Author's Note:

A very special thanks to Lili-AnimeFreakk, Veraozao, nobodyhere, Guest, and Snake Eyes for the reviews so far. :)

I based this chapter off episode 6 of the Naruto OVA's, hence it's familiarity. Some parts are twisted of course, so it's not entirely the same, just the overall concept. If you guys don't know what I'm talking about and are interested, just quickly search it up on YouTube. Also, please don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading, good or bad. I'm thankful for all the favorites and alerts so far, but I really would appreciate feedback even more don't be shy to let me know what you like, what I'm doing wrong, et cetera! The story can only get better from what your opinions; I not only write to entertain you guys, but I also do this for myself to improve as a writer. With that said, thanks for taking your time to read this and enjoy the next part!


CURSED

by: Lecs


Summary: AU. We all know Orochimaru's curse seal was what pushed Sasuke to ultimately run away for power. Instead of sealing the youngest Uchiha though, what if he sealed the Hyuuga heiress instead?


II. Mission: Part 1

Her movements were light and fast as she moved to dodge her hits in an evenly speed. Sweat drenched her skin, causing the loose black shirt to stick to her in an uncomfortable way. She couldn't remember how long the fight had been going on at this point, nor did she really remember how it all began in the first place.

"Ha!" her opponent cried, as she managed to jab her in the right side of her chest when she was distracted by her thoughts. Hinata felt the rush of chakra invade her tenketsu as she fell to her knees, deeply breathing in and out and clutching the part of her that was stricken.

"You're weak, aneki." Though it was said softly, it was far from lacking in strength. Looking up from her position, she was met with Hanabi's face, though the expression she wore was foreign to her. It was an expression she would usually see adorning their father.

As if shifting in accordance to her thoughts, the environment suddenly swirled around her, contorting and shaping itself out so that she was now before a dark cherrywood desk. Plain white walls absent of any traces of design or pictures stared back at her blankly, as she made out the two brown leather couches to her sides from her peripheral view. The open window behind the desk revealed a darkened navy blue atmosphere, signifying that it was night time.

She was now in her father's office.

When she heard the clearing of someone's throat, she looked up to the new person standing before her where her sister once was. She stared back into cold, emotionless white eyes.

"You disappoint me, Hinata."

Standing before her in a deep mossy green cloak over majestic white robes was Hiashi Hyuuga himself, a frown etched upon his visage. She didn't know when she got up from her kneeling position, or when the pain from Hanabi's blow suddenly went away. She noted that the loose black sparring clothes she was previously wearing were now replaced with her usual ninja attire of her cream-colored jacket and navy blue bottoms.

"In less than a couple of months the Chunnin Exams will be taking place, and you've progressed little to none."

Biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from talking back, Hinata turned her head away to the side so that she wasn't looking at him anymore. She couldn't bear to. His words bounced around in an echo as if they were in some sort of cave instead of a room, and she felt the knots in her stomach get tighter when she felt that she already knew what he was going to say next.

"If I see no change soon, you know the fate that awaits you ... "

'Yes, I do know.'

"Have you already given up, Hinata?"

'No, I haven't!'

"Have you no pride in the fact that your sister is excelling better than you have progressed have you no shame that you cannot live up to our clan name as heiress?"

Like her other responses, she kept silent without one word verbally uttered as he went on. She had tuned out the rest of what he had to say after the fourth question, screaming what she desperately wanted to say inside her mind.

'I do, I do have pride otousan... but as much as it truly does mean everything to me to live up to the clan's — to your expectations, there is something more important to me that I have to protect... you do not understand... '

He really didn't.

A light gust of wind from the window breezed by her right then, and it struck her as peculiar though she did not have time to think about it much when her father's voice brought her back into reality. She hadn't noticed the rate of which her heart was beating, almost twenty times over its normal pace. A familiar surge of dread and fear swept through her as light beads of sweat formed upon her forehead, and all of a sudden it was too hot in the room.

"You know the Hyuuga ways Hinata, and I will not hesitate in executing it should it have to come down to it."

A huge lump out of nowhere was suddenly lodged in her throat, and she struggled to breathe when she couldn't swallow it down. She knew what he was going to say next...

Before another word could escape the Hyuuga patriarch's lips, a sudden scream pierced the air as both Hyuuga's turned their heads in the direction of which it came from.

Darkness suddenly swirled around her as Hiashi vanished from sight, and it took a moment for Hinata to realize that everything around her was changing again. The smell of something burning invaded her senses, causing her already tight stomach to constrict and flutter even further. It was a horrible stench, yet she couldn't make out what was mixed with it. Ever so slowly, everything gradually became clearer and a form of a person began to materialize before her.

When she realized who it was and what they've done what she had let happened, she felt her heart stop.

She screamed.

— X —

Over three weeks later, Hinata stood by the ever so familiar post in Team 8's training grounds along with her fellow team mates. Kiba was currently occupied messing around with Akamaru and Shino was as silent as ever, leaning back against the post as they patiently waited for their sensei to arrive. Half an hour had already passed by causing worry to stir between the three genin, but since they couldn't do anything but wait, they did just that.

During the peaceful time that elapsed save for Kiba's growls and Akamaru's barks in the distance the kunoichi of Team 8 fell into deep thoughts concerning her most recent dream or rather nightmare, to be more accurate. Though it was true her father's words from that night haunted her, she didn't know why she had that nightmare all of a sudden. It seemed out of nowhere for it to just occur.

She could still remember the way she woke up yelling around 3 AM, drenched in a light sweat with her covers all askew; she could still feel the way her stomach dropped and the painful way her heart accelerated. She could still hear the ear-splitting scream that pierced the air, and the torrid heat of the borderline sizzling room that the peculiar cool gust of wind couldn't seem to alleviate. She could still smell the awful burning smell, and she could still see the horrid mental image of

"Hinata?"

Startled from the sudden outburst of the voice, she was brought back into reality by Shino, who had a hand on her shoulder and his face turned towards her in concern. "You are hyperventilating, are you alright?"

Feeling herself indeed breathe in and out at a rather frantic pace, she opted to nod as an answer to his question since she still needed a few moments to get herself back together. As patient as ever, the bug nin let her take her time before trying again after a few minutes to ask what caused her to go into a panic attack.

Not really wanting to talk about it, but on the same time not wanting to outright lie to her friend who was obviously worried about her, Hinata shook her head once before replying, still a bit breathless. "I-I'm f-fine, Shino... I was just thinking a-about things, and one thing led to another... "

As the most understanding and keenest one of the group, Shino didn't miss the way Hinata purposefully kept her answer vague; but he didn't bother to press on, opting for a nod instead and a tightening his clutch on her shoulder before pulling his hand away. If she didn't want to talk about it, then he was not one to force it of her like a certain dog nin probably would albeit doing it out of good intentions. No. If it was truly something big and serious, it was all the more likely Hinata would come to him and Kiba on her own. He would let her tell them whatever it was on her own time, when she's ready.

Hinata in turn did not miss the curious yet skeptical look Shino gave her behind his shades, but was thankful when he seemed satisfied with her general reply. She knew he knew something was bugging her, but he respected her space and didn't push it. She internally debated with herself on whether it was worth telling him or Kiba it was stressful enough with her thinking about it, she didn't want anyone else to be burdened with her and her problems that she couldn't get under control. Mentally sighing, she told herself that she just had to learn to deal with it better; and she would.

She was broken from further contemplation when a strong burst of wind gusted out of nowhere around her and Shino, causing Kiba and Akamaru to look from where they were standing and make their way over to their team mates. As leaves swirled and danced with the breeze, a figure of a woman with black hair and red eyes slowly emerged before them as the wind and leaves died down. Kurenai smiled.

"Hello guys, sorry I'm so late. It turns out we have a change of plans for today, instead of training we're going on a mission."

"Alright, some action!" Kiba cheered, while Akamaru barked. The jounin nodded her head.

"Yes; it's a C-rank mission this time. I'll give you more details later when we're on the road out of the village. Go and gather your things in preparation to leave an hour from now, and meet up in front of the village gates."

"Hai!" Team 8 responded, as all four shinobi dispersed to prepare.

— X —

They had been walking for nearly an hour as they neared their destination to Mori Village, which as the place was named after, was situated near a dense area of woods. Leading his team mates behind their sensei, Kiba let out an impatient growl.

"Man, are we almost to the village already? This is taking forever," the Inuzuka complained. Kurenai tossed a glance back over her shoulder at the brunette.

"We're less than a couple miles away from the village; but we have to travel a few miles more from there to investigate the area of the woods where our client disappeared."

From behind Kiba, Shino spoke up. "By 'disappeared', what exactly do they mean? Did our client get lost?"

Fingering something in her pocket, Kurenai took out a small piece of paper and tossed it back to her team, with Hinata making the catch. With Kiba slowing his pace down to peer at the picture on one side of the Hyuuga while Shino looked from the other, they all took in the brown-eyed blonde-haired woman in what looked like to be her late 20's, carrying an equally sandy blonde-haired child that appeared to be no older than 7 or 8.

"Ayame Nokatori, the name of our client, was reported to supposedly have been abducted," Kurenai began. "That photograph is genuine, straight from the kid who reported her mother missing. Word has it that the area has been recently housing bandits. A few must have got to her while she was passing through."

Satisfied with her answer, Shino mutely nodded as the four shinobi remained silent for the majority of their walk. Before they knew it, tall structures in the distance came into view signifying their arrival to the village; Kiba nearly jumped for joy as he sped ahead of his team and ran the rest of the way towards the village's gates. Behind him, Kurenai smiled as Hinata laughed at the dog nin's eagerness, Shino simply shaking his head.

"Finally, we're here!" the brunette exclaimed, as Akamaru barked happily from inside his chest. The whole trip here, Akamaru had stayed inside the Inuzuka's jacket so that he could conserve his energy, but not being able to move from one spot had taken its toll on the dog as he wiggled and squirmed against his master, causing Kiba to smile a little and unzip his coat to let the dog out.

"There ya go, boy. I know, you gotta stretch out those legs after being cooped up for such a long while," the brunette said in sympathy. Barking in agreement towards his master, Kiba didn't miss how Akamaru suddenly started sniffing the air. Mimicking his actions, the Inuzuka tried to pinpoint what his dog was searching for when all of a sudden, Akamaru ran away from him.

"Hey, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, "Where are you going?" Tailing behind him, Kiba grew even more curious as Akamaru failed to respond. When the dog suddenly stopped in front of a little girl, he slowed his pace down until he came to a stop before the child as well. Sniffing the air and looking back at the kid, Kiba slowly began to understand; dark brown eyes, sandy blonde hair...

"Ano, mister?" the girl looked up to him curiously, eyeing the dog in equal interest as well from the side. She was about a good head shorter than himself, with her short blonde locks divided into two pigtails tied by green ribbons at the ends. "Is something wrong?"

Kiba smiled a bit at her cautiousness, though he couldn't blame her with the recent circumstances. "Nah, nothing's wrong. Sorry to bother you miss, Akamaru here just got a little too excited when he recognized your scent."

"My... scent?" The girl asked, confused.

"Yeah, from the picture of you and your mother," Kiba replied, as the girl's eyes slowly widened at his statement in realization.

"W-wait... so then, that must mean... you're the one who's going to find my okaasan?" The girl asked, her eyes slightly shining from what Kiba guessed as tears of hope and joy. Akamaru barked beside him, which in turn led him to look in the direction he was looking at. A few steps behind him were the rest of Team 8, just catching up with him. The little girl saw them arrive as well, eyeing Kiba and the rest who wore identical hitai ite before making a mental connection and speaking up again, still in disbelief that it was too good to be true.

"You guys are really going to find my okaasan and bring her back home?" she repeated. Before anyone else could reply, Kurenai beat them to it with a smile. "Yes, we are sweetie. Don't you worry."

At hearing the jounin's words, a wide, sincere smile came over the girl's face, which in turn made Hinata smile as she eyed her. The love for her mother was obvious and radiated through the atmosphere; it wasn't hard to tell that the person they were looking for was someone if not the most important one that held a very special place in the girl's heart. Hinata's own heart swelled in empathy.

"My name is Keiko, thank you so much for this!" the girl cheered loudly. Rubbing the back of his head with a hand, Kiba smiled sheepishly.

"It's no big deal, Keiko-chan," the dog nin started.

"we will bring her back for you," interrupted Shino.

"—we promise." Hinata ended, looking at Keiko straight in the eyes. Keiko merely nodded, trusting in the foreign ninjas' words. Kurenai spoke up again after a few moments.

"We better get a move on then, time is rather essential if our client's really abducted."

With a nod in unison from her team, they took no more than two steps when Keiko spoke up again, interrupting them.

"W-wait! Can I come with you guys? I really want to be able to help out and rescue my okaasan too!" the girl pleaded, with two hands folded and clasped together in front of her chest. "P-please..."

Before Kurenai could speak and let the girl down easy, Hinata made a move to walk back to Keiko and took her small hands in her own. With her hands on either side of hers, she knelt down before her as she looked back into brown eyes again before speaking.

"It's very dangerous, Keiko-chan. Believe me... I understand where you're coming from when you say you want to help find your mother," Hinata's hands grew a little tighter on Keiko's, "but it's too dangerous for you to come."

"B-but I want to..." Keiko sniffed. The tears in her eyes grew evident.

"I know you do. But if the bandits catch you too though, it would be more of a problem." The Hyuuga reasoned. Eyes slowly widening in realization, Keiko slowly nodded her head in understanding; though she still didn't like it.

"Do you understand why you can't come with us now?" Hinata inquired. Even though she nodded, she wanted to hear verbal confirmation from the girl's mouth herself.

"...yes, I understand..." the blonde said quietly. Hinata nodded and smiled in turn, getting back up from her kneeling position to stand, still holding the girl's hands in hers. She raised them up to give them one last squeeze.

"We'll find your okaasan, you have our word. Just leave it to us."

And with those words, brown eyes watched Hinata as she turned back to the rest of her team and took off.

— X —

Treading deeper into the woods with their sensei trailing ahead, Kiba was relentless in praising Hinata for the sudden boldness she displayed in front of Keiko, managing to comfort her while not stuttering even once!

"You sure had some confidence back there Hinata," Kiba grinned as he eyed the Hyuuga's cheeks slowly turn pink.

"W-well, I really could understand and relate to where she was coming from," reasoned Hinata, taking a new found interest in staring at some random spot on the ground.

"Yeah, I get it. The way you were talking though, you almost sounded like that punk Naruto!" he exclaimed, Akamaru walking by his side and barking in agreement.

Pink cheeks turned into a deep shade of red in a matter of seconds at her team mate's comparison to the Kyuubi vessel. "A-ano, I-I w-was just trying to reassure K-Keiko-chan so she wouldn't have t-to worry!" she squeaked out, mentally cursing herself for stuttering so many times. In her defense though, all she could think about at the moment was golden blonde hair and ocean blue eyes...

"Heh heh, I'm just messing with you Hinata!" the Inuzuka chuckled, playfully putting an arm around the still blushing Hyuuga's shoulders. On her other side, Shino wore a knowing smile, though no one could see it since his coat collar was too high.

Looking back over her shoulder, Kurenai stopped at a spot few meters ahead of them in the distance as they quickened their steps to meet up with her. She spoke when they finally caught up.

"Okay, we'll make this our reconnaissance point."

"Hai!" Team 8 responded, though Kurenai suddenly felt something peculiar in the distance.

"Alright, let's get this done quickly!" the Inuzuka exclaimed, punching a fist in the air as Akamaru barked and wagged his tail in turn.

"Hold on," the jounin interrupted before any of them could move from their spots. "Wait here for a sec until I get back."

Before another word could be said, Kurenai leaped upwards from tree branch to tree branch in a direction west from their location, leaving three confused genin behind. After a couple moments of silence, the Inuzuka was the first to break it with a small huff.

"You've gotta be kidding me..."

"Do you think something's wrong?" Shino voiced out loud to no one in particular. Processing his question, Hinata fought the sudden bad feeling rising in her stomach as she replied honestly.

"...I don't know."

— X —

Her steps were quick and graceful as she moved from tree to tree in a rapid speed to where the odd waves of energy were coming from.

'I knew I sensed something amiss...' her thoughts trailed off, and before she could think for another moment a sudden scream caught her attention in the distance.

"Help me!"

Making her way to the source of the cry, Kurenai softly landed behind a tree as she peered around it to come face with a woman running away from a wolf. The same exact woman who happened to be her team's client.

"Ahhh!" Came the shrill of the blonde, who had tripped and was helpless to get up from the approaching wolf before her; leering and snarling with it's fanged teeth barred out for everyone to see. It was as black as her hair in color, and pretty large size. Thinking quickly, Kurenai pulled something out from her weapons pouch as she tossed it into the air and shouted down:

"Hold your breath!"

Acting automatically, the blonde did as she was told as the object Kurenai had thrown suddenly landed by close to her and let out a gray haze of smoke. The approaching wolf in turn growled viciously as it backed off and scampered away from the clearing. When the smoke subsided, Kurenai jumped down from her spot on the tree and gracefully landed beside the fallen woman.

"That was a close call, Nokatori-san."

Still in shock, the woman blinked a bit as she tried to get her breathing back to normal before answering and looking up to the red-eyed brunette. "Arigatou," came her response a few moments later, proceeded by a question. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm a shinobi from Konoha, I've been asked to find you," came her reply. Squatting down from her standing position so that she was level with the blonde who had still not gotten up, she decided that it was her turn to question her now. "Where have you been?"

Nokatori-san in turn grasped her head as if in pain, shaking it several times before she let out a frustrated sigh. "I... I don't know. I can't remember."

"You don't remember?" Puzzled with her response, Kurenai finally reached out a hand to help her stand up.

At the moment their hands grasped each others, a ground-shaking blinding blue light enveloped both women as Kurenai realized her mistake a moment too late.

— X —

"Woah, did you guys hear that?" Kiba inquired as the rumbles of what sounded like lightening clashing with the ground lingered in the air, and various chirping birds flew by in their direction in what it appeared were trying to get away from something.

"Ahhh!"

A sudden high-pitched cry filled the air, and looking back in the direction of the source eyes widened in shock when all three genin spotted familiar sandy blonde hair on the ground far off in the distance, clutching her leg.

"Keiko-chan!" Hinata shouted, as her and her team mates started over to the fallen little girl. "I thought I told you to stay behind!"

"I-I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself from following... I just really thought that I could do something to help you guys!" she exclaimed.

With Kiba being the fastest one of the group, he easily made it before his team mates to help Keiko up when he suddenly smelled something... off in the air. From beside him, he noticed Akamaru wince and almost whine as he stood by the two, torn between staying by his master's side and wanting to take a few steps back from... something... or rather...

Distracted from his thoughts and realizing it too late, he felt stinging pain shoot up the arm closest to Keiko when he was going to reach out and haul her up. Looking back towards her, his eyes widened in shock when he realized that Keiko had bitten him and still had her teeth sunken in! When she finally released, he literally felt like he could do nothing but shift his eyes to look at Akamaru who had jumped to attack the girl on instinct, but was roughly thrown away several meters behind him with a strong push. Eyes moving to look back over his arm, he made out two even puncture marks located along his swelling wrist.

"P-Poison..." he grunted, feeling the burning sensation start to travel from his arm and spread to other areas of his body. It felt like his skin was on fire, and he struggled to breathe as his breaths became ragged and his vision quickly became cloudy. The last thing he could make out was that he was going under a delusion, and Keiko was suddenly transformed into a grotesque-looking women with dark green scales covering half of her face. The last thing he heard was his muffled name being shouted in the background before everything went black.

— X —

They were still frozen in shock at the scene before them, seeing their team mate slip into unconsciousness and into the arms of the imposter-Keiko.

"Kiba!" Hinata yelled in anger and worry, as she willed her body to move and do something to save her friend. To her side, Shino turned his focus towards something in the trees as he instinctively stopped Hinata's attempts to run forward, tackling her to the side so that they both landed on their knees by a tree. An explosion suddenly manifested before them, causing dust and dirt to kick up in the air around them as Hinata realized Shino had just saved her from a paper bomb. Both slowly rising to stand, Shino continued to eye the area around them.

"Show yourself," the Aburame commanded.

Through the smoke, two more figures, both male, emerged next to the Snake Lady with Kiba still in her arms. The ninja to her left, wearing a mask similar to how Kakashi wore one to cover the majority of his face, held an equally unconscious Akamaru by the scruff. The female in turn smiled wickedly at the two genin.

"You're with the Yuhi lady, are you not?"

"What if we are?"

Her smile turned into a feral grin at the response. "We were wondering if you guys would like to play for a while."

Having enough of their talk, Shino made a move to send a swarm of his bugs out to the enemy. Quickly reacting, the three nin jumped up onto a tree branch above them as the burly red headed guy next to the female's right suddenly released a spit of acid from his mouth, targeting Shino's swarm which caused them to disperse.

"Now now, let's not get too hasty," the female chided. Jumping further up into the trees with her fellow shinobi beside her, she let out a low chuckle before speaking.

"How about a game of 'try to get them back'?"

Not standing around to wait for them to try anything more, Hinata shot several shuriken in their direction, exploding into a poof of grey smoke once they came upon contact with the three ninja.

Shadow clones.

Running her way up the tree to the spot where they once vacated, Shino was beside her in a few seconds. The reverberations of cackling lingered in the air in an eerie echo.

"You kiddies better hurry if you want them back alive!" the female called out in the distance, signifying that they were already ways ahead of them and were still running. Before Hinata could make a move to chase after them, Shino held her back with a hand, earning him a questioning look.

"Hold on Hinata. They're expecting us to chase after them; it might be best to wait for Kurenai-senei."

In a rare moment of boldness, which she was displaying more often than usual for the day, she turned her body away from Shino's grasp as she shook her head with a determined look in her eyes. "No Shino, we have to keep Kiba within our sights!"

And with that, the kunoichi took off after the enemy nin in pursuit of their friend. Shino in turn was forced to follow, with a frown upon his hidden visage in thought.

'Where is Kurenai-sensei at a time like this?'

— X —

With her palm laying flat down onto the dark ground, the final moments of her attack left various cherry blossom petals to swirl around her. After a few blank moments of nothing seeming to happen, the ground lit up a light blue in a matter of seconds, outlining the circular seals that bound her to the strange place. It seemed that it was the only effect her attack had.

Turning her focus towards the very center of the many rings encompassing each smaller circle, Kurenai looked back to the unmoving figure.

'I didn't expect to find her body in a spell circle.'

Slowly walking towards her unconscious client, she knelt down beside her in closer observation.

'My only way out of here... is to help her.'

Drawing a kunai from her weapons pouch, she quickly slit her thumb open and smeared the now free-flowing red liquid over the ground beside Nokatori-san, writing out several kanji characters while reflecting over her thoughts.

'But who is capable of wielding such power? Why are they holding me up?'

— X —

'This looks bad.'

Stopping momentarily at a tree branch, Shino looked around for any sign of ninja by the area, or more specifically for a sign that anyone was approaching.

'Kurenai-sensei should have come along by now. She must be in trouble.'

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he proceeded to once more jump along from tree branch to tree branch. He could barely make out the enemy's chakra signature far off in the distance ahead of him, with Hinata a few kilometers trailing behind them. Readjusting his shades with a hand, he put more chakra into the soles of his feet to pick up more speed.

'I guess it's up to us.'

— X —


Author's Note:

Hopefully you guys caught on to the reference in Hinata's flashback where she was talking with her father. That was actually vague bits to the conversation she was supposed to have with Hiashi from last chapter that I didn't include. Just like I laid out for the start of this story, count on some time skips for future chapters here and there. They won't be long ones like years wise, but count on skipping a couple of days/weeks/months. I also hope that none of the OC's I used were too bad, it's my first time to use them since I needed some characters to play the needed parts.

I originally planned to write out the full mission and how it went in this one chapter, but I really wanted to post the next chapter up soon for those of you who were eager to read more of this story; and also, even if I did write out the full mission, this chapter probably would have been around 10,000+ in words. I thought it was better if it was broken down this way haha. If you want me to upload part 2 soon, please please please —

Remember to review! :)

— Lecs