Broken Hero: Anko's Story
Chapter One
Anko Takashi tossed and turned in her bed. Beads of sweat ran down the fourteen year old Genin's face, completing covering it with bitter water. A thunderstorm was talking to her in the window just above her bead. It boomed once, twice, trying to send her a message; and even though it didn't receive a response, the thunderstorm kept booming, eventually letting bolts of tears strike the ground near Anko's small one-bedroom apartment. The deafening booms of the thunderstorm had occurred for hours, keeping everyone in the Hidden Village of Konoha awake, but not Anko. The beautiful, brown haired Genin couldn't wake up.
Anko found herself standing in her own village in the Hidden Grass Village, right in the middle of the town. A small ramen shop lied quietly on her left, and a floral shop blended in to the apartment complex to her right. The sky was a horrific shade of red, covered like blood, and the clouds overhead were solid black. The sun was blacked-out as well. It not longer shown brightly; it just emitted an eery dark glow onto the town below. The only colors the young Genin could deceifer were red and black, and nothing else.
She was sitting with her legs folded underneath her, her hands placed neatly on her lap. Anko was wearing a black netted shirt and a pair of loose blue pajama pants. Her beautiful brown hair was short, only to her shoulders, and wasn't combed. She looked around the street and the surrounding buildings only to find that she was the only person around.
"Hello?" Anko asked outloud as she got onto her feet. "Mom? Daddy?"
They're all dead, Anko Takashi.
Anko's body suddenly became rigid with fear. Her breathing came in short, quick bursts, and her right arm trembled uncontrollably. She couldn't see who was the owner of the voice from her point of view, but she was too afraid to turn around; she could lose her life in any given second.
Aww, are you scared, little Takashi? Tish tish, don't be. I won't hurt you--
A black arm started to wrap itself around Anko's chest and upper body, starting from her right shoulder. Her eyes somehow fixated on the new object in her vision, watching as it snaked its way across her undeveloped body and down towards her stomach. The trembling in her arm stopped, but she couldn't force herself to run or to even utter a simple sound.
--much.
Anko shot up in her bed, breathing heavily. Sweat rolled off of her glistening face and fell down onto her tan blanket, eventually causing a sizable wet spot to appear. She grabbed a nearby towel off of her nightstand and wiped her face with it, a familiar routine. Another boom of thunder shook her house and Anko Takashi turned to look out her window in response. Her blinds were halfway up on her window, just how she likes it, so she could see the thick raindrops die upon her window, each one giving a loud scream of pain just before it melted down towards the ground to join all the other water corpses.
The weary Genin spent the remainder of the night reading a book her mother had gave her while watching the storm out her window. Occasionally she would glance outside and watch her neighbor's gourds and windchimes rustle with the wind; she could only imagine how noisy they would truly be if the storm wasn't trying to talk to her. She related to darkness well, finding it just a bit more comfortable than light. Anko actually did a lot of her training during the middle of the night; the quiet, peaceful atmosphere allowed her to focus all of her energy into her training.
After reading half of her book, the storm finally let up just before morning. Anko pressed her face up to her window to watch the morning glow peak over the horizon in the distance. She enjoyed that part of the morning: the sun's glow meeting the vast darkness really calmed her. She liked how the two entirely different parts of the day seemed to join together at dusk, if only for a moment. They joined side-by-side, one quietly allowing the other to take its place for another twelve hours.
Anko fell back asleep after the storm had passed, but she only managed to get an hour's rest. She took a long, hot shower after waking up, letting the warm water caress her slender body. Her brown hair hung down around her face because of the water, desperately clinging to her cheeks as if it was afraid it was going to fall. She gently fingered a scar on her right bicep muscle, a thick red 'X', and stared down into the drain beneath her feet.
"I'll never quit. Never."
Chapter Two
Anko Takashi walked out of her tiny bathroom with a faded purple towel covering her hair and a faded blue robe to cover her body. She pushed aside her wooden sliding door and strolled over to her one dresser containing only four drawers, one of which was sticking out slightly since the wood had spintered near the back and wouldn't allow the dresser to slide back into its home. The entire dresser had originally been colored green, for Konoha, but the years had not been kind to it and not only had the color started to fade but paint chips had peeled off of the dresser, acting like they were disgusted by how ugly it had become.
Anko gently pulled open the top drawer of her dresser, looking at her window out of the corner of her eye in the process. It was open; the torn and shredded drapes on each side of the window were blowing carelessly in the wind. She could hear the villagers just outside her window one floor below, each one talking and laughing as they purchased their goods for the day and travelled to work or home.
The beautiful Genin knew that she had not opened the window that day, so she immediately came to the conclusion that somebody had snuck into her small apartment. Casually, Anko rummaged down through her colored undergarments until she felt a hard, sharp metallic object sleeping on the base of the drawer. Her eyes flashed open for a moment after she heard a faint rustle just behind her. Anko talently slipped the kunai into her right robe's sleeve and placed her free hand on top of the towel on her head.
The noise happened again, just a bit louder than last time. Anko knew where the noise was originating from and she formed her plan of attack accordingly. She pulled the towel off of her head very slowly, trying to act as seductive as she possibly could. Her brown hair fell noisely against the back of her neck and her robe's collar, making a slapping noise as it connected. Wet bangs fell into her eyes as well, but they weren't long enough to completely shroud her vision.
That's when Anko made her move. The young Genin spun her body around in a mere second and threw her wet towel against the opposite wall. The wall saw the wet towel coming for it and moved in reponse, allowing a person to take shape in the aftermath. Anko watched as a piece of cloth fell down off of the humanoid figure and exposed a Ninja. Anko was already just a foot away from the unknown person as he dropped his camoflage; her kunai was millimeters away from his juggler.
"I don't know why you make me do this," the young teenage shinobi said casually, acting like a kunai wasn't about to take his life away. "You could put an eye out with that thing."
Anko was about to reply when she felt a sharp object poke into her gut, just below her belly button. She felt the cold, hard steel against her bare stomach; the new shinobi had found a small gap in her robe and placed his own kunai in a dangerous position against the beautiful Genin. Anko froze momentarily from the sudden attack, so she didn't have time to react once a left hook drove into her damp cheek.
Anko was propelled backwards from the power behind the blow, back towards her dresser. In response, the boy shinobi threw his kunai towards Anko's exposed face, the latter helplessly watching as the kunai flew eagerly to taste blood. Anko threw her own kunai back at the shinobi as a reflex. The boy expected Anko to deflect his kunai with her own, but he watched in shock as Anko's kunai just barely grazed his own, slightly diverting it off course. Anko's kunai kept going, however, and the boy shinobi was forced to jump onto Anko's bed to dodge the kunai.
"Nice try, Anko," the boy gloated as he watched Anko's kunai slam into the wall where he was previously standing and as his own kunai drove into Anko's upper left shoulder. "I guess you just need to wo--" His eyes shot open in surprise; Anko's body slammed hard up against her dresser but melted down into a puddle of water a moment later.
The boy shinobi was about to speak again when a pair of gentle, but strong, hands grabbed the black jacket he was wearing and flung him through the window onto the ground below. Villagers and merchants stopped what they were doing to watch the boy land gracefully on his feet and stare back up into the window. He straightened his black jacket, adjusted his Konoha headband, and disappeared in a flash. The villagers and merchants turned their pairs of eyes up at Anko, the latter of which was standing at her window with an expressionless look upon her face; she let the gentle breeze run through her hair and robe.
Chapter Three
Anko Takeshi finished getting dressed after her small bout. She returned to her top dresser drawer, grabbed a red string from among all the other choices and a dark blue cloth, and then closed the drawer. She pulled the thick cloth from around her robe and allowed the robe to fall into a clump onto the floor. A loud laugh from outside her window caused Anko to panic slightly; she had forgot to draw her drapes inwards to cover her window. For a moment she stood in her small, empty apartment, naked, trying to decide on what to do. From her angle she couldn't see anyone outside, and that gave her a huge sigh of relief.
The beautiful Genin put her skimpy red underwear on, then tied up her chest with the dark blue cloth, essentially during it into a haltertop. She made sure that it was securely tied around her neck before searching for her other items of clothing; she had matured much earlier than she would have liked and had to deal with it accordingly. She finally found a pair of orange shorts, a pair that reached to just above her knees, and a black muscle shirt to wear.
A knock came at her door just as Anko finished buttoning her shorts. She picked up her shirt and walked over to the door asking who it was. She heard a familiar voice on the other side and smiled in response. Without having her shirt on, Anko unlocked her beaten door and opened it.
"Come on in, sensei," Anko said casually as she turned back towards her bed, not giving the older Jonin a chance to look at her from the front. "I thought we were meeting by the lake in a few minutes?"
"We are." Anko's sensei did not come into the room. "I'm here to talk to you."
Anko put her shirt on, having to adjust it partway, and turned to look at her sensei. He was tall, young, and, according to many overheard conversations, extremely good looking. His name was Matori Uchiha. Matori-sensei didn't like talking about his past, but from what Anko could gather about her sensei was that he had mastered the Sharingan, or his Kekkei Genkai, at age nine, graduated from the Academy with top marks at age ten, became a Chunin at eleven, and finally a Jonin at thirteen. It was rumored that Matori was given the chance to become an Anbu Elite but he refused to offer. He was only twenty two years old.
"We better talk on the way," Anko announced as she put on her long, dirty white jacket. She liked to leave her jacket open in the front for the intimidating look it gave off. On her way out the door she picked up her kunai and shuriken pouch in one fell swoop, as well as a necklace hanging on a senbon stuck just above the door.
"You must miss them," Mitori-sensei noted as he watched the young Genin place the necklace around her neck. "It must be hard." He ran his hands through his long black hair and watched for a reaction from Anko.
Anko nearly slammed her door shut as they duo left the apartment. "You have no idea."
Anko and her sensei walked through Konoha on the way to their meeting place. Anko didn't have time to fix her hair or get completely ready, she didn't want to keep her sensei waiting, so she had to both walk and strap on her two pouches as she tried to keep up with her sensei. The morning was beautiful, however, and there were sparse clouds in the sky, making it very sunny. It made Anko feel good; she knew it was going to be a good day.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Anko asked as she fussed with her hair.
Mitori placed his hands into his pant pockets and stared up into the sky as he walked. "The Chunin Exams are only a month away."
Anko finally got her hair done and awaited her sensei to say more. It never came. The two shinobi walked out of Konoha in utter silence with Anko glancing up at her sensei every few minutes. It wasn't until the duo saw the lake in the distance when one of them decided to speak again.
"You want me to take part in the Chunin Exams, right, sensei?" Anko stopped walking, forcing Mitori to stop as well. "You know I don't care about becoming a Chunin."
"I know." Mitori looked back towards the lake. Two figures were adjacent to the lake; one was kneeling, the other standing. "They want to, though."
Anko turned. "Kira and Gavin?" Anko reached up and grabbed her necklace with her entire hand, feeling the symbol push into her skin. "Why?"
Mitori-sensei glanced back at Anko wondering if her question was directed towards him or to another unknown person. "Same reason as the two other hopeful Genin teams: they want to prove that they can do it."
Anko heard a male's voice echo towards them and she knew that Gavin had spotted them. Both her and Mitori made their way towards the other two members of Team Six. Once there, Kira and Gavin greeted the two shinobi warmly, although Gavnin showed off his impatience by asking what took them so long and that they should have been there fifteen minutes ago.
"Sorry, sorry." Mitori rubbed the back of his head. "I was running late this morning."
Anko caught Gavin giving a quick glance at her neckline. She knew he wasn't looking at her necklace but portion of her neck and upper chest that wasn't covered by her shirt. Her haltertop straps were visible as well, but they were too thick to hide and Anko didn't mind that they showed, only that they did their jobs. Anko didn't say anything to Gavin, remembering the last time how hard Kira had hit him in the back of the head, but only smiled faintly at her teammates.
"I like your hair," Kira told Anko as she touched it. "I wish my hair was as beautiful was yours."
"Bah." Gavin adjusted the Konoha headband that was around his waist and turned to look at the sparkling lake. "How come I was the only guy stuck with two girls?"
Kira and Anko giggled.
Chapter Four
Anko Takashi, Kira Haruno, and Gavin Stone stood facing the lake. Their sensei, Kitori Uchiha, told them that they all would be training for the Chunin Exams, but he said this while standing on top of the lake. The three Genin couldn't believe it at first, but slowly they warmed up to the idea. Anko said that she had remembered reading a book that talked about a shinobi running on water but she thought that it was made up.
"It's not that hard," Mitori said as he walked in a circle. "All you have to do is focus your chakra on the soles of your feet. Remember the tree climbing training we did all last week? This is essentially the same thing. Now, focus!"
Each of the three Genin immediately placed their hands together in the typical Ninja stance and closed their eyes. A gust of wind emitted from the three pairs of feet, causing Mitori-sensei to smile in response. Gavin was the first to brave the water. He stepped onto the water with his right foot and watched as it sank underwater all the way up to just below his knees, but it stopped after that. Gavin took another step into the water and got the same reaction but he didn't sink underwater.
"Not bad," Mitori remarked. "You have the right idea. Okay, ladies, let's see you try."
Anko turned to looked at Kira, the latter with a weary look upon her face. Kira grabbed Anko's hand and the two Genin bravely walked onto the water. Unfortunately, Kira's displacement of chakra was very uneven and her right foot sank underwater. She panicked and reached out for Anko; Anko grabbed her friend's arm and threw her back onto the dry shore because she could get any more wet. But Anko was forced off balance; her left foot had successully rested on the top of the water but she didn't have time to compensate for the sudden change of balance.
Anko stumbled backwards, surprisingly the three spectators, and then fell. She managed to flip her body at the last possible moment, slam her hands onto the water, and then flip back onto her feet. She did all of this without falling into the water.
"I lied," Anko said as she noticed Gavin's and Kira's eyes staring at her, "I have heard of this training, and I practiced it for an entire week when I was eleven years old."
Anko glanced over at Gavin and saw his hands clenched into fists. He formed the hand gesture he had used earlier, concentrated for a moment, and then rested his hands on the top of the water. Anko, Mitori, and Kira watched as Gavin literally climbed up out of the water and stand on top of it. He posed triumphedly and gave a huge grin towards Anko.
"A week, huh?" Gavin started to strut around the water. "Looks like I was ab-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence. The chakra around his feet suddenly disappeared, forcing Gavin to fall down underwater.
Kira laughed at Gavin as he fumbled around in the water before swimming to shore. Anko merely crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. She knew that Gavin was going to fall into the water. He was too arrogant and didn't think about keeping a steady of supply of chakra to his feet in order to maintain balance on water.
"Okay, okay," Mitori said as he walked back to shore. "It seems we have a bit more work to do."
Anko, Gavin, and Kira spent the remainder of the morning working on their chakra control. Anko knew that she already knew that she could control her chakra better than her teammates, so she offered a lot of helpful tips to both Kira and Gavin, but only Kira seemed interested. By lunchtime Kira was able to safely walk around on the water, if only for a few moments, and Gavin had not made any more progress than what he had showed earlier in the day.
Mitori-sensei brought egg rolls and noddles for his students and ate lunch with them when the time came. Kira had a secret crush on Gavin and purposely sat close to him while eating. Anko could see why she liked the only male teammate; he had dark red hair, spiked, a white muscle shirt that showed off his large bicep muscles, a pair of red gi pants, matching Ninja sandals, and a Konoha headband tied around his skinny waist.
When the three Genin were chosen to be teammates, Kira told Anko that she had a thing for Gavin and for her not to get in the way. Anko had admired her female teammate's boldness and assertiveness and promptly told her that there was nothing to worry about. Ever since then, Anko and Kira had been good friends but Anko was afraid allow anyone else to get close to her.
"These are great, sensei," Kira said as she brushed a lock of pink hair out of her face. "Where did you get them?"
"Oh, you know." Mitori-sensei placed a large egg roll into his mouth to avoid answering the question.
Anko couldn't help but smile as she ate her noodles just a few feet away from her teammates. She had her back up against a thick tree and her food in her lab, eating quietly but happily. She had grown to enjoy being by herself, learning to count on herself for everything. Seven years she had lived alone. The Hokage had taken pity on Anko after the murders and allowed her to stay in a small apartment near the center of town for free. She had a shinobi nurse visit her every other day for just over two years before it was decided that Anko did not need somebody to look after her.
Anko finished eating her lunch in silence, watching her teammates laugh and tease Mitori-sensei's messy hair style; a typical routine. She neatly folded the box her food came in and walked back over to the rest of Team Six. She was ready for more training.
Chapter Five
Anko Takashi turned her head towards the sky. It was getting dark, and the moon was catiously peaking at the sun in the distance. The sun lazily yawned as a thick cloud passed infront of it, casting a shadow onto the landscape. Anko heard the melody of a few birds as they sang with one another in the trees. It was one of the few sounds Anko truly enjoyed hearing; birds just seemed to speak to her in a way, like they knew her sorrow and were trying to cheer her up with a beautiful melody.
Water slushed beneath the Genin's feet, causing Anko to jump back in response. She soared backwards just a few inches from the water, watching as Gavin Stone erupted out of the water where she was just standing. Anko formed a series of hand signs and finished by placing her hand up to her mouth with her forefinger and middle finger pointing upwards.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Anko yelled as she soared backwards. She landed on the water and unleashed a large ball of fire at Gavin in the same moment.
Gavin, annoyed that Anko dodged his attack, jumped to his right and handedly dodged the ball of fire. He landed on the water and immediately sprinted back towards Anko, bent on revenge. His hand found its way into his back shuriken pouch, hungry for metal, and wrapped its tough fingers around two shuriken. Gavin threw his shuriken at Anko in one swift motion a moment later.
Anko finished performing another series of hand signs as she watched the shuriken fly through the air. She pulled a kunai out of her hip pouch and easily deflected the projecticles. Gavin was on her not a moment later, unleashing a barrage of jabs and punches at the attractive Genin. Anko used the palm of her free hand to deflect the powerful blows until she forced Gavin off balance with a sweeping leg kick. She watched as Gavin fell backwards onto his hands and then propel himself back onto his feet gracefully. Anko was met with a quick jab to her mouth as Gavin came back up, a blow so powerful that she was forced to sail backwards through the air.
"Who's top of the class now?" Gavin bragged as he performed a series of hand signs.
A pair of hands quietly surfaced behind Gavin. They grabbed ahold of his ankles and roughly pulled him under the water, forcing him to cancel his hand signs. Gavin watched as the Anko he had just punched in the face turn into a puddle of water and fall back to join the rest of its kind in the lake. Another Anko was pulling Gavin underwater, something Gavin was not prepared for. Anko pulled Gavin deeper and deeper underwater until the male shinobi's only throughts were that of survival and not victory.
"Gavin!" Kira broke free of the trap she had fallen into earlier and sprinted across the water towards the air bubbles gleefully escaping the prison of water. She skidded to a stop and frantically tried to think of what to do. She jumped into the air and dove into the water after Gavin and Anko, hoping against hope that Gavin was all right. Kira only managed to swim a depth of two meters before three water snakes wrapped themselves around her arms, preventing her from swimming any further.
On the surface, Anko ripped her right arm back around her body. The three water snakes that were nestled under her sleeve mercilessly pulled Kira up out of the water. Kira gasped in response to the sudden change of environment and vainly tried to escape the water snakes' grasp. Anko swung Kira around in the air ninety degrees before releasing her. Kira landed on the water's surface many meters away. She skidded across the water for a few moments, but soon the speed and power at which she was thrown became too much for the young Genin, and Kira tiredlessly sank underwater.
Two Mitori-senseis leaped out of the water at the same time, each one holding a tired Genin in his arms. Anko followed her senseis back to shore and helped one of them set Kira onto the ground. That same Mitori-sensei exploded into a puff of smoke, and Anko purposely averted her eyes from the real sensei.
"You went a bit overboard, don't you think?" Mitori asked, his tone slightly more strict than usual. "You could have ki--"
"I didn't, okay?" Anko folded her arms across her chest and looked back onto the lake. "You wanted us to fight, so I fought." She turned her attention back to the sky before quietly adding, "They're not ready for the Exams."
Chapter Six
Anko Takashi put a key into her door's lock and slowly opened the door. She sighed deeply as she walked into her apartment, closing the door behind her. It had been a long day, much too long, and all she wanted was a night of rest. But she knew that was a rare occurrence, however; Anko had been experiencing the same nightmare over and over again for the past seven years, completely unable to get rid of it.
The beautiful Genin's weariness kicked in the moment she closed the door. The sparring battle she had with Gavin and Kira took a lot out of her but she didn't want them to see that. She went over the details of the fight in her head as she undressed. She had decided to immobolize Kira, being the weakest on the team, and deal with Gavin alone. Anko immobolized Kira with a low-level Genjutsu Jutsu she had studied in a book; the Jutsu made the target believe that he or she was slowly descending into a pool of mud, their hands tied behind their backs.
Anko went over the next detail as she hung her cloak on a kunai jabbed into the wall. With Kira immobolized, Anko used the environment against Gavin the best that she could. She ran out onto the lake and remembered seeing Gavin chase after her but disappear after trying to run across the water. That was when Gavin jumped out of the water to catch Anko by surprise, and Anko handedly tricked both him and Kira, the latter she had seen escape the Genjutsu, by using Shadow Clones.
"Gavin almost got me," Anko quietly told herself as she unbuttoned her shorts. "What if I didn't anticipate his water attack? or what if he wasn't so noisy?"
The orange shorts, splattered with muddy water and dirt, fell onto the floor giving a loud sigh of relief. Anko carelessly opened her window ever so slightly to allow the cool, evening air circulate through her stuffy apartment. The breeze felt good against her tired legs, and for a moment she closed her eyes and enjoyed the serenity of the village.
Anko stayed awake for another two hours studying scrolls her father had given her nearly ten years ago. The scrolls, her father had told her, were passed down from generation to generation within the family. Only the Takashi Clan had known about the scrolls since many of them contained clan-specific summons and Jutsu. Anko would have received her first unique scroll when she had congratuated from the Academy, but that obviously didn't happen. She was only able to obtain more of her Clan's scrolls after sneaking into the village one night and stealing them; the Hokage said that it was too dangerous for a seven year old girl to know about the Takashi's hidden Jutsu.
The weary Genin found herself dozing off and snapping back to reality frequently, so she gave in to the demands of her body and crawled into bed. She fell asleep in only a few minutes, extremely exhausted from her sparring match and from studying.
Anko opened her eyes when she heard the sound of metal striking metal. She discovered that she was laying on her back since her eyes were fixated on the blood red sky directly above. Slowly she got onto her feet and stared, horrified, and the scene that was unfolding before her eyes. Two male shinobi of equal height were mercilessly killing people. Women, children, it didn't matter to them; with a flick of a wrist or the whirl of a chain somebody fell asleep forever.
See? I told you they were all dead. Hehehe.
The young girl's body froze up in fear, but her eyes never stopped watching the massacre before her eyes. Eventually only two shinobi stood standing amongst a field of eternal sleepers. Both shinobi looked like the dark portraits of a human being; one was holding a kunai in his hand, the other a chain with a balled spike. Anko's body stumbled backwards in fear, something she had no control over. She had only taken a step before her back struck a soft object.
They're all dead, Anko Takashi.
Anko shot upright in her bed and panted heavily. The unfamiliar beads of sweat silently rolled off of her face and onto the blanket yet again, seeming to act disgusted that they had to appear yet again. Anko wasn't surprised that she had experienced the nightmare, only annoyed that she was forced awake when she desperately wanted a good night's rest.
But then something happened, something different. The tatoo on Anko's right bicep muscle broke out in searing hot pain just a few minutes after Anko was forced awake. She grabbed her arm in response and tried not to yell out in pain. A few gasps managed to escape her tightly-closed mouth, but nothing loud enough to cause attention to her apartment. The pain stopped just as abruptly as it had began, leaving Anko confused and more exhausted than usual. She watched as her room began to swirl before her eyes, then melt down into the floorboards.
Anko exhaled a weak breath and fell back onto her pillow, unconscious.
Chapter Seven
Anko Takashi was unconscious when her teammates began to sprint towards her apartment. They had waited an hour at the lake for Anko and then got worried once she didn't show up. Mitori-sensei lead them back through the forest and back through Konoha towards Anko's apartment. Team Six leaped from rooftop to rooftop as quickly as they good to get to Anko. Mitori-sensei reached Anko's apartment first and made his way to her room as fast as he could. Just as he was about to knock on the door, Anko pulled it open and was startled to see her sensei with a worried look upon his face.
"Hey, sensei, sorry I'm running late," Anko apologized as she fiddled with her necklace. "I.. I overslept. It was a big day yesterday and I was really tired."
"Is she all right?" Kira yelled as she bounded up the stairs with Gavin close behind. "She's not hurt or--oh." She saw her sensei speaking with an alive-and-well Anko and immediately felt a huge relief leave her shoulders. "Sorry, Anko. We just thought--"
"It's all right," Anko interrupted. "I'm fine. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting."
There was a few moments after Anko spoke that nobody said a word. It wasn't until Mitori-sensei said how he was actually on time when the silence broke. Everybody laughed at the simple joke and headed back to their training spot together. Team Six jumped across the rooftops to make up for lost time, gaining the eyes of a few villagers if for only a moment.
"What are we working on today, sensei?" Gavin asked as he jumped onto a tree branch with the other two Genin.
"You all need more chakra control," Mitori sternly replied. He jumped off of a branch and bounded towards the lake again. "I want all of you to perfect this before we even talk about the Chunin Exams."
Gavin grumbled something to Kira and got a gentle smack in the arm in return. Anko sighed as her foot touched a thick tree branch and then kicked off. She knew that Gavin and Kira were upset at her for knowing how to properly walk on water; she just didn't want them to resent her so much for it. Never-the-less, Team Six eventually made it to the lake for another day's worth of training.
The Lord Hokage sat solemnly behind his large desk, half-heartedly looking over a booklet full of missions people have requested. The forty two year old Hokage yawned sheepishly and looked over a D-rank Mission before one of the Hidden Leaf Village's many shinobi knocked on the door. The Hokage told them to enter, setting his booklet down.
"Lord Hokage, sir," a male Special Jonin said as he walked in. "We have just received word from the Sand Village. They have one team of Genin who are eligible for the Chunin Exams and wish for them to enter."
The Hokage rummaged through the numerous books and papers on his desk and pulled out a small, red booklet. "Let's see. Ah, here we are." He scribbled into the book. "And the Waterfall Village still has a team as well, correct?"
"Yes, sir, Lord Hokage."
The Hokage sighed and scribbled in his book once again. "You know, you can call me Misuke."
"Yes, sir, Lord Hokage."
The Hokage closed his book and told the Special Jonin that he could leave. He sighed heavily and spun around in his chair. From his window he could see nearly all of Konoha, just the way he wanted it.
Chapter Eight
Anko Takashi sprinted across the angry water with as much grace as she could afford. The sky overhead was steadily getting darker, like it was trying to hinder Anko's training on the water. There were no clouds in the sky, only the orange sun reigned king as he tried desperately to shine what little light he had remaining down towards the ground for Anko. It was a constant battle, light versus dark; every day it was fought, and every day there was a winner and a loser.
A surge of water appeared infront of Anko, forcing the talented Genin to leap to her left to avoid getting struck. Another surge occurred soon after, and then another. Anko had to dodge surge after surge of water as she sprinted towards her opponent and, at the same time, keep a steady and even flow of chakra in her feet or she would find herself underwater in the blink of an eye.
"I can't believe those two got tricked," Anko thought as she dodged surge after surge of water. "I should really talk to the--crap!"
Anko cut her sprint short and leaped backwards into the air. A huge water dragon erupted out of the water infront of Anko, roared at her, and then quickly made its way towards her. Anko placed her two main fingers on each hand together in a plus-shape and yelled across the lake "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five additional Anko Takashi's appeared around the original one, each one looking stunned and shocked that they were made when an enormous water dragon was roaring towards them.
Each of the five Anko's split up in numerous directions and sprinted down the lake. The water dragon eyed each of the five Genin before deciding on which one to take down. He roared at the closest shinobi and came down upon it faster than the shinobi could react.
"Dangit," Mitori-sensei exclaimed as he watched his water dragon connect with the wrong Anko. "That girl is something else." A slight wind blew through the air; two tiny bells on Mitori's belt jingled quietly.
Five Anko Takashi's sprinted across the lake towards Mitori Uchiha, each one bent on taking a bell. Mitori-sensei himself watched with a grin as the five Genin headed straight for him. He performed a series of hand signs within the blink of an eye once the five Anko were just at the water's edge and watched as a huge wall of dirt and mud sprang up out of the ground to protect him. Mitori heard a few of the Anko's cuss and explode onto the wall.
"I wonder how many are left," Mitori asked outloud, glancing all around him.
Suddenly, an Anko Takashi appeared on the top of the mud mountain. Mitori watched as the young Genin performed a series of hands signs. He recognized the signs as the Dragon Flame Jutsu but he couldn't see a path for the fire to travel.
"I got you, sensei," a voice said from behind Mitori.
Mitori's eyes widened once he realized what had just happened. Anko had used her remaining clone as bait; it performed the hand signs for a powerful Jutsu but had never planned on actually using the attack. The real Anko was behind him, her hand reaching out to take the two silver bells wrapped around her sensei's belt. But, just as she was about to grab the bells, her sensei exploded into a cloud of smoke.
"I should have known," Anko grumbled as she kicked the ground. "Did you see where he we--" Anko squinted her eyes; the clone she was talking to exploded in a cloud of smoke as well, having just taken a kunai through the back.
A thin string wrapped itself around Anko's arms and forcefully brought them to her sides. Anko struggled to get free but her efforts were cut short once she was pulled backwards onto a tree. Mitori wrapped the end of the thin wire around the tree's trunk and strolled infront of his opponent.
"Lack of teamwork," Mitori said after a pause. Conviently, Kira and Gavin were tied to trees next to Anko. "Anko, you have no will to work in a team, do you?"
"You should have freed us," Gavin spat as he stared at Anko. "Just because you were top of the class doesn't make you any better than us."
"We're a team," Kira interrupted, cutting Gavin off from saying anything too harsh. "Teammates work together."
"You should listen to them." Mitori cut all three of his Genin free of their bounds. "It's getting late. All of you get some rest and we'll try again tomorrow."
Anko gathered up her belongings and left in a hurry. She was upset at herself for not being able to get the bells.
Chapter Nine
Anko Takashi stood next to her teammates in the Hokage's large office. She yawned slightly, never taking her eyes off of the large window in the room. The view was beautiful; Anko could see the rich blue sky peeking just near the top of the windowframe, cautiously wondering if it was safe to show itself. One of the few clouds in the sky managed to creep its way across the sun's beam, causing a gentle shadow to engulf the room filled with shinobi.
Mitori-sensei grabbed a piece of paper out of the Hokage's hands. "A D-Rank Escort Mission, Misuke? What is this about?"
"I need an escort back to my village." Anko turned her head to find an unusally quiet old man sitting in a corner of the room. "I picked up a valuable item from a friend here and I don't want anything to happen to it."
"But Misuke, you know I'm training my team for the Chunin Exams for next week. I mean, this is all the way to the Stone Village."
"I want you to take me," the old man said as he crept up to Mitori. "I've heard about you and how talented you are. I wouldn't accept anybody else." The man clutched a brown parcel to his chest. "I just want to get this back safely to my village."
Mitori sighed and glanced at his team. Anko didn't meet her sensei's gaze but she could see Kira smiling out of the corner of her eye. She was irritated that their team, out of all the teams in Konoha, was called-in for a Mission; it wasn't even that exciting.
"Think of it as a training exercise," the Hokage said as he scribbled in a large black book. "I will not allow this man to leave Konoha with such a precious commodity in his possession. You will escort him back to the Stone Village and return in plenty of time for the Chunin Exams."
Anko sighed with her sensei. While the Escort Mission was not their first Mission, Anko and the other Genin of Team Six found themselves filled with nervousness once the reality of the Mission set in. Anko was going to leave Konoha for several days protecting a man she had never met. Anything could happen; the old man could suffer a heart attack; a storm could appear and slow them down; even assassins could jump them, trying to get the old man's parcel. The last idea Anko had made a quirky smile run across her face. Assassins attacking them would allow her to test her skills against top-notch shinobi, great training for the Chunin Exams. It was strange, but Anko hoped something exciting would happen to them.
"Gather up enough supplies for a few days," Mitori-sensei told his Genin as they walked through Konoha. "The Stone Village is at least two solid days away. It might take three so be preparged."
"Bah." Gavin kicked the dirt. "We should be training, sensei, not escorting old people back to their homes."
"Sensei, does this mean we're not going to the Chunin Exams this year?"
Team Six stopped outside a pleasant-looking apartment complex in the center of the town. Mitori-sensei scratched the back of his head as he addressed his students. "Well, the Exams do start next weekend. If we run into trouble then we might miss it." He saw disappointed looks his Genin gave him before averting their eyes. "But, hey, you never know, right? Maybe we'll get lucky and make it back in plenty of time. And besides, there's always next year, right?"
Mitori Uchiha said good-bye his students and went inside his apartment. The three disappointed Genin watched until their sensei had disappeared before they left as well. Anko gave a half-hearted wave to Kira before walking away from her teammates, and Gavin and Kira smiled in response.
"The Chunin Exam means nothing to me," Anko told herself as she fiddled with her lock and key. "And who does Mitori-sensei think he is anyway, giving us a mission right before the exams! The nerve of some people."
Anko creaked open her door but didn't take a step inside. She sensed something was wrong, like somebody was in her apartment. Her blanket seemed slightly out of place, almost trampled, and there was a kunai laying in the middle of the floor. Anko tensed up for a moment before placing her hands together to form a series of hand signs. It was then that a shuriken whirled through the air straight for Anko's face. Cunningly, the beautiful Genin merely tilted her head forward, allowing the shuriken to bank-off of her forehead protector.
Two more shuriken whirled through the air soon after. Anko ripped a kunai out of her hippouch and easily deflected the shuriken; she found out a moment later, however, that the shuriken were merely a distraction. Another young shinobi appeared almost out of thin air with a kunai ready to end another person's life. Anko grinned in response to the sudden attack and struck a fighting stance to enage her enemy.
The two shinobi clashed kunai a moment latter, each one pressing harder and harder in hopes of knocking it out of their opponent's hands. But Anko had a trick up her sleeve; the boy shinobi was forced to watch three water snakes slink their way out of Anko's sleeve and start to wrap themselves around his arm, the one containing his kunai.
"Not bad, Anko," the boy admitted as he watched the snakes, "but unfortunately it's not good enough."
The boy shinobi exploded into a puff of smoke soon after, leaving only a wooden log wrapped by three water snakes. Anko cursed to herself and looked around, frantically trying to spot her attack. A kunai pressed into her back just a few seconds later; Anko could feel it being forced deeper and deeper into her jacket, eventually touching her shirt.
"I've been doing this for you for several months now," the boy whispered into Anko's ear as he leaned over her shoulder. "Two, sometimes even three times a week I would sneak into your apartment hoping to catch you off-guard, but I can never catch you. But today I finally got you; today you will have to admit defeat and acknowledge that there is a Genin in Konoha who is better than you. Not only that," the boy shinobi delicately licked Anko's ear, "but I've grown fond of seeing you in the shower."
Anko's eyes shot open after the boy uttered his last sentence. She felt her body become numb with pain; the boy's kunai pressed harder and harder into her back, ever so slowly, but Anko also felt the pain of failure. The boy shinobi had obviously been stealthy enough to watch her take a shower. Anko didn't know if he had done or once or if it was a daily routine. It made her feel sick to her stomach; the boy was obviously a sick pervert that enjoyed both fighting Anko and watching Anko in the shower.
"Aww, don't be scared, little girl. It'll all be over soon."
The male shinobi laughed as he jammed his kunai into Anko's back. The beautiful Genin took in one last breath of air before she exploded into a puddle of water. The male shinobi looked down at the water without a surprised look upon his face, almost like he would have been disappointed he had been talking to the real Anko. The male shinobi twirled kunai around his finger as he strolled further into the apartment, casually glancing around him to see if he could spot his opponent.
"Come out, my dear," the shinobi said with a smile across his face. "I didn't know you wanted to play hide and seek. Hehehe."
The male shinobi stopped walking infront of Anko's wooden sliding door, the same door that lead to her bathroom. He said outloud how he loved opening the door ever so slowly, and just enough to see the young Genin's body being caressed by the water. It took him much restraint, he also added, to not barge into the bathroom and show Anko what a real shinobi can do.
Just then the entire door exploded outwards, showering the male shinobi with dozens of pieces of splintered wood. Three water snakes rammed into the man's stomach and propelled him backwards. The snakes pushed the man so far that the window on the opposite side of the room wasn't enough to make him stop; he was brutally forced through the window, causing it to shatter as well, and dropped onto the loose shingles just outside the apartment.
Anko sprinted across her apartment and jumped outside. She saw the male shinobi laying lifelessly on the shingles; the night's glow made the man's blood appear like mud flowing down a river. Anko watched the man's blood form a puddle underneath his body, eventually seeping downwards and starting a drip over the edge.
"You're sick," Anko whispered as she approached the lifeless body. "How dare you come into my apartment and wa--"
Anko gasped. The man's right forefinger abruptly fell off of his hand and onto the loose shingles, turning into mud. Another finger did the same thing as well, and then another, and then another. Soon every part of the man's body fell or melted off into an ever-growing pool of mud just below what had looked like his corpse. Anko slowly stepped backwards as she watched the mud, afraid of what was happening.
"It was a clone," Anko thought to herself as she surveyed the surrounding area.
Anko never had a chance to finish her next thought. The male shinobi suddenly appeared on her right side, giving a right hook into her cheek. Anko flew sidewards through the air, spiraling as a result of the blow. She landed hard against the shingles but somehow managed to flip her body upright, skidding across the shingles with her right hand desperately trying to slow her down.
Then the man appeared behind Anko in an instant, grabbing her long jacket in the process. He swung the beautiful Genin in a full arc before tossing her back across the shingles. Anko rotated her body in the air and unleashed her three water snakes at her opponent only to have them strike nothing but air. She landed gracefully on her feet but panted, getting tired of both defending and attacking against such a powerful shinobi.
"I think I've had my fun." The shinobi's voice boomed throughout the area; Anko even noticed some lights flicker on in the neighboring apartments. "Until we meet again, Anko Takashi."
Chapter Ten
Anko Takashi had a rough night. Three Anbu shinobi apeared next to her the moment her opponent had left, having heard the noise of the battle. Anko had to explain that one of her friends from the Ninja Academy used to sneak into her apartment on random days and try to ambush her; Anko used the experiences as training. The Anbu's body language seemed odd to Anko after she explained her situation, like they were unhappy with the choice she had made.
"But what happened out here?" the talled Anbu asked while the other two scouted the area. "These tiles are shredded and there's mud all over the place. He looked at Anko's left hand and saw blood dripping off of her fingers. "You're even bleeding. What happened?"
Anko proceeded to tell the three Anbu shinobi about how her friend had suddenly turned on her. He told of how he watched her in the shower and the look in his eyes when he was fighting against her. Anko added how he seemed a lot more powerful than before, and he moved so fast that she couldn't even see him until it was too late.
The tall Anbu looked up at the moon. "Something's not right. We'll have to in--"
"Sir!" Another Anbu shinobi landed next to the tallest one, who apparently was the leader. "We have found the body of a Konoha Genin in a nearby alleyway. His face has been torn off and his clothes are missing."
Anko felt a chill run up her spine. She wondered if maybe the dead Genin was her friend from the Academy, but she quickly disregarded such a wild idea. She was forced to travel with the Anbu to the Lord Hokage a few minutes later. Anko liked running and jumping side-by-side with some of the best shinobi in the village; it made her feel strong, almost important. There was a total of three Anbu escorting her to the Hokage; two more Anbu had arrived at her apartment earlier and were investigating. As Anko jumped from rooftop to rooftop she saw a few spectators on the ground staring up at her and her escort. It made her feel a bit uneasy, but she only looked at them for a moment before moving on.
Anko and the three Anbu landed softly outside the village's council hall. A light flickered on the moment they all touched the ground and the main doors opened up as well. The Anbu lead Anko into the building and through a maze of doors and hallways until they stopped near a blank wall. Anko looked around the hallway, greatly puzzled, before looking back at the three Anbu. The tallest one performed a series of complicated hand signs and finished with the word "Release." A door suddenly appeared infront of Anko and the Anbu in a burst of smoke, and a moment later she was inside the room.
"Ah, there you are," the Hokage said as he placed a book onto a large, oval table. "Please, please, come in."
Anko walked amazed into the room. It was large, very large, and it appeared that it could easily fit one hundred people. There was a large, oval table in the center of the room and dozens upon dozens of chairs surrounding it, almost like they were worshipping the table or begging for its forgiveness. The Hokage himself sat in a large chair at the far end of the room with two other male shinobi standing on either side of him.
"It seems we have a problem," the Hokage announced once everyone had taken a seat, even the Anbu. "Our scouts have gotten some recent information concerning Hidalgo and his followers."
"Hidalgo?" Anko asked. "The Hidalgo?"
"Yes." The Hokage's voice sank low for a moment as he answered Anko's question. "Hidalgo is, of course, one of the five Legendary Sannin. Unfortunately, not only is he the most corrupted Sannin to ever live but he's also one of the most powerful."
"What does this have to do with me?"
The Hokage sighed. "I knew this day would come." He turned his back on Anko, acting like he was ashamed of what he was about to say. "Seven years ago, a man and his followers attacked a small community near the Hidden Grass Village. Everybody was cut down; nobody was spared," the Hokage turned to face Anko, "save for one little girl."
Anko's eyes shot open. "The.. the Takashi murders? My family.." She stared down into the table, clenching her fists. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"Anko, we believe that Hidalgo was behind the murders. He--"
"He wanted my clan's secret scrolls," Anko interrupted quietly. "He wanted to know our secrets."
"And he found some of them." The Hokage sat down and rummaged through a pile of papers. "He did find quite a bit, but luckily most of them were decoys. We have reason to believe that Hidalgo is looking for you since you are the only one to escape his grasp. You are the last Takashi, Anko. You are the only one left with their secrets."
Anko sobbed, trying not to make it too obvious. "You think Hidalgo attacked me tonight, don't you?"
The Hokage glanced at the Anbu leader, the latter nodding ever so slightly. "Yes, we do. What we don't understand is why he," the Hokage paused, embarrassed to continue.
"I know," Anko acknowledged quietly. "You don't know why he didn't kill me."
Nobody in the room spoke for several tense minutes. The Hokage exchanged glances with the Anbu leader and all the other shinobi in the room. Many of them shrugged their shoulders, equally as confused as the middle-aged Hokage. Luckily, Anko spoke up again to relieve the tension in the air.
"What should I do?" Tears streamed down Anko's face, yet she wasn't sobbing.
"Tonight you will sleep in the guestroom in my house with Anbu units stationed outside your room at all posts. You will be safe, I promise. I will make sure everyone is safe tonight." The Hokage smiled as he got out of his chair and placed his hand on Anko's shoulder. "It's my job, after all. Haha."
Anko was escorted to the Hokage's house just a few blocks from the council building. The moon was already high overhead; Anko knew that much of the night had been lost and she would get very little sleep, if any, that night. The Hokage himself met Anko at the door and personally showed her to the room that she would be sleeping in.
"Don't worry about a thing," the Hokage said as he stood in the doorway. Anko was standing in her temporary room, checking out every last detail; it didn't feel like home. "With me here, nobody would be crazy enough to try and attack you. Be safe."
Anko turned to thank the Hokage but instantly froze. The Hokage was smiling as he flipped the light switch, but the glow from the hallway illuminated his face in such a way that it seemed distorted, like it wasn't his face at all but simply a mask pulled over another person's face. She saw two thin fangs extending from his mouth, and the Hokage's eyes appeared yellow, the pupils slanted sideways and abnormally skinny. Anko trembled slightly from the horrific image and couldn't find the strength to move or to even smile.
The last thing she heard was the Hokage saying "Sleep tight, Anko Takashi," and she hit the floor a moment later.