The demented look in his eyes told Sakura that the determined boy she once knew was long gone but she couldn't stay this surprised she had to stall for time so she could come up with a plan. It was hard but Sakura managed to calm down enough to talk.

"Naruto I'm glad to see you. What are you doing here?" Sakura's voice was shaky which sort of frightened her after all she needed to keep a cool head.

"Well someone had to help you realize your little quest to restore Sasuke's sanity was futile after all he abandoned us both and left us to rot because it was beneficial to him, he doesn't care about us he never did" The sharp tone of his loud voice shook Sakura to the core.

Sakura was terrified of what he might do next so she prodded further "So what are you going to do now?"

"Correction we, we are going home"

Sakura's body started to tremble violently as Naruto grabbed her off the ground and started pushing her along the path. All this hurt Sakura emotionally more than it terrified her because this is what she tried to avoid when she set out on her mission. Unfortunately she was too late and someone she loved had snapped but it terrified her even more to think the man who overcame so much had finally broken down and turned into this psychopath.

…Switch…

Sasuke struggled to get up since his body was still breaking down the poison in its system, the poison wasn't deadly but it did its purpose which was to paralyse. Sasuke couldn't get his body to stand so he had to sort of crawl on the ground, the dirt underneath him flew up and hit him in the face every time he moved making it all the more difficult.

After a few minutes Sasuke stopped to take a breather, all this moving around was more than his body could handle at the moment. As Sasuke laid flat on his back with his left arm on his stomach the sun peered through the tree's and blinded his site, the situation seemed hopeless but Sasuke wasn't going to give up after all she was willing to give her life for his so he should be obliged to do the same. It wasn't long before the poison kicked in again and Sasuke fell asleep.

…Switch…

Sakura walked along like she was told to do but still she couldn't think of anything yet, it was safe to say that Naruto had done something to Sasuke to make sure he didn't find them so Sakura decided to bring up that subject.

"What did you do to Sasuke?"

"Assuming the poison worked properly he should be dead or at least dying by now"

Sakura had to control herself to make sure she didn't completely break down there "If that's the case I would like to see him one last time"

"Fine but remember he won't care"

The stern look on Naruto's face troubled Sakura but she nodded then walked along beside him, Sakura noticed a slight twitch in Naruto's left hand but she just looked forward again and forgot all about it.

…

Sakura ran towards Sasuke's passed out body on the ground and grabbed hold of it, Sakura call out "Sasuke please wake up" over and over again but it was hopeless the poison had incapacitated him. Sakura put her arms around his body then dug her head into his chest and started to cry heavily, her sadness completely overwhelmed her as she lost control and conveyed all her feelings on the spot.

Sakura stayed like that for as long as possible and Naruto didn't do a thing to stop her from grieving, she found it very comforting to know there was still a tiny bit left of the old Naruto but finding a way to bring it out completely was going to be hard.

Sakura lifted up her body so she could look directly at his cold pale face one more time, even in death his face was still not peaceful but it was something Sakura wanted to remember for the rest of her life. Sakura made her shaking body stand up right then walk away from Sasuke's lifeless body, it was definitely the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life.

…

Sakura wasn't surprised that after two days she was still reeling from Sasuke's death but she had run out of time to come up with a plan since they we're now outside the village gate. Tsunade stood right at the gate with a few Anbu but she couldn't really care at the moment.

"Sakura it's great to see Naruto found you" Lady Tsunade smiled then put her hands on Sakura's shoulders to reassure her.

Sakura wasn't in a good mood so she came off as arrogant and a bit of a prick "I wouldn't call it great especially under the circumstances"

Tsunade's smile disappeared as she slowly took her hands off Sakura's shoulders, she could tell Sakura had changed a lot in this small amount of time. Tsunade was terrified of what she might have turned into; she guided Sakura to the Hokage's mansion with the Anbu to be interrogated.

…

After several hours of interrogating Sakura was taken back home but all Sakura did was stay in her room and cry, not only over the fact that Sasuke had died but when she told the Anbu interrogating her exactly what happened they didn't believe her and the Hokage had her put on a special watch. Sakura had to find someone who believed her after all someone must have noticed Naruto change; you don't just go from zero to crazy like that it's a very long process.

Sakura got up from her bed then looked at her picture she had taken a few weeks after she had become a Genin; Sakura looked at how happy Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke we're. Sakura just knew she had to help Naruto even if it meant his death, seeing this psychopath replace him was worse then seeing him crumble because Sasuke left.

Sakura sighed as she finally took off her wig to reveal her extremely short and frazzled pink hair, as she gazed at her bubble gum locks in the mirror Sakura didn't like it. Sakura thought that her pink hair was just a way for her to forget about what happened so she quickly put her wig back on. Sakura put her hand through the long black strands of hair while thinking of her magical night with Sasuke even if it was just part of their deal it was still a precious night for Sakura.

Sakura snapped out of her train of thought then looked at her bedroom door, she felt the need to get out of this room but where would she go? What would she do? It did provide an excuse for her to start asking questions about Naruto but she had to make sure Naruto didn't see her asking people these types of questions.

Sakura opened her closet then grabbed her long dark pink overcoat and put it on; Sakura also grabbed her black gloves then put them on. Sakura had to go out and find some answers about Naruto, even though the Hokage might stop her she had to at least try to find something. As Sakura was about to leave she remembered the medication she kept in the drawer opposite her bed, she rushed over and searched for the syringes of tranquilizers she kept to use for missions or if a man got to grabby. Sakura put a couple of the syringes into her right over coat pocket then opened her window, Sakura stepped out on to the balcony then closed the window behind her. After that Sakura jumped off the balcony and went in search of people to question.

…Switch…

Sasuke woke up to the feeling of his chest being soaked but surprisingly the rest of him wasn't, he got up from the ground but his right arm was still completely numb so he couldn't move it at all. On further inspection Sasuke realised his arm was broken in two places, Sasuke ripped off his purple sleeveless top and wrapped it around his broken arm. It made for a make shift cast and brace but it would have to do for now, even though his body was working off the poison still and it would make more sense to find a healer Sasuke made it his first priority to find Sakura.

At this point the leg which he had Sakura heal was starting to act up which only fuelled Sasuke's anger even more, as he slowly walked along the path he was thinking about who his attacker was. The only person he could think of who had the motive and knowledge was Kabuto Yakushi but Sasuke had gone and killed Kabuto himself months ago but then again Kabuto was always tricky and proficient in healing techniques. Kabuto could have just appropriated Orochimaru's old trick and found a body to transfer to for the time being. It was definitely something he had to consider in the mean time.

…Switch…

Sakura had asked most of her old acquaintances questions about Naruto but they thought she was the crazy one. The people she had left to ask we're Neji, Shikamaru, TenTen and Lee. Hopefully they had noticed something but Sakura wasn't counting on it especially if the Hokage had told them she was crazy like she had seem to have done with the others she questioned.

When Sakura reached the training grounds she saw Neji and TenTen sparring quite animatedly so she let them finish before she announced her presence. It was quite nice seeing them acting normal as if nothing had happened but maybe they weren't aware of the current situation. Watching them made Sakura reminisce about her younger years of training always trying to better herself then healing became her obsession. Maybe things we're better because of the way they turned out? Maybe it was better that she didn't give up?

When Neji and TenTen stopped training they immediately noticed Sakura sitting down by a tree watching them, TenTen just shrugged but Neji stormed over to her with TenTen in tow.

"You know it's rude to watch people you don't know?"

Sakura just smirked then put her hands in front of her to symbol stop "Neji it's just me. I came here to ask you and TenTen some questions"

"Oh it's just you Sakura, you know the Hokage is going round and saying you're mentally unstable"

"Yeah I realized that when talking to some of the others before"

TenTen decided to talk now "Wait what do you want to question us about?"

"Well I'm not nuts Naruto just convinced the Hokage I was so now she thinks anything I say is a lie"

Neji held his head down and smiled "Yeah we noticed his personality changed two months ago when we went on an under cover mission" Neji looked out at the sky watching the wind blow through the trees.

"Naruto's cover got blown and they tortured him for a week until we we're able to get him out, when we got him out he had totally changed and he was muttering some nonsense" TenTen put her right hand on her forehead and started tapping her headband.

Sakura thought about this for a minute and knew it made sense "We're Lee and Shikamaru on the mission with you?"

Neji sat down on the ground next to Sakura "Yes each of us played a vital part in the mission but we weren't able to complete it because Naruto got captured"

TenTen sat down on the ground so she was opposite Neji "We tried to tell the Hokage about it but suspiciously he passed a psychological evaluation test so the Hokage doesn't think twice when something weird comes his way"

Sakura got up then started walking away but she stopped "Get Lee and Shikamaru to me meet me here two days from now so we can plan a way to get some evidence against Naruto" Sakura kept walking away not sure if they we're being truthful or if they we're just distracting her because the Hokage ordered they to but at the moment they we're all she had.

…

Sakura had broken into Naruto's apartment and was now searching around for some evidence, as Sakura rummaged through his bed side drawers she found a journal. Sakura read through the pages and noticed that he stopped writing into it after the date he came back from the mission Neji and TenTen talked about, Sakura slipped the journal into her left overcoat pocket then headed for the door. Just as Sakura was about to reach for the door knob the door opened to revel Naruto holding his key in one hand and bag of groceries in the other.

Naruto straightened up then smiled "Sakura what a surprise but my birthday is not for a while"

Sakura forced a laugh as she was trying to find the right words to say "Well it's just we haven't had any social time together it's just been all business"

Naruto stepped inside then closed the door; he then walked over to Sakura and kissed her on the cheek "I'm glad to see you've come to your senses"

"Sasuke is dead so it's all over so why should I continue to mull over him?"

"Exactly well I hope you still like Miso ramen because that's all I got, if I knew I was going to have company I would have got something else"

"That's alright I don't mind"

Sakura sat down on the couch as Naruto heated up the ramen in the kitchen; Sakura was mentally scolding herself for being this careless. Sakura couldn't believe she had let herself get caught well not exactly Naruto didn't know why she was truly here. Naruto came over to the table and placed the cooling off ramen on the table; Sakura just gritted her teeth and fiddled with her hair while Naruto was talking.

After they finished the ramen Sakura was thinking of excuses to get out of there as fast as she could, of course Naruto was talking non stop which didn't give her a chance to say anything. Suddenly Naruto leaned forward then stroked Sakura's cheek lightly; Naruto crushed his lips against Sakura's roughly which made her panic. Sakura reached into her overcoat pocket to grab the syringe, she quietly unwrapped the packaging off the syringe then plunged it into Naruto's neck then pressed down on it. Naruto immediately stiffened then slumped down on to Sakura's body, as Sakura pushed Naruto's body off herself she noticed a small book in Naruto's jacket pocket.

Sakura took the small book out of his jacket then flipped through it, it was another journal and the first date he wrote into it was the day he got back from the mission with the others. Naruto wrote in it a detailed account of how he was tortured and exactly what was going on in his mind ever since, it even described his plan to get rid of Sasuke. It was a gold mine of evidence now all Sakura had to do was get out of here with out any ninja seeing her handy work; Sakura grabbed the syringe out of Naruto's neck then went out through the front door.

Now that she had both journals she had all the evidence she needed but it occurred to Sakura that even with this evidence the Hokage might not believe it to be true. So Sakura did the only thing she could do which was to hide the other journal in her one of her overcoat pockets then go home, she might not even go meet Shikamaru and Lee like she asked because it was very likely a trap set by the Hokage.

…

When Sakura reached home she went inside through her bedroom window because frankly she didn't want her parents to know what she was up to, once Sakura got inside she immediately took out the medication she had stuffed in her drawers and hid it all under her bed. Sakura couldn't rule out that someone might go snooping through her room maybe they even did it already, but she didn't put the journals under there she choose to keep them on her at all times because they we're the one thing she couldn't afford to lose.

When she was done with all that she sat down on the chair that stood beside her vanity counter, she put her elbows on the counter than put her head into her hands then closed her eyes. It had been one hell of a day and it wasn't even over, when Sakura opened her eyes she noticed a purple piece of paper with writing on it. Sakura picked up the paper and read it carefully.

Sakura if you want to know the truth through all this confusion meet me in the forest of death at ten am tomorrow. I will help you through all this but I expect for you to do exactly as I say.

Sakura flung her head backwards then laugh hysterically I mean how obvious was this trap but Sakura had to admit this person had more guts than the rest of them she might even go just to show them what courage was rewarded with. With that Sakura just went to her bed and collapsed. It had been one rough day and Sakura wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.

…To be continued…