A/N I have replaced the incomplete chapter with the complete one.

I am putting up a pairing poll on my profile. I may still change the pairing but the poll results will greatly influence my decision.

I am still looking for a beta so if anyone is interested please PM me. I'm sure you people have noticed that I really need a beta.

Thanks for all the reviews, they motivate me to update faster.

I am having a really hard time writing Anko's character and I don't think I am doing her amazing character justice. Please review or PM and tell me how I can improve and characterize her better.

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Naruto panted as he felt the exhaustion creeping in. The Jounin appeared to be stronger then he had anticipated. She kept dispelling his clones using a technique he had yet to see, her movements seemed to flow as her body bent at unnatural angles, avoiding his attacks and easily going through his defense. After what seemed to be an hour of defending Naruto decided that he would have to do something special, he formed chakra around his legs and launched towards Anko. Meanwhile Anko kept battering the clones with the snake fist taijutsu style; she too was getting tired as the clone army never seemed to diminish. She decided to go in for the kill as she dropped the weights on her legs; the sudden increase in the speed of her movements caused a moment's distraction which was enough for Naruto as he rushed in at an unbelievable speed and crashed into her legs with a sweeping kick as he skidded on the water. Anko cried out in pain as she felt the brute force of Naruto's kick however she quickly recovered and blocked his follow up kick with her hand. Mitarashi Anko was pissed, the little runt was able to get through her defenses; she had underestimated him but not anymore, it was time to get serious. Inwardly she was extremely surprised at the speed of Naruto's attack, it was not everyday that a shinobi landed a hit on her and he wasn't even a shinobi. The 'Mitarashi Anko' was impressed; the boy was not only hard working but had immense potential to go with it. His chakra control being better than her was a humbling thought; she needed to pick up on her training.

Meanwhile with Naruto

Naruto was surprised too; the speed at which he had moved had taken him by surprise resulting in a misplaced kick. Hearing the kunoichi's cry of pain Naruto decided to follow up his kick and finish the fight, it seems he over estimated the Kunoichi. Only if he knew how wrong he was, Uzumaki Naruto was soon going to be in a world of pain.

Just as he thought he had finished the fight an arm blocked his feet and a crushing kick impacted him on his gut knocking the air out of him. He screamed in pain as he felt his lower ribs snap with the force of the kick. He was flung towards the canopy of trees and only his superb chakra control saved him from further pain as he managed to cushion his back with chakra and soften the blow as he struck a tree. He slowly slid down the tree and collapsed reeling in pain from the brutal kick. A part of his brain told him to give up but a larger part encouraged him to stand again and face his foe. Uzumaki Naruto was not one to give up even if all odds were against him.

Mitarashi Anko winced as she saw Naruto fly towards a tree in the canopy. 'I think I hit him too hard' she thought as she walked towards Naruto only to stop as she saw him rise. 'That shouldn't be possible, I am sure I hit with enough force to knock out a chunnin. ' Her respect for the blonde boy rose up a peg or two. 'He would certainly make a great student' she thought as she resumed walking towards Naruto.

Naruto smiled as he saw the Jounin relax, 'she thinks she's beaten me' he deduced by looking at the Jounin casually walk towards him. He waited for the opportune moment to strike, his stance that of a leopard coiled to strike. Just as Anko came within a few steps from him he put his plan into action. Two clones hidden in the canopy jumped out and grasped Anko from behind while two clones caught him and propelled him towards her.

Anko's eyes widened as she felt two clones grab her from behind and before she could react the original Naruto speared into her stomach with enough force to make her go flying and land with a thud in the clearing. She groaned from her position on the ground. She slowly rose to her feet; her body protested the movement as it was still reeling from the pain of the vicious attack but she wasn't a shinobi for nothing. 'Never again will I underestimate the brat' she thought with a scowl.

Naruto skidded to a stop and looked at the downed Kunoichi, his vision beginning to blur, he took a few step towards her before falling to the ground with a thud, his body finally giving up. Anko sighed as she saw the now unconscious blonde lying on the ground breathing sporadically. She walked up to him and turned him as she surveyed the damage on his ribs. A green glow surrounded her hand as she moved them over Naruto's ribs, her eyes widened when she felt the ribs healing at an unnatural pace. She was sure that at least a few ribs would have been broken and she might have even punctured the lung but her diagnosis proved her wrong. According to her diagnosis Naruto's ribs were already healed and his lung was in perfect condition. 'He must've lost consciousness because of chakra exhaustion' she thought as she completed her diagnosis of the blonde. All his vitals seemed to be in perfect condition and his breathing was stable. It seems that Naruto's massive chakra pool was not the only 'gift' the Kyuubi had given the boy. Only his tenant could have healed the boy's body at such an unnatural rate. After making sure he was alright she put his body back first on the grass. Her eyes drooped as a sudden wave of exhaustion overcame her. She quickly summoned a viper and ordered it to guard her and Naruto, after which she dropped to the ground beside Naruto and immediately fell asleep.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes as the first rays of sunlight graced his face. His body immediately went on alert as he sensed another being close by. His eyes darted from side to side trying to discern his location. To his left was the spring and waterfall which told Naruto that he was still at his favorite training ground. When he looked to his right he jumped up in shock, the Kunoichi from yesterday was sleeping beside him. Naruto groaned as his body protested his sudden movement; apparently it had not fully recovered from yesterday's ordeal. Naruto's sudden movement was enough of a disturbance to wake Anko. She growled as her eyes darted to see who had disturbed her sleep; Anko was not a morning person and reacted badly if someone woke her.

Naruto leapt away from the Kunoichi as he heard her growl; he did not want another broken rib. He quickly formed five clones and made them form a barrier around him. This move was soon becoming his favorite defense stance, since only an aerial attack could cause him any damage.

Anko smiled as she saw that it was Naruto that had woken her, her smile widened as he leapt away and got into a defensive stance. It seemed like he had learnt his lesson. She waved at Naruto, beckoning him towards her "I'm not in the mood to fight" she said, her hand covering her mouth as she yawned. Naruto relaxed as he did not sense any ill intent from the Kunoichi who was currently lying on the ground completely defenseless. He however did not dispel his clones.

Anko being as blunt as ever said "You are going to my apprentice from now on."

Naruto stopped in his tracks, a bewildered expression on his face. It was very rare that a Jounin would take on an apprentice. "Did the hokage order you to" Naruto asked.

"Nah, I saw you training in my training ground and decided to check on you and after seeing your skill in taijutsu I've deemed you worthy of being my apprentice."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully; he had thought she was sent by the hokage to train him but instead she had decided on her own to take him as her apprentice. The thought enticed a warm feeling. A jounin wanting him as an apprentice spoke volumes of his skill level. Not one to let go of any chance to improve himself as a shinobi, he bowed to the jounin "I'll be honored to be your apprentice…"

"Anko, Mitarashi Anko" Anko introduced herself smirking. The boy seemed to be quite well behaved and she could see in his gait that he respected her, unlike many others who bowed to her out of fear and not respect. She had chosen the perfect candidate to be her apprentice. She would of course have a bit of fun torturing him; after all she did not want a student with a stick shoved up where the sun doesn't shine.

"Come walk with me" Anko said as she walked past Naruto to the canopy, she had decided that as the boy was going to be her apprentice she needed him to be with her and having the boy live with her would provide a great source of entertainment. She chuckled evilly as she thought of all the pranks she could play on Naruto.

Naruto followed her as they walked deeper into the forest, he trusted the Kunoichi, since if she wanted to hurt him she'd had a lot of opportunities. They walked for a few minutes in silence till they reached what looked like a tower. Anko walked towards the gate of the tower and formed a few hand signs which she then slammed into a ruin on the door. Naruto quirked his brow at that, he was impressed at the locking system his sensei used.

Anko turned towards Naruto, "how long have you been training here?"

"For around five months."

'I wonder how I've not noticed' Anko thought. She deduced that she had been complacent since no one ever trained in the forest of death. That fact itself spoke quite a lot about the blonde's courage and spunk.

"Well, from now on make this your permanent training ground."

Naruto merely nodded, he had already done that. He followed Anko inside the tower, which was quite huge, especially for one in the middle of a training ground. He was sure this was the largest ground in the village and having a tower here did make sense.

"So do you live here" Naruto asked as he followed Anko to a room which looked somewhat like a bedroom. The room was pretty wide and had a bed in the center and a few shelves lining the wall opposite the bed. The wall had a dark green shade which gave the room an eerie glow.

"Yes and no" she replied cryptically. She walked up to the closet and opened a compartment, from which she took out a few kunai and handed them over to Naruto.

"These will come in use for your training" she said as she threw all five of them to Naruto. Naruto's battle enhanced senses easily followed the kunai's path and he caught them easily.

Most people would have cringed at the idea of handing sharp weapons to a nine year old boy but Anko was not most people and anyways Naruto was training to be a ninja, he would sooner or later have to start training with weapons.

"Come back here in the evening" she said and quite uncharacteristically jumped on the bed and wrapped a blanket around her. Naruto sweat dropped at seeing her abrupt change in mood and blinked owlishly. Seeing Naruto staring at her blankly Anko mumbled "Not everyone's body recovers as fast as yours, now go do whatever you want and let me rest." Naruto nodded and made his way back to the spring, scratching his head at the bizarre turn of events.

……

Hyuuga Residence

Hyuuga Hinata knelt on her bed tears streaming down her cheeks. She tried to suppress her emotions but today had been too much for even a kind soul like her to handle. She forcefully wiped her tears as a new wave of determination passed over her. She would begin a new life from tomorrow. She was going to show those stupid bastards that she was strong. A new sun would rise for Hyuuga Hinata, from tomorrow the Hyuuga heir would begin a new chapter in her life.

……

Naruto made his way back to the spring and kept his weapons aside for now. He needed to master his taijutsu defense technique before he began working on other shinobi arts. A major flaw which he discovered in his technique was the reduced visibility due to his clones surrounding him. He needed to come up with a formation that would not impair his vision. After pondering for some time Naruto decided to try out various formations and settle on one which blocked most attacks and did not impeded his vision.

He created thirty normal kage bunshins and six chakra enhanced kage bunshins. He ordered the thirty bunshins to attack him from all directions and ordered the strong kage bunshins to form a triangular barrier around him with him being in front followed by his kage bunshins.

After a few minutes all the kage bunshins were dispatched and only one had managed to get through his defense which he disposed of without much effort. It seemed he had struck gold on the first try. He decided to stick with this formation for now. Pleased with his discovery Naruto made his way to the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

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Ichiraku Ayame wiped sweat from her forehead as she glanced at the clock. She sighed as she saw that there was another hour left for her cooking shift to end. She did not dislike cooking, in fact she found it relaxing but she had soon realized that cooking at the restaurant was nothing like cooking at home. At home she took her own time but at the restaurant it was like a cooking race.

She despised cooking at the restaurant but she never let that emotion show on her face. She loved her father very much and if her father wanted her to become a chef then she would become a chef. She had lost her mother in her infancy but she never really missed her because her father was always there for her, when she felt down he would cheer her up, when she was happy he would smile and play with her, when she was hungry her father would cook the best ramen for her.

When she was around four years old she like most other kids in the hidden village, had entertained thoughts of being a kunoichi. She loved playing ninja with the other kids and one day she told her dad that she wanted to be a kunoichi. That was the first and last time she had mentioned her dream and it was the first time her dad had screamed at her. He forbid her from even entertaining thoughts of being a ninja. She had run to her room crying. He later came and consoled her, he told her the truth about ninja's, he told her how short their life span was, how most of them died before reaching adulthood, how their lives were filled with danger and death could strike them anytime. He told her that she was all he had left in this world and if anything were to happen to her he would loose the will to live. From that day onwards she vowed that she would never think about becoming a kunoichi, she would do whatever her father wished her to do.

Working with her father at the restaurant took a lot of her time and by the time she would finish her day's work it would be too late to go out and pay with other girls. Therefore she had very few friends; her best friend being a blonde haired boy named Naruto. He was the nicest person she had ever met, he was always polite to her, he listened to her ramblings attentively, he smiled when she joked, he comforted her when she was having a bad day and best of all he ate his ramen with such relish and joy and always complimented her on her cooking. He always seemed full of energy and when he spoke his eyes twinkled with joy. He was everything she could want in a friend and she looked forward to meeting him. He would daily come to the restaurant at late noon, it was a good time too since the restaurant would be pretty much empty at that time and she had a lot of free time. Thinking about Naruto she glanced at the clock, a bright smile lit her face when she saw that it was almost time for him to arrive. She quickly drained the broth and went to the washroom to freshen up.

……..

"Hello Ayame-chan" Naruto greeted her as he took a seat in his second most favorite place, the first being the grass clearing in the forest of death. Ayame looked at him with a brilliant smile "Hello Naruto-kun" she said, "Which ramen flavor would you like today". Naruto tapped his chin as if in deep thought, theirs beef which tastes awesome, pork is good too, and hmm I haven't had chicken in a while. His decision made he ordered chicken ramen. "I'll be back in a minute" she said. Even though her cooking shift was over she always cooked for Naruto and this time she enjoyed cooking.

Naruto looked around the shop as he waited for his only friend to return. He could honestly say that Ayame was the most important person in his life. He loved talking to her, he loved the time he spent with her, and she was a beacon light in his not so bright life. At first he had tried his hardest to be polite to her, to do everything perfect, he had finally made a friend and he did not want to lose her, even the thought sent shudders through his spine, but as time went by he became more free with her, he became more himself, just talking with her calmed him more than an hour of peaceful meditation.

"So how was training today?" Ayame asked.

"It was interesting, more so than other days"

"More interesting you say; did you make a breakthrough?"

"Yea and I just got apprenticed by a Jounin"

"Oh, that's great Naruto-kun congratulations." Ayame said and leaned across the table to hug him. Naruto stiffened at first, this was the first time someone had initiated positive physical contact with him; he had seen parents hug their children, teenage boys and girls hug each other but he had never expected to be hugged. When he resided in the orphanage the matron would often hit him for trivial mistakes and after some time his body had created a defense mechanism to deal with it so that whenever she would hit him he would duck or evade or if he couldn't do that he would stiffen his body. This reaction was so ingrained that Naruto couldn't help but stiffen his body as Ayame hugged him. He hoped that Ayame wouldn't notice but sadly she did.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun, did you injure yourself while training" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

He shook his head "It's the first time I've been hugged and you surprised me" he mumbled.

Ayame looked at him aghast "You've never been hugged"

Naruto shook his head and looked down as if he had done some wrong. Seeing his reaction Ayame quickly went across the table and embraced him. He stiffened again but Ayame did not let him go. "Naruto-kun I don't know how some one could resist hugging someone as nice as you but from now on expect many hugs from me" she whispered as she held him tightly. Naruto slowly relaxed in her embrace, it felt good; almost as if a weight had been lifted of his shoulder. "Thank you Ayame-chan" he replied as he wrapped his arms around her. Ayame smiled as she saw Naruto returning the hug and a pinkish hue spread across her cheeks. She unlike Naruto was no stranger to hugs but being hugged by Naruto felt different, her adolescent mind did not know the reason yet but she knew one thing, being embraced by Naruto felt so much better.

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Naruto returned to his training field feeling better than he had ever before. Today was a special day, being embraced by Ayame-chan and getting apprenticed by a Jounin was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was strolling thinking about his day when suddenly his highly enhanced senses picked up a flying projectile streaking towards him. He quickly performed the substitution jutsu to get out of the way. He quickly hid behind a tree and created five kage bunshins.

"Come out gaki" Anko called out to him as she came out from a thicket of trees behind which she was hiding. Naruto sighed, he should have guessed that Anko was the attacker; she was the only person other than him who frequented the forest of death, hell she actually lived there.

Naruto walked out to the clearing his kage bunshins behind him in a triangle formation.

"You seem to have pretty good reflexes" Anko said as she appraised her would be prodigy.

Naruto nodded his head hesitantly. He was happy that he was going to be taught by a jounin but he was a bit apprehensive. He didn't really know her and out of the blue she comes and tells him that he was going to be her apprentice, which made him quite suspicious of her motives. He decided to go with the flow… for now.

"Sensei" Naruto said as he bowed.

"There's no need for that."

Naruto quirked his eyebrow, from what he had experienced in his life he had come to the conclusion that people of authority liked to be shown respect but his sensei's seemed to be of a different phenomenon. Both Kakashi and Anko did not like him bowing to them; strange.

"Here take this paper and channel your chakra through it" she said as she handed out a square piece of paper to him.

He did as directed and the put cut itself neatly in to two pieces.

"Hmm wind, I didn't expect that" Anko said, a deep frown on her face. She didn't know many wind jutsu's and hence couldn't offer much help to her student in the ninjutsu department. Well I'll have to find a way around it or maybe concentrate more on taijutsu.

"What do you mean by wind" Naruto asked.

"Your elemental affinity is wind, making it easy for you to use wind jutsu's" Anko explained.

"Is it rare?"

"In Konoha, it's very rare, I know of only one other person in Konoha with an elemental affinity of wind."

Naruto smiled at that, another thing for him to master. He would become a master of wind jutsu's. The only problem was he would have to learn it on his own since it was very unlikely that he would be able to find a teacher to teach him wind jutsu's.

"Well that doesn't matter, we'll begin your weapons training for now" Anko said as she threw her kunai to Naruto who nimbly plucked it.

"Try to hit me that" Anko said.

Naruto squinted his eyes as he took aimed and threw the Kunai at Anko. Anko didn't even have to move as the kunai sailed over her head. Naruto frowned; he was disappointed with his effort.

"Awful" Anko said with disdain as she walked toward Naruto. She positioned herself behind him and showed him the correct method to throw a kunai, "For throwing a Kunai you need to use power from your wrist and elbow not your shoulders, you need to flick your wrists using the appropriate amount of power depending on the distance of your opponent."

After she was satisfied with his form she resumed her position thirty feet in front of him.

"Remember generate power from your wrists."

Naruto tried again; this time he forced Anko to sway a little from her position. Anko smiled, her student was nothing if not a quick learner. "A kid could have ducked under that, try again" she said sneering. She did not want her student to get over confident and anyways she did not like praising others.

Naruto frowned; he thought he had done much better than his previous attempt. He tried again this time adding a bit of chakra burst. Anko's eyes widened as she saw the Kunai speeding towards her forcing her to take quick evasive action. She grinned as she saw the kunai whizz past her face. He is one heck of a quick learner. She rubbed her hands in glee; she would forge him into a perfect shinobi, a shinobi who will be feared in all the elemental nations.

"That's a lot better" She said. Naruto grinned awkwardly at the unexpected praise. From what he had learnt of his sensei he had deduced that she was not a person who would praise often.

"But you still require a lot of practice" she concluded. Naruto expected as much, he had learnt the hard way that there were no shortcuts for a shinobi.

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That day Naruto reluctantly returned to his apartment bruised and battered, he was too tired to make kage bunshins and without them sleeping in the forest would be too perilous. Anko was way more vicious than his previous sensei.

He quickly changed and climbed on to his bed falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow; a tired but true smile formed on his face as he ventured into dreamland.

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A/N Read and review please. If you find any grammatical errors please inform me so that I can correct them. There is going to be a time skip in the next chapter, so stay tuned.