Alright, alright, since I can't ignore the readers' requests of a new chapter or sequel, I decided to REALLY write a sequel. Here it is! I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and it's not by any means mine. And the song is not mine also. Only the story is mine because it's created in my head

Summary: a couple of months have passed since Naruto's death…or so Sakura thought. Summary sucks! Please R&R. This IS a Sakura x Naruto story, ye be warned!!

REMINDER: This story was written before I knew who Sai was. So if he's a bit OOC, bare with me.


The Truth behind the lies

"Could you guys help me out here?" Sakura yelled, calling out her two best friends. She was redecorating her room, deciding to have a top cabinet over her desk. The problem was that the cabinet was too heavy and she was standing on a very unstable chair.

"You Guys!!" She yelled, almost losing her balance. Sakura could hear footsteps rushing up the stairs. Soon, both Lee and Sai came running inside the room, with Sai going right to Sakura, holding her waist while Lee took over the mission of handling the cabinet.

"I got it!" Lee exclaimed, grinning. Sai chuckled, "Oh, and I got some too!" he said, grinning stupidly at Lee while still holding Sakura's slender waist. Both of them chuckled before they realized they've both been hit in the head by a very angry Sakura.

"You guys are idiots!" She said, stepping down the chair, with Sai's hands still on her waist. Sakura looked at him to see him grinning big. She slapped his hand away.

"Baka!" she said, her angry expression soon changed into an amused one once she saw a goofy smile on both of their faces. Sakura chuckled, shook her head and walked off, leaving the two to fix her room.

"I'm going out for a walk, you guys." She said, going down the stairs. She didn't get a reply so she realized they were already too busy. She walked towards the hangers next to the door and took her dark blue jacket and her orange winter hat, the favorite colors of her best friends. She smiled sadly before putting both of them on.

Sakura opened the door to her house, walking out, and took a deep breath. It was December and the weather was getting very cold. She hugged her arms and rubbed them, before clasping her hands together and warmed them with her breath.

It's been a little bit over 6 months since she lost Uzumaki Naruto, her best friend. Since then, she decided to move out from living with her parents to living alone in a house a block away from her parents', using the money she earned from the missions.

During that time, she's been constantly visited by Sai and Lee, until they've become closer to her than anybody else. Though they can't take Naruto's and Sasuke's place, they sure made her dark days brighter. They sometime goof around, making her laugh her head off and sometimes they just spend the night at her place, watching over her like a pair of overprotective brothers.

Sakura looked at the sky and sighed, walking away from her house, away from the noise made by Lee and Sai.

A couple of minutes later, she reached the place where she first wanted to go. Sakura pushed the door and walked in, to see Ino, behind the counter, laughing along with Chouji and Shikamaru. Once they saw her come inside the Yamanaka flower shop, they went quiet. Sakura smiled, shaking her head.

"You guys don't have to do that anymore." She said, walking in with a smile on her face. Ino smiled, "w-well, y-you see…" she tried to explain, but she realized there was nothing to be said. Shikamaru looked at her and rolled his eyes. Chouji looked at the two and decided to explain, himself.

"Whatever she means by that, she means that she, well, didn't want to be laughing because of…you know" Chouji said, looking at the ground. Sakura nodded, looking at all three of them.

"Thank you for being considerate, but you don't have to do that anymore, I'm completely over it!" she said, chuckling, yet the Ino-Shika-Chou trio realized that wasn't completely true, they all knew that she still cried at night from time to time, but they decided to ignore that fact.

"OK then" Ino said, "how can I help you?" she asked, leaning on the counter, smiling at her friend. Sakura exchanged the look and smiled back, telling Ino what she wanted.

A couple of minutes later, Sakura went out the door, her friends waving goodbye at her. She looked back, nodded at them with a smile on her face and continued on her destination with an Iris flower in her hand. She was going to the graveyard to visit him.

'It's been a while, Naruto' she thought, taking the only road that led to the graveyard.

In a matter of minutes, she reached the graveyard's gate and slowly walked in. The atmosphere brought back the memories of his death. Sakura remembered that they've never told her how he died; they've just knocked on her door and told her the painful truth.

She took a couple of steps before reaching a certain part of the graveyard, the Konoha no Shinobi cemetery, where Konoha Ninja's and Hokage's are buried.

Sakura paid her respect to the previous Hokages before moving along towards his grave, which was right next to Fourth's.

She knelt in front of his grave, placing the Iris on it. Sakura smiled, closing her eyes.

"It's been a while, Naruto-kun" she said, as if she was talking to him, and opened her eyes. She knew he would never reply, but she had this thought in her head that he was able to hear her. She liked that idea and it certainly helped her through a lot.

"Everything's still the same after you left. Jiraiya is still writing his novels and Kakashi is still his number one fan. They're going to release a movie about it soon, you know?" she said, chuckling, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Lee and Gai-sensei are still the same; their youth talk never stops, not even for just a bit. Sai has started to open up to us a little bit" she continued, telling him everything that's happened in the past couple of months. The graveyard was so quiet that her voice was almost echoing across the place.

"Kiba and Hinata are spending a lot of time together; people are starting to think there might be something going on between the two. Especially that he's been there for her during the mourning period of time" she said, looking at his grave, touching it.

"Hyuuga Hanabi has been promoted to Chuunin, which was great news to the Hyuuga's. Speaking of which, Lee, Gai-sensei and all of the others are trying to get Neji and Tenten together, since they're totally in love with each other, yet they're not aware of it" she said, smiling. Sakura frowned and went silent for a couple of minutes. She sighed heavily, looking at the Konoha symbol on the grave.

"I lied when I said that everything's the same" she said. Sakura grimaced once she felt tightness in her chest and tears in her eyes. "Everyone is missing you in their own way." She said, her tears strolling down her cheek, but they were quickly wiped away.

Sakura chuckled, "and I promised myself not to cry anymore. I don't want you to think that I'm weak, but I am; without you, Naruto-kun" she said, sobbing. She wished he was here to tell her it'd be OK, to protect her like he always did, but she realized that she was on her own. Sakura smiled sadly, looking at his grave.

"But, I'll be sure to visit you from time to time. I promise, Naruto-kun" she said, bringing her hands together and praying silently for him.

A couple of seconds later she got up, touched his grave and walked off. She stopped a couple of steps away, taking one last look at his grave like she always did and walked off.

As soon as she was out of the perimeter of the graveyard, Sakura stopped in her tracks and shuddered as she heard a voice, calling her.

"...Sakura..."

She turned her head to the side before turning around, looking across the graveyard. To her surprise, no one was there. She knotted her eyebrows.

'Who is calling me?' she thought, narrowing her eyes before turning back to continue on her way. She froze once she felt a hand on her shoulder, a very cold hand.

"Sakura…" the voice was closer. Sakura gasped as she recognized the voice.

'That voice, it only belongs to…' she thought as her eyes watered slowly. "Naruto-kun" she mumbled, not being able to move.

"Sakura-chan..." the owner of the voice said, causing Sakura to turn around, she gasped once she saw it was none other than Naruto, scraped and wounded, looking at her with a hurt expression.

"H-Help m-me" he mumbled, as his hand was reaching up to her face. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath...


Sakura screamed as she shot up in her bed, gasping and panting, fully covered in sweat.

Her door was jerked open, Sai and Lee both were standing at the doorway, looking at Sakura.

"Sakura-san," Lee said, walking to her bed, "are you OK?" he said, sitting on the bed. Sakura was still panting, looking around for any sign of Naruto.

'Was it a dream?'

Sai was still standing at the doorway, dressed in dark red pajama pants and black top. He sighed and went inside the room. "Is there anything you want, Sakura?" he asked, crossing his arms. Sakura looked at both of them and shook her head, not saying a word.

Sai and Lee exchanged a look that Sakura didn't understand. They both looked at her, smiling.

"It's just a bad dream, Sakura, you just go back to sleep" Lee said, grinning. Sakura smiled and lied back down. Sai looked at her and smiled, pouting his lips.

"You look so innocent when you're about to sleep," he said, leaning down, giving her a kiss on her forehead, "unlike the monster you are when you wake up" he said, chuckling as Sakura punched him in the stomach. Lee pulled him out, saying his good nights to Sakura.

Sakura chuckled before looking at the ceiling, thinking about that dream she had. She narrowed her eyes once she thought about it.

"H-Help m-me"

His words rang in her ear like they were real. It felt so real; everything that has happened was so real. Why was he asking for her help? Was he really doing that, or was it just a dream she had because she's been thinking about him all the time? A couple of minutes of thinking about it made her eyelids feel heavy and she soon fell asleep.


It was dark, too dark. He could hear faint voices in the distant, but they were too vague. He tried to open his eyes but he couldn't. He was hearing voices, but they weren't very clear

"What….you….ha—san?" he heard the vague voices speak again. He slowly started to make out what they were saying.

"I want you to inject him with 100cc of aqueous Cinnabar, I want him back, you hear me?" a voice, a very familiar male voice said. He felt something sting him in the arm, it didn't matter whether it was left or right, and he knew one thing,

It hurt like hell.

He screamed. His back arching as he tried to get his arms out of whatever held him in place. He felt fire build up inside his body as the liquid ran through his veins. He could hear them talk, hands holding his shoulders and legs. His body felt heavy, he felt his own heart beats go faster and faster by the second, as if it's going to blow up.

"Don't lose him, Damn it!" the voice said again in an angry yet anxious tone. He can feel something flow inside of him. Another sting was felt in his chest, causing him to arch his back one last time before collapsing. He tried to open his eyes, tried to move his muscles but he couldn't, the world seemed to be fading again.

"H-Help m-me" he mumbled, falling unconscious.


"H-Help m-me"

Sakura's eyes shot open, her breath caught in her throat. She jolted up, sitting in her bed. She looked at her side at the clock. It read 2:35 am. Sakura buried her face in her hands, sighing heavily.

'That can't be just a dream' she thought, getting out of her bed, deciding to tell Lee or Sai about the dreams she's been having. She stopped in her tracks once she saw the cabinet, hanging above her desk. Sakura narrowed her eyes,

"If all that's happened was a dream, then how the hell did this get up there?" she mumbled to herself, knowing that Lee and Sai put it there, knowing that she went to Ino's flower shop and bought an Iris, knowing that she went to the graveyard.

'and then Naruto asked for my help'

She sighed; picking her satin maroon robe that was hanging behind her door, and put it on. Sakura opened the door to her bedroom and walked downstairs. The TV was still on and the guys were still up. Sakura sat on the stairs once she heard them talk about something.

"We can't tell her, you know." Sai said, eating ice-cream out of its packet. Lee sighed and nodded,

"Maybe she already knows, we can't tell for sure. I mean, we did find her unconscious back there" he said, eating a spoonful of ice-cream that he shared with Sai. The latter sighed,

"Bottom line is this: We can't tell her, period." He said, shoving the spoon in the ice-cream and getting up. Lee looked at him and frowned.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked, receiving a glare from Sai. "I'm going to sleep, so that I can stay youthful forever" he said, mocking Lee's devotion for youth power. Sai chuckled before looking at the stairs and stopping in his tracks. Lee turned off the TV, got up and punched Sai on the shoulder, the latter showing no sign of emotion.

"You know that's not—" he said, looking at the stairs to see Sakura sitting down, "funny." He continued, looking at their pink-haired friend. She got up, walking towards the two.

"What?" she asked, crossing her arms, "What is it that you don't want to tell me?" she asked. Lee and Sai exchanged looks before Sai walked past Sakura and went upstairs, "Good night." he said, running up the stairs, he looked at Lee and gave him thumbs up, mouthing 'Good luck' to his friend before running up to his room, leaving Sakura and Lee together, alone.

"So?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Lee blinked a couple of times, turning around to avoid her gaze.

"It's nothing, go back to sleep" he said, looking at the ground. Sakura walked towards and around him, looking at him straight in the eye.

"That wasn't a dream, was it?" She asked, forcing Lee to look at her. He moved his mouth to speak, but the words weren't coming out. He took a deep breath and looked away.

"We'll talk about this in the morning—"

"—No! We'll talk about this now" she yelled, causing him to stare at her. Sakura blinked a couple of times, looking at the ground, mentally cursing herself.

"I-I'm sorry, Lee" she said, looking at the ground. Lee nodded and walked towards the stairs, up to his own room. Sakura sighed, and moved towards the couch, sitting down.

"Stupid Sakura!" she said, lying on the couch. She stared at the ceiling, the image of injured Naruto popped in her head again.

"It's all in my head" she said, getting off the couch. She decided that it's best for her to get some sleep. As soon as she climbed up the stairs and went into her room, she took off her robe and hung it in its place, threw herself on the bed and crawled beneath the covers.

Sakura sighed, "What are they hiding from me?" she mumbled, closing her eyes and trying to clear the thoughts out of her head. She managed to do so, falling asleep.

The next morning, once she got up, she went straight to the bathroom. In a few minutes, she was dressed in her favorite dark red long-sleeved zipper shirt and light grey ¾ spandex pants and her usual light pink skirt. Sakura strapped her bandage around her right thigh, over the pants, placed her ninja equipment case in place and wore her grey sandals.

"This is going to be one hell of a morning" she said, reaching for the comb. Once she's brushed her hair, Sakura tied her new dark red forehead protector on her head. She took one last look at herself in the mirror before reaching for her grey gloves and walked out the door.

Sakura walked down the stairs, noticing that there was no sign of her two roommates. She walked towards the couch to find the place a mess; the ice-cream packet still in place and the couch's cushions were all over the place. She sighed, tidying up the room. In a few minutes she sat on the couch, thinking about the previous night's events.

Sakura sighed heavily as she heard footsteps down the stairs; she turned her head and looked at the stairs to see her friends. Sai walked towards the fridge while Lee walked towards her, sitting next to her on the couch. Both haven't said any word while Lee reached for the remote, turning on the TV. Sakura looked between the two as they silently sat, watching TV.

Sai walked towards the couch and sat down, an ice-cream packet was in his hand, he picked up the spoon and enjoyed his ice-cream. After eating a spoonful, he passed the packet to Lee, ignoring Sakura who kept staring at the two.

"You want some, buddy?" he asked, getting a nod from his friend who took it without moving his eyes away from the TV.

Sakura looked at the two, sighing and looking at the TV, causing the two to look at her and laugh their heads off.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two. "What's wrong with you two?" she asked, shaking her head. Lee and Sai looked at each other and laughed,

"We just love to see ya get angry from time to time. You look cute like that" Sai said, hugging her. Sakura rolled her eyes, hating the mushiness.

"Hey! Why do you get to hug her and I don't?" Lee asked, crossing his arms. Sai looked over Sakura's head and extended his tongue on Lee, causing the latter to narrow his eyes and hug Sakura in the process, sandwiching her between both of them. Sakura closed her eyes and counted to 10, when they didn't move away. She used her inhuman strength and pushed them away, causing both of them to fly off of the couch.

"Idiots!" she mumbled, getting off of the couch. "There's no use of me staying here" she said, walking out the door. Both Lee and Sai got up, rubbing their forearms, where Sakura has shoved them.

"Do you think she's upset?" Lee asked, causing Sai to narrow his eyes at him, "Of course she is!" he exclaimed, both looking at each other before they rushed out of the door, following Sakura.

Sakura was walking along the empty street. She wasn't surprised, it was 7 am and the weather was freezing. She cursed herself once she realized that she'd forgotten to wear her jacket. In a matter of seconds, she felt someone place a jacket on her shoulders.

"We figured you might be cold" Lee exclaimed as he walked next to Sakura, smiling at Sakura who simply ignored him. Sai walked to her other side and smiled.

"You're upset, aren't you?" he asked, not receiving any reply from the pink haired friend. Both Sai and Lee looked at each other before stepping in front of Sakura, stopping her in her tracks.

"Do you want to know what's wrong?" Sai asked. His serious expression was feared by Sakura who narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly.

Lee looked at Sai and nodded, turning his head to the side. Sai sighed and turned around, walking away. Lee looked at Sakura and motioned to her to follow them. Sakura nodded and followed suit.

"Last night, you were at the graveyard, right?" Sai started. Sakura, who was in the middle, nodded and looked impatiently at her friend.

"What did you see?" He asked, stopping in his place. Sakura looked at the ground, remembering Naruto's cold hand on her shoulder, his pleadings for her to help him.

"You saw something, didn't you?" Lee asked, causing the girl to sharply turn her head to face him. She knew who he was talking about. Sakura grimaced and nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"When you didn't come back last night, we got so worried. So," Sai said, pausing for a minute as he slid his cold hands in his pockets to warm them. "Lee and I knew you were going to visit Naruto. When we got there, we found you, unconscious, mumbling his name over and over again, telling him not to leave again." Sai continued, looking at his Friend. Sakura wasn't sure where that was going.

"We were sure something has happened to you while visiting Naruto, so I told Sai that I was going to check inside the graveyard" Lee continued, looking at the ground. Sakura shook her head, waiting for her friends to continue.

"And? What happened?!" she asked impatiently, causing the guys to look at each other before looking at Sakura.

"Naruto's grave," Lee started, looking at Sai before turning his head around. "it was disinterred" he said, causing Sakura to gape at them, not believing what she was hearing. Sai took a step closer to his shocked friend and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Somebody took Naruto's body and we're trying our best to see who did that." he said, looking at the Ground. "I'm sorry, Sakura-san" Lee said, looking at the ground. Sakura's tears slowly made their way out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She remembered his words, his pleadings, and his cry for help.

"H-Help m-me"


"Naruto…" a dreadful, chilling, deep and monstrous voice made him open his eyes. He found himself standing in a dark room, only lit by a few candles. He looked at his feet to see that he was standing in a knee length pool of water.

"…Naruto…"

The voice continued its calling. Naruto looked around, finding the place a bit too familiar.

He took a couple of steps along the long corridor, sometimes having to lean on the wall because of the water. At the end of the corridor, he reached a huge gate with a paper sealing it, the word "Seal" was written.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you're here, at last" the voice exclaimed, a cold wind blew from the inside, causing Naruto to shudder. He narrowed his eyes to see a huge creature inside, locked up in the huge cage.

"As we spoke before, if you die, then I die. I refuse to die now" the voice said, making Naruto smirk. The creature inside growled, causing an enormous wind to blow at Naruto, causing him to take a couple of steps backwards.

"I can help you. Ask for my Chakura" the voice said, forcing Naruto to take a step closer towards the gate. "Let me out." the creature said, its teeth were bare to Naruto. The latter took a step closer, reaching his hand to the seal, His fingers touching the paper. Naruto was able to hear the thirsty breaths the creature was taking, knowing that what he was about to do was wrong yet he wasn't aware of his actions.

His fingers closed on the tip of the paper, "Yes, remove it, release the seal" the creature said, "I'll give you strength" its words caused Naruto to close his eyes with a smile on his face. A few seconds have passed, the chilling silence spreading across the room. Only the sound of the seal paper being torn off of the gate was heard.

"Finally, after all these years," the creature said as the gates started to shake, "I'm free!" the creature howled, causing the gates to be jerked open, orange Chakura flowing violently out of the inner area, sending Naruto across the room and slammed against the wall, falling flat on his face.

Naruto struggled to get up on his feet. The second he did, he was faced by an enormous nine-tailed fox, standing up to over 100 meters tall. Naruto's eyes widened as the monster whose nine-tails almost covered the entire area, waving around like they have no end. He froze in his place once the Fox drew its face closer to Naruto, its breath causing every inch of his body to shudder in fear.

"I respect what you've done for me. Now, do you want my help, Uzumaki Naruto?" he spoke out, grinning malevolently at Naruto. the latter nodded. "Yes, I want to get out of wherever the hell I am" Naruto said, smiling at the fox whose bare teeth looked like as if he was smiling, raising its head up and growled as loud as he can. Naruto clasped his hands on his ears, not bearing the echo of the sound. In a matter of seconds, Naruto was felt heavy and collapsed on the ground.


He opened his eyes suddenly to find himself in some kind of liquid. He tossed his head left and right, looking at his surroundings. Naruto realized he was in some kind of a testing tube. He was only dressed in black shorts, a couple of wires attached to his body which were also attached to some kind of monitors, or so he was able to make out. The liquid he was in made everything so blurry that he could barely make out anything outside.

The skin of his throat was cut open and a tube was inserted into his windpipe to help him breathe in this liquid. He wanted to get out, his hands weren't moving, and his body was floating in the liquid on its own. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the figure, walking towards him.

"It's been a long time, Naruto" a voice said. The voice was very familiar to Naruto, causing him to try to make out who was the speaker.

"It's been almost 2 and a half year, right?" he asked, still walking towards the tube. Naruto could make out the outlines of the person, but not his image as a whole. Dark hair, white shirt, dark pants and abnormally red eyes.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'That voice, those eyes. It can't be' Naruto thought as the person walked closer to the tube, resting his hand on the glass.

"What?" the person leaned closer, looking through the glass into his friend's eyes. "Can't you recognize me anymore, Naruto?" he said, smiling slyly. Naruto was speechless, the figure became clearer. He wouldn't mistake that face even if it was in a crowd.

"It's me," he said, raising an eyebrow, his eyes became redder. "Your friend, Sasuke"


Cliff-y on the first chapter?! I love me!!!

What do ya think? Naruto and Sasuke aren't dead, you guys are happy?

If there's anything you guys want to suggest or ask about, feel free to PM me!

Please review