Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I could though. *Sighs*. Unfortunately, it belongs to one and only Masashi Kishimoto.

Summary: What if at the end of valley, Naruto had actually died? That Sasuke had actually killed Naruto. But Kyuubi, not wanting to die with him as well, makes a desperate attempt at living and performs a forbidden jutsu that can keep him in mortal realm only by getting sealed again into another vessel. Two years later, a blond boy strikingly resembling the lost blonde suddenly appears in Konoha barely remembering how he even got there. This is boyxboy. Pairings undecided. Different dimension Naruto. Takes place from end of valley and skips to before Sasuke's encounter but after Garaa's rescue arc.

Warning: This is going to be yaoi i.e. boyxboy. If it is not suited to your taste, well you shouldn't even be here in the first place.

A/N: I made a small mistake in previous summary stating Naruto as dead. I meant to say disappeared/lost.

This is flashback.

'This is thought.'

"This is dialogue."

CHAPTER 1

THE ARRIVAL

It was not like any other morning in the beautiful village of Konohagure no sato. Even in the colder days of December, somehow the morning sun had found its way onto the village, delivering its warm sunshine throughout the village completely clearing the morning mist even in the early morning, signaling a warm day ahead whereas the children were already out of the house, running down the streets, laughing and playing without a care in the world.

In midst of all this, a pink haired girl could be seen walking along the streets of Konoha alone. Haruno Sakura was walking towards the grounds for her usual training sessions. She could be seen as a confident kunoichi of hidden leaf. She was powerful, a chunin of Konoha, directly training under one of the three legendary sanin, the Slug Sanin Tsunade, herself. She liked to think she had come a long way from her past self that was two years ago.

She was strong now, able to not defend only herself but protect the ones she held dear. No more was she weak and unconfident like her young self was, who was not even able to protect her two very best friends.

She closed her eyes, even thinking about past would give so much pain to her. An all too familiar feeling of pain and guilt started to stab in her chest. It had already been two years and a half but still now she couldn't forget the events of that time, those days. She felt weak, pathetic even, after all, she couldn't do anything when her love not only betrayed village but also tried to kill one of his own comrades. All she could do was cry her eyes out and only watch from sidelines, hoping everything could be alright. But how naïve she was to even think that everything would be alright, to think they would bring him back and everything will be back to normal, just like that. Not only did she lose Sasuke that day, her only love, but Naruto as well, her friend, her brother. No one knew what had happened to Naruto or where the blonde had suddenly disappeared. When Kakashi had returned without Naruto, she was at loss. She couldn't fathom one single reason as to where Naruto could had gone. Tears started forming in her eyes as events of that day came crashing down her mind and a familiar pain started to form in her heart.

/Flashback/

Sakura was lying on her bed, her body stiff, waiting for Naruto to bring back her beloved Sasuke-kun. Her mind was racing with million thoughts, every possible scenario that could have happened between Sasuke and Naruto.

'Will Naruto really be able to bring Sasuke-kun back?' She thought, fear gripping around her. After all, he had willingly gone to Orochimaru and even when she tried to stop him, he hadn't even spared one glance at her. A cold feeling started gripping at that thought.

'Sure Sasuke-kun would return with Naruto, right?' She wondered out loudly. Her voice echoing in the empty room.

'Sasuke-kun wouldn't leave his friends and her alone.' She reasoned with herself as she brushed the dreadful thought aside. She believed Naruto would bring back her Sasuke. He had promised her after all and Naruto never broke a promise. She let out a small breath in relief.

'If only she hadn't been weak, she could have stopped Sasuke-kun that night.' Tears started welling in Sakura's eyes as guilt started to swell in her heart, remembering him. She remembered how scary he looked at that time, when he was bitten by that snake. She had never been so scared in her life when that happened. She was afraid, afraid of what might he become. For all her life, she had always loved him and believed that someday he'll see her as his one and only, they will marry and live happily ever after. After all she had done to be beside him, only for him to leave her like that, brought immeasurable pain to her heart.

'But now, he isn't even here.' A single tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn't understand why he had chosen to go with Orochimaru. He had everything here, his teammate, his friends, his comrades. And for the first time she realized, she didn't know him at all. A loud knocking on her door interrupted her chain of thoughts.

'Who could it be?' She thought, trying to ignore the obnoxious knocking. And when the knocking became more violent and more frequent, she quickly wiped her tears, jumped out of her bed and opened her door only to be met by Ino.

"Sakura." Ino started frantically. "They couldn't bring Sasuke-kun back."

As soon as those words left Ino's mouth, Sakura knew her whole world was lost. Suddenly feeling weak, she thumped down to floor, her eyes had started to water again and a familiar ache started to build in her heart. And for the first time in her life, she realized, she had truly lost him, he was never coming back. She had truly lost him.

A hollow laugh escaped her lips, the cold emptiness surrounding her.

Maybe in a way she always knew he was never hers to start from. He never looked her the way she looked at him. It was hard to even get him to glance at her sometime. Oh how foolish she had been. Tears started rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably, her eyes were beginning to pain from crying continuously. And she let it all down. She didn't even bother to wipe them away. What good these tears would do if they couldn't even bring him back. She was pathetic. If only she had been strong enough to stop him that night, everything would have been fine. More tears started to run down her eyes.

She could distantly hear Ino saying something.

"Sakura."

She suddenly felt herself being pulled into something warm. The warmness surrounded her, filling some of the emptiness inside her heart, putting it at ease and she hung onto it for her dear life.

"Sakura. Are you alright?" Ino had asked her and she had remained silent.

"Sakura, there's still something you should know." Ino had then paused. "Naruto…he…well Kakashi-sensei didn't return with Naruto."

The initial pain and grief of Sasuke not being with her had completely numbed her mind to the point that she couldn't even try and think about something else.

Naruto?

She had heard Ino saying that name.

Naruto.

Her mind thought subconsciously. An image of bright yellow and obnoxious laugh filled her mind.

Naruto.

Her subconscious tried again as her mind started to become clear and the image started to become vivid. And it felt like a ton of bricks hitting her when she finally remembered her other teammate.

How could she even forget to ask about Naruto? Guilt filled her heart. How selfish she could be? Had she always been like this? More tears started to roll down her cheeks, her heart burning in pain.

"How-how's Naruto?" Sakura managed to say in between her chokes. Her voice sounding distant to even herself.

"Didn't you hear what I just said, Sakura? Naruto didn't return with Kakashi-sensei."

Her mind went blank. Naruto didn't return with Kakashi-sensei? Her thoughts zeroed on that.

"What- What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked, her voice barely just above wishper.

"I don't know, Sakura. I really have to go now" Ino had paused, her eyes worried. "I'm sorry Sakura. I wish I could stay but I have to bring food to Chouji and I have stayed here long enough. Look, you should ask Kakashi-sensei." With that, Ino had turned and left hurriedly leaving Sakura to ponder at her words.

She had never been more confused in her life than she was now. 'Why didn't Naruto return with Kakashi-sensei?' She wondered, her mind racing with million different reasons for that to happen. 'Had Naruto gone with Sasuke-kun?' She knew it was impossible to even think of. Naruto would never betray Konoha. 'I need to go ask Hokage-sama at once.'

Gaining her resolve, Sakura wiped off her tears furiously, stood up from floor and ran hard towards hokage tower, her mind racing with a millions different questions. 'Where are you Naruto?'

Finally, she landed outside hokage's office, her breathing uneven. She could hear some voices from inside. Noticing there were no guards around, she knocked the door and when there was no response she pushed it open. As soon as she entered inside, the voices died suddenly.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Tsunade questioned her, her voice sounding suppressed with fury.

"Hokage-sama. I just heard that everybody had returned except Naruto. Where is he?" Sakura asked, her voice worried.

"Sakura" Tsunade started, her voice grave. "We don't know where Naruto is. Kakashi here says he couldn't find Naruto."

"Couldn't find Naruto?" Sakura blurted out, confused.

Tsunade paused for a minute. She took in a huge breath and started speaking, her voice laced with worry.

"Yeah. Apparently, he suddenly disappeared."

'Suddenly disappeared? How could that even happen?' Sakura thought while trying to find any reasonable reason for his sudden disappearance. Suddenly, she remembered Itachi and that other person coming to the village for Naruto and a cold feeling entered her body.

"Do you think Naruto got kidnapped by Itachi?"

"It is hard to say." Kakashi intervened. "Naruto and Sasuke were fighting just a minute earlier before we arrived. So it is almost impossible for even them to kidnap Naruto without Pakkun and me noticing them."

"I have already dispatched search party to find Naruto but nevertheless we should be prepared for the worst." Tsunade said in grave voice.

And at that very moment, she knew she had lost her best friend, her brother as well. Her whole world was collapsing in front of her and she couldn't do anything to prevent it. She could already feel tears starting to form in her eyes.

Crying.

That's all she could do now. If only she had been stronger then maybe they would have both been here. No amount of crying could turn back those events and she knew that.

And then there, she knew what she had to do. She would no longer wail and whine like a child and do nothing. She would grow stronger and bring back Sasuke and find Naruto. No longer would she be weak and pathetic. Finding her resolve, she stood up and gazed directly into Tsunade's eyes, her eyes hard.

"Hokage-same, Train me. Make me your apprentice."

Tsunade raised her eyes. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect my loved ones."

Tsunade smiled. "We start training now."

/End of Flashback/

Sakura closed her eyes trying to remove painful thoughts from flowing through her mind. She looked around her usual training grounds, the place where they always used to train. This place held so many memories to her. Some happy, some painful. What she wouldn't give to reach those days. She thought grimly, her eyes smiling sadly.

'Now is not the time to think about this.' She hardened her eyes and started her usual training session.

After what felt like hours, she was finally done with her training. Her whole body was now aching in pain and her throat was thirsty. Looking around to see any source of water nearby, She began to wander inside the forest.

After walking for about what felt like an eternity to her aching body, she was about to give up when she heard the sound of running stream. At first she thought it was her thirsty mind playing tricks with her and didn't give much of a thought. But when the sound continued to persist, she decided it was worth a shot to follow the sound.

She began to move her protesting body towards the sound of running stream. After some walking, she could hear the sound becoming louder and louder. Her feet started to move faster and faster in hopes of finally getting to quench her nasty thirst. Finally, she came to a clearing and immediately ran to river stream. She hurriedly dipped hands and greedily brought water to her mouth finally quenching her thirst.

The warm sunlight shining on the sky started to make Sakura a bit drowsy. Soon she found herself dozing off, while bathing under the warm sunlight when suddenly a loud thud resonated around the forest.

She immediately snapped her eyes open, her mind alert and wondering what the hell had just happened. Her first thought was someone had fallen from a high tree but she knew the sound was much louder for someone who had fallen from a tree. For all she knew, that person could have been hurt badly. Deciding to investigate, she began to wander inside the forest, her gaze searching for any sign of lump of human body. She walked deeper down the forest, the trees getting denser and denser with her each step.

Feeling lethargic, she was just about to give up when her eyes landed on a lump of what looked like a human body. Feeling a rush of sudden determination, she ran towards the body even though her feet were constantly throbbing with pain from all the walking. As the body drew nearer and nearer, she could make out an outline of a familiar blonde hair. Her chest tightened as images of a familiar friend flashed in her mind and a faint hope started to build in her heart.

No. It can't be.

A single thought ran through her head as she dragged her already throbbing feet even harder. Finally, she landed near the body which looked very familiar to her and her heart started thumping in anticipation. Slowly, she bent down on her knees, her heart filled with hope and shakily she turned the body to face her.

It's him.

Tears started to roll down her eyes as overwhelming emotions burst inside her heart.

It really is him.

And she let it all down. Years of guilt and grief had bundled inside her heart; grief of not being there for her friend and guilt that maybe it was because of her due to which this all had happened. She cried her eyes out letting all her emotions washed away by her tears for today she finally had been redeemed.

In the hokage tower, the current Godaime Lady Tsunade was furiously signing all the paperworks that were due today. You may call her lazy for procrastinating her work till the deadline but what could she do, these damn paper signing thing were boring to hell.

"Damn. These Paperworks." She shouted in rage, her patience was wearing thin.

'Damn that perverted Jiraya for making her the hokage.' She screamed mentally. She remembered him being so adamant about not wanting to become hokage.

'That bastard probably knew about paperworks that came with being hokage.' She sneered in suppressed furry. She was so gonna kill him the next time she sees him. He was so going to pay.

After what felt like hours to her, she had finally done signing all the paperworks that were due today. She sidelined those heavy papers and decided now was time to treat herself with some of her favorite sake. Feeling giddy, she took out her secret stash of sake that she had hidden from the prying eyes of Shizune and put it on her desk gleefully. She poured a much needed to drink for herself and was just about to sip her delicious drink when out of nowhere Shizune came barging through her door.

'Damn.' A vein popped in her head.

"Tsunade-Sama." Shizune started breathily.

"What?" Tsunade asked, clearly irritated and wishing for her to be gone.

"It is about Naruto-kun. Sakura-chan has just brought him to the hospital room."

"Naruto? Are you sure it is him?" Tsunade asked standing up. A faint hope starting to form in heart.

"Yes Tsunade-sama. It is definitely him."

"Alright. Let's go."

With that both of them ran to the hospital, with various thoughts going on Tsunade's mind. And the drink of her precious sake long forgotten on her desk.

A/N: I know. I know. It took me wayyyy long to update this chapter. And I'm seriously sorry for that. It is just that I was lacking enough feel and motivation to write any story. After procrastinating for days, I decided to just stop procrastinating at all. And so here I present you the first chapter. So feel free to write what you felt after reading this. Should I continue or not?