Chapter 07:

Naruto looked at Anko with a grim sort of satisfaction on his face.

'Oh, Karma's a bitch, lady!' He thought wickedly. His vindictive thoughts were interrupted however when Anko knelt on the floor before Sarutobi and exclaimed:

"I can easilyexplain that sir, if you'll allow me to!"

Sarutobi took a long drag on his pipe again, and exhaled. He was silent for several moments before he replied:

"Very well, Anko: let's hear it."

Anko looked up at him and smiled gratefully, while Naruto scowled. Anko's eyebrows rose in confusion.

"What crawled up your butt and died, brat?" she asked. Naruto turned his gaze from her smug look with a pouty scoff. Truth be told, Naruto was irritated that his discovery and deduction of Anko's guiltiness might be completely unfounded. He was beginning to fancy himself a detective.

Anko regained her composure from teasing Naruto, and turned back to face Sarutobi, who was still regarding her expectantly.

"Well, you see sir," Anko began, it all began like this…"


Anko sat inside the comfort of her favorite restaurant: Konoha's Dangoya. She had just finished her fourth platter of hanami dango, and was about to order her fifth when she noticed something somewhat peculiar:

The Nine-Tailed Fox's jinchuuriki: Naruto Uzumaki.

She, like everyone else in the village who was privy to the information, knew exactly what he contained, but for the life of her all she could see anytime she looked at the boy was just that: an average six-year-old boy. She had heard the rumors of the villagers of course; that the Kyuubi was just biding its' time pretending to act like a young child, until it could strike. But the mere thought made Anko snort in derision. Honestly, the villagers and some of the ninja could really use a lesson in basic fuinjutsu. She trusted the sealing skills of the village's late Yondaime Hokage, the village seemed like complete hypocrites to her when she thought about it that way. For all of their admiration and praise of Minato Namikaze, they all seemed to doubt whether or not the man they had chosen to become their Fourth Hokage could actually seal a tailed beast successfully!

Anko watched as the boy meandered his way past scowling villagers without even a sign that he was bothered by it. Anko could relate, after all; she used to be the prized pupil of the Leaf Village's biggest traitor: Orochimaru of the Sannin. When her sensei had left her behind as he deserted the village, he also saddled Anko with the responsibility to become the scapegoat for resentment and disgust at Orochimaru's actions. Anko put up with it for a while, and then, not at all. She showed the villagers and ninja what would happen to them if they crossed her. She was not her sensei. She was her own person, AND fiercely loyal to her home.

But that was the thing that intrigued her about Naruto Uzumaki. The stigma following him around was much worse than being called the student of a traitor. Not only that: but Anko had heard some of the things villagers and her fellow ninja said about the boy when he wasn't present. They called him a ' demon' and 'clanless brat'. Anko knew the boy didn't have parents or a clan: he was an orphan; but so was she. That wasn't something to hold against someone. And, as for calling the boy a 'demon'…?"

Anko winced as a storeowner roughly tossed the boy out of his shop and onto the street. The boy scowled at the man and flipped him the bird, but besides that, he didn't make any aggressive moves. If the boy was truly a 'demon' as the populace believed, Anko was positive that bidding its time or not, a demon would not tolerate the treatment it received as tamely as the boy before her did. Heck: Anko would've kicked that storeowner where the sun doesn't shine if he ever tried that with her as a kid.

Anko paid her bill for the four platters of dango, and silently walked after the boy. She didn't understand entirely why she felt compelled to do so, but he had gotten her interest.


It was about five minutes later that Anko realized she wasn't the only one interested in what the boy was up to. She felt a foreign chakra signature nearby, the likes of which she had never felt before. It was dark, and somewhat jumbled: like whomever it belonged to wasn't completely there.

Anko hated herself for thinking it, but if this entity was somehow aware of the boy's status as a container, it was in the best interests of the village to capture and interrogate them. Anko decided to do what she did best: stalk her prey.

Little did Anko know at the time however: that she was about to take on more than she could possibly deal with.


Anko followed the vague chakra signature for the rest of the day, only to come to a very grave conclusion: Whoever this person was, they were indeed aware of the boy's uniqueness. That did not bode well. She thought of going straight to the Hokage about it, but something told her that leaving the mysterious figure to its own devices was definitely not advisable.

She was somewhat amused when she realized that the boy was aware that someone was watching him.

'Smart brat', Anko thought with an impressed smirk from her perch on a building overlooking the market district. He's got potential.

She also noticed that the boy's awareness wasn't limited to just her presence. In fact, the boy seemed almost unconcerned with her watching him, and more paranoid about the same exact thing she was: the other, more mysterious person. That impressed Anko even more. This kid, who couldn't be any older than six could already sense when a chakra signature had malicious intentions. That was a high-chuunin skill, at least!

Anko continued to follow the mysterious chakra she sensed for the rest of the day, when around six in the evening she noticed it divert from the boy and make its way elsewhere. Naturally, Anko followed. She was frustrated beyond belief that she couldn't get a visual on the mysterious figure, only being able to trace him or her by their abnormal chakra signature.

She tracked the chakra to the slums district of the village, where she noticed it had at last ceased moving, and was now stemming from an old, run down apartment complex. She body flickered to the rooftop of an adjacent building and watched the apartment complex with narrowed eyes.

"What are you doing there?" she mumbled to herself. She still couldn't see anyone yet, which made her even more anxious to know who she was dealing with.

Just then, Anko noticed a figure looking out the window on the top floor of the apartment complex directly at her. She tensed and felt a bead of sweat run down the side of her face.

'How in the world did they know I was here?' she thought frantically. She had made sure that her chakra emission was as low as possible! It would take a seasoned shinobi of a high caliber to even notice her! The realization shook her even more.

Steeling herself, Anko stealthily made her way toward the apartment complex, making sure to conceal her presence as much as possible. She made her way up a long stairwell silently and quickly and at last arrived at a heavily grafftied door that, (to her discomfort) was cracked open slightly.

She slid inside the door and looked around cautiously.

At first glance, she noticed that nothing seemed out of place, or peculiar. That was, until a deep, rasping voice hissed:

"Anko Mitarashi," it said, sending shiversup Anko's spine. "How very nice of you to join me…"

Anko knew right then and there she was in way over her head.

AN: At last the shadow makes its appearance! But who could it be? You'll just have to wait and see...