Anko and the others were able to sneak in the hideout when they arrived at Demon Island, thanks to the assistance of Shino's bugs. They stepped down the stone staircase, watching their steps in the dark tunnels. Naruto took point while Anko was in the rear, one hand in her coat pocket as they made their way down the steps.
She loathed coming back to place where all her nightmares originated, but it couldn't be helped. They came upon a door and swung it open, an eerie green light hitting their eyes as they entered. Anko stood at the doorway when the Genin walked closer to the tubs filled with her former sensei's hideous experiments. A trap door in the floor sprung opened and tumbled down the Genin went, their location unknown, but Anko knew that they would be all right.
The Demon of the Ocean—Isaribi, came from the corner and was then held in place as Anko crept behind the girl, a kunai to her bandaged neck.
"Easy. You're in a tight spot now, huh?" she smirked at the girl who was watching her from the corner of her onyx eye. "You should've never messed with shinobi from the Hidden Leaf."
Isaribi smiled slyly, allowing her neck to push toward the kunai as her bandages ripped. Anko pulled back slightly, not wanting to hurt the girl. Although that decision was bordering dangerously on wanting to when the child took the opportunity to flip Anko across the room and towards the largest tank.
"You little…!" The violet-haired woman hurled four kunai knives at her, but they embedded themselves in the door as Isaribi escaped through it. Anko made a 'tch' sound and pivoted around when she heard the sound of a section of the wall behind her started to rise. Three huge, mutated creatures that were a mixed of a lion and serpent came out, growling hungrily and baring their vicious fangs at her.
"Well, isn't this adorable? You kitties wanna play?" Anko smirked playfully, sweeping her tongue across the edge of her kunai knife, her bloodthirsty side taking over.
ஜ ~ ஜ
Anko abandoned the room after she had fun trashing and breaking the furry enemies down—broken tubes and glasses splayed all over the floor with their blood—and was now staggering down the hallway when the Curse Mark took its affliction upon her body again. She clutched the Curse Mark with her left hand when it became too painful for her to endure, using her right hand to support herself a she slowly walked down the corridor, going where the Curse Mark's power kept growing stronger and stronger.
She lifted her head when she saw a door up ahead, creaking it open slightly with her back pressed against the wall as she peaked inside, her optics catching the silhouettes of two figures in the room—one standing up and one sitting down in a throne-like chair. She smirked at her success. Found him…!
She walked in confidently, prepared to face her old sensei with no sign of weakness or pain. This wasn't going to end up the way it did back in the Forest of Death. This time for sure, she will kill him.
However, as she got closer, she realized that the person in the chair was not Orochimaru. "What the…?"
The man from the chair stood, and stepped closer to her into the light, his face emerging from the shadows. The scientist smiled creepily. "Welcome, or should I say long time no see?"
"What's going on here?" Anko's eyes widened, the memory of the medical ninja flashing back into her mind. "Amachi?"
"I have to admit, I'm a little surprised that you've return after all that happened back then." He told her casually.
"What're you talking about?" Anko demanded, frustrated.
"You mean you don't remember?" he smirked tauntingly at her.
"Look, I don't have to time to waste on you, okay? Where is Orochimaru?" she shouted.
Amachi feigned surprised, acting dumbfound. "Orochimaru?"
The violet-haired woman saw right through it. "Cut the act! He's here now, isn't he?" She grimaced when she felt another wave of pain radiated off the Curse Mark, her hand grabbing on it.
"So, the Curse Mark's acting up even after he split." Amachi shrugged, his hands in his pants pockets. "I wouldn't have guessed that was possible. Well, you're half right, anyway. Orochimaru was here, but that was well over two weeks ago at this point."
"I don't believe you…" Anko denied it softly, her hand still grasping her Curse Mark.
The medical ninja smirked cruelly. "Believe whatever you want, it doesn't matter to me."
"So you mean to tell me the pain I'm feeling right now is from him being here close to a full month ago?" Anko asked, her expression incredulous.
"Just a minute!"
"Sensei!"
The door to the room swung open and ran in Naruto and Ino.
"Hey, glad you could make it." Anko looked at the Genin, inwardly relieved that they were all right, and knew that the Aburame boy was probably close behind them.
"Well, well, you brought Genin." Amachi commented. "Look at you, you're all grown up now, Anko."
"Who is this clown?" Naruto questioned with an angry growl.
"Meet Amachi, he's a medical ninja who's teamed up with Orochimaru and conducts research here." Anko replied, glaring at the man in front of them. "His master's not around, though. This whole rigmarole is Amachi's doing."
"So he's behind it all!" the Nine-Tailed boy snarled at him. "You and your crazy experiments are finished, pal!"
"Crazy?" Amachi yelled back, offended that someone insulted his work. "This isn't a joke! I've devoted my entire life to this research!"
Naruto scoffed. "Research, huh?"
The scientist gestured to Isaribi that was standing behind him. "Look here! This girl is capable of adapting to an aquatic environment. Combining the ability to breathe under water with advanced strength and agility. It's always been my dream: a ninja corps for underwater warfare, and this girl here is the first step!"
"A ninja corps for underwater warfare?" Ino repeated in disbelief.
"That's right! A unparallel military force that can move freely on both land and sea!" Amachi rambled on insanely. "Once I've done, we'll spread across the nations and take complete control over marine shipping routes! Astounding, isn't it? With that kind of strength, the world will kneel before me and Orochimaru will rue the day he abandoned my work, but it'll be too late!"
"These people you're talking about, they're not your tools!" Naruto hollered in fury.
"Oh, that's shame. I figured someone your age would grasp the importance of my work." The medical ninja seemingly disappointed Naruto's response to his speech, but he brushed it off. "Well, no big deal. You're just another bunch of brainless guinea pigs, right? Who cares what you think?"
"Oh, yeah?" Naruto charged forward to punch the man, but Isaribi blocked his way, her arms stretched out before him.
Amachi laughed amusedly. "Thank you, Isaribi."
"Come on, out of the way!" Naruto shouted furiously.
"I'm not moving!" Isaribi retorted sharply.
This took Naruto aback. He didn't understand why such a good person would do such a thing, he wanted to help her—save her, but she fighting back at him. "I don't get it! Why are you protecting this moron? I mean, he's the one that did this to you!"
"I know, but..." Isaribi screamed back. "But I don't have a choice now. He's the only person that can turn my body back to normal again! He promised me that he would! Here, look." The pain and sorrow in her face was something that could tear anyone's heart into two as she undid her bandages to show her scales to the blond boy.
"What're you…?" His blue eyes wavered at the sight of her.
"Look at me. People in this world would judge others solely on their appearance." She told him, her voice laced in deep sadness. "They stay away when they see me covered in bandages; imagine what they would do if they saw a monster covered in scales! I just want my body back, okay? I just want to be human; I'll do whatever it takes to be myself again!"
"But you still are human, it doesn't matter what you look like." Naruto responded to her earnestly, desperate to help her.
It was now Isaribi's turn to be taken aback. "Huh…?"
"And yet, you're attacking ships with these guys and sending them into the bottom. It's not a face that makes someone a monster; it's the choices they make with their life!"
"Just shut up!" the weeping girl screamed, tears pouring down her face. "Stop it!"
"But, I didn't…" Naruto tried to explain to her what his words meant, not wanting her to misunderstand, but she covered her ears.
"I don't want to hear it anymore! Just shut up!" she cried, shaking her head. "Why does everybody have to be so cruel to me…?"
"You don't get it," the Uzumaki boy told her softly, the anguish on his was plain to see. "You see, you and I… You and I are exactly alike!"
"Be quiet! You're human, aren't you? You've no idea what I'm going through!" She fell down to her knees in despair, covering her face with her hands. "I… I wish only wish that I was like you…!"
"Now, now, don't cry. I have you back to normal in no time, Isaribi." Amachi said slyly, taking a few steps from behind her. Anko lost herself in at his claim, knowing it was a lie. She snapped out of her daze when she sensed something coming towards them.
"Watch out!" she yelled, rushing over to where Ino stood and knocked her down to the ground, using her body as a shield when the wall by her exploded into a million flying pieces. When the smoke cleared, a shinobi with glasses stood at the hole.
"That Paper Bomb was right on the money," the man remarked with a smug smile, pivoting his head to the fish-like girl on the ground. "Thanks for distracting them, Isaribi."
"Ugh…" Naruto grunted in pain since was thrown back by the explosion, his body now on the floor and trying his best to get up.
"A-Are you okay?" Ino asked her sensei worriedly, Anko's body pressed on top of hers. She woke up by the time Naruto and Ino used their separate talents to defeat the shinobi that was left behind to deal with them, Amachi and Isaribi gone. The roof started to crumble, chunks of stone and rocks colliding to the floor above their heads.
Ino and Naruto came Anko's side, wrapping each of her arms around their necks for support.
"I think the whole place is coming down!" the Yamanaka girl yelled.
"They're taking us out along with the building!" Anko forced out, barely conscious.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Naruto shouted at their miserable luck, as Shino appeared through the whole in the wall, victorious in his battle with another shinobi before he came.
"Hurry! The entrance has already been blocked!"
ஜ ~ ஜ
The Leaf ninja raced through the tunnels of the collapsing underground facility, but they came at a dead end. Naruto volunteered to blast an exit with his Rasengan, but Ino protested against it, telling the blond boy that if he messed up, he might accidentally blow the whole ceiling on their heads.
"Okay, fine! You've got any better ideas?" Naruto asked in a panicked voice.
"Watch out. Everybody stand back." Anko bit her finger to draw blood and made the following hands sign: I, Inu, Tori, Saru, and Hitsuji to summon a giant blue snake and climbed into his mouth, and then let the serpent rammed its head through the wall and dropped them off to the outside.
"Ahh… Fresh air, what a relief!" Naruto exclaimed happily at the sight of sea and shining sun.
"Anko-sensei!" Ino shouted in concern when she saw the snake kunoichi crouching down in her pain, holding onto her Curse Mark. "Are you all right?"
"Let's go, there's not time to waste!" She ignored her Genin's worried expressions, as well as her won aching pain. "It's already morning!"
"Oh, right." Naruto muttered in remembrance at their original mission.
"The fleet sailing into a trap!" Ino remarked.
"Yeah, we've gotta reach them before it's too late!' Naruto spotted a boat washing upon the shoreline. "Hey, how about that boat?"
"Right, get on board!" Anko ordered them.
ஜ ~ ஜ
Shino was steering the boat this time, Naruto at the head of the boat as he kept an eye out for any ships out in sea.
"Huh? I don't see the fleet in the harbor, or any ships at all."
"There's only one reason they would have ever left without us, it's Amachi." Anko stated grimly. "He laid a trap for them, and they fell for it."
By the time they caught up, Isaribi already destroyed most the convoys and Amachi's other lackey. Shino went off to deal with the other shinobi—eager to end his battle with the glasses wearing ninja once and for all. Ino went to help the survivors into the boat and out f the water while Naruto and Anko headed off the boat to deal with the Demon of the Ocean and the freak leading this operation.
"Man, that's really low, even by your standards, weirdo." Anko grinned at the Amachi cheekily, standing on the upper deck with Naruto below her. He was surprised to see her alive, but then smirked at her slightly. "Glad you'd showed up. I still got a few questions I want answered."
Naruto, meanwhile, pleaded with Isaribi to stop working for the crazed medical ninja, but his attempts were in vain and she lunged for him and cast him off the ship and into the water along with her. Amachi motioned to follow them, but Anko jumped down and landed elegantly on the edge of the boat to block his path.
"I'm the one you've gotta worry about." she declared with her hands on her hips, enjoying the sight when he took a step back away from her. "You said Orochimaru left the research lab weeks ago, isn't that right?" She titled her head her head as she narrowed her optics at him. "Any clue where he's been since?"
"I have no idea." Amachi answered honestly. "I know that he took a young kid with him, an excellent prospect, he said. This kid isn't going to be disappointment like you were."
A blank look adorned Anko's face as she stared at him. "Sasuke Uchiha…"
"You just didn't quite have it, guessed that's why he tossed you aside." Amachi taunted her, baiting her slyly into one his little mind games. She stood there for a moment, though, trying to not to like the man's words affect her. She charged at Amachi with two kunai knives and after a few minutes of fighting, Anko commented, "Not bad for a medical ninja!"
"So glad that you've approved." He backed away from Anko, glancing to see how his test subject was doing with the Nine-Tailed child.
"You're losing your focus. That is a mistake." she lectured in brash tone. The scientist threw his scalpels that he held between his fingers, and Anko blocked them all perfectly. A bottle of some kind of gray substance came at her and the snake kunoichi broke it in defense, smashing its contents out. As soon a she caught a whiff at it, she realized her mistake. "Now I've done it…"
The foul smelling gas spread around her as it reached her nostrils, her body turning numb and soon she was knocked out on the deck.
"Heh, someone was little overconfident." Amachi gazed down in triumph before he leaped off into the fray between Naruto and Isaribi. It didn't her long to come to and when she opened her eyes, she saw Naruto trapped inside some kind of watery blob. Anko saw that he couldn't hold his breath for too much longer.
"I've gotta do something…" She sprung up to the blob and tried pierce it with her kunai, but she was bounced back onto the edge of the ship. "It didn't work."
She heard the argument between Amachi and Naruto when the mad scientist revealed that he'd experimented on himself like did with Isaribi, transforming his body into a fish-like creature—though it was complete, unlike the girl's. Something deep within him became enraged when he saw Amachi reminded Isaribi that he was the only person that was able to change her back after Isaribi finally gained the will to defy the medical ninja, thanks to Naruto's help.
It was then when Naruto shifted Nine-Tailed mode, its destructive red chakra coating his body with its evil power, which was able to burst him out of that water blob. His eyes were blood red and slitted, his teeth and nails sharpen to a point as he stood on the ocean surface on all fours.
Isaribi was shocked at the sight of Naruto's sudden transformation. "Naruto…"
"That's right, he's the same as you." Anko confirmed, her hands in her coat pockets. She had leapt down from the deck to join the girl on the flat, rocky platform in the middle of the sea.
"What're you talking about? The same as me?" Isaribi inquired in a quiet voice.
"Yeah, Naruto carries inside him the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox that almost destroyed our village. Ever since he was a child people have treated him like a monster and a freak. That's why he works and fights twice as hard as anyone." Anko pivoted her head to watch the boy, her eyes and voice entwined with sympathy. "Everyday is a struggle…just to be accepted by the world as a human being."
"What he told me… It's complete true, I see what he meant…" Isaribi whispered, overwhelmed with guilt, as she remembered the boy's pleads to show how much they were alike, and then allowed her tears to fall down her face. They both watched in amazement how fast he moved while he took on the mutated Amachi. When it was over, he landed on his back in exhaustion on the water after his demon chakra faded.
"Naruto!" Anko was about to go and jump in to save him, but Isaribi moved quicker.
"I got him!" The girl jumped from rock to rock and then in the water to go rescue the boy…again.
Anko smiled when she saw that, insinuating that whatever Isaribi felt towards Naruto might border past the line of friendship. Well, whaddaya know?
Isaribi brought Naruto the surface and the snake kunoichi was awash in joy and relief when she saw that the boy was still breathing. It also seemed Shino was okay after his battle with his enemy. He was tired, but all right. And of course, Ino had helped all the ship survivors onto shore and out of harm's way throughout the entire chaos. Anko really did grown attached to them—her Genin, and she felt proud of them.
She saw a beaten up Amachi in the water in his human form again. He turned to swim away quietly, but Anko sent her snakes to tangle him into her trap. She grinned broadly when saw fear written all over his face. "Hmph. Looks like I caught me a big one, huh? You weren't planning on sneaking off, were ya?"
When they got him tied up, Anko stood with the kiddies, Isaribi included, on the rock surface as they glowered down at Amachi.
"You've been a busy boy out there." The violet-haired woman glared at him sternly, her hands stuffed down in her coat pockets. "You're gonna have a lot to answer for once we get you back to shore."
Amachi averted his eyes away from. "This is far from over."
Naruto sneered at the man, raising his fist to punch him. "Oh, yeah? Maybe you need a little more convincing!"
Amachi merely chuckled. They exchanged a few mores to each other until they felt the area starting to shake around them. Amachi's summoning, the Sea Monster, emerged up in the water. The medical ninja stated that they didn't have a chance of defeating because it was immortal, but Naruto only whacked him on the head to shut him up, and Anko had stop herself from laughing out loud.
That kid was too funny, especially after when he was tossed into the air when he literally extinguished the Sea Monster, with the help of Gamabunta, the huge fog that had kicked Naruto up in the air as payback for being summoned to a saltwater environment. Frogs were fresh water creatures, after all. He'd performed a terrific battle in front of them, impressing everyone with his quick thinking and collaboration with his toad.
"Nicely done." Anko complimented him as Isaribi stood behind her, staring admirably at the blond boy. Anko knew with all her heart that he had a lot of potential, and he would one day go far in this world.
ஜ ~ ஜ
It was about sundown by the time they got back the port town, all of them on the ship with Amachi that was on tied to a pole.
"Well, we've dealt with your Sea Monster." Anko began firmly, hands in her coat. "Now you. You'll be taken to the Village Hidden in the Leaves and trial for all the crimes you've committed out here."
"That's right! Not to mention the trip to the moon I got from the Chief!" a wet Naruto added in angrily, making a fist.
The medical ninja growled, pivoting his head to look at Isaribi. "What's wrong with you, Isaribi? Take care of these fools, now!"
The girl was taken aback for minute, but then regained her composure steadily. "I'm done with you."
"Are you forgetting?" he asked her cruelly. "I'm the only person who can give you back your humanity."
"I don't care!" Isaribi shouted back, her resolve strong like her voice. "If I keep this up, I'll be nothing but a monster at heart."
Naruto was pleased with her response; happy she saw the light at last. "Yeah, I knew you'd finally come around. Well said."
Amachi laughed insanely. "You're neither a human being, nor fully integrated like I am! The best you could hope is to wander this world as a freak!"
Isaribi glared at him fiercely.
"The truth of it is, I'd never wasted a moment's thought on how I reverse your condition." The crazed medical ninja took delight when he saw the girl's anguish spread on her face. "Like I said before, the only reason I kept you around was to dissect you!"
"It can't be…"
"You rotten piece of garbage! How much lower can you get?" Naruto was enraged the revelation, lunging another powerful hit towards the scientist's face. Amachi braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Anko stopped him when she held out her arm in Naruto's path.
"That's enough. Once we get him back to the village, he'll be held accountable for everything he's done." She told him fixedly, ignoring his questioning expression. Naruto backed down like he was told, although he did not approve. Amachi chuckled at the boy's face, but froze when Anko leaned down to whisper in his ear threateningly.
"Now, I think it's about time you told me. Orochimaru, where do I find him?" she inquired in a tone.
"You really think I know where he is?" Amachi swiveled his head away from her. Anko tightened up his restraints harshly, but he merely grunted at her and then spoke in mocking voice. "The man tossed you aside and yet you still search for him? You and I are nothing alike. With my research on this island, I would have eventually surpassed him."
"Oh, really?" Anko leant back; feigning an innocent expression before she used her fisted right hand to punched the medical ninja's face, knocking him unconscious.
The kids behind her looked at her with surprised expressions, except for Naruto, whose eyes were as wide as saucers as he pointed an accusing finger at her angrily. "Hey, how come you got to sock him?"
Anko blew lightly on her fist before she turned the others, ignoring Naruto as she cheerfully announced, "All righty then, mission complete! Let's get going, shall we?"
"That ain't fair! I want to get one in!" Naruto rolled up the sleeve of his shirt on his right arm.
"Give it an rest!" Anko commanded, her eyes and voice serious. Naruto was shocked by her firm tone, but the boy accepted it and backed down.
"Your luck, pal." Naruto mumbled at the unconscious man tied to the pole. Anko smiled at him, satisfied, before pivoting her in the direction of the sea…and at a certain island. Now, there was one thing she had to take care of…
ஜ ~ ஜ
Anko rowed the boat she borrowed the next morning to Jiro Island. She had to come here, despite the fear she felt, but it was because that they were her fears that she had to face them. She wouldn't feel right if she couldn't do it. She had to know what happened to her during the last time she was here, no matter how scared she was of the truth. Who would ever want to live in a world of broken memories?
This is the place that Amachi was talking about: Jiro Island. Anko thought to herself softly. This is where my nightmare began… There may be fragments of my memory left here.
When she reached the shore, Anko jumped off the boat as her feet dragged her through the woods, her brown eyes scanning the area cautiously. She didn't know exactly where she was going, her natural instincts just lead her down the path she wanted to go—to the answers she must discover about herself…and Orochimaru.
She came upon an abandoned compound with a rusty, broken lock hanging on the entrance handles. Anko slid it off, staring at the door intently for a long moment. It was now or never, she decided. The snake kunoichi pushed the two sets of doors open and stepped inside, closing the entrance behind her.
She looked around for anything that may seem suspicious in the darkness, studying the boxes, the containers, and the sacks around the corners of the room. They all felt familiar, and the Curse Mark agreed, its waves of pain coursing through her body again.
Anko grimaced, panting heavily as she grabbed her neck. Her pulse raced as she took in deep, measured breaths to calm herself. She straightened herself, her resolve remaining strong. She wasn't about to let the Curse Mark chase her off from finding the truth. The violet-haired woman kept her eyes forward, her mind swimming back into her most painful memory of all that was locked tightly shut by Orochimaru's curse.
ஜ ~ ஜ
She found herself kneeling on the dirt floor in the dark room. Her optics was wide with fear, pain, shock, and most of all, betrayal. She didn't know what was happening and her blood ran cold with her terror. Orochimaru's fangs were sunk in on the left side of her neck, his ebony hair brushing against her cheek ever so lightly. He stood several feet away from her, but his neck stretched to an incredible length so that he could latched his sharpen teeth into her tender skin.
When he pulled his fangs back, the wound he created on her flesh burned like fire as it turned into three-tomoe mark, and the young girl clutched her shoulder in pain.
"Lord Orochimaru, what've you done? This pain is…!"
The door opened as her sensei and that rat, Amachi, left. Before she knew it, she could hear his cold, cruel chuckle echoing around the room, ringing in her ears. She was left in darkness, caged in as the door closed. There was no escape now.
Her small body started to tremble and she could hear her heart beating loudly from inside her chest, the young girl crying out in agony by the mark her sensei branded her with. She curled her body into a ball, then started trashing around, screaming as sweat poured down her face.
Anko dug her nails into the dirt under her, creating lines in the ground as she tried to endure the pain that was resonating throughout her body. Everything went black after that and she lay on her back, lifeless as a doll and her eyes wide open with tears streaked on her face.
The door opened slowly, and the two men entered. They walked until they were by her head, and she felt a chill run down her spine as they spoke. She didn't react; she couldn't, even if she tried.
"She's still alive…" Amachi stated, clearly surprised.
Orochimaru chuckled, staring down at her with cold eyes. "She's a lucky girl. So, out of the ten we tested, she was the only one to survive. One last delicious harvest before my departure."
The scientist pivoted his head to the Sannin, slightly surprised. "Departure?"
"There's no reason for me to be here anymore."
"But, my lord, the research…"
"It's all yours. You can consider it a parting gift. As of this point, I've no further need of it." Orochimaru swiveled to leave, but stopped when he felt a small hand around his ankle and he looked down to see the pain etched on his student's face.
"But why? How could you do this? I don't get it, I've looked up to you more than anyone in the world!" Young Anko cried out to him. Her teacher smirked cruelly; his eyes carried no compassion or mercy to he as knelt down and gripped her chin with his icy fingers. His face was a mere breath away from hers, and he spoke to her directly in the eye.
"You simply didn't measure up, my dear. I'm afraid you lack the hunger for power, the drive, the hatred, everything and anything." His snake-like tongue came from his mouth and licked his lips, watching Anko shaking with fear. He studied her face, contemplating of what more use she can be. After all, she didn't die from the Curse Mark. "Although, you didn't die. To make it this far, you can't be totally useless. Well, how 'bout it? Care to accompany me, then?"
Anko felt her heart racing faster and faster inside her small chest. Closing her eyes for minute in distress, she opened them and averted them to the floor. She was denying his offer, and more importantly, denying the man she loved the most in the world.
"Fair enough." Orochimaru sighed at her decision, getting up and walking away with Amachi. "Somewhere out there is the diamond in the rough I'm looking for."
He didn't even looked back her as he left Anko stranded in the dark. She knelt down on the ground, her optics never leaving it. Despite refusing him, she couldn't shake off the feeling of loneliness that overcame her. She knew it she went that all use would be to him was a tool—a weapon for his own selfish reasons. He didn't care about her obviously, so why should she still care about him at all? The answer was obvious inside the depths of wounded heart. She might have refused him, but he was the one that left her—trapped in a cold, dark, and isolated place.
She didn't know her long she stayed in that lonely place. She wrapped around in the dark's icy embrace until Orochimaru came back and wiped her memories. She couldn't recall how she washed upon the deserted shore where the ANBU found her. She was wet and frightened, eyes large with panic as she clawed the coarse sand in her palms, panting in broken gasps.
Her worth was all used up.
ஜ ~ ஜ
Anko snapped her eyes open with a jittery jolt, memories flowing like river in her mind. She averted her optics down on the floor, at the very spot she lain all those years ago.
"It's all coming back…" she whispered softly, swiveling her heel towards the door and back into the sun's bright rays. She squinted as it shone at her brown eyes, blocking most of its daylight from her with her arm. The sun…it was warm. "So bright…"
She didn't how to describe it, but somehow…she felt different, lighter—happier. It was if the empty world she once lived as shut itself closed and a new door opened, painting her world with new colors and energy.
I wasn't cast aside. It was my choice, and mine alone. She smiled at her newfound truth. She felt a sense of peace and strength that she had never felt before. She had her memories back, and more importantly, she was glad to know Orochimaru didn't abandoned her—she chose to abandoned him. She wasn't thrown aside like trash like she was mistakenly led to believe. She rejoiced at the revelation, glad that she retrieved back what was lost to her—relieved that she did have the will to stand up for herself.
ஜ ~ ஜ
Meanwhile, Naruto and the others, Isaribi included, waited the port to return back to the Hidden Leaf Village, the Uzumaki boy glancing around fanatically to search for their sensei.
"Hey, you guys, how come Anko is missin' in action?"
"There was no sign of her when I woke up." Ino replied, showing him the slip of paper Anko had left her this morning. "Just a note saying she'd be back in a bit."
"What's her deal? Can't she sit still for, like, one second?" Naruto grumbled with a shrug for shoulders.
"There's the pot calling the kettle black." The Yamanaka made an odd face at her teammate's ironic words. They got into a heated fight, until Isaribi inquired if it was really all right for her to journey with them back to Hidden Leaf Village. The Genin assured her that they would, and then she will receive help of the Fifth Hokage about her condition. She thanked them with a gentle, appreciated smile as a tender warmth enveloped around the group kids.
"Hey! Come on! What's the hold up?" The kiddies pivoted their heads around to find the snake kunoichi waving at them, already on board in the boat. "The boat's about to shove off!"
Ino was surprised, not noticing she arrived when they were here before their squad leader was. "When did she...?"
"What's the matter with you?" Naruto yelled angrily, his optics large as saucers again. "We've just been standin' around waitin' for ya!"
Anko clasped her hands in apology, a sheepish smile on her face. "Oh, sorry 'bout that."
The kids boarded the ship before it set off. The day was so beautiful, the sunshine glistening the waves of the sea and the air wafting through their hairs lightly. Seagulls could be heard flying above their heads as they breathed in their last scent of the ocean air before they return home.
"All right! We're headed back to the Hidden Leaf Village again!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically, pumping a fist in the air.
"Seriously, you've been spinning like a top from start to finish on this journey. Don't you know the meaning of the word tired?" Ino questioned him, an annoyed expression on her face as she pressed her palm to her cheek.
"Okay, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto seemed offended.
"It's a compliment." Ino assured him with a wave her other hand, smiling slightly. "You've really came through."
"Wait, for real? Go on, you're embarrassing me." Naruto blushed, flattered, scratching the back of his head modestly.
Anko left out a laugh at their cute antics; her soul feeling so much freer now that the burden she carried all her life was finally set loose. She was happy, a warm smile gracing her pretty face. For once, she was glad to be alive—glad that she met these Genin. It was about time she had some joy in her life. She'd earned it, and she allowed herself to revel in it with these smiling kids.