Sleeping Among Secrets (a naruto fanfic)

#9: An Aquaintance

Life is unfair, that's why you work hard to get it in your favor.

• • • • •

"sasuke-kun, that's not kakashi-sensei!"

"h-how can you say that?" panted sasuke landing beside sakura.

"u-um, kakashi-sensei said at the start of the test that he will just be watching...didn't he?" she said nervously doubting herself since if sasuke couldn't realize then she must be wrong... right?

The raven seemed to think for a moment before widening his eyes "your right" he muttered under his breath.

"tch, I knew it" he stated but then had to block an incoming kunai thrown at the said 'kakashi'.

He narrowed his eyes 'even though this isn't the real kakashi, this guy is strong enough to make me struggle' he scowled at his own words remembering his embarrassing defeat at the bell test. He then glanced at sakura 'I won't be able to last for long, but maybe...'

Sasuke really didn't like his plan.

"sakura" he said which caused the pink haired girl to perk up.

"h-hai, sasuke-kun" she answered nervously, looking at him in curiosity and wonder at why the hell he would notice she existed.

"listen here, I want you to...-"

• • • • •

Naruto yawned with a hand covering his mouth as he groggily sat up from his lying position. He glanced at the woman who woke him up.

"...shiki? what are you doing here, you woke me up ya' know" he muttered still half asleep.

The now identified shiki pouted "mou, you sqirt, is that how you greet a beautiful lady who just got back from a looooooong mission?~" she whined.

The blonde blinked at her, a grand total of two times, before stating in a blunt voice.

"you were gone?"

"MEAN!!!"

Naruto shrugged as he stood up scratching his head "I always just ignored you so I didn't notice the difference" he stated as he walked away.

Shiki followed, pestering him as she did so.

"squiiiiirt! c'mon, I haven't seen you for what, 9 years? and yet you ignore meeeeeeee!!" she shouted as she launched herself towards the blonde.

He dodged.

"ack!" shiki fell on the dirt, "itaiiiiii!" she whined as she rubbed her nose. That is until she spotted naruto walking away.

"wait up!"

Naruto yawned as he glanced at the orange haired female now walking beside him.

"so, are you the one that summoned that 'kakashi'?" he asked. The lady hummed.

"hm, probably" she answered "but I'm sure you sensed my chakra already~" she continued.

Naruto stayed quiet.

Her eyes suddenly softened as she looked straight forward "your really good at acting, you know that?" she suddenly stated with a tint on sadness.

And yet another silence.

Shiki glanced at naruto, his expression still unreadable except for the half lidded eyes that conveyed nothing.

"-too good"

• • • • •

Sakura threw an explosion tag to the 'kakashi'
The man, obviously, was able to dodge it with one swift movement. She threw multiple kunais with the same explosion tags set in multiple different locations.

Meanwhile, sasuke ran to the other side of the clearing, making sure to avoid the kunais. 'Kakashi' was still standing there, reading his book, mocking them.

Once sasuke arrived, he made the tag closest to kakashi explode, the man jumped away which just caused another explosion.

The kunais weren't in any way set in a strategic manner that predicted the enemy's movements. There were just loads of them, almost as much as naruto's shadow clones... yeah, sasuke likes to buy loads of kunais.

A chain reaction of explotions caused the whole clearing to be engulfed in smoke and possibly fire. The two genins used this chance to try and escape, 'kakashi' tried to chase them but sakura, having set another trap per sasuke's request since the other male had been busy distracting kakashi, pulled on the rope at an attempt to make the jounin trip.

He jumped out of the way but had to poof away as a mass of shuriken were thrown at him from different angles and was unable to dodge due to being in the air.

Now was the time for sasuke and sakura to make their escape.

They ran deep into the forest, hoping that the kakashi didn't follow them, luckily, they were able to get away far enough.

Sakura panted "i-it worked?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes but was clearly tired as well "of course it did" he stated.

They had figured that beating the guy was impossible at their level, as much as sasuke would like to deny it, and so settled for escaping and looking for their last teammate to start searching for the ball since even naruto has a few skills like his ability to get into places that are hard to reach, judging from how he always manages to reach the hokage momentum and paint their faces despite the height.

Sakura seemed to realize what he said as she perked up.

"I-I mean, of course it did! it was sasuke-kun's plan after all! sasuke-kun your so amazing!" she exclaimed, gaining energy but was still panting slightly.

"hn"

They fell into an awkward silence, neither one of them knowing what to say. Sakura for once shutting up when her sasuke-kun is right in front of her.

"um, s-should we go find naruto, sasuke-kun?" said sakura after a minute since the uchiha made no move to try and talk.

"hn"

Sakura had no idea what that meant but assumed it was a yes since the uchiha started walking away.

• • • • •

Shiki skidded to a halt as she felt her clone's chakra poof away. Naruto also stopped.

"it seems your team managed to defeat my clone" she stated.

"hm, really" said the blonde not really caring, his eyes trailed off to the side.

"granted it was just a small portion of my power" she continued, shrugging.

"mhm" mumbled naruto making it clear that he wasn't listening.

"heeeey! c'mon, pay attention! didn't you hear me!? your team.mates.de.fea.ted.my.clone!" she exclaimed with hands on her hips.

"I heard you, and im sure they will too if you keep shouting" stated naruto with half lidded eyes signaling to the side. Shiki blinked.

Then sensed the chakra of two genins approaching them.

She opened her mouth about to say something but never got the chance as she was pushed to some bushes, causing some leaves to fall on her as she fell on her behind.

"oi-!"

"shut up" said naruto with an uncaring yet strict undertone. He turned around and took a step forward.

As if on que, two genins emerged from the bushes.