After giving out the antidotes to patients with more serious cases, Sakura ate her dinner quickly without much talk and went straight to her room. The kunoichi flung herself onto the bed and started to think.

She was still shaken after the incident that happened the previous day. Naoko is Naruto? Impossible! Naruto was dead!

But his body wasn't found, whispered her inner self.

Well, I can't deny that fact, but he can't be, he just can't be, I'm missing him too much, I'm just making things up…

Let's see, she has same eyes, same catchphrase, lost her memory, and what more evidence do you want to prove that she is Naruto?

Loads of people have blue eyes, and I'm sure her catchphrase was just a coincidence…

Come to think about it, she, or rather, he, Sakura's inner self smirked nastily, is right-handed too –

She isn't! She simply isn't! If she is, then why didn't he tell me? I'm her friend! I cared about him! And Sai said he loves me! Sakura buried her head under a pillow and started to cry. Why am I thinking so much about Naruto?

Cause he's your best friend? Now if you don't believe me, observe her, pretend to be her friend, then question her. Somehow the truth will come out…

Fine, I'll confirm her identity, and then I'll prove you wrong!

We'll see who's wrong at the end –

A worried knock on the door was heard. "Sakura?" Kakashi's voice was heard behind the doors. "May I come in?"

"No," Sakura answered with a dull and muffled tone. She was still having the pillow over her head, determined not to let her jonin sensei see her crying.

Kakashi came in anyway, despite the risk of being thrown out mercilessly.

"Sakura, what happened?" he asked as casually as he could. "You didn't seem right after-"

"I'M FINE!" Sakura yelled as loud as she could under the pillow. Then, without warning, she broke into sobs again.

Kakashi decided to go straight to the point. He did a quick seal on the door and any window he could find, and sat down beside her. He waited for any signs of the kunoichi wanting to sweep him off the bed. There wasn't any.

"Sakura, you're thinking about Naruto, right?"

No reply came. Kakashi took that as a yes.

"You think that Naoko has some resemblance to him?"

Sakura couldn't hold back any longer. She finally emerged from under her pillow, and confessed everything she thought, hoping that Kakashi might make her feel better.

"I see, there is a reasonable reason to suspect her. But I can tell you she isn't."

"Why? Just because looks innocent doesn't mean-"

"Do you know about the jutsu he performed the night he died?"

Frustrated that she was interrupted, she shook her head violently.

"The jutsu was a very powerful, unimaginably powerful. During the Third Shinobi World War, all ninjas feared this jutsu. Although this jutsu can bring victory in an instant, the performer has to pay a terrible price for it."

Sakura nodded. "Death. But Naruto is the number one unexpected ninja-"

"If you understand this jutsu even more, you will realize that even the unexpected cannot survive." Kakashi interrupted again.

"This technique is an ancient jutsu passed down by a clan. The ancestor of the clan had been interested in the formation of whirlpools, so he studied about it and invented a jutsu to imitate the currents of the natural phenomena. Because the jutsu meddles with nature, it needs an extremely huge amount of chakra to be performed, and only one clan possesses the chakra amount needed to perform it." Kakashi paused, "The clan, was known as the Uzumaki clan, from the former Land of Whirlpool which is destroyed by Konoha, now known as the Land of Waves."

Sakura was flummoxed. Hundreds of questions erupted inside her. She didn't know which she should ask first. "I thought Naruto has the most stamina because of the fox?"

"That, only plays a minor role." replied the white fang's son. "Yamato had told me that Naruto was still able to move after the demon fox chakra took control of him. You must never underestimate a tailed beast's chakra, especially the nine-tails. The kyuubi chakra from the four-tailed transformation onward is different than before, both in terms of its quantity and character, most notably, it reeks of malice. With that kind of chakra wrapped around one's body, normally the body will be crushed within minutes. As you have noticed, Naruto's didn't, which means he had enough chakra to suppress the mass evil chakra of the beast from completely taking over him."

Although she didn't understand entirely, Sakura nodded. Before she could blame herself, however, another question popped up. "How did Naruto learn the jutsu? I thought he didn't have any living relatives, or else he'll be adopted, won't he?"

"I supposed that Jiraiya carried on the task of his mother to teach him the hand seals and everything on their training trip. Jiraiya did know his parents, after all." Upon hearing this, the pink-haired kunoichi realized that she knew embarrassingly little about Naruto.

"Now, basically, the jutsu is about summoning the underground water to the surface of the earth. Especially those near the magma layer."

"So the water heated by magma burst to the surface, and what?"

"As the surrounding water gathered around the opening, the earth crust that separates the water from magma became weaker due to the weight, and when it breaks, the water drains back into the hole, which goes all the way to the magma layer. See what I mean? This is how a single Uzumaki ninja take down a whole army. If the enemy did escape the fate of being dragged down, they can't stop the boiling water from scorching themselves."

"But if this is so, then why didn't the magma erupt like a volcano after the water's gone?"

"The water, as it drained back, it erodes the earth around it and covers the hole, making a whirlpool like pattern over the opening." After all the explanation, Sakura wondered if Kakashi knew Naruto's parents too. As the matter of fact, he did. "By the way, the performer of the Water Release: Whirlpool Technique, or known as Suiton: Uzumaki no Jutsu, never choose to perform this jutsu unless they totally have no choice, as even they themselves can't avoid the strong boiling currents. This means they would loose all their chakra as they were often exhausted from battle before deciding to do the jutsu. Naruto would be in the same state."

"So Sakura, Naruto has long gone. Please do not pressure Naoko for answers, I knew you were close to doing so. Thanks for lending me your ears."

Kakashi stood up, and was halfway through the door when the stunned kunoichi regained her senses and asked, "Did Sai know about this?"

Kakashi turned around. "I'm making sure that the less people knew about this, the better." And he left.

At the same time, a cloaked figure hidden right outside the building left, too. But instead of a worried expression Kakashi wore, he had a satisfied smile.

******

Naoko retreated to her room after the dinner, pondering over the fact that Sakura was upset after her company at the medicine storehouse. She sat on her bed, musing. Did she said anything that upset her? Everything was fine until they were going to leave, when Sakura's attitude suddenly turned 180 degrees. She still couldn't think of anything wrong.

******

In the Kazekage room 2 miles away, Gaara watched the old-fashioned clock hanging on the wall.

30 seconds to nine.
29...
28...
27...

He tore his eyes away from it and focused on the night view outside. Among the tiny specks of light, he knew that a ninja was going to suffer. The nightly routine still worries him, although he had been performing the jutsu for five years by now. The Kazekage had avoided his (the ninja) friend's presence in Sunakagure carefully, but this time he had no choice. The instructions on how to make the antidote went missing, and they have to act fast.

5...
4...

He held his hands ready into position.

3...
2...
1...

Gaara undid the Brainwashing Investigating Technique.

******

Out of the blue, Naoko's head throbbed. She slumped down on her seat, suddenly remembering everything again. She groaned. That's why Sakura was upset. She wondered how to explain to Sakura the next day. She'd better write it down, before she forget everything again when clock strike nine thirty.

Author Note: C'mon, reviews please! I got loads of readers and only a few of them left reviews. -_-" Anything will do. Good. Bad. Just leave something after you've read my story. For those who don't have a fan fiction account, anonymous reviews are available. Just click on the button with green words below. Please ~~ It won't take you much time.....