Behind Every Mask

Chapter 1

Sasuke could feel his enemy stalking him. His senses picked up everything and his muscles twitched at every little sound, smell or change in the scenery. The feeling of being trapped greatly disturbed him, bringing back unpleasant memories from missions. His hand trembled slightly as he held his kunai at the ready, doing all he could to calm his breathing and focus in on where the chakra was coming from. If he didn't figure out where his opponent was or what to do next, he was surely a dead man.

'Calm down,' he though to himself, 'it's okay. You can make it out of this. Just keep a level head and a clear mind. You can do this.' He gripped the kunai and looked to his left, a small sound attracting his attention. 'I got this!' He through several shurikens toward a bush and leaped to the right.

As soon as he landed however, he felt wires coil around his entire being and a blond-haired boy stood above the Uchiha, a foot placed triumphantly on the raven-haired boys chest. "You know Sasuke, if you move those wires will only constrict and cut deeper. If you attack me you'll only find I'm a clone. If you mange to break free from the wire it'll explode. Assuming you escape this situation I have several clones waiting to ambush you in key positions and traps set all around this area. There's only one thing you can do to win."

"And what is that you baka?" Sasuke said it with a small degree of contempt. This wasn't the first time Naruto had won.

"You have a fat wallet and I have a slim stomach!" Naruto smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

Sasuke leaned his head back in defeat. "Fine. You win. Again."

Soon after the two found themselves sitting at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto shoveling his third serving the giganto-bowl into his mouth. Sasuke was content with his small bowl and kept thinking through everything that had happened. He still couldn't believe he'd lost yet another time. The official count was near 27-0, Naruto in the lead. It was rediculous.

"So," said a female's voice from behind the two boys, "how'd it go?"

Sakura sat next to them and Kakashi sat next to Sakura.

"Sasuke is a cheater!" screamed Naruto as he slammed down his empty bowl. "I don't know how that bastard does it but he always beats me!" Naruto then began pretending to sulk and turned away.

Sakura just laughed. "Well of course you lost Naruto, Sasuke is the best!" She flashed the object of her crush a huge, adoring smile and sighed as her mind went into a land of hopeless romance.

'Thank you, Naruto,' thought Sasuke. It wasn't fair that Naruto had to take all of this hatred from Sakura and Sasuke had to take all the credit, but the alternative was worse.

Out of the corner of his eye Sasuke spotted Ayame slipping Naruto a small note. It was their business and Sasuke knew to stay out of it. Now if only he could slip past Sakura unnoticed like the note had escaped everyone's attention. That would be a skill worth having, the ability to sneak away from your fan-club without getting mauled for it or tied up and tortured for trying to leave.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Kakashi sensei, what are we going to do tomorrow?"

The jonin looked over from his little book and gave his little eye smile. "We'll be taking a break tomorrow. The day after we'll meet at the cliff-side spot we use for camping and we'll be training there for a couple weeks."

Naruto's face hit the floor as he heard this and his foot began twitching. Sasuke also had reservations about this idea, but it was always best to do as sensei said. If not, then punishment."

Sakura however had no problem with any of this. She instantly began speaking about how she and Sasuke were going to have so much fun and how she couldn't wait to see him in action and about how he was so cool and about how he was so awesome and about how he was so char...

Sasuke tuned out the pink-haired girl and groaned inwardly. It was bad enough training with Naruto a few times a week one-on-one, but having to put up with two weeks, or more, of having Naruto hold back and act like an idiot was more than Sasuke could even conceive as manageable. Something, anything, had to be done. Then he felt Naruto pat his back as the blond exited the stall. 'Well,' thought Sasuke, 'if he's okay with it then I guess we'll be fine.'

Sasuke turned for but a brief moment to glance at the blond walking away. Naruto sauntered through the town, his feet already knowing the path home after traversing it a hundred times previously. He kept his eyes down so as not to make eye-contact with any of the villagers. He carefully side stepped out of everyone's way so that no physical contact was made either. Within moments Naruto was lost in the fray of people and no longer visible by anyone at Ichiraku even though he wore orange.

'Two weeks or more?' thought Naruto. 'It's not too bad I guess. It might give me some extra time to give Sasuke some more one-on-one instruction.' He looked up at the setting sun as he walked onto his street and saw it sinking slowly into the horizon. It was something that he never got used to, something that made his skin crawl in a good way.

Unfortunately that night was rather restless for the blond and he found himself pacing about his room more than sleeping. It wasn't common, but when it happened it was a huge nuisance. No rest meant less energy, but that wasn't too much of a worry for Naruto. What worried him was when he couldn't sleep for days on end and the seal began to weaken. He needed to find an extra seal to place over the current one to strengthen it yet keep from blocking the chakra flow. Naruto sighed and pulled out a scroll. When he couldn't rest he read.

It was a scroll about seals. It was a level 5 forbidden seal lesson that he had to pull some strings for. He got it, but it had to stay secret. As Naruto read he took notes on another scroll, all the while attempting to stay still. It was a losing battle though, and Naruto found himself changing positions far too often to effectively record his thoughts and take notes. He found himself having to reread entire passages to make sure he understood them. It was truly a problem at this point and there was no other choice. Naruto stood up and looked at the clock. He'd gotten in a good two hours of study, but now it was time to move around.

He put on pants and a long-sleeved shirt that were navy blue and jumped out his window. The cool night air soothed Naruto, but it still didn't get rid of his restless feeling. At least tomorrow he could sleep in if he got back in the early morning. Soon his feet were carrying him effortlessly over the roof tops and toward destination unknown to the conscious mind.

Yet fate could not rest its hand either, and it awoke Sakura to share in the nightly escapade. She found herself staring at her ceiling, feeling indecent and insecure about everything. For a young girl of 13 with raging hormones and a mind slightly more mature than most her age, life was very confusing. She wrapped the blanket tightly around her naked body and wished that her body wasn't feeling the way it was. She despised awaking from that kind of a dream about Sasuke.

The urge welled up inside of her, but the lack of courage held it back, until soon the urge to run outside and rid the feeling through physical exertion over rode her thoughts. Instinct kicked in and she put on some clothes before walking outside and beginning to jog. This wasn't the first time, but this time was the first time she'd resorted to going outside to run it off.

Her instincts guided her along, her feet deciding where to go whilst her mind did all it could to distract itself. Yet all the while fate nudged her around this corner, into this alleyway, over that fence and eventually down a wide street. The wheels were in motion, the boulder had been pushed just over the edge, and now fate merely had to sit back and watch everything coast on its own accord toward the bottom of the mountain of destiny.

Of course Sakura didn't realize what was happening. All she knew was that she found herself at a park and jogging toward a pond. It looked calm and empty, until a small movement caught her eye. Instinct was still guiding her actions and when the figure of a human bent to pick something up she dove behind a tree. It took her a moment to regain full consciousness and to calm her breathing to a steady rate. Then she peered around the tree and saw Naruto skipping rocks across the pond.

'Naruto?' she pondered. 'Why would he be here? And why is he wearing that awful dark blue?' She stood up and walked towards him. "Naruto?" she said.

The blond turned and looked at her, his blue eyes staring directly into her emerald eyes. She stopped and stood perfectly still, because what she saw struck her down to the foundation.

Here you go. As you can tell my writing has drastically improved and, honestly, I wanted to redo these stories because I see no sense ruining a perfectly good story by deleting it. Instead, I'll be editing them and posting regularly. About once a week or every other week, depending how things work out.

Anyhow, here you all go. A revision of chapter 1, which I hope you all love more than the original!