Naruto - A New Branch (Patreon)

The Village Hidden in The Leaves is one comprised of many people. Ninjas act as the land's military, doctors, and civilians carrying out mundane or commercial tasks, children studying to enter into one of the many fields. The leaf is one large tree with many different branches creating new leaves to carry on the will of fire to the next generation. Though what if a new branch were to form? What path may the leaves take?

“Rwaaaar!”

The Nine Tailed Fox has been unleashed in the Hidden Leaf Village. “Everyone attack at once!” Hiruzen Sarutobi the Third Hokage of the Leaf stands proudly leading the Ninja of the Leaf against the tailed beast. Fighting they do what they can to stall and move people in the streets. Though as each second ticks away the beast destroys more, kills more, just being in the village for a few minutes leaves ruins in its wake. “Just what can we do, what happened to Kushina and Minato?” The old man asks the question amidst the howling of the beast. His answer is then given. A bright yellow glow from atop the stone monuments of the village flashes and the beast is gone. “No it can’t be— I need a team to come with me, the rest focus efforts on saving who you can!”

No one could have known at that time how events would play out. Everyone had hoped for the best after all. Though as Hiruzen reached the location the fox had been transported to it was already too late. Minato and Kushina were impaled on the beast's claw before Hiruzen’s eyes. The reaper of sealing is in front of the two, and a new born baby boy is below. “Hiruzen.” Minato coughs blood giving a lazy smile toward the Third Hokage. “I think I’ll need you to take care of things for now… Naruto. My son… take care of him for me.”

Kushina the red-headed woman impaled together with her husband reaches toward her baby brushing it’s cheek tenderly. “I told you everything I want for you already Naruto… it’s up to you… that jerk… touching my baby. Naruto, whatever happens, your power is your own… it’s not for that creep or anyone else. I can’t… can’t wait to see you when you’re all grown up. But… don’t grow up too fast okay? Make sure you enjoy yourself. Make lots of friends. Try and not eat too much junk food ya know?” Kushina’s hands tenderly stroke the baby's cheek and the sealing chains coming from her body clench around the fox. “Minato… do it.”

With that, it all happens quickly. The beast is sealed within the baby’s body, and Minato and Kushina’s bodies are left lifeless in front of their son. Hiruzen sorrowfully walks to the baby picking him up into his arms. “I’ll do as you said Minato… The rest of you… well, let's make sure the bodies are put to rest so none may disturb them. We have a lot of work for us in the future.”

With such a grand moment not many would know what the future would hold. Years pass, and different events occur. The young boy Naruto is raised from a baby to a child. “And here. Is your new home.” That was all the words Hiruzen gave to Naruto before shutting the door of the apartment and leaving.

“What am I supposed to do by myself?” The young child kicks the floor and wanders the apartment. It had room, it was on the top floor of the building too so it had a nice view. “I wonder if this is normal?” Sitting down quietly on the floor Naruto peers out the window toward the stone monuments of the village. “Do all adults just leave kids like me by themselves? As soon as I started reading old man third said I could live on my own and start going to school… I don’t even know how schools gonna be.” A small spiky blonde hair boy, with no experience and no real guardians to watch out for him. Slowly but surely, he gets items set up in his apartment. A small bag filled with clothes, bright oranges, and blues making up most of them. A few toys of play ninja gear. Frog coin purses. Naruto did not have a lot but he had a few items from living with Lord Third. “Maybe living on my own will be fun. I bet the other kids never get to.” Giving a soft chuckle to himself the young boy looks down at his new apartment's table, sitting there is only a lonely envelope with money. “I guess I don’t have to eat all the stuff he tells me too anymore. I can buy more of that ramen stuff instead!”

SLAM

“You lived and you only decided to come forward now?!” The old man with his eye covered speaks harshly to the woman in front of him. Hiruzen at his side however waves his arm to make the man lower his voice. “Heh, of course, you’d tell me to quiet Sarutobi. This information though… you should let me raise the boy instead. He’d be much safer if what she said is true, he probably did something because he wants to come back for the Nine Tails.”

Lord Third rubs at his chin slowly nodding to himself. “This information is concerning, to say the least… The other elders… it was right to not involve them.” Biting at his lip Hiruzen waves the woman away. “You may go. Thank you for this information.” The woman walks from the room, and Hiruzen gives a subtle nod to the man beside him.

“Hah.” The man scoffs and waves his fingers in the air. After just a few seconds a muzzled scream is heard from beyond the door and then silence. “You always were one to be subtle Hiruzen. But unlike that Minato, you know what needs to be done. As usual. Itachi already agreed to the plan to take care of the Uchicha. But with this information. Are you really going to let the boy do as he pleases?”

Standing up from his cushion Hiruzen assertively glares at the man beside him. “Danzo. I told them both I’d provide a life for him! He doesn’t need to spend his days in the foundation. Tsk. I know what you do for this village, but I give you enough already don’t I?”

Danzo leans back in his seat and scoffs again. “Hmph. If that’s what you think fine then. I already have some rewards from our previous missions with the Uchicha.” Danzo gestures to his bandaged face. “After Itachi deals with the rest… I’ll have a few more as well. Why that man took out that boy's eyes and put them right back in… well it’s a mystery. Calling himself Madara… Does removing the eye and putting It back in do anything? I may need to run some experiments when we finish cleaning up.”

Hiruzen rolls his eyes and starts walking toward the door. “This is unsavory enough. Do what you have to do, and the rebellion will be stopped. We made our conditions with Itachi. There is nothing else left to do. We can only watch and see how both of them grow up.”

Danzo gives a faint smile toward his old friend. “And aren’t you good at just watching? A guardian throwing a five-year-old into some apartment by himself? I have to hand it to you Sarutobi. You make me not seem all that bad sometimes.”

Bang, clack, boom

“O-ow!” Naruto holds his head tightly as people passing by on the street throw rocks in his direction. “C-come on what the heck’s wrong with you people!” Turning on his foot he runs down the street turning into an alley. Huffing and puffing the young boy puts his hands on his knees panting. “Calling me a demon… they were acting like staring at me was gonna curse them or something. O-ow…” A little blood drips from Naruto’s forehead and his eyes glisten faintly with tears. “I’m… I’m alright… ugh. I’m tough!” Puffing up his chest Naruto stands proudly dusting off the back of his shorts he fixes the collar of his orange jacket. “Those people… they’re just jerks ya know Mr. Frog?” Pulling out his frog coin purse Naruto gives its cheeks a light poke watching the coins jingle a little inside it. “At least the ramen guy was nice… he even gave me some extra beef with the bowl.” Wiping his nose on his sleeve and putting the coin purse back into his pocket Naruto heads down the alley looking at the different pipes. “What do I do now… I’ve only been living there a week. The kids in the school just sorta make fun of me. Or don’t talk to me. I don’t think I smell that bad right?” Naruto quickly lifts his arms and sniffs under them wincing his eyes. “Okay… maybe I need to do a bath when I get home.”

For Naruto, it was just part of life. The odd looks, having things thrown at him now and again. People talking behind his back. He did his best though, to take care of himself and still go to school too. The usual happy kid Sasuke though was now all grumpy. Even more than before. The other students still never got a response from him even when they tried, just cold glares. Sometimes one kid; Shikamaru would at least say hi now and again. Naruto hoped to himself that it meant maybe he could start making some friends. Someone to talk to that was not just Mr. Frog.

“Another day.” Getting up from bed Naruto pulls on his shirt and gets on his shorts. “Some people on the usual path at least don’t throw anything at me. Heh, but they still all stare funny. I haven’t seen a lot of the village though. So!” Naruto grabs his small backpack by his futon and pulls it on his back. “Today will be my own special Ninja training! I’ll… I’ll find a fort or something! Then the other kids will wanna hang out with me. The dumb adults throwing stuff will just get jealous too I bet!”

Off on a new adventure, Naruto heads out his front door and starts walking through the village. The village was segmented into different districts but it also was bigger than just the walls that block them in. Outside the walls had different paths to clan territory, it had forests people could explore as well as training areas. Still, the village itself was sizeable with woods and waterways even with residential areas and business ones. The stone monuments even had path ways leading up above them for expansion if needed, the mountain itself also held an evacuation area when needed. Naruto however cared little about the boring stuff. The school had just gone over how the emergency shelters were in the monuments. Though he was more interested in actually walking up them to reach the top.

“It’s back.” A man whispers as Naruto walks. “Don’t get to close to it.” A woman says the words just as softly breaking eye contact as soon as Naruto looks in her direction. “Oh, great I have to sweep again since that thing decided to pass through.” An older man says the words with disdain grabbing a broom and sweeping right away. The whispering voices, the secret that was not very secret. It was ambiance to the small child. Naruto was getting used to it. It would not stop him from enjoying his day. Walking more, and more he slowly gets closer to the Hokage Manner. The location acted as the main office for governmental affairs in the village. Things like missions for Ninja or policies for the local area were dealt with in the manor. It was open to the public but Naruto never really went there. Now and again, he would check if he could speak to the Third Hokage but usually, he was turned away.

“Well old man.” Naruto takes a breath of fresh air through his nose staring at the Hokage Manner. “Today I’m gonna do some cool stuff all on my own! I’m gonna get right up to that spot on your big head! Hehe, the woods up there are probably cool too.”

The stone monuments showing the faces of the Hokage have a sturdy path. Climbing up it Naruto was amazed at how large it is. He only came to the entrance with his class but never got to walk the steps himself. One problem he did note was there were a lot of steps. His small child legs were climbing and climbing and his breath huffing and puffing. Even though he was training to become a ninja a leg day like this was rough even for him. That and he was still only six. Still, Naruto was determined to make a cool spot for himself to gather new friends. Well, friends in general. After what seemed to be an hour Naruto manages to reach the top of the stone faces walking out from the back of the first Hokage's head he looks out across the village. It was something Naruto had not seen before. Out stretched in front of him he could see the school, his apartment, and even the village's main gate!

Taking a long deep breath the boy smiles with wonder his blue eyes gazing with a twinkle at the marvel. “Hehe, this spot really is great already and I haven’t even explored yet!” Looking over his shoulder Naruto peers at the different trees. There is a path with a few different storage sheds, and some building materials too. The area was supposed to be used for expanding the Leaf when needed. Though the population was pretty stable currently so it was just a place to store building materials. “Huh… they got a lot of cool stuff up here… wood, unattended paint cans too… they like. They got everything.” Like any child without anyone telling him no Naruto starts picking through different tools and materials littering the storage area. “I bet there’s something here I can use for a hideout! I mean these planks and stuff would be good… but I don’t know how to use them… but people do it.” Thinking aloud Naruto finally hits his hand against a pair of safety goggles. Thick green strap and protective lens plated right on them. Naruto’s eyes instantly light up and he pulls them on over his head. “Wow, these things are awesome! They look like a headband for Ninja! Hehe, everyone would be jealous if they saw these.” Quickly covering his eyes, he squints the goggles themselves were not in the best condition. “Well… maybe not the best… but I can still wear it like a head band.” Fixing the goggles in place so it covers his forehead Naruto proudly walks off into the woods finally remembering his goal of a hideout. “All that cool stuff distracted me. I can find a cool place… then grab some paint or something.”

The Hidden Leaf is in the middle of a forest. Due to development a lot of areas closer to the Leaf are less dense like woods. The further away from main roads or the village it becomes the usual dense forest. Thus why areas like The Forest of Death exist. Naruto currently walks in a less dense woods area. The trees are still tall but have enough room that he can make his pathway. Now and again there is even a few hills to step over. Once again, his adventure feels more like a slog walking aimlessly. This time his body is not as strained going up stairs at least. After some time passes and more walking is done Naruto does finally see a large tree by a hilly area. The tree appears dead but many flowers litter the hill around it. It seemed like the perfect spot for a base. However, a girl’s voice flares up from over the hill. “Oh, this one, this one what about this one!?” Another child’s voice is not what Naruto expected to hear from this area. “It’s super pretty just tell meeee!”

Swallowing back spit Naruto could already feel his palms getting sweaty. Was this what it meant to talk to a girl? He had not even approached yet. “O-okay… I mean it’s a cool spot of course someone else may have already claimed it. Would it really be okay to talk to her? Well… wait she was talking to someone else right?” Naruto fidgets in place grabbing and tugging at his shirt nervously. His body quivers a little thinking about the villagers throwing things at him and staring at him like some sort of monster. “Can I…” Taking another short breath Naruto begins to walk up the hill. “I have to do something… or nothing will change.” Getting to the top, Naruto’s heart then races. Pink hair blows in the wind. A girl smiling cheerfully runs with a flower in hand. Another blonde girl stands beside her smirking with her hand on her hip. They seemed the same age yet the blonde one seemed a little older, at least by how she was acting. “Pretty.” Naruto blurts out the words staring at the pink-haired girl and both the girls turn toward him.

“Hey!” The pink-haired girl waves at Naruto happily and the blonde frowns scratching at the back of her neck. “Hey, come on Ino what are you doing? He said pretty right? Aren’t you gonna thank him?”

The blonde named Ino has a blush across her cheeks a soft red color forming. Sighing she shakes her head and speaks up a bit louder and more brash sounding compared to the pink-haired girl. “Yeah, yeah, you think the flowers are pretty right? Well thanks, I grew um myself! Now…” Ino fidgets rustling up her short blonde hair. “Come on down here alright? It’s too hard to yell over to you from up there.”

Naruto runs down the hill zooming past both the girls. But with both his arms out stretched he digs his heels into the ground stopping himself just before running over what looks to be a flower bed. “Wow, wow, wow!”

The pink-haired girl runs just as fast to Naruto’s side grabbing hold of his collar from behind. “Heeeey don’t fall over!”

Wobbling just a bit Naruto falls backward plopping onto the ground with the pink-haired girl falling on her butt to his side. Eyes wincing Naruto lets out a nervous laugh. “U-ugh…Ahahaha… Sorry about that.” Sitting himself up slowly he rubs at his back looking between both the girls. “So… um. Hey.”

Ino crosses her arms under her chest and nods toward the pink-haired girl. “You okay Sakura? Hey doofus.” Ino glares at Naruto. “I told you to come down here, not run at full speed.”

Naruto stares with happiness instead of feeling scolded. The pink-haired girl's name is Sakura, the blonde Ino. He already memorized it for sure. “I said I was sorry! I didn’t realize how… hilly it was.” Wiping his nose Naruto stands up and offers his hand to Sakura to help her up. “My Names Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki.”

Sakura is hesitant but uninjured she sighs softly and takes the hand standing back up. “Well, I’m Sakura. She’s Ino. This um… is my- well our hangout I guess.”

Ino scoffs puffing up her chest to look like a tough tomboy. “Hmph. It’s our hideout, and it’s not that hidden if punks like you can just stumble into it. But—” Ino pauses and looks Naruto up and down again. “Oh wait… you’re in the group class during recess. You get into fights with Sasuke a lot, don’t you?”

Sakura giggles into her palm and nods in agreement. “O-oh hehehe. Oh yeah! You’re the one Sasuke is always pummeling aren’t you!”

A rosy color begins to fill Naruto’s cheeks as he looks down embarrassed. “I-it’s not like he wins every time. Iruka-sensei just stops us before I can turn things around! B-but look that doesn’t matter!”

Ino walks over to a small stumped that looked like some sort of makeshift chair, and she sits down. “Oh really?” Looking a bit more smug now realizing who she was dealing with Ino waves her hand toward Sakura. “Come on, come on, we don’t need to deal with a loser like him. The villagers don’t even like you either, right? I heard all you do is cause trouble.”

Naruto bites at the inside of his mouth. It was what he did a lot. An easy way to stop himself from crying; to make sure his voice did not shake. “H-hey.” It did not always work the best but well enough. “I don’t even know why the villagers treat me like that. Not like I did anything to them… I mean the fights with Sasuke is one thing but I just didn’t like how he was looking at me is all!”

Ino laughs but Sakura frowns a little looking between them both. “HEY!” Raising her voice the small pink-haired girl opens up both her arms to point at the other two children. “Stop fighting! He just found his way here right?” Naruto nods. “And he’s not doing anything to us, he just didn’t notice how steep the hill was.”

Ino shrugs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I guess.”

Sakura then clasps her hands together looking back and forth between the two. “Soooo. Stop fighting. I haven’t even really talked to Naruto before… I mean.” Sakura holds a finger to her lip and quietly thinks for a moment. “Yeah…I haven’t really made a friend with any boy before.”

Mumbling Ino shifts in her seat. “Yeah, yeah, I haven’t either.”

“SO.” Sakura speaks up nice and loud and grabs onto Ino’s hand dragging her over to Naruto. “Why not be friends?”

Ino rolls her eyes again and tries pulling her wrist away. “Come on l—” Ino stops her struggling seeing the serious look in Sakura’s eyes. “What’s gotten into you? You already know the adults all don’t like him. I heard other kids’ parents saying they weren’t even allowed near him.”

Naruto sighs looking down at the grass. Sakura however keeps her eyes on Ino and squeezes at the girl's wrist. “Ino… when people were making fun of my forehead… You decided to be my friend still.” Biting at her lip Sakura looks at Naruto and then back at Ino. “Those people bullying me. They’re just like the adults bullying him, aren’t they? You helped me. You became my friend. Why can’t we be friends with him?”

Naruto flinches hearing words he never thought he would ever hear. Was he being bullied? Bullied by the whole village? What was more surprising though was it sounded like Sakura was willing to talk to him. “I-I mean.” Naruto stutters over his words again. His first time talking to kids his age normally and it was two girls of course. “Ah… I mean… I don’t wanna get you guys in trouble. Just cause your friends with me.”

Hearing the comment and looking at Naruto’s big blue puppy dog eyes sorrowfully staring down Ino bites at her lip. “Ugh.” Groaning she pushes her wrists forward instead of pulling away from Sakura. “Come here!” Grabbing Naruto’s hand Ino makes a Unity Sign. The index finger and middle finger curl around Naruto’s index and middle. “We can be friends alright! My parents aren’t gonna tell me who or what to be friends with. I already got this billboard brow. I may as well have you too.”

Sakura pouts a little but smiles at the same time. “You could have said it nicer but I guess that works… piggy…”

Ino gives Sakura a side glare at the final comment but refocuses on Naruto. “So there. We’re friends alright? And you said the flowers were pretty anyway right?”

Naruto so excited about the idea of just having friends nods his head eagerly. Though he was talking about Sakura when he said the comment. Her pink hair was real pretty he thought. Though he probably should not be weird so better to not mention it. “Yeah, the flowers are all cool!” Pausing for a moment his eyes scan over the different colored flowers and he spots a pink one among them. “That one! I like that one a lot!”

Ino gives a small huff and puts her hand back on her hip. “Hah, that’s just a pink tulip. Not a big deal. Buuuut yeah, they do look pretty nice. A flower that anyone can grow pretty easy.”

The day somehow went on to be one Naruto never thought to have. Talking with Ino and Sakura. Being around people that were not outright insulting him. What is more, he got to run around the large hollowed tree acting as a fort. The girls even let him walk around inside seeing the different flowers Ino had been growing. Sakura had her small corner of flowers as well. Minutes tick away, hours pass, the sun moves across the sky, and finally, the orange hue begins to paint the land. “Ino.” Sakura says the words timidly putting away a few of her glass jars holding small seeds. “It’s about time to head back. My Mom’ll get mad if we’re late again.”

Rolling her eyes Ino dusts off the back of her shorts and stands up from her log chair. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. My dad’ll get on my case too.” Looking over at Naruto she carefully places a hand on his shoulder and gives him a gently shove. “Hey, Naruto. We’re gonna head back now alright? When school’s not going on we usually come out here.”

Rubbing at the back of his neck Naruto was not exactly sure what else to say. Adjusting his goggles he tries his best to find the words. “Um… is. Is it actually okay to come back?”

The pause in the air sits atop both girls with a weight they could not explain. Not pausing for too long however Sakura gives a pump of her fist and a hardy nod. “Of course, it’s not a problem!” Saying the words happily Ino gives a sigh and slowly shakes her head. “What?!” Sakura gives her foot a light stomp against the ground. “What’s wrong now miss grumpy?”

Sighing to herself at this point Ino gives another headshake and points at Naruto. “We’ll have to keep him a secret… at least for now. A lot of the grown-ups would throw a fit if they saw us hanging around him at school.”

Squeezing at his shorts Naruto bites at his lips. It made sense from what he learned so far. He would cause Sakura and Ino problems if people saw them together. Even if they were his friends he did not want them to get hurt because of him. “I… I mean. I’m used to it. Still I hope we can hang out a bit at school.” Naruto tilts his head back up and stares with his big blue eyes. A deep bright blue, a blue the girls could swear looked a tad different for a moment. Like the eyes were starting to swirl slowly to the center. Ino and Sakura sway slightly in place staring into those deep blues. “Sakura? Ino? We can hang out more, right?”

“Of course”

Both the girls say the words at the same time and Naruto’s face beams. The girls however then both blink and shake their heads. Both giving a smile they give Naruto another pat on the back and leave the tree hideout leaving Naruto alone in the hollowed fort. “Huh…” Naruto sinks against one of the log chairs and stares at a few of the jars with seedlings. “They were weird when I asked that. I hope I didn’t say it weird. They agreed though… right? Can’t believe we got to talk so long…” Naruto keeps on mumbling to himself thinking of the day's events. Standing up from the log seat he leaves the fort himself slowly walking back along the forest path. “Glad those two pointed out the more padded down path…” The wind brushes the trees, and Naruto’s eyes scan over some of the small bugs lingering about. “Not too windy today. I wonder what sorta ramen I should have today. It really is easy to make that cup stuff.

“Hsssss!”

Clang, tang, bang

Naruto freezes up on his walk, hearing the sounds of clashing metal, of a hissing snake. “H-huh, what the heck is all that?” The sound was not too far off but the Third Hokage did ask Naruto to avoid trouble. “I mean… we’re close to the village it’s probably not bad.” Inching his way off the path Naruto slowly hobbles himself toward the direction of the clangs and bangs. To his surprise, they reveal a pair of women. Or rather a woman and an identical woman fighting each other. From the headband they both wear, they are a Leaf Village ninja. “Oh… cool.” Naruto’s eyes blink a few times staring at the woman. Her hair is tied up in a pony tail but it looked like it only reached to her shoulder blades at best. A bit of spiky hair regardless, a light black color too. On her person, she wears a chainmail top with a jacket over it. A form-fitted skirt with a lighter brown color is wrapped around her waist. Though even seemingly tight the woman still raises her leg to kick the air with ease like the skirt did not impede her movement. Something Naruto did not normally see from the Ninja around the school is also the leg guards clipped around the young woman’s shins. Whoever she was she looked like she knew what she was doing. Though her face currently is making a bit of a frown. Her almost blank brown eyes appear so distant and sad in a way to Naruto. “Maybe… maybe I can just.” Naruto fidgets his foot against a rock taking just another step closer and falls flat on his face bonking his nose against the side of a rock. “O-owargh!”

The woman gives a final kick in the air making the identical woman poof into a cloud of smoke. “Huh?!” Her voice comes out a bit brash, even rude sounding though from what Naruto could tell that may just be how she is. “Really…” The woman sighs into her hand and walks over to Naruto pushing a few bushes aside so she could stare down at him. “A kid running around here huh? I’m using this training area kid. It’s getting past your bed time, isn’t it?”

Naruto slowly picks himself up from the dirt and rolls out from the bushes into the cleared-out training area. “Um… sorry?” Rubbing at the side of his cheek he slowly stares up at the woman. “Sorry ahahah.” Laughing nervously Naruto’s eyes wander over the training area. A few trees looked like they had been punched. A few others had kunai sticking out of them. “I was… I was just going back down to the village when I heard some noises.”

Scratching at the back of her head the woman crouches down and grabs at the back of Naruto’s shirt. It seemed to be an attempt to help him up, and he did indeed stand up. Though it was a tad rough. “Why’s a kid like you out here so late anyway? Parents are gonna worry about ya.”

Naruto tugs at his shirt a little and shakes his head slowly. “Oh… um no, that’s, that’s not a problem. I. I don’t have parents.”

The woman frowns and lets another sigh escape her breath. “Guess I always know what to bring up first.” Rolling her eyes at herself she slowly looks over Naruto. He had a slight scrape on his nose but no bleeding. “Least you’re fine… Look, kid.” Pausing for a moment she shakes her head and sighs again. “I’m a Ninja. My names Anko Mitarashi. Just call me Anko. What’s your name?”

Naruto was not sure if this was the woman’s way of trying to comfort him. Though she at least had not run away from him yet. “Um…” If he said his name, however, would she run away? “I don’t think I can say.”

Anko gives another hefty sigh and stands back up. “Can’t tell me your name?” Turning on her heel she walks over to one of the wooden dummies and pulls a kunai blade from it. “Think I’m gonna get all scared of you or something kid?”

“Yes.” Naruto nods saying the words bluntly to Anko’s surprise.

Shoving a kunai back into her pouch Anko places a hand on her hip peering back toward Naruto. “Really now? Look kid, just tell me your name. I can just go to the school and figure out myself later if I really gotta.”

Poking his fingers together Naruto’s eyes wander to look back at the path toward the village. Escape is always an option, but from a Ninja he probably could not manage it. “Well… um. My name’s Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki!”

Anko nods to the words pulling another kunai from the dummy. “Oh, that’s all? Tsk, getting me all worried for nothing over here. Thought you were gonna say you were like the Feudal Lord’s kid or something.”

Sucking his lips into his mouth Naruto squeezes his eyes shut. “Feddle lord?”

Anko sheathes yet another blade and finally turns to face Naruto again. This time though she takes a knee to get to the boy's eye level. “Pssh.” Laughing first she shakes her head. “No ki—No Naruto. The Feudal Lord of The Land of Fire. They’re… like… even more important than the Hokage you could say. You know the Hokage right.”

Naruto gives a slow nod. “Yeah, grandpa Hokage.”

Both of them now pause Anko seeming to be in thought at the comment. “You call him that huh… I never really see you with him.”

Naruto tilts his head slowly appearing as the confused one now. “Well he gives me my spending money. And then does his Hokage stuff. That’s the sorta things grandpas do right?”

Anko slowly drags her palm across her face sighing into it heavily. “Yeah. I guess when taking care of a child, plenty of people do that for sure… I can think of at least two right now. Ditching them and doing something else is a master and student special, I guess.” Naruto was not sure why but Anko’s teeth looked like they were starting to grind as she said her words. “I swear that old man…” Standing herself back up Anko dusts off the back of her skirt and stretches out her arms. “Aaaah… look ki— Er… Naruto. You like dango?”

Watching Naruto’s head tilt in real-time told Anko enough already but Naruto still answers. “What’s a dango?”

Scratching at the back of her head Anko paces back and forth in place. “Okay, okay, um… look, ya like sweet things?” Naruto nods. “Okay, good, then I’m gonna treat ya to some dango okay?” Stopping on her heel Anko pivots herself around and bites at her thumb. “What the hell am I doing exactly… that shitty old man is doing what that creep did to me. But even worse… this kid’s younger than I was. I know I heard about him a little. But what the hell… Isn’t he suppose to be a village asset? Man, I hate these guys.” Squeezing the bridge of her nose Anko takes a deep breath to calm her grumbles and turns back to Naruto. “Um… so… what do people even do.” Closing her eyes for a brief moment Anko tentatively holds out her hand. “Here. Grab my hand. It’ll be faster if I just carry you down.”

As far as Naruto’s memory went he had not been carried by anyone. The woman was also not freaking out about him. The day was strange yet happy already with the new friendships he got. The oddities were not ending there. “Alright… I guess. Um, you can pick me up?” Naruto reaches his hand out putting it into Anko’s. Naruto not having even lost all his baby teeth yet felt small already to Anko. While Naruto thought Anko’s hands felt large in his. Still without another word the scantily clad woman pulls Naruto up and into her arms. One arm under the bend of the legs, the other cradling the head. “This feels weird…”

Rolling her eyes Anko tightens her grip and presses her heel into the ground. “Yeah if you’ve never been held before, must be new. Just try and hold on tight. Squeeze into me if you need to. Not gonna go too fast. But try not to barf on me or something.”

Naruto manages to not barf despite not being used to the speed or the falling. He holds on tightly to Anko pressing his face against her rather soft chest. It was more physical contact than he was used to. Part of him wondered if it counted as a hug. Then the motion stopped, and he is set back down finally able to see again. It only felt like a minute or maybe two, and now they stand in the village. The sun still setting and some stores closing while others open. The dango stand however was still open and Anko was already at the cart ordering some from the vendor. “Mmm…” Naruto holds his stomach feeling it growl back toward him. Whatever the food was it smelled like rice, but also sweet at the same time. His nose was being assaulted by several flavors. Anko then comes back to him holding two trays each with three skewers with balls on them. She hands one to Naruto and right away he picks one up staring at it. “They smell like rice… but other stuff too. And they have different colors?”

A light smile creeps across Anko’s face and she bites a red ball off one of her skewers. “Mmm! Ah.” Pulling the stick from her mouth for just a moment she tugs two of the balls at once off leaving one skewer now empty. “Awesome as always!” She gives a quick thumbs up to the vender and he laughs giving a thumbs up back. “Come on kid eat up. I’m Anko, so I treated you to some Anko too.”

Naruto’s head slowly turns again but he was hungry enough. He bites at three of the balls at once cleaning off one skewer himself. Biting into the balls, it really was like rice! Yet the texture was a bit chewier then he was used to. At the same time, the sweetness had a hint of salt. And the coating almost tasted like some sort of bean that he had had in different easy-to-make cup meals. “Mmm-dezz-are-ood.” Chewing and speaking with a mouth full Anko chuckles and waves to the vendor. He sets out a bamboo cup and she snags it handing it over to Naruto. Chugging down the water inside Naruto swallows down the dango with a satisfied smile. “Wow! Those are pretty good! That red stuff tastes good too! What were you saying, Anko treating with anko? What’s that mean? The foods dango right?”

Gobbling up another three dango balls herself Anko chews them down and grabs some water for herself to wash them down. “AH! Always hits the spot.” Squatting down she points to the tray in Naruto’s hand and points at the balls covered in what looked like a reddish-brown sauce. “This stuff. It’s called Anko. Heh… just like… Do you know those swirly things in ramen? White, got the red swirl.”

Naruto nods slowly, he had eaten ramen enough to know that much by now. “Yeah, what about them?”

Anko puts a hand on Naruto’s head and rustles up his hair. “Well that stuff’s called Naruto. Like you! Hah, whoever named us, guess they both liked food. Haha, but some people are just like that. Guess because of my name I ended up having a craving for dango. Anko is a common filling or sauce for it. It’s a bean paste more or less. You can do a lot with it though.”

Naruto walks over to a small wooden bench and plops himself down. “Neat…” He stares at the food thinking, yet eats up another three at the same time. Anko giggles at herself watching the child stuff his cheeks and sits down neat to him. Swallowing the next three down Naruto looks up to Anko. “I wonder why I was named Naruto… Do you think my parents named me that? Who named you Anko? Was it your parents?”

Anko leans back in her seat and finishes off the last her dango nodding slowly. Swallowing it down she sips at her water a moment and finally speaks up. “They passed away during the Third Ninja War. Happened to a lot of people around my age. My parents were both ninjas. Though I didn’t know them too well. I suppose when I started learning how to be a Ninja myself. My Sensei was kind of like a dad to me.” Squeezing her eyes shut for a few moments she shakes her head. “But not the point. I don’t know if my parents were into it or not. Maybe some relative came up with it. Maybe I popped out of my mom while she was eating dango, who knows? As for you?” Spinning the dango stick in her hand she gives Naruto a small flick to the head with it. “How the heck would I know why you were named that?”

Naruto shrugs and rubs the top of his head where he was flicked. Finishing off the rest of his dango he gives his belly a few pats and then finishes off his water. “Well… thanks either way um, Anko.” Pausing for a bit Naruto fidgets with his googles. “Most adults don’t really, talk to me. So thanks.”

Silence then fills the area. Anko takes the wooden trays and bamboo cups and brings them back to the vendor. A slight wave, a finished payment and she sits back down quietly beside Naruto. Where she was now in her Ninja career she was often not in the village for long. Only just recently was she thinking about possibly being an instructor for a few classes. She figured she would never run into a kid like Naruto. Rubbing at the side of her neck she could still feel the mark there. The memento she had from her sensei’s experiments. People usually kept away from her because of her, oddities. She was like a small version of her sensei after all. Snakes constantly around her, a taste for blood. Maybe she was not as scientifically smart, but she did cause people to look at her strangely. Though could she say that was enough to empathize with the child beside her who was just being neglected? She barely had any idea how to handle her companions yet alone children. “Man, I really make myself deal with things way over my head.” Rubbing at the back of her head Anko lets another sigh leave her lips and she looks down at Naruto. “Hey, kid. If you’re over by that practice area again. I train there a lot. Feel free to say hi.” Pressing her hands against her knees she stands herself up and offers her hand again. It was probably what adults should do for a kid. Even if it felt a bit embarrassing. “Now come on, get up ya brat. Let's get you home. It’s getting dark enough. I’ll walk ya back alright?”

SLAM

The door closes and Naruto is back where he belongs. Alone. Stepping through his apartment he looks at some of the discarded ramen cups on the floor and sits down at his table. “I had a lot of fun today…” The words come from his lips as a light whisper. The moon just lifted so he could barely see inside. Reaching at the center of his table he clicks on a small frog lamp he got not too long ago. It kept things at least visible. “The other lights are too bright right now…” Pausing for a long moment Naruto stares at the frog lamp shade. “I wonder… why Anko didn’t hate me?” Twiddling his thumbs at the table Naruto stares at them. He held a hand, he interlocked fingers for a unity sign. Touching another person without trying to punch at them. He did not think he would have physical contact with people in such a gentle way. “Maybe things will change. At least a little.”

Clang, squeeze, thud

A year flew by, but Naruto’s life did not. Huffing, puffing, he gasps for air squeezing at the Kunai blade in his hand. It had just been one year, but so much had happened. Visiting Ino and Sakura more, peeking at Anko’s training more. Even if it was just a few connections, he suddenly had things in his life. Now, he had a goal. “C-come on!” Squeezing the blade in his hand Naruto stands back up looking Anko in the eyes. She was rather tall compared to him but he could still stare up at her. “I can get it right! One more time!” A goal, he had a goal, to become a real Ninja! A ninja like the Hokage, no The Hokage! Naruto needed training to get into the Genin training school so the only one willing to train him was obvious. He started to learn himself at first, but apparently, he was so bad at it that Anko felt the need to step in. That being said she is not exactly gentle, but Naruto had no intention of backing out just because the training was hard!

Scoffing under her breath Anko readies her own Kunai and beckons her hand at Naruto. “Heh, good, no pupil of mine would give in that easily. Come on, I’ll take you on till ya blackout.”

Blackout he did, several times. Naruto would lunge at Anko sure of himself that this time he would get a hit in on her. Then he would find himself eating dirt. He was only about seven years old so not like Anko was expecting much of him. At the same time, Naruto was the one expecting something of himself to keep getting better. Even if Anko was just humoring a child, he did want to learn more. “A-again…’ The weary Naruto stands and stands again. Anko would then throw him back down. Still, even she could tell slowly but surely, he was getting better. If he kept it up, by the time he was a teenager, she was sure he would have a few advantages compared to some of the other students.

Thud

Anko smirks watching Naruto fall face-first into the ground yet again. As much as they both fought, for now, the results would remain the same. “Naruto.” Anko tries not to snort through her nose, but the mocking tone was pretty clear. “Hah, I don’t think you’re going to get much headway today. So. How about we head back?” Both Anko and Naruto were a bit alike in a variety of ways, though the main part was personality. Anko could be a bit odd sure. But she still had the spirited, stubborn prankster vibe that Naruto did not mind. At this point in his life though Naruto only really used pranks to get some attention. Usually, the pranks were tame too. He just wanted some of the adults to talk to him now and again, even if it was yelling. These two traits aside, Anko and Naruto both were also kind. “You lasted longer than last time.” Anko scoffs from her nose still stifling a laugh. “So… how about I treat you to dinner? Where ya wanna go snot-nosed?”

This had happened a few times now since their training started. It was becoming a highlight for Naruto. Not just because he got free food. He got to eat it with a grown-up that actually talked to him. “Um… Ramen.” Naruto pauses for a moment and nods his head standing himself up. “Ichiraku, the one close to the main road!”

Anko smirks and nods her head. “Yeah, yeah, I figured you’d say that. You always wanna go there.” Anko grabs hold of Naruto and lifts him in the air. This too was just part of their routine now. Swinging his legs over her neck Anko lets Naruto take a ride on her shoulders. The boy’s hands rest upon her head and he does his best not to squirm around. “Heh, you’re getting bigger, probably not gonna be able to do this soon.”

Naruto rolls his eyes gingerly poking at the side of Anko’s head. “Whatcha talking about? You’re strong enough to pick up an adult.”

Anko rolls her eyes right back jumping from tree to tree as she leaves the training area. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t hold them on my shoulders. I’d have to carry them in my arms… or over my shoulder. Whatever works really, some Ninja tie the people to their backs like a backpack.” Naruto gives a quiet laugh to the ramblings. “Oh.” Anko clears her throat as she slides down the Hokage stone faces. “Why Ichiraku anyway? I get you love ramen… but you really shouldn’t eat it all the time.”

Naruto sighs and holds some of Anko’s hair between his fingers. “You have dango too much then…”

Clearing her throat, she steps back onto one of the many roads of the Leaf Village. “Point taken… but come on I’m serious. Other ramen places around.”

Frowning a little Naruto leans his chest against the back of Anko’s head and tries to peer over her to look at her eyes. “Well. The owner. He’s nice to me. Most adults aren’t like you. Usually they throw stuff at me. Or tell me to leave when I try and buy food with the money the old man gives me.”

Anko’s eyes twitch hearing the response, but she gives a quiet annoyed laugh back in response. “I-Is that so? Ahaha… you… you should point out to me sometime who those people were.”

Naruto nods settling back on his Anko seat. “Alright, I can do that. But!” Pointing now Naruto sees the ramen shop in sight. “We’re here! This place always tastes great after training! I wanna get a beef bowl!”

Waving off the comment Anko sets Naruto to the ground carefully and they both walk into the shop. As Naruto said the shop owner as usual greets them with a smile. The sun had not gone down yet so the bar-style seats were all open. Both sitting themselves down, the two order up ramen. Anko paying as usual. They eat quietly Naruto happily slurping up his noodles, eating the meat, and chopping on naruto. Anko was now the one feeling different lately. Was she getting involved too much in something she should not? No one said she could train him, she just decided to start. It was fun, or rather it gave her some sort of purpose. “You know.” Anko finishes drinking down the last of her broth. Setting the bowl down she looks at Naruto trying to slurp down the rest of his just as fast. “I climbed the ranks a bit as a Ninja. A… group we’ll say wanted to recruit me for the skills. Heh. The old man offered me a special rank as well where I’d be able to do specific missions and also teach sometimes if I wanted. Never thought I’d be teaching a brat like you though.”

Naruto places his bowl down fanning his mouth from the hot broth. “A-a-ah hot, hot, hot!” Anko smirks and pushes him a glass of water, he downs it and slams the glass down. “Hey! I’m not a brat, I’m getting better, and I’ll be able to hit you for sure sometime!”

Anko chuckles at herself and rustles the top of Naruto’s head messing up his hair. “Yeah, you will. Cause you got a teacher who’s not a brat. Ya brat. Hah, but you’re my brat yeah?” Naruto pouts a little, and Anko stands up leaving some money on the counter. “If you manage to keep improving at the rate you are… I’ll teach you some jutsu I know. Heh… bet you could impress a lot of the kids at the academy. Knowing some advanced jutsu before ya even start Ninja training.”

Naruto beams with excitement. The two had formed a bond over the past year, knowing or not. Though it was hard for both of them to say what exactly that bond was. Slowly, those bonds change, and the fire grows hotter and brighter allowing the leaves to float ever more in the air. Years once again begin to pass. Ino and Sakura both still kept friendly toward Naruto. The three of them enjoying the secret base they had created. Seeing how Naruto had been training the girls even began to do training of their own. Yes, how one little spark can make an ever-growing flame. Anko keeps up her teaching, Naruto keeps up his training. Bonds grow stronger, people grow closer. Time keeps moving.

“Naruto you idiot!”

Naruto was now ten years old and had entered into the Ninja academy ready to learn more and finally become a Genin when he could take the final exam in a few years. However, the teacher in front of him yelling at him was hampering some of his progress. Iruka is a Chūnin of the leaf, many of this rank end up becoming educators if they rather stay off the front lines of battle. Now to Naruto, this teacher was not bad by any means. When doing general education, he was also a teacher at times. Though Naruto thought he was fun to mess with. Iruka is a younger teacher, and a bit of a pervert from what Naruto can tell. Messing with him tends to be too easy so who would let the chance pass by? Today Iruka was yelling and lecturing Naruto about how not to let snakes into the teacher's bathroom. Of course, Naruto was not listening to the lecture but it was probably about that.

“And for the last time. Stop using jutsu not covered in class. I don’t care if you can or can’t do it. The fundamentals are what’s important and those are the things you still seem to struggle with.” Iruka’s voice was scolding, but for better or worse Naruto could tell he was being sincere. Even if Iruka looked at him oddly at times, he treated him pretty nicely. Naruto even put him on the mental list, the list of the few people that acknowledged him and talked to him. “Oh come on…” Iruka sighs shaking his head. “You’re listening right?” Naruto was not fully listening but he got the last parts. The scar on Iruka’s face looked cool though. “Well… if you can stare at me how about taking some more notes in class?”

Naruto sighs now and puts his hands into the pockets of his orange hoodie. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Don’t do it again, blah, blah, be a better student. You just don’t get it Iruka Sensei. I know I can be a good ninja! You’ve seen the stuff I can do! This fundamental stuff is just boring…” Naruto kicks his foot at the ground letting another sigh pass his lips.

Iruka on the other hand places his hand on Naruto’s shoulder and shakes his head. “Naruto come on… even you have to admit you lack Chakra control.” Rustling the top of Naruto’s head Iruka gives another sigh back. “Look. Just try and stay out of trouble for me, at least if you’re going to play your pranks try not to get the other teachers involved. I’ll treat you to ramen sometime if you can manage it.”

SPLASH

A bucket of water splashes over Iruka’s head and before Naruto, his two female friends drop down. Sakura smirks and grabs onto Naruto’s wrist. “Come on knucklehead let's get out of here!”

Ino, grabs at her eye and sticks out her tongue at Iruka. “See ya lamer!” Leaping out the window the trio now darts across the leaf village rooftops hearing in the distance a yelling Iruka behind them. “Hahaha got um!” Ino brushes a finger under her nose smugly as she keeps her running pace. “He always falls for that one I swear… ah, Naruto you were taking forever, so we came to pick ya up.”

Blushing a little Naruto pulls his arm from Sakura’s grip and keeps to his own pace beside them both now. “H-hah. Yeah thanks for that. He was talking my ear off again. He’s nice, enough, but he sure does waste time.”

Sakura nods at herself sagely and holds her chin in hand in agreement. “Yeah, he can be a bit stiff that’s for sure.”

These girls were the same but different. Naruto had been around them for a bit now, but they were a bit rougher around the edges than before. Maybe he was to blame for that. Both Ino and Sakura now had matching goggles sets to go with Naruto even as if to show his influence. Their way of playing Ninja and training in a way. Also just to show that the three of them stuck together. Both were what most would call tomboys. Sakura with her short pink hair, in a small ponytail tied back. Her hair was about neck length and around where she normally kept it nowadays. Ino was growing her hair out a little more, it reached her shoulders but she clips the left side letting the hair on the right side cover her eye. They both had their style about them, Ino still being the louder more outgoing one. While Sakura seemed to be quieter but got louder around people she could trust. Still, another part of their little group was having something orange on their person. Ino had an orange hoodie like Naruto’s, short-sleeved with blue shorts under. Sakura wears a lighter blue top with an orange flowing skirt for her bottoms, though the skirt has built-in black shorts so she could use it while training. To the locals, the group was more like a local gang of pranksters causing trouble for the villagers. For the three of them though, it was just them showing their unity, the bond they formed over the years.

“Finally.” Ino dusts off the back of her shorts and stretches her back looking down across the village. The three of them got to the top of the stone monuments. It would not be far now till they reached their base. “So, Naruto… that snake stuff.” Ino inches a little closer to Naruto inspecting him up and down like he was hiding something. “How the heck did you do that? Do you have a bunch of them in your clothes or something?”

Naruto nervously laughs and pivots on his heel starting to walk down the usual path. “Nah, that’s just part of the Jutsu. Um…” Naruto pauses closing his eyes trying to think. “How did she say it… um… you’re making the chakra in your body condense and take the form of what you picture. And… well learning to control the snakes, lets you make your chakra take on their form.”

Sakura sighs and shakes her head slowly following behind the two. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound right… Your teacher probably made you make a contract with a snake dummy. You could make clones of snakes, but making them physical would be a different story. You’d need amazing control, or your body would have to have some special chakra in it or something.”

Naruto rubs his chin at the words thinking about the times Anko would grab at the weird tattoo on her neck. “I mean… I don’t think me or her has anything that special…” Naruto’s voice wanders off thinking over his comment. “Well, whatever, jutsu can do a lot of weird stuff. Ino’s been doing a lot with her plants! And you know how to do some of the illusion stuff!”

Sakura sighs again shaking her head. “I told you before it’s Genjutsu. Hmph.” Crossing her arms under her chest Sakura shakes her head more to herself. “I swear… I know we all mess around, but you guys both still do your reading and the homework right?”

Ino and Naruto stare blankly at Sakura. A long pause stands between them making it rather clear to Sakura that she was the only one doing that. “You actually do all that stuff?” Ino says the words with a groan in her throat. “Look I don’t got time for that junk. What are the books gonna teach me anyway? I’ve been learning my own jutsu, ones with my flowers! The books don’t teach anything like that. It’s just all like, blah, blah clone jutsu.”

Sakura sighs and crosses her arms under her chest harder than before if possible. “It tells you how to do things like release Genjutsu too. Among other things. It’s pretty important.” Sighing a deeper sigh Sakura lowers her head down and grips at her fist. “(Not like I wanted to read it either but I’m not gonna make myself a dummy like you two!)” Luckily Sakura’s inner monologue could not be heard. “Well, whatever, you’re both learning something I guess… still the Clone jutsu is usually used for the final exam. So remember to try and learn it.” Sakura’s eyes now fall on Naruto. “That means you knucklehead.”

Naruto groans and plops himself down on his usual stump. They had finally reached the base. “Look we just made it to base, lets not worry about that. I got plenty of jutsu, it’ll be fine!”

Kicking at the side of the stump Sakura glares at Naruto. “Yeah, maybe you do but your control is terrible! You either put in too much or too little. How much chakra do you have to have so much trouble with it?!”

Ino walks into her small flower base and grabs out a few different flowers that had been pressed and dried. Walking back out with them in hand she smiles toward Sakura beckoning the pink-haired girl. “Come on, forget about that. Not everyone’s little miss perfect like you with chakra control.” Tossing the pressed flowers up in the air Ino waves her hand through them as they fall catching them between her fingers like the flowers were throwing needles. “Check out some of the stuff I’ve learned with my control instead. You think Naruto’s snake things are cool? Well.” Pulling her hand back Ino aims at the log not too far away from the group. The log has indents from fists and feet having kicked and punched at it so much. This time though Ino aims her needle like flowers. Lunging her arm forward the flowers slip through her fingers flying through the air. They pelt the log, and Sakura is the first to notice that as they stick into it, they seem to leave a substance where they hit. A yellow-like substance that is akin to wet pollen. “I call this my Stem Shock Jutsu. Pretty simple.” Ino nudges her head toward the log and Naruto and Sakura both watch as it lightly sparks the spots the stems of the flowers had hit. “These are a special type of flower. We have plenty of weird ones… This one releases a small shock. My dad says it stores electricity or something like that.” Putting her hands on her hips proudly despite seeming to not know all the knowledge Ino smiles. “Sooo, these flower stems are pretty hard. Just snip the stems and they can be used as a weapon. The electricity is stronger at the root, so I just charge some water chakra into it to make it flow into the person it hits. Then…” Ino steps up close to Naruto and opens up her clenched fist. “ZAP! The person gets zapped real good! Hehe, if it works right I think it can paralyze someone for a bit.”

Sakura walks over to the log and looks at the flowers up and down. “It does seem like it could do some damage at least… Even if someone blocked with an arm… if it could paralyze the arm for a bit.”

Sakura rambles to herself about possible ideas, Naruto runs up and grabs at Ino’s shoulders giving her a shake excitedly. “That’s so cool Ino! How the heck did you throw them that good? I feel like I suck at throwing Kunai… and I even practiced a lot. You can even charge elemental stuff into your jutsu though, I can’t even do that!”

Sakura frowns while Ino is still proudly smiling feeling Naruto’s praise. “You know Naruto…” Sakura pulls her goggles down over her eyes. The lenses are a bit bigger than Naruto’s as if to show off how she was the cliché nerd of the group. “If you read things properly… I’m pretty sure you use Yang-Release. That’s the type of chakra that deals with life usually. It’s not part of our elemental wheel, it stands outside it with the Yin Release.” Naruto sighs hearing yet another lecture but this time from his friend. “Yin is shadow, whereas Yang is Light. Apparently, these two are not used that often in our Ninja world though. Or if it is used it’s usually used with hidden Jutsu, so ones not publicly shared… as in there usually hard to learn unless you make them yourself. Or find some forbidden scrolls.” Ino and Naruto are already gone, leaving Sakura in the dust. She looks back and forth and only sees a small snake staring back at her.

“Hey Naruto.” Ino hops forward stomping onto the grass, her hands in her pockets.

“Yeah?” Naruto fiddles with his goggles trying to adjust them properly in place. “What’s up?”

Crouching down Ino gently grabs a wildflower from the ground and inspects it closely. “Before Sakura catches up… how about we play a little game?”

Naruto rolls his eyes and straightens up his stance. “That just means you wanna train right? I don’t know how much I wanna get hit by your flowers.”

Giggling at herself Ino shakes her head and takes out a Kunai from her hoodie pocket. “Nah, I’m being serious here, a real training session!”

Naruto looks both ways searching for Sakura yet still does not see her. His face was a little worried though looking at the kunai. “You know we’re not supposed to carry around tools like that till we graduate. If we do… we’re supposed to use one of the actual training fields. We could get hu—”

Ino walks right up to Naruto and presses her palm to his mouth shutting him up. “Hey come on! Don’t be a Sakura. Listen to what I gotta say first anyway.” Ino spins the kunai around in her hand to backhand it. Naruto nods slowly still appearing a little worried, yet also excited. “We see who can hit the other first. Whoever does wins? We’ll just say, ya know… no cutting off limbs, no going for the head. If we get cut it should be on legs or arms only. AND—” Ino pauses and looks over Naruto. “We bring in Ninja tools to class, not like we don’t got them. You saw the log at the base, I train there with tools anyway.”

The idea that getting cut for the so-called game, which was training sounded a bit much already. Still, Naruto could not exactly back down from a challenge. “phine!” His words muffled into Ino’s palm she lifts it off. “I said fine! I’ll take you on! But you better not cry just cause you get cut!”

Ino smirks and takes out another Kunai from her hoodie and tosses it over to Naruto. “Fine. I can say the same to you. Don’t go whining to Sakura to bandage you up if you get hurt. And don’t tell your snake lady about this either.”

For better or worse, Ino did not want the adults to know about the situation, and she did not want Sakura to either. That meant they would have to finish fast. Naruto grips the Kunai in his hand and walks a bit away from Ino to take his stand. “Alright. We’ll both stand on our sides. The first to get hit loses. Are we just doing Taijutsu?”

Ino taps the hilt of her kunai to her chin and slowly nods. “Yeah, we don’t wanna cause any big scene. Let’s stick to Taijutsu. And—” Ino runs over to Naruto and holds out her index finger and middle finger. “Forgot something.”

Naruto smirks and does the same gesture back. Their fingers then interlace, and they make another Unity sign. This time to show that they were going to fight on equal terms. “Alright.” Naruto spins the kunai around his finger and backhands it himself. Ino gets into her opposite spot and smiles at Naruto. The two look at one another and lower themselves into a fighting stance, a simple short squat so they could run in any direction quickly.

Ino clears her throat, clenches her kunai, and begins the count. “One…. Two… three…. START!”

As the one starting the count, Ino decides to launch the first attack herself. Dashing toward Naruto she squeezes her backhanded kunai and swings it forward. The kunai zips through the air and flies right past Naruto’s hair clipping a few strands as it cuts. Luckily Naruto had decent reflexes, he managed to dodge the attack by crouching down. Still, Ino was not going to let up her assault. Reaching Naruto she brings her left fist through the air attempting to jab Naruto in his right hip. Naruto, however, had been training with Anko long enough. Anko was a teacher that was fine playing dirty even with someone she was training. For better or worse it taught Naruto how to deal with a variety of stressful situations as if it was real combat. Watching the fist drag through the air Naruto twists in place spinning on his right foot. Then with a quick leap, he bends his left leg and runs it through the air kicking Ino’s hand away. Ino was no push over though, she slides herself back avoiding the full force of the kick, and quickly grabs another Kunai blade from her hoodie pocket. Throwing this right at the ground Naruto scoffs for a moment. It looked like an obvious trap. He was a bit dumb he could admit that but not even he would fall for something so simple. Jumping back however, he feels a cord dig against his back making him flip over face-first into the dirt. “WAH!”

Looking at her target in the dirt Ino scoffs and flexes her fingers showing a thin wire connected to her first kunai and the one in the ground. “Heh, ninja tools are always important. More so if you’re not as physically strong as your opponent.” An acknowledgment of his strength Naruto was hoping would not hurt so badly. “Now then just keep staying still for me!” Grabbing the kunai embedded in the dirt Ino runs up to the fallen Naruto prepared to plunge her blade into his back.

“Hell no come on!” Naruto shouts to give himself energy and courage. Pushing his arms against the dirt he shoots himself back feeling the wire start to rip into his hoodie. “Damn it… get rid of this thing!” Shaking off his fall he squeezes his kunai and cuts through the wire. Though as it falls Ino was already in front of him again. Now he stood between Ino and a tree with a kunai in it. These types of situations are what his teacher Anko would call. “Shit.” Still, Naruto was a fast thinker, leaping up into the air he presses his foot against the kunai in the tree and leaps up from it to land gracefully onto a higher branch. Even with the difference in location, Naruto could hear Ino’s groan. He still didn’t know how to climb up trees as other Ninjas did, but he knew how to jump around. Some of his pranks helped him with this skill. “Sorry about that Ino, can’t give ya the easy way out, ya know?” Leaping from branch to branch Naruto creates a distance between them and leaps back down to the forest floor. Ino’s eyes lock with his and they glare between each other. For a sparring match, it was fun for Naruto. Both of them seemed to be able to keep up with each other at the very least. It was easier on Naruto than just always losing to Anko. “Alright… now, I guess it’s time for me to win huh?”

Naruto’s boast makes Ino roll her eyes. With a hand on her hip, she raises her kunai at Naruto and beckons him forward. “Come on Mr. Ninja. If you're so tough, let's see if you can even get a scratch on me. At the very least I know you have fun tripping over wires.”

Angrily Naruto huffs up air and clenches his Kunai. He knew Ino was just trying to get a rise out of him and it was very much working in her favor. Darting himself forward Naruto decided to go on the attack himself. Often he was used to being defensive given how Anko taught. Or when he attacked it would be rather pointless on her. Though he knew now he had a more even match on his hands. Attacking this time would be different. More than anything, he wanted to win. It was not just to have bragging rights over Ino. He wanted to prove himself in some way. Yeah in his Ninja classes so far people poke fun at him. Say he is too advance in some areas and too stupid in others. What he wanted to prove was he could be a Ninja period. “Alright, come on!” A battle cry blurted out Naruto lowers himself down into a slide. His feet kick up dirty making a small cloud of it spew out around him. It was not enough to blind an enemy, but it was enough to make Ino cough. “Gotcha!” Naruto’s plan was simple but effective. Kicking his left leg at Ino’s he makes her fall into the dirt now. Still in the middle of his slide, he stabs his Kunai into the dirt stopping himself. Pushing onto his knee he rolls himself over in front of Ino and brings his Kunai down toward her arm. “You were aiming a bit too high when I fell this is how ya do it!”

STAB

The Kunai buries into Ino, and she cries out. “D-damn it!” Tears start to form in Ino’s eyes. “C-crap I’m an idiot.”

Naruto stumbles back looking at Ino holding her side in pain. She tried to move at the last second, Naruto could not stop his thrust. The Kunai was sticking out of Ino’s left hip. From her movement it made it bury into her more than Naruto had ever intended. It was just supposed to be a cut, not a stab. “I-I…” Naruto stutters over himself overwhelmed with emotion, but mostly worry. Something in his stomach sinks, real blood was in front of him. Looking at his palms he even had a bit of Ino’s blood on his hand. “I… I didn’t mean to…”

Ino falls back down and squeezes at her side. “Damn it, damn it, damn it! It hurts! Argh it hurts! N-Naruto, g-get help!”

Sakura finally walks into the scene. Her eyes flushed with confusion as she sees Ino and Naruto both crying her female friend with a kunai in her side. “Wh-what did you both do?!”

Sakura freezes up, Ino squeezes at the kunai and attempts to pull it out feeling the blood drip down her clothes as she does. “U-ugh… is pulling it a bad idea?” Children did not have medical training, so they could not be sure what was right to do or not. Ino though young, still was mature. Gritting her teeth she grabs one of her flowers from her hoodie pocket and rubs it against the open wound. “D-dah! It stings so much!” Gritting her teeth, she starts to pant, but slowly her breath calms. Her eyes even slowly lowered like she was sleepy. “Uh…uh… yeah… that… makes it feel…b-better.”

Sakura shakily takes a few steps forward and drops to her knees lightly touching Ino’s arm. “Wh-what did you do? Did… did you just paralyze yourself?” Ino nods with a weary grin and lays her head back on the dirt.

The three children look between each other and more blood drips from Ino onto the dirt. “It’s not…” Ino breathes out slowly looking over at Naruto. “Your fault idiot. I-I… I was the one who moved… just ugh… just get yourself together… and… and go grab some help.”

Naruto sniffles and wipes his snot against the collar of his shirt. Walking wearily over to Ino he brushes the back of his hand against his nose to clean up any other snot. “I… I… that’s a lot of blood. We. We gotta stop the bleeding. Right?”

Sakura nods slowly and pats her pockets. “I… I don’t got bandages. I, I um. I can go get my mom. She’d know what to do.” Sakura tugs at the side of her dress unsure herself what to do.

Ino however coughs a little blood onto herself, her eyes already looking tired. “Just… help.” Head turning to its side she closes her eyes breathing slower and slower.

“I…” Naruto clenches his hands tightly staring down at Ino. The only action he could perform was running thoughts through his mind. “(What if I don’t make it in time? I have… I have to do something. I must be able to do something. Please… please)” Squeezing tighter at his shorts Naruto pleads with himself. “(Move… do something… she’s going to die. She’s one of my only friends. Why aren’t I moving? Stop watching. Move. Please. Please just move already.)” Naruto’s breath starts to grow heavy, he could feel his body shake, he felt cold too like he wanted to shiver. “(Do something. Help her. Save her please!)”

At that moment, no one present at the scene could discern what exactly happened. Naruto’s bright blue eyes appeared even brighter for just a moment. Sakura could have sworn she saw white lines circling his pupil and iris. Was any of it real? Sakura watched the blue flames brush against Ino’s body. Yet they did not burn her. The kunai fell out of her hip and the wound closed The only indication it was there was the leftover blood and her torn hoodie and shirt. It defied the logic the three had come to learn from schools and events. Then, Naruto fell to the ground himself. Though as Sakura watched the two of them, Ino was the one to awaken first, only after just a few minutes.

“What the?” Ino pinches her arm feeling pain then lifts her shirt looking at the wound that was no longer there. “But… what? Sakura what happened?”

Sakura blinks slowly and looks at Naruto and then Ino. “I… I mean. Naruto. He… he did something. Y-You’re okay?”

Ino nods slowly and wraps an arm around Sakura giving her a half hug. “That knuckle-headed idiot saved me huh? Hah… I wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I didn’t try to slip out… he beat me in that match.” Ino bites at her lip and gives Naruto’s shoulder a poke. “But now what he’s the one who went out cold?”

Sakura nods still seeming to be in a sort of shock. “Yeah… he… um… some weird flames or chakra… it… closed your wound.”

Ino rolls her eyes and gives Sakura’s hair a rustle trying to keep the girl calm. “I’m alright now. I know it was scary… I was scared too. But I’m fine… really. Looks like I don’t even have a scar.” Looking down at the blood under herself Ino feels the pressure of the scene around her. “Ahah… I think… we may need to clean a lot of this up. I… I don’t want Naruto to get into trouble.”

Sakura turns her head slowly and nods. “Right… right… you said. Your fault. But… why would he—”

Ino clenches her fist and covers Sakura’s mouth before she utters another word. “You know exactly why it’d cause him trouble. If they heard about this. Haha…” Ino laughs seeming more angry now than in shock. “Those bastards would hear the truth. That it was my fault and still blame it on him. They’d just use it as proof to tell their kids that he’s a monster. Sakura.” Ino sits on her knees and slowly stands up. To her surprise not even the poison seemed to be affecting her. She used it to numb her pain but now her body felt completely healed like she had not even exerted energy today. “Let’s keep it between us for now. If Naruto wants to talk about it with us… he will. Letting the other villagers know… tsk, they’ll just cause problems for all of us. So… help me clean this crap up. Let's kick the dirt over the blood. And um, let me borrow some of your clothes or something. I’ll say I fell out of a tree and got mine ripped up.”

Sakura nods again slowly and starts kicking her foot at the dirt to help conceal the blood. Her shocked state for better or worse seemed to keep her from running away. Ino was not even sure if Sakura would remember the moment. For now, all Ino could do was help protect Naruto in a way she could. He after all just helped her. The clean-up job took the girls about an hour. Ino wanted to make their sparing area spotless and so they did. That aside Ino then had Sakura help carry Naruto back to their base. Luckily from getting themselves muddy and messy at different times, Sakura had a few spare dresses at the base for Ino. Switching out of the blood-stained clothes she starts up a small fire herself to get rid of them completely. Ino felt a little odd about it since it felt like she was doing something underhanded like from the VHS tapes her father would show her about crime situations. Though it was no crime, it was just helping a friend, and avoiding her and Sakura’s parents from yelling like nuts.

Then, Naruto woke up. Just like Ino had thought, Naruto seemed to not remember his actions in saving her. Or he simply did not want to tell. Naruto though really did not know about his power. About the demon fox inside of him, about the Uzumaki clan's natural healing ability, or about his eyes being taken from his head and put right back in it. Still, he was relieved to see Ino was not hurt. He was also a little embarrassed seeing Ino in something more feminine.

Whatever path the three would take from now on. Naruto felt like his friends would not abandon him. Even Sakura seemed to shake off her shock when the three of them were all finally back on their feet. Even if scary situations could happen, the three of them could make it through. They really were his friends, Naruto felt like he could say the words to himself. He had real friends. The thought of Anko even crosses his mind as he watches Ino laugh patting her side. What was Anko to him? Just a teacher? Was she also a friend? Treating him to meals, picking him up when he fell during training, and checking up if he was eating more than just ramen. When they first met years ago he was not sure how their relationship would be. But Anko ended up watching out for him even more than old man Third did. It was like she was someone that he could go home to. Freezing up in place he looks between Ino and Sakura. Both of them had that, did they not? Parents, people to go home to. Nowadays Anko was always there. She did her missions still, but she kept checking up on him every night before he headed to bed. It was usually just to tell him to not only eat ramen. But, she was there.

“Naruto?” Ino smiles looking back at him and waves her arm forward. “Come on, we’re headed back. Sakura’s parents are worry worts… so can’t stay out too late. Well, guess mine can be like that too. If you wanna stay longer ya can.”

Ino shrugs and starts walking onto the trail with Sakura. Naruto runs up behind the two and gives a smile. “Yeah. I’ll head back now. I’m glad we dealt with all that… Ahah. But I don’t wanna make Anko mad staying out too late myself, ya know.”

That night was one Naruto thought of often. A motivator for him to have greater resolve in the face of something tense. He had seen blood before but not that much. He would still be a dorky prankster sure, but he wanted to be able to protect the people in his life in the ways he could. It ended up motivating him to train all the harder. Though as one day moves to the next, years do as well. The time Naruto spent at the Ninja Academy was one of strife, laughs, and sometimes learning. Even if it was hard on him, he started making a few connections. People like Shikamaru Nara would actually speak to him. Sometimes others would even get in on his dumb pranks. There was always a reservation still, even if people would acknowledge him in some way. Few would ever actually reach a handout. People could be polite and say hello, and people could join in on a prank. Though no one ever invited him over to their house. No one ate with him. Only four people in his life did that. Iruka, Anko, Ino and Sakura. He had some people in his life that would look his way. Even as the years passed they still kept it up. It was not just some act. Finally, those two years passed, and the time of the Genin final exam had come. Those who passed would be put onto teams of three and be able to select missions to train further and earn money. Those who failed would either have to stay in school or wait for the exam next year to try again.

“Naruto Uzumaki”

Several Chūnin were currently chasing Naruto. Today was the day of the Genin exam. Naruto was doing everything to get himself prepared. That included playing some pranks. Like defacing the stone monuments of the Hokage. “It’s just a prank! Stop whining!” Naruto laughs loudly and leaps from building to building as a few Chūnin begin to throw empty paint cans toward the boy. “Hey!” Covering his head Naruto feels a can whack his side and he stumbles over. “Ugh!” Falling face first on the dirt a few of the villagers laugh in his direction making Naruto smile even from the slight pain. “Heh, and he says it doesn’t work.” Pulling himself up Naruto runs forward the back of his orange jacket pulling him back onto his butt. It got caught on a power pull. “Ah… you gotta be kidding me.”

A random Chūnin Ninja drops to the ground and scoffs seeing Naruto stuck to the pull. “Serves you right brat. I’m gonna bring ya in now alright?”

The man reaches his hand out and Naruto sighs. He had tied his jacket around his waist because it was hot painting the stone faces in the sun. Now it was getting him into trouble. Still, he had a defense. “I didn’t want to do this but you leave me no choice!” Weaving his hands together to make jutsu hand signs surprises the Chūnin making them hesitate. “Sexy Jutsu!”

With a puff of smoke what is left in its wake is now a busty nude blonde twin-tail woman blowing a kiss toward the Chūnin’s direction. The man’s nose starts to bleed and he turns his head away yelling. “P-put some clothes on miss!”

“Heh…” Naruto chuckles at himself. The Sexy Jutsu always was a good distraction. Canceling the jutsu the smoke shows his normal body again. The idiot Chunin however was still embarrassed looking away. “Now then my exit.” Freeing his jacket Naruto leaps away hearing shouts from the ninja behind him. “Hah, got um.”

WHACK

A fist hits Naruto’s head and he plops onto the ground looking up at Iruka. “Naruto… Mizuki was right where I’d find you. Really now. It’s exam day you know.”

The two stare between each other and Naruto quickly weaves a few hand signs. “Calabar Punch Jutsu!” A snake with brown and orange scales shoots from Naruto’s arm coiling itself into a ball and it impacts right into Iruka’s groin.

“U-ugh!”

THUD

Wind blows, and silence falls beyond Iruka’s soft groaning as he holds himself. Naruto slowly rubs the back of his head and stands up sheepishly. “Okay… I still need to work on that one a little… or maybe it worked too well.”

TAP

“Gotcha.” A white-haired Chūnin places his hand on Naruto’s shoulder. A soft smile on his lip as he tries to keep himself from laughing at the sight of Iruka. “Haha… well you sure do come up with different Jutsu. But you know the rules kid.”

Naruto sighs and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, Mizuki-Sensei. I’ll clean it up… but what about the exam?”

Still foaming a little from the mouth Iruka speaks up. “J-just… clean it… a-and I’ll call you… when. When it’s your turn!”

Huffing air through his nose Naruto nods. “Fine. I’ll get it done. Just don’t forget.”

Naruto in his quest to now clean up the mess he had just made stops by the academy first. The more normal students were just getting there. Many were talking about the defaced faces, some chuckling about it, and a few frowning as they see Naruto. Though he did not care about that he walks right on over to Sakura and Ino who were happily speaking with each other. “Ino! Sakura!”

The girls stop in their tracks and Ino gives Naruto a quick shove to the shoulder. “Hah, good one with the paint.” Naruto gives a thumbs up but Sakura did not seem to enjoy it as much. “Me and Sakura were just talking about what team we’d wanna be in. I know it’s usually random… but it’d be cool if we could all be together.”

Sighing Sakura tugs at the bag hanging on her side. “I know you two don’t take a lot seriously. But you both actually practiced the Jutsu right?”

Ino is the first to speak up patting her chest proudly. “Of course! I’m gonna pass with flying colors. It was easy to get used to anyway. It’s kinda like how I mix chakra into my flowers. I bet you can make a bunch of clones too right Naruto?”

Naruto laughs nervously nodding in agreement. “Haha, yeah of course! We’re all gonna pass! Anko even promised to have a special dinner with me tonight!”

Sakura easing up a little tugs at her goggles leaving them atop her head. “We won’t need these anymore after today. Did you wanna join me and Ino after the Exam? We could celebrate at the hideout!”

Naruto once again laughs nervously. The clone jutsu was still something he could never understand. But today, he could do it for sure right? “I mean… lets hang out tomorrow or something! I gotta clean up this paint anyway… So I think you’ll both get done ahead of me. Oh but come on, the goggles are cool, keep um for now! We can find a use for them later.”

Ino shrugs and shakes her head. “Come on we can wait for you. But if you’re gonna be a weirdo about it. Come join us when we’re all done if you want. We’ll least stick around till are parents come pick us up.” Ino touches her goggles now and brings them down over her eyes. “Course I’m keeping mine, so don’t worry about that. I mean… they help looking at bright stuff at least.”

Naruto’s smile comes out a bit weary his confidence shifting. But he does his best to give a thumbs up. “Yeah of course! Let's get this done guys! You’ll both pass for sure ya know?!”

“Naruto Uzumaki!”

Naruto had been cleaning paint all day. Now he was being called by Iruka into the exam room. It was the moment of truth. Standing up in his now usual zipped-up orange outfit he walks from his table and heads out of the class. Today was the day he could put a headband around his forehead and not just a pair of goggles. Dusting off the dark blue shoulders of his jacket, he then adjusts his white collar making sure he was ready. “I’ll do it this time for sure Iruka!” Iruka groans silently at himself and quietly walks into the room first and sits down at the examiner's table. There another teacher sat along with the Third Hokage. Naruto showing his usual doofus nature slides into the room and pounds on his chest thrusting his pointer finger at all the examiners. “OKAY! You’re all ready to see a real Ninja in action aren’t you!?”

None of them say anything for a brief moment. Only the Third looks to Iruka and nods slowly. In the awkward silence sitting there, the Third looks at Naruto and nods his head putting his smoking pipe down. “Naruto Uzumaki, you’re here to become a Ninja of our village. Please take this seriously. As usual, for the final part of the exam, you need to perform the clone jutsu for us here. Please do so now.”

Naruto nods sagely and holds up his arms. “Sure, sure, that boring old jutsu? I think you need to see something else! “Hog Bite Jutsu!” Out from Naruto’s sleeves comes out two small snakes both with large noses. They outstretch about five feet and bite Iruka right on the arm.

Iruka however does not even flinch just stares dumbfounded. The snakes were not wide Iruka could fit both of them around his hand so he grabs them both and yanks Naruto forward. “Naruto.” Iruka uses his yelling whisper voice as so many teachers would when scolding. “You understand what you’re doing, don’t you? Don’t use these dumb jutsu you’ve cooked up. We need to see if you can control your chakra properly. So show us by making a clone already.”

Naruto sweats a little and waves toward them all. “Come on old man you saw the clone jutsu a bunch already I bet I could show you something you’d really love.” Naruto weaves a hand sign and the Third cocks an eyebrow curious. “Sexy Ju—”

Iruka jolting up from his seat whacks Naruto over the head. “You idiot I told you not to use that again!”

Naruto rubs at the back of his head and sighs, the examiner he did not know just sighs and the Third’s face does not change demeanor. “Fine… fine. I get it, geez.” Iruka sighs and goes back to his seat gesturing to Naruto to start. “Alright. A clone jutsu? Right. Coming right up! Clone Jutsu!” Weaving his hands together again chakra spews out from Naruto’s body enough that those in the room even feel a light gust of wind.

POOF

A puff of smoke appears beside Naruto, and it clears, showing a withered black and white Naruto on the ground hanging his tongue out. The examiners all sigh and the Third Hokage takes a few notes down on his paper. “Naruto.” The Third speaks stroking his beard slowly. “I’m afraid at this time your chakra control is not refined enough. Train more, and take the exam next year. Put in as much effort into those odd jutsu you create. I am sure you’ll get this one in no time. Iruka, if you’d bring the next one.”

Silently he nods and Naruto stays just as silent in the room. Iruka tenderly places a hand on Naruto’s shoulder and guides him out of the room, his voice softer than before. “Look, Naruto, just because you didn’t make it now, you can still pass in another year. The Third’s right, you’re creative, I give you that. But instead of playing pranks so much, focus on training the jutsu I taught in class. Then you’ll get this headband.” Giving Naruto a pat on the shoulder he leaves going back to the classroom.

Naruto could hear birds chirping as he walks outside and sits down on the swing outside of the academy. Other students were talking and laughing, most showing off headbands as their parents guided them away. Sighing slowly Naruto’s hand squeezes at the swings rope. “What do I tell Anko now? I… I told her I could do it. But I messed up… Iruka’s right… I kept making stupid Jutsu’s instead of just learning the basics.” Biting at his lip Naruto could feel his eyes getting glossy. He couldn’t cry though so he bites the inside of his mouth to make sure he stops. “I… There has to be some way… I can’t just… wait a year.” Looking off toward the gate Naruto could already see Ino and Sakura walking off with their parents. They too had passed. “They’ll leave me in the dust, I’ll never catch up…”

“So what’ll you do to change it?” Naruto knew the voice without even turning around. It was another instructor, one he saw Iruka with now and again. Though most recently just realier today.

“Mizuki-sensei?” Naruto gets up from the swing and turns around to see him. Mizuki, like Iruka, is also a chūnin and instructor for the academy. He never talked to him much but now and again Iruka brought him to eat ramen with them both. “I mean… I can’t do anything, can I? I have to wait another year… I messed up.”

Mizuki laughs and shacks his head. “Oh, come on, everyone fails sometimes, but you can still make them change their minds. Waiting a whole year? That’s a bit much.”

Naruto nods slowly unsure of the words he was hearing. Could he learn the clone jutsu that fast and show them he could do it? “I don’t know… I don’t think I can learn it that fast. Maybe a few months.”

Brushing his white hair from his eyes Mizuki rustles Naruto’s hair and bends down to his eye level. “Okay, ya know what? Your Iruka’s good friend now aren’t you? Me and him are buddies. So that makes us buddies.”

Rubbing the back of his neck Naruto felt a little odd. Still, Mizuki had not done anything wrong to him. “I mean… I guess. But what does that have to do with this? I still… I still can’t learn it fast enough.”

Shaking his head Mizuki gets a little closer to Naruto so he could whisper in his ear. “Well, then I guess you could learn a forbidden jutsu. You’d prove to everyone your skills if you could manage that.”

Mizuki’s voice was tempting, whispering words that felt like they were caressing Naruto’s mind. If he could become a Ninja without having to wait a year, of course, he would. “Then… can you teach me a forbidden jutsu?”

Mizuki’s lips creek into a smile and he passes Naruto a piece of paper. “I can’t. But read this… it’s a map of the Hokage mansion. I marked where a forbidden scroll is. It has some jutsu in it. I’m sure if you learn one everyone would be amazed.”

Naruto smiles back happily and snatches up the paper. “Alright! Thanks Mizuki-sensei! I’ll make sure to get it tonight and show them all!” Naruto starts running off toward the gate waving his hand back toward Mizuki. “I’ll make sure to show ya!”

As he leaves into the distance Mizuki smiles happily to himself and lifts the large windmill-like blade he had left on the ground. “Oh, Naruto… haha. I’m sure you won’t disappoint this time.”

CLANG CLANG CLANG

The day had passed with little event, as night cloaked the hidden leaf none would have thought to hear the alarm bells sounding. Jonin Ninja as well as Chūnin all spread out searching the area for one rouge element. Apparently, Naruto Uzumaki had taken a forbidden scroll from the Hokage Mansion. None knew how he could have possibly gotten past the defenses. With a steady guard in place and jutsu placed on the door, none should have been able to get inside without the proper clearance. Somehow though Naruto did it, the Third Hokage was unsure what to do exactly but the fact of the matter was. Naruto could not be lost, he was unsure if this was just a child playing games. But whatever the case Naruto was an asset to the village knowing or not, without him in the village it could spark total war and ruin the balance of power. Already the Land of Wind was in a state of tension with The Land of Fire. Something like this could bring war to the village's steps in an instant. Smoking on his pipe Hiruzen gives a long sigh looking out his office window. “I never expected to be working this late at night. Really what could have gone wrong.” Rubbing at his beard Hiruzen could only think the reason Naruto would have taken the scroll was because of his failing. Though he was unsure still just how the child could have broken into the place. “Can I really blame anyone though…” Tapping his pipe into an ash tray Hiruzen stands up and walks over to his cage of massager birds. “From what I know only a select few have really gotten close to him. I alerted who was here already. I’ll have to send messages to the checkpoints just in case.”

SLAM

Swinging herself through the doorway Anko marches over to Hiruzen and grabs the old man's collar shaking him back and forth. “You idiotic maroon where the hell is he?!” The woman was angry, that much Hiruzen could tell. He could easily shoo her away, but he lets her anger continue. “I was wondering why the hell he never showed up for dinner. Iruka was the one who had to tell me he failed but now I see a bunch of other Ninja’s hunting him down because of some stupid scroll?!”

Finally, Hiruzen lets another sigh pass his lips and his eyes avert Anko’s gaze. “Miss Mitarashi. Please.” Anko lets go of the Third’s collar and he takes a few steps back sitting back down at his desk. “I understand you’re upset. But we’re simply making sure Naruto does not leave the Land of Fire. I know if he stole the scroll. Well, he did not do it alone.”

A few snakes crawl up Anko’s back hissing at Hiruzen. Her eyes almost looked yellow for a moment in the dark. Maybe because of her anger, but it reminded Hiruzen of his old student. “I don’t care about any of that crap. Someone obviously tricked that idiot. And I’m not going to let someone take advantage of him, that includes you. Tell me what you know now. I’ll find him. I already know all these Ninja aren’t going to be able to do it. These idiots never deal with any kids.”

Looking down at his desk Hirzuen sighs again and picks up a large remote. Clicking the power button he motions his hand over to the large CRT TV a bit away from the desk. “The security cameras spotted him. Though he averted the Ninja and Jutsu. It makes it rather clear he’s being used to my understanding. Unless you’ve been training him far more than I thought.” Anko gives Hirzuen an evil eye at his comment, so he clears his throat and continues. “He left with the scroll about two hours ago from what the footage states. So far, we’ve kept the search to the village and training grounds. I was about to send some messages to the outposts to make sure he doesn’t cross the border. If someone put him up to this they most likely want him the scroll, or both to thems—”

SLAM

Anko slams her foot down and jumps out the window. “Thanks, old man, call of the birds though. I know where the brat went. Just get some police Jonin on standby. Tell Iruka to send them to our usual!” With that Anko squats herself down against the roof of the manor and leaps upwards. Without wanting to cause any further delay she infuses chakra to the bottoms of her feet and begins to run up the village's stone faces. Some paint was still coating them from Naruto’s prank earlier in the day. “That brat… I swear… if he gets hurt at all I’ll kill whoever…” Gritting her teeth Anko begins to weave a few hand signs, finally reaching the top of the stone faces she bites her thumb and presses her palm to the stone. “Summoning, Rosy Red.” A white and red snake puffs from the smoke made from the Jutsu. The snake is about six feet in length and no bigger than a hand grasp in width. “Alright, I let him play with you enough times. I think I know where the brat is but point me in the right direction.” Letting the snake coil around her arm it lifts its head and points its red nose like a compass. “You better be alright…” Jumping from the faces Anko heads right into the forest going branch to branch. The training spots around this upper area were not real training spots. She just liked to use the area. Naruto played around the area too she knew. It had to be where he ran away. The problem was, if Naruto was tricked, it was most likely because it was by someone he knew. “I swear I’ll wring Iruka’s neck if it ends up being him.”

Poof

“Aw yeah!” Naruto giggles to himself as the smoke around him clears. “This thing really is the best. It’s so much easier. How come they don’t just teach us this in school? Haha, I bet Iruka will be jealous when he gets a look at the new Naruto.” Leaning back against a tree Naruto currently sits in a forest. A large scroll rests opened in front of him, resting at a part of the scroll dealing with different clone jutsu. “Mizuki was right. With this… I really can… I can tell Sakura, Ino… Anko. I can show them all I really can be a Ninja! I don’t need to take another year I’m good enough already!”

“So here you are.” Mizuki brushes a hand through his white hair dropping down from a tree. Naruto looks up happily at him and Mizuki can only chuckle back at such a response. “Really, I had a hard time finding you. I thought I wrote down where to meet after all.”

Naruto shakes his head and lifts the scroll. “Nah, it’s fine! I wanted to make sure to read over the scroll right away! And I know no one else really comes up here anyway.”

Mizuki nods in agreement reaching behind his back. His fingers gently touch his sharpened windmill shuriken. A large and powerful weapon, made so it could fly through the air and stab right into someone’s body to cause some good organ damage. “Yes… I bet you read plenty of that didn’t you?” Naruto nods happily still gazing over the contents of the scroll. “You know though. The village caught you on camera Naruto.”

Naruto freezes up a little sweat forming on his brow. “Wh-what? They did, but I did ever—”

Mizuki nods sadly shaking his head. “I guess my instructions were too hard for you, weren’t they? You’ll have to run away from the village. Stealing a forbidden scroll is a crime after all.” Nodding sagely Mizuki waves his hand out pointing off behind Naruto. “But don’t worry! I’ll pretend like I didn’t even see you, I’ll give you a head start. Even tell the others you went the other way! Run Naruto… Run away from here. I mean… the others all treat you like crap anyway right? Learn more from the scroll. Make a new life for yourself out there.” Mizuki smiles happily at his little prepared speech. He practiced it a few times in the mirror earlier that day. His hand was now firmly grasping the hilt of his windmill shuriken. Fox or not, a swing of it and a child would die for sure. The village would be thrown into chaos because of the fox releasing again. Mizuki could not help but lick his lips at the idea. “Come on Naruto. Don’t freeze up. Just turn around… and go.” It would be so much easier to stab him in the back after all.

Biting at his lip Naruto stares back at the scroll and then at Mizuki. “I-I…” The last thing he wanted was to be even more of an outcast. He did not want to be forced to leave the village. This was his big chance to finally be acknowledged by people. To not be hated by people as soon as he walked by. To just be a normal person, or to be able to make friends. He got lucky with the people he had. What if they changed their minds, what if they rejected him if they found out he stole? “I’ll… I’ll go… I… I have to go.” Sitting himself up Naruto rolls up the scroll and ties it to his back. “I gotta go.” Mizuki frowns seeing Naruto tie the scroll up and takes a careful step forward. “What is it sensei?”

Mizuki gives another well-acted smile and shakes his head sullenly. “You see. You should give me the scroll. We wouldn’t want them to chase you even more.”

Fear

Naruto felt fear. Staring at Mizuki’s eyes, it was different than before. Mizuki still had his hand behind his back. And his eyes, his eyes looked exactly like everyone else. The eyes of hate. The eyes of scorn. The eyes of people that would throw rocks at a child, that would avoid making even a little eye contact. Naruto jumps back and shakily grabs out his kunai from his tool pouch. “D-don’t come any closer! I’m taking the scroll with me, you don’t need it!”

Mizuki sighs a little surprised but mostly disappointed. “Hah. Really. Really… Is this how it’s gonna be? Haha, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you have two brain cells instead of just one.” Mizuki’s act falls to the floor. His fake smile leaves his face, and his scowl creeps across instead. “Really, to think an idiot like you got hold of the demon. I was gonna be nice and kill you quickly…. But really.” Mizuki laughs into his hand and quickly brushes his hair back. “You don’t deserve it anyway. I’ll kill you here and now, and make the thing inside you the village's problem haha. And I’ll get a nice forbidden scroll out of the deal.” Taking out the shuriken with hatred in his eyes Mizuki attacks. Swinging his shuriken forward he attempts to cut Naruto’s neck right away but luckily Naruto ducks down, and the shuriken impacts the tree behind him. “Really you brat you can’t even die right can you?”

Naruto crawls away and rolls back to his feet. He could feel his heart racing, this was not simple training. This was death. Someone really wanted to kill him. It was not just Anko making her weird jokes or being hard with training. “I’m… I’m not some demon!” Naruto shouts out the words and instead of attacking he runs away. Jumping from tree-to-tree Mizuki follows right away. “Gah he’s faster? No… No… I don’t know what I’m doing and he’s trained.”

SNAP

A branch snaps under Naruto’s foot and he falls right to the ground. “DAMN IT!” The pain in his back shoots through him but it recovers quickly, he always was quick to heal. Getting back to his hands and knees Naruto covers his mouth and pushes up against a tree. “Calm down…” Mizuki on the other hand jumps right over head. Cackling like the crazy person he seemed to be. Though he keeps going, jumping from branch to branch. Till Naruto could no longer hear him. “Did… did he really g—"

“Naruto?” Anko squats next to Naruto her face close to his. He keeps his hands clasped over his face to not make a sound. “Naruto.” Anko speaks the words softly and places a hand on his cheek slowly lowering both of his hands from his face with her other hand. “What’re you doing… You look terrified.” Suddenly the anger that had been building in Anko felt like it had left completely. She was just glad Naruto was safe. Though something else turned in her now. Maybe a new anger, but she was not mad at Naruto now. “Who did this to you? Why did you steal the scroll?”

Naruto bites the inside of his mouth trying to stop tears from coming. Bringing his goggles down in front of his eyes to cover up his tears he sniffles his nose. “I-I. I failed the exam. And… I wanted to pass. Ya know? I wanted to keep up with Sakura and Ino… I wanted… I wanted to impress you too.” Anko gently grabs Naruto’s hand. “But… when I learned I failed… I just. I felt like I couldn’t even show my face to anyone. Iruka, you… both of them. And then Mizuki… he told me about the scroll. I was so happy when I thought I could actually pass instead of repeating the year. I even learned one of the jutsus in the scroll! But Mizuki he—”

PIERCE… drip, drip, drip

It all happened so fast. Naruto was just explaining what happened. Then Mizuki’s Shuriken zipped through the air. It looked like it was about to hit Naruto right in the head, but Anko straddled herself over Naruto her hands pressed against the tree, and took the attack. Right in front of him, her blood drips from her lips onto his clothes. The windmill shuriken was sticking right out of her back. Words were not coming to him. Anko however, simply brushes her finger against his cheek again and smiles even with blood on her lips. “Heh… so this is the jerk that’s been causing you trouble huh?”

Mizuki laughs loudly throwing his headband onto the ground. “I can’t believe this. Everyone’s getting in my way today.” Twisting his shoe into the headband he takes out a kunai from his pouch and spins it around in his hand backhanding it. “Naruto Uzumaki. Haha, you must feel special right? Being protected by a special Jonin. Though I bet you don’t know why she’s actually protecting you.”

Anko’s eyes go wide and she pushes herself up grabbing the windmill shuriken from her back. “You ass.” Ripping the shuriken from her own body she feels the warm blood rush down her back. “You feeling proud that I let you get a hit on me? I can close this kind of wound fast enough.” Wobbling a little in place, even with the wound closed Anko could not give herself more blood. Cracking her knuckles regardless she lifts her head. “If you’re here to kill us, stop chatting and get to it.”

Licking his lips Mizuki seemed to instead be relishing the reactions. “Oh no, miss Special Jonin. I think instead I’ll enjoy the show.” Jumping back up into a tree Mizuki yells down toward Naruto. “Naruto! The real reason the village treats you the way they do. The reason why a special Jonin would even think of protecting you? Haha.” Laughing loudly Mizuki starts hopping from tree to tree trying to look for any openings in Anko’s defense. Even if weakened she still is a Jonin. “You! Are the Nine Tailed Fox Naruto Uzumaki!” Having his foot slam down on a branch a little behind Anko his eyes fixate on Naruto trying to gauge the boy’s reaction. “You simply being born killed so many in the village, did you know that? Iruka’s parents, so many parents, children. So many died, all because you were born, and then they sealed the fox inside you. Haha, you’re just a pawn for the Land of Fire, a bomb they can tie up and throw at an enemy if they ever need to get rid of someone. No one cares about you. You’re just a political token in their little game Naruto.” Throwing his kunai toward Naruto Anko’s snake comes from her sleeve and deflects it with its scales. “Tsk… of course.” Getting loud again Mizuki pulls out another Kunai this time with a flash tag on it. “Lord Third, oh how kind he was. He told everyone in the village to never tell you a thing. About your birth, or your parents. Great guy isn’t he?!”

FLASH

The kunai falls through the air and blinding light flashes. Not even Anko expected it. Squeezing her eyes shut she grabs hold of Naruto’s collar. “Listen up! I don’t care what your thinking right now. But I want you to be safe. I’m going to hold him off. Run!” Using what strength she could Anko’s snakes also grabbed at Naruto’s collar. Five snakes grab hold to help brace Anko’s body with extra strength. Then pulling back she swings Naruto into the air off into the distance. “Get back to the village!”

Naruto falls through the air. He falls and thinks. He could still see, his eyes were protected because of his goggles. “It makes sense.” Biting at the inside of his mouth he could taste blood. Many thoughts were in his mind, but the forefront was, did Anko really care? What if Mizuki was lying? “I-I gotta run though… I- I don’t wanna die.” Spinning himself in the air Naruto lands on a tree branch and starts bolting himself forward from tree to tree. He had to get further away. Toward the village toward anywhere. “Where am I anyway?” Looking all around himself he could not tell what part of the forest he was even in. He could only keep running, adjusting the scroll at his side he keeps running.

“Naruto!”

Anko’s voice comes from behind him. Naruto keeps his pace but Anko quickly catches up holding her hands out.

“Quickly give me the scroll Naruto!”

Naruto felt something wrong. Anko was right next to him jumping from branch to branch. Though her eyes were off. Why did she want the scroll? “Why do you need the scroll? Did you take care of Mizuki? We need to get to the village, don’t we?”

“Hah. He’s done with it. We’re going the right way. I just want to hold the scroll so Lord Third doesn’t freak out.”

Something still felt wrong. The odd smile on her lips, something else. Naruto squeezes his eyes shut and thinks over Anko’s own words during training. “(Observation is the most important part of battle. If your blind, smell, if your smelless, see. It probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense like that… but I’m saying use your senses. You’re a Ninja. You need to see what’s in front of you and figure out if it's real, a trap. That goes for combat, or a normal stealth mission. Man I suck with this lecture crap…)” Naruto stares at Anko now, and he notes that she has no blood on her lips. Also, her back has no holes in it, and no blood stain. Even with medical jutsu, which he learned about in school, nothing would repair clothing that he knew of. Of course, the eyes too. The eyes told him enough already, he was right to doubt right away. “You’re…” He had to do something. Was Anko even okay? Pressing his heel against a tree branch he pivots and pushes himself like a missile right into Anko’s gut. “You’re not her!”

POOF

Mizuki falls onto the ground slamming back against the dirt. “Damn it.” Spitting some blood to his side he slowly stands up and chuckles. “You brat… hah, I shoulda given you more credit. Just let me kill you already!”

Naruto stands on a tree branch above and looks down at Mizuki. He was hurt now too, he could escape now for sure. “Naruto!” The real Anko now walks from the forest, a kunai in hand she stares at Mizuki angrily. “Hah, there you are bastard. What are you afraid of me?! Good choice.”

Mizuki scowls and looks up toward Naruto taking out a kunai of his own. “I don’t have time for you I just wanna kill him!”

“Naruto!” Anko calls out waving him off. “I told you get out of here I’ll handle him!.” Smiling with some blood in her teeth Anko then says something that surprises even Naruto. “Please. For me!”

Mizuki laughs and brushes his hand through his hair again turning around to face Anko. “Hah. What a load of bull. Please? Why tell a thing like that please? Hah, least of all from you. Ya know what. I guess I can kill you first. You were getting in my way anyway. I can tell… you barely have any chakra left anyway. What had a mission earlier today?”

Naruto freezes up again, he had no idea what to do. Anko could tell he was scared but she needed to make sure he got away. She did have a mission earlier in the morning. The limited chakra she had she used on a searing snake to close the windmill shuriken wound. “Hah, you piece of shit.” Spitting blood to her side she squeezes her Kunai and beckons Mizuki forward. “I can take you on fine. So. Don’t ever tell me how to talk to my kid ever again!”

Mizuki flinches at the comment and Naruto does well. Clearing his throat Mizuki keeps his smile on and spins his kunai in his hand. “hah… Kid? What the hell circus did I run into. Kid… Kid.,. Your kid?! Hahaha. What the hell is that? Let's see, he’s got two snot-nosed brats, Iruka is what the daddy? And you’re playing Mommy to the little fox? Ah, you all make me sick.” Running forward Mizuki thrusts his Kunai toward Anko. She deflects the first thrust and pushes him back. Mizuki however twists his heel and spins around kicking Anko right in the gut making her spit up more blood onto the ground. “Hah, leave now and maybe I’ll let you live. You need a blood transfusion at this point. Miss Snake.”

Wobbling more Anko grabs at her knee and squeezes at it hard. She could not let herself fall over. “Yeah.” Mizuki turns his head in wonder, not expecting her to agree. Even Naruto looked like he was about to cry from it.

“Anko. I…” Naruto shakes his head biting at his lip harder. “R-really, you’ll die doing something stupid like this! If you need to go, then go!”

“I wasn’t finished you brat!” Anko coughs up more blood onto the ground and wheezes at some of the air, Mizuki laughing at her attempts to stay standing. “Shut up you dickhead with your shitty ass laugh and let me finish my goddamn sentence…. Yeah! He’s my kid.” Whipping some blood from her lip Anko straightens her posture and stands tall. “He doesn’t have a mom. So yeah. I’m his mom. I’ve taken care of that little brat plenty to call myself that.”

Mizuki rolls his sighs sighing into his hand. “Hah, wow… you sound like you hate him more than I do. Hear that Naruto? Feel even mo—”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Anko stomps her foot on the ground wheezing loudly. “Naruto!” Calling out to her would-be son Anko looks Naruto dead in the eyes. “You’re a great Ninja to me. You haven’t passed yet? I don’t give a damn about that. You’ve put in plenty of effort training with me!” Panting through her words Anko makes sure her voice is good and loud. “You don’t give up, even when it’s hard, you had plenty of time to cry but you keep trying to make connections, and you know what? You damn well did!” A little glossy-eyed now Anko bites at her lip and shakes her head trying her best to get her point across. “Taking you out to eat! Checking in on you, training you. None of that was ever a mission. The Third never even knew I was teaching you till he caught us eating dango that one time! Look I can call you brat cause you are a brat, you’re a kid and you think spoiled. But who cares you deserve it now and again. You act like you’re some burden to me just when you ask me out to eat. To hell with that I like eating with you. You don’t have a mom, and I don’t have a whole lot of anything anymore. So why don’t we be a nice fucked up family for each other yeah?! That’s what I thought. I don’t care about the stupid fox in you, I care about you ya brat! So stop standing around and listen to what your mother tells you already!”

Naruto’s palms were sweating, but calm was there. It was not what he was expecting. He barely saw Anko show emotion and emotional care. She was rough, rude, and swore a lot even around kids. She tried he best though, to be nice. To make sure he ate okay, and to take him out to eat when she did not need to. To train him. A messed-up family is still a family. “I need to…” Gritting his teeth Naruto takes a deep breath and tosses the scroll down to the ground. He felt it. Mizuki was a wimp, he was using whatever he could to get an advantage, but he could take him. “Mizuki! I’m going to take you down!”

Mizuki laughs watching the scroll fall to the ground. “Hah, what bullshit did you work into him Anko? Come on Naruto you can’t beat a Chūnin! I’d like to see you even try.” Laughing Mizuki looks up toward Naruto. Naruto holding a hand sign, with chakra surrounding him. “Wh-what? Is that… visible chakra?”

Anko smiles and falls back onto the ground. “Hah… well fuck, go get um kid.”

“SHADOW CLONE JUTSU”

POOF!

To Mizuki’s eyes the tree branches, the ground around him. Everywhere was clones as far as he could see. “Hah. You gotta be kidding me.” Mizuki scoffs and shakes his head. “This kind of crap can’t tric—” Slamming a fist right into Mizuki’s stomach one of the shadow clones attacks. “G-guh, wh-what? They’re real? No. way this brat—”

From behind a group of clones Anko coughs and yells out. “Yeah, that brat of mine, he made full-on real shadow clones!”

Several other fists now pound into Mizuki, his screams being heard far and wide throughout the forest. Fist after fist pummel him into the ground till he is beaten black and blue with a swollen face. Falling onto his face he groans in pain and Naruto drops to the ground releasing his Jutsu. The smoke cloud of clones disappears and Mizuki lies unconscious and unable to move. “And that’s… for hurting my mom.” Falling onto the ground Naruto too lays unconscious too much of his chakra used at once.

Chirp, chirp, chirp

Naruto’s eyes slowly open, and his head was on something soft. The morning light was a bit blinding though. “Hey sleepy head… heh, I think that’s what people say.” Anko stares down at Naruto with a smile on her still slightly blood-stained lips. “No need to rush, you used a lot of chakra. He’s down for the count. I even tied him up. Heh… blood loss and all. He didn’t manage to hurt me too bad.”

Naruto slowly scoots himself up and sits at Anko’s side. “You’re really okay then?”

Holding at her side she nods slowly. “Hah… I think I’m going to the hospital when we get back. But I kinda need you to help me get back with that asshole.”

Naruto nods and looks Anko over noticing right away her head headband was not on her forehead. “Hey… under your bangs. What happened to your headband?”

Anko smiles smugly and shrugs her shoulder. “I guess it found a better place to be. I don’t know where it went.”

Naruto sighs and shakes his head looking at his goggles he could now see in Anko’s hand. “Hey wait a second why did you take my goggles?! Just cause you lost your headband does—”

TING

Anko flicks Naruto’s forehead, a metal ting ringing as she flicks it. “I guess I need to spell it out for you right? I’m an examiner sometimes. So. You passed. You did it Naruto. You made clones, you’re a Genin now.”

Naruto pauses and slowly grabs at his forehead feeling the Ninja headband wrapped around it. Anko took off her own to put it on him. His eyes start to well with some tears and his lips wobble. “Y-you. I really did it?! You mean it?! For real? E-even though…” Naruto’s excitement and emotion die down his eyes looking down. “Even, with some weird demon thing in me? Even with—”

TING

Flicking his forehead again Anko sighs. “I never cared about that crap in the first place. Look, you’re my kid and stuff…” Anko’s cheeks blush lightly and she rubs at her neck awkwardly. “Don’t make me say that junk again. I don’t care if you’re a snake dressing up like a girl. You’re Naruto. You’re my Naruto. Ya get it already? Just cause you have something inside you doesn’t mean I’m gonna hate you. Some assholes like that guy may try and use you Naruto. But… you’ll find people too. Like me. Iruka, those girls you tell me about too. Even if people wanna live in the past all the time.” Anko laughs at her own words and shakes her head wiping a tear from her eye. “You’ll always find people willing to take the first step toward change. People willing to do what’s right. So put a smile on that dumb face of yours and go back to being my dorky kid already!”

Naruto frowns a little adjusting his headband. “I mean I was pretty cool just now.”

Rolling her eyes Anko gives Naruto’s shoulder a shove. “That’s just what a dork would say.”

Hopping up to his feet Naruto groans and messes up his hair. “Whatever! Fox, and random junk! I can worry about that crap some other time! I’m a Genin! I really did it!” Pumping himself back up Naruto pats himself on the chest. “I even took out a rouge Chūnin! I bet I can become a Chūnin pretty easy myself!”

“Naruto!” Anko speaks up with a strict tone making him straighten out. “As a special Jonin I am giving you your first mission!”

Naruto nods and speaks firmly. “Just tell me the details ya know?!”

With a soft sigh Anko waves to her side. “Help carry me to the hospital idiot…. Hah, and make sure to tell that shitty old man Third you're sorry alright?”

Naruto groans and scoops under Anko’s arm helping her to her feet. Even with the height difference he made for a good cane. “Come on.. do I really gotta say I’m sorry.”

Anko glares at Naruto and he quiets down. “Good boy. Iruka hopefully got my message… I don’t think we can carry the jerk back.”

Naruto looks at the twitching unconscious Mizuki and shrugs. “I mean he’s probably gonna stay out cold.”

Anko shrugs and points her finger forward. “Well, whatever, the village’s that way! Hopefully, we’ll run into someone on the way.”