(I'll be in your care from now on for your secret mission!)

With the help of Chitose's shadow clone, Boruto broke free from underground. When he raised his head, he saw the scene of Chitose being swallowed by countless shuriken.

In that instant, the scene enlarged and slowed down infinitely in his cerulean eyes. It was as if the world had frozen still and all he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat.

"Chitose!"

The Chitose who had just escaped the shuriken siege using the substitution jutsu was about to charge towards where the brown-haired man had launched the shuriken from, intending to continue the fight. But then he heard Boruto's heart-wrenching cry. His pitch-black eyes flickered as he glanced towards the blonde boy who was being forcibly held back by his own shadow clone from rushing forward. Looking at those anxious cerulean eyes brimming with concern, his heart stirred slightly for a moment.

This annoying guy actually has his good points after all.

Of course, Boruto didn't notice Chitose's fleeting glance at him during his dash. By the time Boruto finally realized that the Chitose riddled with shuriken was just a piece of wood, Chitose was already battling the brown-haired man with weapons in hand.

Boruto unconsciously heaved a sigh of relief, casting a somewhat frightened look at the one remaining shadow clone beside him, then at Chitose's agile figure in the distance. He anxiously tightened his fists.

—Can I really not help at all? Only able to be protected by him?

He stared fixedly at the two people battling at a speed he found unbelievable. That man was undoubtedly very strong. Boruto estimated that he wouldn't last a single move against him. Yet Chitose could battle him while protecting Boruto at the same time.

Damn...

He had never before felt so deeply the powerlessness of being protected by someone. He loathed this feeling and decided from that day onwards to hate it the most.

Yet right then, no matter how unwilling he felt inside, all he could do was stand behind Chitose and be protected by him. Because he was completely useless.

Watching Chitose's back as he fought, to be honest, even though the movements were too swift for him to discern clearly, he could still vaguely make out—

Chitose was at a disadvantage.

While Boruto was anxiously worrying for Chitose on one side, cursing Shikadai and the rest for being too slow on the other, Chitose suddenly had a thought. Boruto then felt the shadow clone beside him grab his arm, trying to pull him away from the battlefield.

Chitose's thoughts run deep. Although it seemed like the enemy's target was himself, what if that was just a smokescreen by the enemy?

He must protect Boruto's safety! The only thought left in Chitose's mind aside from the enemy's movements and how to deal with them was this one. Therefore, when Boruto started retreating pulled by the shadow clone and the man launched an attack towards Boruto the instant he let his guard down, with a speed double that of before, Chitose didn't even have the capacity left to feel surprised. His gaze hardened instantly.

—This time, he must protect his friend no matter what! As the brown-haired man charged towards the opening where the shadow clone couldn't defend with a speed nearly invisible to Boruto, the corners of his eyes were also watching Chitose. Seeing that he simply stood there unmoving, seemingly not even turning around, his black eyes darkened slightly. But just then, an instinct engraved deep in his bones prompted him to stop short of reaching Boruto, changing to lightly tapping the ground with his toes to rapidly retreat instead.

That was the crisis alarm blaring through his entire brain the instant it was a matter of life and death. And by the time he focused his sight at where Boruto was, he couldn't help but be greatly shocked. All he saw was countless soil spikes, as tall as an adult male, jaggedly but uniformly stabbing towards where he was a moment ago, their tips glinting with cold light!

If he had advanced another step forward just now, he would undoubtedly have been skewered into a hedgehog!

—What is this? Earth style? The man inspected the spikes closely, then shook his head inwardly.

Putting aside whether this child who had barely come into contact with ninja techniques could have learned such profound Earth style, and who taught it to him, just the amount of chakra needed to unleash techniques on such a massive scale, there was no way this child—who wasn't even a genin yet—could possess it after releasing a Fire style: Giant Flame Blast and fighting him for so long.

Moreover, judging from the sharpness of those earthen spikes...to emit a metallic gleam like that, the precision in controlling the soil layers, density, and compression...the demands were exceptionally high. Even he who was proficient in Earth style didn't dare guarantee he could unleash such a technique without being in peak condition. Yet this 10-year-old child accomplished it easily in the short span of time when he approached Boruto?

And most crucially—

The brown-haired man watched closely as the spikes crumbled into soil, revealing the blonde boy and the black-haired boy kneeling on one knee before him, hands pressed to the ground, looking at him somewhat gloomily.

—That child didn't weave any hand seals.

Furthermore, he didn't sense the slightest ripple of chakra when the child launched the attack at Boruto in that instant.

All he felt was the murderous aura emanating from the black-haired boy which even startled him, and rage!

That's right, that extreme rage set the boy's usually tranquil obsidian eyes ablaze, kindling them into a fiery brightness, flickering with such acute fierceness and icy-coldness it was almost impossible to look straight at!

The man gazed at the circular boundary drawn with swords around Chitose and Boruto, a hint of pondering flashing through his eyes.

That look had already set his mind at ease.

On the other side, the original Chitose stood behind the man, the emotions in his black eyes fluctuating before finally settling into something vicious.

He swiftly raised his hand, splitting into several shadow clones. All of them wielded shuriken, then battle erupted once more!

Before Boruto even recovered from the shock of Chitose's many formidable-looking spikes, he saw the battle unfolding in a way he had never witnessed before. Although Chitose still used the same weapons and taijutsu as before, the "arts" he was now utilizing...were completely different from what Boruto knew of until then.

He saw Chitose's shadow clones moving swiftly enough to leave afterimages. In the next instant when Boruto hadn't even realized it, they had already completed distinct circular spell formations in various spots. Then, spikes identical to the ones from before began popping up unpredictably, making them extremely hard to defend against. To Boruto, the brown-haired man was already somewhat frantic while Chitose was obviously extremely knowledgeable of the timing, quantity and locations the spikes would appear from. He either precisely dodged them or utilized them to attack the man.

However, the man's speed was also extremely swift. He attempted ambushing Boruto several times but they were all noticed by Chitose in time for him to activate the "art" he previously used to protect Boruto. Yet his feet had no spell circles. How did he do that?

Boruto focused hard on observing his surroundings. Finally realizing it after a long while, he came to an epiphany — without him noticing, Chitose had already drawn a gigantic circle encompassing them with complex inner patterns obscured using rocks and trees. At least two shadow clones were always stationed around the perimeter preparing to repair any battle damage to the greater boundary. Dispelled clones would be swiftly substituted to maintain it. This way, as long as Chitose stayed within the circle, their safety would be ensured if the man still wanted to attack them!

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The spikes hadn't appeared many times before the man apparently grasped that those circles were crucial for Chitose to unleash his inexplicable "arts". He began attempting to destroy them. Yet at the same time, Chitose's moves started changing unpredictably. It wasn't just spikes; lethal weapon pits would often unexpectedly open up underfoot as well. When his equipped weapons were used up, Chitose's fair and slender hands simply waved to the side and pressed against a nearby tree. To both Boruto and the man's shock, he actually pulled several short but sharp daggers out of thin air! Moreover, after the wooden daggers were destroyed by the brown-haired man, upon falling into those simply drawn circles on the ground, they would automatically transform into minuscule yet extremely sharp nails!

No way...

Even the man was truly astonished by Chitose's flexible and bizarre "arts". However, in the next second, he smiled lightly and nimbly leapt beyond the range encircled by those simple circles.

Boruto didn't see clearly, but could Chitose possibly have failed to comprehend it?

He paused briefly, his gaze sinking a little. What astounding perceptiveness! No matter how the moves and forms changed, he saw through their positioning in one glance!

But even so...

Abruptly, countless wooden daggers shot out simultaneously from numerous directions, sealing off all the man's escape routes!

The daggers were endless; substitution jutsu was useless...this would be never-ending! The man's expression changed. Right when the daggers were about to reach him, Boruto suddenly saw a flash of dazzling blue lightning. He unconsciously used his hand to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, to his astonishment, all those sharp daggers had turned into black ashes, some still burning on the ground!

Crap! Can they still regenerate like this?

Boruto anxiously looked towards Chitose. Yet he suddenly sensed that Chitose, whose movements were extremely swift earlier, had abruptly halted all action and was simply watching the man instead. The man was clearly surprised for a moment before slowly straightening his body.

At the spot Boruto couldn't see, the man gazed at Chitose, a hint of amusement flashing through his eyes.

Boruto waited for a while, increasingly puzzled. His mind was full of questions but he didn't dare randomly inquire Chitose for fear of distracting him and allowing the enemy to capitalize on that opening.

After quite some time, Chitose finally moved. But instead of wielding his weapons, he relaxed his entire body and stood up straight while the shadow clones around him disappeared one by one!

"Mister, although I don't know exactly what your aim is, can we stop pretending now?"

Chitose looked at the man surrounded by the messy black ashes on the ground, his eyes still extremely vigilant yet also tentatively probing. Staring at such a boy, astonishment flashed across the man's eyes for an instant before morphing into matter-of-factness and approbation.

"How did you realize it?" He asked lazily, his voice magnetic.

"From the moment I noticed you weren't using your full power at all and didn't have any intention to kill us." Chitose replied while returning the daggers into the tree, evidently much more at ease.

Boruto looked left and right. He vaguely sensed the crisis had been lifted but this sudden change left him in a daze.

"Hey...Hey! Chitose! Just what is going on here? What do you mean no killing intent? This guy clearly tried to kill me multiple times!" Unable to hold it in any longer, he yelled at Chitose.

Chitose and the man turned their heads simultaneously to look at Boruto. There was a smiling expression in the man's eyes while Chitose's were...extremely impassive.

No, looking closely, beneath those profound dark eyes, could he perhaps have...a trace of helplessness? However, Boruto only saw his composure. He once again felt the anger from being treated like fodder. It was just that this time, he also felt a bit...upset?

Boruto didn't know he was feeling upset. He only knew his heart felt very stifled and awful. But right then, Chitose's cool voice sounded by his ear.

"Killing intent and the intent to kill are different, Boruto."

"Wha—" Boruto almost reflexively rebutted Chitose based on the conditioned response built up over two months but halted in the next second, blankly staring at the handsome boy, rendered speechless.

Because he noticed something that made him freeze up. It was an extremely faint smile lingering at the corners of Chitose's mouth. This was the first time Chitose had revealed a smile to him since they met.

"That's right, Boruto." Just when Boruto was staring blankly at Chitose's profound dark eyes, a familiar voice sounded. He blinked and only then reacted that he had been foolishly ogling at "that detestable guy". Flustered, he hurriedly jerked his head sideways, not even having the time to consider who that voice belonged to. Unknown to him, his face had reddened slightly from embarrassment.

Yet upon seeing the silver-haired man wearing a mask with an expression six parts lazy, three parts smiling and one part nonchalant who had appeared there somehow without him noticing, he cried out in surprise, "Uncle Kakashi?"

Chitose's brow jumped violently.

Kakashi? The Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake? He sized up the smiling silver-haired man before him, his gaze filled with probing.

So this is the Seventh Hokage's teacher, the legendary genius ninja. Judging by his astuteness just now and strength displayed, he is indeed formidable. To think he forced me to utilize things I originally wanted to keep hidden with just taijutsu.

"Uncle Kakashi, just what are you..." Boruto looked at Kakashi, completely baffled.

"Boruto! Chitose! Are you two alright?" Just then, Shikadai and company's voices sounded in the distance as the boys came sprinting over. Seeing the smiling silver-haired man, they were also greatly astonished.

Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh my, I originally wanted to test your learning progress a little. So I told the ANBU not to mind this area. Sorry to have wasted your trip."

"That was...really insincere!" Denki, who had arrived with the group, shattered at Kakashi's words. Then realizing who he had complained about, his complexion changed drastically as he covered his mouth in horror, looking at Kakashi in terror.

This is the Sixth Hokage! Just him apologizing to us is already unbelievable yet I actually complained about him? I'm dead! Will I get arrested now?

Yet Kakashi seemed as if he hadn't heard him and simply continued smiling amiably. He turned to face Chitose. "So, due to your secret mission, I'll be in your care from now on, young Chitose!"

Boruto saw an abrupt glint light up Chitose's jet-black eyes. He looked quizzically at Kakashi, then the silver-haired man said something to him that made him forget all about so-called "secret missions". Instead, he blew up at the teacher who enjoyed teasing him ever since young.

"By the way, compared to Chitose, little Boruto, you're really weak huh."

"......What did you say, you pervy old geezer!!!!"

The onlooking Shikadai and company: "......"

That pause was very suspicious.

***

Training Ground No. 3

On the grassy field, a tall man with silver-white hair and a handsome boy with black hair and dark eyes stood facing each other. The evening had set in, casting an orange-red glow from the setting sun, adding a touch of haze and warmth to them.

Kakashi looked at the neatly standing black-haired boy but with a gaze that wasn't simply clear. Lazily, he spoke, "Well, no need for unnecessary words. Uchiha Chitose, from today onwards, I'm responsible for teaching you everything about being a ninja outside the academy."

Chitose paused, his expression unchanged, then nodded slightly, responding, "Yes."

His secret mission, given only by the Seventh Hokage, was to learn important things from those around him.

Upon realizing that this person had no intention of harming him or Boruto, he began investigating the purpose behind their attacks. First and foremost, it was undoubtedly directed at him. Boruto's existence was undoubtedly a means to restrain him because facing an opponent he couldn't defeat, he would undoubtedly flee, and with his abilities, fleeing was entirely possible.

Whenever his shadow clone showed a tendency to escape with Boruto, this person immediately attacked Boruto. After protecting Boruto, the person even lost any killing intent, just engaging in a simple fight.

From that moment, Chitose was sure that this person's purpose was to test his strength.

Why test his strength? —Undoubtedly, because he needed to understand himself, holding a curiosity about himself.

The ANBU were directly under the Hokage, all of them highly skilled. In the time they had been fighting, there was no way they couldn't catch up. That meant this person's actions were tacitly approved by the Seventh Hokage.

So, guessing that this person came for his "secret mission" wasn't surprising. He said he came to teach him, which surprised him a bit, but at the same time, he thought of many other things.

Kakashi relaxed his body, but his black eyes captured every subtle change in Chitose's expression.

This was Itachi's son.

The face of that man who was hard to read had gradually faded in his mind over the 14 years, but as a member of the ANBU back then, he was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding members in his team.

And as the captain, he didn't pay timely attention to the emotional changes of the team members, only understanding what he, as a young man back then, had done after such an event. It was only later that he found out what the young man had shouldered in terms of pain and responsibility.

However, this wasn't enough reason for him to personally come and teach this child.

Naruto's request was, of course, another aspect. Besides that, there was the recent record of this child frequenting the archives and library, investigating the truth about the Uchiha clan's annihilation, marked as confidential. He did it very discreetly, but his investigation and the people involved were too sensitive, with security measures unlike others.

But most importantly, he didn't want... Sasuke's story to replay on this child. He needed to monitor his thoughts at all times and, if necessary, conceal the truth about what happened back then.

Because the truth, for this child, was too cruel.

Seeing this child defend his comrades, he became even more determined to teach him.

Kakashi's black eyes darkened. Back then, as Sasuke's teacher, he failed to guide his student, and that had always been his regret. Fortunately, now he had a chance to make amends.

He blinked, looking at Chitose.

The boy had seemingly guessed that his investigations had been exposed, but he probably didn't quite understand why the Seventh Hokage himself was teaching him.

Kakashi smiled slightly, repositioning himself for battle.

"Well, let's start again."

"But this time, it's different from before."

He suddenly released his aura, watching the boy's face change immediately, muscles tense to the extreme. Kakashi grinned in a relaxed and lazy manner.

"If you can't hold out for ten minutes, just obediently tell me about the 'jutsu' you used earlier."