Our secret | Naruto x Sasuke

Part 15 - The Kid From The Forest

Sasuke was fighting with the kid from earlier named Rock Lee. His sharingan was active, he seemed pretty serious. Naruto thought Sasuke was really cool when he was fughting, he wasn't even paying attention to anything happening around him.

He was unable to describe what he was feeling. Could it be-? No, that's stupid... He simply looked up to Sasuke because of how good of a ninja he was... right?

Suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere. He was an adult, but he looked identical to Rock Lee. From their conversation, Naruto figured out that he's Lee's sensei, and that his name is Guy. He stopped the fight, and started lecturing Lee.

The team took this opportunity to quickly leave.

They got to room 301 a bit too early. This wasn't a big problem, because there were a lot of familiar people there. Sakura was the first to say hi to their former classmates, who were already talking in a group in the corner of the room.

Naruto sat down on the floor next to them. He didn't feel like talking, which was really unlike him. He was in a really bad mood, but he couldn't really grasp why.

At first, he thought that it was because Sakura rejected him, but he soon realised that he didn't care about Sakura at all. Yeah, she was conventionally attractive, and she was nice to him sometimes, but somehow, Naruto couldn't care about being rejected by her. He never really cared about girls, maybe he was too young to understand these things. He couldn't even picture himself kissing a girl, but he had no problem kissing Sasuke... But that was strictly friendly, right?

"Are you alright?" - Sasuke asked softly, as he sat down next to Naruto.

This suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts. He didn't know what to say.
"I'm fine..." - He said, trying his hardest to not look at Sasuke.

"How's your sight? Is that why you're so quiet?" - Sasuke sounded nothing like himself. Why is he suddenly concerned about Naruto's well-being?

"I told you already, I'm fine. Why do you care anyways? I thought "bonds like this would only hold you back". - Naruto was still mad at Sasuke for what he said in the forest. He didn't even accept Naruto's apology, why is he talking to him then?

"I don't want to talk about that." - Sasuke's voice was back to cold and distant again.

"Then I don't want to talk to you." - Naruto said seriously.

Sasuke, didn't aswer, but he didn't walk away either, they sat there on the floor in silence. Naruto preferred this peaceful silence over arguing.

At least now he could pretend as if Sasuke didn't hate him. He imagined what it would be like to just sit here if they were friends. They would probably be talking about some stupid stuff that didn't even make sense, and then laugh about it.

Or about the exam, and how they are planning to pass. Naruto could listen to Sasuke for hours, and he wouldn't get bored, he really liked hearing his voice. If he somehow got bored after all, he would slowly slide one of his hand back on the floor, and gently hold Sasuke's hand, but they both would act as if they didn't even notice it.

Or they would just sit in silence simply enjoying eachother's presence, contemplating about things that could happen.

Naruto started wondering about what could Sasuke be thinking about right now. Something serious, probably. Like the exam, or how to avenge his brother.

Naruto turned his head to the side to look at Sasuke, but quickly turned it back, once he realised that Sasuke was probably able to see him from the corner of his eye. He was surprised to see that Sasuke was smiling. Of course, it was not that noticeable, after all it's Sasuke we're talking about.

"What was that?" - Sasuke laughed softly.

"I told you, I'm not talking to you." - Naruto answered in a passive aggressive tone.

Just before this conversation could have turned into an argument, Sakura interrupted them.

"Hey, Naruto, you should at least say hi." - she said.

"What about Sasuke?" - Naruto got up and crossed his arms.

"Sasuke doesn't really know anyone here, that's why he didn't say anything to them, right Sasuke?" - Sakura's voice annoyed Naruto, he didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Whatever." - Sasuke said and turned his head away from the group.

"See! He always acts like this, but you never say a thing about that! The problem's always with me." - Naruto said a bit too loudly.

The other kids in the group didn't say anything, they looked kind of uncomfortable.

"Hey kid, I think you should be a lot more quieter, you don't want to get too much attention here." - Said a tall, white haired man with glasses. Well, Naruto wasn't sure if man was the right word to describe him with. He was not much older then them, but wasn't exactly a kid either.

"Excuse me, who are you?" - Sakura finally asked.

"Glad you asked, I'm Yakusi Kabuto, and if I'm correct, you're Haruno Sakura." - He said cheerfully.

"How-" - Sakura couldn't even finish her question.

"As you all know, this exam is really hard. This is my 7th year, of trying to pass the exam, but I somehow always fail at the end. On the plus side, I know almost everything about the exam itself, and of course, the contractors. Now, I see that you're not only locals, but also the youngest people here, so if you want my help, I can answer some of your questions." - This seemed a bit too good to be true, but what can they lose by asking a few questions?

Everyone in the group asked basic quiestions about the exam. Kabuto explained the ins and outs of all possible rounds, and how to pass them. After a while, he revealed that he has cards with information about all of the contestants.

Finally, it was time for Naruto to ask his question.

"Do you know anything about a kid named Gaara?" - He asked confidently. To this question, Sasuke got up from the floor and walked closer to the group.

Kabuto selected Gaara's card, but it was almost completely empty.

"Not much, he's from the hidden sand village, and he came here with his two siblings: Temari and Kankuro. I know nothing about their powers or weaknesses." - Kabuto said as he showed the card around.

"That's..." - Sasuke muttered to himself quietly. Naruto was the only one to hear it.

"The guy from the forest, yes." - Naruto muttered back.