they were dreaming came to life. This might be the work of a sandman.”  Satori said.

“A sandman, Satori. Give me a break.” Ino said.

“Yeah come on man.” Kiba said.

“How else can you explain this? This fits the description of a sandman’s characteristics.”

“Genjutsu.” Hanako said.

“Then try to release the Genjutsu from him, then.” Satori said crossing his arms.

Ino formed the tiger seal in front of her.

“Release.” She said.

Ino touched Chouji’s shoulder but nothing happened. Chouji was supposed to wake up but he still floated there.

“I’m still convinced it’s a sandman.” Satori said.

“Whatever. Come on guys let’s go tell the Hokage.” Hanako said.

As the group walked out, they noticed a lot more wrong with Konoha.

The six ninjas looked around as they walked. Throughout Konoha people were asleep. And in their place; were ninjas on horses, dinosaurs, dogs on cell phones. They even saw a cat having an argument with a mouse.

“What is going on here?” Kiba asked.

“This is definitely the work of a sandman.” Satori said.
“Will you stop with that stuff? We need to go see the Hokage. She’ll know what to do.” Ino said.

The six chuunins walked carefully through the sleeping hidden village with Ino leading the way. They turned the corner that led to the Hokage building. To their surprise, a dragon was sleeping infront of the building. Ino opened her mouth and was about to scream but Satori quickly put his hand over her mouth, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back around the corner out of sight of the dragon. Once they were somewhat safe he let go of Ino.

“We’ve got a bit of a problem. There is a dragon in front of the building.” Ino said.

“Did it see you?” Kiba asked.

Ino shook her head. “No. It was sleeping.”

“We need to get in there. I say we tiptoe past it.” Satori said.

“Man, this is such a troublesome day.” Shikamaru said.

The group tiptoed past the sleeping dragon. But they weren’t quiet enough. The dragon opened one eye as the ninja’s slid past. They reached the Hokage’s door without incident. Arihiro tapped on Hanako’s shoulder. Once Hanako looked back Arihiro pointed up. They all looked up to see a very large towering shadow. They looked back to see the dragon open its mouth and a fireball began to form. Fire erupted from its mouth and shot towards the Konoha Chuunins. Satori jumped in front of his comrades and did a sequence of hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.

“KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU.” (Fire Element: Great Fireball Technique)

Satori shot fire from his mouth and the two fire attacks met in the air. The dragon’s attack wasn’t strong enough to hold his own against Satori. Satori’s attack overcame the dragon’s and hit the dragon in the face. The dragon disappeared. Satori looked back at his friends.

“Well, don’t just stand there ‘dragon’ your feet.” Satori grinned and then ran into the Hokage building.

The others just looked at him and just shook their head.  They walked through the empty halls of the building heading for Tsunade’s office. They reached the door and Shikamaru knocked on it.

“Hokage-sama?” He said.

There was no answer. He knocked again. And again there was no response. Shikamaru grabbed the doorknob. It was unlocked. He turned the knob and opened the door. They walked in and to their surprise Tsunade was asleep in her chair with her head down on the desk.

“Did the sandman get her?” Satori asked.

Shikamaru walked over to Tsunade and observed her.

“I’m not sure.” He replied.

He put his hand on Tsunade’s shoulder and lightly shook her. Tsunade quickly woke up, grabbed Shikamaru by the hand and launched him across the room into the other chuunins.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?” Tsunade demanded.

Shikamaru stumbled to his feet, as did the others, and began to explain.

“Uh…our apologies for disturbing you Hokage-sama but we’ve got a bit of a situation. It would seem that almost, if not, everybody in Konoha was asleep.” Shikamaru said.

“Asleep? How so?”

“Our first encounter was with Chouji. We went to his house and were attacked by a giant cornstalk. Then we found Chouji asleep in the other room but he was floating in the air.”

Tsunade pondered for a moment.

Satori cut in. “Chouji was also found with an ear of corn in his hand.”

“It makes a bit of sense now. I thought they were just legends my grandfather told me. It would appear that we have a sandman in the village.” Tsunade said.

“I told you guys.” Satori said pointing his finger at his comrades.

Satori looked at Ino and pulled down his eye lid and stuck out his tongue. Ino rolled her eyes at Satori and returned her attention to the Hokage.

“What should we do, Hokage-sama?” Ino asked.

“You all will come with me and we will find this sandman.” Tsunade said.

Tsunade and the Chuunins walked outside and saw that Konoha was being overrun by dreams.

“This definitely looks like the work of a sandman.” Tsunade said.
“That still doesn’t answer the 5,000 dollar question: Why?” Satori said.

“Why, he asks. Well, I’ll tell you my friend.” A voice said.

The group looked around to figure out where the voice came from. Hanako peered around a corner.

“Oh guys, I think the answer is right across the street.” She said.

A figure in a black cloak stood on top of a building. The cloak covered its entire body and even shadowed its face. Only its glowing red eyes could be seen.

“Hundreds of us taking care of the need for sleep, but who is taking care of the world’s need for peace? No one. Let them call me renegade, I don’t care. What will happen is the world will sleep for five hundred years. No wars, no fighting. Peace and only dreams will walk the Earth, isn’t it glorious? Isn’t it fine?”

The group looked at one another then looked back up at the sandman.

“No answer. You are laughing at me, aren’t you? Well, nobody laughs at me.” It said as it kicked a corner off of a rooftop and it landed in front of the ninja group.

The sandman disappeared in a puff of green and purple smoke. The group didn’t know what to think. This was totally new to them.

“So where do we start looking for this guy?” Ino asked.

“Oh I’d say he left us a pretty good trail.” Tsunade said pointing to the street full of asleep people.

Sometime later, the group walked around looking for the Sandman.

“Where are we going to find the Sandman in all this?” Hanako asked.

Tsunade looked up on top of another building and saw it sitting on a ledge.

“Over there.” She said. “Satori, use a fire jutsu.”

“You got it.” Satori said.

He began to do hand seals. Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger.

“Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)

Satori shot multiple fireballs at the Sandman but the Sandman disappeared. The group looked around for any signs of the Sandman’s whereabouts. Then the Sandman appeared over Arihiro.

“Arihiro, look out.” Shikamaru yelled.

Arihiro leapt forward, spun around and threw a kunai at the Sandman. The sandman moved out of the way but the kunai tore into the cloak.

“Not good for you.” The Sandman said.

“Nice throwing, Arihiro. Now he’s going to have to see his tailor before he can counter attack.” Satori said.

Then a voice came from across the street.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

The Leaf Ninjas looked behind them to see the Sandman had returned to his previous spot.

“You have annoyed me and there is a price to pay for that.” The Sandman said.

“You’ve obviously annoyed me.”

The Sandman put his bag of sleeping dust away and pulled out another bag.

“This bag is full of nightmare dust. If you are hit with this dust your nightmares will come to life.”

The Sandman quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Kiba. Kiba looked back just in time to see the nightmare sand land on his face. He and Akamaru both fell asleep. Then a dream version of the two appeared. Akamaru began to grow in size and began to growl at Kiba. Kiba attempted to calm his friend but he wouldn’t listen. Akamaru snapped at Kiba and Kiba took off running with Akamaru in pursuit.

“One down.” The sandman said as he disappeared into the building behind him.

“Damn it.” Ino said. “I’m going to take him down now.”

Ino ran into the building after the sandman.

“Ino wait!” Shikamaru yelled.

Ino didn’t listen she quickly ran down the halls looking for the Sandman. The others followed but didn’t know where she ran to.

“Ok, Shikamaru, Satori, go down that hallway. Arihiro, Hanako and I will check this hallway.” Tsunade instructed.

The two teams split up. Shikamaru and Satori ran down the hall and saw an open door. They ran to it. When they were only a few feet away, they heard a noise.

“Was that a thud?” Satori asked.

“That was a thud.” Shikamaru replied.

“You think the sandman, got her?”

They slowly opened the door to see Sasuke down on one knee proposing to Sakura. Ino was on the ground asleep not to far from them.

“He got her?” Shikamaru said.

“He sure did.”

The other three cautiously walked down the other hallway, inspecting anything that was out of the ordinary. Two doors opened simultaneously. Tsunade pointed to Arihiro then to the door on the right, and then pointed to Hanako, then to the door on the left. The two Chuunins acknowledged the Hokage and went to inspect the two rooms. Tsunade felt a presence behind her and she quickly turned around. She came face to face with the glowing eyes of the Sandman.

The two in the rooms heard commotion out in the hall and quickly ran out of the rooms and saw two Tsunades. One was on the floor, which they knew was the real one and the other was kneeling while crying next to two gurneys with a body on each of them. One of the bodies was a kid with brown hair and the other was an adult with white long hair. Both were covered in blood. Arihiro and Hanako knew who those two where. It was Nawaki, Tsunade’s younger brother who was killed during a raid and Dan, Tsunade’s boyfriend, who died in Tsunade’s arms.

While those two were distracted they didn’t sense the Sandman appearing behind them. Arihiro looked just in time to see Hanako fall to the ground. Arihiro looked around to find the Sandman but he had disappeared after his attack on Hanako.

“I wonder what Hanako’s nightmare would be?” He said to himself.

At that moment, A human sized spider appeared.

“I just had to ask.” The spider turned and looked straight at him. Arihiro turned and ran the opposite direction. He ran outside and saw things had gotten worse. He turned and ran around the building and to his surprise he saw the end of a brown wooden tube that had sparkling residue on the end of it. It was the Sandman’s blow tube. The next thing Arihiro knew was that he was falling to the ground and falling asleep.

Shikamaru and Satori ran out of the building. They were just chased by a giant spider.

“Where did that come from?” Shikamaru said out of breath.

“I’m guessing the Sandman got Hanako.” Satori replied.

Shikamaru sighed. “Women are so troublesome.”

“Agreed. Now let’s go find this Sandman and attempt to put a stop to him.”

Moments later they saw the Sandman boasting about his victory. The two of them hid separately but within sight of the other. Satori nodded to Shikamaru.

“They’ll talk about this for ages to come…”

Satori leapt out from behind some trash cans. “NOW!”

Satori threw kunai and shuriken as well as Shikamaru. The Sandman looked back and disappeared just before the weapons hit. The two ninjas walked out in the open. Satori had his two sai drawn.

“Shikamaru, I figured it out. Arihiro had the answer all along and we didn’t recognize it.”

Shikamaru turned around and saw the Sandman appear behind Satori.

“Satori, look out!”

Satori barely turned around before being put to sleep. He dropped his two sai and floated in the air, asleep.

“And then there was one.” Shikamaru said.

Then a mysterious being appeared in the shadows. The being wore a black cloak with red cloud designs on it and a straw hat with bells hanging from it. It was an Akatsuki member. Shikamaru readied himself. Then he saw Satori appear with his two sai drawn. The Akatsuki member pulled off the hat and revealed themselves. It was Azumi, Satori’s girlfriend.

The couple charged at one another fighting. Shikamaru watched the fight progress. Then he saw Satori jump back and his right hand caught fire. It was Satori’s new technique.

“Katon: Ryu-ken no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Dragonfist Technique)

Then Satori ran at Azumi and punched through her chest, killing her instantly. Her body fell to the ground. Satori knelt down and clutched the body tightly and cried.

“Satori’s nightmare would be the death of Azumi.” Then he turned his attention to the matter at hand. “What was it that Satori was about to tell me?”

He thought for a moment as he walked. “That’s it. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before.” He took off sprinting. “I just hope I can get to the Hokage building before the Sandman does.”

Hours later, the Sandman appeared in front of the Hokage building.

Meanwhile, inside of the Hokage’s office. Shikamaru was standing next to Shizune.

“Ok Shizune, that’s the plan.” Shikamaru said.

“Got it.” She replied. “How do we know when he gets here?”

At that moment, the doors to the office were forced off their hinges and fell to the floor. The Sandman slowly approached the two ninjas.

“Ok, now.” Shikamaru said as he threw kunai and shuriken at the Sandman. Shizune did the same. The Sandman disappeared.

“Stay alert, Shizune.”

Shizune backed up a few feet and then stopped when she bumped into something. She turned around and saw the Sandman.

“Uh oh.”

“Nighty night.” He said as he put her to sleep.

The Sandman turned his attention to Shikamaru.

“Now that I needn’t worry about her. It’s just you and me. Why do you resist? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if it was filled with dreams instead of people?”

“But the whole reason the people dream is so that they can try to make their dreams come true. How can they do that if they’re all asleep for five hundred years?”

“That’s irrelevant. The Sandman helps people sleep, the Sandman helps people dream. Now I am the ultimate Sandman.”

While the Sandman was talking to Shikamaru, Shizune was talking in her sleep.

“I’m the…..I’m the…..” She said.

“I am now the greatest Sandman ever.” The Sandman boasted.

“I’m the…..THE HOKAGE.” She said.

At that moment, a dream version of her appeared in the robes of a Hokage. The Sandman still didn’t notice her.

“Goodnight, Nara Shikamaru.”

“I don’t think so.” Shizune said.

The Sandman turned around to see Shizune as the Hokage. Shizune did a few hand seals. Ram, Horse, Dragon. A dragon head formed next to Shizune. The Sandman attempted to run away.

“Oh no you don’t.” Shikamaru said as he placed his hands in the form of the rat hand seal.

The Sandman was caught in Shikamaru’s shadow.

“You’re a troublesome one, aren’t you.” Shikamaru said.

The dragon head fired mud balls at the Sandman. Shizune did the seal of the Tiger. Then she blew fire out of her mouth and lit up the mud balls. The fire balls hit the Sandman. Shizune did more hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.

“Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)

Shizune blew fire a huge fireball out of her mouth and engulfed the Sandman. There was nothing left of the Sandman.

“This is all just a bad dream.” Shikamaru said as his last words to the Sandman.

Shizune’s dream version disappeared and her real body woke up yawning. All over Konoha people were waking up from their dreams. Satori woke up with tears in his eyes. He sprang to his feet and ran to find Azumi. Tsunade, Ino, Kiba, Arihiro all woke up from their nightmares. They all found each other outside of the building where they last fought the Sandman. Then they saw Azumi turn the corner then from the opposite direction saw Satori come running full sprint and stop right in front of Azumi. He placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her.

“What was that for?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing. I missed you is all.” He replied.

Hours later, the group that face the Sandman were standing in the Hokage’s office. Shizune was explaining how she and Shikamaru beat the Sandman.

“So after the Sandman put me to sleep, I kept telling myself that I was dreaming. And I made sure to dream that I was the Hokage.”

“So the Sandman thinking that you were no longer a threat got careless.” Arihiro said.

“And that’s when you read him the riot act.” Satori said.

“Exactly.” Shizune said.

“So good job, Shikamaru.” Tsunade said. “Hey where is Shikamaru?”

The others looked around then they all looked behind them to see Shikamaru lying against a wall, asleep.

“Well, he did have a rough day. He’s the only one that didn’t to sleep.”

They all, including the Hokage silently snuck out of the room and allowed Shikamaru to catch up on his sleep.

The End

Description
Naruto: Enter Sandman

The sun began to leak out its light across the Hidden Village of the Leaf.  Arihiro, Kiba and Hanako sat at a table eating breakfast.  Satori walked up yawning, holding his two sai in one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

“Well, it’s so nice of you to join us for breakfast, Satori-san. Hanako said

He sat down and mumbled something.

“What’d he say?” Arihiro asked.

“Coffee. Possibly cookie.”  Hanako said.

Satori smirked.

“Translation, Hanako-san.” Kiba said.

“Get out of my face or eat flaming terror.”  She replied.

“Rough night with Azumi last night, Satori-san?”  Hanako said.

“Not really. She ended up falling asleep at my place last night but the weird part was the dream I had. I kept dreaming of a guy in a black robe and glowing eyes and such. It was real strange.” Satori said as he reached for a muffin.

Just then Arihiro grabbed Satori’s wrist to get his attention.

“My aunt Yoshino always told me that the best way to deal with a bad dream is to keep telling yourself: ‘It’s only a dream’ then you can take control of the dream.”

“Thanks so much, Arihiro. Now move it or lose it.” Satori said while pointing to Arihiro’s hand.

Ino and Shikamaru came up behind Arihiro with a concerned looks on their faces.

“Have any of you guys seen Choji? He was supposed to meet us for breakfast and he’s usually waiting for us but he’s 20 minutes late.”

“We’ll go check on him.” Arihiro said.

Arihiro, Hanako and Kiba got up but Satori stayed seated.

“Come on, Satori-san. We gotta go see if Choji is ok.”  Hanako said.

“I’m not going anywhere until I finish my breakfast.”

Just then Akamaru jumped onto the table and ate Satori’s muffin. Satori got down to eye level with Akamaru with a mean look on his face. Akamaru rolled onto his back and stuck his tongue out.

“Ok, you win.”

Moments later the six of them arrived at Choji’s house.

“Should we knock?”  Hanako asked.

Satori sighed, fixed his sai belt and walked up to the door. He lightly knocked on it.  The door swung open and what looked like a leaf from a corn stock shot out and grabbed Satori by the wrist and pulled him in. The others jumped back in surprise.  Ino kicked the door down to see that Satori was wrapped up in a corn stock leaf.  The others were shocked to see something so unrealistic.

“What is this?” Kiba asked.

“Looks like a corn stock.”  Shikamaru said.

“I see that but why is it here in Choji’s house holding Satori?”

“I don’t know. We don’t have time to find out. We need to do something.”

“What if we used Shikamaru’s Kage Mane on it? Would it do anything?” Hanako asked.

“Might help.” Arihiro said.

Satori’s two sai landed right in front of the other Chuunins.

“Help would be quite nice right about now.” Satori pleaded.

“Let’s get it.” Kiba said.

Shikamaru used the rat hand seal and was able to capture the corn stock with his shadow.

“Kage Mane no jutsu successful.”

Arihiro came running with his short kitana blade pulled and sliced through the middle of the corn stock. The corn stock disappeared in a slight explosion. The blast sent Satori into another room. Satori landed in a chair and to his surprise he saw Choji floating above him and in his hand was an ear of corn.

“Can anyone explain what is going on?” Satori said.

The others walked in to also see Choji floating. Ino and Shikamaru walked up to him. Ino nudged him.

“Choji wake up.” Ino demanded.

Choji didn’t respond. Shikamaru felt for a pulse.

“He’s alive but appears to be sleeping. He’s holding an ear of corn and we just fought a corn stalk. I’m guessing he was dreaming about it and it came to life.” Shikamaru said.

“This reminds me about a time when I was reading on old folklore. I came across a being that put people to sleep and whatever they were dreaming came to life. This might be the work of a sandman.”  Satori said.

“A sandman, Satori. Give me a break.” Ino said.

“Yeah come on man.” Kiba said.

“How else can you explain this? This fits the description of a sandman’s characteristics.”

“Genjutsu.” Hanako said.

“Then try to release the Genjutsu from him, then.” Satori said crossing his arms.

Ino formed the tiger seal in front of her.

“Release.” She said.

Ino touched Chouji’s shoulder but nothing happened. Chouji was supposed to wake up but he still floated there.

“I’m still convinced it’s a sandman.” Satori said.

“Whatever. Come on guys let’s go tell the Hokage.” Hanako said.

As the group walked out, they noticed a lot more wrong with Konoha.

The six ninjas looked around as they walked. Throughout Konoha people were asleep. And in their place; were ninjas on horses, dinosaurs, dogs on cell phones. They even saw a cat having an argument with a mouse.

“What is going on here?” Kiba asked.

“This is definitely the work of a sandman.” Satori said.
“Will you stop with that stuff? We need to go see the Hokage. She’ll know what to do.” Ino said.

The six chuunins walked carefully through the sleeping hidden village with Ino leading the way. They turned the corner that led to the Hokage building. To their surprise, a dragon was sleeping infront of the building. Ino opened her mouth and was about to scream but Satori quickly put his hand over her mouth, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back around the corner out of sight of the dragon. Once they were somewhat safe he let go of Ino.

“We’ve got a bit of a problem. There is a dragon in front of the building.” Ino said.

“Did it see you?” Kiba asked.

Ino shook her head. “No. It was sleeping.”

“We need to get in there. I say we tiptoe past it.” Satori said.

“Man, this is such a troublesome day.” Shikamaru said.

The group tiptoed past the sleeping dragon. But they weren’t quiet enough. The dragon opened one eye as the ninja’s slid past. They reached the Hokage’s door without incident. Arihiro tapped on Hanako’s shoulder. Once Hanako looked back Arihiro pointed up. They all looked up to see a very large towering shadow. They looked back to see the dragon open its mouth and a fireball began to form. Fire erupted from its mouth and shot towards the Konoha Chuunins. Satori jumped in front of his comrades and did a sequence of hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.

“KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU.” (Fire Element: Great Fireball Technique)

Satori shot fire from his mouth and the two fire attacks met in the air. The dragon’s attack wasn’t strong enough to hold his own against Satori. Satori’s attack overcame the dragon’s and hit the dragon in the face. The dragon disappeared. Satori looked back at his friends.

“Well, don’t just stand there ‘dragon’ your feet.” Satori grinned and then ran into the Hokage building.

The others just looked at him and just shook their head.  They walked through the empty halls of the building heading for Tsunade’s office. They reached the door and Shikamaru knocked on it.

“Hokage-sama?” He said.

There was no answer. He knocked again. And again there was no response. Shikamaru grabbed the doorknob. It was unlocked. He turned the knob and opened the door. They walked in and to their surprise Tsunade was asleep in her chair with her head down on the desk.

“Did the sandman get her?” Satori asked.

Shikamaru walked over to Tsunade and observed her.

“I’m not sure.” He replied.

He put his hand on Tsunade’s shoulder and lightly shook her. Tsunade quickly woke up, grabbed Shikamaru by the hand and launched him across the room into the other chuunins.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?” Tsunade demanded.

Shikamaru stumbled to his feet, as did the others, and began to explain.

“Uh…our apologies for disturbing you Hokage-sama but we’ve got a bit of a situation. It would seem that almost, if not, everybody in Konoha was asleep.” Shikamaru said.

“Asleep? How so?”

“Our first encounter was with Chouji. We went to his house and were attacked by a giant cornstalk. Then we found Chouji asleep in the other room but he was floating in the air.”

Tsunade pondered for a moment.

Satori cut in. “Chouji was also found with an ear of corn in his hand.”

“It makes a bit of sense now. I thought they were just legends my grandfather told me. It would appear that we have a sandman in the village.” Tsunade said.

“I told you guys.” Satori said pointing his finger at his comrades.

Satori looked at Ino and pulled down his eye lid and stuck out his tongue. Ino rolled her eyes at Satori and returned her attention to the Hokage.

“What should we do, Hokage-sama?” Ino asked.

“You all will come with me and we will find this sandman.” Tsunade said.

Tsunade and the Chuunins walked outside and saw that Konoha was being overrun by dreams.

“This definitely looks like the work of a sandman.” Tsunade said.
“That still doesn’t answer the 5,000 dollar question: Why?” Satori said.

“Why, he asks. Well, I’ll tell you my friend.” A voice said.

The group looked around to figure out where the voice came from. Hanako peered around a corner.

“Oh guys, I think the answer is right across the street.” She said.

A figure in a black cloak stood on top of a building. The cloak covered its entire body and even shadowed its face. Only its glowing red eyes could be seen.

“Hundreds of us taking care of the need for sleep, but who is taking care of the world’s need for peace? No one. Let them call me renegade, I don’t care. What will happen is the world will sleep for five hundred years. No wars, no fighting. Peace and only dreams will walk the Earth, isn’t it glorious? Isn’t it fine?”

The group looked at one another then looked back up at the sandman.

“No answer. You are laughing at me, aren’t you? Well, nobody laughs at me.” It said as it kicked a corner off of a rooftop and it landed in front of the ninja group.

The sandman disappeared in a puff of green and purple smoke. The group didn’t know what to think. This was totally new to them.

“So where do we start looking for this guy?” Ino asked.

“Oh I’d say he left us a pretty good trail.” Tsunade said pointing to the street full of asleep people.

Sometime later, the group walked around looking for the Sandman.

“Where are we going to find the Sandman in all this?” Hanako asked.

Tsunade looked up on top of another building and saw it sitting on a ledge.

“Over there.” She said. “Satori, use a fire jutsu.”

“You got it.” Satori said.

He began to do hand seals. Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger.

“Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)

Satori shot multiple fireballs at the Sandman but the Sandman disappeared. The group looked around for any signs of the Sandman’s whereabouts. Then the Sandman appeared over Arihiro.

“Arihiro, look out.” Shikamaru yelled.

Arihiro leapt forward, spun around and threw a kunai at the Sandman. The sandman moved out of the way but the kunai tore into the cloak.

“Not good for you.” The Sandman said.

“Nice throwing, Arihiro. Now he’s going to have to see his tailor before he can counter attack.” Satori said.

Then a voice came from across the street.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

The Leaf Ninjas looked behind them to see the Sandman had returned to his previous spot.

“You have annoyed me and there is a price to pay for that.” The Sandman said.

“You’ve obviously annoyed me.”

The Sandman put his bag of sleeping dust away and pulled out another bag.

“This bag is full of nightmare dust. If you are hit with this dust your nightmares will come to life.”

The Sandman quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Kiba. Kiba looked back just in time to see the nightmare sand land on his face. He and Akamaru both fell asleep. Then a dream version of the two appeared. Akamaru began to grow in size and began to growl at Kiba. Kiba attempted to calm his friend but he wouldn’t listen. Akamaru snapped at Kiba and Kiba took off running with Akamaru in pursuit.

“One down.” The sandman said as he disappeared into the building behind him.

“Damn it.” Ino said. “I’m going to take him down now.”

Ino ran into the building after the sandman.

“Ino wait!” Shikamaru yelled.

Ino didn’t listen she quickly ran down the halls looking for the Sandman. The others followed but didn’t know where she ran to.

“Ok, Shikamaru, Satori, go down that hallway. Arihiro, Hanako and I will check this hallway.” Tsunade instructed.

The two teams split up. Shikamaru and Satori ran down the hall and saw an open door. They ran to it. When they were only a few feet away, they heard a noise.

“Was that a thud?” Satori asked.

“That was a thud.” Shikamaru replied.

“You think the sandman, got her?”

They slowly opened the door to see Sasuke down on one knee proposing to Sakura. Ino was on the ground asleep not to far from them.

“He got her?” Shikamaru said.

“He sure did.”

The other three cautiously walked down the other hallway, inspecting anything that was out of the ordinary. Two doors opened simultaneously. Tsunade pointed to Arihiro then to the door on the right, and then pointed to Hanako, then to the door on the left. The two Chuunins acknowledged the Hokage and went to inspect the two rooms. Tsunade felt a presence behind her and she quickly turned around. She came face to face with the glowing eyes of the Sandman.

The two in the rooms heard commotion out in the hall and quickly ran out of the rooms and saw two Tsunades. One was on the floor, which they knew was the real one and the other was kneeling while crying next to two gurneys with a body on each of them. One of the bodies was a kid with brown hair and the other was an adult with white long hair. Both were covered in blood. Arihiro and Hanako knew who those two where. It was Nawaki, Tsunade’s younger brother who was killed during a raid and Dan, Tsunade’s boyfriend, who died in Tsunade’s arms.

While those two were distracted they didn’t sense the Sandman appearing behind them. Arihiro looked just in time to see Hanako fall to the ground. Arihiro looked around to find the Sandman but he had disappeared after his attack on Hanako.

“I wonder what Hanako’s nightmare would be?” He said to himself.

At that moment, A human sized spider appeared.

“I just had to ask.” The spider turned and looked straight at him. Arihiro turned and ran the opposite direction. He ran outside and saw things had gotten worse. He turned and ran around the building and to his surprise he saw the end of a brown wooden tube that had sparkling residue on the end of it. It was the Sandman’s blow tube. The next thing Arihiro knew was that he was falling to the ground and falling asleep.

Shikamaru and Satori ran out of the building. They were just chased by a giant spider.

“Where did that come from?” Shikamaru said out of breath.

“I’m guessing the Sandman got Hanako.” Satori replied.

Shikamaru sighed. “Women are so troublesome.”

“Agreed. Now let’s go find this Sandman and attempt to put a stop to him.”

Moments later they saw the Sandman boasting about his victory. The two of them hid separately but within sight of the other. Satori nodded to Shikamaru.

“They’ll talk about this for ages to come…”

Satori leapt out from behind some trash cans. “NOW!”

Satori threw kunai and shuriken as well as Shikamaru. The Sandman looked back and disappeared just before the weapons hit. The two ninjas walked out in the open. Satori had his two sai drawn.

“Shikamaru, I figured it out. Arihiro had the answer all along and we didn’t recognize it.”

Shikamaru turned around and saw the Sandman appear behind Satori.

“Satori, look out!”

Satori barely turned around before being put to sleep. He dropped his two sai and floated in the air, asleep.

“And then there was one.” Shikamaru said.

Then a mysterious being appeared in the shadows. The being wore a black cloak with red cloud designs on it and a straw hat with bells hanging from it. It was an Akatsuki member. Shikamaru readied himself. Then he saw Satori appear with his two sai drawn. The Akatsuki member pulled off the hat and revealed themselves. It was Azumi, Satori’s girlfriend.

The couple charged at one another fighting. Shikamaru watched the fight progress. Then he saw Satori jump back and his right hand caught fire. It was Satori’s new technique.

“Katon: Ryu-ken no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Dragonfist Technique)

Then Satori ran at Azumi and punched through her chest, killing her instantly. Her body fell to the ground. Satori knelt down and clutched the body tightly and cried.

“Satori’s nightmare would be the death of Azumi.” Then he turned his attention to the matter at hand. “What was it that Satori was about to tell me?”

He thought for a moment as he walked. “That’s it. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before.” He took off sprinting. “I just hope I can get to the Hokage building before the Sandman does.”

Hours later, the Sandman appeared in front of the Hokage building.

Meanwhile, inside of the Hokage’s office. Shikamaru was standing next to Shizune.

“Ok Shizune, that’s the plan.” Shikamaru said.

“Got it.” She replied. “How do we know when he gets here?”

At that moment, the doors to the office were forced off their hinges and fell to the floor. The Sandman slowly approached the two ninjas.

“Ok, now.” Shikamaru said as he threw kunai and shuriken at the Sandman. Shizune did the same. The Sandman disappeared.

“Stay alert, Shizune.”

Shizune backed up a few feet and then stopped when she bumped into something. She turned around and saw the Sandman.

“Uh oh.”

“Nighty night.” He said as he put her to sleep.

The Sandman turned his attention to Shikamaru.

“Now that I needn’t worry about her. It’s just you and me. Why do you resist? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if it was filled with dreams instead of people?”

“But the whole reason the people dream is so that they can try to make their dreams come true. How can they do that if they’re all asleep for five hundred years?”

“That’s irrelevant. The Sandman helps people sleep, the Sandman helps people dream. Now I am the ultimate Sandman.”

While the Sandman was talking to Shikamaru, Shizune was talking in her sleep.

“I’m the…..I’m the…..” She said.

“I am now the greatest Sandman ever.” The Sandman boasted.

“I’m the…..THE HOKAGE.” She said.

At that moment, a dream version of her appeared in the robes of a Hokage. The Sandman still didn’t notice her.

“Goodnight, Nara Shikamaru.”

“I don’t think so.” Shizune said.

The Sandman turned around to see Shizune as the Hokage. Shizune did a few hand seals. Ram, Horse, Dragon. A dragon head formed next to Shizune. The Sandman attempted to run away.

“Oh no you don’t.” Shikamaru said as he placed his hands in the form of the rat hand seal.

The Sandman was caught in Shikamaru’s shadow.

“You’re a troublesome one, aren’t you.” Shikamaru said.

The dragon head fired mud balls at the Sandman. Shizune did the seal of the Tiger. Then she blew fire out of her mouth and lit up the mud balls. The fire balls hit the Sandman. Shizune did more hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Pig, Horse, Tiger.

“Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.” (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)

Shizune blew fire a huge fireball out of her mouth and engulfed the Sandman. There was nothing left of the Sandman.

“This is all just a bad dream.” Shikamaru said as his last words to the Sandman.

Shizune’s dream version disappeared and her real body woke up yawning. All over Konoha people were waking up from their dreams. Satori woke up with tears in his eyes. He sprang to his feet and ran to find Azumi. Tsunade, Ino, Kiba, Arihiro all woke up from their nightmares. They all found each other outside of the building where they last fought the Sandman. Then they saw Azumi turn the corner then from the opposite direction saw Satori come running full sprint and stop right in front of Azumi. He placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her.

“What was that for?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing. I missed you is all.” He replied.

Hours later, the group that face the Sandman were standing in the Hokage’s office. Shizune was explaining how she and Shikamaru beat the Sandman.

“So after the Sandman put me to sleep, I kept telling myself that I was dreaming. And I made sure to dream that I was the Hokage.”

“So the Sandman thinking that you were no longer a threat got careless.” Arihiro said.

“And that’s when you read him the riot act.” Satori said.

“Exactly.” Shizune said.

“So good job, Shikamaru.” Tsunade said. “Hey where is Shikamaru?”

The others looked around then they all looked behind them to see Shikamaru lying against a wall, asleep.

“Well, he did have a rough day. He’s the only one that didn’t to sleep.”

They all, including the Hokage silently snuck out of the room and allowed Shikamaru to catch up on his sleep.

The End