When the Mask Starts to Crack [sasunaru]

Camping Trip!?

"Where the hell are those two?!" Sakura complained in her annoyingly loud voice. Sakura and Naruto were presently waiting for the copy nin, and surprisingly, the raven Uchiha as well. The bright mid day sun shined through the tree line around the two as they waited. The ever-so-slightly moving clouds were a reminder of how long the two chunin have been waiting for.

Naruto was currently zoned out under a tree allowing the blazing sun rays to deflect off of the tree leaves and onto his face while Sakura stood on the bright grass tapping her foot.

The pinkette and the blonde have been waiting at training ground number seven for quite some time and Sakura was sick of it. If that wasn't already prominent. She was too impatient to be waiting this long especially in this October air. Naruto, on the other hand, who was still zoned out, was dealing with bigger issues. A certain issue he was not looking forward to.

The kyuubi hunt. The blond jinchuriki's worst nightmare.

'How am I supposed to get out of this obnoxious mess this year?' Naruto rhetorically asked himself, knowing there wasn't anything he could do to escape. The current date was October 9th, meaning that the hunt was tomorrow. The villagers would hunt him down, find him, and abuse the shit out of the poor blonde.

You may ask yourself, how could someone do this to a poor child? The villagers of Konoha do this hunt because in their eyes, Naruto isn't a person. Just a beast. The nine tailed fox.

Naruto shivered at the memories that pooled over him due to the hunt. He knew it was pointless to resist. He would be found no matter where he hid in the village. He forced the threatening tears back into his eyes and tried to calm down. Lost in his own world, Naruto didn't realize his name was being called.

"NARUTO!" He heard a shout.

"Huh?" The blonde asked, snapping back to reality. Naruto looked up and was faced with his two missing teammates and an angry green eyed one. Naruto remembered where he was and plastered on his usual fake, bright smile as he stood up.

"What took you two so long, eh?" Naruto asked, looking at the silver haired pervert and the emo Uchiha.

"I don't know about Sasuke, but I was lost in the path of life," Kakashi admitted and opened his orange, 'Make Out Tactics' book.

"THAT LAME EXCUSE AGAIN?!" Sakura yelled causing Naruto to flinch. Loud noises weren't really his thing. Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes. After a minute of silence between team seven, Naruto decided to speak up.

"So, does granny have a mission for us or what?" Naruto asked his perverted sensei with a huge beaming smile. Kakashi shocking closed his book and used his finger as a book mark to mark the page.

"I'm not totally sure. She told us to meet her at the hokage tower for an announcement," Kakashi explained. Naruto cheered and began running in the direction of the hokage tower, but never too far away from his teammates. He didn't want them to find him bloody and passed out in a cold, dark alleyway. He shook away that thought as he continued to place one foot in front of the other.

"It's here,"

"It's the nine tails,"

"You know what day tomorrow is, right?"

"He killed my wife and kids!"

"That demon should be locked up, or better yet, killed!' Ouch. That one hurt.

"Shhh! We cant speak about it in public,"

Naruto does what he normally does and tried to brushed off the comments. Act as if he couldn't hear them. Act as if everything was ok. Though, he couldn't help but feel a rattling pain in his heart every time he heard the nasty whispers and glares. It pained him to know every single person around him couldn't give two shits if he vanished right this very second.

But he has known this all his life. Living off of the bits of love his receives isn't so simple anymore. And throughout the years, it has become almost impossible to muster up his fake smile around his teammates. 'They are just like the rest of them,' Naruto thought as tears welled up in his ocean blue eyes.

He stopped running and stood in place inside the middle of the over crowded street. Naruto clenched his fists that were currently by his side and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. 'What's even the fucking point?' Naruto asked himself. He wasn't Naruto Uzumaki anymore. Just the murderous nine tailed fox. Especially on the day of the festival.

The demon.

The failure.

"Hurry up, dobe," A voice called back to him. Naruto glanced up with wide eyes and he noticed Sasuke looking back to him while Kakashi and Sakura continued their way to the hokage tower. Naruto was lost for words. For some reason, hearing the fact that somebody called back to him, wanting him to catch up, made Naruto quite surprised. His blue ocean orbs were still weepy and grabbed the attention of the raven haired boy. Sasuke noticed the glassy water that covered the blonde's ocean eyes and walked towards him.

"Are you ok?" Sasuke asked as he unstuck his hands from his pockets. Naruto just continued to stare at the raven with widened eyes. He couldn't process what he was hearing. Naruto shook his head and dried his eyes as he smiled, trying not to think too hard about the pale boy's words. Naruto interlocked his fingers with his own and placed them on the back of his head as he closed his eyes and began walking.

"I'm fine teme. Just... try and keep up," Naruto said as he walked up to Kakashi and Sakura. Sasuke grew a tick mark on the side of his face due to the blondes stupidity, but didn't respond. Seeing the blonde's smile overran his feelings of anger. 'His smile seemed so different and more genuine. He should smile like that more,' Sasuke thought as he put his hands back into his pockets.

'What a dobe,' Sasuke thought as he walked next to his three teammates. He couldn't help but let a tiny smile glide over his lips. A smile he hasn't seen on himself since his clan was murdered.

——————

A blonde burst of energy busted through the doors of the hokage's office with his usual goofy grin.

"Hey granny! You got a mission for us?" Naruto asked excitedly. Lady Tsunade looked up from her paper work and sighed.

"Damn it, Naruto. How many times have I told you to knock?" Lady Tsunade asked with an angry expression. Naruto sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe. Sorry," Naruto replied and shot her a tiny grin. Lady Tsunade rolled her eyes and folded a piece of paper.

"You and the rest of the Konoha 11 are going on a camping trip outside of the village for a week," Lady Tsunade explained. Naruto eyes widened. A week meaning over the kyuubi hunt. Maybe this year he can escape! Maybe this year won't be filled with the same pain and suffering as the others!

"... You mean a week... out of the village?" Naruto asked, still trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

"Yes. You will leave the village tonight. This is a team bonding exercise with the other Konoha 11; so just relax and get to know some people, ok?" Lady Tsunade explained. Naruto smiled brightly but didn't say anything. 'I... I think I have a chance this year! Maybe they won't find me or know where I'm going! Maybe they'll forget and drop it this year!' Naruto thought. He couldn't be happier. A way out of his annual pain was a miracle.

He smiled more at the thought and ran excitedly out of lady Tsunade's office to pack his things. The others were quite surprised to see that Naruto was this exhilarated, but didn't bother questioning it. They shrugged and walked away to pack their own bags.

Heyy! It's your author ^^ I know this first chapter is short and shitty, but I'm really sick today so I'm going to come back and touch it up with some details and spelling correction tomorrow so stay tuned!

Fixed <3 (it's the next day btw)