Authors Note: Hello everyone. This is the sequel to Evanescence. You don't need to read it to understand Unveiled, but there are a few things you should know about it beforehand, so here's a small list.

- Naruto and Konohamaru were captured by Orochimaru
- Naruto eventually escapes.
- The use of henge is used as a way to trick people

There are mentions of a major character who died during Evanescence.

Blood surrounded him like a cloak, but there was no battle.

Naruto's body curled in on itself, his eyes open but dazed, awake but unaware. Blood coated him from head to toe. It dripped and it dried. His clothes were plastered to him like a second skin, his eyes outlined with dark bruises.

Kiba tried not to grimace, but it was hard not to when he saw the trail of blood that led to their campout.

"Go to sleep, Naruto." He said, watching as those eyes blinked once. "We have a long day tomorrow."

But Naruto didn't respond. Merely remained curled up with his eyes half-open.

Kiba clenched his jaw as he shuffled over. He hated the way Naruto acted. The glazed eyes. The curled posture. The lack of words spoken. It drove him crazy, and although he'd learned the hard way that Naruto recoiled when touched, Kiba hesitantly brought a hand to his shoulder.

Naruto always responded well to touch in the past. Surely it would be the same now. Surely, now that he'd gotten some rest, Naruto wouldn't recoil.

Akamaru whined as Kiba's hand landed on Naruto's shoulder, but it was drowned out when Naruto's body jerked up, his eyes snapping open, throat voicing a strangled scream.

Kiba jumped back, not at all surprised.

He shouldn't have tried again.

Naruto relaxed some when Akamaru nuzzled his nose close. But his shoulders shook, tears welling in those eyes.

Kiba clenched his fists. Was this really the same guy that took down Pein?

Maybe it wasn't. Whatever happened with Orochimaru, whatever Naruto let happen with Orochimaru, it clearly left its mark.

"Or you're faking." He said.

Naruto did like attention. What better way to get it than to act like a scared child?

Naruto's head tilted, a scratchy whimper breathing past his lips as confused, dazed, and tired blue eyes peered up at Kiba.

"We can't camp out every time you get tired. You should sleep while you can."

Naruto didn't listen. He never did. Not since Kiba left Konohamaru's body behind.

He sent a summoning dog to request backup.

It wasn't that they truly needed it. No. Neither were injured, and they had yet to run into any enemy ninja. But Kiba had no idea what he was supposed to do here. As the days passed, Naruto became harder and harder to handle. He refused to sleep for longer than two hours. His skin went from pallid to sickly, his body so skinny that if Kiba were to put a hand on his waist, he would touch Naruto's ribs.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that he couldn't keep food down.

Kiba didn't get it. Naruto had only spent a week at Orochimaru's—and from the rumors, it sounded like he'd chosen to go, too—but what could have happened over there that caused him to lose all sense of his personality?

Everything about him had changed. He scarcely spoke a word, and even rarer did he do anything without permission. But that contrasted so much with the Naruto that Kiba knew that it surely had to be some sort of act.

Naruto did everything for the purpose of gaining people's attention. So this must have been some fucked up way of getting that.

His nose twitched. Well, he fucking had it already. The village worshiped him for defeating Pein. They adored him more than the girls loved Sasuke. They awaited his return from the mission that he'd been sent on.

They liked Naruto more than they liked Kiba, and that was something he struggled to accept.

"How close are we?"

The words were a mere whisper, so quiet Kiba almost didn't hear.

"Far. It'd be nice if you cut the act. You're really fucking slow."

Naruto flinched, his hands wrapping around his stomach. Kiba rolled his eyes. He didn't understand why Naruto felt the need to act like a scared child before they were even in the village. The least he could do was wait until after they'd arrived.

But no. Naruto decided to put the act up on the way home.

"Danzo was right to send you on that mission." Kiba said, And a part of him wanted to shut up in case it wasn't an act. But the other part, the stronger part, wanted to release all his frustrations from the last few days, and Naruto was the only person to take it out own.

Hell, Naruto was the reason Kiba was frustrated.

"It's pretty clear that Sasuke only responds to you. But then Tsunade wakes up and demands that I fetch your sorry ass."

Naruto's posture slowly became smaller and smaller, his eyes lowering to the ground, teeth chewing on his bottom lip as his mouth formed words that his voice didn't carry.

"There's no point to it, you know?" Kiba said. "People love you now. They adore you. You saved them. So this act you're throwing." He looked Naruto up and down, a snarl to his lips, "needs to fucking stop. Not only are you endangering me by moving so fucking slow, but it's repulsive to watch."

Kiba waited for the outburst. No fucking way would Naruto stifle his retaliation. No way would he continue pretending even after Kiba insulted him like that. So he waited for the screaming. For the yelling. For the throwback.

But nothing happened. Naruto kept his gaze to the ground, his body curled in on itself once more.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Kiba stormed into Naruto's personal space and grabbed him by the shoulders. "What will it take to make you fucking stop?" Naruto recoiled, his chest heaving as his voice strangled and choked on the words he tried to utter.

Kiba frowned, his eyes narrowing.

It was an act, wasn't it?

He stepped away from Naruto and shook his head. Of course it was an act. Naruto was too stubborn to become so weak.

Kiba heaved a deep breath and stepped forward. Naruto's body trembled, his eyes rooted to the ground, hands fumbling with his bloodied trousers. Kiba frowned. The amount of blood was unnerving, and it only made the act stronger.

"Where's Konohamaru?" Naruto said, and Kiba froze, nausea curling in his stomach. What the fuck kind of question was that? They'd left his body on those rocks. Naruto might have thrown a fit about it, but taking Naruto's dead weight and a corpse to Konoha would be too much.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Naruto wouldn't seriously take this act that far, would he?

Naruto licked his lips, his eyes traveling to meet Kiba's. "Is he cleaning?"

Mouth agape, Kiba took a wary step backward, unable to even think of what to say.

And for the first time in his life, Kiba wished he had the ability to look through people's memories like the Yamanaka's. Maybe this would make more sense if he could see what went down with Orochimaru.

"Yeah. He's cleaning." Kiba said, but the words were strange and foreign on his tongue.

If this was the act Kiba believed it to be, then Naruto took it way too far.