A Crack In The Mask

Toki: What's up peeps!

Sasuke: What are you up to this time?

Toki: Oh nothing. :) So, I recently started reading stories about dark Naruto, and after listening to this song called 'Insanity', I'm in love with the idea of Naruto breaking! The idea of Naruto NOT taking any bull crap from anyone anymore and letting himself go is very interesting, so I wanted to try my own spin of a story with dark Naruto. PLUS ItaNaru is my 2nd favorite pairing of all time! *Insert high-pitched Fangirl squeal*

Sasuke: You're going to bore your readers to death if you keep talking.

Toki: Yeah, yeah, whatever! Here Cha-

~Naruto~ Wait Toki!

Toki: What is it Naru-kun?

~Naruto~ You forgot your warnings and the disclaimer!

Toki: Oh right!

Warnings: Contains graphic scenes and images (Not for people with weak stomaches)Slight OOCness (Though I'm pretty keen on keeping everyone in character since I can't STAND when people put them out of it!)Some Sakura bashing (I know, I love Sakura to death, but sometimes she has me wanting to go into the manga/anime and wanting to choke some damn sense into her XD) and of course YAOI, which means boyxboy love! If you can't handle it or dislike it, then you can simply press the back button. I want NO flames and I swear if I do get any, I will get my water hose and hose your ass down! Please respect that even though you may not like yaoi, other people, like myself, enjoy it! Thank you~

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto...let's just say Naruto and Sasuke would have made love thousands of years ago instead of trying to kill each other all the damn time! ;)

Toki: And now here is Chapter 1 of my new fic, A Crack In The Mask!

Enjoy :)

Chapter 1: The Mask

"No need to fear any longer! Uzumaki Naruto is on the scene!" The blond male of seventeen years of age chirped, as he made his way to his other two teammates on the bridge in the middle of the village.

Sasuke fake scowled and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his cocky teammate. About a year ago is when Sasuke had been brought back to the village. Naruto and Jiraiya, out of pure luck, found Orochimaru's true hide out and managed to save a broken and beaten Sasuke from the clutches of the devious snake sannin and his right hand man, Kabuto. When they entered the village, Sasuke's return was the main headlines that the people of Konoha talked and gossiped about for months. Tsunade almost put him in jail, for if it had not been for Naruto. Instead, she had put him on lockdown and house arrest for two months, then made him retake the chunnin exam once again, which he easily passed.

"No one cares moron." To anyone else, it would have seemed as if Sasuke could care less about Naruto's presence when the truth was, Sasuke was more than glad to see his best friend finally arrive.

Sakura, of course, blushed and wrapped her arms around one of Sasuke's. Since Sasuke's return, the bubblegum-haired kunoichi has not let the young Uchiha out of her sight and tended to follow him everywhere, day and night, like a lost and hopeless puppy dog. It was as if as soon as he returned, she turned back to her old ways as a gennin, which many people didn't like. Including Sasuke himself.

"Yeah Naruto, no one cares." Sakura stuck out her tongue, attaching herself to Sasuke even more. The dark-haired male glared at her, but did nothing more.

Naruto ignored Sakura's comment and fake pouted. "Hey! Don't call me a moron!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blond boy and smirked.

"I only call them like I see them." Sasuke said smoothly as Naruto grinned.

"Oi, teme!" Sasuke grinned back and opened his mouth to retort back at the blond, but his number one fangirl beat him to it.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun that! If anything, your the asshole that no one likes, demon." She spat out that last word with pure venom. Sasuke glared at the pink-haired girl who had a triumphant smile on her face as she watched all of Naruto's cockiness and confidence fade away slowly.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto's fists unconsciously tightened as he tried his best not to let his emotions show. That comment really hit him hard in the chest. He closed his eyes, putting on one of his fake smiles.

Kakashi suddenly appeared with his usual 'yo' and waved at his team before noticing the tension and killer vibes in the air. He first looked over at Sasuke who looked like he was about to murder Sakura, sparks of lightning coming from the arm that didn't have an obsessive fangirl attached to it. He then shifted his one-eyed gaze over towards Naruto who obviously had a fake smile on his face. His fists were clenched. Droplets of blood dripping from them and onto the bridge below him, staining bits of the cream-colored bridge with tiny droplets of crimson red.

He coughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to say that I have nothing for you guys today, so you're free to do as you please." He finished with his crooked eye smile. He gave Sasuke a quick look before disappearing. Slight tension leaving the air, Naruto elbowed Sasuke, who in return glared at him.

"Are you serious!? Did he really call us here just to tell us we have nothing planned to do today!?" Sakura started to vent, which gave the young Uchiha the advantage as he slipped his arm from her grasp.

"It's nothing new." Naruto shrugged.

"I swear, he's always doing this! Skipping out on us just so he can go and make kissy face with Iruka-sensei." It had been no surprise to both boys that Sakura had a little secret crush on Kakashi, although her heart would always remain towards the young Uchiha. Rumor's of Kakashi having a secret lover had been spreading around recently. Umino Iruka just happened to be the number one suspect.

"Oi dobe." Sasuke called as Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"Nani?"

"Up for a fight later? I wanna try out this new move and see if it's any good." Naruto grinned and quickly nodded his head.

"I'm down, Sasuke-teme!"

"Hmph." Sasuke gave a slight grin before putting his hands in his pockets and walking away. Sakura panicked and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. He slowly turned around and glared at her.

"What do you want?" Sakura inwardly flinched by the harshness in his voice, but quickly shook it off and batted her eyelashes, giving him a sweet smile.

"May I join you, Sasuke-kun? I would like to see your new move as well."

"No. Don't even attempt to follow me today either, I'm not in the mood." He said coldly, before vanishing into thin air.

Sakura 's whole demeanor changed. She stood there and held herself, trying to be strong when she felt a sudden prick in her eyes. Naruto almost felt sorry for the girl. Almost. He walked up to her and slowly put a hand on the saddened girl's shoulder.

"You know Sakura-chan, if you want we can-" Naruto was cut off when he felt a burning sensation on his cheek. He slowly lifted his hand up to the reddened area and glared at the pink-haired female before him.

"You little bitch, you always ruin everything! I don't understand why Sasuke-kun would waste his time on a pathetic being like you! You're nothing but a piece of garbage that needs to be thrown away. Go kill yourself you demon!" She spat out angrily before running away in tears.

Naruto merely held his cheek and stared at the place that the kunoichi of his team he was infatuated with, once was. At that moment, he felt himself begin to boil and all he wanted to do was tear off the skin that had been marked by her. He felt his nails dig into his skin hard; puncturing and opening it, creating small cuts. A few droplets of blood dripped from his cheek.

"Naruto-kun, my second rival!" A familiar cheery voice called out. Lee and his team, who had just came back from a mission and happened to be heading to the Hokage tower to report, spotted Naruto on the bridge and decided to talk to him. His back was turned to them as the green spandex-wearing male smiled and started skipping over to him.

"Naruto-kun! It is good to see you again my second rival!" Lee fist pumped, oblivious to the anger that Naruto was displaying. Tenten and Neji gave each other a look before walking up to the scene.

"Are you alright Naruto-kun? You seem troubled." Neji asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Tenten stopped walking and softly gasped when she noticed the blood below them. She looked back up at the blond who had his back turned to them and gently touched his shoulder.

"Naruto-kun, you're bleeding! We need to get you some bandages." She stated in a panicked voice. Naruto turned to them with a fake grin and closed his eyes, covering up his bloody cheek with his hand.

"Don't worry about it, it's just a scratch. It'll heal in no time." He gave a thumbs up.

"If you say so..." Tenten and Neji exchanged another look towards each other before turning their gazes back over at Naruto.

"Really, thanks for stopping by to see how I was doing, but I gotta run. There's some...things I need to do." Naruto made a couple of hand signs before disappearing into thin air.

Lee turned around to his teammates and frowned. "I do not think Naruto-kun is alright." Tenten and Neji nodded in agreement.

"Your right Lee! I hope he's okay..." Tenten said, genuinely concerned. Naruto was like a brother to her.

Neji sighed. "I think it's best if we give him some space. As for now, we should be going to see Tsunade-sama to report our mission." Lee and Tenten nodded in agreement before they began to make their way to the Hokage tower once again.

"Baka..."

Sasuke gave a long and tired sigh. He had waited hours for Naruto to show up at the training grounds, but to his surprise, the blond never showed up. It irked him that he, Uchiha Sasuke, had for once in his life got stood up. And for it to have been from his idiot teammate irked him even more. He looked up at the orange and purple sky from beneath the long branches of the tree he was sitting on and decided to return home before his fangirls found him.

He stood up and dusted himself off before readying himself to jump down the tree. He gracefully landed on the ground and was ready to walk home when he felt a certain presence behind him. A good presence.

"So, Naruto never showed up, huh? Well isn't this a first! Mr. Uchiha finally got stood up." Kakashi said as he leaned against a tree with his hands in his pockets, amusement filled in his voice. Sasuke scowled at the man and turned away, only to have his waist encircled by a pair of two strong arms. Kakashi sighed and nuzzled into the young Uchiha's neck.

"Calm down Sasuke, I was only teasing." He said smoothly in Sasuke's ear, causing the dark-haired male to shiver at the hot breath near his ear. The male behind him suddenly disappeared and reappeared with his legs opened as he sat back against a large tree.

"Come here Sasuke." He motioned for Sasuke to come to him, which the Uchiha didn't protest and silently obeyed. Sasuke planted himself in between Kakashi's legs. A small smile made it's way upon his face when he felt those arms encircle his frame once more. He took his hands and intertwined them with Kakashi's as they watched the sunset together.

Their relationship started a year ago when Sasuke had returned to the village and was put on house arrest. Tsunade didn't trust Sasuke alone and thought he could possibly break the chakra bonds she had on him;so she insisted that Kakashi live and watch him until further notice, which Kakashi happily agreed to. Sasuke always had a secret crush on the older man, but never told a soul or even hinted it to Kakashi himself. That is until one night when Kakashi had came out of the shower, clad in only a towl, that Sasuke felt his emotions take over. Kakashi had known that the young Uchiha had a crush on him, but the boner Sasuke had told him that what Sasuke felt for him was more than a mere crush. He asked Sasuke to help him 'dry off', to which the young Uchiha quickly 'helped' with. And he helped him good alright.

Since then, the two have been secretly dating. The only people who had known of their relationship were themselves, Naruto, and Might guy. Both, which found out by pure accident.

Gai had came to challenge Kakashi to a race around the village at the wrong time. He entered Kakashi's bedroom with his famous killer smile to which quickly faded when he found the two males in a 69 position on Kakashi's bed. Kakashi had to hold his young lover back from killing the stunned older man that Kakashi deemed as his best friend. Gai promised to never tell a soul. Naruto had found out because when Kakashi blew his team off to do some 'reading' he noticed Kakashi give Sasuke a certain look before vanishing. Curiosity taking its course, Naruto decided to silently follow Sasuke that day. He ended up following the young Uchiha all the way to an empty park and hid in the trees above from where Sasuke sat on the bench, alone from below. He saw Kakashi appear and sit next to Sasuke. Next thing he knew, his best friend and sensei were having a fierce make-out session. He was so shocked and surprised he fell out of the tree and in between them. Kakashi had to pry Sasuke off of an almost dead Naruto. Once Naruto regained his breath, he immediately promised to keep their relationship on the down low.

The two males remained in a comfortable silence for a long period of time as the sky before them that used to be orange and purple, began to turn a deep blue, stars beginning to twinkle to signal that night time had arrived.

Sasuke broke the silence. "You think the idiot is okay?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the rare concern he heard in his young lover's voice and grinned.

"My, getting soft are we?" Sasuke scowled and looked back at Kakashi with a serious look.

"I'm serious Kakashi. It's not like him to miss out on a fight..." Kakashi stared into the concerned eyes of his lover and thought for a moment before smiling at Sasuke through his mask.

"I wouldn't worry too much Sasuke. You know Naruto...He probably got too excited, was trying out a new power move and ended up hurting himself. He's probably in bed right now as we speak, fast asleep with a cup of cold ramen next to him on his dresser." Sasuke nodded at Kakashi's reassuring words.

"I hope you're right." And honestly, Sasuke really did hope he was.

That night, Naruto sat in his room in utter silence, only clad in black boxers. He was staring straight forward at nothing in particular as the darkness of his room swelled around him.

The words that Sakura had said to him earlier had been floating around in his head all day.

'You little bitch!' Naruto tried to stop himself from thinking about it, but the rest of her words continued to ring in his head. 'I don't understand why Sasuke-kun would waste his time on a pathetic being like you!' Naruto gritted his teeth, trying to ease the pain that swelled deep down within his chest. He had been called pathetic by people many times before, but the fact that it came from Sakura, whom he loved deeply, was hurting him more than he thought it would.

He covered his ears with his hands as the rest and the worst of the sentence rang in his head. 'You're nothing but a piece of garbage that needs to be thrown away.' Naruto felt his throat get dry as a certain prick he hated to feel, pricked in his eyes. 'Go kill yourself, demon!' Naruto couldn't stop the tears from leaking out his eyes as he began heavily panting. Now Naruto had never thought about suicide before, but with the pain that he felt in his chest, killing himself didn't seem like such a bad idea. He began to sob heavily and and covered his ears once again from the voices of the inner demons had in his head.

'Why don't you just kill yourself? Seems like a good idea. You won't have to feel anymore pain...' Naruto looked over at his ninja pouch, his kunai producing a small shining light in the darkness as the moon light glared down on it from the window. Naruto shook his head. 'I can't kill myself...I have too many people who would care.' He began to argue with himself. There was nothing but silence until a familiar voice growled in his head.

'Weak human...You know better than to let these people get to you!' Kyuubi snapped at him, crossing her giant paws in her cage as she sighed. Over the years, Kyuubi began to soften up to Naruto. She wished she could form into a human and kill all the people that had given Naruto so much grief, but alas, she could do nothing but watch him suffer from the pain of the species she hated the most. Human beings.

Out of nowhere, Naruto began to burst out into a fit of giggles. But it wasn't his usual happy, uplifting giggles. No. These giggles were more of a dark sinister one. Kyuubi suddenly shivered. She felt Naruto slowly losing himself as her chakra link to him became stronger. Whenever Naruto let his emotions get the better of him, he was unconsciously letting Kyuubi's power take over. At first, all she ever wanted was to take over Naruto's body, but now, she loved him too much to even think about such a thought.

What was mere giggles, now turned into slightly louder chuckles, and soon he began hysterically laughing. Ever so slowly, he felt himself slowly slipping away the more he laughed as his baby blue eyes that held so much promise and happiness, turned into glowing red ones of pure evilness, slits replacing round, blacks pupils. His nails began to lengthen and turn into claws as he scratched at his bare and exposed chest. He started rapidly scratching at it, loving the pain he was receiving.

'Kit...' Kyuubi tried to talk to him, but he didn't respond. He laughed even louder when blood began to drizzled down from the scars he was making on his chest. Blood dripped onto his fingers when he began to scratched and claw even further into his skin.

'Kit stop!' Kyuubi barked loudly, which seemed to snap Naruto out of his trance. For a moment, he stopped laughing and removed his clawed hand from his crimson-colored chest. He lifted his hand up to his face and watched as the blood leaked onto the blue covers he was sitting on. He took his blood-covered hand and inserted his index finger into his mouth, sucking the blood off of it. He licked his lips when he was finished and did the same with his other fingers, then licked the rest of the blood off his entire hand.

When he was sure there was no more blood on his hand to be licked, he stood up and stared at the ceiling, ignoring the blood that was slowly falling between his thighs. He held himself, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and grinned, exposing his pointed fanged-teeth. He stared into the darkness of the room and sniffed the air, which smelt of despair and the metallic scent of blood. But that's the way he liked it, just like every night.

For once, Naruto felt safe. He didn't have to worry about anything when he felt himself being consumed by the darkness. It was as if no one could touch him and he was in his own world;away from everything that ever hurt him or threatened to.

Seeing as he wasn't going to heal himself and could die at the rate he was losing blood, Kyuubi began healing him. In his mind, Naruto payed no mind to Kyuubi and stared at the golden-colored water below him. Two of Kyuubi's giant tails snaked there way out of her prison and lifted Naruto up in the air and into the cage. All she could do now was just hold the saddened boy and nuzzle him into her soft fur.

Both Naruto and Kyuubi failed to notice a small mouse in the darkened corner of the room, it's red eyes glistening in the moon light. It slowly slipped away and into the shadows, further unseen by the world.

The next day, Naruto had received a message from ANBU earlier that morning that he was requested for a mission from the 5th Hokage herself, Tsunade. It was just a simple scroll retrieval mission; nothing that Naruto couldn't handle.

He had on his usual fake smile as he stared at the five people whom would be on the team for the mission. Two of whom were childhood friends, Kiba and Shikamaru, along with Akamaru who was wagging his tail rapidly.

The other two whom already were on his team from the start. Sai and Sakura.

Shikamaru sighed with boredom and turned to his team. "Alright, I want to make this mission quick, so I don't want any funny business or child's play." Shikamru was saying to everyone, but his eyes landed on Kiba and Naruto.

"We won't cause any trouble, right Akamaru?" Akamaru wagged his tail rapidly and gave a large bark.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in surprise when Naruto didn't comment or even make a face to show that he was insulted by his words. Usually, the loud idiot had something to say, but Naruto merely nodded and made a straight face. Shikamaru gave him a questioning look, but shrugged his shoulders and placed his deer ANBU mask on his face, the others doing the same. Sakura wore the mask of the bear, Kiba of the dog, obviously, Sai of the possum, and Naruto of the fox. How convenient.

"I will take the lead. Kiba and Akamaru, you take the rear. Sai and Sakura, you take the sides. Naruto, Cover for me." Shikamara gave a straight forward demand, to which everyone nodded in too.

"Hai!" The four said in chorus, Akamaru adding his own bark.

"Alright, lets move out. Tch...this is such a drag." Shikamaru said in a bored tone before vanishing, the others quickly following.

Naruto slipped on his mask and was about to join the others when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned to see Sakura, her piercing green eyes glaring at him through his mask.

"Don't mess this up for us Naruto." She spat with venom, before disappearing into the trees to catch up with Shikamaru and the others.

Naruto stared at the spot his pink-haired teammate had been in before disappearing into the trees and landing beside Kiba. As much as he loved Sakura, he couldn't help but glare at his female teammate. The fact that he had such a crush on the bitch still confused him. But at that moment, instead of crushing on her, he wanted to crush her until she looked unrecognizable and un-human to the human eye.

And if looks could kill, Sakura would be on the ground, laying in her own pool of blood. Oh yes, what he wouldn't have given at that moment to see her lifeless corpse rotting on the ground, right under his feet, before he would kick it several feet away and into a large river for fish to feed on her flesh. Then she would only be nothing but pure bones, forever forgotten to have ever existed in this world.

A sly grin made its way under the fox mask as Naruto thought about it. Eyes turning slightly red as they narrowed at her figure in front of him.

Beside him, Akamaru whimpered and his ears and tail flattened.

Kiba sensed his best friend's distressed and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong Akamaru?" Akamaru made a small, yet soft 'yep' sound, to which Kiba understood as if speaking with another human being. He nodded and looked over at Naruto. He almost stopped in his tracks, for if he weren't in mid air. The killer vibe that was coming from Naruto made him shiver in fear.

He slightly grinned and poked Naruto's arm. Naruto didn't respond, but turned to Kiba's direction to indicate that he was listening to the dog-like shinobi. "Hey, you alright buddy?" A golden eyebrow raised under his fox mask at the concerned question, but Naruto nodded and put a thumbs up towards his friend.

"Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Naruto said cheerily from under his mask, but Kiba could tell he was lying and simply nodded at the blond.

"Just making sure." He didn't say another word as Naruto sped up to cover Shikamaru, like the lazy ANBU captain had ordered him to do. Their padded sandals barely making a sound as they flew from branch to branch like ghosts. The only sound being heard was the dropping of crisp leafs and birds chirping.

It may have seemed like everything was alright, but the dog-like shinobi was getting a very uneasy feeling in his stomach, and something was telling him that this mission was going to be a disaster.

(1) I know demons are genderless, but I've heard that Kyuubi is actually a female! And even if he/she/it isn't, I still love the idea of a female Kyuubi, so you'll just have to roll with it!

...

Toki: So there you have it, my new yaoi fic. Whattaya think?!

~Naruto~ Wow Toki, that's really dark, even for you.

Toki: I know right? What about you Saucy?

Sasuke: Interesting...

Toki: Uh huh...So back to my readers!...If I even have any? If I do, it would be much appreciated if you could kindly review and let me know if I should continue this story or not. Sometimes, I get an idea and I feel it's a good one, when it's really not. So ever so kindly, please review and let me know. Im counting on you guys! Review, Review, review!

Toki Out O3O