"Wake up!"
Fuguki Suikazan quickly shook his wife.
"You had a nightmare?"
Only then did Suikazan Chōchō open her eyes, gulping down air as her chest heaved violently. The moment she saw Fuguki Suikazan, she threw herself at him and clung to him tightly.
"Fuguki… husband… I thought you had died."
"I was so scared."
Fuguki Suikazan gently patted her back in comfort.
"It's alright, it's alright. It was just a nightmare. I'm fine."
Chōchō released him and turned serious.
"Fuguki, I don't think that was just a nightmare."
"What do you mean?"
"It felt too real."
Chōchō said, "I've had nightmares before. I know what they feel like. But that just now… it was completely different. It felt like I saw it with my own eyes, like I lived through it myself."
"That absolutely wasn't just a nightmare."
Fuguki Suikazan frowned.
"But you were right here beside me this whole time, and I'm alive and well, aren't I? It's fine. Don't worry. Go back to sleep. You were just too tense."
Chōchō hesitated.
"Maybe… maybe that's true…"
Fuguki comforted her.
"If you're still worried, then tell me about this nightmare of yours. Tell me what you saw. Maybe I can help point out what doesn't make sense."
"Alright."
Chōchō began slowly recounting it.
"I dreamed that tomorrow, the Suna forces would make a troop adjustment. Pakura would leave the front facing us and move over to the side facing Kushimaru."
Fuguki Suikazan nodded.
"That's normal enough. Sunagakure only has one Pakura. If the pressure is heavier there, she'll naturally go support them. If that really happens, it'll be an opportunity for us."
Chōchō shook her head.
"But in truth, Pakura never left. She hid in the shadows."
Fuguki raised a brow.
"That's normal too. All warfare is deception. I'm not the kind of fool who'd fall for that easily. Even if I were careless, at worst we'd only lose a few ordinary shinobi."
"Did you dream that Pakura killed me?"
Chōchō shook her head again.
"No. Just like you said, Kirigakure only lost some ordinary shinobi, and the Suna army quickly withdrew on its own. Our advantage kept growing."
"Then, more than ten days later, just when the Suna army was on the verge of collapse, when both you and I were excited…"
"Kushimaru suddenly appeared with his forces and surrounded us. Then he killed you right in front of me."
Fuguki Suikazan's face darkened slightly.
Even if he believed this was only the content of a nightmare, he and Kushimaru had always been on bad terms.
Hearing that Kushimaru had killed him in the dream still made him deeply unhappy.
Still, after thinking for a while, Fuguki said,
"Kushimaru may not be a good person, but he probably wouldn't go that far. No matter what, we're both members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, both shinobi of Kirigakure."
"We both serve Mizukage-sama."
Chōchō nodded.
"Maybe I've just heard too much lately about the conflicts between you two. And with how Mizukage-sama punished you, forcing you to hand over half of the Kirigakure force's command to him…"
"Mm. Go back to sleep."
The next day, Fuguki Suikazan got up and paid little attention to the contents of his wife's dream.
But just then—
An intelligence ninja came rushing over at top speed.
"Fuguki-sama, we've received word that Pakura is leaving our side and heading toward Kushimaru-sama's front!"
Fuguki Suikazan's face lit up with delight—
But the next instant, his heart skipped.
He had just remembered Chōchō's dream from the night before.
"This is too much of a coincidence…"
"Pakura shifting fronts is certainly possible. But why today, of all days? Exactly when Chōchō dreamt it? Not a day earlier or later?"
Fuguki's gaze flickered uncertainly.
The subordinate below found it strange.
"Fuguki-sama?"
When he got no response, he raised his voice.
"Fuguki-sama!"
Only then did Fuguki come back to himself.
"What is it?"
"Fuguki-sama, if Pakura has really shifted away, should we use this opportunity to do something? For example, launch a surprise attack on the Suna army?"
Fuguki hesitated before answering.
"I'll think about it. You can go."
"Yes, Fuguki-sama."
Fuguki lowered his head and thought carefully.
"There's no need to scare myself too much. It may really just be a coincidence. A single overlap like this isn't enough to prove Chōchō's dream is certain to come true."
"Pakura shifting away is too good an opportunity to waste. I have to launch at least one strike."
"And at the same time… it'll serve as a test."
With Fuguki Suikazan's order, an elite Kirigakure unit quickly assembled.
"Move out!"
At great speed, they headed for the Suna encampment and launched a surprise attack.
Water Release. Ninja tools. Taijutsu…
The moment they struck, they went all out.
The Suna shinobi were caught off guard at once.
In a flash, they fell into an overwhelming disadvantage.
Fuguki Suikazan stood at the rear, observing the entire battlefield.
"So I really was being paranoid."
"Pakura isn't here."
"Kushimaru may not get along with me, but he's still a Kirigakure shinobi. He wouldn't stab me in the back. If he really did, how would he explain himself to Mizukage-sama?"
"How would he stay in Kirigakure after that?"
"If it were me… even if I wanted him dead, I'd wait for a moment no one else could see."
Fuguki relaxed.
"Chōchō's dream was just that—a dream."
But right then—
A figure suddenly burst out from among a group of otherwise unremarkable Suna shinobi and slammed straight into the Kirigakure formation.
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
A single jutsu landed on a Kirigakure chunin.
Immediately, the man's face twisted in agony. His body shriveled at a visible rate, turning into a dried corpse.
Before the nearby Kirigakure shinobi could react, Pakura's next attack had already arrived.
One person charging alone into the Kirigakure formation—and with every technique she used, one shinobi died.
One dried corpse after another appeared, falling in a row.
Fuguki Suikazan's face changed drastically as he stared at the suddenly emerged Pakura.
"Pakura!"
"Could Chōchō's dream really have been true?"