The Mask I Hide Behind

The Mask Becomes Heavy

The spy stood there, Rinnegan looking at the two. "Well, I'm with the Akatsuki and was sent to retrieve you, Uzumaki Naruto. However, I have a few things to tell you." "Well spit it out then. I don't have all day." the boy snapped back. Nagato... was not fond of the way he was being treated, however he knew that if he screwed this up, it would be immensely harder to obtain the Kyuubi chakra. Sighing out loud, the leader continued, "Let me put this simply. If you come with me, we'll train you under the Akastuki who are the top in nearly every category of the shinobi arts, excluding fuiinjutsu. Against your current master, Jiraiya, we would be able to win easily and are willing to teach to you."

Naruto was nowhere near stupid. Of course there would be something great he'd have to give up to obtain something like this. Only a fool would think otherwise. The only problem was that he had no clue what Nagato wanted. Did he want a soldier? Did he want to use him to experiment? Did he want...Kurama?

"You explained to me what I would get in this exchange, yet you never once told me what you'd be getting in return. Enlighten me, would you?" he implored. A dark and heavy force of KI embraced the boy and caused uncontrollable goosebumps as he started to shiver. "I'm going to need some respect out of you, boy. Not even I know the future, and, if you continue on like this you might not either." Pein threatened.

Meanwhile, the group of boys was nearing their target. Really near. Happiness arose in them when they heard his voice. "That's Naruto, right?" Choji asked. "I sure hope so," Asuma responded. "Yeah, but who is he talking to?" Shikamaru questioned, both concerned and curious. "I don't know, but all the more reason for us to hurry up and get to him," Sasuke replied, and everyone went silent. 'Why does he suddenly care about Naruto?'

After a while of calming silence, Nagato took a deep breath and began again. "You aksed me what I would get in exchange for this. I'll be perfectly clear. You'd be my weapon of peace." Naruto was not expected such a 'good-guy' answer. He was thinking more on the lines of, 'You'll be my puppet of mass destruction'. "Peace? How are you planning on obtaining peace?"

Silence.

"You want me to explain my plans to a shinobi enemy who hasn't even committed to me?"

"I can see him!" Sasuke said, relaxation overthrowing his other emotions as he knew it was not too late to save his... 'affiliate'. The others around him were as creeped out as they were when he first started behaving this way after hearing him exclaim like that. "Sasuke... not too loud. He might just run further out." Kakashi said with a bitter-sweet tone.

Although he enjoyed seeing the Uchiha like this, knowing he'd have leverage over the child later, he also noted that it was getting out of hand. Completely out of character for Sasuke. However, even if the far off chance that he was whipped was accurate, it wouldn't be this bad. They had simply been separated. As far as they knew, Naruto was in no danger. Even still, Sasuke was acting like in such a manner. Maybe there was more to this than he was letting on...

With a sharp turn to the left, Nagato's head snapped in the direction of the rescue team as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Listen, boy, I'm going to make this simple for you because your friends are coming. I'll either steal you and burn your village to flames, or you yield to me in five days' time. By then, arrangements should be complete for you. To add more to this threat, I will rip your little Uchiha friend's eyes out and hand them over to Itachi personally, as you watch, unable to shut your own pair of lookers. I trust you'll make the right decision... if you aren't dead by then anyways with everyone hunting you. Ja Ne." he said, disappearing in a flash.

That was a bit too heavy for the young Uzumaki whose knees immediately buckled under his weight, hands shooting up to cover the tears flowing from his eyes. He had an incredibly vivid imagination, a curse in his book, so he had no choice but to picture all of the misfortunes in his head as he actually felt the consequential pain.

'Up now, kid. They're really close by.'

Regaining what he could of his composure, Naruto stood up and shifted his weight to a nearby tree as he leaned on it, still too weak to carry his body. "Naruto, why did you lea-" "Why the HELL did you leave like that, dumbass?!" Sasuke exclaimed, effectively cutting off Kakashi who had already planned out a lecture. "Well, Kakashi Sensei left me." Naruto lied in monotone, failing in all his efforts to hide the absence of emotion in his heart.

To say it was chilling would be the understatement of my life.

"No, you weren't in there anymore and I went to find help." Kakashi said, now unsure of his own experiences. "I was there, I just don't like speaking to people in the restroom. Is that a problem? You were the one that left me. I didn't even know where you were and looked all over this forest for you." the Uzumaki spoke, knowing it was a lie and not seeming to care.

Now everyone was looking at Kakashi accusingly. It made sense. It is weird to talk to people while using the bathroom. But Kakashi doesn't really mess up like this. There was an inconsistency in the story.

"I- Sorry, Naruto." Kakashi apologized, still not thinking this was right but waiting for a response. However, like earlier, he waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, with no acceptance. Naruto was silent for a whole seven minutes before attempting to push himself off the tree, falling in the process. "Naruto..." Sasuke whispered, concerned.

"Naruto? What the hell has gotten into you?" Shikamaru questioned, rushing to help the blonde up. "I... Shikamaru... I'm..." A one minute pause "... sorry. I'm so sorry, Shikamaru, Choji, Sasuke, everyone... I'm sorry. I'm sorry." 

This was all Naruto could mutter out, the rest of his words were forbidden from vocalization by the mask. The emotion in his voice reappeared with these words. He really was sorry. He didn't want the village to be in danger over him by pretending nothing happened. His mask would very possibly be his downfall. But he knew that if he gave into emotions now, he would be left on shaky ground. He needed time to recover. However, it didn't seem like he would be getting any of that.

"Who was that man? What did he tell you?" Asuma quizzed, thinking this had all gotten out of hand for what was supposed to be a therapeutic and fun day. "That man... stay away from him..." Naruto advised, his voice shaky. "Leave me alone... please... I don't want this anymore... I just... PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

And just like that, the floodgates broke.

I really hope this lived up to expectations lol. This has become my most popular book by far and I would like to thank all who read, voted, and/or commented. It really makes my day. I just got out of this huge writer's block and wrote 1K words to finish this chapter off for you guys. Hope everyone's doing okay in quarantine. Much love.

Ja Ne.