Naruto's Mission

7

Naruto opened his eyes to see Kakashi looking down at him. Sasuke was scowling at him from the door and Sakura was gushing over him. He gave Kakashi a cryptic look to which Kakashi only merely nodded slowly.
"Alright, Sakura, Sasuke. Please leave. I've got to tend to Naruto's wounds." Kakashi said and watched as they left before he closed the bedroom door. Naruto sighed before he sat up.
"Not a word to anyone." He said to Kakashi who nodded.
"I understand that your undercover, I'm not dumb." Kakashi said with a smile. Naruto smiled back. It was a rare sight.
"True, but you are always reading that perverted crap." Naruto replied, before he leaned in closer to Kakashi.
"My mission is to keep Sasuke safe." Naruto had decided that he would not reveal his true nature to Sasuke. If he did, then he would have to give up being ANBU and he wasn't ready for that. Not by a long shot. Kakashi nodded. He understood Naruto's concerns all too well.
"I'm going to head out and train them now." Kakashi said loudly, just because he knew that Sasuke was probably wondering what they were saying. Naruto caught the underlying message: I'll keep him safe while you recover. Kakashi opened the bedroom door and left quickly, heading to the forest close to Tazuna's house. Naruto stared at Kakashi's back for a moment.
"Sorry Kakashi, but you aren't supposed to know who I am..." He raised his hands and formed a seal. Kakashi froze. He felt his ANBU tattoo pulsate.
"I see. Well, you'll tell me all about this when you are ready, anyway, right?" Kakashi said, before he fell down. Naruto sighed, he hated using the tattoo to remove memories, but it was for his own good. It wouldn't bode anyone well if word came out that Naruto was an ANBU even though the council wanted to pressure him into revealing his identity to Sasuke.

Naruto quickly rearranged Kakashi's memories to make sure he wouldn't find anything suspicious and then woke him up.
"Sasuke and Sakura are waiting to train with you." Naruto said simply. Kakashi gave him a look.
"I'm still healing. But I'll come watch too and hopefully learn a few things." Naruto said and Kakashi stood up.
"Let's go then."

-----

"Now then, concentrate and focus your chakra into your feet. Then proceed to climb the tree like this" Kakashi demonstrated as he walked up the tree. Sasuke and Sakura were staring at him in shock.
"Now it's all about chakra control. So perhaps just stand still first and concentrate on your chakra. Then attempt the tree climb." Kakashi threw Sasuke and Sakura a kunai each. "Use this to mark your progress." Then every turned to stare at Naruto who was leaning against a tree, his head slightly down.
"What about Naruto?" Sakura asked. Naruto's head shot up.
"What?"
"Why doesn't Naruto do this too? I bet he doesn't even know what to do." Sakura said, a little pissed that Naruto wasn't doing any training and that he appeared to be better than her Sasuke. Kakashi sighed.
"Naruto is injured. Because he was doing his job protecting our client... unlike you and Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi said pointedly. "Therefore, he doesn't have to do this exercise yet. Unless he wants to, of course." Kakashi returned to reading his book, and both of them just stared at him.
"I'll do it if you really want me to, jeez." Naruto said. He slowly walked up to the two of them, wincing ever so slightly from the pain. He didn't even bother to focus on gathering his chakra. Naruto was actually feeling pissed at Sakura so he decided. Why the hell not? He just walked straight up the tree and sat on the branch where Kakashi was sitting, reading. He leaned against the tree trunk and promptly went to sleep, ignoring the banshee screams from Sakura and the glare from Sasuke.

-----

A little while later, Naruto awoke to see Sakura and Kakashi on the branch with him, and Sasuke still trying to walk up the tree with limited success. Wow, and the council wants me to train an Uchiha with horrendous chakra control... Naruto thought as he watched Sasuke trying to walk up the tree impassively. He huffed in annoyance because of the close proximity between him and Sakura. Although Sakura fawned over Sasuke, Sakura wasn't about to completely give up on the other hot guy in her team. Naruto stood up and stretched, before noticing that the deep wound he had received was no longer there. Thanks to the Kyuubi's healing factor. Time to start on my other mission... Naruto thought. He yawned.
"I'm tired, the injury is still bothering me. Kakashi sensei, I'm going to go to sleep now." Naruto said as he slowly walked in the direction of Tazuna's house. The moment he was out of sight, he shunshin'd away and wore his ANBU gear. Cracking his knuckles, he set off towards Gato's base of operations.