Akatitsune

The Mystery that is Naruto Uzumaki part 2

"I see..." was all the Hyuga genius said as he directed his eyes back to the battlefield, leaving the rest of the Konoha 10, who were listening to the conversation more than a little confused by the words spoken in the relatively short four way conversation.

It would seem that my comrades are keeping dangerous secrets to themselves. Shino and even human logic tells me that this is normal behaviour, yet, why am I still surprised? This is completely ilogical, I shouldn't be feeling like this, rather, I should focus on uncovering Naruto's secrets. It will however prove to be a rather difficult task with my destruction bugs' weariness of getting close to Naruto.' thought an uncharacteristically emotional Shino, feeling slightly hurt that he was seemingly being left out of the loop once again.

'So I'm not the only one who figured out Naruto's secret about the Kyubi. I suppose this shouldn't be entirely unexpected, Neji is a once in a genration Hyuga genius after all. Also, he's actually had a direct confrontation with the Kyubi's power and chakra before, it was only a matter of time before he figured it out.' Shikamaru thought.

'I don't know what's going exactly, but I'm smelling foul play everywhere around me. Something big is about to happen, I can feel it, my instincts are going haywire!' Kiba thought wearily.

'What the hell are they talking about? And how the hell does Neji know what's going on? And more importantly, Naruto...' Sakura trailed off with a worried expression as she trained her eyes back on the battlefield, an ominous feeling settling at the pit of her stomach not unlike the one she had on the days preceding Sasuke's departure, a feeling that had her on the verge of tears instantly.

No! I can't think like that! Naruto would never do that...would he?' thought Sakura, the memory of Naruto almost blasting her head off with a rasengan flashing in front of her eyes suddenly.

No! He promised he'd return Sasuke-kun to me! Naruto never goes back on his word! Naruto would never leave his friends behind, he wouldn't!' Sakura screamed mentally, trying valiantly to crush the doubts and insecurities that were threatening to consume her.

'Sakura, you've been acting strange since Naruto returned, what happened yesterday?' Ino thought with a concerned frown as she watched the different expressions and emotions morphing into her friends face.

'H-he reshaped the whole landscape with that jutsu alone and completely destroyed my shadow clone! If I don't use my sharingan, I'll really die here without a doubt! Kakashi thought with half of his body sticking out of the earth where he had originally been hiding under the surface of the earth but was now exposed due to the damage done to the landscape.

"You have nowhere to hide now, Kakashi." Naruto said matter of factly, staring down at the copy ninja with complete apathy.

"You're right, Naruto. I won't hold back anymore, or rather, I can't afford to hold back anymore. I'm going to be serious from now on." Kakashi said, pushing up the part of his forehead protector that was shielding his left eye, revealing a red eye with three tamoe circling around it as he jumped out and onto the surface of the battleground.

'He killed my clone so easily with a well thought out battle plan involving only two of his shadow clones. In the past, his plans required a minimum of ten clones in order to effectively distract his opponent enough to gain an opening, but now, he only needs one or two to do the job. He's not just a powerhouse with unlimited chakra and a flashy jutsu anymore, he actually fights with the efficiency of someone who needs to preserve his energy, someone like me. Considering that he doesn't actually need to conserve that energy, that makes him an even more dangerous opponent.' Kakashi thought wearily.