How To Break a Mask (Sasunaru)

The Alleyway

How to Break a Mask

Author: Kinomi Akai

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, there would be no hints towards homosexuality. There would be outright homosexuality ;D

Summary: An incident at the festival on Oct. 10th reveals that there is a lot that everyone doesn't know about Naruto. Smart!Naruto, Sasunaru/Narusasu, Rated M to be safe

Pairings: Sasunaru/Narusasu, mentions of KakaIru, as of now.

Warnings: Shonen-ai, yaoi, boy x boy, whatever to want to call it. Sakura "bashing" in earlier chapters.

Author's Note:

"Blah" - talking

'blah' - thinking

'blah' - Kyuubi talking

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Last time:

Naruto swallowed. "J-just going home." He cursed his stutter, because it made the man smile.

An elderly lady, who would look kindly by any other circumstances, replied, "Why don't we help you make it there?"

"No thank you," Naruto responded, a little too quickly. "I'll be fine." He said, trying to remove the man's arm without showing the panic that was quickly consuming him.

"Now, now, that's not polite. You should treat a lady with respect, it was very kind of her to offer that." The grip tightened until it was painful, "I think you need to be taught some manners."

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Chapter 5: The Alleyway

It was such a cliché villain line that Naruto would have laughed if he hadn't wanted to scream. He tore his arm out of the other man's grasp, no longer caring about being polite, and attempted to force his way through those surrounding him, but there were far more than he had expected. Hands reached out and grabbed him - grabbed his arms, his collar, his hair - he kicked but his feet were caught in a tangle of limbs. He writhed and convulsed, attempting to flail his way out of their grasp, but whenever a hand let go, a new one grabbed hold.

'Scream, call attention to yourself!' Kyuubi frantically advised and Naruto began a blood-curdling yell for help, but as it opened, something - something wet - was stuffed inside his mouth and his voice was muffled. He kept screaming as loud as he could, trying to push the cloth out with his tongue. He felt himself being pulled into an alley, and a hand jabbed at his mouth to keep it closed.

'Nononono-' Naruto's thoughts were wildly terrified.

'Bite them, Naruto!' Kyuubi had abandoned the nickname, 'Use your nails, your teeth!'

Naruto bit down, hard.

He was rewarded with several yelps, and the hands leaving his mouth. He spat out the cloth and redoubled his efforts, screaming for help.

"You little brat!" A man growled, and in the next second, Naruto was seeing stars, gasping. He vision flickered, and he tried to look at the man who had hit him. He could have swore that punch had been chakra-infused, his nose was surely broken.

The people who were attacking him were no ordinary villagers; they were those who had fought the Kyuubi, fought so hard against the fox, lost thier loved ones and friends, only to have it survive in the form of Naruto Uzumaki. They needed to finish the job, they needed to save their village from the monster that could - that would - destroy them. A demon like Kyuubi had no conscience, no mercy; no seal could hold something like that. It had to be killed. There was no other way.

'I'll heal your nose, get out of there! Use a weapon, use your chakra-'

'I can't use either of those things, you know that!' Naruto screamed into his mind. A part of him realized there were now tears mixed with blood rolling down his face, but the majority of him could not care less.

'Screw the council, screw the rules they gave you! Let them banish you! Leave this godforsaken village-'

'I won't, Kyuubi, this is my home-'

'What's left here for you? The friends who don't even remember your birthday? The village that wants you dead? Your dream for Hokage that you and I both know will never happen?'

Naruto mentally flinched from Kyuubi's words, and felt his body start to get heavy. He blinked again, feeling himself being dragged, and heaved his feet up to kick at his attackers, but he couldn't lift them all the way. He used as much force as he could muster to twist out of the grasp of those who had him, and he fell back to the ground. Scrambling to get up, with shaking hands and a body that wasn't obeying him, he felt himself get picked up and brutally thrown so the back of his head slammed against the ground. The insults all around him were blurring together, and he let out a frustrated, pained sob as he hit the dirt, and was grabbed again, with renewed vigor. He felt his shoulder snap from the force, and he screamed as he was pulled into the dark.

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Sasuke must have practically searched the entire town by now. He had no idea where Naruto could have gone, other than back to Kakashi, so he returned to where Tsunade was now leaving the stage. He pushed through the crowd...well, the crowd kind of parted for him, until he found his teammates.

"Where's Naruto?" He asked them.

Kakashi grimaced. "He must have gotten lost..."

"He's lived in the village all his life, and he still gets lost, what an idiot..." Sakura mumbled to herself.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was not grumbling about Naruto. He had a sick feeling in his gut: Naruto, who had been acting strangely all day was now nowhere to be found...it didn't seem like a coincidence.

"Lend me Pakkun or something, I'll find the dobe." Sasuke stated. It was not a question.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but agreed, and summoned the small brown pug. Before he was able to say anything else, Sasuke spoke to him.

"Pakkun, we need to find Naruto. You remember what he smells like?"

"Of course I do, he smells like fox," the dog's gruff voice answered him, "but this town is filled with people, I'll need to sort out which one is his scent."

"Will it take long?" Sasuke asked.

"Not if you don't keep bothering me," Pakkun dismissed him, and began to sniff around.

Kakashi was looking at Sasuke oddly.

"You're taking this rather seriously," the silver haired man said, in way of question.

Sasuke didn't dignify that with an actual answer, instead responding with his typical:

"Hn."

Sakura, annoyed, was standing with her arms crossed, pouting in a bored fashion.

"Of course on the one day we get off, Naruto has to go and get lost. He always needs so much attention-"

"Sakura." Sasuke interrupted her.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" Her entire demeanor changed as she looked at the object of her affections.

"Shut up." Her mouth closed with an audible snap.

"Okay, so Sakura and I will go see Hokage-sama, and you can meet us there with Naruto." Kakashi decided.

Sakura remained silent.

"Okay, Sasuke?"

"Hn." Sasuke's eyes didn't leave Pakkun.

"Lovely." And he turned and left, leaving Sakura to follow quietly.

Pakkun suddenly looked up, and staring straight ahead from where he was crouching.

"This way." And he dashed.

There was no hesitation before Sasuke followed.

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