Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters or anything having to do with Naruto at all! I am not trying to steal or rip-off anything!
Warning: No audience below 18 please, at least in the first few chapters. Later on there could be a lemon? There probably will be!
Before you dive in, know this takes place after Naruto defeated Kakuzu and Kisame!
-Redterror
The Snake and the Fox
A cool breeze blew steadily in through the open window to the right of the hospital bed that Naruto lay on. Sun seared into his closed eyes, forcing him to squint and look away as the last dregs of grogginess receded from his laying form. A slight rubbing on his right arm caused Naruto to look down, only to see the pristine white of medical bandages firmly wrapped around his lower arm. A small groan of annoyance vibrated in his throat as he dramatically draped his uninjured arm over his forehead in exasperation.
'Oh come on are you kidding me!' Naruto thought frustratedly as he realized that this would greatly inhibit his ability to train and eat, 'I can't go around getting all banged up all the time! That new jutsu really took a lot out of me I guess I didn't fully realize how harmful it could be. As an added on annoyance, it pretty much drains almost all of my chakra! What good is it if I can't even use it more than about twice!?'
Naruto dejectedly put his head in his hands as the full realization about the inhibitions of his new awesome jutsu was. It wasn't a matter of he would not use it again, it was just that it only could be used about twice without fully draining his chakra, plus it seemingly would hurt him if he used it at close quarters combat. Sure, a shadow clone could be used in his place if the need for the new jutsu arouse, but that would take an awful lot of chakra to maintain both at the same time along with a few others to keep the Rasen-Shruiken going. All powerful things come at a cost, and this apparently was no exception.
Unknown to Naruto inhis currently dispirited demeanor and frustration, an unexpected guest had watched the whole thing. Starting from the reaction at seeing his bandaged arm and then slow decline into frustrated thoughts, Anko Mitarashi sat crouched on the end of the bed beside the blonde-haired ninja, watching the whole thing play out. The look on Naruto's face was a familiar one, a look of frustration, a look of not being good enough, a look of dejected failure. Anko had bourn that look on her own face long ago, and sometimes still found herself slipping into the clutches of depression about not being good enough, and the feeling of failure. She knew that failing in the eyes of her despicable ex-Sensei and mentor Orochimaru was a good thing seeing as how it cut off his evil influence, but at times she couldn't help but feel like a failure at being a good pupil.
The look on Naruto's foxlike face somewhat mirrored her thoughts as he dejectedly put his head in his hands.
'Well we can't have that now can we?' Anko thought to herself with a small sad inner smile.
"Hey brat I see you are finally awake, good, I brought you something." Anko shot out in her usual gruff tone of voice.
Startled out of his reverie Naruto looked up in surprise, only to further the reaction as the sight of Anko Mitarashi filled hisfield of vision. He hadn't seen her in quite some time, not since his exams on his way to becoming a ninja. She had scared him then as head director of the Forest of Death, and she still managed to extract a nervous reaction from his being as he grinned his usual stupid grin and replied, "Oh hey Anko-Sensei didn't see you there! Long time no see huh?"
Anko cracked a small grin herself as she replied sarcastically, "Yeah, what's it been? Three years almost? If I remember correctly you were a little loudmouthed whiny bitch the last time we meet, wonder if that still applies today?"
"Hey! I am not a loudmouthed whiny bitch!" Naruto shot back loudly shaking his uninjured fist at the woman before him failing to realize that he was embodying that exact description even as he argued against it.
"Uh-huh", Anko replied as she stepped down from her perch on the end of the bed frame adjacent to Naruto's own bed.
"Hey what do you even want Sensei? Where are Kakashi and Sakura? I would have thought that they would have come to see how I was doing." Naruto said deflatedly as he looked about and realized that Anko was the only other one in the room besides himself.
"Don't get the wrong idea you little twerp, they probably would be here but the Hokage sent them off on a few errands that will take a bit to accomplish. Plus they have to give a full run-down on the mission which you won't be able to assist in describing seeing as how you are hospital ridden at the current moment. So instead, I was sent to look after poor little Naruto in their place." Anko finished with a mocking expression on her face as she scrunched up her face as if she were talking to a little baby.
The blonde ninjas cheeks visibly reddened as he hotly replied "I don't need looking after, I'm perfectly fine! I should be with my team giving a run-down on the mission!" With the last word said Naruto quickly tried pulling the covers off of himself and swinging his legs to the side in order to stand and go and help his team describe the fight in which he had been injured.
"Not so fast there kid!" Anko said as her hand shot out and stopped Naruto from getting out of the bed. "You are in no condition to go skipping about the village doing whatever you want just yet as much as I wish you were. I am stuck here babysitting you for now as well so just deal with it. Plus, I don't think you are presentable to go before the Hokage anyway!" Anko finished with a sardonic grin on her face.
"Wha... What are you talking about?" Naruto replied uncomprehendingly scratching the top of his head with a confused expression on his face.
"Look down champ." Anko said, her grin widening on her face as Naruto realized what she meant.
"Oh sh- shit!" The comical foxlike ninja before her yelled out as he quickly scrambled to cover the lower half of his body from the woman before him. With all of his thoughts on his new jutsu and his team, Naruto hadn't quite realized that he was completely naked except for the bandages wrapping his right arm.
"Mmm took you awhile there brat. Wouldn't want the world exposed to that now would we?" Anko remarked as she chuckled to herself.
"Hey shut up! Why didn't you tell me before I decided to pull the covers off of myself?" Naruto replied sulkily.
"Didn't know they decided to leave you in your birthday suit you dork, and I thought your reaction was pretty good as well." Anko answered him with a small shake of her head.
"Eh whatever, you liked it anyway!" Naruto shot back, his usual comical grin spreading across his face once more and his good mood finally returning to him.
"Right, say anything like that again, and I will kill you, you little runt." Anko said good-naturedly.
'Even though she said it in what I thought was a joking demeanor, I am pretty sure she is serious! Oh man this is gonna come back and bite me in the butt! Curse my comical personality!' Naruto thought as he shot Anko a nervous grin.
"Man kid, do you ever stop smiling? Well anyway I am in charge of your ass until the Hokage decides to put someone else in my place, and that might just be for some time. Tsunade-Sama thought that it would be wise to have a guard with you at all times in case another of the Akatsuki teams decide to attack. We can't go and lose the Leaf's most sarcastic ninja now can we? So, it looks like we are stuck with each other." Anko finished with an exasperated sigh.
"I'm perfectly fine! I can handle myself, I mean, I did take out one of those Akatsuki members didn't I?" Naruto said angrily, "I'm not a kid anymore!"
"I never said that you can't take care of yourself but the Hokage's orders are the Hokage's orders so just deal with it okay? I don't want to be here
either you know." Anko replied annoyed.
Naruto sighed heavily, "Well shit, this is going to be a long stay."