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Chapter 4

The Master of Deception: Fake smile but real tears

"Hinata, i want you to stop being so nice" with those words Hinata's heart skipped a beat. He wants her to stop being so nice? How could she, thats all she knew how to do.

She wanted to be so much like her deceased mother that she has modelled herself after her, other than the shyness she is like her mother to a T.

From her hair to her taste in food, she is the clone of her mother and now, Naruto, the love of her life is telling her he wants her to change.

"W-w-what?" she questioned through bated breath.

"I have watched you grow Hinata, physically and mentally. I know you were ten times stronger than Sakura but, being the nice person you are, you allowed her to beat on you for 5 minutes. If this was a real life situation you would be dead" Naruto said with a still monotone and dull tone to his voice which was foreign to Hinata.

To keep who he truly was a secret he would dumb down his highly superior vocabulary and intelligence with a more child like form of talking which included but not limited to words like "dude", "nice", and most importantly "Believe it!". This is the Naruto Hinata truly knew, the loud mouth prankster who wanted to become the Hokage, an act Naruto created to protect not just him but others.

"I-I-I don't know w-w-w-what you are talking a-about" she lied, trying to have little eye contact with Naruto as possible.

Naruto huffed in slight annoyance and sat up on the desk that Hinata was on, "fine, i guess i will have to show you"

"You weigh approximately 120, give or take a few pounds but, when i lifted you, you had gained over 80 pounds which means you must have weights on your body. On closer examination i felt one of your weights push against my when i carried you, meaning you have one on your left forearm and you probably have another on your right. Your chest was heavier as well, your bust size about 34 C, large for a woman your age but the weight wasn't that, it was metal plates that weighed at least 20 pounds."

"You have bags under your eyes meaning you were up training, seeing the slight fracture in both your index and birdy finger on both hands means you have been practicing your family fighting style rather roughly. Also, seeing that the small fracture has not healed yet it means you haven't stopped training ever since it happened, even though it must be very painful."

"All of these facts and more point to one inescapable fact, you are stronger than you let on and you have been hiding your growth. I know how you feel Hinata-" After his long analyzes of his friend he was soon stopped by Hinata, who said in a whimper "n-n-no Naruto, y-y-you don't know".

She hopped off the desk and began her hobbled walk towards the door only to hear Naruto say, "you are not the only one who can follow someone home" which made HInata quickly turn to meet his gaze, her blush returning with a vingous.

After she realized Naruto lived at Sarutobi's compound she began to follow him to his house after the first year of school. Like she said before, it was a simple obsession she had over him, not a true love but she couldn't help but to follow him every day.

She wanted to see as much as she could, his attitude, his hair, his outfit which was just a god offal orange jumpsuit under his Genjutsu; she wanted to see him every day, every night, every hour, etc.

"One day i decided to follow you, i wished to see where you got that bruise on your collarbone." he stated, pointing to her collarbone which was covered by her jacket but he could still tell.

"It wasn't self inflicted in training; it was your father drilling you over and over to get your fighting style right. If you didn't he would hit a chakra point, making it almost impossible for you to focus because of the pain. He belittles you and always judges your progress with your younger sister, Hanabi who by now has adopted your father's stoic and otherwise unpleasant disposition. But, with all of these facts that still doesn't question why you continue to hide your abilities?"

His calculating gaze seemed to infuriate the small and otherwise shy Hinata, bring out a side that Naruto in his long time of analyzing her has ever seen. She soon snatches her arm out of his grip and wipes her accumulating tears away, her once shy and timid expression changed to one of a scowl.

"Enough!" she yelled, leering at her beloved which surprised Naruto. "I will not stand here and be dissected like a piece of meat" she hissed, " I thought you were sweet and kind, but now I see what you really are!"

Her anger was something Naruto was not expecting, but subconsciously hoped for. Shattering her preconception of what he was to her, she now can focus on something other than him, something that could help her not just in training but in her social life and beyond that.

She could actually find a normal person, a person who doesn't have to hold up a genjutsu every day as to not scare others. But this wasn't enough, she was angry but it wasn't enough to deter her from her obsession, he had to drill it home to her even though it hurts Naruto it must be done.

Naruto put on a fake grin and began to laugh, causing Hinata's rage to build to unseen levels, "you're good Hinata, you are the only person to look through my facade." and with that he licked his lips perversely, getting a shiver from Hinata, "you have seen through my good guy act and finally seen who I truly am. I am a bastard, a womanizer, and quite frankly, a grade A asshole. I have known all along that you were following me to my home but I just loved to string you along, leaving little hints here and there for you to cling on to like a lost puppy" he mused with a sick grin.

Hinata's scowl changed to one of hurt and depression, she had seen the hints he gave her, the slight waves, the times he sat with her after school -if only for a few minutes-, even the time he came to her rescue when a gang of Hyuga haters who had cornered her in a dark alley. Now, she hears that all of those moments, all of them were just a lie, a ploy of a sick teen.

"Awe, are you going to cry!" he mocked, slowly walking towards her, "good. I told you to get over this little crush you have on me but not because I am nice, because I am bored of you. I am going to leave you here to wallow in your self pity and then, maybe one day, you will take my advice and quiet holding back." he said, turning on his heel and headed for the door, leaving a teary eyed Hinata behind.

Hinata collapsed onto the floor, tears were now flowing from her eyes as her heart broken wails could be heard echoing through the classroom.

She buried her face in her knees that she had pulled to her chest and began to cry her little eyes out, and if she had stopped her crying for a moment, she would have notice the tiny sound of Naruto's tears hitting the floor as he continued his walk.

Naruto did what he promised, he left the Hyuuga girl to bath in her own self hatred and hopefully, her hatred would be directed towards the one who caused her this pain. Naruto was rather neutral when it came to people hating him but now, he wanted Hinata to hate him, if she hated him then she would have a goal to strive for, the goal to humiliate the man who took her only dream away from her.

Arriving back onto the training field, he pushed the confrontation with Hinata to the back of his mind and returned to his acting persona, the bumbling fool. He purposely tripped on a large root as he was coming to the congregation of kids and smacked his face on the ground, getting a roar of laughter from his so called "classmates".

"Naruto! What took you so long" questioned Iruka, slightly annoyed at the blonde's antics.

Naruto rolled to his feet and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while he gave off a 1000 megawatt smile, "sorry Iruka-sensei, I couldn't find the school's infirmary" and with that Iruka just sighed and read the next to contestants off to fight.

"Next up, the two highest scores. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha!" with that announcement, more than half of the girl student population began to chant Sasuke's name before parting like the red sea for the proclaimed Uchiha protage to walk to the ring.

Fighting back the urge to rip the arrogant smirk off Sasuke's face, Naruto walked to the ring with his hands in his pocket and a "cool guy" -as he put it- smile.

"Ready to lose Dobe?" questioned Sasuke, getting into his families fighting stance.

"Sorry, but I don't plan on losing today" Naruto retorted, sliding into the schools academy stance to keep from suspension.

Before Iruka called for the match to begin Naruto noticed a slight movement from the bush next to the arena. Using his highly trained senses he was able to determine that the thing inside the bush was a male, judging by it's smell it had to be in its mid to late 30's with a hint of desk polish, the type that can only be found in the council room.

It must have been a council member spy or quite possible a council member itself. It wasn't a surprise really, Naruto was used to being watched or rather stocked by the council so he wouldn't use his hidden potential and for them to keep him on a tight leash.

"Ready?" Iruka asked both boys, once he saw them both nod he dropped his hand and yelled, "begin!" Releasing them on each other like a pack of dogs.

Sasuke was the first to move, he rushed Naruto who was pretending to be to slow to keep up with his movements. Sasuke quickly reached Naruto and delivered a barrage of sloppy kicks to Naruto's crossed arm defence.

Naruto let out a grunt with every kick that impacted his arms so the people around him believed his incompetence.

"This is just pathetic" He thought, seeing how weak the "rookie of the year's" kicks were, and he started to question the accuracy of the school system.

"Come on Naruto-baka! Are you going to even try?" questioned the smug Sasuke, who stopped his succession of kicks and dropped low, then sweeped Naruto's legs leaving him suspended in the air for a few moments.

Using this time to his advantage, Sasuke jumped in the air and brought down an axe kick on Naruto's exposed ribs, sending him down to the ground.

"that was just pathetic Naruto. Hell, I bet that loser Hinata would give me a better fight" Sasuke laughed out, now grinding his heel in Naruto's ribcage, unaware of Naruto's growing rage.

In one swift motion, Naruto's tolerance snapped and blinded him to all around, including the Council rep. who hid in the bushes.

He sprang to his feet, grabbing hold of Sasuke's ankle and lifted it in the air making him have to rely on just his other foot. Naruto then delivered several hard jabs to the boy's pressure points with a thin invisible chakra scalpel, cutting off any use to those body parts.

Still holding onto Sasuke's leg he delivered the final blow with a palm to his chest, sending him out of the ring and into a near by tree with force.

"Winner Naruto" Iruka shockingly said, ready to lift Naruto's hand in victory only to see the now enraged Naruto jump on the downed Sasuke and proceeded to punch him again and again, denting the ground with his strength.

Just as Naruto began to pound away at Sasuke, Hinata emerged from the room and was dumbfounded at the sight. Naruto, the faker who just destroyed her dreams, was not just defending her but beating the man who insulted her miraculously without a second thought.

Her emotions, already being fragile, were becoming more and more unstable, on the one hand she had just heard that Naruto was using her for his own sick kicks, but now he was pounding the face in of another who mocked her.

It was all so confusing to the Hyuga Heiress that she kept her mouth shut and became one of the spectators of this well deserved beat down of the cocky tit sucker of the citizen council, Sasuke Uchiha, who at this point was crying like a bitch!

Before the rampaging Naruto could deliver the final blow he was stopped by his sensei Iruka, who surprisingly, had a hard time holding back Naruto's fist from crushing Sasuke's throat.

"Naruto, thats enough! You won!" Iruka yelled, trying to break through Naruto's blockades from the outside world only to hear something chilling from his student.

"No, it's not over until this man pays for what he has said! He must pay with his life!" Yelled Naruto, raising his foot into the air and ready to bring it down on the unconscious Sasuke only to have his foot caught by someone rather…..unexpected.

Standing on the tree the were next too was Anko, the snake mistress of Konoha, who was now holding onto Naruto's ankle keeping him from killing the last Uchiha…..other than Itachi of course.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" she questioned with disappointment dripping from every syllable.

All Naruto did was leer quickly at his "friend" and pulled his limbs from Iruka's and Anko's grip, turning on his heel, and began to jump off into the distance, leaving behind a shocked and fearful group of soon-to-be graduates.

"What the hell was that?" questioned Iruka, staring at the direction his favorite student was heading.

"That, my dear Iruka. Is who Naruto truly is" before Anko could try and smooth things out, Danzo emerged from a bush, followed by his two root ninjas by his side like the loyal dogs they are.

"What are you trying to say Danzo-sama?" Iruka questioned, "I have never seen Naruto act like that".

"That dear boy, is because we have kept him on a short leash up until now. It seems he is becoming more restless and disobedient" Danzo explained with his usual monotone voice that sounded like he was bored or even uncaring of the situation.

"He is not a dog Danzo! He is a human being and he can make mistakes" Hissed Anko only to get the stink eye from the cyclops ROOT leader.

"Learn to hold your tongue when you are around your better Anko. You will live longer" Danzo threatened. He then brushed off the interrogator and took the confused teacher into his office to explain the ins and outs of what just happened and why Naruto was being watched by many different council members and their subordinate.

While Danzo was busy trying to pull Iruka to his side, Anko was off doing something important, like trying to find where the snake like viper disappear to.

"Come on, where is he?" Thought Anko, scanning the area from atop a very large building in the heart of Konoha's market distract, unable to see hide nor hair of "her Naruto", as she so eloquently puts it.

After that interrogation session with Naruto three years ago she had grown close to him, since they did have similar background. They had a lot in common and even similar stories, all through Naruto's always being darker and more gruesome than hers. Over those three years she had begun to look at him in a different light, not like brother or sister, not even like son and mother, but as a young healthy woman looks at an even younger man.

She had finally became the textbook definition of a Cougar, and the sad thing about it was is she wasn't afraid to show it, but in typical Anko style, she like to make her boy toys conflicted and confused, unable to read her advances properly and just end up with a headache.

But Naruto was different, after telling Anko about his "special" connection with the demon inside known as Kurumi, she has had to up her game to try and push out Kurumi. Now Anko didn't want Naruto to not talk to Kurumi or have a relationship with her, but she wasn't a sharer and she also like competition a little too much.

As Anko continued to ponder on her three years with her little train wreck, she was unaware that the man she was looking for was sitting on a ledge, feet away from her, talking to the same girl she was trying to box out.

Thank you for reading. I wanted to address a few things before I do another chapter. It has come to my attention from a few people who have reviewed my story that it seems Naruto is to boring or emotionless. I wanted that to be apparent for the simple reason that many people that have gone through problems and turmoil such as abuse have a tendency to be cold and heartless. I am sorry if my story has not reached your expectations but I will not change him, he will lighten up in later chapters and show more emotions but right now he is still going to be cold.

Thank you those who have given me constructive criticism, everything you say to me is taken under special consideration and incorporated into my story.

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