A/N: Yo! Welcome to my second story, Living a Lie. This one will feature a different perspective on Naruto's life, and by that I don't mean just the Kyubi being female. I'm requesting a well known artist to let me upload a pic of what the female Kyubi will pretty much look like in her 'humanoid' form. Anyways, I'll state a few things before I get started.

Do's:

Leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. If I see criticism that is not constructive, I'm not going to be happy.

Don't's:

Flame. I had people flame me on my last story and it pissed me off.

Pick me up on my spelling. Last time, I said you could, if you weren't snide about it, but only one of the 3 people who did were nice, the other two said I had 'terribel' spelling... Jackasses.

Troll. I hate trolls.

Leave Death Threats. Anyone does this, you'll get an unpleasant suprise. For example, last time someone gave me a death threat they found themselves missing a 'Friend smacks hands away from keyboard' "Not a good idea, Spec." 'Grumble' anyways...

Leave anything negative. Self Explanitory.

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Legend:

'...thoughts...'

"...normal talk..."

"...Biju thoughts..."

"...Biju Speaking..."

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Living Behind a Mask:

Chapter 1:

Welcome to my Life:

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Yo, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. For the last 12 years of my life, I have been living a lie. What do you mean by that, you ask? Simple. People hate me. They think I don't know why they hate me. Oh how wrong they are. You see, from an early age, people took pleasure in beating me and ridiculing me. Often, the word 'demon' would come up in the beatings. Many years ago, I decided crying and just accepting the fact that people hate me and crying over it wasn't a good life to lead. I decided to find out what could possibly make them hate me so much. I quickly learnt the Henge skill at age 9 after a few failed attempts to get into the Konoha Library as myself. After learning the Henge skill, I walked in and straight past the receptionist who smiled at me. I had chosen the appearance of one very well known Uchiha Sasuke. Since I had decided to use him as my appearance, I thought I should probably try to lean about his behaviour patterns in case someone questioned me on something. Once inside, I had no idea where to start searching. The only clue I had was demon and also kitsune, which was muttered less often than demon. I went straight to the history section and looked for mythological creatures. There was a small passage on Kitsunes, which I read, but it gave me only one small clue. Kitsunes could have a number of tails, depending on how powerful they were. The maximum was nine. I decided to search the history section of Konoha, and I flipped through the index, until I found exactly what I wanted. Going to the page, I saw that 9 years ago on my birthday, the lord of demons, the Kyubi no Kitsune had attacked Konoha, and many ninjas had been sacrificed to beat it, however, among the list of those who died was the Yondaime Hokage. Apparently, he had not only killed himself, but the Kyubi too. This made me think.

'If he killed it, then why do they call me demon? Unless...'

Naruto thought about something. He had overheard two Jounin talking about Shinjutsus, or suicide techniques. Naruto eagerly went and looked up a book with jutsu types and a list of the known ones. He heard the librarian walk up to him and smile.

"Forgive me Sasuke-San, but we are closing for the afternoon. If you want, you can borrow that book and a few others for the night."

I looked up, and gave away no emotions. I turned to her and looked her in the eye.

"Do you have any books on Shinjutsu and a list of them, especially ones known to belong only to Konoha ninjas?"

The librarian frowned as she concerntraited.

"Well, we do have a book on all known shinjutsus of this village, but we require special permission from Hokage-Sama himself for anyone to view the book, and we are not allowed to let it leave it's place."

Naruto scowled, immitiating Sasuke perfectly. This seemed to have the desired effect on the young librarian, as she smiled at him.

"I'm sure Hokage-Sama will give you permission, I will send a request to him tomorrow morning. If you come at about lunch time, you should be allowed to see it."

Naruto nodded his thanks and put the book back, before walking out the door. Once he had gotten into an empty alley, I released the Henge, and scowled.

'God, Sasuke's such a cold hearted bastard. Can't really blame him though since he saw his whole clan killed in front of him...'

Naruto walked home, eagerly waiting to get to that book. After a quick bowl of cup ramen, Naruto brushed his teeth and went to bed.

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Next Morning, 11 am:

Naruto had been up for several hours now, however, the problem was finding Sasuke to use him for a henge. At around about 11 am, he saw Sasuke running down the street. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

'Sasuke doesn't usually run, it makes him look 'uncool'.'

Soon, Naruto heard a distant thundering, and looked in the direction it was coming from. What he saw amazed him. There was a huge group of fan girls chasing him down the street. Naruto got an idea. He smirked and ran after Sasuke. Once he had caught up. Sasuke scowled at him.

"What do you want, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled at him, matching him pace for pace.

"Looks like you're having trouble with your fan girls."

Sasuke's scowl deepened, and he considered punching Naruto in the face.

"Need some help getting rid of them?"

Sasuke almost stopped, before he remembered what he was running from.

"How exactly are you going to help?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and formed a ram seal as they rounded a corner, out of sight from everyone.

"Like this. Henge!"

Naruto was surrounded by a puff of smoke, before the smoke rolled off him to reveal a perfect copy of Sasuke. Naruto used one of Sasuke's smirks.

"Get out of here, I'll get rid of them."

Sasuke nodded dumbly, and ran off to the only place he was safe from them. The Uchiha Manor. Naruto quickly pulled out some supplies he had gathered for a practical joke. Namely, a can of paint and an explosive note. Naruto quickly pried the can open and shoved the exploding note inside, resealing it just as the girls rounded the corner. They saw the man of their dreams and rushed forward. Naruto held up his hand in a motion that told them to stop, which they did before Naruto spoke.

"Have you taken in your surroundings?"

They had no clue what he was talking about and charged forward again, however, Naruto had expected this, and formed a seal which started the explosive note's timer. Naruto jumped between the walls and landed on the roof, just as the note exploded, sending paint everywhere. He could tell the girls had stopped, so he looked over at them. It was priceless. The entire alley way was pure white, except for very human shaped splotches where the girls had blocked the paint with their bodies. They clearly had no clue as to what had just happened, so Naruto decided to enlighten them.

"A ninja must always be aware of their surroundings. Seems you learnt the hard way."

With that, Naruto laughed darkly as he headed for the library, leaving the stunned girls behind.

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A Short Time Later, at The Library:

Naruto ran to the library, hoping he wasn't too late. When he burst through the front door, he saw the Hokage and the librarian waiting for him. Naruto walked up to him.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Hokage-Sama."

The hokage waved it off and motioned him to follow, which he did. Once the Hokage reached a door that was made of pure metal, he put his hands to it and muttered 'kai', and the door flashed a brialliant white before it opened. Once inside, the Hokage resealed the door and turned to Naruto.

"You can drop the Henge, Naruto."

Naruto slumped his shoulders and muttered Kai, releasing the henge. The hokage gave naruto a solemn look.

"What could you possibly want to know about Shinjutsu?"

Naruto sighed, deciding that telling a lie right now will only cause more trouble.

"I want to know about a particular seal that is also a Shinjutsu."

The hokage's eyes widened in suprise, knowing exactly which one the boy was talking about.

"Shikifuujin..."

Naruto nodded, guiessing that was what he was looking for. The hokage took a puff of his pipe before expelling the smoke out the side of his mouth.

"I suppose we might as well start from the beginning."

The Hokage took a seat and motioned for Naruto to take the seat next to him, which he did. He began telling Naruto how the Yondaime was a master of seals, and he even created his own major seal called the Shikifujin to deal with the Kyubi. He had used it to seal it inside Naruto the day he was born, purposely leaving out the fact that Naruto was his son. Naruto took this hard, but it all made sense now. Every single bit of it. At the end of the explination Naruto turned to the Hokage.

"Old Man, they're only making it harder for me to supress the Kyubi..."

The 'Old Man' sighed before taking another drag.

"I know, Naruto, I know. Please, don't give in to them."

Naruto sighed and stood up before transforming back into Sasuke, who he knew so well by now that he could do the henge without Sasuke standing in front of him. He turned back to the Hokage as he walked out the door once the Hokage had unsealed it.

"Thanks for that, Hokage-Sama."

"No problem, Sasuke."

With that, Naruto went back outside and ran home. The villagers looks of pure hatred and contempt hurt so much more now that he knew why. Once he got home, he huddled up against the wall of his bedroom and did something he hadn't done in a while. He cried. He cried himself to sleep, which came long after he got home. When Naruto woke up, he heard an unfamilliar Drip. Drip. Drip. He grumbled to himself about getting a plumber to fix it as he opened his eyes to see that this was not his home. It was some maze of delapadated sewers.

"How the hell did I get here?"

Naruto heared a bone chilling laugh, followed by a voice that could have frozen a man's heart cold.

"Why don't you come here and find out?"

Naruto slowly trudged towards the direction of the noise. After a while he felt he could not go any further, he turned a corner and saw a bright light down the corridor. With the last of the strength he had left, he walked into the light, only to reveal a giant cage with a single slip of paper saying 'seal' holding it closed. At that point, a giant pair of eyes and a mouth full of serrated teeth appeared, grinning at him.

"So, you finally showed up, eh?"

Naruto's mind knew instantly what this was and he fell on his butt, sending a small amount of water that covered the floor everywhere.

"K...Kyubi?"

The demon smiled even wider.

"At least my container isn't totally stupid. I could have gotten worse, I guess..."

Naruto recovered slightly from the initial shock and got back up. He stared at the Kyubi, without wavering and uttered a single word.

"Why?"

The Kyubi, for once, didn't have a response. The Kyubi knew exactly what Naruto was asking, but didn't feel like going into detail right now.

"I'll tell you some other time. Right now, I need to tell you something, so listen up, and listen good kit, cause I'm only saying this once."

Naruto listened to the Kuybi, waiting fro what he had to say.

"You have a hell of a life ahead of you. You will be hunted for me by some of the strongest humans in the world. Because I die if you do, I'm going to be your life support in a way. If you need it, just call me and I'll pump some chakra into you."

Naruto nodded in understanding. The Kyubi smiled at him.

:It's about time you went back, kit."

Naruto awoke to find that it was almost morning, so he crawled into bed, still puzzled by the Kyubi's last words. He went to sleep in a complete daze.

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Next Morning:

Naruto had slept fitfully, images of the legendary demon fox flicking through his mind's eye as he slept. He woke with a start as he saw the fox coming towards him, grabbing him in his jaws and crushing down on him, completely mutilating his body, blood spraying everywhere. Naruto was hyperventilating and was bathed in a cold sweat. He shakily got out of the Futon and stumbled into the shower, washing himself, before getting out and taking care of his other hygine matters. He wondered into the kitchen. He was on autopilot as he boiled the water for some cup ramen. The only thing that his mind was focusing on was the disturbing conversation from last night. After Naruto had eaten, he went back to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Checking the alarm clock beside his bed, noticing he had about half an hour to get to the academy. Picking up his bag and keys, he stepped out the door and slipped his 'mask' on, although this morning it was far more difficult than usual. By the time he got to the academy, he had managed to completely put his 'mask of the dobe' on, as he called it. He walked through the acandemy halls, into his home room. When he opened the door, he noticed as per normal, everyone turned to see who it was and then turned back the second they saw the shock of yellow and orange, not giving a damn about the 'dobe', which was perfectly fine by Naruto. As he slipped into his usual place, he saw that Sasuke had taken the seat next to him already, looking at Naruto and slipping him a note, which Naruto expertly hid from the view of everyone. He read it, noticing it as a very Sasuke way of saying thanks for yesterday, which turned out to come in the words of 'not half bad, dobe'. Naruto nodded to him, indicating he understood and not to mention it. At this point, Naruto heard a group of high pitched screams from his left, and turned to see the much dreaded 'Sasuke fan club' standing over him. Naruto did his normal rutine as he winced at their scream and cat calls of things like 'how dare you sit next to Sasuke-Kun?' and the like. However, everyone was surprised when Sasuke turned to them and scowled.

"Let him sit where he wants. Do you have a problem with that?"

The girls backed up at the tone that the object of their desires had shot them down with for doing something for their precious Sasuke-Kun they believed was a favor. Eventually, all of the girls returned to their seats, and Naruto turned to Sasuke with a raised eyebrow, causing Sasuke to turn and look out the window, looking bored.

"Now we're even."

Naruto smiled and sat back. Just then, Iruka came into the class, announcing a history lesson on the Kyubi. Naruto stiffened considerably, which a few people noticed, including Iruka. Iruka smiled sadly as he gave a look that said 'please bare with me', however Naruto barely suppressed his anger. By now, everyone could feel the absolute hatred rolling off Naruto and were staring at him in disbelief. Iruka sighed and walked to the front of the room and began the lesson. After a while Naruto, shot up and stormed out of the room. Iruka tried to stop him however, Naruto turned back to him and growled at him.

"Don't you ever discuss this subject in front of me again."

With that he slammed the door, leaving Iruka to try and supress the students from causing an uproar. He decided a half truth would sufice.

"Naruto has just found out yesterday that the Kyubi killed both of his parents on the day of his birth. He's still taking it rather hard."

Everyone saw Naruto in a new light. No wonder he was lonely. Sasuke seemed to have a rather hunted look on his face. He started conversing with no one in particular, although everyone heard him.

"He's... He's lost everything... Just like me..."

Coming from Sasuke's mouth, it meant so much more. Everyone tried to maintain some semblance of a regular class. After class was let out, Sasuke was the first out, running off to try and find out where Naruto was. His fan girls were hot on his heels, however, Sasuke turned and glared at them with nothing but absolute hatred in his eyes.

"Don't you damn girls have any tact? After what you heard today, do you really think Naruto would appreaciate you hanging around him and me? Go home, and don't any of you dare follow me."

With that, Sasuke went to start his search for the blonde haired boy.

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Several Hours Later, Out the Front of the Academy:

Sasuke returned to the last place on the list he knew Naruto hung out, which was the swing in front of the academy. Luckily, the boy was there. Sasuke slowly approached him, causing Naruto to look at him with eyes full of pain, suffering and lonliness. Naruto formed a weak smile for Sasuke.

"You felt it too, right? The pain... Of losing them..."

Sasuke nodded and sat against the tree. Naruto did one of his fake smiles to cover up his sadness, however Sasuke stared at him.

"Drop the front. I've been watching you, and I know you're not who others think you are."

Naruto's eyes widened and he smiled sadly at Sasuke.

"Thank you."

Sasuke gave a 'hmm' and looked at Naruto. What he saw was a reflection of him in the first few months after the clan slaughter.

"Thank you. You're the first person to notice that I'm not the idiot I try and convince others I am..."

Sasuke smiled knowingly at him.

"When you go through the pain we have, it's impossible not to see others that have gone through it, not matter what kind of mask they put on. Keep the mask up in public, however, when we're alone, I think we might as well drop the charade."

Naruto nodded and they sat in silence, occasionally chucking comments at each other every now and then. After several hours, Sasuke got up, and gave a smile to Naruto. Not the usual cocky smirk, but the kind of smile one would give to their friends. Naruto smiled back at him as Sasuke turned to leave, holding a hand up in the air.

"Catch you tomorrow at the Academy, Naruto."

Naruto waved back and decided that not all of life was bad. He slowly walked back to his appartment, before quickly changing into his sleepwear and going to sleep almost the second his head hit the pillow.

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3 Years Later:

Naruto and Sasuke had both benifited from the mutual understanding of the pains of their past. Naruto had even worked up the courage to tell Sasuke about the Kyubi not long ago. Naruto was surprised to no end when Sasuke just seemed to take it into his stride as if it wasn't anything too far out of the ordinary. Today was the day of the academy graduation test. Sasuke had made a dare with Naruto that he drop the mask and show them what he was really capeable of. When Naruto asked what the reward was if he did, Sasuke grinned evilly.

"I'll buy you as much ramen as you want in one meal."

Sasuke had found out long ago that Naruto's Achillie's Heel was Ramen. Naruto took the bait perfectly and agreed to do it. When they came into the class room and took their seats, Iruka called the roll, checking everyone was here. When he had, he motioned everyone to follow him outside to the shuriken throwing area. Once they were assembled, Iruka motioned Sasuke forward, who with his usual cocky smirk, flicked his wrist, releasing the shuriken. All of them landed inside the targets on the log, all of them getting prefect bullseyes. Iruka motioned Naruto forward who sighed, wondering if this was worth it. He flicked his wrist with the same ease as Sasuke had. To everyone's shock, the shuriken didn't miss by a mile like they normally would hace. They all landed perfectly in the bullseyes. Iruka was stunned, as were the rest of the class. Some of them started muttering thinkgs like 'fluke' and 'lucky'. Naruto was content to let the idiots think that, however he saw in Iruka's eyes that he understood that what Naruto had done was done with pure skill gained from years of endless practice, and had nothing to do with luck. After everyone else had completed the first test, Iruka walked back inside. He had them line up in front of him, and he announced the next test.

"The next test is a Henge test. You must henge into me. First, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke grumbled and stepped up, muttering 'Henge' and transformed into a perfect Iruka. Iruka nodded, before he looked to the next in line.

"Next, Uzumaki Naruto."

Everyone knew Naruto sucked at Henge, and there was no way to fluke this. As Naruto stepped up, he could feel almost everyone glaring at him, almost willing him to fail. Naruto half lazily muttered 'Henge' and he was surrounded by a veil of smoke. When it cleared there was Iruka, and a perfect copy of him at that. The others looked astonished that Naruto hadn't attempted something stupid, like some of the perverted ninjutsu's he was rumoured to be creating. Naruto was surrounded by another cloud of smoke, and when it cleared there was the normal Naruto. He walked back to his usual seat, where Sasuke was sitting, purposely ignoring the stares. After the test came the test that everyone knew Naruto absolutely hated, the Bunshin test. Iruka told them to go into the next room one at a time as their names were called. Sasuke was called first who came out a few moments later and showed his hitai-ate to Naruto with a quick flash then dissapeared. Naruto knew if he tried to do a Bunshin, he'd fail miserably, however, he'd prepared something else. Iruka popped his head in and called Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto, You're up."

Naruto went with a grin on his face that rivaled a foxes. People could hear his cry from next door as he announced his technique, however, it was not what they expected.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

They heared the sound of wood creaking and groaning under extreme stress before they heard the door shatter and they ran outside to see that Naruto's clones were piled out the door on top of each other. Shikamaru was the first to pick up that something was amiss.

"They're... Solid..."

Everyone noticed this as the clones 'poof'ed out of existance and they heard Iruka stutter, trying to find something to say.

"Na... Naruto?"

Naruto turned to Iruka.

"What? Didn't I create enough? I can create more, if you want."

Iruka madly failed his arms, indicating it was ok.

"Naruto... That's a Jounin level jutsu..."

Naruto nodded.

"And? I can't do regular Bunshin, so I just had to try for the next level up."

Iruka waved him towards the table of the hitai-ate, where Naruto picked one with black cloth, and fastened it around his head. Naruto charged outside to see Sasuke waiting for him with a look of pure amuzement on his face.

"You really didn't have to go that far to win the dare, you know..."

Naruto snickered and led walked up to Sasuke, who fell into step beside him, as they both walked towards Ichiraku's for the prize Sasuke had promised Naruto.

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A/N: Yeah, I know the first chapter was short by my standards, but it's more an introductory chapter. Also, for those of you who might have figured it out by now, Naruto's personality is vastly different than what it is in the official story line. In fact, don't be surprised if Naruto ends up with a Cursed Seal on his neck. Personally, I've always wanted to see Naruto with one, and this is the most logical senario I could come up with. So if you don't want to see Naruto turning to the dark side of the force so to speak, this is your first and final warning. Stop reading now. For those of you who want to see what it would be like, then read on, and I'll try and make it as beliveable as possible. Until next time, my avid readers!

Ja ne,

Specula.