[ A\N: Hello everybody, I am so sorry for taking so long to actually re-start Inheritance of a Jinchuriki! A lot has been going on in my life and while I'm not going to go into anything specific, the amount of time\amount of focus I've had to write has been extremely limited. But I'm here now, most of of the things have gone away, I am more focused, and I have a shiny new device of my own for fiction writing, so things ssshhooulld speed up significantly. Should. Promises are not made(Reference, is it gotten? Fame, glory. A shinobi wishes not for these things.). ]

Anyway… Disclaimer! I do not own Naruto, or anything else referenced, quoted, or mentioned in this story, unless otherwise specified in my credits section at the end of each chapter. Oh, and any similarities to real life events, or persons are purely coincidental, unless I, in person, tell said persons\people-involved-with-events that it was intentional. At which point I would already have verbal\written permission to use them for fictional purposes. (Yes, I understand that this disclaimer is longer than average, but I like to have my bases covered. )

Beta: CuteCat213

Assisted by: Ziltoid

And now for Chapter 1 of Orphan's Wrath! "Hold onto your butts. " *1*

Mitarashi Anko could do nothing but stare, the burning remains of the village she called home falling apart around her. Nothing but stare in horror at the remains of both her house and those of her family. Her mother. Father. Brother.

She could do nothing as the cold, dead body of her precious little brother faced her with black, haunting eyes behind broken glasses, along with those of her parents. Eyes that silently blamed her for what happened. For not being there. For letting them die. 'Why?' they said. 'Why weren't you there? We needed you. You could have warned us. You could have saved us.'

She could do nothing as the eyes of her family tormented her in silence. Nothing but but weep. Weep in despair, torment, begging for the torment to end. But she could do nothing to bring them back. Nothing would appease them, alleviate her of their haunt. Nothing could.

She could only beg for the torment to stop, only beg their forgiveness. Beg them to tell her why they were doing this. As she began to black out from the sheer mental trauma, she could only say one thing. "Stop! Stop, Kabuto-niichan!"

Anko awoke with a start, startling the boy embracing her as well. But he did not release her. "Naruto-kun?" she asked, trying to pull out of the blonde's hold. "Why are you-"

"I could feel the malice around you, Kaa-chan. The same malice that always comes with your nightmares," he responded. "Did you forget that I can do that?"

Anko sighed, as the boy was dead-on. He let her out of the hug, offering a reassuring smile.

She too smiled, as she always did whenever she saw him truly smile. "Thank you."

Naruto's smile grew at those two words, the gratitude spoken more through Anko's eyes than what was actually said, and the appreciation spoken through his own.

Anko looked at her alarm clock. 5:42. 'Too late to go back to sleep,' she thought. She groaned, stretching in an effort to wake up. Naruto stood and walked to the door. Before he left the room, he looked over his shoulder.

"Remember that you leave for that mission to Nami no Kuni(Land of Waves) today. I packed your stuff and sealed it into a storage scroll, which is on the table," he said before shutting the door behind him. After the door was shut, the smile dropped. What Naruto hadn't told Anko was that the malice he sensed from her nightmares was different from that of average nightmares. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. 'Focus on breakfast now, consider possibilities of induced nightmares later, ' he thought.

Anko smiled as she got out of bed. Looking at the photo of her family on her dresser, she thought about her nightmare. How it wasn't untrue. But she shook her head, remembering what Naruto said when she first told him about the dreams. 'You might not have been able to save them, but that does not make what happened your fault. It was the Kyuubi no Yoko that killed your family. It was not your fault, Kaa-chan , believe it! ' She placed the picture face-down, because while she knew that what Naruto said was true, she still blamed herself.

"Kaa-chan! Breakfast!" The call of promised food woke both herself from her thoughts, and her stomach. Rushing to get dressed, Anko thought about how lucky she was.

Naruto and Anko were sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, both in their usual shinobi gear. Anko's gear consisted of fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs, a flack vest(what the chuunin and jounin wear), and a holster on her thigh with vials of various poisons. Naruto's gear consisted of an orange, long-sleeved shirt, black pants that were rolled up to end mid-shin, bandages around his lower legs, and black shinobi sandals. He also had a utility belt with scroll cases and a pouch on his back.

Anko gave Naruto a scroll. "Here, Naruto. Hokage-sama just got that to me last night. Remember that today is the Genin Exam. You don't have much time to get that thing down," Anko said.

"Yes, Okaa-san," Naruto replied, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Anko twitched an eyebrow. "What was that, gaki(brat)?"

Naruto responded by twitching a finger,a flash of... Wait, ninja wire? Anko's eyes widened before she disappeared, a stick from the wood pile in the corner appearing where she had been. But nothing else happened. Naruto burst out laughing, before falling off his chair.

Anko smiled because, while she was annoyed that she had fallen for the trick, she was proud that he had pulled it off. Naruto stood up, tears of mirth coming from his eyes, grinning like a madman. "I can't believe you fell for that! and, despite your age, I'm surprised that you moved that quickly."

Anko's smile vanished, replaced by a face that promised pain. Lots and lots of pain. "What was that? 'Despite your age', I believe is what you said? And why is my age an issue with how quickly I react?"

"It isn't, Okaa-san," the boy whimpered.

"Good. Now, I have to go. You better not give Iruka-san any issues while I'm gone."

Naruto shook his head. "No, Okaa-san. No issues."

Anko gave the blonde a suspicious glare, but couldn't keep it up for long. "Alright then. Before I go, just know this; you'll do fine. Now then, I'm gone." And she was, along with her tan trench coat that had been on the back of a chair.

Naruto sighed, slumping over in relief. 'Well, that's one crises avoided,' He thought as he finished his food and picked up his own scroll, dropping it into a case on his belt. As he walked out the door, he slipped into his jacket, but left it unzipped. It was black, short-sleeved, had a half-collar and a red Uzumaki symbol on the back(similar to what Sasuke wears pre-shippuden, but with a shorter collar. As opposed to what he wears in canon.).

Iruka stood waiting for his students to arrive, sharpening a kunai because he ended up being three hours early. A few minutes later, his surrogate brother walked into the classroom, surprising him. He never would have thought that Naruto would be someone to arrive at school 10 minutes early, much less three hours early. But what really took the cake was that when he sat down, he took out a scroll, opened it, and started reading. Naruto had come to school early and was studying.

Iruka smiled. 'Finally, something's gotten through that thick skull,' He thought, looking at his surrogate brother. Iruka walked up to Naruto, who looked over his shoulder at the chuunin.

"Since when do you come to class early? Or study, for that matter," Iruka asked.

The thoughtfulness in Naruto's face was replaced by a blank expression that would make a Hyuga envious. "Whatever could you be referring too, Iruka-Sensei?"

Iruka's brow furrowed. "OK, now I know something's up. What happened?"

Naruto sighed. "You're not letting this go, are you?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, I'm not. So you might as well te-"

Naruto's cut him off. "I'll explain after the Exams, for now just focus on those. I believe I'm up against Sasuke first in taijutsu. That should be the perfect time."

Iruka frowned some more, confused by the non-specific, cryptic explanation that brought confusion rather than understanding. "Well that explanation was all kinds of helpful, wasn't it?"

Naruto smiled. "You're welcome, Nii-Sensei."

Iruka shook his head, chuckling. "You enjoy pranks too much."

"Nu-uh, no such thing," came the immediate response.

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Really? Well, have fun getting out of your chair," he said before returning to his own seat.

Naruto just chuckled. Before Iruka sat, Naruto smirked at the glue-covered chair. That was now under Iruka's butt. And had been were Naruto was currently sitting a few minutes prior.

When Anko entered the office of Konohagakure's Hokage, she wasn't expecting anything specific. She was not, however, expecting to see him sitting in the corner of the room reading a little green book with a nose bleed.

"Hokage-sama? Jounin Mitarashi Anko, reporting for the recon. mission to Gatō Enterprises in Nami no Kuni."

The mighty Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, Sarutobi Hiruzen twitched, looking up at Anko with the face of a child whose hand had been caught in the cookie jar. Or that of a teenager with his hand down his pants.

Hiruzen Substituted with a scroll from his desk, and quickly hid the book in that desk. His back turned, he tried to maintain some minute amount of dignity. He failed, of course, but he tried.

"Ah, thank you. Your mission briefing is on the... desk. Wait, no. I'm sorry. It's on the floor in the corner. My apologies. Contained within are details about the specific crimes Gatō is suspected of and the kinds of evidence we need to prove those suspicions, as well as your cover story."

The kunoichi was still perplexed as to why the Hokage was sitting in the corner of his office, but then she remembered where she'd seen the book before. "Is Jiraiya-sama still sending you limited editions, then?"

Hiruzen remained silent, but it was quite obvious that he was blushing as his ears were red. A few moments later, a smirking, black-haired kunoichi left the office of a blushing Hokage.

As the prospective shinobi entered the classroom, Naruto watched his peers, looking for a certain someone. 'There!' He thought, spotting a flash of indigo. Before he could do anything, a girl clad in a tan coat and shinobi pants appeared.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun. "

Naruto smiled gently. "Good morning, Hinata-chan. I'm glad that you decided to take the Exams, after all. "

She blushed, but nodded all the same. She let out a squeak of surprise as Naruto suddenly rested his forehead against her's.

"Huh, no fever. Are you OK, Hinata-chan?"

"Hai(Yes). Arigato(Thanks), Naruto-kun. "

Naruto just laughed. "What?" She asked.

"Your face! Oh, it's priceless! " he said, mirthful tears coming from his eyes for a second time that morning.

"N-naruto-kun! I t-thought t-that I asked you to stop teasing me like that!" She exclaimed, indignant.

"Hai, you did. Gomen(Sorry), "he said, trying, and failing, not to laugh.

Hinata just pouted at him. "You know, one of these days someone will take exception to these pranks of yours, and I'm not gonna feel sorry for you. "

"H-hey, Hinata-chan! That's just mean!"

She looked away. "Hmph. It would be well deserved. "

"Ahg, why can't you two just kiss and be done with it?" A voice said from behind.

Naruto whirled to face the voice. "Ino!" He exclaimed with feigned surprise, having already known that she had been there. "Not to steal Shikamaru-san's line, but do you always have to show up at the most troublesome times?"

"N-Naruto-kun, she does have a point," Hinata spoke hesitantly.

Naruto turned to gawk at her. "Umm, Hinata-chan? You do realize what you're saying, right?"

She covered her mouth, covering the grin on her face before he could see it. "Hinata-chan?"

Not being able to hold it in any longer, Hinata burst out into hysterical laughter. Naruto's face just grew even more confused, making Ino join in Hinata's hysteria.

Then Naruto realized what, or, rather who they were laughing at, and grimaced with a "hmph".

"You guys are mean. "

"Heh, I keep telling you, Naruto-san. Women are too troublesome to bother with. "

Ino stopped laughing long enough to turn to Shikamaru and smile. "And I keep telling you that you won't always have that opinion. "

Shikamaru grimaced. "Yeah, you do. But it's way too troublesome to listen. "

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Shikamaru's eyes opened wide. "Oh, no. " And with that, Ino was dragging him to another desk.

Naruto shook his head, sorry for his friend, but thankful for getting him out of the torment of the two kunoichi. "Although, now that I think about it, you're right. "

Hinata turned to face him again. "Eh?"

Naruto grinned mischievously. "She does have a point. "

Hinata glared at him, a slight blush forming on her face, cheeks puffing out a bit.

"Alright. Alright," he said, in an attempt to placate her. "I'll stop. "

Iruka put his kunai away, getting ready to start the class. "Alright class, quiet down. Today we-" He broke off as he stood up, only to have the chair come with, attached to his butt.

The students of his class blinked at the sight before they, each and everyone of them, turned to look at Naruto. He looked up from the scroll he had gone back to reading.

"Don't look at me, he's the one who put the glue on the chair. I just swapped his original seat with that one. It's what happens when you try to prank Konoha's prank master." He went back to his scroll.

The class now turned to face their sensei."Yeah, he's telling the truth." The classroom full of prospective shinobi sweat-dropped at the sight of their sensei being defeated by the class's dead-last.

"Will Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, please step forward. "

Both boys stepped the ring, smirking in confidence.

"What are you grinning about?" Sasuke asked, falling into his taijutsu stance.

"You'll see. " was the response from Naruto, who just stood there.

Iruka looked at them, making sure they were both ready. "Begin!"

[A/N: So, yeah. Finally got this done, not sure when I'll have the next chapter up. . . So yeah. Comment, review, or otherwise let me know what you think. ]

First fiction that I recommend: The Honored Guest by Ziltoid, ID#10617730. It is fantastic and one of the first Naruto fan-fictions that I read.

Footnotes:

1. "Hold onto your butts." Samuel Jackson in the first Jurassic Park.