authors note: sorry in advance for the poorly written sentence structure and grammar, feel free to correct me.
In one of the great five countries, in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a boy could be found running. He was being chased by a drunken, angry mob. It was his fifth birthday.
Naruto Uzumaki had been beaten down and stomped on his whole life. The orphanage that he lived at would always find some little fault in him as a reason why he should be kicked outside for the night. None of the stores that he has been to would sell their products to him. And everywhere he walked, there would be whispers as people glared at him with resentful and hateful eyes.
Running into a dark, narrow alleyway, Naruto tried to blend in with the shadows. Behind him were angry shouts of confusion. Using it as his opportunity, Naruto sped up his pace and was soon out of sight.
Once he was sure that no one was following him, he began to take in his surroundings.
He was he at the edge of what he guessed was a fenced-in forest. Taking in a quick look behind his back to make sure that no one had somehow caught up, Naruto tried to feel for any ill intent, bloodlust, or anything else of the sort. It was a sad thought, but even at such a young age, he had been exposed to enough bloodlust and ill intent to notice even the smallest traces when he concentrated. When he didn't feel anything, he continued his trek into the forest.
Nimble fingers wrapping around the chained fence, he began to scale it. As he was reaching the top, his footing slipped and he snagged his left hand. Ignoring the impulse to yelp in surprise, his grip on the fence tightened as found his footing again. Reaching the top, he jumped off.
Walking inside the forest Naruto had only one thought, Creepy. He repressed the urge to shiver. The forest was dark and dank. And all of the trees seemed to be twisted and knotted like the types of trees that you hear about in ghost stories. And was it his imagination, or were there eyes that seemed to glow in the dark as they watched him.
Naruto growled and told himself to quit being a whiney baby before. It was imperative that he found a new place to live, he hated the Orphanage and their matron. It also seemed like no one had been here recently, which was a plus because people seemed to strongly dislike him. On the minus side, the fact that no one had been within the forest for a while helped paint a mental picture on what the forest was like.
"Oh well, what's an adventure without a little danger?" Naruto exclaimed, trying to calm his frazzled nerves.
After several hours of walking/scouting the area, Naruto decided to sit down on a decaying log to rest a bit. Suddenly, a sound like a strangled hiss emitted from a shrub next to his foot.
Taking a closer look, the young jinjuriki found a viper caught in what seemed like a painful trap.
Suddenly guarded, he took a step back to distance himself from the poisonous creature. But, looking at the trap it got itself caught in, and hearing its pained hisses, Naruto felt his face slowly relaxing.
Whispering small encouragements, he eased his way closer to the snake. It wouldn't do him any good if he suddenly jumped in to free the snake and got bitten because he startled it.
"This may seem weird that I'm talking to a snake, but I'm sure stranger things have happened before."
Hissss.
Almost there.
"I wonder if animals like yourself can understand what we humans say."
Hissss.
Got it!
Carefully stepping away, Naruto watched as the snake started to slither on the ground, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"What the hell…?" The blond boy muttered in puzzlement.
Anko was busy training in her favorite place, training ground 44, aka the forest of death. She had set one of her snake summons to scout the land for potentially dangerous wildlife and the occasional jounin-level trap that would leave her with a longer hospital stay than she was comfortable with.
Maybe I shouldn't have called that certain jounin scout a bunch of pansies and pervs that needed to go fuck themselves, she mused.
Suddenly, she felt her summon disappear and saw images of a young boy in the western district of the forest.
"Why the hell is there some gaki in the forest?" she demanded to no one in particular, "Damn brats ruining my fun." And with that, she was off to potentially kill the boy who was stupid enough to enter this forest.
When she got to the place where she had seen the brat, she was pleasantly surprised to find out that she couldn't see him no matter how hard she looked.
"Come out from those bushes, I might not see you, but it's an insult to my skills if you honestly believe that I wouldn't be able to sense you." When Anko didn't see any movement that indicated the child was going to leave his hiding spot, she sighed and started walking towards it, "Gaki, we can do this one of two ways. Either you come out and we have a nice, pleasant talk on why you were in this forest. Or I drag you out by the ear and force you to talk; and when that happens, there is always the possibilities that one of my snakes will bite you."
A rustle from behind leaves. Naruto began walking towards the stranger, caution written all over his face.
Anko felt her eyes widen, "You're…"
Gathering his courage, Naruto stood up straight and looked her dead in the eyes, "What do you want with me?"
"I want to know why you were in this forest."
Anko examined the boy who began to blush in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that I wasn't allowed here."
"Liar, you would have to scale a fence to get in. Tell me the truth."
"I was running away."
Anko felt her eyes narrow, "Running away from what exactly?" The blond child in front of her pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, "Just some of the villagers. I really don't see how any of this is your business!" Her eye twitched in irritation, "Shut the hell up! No one asked for your annoyingly obnoxious voice to become so loud!" The boy made a small sound in the back of his throat as he quickly distanced himself from her.
Anko felt herself sigh. She took a step towards the boy who looked ready to bolt, "Relax, kid. I'm not gonna hurt you." She felt a dark grin spread across her face, "That is, unless you annoy me for some reason." She watched in amusement as Blondie's face turned seven shades paler.
"Naruto."
"Hm?"
"That's my name. What is yours, nin-san?"
"Anko. Now come on and follow me."
"Where are we going, Anko-chan?" Anko sweat dropped. "'A-Anko-chan' already? Isn't that a little familiar? I mean, you just learned my name." Naruto gave her a bright grin, "Not at all! Nobody gives me their name to get familiar with so I guess that it is something that you somehow earn from them. Since you gave me your name, that must mean something, right?"
For once, the kunoichi was stunned into silence. A small smile graced her lips, "I guess you're right, Naruto."
Naruto's entire face lit up at the sound of his name being spoken aloud as he gave her the brightest smile that Anko had ever seen, "Believe it, dattebayo!"
"Oh, before I forget, we're going to a place in the forest where I'm camping out. But it's going to be a long walk for those cute little legs of yours, so I don't wanna hear you complain since I already gave you a fair warning!" She eyed the boy critically as he mock-saluted her, "Yes, ma'am!" "Great to know that we are on the same page, so shut up and don't fall behind because I'm not going to slow down just for you."
Of course, Anko had slowed her pace, but she kept it where the kid constantly struggled to keep up. Not that she would admit it to anyone, but she was proud of how Naruto had seemed to toughen up and had yet to ask for a break, even though she knew that he would have to have been exhausted by then. His determination to keep up with her was also admirable.
He was the type of person that she would be proud to be in the shinobi ranks with. Many of the newer academy graduates, gennins, and even chunins seemed to have a belief that they deserved some sort of comfort on missions. They are lazy in their skills and they want to be a shinobi only for the status. On dangerous missions, with people more than likely stronger than you when it comes to something such as taijutsu or ninjutsu, you have to use your wits, resources, and strengths to either beat your opponent or at least contain them. Ninjas like those were incompetent and more likely to die. Things like breaks were a thing that shinobi don't get to have on missions unless it was absolutely called for.
At long last, they were nearing the camping site. "Looks like you can finally sit down and take a break, were finally here." Naruto took the moment of inactivity to place his hands on his knees as he was left panting for breath, "Nah, don't gasp worry about it. Coming here was a gasp piece of cake dattebayo!"
Anko, a little breathless herself, softly chuckled, "Tell me that when you're not breathing irregularly." Naruto huffed, but nevertheless complied. Sitting down on a log nearby, he looked up and inquired, "What do we do now, Anko-chan?"
Anko tilted her head in acknowledgement to his question. Truth be told, she wasn't sure herself. She was planning on having him spend the night with her, but then what would happen in the morning? Would she send him back into the clutches of the villagers that seem to despise him? But what choice did she even have? Could her job as a jounin even allow her to be around him enough so that it actually mattered?
Another question occurred to her: why did she even care?
Why did she? Sure, she could understand his pain of being ostracized by the village. But was that truly enough to care about someone? She just met him that day, so how did she somehow feel the need to protect him? Why him of all people? She's been through plenty of missions where she met children just like him; sweet, pathetic children who were starving for love. Yet her heart didn't tug the way it tugged when she saw him all alone.
It was his smile, she realized.
That bright, lovely smile that still had all of its innocence despite what cruelty was thrown at it.
She wanted to protect that smile.
By God, did she want to protect it.
"Anko-chan?"
She snapped out of her thoughts, "Yes Naruto?" "You were spacing out. And you still have yet to answer my question. Are you ok?"
Anko flushed in embarrassment, "Yeah, I was lost in thought, sorry. Well, you're going to spend the night with me here since I can't just leave you here by yourself in this particular forest. And I guess we'll decide what to do with ya once morning comes."
Narita nodded in agreement, "Ok."
Anko felt curiosity gnawing at her insides, "Naruto, do you ever think that you would be interested in becoming a fellow shinobi?"
Instantly his entire face lit up and Anko braced herself for the excessively loud shouting that was bound to happen, "OF COURSE, DATTEBAYO!" Wincing at the noise level, she glowered at Naruto, "What did I tell you about your voice level?! Shut up before you give me an unwanted headache!" Naruto thankfully listened to her and looked properly mollified, trying to compose himself to keep himself calm, "Sorry, dattebayo."
Anko sighed, "It's fine, just remember to keep your voice more level. I already have enough shouting coming from Gai. Constantly shouting about the 'springtime of youth' and other crap." Naruto made a face, "He sounds weird." She laughed, "That's putting it mildly."
Naruto gave a small smile, curling himself up in a ball, "Yeah, being a shinobi sounds amazing."
Anko turned her gaze towards the boy, "Why do you want to become a shinobi so badly?"
"My dream is to become the Hokage one day, so I can finally earn the respect and trust of the village I love. If I become a Hokage better than all previous Kage, then everyone will look up to me!" The fire in his eyes dimmed somewhat and Anko felt a sickening feeling develop in her stomach, "Unfortunately, I can't become Hokage if they don't even allow me into the academy. Knowing them, they'd probably make my test harder to make sure I don't pass because I have a civilian child's knowledge on the shinobi world so it would be harder than if I was from a clan."
Anko scowled and smacked Naruto across the back of his head. Said child yelped in surprise before quietly whining, gingerly rubbing the lump that was beginning to form, "Anko-chan, what was that for?"
"Just who the hell do you think you are?!"
Naruto promptly sat up straight, eyes wide in surprise, mouth hung open.
"How dare you?!" Anko continued her rant, "Giving up before you even get to the starting line! I didn't realize this batch of shinobi coming up were so pathetic! Sure, getting in might be more difficult for you than for others. But you would never know if you would be able to get in if you don't try your hardest! 'I have a civilian child's knowledge on the shinobi world'? At least try to come up with better excuses! If you don't know something, you try your damned hardest to learn about it so you're not left behind! Have you ever thought of asking me something? I'm a kunoichi and I'm proud of it! I'd be a horrible teacher and I don't want to become one, but I can at least answer any questions that you might have!"
"Anko-chan… you're right, I'm sorry. Thank you, I wasn't feeling like myself just then." He gave her another heart-wrenchingly beautiful smile, clenching his right hand and placing it over his chest right above his beating heart. "Don't worry, I'm back to my old self again! And I promise you on my life that I will become a ninja the village can be proud of! I never go back on my promises, that is my ninja way, dattebayo!"
By now he was jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect of becoming a shinobi.
Anko chuckled, "You better. I said that I wouldn't be your teacher and I stand by my word, but that doesn't mean that I won't give you lessons if the ideal situation arises. Starting now!" Clasping her hands together, she inwardly giggled at the surprised expression on Naruto's face; he was just so adorable sometimes.
"Now? Anko-chan, what exactly am I going to learn? And how?"
Anko groaned, "Enough with the questions, you'll understand soon enough. Now, follow me." And with that, she was off. Naruto stared at her retreating figure dubiously for a moment, before he relented and silently followed after her.
About five minutes into their run (Anko thought it'd be best to take advantage of Naruto's stamina to get him used to constantly being active on missions) they reached a small stream. Stepping up until she was right at the edge of the stream, Anko turned around and faced Naruto, hands on her hips in a sort of 'pay attention' manner. "Listen up Squirt, this here is an important lesson. Hell, all lessons that I'm going to teach you are going to be important, so you need to remember them."
Naruto pouted at being called 'Squirt' but nevertheless gave her his undivided attention.
Taking out several kunai, she tossed them to Naruto one at a time. Scowling as he nicked himself on the last catch, he asked, "Anko-chan, what am I going to do with these?" A large grin spread across Anko's face, "Why, hunting of course!"