Naruto's Mission

13

"Rotation!" Hinata tried to get the timing right, but her spin was once again, off centre and she fell barely two seconds into the Hyuga clan's main defensive jutsu. Hiashi sighed as he watched the kunai he'd thrown at her, albeit aimed so that they would pass by her harmlessly but still be deflected by the rotation, sailed through the air with no deflection at all. He half heartedly threw a couple more shuriken when he saw Hinata get into her stance. It was his disappointed look and the half hearted attempt that affected Hinata the most. She knew her father was trying to teach her, but it just wasn't coming. She surged more chakra to her eyes and hands, determined to get it right. Immediately her stance was off and she knew it was completely wrong. But she saw her chakra extend from her hands and she moved quickly to block off all of the shuriken that Hiashi had thrown at her, creating essentially a wall of chakra which blocked all of the shuriken. Hiashi stood in shock. He'd never ever seen anything like that before and his mouth was wide open.
"H-Hinata?" He asked. "Can you do that again?" He quickly threw several kunai before she could respond, to test her reflexes. She did it again.
"Protective 8 trigrams sixty four palms!"

"I don't think I've ever seen that jutsu before..." Hiashi said. "Not even in the jutsu scrolls of the Hyuga clan." Hinata blushed. Hiashi was quite obviously pleased with the defensive jutsu. Although it wasn't the rotation, Hiashi could see it was just as useful, if not more so. Hiashi sighed as he stared at his patiently waiting daughter. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he had his byakugan turned on. Quickly reaching into his robes, he flung multiple shuriken and kunai at her as fast as she could possibly react to. He didn't stop his onslaught, continuing to throw weapon after weapon at her, only holding back the speed. He exhausted all his weapons almost instantly and jumped forward, lining up a palm strike straight to her chest. Hinata readied her stance, her byakugan seeing all the attacks, and she performed her defensive jutsu again, her flexibility allowing her to deflect all the weapons while dodging Hiashi's palm strike. Hiashi was extremely impressed.
"Good job Hinata." He said. Hinata smiled. Hiashi didn't normally praise people.
"I'd like you to keep practising that on your own. Seeing as you've created such a jutsu, only you can improve it. However, I will be teaching you the main jutsu of the Hyuga clan starting with the 8 trigrams 64 palms, because I don't think the rotation is something suitable for you." Hiashi explained as he saw Hinata get into stance. It was going to be a gruelling training session.

-----

"Kakashi." Naruto's voice was heard by Kakashi moments before he saw him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Normally students don't talk to their sensei in such a fashion." Kakashi said. Naruto chuckled.
"I'm not a normal student, dog." He addressed Kakashi by his ANBU code name, which surprised him.
"How do you know that?" Kakashi asked. Naruto sighed. He took off his shirt and also took off his bandage covering the ANBU tattoo on his left bicep.
"W-wait how?" He asked. Naruto raised his hand and Kakashi's tattoo pulsated.

-----FLASHBACK

Naruto... I mean Fox... Just what exactly is your mission if you are playing undercover in a Gēnin team? Kakashi thought as he inconspicuously took a peak under the cloth on his left bicep to confirm that the boy in front of him was ANBU and was indeed known as Fox.

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.

-----FLASHBACK ENDS

Kakashi's eyes widened as all of his locked memories flowed through him.
"I see... so Naruto. You must have a reason for revealing this to me now. What is it?" Kakashi asked.
"Let me help with Sasuke's training. I'll be doing it from behind the scenes, like observing your training sessions and helping improve them but I'll also soar with him everyday and help him gain more taijutsu skills." Naruto said. Kakashi nodded.
"That seems fair. By the way, Sasuke seemed a little pissed yesterday." Naruto said.
"Oh yeah. He wasn't getting the training. I was teaching him about chakra natures and his affinity is lightning and fire. But he couldn't get the chakra shape manipulation. He couldn't even get a spark out of his chakra." Kakashi relayed yesterday's training events to him. Naruto nodded.
"Oh I see."

-----

Sasuke woke up to a blaze of pain. He grit his teeth before the pain slowly subsided. Grabbing a shirt, he slid it onto his body and walked to the bathroom. He turned his body around until he could see the spot where that crazy Orochimaru guy had bit him. He gasped. He could see the three tomoe's there, and he knew instantly that all the pain originated from it. He glared his chakra in anger but cried out in pain as the mark pulsed and another wave of pain shot through him.
"Argh!" He screamed. He needed help. Whatever Orochimaru did to him wasn't a benefit at all. Power didn't come through short cuts. At least Sasuke was certain, but that seed of doubt that had been planted by Orochimaru kept on wiggling its way inside Sasuke's mind, making him constantly question Naruro's answer. Were bonds with people really that powerful? Or could he obtain the power Orochimaru promised him from a short cut? First he needed a way to stop the pain.

Sasuke found Kakashi. He was sitting in a restaurant, reading his orange book while eating alone.
"Kakashi sensei..." he said. Kakashi looked up and snapped shut his orange book.
"Yo, Sasuke." He said nonchalantly.
"I need help." Sasuke said and he began to tell Kakashi everything that had happened to him yesterday. By the end of it all, Kakashi was pale.
"Orochimaru... bit you and placed a cursed seal on you?" Kakashi asked, to clarify. Sasuke showed it to him in response.
"Darn it." Kakashi muttered. "Training will be much harder. That seal reacts to your chakra and steals it away from you, making you have to rely more and more on its power. As a result, that's why you feel pain, and when your chakra is exhausted, it will take over and grant you power and Orochimaru's own chakra, but at a heavy cost to your body. It will leave you paralysed and unable to move for weeks at a time, depending on how long you've used that cursed seal's power." Kakashi said, although he mostly lied. If he could persuade Sasuke never to use the cursed seal, his next task would be easier and Sasuke wouldn't be thinking about killing Itachi in the long run. Hopefully.
"However, I can place a seal on that curse mark that prevents it from interfering with your actions and chakra use...?" Kakashi said, leaving that statement open. Sasuke considered briefly.
"Do it."

Kakashi led Sasuke underground into a special room.
"This is a sealing containment room. It's especially useful for performing seals like the one I'm about to perform, because it minimises the chance that an exterior factor will disturb the seal markings I have to write down and potentially changing the seals." Kakashi explained as he made Sasuke take off his shirt. Kakashi stabbed four kunai into the ground in a square shape, while using a fifth one to draw a circle where the four kunai touched. He drew another concentric circle and then quickly cut Sasuke's finger. Using Sasuke's blood, he began to write rapidly. Sasuke watched in morbid fascination as the many lines of seal markings were written out by Kakashi using his blood.
"Alright. This is going to be painful. Be ready." Kakashi said. Hare → Snake → Horse → Ram → Bird → Tiger → Hare → Snake → Horse → Ram → Bird → Tiger → Hare → Snake → Horse → Ram → Bird → Dog → Rat.
"Ninja art: Curse sealing jutsu!" Kakashi finished weaving the hand seals and Sasuke immediately cried out in pain as the seal markings began to move their way from the outermost circle all the way to form a tiny circle which encapsulated Orochimaru's curse mark. Sasuke collapsed onto the ground as waves of pain pulsed through his body, before the pain slowly subsided away.
"I'm ... fine." Sasuke said after a while.
"Ok good. Now let's go and train." Kakashi said, surreptitiously giving Naruto a thumbs up behind his back. He knew Naruto would be there on hand incase something happened.