Sakura and I were at the third's office along with Kakashi Sensei.

"Sasuke Uchiha is missing?" The third asked as he crossed his arms.

"Yes. All his belongings are gone along with his gear," Kakashi said as he closed his eye.

"This is a problem...do you know why he might have left?"

My blood grew cold and the guilt began to consume me. "It's--"

"We have no idea why he left!" Sakura shouted as she began to cry. "Why would he leave..."

Sakura was crying as I stood to the side, looking down in guilt as I held my arm. The third sighed at our sorry state.

Suddenly the door swung open and the two ninjas whom guarded the gate came in, panting in panic. "Hokage!" they both yelled.

The old man looked at them in confusion. "What happened?"

"The Nine tails...It's been spotted and heading this way quickly!" they yelled.

The room went silent.

I knew It! I told him, but he didn't believe me!

"How is this possible?!" he yelled as he stood up.

"We don't know! We thought we were dreaming, but it's really here!"

I looked at the third in anger. "I told you! I told you he would come, but you didn't believe me!"

Sakura began to cry again: "Sasuke...Sasuke's out there as well!"

My heart dropped as I heard her say his name. That's right...Sasuke's missing, and the nine tails is coming! What if...what if he--

I quickly stopped my negative thinking and ran out the office.

"Naruto," they all yelled.

"I have to find Sasuke!"


I ran out the office quickly, searching everywhere for him. I checked the park, our training spots, every restaurant and shop in the village, and even his favorite spot by the lake.

"Where is he?!" I whined to myself in fear.

I sat down on the boardwalk of the lake tiredly and began to tear up. This is my fault. All of this. I shouldn't have opened that damn box!

I looked at my reflection in the water and threw my hand at the reflection, distorting the image. "Why can't you ever listen?!" I yelled at myself.

I looked at the rising sun, feeling it heat up my tearful face.

"Sasuke...where could you be?" I closed my eyes, taking in the moment of the sunset. If I was Sasuke, where would I go to avoid everybody I hate...

I stood up as an idea popped into my head. "He left...he left the village!"


I ran all the way to the front of the village: face to face with the village gate, panting loudly from running.

I looked over to the other gate keepers and yelled, "Open the gate! I gotta go through!"

"Are you crazy Naruto?! The nine tailed fox is out there, and you wanna go out?!" One of the men asked furiously.

"I have to go out there and talk with Kurama!" I yelled back.

"You can't do that; you'll only die!" he shouted back.

"I have to go out--"

"You can't! Listen to--!"

"I have to find Sasuke!" I retorted with tears forming in my eyes. "If you don't let me through, I'll find a way through..." I walked away to think of a way to go out.

Can I climb the gate? Maybe even explode it?

I looked back at the gate keepers and saw some other ninjas call them over in a panic.

This is my chance!

I ran towards the gate and opened it quickly.

"Naruto!" The gate keepers yelled as I ran out.

I'm sorry, but I have to find Sasuke.

I ran through the woods until I saw a figure standing in the distance.

As I got closer, I saw Sasuke's black hair and his blue shirt with white shorts.

"Sasuke!" I yelled happily as I got closer.

He didn't turn over. It was if he was in a trance by whatever was before him.

What's wrong with him?

I finally reached him. I called out his name again as I placed my hand on his shoulder.

He glanced over and quickly went back to looking at whatever he was looking it.

"Sasuke?" I looked over in his direction, and saw the spirit of Kurama.

"Well if it isn't Naruto," Kurama laughed.

"What're you doing here?!" I yelled.

"Nothing much since I'm in this weak form. My body is on it's way here, but as you can see, I'm running low on energy, and I need someone with strong hatred to fuel me."

I looked over at Sasuke and quickly placed my arms around him. "You can't have him!" I shouted as I hugged him tightly.

"Oh, but I already do." Kurama raised a claw with a sly smile.

Sasuke broke free from my embrace and walked towards Kurama like a zombie.

"What did you do?!" I yelled furiously as I clenched my fists.

"Me? I did nothing evil, trust me. All I did was promise to take the pain away."

"What?"

Sasuke walked into Kurama's spiritual force field and stared at me indifferently.

Sasuke...? What happened...?

I stared at his eyes in pain; the eyes which once burned with love for me were now completely life less, as if his soul had been taken.

"This boy was in pain. He was full of hatred and sorrow." Kurama gave an evil smirk as he continued, "He promised me his body if I could make him forget his pain, and that's what I did."

I placed my hands over my mouth in shock. My eyes began to tear up as this scenario that yet again proved that all of this was my fault.

"We'll see you soon, Naruto."

With that, Sasuke and Kurama were gone.

I dropped to my knees in shock and began to feel the tears roll down my cheeks. "This...this is my fault..." I chuckled madly.

"This is my fault!" I shouted as I began to laugh. Each laugh slowly began to turn into sorrowful yells. "This is all my fault!"

As I was crying, I heard someone call out my name. "Naruto!"

I looked over to see Sakura running towards me. "Naruto, why'd you run out the village?! Everyone's--Naruto?"

She looked at my tearful face in shock. "Are you crying?"

I couldn't hold back the pain anymore: "This is all my fault! I shouldn't have opened that box!"

"Naruto..."

"If I didn't open that fucking box, I wouldn't have changed fate. That stupid fox would still be in me, Sasuke would have never left, and I would have never been a girl or fallen in love with someone whom I'm not meant to love!"

She quickly kneeled down and hugged me. "Naruto...it's not you're fault..."

"Yes it is! I completely changed the future! Nothing's the same now, and it's all because I opened that box! And because of me...Sasuke got his life force taken by Kurama..."

All of this is my fault...

She hugged me tighter, trying to comfort me. "Naruto, maybe fate changed because it was meant to be changed. Maybe this was a better future than the one before, so stop blaming Sasuke's disappearance on yourself. It isn't your fault."

I shook my head, denying her words. "Sakura-chan, it is my fault. Because I rejected him, his heart filled with even more hatred."

"Then it's my fault," she whispered.

I looked up at her in shock.

"I knew you guys both liked each other, yet I purposely made you give up on him so I could have him. This is my fault."

"Sakura-chan..."

I saw her eyes begin to fill up with tears as she realised her mistake. "But Naruto...I am kind of glad you opened that box."

I looked at her in confusion: "What?"

"Look...before all of this, I really hated your guts."

"Wow thanks," I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well you did have Sasuke's attention more than me, and that made me jealous...your strong will made me jealous. After all this, I realised even you're weak too, and I felt bad for always being so mean to you. I'm sorry."

I looked at her and hugged her tightlt. "It's okay..."

She released me from her embrace and stood up, giving me her hand. "Let's go save Sasuke."

I nodded as I wiped my tears away. "Yeah!"

I now know who to save.