This is a pet project of the kik chat I made for Trust By My Side. We had been kicking the idea around for this for a while so I thought I would get it started.
This first chapter is going to be long as it needs to be so I don't have to put any spoilers here and people don't have to get a few chapters in to get a feel for how the story will go. I prefer to keep a 5k word average for chapter length.
This will be on ongoing story not a one-shot.
I'm just going to get straight to the story so here is Fox Hunt
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Naruto Uzumaki, age five. The day he had feared had finally come. The orphanage had planned to sell him out to a mob waiting outside the orphanage on his fifth birthday. He got a head start by climbing out a window and running for the forest.
He managed to make it to the forested training grounds but they were still chasing him. He thought he was going to be caught before hand reached out and grabbed him, pulling him behind a tree.
"No, don't hurt me." Naruto screamed before a hand shot over his mouth. "Shut the fuck up gaki unless you want them to find you." A strong feminine voice whispered in his ear.
Naruto continued to struggle but kept quiet in doing so. The woman holding him suddenly pulled him up high into the tree they were hiding behind as soon as a group of civilians ran past where they were.
Naruto stopped struggling when he saw them run past as he fully realized that this woman was trying to protect him. He tried to turn and see who she was but her hand was firmly over his mouth and he could not.
It was a full minute later that the woman lowered her hand and dropped Naruto off back on the ground. He turned around to see a young woman with spiky violet hair pulled into a short, fanned-ponytail.
She was wearing a sleeveless black top cut off at her midriff and a very short black skirt. She had shinobi mesh covering her otherwise exposed stomach, knees and elbows. She also had black shinobi sandals, black fingerless gloves and a kunai pouch wrapped to her right thigh.
Anko looked down at the kid she just saved from an angry mob. He had rather bright blue eyes, a goofy grin and cute little whiskers. He was absolutely scrawny and didn't look like he could hurt a fly let alone stir up an angry mob.
"Thanks for saving me." Naruto said, his voice making him sound as if he wanted to know her name. "Don't worry about it gaki. The names Anko by the way." Anko said. "Thanks Anko-san, I'm Naruto." He replied.
"Gaki, what exactly did you do to piss off all those civilians?" Anko asked him. "I was born." Naruto said sadly turning his head to the ground.
"What do you mean you were born?" Anko asked once more. "Today is my fifth birthday. When they found out. They chased me and tried to hurt me." Was his reply.
Anko stood there puzzled for a bit but then everything started to click. 'The Kyuubi attacked five years ago today. They must see him as a bad omen because of the day he was born. Damn, what a shit hand to be dealt.' She thought.
"Gaki, you have the worst birthday ever you know that?" Anko asked sarcastically. Naruto just dropped his head even lower and sighed.
"Gaki, you gotta quit that depressed shit. Life gave you a shit hand so why don't you just tell me about it and we will see how many people we need to kill to make it better. Sound good?" Anko asked while she thought of the best way to kill off some civilians for harming such a defenseless boy because of circumstances beyond his control.
Naruto sat down and started to go through what he had gone through in the orphanage. Naruto had been beaten, bloodied, starved, ignored, and even caged. That was only in the orphanage.
In the village, people threw rotten food or rocks at him as he walked by. They would trip him and sometimes pull him into an alley to beat him. He had once found himself in the hospital with most of his bones broken. He had been in a coma for a month.
It had taken even longer to get out because some of the nurses would break his arms and legs saying he was trying to push himself and it was his fault. That led to them tying him down to the bed.
They would inject him with anything they could to try and kill him off painfully. One nurse had injected water into one of his lungs. The pain pulled him back into a coma.
Anko was about to level half the village at what she was hearing. The only thing that kept her from making the roads run red with blood was her curiosity how the hell the kid was still alive. A small child having multiple broken bones could have easily killed him but filling a lung with water.
There was no way he could have survived that. He had said he went back into a coma so he should have drowned.
"Gaki, did you ever realize you are probably the luckiest person to be alive at this point?" Anko asked, not worrying about how that would affect him.
"I suppose. I don't feel lucky though. Everyone hates me and constantly are trying to hurt me." Naruto whined. "Gaki, they are trying to kill you, not hurt you." Anko said bluntly.
Naruto just nodded sadly. He was still young and barely understood the concept of death but he knew enough. He was deluding himself thinking they were just hurting him. He really didn't want to think any worse of the people of the village.
"Damn gaki, I didn't think I could find someone more hated than me. Then again, I would gut anyone that tried to harass me." Anko mused. "How well did that work?" Naruto asked.
"Well the civilians fear me but the shinobi hardly trust me at all. Overall not a great trade but enough people trust me so I can't complain." Anko replied.
"Does it get any easier?" Naruto asked, looking up at Anko as if searching for the answer he needed to continue. "A little yes. It never really goes away. Trust is a finicky thing. Once someone has a reason to not trust you, they never really seem to trust you again." Anko said quietly.
Naruto sat down and pulled his knees into his chest. "What am I going to do until it gets better?" Naruto asked himself. Anko looked down at the blond kid breaking down next to her.
She wasn't exactly a touchy feely kind of person. She had iced her heart over while she was under Orochimaru. But seeing a kid going through pain that was so close to what she had gone through was heart wrenching. The pain of constantly looking over your back was nearly enough for her to go crazy, and she had been trained as a shinobi.
This kid had been rather interesting to her and would be fun to spite the village even more by helping him out. "Well gaki, its getting pretty late and you need to go home. The villagers would have quit searching for you so it should be safe enough for you to head back." Anko said.
"I can't. The orphanage sold me to the village. I can't go back now." Naruto lamented. Anko took a moment and remembered he had told her that. She kind of forgot after hearing all of the crap the village did to him.
Anko was a bit torn. She wasn't about to give the village someone else to push their hatred onto. She also couldn't take her home with her. That was kidnapping and her roommate would be pissed at her.
She realized just because she couldn't take him home with her, didn't mean she couldn't take him to her home away from home.
"All right gaki, stand up. I am not about to let the village harass you like they try to do to me. I can't exactly take you home with me so I am going to let you hide out at my home away from home." Anko said with feeling.
Naruto's eyes started to brighten up and he jumped to his feet. "You are going to give me someone to hide from the villagers?" Naruto said almost jumping with joy.
"Settle down gaki. You haven't even seen my lovely home away from home yet. Don't be thanking me too soon now." Anko said with an absolutely feral grin. Naruto gulped and nodded, following her as she started walking away.
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Naruto was completely frozen in fear. He had seen things that no five year old should ever have to see. He was snapped out of his shock when he felt himself being plopped down in a chair.
He completely came around when he noticed Anko snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Where are we?" Naruto asked, trying to stop himself from shaking.
"Welcome to my home away from home, the forest of death. This tower is located directly in the center. It is 10 kilometers in any direction to get back to safety. Also, I am the only ninja in this village who comes in here regularly to train. It is primarily used during the chunin exams to see what genin got the right stuff to get promoted." Anko said with a grin.
Naruto managed to completely calm himself when he heard that. "So, no one ever comes here?" He asked. "That's right gaki. If you want solitude, this is the capital of solitude." Anko said proudly.
Anko was completely surprised when she felt Naruto throw his arms around her waist. He was saying thank you over and over again, crying as he went. She really didn't know how to handle the emotion display she was seeing.
She managed to regain her composure after a few seconds and just patted him on the head. "Gaki, I hope you understand that you can't stay here forever. You will have to go back to the village eventually." She said.
Naruto let go and looked up at her. "Do I have to, I only have to be scared of monsters here. They aren't near as scary as the villagers." Naruto whined.
"No whining. I can't hide you here forever. The next chunin exam will be in around two years. You can't stay here while that is going on. Not to mention that while you are here I am going to have to feed you. You aren't making me any money while you are here so that is all coming out of my pocket." Anko said
"Well how about I just clean the place. It could certainly use it." Naruto said off-handedly. "Don't talk shit on my home gaki. I figure there is enough food here for at least about two months for you. If you are going to be staying here for extended amounts of time, you are going to have to get your own food." Anko snapped at him.
"Well I can't buy food, the stores will kick me out." Naruto said. "Well then you need to learn how to hunt for you food." Anko said devilishly. "What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "Most of the animals in this forest are edible. You need to learn how to kill, clean and cook anything that can be found in this forest if you want to eat and stay here." Anko said with an absolutely feral smirk.
"I'm just a kid. You want me to hunt and kill stuff?" Naruto said in a scared tone. "Would you rather run through ten kilometers of forest, face the village, buy food with money you don't have, then go through another ten kilometers through monsters that are rather hungry for the food you are carrying?" Anko said with a small chuckle.
Naruto paled at her tone and realized he wouldn't be getting any free meals outside of the orphanage. He took a deep breath. "Will you teach me how to hunt then?" He asked. Anko just smirked at him. "Sure gaki, you need to get stronger first. Wouldn't do you any good to catch an animal if you aren't strong enough to actually carry it back somewhere safe to clean it." Anko said.
Naruto nodded, it made enough sense so he just went with it. He was starting to understand that Anko was a bit of a character. He also understood that she was helping him overall.
"I would also say you should do some shinobi training. When you turn eight, you can join the academy if you want but that is three years still. You probably shouldn't wait that long. If you get enough training to not suck, the civilians won't be able to push you around." Anko said confidently.
"But I am only five Anko. I'm too young to be a ninja." Naruto said. "Gaki, most kids start shinobi training by age four. You don't have to be a ninja yet, you need to start training now however." Anko said back.
Naruto still seemed unsure. "Gaki, would you rather need to be forced to rely on someone to save you. Or would you rather know how to break a few civilians and scare them off yourself?" Anko asked sarcastically.
Naruto hat to think about it a bit more but he had to admit she was making sense. "Well what do I need to do to start training?" Naruto asked.
Anko smiled fiendishly. "Well for a start, we need to whip you into shape. Physical training. Starting now, you will run around the fight arena downstairs until you drop, then do pushups until you drop, followed up sit ups until you drop."
"Isn't that going to hurt?" Naruto asked scared a bit. "Of course it will, no pain no gain. So if you are in a lot of pain while you train, you will gain that much more." Anko said. Naruto gulped and nodded.
"Well gaki, what are you waiting for. Get down there and start running. You can sleep when you can't run anymore." Anko said viciously.
Naruto started at her like she was crazy until she yelled 'NOW' and summoned a snake that was twice his size that started to chase him. He never ran so hard in his life. Anko's laughter echoed through the entire tower as Naruto ran for his life.
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It wasn't long until Naruto collapsed from fatigue. Anko was watching from the shadows and had to say she was rather disappointed. He only managed to run for his life for about fifteen minutes. She sighed as she saw her summon prodding him with its head to see if he was still alive.
She hopped down to try and pick him off the ground when she noticed something was wrong. His breathing was rather ragged and as soon as she tried to turn him on his back he vomited all over himself. Anko was no doctor but she had seen enough vomit in her life to know it was not supposed to have any red in it.
She stared at him for a moment before she noticed his eyes were starting to sag. "Oi, gaki. Don't you dare pass out on me now. If you think you can die to get out of your training your dreaming damn it." Anko yelled at him.
Naruto just coughed up a bit more blood and tried to tell Anko he was fine. He managed to roll onto his hands and knees and spit up some more blood before he tried to stand up. He made it to his feet before he started to fall.
Anko caught him. She stood him up and saw his head bobbing as if he was about to pass bout out. She snapped her fingers in front of him again to keep him awake. "All right, stay awake until you stop throwing up blood then you can go to sleep." Anko said walking him toward the nearest bedroom in the tower.
He had coughed up a bit more blood but a drink of water later, he managed to fully catch his breath and was doing all right. Anko kept an eye on him for a bit after he passed out and shrugged it off. He was alive and that was good enough for her.
She decided she would take him to the proctor's room she usually stayed in. It had two beds and a private shower. Naruto wouldn't freak out if she was in the same room when he woke up.
The next morning came around far too soon for Anko's tastes but she knew she had to check on Naruto. She glanced over at him and saw he was still sleeping and his breathing was fine now. She sighed and got out of bed and dragged herself to the shower.
She threw her clothes back on afterwards and headed to the kitchen facility of the tower. She checked what was still good in the fridge she scored some eggs and got them scrambling.
Now Anko was a very fit kunoichi, but she ate like a horse. She ended up scrambling six eggs and an absolute ton of bacon. She was finally done preparing herself her breakfast when Naruto stumbled in to the kitchen.
He stood in the doorway and stared at the food she was making. She glanced at him for a moment and looked back at her breakfast. She saw what he was staring at her food and she took a protective step in front of her food.
Naruto's gaze fell to the floor and he stated to walk away. "Gaki, you can't have my breakfast but you can make yourself whatever you want." Anko said. Naruto snapped around and rushed into the kitchen. Anko barely got her bacon out of the skillet before Naruto threw as much as he could fit in the skillet.
It was a second later that he realized that he didn't know how to cook. He was just doing what Anko was doing. "I don't know how to cook." Naruto said after a second. Anko just blinked at him, "Of course you don't gaki."
She decided to just show him how to do it while she ate her bacon herself. It only took a minute anyway and when it was done Naruto started eating it like his life depended on it. Anko asked him why the hell he was eating so fast. Naruto just said he hadn't had real food in a long time.
He elaborated that the orphanage didn't really feed him much so he had to resort to eating out of dumpsters or stealing food from market stalls. 'Resourceful little gaki isn't he.' Anko thought to herself.
"Well then, there is enough food for at least a few months here. Don't eat it all at once. You will need to have learned how to hunt for you own food before you run out. The extra budget I get for taking care of this place is not meant to be for my own use so don't waste it all." Anko lectured.
Naruto looked down at the last pieces of bacon he had left and realized he had just eaten quite a lot. He was slightly ashamed of taking advantage of Anko's hospitality, but he needed food to survive.
"I am not saying don't eat gaki. Just make the food here last. I will be back sporadically through the next few months so make sure you train yourself while I am gone. If I get back and find out you have been slacking." Anko said, leaving the threat open.
Naruto gulped and nodded. Anko scared the hell out of him. Anko smiled at his understanding and told him that she had to run. She left a moment later leaving Naruto alone in the center of the forest of death.
He looked around the tower a bit more after he was done eating breakfast and actually started to listen to wildlife outside. It was terrifying to him. He shook the scared thoughts out of his head and decided to go and start running some more.
This time, he stopped when he was starting to get really tired. He managed to wind down a bit before he went with the other exercises Anko had told him about. It might not seem like much, but it was still progress.
After the first week, Naruto was feeling a lot better overall. He was eating three full meals a day and was doing more than hiding. The exercise got his blood pumping and his body started to become efficient again.
All of the time he had been malnourished, his body had withered. His new regiment got him started on a real recovery. It was all of the little things that Naruto thought about that had also given him an edge to overcome his weak body.
Walking up all of the stairs in the tower was hard to do on the first few days. He decided to start running up and down them a few times a day and he was taking his training seriously. He could already tell that he could run faster than he could before he got there.
Anko had popped in and out a few times to see if he was training and she was not disapointed. He may be taking it seriously now. But she wondered how he would react to some of the more intimate details of shinobi life.
She could tell that the physical aspect would be no problem for him. He seemed far healthier now that he did a few weeks ago. Just that would serve to put the notion that shinobi training was a good thing in his head.
She also managed to see him get excited about passing his previous limitations. She saw the start of a workaholic and she just grinned madly at that. She might be able to work this gaki into the ground and he would just get up seeking more.
Naruto had only seen Anko when she wanted to be seen. She came and checked on the food situation as well as make sure he was working. He was of course and she just nodded. Sometimes she would sneak up on him and scare him just to mess with him.
It took a few times, but he finally realized she was showing him that stealthy ninja had the advantage. It was a small hidden lesson but a lesson none the less.
It would be another month until Anko returned this time. Food was getting a little low and she acknowledged that. She decided to harden the gaki sooner rather than later.
That afternoon, she came back with a rabbit she had caught in the forest. She had its legs tied but still alive. She called out for Naruto to meet her in the main training hall and he showed up a minute later.
What he saw shook him a little bit. Anko had a rather large rabbit in front of her, tied up and screaming it's head off. "Uhh, Anko, what's up with the rabbit?" Naruto asked.
"Well gaki, this rabbit is dinner. You are going to kill it, and I am going to teach you how to prepare it for a meal." Anko answered simply.
Naruto paled a bit at her rather simple explanation. He started asking her why he had to kill the rabbit and Anko just told her it was kill the rabbit or go hungry. He was training to become a shinobi and killing was part of the job.
Naruto gulped a little bit and looked at the poor rabbit one last time before Anko pulled out a kunai and put it in Naruto's hand. "Slit it's throat and it will die painlessly. If you hesitate too much, I will have to kill it myself. I will give it no such mercy." Anko said coldly.
Naruto was unnerved at how she said that and looked down at the rabbit. It was no longer struggling to get free and looked to him like it had accepted it's fate. Naruto hesitated once more before Anko spoke up again.
"Gaki, this rabbit is your dinner. If you do not kill it now, you will go hungry." Anko said coldly again. Naruto had finally gotten to eat normally over the last few weeks and he could not go back to starvation again. He wouldn't do it.
He knelt down and with shaky hands he slid the kunai across the rabbit's throat. The rabbit died instantly and Anko patted Naruto on the head. "If that were an enemy shinobi. You would have survived the encounter gaki." She said, thinking it would help him.
Naruto took a deep breath and stood up. He knew Anko had never steered him wrong yet so he trusted her. It took a few seconds but he calmed himself down. "You said you were going to teach me how to prepare it for dinner right?" He said, trying to keep his voice even.
Anko grinned at him. "Yup, so pay attention. I am going to show you how to do this once, after that it's up to you." She said.
Anko knelt down and started to skin the rabbit. Naruto was a bit grossed out until he saw her setting aside parts of meat that were edible. She also cut off its left hind leg. Naruto didn't say anything but it seemed weird to him.
It would be a minute later when she showed him all of the parts that were edible and what to throw away. She kept every part of the rabbit, the hide and even the trash before she grabbed the edible meat and went toward the kitchen in the tower.
While she was showing him how to cook it, she told him to always try and eat rabbit by cooking it with the lard that was in the cabinet. Rabbit was very lean and would make him sick if he ate too much of it without the lard.
He nodded and watched intently as she cooked everything. Anko was no cook but she knew how to make food edible. It was a few more minutes that she was done and split up the meat into two plates.
When they sat down, Naruto was about to dig in before Anko stopped him. "Gaki, this was your first kill so I can understand you are eager. This was the life of a living creature of this forest. As such, we must show it the proper respect." She explained before taking a moment to give it a quick prayer.
Naruto repeated the action, offering a small prayer thanking the rabbit for it's sacrifice in furthering his own survival. Anko pointed out a specific piece on Naruto's plate and told him to eat that first.
Naruto quirked his head and ate it. She explained that it was the rabbit's heart. She told him that he should, whatever animal he had killed, eat the heart first. It was a sign of respect for the animal and was a hunter tradition.
Naruto nodded and continued to eat his meal. It was good, not great but good. He could feel the strength returning to his body and nodded understanding the necessity of the kill.
Anko grinned madly at him as she saw his emotions play on his face. 'He understands fully what he just did now. Good, I can move on to the next step.' She thought to herself.
"All right gaki, now that you know how to kill, clean, and cook a rabbit, I am going to teach you how to set a trap for something bigger." She said.
Naruto just nodded and followed her as she walked back to the room they killed the rabbit in. She grabbed the remains of the rabbit and started walking toward the door. Naruto gulped nervously as they exited the safety of the tower but followed none the less.
They barely made it out of sight of the tower before Anko stopped. "All right gaki, listen up. In front of you, is a pit fall trap." Naruto didn't know what she was talking about until she pulled aside the net that was covering the trap.
Naruto looked down and saw a rather deep hole in the ground. "This net covers the hole so that any unsuspecting animal that walks over it, falls in and cannot escape." She explained.
"When the animal falls in, you will have to kill it and drag it's body out of the hole. How I would do it is just toss a kunai into it's head and just jump out. You will have to use a spear and a ladder to get yourself out." She continued.
"There are plenty of kunai inside the tower, you will take one and make yourself a spear. The area directly around the tower has less lethal animals than further away so you will be fine. This is the only trap you need to worry about and will be in your care from now on. I will be gone for another month here soon so you will need to understand this very quickly." Anko said before replacing the cover on the trap.
She knelt down and placed some of the trash rabbit meat down on the net that was camouflaged as the forest floor. "Anything that cannot be eaten by you can be used as bait to attract more food. Never be wasteful and never take anything for granted." Anko said with all seriousness.
A moment later she dropped her serious facade and started skipping back to the tower but not before grabbing a few thin logs that could make a fair wooden spear. Naruto quirked his head at her change of character but followed her anyway.
When they got back, they once more went back to the small arena in the center of the tower. "Ok gaki, listen up. I have two more life lessons for you before I leave. First, is how to improvise a weapon. There may come a time where you are down to your last kunai and that is never a good thing to have happen. You would be forced to use your hands or make your own weapon." She explained as she started to sharpen a small stick.
"If you need to hunt, it would be better to use a wooden stake than use your last kunai. If you try to assassinate someone with your last kunai and miss, it would be best to have a wooden stake to impale them. For your first bit of hunting, you will need to make yourself a spear. Try to just sharpen a stick and shape it to punch through an animal's hide." She said before showing him the now small, almost senbon needle she had carved.
"When you become adept at throwing weapons, a small senbon like this could be enough to take down a tiger." She explained before tossing the wooden senbon at the concrete wall. Much to Naruto's surprise, the senbon actually stuck in the wall.
"For now, you will want to carve out a spear. There are many kunai in the room next to here so use them to sharpen one of these logs and build yourself a spear. I will be back in about a month from my mission. I expect you to have killed something and there to still be food when I return." She said before she started to walk away.
She tossed him a small book. "That is a basic survival guide book. It will tell you how to clean and eat most basic animals. It will also tell you what to do with each piece of it. Also gaki, try throwing those kunai at the posts in one of the training rooms. You better improve in the next month as well." She said with a wave.
Naruto nodded as she walked away. He took a look at the thin logs she had brought in. They were all straight and seemed sturdy. He decided not to waste any time and grabbed one and started shaving it down.
Anko smiled from her hiding stop as she saw him get straight to work. 'He will be fine.' She thought before she actually left.
Naruto took his time as he made a spear. He knew what a spear was and started making one carefully. He finished the first one and tried thrusting it a few times. He felt it wobble it a bit and was a bit concerned with that. He decided to go ahead and make a second one and made this one a bit thicker. He tested it out and it didn't wobble at all and he was satisfied with that.
He went into the other room and grabbed a few of the kunai from the store room and took them to the closest training room. He saw the training posts Anko was talking about and started to throw them at the posts.
He went at it for almost an hour but didn't hit it at all. He managed to at least bounce a few kunai off the post but that was as close as he got. He went down and got himself some more food and started to do his basic exercises again.
It was going to get dark soon so he decided he should go check the trap they had set a few hours earlier. It was a little spooky outside the tower but the immediate area wasn't full of too big creatures.
He could hear an animal struggling up ahead near the trap they had set so he assumed that something was caught. He got closer and could see that the trap was indeed sprung. He peered down and saw a rather small wolf.
Anko had described the animals that he could eat and he could eat the wolf. She left a small guidebook that had basic info on what could eaten and what parts of each animal were healthy to eat. Wolf wasn't exactly recommended but Naruto was not exactly a picky eater.
As he glanced down at the wolf, he saw it staring at him and growling at him. It unnerved him a bit but he was managing to steel himself. He grabbed the first spear he had made and lined it up to stab the wolf in the throat.
As he thrust forward, the spear managed to barely puncture its throat before it snapped. The wolf went into a frenzy snarling at Naruto. Naruto was a bit shocked and scared. He knew that he needed to kill the wolf soon.
Anko had told him that the cries of a wounded animal could attract more predators. He grabbed his second spear he brought with him just in case. He quickly just thrust at the wolf and stabbed it in the throat again. The wolf struggled for a few more seconds before it finally died.
Naruto let go of his spear and sat down for a moment. He was breathing heavily but managed to calm himself. He looked down at the wolf he had just killed. He knew it had to be done and did not dwell too hard on it. He would become a shinobi one day and he needed to not hesitate anymore.
He steeled himself once again and grabbed the ladder Anko had left by the trap. He set it down inside the pit and proceeded to grab the wolf and pull it out. After he got the small wolf he put the ladder back and brought his spear back with him.
He dragged the wolf to the arena and sat it down in the center. He wiped his hands clean of the blood and opened the book Anko left him to figure out how to clean and prepare the wolf. It was rather simple and Naruto didn't have much problems.
The book told him that the pelt could be used for many things so he saved it. It told him how to preserve the hide as well so he took good care of it.
He got as much of the meat as he could off the carcass as he could and wrapped it up. He also wrapped up the rest of the trash parts and set those aside as well. He would set the trap back up in a moment and check it again in the morning.
He decided to reset the trap now after he thought about it. He was hungry but it would be far more dangerous if he tried to reset the trap at night.
He went out and did that quickly before getting back and cooking himself diner. He looked at how much meat he actually got off the wolf. It would be plenty for at least a few days and that was good in his book.
He could leave the trap alone for a few days and hope something was caught without having to rely on the food it brought in.
He went back after eating and checked on his spear he brought back in. It was still functional but he still re-sharpened it again. He was done with that and started to do more exercise. He would keep this up throughout the entire month Anko was gone.
He managed to get a few more animals but still had to dip into the food that was still in the kitchen. He was also getting a start with the kunai throwing. He trained diligently and had a fair start with the kunai.
It had been a full three months now and he was physically healthy now. He was no longer suffering adverse effects of malnourishment. His muscles had also stopped deteriorating and were finally able to gain muscle mass. Not that he really had any to speak of.
Anko had come back and was rather pleased with how much food there was left over. She saw a bit of raw meat in the fridge that wasn't there when she left and saw just how much blood there was in the arena.
She finally found him in one of the training rooms. She decided to watch him from the door for a bit and was still liking what she was seeing. He was managing to hit a post more times than he missed. It was improvement and that meant Anko wasn't wasting her time with the little gaki.
She watched him for a bit longer before he decided to quit and gathered up all of the kunai and went to put them all away. Naruto saw Anko in the doorway and welcomed her back.
They walked and talked as Naruto went to put away all of the kunai. Naruto talked about how much he had been training and how much he managed to get from hunting. Anko told him about how her mission went.
Anko filled in all of the details from her mission, hoping to get Naruto to react in some way but he did not. She could tell that he hardened up quite a lot in the last month and that was a good thing.
"Gaki, I nicked something for you off of one of the ninja I had to kill." Anko said as she pulled out a long knife. It was not really a ninja tool, but it would make for a nice weapon in a pinch.
Naruto looked at the knife and almost turned it down before Anko put it in his hands. As Naruto inspected it some more, he could tell it could be used in a multitude of ways. It was comfortable in his hands so could be used in a fight. It was also sturdy enough he could use to carve wood. It was also sharp enough to skin an animal with.
Anko once again studied him and he got a feel for the knife. It was nothing special and she didn't buy it. She thought it could be used to skin animals quite efficiently so she decided to give it to Naruto. He needed to hunt for food more than her after all.
She could see him inspecting the knife thoroughly and knew he would appreciate the knife far more than whatever blacksmith she pawned it off on.
Naruto smiled after he finished inspecting the knife and properly thanked Anko afterwards. "Think nothing of it gaki. Now then, I am going to bed. I got to meet with the hokage in the morning to finalize my mission report and after that, I think its about time I taught you more shinobi stuff." Anko said with a wave as she went to her room.
Naruto said goodnight and decided to get a bit more exercise in before he called it a night.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Morning came around and Anko found herself before the hokage. She gave her report and thought that was the end of it before Hiruzen stopped her.
"Anko, there is one other thing I need you to do for me." Hiruzen stated. "Oh, what's that old man?" Anko asked.
"It has recently come to my attention that a young boy has been missing for close to three months now. I had been getting reports on him since he had been in the orphanage. I had also been getting complaints from the civilian council about him. Those complains oddly stopped completely this month and I had someone look into it. He had been gone for close to three months and the headmistress had been sending false reports to me." Hiruzen said.
Anko was feeling a little nervous. She saw where this was going and she did not like it. Three months ago was when she pretty much kidnapped Naruto and it had to be him. Regardless she played it calmly.
"What, do you want me to find the squirt?" Anko said nonchalantly. "I want to you scour the forest of death for him. It is the only place in the village that has not been thoroughly searched." Hiruzen stated.
"If this kid is coming from the orphanage, he must be young. How do you expect him to have survived in the forest. If you want me to find a body I doubt there will be much left if he went into the forest." Anko said. She was trying to get him to not make her officially search the forest.
"Be that as it may, the boy must be found one way or another." Hiruzen said. "What's so important about this kid anyway. If he was in the orphanage, he must not have any family." Anko said.
"Not anymore, he does not. His mother was Kushina Uzumaki. That makes him the heir to the Uzumaki clan. The sole heir to the Uzumaki clan. This is why he must be found." Hiruzen explained.
"You are telling me that you had the heir to a clan in an orphanage? What the hell old man. Shouldn't he had had his clan house or something?" Anko asked, amazed that a clan heir would have been ditched like that.
"Yes, maybe I should have. Giving him his birth right would have caused problems with the council. I suppose I could give him his own apartment. Would at least be better than sending him to a different orphanage." Hiruzen said idly.
"I understand. I'll go see if I can find this kid in the forest. Do you have a picture of him?" Anko asked before she left.
Hiruzen gave her a picture of Naruto, her suspicions confirmed, she left to go talk to the little gaki.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Anko got back to the tower to find Naruto training. She was rather curious what the gaki would say when she told him that he was being looked for.
She decided to just get it over with and told him to take a break. He stopped and sat next to her on the floor of the training room.
"All right gaki, there is currently a man hunt going on for you. Has been for a while if I am not mistaken. Fortunately for you, you are here and I am the only one that ever comes here." Anko stated.
Naruto looked terrified by that. "Relax gaki. No one can find you here if you don't want to be found. It would be very easy to say you are probably dead. You would have to run from the village in the next few months however." Anko said, taking a moment to think on it.
"What do you mean I would have to leave the village in a few months?" Naruto asked nervously. "Well the chunin exams are in close to two years. I will no doubt have to escort some people here to do maintenance on the place before that. I'd say a year and a half tops until you would have to leave the village and survive on your own." Anko said.
Naruto didn't really know how to reply to that. He wouldn't be able to survive on his own in a year and a half outside the village.
"Gaki, you are too important to the hokage for him to let the villager's treat you like shit anymore. He even said he would look into giving you your own apartment so you will not have to go to the orphanage again." Anko explained.
Naruto was not convinced and still looked like he was completely terrified to go back into the village. "Relax gaki, he is looking for you so that means he is at least a little concerned that you are gone. I am getting paid to check for you here. You need to learn that in the shinobi world, nothing is ever straight forward. Why would the leader of the village pay someone to come on this B-rank mission into the forest of death for a nameless orphan?" Anko said firmly.
Naruto quirked his head at that. "What do you mean? Why do you mean it's not straight forward?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.
"I just told you do you honestly think the hokage would send someone on a B-rank mission for a nameless orphan?" Anko said back, annoyed at having to repeat herself.
Naruto honestly didn't have any idea what to make of that. On one had, he had always just been a nameless orphan. But Anko seemed convinced that there had to be something special about him.
"I would just go talk to the old man and I will tell him that I saw you being kicked out of the orphanage and kept you at the tower for a while. I didn't exactly think he would ever send anyone after you after all." Anko said idly. She was starting to get a headache and wanted to hurry this crap up.
"Also, if you go back, you can join the academy in three years and gain respect in the village as a shinobi." Anko said, grinning at the bit of light that came back into Naruto's eyes.
"I can still be an actual ninja?" Naruto asked. "Sure gaki. I am sure the hokage would allow that." Anko said.
Naruto thought about it a bit longer. "Can I still come back here if the villagers chase me?" He asked weakly. "Gaki, if you can make it to the tower you are welcome anytime." Anko said with a grin. "I would train more first however." She said.
Naruto sighed a bit at that but Anko told him she would still be training him from time to time and to not worry about it as they exited the tower.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Retuning to the hokage's office, Anko and Naruto nervously looked at Hiruzen. "Ah good, you found little Naruto." Hiruzen said "So he was in the forest then."
"Yes, honestly I found him being chased out of the orphanage about three months ago and hid him in the tower. This gaki was running for his life and I saved him and took him to the safety of the tower." Anko explained.
Hiruzen thought on it for a bit. He had never heard of Naruto being chased from the orphanage. He had been told he ran away.
"You are sure he was being chased?" Hiruzen asked. "Yes, I saw a few dozen civilians chasing him." Anko said back. "Well, it seems my information on the event was rather lacking. Regardless, I have a small apartment set aside for you. It will be yours until after you graduate from the academy. Then you will be an adult and will need to get your own home." Hiruzen explained.
Naruto numbly nodded. He still did not want to be in the village again. He at least was going to have his own home but as soon as the villagers found him, they would chase him again. Anko looked down at him and saw the emotions flashing across his face. Hiruzen was finishing the paperwork for the apartment and didn't see it.
A moment later, Hiruzen handed off the paperwork on the apartment and the key and gave Anko the address. He had her lead him there and sent them on their way.
As they walked, the villagers noticed Naruto and Anko walking together. Anko had seen a few disgusted looks at herself from time to time. She was used to it and honestly could care less. However, when she saw how much worse the glares were with Naruto with her, her blood began to boil.
She could hear the whispering of demon and Kyuubi all around them. She placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder to point out that he was under her protection. One unlucky civilian had made the mistake of spitting at Naruto.
The spit landed at his feet and Anko summoned a snake as think as her head to wrap the man up. She walked over to him and placed her sandal upon his throat. "Apologize." She said with absolute death in her voice. The civilian smirked at her. "You can't kill me, I am a civilian and your a shinobi." He said confidently.
Anko just smiled at him and motioned to the snake. The snake understood and slowly started to constrict the man's legs. Anko pressed down on his throat so he was struggling to scream. Anko did not let off until she heard the satisfying sound of his legs shattering.
The man finally blacked out from the pain and she told her snake to drag the trash to the hospital. As the snake unceremoniously dragged the man off, Anko cast the surrounding villagers a death glare and continued on with Naruto.
Naruto for his part just stared ahead blankly. He barely had any respect for the village anymore but he was not exactly pleased with how far Anko went. He also had understood death enough that he wasn't exactly bothered by violence anymore.
They decided to get a bit of food with the bit of money the hokage gave Naruto along with the apartment key. It wasn't very much but it was enough to get something in the fridge when they made it to the apartment.
He also grabbed a new set of clothes as Naruto's was quite ragged. It took a few hours after having to threaten a few store owners
They finally got to the apartment and saw a man carrying a suitcase out of one of the other apartments. "Damn demon still running people out of their homes." He said under his breath. Anko flipped him off and went up the stairs and went into Naruto's apartment.
It wasn't anything special. One bedroom, one bathroom, small sitting room and a basic kitchen. Nothing fancy but Naruto was a bit happy to have a house of his own. Having the isolation in the tower had been really nice and an apartment of his own was almost as good.
Naruto held onto the littlest glimmer of hope that things could improve now but Anko was not quite as impressed. 'The guy that lived in the apartment already knew that Naruto was moving in. How the hell he had actually found out that he could possibly be moving in?' Anko thought with a bit of concern.
It had been only a few hours since she had brought Naruto back into the village and it was rather unsettling that there were civilians that had already knew where Naruto was living. She was a little worried about it as she had her own house broken into when she first returned to the village. Of course she killed a would be thief she had caught in the act and that stopped rather quick.
"Gaki, I am going to give you a bit of advice. If you find someone breaking into your apartment, it is within your legal right to kill them on the spot. If you do, do not let them survive long enough to leave the apartment. If they die in the apartment, you can get money from any family they have for damages to your apartment. It will also teach civilians to think twice about coming back." Anko said seriously.
Naruto looked at her like she might be trying to mess with him. When he saw how seriously she was speaking, he gulped but continued thinking on it. If someone were going to try and rob him, they would more likely be trying to kill him instead.
Anko had spent the last three months pounding into his head people were not really innocent. If someone tried to kill him, he should reply back with more force. It was a brutal philosophy, but it was true none the less.
Suddenly, Anko dropped the serious nature she was giving off and threw an arm around Naruto. "Relax gaki, I got your back. Now, we need some tea." She said as she started to push Naruto into the kitchen. Anko unsealed a small tea set she carried on her most of the time and started a pot.
Naruto didn't mind that she was using the tea they bought with his money. He was just happy that she was staying around a bit more. He wasn't exactly looking forward to being stuck alone in the middle of the village again.
They talked about what Naruto was going to do before he was going to be able to get into the academy. He was going to be training while he could and couldn't stop now that he was stuck in the village.
Anko agreed and said that she would be trying to get him to a training field from time to time. She refused to help him if he was going to stop and become lazy.
Naruto nodded and promised to work hard and become strong. Anko nodded and said that he shouldn't need to worry about civilians for much longer then.
Naruto managed to settle down a bit at that and when Anko finally left, he still felt safe. His apartment was pretty deep in the red light district so there were honestly not many civilians around at all times. There was a bit of noise from drunks stumbling home pretty late, but it was easy to ignore.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
It was a few weeks before Naruto was forced to leave the apartment and he was rather nervous. He knew that without Anko to protect him, it would be much scarier going shopping. Unfortunately, his meager allowance had come in and he was low on food.
He had figured he would go in the evening. With most people returning to their homes and it being a bit darker he could walk the street a little easier. The shops would still most likely turn him away but if he needed to, he would just sneak in and take what he needed and leave the money on the counter.
He had seen a few shinobi do that from time to time and was never brave enough to try it. Now however, he was much more than the scared little boy he was only three months ago. Anko had been sure of that.
As he found the first store, a small fruit and vegetable shop, he decided to try the direct approach before he resorted to a bit more shady tactics. He walked in and scanned the area. Anko had given him a few shinobi attitude theories to think on and knowing your surroundings was one she beat into his head when she was around.
He was one other customer talking to the owner and decided to duck behind the shelves the fruits were in to avoid being spotted too soon. He grabbed a bit of everything and took it to the counter. He had just over 1500 ryo between the allowance and his pocket money.
He dropped everything on the counter and turned away from the men as they chatted. Anko told him that a face was easily recognized and the back of someone's head slightly less obvious. The owner didn't look away from the man he was talking to as he went through the items.
He checked the total and told Naruto 640 ryo. Naruto nodded and turned and handed the man the money and grabbed his bags. The man finally got a good look at Naruto and freaked out. He ripped the bag out of Naruto's hands and told him to get the hell out. Naruto asked for his money and the man just stared him down.
Naruto knew he wouldn't be getting his money back and just walked out. He sighed, trying it the normal way just cost him a third of his money. Time to try the shinobi way he guessed. He spotted another, slightly more variety styled shop and snuck in. He hadn't seen anyone inside and quietly opened the door and snuck in.
He checked to hear for the sound of someone coming from the back and didn't hear it. He tiptoed to the vegetables and grabbed about the same as what he tried to buy in the last store. He cut out a bit so he wouldn't be weighed down if he had to run for it.
He grabbed everything fine and set down 600 ryo on the counter. Unfortunately one of the coins slipped out of his hand and made a lot of noise falling to the ground. He heard grumbling from the back room and ran out the door. He wasn't fast enough and the man saw enough of him to know who he was.
Naruto ran as fast as he could toward his apartment with his bag in hand. He hear the man yell thief and knew he was screwed. He just kept running and almost made it home before a shinobi stopped him. It was an Uchiha police officer and Naruto knew he could never outrun those guys. "You are under arrest for stealing, will you comply?" The officer asked.
"I didn't steal anything, I paid him plenty." Naruto said trying to defend himself. The Uchiha quirked an eyebrow at that. "I doubt that, but, I can add lying to a member of the police to your charges if you are lying. Let's go ask the shopkeeper. Move it." He said, kicking Naruto to make him walk.
They got back to the store and got the owners run down of what happened. He said he saw the blond haired demon running out of his store with a bag in his hand. They looked at Naruto and he said he didn't see the owner so he left the money on the counter.
The owner had been cleaning up a mess he had made when he rushed to the door and didn't see the money on the counter. He realized the boy might get away but decided not to let him. "This is only 600 ryo demon. You have over 1,800 ryo worth of food in your bag." He said smugly.
The Uchiha had heard enough and clubbed Naruto in the back of the head with his tanto sheath. He grabbed Naruto by the hair out of the door and to prison. Naruto was locked up for a full six days before the hokage heard what happened.
The hokage swiftly paid his bail and sent him home. Not listening to what Naruto had to say and telling him that stealing was wrong. Naruto slumped his head in defeat. He just couldn't win in this place.
Naruto looked up at his apartment, finding the front door broken in with graffiti calling him a demon written all over it. He looked around and saw the wires for everything inside was snipped and the wooden floors looking ruined and smelling of urine. His bath and toilet were both smashed as were the lights. His bed was cut to ribbons and covered in urine as well.
He walked over to the wall beside his bed and pulled out a secret panel. Fortunately no one saw it and he pulled out a change of clothes and a satchel with some basic survival gear. A few kunai, sharpening stone, his hunter knife Anko had given him, some matches, enough rope for multiple traps, a small foldable shovel/hatchet and a small cooking pot as well as a simple set of silverware.
Anko had shown him a small clearing with a pond nearby that Anko used to train fire nin-jutsu. After a few people had tried sharing it with her and swiftly finding people dodging kunai, they avoided it like the plague. He should be safer there.
Naruto hefted his satchel over his shoulder and started walking toward the clearing. He got there and set his stuff down. He looked around and decided he would sleep next to a short tree at the edge of the clearing. He moved everything over there and tried to remember what Anko had taught him. He knew he couldn't go into town other than to collect his allowance from the hokage.
Anko had explained that he couldn't become a shinobi unless he kissed up to the old man. He sighed at that, did he even want to be a shinobi anymore? He supposed he did and decided to keep up with the hokage then.
He sat down and took out the survival notebook Anko had gotten him. He had read it probably a dozen times since Anko pieced together what Naruto needed to know to read. He knew what he needed to do first and that was set some traps. He might not have the actual experience of building one, but he had used the ones Anko had left behind.
The book told him how to set up a small snare for rabbits and anything of similar size. He set up two of them a ways away from the clearing so the animals would approach them. All he had for bait was some wild berries he had found. The book said that animals liked them and that they weren't poison. He ate a few himself and found them to be amazing.
With two snares up, he decided he might stay there for a very long time and figured he should invest in building pit fall traps as well. The shovel/hatchet Anko had gotten for him was from the vault of stuff she found in the forest. A lot of people died in there and before Anko, no one really cleaned up what was left behind.
It was essentially a small shovel that folded in the center to make it smaller. The other end of it had a handle cut out of the head of the axe. It was slightly awkward to Naruto but he could see the benefits of it. It was long enough that he didn't have to hold the shovel head to swing the hatchet side and would be comfortable using it as a shovel.
He got to digging and realized it would take most of the day to get just one hole dug out. He was also wondering what to do with all of the extra dirt he was digging up. He took a break to look through the survival book and see if it said anything on the topic. He found a few shelters he could build and decided if he was going to be there for a while that he should build something nice.
He settled on moving the dirt to where he was planning on sleeping and he would build a small three walled hut out of wood and use the dirt to make mud walls. He hoped it would last him longer than one day but he would have to wait and see. As it would end up, he wouldn't have a door but more likely a wood and leaf wall that he could lift out of his way when he needed to get out.
He finished the small pit fall trap and set it up. The dirt nearby was kind of odd still but he would move the dirt over tomorrow. He had gotten pretty tired digging the hole so he decided not to work out any. Instead he went and gathered a few sticks branches for a fire and got a pot of water boiling. He might not have any real food but he still could do something to curb his hunger.
He took a few handfuls of the berries he found and smashed them into the pot. He put some water in it before he had set it to boil. He hoped it would be kind of like juice when it was done. He then went into the pond himself with his clothes still on. He rubbed as much of the mud off as he could and stepped out and took his clothes off and went back in.
He got the rest of himself clean and stood by the fire until he was dry enough to put on his other set of clothes. He laid his wet clothes near the fire to try as he stirred his berry juice stew as he thought it was. It was at a low boil and he dunked his cup into it and let it cool down before trying it.
It was decent enough and was pretty much just berry juice like he had hoped. He stayed by the fire and kept drinking the berry juice until he had finished it. No sense letting it go to waste. he washed everything out and put it back in his satchel. He put out his fire and moved to the tree he had planned on sleeping under.
He laid out his clean clothes and used them as a makeshift bed. It wasn't comfortable but he still slept easier than he ever had in the village.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Naruto would wake up with the sun every morning and check the traps. His first two days he had gotten nothing but he made it to day three and got a rather fat rabbit. Cleaning, cooking and using all of the animal was simple to Naruto and he did it all pretty fast.
Naruto was a bit malnourished but it was nothing compared to what he went through in the orphanage. He could tough through it and keep going. His survival in the small clearing near the forest of death was far easier than it had been in the village.
It would be another week before Anko returned to the village and managed to find him. She had to say she was impressed with the boy. He had managed to make a long-term home and she saw the traps he had laying around. Overall, seemed he had a handle on it.
They sat around the fire for most of the day and talked about how everything had been the last week. Another mission for Anko and another string of abuse for Naruto. Same old same old. Anko had made sure he was still visiting the hokage so he could become a shinobi. He had been and told her as much.
She asked him how he liked living out in the wilderness. He liked it more than the village and didn't defend the village in the slightest in how much he hated it. Anko could only nod as that is how she felt when she first got back to the village.
Anko thought he had a fair handle on things around the camp but decided to ask if he needed anything from the town as she was going to get her shopping out of the way. Naruto just asked for a spool of shinobi wire and a sewing kit.
Anko just cocked her head to the side in a questioning manner. "Why do you need shinobi wire and a sewing kit?" She asked him. "Well there are traps I could make with shinobi wire and I would like to use the hides I have for something other than bed padding." He said simply.
Anko grinned at him. "You are starting to think like a real hunter now you realize that right gaki?" She asked playfully. Naruto just gave her a foxy grin and fished out his wallet. He gave the entire thing to Anko and told her to keep it all.
She peeked in and saw about 2,000 ryo and thought about it. She would maybe 800 for a basic spool of wire and a sewing kit. She just shrugged and figured she would just get him two spools and a heavy duty sewing kit and it would be a bit better.
She left with a wave and went out to get everything. Naruto sighed and leaned back. He guessed 2,000 ryo would be plenty for what he needed. He really just didn't have any use for the money anymore. A thought clicked with him that he actually had no use for money with only close to four months of training. 'What is wrong with people being so greedy when I can support myself with less than four months of training. I don't need money at all.' He thought to himself.
He would probably just give it all to Anko since he couldn't buy anything with it even if he wanted to. An hour later Anko came back with his items and a small bag of vegetables.
She sat down and unloaded everything and Naruto just kind of stared at her. He had hoped to get one spool of wire but she had two and a really nice sewing kit as well as the food. He thought about asking about it but decided not to. Anko might take him as ungrateful and take it away after all.
Naruto just asked if she wanted to stay for dinner and she happily agreed. He brought back a small boar that he had trapped earlier in the day. As he cleaned it, Anko decided to set up a small drying rack so he could try the leftover meat and preserve it a bit.
Naruto had watched her make the drying rack and it was rather simple. He took a mental note of that and continued cleaning the boar. They ended up with a stew and some dry meat Naruto would eat later.
Before Anko left however, she had one more lesson for him. She pulled out a small scroll and placed the dried meat in it before pushing some chakra into it. Naruto watched as it disappeared and asked what she had just done. "It's a storage scroll gaki. Put whatever you wanna keep in the scroll on the seal and put some chakra into it. Poof, sealed inside and relatively preserved." She explained.
"What do you mean, relatively preserved?" He asked. "It will stay fresh for maybe a week or so. The scrolls slow time a bit down inside them so they stay a bit fresher for longer." She explained. Naruto looked at the scroll and asked how he got the food back out of it.
It only took Anko a few minutes to teach him basic chakra molding. Having chakra from the fox constantly in his system he could naturally feel it. Satisfied that he would be able to use it properly, she took her leave.
Naruto was left looking at all the new stuff he had gotten. He was happy he could make new kinds of traps and thought about it some more. With the wire, he could use it to make a fishing rod and could fish as well. He had seen quite a few fish in the pond he was near and decided he would try fishing tomorrow.
First he had to go set up the new trap and make himself a fishing hook. He would carve out one with a few of the bones of the boar he had killed today. He was sure there would be a few bones that could be used that way.
The trap was simply a trip wire that would set off a hidden kunai that would kill the animal. He set up several of these traps but had to remember to disarm them at night. If he left a dead animal out too long, scavengers would get it or the meat would go bad regardless.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
A few months had came and went. Naruto was still living in the small clearing Anko used from time to time and he had to admit he was having the time of his life.
He was hungry from time to time when the hunting wasn't too good. He was cold every now and again when it rained really hard. But he hadn't been glared at or called any names in months and he felt free. Anko would be returning from a long mission soon and Naruto had saved up some meat to make a good meal for her.
Anko had taught him how to make a bow and arrows. Most ninja did not use them as they were not mobile weapons but to Anko it was a hobby. It was such an unconventional weapon in the shinobi world and was mostly used as a formal art.
Anko may have not been a formal person in the least but she enjoyed some of the traditions such as tea ceremonies and archery. Naruto for his part had trouble with hitting animals with kunai from long range so a bow was a good replacement until his kunai accuracy was better. Anko had also dropped off some senbon for him to train with telling him they were better for small animal hunting.
She had kill him one bird and she showed him how to pluck the feathers so they could be used for arrow fletching. She showed him how to make one arrow and told him to make the rest of them for himself. He had meticulously made himself a dozen arrows for practicing. They took a while to make and were just pointed sticks for now. After his accuracy improved he would make actual arrowheads.
He had all of the time in the world to learn everything Anko had taught him. It had been six months since he had met Anko. He looked up to her almost like a crazy aunt, not that he would ever tell her that.
He was completely sufficient in his little piece of the world. Six months and he had never once gone back into the village except for that one week when he got the apartment and the following days in jail.
Anko had kept him working out every day. She would run with him through the surrounding forest when she came back and if he didn't run fast enough she would summon snakes to chase him. That usually got him moving.
He knew how to hunt, clean an animal, make use of all of the animal and overall survive on his own. It was becoming the only way he knew how to live. There just wasn't much he really cared for of real luxuries anymore. He hadn't slept in a real bed in three months, hadn't had a real bath in those three months as well.
Anko was training him as a hunter and soon a shinobi. He understood with the job came certain life choices. Since the day she had saved him, he had not disobeyed her orders or complained. He was thinking much harder on everything and she was getting real shinobi training started.
Over the next six months she introduced him to real chakra control and using it to strengthen his body. She would have him knowing how to sprint like a shinobi by age six if it killed him. Fortunately for him he was a quick learner. She would stop by for a few days and give him the instructions along with a scroll that would explain what he needed to know by the time she got back from a mission. He was never late on delivering the results he needed to.
Many more months went by and Naruto was nearing what Anko told him was genin level of training. He could walk up trees using chakra, he could dash through the trees at a good speed and he had also managed to train a pretty good danger sense with Anko throwing snakes at him during their morning runs.
He felt quite powerful with his decent chakra control. Anko told him he had a ton of chakra and now that he could move it around his body fairly easily, his body was always quite full of energy. Anko called him a stamina beast more often than not anymore.
She had thought long and hard on what she was about to teach him and finally broke down and did it. She had tried to get him to learn the clone jutsu so he could use them as a distraction for any predator he may run into in the forest of death.
The chunin exams were coming up and after they were done, there would be almost five years he could stay there without much problem. She knew he was close to strong enough to survive a simple run to the tower. After that, he had already shown his aptitude at hunting and near the tower he would be able to escape any predator easy enough. Just the initial run to the tower was what she was worried about.
After a few weeks she realized it was hopeless because he just had too much chakra for such a low level jutsu. She just went straight for the shadow clone jutsu. Orochimaru had taught it to her so she could train much faster when she was his student. She could only make two clones at the time but she was past ten at this point before her curse mark would act up.
She taught him how to do it and told him that if he ever told anyone she taught him that then she would kill him. He simply nodded in understanding which annoyed her to no ends. He was fiercely loyal to her and she liked it, but she was worried he was only loyal to her and not the village.
Naruto's mind was racing with possibilities on what he could do with such a jutsu. He had enough control to make four before they started getting unstable. He woke up the next day and decided to make the day to day motions much easier.
He sent two clones to go check the traps in the surrounding area. He sent another to go and set up the kunai traps from the previous day. He sent the last clone to go fishing. He himself started on a breakfast of leftovers and started to work out.
It was about an hour later that the clone that had went out to set up the traps again came back and told him that he was done with setting up the traps. Naruto nodded and the clone dispelled itself. Naruto had been thinking about how he would have set up the traps and as soon as the clone dispelled, it felt like he had done it himself.
Naruto quirked his head a bit at that. Why did it seem like he had been there and done it himself. He thought about it a few more minutes before the two clones he had sent out to check the traps he left overnight came back. He looked at them and asked if they did everything together.
They both nodded and he told the one not holding a small rabbit to dispel. The clone nodded and dispelled and Naruto and his clone looked at each other. The clone thought it was weird getting memories of a clone carrying the rabbit when he was the one carrying it.
Naruto was amazed that he now knew that there was a trap that had been sprung but didn't catch anything. He knew what trap caught the rabbit and was in awe of how useful that would be. He looked at the ground and saw the senbon near him. He thought about it for a minute before he idly took the rabbit from the clone and dispelled it as well.
He snapped the rabbit's neck idly as well and set it down. He grabbed the senbon and made a clone. He instructed the clone to throw his senbon at the tree. It did and Naruto was again in awe as the senbon stuck in the tree. He dispelled the clone and saw that the senbon disappeared as well. He checked and there was a hole in the tree from where it hit.
He ended up spending the entire day messing with the shadow clone jutsu. He tried getting one to go and sprint as hard as it could for a bit then dispel when it was exhausted. A few minutes later Naruto got the memories of the clone but was not sore. He guessed that physical training would not work.
He decided to try a muscle memory form of training. He gave a clone three rocks and told him to learn how to juggle them. It was always something Naruto tried to learn when he was bored but he never really got it. The clone set to work and after a bit of actual practice, the clone could juggle noticeably easier than the original.
Naruto dispelled the clone and tried to juggle and found it was quite a bit easier. The muscle memory wasn't perfect as the muscles still had to stretch the exact muscles as he started but he realized it would cut training anything down a ton.
His last test was to try chakra control. Anko had told him that one of the better training exercises was to take tree walking and walk on water in the same style. There was a bit of a difference but Naruto had tried it a few times and just sort of put it on hold. If his clones could master it for him and it transferred the knowledge to him. He just grinned at the possibilities.
He quickly made three clones and sent them to the pond to start. It would be most of the day until they all popped at the same time due to running out of chakra. The headache that ensued told Naruto the mental feedback would be a drawback. As he sorted through the memories he could tell they made progress but not enough for him to try it yet.
He groaned when he saw that the clone he sent to go fishing had abandoned that endeavor and tried to walk on the water as well. He walked over to the pond and collected the bucket of fish he had caught before he quit fishing. It wasn't much but it was enough for lunch.
Anko ended up showing up before the sun went down and talked to Naruto about what they did since they had seen each other last. Naruto was excited to talk about what he found out about shadow clones. Anko just grinned madly at that. 'The damn gaki figured it out on his own in no time flat.' She thought.
They sat around and ate as they discussed the possibilities with the shadow clone jutsu. Anko told him that if he could get water walking down, he could probably make a few more clones as well. Naruto grinned and realized he could always have his chakra control improving while he was training physically. Not needing to split his focus or waste time on that would be amazing for him.
Anko also grinned at the prospect. Having more Naruto's meant she could make his training go that much faster. Maybe by the time he could go to the academy, he would be strong enough to make it through the forest of death with little difficulty.
Anko guessed there was about eight months before the academy would start the next class. Classes usually started in winter so they could get the boring classroom stuff out of the way when it was colder and harder to train outside.
Made sense to her but training in the cold was good in her book. Naruto might disagree but he didn't say otherwise.
Those eight months flew by in Naruto's eyes. He had perfected water walking long ago and could now make a dozen clones that would last an entire day. He could make close to a hundred in one go that would last a few minutes but it gave him a headache so he usually didn't make that many.
Naruto woke up and looked at the sky. It was getting chilly but he was rather warm under the fur blanket he had made. He got up and stretched remembering it was the first day of the academy. He made ten clones for the day and had them get to training. He made two more that wouldn't last quite as long and had them check and reset the traps.
The clones scattered and Naruto stripped down and washed himself in the pond. It was quite cold and Naruto could have gotten frost bite. Anko however had taught him very basic fire manipulation that circulated heat through his body. His chakra was naturally warm so it was really easy for him.
He got out and pulsed a bit of fire chakra to dry himself off quickly. He put on his clothes and got to making himself breakfast.
His new wardrobe was, to say the least, completely unique. He had on a hand sewn together leather sleeveless shirt and chaps. He had sewn them together himself and fit perfectly.
Over his basic soft leather shirt, he had a molded hard leather piece that covered his torso and stomach. It was flexible over his stomach but his chest plate was harder and held the animal bones he used for a bit of extra armor over his chest. It was held in place by strips going over his shoulders and around his chest and stomach. Under his shirt, was a necklace Anko had made for him with the rabbit foot of the first animal he had killed. It was good luck apparently.
Naruto had preserved every animal pelt he had ever hunted. When Anko would come back and check up on him, he gave her most of his money from the hokage to get the hides tanned. It would just be a basic tanning job and when he got it, he learned how to adjust it and make it fit together. He had made every piece of his outfit by hand by himself. Learning to sew had been a pain but it was definitely worth never having to go to a clothing store ever again.
Over all of his leather clothes and armor he had a large fur cloak. The fur was sheer black wolf fur he had made so it went down to just above his ankles. The shoulders stood a bit taller than they should have and resembled shoulder pads. Anko had placed weights in the shoulders to make it heavier. He also had weights around his ankle and wrist. His hand were covered with fingerless leather gloves than had the same black fir along the back of his hands. His shoes also handmade leather boots. The soles being softened wood so they were a bit quieter.
Anko had noticed that how he arranged the weights around his arms and legs, they were pretty subtle. They were under his arm guards and shin guards and simply looked like slightly bulky arm and shin guards and she could hardly tell they were there. It was a bit sneaky and Anko praised him for that earlier. She was torn however. She wanted him to stomp his way through the academy, but she also didn't want him to stand out too much.
She compromised to herself and told him to beat the shit out of everyone in tai-jutsu practice and fail at everything else. It should put his as class dead last overall but they wouldn't mess with him too much. She just told him to be confident and never tell them that she was his teacher. Simpler that way she explained. Also being self trained makes you a badass.
The hokage had given Naruto his signed registration form stating he would be in class this year. Naruto walked confidently through the doors and took a look around the classroom. He had glanced at the clock and he was quite early but what he saw rather disturbed him.
Fangirls. There was a nice gathering of them around a cold looking boy with his hair done up like a duck's ass. On the other side of the room there were a few girls feeling a feral looking boy's muscles and petting his pet dog. He knew that he was an Inuzuka from what Anko had told him and they were fawning over him because he looked absolutely feral if his ears were to be believed.
Naruto almost laughed at that as he could tell at first glance the boy was showing off to try and get the girls to go out with him. A few of them had cringed when he tried to flirt back. Naruto just inwardly sighed but realized this is what was passing as an alpha male so far. He decided not to have any of that.
He closed the door rather loudly and took a few steps into the room. Everyone fully seeing him now as his boots clacked loudly on the wooden floor. Kiba curled his nose at the smell Naruto was putting off. He wore very real animal hides and they smelled like the nature he lived in. Kiba could tell it smelled distinctly of the wolf it was made of and it made his blood boil.
"Oi, what the fuck do you think your wearing asshole." He shouted at Naruto. "It is a black wolf cloak Inuzuka. Do you not recognize it. I would have figured your clan had heard of them." Naruto said back in a bored tone.
"I know what it is asshole. Why the fuck are you wearing it. It smells real." Kiba bitched some more. "Of course it is real. I would know, I killed it myself." Naruto said back with authority. "You bastard. The black wolfs are revered by my clan. You would slaughter one for a damn cloak. You fucking poacher." Kiba yelled before throwing a punch at Naruto.
Naruto slid out of the way. "You know, I am not a poacher. I used every last piece of that wolf and I must admit it put up a hell of a fight." Naruto said calmly as he dodged the wild punches Kiba was throwing at him. Off on the sidelines the girls were drooling at the fight. They were both fierce and it was a hot match.
While the girls were drooling, Sasuke had taken an interest. He knew the Inuzuka clan excelled at hand to hand combat and seeing someone make a fool out of him was pretty funny to him.
Naruto was getting rather bored as this young Inuzuka was throwing slow punches at him. Anko told him that it would be pretty boring after her training but this was kind of sad. He sort of felt like he would be kicking an innocent puppy by beating up Kiba.
After a few more moments of dodging Naruto completely lost interest and decided to put this puppy down. The next punch Kiba threw, Naruto caught it and twisted it behind back and slammed his face into the desk in front of him.
He pulled his head back by his hair so he could hear him whisper in his ear. "If you ever accuse me of being a poacher again. I will kill you and they will never find your body. Do you understand dog?"
Kiba hoarsely whispered "yes" back at him. Naruto slammed his face back into the desk and left him there as he took a seat in the back of the classroom. He propped his feet up on his desk and pulled his hood over his head closing his eyes as he waited the last few minutes before the teacher would arrive.
He cracked an eye when he felt a few people suddenly surround him. In front of him was an Uchiha if the family crest was anything to go by. On each of his sides was a girl with blond hair and one with pink. To Naruto's sides were also the three girls who were hanging off of Kiba earlier.
Sasuke just stared at him for a moment before Naruto finally asked what he wanted. "Fight me after class." He said. Naruto just sighed. "Your not worth my time. Now get the hell out of my face." He said sternly.
Sasuke just fumed and said. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. You will show me the respect my lineage demands peasant." Naruto cracked his eyes once more, he had shut them after he told Sasuke to get out of his face. "Do you think I give to fucks about your lineage. I sure as hell didn't show that Inuzuka any, what makes you any better than him." He shot back, closing his eye once more.
Sasuke started to mash his teeth. "The Inuzuka does not compare to someone with a superior bloodline like the sharingan." Sasuke said, barely containing his anger. "Oh, you have the sharingan. Can I see it then Sasuke?" Naruto mocked. Anko had told him they usually wouldn't get sharingan until they were older.
"Fuck you." Was Sasuke's elegant response as he stormed off followed by his two fangirls. The girls surrounding Naruto were impressed. When they had gotten there the Uchiha kid seemed really strong but Kiba actually showed off his muscles and they liked that more than the broody kid.
"Can I touch your muscles?" "You were so cool." "Way to show that smug bastard what's what." Were the cries from the fangirls around him. Naruto mentally sighed. Anko had warned him of this but he didn't listen did he?
Anko had gotten him to resist women to an extent. Most she just liked to torture him by pressing her chest into his back and laugh at his reactions. He finally managed to completely ignore it and it helped quite a lot in this situation. Knowing his control he just let the girls feel him up. He slid his cloak off and flexed a bit to put on a bit of a show.
His sleeveless top made all of the girl's eyes bulge out of their socket a little bit. He was in peak physical condition and it showed. He may only be eight years old but he was in perfect shape. The girls almost started drooling when the started to feel his arms. They were like chiseled marble.
Naruto decided to have a little fun with them and stood up and pulled them off their chairs. The came flying out of their chairs and latched onto his arms like they were the only thing keeping them from flying away. They took a second and realized that he was holding them both up like they weighed nothing.
Naruto just chuckled as he saw their eyes gloss over and they obviously started daydreaming. He set them back down and turned to the front just as their teacher walked in. "Hello class. You will refer to me as Iruka-sensei from now on. I will be your teacher for the next four years." He said strongly.
Naruto started to analyze the teacher as he talked. 'He seems like he is rather confidant and enjoys being a teacher. I can tell by what scars I can see that he used to be active combat. His muscle mass seems a bit off however. Maybe a medic?' Naruto thought.
'It is also rather hard to get a feel for his chakra. He has to be a medic or maybe he has been out of duty for a while. Would make sense that he likes his job if he had been doing it for a while.' Naruto continued to think as he pretty much ignored Iruka at this point.
Anko had told him that most of the academy stuff would be history and the basics. He almost decided to just sleep through the entire thing. Anko did tell him to fail everything but the practical skills anyway.
He was snapped out of his musing when he felt something flying toward his head. He snapped his hand up and caught the object. Rolling it in his fingers, he found it was a piece of chalk.
"Pay attention." Iruka called out. Naruto just nodded before tossing the chalk back at Iruka like a senbon. Iruka was surprised to say the least but may no show if it at all as he caught the chalk. Naruto quirked his eyebrow at this. 'A medic would have dodged. No he must be something else. Maybe a sealing expert or something.' Naruto thought idly as he pretended to listen some more.
The chunin instructor continued on for a while longer gauging everyone in the class. Several seemed rather bored and that would not do at all. He just smirked and decided to get everyone running early this time around. Nothing wakes you up like a nice hard run after all.
Ten minutes later Naruto had lost interest in watching all of his slow classmates try and run laps without any speed at all. Iruka wanted them to run a simple two miles and everyone was panting and sweating like they were going to drop dead any second. It had been funny for Naruto for the first few minutes after he had finished.
He could imbue his muscles with chakra and was very efficient with it so he had finished in under five minutes. He had been told to wait for the rest of the class so he laid back against a tree and decided to take a nap. It would be another twenty minutes before everyone finished anyway. Damn civilians was the only thing Naruto could think at the time.
He was snapped out of his nap when he sensed a rock being thrown at him. He caught it in one hand and crushed it in his fist before cracking open an eye to see who threw it. Iruka once again. Naruto got the feeling this would be a recurring theme and decided to roll with it and got up to join the class.
Iruka went on with some boring lecture about how a strong body would lead to a strong mind. Without one or the other, the body was imbalanced and ineffective. Both were needed for a strong shinobi and Naruto once more lost interest.
He rather enjoyed the running part, he could use that in a fight. But all of this lecturing was useless information and would not give him any more strength. When he sensed another rock coming his way he decided to dodge this one. Unfortunately for Kiba, he was standing right behind Naruto and was pegged right in his already hurt nose.
Iruka felt a little bad as he had thrown that one pretty hard to try and catch Naruto off guard when he closed his eyes. No such luck.
The rest of the day came and went and he stood outside the academy in a sparring ring across from Sasuke wondering where he went wrong and why he was being forced to waste his time here instead of learning to protect himself and those he deemed important to him.
Naruto stopped picking at a scab on his shoulder as he saw Sasuke start to charge him. 'I must have been a real asshole in my previous life for this crap.' Naruto lamented as he decided to just break the Uchiha in front of him and continue on his way to the clearing.
He simply stepped forward and with a sharp palm strike to Sasuke's forearm, he popped his shoulder out of socket and pushed him to the ground walking past. The screams from the harpies that were cheering for him was deafening to say the least and he had thought he took a senbon to the ear. He decided running past them would be the best idea.
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It would be a few more months and Sasuke still challenged Naruto to a fight every now and then. Naruto would disable him in creative ways but was starting to run short. He had hoped Anko would be back soon because he was getting stale without new instruction.
As per Anko's previous instruction however, he was the class loser just behind Shikamaru Nara. Shikamaru caught on to him failing the test intentionally and asked him why. He just told Shikamaru the same reason he did. Shikamaru just laughed and said it was good enough for him.
Iruka however wasn't as pleased. He saw that Naruto was by far the strongest student he had. But he was skillfully failing all of the classroom work. He asked Naruto and he just told him that it was a waste of his skill and beneath his beliefs to waste his time on such meaningless ventures.
Iruka was fuming but kept his cool. He had seen a few students like this one. The paper work was boring kind of students. He tried bluffing and saying that if his work through the academy wasn't good enough, he would never become a ninja. Naruto called the bluff and went about his day.
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His first year at the academy finally completed, he finally had time to go back and really train with Anko. She made as many snide comments on how the academy was softening him up and making him weaker. He never denied anything and instead trained harder over the month long break they had after the year was up.
It was rather disheartening to Naruto. He felt like he was losing a ton of progress by staying in the academy. He asked Anko if there was a way for him to become a ninja without going through the academy and she said that she would have to take him as an apprentice and that it was the easy way out.
Naruto just sighed. He was strong enough to be a genin easily but being a special jonin apprentice maybe not. The system was flawed if they didn't realize that he was shinobi material already and were just wasting his time. Maybe it was just because they thought he was too stupid. He really wasn't sure anymore.
The looks he was getting from some of his classmates was really starting to piss him off. Sasuke and his fangirls would always stare him down when Iruka wasn't paying attention. He even had a few fangirls staring at him with hearts in there eyes. Being around Anko for so long he messed with them from time to time but it really was no challenge and he really didn't want anything from the girls anyway.
He was not looking forward to going back to class. Sitting around made his muscles ache and pretending to care what Iruka was talking about was getting tedious. At least Iruka had stopped randomly throwing chalk at him. It took about a month but he realized it was a pointless pursuit. After about the tenth time Naruto caught it while he was sleeping Iruka had quit.
During his month off, Anko was finally getting around to teaching him actual jutsu. He just gave him the fireball jutsu and left him alone with it for the month. Naruto was almost always manipulating chakra through his body to stave off boredom in class so his control was becoming excellent.
Only took him a few days and he was once again stuck with no new training. He decided to just try and practice with senbon for most of the month and practice his fire manipulation if his down time. The main problem he had was making the fireball small enough to light a camp fire.
It was still better than sitting in the academy however. He thought about sending a clone to school but Anko told him that if it dispelled for any reason he was going to be interrogated and tortured as to where he learned that jutsu. If they found out she had taught it to him then she would probably be hung as well.
Naruto was finding himself sighing a lot more now that he had to deal with the academy. He had managed to make it to the academy all year without any physical confrontations from the academy. Having a hood on his cloak made that easier.
Anko really was making him a bit more uncaring as to the feeling of others as well. He really only cared about Anko's opinion and her opinion was usually that he should kick ass first and don't apologize later. He rather liked that saying.
He had been staring at the roof of his little shack and could see the first few cracks of light coming through the doorway. Class was going to be coming up again in less than two hours and he might as well get ready.
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Naruto had talked to Shikamaru a few times over the course of another year of the academy. It seemed they were both of the opinion that shinobi should never show off their true strength or they would be a target outside of the academy.
Naruto failed the homework and tests to make himself look stupid and Shikamaru did poorly in the sparing to make himself look weak. Both were faking of course and they had gotten together to play shogi from time to time.
They were both fairly evenly matched once Naruto fully learned the game, much to Shikamaru's annoyance. He had never really been challenged except by his father as he was growing up and it was a new feeling.
Naruto was just enjoying getting to actually use his mind for something other than memorizing names out of the bingo book or remembering if certain plants were poisonous or not. They wouldn't really call themselves friends but they were about as close as they could be. They both were smart enough to understand that the shinobi world did not particularly allow friendship to last forever and accepted that fully.
It was more of a comradely and they both preferred it that way. They were both in the running to being the class dobe and they were both probably the two strongest in their class. It was almost a running joke to them and had a lot of fun with their role.
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Their third year of the academy had come around and it seemed like nothing was changing. Naruto once again felt like the year of being in the academy was slowing him down. He was making next to no progress in the shinobi arts while in that classroom.
Anko had told him he could easily have made chunin by now if he had been training with her or even on his own. Now he was maybe a high genin at best. Naruto had been in a funk for the first few days of their break until Anko finally told him what he wanted to hear.
"All right gaki, listen up. You have been stuck in that academy for three years now and it has made you dull. To sharpen you up, you will spend this next month living in the forest of death. You will need to survive all of the monsters and worst of all, me." Anko said with devilish grin.
Naruto paled at that plan. Surviving the forest of death while also dodging Anko was going to be a chore and a half. He just hoped she would let him sleep longer than five minutes before attacking him. A month without sleep did not sound all that fun in his mind.
Naruto's prays would be answered shortly as a week into his stay in the forest of death, Anko had gotten a mission and would be gone for a few weeks. He had to admit he rather liked the forest. There was just enough danger to keep it exciting.
The wildlife tasted good and the forest held all sorts of delicious fruits. The chunin exams had been held there the previous year so he also managed to find a few reasonably intact bodies to loot. Anko would have to dispose of any bodies at some point so he just helped himself to what was still there.
He was rather happy Anko tended to be lazy about her job at times like this. He would pull a few kunai here and there as well as a sword or two. He would more than likely get Anko to sell most of the stuff he pulled from the bodies but he rather liked some things he was finding.
He found someone's journal that they had used to keep track of their training progress. The idiot wrote what training excersises he was doing and how far he had gotten it down. Naruto now had a means to training a wind affinity if he ever wanted to. The though of doing collaboration jutsu with a clone made him keep that handy.
He also found a sword off of a Kumo ninja he rather liked. It was a tanto and Naruto assumed it was a secondary weapon. It was however stamped with the blacksmiths mark and mark for the Land of Iron. If it was indeed from the Land of Iron, it would be rather valuable. They were known as the best sword smiths and swordsmen he had ever heard of.
Naruto went through is mental checklist of stuff he had managed to salvage over the last two weeks while Anko was gone.
'Wind manipulation journal, check. Land of Iron tanto, check. Two high quality Kumo katanas, check. Full restock of kunai, shuriken and senbon, check. Mysterious purple Suna liquid, check. Scroll full of broken metal for scrap, check. Trophy, trophy? He checked his pockets again. He really didn't have a trophy from his trip to the forest yet.
He still had a week to go anyway and Anko was supposed to be coming back any time now. Hopefully she would put the constant sparing aside and just go on a hunt like they used to. Anko had been with him on his first major kill, the black wolf that he had always worn as a cloak. Maybe he would try to hunt something as a thank you for all the time she had invested in his training.
He would once again be snapped out of his thinking by the sound of dozens of snakes bursting through the leaves of the tree he was leaning on. He sighed and flipped behind the tree and tossed a shuriken to where he thought she would move to when she tried to follow.
He was not disappointed when he heard metal on metal meaning she had to block the shuriken. The snakes disappeared and Naruto suddenly felt himself being hugged from behind. "Way to go gaki, you made me pull out a kunai this time. Seems you haven't been slacking off these last two weeks have you?" Anko said as she licked his neck up to his chin.
"Ah that sweat and grime you can only find in this forest. It always touches me so." Anko breathed into his ear. "It's good to see you again Anko. How was your mission." Naruto asked in a bored tone. "A waste of time. Assassinating civilians is never exciting." Anko complained.
"How about we get some excitement in. I haven't really found anything too amazing in the forest and was hoping to hunt one of the chakra tigers in the north east sector of the forest." Naruto said, turning to see her reaction.
Anko was a bit nervous. The chakra tigers, well were tigers that had chakra flowing through them. They were extremely deadly and rather hard to kill. They were the only animal that warranted a B-rank mission to hunt and usually done in teams. They were however extremely individualistic and were never found in groups. A small grin reached her face and she turned down to Naruto.
"Oh Naruto-kun, you sure know how to treat a woman on her first date don't you?" She said teasingly as she gave him a peck on the cheek and started to skip to the north east. Naruto blushed a bit at the insinuation but nothing more. He was used to Anko's more exotic side by now.
There were a few laughs on the way and they both had the suspicion that the other was wanting to see how close they would get to the chakra tigers territory before the other would get scared. They were both rather annoyed at the other as they were running for their life from the tiger they had pissed off.
'If only you weren't so damn stubborn.' They both thought about the other while they ran. The tiger's were feared for their speed and for their resilience. The resilience shining brightly as they could see several senbon jutting from its throat and a few near its heart.
They were now in for the long haul as they tried to tire the tiger out. They could see the blood pouring from its throat telling them they hit an artery but it was just not slowing down. They continued to rain senbon down on it as they went eventually blinding the animal. Even blind it could still chase and just when they were starting to loose steam the tiger started to waver. Blood loss finally catching up to it, it collapsed.
Naruto did not take any chances and took his new tanto and rammed it right into the tigers heart. The tiger gave one last swipe with it's fading strength managing to tear a chunk out of Naruto's leg before dying itself.
Naruto just winced as he saw how deep the gashes in his leg were. He should probably go to the hospital but he would sooner cut the leg off than do that.
He just too some bandages he had in a small scroll and wrapped it up. He had been cut before and he probably would be fine in a day or so. He always was after all. Anko was catching up with him as he wrapped himself up and began to remove the senbon from the great predator.
She still had adrenaline running through her body and had to admit that killing a chakra tiger without jutsu was a hell of an adventure. She was almost high off of how much pure adrenaline she had in herself at the moment and she would have to drag the little gaki out to do it again sometime.
After Naruto managed to fix himself up, he knelt down beside the tiger and offered a prayer to it's great service in continuing his own life. Anko followed shortly and they soon began to strip the tiger down into everything useable.
The hide would go with Anko to be tanned and the meat would be cooked for dinner. Tiger meat may not be the tastiest of meats, but it was definitely unique. Anko had wanted to sell the meat to the Akimichi clan but Naruto brushed it aside. They had taken the tiger down for themselves not for some kind of profit. Anko had nodded and said nothing on the matter.
When they came to the beasts heart, they both held it in their hands. The pure power they both knew they held in their hands caused them to take a moment to appreciate it. This was the heart of one of the greatest predators in the land of fire and deserved respect as such.
They both held the heart up and both took a bite. Anko had stressed that a true hunter would always eat the heart first. Anko herself had never killed a chakra tiger before and the feeling of taking a bite out of his heart was intoxicating. Many animals in the forest of death had small chakra networks giving them enhanced senses and resilience.
This chakra tiger however, it was a beast that was in tune with his chakra network and had enough chakra running through it to make a chunin jealous. The chakra still in his heart was akin to a chakra pill and Anko had to stop herself from moaning from the high she was feeling. She may have been tired after the kill but now she felt better than she had in years.
Naruto was going through the same feelings. He could feel the power tugging at his own heart and he could feel the beating through his chest. He had no delusion to think he could have taken on the alpha predator alone and that feeling of pure power in himself was a far better high than any drug.
They finished the heart and after a moment their breathing evened out. They both finished skinning the tiger and cutting out the bad meat. The bad meat going towards traps the good meat going towards dinner and the claws and fangs being set aside for now.
They practically sprinted straight to the tower after they finished cleaning the tiger. They got the meat slow cooking and both went to grab a change of clothes from their room in the tower. Naruto grabbed some loose fitting clothes and headed to the hot spring on the ground level.
They were open to everyone as there would be no real way to share it otherwise. It was big enough for several people to fit in it and was often the source of problems as people tended to fight over it. The only hot spring in the forest of death was rather highly contested.
Naruto rinsed the blood off of himself and stepped in. The adrenaline was wearing off and he was crashing after it. He was just starting to get completely relax when Anko stepped in. He wasn't really surprised. It was a great idea after all.
They didn't talk, Naruto didn't close his eyes, and Anko didn't tease him. It was just a long, relaxing soak together. Naruto saw Anko as his crazy aunt and Anko saw Naruto as something close to a kid brother. They both knew they were hated by the village and they both knew that was about all they had in common. It was really all they needed to want to stick together.
After a long soak they both got out and went to eat. Everything was cooked and tasted pretty good. It had been an experiment as neither had eaten tiger before and it worked out well enough. Anko finally broke the silence and asked what Naruto was going to do with the hide.
"I am not really sure yet. I would like it tanned and I am sure I will make something out of it some day." Naruto explained. Anko just nodded. After what it took to get the hide, rushing to make something out of it could be a mistake.
"You realize that you are strong enough to survive here and you can stay here now right?" Anko asked. Naruto just nodded and smiled at that. "I always wanted to live here since the first day you brought me here. Thanks again Anko, for everything." He said sincerely.
Anko wasn't much one for emotions so she just tried to turn it around on him. "You are just happy to be able to live with someone as sexy as me gaki." She said, puffing out her chest a little for effect. The skimpy tank top she was wearing showing off enough to make anyone get a little flustered.
Naruto did blush a little but he knew Anko just liked to tease him. She seemed like a whore to many people around the village, the nickname 'Snake Whore' being the main show of that. She just used her sexuality to distract herself from how much she hated the village. Glares of lust were better than glares of hatred after all.
Naruto had resorted to intimidation in the academy and stealth to avoid the villagers in general. Anko specializing in torture and assassination made him very good at that. He always did enjoy when Anko would just talk to him about her work.
Naruto truly had always wanted to live in this tower. It was a dream come true to him and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. He had always taken care of the clearing Anko had let him hide in and would do the same here.
The night was running down and they both decided to just go get some sleep. It truly had been a long time since Naruto had been in the tower when he realized the room he used to use he had shared with Anko. Anko had told him then that it was on the top floor and reserved for herself and the proctor of the next part of the exam.
Naruto had understood at the time just forgotten it after a few years away. It didn't bother him just a thought. Sleep came quickly and it was a truly restful sleep. He was woken up to the sound of a shower being turned on. He realized Anko had waken up before him and that meant he would have to wait.
He checked his leg and found it had not healed at all. He quirked an eyebrow at that as he had thought for sure it would have. It did not hurt since it had happened so he just assumed it was healing like everything else.
Behind the bandages however there were the distinct tears in his leg. He scrubbed them out with some disinfectant he had and looked at it again. Fully cleaned it was just as bad as it was yesterday. He still didn't understand that and shrugged and just started sewing it shut with his sewing kit. He just soaked the thread in the disinfectant and burned the needle with some fire chakra before hand.
He was getting the second claw mark closed when Anko came out of the shower. She had her hair up with the towel and nothing else on. Naruto didn't look as she came out and she just hugged him from behind like she usually did. "That's a pretty nasty looking mark huh gaki. I bet it will make a sexy scar when it heals." She said with a grin.
Naruto could tell she was naked but made no comment on it. "I am surprised it didn't heal over night. It usually would have." Naruto said. "Maybe because it was a chakra claw?" Anko asked, watching him sew his leg up. "Maybe, still kind of weird. I haven't really had anything scar before. Might be kind of cool." He said, finishing up his stitching.
He stood up and stretched is leg out. The stitching held and he made his way to the shower. Anko just smirked at him. 'That gaki didn't even look, I am almost offended.' Anko thought with a grin. She got dressed for the day and got some of the leftovers warming back up.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The week was up and Naruto had to get back to the academy. Anko had sold the stuff he had gotten from the forest that he didn't need. She used the profit to get the tiger leather tanned. Expensive business but that's the way it went.
Naruto would find himself bored out of his mind even more this year. This was the year that they would be learning their three E-rank jutsu. Naruto of course already knew all three of them and found that pretending to be bad at the jutsu was rather annoying.
Shikamaru asked if he already knew them and of course he had known them for years now. Shikamaru just laughed as he had learned them before the academy as well. They decided to try and see who could make the worst looking clone and Naruto won hands down. He couldn't really do the clone jutsu anyway to it was easy to fake an even worse one.
The year went by as slow as it could to spite Naruto but it was finally coming to a close. Naruto looked around his class and was disgusted at what he saw. Anko had told him he had hit genin level about six years ago. Using that as a benchmark, the only people that were even close was Sasuke and Shikamaru.
Shikamaru was that level just because of his brainpower and strategy. Sasuke was just because of how hard he pushed himself to surpass his brother. Naruto had asked Anko about that and he never got an answer as to how strong Itachi was. When he told her that Sasuke wanted to surpass him, she would just laugh until he brought something else up.
He got the impression that Itachi was way too much for Sasuke and realized he was an idiot. Iruka was going through the team assignments and he really hoped Shikamaru was wrong for once and they would be put together.
His dream crashed when he was put on team seven with Sasuke and Sakura. He groaned out loud until he hear their sensei's name. Kakashi Hatake. Anko had told him about some of the jonin that he could get matched up with. Kakashi had been his first choice as he was an assassination expert like Anko.
He shook Shikamaru's hand when Naruto was named the class's dead last. He had managed to graduate dead last behind Shikamaru just like he told him he would a few years ago. Everyone's team started to file out with their sensei expect for team seven.
Naruto could care less how long it took as he knew they had gotten the strongest sensei. Shikamaru was paired with Asuma and he knew Shikamaru had been happy about that. Asuma was lazy as well and was known for being a tactical fighter. Right up Shikamaru's alley.
Every five minutes or so Naruto would have to resist the urge to kill Sakura whenever she would shriek that their sensei was late. 'Yes Sakura, he was late two hours ago as well. Thanks for the update.' He would repeat in his head until Kakashi finally showed up.
The resulting shriek would have made him snap if he hadn't covered his ears. Sasuke flinched again at the noise and Kakashi just sighed. 'Well, this has to have been going on for a while if the dumb one was smart enough to cover his ears.' He thought before telling them to meet on the roof.
When everyone made it to the roof, Kakashi told them to introduce themselves. Sakura asked for a demonstration and both Kakashi and Naruto sighed internally.
"I am Kakashi Hatake. I like a lot of things and dislike a lot of things as well. For hobbies, I have a few hobbies. As for a dream, I never really thought about it." He said.
Naruto smirked, he was still acting like a ninja and not giving away anything important. Naruto could respect that. "All right, go ahead Pinkie." Kakashi said.
"Well, I'm Sakura Haruno. I like (Glances at Sasuke and blushes). I dislike stupid people. (Glances at Naruto) For a hobby, I like, (Looks at Sasuke and blushes some more) And for a dream, well, (Looks at Sasuke again and wipes some blood from her nose)."
Naruto face palmed, hard, at that description. 'If I wanted to get anything from her, I would just have to take Sasuke hostage and she would do anything to get him back.' Naruto thought.
"Alright, how bout you Broody?" Kakashi said. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like anything and hate lots of things. My hobby is training and my dream, no, my ambition is to kill my brother and restore my clan." Sasuke said with venom dripping from his voice.
'Fat chance in hell with that one kid.' Kakashi thought. "Ok Blondie, what about you?" Kakashi asked, expecting something stupid.
"My name is Naruto. I like a very few things and hate far more than that. My hobbies are hunting and leather working. My dream, would just distract me from my shinobi work so I don't have one." Naruto explained simply.
Kakashi almost busted out laughing. The stupidest one in his class had just given the best answer. If that had been a test he would be the only one passing. "Well, I can say that two of you are very stupid and one of you only acts stupid. Let us all hope that is different in a week. Monday morning, 0500 at training ground seven. There will be another test to see if you will make it as a genin team or if I will have to fail you and send you back to the academy. I wouldn't eat breakfast, you will just throw it up." Kakashi said as he left the rooftop.
Sasuke was fuming at how Kakashi called both of his teammates stupid. He was going to get dragged down by these two idiots and he could not afford that. Sakura was mad that their teacher called Sasuke-kun stupid. Naruto was going to get in the way of their romance. Naruto was just laughing that the top two of their class just got called stupid by their new sensei. Was a pretty good day.
Naruto was snapped out of his laughing when he felt a kunai being lunged at him. He grabbed Sasuke arm and threw him into the ground. "If you want to attack someone Sasuke-Chan, make sure you can beat them first." Naruto said as he casually walked down the side of the building and started to head back to the tower.
Sasuke stormed off after he got up, Sakura trailing behind him. Naruto knew that they were going to fail as a team and could really care less. Maybe if he showed off a bit, Kakashi would take him as an apprentice. Would certainly go better than being on a team with those two idiots.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Naruto made it back to the tower and thought on what he was going to do. There really wasn't any way to win in his current situation. He didn't know what the test would be so there was no real way to prepare for it.
Anko had come by the next day and they decided to just train him up so he would be ready for anything. Non-stop training for a full week had Naruto feeling pretty confidant in his abilities. The rust from a year in a classroom had dulled him once again and it was good to be sharpened by Anko again.
He got plenty of rest the day before the test but decided to eat breakfast anyway. If Kakashi was going to be late again, he would have plenty of time to let his stomach settle after his run through the forest.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Naruto arrived at the clearing an hour ahead of everyone. He decided that a shinobi test would most likely be a test of skill so he set a few traps through the clearing and the surrounding forest. He was careful to document any and all traps so he could tell his teammates where they were whenever they got there.
They would both arrive a few minutes before 0500 and stare at Naruto walking in and out of the forest like he was stupid. "What are you doing dobe?" Sasuke finally asked. "Setting up traps in case this is a test of skill." Naruto replied with a shrug. He tossed them both a scroll with a detailed layout of all the traps. "That has the location of all the traps so you guys can avoid them or use them to your advantage." Naruto explained.
Sasuke took one look at the stroll before throwing it as hard as he could at Naruto. "Like you know how to set up a trap dobe. Just try not to drag me down." He said with more venom dripping from his words. Naruto just grunted and walked away. Leaning against a tree on the other side of the clearing. 'Sasuke-kun is so cool.' Sakura thought as she stared at him longingly.
It would be another three hours before Kakashi showed up and Sakura screamed at him for being late. He gave his lame excuse and turned back to everyone. "So, I trust everyone is ready for their test?" Kakashi said with a smirk under his mask.
Two stomachs growled at the prospect of the test. Kakashi frowned. "Naruto, I thought I said don't this morning." Kakashi said accusingly. "You said that you wouldn't eat breakfast. It wasn't an order." Naruto said with a shrug. "When a higher ranking shinobi gives you advice Naruto, it would be good to heed it." Kakashi said as he dashed forward punching Naruto in the stomach making him throw up his breakfast.
"Now then, the test is simple. I have two bells here, you guys will have to take them from me by any means necessary. If you fail to get a bell, you go back to the academy for another year. Whoever does the worst will be tied to the post and the other two will eat at 1200. We will continue for another three hours and see who can get a bell. Time stops when the timer goes off. Any questions?" Kakashi explained.
Sakura was the first to ask, "But there are only two bells, that means one of us will have to go back to the academy." "Well, looks like you will have to try harder now won't you?" Kakashi asked in a sarcastic tone. "Time starts now." He said as he set the timer down by the stumps.
Sasuke and Sakura both darted into the trees to seek cover. Naruto however stood his ground. "You know Kakashi, striking me before you started the test is the sign of a poor teacher. You realize this correct?" Naruto asked sarcastically. "Here I thought you were the smart one. Are you looking to fight be my yourself?" Kakashi asked as he pulled out his favorite book.
"Also, disrespecting your students by ignoring them during a test is a sign of a rather shitty teacher as well." Naruto said with a smirk. He pulled his hands up into a hand sign as the ground underneath Kakashi exploded into a shower of dirt.
In the middle of the crater was a charred log. Naruto knew what that meant and quickly disappeared into trees. 'Hmm, he had buried an explosive tag without disturbing the earth. That is quite interesting.' Kakashi thought as he dodged a few kunai heading his way.
He had a quick battle with Sasuke before sending the Uchiha flying backwards to bounce off of a tree. Sakura quickly rushed to his side and helped him back into the forest. Using the distraction, Naruto sprung forward to engage Kakashi from behind. Kakashi sensed something was wrong and turned in time to block the tanto strike aimed at his heart.
"Very good, I did say any means necessary didn't I? Going for the kill is at the top of that list after all. However." Kakashi said as he grabbed Naruto's wrist and flipped him over his head and smashed him into the ground. "It's not enough." Kakashi said with a smirk.
Naruto went back to fight Kakashi again. His attitude was really starting to piss him off. He was supposed to be their sensei but he was just aimlessly fighting them. At least Anko would tell him what he was doing wrong.
He kept fighting as hard as he could but was not getting anywhere. He wished Anko would let him use the shadow clone jutsu. It would have made everything easier. Instead he was left with small fire jutsu and his speed. He had long ago dropped his weights. He was still far too slow.
Kakashi was rather amused. Naruto was strong, there was no denying that. He just lacked any real style. He also lacked a team mentality. Kakashi could sense Sasuke and Sakura moving around the edge of his range and knew that he needed to get rid of Naruto if he didn't want to face all three and have them win by default.
The next punch Naruto threw, Kakashi stepped into it and punched Naruto back to the edge of the trees. A moment later, more kunai and shuriken came flying from the tree line. Kakashi identified Sakura throwing them and saw Sasuke dash to his side aiming a kick at his head.
Kakashi let a small smile creep under his mask. Those two had figured it out, now they just needed Naruto to try to join them and it would be their win. He fought back Sasuke but was holding back considerably. He had orders to not cause any damage to the Uchiha heir and he wasn't going to get executed because he bruised the brat.
Naruto had watched the fight and saw how much Kakashi was holding back against Sasuke. He mistook it as showing favoritism. His blood began to boil as he prepared to go back in. He saw an opening and once more went for a blind side stab through the heart with his tanto.
Kakashi saw this coming however and caught his hand and Sasuke and tossed both of them into the same tree at the edge of the clearing. Sakura appeared and carried Sasuke off leaving Naruto alone. He got up and followed them a moment later.
"We are getting no where with this bullshit. We are going to have to go at him all at once for a chance of any of us getting a bell." Naruto tried to explain. "You just want the bells for yourself dobe. If you were worth anything you could get them yourself." Sasuke said. "You are just trying to keep me and Sasuke-kun from passing." Sakura shrieked.
"This is exactly why this team will never work out. I am sure by the end of this we will all be in the academy and you can still go fuck yourself." Naruto said as he walked back out into the clearing. "Might as well get some sparring with a jonin before I go back to the academy." Naruto said out loud before he started engaging Kakashi again.
Kakashi heard what he said and he hated people that abandoned their teammates. He started to hold back less and less for the next few seconds. It was not even a minute later that Naruto was on the ground coughing up blood at the beating he was taking by Kakashi when they both heard a large boom from the forest.
Kakashi rushed to where he heard the explosion, followed by Naruto a moment later. What they saw was Sasuke laying in a puddle of his own blood. His left leg gone at the kneecap and a few fingers missing from his left hand. Sakura was a mess, crying over her love being hurt so bad. Kakashi snapped into action and did what he could to stop the bleeding before making a clone to take him to the hospital.
"Who built that trap." Kakashi said in a ice cold voice. "Naruto-teme." Sakura croaked out between sobs. The next thing Naruto knew he was on the ground gasping for breath after Kakashi punching him in the gut as hard as he could.
"Did it ever occur to you that you could hurt your own teammates with your traps Naruto. You three were a team and that should never happen. What the fuck did you learn in the academy?" Kakashi barked at him.
"I offered them a map of where the traps where, they gave it back." Naruto tried to explain. Kakashi wasn't listening and as soon as Naruto stood up, Kakashi flashed through hand signs and suddenly Naruto was up to his head underground.
"Due to you own incompetence, you just ruined the career of the last Uchiha. If he manages to make it to the hospital alive, he can no longer become a ninja. With how you preformed in this test, I will make sure you will never become a ninja as well. Do you understand?" Kakashi screamed at him.
Naruto stared Kakashi down and said nothing. Kakashi finally had enough and just walked away. Naruto was trying to calm down so he could focus and substitute himself with a nearby log when he suddenly felt himself getting kicked in the back of the head repeatedly.
"You could have killed Sasuke-kun you bastard. I'll kill you, you monster!" Sakura screamed, her mind completely gone. Naruto's world was beginning to go blank as he tried to focus to substitute himself. He couldn't focus enough to he tried to crawl his way out with Sakura constantly kicking him. If she had been in shape he might have been dead by now.
Sakura noticed that Naruto was beginning to free himself and she pulled out a kunai, closed her eyes and stabbed at where he was. Naruto saw the kunai coming but was still buried up to his shoulders. He managed to tilt his head enough so she hit him in the shoulder instead of the head. He slumped forward and bit his tongue so he wouldn't scream in pain before he heard Sakura's footsteps leaving the training ground.
He was pissed now. If he wasn't holding onto consciousness by a thread, when he finally got out, he would have turned and ripped Sakura's throat out. He needed to get the fuck out of the area though. Kakashi no doubt went to report what he did to the council. Those assholes would most likely call for his death since he just maimed the last Uchiha. Naruto could tell how much they loved that prick after all.
It was a minute later he managed to dig himself out. He clutched his shoulder and felt the wound. It was burning hot after a second as he flooded the area with fire chakra. It cauterized the wound shut so he would stop bleeding. His anger the only thing pushing him on, he made his way to the forest of death. This would be a risky run but not as risky as braving the council.
It felt like an eternity but he finally collapsed into the front door of the tower. He had to build shadow clones to practically drag him this far but once he made one good clone, it had made more and he managed to clear his head while they carried him.
His clone ran through the tower looking for Anko. She was in a training room and he quickly got her to go check him out. She was not a medic but she knew how to wrap a wound properly. She dragged him upstairs and stripped him down. She got him into the shower and washed him off. She could tell that it was a rookie stab wound and was horribly executed.
It was a deep stab but it didn't hit anything vital and the idiot had left the kunai in instead of twisting it or something. Naruto may be slightly lucky to be alive but with such a rookie assassination attempt, she thought it was just poor execution the reason he survived.
She got him back in bed and wrapped his neck and shoulder. An inch in either direction and he might have been unable to stay a ninja. To the right and he would have bled out. To the left and it would have cut nerves to his arm and he would never have been able to fix that.
Anko, satisfied that he was good, laid him down as he finally managed to succumb to sleep. He hadn't been able to talk the whole time he was there. It took everything to keep from blacking out before he knew he was safe. Anko went and rinsed the blood off herself and threw a towel around herself as she made her way to check on Naruto again.
She could see his bandages were still relatively white so his wound didn't open again. He had a slight fever but it wasn't too bad. Anko just shrugged and took off her wet towel and placed it on his forehead. She stared at him for a few minutes before she felt his hand grab her wrist. It wasn't painful but the pained expression on his face told her enough.
He hadn't made that face since the day he got run out from the village. 'Gaki fucked up apparently. What would cause him to make that face again I wonder.' Anko mused as his grip loosened a bit and his face eased out of the scared look he had earlier. 'Of course knowing I am here would ease his mind. Perverted gaki loves me too much.' Anko thought with an internal laugh.
She just shrugged again and laid down beside him and pulled the blanket over them. Naruto had slipped into her bed from time to time when he was younger. She had never scolded him for it and she honestly thought it was cute back then.
Now, she would tell he would probably freak out if she wasn't in sight when he woke up so she just shared his bed. The fact that she was completely naked, as was he, didn't really register in her mind as she just laid next to him.
It had taken Naruto most of the day into the night to make it back to the tower. He had known the forest pretty well and made great time. He also didn't have any secondary objectives or his weights on. Anko passed out after Naruto's breathing evened out as night flew by.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Inside the council, the news of Sasuke's injuries had been discussed and now Naruto's hearing was in effect.
Calls of 'death to the Kyuubi' and 'the demon brat must die' were thrown around constantly. Hiruzen could not get any control of the council at all. He was supposed to be in charge but with how things were looking, there was nothing he could do.
Danzo was whispering in his ear saying to give him control of the boy and he would live to be a strong shinobi under his control. The hokage had already given the concession that Naruto not be allowed back into the ninja ranks and they saw that as he would give them anything they wanted.
There was nothing he could do anymore and so he gave Naruto to Danzo. Danzo made quick work of the council and practically had them over his knee. He got them to settle and he told him that he would deal with the boy.
They assumed he meant he would kill the boy and they threw their support behind him. Danzo just smiled to himself. If he ever needed a way to look better than Hiruzen as hokage, this was it. He would be the one to get rid of the demon boy, and he would be the one to reap the benefits. A push in position on the council and his own jinchuriki to train. It was a good day for Danzo.
Hiruzen was in need of a stiff drink. He had failed Minato and Naruto. He should have put more of an effort to get to know Naruto more. Maybe he could have done so many things in his life so much better but it went completely out of his hands.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Naruto had woken up and was wondering what had happened. He managed to open his eyes and was staring at the ceiling. He a dull throb from his neck and he could remember getting stabbed by Sakura. He was still pissed and had considered what he should do about that.
As he woke up a bit more he could feel some weight on his arm. He looked down to see his arm being held against Anko's chest. He might have pulled away but he was overall used to it. Instead he just nudged her a bit until she started to wake up.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at him. She could feel she was naked after a few minutes and woke up enough to try and tease him. "So was it as good for you as it was for me?" She asked him as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"I have never slept better in my life." Naruto replied just as softly. Naruto decided this could go on forever so he would just end it first as he snaked his hand around her waist and pulled her closer. Now, Anko was a pervert, that was glaringly obvious. But this twelve year old was putting the moves on her and she had to admit he was doing it right.
However, she refused to lose to a brat so she hooked his leg with hers and pushed her chest further into his. "Well now gaki, don't tease me now." She whispered in his ear again. Naruto conceded defeat at that. He wouldn't be able to go any further without being called a pervert for life so he just called it and they both got up. Anko slipped into the shower first and Naruto removed his bandages.
He looked at the wound and saw that it was almost completely healed. Barely even a scab on it anymore. He looked down at his leg and, while the wound was healed, it still had a scar. He wondered if his neck wound would scar or not.
He was snapped out of the thought as Anko yelled from the shower asking if the wound had healed or not. "Yes, it is barely even a scab anymore." he called back. "Good, so when are you going to tell me what happened to you?" She asked. "I guess when your done with your shower and I get one in." He answered back.
"Well what the hell are you waiting for gaki, get your ass in here. I sure as shit am not waiting that long." Anko yelled at him. Naruto stopped picking at his scab and went in. Again, it was nothing new and they almost had a system going.
Whenever Naruto had woken up before Anko, he would try and get a shower before she woke up. Every once in a while she would wake up and step in with him. She wouldn't bother waiting until he was done and he wouldn't bother just stepping out when she wanted in.
They talked as they showered and Naruto had her caught up before they even got out. Anko was pissed as well. So the little Uchiha ruined his life by ignoring assistance offered by an teammate because he didn't know anything about said teammate. What a dumbass.
Anko knew that a shitstorm was coming and she was not looking forward to the order to drag Naruto in. She knew it was coming and she really did not want to follow that order. She started to think about how the little gaki had brightened up her life over the last going on six years now and she didn't want to let that go.
She didn't notice when she began actually grab Naruto and hold him for a few second. Naruto was a little confused. It didn't seem like a teasing hug, but more of a caring hug. He could tell she was tensing up and put his hand up over her arms.
Anko almost laughed when she realized she was holding him and he was trying to comfort her. 'He probably doesn't even realize that I would have to take him to the hokage yet.' She lamented. She finally broke the hug and got out of the shower.
They got ready and grabbed something simple for breakfast. Anko would have to go check with the hokage today and she was going to drag it out till the last moment. They decided some sparring would take their minds off the hell they were most likely going to have to deal with.
Naruto knew he was going to be in trouble. He didn't know that the order to turn him into a emotionless slave to Danzo had gone through however. It was a lot worse than he was expecting. It was worse than the death penalty Anko was expecting as well.
They sparred through most of the day. Only stopping to check traps. They had gotten a few large animals that day and salted them to preserve what they could before Anko went to report to the hokage.
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Anko finally made it to the hokage tower to report for any orders. She could see a bit of hustle around the village and figure that must be for Naruto. She got into the hokage office and Hiruzen seemed frazzled. They were both dreading this conversation more than anything but it had to get out of the way.
"Mitarashi-san. There was an incident yesterday involving Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto is needed for questioning in regards to the incident." Hiruzen said without betraying his concern.
"What is he being charged with Hokage-sama?" Anko asked professionally. "He is currently being charged with assaulting a teammate and ending their career without provocation." Hiruzen said. "I will find him Hokage-sama." Anko said with a sad bow.
"Mitarashi-san. Take this to him as well. He hasn't come to pick up his allowance for a while now. Maybe he will be able to afford a fair trail." Hiruzen said sadly, handing over the scroll. "Understood Hokage-sama." Anko said as she turned to head back into the forest.
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It would be night time before Anko returned. She walked in and looked for any sign of Naruto. She would have to had a serious talk with him if he was going to make it out of this alive. The problem was that he wasn't in the tower. She checked everywhere and there was no sign of him.
She thought he might have been found but if the hokage would have sent anyone into the forest it would have only been her. She looked for signs of a struggle but didn't find any. She finally went and checked their room closer and saw that all of his clothes were gone.
She dashed down to the kitchen and saw that all the food was gone. 'Damn gaki made a break for it.' Anko finally thought. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.' was all she could think as she grabbed a scroll with what she would need on a long mission.
She rushed outside and went into full tracker mode. She could see faint signs that he had left in a hurry and started to track him. She had taken her time getting to the hokage tower so it was highly likely that he could have made it out of the forest. She was proven correct when she saw one of the gates wide open.
'Damn gaki better be stealthier than this if he is running away from everything.' Anko thought in a panic. If she could track him, an Inuzuka could surely track him. She was being careful to not be spotted herself. If she got caught on his trail, someone better might take it over and then she wouldn't be able to save him.
She kept on the trail for another half hour before she saw where he had stopped. It was a simple civilian home. Nothing stood out about it at all. It was out of the way and nothing to perk her interest. She saw that he had went up the wall and into a window.
She sneaked up the same wall and peered into the same window. Inside was the headless body of Sakura Haruno. 'Bastard killed someone, mother fucker what the hell kid. Now there is no way you will avoid the death penalty.' Anko screamed in her head. She quickly hopped inside and sealed her body into a scroll as well as the bed too. There was no blood anywhere else so she left just as she came.
She dropped down the wall and followed the trail further. She saw it getting close to the wall and she was afraid he had tried to scale it. If anyone tried to scale the wall with chakra, the anbu came running within seconds.
She could see faint imprints along the ground so he hadn't tried that. That was good for now. She was getting dangerously close to the gate when she finally saw it. There was no gate guards. 'Where the fuck are the guards.' She was screaming in her head.
She was about to lose her shit when she saw the footsteps leaving through the front gate. She didn't see any prints from the gate guards going after him so he might have escaped. Now she was torn. If he left to look for him, she would be labeled a missing nin pretty damn fast.
If she left him alone however, he was most likely going to get caught or killed before he ever made it out of the country. She barely even slowed down as she started to pick up speed. His tracks were almost completely gone at this point but she could tell the direction he went.
She could always see a bit of a trail as she kept going but guessed she had to be gaining on him. She was a lot faster than him after all. Another two hours of sprinting and she spotted him. She tackled him to the ground when she found him and pinned him there for almost a full minute before he managed to ask what was wrong.
Her face was twisted in a mix of anger, pain, and sadness. She was afraid of losing the only person who could truly understand her pain and thought she was going to lose him. She was also pissed that he ran off without her. She wouldn't have stayed if he asked her.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing gaki." She yelled at him. "They are going to send shinobi after you now. How the fuck are you going to survive. Did you even think that far away. You just ran away with an arrest warrant. They aren't going to give you a trial anymore dumbass." She continued yelling.
"I'm sorry Anko. You and I both know I wouldn't have gotten a trial anyway. I crippled the last Uchiha. The council loved him and hated me. I was dead anyway." Naruto said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "They sent you to find me didn't they?" He asked quieter.
"Yeah, I guess they did. There any chance in hell you would want to go back?" She half assed asked. He just shook his head. "Course not. We better get moving then. Hunter-nin will be after us soon enough. We need to cross any border before that happens." Anko said pulling him to his feet and giving him a hug.
"Damn bastard. I hope you realize we can't separate anymore. I went missing-nin for you. I even covered up your murder as well. You really got me good didn't you gaki?" She asked sarcastically. "You covered up my murder?" Naruto asked quite shocked that she would go that far. "She was the bitch that stabbed you right? Packed her up tight and left no trace." Anko said as she waved the scroll with Sakura's body in it.
Naruto almost laughed at how comical it was but he realized he had murdered her in cold blood. She was always a bitch to him and tried to kill him so he didn't dwell on it that bad. He just shrugged and thanked Anko for covering for him.
"Well, where are we going to go anyway?" Naruto asked. "Wherever the fuck we want to gaki. No more village to tie us down. I also got some money and we got food. We will be able to avoid any villages for a while so how about somewhere out of the way?" Anko suggested.
"That reminds me. I never gave you this." Naruto said as he pulled out a scroll. In the scroll was a tan trench coat. The trench coat was made of the chakra tiger leather. Anko could easily tell just by glancing at it. She put it on and could feel it was a good fit.
"This fits really good gaki. You must have peeked on me quite a bit to get the measurements right." Anko said as they started walking. Naruto didn't even break his stride as he called back. "Well when you show of an amazing body, people tend to pay attention." He had said in a smart ass tone.
"I knew you were a pervert gaki. But it's nice that someone sees my body as something more than just a good fuck." Anko said back to him. This time Naruto almost tripped and Anko just laughed at him. It was going to be fun being able to tease the little gaki whenever she wanted.
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Well holy hell it is finally complete. The first chapter is finally out of the way. I said in the start that the average chapter length is going to be around 5k words and this is a staggering 27k chapter.
I would have put a long note in the start giving a basic outline of the story but I got alot of complaints when I did that in my first story. This time I am going with a super long chapter to get to where the main plot point is.
The main point being Naruto and Anko defecting together. Now if I had spoiled that in the start and make nothing but 5k chapters. This would be chapter 5 before they actually left.
I hope everyone likes it and honestly would love to know what everyone thinks of starting a story with a long first chapter to get as much information out at once as possible. If anyone reads the whole thing they should be able to get a much firmer grasp on what the story is going to be and decide if they want to continue with it.
I might have said it a dozen times now but this will be my second major story pretty much. I wrote a second already but I don't think I will keep it up due to lack of interest. This will be my second priority and will stay second priority until I complete Trust By My Side.
Trust By My Side as well as this one are going to be very long stories. I have no ending for either of them and am not going to stop them until I find the stories to have run their courses. This could be 100k words or 1 million words. I have no way to tell as of yet.
To clarify a bit more on that. This and Trust By My Side will have more chapters coming up. This is not going to be a one-shot by any means. I would love to hit 100 chapters on both stories but we will see how that turns out.
I rambled at bit on that but finally done with chapter 1 of Fox Hunt.
