A/N: Ngggh. So late.

1) Naruto’s little secret has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is the human container of a millennia-old demon or the fact that he’s the bastard son of the Yondaime Hokage. It isn’t a grand, imposing thing like the truth about the Mangekyou Sharingan or the inner-workings of the Shiki Fuujin; but nonetheless, it is an important secret, and though those who know him best possibly know the truth about it; might somehow possibly know the madness behind it all, only Naruto really knows why his secret has stayed secret, and will stay secret until the day he dies.

Naruto’s little secret is that he is left handed, and has taught himself to use his right hand to such a degree that anything from throwing kunai to eating ramen seems natural for him. No one expects this from him; no one knows this secret of secrets; this something that no one would ever even think of asking him; of noticing of him unless they knew the truth behind his decision, and even then the meaning would be lost on them.

Only those with very sharp eyes catch the ruse from time to time – he messes up the most when he is eating, which is something that Kakashi always points out – but even then, they pay it little mind and quickly forget that the hand that Naruto creates the Rasengan with and the hand that he actually uses to mold the chakra are not one in the same.

[ When he was young, Naruto once read that less than thirty percent of the people in the world were truly ambidextrous.

2) Ino’s little secret is that she is has harbored a crush on Sabaku no Gaara ever since her team witnessed the young teen crush those Rain-nin it death in the Forest of Death. It is a well-kept secret; something she is both ashamed and proud of because to her, Sabaku no Gaara represents everything in a man that she could ever want.

Ino is attracted to power; craves it and needs it and wants it, and Gaara is the epitome of that craving. He is dangerous; uncaring; unflinchingly and wholly devoted to destruction, a human maelstrom who’s only qualm is the how, where, and when of someone’s death, not the why or the who. Ino does not know if her heart races at the mention of his name because she fears him or because she knows she wants him, but she knows deep down that something about Gaara…excites her.

There is no other word for it -- his attitude, his voice, his glare…Just how he acts towards humans, as if you were lower than dirt and no better than cockroaches beneath his heel -- it turned her own the way no warm shower-head could; made her knees tremble and her hands shake like an electrical, nigh-orgasmic pulse was racing up her spine…To know that he could crush her to death at the moment of climax, that he could just…lose all control at any given moment…

That was the stuff fantasies were made of.

[ The truth is that women are, by nature, weak-willed and enamored by power

3) Sasuke’s little secret is that he has purposely cut himself once, and only once in his entire life. No one ever suspects it; ever pays heed to it when they catch a brief glimpse of the scars and believe that they are self-inflicted, and Sasuke is just fine with that -- it is a private sin. It is something he would never dare to broadcast to everyone who would listen like some kind of attention-whoring fool.

The need to keep his secret hidden is not out of fear or embarrassment, either; has nothing to do with pride or strength and everything to do with selfishness. Sasuke cannot relinquish the control he feels when the razor bites into his skin because he wants it to, to someone else.

He will not, and does not expect anyone to understand that the pain he should feel is the farthest thing from his mind whenever he adds another scar to his collection -- they’re badges of honor, to him. Notches on a calendar that tells him, quite plainly, that today is another day that I am alive and another day that Itachi spends alive because I have not thrown away everything I am to kill him, yet.

[ Every cut on his arm was someone else's fault

4) Shino’s little secret is that is hates bright lights. The sun, fireworks exploding, even a flash-bang going off in front of him inspire nothing but pure, seething rage in the Aburame, and makes him want to strike out against the nearest inanimate object in fury. It’s a secret most of his family knows about; a hidden demon that they have harbored and let grow throughout the ages, and also a demon that Kurenai has tried to exorcise from her student for years; but

Shino will have none of it. Hatreds and convictions made Shinobi chose their nindo carefully, and those that survived inception grew strongest when bathed in the fires of what they believed in.

This was no different; should have been no different until his teammates came around.

Though he hates it, though he cannot stand it, Shino forces himself to adjust to the hatred for them, and though they know about it and forget, Shino says nothing when Hinata brings a camera to their outings and starts taking photos of her team or when Kiba’s love of pyrotechnics has him using flash-bangs more often than he really should.

It is his love for his teammates; his want for their acceptance that makes Shino tolerate them and say nothing, and the feeling of warm and belonging that they inspire within him that has him taking off his sunglasses and watching the sunset with them every time that they are together.

[ The Destruction Bugs hollowed out the entire body when implanted in their hosts, devouring organs, bone marrow, and even eyes.

5) Rock Lee’s little secret is that he owns a pair of nunchaku which, despite Gai's many entreaties, have lied unused and dust-covered in the back of his closet for enough years that, amongst other things, the once glorious weapons have gathered enough rot and fungi to classify them as trees again.

When asked why he let this happen to such exquisite weapons, Lee usually shrugs, and says: "I never needed them," as though this were the most absolute of truths; and, perhaps on some level, it is; will be. Lee has trained himself so hard and so completely that he would never, and will never have to use the nunchaku; has fought and beaten and clawed his way to the top to with his bare fists and his own set of unbreakable convictions so that he will never need to rely on something so inherently flawed to make a name for himself in the world.

Lee believes in his fists; in his nindo; in forging his own path and not following those who came before him.

And yet, for all of his conviction; for all of his need to prove his nonchalance, it is also a lie. Everyone that has seen him fight may believe Lee to be the fastest thing on two legs; but, deep down, Lee himself knows that this is not the truth. Knows that, someday, when he is alone and facing an enemy that brute strength and speed cannot defeat, he will need to rely on his father's weapon; on his families heritage, and finally let the weight he has carried on his shoulders go.

[ Though we may hide our broken heritage, in the end every orphan must accept who and what he is.

6.) Sakura's little secret is that she has no little secrets. For far too long and for far too often, Sakura has spoken her inner-most thoughts aloud; has screamed and berated anyone who would dare to disagree with or comment on the many faults he logic has that, at long last, her friends have gotten so used to analyzing her every action to such a fine degree that Sakura has turned into an open book to them.

She, quite literally, can do or say nothing that they have not seen or heard her say a thousand times before. Naruto, Ino, Kiba, Lee, Hinata...They have all suffered, at some point, by Sakura's hand or tongue, and now they are tired --Tired and bored with Sakura, so that when it really matters; when Sasuke has gone insane and Sakura is left to fend for herself, she has no one left to her that will suffer her inadequacies but an old woman so jaded and broken on the inside that Sakura, after two years of training with her, can find no fault in Tsunade except for every fault she has seen in herself.

[ It hurts to look in the mirror sometimes.

7.) Shikamaru’s little secret is that he keeps himself underweight not because it makes him fit into any clothes he actually wants to fit in, but because it helps to balance his team and keep them together.

Chouji is never reminded of how chubby he is when Shikamaru takes off his shirt and Ino is never reminded of the insane diet she is currently (and always) on because Shikamaru does his best to make them forget about these things; his muscles standing out just as clearly as his ribs do when he takes his shirt off around Chouji and the food that isn't nailed down to her plate disappearing whenever Ino and Shikamaru happen to eat together.

He know its a dangerous game he plays, however; knows that, eventually, either his teammates or his sensei will catch on and beat the ever-loving shit out of him for going to such great lengths for something so foolish, but when Shikamaru sees Chouji try to impress the girls around the village with his new muscles and then sees Ino actually shop instead of complain about how she'll never fit into a new dress, he smiles and thinks that suffering a little bit of malnutrition is worth it, in the long run -- life's too short to worry about superficiality, anyway.

[ I will do anything to keep this family strong

8) Hinata's little secret is that she holds back in everything she does; that she never fully dedicates herself to anything but loving everything that Uzumaki Naruto is, was, and will always represent to her because these other things -- these fragile, temporary things like constantly training to be a good kunoichi, the Main family and her eventual succession of it -- these things that define and brand her as the Hyuuga Heiress have never picked her up from the dust after she believed everything to be lost and told her, quite pointedly, that they believed in her.

[ Hyuuga Hinata loves Uzumaki Naruto. There is nothing else.

9) Neji's little secret is that he does not believe in Gods, or demons, or spirits. He is a man of self-belief; of a faith that can only be acquired through sacrifice and the abilities gained through training until he cannot stand on his own two feet anymore. Neji despises his bloodline; wants to eradicate the foul Hyuuga blood that runs through his veins so that, one day, he can stand up tall and be recognized for his own achievements; for his own merits and not the bloodline that was handed to him like a funeral-heirloom he never asked for.

[ Neji's little secret is that he wants to be more like Lee, but knows he will never be that Great.

10) Kiba's little secret is that his heart is filled with anger. That, locked somewhere deep and dark in the recesses of his chest he harbors a hatred for Akamaru so large and so complete that, if it were not for his sister, his mother, and his love of all things small and furry, he would have gotten rid of the dog as soon as they handed it to him because Kiba knows he does not need Akamaru; that Akamaru does not need him to function as a shinobi.

His battle with Sakon and Ukon taught him more than clever tactics and how to fool the eyes -- it taught him that his family relied far, far too much on their dogs to get them out of danger and that, in his heart and in his head, Kiba knew he could not have that crutch; that he could not afford to rely on something that he would outlive.

Akamaru was only a tool. Was only an animal and everything Kiba was not; would never be.
His nin-dog is a weapon, an animal, a beast; a tool, and Kiba is none of these things. Will never let himself become any of these things for as long as he lived.

[ Who is the owner in life -- the man who fed the dog or the dog that didn't have to hunt anymore to be fed?

11) Chouji's little secret is that, in the end, he runs from the responsibilities given to him and betrays Konoha. It isn't a grand, humiliating betrayal like Hatake Sakumo's or a painful, bond-breaking one like Uchiha Sasuke's, but it hurts nonetheless, and Shikamaru can only stare, wide-eyed and helpless, as his friend swallows the last soldier pill between them and charges into the approaching pair of Akatsuki like a man on fire; his chakra flaring around him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns and his fist raised to the sky in defiance until the very last.

[ The last thing he hears Chouji say, is: "For the love of my friends."

12) TenTen’s little secret is that she hates Uchiha Sasuke and everything that he represents. There is nothing more to this -- the Uchiha is the thing that destroys possibilities, that hampers progress, and every time she looks at Sakura and Ino and sees them fail where she had succeeded and made a name for herself, she feels herself grow more and more disgusted with her generation and hates the Uchiha name even more.

[ TenTen learned the Uchiha Shuriken technique at age 10 and has never let Sasuke see her perform it