The Mask I Hide Behind

All Alone

Previously

"Hey, dobe."

"Teme" Naruto replied blankly.

"What's wrong with yo-"

"Nothing is wrong, I-I guess I'm just not feeling well today." 'Way to play it cool' 'Shutup.'

"I don't care how you're feeling, dumbass, just tell me what's wrong. It'll affect our teamwork."

"Yeah because I should just go and tell you an S class secret, for teamwork purposes." Naruto replied and before Sasuke could say anything else he began again. "Our teamwork was never good in the first place. Not in the slightest. I'm pretty sure we'll live, teme." He put slight emphasis on the 'teme' just to get on Sasuke's nerves.

"Whatever, dobe." He said before walking away, defeated. What the hell's wrong with him?

[New Cover, guys. Hope you like it.]

[Anywho, let's continue with the next chapter.]

Naruto continued to sit on his branch, high up in the tree until he heard Kakashi call in Team 7 saying their shift was over. This made the blonde lighten up a little, finally getting to rest. That is, if he wasn't restless. But first, he wanted to wash up. He grabbed his night clothes, soap, wash cloth, and bandages, in stealth and hurriedly ran to the nearest body of water, which happened to be a lake. Once he arriced he began to talk of his jacket and fishnet shirt and then slowly took off his bandages. He put ointment on them and wrapped them back up before finishing up all of his business there. He hid his chakra signature and quietly went back into his tent. Team 3, who was on guard, didn't even notice it. But somebody else did.

"Hey, dobe. Where did you go?" Sasuke said, pissed about their earlier interaction, but he couldn't stay mad at the Uzumaki for long. "Took a wash, duh, teme." Naruto said before stuffing everything into his bag. He'd clean it up later. "Yeah, well go to sleep. I'm trying to rest, you baka." was the last that the Uchiha said before dozing off. Naruto, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Ot was another sleepless night for him. Whenever he closed his eyes, he thought of the Kyuubi Hunt, but the had to try. After about 5 attempts, though, his visions got so bad that he screamed. Of course, it woke up Sasuke and alarmed all of Team 3, who all came to him, except Neji who stayed back not really caring.

"Dobe! I'm trying to sleep! What the hell'd scream like that for!" Sasuke scolded. Naruto on the hand was shaking and crying. As soon as the clan heir realized that, he had to resist a foreign and strong urge to run and hug the blonde. Lee on the other hand, ran to Naruto as soon as his eyes adjusted and saw the state he was in, much to Sasuke's jealousy. 

"What happened to make you feel so unyouthful, my dear friend?"" he questioned. Not really knowing what happened. Naruto, though, was still shaking and staring deeply in Lee's eyes. All he could think about is Lee hunting him down in a couple days.

'Calm down, kit. That isn't going to happen.' 

'But it is, Kura! It is! If I tell them, it will! I swear it'

'Look, name a time I failed you.'

'N-never...'

'Exactly. And name a reason why I'd start now.'

'I mean, there is none, but~'

'Okay, so shut up with the damn excuses and calm down.'

Naruto was about to say something but was snapped out of the mindscape and was breathing normally for the most part again. Everyone was shocked at how quickly his heart rate changed. "Bushy Brows? Bushier Brow Sensei? Tenten? Why are you in our tent?" Naruto asked, again putting up the dumb act. He knew perfectly well why they were there. "You screamed." Tenten said, simply. "Oh, did I now." Naruto said clumsily, scratching the back of his head and wearing a goofy grin. "Yeah, dobe. Now go to sleep this time. For real. I know how restless you've been. Everytime you wake up panting, it wakes me up too." Sasuke said, not stating his true feelings.

Naruto on the other hand, felt exposed.

"Hmm, if you need it, you can have some mediCINAL HERBS I brought. They were for if anyone was feeling restless and you're the perfect example, young Uzumaki. They're VEry youthful." Might Gai offered. "No, I'm fine, really. You guys can go back to your posts. I didnt mean to distract you." Naruto said, wanting them to leave. "Okay, let's go." Tenten said as she left and he teammates followed.

The rest of the night went like this;

Naruto tried to sleep but woke up, this time trying not to wake up Sasuke.

When he couldn't sleep, he trained with Kurama.

He would get exhausted and try to go to sleep again, but wake up trying not to wake up his teammate and so on.

In the morning though, he had the same amount of sleep he normally got and was accustomed to being as restless as he was.

When he got up, Sasuke was still sleeping, so at least he knew the teme wasn't rummaging his stuff like the nosey shit he is. 

He went into his bag and sealed up all of his bandages so that the stench of blood wouldn't be in their tent. He also didn't want the Sharingan Prince in his stuff. 

'It was a good idea to seal this.' 

'Yeah. Good thing I thought of it, or everyone would know. That wouldn't be the best.' 

'Really, kit, I need you to explain to me why they shouldn't know. They could, I don't know, help you!'

'Are we really doing this, Kura? You know how I feel on the topic. This will only cause controversy between us, and you're the only friend I have.'

'No I'm not! You're surrounded by friends all over this camp. Didn't you see how Team 3, beside Neji, and Sasuke came to help you last night?!'

'...yes but...'

'That's what I thought, kit. Tell them.'

'go take a nap stupid fox.'

'that actually sounds like a good idea. night naru.'

"Pfft. Stupid fox." Naruto whispered to himself as he teleported into his clothing just in case Sasuke had been awake. He didn't want the bandages to be seen. Luckily, the Uchiha wasn't awake in the first place. He zipped up and sealed his bag closed. He walked outside and climbed up a tree to sit on one of the higher branches. 

It was a beautiful morning. The sun shone through the leaves and the wind was making them rustle. It was a bit cold, but mostly relaxing. Naruto looked up at the sky and saw that it was a nice blue with scattered clouds. An all around beautiful landscape. 

'I'm finally'

"All Alone."