School being an ass with SACs and Tests and homework. Enough Said? LOL, meaning that this is why I took so long to update, and I almost forgot about it because of that. Lucky a pm reminded about this story and I decided, lets update, eff school for the moment. Hahaha, I'm on my final year of high school, so its kind of important. Hahaha, anyways, heres chapter 7, enjoy people

Chapter 7: No reason

How can we fake this anymore (anymore)
Turn our backs away, and choose to just ignore (choose to just ignore)
(Some say) Some say it's ignorance
It makes me feel some innocence
(Some say) It takes away a part of me
But I won't let go

Neji and Kakashi looked at each other and then frowned in thought. How the hell…? Kukiria Juan was not the same person they met before. This one had auburn hair, although his eyes were green, they were a different shade of green, but he was definitely the boy from the picture…

Sakura and Ino, who were behind them looked at Shikamaru and the two strangers confused. Shikamaru had friends from the Earth country? They didn't know that… So it did seem the lazy shinobi liked to keep secrets as well…

Sasuke sighed as he was forced into this. But the name Juan irked him. Where had he heard it before? And the boy Matsuki… why did he look oddly familiar even though he was pretty sure he had never met the boy? He sighed as he watched Shikamaru lead them back to where he was before being called to the front gates and the two girls following the three were yet again pulling him.

"So why are you here?" Shikamaru asked quietly, "If you plan to destroy Konoha, you know I will be forced to fight you."

Naruto smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry. It's nothing along those lines." He said, "But I'm afraid it's confidential."

"Now, now Matsuki, you know you shouldn't be saying things like that," Juan said and then grinned, "But I'm assuming this person is one of the few friends you have here."

Naruto nodded. "Well, I can't help it. Never really like this place, but Shika-kun is the only person who I really got along with," he said to Juan, smiling slightly, "Anyway, who is it that you want me to meet? Someone I'd get along with fine, or someone I'd rather stay away from?"

Although it was said playfully, Shikamaru knew the meaning behind those words. Naruto wanted to know whether it was the people whom he could actually trust, or the people that had betrayed them. So, Shikamaru thought to himself, not that surprised, He holds very little trust with the village.

"Someone you'd get along with just fine," Shikamaru said. He was quite surprised actually; he had not used the word troublesome with the time he had actually spent with Naruto and Juan. "So troublesome," Oh well, he's using it now, "We're almost there." He said as he could see Kiba's and Iruka's face coming up. "I'm sure these troublesome people won't bother you."

Naruto nodded a small smile adorned his face as he saw Iruka, but was unsure of Kiba, but trusted Shikamaru's judgment. Iruka and Kiba looked their way as Shikamaru gave a lazy wave as he looked at the two people walking behind him. One was blatantly skinny as if he hadn't eaten in days, but was smiling like a maniac, and the other has a healthy tan, giving both Kiba and Iruka a cautious smile. Who exactly were these two?

"Iruka-san, Kiba-kun," Shikamaru said plopping down lazily on a chair that situated near them and pointed to the unknown, "So troublesome, this is Matsuki-kun and Juan-kun, old friends of mine," he looked at Naruto and Juan, "And these are the people whom you trust if I'm not around, Iruka-san, a teacher at the academy and Kiba-kun, a long time friend."

The two strangers bowed politely as they were introduced, "It's nice to meet you," Naruto, AKA Matsuki, had said to the two of them, "I'm sure we'll enjoy our stay here."

Juan smiled a bright, yet mysterious smile, "And I assure you we'd become good friends."

Kiba and Iruka blinked. Okay, they were a tad bit weird, but never mind, Rock Lee is weird as well. They wouldn't be surprised to find anyone weirder than Rock Lee, but then again… that would be just scary… very scary.

Shikamaru sighed at Kiba and Iruka's blank faces, as they did not know what was going on. How troublesome. He would have to tell them later… maybe and should he tell Tsunade that Naruto was in the village…? No, he shouldn't. Right now, it was important for less people to know and as far as he got with the information from them, they weren't here to destroy the village and he could tell that Naruto wanted to get away as soon as possible. No, Tsunade might be a hindrance with the mission right now. He would have to ask Naruto if he could tell Iruka and Kiba as well, for it was better for them to know and a chance for Kiba to renew their friendship…

Silence had reigned over the group for a while, but then Naruto decided to speak, his voice restraint from frustration. "When are they going to stop spying on us? If they're ninjas, can't they at least not make it blatantly obvious?"

The hidden group blinked and realised that they indeed had put minimal effort into following Shikamaru, assuming he thought it was 'too troublesome' to check in his own village if anyone was ever following him. However, Sasuke in the group was just plainly annoyed, but stared at the two strangers in slight interest as one told Shikamaru in frustration about this little group following them.

Sasuke stood up from his place as did the others and looked at Naruto, or who they knew as Matsuki, with interest. They jumped down towards them, knowing they were caught.

"Hello there," Sakura said in a voice all too sweetly, "I'm Haruno Sakura. It seems you're a friend of Shikamaru's," she said as the two strangers looked at her, "A friend of his is a friend of ours."

A snort was heard behind the two strangers and Naruto had a feeling that it was either Shikamaru or for some odd reason, Kiba. Sakura glared at someone behind them, but then put a smile in place when her eyes landed on both boys again.

"This is Ino," She introduced pointing to the girl with long blonde hair, "This is Sasuke-kun, Neji-kun and Kakashi Sensei," she said pointing to the remaining boys as Juan remembered what Naruto had told him about these five people while he was still in the cage. "If you need anything, just ask any of us."

So these were the people that had hurt Naruto all those years ago? Juan sneaked a look at Naruto and hid a wince as he saw that Naruto had a fake smile on his face. The poor teen was hurting and there was nothing that Juan could do at the moment. "It is a pleasure meeting you," Juan said in a silky calm voice, entrancing the girls before him, "My name is Kukiria Juan and my friend beside me is Jiyori Matsuki."

"Howdy," Naruto said with trained false enthusiasm once his name was said, "I'm glad to meet some friends of Shika-chan. I hope we could become… friends too!" he hesitated a little, but hoped it was covered. Hell, he didn't want his cover blown, no matter what!

Ino noticed the hesitation with friends, but ignored it for something else. She stared at the boys trying to cover an oncoming blush. These boys looked so… adorable! Wow, she hated to admit, but they both even rival in appearance of Sasuke. The way their hair moved in the wind and their eyes shined. Oh the glory! They were beautiful!

"Anyway," Kiba said, making all eyes move to him, "I'm sure they're tired from their travel and rest would be needed, so guys, we'll be leaving now." Kiba didn't know why, but he felt a… great need to push the others away, especially around these two. He held no outer grudge for them really, but he was still a bit peeved off that they had abandoned Naruto all those years ago and since these were Shikamaru's friends, he had a feeling that Shikamaru wouldn't want them talking. This was confirmed by the grateful look thrown his was by Shikamaru.

"I agree," Iruka said, smiling softly, "If you two would follow us three, we'd be going. It was nice to see you Sakura-san, Ino-san, Neji-kun, Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-san. Well jaa." And with that they left, walking away from the group.

After they reached the apartment of Shikamaru, who had decided to do a troublesome thing and rent an apartment, they sat around a table and Kiba, who had gotten acquainted with the house, decided to grab cups and juice out of the fridge, since the apartment was bare of food and all he had was juice left… Shikamaru realised he really needed to stock up… So troublesome.

"Ne, will we be able to stay here?" Naruto asked Shikamaru with hope in his eyes that he didn't have to pay to stay in a hotel. He really couldn't be bothered with wasting his money. Shikamaru sensing this question coming gave an audible sigh and nodded. Naruto gave a happy yell as Juan just sat back and watched with hidden amusement and Iruka and Kiba just wondering who in hell's name were these two.

"So, how do you both know Shikamaru," Iruka asked in a friendly gesture, "If its alright to ask, that is." He smiled at the two, especially Matsuki's antics. It reminded him, oddly, of Naruto. He was hyper and his black hair never seemed to stay in one place, moving about messily as he jumped and talked, hyper.

Naruto grinned at Iruka and Iruka blinked. That grin was far too familiar… "Oh," Naruto said, laughing, "It's a funny story actually! I was walking with friends once visiting here on some vacation my big brother decided to drag me on and got hurt on the way. Shikamaru helped me, surprisingly and we've been friends ever since! Keeping in touch every now and then!" He said giving a very edited version of the mission that he finally saw Shikamaru in three years.

Iruka smiled. "I see," he looked at Kiba, who seemed to be staring at Matsuki and Juan suspiciously. He looked at Juan. "Why are you so quiet?" he asked.

Juan just smiled lazily. "Ah, you see, I could ask the same question with you. You haven't said anything when we reached this apartment either," he said, waving his hand in a 'no problem' manner, not really sure why he was doing that with his hand, "Anyways, Matsuki," he said looking at Naruto, who in turn looked back at Juan, "Calm down or you'll reveal far too much. We don't want to overload their heads right now, now do we?"

Naruto blinked, getting the message behind what he was trying to say. He grinned. "Ah, whatever Juan," he said and looked at Shikamaru, "So, what are we having for lunch?"

OoO

Naruto ate his ramen happily as they sat in Ichiraku. He looked at Iruka beside him, who offered to take him to eat ramen, while the others wanted to go eat some 'real' food such as barbeque and such.

"Ne, ne Iruka-san," he said, making Iruka look at Naruto questioningly, "What else is there to do in Konoha besides what you ninjas do. I know you are probably training and stuff like that, but what's a commoner like me meant to do. Shika-chan is far too busy with his missions and stuff, so I don't want to bother him."

Iruka thought about it and the more he thought about it the more he realised that there wasn't really much to do in Konoha. He blinked at his revelation. "Well, besides training, there's a academy for kids aspiring to become ninjas and for people who want to lead normal lives, there's a shopping district and movies, I guess." Of course there was the red light district, but he wasn't about to go there and especially not to show a new visitor.

Naruto blinked. Wow… Konoha sounded so… boring. Sure, he lived here before, but it was always train, train, train, mission and train. Not much hanging around unless festivities and such were around. He sighed and then grinned. He needed new clothes anyway. "Ne, then Iruka-san, would you like to go with me to do a bit of shopping?" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm running low on clothes."

Iruka looked at him a bit surprised that Shikamaru's friend wanted to spend so much time with him, but then smiled. Oh well, it was a nice feeling, knowing someone really appreciated your company. He'd been kind of lonely since Naruto had 'left'. "Sure."

OoO

Kukiria Juan stared off into the Konoha streets from atop the Hokage monuments. He had a while ago ditched Kiba and Shikamaru for some time alone. Not only that, but to observe where good places of an ancient scroll would be hiding. His eyes roamed towards the Uchiha compound. He had heard from Itachi about that place, where he had slaughtered his whole clan, leaving his brother alive.

The compound… It was eerily quiet. Compared to the other places in Konoha, this place was bare of people and it seemed haunted. The presence of overwhelming gloom and depression surrounded it, frightening away people. He smirked to himself. One of the best places to his a scroll. Not only was it big, no one even dared to go near it.

And since he was a new visitor, he could curiosity as an excuse to why he was trespassing on Uchiha grounds.

He heard a crunch behind him and his head snapped back to look at the intruder. Speak of the devil, he thought to himself as he saw the survivor of the Uchiha clan come out of the shadows.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Juan as if he was trying to decipher something. Juan knew he was suspicious of something. Why else would the Uchiha come here and stare at him?

"Do you need anything?" Juan asked with a soft voice.

Sasuke looked up his face before his eyes roamed around Juan's figure as if trying to decipher if Juan had a hidden agenda. Juan, now feeling quite uncomfortable, spoke again, "If you're not going to say anything, I'll… I'll just leave…" Juan stood up and went to walk passed him wen a hand caught his wrist, stopping the skinny teen.

"Your name," Sasuke had said, "I've heard it before." Sasuke turned his head towards the surprised teen, "It was the same name of the boy who joined Akatsuki and tricked us into believing he was an innocent civilian."

Juan pulled out of his grip quickly and took a step back, keeping distance between him and the enemy. "Well," he said, "In that case, what does it have to do with me?"

Suddenly Juan had his back pinned to the wall and held up by his neck. He choked, trying to loosen Sasuke's grip. "Why would a member of the Akatsuki know your name and use it as they please?"

Juan tried to get a sound out, but he was losing breath very quickly. He wasn't a ninja damn it and he definitely didn't have enough strength since he'd been underfed and a prisoner for many years.

"Help…" he managed to get out and Sasuke realised what he was doing and loosened his grip, but didn't let go.

All of a sudden, Sasuke was knocked to the side and almost fell off the Hokage monuments. He looked up to see Shikamaru looking angry, very angry and in the distance Kiba helping Juan, who, by now, trying to take large breaths of air.

"What were you doing to Juan," Shikamaru said in a very cold voice, that it froze Sasuke's insides. He had never heard the teen use that kind of tone before and Sasuke realised that he had just made him very mad.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, standing up with an air of arrogance surrounding him. "Juan Kukiria is exactly the same name of the boy who we helped enter the Hintatori Clan's hideout. He might be working with the Akatsuki."

Shikamaru glared as a sob caught their attention and they both turned to see Juan curled up in a ball against Kiba, as if trying to hide. A look of total innocence, that they never knew the teen was acting.

Shikamaru seethed and turned to Sasuke, a very unlike gesture since he was infamously known by his laziness and the way like he seemed like he didn't care. But, Sasuke realised, that if his precious people were to be harmed, he could be quite dangerous.

"How dare you accuse Juan of being in union with the Akatsuki," Shikamaru said, a story forming quickly in his head, "His family was murdered by said organization your accusing him to be apart of. He was their prisoner for five years until he found a way to escape and I helped him. A prisoner. Escape from their hands of torture." Shikamaru said not knowing that he almost got the story right.

"Then why did you get along fine with the one that was part of Akatsuki," Shikamaru turned quickly to see Neji half hidden by the shadows, leaning against a tree, "You got along fine with the Juan that was our enemy in our mission."

Shikamaru cursed in his head, but he didn't let it show as he held an expression of cold indifference. "That wasn't Juan," Shikamaru said, "If you had listened to our conversation you would have realised that. I was trying to figure out how he come to use his name before I remembered he used to be a prisoner of theirs."

Neji narrowed his eyes, clearly not taking the excuse. "Shikamaru, c'mon, lets just go and take Juan out of here and inform Matsuki to be careful, since they're clearly not trusted." Shikamaru looked at Kiba and nodded, his lazy appearance breaking through again, but he was still tense.

"Yeah," he said giving a final glare at both Neji and Sasuke who both looked at each other, "Let's go and find Iruka. He's most likely with the energetic idiot."

OoO

Naruto sneezed as he held a few bags full of clothes for both he and Juan. He looked at the now orange sky. They needed to look tonight for the scroll and leave before they figure out who was actually there. He knew it'd take more than a day to look since they didn't know where to begin, but he wanted to leave as soon as possible before he got too attached. He had missed Iruka a lot and hanging around would make him hesitant to leave.

"C'mon Matsuki," Iruka said, "We're almost there."

"But its heavy," Naruto whined as he walked along, pretending he was quite a weak civilian than an actual ninja.

"Here," Iruka said chuckling taking some bags off of him, "Why did you buy so many anyway?"

Naruto beamed a smile. "Because it was on a big sale and I couldn't pass this opportunity since they're all good clothes."

Iruka chuckled as they, now, waited for Shikamaru to return to his apartment so they could enter. They didn't have to wait long when they came into view and Juan tackled Naruto into a hug and Kiba, Shikamaru and Iruka chuckled. Shikamaru opened the door and they all entered.

"Na- Matsuki," Shikamaru said, almost slipping up, "Be careful when you go around by yourself."

"Huh, why?" Naruto asked, hoping no one notice Shikamaru's slip up like he did. Naruto threw the bags of new clothing into the room he and Juan were staying in.

"Because Sasuke and Neji are accusing you and Juan to be part of Akatsuki," Kiba said angrily.

"What?" Iruka said. He turned to Juan, "Did they hurt you?"

Juan whimpered and nodded, curling up on the couch he was sitting on. Kiba sighed. "Sasuke had him by the neck on the tree, so he couldn't breathe and accused him of being apart of the Akatsuki. Shika tackled him down before he could seriously do any damage."

Naruto stood; tense, as bangs covered his eyes as Iruka made a big fuss and Kiba trying to calm the irate teacher as Juan sat watching with hidden amusement, no longer acting scared. Sasuke, Naruto thought almost growling out loud, you're still going to cause me pain through my friends, huh? He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at Shikamaru. He noticed the look he gave him and knew what he was asking. Are you going to tell them the truth?

Naruto sighed. "Not now," he whispered as no one payed attention to them, "I don't want everyone finding out so soon, not when we haven't barely gotten our mission done."

They both sat on the floor, talking to each other quietly as Iruka made an announcement that he would have to talk to the Hokage and Kiba backing up the statement, causing laughter from Juan.

"What is your mission?" Shikamaru asked him, "Is it something I cannot help you with?"

Naruto sighed as he looked over the three energetic people at the moment. "You would be technically helping the Akatsuki and I doubt that's what you want Shika."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I would be helping a friend, not the enemy. I know you don't want to stay longer than you have to."

"When they discover it missing shortly after we leave, we would be suspects and you would be held for treason for hiding criminals at your place."

"Then stay when they find it so they don't think its you since you would've run away by then and if you can get in contact with Itachi or something, get him to henge and bring you and Juan out under the pretence of an angry older brother or something for 'running away from home'," Shikamaru suggested. It wasn't quite a bad idea. "Let me help you."

Naruto sighed and leaned forward hugging his knees, "Alright, I'll let you help me."

Shikamaru smiled and then looked at Naruto, "And get rid of those bandages. Since they accused of Juan of being in alliance with the Akatsuki, it isn't safe to go around like that, since the 'fake' Juan we had met upon had bandages in the exact same place."

Naruto blinked then shook his head, "No, my whiskers is a dead give away."

"Then use make-up," he said, "It's the most effective way in hiding them without being discovered. I'll help you put it on since you probably can't do it."

Naruto chuckled, "And you can?"

"Hey! What are you two planning, huh?" Kiba said coming into their sight.

Naruto grinned a very fox-like grin. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Tell me why can't you see, it's not the way (not the way)
When we all fall down, it will be too late
Why is there no reason we can't change (no reason)
When we all fall down, who will take the blame
What will it take - Sum 41

Hey people, and here it is, please review, it would be nice and it'll - watcha ma call it - influence me to update faster. Heh. Review and tell me whether its good or bad. lol

-SxT