This chapter is dedicated to my reviewers!!!

Just knowing that people took time out of thier day to read the emotional train wreck that I call a story fills me with an unsrestrained, thirst-quenching joy. (don't ask me how that works, 'cause I don't know.)

Disclaimer: Once again I own nothing..... Wish I did though. That would make my life a beautiful thing. All characters belong to the wonderfully-fantastical Kishimoto.

This white expanse was endless, silence ruling the pure void. I hesitated to speak in case I shattered the frail peace.

'Who goes…' The words were not spoken aloud, but whispered into my mind, caressing my psyche. The white rippled with color, fantastical designs swirling into existence, like someone dropping food dye into a vat of white paint. Then, the color vanished, leaving only the white behind.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." The words tumbled from my lips without my having to shape them; they appeared in my mouth and tumbled out, like children eager for candy. The words, visible, danced around me before zooming off into the distance, causing black ripples in the white expanse.

'Why have you come here Usumaki Naruto?' The voice was beautiful, like a siren's call, calming my spirit, while at the same time exciting the abyss around me into magnificent colors. The colors, oh, the colors, there were reds, blues, purples and greens, every color you could imagine, and some you couldn't, never even seen in the mortal world.

…mortal…world?

Wait…

SASUKE!!

Sakura!

Kakashi!

Baa-chan!

I was dead, and I was leaving everyone behind.

I had to get back.

"I do not know why I have come here, but I know that I must go back." I finally answered the voice, a new determination in my own voice. Again the words danced around, creating ripples in this white world that paled in comparison to my own.

'Are you sure? You could rest here, you know, forget all the troubles of the world of men…' The voice enticed me, tempting me into giving in. But I resisted, there were people waiting for me, and I had promises to keep.

"I must go back." I said, looking around, searching for a way back to my world, back to my precious people.

Back to Sasuke.

'Then wake Uzumaki Naruto, but know, we shall meet again.'

~.~.~.~

I woke.

It took me a moment to realize where I was, I stood above a gathering of my precious people, all dressed in black.

My funeral.

But no matter how much I wanted to stay, to try and comfort them, assure them we would meet again, I could not.

I sensed there was someone who needed me more.

So off I flew, my insubstantial body drifting through the sky. I had the uniqe experience of being able to watch the scenery below me through my own body. It was disconcerting to say the least.

I had to find Sasuke.

~.~.~.~

Naruto was dead.

I couldn't process this.

The boy who's eyes reflected my own pain.

The boy who swore to kill me if I tried to harm his precious people.

The boy who had beaten some humanity into me.

He was gone.

Just….GONE.

There was no way that Naruto could have been killed by a mere human, I don't care how powerful his hickey was.

It just wasn't possible.

So when I heard the voice behind me, I wasn't surprised, he must have found a way to trick everyone, to fake his own death.

How wrong I was.

~.~.~.~

"NARUTO!!" Iruka cried, flinging himself at the boy he viewed as a son.

"Careful there, or you'll make me disappear before my mission's done."

They froze, trying to process this information.

A! Ha Ha Ha Ha.

I'm a Horrible person. I know.

I rose your hopes and dashed them excellently.

(Ha Ha Rachel. Ha Ha.)

So I updated so fast because I was mildly afraid that my friend Rachel would actually grow a spine, then beat me with said spine.

That's what you get.

You get a cliffhanger.

-mutters- Force me to update early will you.