This story is sort of an experiment for me to see if I can write in a different genre than I usually do, in this case being in the Naruto universe. Taking place some months after the current volume, vol.256, it assumes a successful rescue of Gaara, amongst other events. While mostly serious, there'll definitely be some humorous bits, and maybe a touch of romance if I can figure out the pairings correctly.
Chapter 1: An uninvited guest
A summer sun rose lazily over Konoha as a peaceful morning dragged on in the sticky heat. It was too early on in the season for the moisture of the spring rains to have dissipated, so the humidity in the air made clothes stick to skin, tempers rise as fast and as high as the heat, and many people stay indoors, clinging to the comfort of fans and air conditioning for those who had it. Anko however, was using the shade of one of the Fire Country's many trees as she took a break from sentry duty.
Not that it mattered much that she wasn't currently on the lookout for invaders, there had been no incidents for three straight weeks. But because of this fact, the raven-haired kunoichi was growing steadily more and more restless, and the heat and sweat certainly weren't helping. She had been having the time of her life during the operation to rescue Gaara from Akatsuki, but since the Kazekage was returned to Sunagakure, life had returned to 'normal', meaning rotation of missions between shinobi and of course, sentry duty.
Even a single day mission would've been ten times greater than an hour of sentry duty in Anko's terms, but she had found an efficient way of keeping her calm while on patrol. Dango. Her favorite snack was all that was keeping her nerves from fraying further, as she popped another of the dumplings into her mouth and chewed, slowly gazing around the forest. Yet all she could see were sunbeams shining through the trees, squirrels darting about, and the chirping of birds and incessant buzzing of cicadas were the only sounds that were readily apparent. Without a breeze, even the leaves were still.
Unfortunately that also meant that even her ordinarily light mesh bodysuit, jacket, and short skirt did little to alleviate overheating. She had removed the small jacket an hour earlier, as it prevented venting from her back and arms, but kept the skirt on as she didn't want to totally reveal her entire body. Though not exactly fishnet, the mesh left little to the imagination. It was a blessing though when it meant keeping cool. Anko pretended that she cared little for modesty, but in truth she had just wore the mesh for its shock value, and her jacket was hooked onto the mesh to prevent people from catching an eyeful. But there was nobody to shock out here, even if her chest was largely exposed with the jacket removed.
"Could this day get any more boring?" she thought to herself as she finished off the skewer of dango and expertly threw the wooden shaft to the tree where she had been assembling a leaf symbol, as she was wont to do when she had nothing else to focus on. If it could keep her sane during the chuunin exams, it could suffice here. Observing the array of skewers, she counted only five more to complete the leaf. She stretched out her hand to the platter of dango to get another skewer, but her fingernails clacked on empty ceramic.
"What the hell!" she wondered, coming alert in a second. Whipping her eyes to the platter, she confirmed that all five remaining dango skewers were missing. Staring in incredulity at the sight, a vein popped out on her forehead. How DARE someone steal her food? Her blood blazed hotter than the summer heat at the insult. Quickly sniffing the air, she confirmed the scent of dango trailing off into the forest behind her. With a spring, she was after the food thief.
As she leapt from branch to branch, names flickered through her mind as she gritted her teeth in anger. "Who was it this time? Genma? Kakashi? Gai!" She could think of nobody apart from those three aside from Jiraiya, who she didn't want to have to take on, considering what had happened the last time she had tried to assault him for robbing her of her ramen bowl at Ichiraku. Though she didn't mind occasionally indulging Genma's wandering hands, in the ero-sennin's case it had taken three days of showering to get the feel of his hands off her.
But this time, something was different. Gai would have appeared at this time to lecture her on her inattentiveness, Genma would be waiting to try and extort a kiss out of her in exchange for her food, and Kakashi would have left all five sticks standing upright on a tree just to taunt her. But none of them were in sight. Then she caught sight of a skewer embedded in the ground off to her right. Noting it but moving on after the scent of the dango, she soon spied another skewer further off to the right.
Her lips parted in a smirk as she raced on. This person was smart, throwing the skewers off into the distance so it would seem as if they were dropping them as they ate and ran, so to speak, but the dango scent was diverting in a different direction. Amusement replaced anger as she realized that this was far more interesting than sentry duty, and her ever-present thirst for adventure might actually be satisfied for once. Putting on greater speed, she raced towards the smell, ignoring the third and fourth skewers. Suddenly the scent disappeared.
"Dammit", she cursed mentally. The thief had caught on and erased the scent of the food after he…or she was finished eating, as she caught the final skewer out of the corner of her eye resting a few dozen feet away. But thanks to the calm air, she could hear the rustle of leaves up ahead as the motion of the thief set them shaking. "I'll get you sooner or later, buddy, and when I do…" she mused as she increased her pace.
As she leapt to the next tree, she caught sight of the Konoha walls up ahead. It figured the thief would probably race into the gate then disappear into the crowd. But as she got closer, she recognized the section of the wall the now visible figure of the thief was heading towards. "That fool, there's no gate anywhere near there!" she thought to herself, snorting derisively. But as they neared the tree line, the thief did something unexpected.
Leaping out into the clear space between the forest and the wall, the dango-stealer transformed into a cloud and drifted upwards. Reaching the spot where he/she had last touched bark, Anko stopped and stared upwards at the spectacle. It was then that she realized that this was no Leaf shinobi that had nicked her snack. "Cloud Jounin!" flashed through her mind as she recognized the jutsu. She had fought against Cloud in the war following the conflict with Rock almost a decade ago, and had seen it in action, but never like this. It worked by allowing the shinobi to drift in real or created clouds by splaying out chakra in all directions and float or hover like a kite through the heavier air and water particles. She had heard that jounin of Kumogakure could fly for short distances by manipulating the cloud while hovering, but had never seen it in action until today. It was meant as an escape and infiltration jutsu, and she didn't need to guess which use it was being employed as in this case.
Wasting no time, she leapt to the ground and raced across the gap to the wall and then headed straight up the wall, carefully applying chakra to her feet to climb swiftly. But by the time she reached the top of the wall, the cloud was already a third across the city. Leaping down to the wall to alert the nearest sentry, she was surprised to find nobody in sight. "That's right, the heat would keep all of them inside the guardhouses," she thought to herself as she panted from the effort, the heat now getting to her since she was out in the open. Ignoring it, she sprung out onto the roof of the nearest building and headed in the direction of the cloud.
As she jumped from roof to roof, she wondered why an alarm wasn't being raised, but then cursed as she realized that the cloud would look like any other cloud to a casual observer, as there were many puffy clouds filling the sky, and only an observer on level with the cloud, or at least higher than the street would realize that it was far too low. As she leapt onto a nearby railing, she surprised a flower watering Kurenai. Startled, the white-wrapped kunoichi recoiled from seeing Anko slam onto the railing, nearly toppling her beloved potted plants to the street below. Moreover, she realized that the younger shinobi wasn't wearing her jacket, and was covered in sweat.
Sighing in relief, Anko blurted out to the genjutsu user, "At last, another Leaf, there's a Cloud Jounin in the village, sound the alarm!" The response that she got surprised her. Tilting her head to the side, Kurenai asked, "What on earth are you doing, Anko, running about in only your bodysuit and ahem skirt? Regardless of the heat, cover up, will you? And what's this nonsense about a Cloud?" Anko looked to her left only to see the cloud had disappeared over the next building while she had paused to alert the unappreciative Kurenai. "Dammit, I'm serious! They're using the floating cloud jutsu and are heading into the heart of the city! I don't have the time to argue, I'll try and cut them off, you just get any jounin you can together and join me!" Anko explained hurriedly, and then leapt off after the cloud, shaking her head in irritation. Staring after the brash young woman, Kurenai shook her head and readjusted her pots, thinking, "Good lord, the heat and sentry duty have finally driven Anko insane! Not that she wasn't already…"
Catching sight of the cloud again, Anko realized that the enemy ninja was headed directly to the Hokage's office. This alleviated her anxiety only by a little bit. She was sure that Tsunade could handle any average jounin with ease, but a single ninja heading into the Fire Country leader's office smacked of assassination. She was surprised that she was so perturbed about this, her heart was thundering in her chest as she bounded over the rooftops towards Tsunade's office. Unfortunately, she wouldn't make it before the Cloud shinobi did.
Still two minutes away, she saw the cloud drift into the office window, and cursed her slowness. Giving it all she had, she raced through the courtyard, past surprised visiting clients and leaf ninja, and leapt up the four stories to the top level where she had seen the ninja disappear. Yet as she got close, instead of the sound of battle, she heard quiet talking. Screeching to a halt on the slanted roof, everything she had suspected about the enemy ninja got turned on its head. Sneaking over to the window, she poked her head in, curiosity replacing fear and anger. Seated at her desk was Tsunade herself, talking calmly to a tall, powerfully built young man with his back turned towards the window. From the lack of other people in the office, this man had to be the Jounin Anko had been chasing.
From what she could see from where she stood, the man couldn't be much older than she was, and was dressed rather inappropriately for the weather, wearing the usual long black pants of a shinobi, a black sleeveless cloth jacket with a furred collar and two stylized lightning bolts on the back, two metal armguards and leather boots with odd clawed heels. His upper arms were left bare, and were large and well-muscled, slicked with sweat from the effort to get here. Tracing her eyes up to his head, she could see spiky coal-black hair jutting out over what looked like a headband. Given another time and place, she might've let her gaze linger over the contours of his toned body, but the only thing that stood out to her was that he was massively built, six foot two at least, and probably over two hundred pounds. Though Anko knew next to nothing about his skills, that he possessed such a body spoke of extreme physical power, like the Akimichi clan of Konoha.
A cough from the Hokage drew her eyes back to Tsunade. The Godaime had a look of regret mixed with amusement on her face, and listening carefully, she heard the sannin reply to something the man had said, "I'm sorry, but my answer is still no. Figure it out yourself. I'm grateful that you're trying to make amends, but such a jutsu is mine alone, and a man of your talents should be able to find a way without my help, right?" The last few words were tinged with a soft tone that Anko couldn't place, butit sounded somewhat bitter. The man then spoke in a deep rumbling voice, like a far-off storm gathering, "Are you sure you won't change your mind? We both stand to benefit if I succeed, if not the whole world. If it'llhelp to persuade you,I have information that may prove very helpful to Konoha in the next few days…"
But Tsunade got an impudent grin on her face and remarked, "Whatever it is, it can wait. Thanks for the incense for Nawaki and Dan, but I've never been easy to charm. If this information can wait, it should, for I don't feel like talking anymore. It's the heat, you understand. Try tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be cooler." The man chuckled softly, shaking his head, and muttered under his breath, "Like trying to squeeze water from a stone…Oh well, there are other people who will listen, and besides, she's got a point about the heat…" He then turned to leave, and Anko had to flatten herself on the roof to avoid being spotted, though the hot tiles burned the sensitive skin on her chest.
The cloud floated out of the wind again and headed off into the forest. Popping up inside the window frame, Anko crouched on the pane and asked the older woman, "Who the hell was that?" Tsunade lost her grin, and that same bemused look came over her face, looking somewhat saddened. "An old friend trying to make amends," she murmured, not to Anko in particular. Anko had never seen Tsunade like this, and that this man could bring out this much emotion in her leader was disturbing. Gently, she tried probing further with a question, "So what were you two talking about? What did he want in exchange for his info?" Jerking slightly, Tsunade gave a significant look to Anko, and responded scathingly, "That's none of your business, Mitarashi. And what were you doing listening in on your superior's conversation?" Boy, did Anko recognize that look.
Excusing herself, she leapt off the window sill feeling embarrassed. By now she was absolutely drenched in sweat, dizzy from the heat, her chest was probably burned, and now she was being berated by the Hokage. Anger flooded back into her frame as a desire for revenge filled her. Her day had been absolutely ruined by this one man, and she wasn't going to stop until she had gotten her fill of kicking his ass! Catching sight of the cloud, she ran after it, determination etched across her face, her teeth bared in a grimace.
She finally caught up to him a mile out into the forest as he prepared to leap across a chasm. "Stop right there, you bastard!" she shouted at the Cloud, coming to a halt on a tree branch not twenty feet from him, her hands going to her kunai holder at her waist. The shinobi slowly turned his head towards her, and as his face came into view, Anko couldn't help but gasp. What she had taken for a headband earlier was actually part of a half-mask that covered the top portion of his face, leaving only his mouth, hair, and jaw uncovered. What she could see of his face was covered in a short-trimmed beard, and the shape of his mouth would be attractive under other circumstances, but beneath the mask the effect was creepy. The white mask was reminiscent of the ANBU masks, but looked totally different from any she had seen before.
The cloud symbol was clearly etched in the forehead of the mask, with painted lightning bolts streaking down from the temples, cloud-like whorls on the cheeks, and smoke-like swirls coming from the nostrils in the mask. The eye-holes were cut to resemble slender, almond-shaped eyes, arching up at the tips, resembling mist hunter-nin's masks. From this angle she couldn't see into them, and the black stare was unnerving. Then, surprisingly, the man's lips curled into a smile and he asked, "So, how long are you going to keep following me like a lost puppy? I'm not certain my parents will let me keep you, they're not keen on pets."
For once in her life, Anko was rendered speechless, if for just a moment. "What?" she screeched indignantly, hurling a burst of kunai at the Cloud. Nonchalantly, he blocked them with an armguard, and eased himself into a comfortable position to look at her. Feeling his gaze on her, Anko found herself covering her chest as she became conscious of the lack of her jacket. Finally, he said, "Not too bad, definitely a better outfit for the weather than mine. Still, I think you'd better just go back and get something cool to drink. I came here peacefully, and I intend to leave the same way, and get something wet myself. I'd offer for you to join me, but you look rather…heated, pardon the pun." Again, Anko could scarcely believe her ears. Though she had expected him to act like a lecher, he actually had the nerve to sound concerned!
"As if I'll let you go that easily!" she growled, and leapt over to where he sat on the branch of the tree. "Shadow Snake Hand!" Snakes seemed to sprout from her arms as she attempted to latch onto him, but all the serpents ensnared was air as the cloud leapt away in a flash. She hadn't expected him to move that fast with his relaxed air, but she wasn't going to underestimate him again. Tracking her eyes quickly, she spotted him on another tree branch a distance away swiftly making seals. Preparing herself for whatever ninjutsu he was going to launch, she made ready to dodge, but instead darkness cascaded around her as he instead unleashed a genjutsu.
She found herself standing shakily atop a bamboo pole suspended over a field of endless kunai knives all pointed upwards, with blackness all around her. She snorted as she righted herself. "Kai!" With careful concentration she uttered the release word and banished the illusion. "Field of a Million Knives…not bad, but useless against a Leaf Jounin!" she boasted, coming out of the spell, but realized that her words were scattered to empty air. He hadn't intended to ensnare her at all, it was a delaying tactic!
More furious than ever, she fumed with rage as she realized she couldn't hear or see him anymore. Using her nose, she felt pleased when she caught his scent coming from not as far away as she had feared, he was sweating far too much with his clothes more suited to Cloud country rather than Konoha. After a few minutes, she caught sight of his back again. Since she wasn't making any attempt to be quiet, he caught notice of her and stopped, muttering, "Persistent, eh?" As she dashed towards him, she caught him making more seals. Ready for another genjutsu, she wasn't disappointed as again she was surrounded by blackness, but this time she was tied from head to toe with burning ropes. "Kai!" she yelled again, and the genjutsu, "Blazing Bonds", cleared. Preparing to go after him again, she suddenly realized she couldn't move. Looking down, she realized why, and cursed. He really had tied her up in the time it had taken to break the genjutsu!
A quick glance told her that he was nowhere near her location. "Goddamn you!" she shrieked after him, but only the hum of cicadas answered her. She managed to free herself after half an hour of wriggling, scratching with finger nails and eventually the edge of a kunai, but it was far too late to catch him. Sighing, she realized she was really going to get it from Ibiki for letting an enemy ninja slip away this easily. She made her way back to the village, feeling extremely tired, hot, and thirsty. Ibiki was in the strategic planning room of the Leaf shinobi headquarters, examining a map.
The scarred jounin interrogator turned around and glanced at her flushed face, reddened body, and disarrayed clothing and grumbled in amusement, "What happened to you, get your ass kicked for mouthing off again?" What little of a smile that he had faded as Anko explained what had happened, ending with how he had used two advanced genjutsu to escape. Rather than hollering for ANBU, he unexpectedly lifted her forehead protector and removed a glove to lay the back of his hand against her forehead. Nodding as if in confirmation of something he had expected, he growled to her, "Heatstroke. For mercy's sake woman, I've told you time and again that you shouldn't stay stationary while on sentry duty in this heat, you're hallucinating. Get yourself to the hospital, double-time, and stay off duty for a few days, somewhere cool, like your flat. You're no use to me if you chase phantoms." His voice was softer than it usually was during his usual berating of her mess-ups, and he actually looked worried about her.
"Why won't anyone take me seriously!" Anko screamed as she left the room. Then she remembered what she had overheard in Tsunade's office. He was going to come back tomorrow. Then she would have her chance. Smiling faintly, Anko made her way to the hospital, but halfway there she realized how dizzy she was from the heat. Her throat felt like it hadn't touched water in a year; it was as dry as any of the deserts in Sand. The ground seemed to shimmer in the afternoon heat as she swayed unsteadily, and then fell to the ground.
Please feel free to comment/review, I'll continue the story if the initial response is good, or at the very least interested. If requested, I will provide my current pairings layout for those who are interested in a forenote in the next chapter.