So, it's been about 2 weeks since the last update for this. At least it wasn't a month! Right? Right... ha ha... r-right?
Please, take pity on me. I have a lot of other stories to write, :c
Whatever. You guys get a chapter!
Hey, so something I want to point out. You guys remember at the end of chapter 3, when a mysterious figure was watching Naruko and Sasuke? Well, this entire is going to give you an idea of what that was.
Enjoy! And don't forget to drop me a sweet review if you like it.
Could he freely admit the fact that he was scared?
No, he decided, he couldn't - and that sentiment went double when it came to dealing with Naruko.
Regardless of whether he was willing to admit it to anybody or not, he was afraid. The Akatsuki, after all, were highly dangerous. He had come face to face with them once before, and only luck and the timely intervention of Kakashi unveiling his Mangekyou Sharingan enabled him to come out of that encounter unscathed. One Akatsuki member had been killed, Sasori of the Red Sands, by a combination of his teammate Sakura and Sasori own grandmother's efforts and sheer dumb luck. He remembered Sakura telling him that the only reason they had managed to kill him was because they had encountered his special brand of poison before… otherwise, Team Seven would have been reduced to one .
He remembered being perplexed by what they had done, and why they had done it. One of them, with long blonde hair and a bird of white, had managed to escape. The other - as previously mentioned - had met an unfortunate (well, fortunate for Konoha) end. And yet, Kakashi hadn't been forthcoming about what their intentions had been. All Sasuke knew was that the Ichibi had been, for some reason, extracted from the Kazekage, and that was all he was allowed to know.
And… well, Sasuke was a fairly logical person. The Ichibi was the weakest of the bijuu - so, it stood to reason that they'd send their weakest members to take it. And if those two were the Akatsuki's 'weakest' members, then… well, Sasuke really didn't want to see what their strongest member was like.
He scratched the back of his neck, a decidedly nervous look on his face.
Because what he was planning to do was… well, crazy. Absolutely, positively, Naruko-levels of crazy. Was it impulsive? Maybe. He'd given this quite a bit of thought, and really, if there was any way to surprise someone when you were an Uchiha, it was to shove a snake out of your mouth. Uchihas didn't use snakes. The only animals they used were cats and hawks - and the former was clearly not a battle animal, and the latter useless in most situations aside from travel or making an escape. So, for the most part, Uchihas didn't really use summons or animals in battle, something about pride in oneself.
Sasuke could admit that he was a fairly… really prideful person. He was an Uchiha - it was baked into his blood, and every atom in his body, in his soul, was screaming at him not to go through with this, to find other ways to get even the slightest bit stronger.
He swallowed down a bit of nervousness. If there was one thing that would make him shelve his pride, his dignity, his Uchiha-ness, it was Naruko. For her, he would do this - and he knew that he wouldn't regret it.
Sasuke reached forward, and knocked softly on the door.
Was it just him, or did the door knocker look oddly like a serpent? Just looking at this house gave him chills! This was a bad idea, a really, really, bad idea-
The door swung open.
Really, if there was one way to describe this woman, it was curves. Curves everywhere, from her thighs to her… well, everything. If there was a queen of promiscuity in Konoha, it was Anko Mitarashi - and there was no disputing that. He remembered her… more of her than he would ever be comfortable knowing. At one point, Sasuke had spent a drunken evening in bed with her… and well, that particular time spent under the sheets had gone unsurpassed - until his first night with Naruko, of course.
She eyed him, like a piece of meat, those brown eyes running up and down his form. "You know…" Anko began - her voice deceivingly sweet, her lips curling upwards in a smile that was both arousing and terrifying. "I'm not the type to go out on a 'second date' with a guy, so to speak." she murmured, licking her lips. "But, I remember you, Sasuke." Anko grinned. "If you've come for a second ride, you've come to the right place."
Sasuke instinctively took a step back. "I have a girlfriend." he felt the need to say.
Her grin turned feral. "Oh, don't worry - if you're taken, I can keep a secret… kidding." she said, at the look on his face. "What did you need, then?"
Sasuke swallowed. "I need you to train me." he said.
Anko blinked. "Your sensei's Kakashi, isn't it?" she said. "I'm a Tokubetsu Jounin, anything I know, I guarantee Kakashi knows three times over. What could I teach you?"
"... snakes…" he mumbled.
"What?" Anko said.
"Snakes." Sasuke said, louder this time.
"No… I- I heard what you said the first time." Anko said. She pursed her lips together. "But an Uchiha being a snake summoner? Honestly, I've never heard of anything like that before." She stepped aside. "Come in; quick."
He obliged, walking into the dimly lit interior of her house. It was rather dirty. Not in an unkempt, slobbish sort of way, but in a way that suggested that the occupant simply didn't care for things like cleaning up - or privacy. The fact that he could see her discarded undergarments, numerous pizza boxes, and what appeared to be a collection of men's boxers was a little… disconcerting.
"Show me your summon." Anko said, closing the door and locking it behind her.
"Alright." Sasuke said. He bit the end of his thumb hard enough to draw blood, swiping the crimson liquid across the palm of his hand. He crouched low, flashed through a series of seals, and then pressed his hand to the floor. There was a puff of smoke - and a small snake appeared on the ground, not Aoba, but a simple garden variety.
Sasuke flinched slightly when he caught sight of it. He hadn't put that much chakra into the jutsu, wary of summoning some monstrosity into the middle of Anko's home.
Anko bent down, picking it up, eying it carefully for a moment. The snake seemed at home in her hand - hissing in a way that seemed almost happy, curling around her fingers and licking them with its long tongue.
"You really are a snake summoner…" she murmured, a grin spreading across her face. "Finally! I swear. To be frank with you, I haven't met a snake summoner aside from myself since…" She drifted off, her grin faltering for a millisecond.
"Why would I lie about that?" Sasuke said.
"People don't treat snake summoners kindly in this town, kid." Anko said simply. "There's a couple of people who've tried to… trick me, I guess. It doesn't really work, but still, I've gotten my hopes up a few times just to see them come crashing down." She smiled at him. "But! I know for a fact that there's another one now, so don't worry about it. What do you want to learn?"
"I know that there's plenty of… snake related techniques that you can learn to get an edge on an opponent in combat." Sasuke said. "Can you teach me any?"
"Can the Nidaime Hokage swim across a lake?" she quipped, grinning from ear to ear.
"I wouldn't know." Sasuke said.
Anko laughed. "The answer is 'yes'." she said. "To whether the Nidaime could swim or not, and to whether I can teach you." She paused. "If you want, we can go now." Anko rubbed her chin for a moment, thinking it over. "It's probably best if we picked a training ground, and agreed to meet there. If you're seen walking around town with me, people might get suspicious."
"That makes sense." Sasuke said. "Where are we going to meet?"
"A place I think you'll find familiar." Anko said. "Fancy revisiting some old friends in say… the Forest of Death?"
He frowned. "You're a little… eccentric, aren't you?" Sasuke said.
"I think I made that obvious enough a couple of months ago…" she murmured, her fingers brushing against his wrists. "Did that rope burn go away?"
Sasuke felt his ears go pink. "Fine. When do you want me to meet you?" he asked.
"Let's make it a nice round hour from now." Anko said. "See you then, Sasuke."
Thin whips of cyan chakra surrounded the blue rasengan in her hand.
"Come on… come on…" Naruko hissed.
There was a beat. And then, the rasengan exploded, dispersing the clone that had been helping her and sending the unfortunate blonde flying. She managed to do an awkward flip in midair, and land on something that wasn't her neck, but she felt his wrist crack from the way she landed on it.
Of course, the Kyuubi's chakra went to work near immediately on healing it - but it still hurt, and she knew it was going to take a little while for that stupid furball to fix her wrist.
She ran a hand (her uninjured one) through her blonde hair, a scowl on her face.
'Stupid wind chakra.' Naruko thought. 'No, I couldn't get something easier like water or earth - I just had to get wind.' Wind was notorious, as it was one of the harder elements to master, just behind lightning and fire. Despite it being a middle ground of sorts, the gap between learning how to manipulate water and learning how to manipulate wind was fairly large. Large in as learning the base rasengan versus learning how to add said wind element to the rasengan.
Which she was currently trying to do.
And it was a huge, huge, huge pain in the butt. Even her father hadn't been able to do it - and that wasn't from lack of trying. The duties of Hokage were simply too much, and she knew that her dad didn't have the time or resources to put into learning to add his signature lightning element to the rasengan. Jiraiya had managed to put together an imperfect version of it, but it took him activating that weird frog thing to manage it.
It was tough work. With Jiraiya out of the village nine times out of ten, her mother's skill set far too different from her own in order to properly learn from her, and Minato busy as Hokage… well, let's just say it was tough to try and come up with something from scratch, especially something as difficult as a wind infused rasengan.
Naruko sighed, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground as red chakra swirled around her wrists. She let out a grunt as the bone clicked back into place, the blonde groaning and flexing her fingers, twisting her hand slightly as if to make sure everything was alright.
She formed a seal. Poof! A clone appeared beside her, and once again, they fell into the rhythm - both of their eyes closed in concentration, their hands shaking as chakra pooled, wisps of cyan surrounding the ball of blue that formed…
"You know, that might be a little out of your league right now."
Bam! The ball exploded once again - the clone dispelled, and once again, Naruko was sent flying. However, something caught her before she broke her wrist (again!), and she was set down on the ground, slightly dizzy but still plenty alive.
"Ero-sennin!" Naruko groaned. "You ruined my concentration!"
Jiraiya chuckled, towering over Naruko, his white hair gleaming in the sun. "Naruko, let me ask you a question." he said.
She blinked. "What?"
"Do you still need a clone to do the regular rasengan?"
Naruko swallowed, not liking where this conversation was going. 'Most of the time, yeah."
"Most of the time?" Jiraiya inquired.
She laughed nervously. "Well, I can make a rasengan about the size of a golf ball if I really concentrate. Otherwise… I… uhh, I still need a clone."
He shook his head slowly. "That's not going to cut it." Jiraiya said. "How do you expect to add the wind affinity to your rasengan if you haven't mastered the base version yet?"
"That's… that's a good point." Naruko grumbled. "What do you think I should do then, ero-sennin?" she asked, her hands falling to her sides. Her blonde hair waved in the wind, dirt and mud clinging to it in clumps that made her look less platinum and more dirty blonde.
Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "Your chakra control is… acceptable, and I think your concentration is more than enough." he said. "But… the real problem, and the real difficulty by extension, is you learning how to combine them together. The shadow clone fix was good, but now that you're older and…" He paused. "And a little more mature," Jiraiya continued, though Naruko felt that wasn't what he was going to say originally. "I think you need to learn how to do the rasengan properly."
"I'm fine with that." she said. "But like I said, what should I do, ero-sennin?"
"I think you need to learn how to… relax a little bit." Jiraiya murmured. "It's effortless when you do it with a clone, because you're used to it. But when you try to do it without a clone, I'd reckon you're just trying too hard. You're letting the nerves get to you, the frustration builds, and then poof, you can't do it. I'm not saying that's the whole problem," Jiraiya emphasized. "But that's a good place to start.
"Okay." Naruko mumbled. "Relax. Okay, I- I can relax. Totally. Relax."
Jiraiya put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Let's try some meditation, shall we?" he suggested. "Sit down… come on, don't worry, just sit." He helped her ease herself onto the crowd, both of them sitting cross legged and facing each other. "Close your eyes." Jiraiya murmured. "Let the sun beat down on you. Feel the wind. Listen to nature. Breath in…" He took a deep breath. "Breath out…" He exhaled.
They sat there for several moments, silent.
She tried to relax, but it was to no avail. Uzumakis - and obviously, by extension, Naruko, didn't relax. They fought, they shot up from the ground whenever they were knocked down, and they existed solely to kick butt and take names. They didn't relax. They didn't meditate… ugh, this was so dumb!
"Calm down." Jiraiya said, and she could almost hear the way he gritted his teeth. "I can feel your chakra signature, Naruko, and it's about the opposite of relaxed. You need to try, before I decide that a trip to the bathhouses is worth more than trying to train someone who doesn't want it."
Naruko groaned. "I'm trying, ero-sennin." she said. "But it's just- ugh…!"
"What's the problem?" Jiraiya asked. "Do you need some ramen? Because I'm not doing that again - my wallet wasn't the same for months." Of course, he could've just withdrew some money from his bank account, but where was the fun in that? "Minato isn't going to let you out of the village for a mission any time soon. And sparring with me or Kushina isn't going to get you anywhere near relaxed. There's nothing you can 'do' it become relaxed, Naruko, it's just something that happens. But you have to let it happen."
"I'm trying!" she said, her hands gripping her hair. "I am, ero-sennin, I really am, but I just can't!"
Jiraiya pursed his lips together. He looked at her for a moment, his eyes burrowing into her bright blue ones, before he let out a loud sigh. "Then there's nothing I can do for you, kiddo. If you can't relax… then just keep trying. Who knows? Enough practice, and you might be able to do the base rasengan."
She mumbled something incoherent under her breath, blowing a curl of blonde hair out of her eye. "Alright…" Naruko murmured. "I guess I'll just do that, instead."
He cobbled together something resembling a smile. Jiraiya reached a hand forward, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I'm sure we can try again some other time, gaki." he said, his smile widening at the way her face scrunched up. "You know where I'm staying, right?"
"Yeah." Naruko said. A grin curled her lips. "It's right across from the onsen, right?" she teased.
"Sounds about right." Jiraiya said. He paused for a moment. And then - "We had better give this another try, I think." he murmured. "Let's meet right here next week, at eight o'clock. How does that sound? It never hurts to give things a second chance."
"That... " She paused. "Alright. Sounds good."
"Great." Jiraiya said. "See you, kiddo."
He vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Naruko ran a hand through her hair. She let out a long, lingering sigh. And then, she readied herself - calmly spreading her legs, narrowing her eyes, gripping one of her wrists and holding her palm out in front of her. Naruko's face screwed up in concentration, and slowly but sure, a rasengan the size of a golfball appeared in her hand, spinning rapidly. It grew slightly bigger - but then it ruptured, and the ball of chakra practically exploded in her hand. Not as powerfully as her attempts at the wind rasengan had, however, and thus she only staggered back a few steps before being able to stop herself.
She panted, sweaty strands of blonde hair falling in her face. She swiped them out of the way with a low growl, readying herself again - legs spread, eyes narrowed, palm spread out. The golf ball size rasengan formed in her hand once more…
There was something about Mitarashi Anko that reminded Sasuke scarily of Naruko. She was just as bright and bubbly as his girlfriend - just as eccentric, and just as prone to dango as Naruko was to ramen. But… the differences were just as plentiful as the similarities. Anko was sadistic at best, a psychopath at worst, though a 'good' psychopath if there ever was one, considering her loyalty to Konoha. She was… well, promiscuous. The clothes she wore didn't just flatter her figure, they practically made it her most defining quality - and every step she took, every bob of her head and every swing of her arm only made that effect more obvious when it came to her bust and her rump. This woman was…
'... crazy.' Sasuke decided, as she flashed him a grin that was a mixture between 'I want to eat your heart' and 'Nice to see you showed up'.
Anko rubbed her hands together, with a delighted look on her face. Sasuke wouldn't have been surprised if she would pull a bib out of her pocket it, tie it to her neck, and then whip out a fork and knife and advance on him.
"Okay." Sasuke said, a rather grim look on his face. "What are we going to do first?
Her grin widened. "Well first thing's first," Anko began. "We've got to get you used to being around snakes… that way you don't flinch every time you're around them."
"I don't-"
"Oh, please." Anko said, waving him off as a mother might her child's flimsy excuses. "I saw you back there. A inny-winnie little garden snake, and you flinched like you were staring Uchiha Madara in the eye!"
Sasuke frowned. "I… uh…" He drifted off. "... didn't flinch…"
The corner of her lip quirked upwards. "I'll take it easy on you." Anko said, winking at him. "No point in scaring the pants off of you. Not that I would mind that happening, but I'd have to do quite a few more things to make that fun." She grinned. "Anyways…" Anko raised a hand up - and slowly, a garden snake, no longer than a foot, slithered out of her sleeve, curling around her wrist.
Sasuke actually had to force himself to not flinch once more. Okay… maybe he'd gotten a slightly major case of ophidiophobia aka the fear of snakes. Who could blame him? Being trapped in a cave with a snake taller than the Hokage monument and half as wide was bad enough. Then being bitten and forced to writhe in pain for the better part of a day, on top of becoming a snake summoner (Which, again, he'd been brought up from near birth to vilify snake summoners), he could say that his phobia was slightly justified.
Yet, he knew he had to get over it. Snakes were wickedly useful in battle, a fact that was apparent to anyone who spent more than five minutes researching them. The sannin, Orochimaru, had been particularly famous with them - and more than one enemy of Konoha (and later, Konoha shinobi) had been felled by a surprise attack from one of his deadly serpents.
He swallowed, hoping that his fear went down with the lump that had formed in his throat.
Sasuke took a few steps forward, his arms stiff. Anko nodded approvingly as he stopped before her, only about a foot of distance in between the two of them, the snake curled around her wrist turning it's head towards him, thin tongue sticking out in his direction.
"Can they all talk…?" Sasuke hesitated to ask.
"Not all of them." Anko informed him happily. "Only the eggs that Nozuchi-sama herself lays can grow up to become proper snake companions." She looked almost giddy at the prospect of finally being able to pass on her wisdom. "However, ordinary snakes will still be able to understand us. Nin-snakes are a good deal better if you're looking to do some damage to another summon, but you can summon dozens of your everyday snakes to compensate, if you're looking to say… overwhelm somebody with them, or take out a group of enemy shinobi." She sighed in a content manner. "You following along so far?"
"Of course." Sasuke said, his dark eyes still focused on the snake around her wrist. "So… you can just summon them from your sleeves like that?"
"Snakes and humans tend to be a little closer spiritually than with other summoning contracts." Anko explained. "Sure, toads might be a little friendlier, and slugs might be a little more willing to help, but snakes will always be there for someone they trust. Once you've proven yourself to them, you can summon them without a blood sacrifice - and after you've gotten some experience in that matter, you can do it without seals." She jabbed a thumb at herself. "One of my best techniques comes from being able to summon snakes without seals. It's called Sen'ei Janshu."
"Sounds dangerous." Sasuke commented.
"It is." Anko said, beaming. "Trust me, if you want to put someone out of commission, wrapping a ton of snakes around them like rope is one of the best methods for that so far." She smirked. "By the time they realize what's going on… it's too late for them."
Sasuke nodded. "So… I… I need to get more comfortable around snakes." he said.
"That's the first step." Anko said. They had gotten a little off track, she realized. But it was just so much fun! He had explained these things to her, all those years ago, and it was just… refreshing, to be able to share them with another snake summoner such as herself. One that wasn't afraid of her (well, mostly), one that was if anything eager to learn how to utilize the deadly serpents they were blessed with in battle.
Sasuke swallowed. "Should I summon one again?" he asked.
"Nah. I've got you covered." Anko said. She grinned down at the snake that was still wrapped around her wrist. "Alright little buddy. Can you go and give Sasuke a big ol' kiss?" She grinned, teeth bared. "Don't worry." she said to Sasuke. "He doesn't bite… that much."
Before Sasuke could say anything, Anko had deposited the snake onto his chest. Sasuke shuddered as it slithered up the front of his shirt. He shivered as it's cold scales touched the skin of his hand, the creature looping around and around his arm, past his wrist and around his fingers.
Anko stepped to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't a… sensual hand, but a more… reassuring one. "Don't freak out." she said, seeing that he had paled. "It's not going to hurt you. Did you forget? You're a snake summoner - only the most corrupted of snakes are going to want to hurt you, and our little friend here-" She pointed at the snake curled around his fingers. "- is almost certainly not one of them."
Sasuke frowned. She was… right, he supposed. There was a bond that lay between summoners and their summons, and out of all the contracts, snakes and humans had always been the strongest. That was the case in all the textbooks - though most prejudiced people used it as an example of how shinobi were 'corrupted' by a snake's influence.
He swallowed. Gently, he raised his hand up until it was hovering just in front of his eyes - the snake twisting around his fingers in such a way that allowed it to stare at him with those golden eyes.
"Hello." Sasuke said, his voice cautious.
The snake hissed at him, and somehow, Sasuke understood that it was a… a greeting of sorts. It suddenly occurred to Sasuke how… accommodating his little scaly friend was being. It seemed aware of his discomfort, purposefully reducing how much contact its skin was making with his fingers, the snake trying its best to ensure he wasn't anywhere near as disturbed as he potentially could be.
Sasuke swallowed. "Alright…" he murmured.
"Let's add another," Anko said, as a second garden snake slithered from her sleeve and onto his shoulder.
He shuddered.
Fifteen minutes later, and nearly a dozen snakes were curled on or around various parts of his body. Two rested on his shoulders, some were wound around his fingers while another would be tightly wrapped around his wrist. One had slid down the front of his shirt, the snake's head popping out of the top of his collar.
It didn't feel as bad as he would have imagined, however. They were soft. Despite the fact that their scales felt a little strange against his smooth skin, they were… almost… almost well, cuddly. They seemed to thrive on the warmth his body exuded, and now that he had gotten even slightly used to their touch, they seemed focused on lavishing in his heat, occasionally making hissing sounds that sounded almost pleased.
Anko was curled up in a tree branch about five meters above him, hanging upside down, a stick of dango hanging loosely from her mouth. Where she had gotten the dango, Sasuke wasn't sure, but he was forced to relocate every minute or so as an empty stick came plummeting down.
Where Sasuke was typically the kind of person to be very critical of how someone would choose to train him (Kakashi's endless 'go punch a tree while I read a book' training sessions came to mind), he could see why Anko was choosing to do this. There was no point in learning how to summon bigger and badder snakes if he was… repulsed (he would not admit that he was afraid) by them. Having an anaconda burst forth from your sleeve should terrify your enemy, not yourself.
And this was working.
Oh, sure, he still flinched when a snake hissed close to his ear. His heart rate was still elevated. But slowly, surely, he was growing used to their presence. He was relaxing. He could breath easy… even play with them a little, lifting them up and letting them twist and curl around his fingers as if they were a jungle gym for snakes.
"Alright." Sasuke declared, after another good fifteen minutes. "What's next?"
Anko chuckled. "Trust me, you're going to be doing that for a while," she called down, her voice echoing from above and bouncing off the trees.
Sasuke blinked. "Why?"
"It's not just getting used to them, Sasuke." she said, forcing him to sidestep as she dropped a dango stick that flew down like a missile and slammed into the ground. "It's about bonding with them. You can't just be 'tolerant' of snakes, you have to revere them, you have to realize just how important they are to you, and how important you are to them. You get me?"
Sasuke groaned.
He wouldn't be surprised if there was impressions of a snake's scales in his skin. He felt almost sick. Sure, he had gotten much better, but still, his fear of snakes was a recent one - and a single day of training wouldn't get rid of it.
It was growing dark. Yet, he had an inkling as to where Naruko was right now.
And he was right.
Sasuke showed up just in time to watch Naruko blow herself up. She'd been nursing a rasengan that was slightly larger than your average golf ball - but before she could react, it had exploded, sending her skidding backwards numerous steps.
Actually, she was about to go head first into another attempt of whatever she was doing - but before she could, Naruko had sensed his presence. She bounded up to him, and they hugged. Then kissed, tongues dancing, the couple merely basking in each other's presence for a good minute before separating.
"Fun day?" he asked.
"Totally." Naruko said, still panting, her hair grimy and her skin a tone darker from all the dirt on it, and yet the blonde still looking so darn beautiful. "You? Anything you want to tell me?"
'There's a secret group out to kill you.' Sasuke wanted to blurt out. 'They want the Kyuubi, and they're going to kill you if they catch you, Naruko. You need to protect yourself.'
But he bit his tongue. And instead, he said - "No, not really."
They kissed once more.
Guilt was stirring in Sasuke's chest.
And yet, Naruko detected nothing out of the ordinary.
Across the Elemental Nations, an exceedingly brief conversation was taking place.
"Taking him in the village is too much of a risk. But, if we capture him outside of Konoha…" a monotonous voice was saying. "Get it done, and make sure he's alive, or at least not dead." the man continued. "Failure is not an option. If we do not succeed in this, another opportunity to capture the Kyuubi may not present itself. Is the mission clear?"
A strikingly blonde man grinned. "Don't you worry about it, Leader-sama!" he called. "That Uchiha is as good as ours!"
Hmm.
Plot developments, :3
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