Chapter 10
AN: Hello everyone! Im would like to apologize for the long wait (yet again) however this chapter is twice as long as normal and I think it has some pretty good content. ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I do not, and will not ever own Naruto, though I do own the jutsu and characters I've created for this story.
A, Anko, and Naruto appeared in a flash before a modest two story building in what seemed to be the middle of the market district. Nudging Anko and Naruto forward, A handed them a pair of keys and pointed towards the front door. Stepping up the stairs without trepidation, Naruto unlocked the building and all three of them walked into the safety that the walls promised. A stood in the doorway and told them to have a look around and that he would have someone come along tomorrow morning with a summons for them. After hearing their consent A turned and left yet again in his dazzling shunshin.
With an unspoken agreement Naruto and Anko split up so they could cover more ground in their new abode. Naruto took the ground floor whilst Anko headed upstairs to see what was in store for them. Naruto started off by going down the entrance hall and into what he found to be a very spacious kitchen, the surfaces gleamed with state of the art appliances, and in the adjoining room Naruto found a nice sized table with enough chairs for himself and Anko as well as a couple more guests. Continuing his journey throughout the house Naruto stumbled on a loose floor board and almost landed upon his face if not for his quick ninja reflexes. Turning back to the floor board, Naruto was overjoyed to see that underneath it was a hidden latch. Giving it a tug, a good portion of the hallway floor came up to reveal a staircase that lead to what Naruto assumed to be the basement.
As Naruto headed down the secret stairs Anko was upstairs making her way into her third find. Her first find happened to be a nicely furnished guest bedroom with everything to make it be fully comfortable. The second room she found was a weapons room. All along the walls were metal pegs, rings, and hooks of varying sizes for different weapons. And finally she made her way into what she guessed to be the master bedroom. Walking in she was greatly surprised to find it furnished much more lavishly then the guest bedroom that she had found. It had a full walk-in closet, a complete master bath (with two sinks, a spa shower, a jaccuzi tub, and separate vanity). Moving back into the bedroom Anko took a second to test how comfortable the king sized bed was and to her great satisfaction, it passed her test.
She left the bedroom and proceeded back down the hall to find another bathroom, a meditation room, and an office. All three stocked with everything they needed. Having found all that the upstairs had to offer Anko ventured back down the stairs and marveled at the kitchen just as Naruto had. Treading down the same hall Naruto had before he found the latch; she walked over the hidden stairs and made her way into the entertainment room. Much like with the rest of the house so far, this room was also ready for enhabitation and much relaxation. The large television that rested upon the wall was a welcomed luxury to Anko, off to the side of the TV was an empty shelf for dvds and the like. Heading out of the entertainment room Anko started looking for Naruto, wondering where he could have possibly gotten off to.
As Naruto reached the bottom of the stairs he flicked on the lights and was astonished by what he saw. It was a full basement training room. In fact he could practically feel the usage of seals; it was the only explanation for what he was witnessing. For as soon as he came out of the stairwell, he was standing in the middle of an impressively larger field with a lake and even a forest in the middle of the room. He knew it had to be a room because the grassy plain that he was now standing in ended abruptly at meet with a stark blue wall that went all the way up to what appeared to be a clear sky.
As he walked around Naruto felt free as a bird and decided to drop his pack and let off some steam. Channeling Karama's chakra he took off in a mad dash around the perimeter of the secret below the house him and Anko were to share, decided just to run a few laps for now he added more chakra to increase his speed. Just as he was finishing his 284th lap he was distracted by a soft musical voice calling his name inside his head. Sliding to a stop Naruto frantically swiveled his head side to side in search of the voice. After a minute or two of searching he caught sight of something odd sitting on an outcropping of rocks a little to his left side. Amaya was sitting there staring intently at Naruto and yawned impassively as she whispered inside his head, "Anko is looking for you."
Her message delivered, Amaya dissolved into a fine mist and was up the stairwell before Naruto could even comprehend what had happened. Gathering his pack Naruto followed Amaya and went off in pursuit of Anko. As he came up out of the floor he was confronted with an angry Anko, and what seemed to be a smirking Amaya. Anko waited for Naruto to completely come out of the floor and then decided to yell at him for worrying her. Her arguments died however when Naruto grabbed her arm and pulled her down the stairwell to witness the amazing sight that he had literally stumbled upon.
Anko's mouth hung open in awe as she took in the beauty of the landscape and wonder as she was curious as to how it could possibly be. Naruto smiled and directed her over to a pillar with katakana in the very center of the field.
"This is how," Naruto stated. "Seals power the illusion and actually make it real. This little glyph here," Naruto pointed to a particular character that had a faint yellow glow to it, "is what powers everything down here."
"But how?" Anko asked.
"Well it's actually really ingenious, it kinda works in the same way as the toad's oil I told you about."
"You mean the way you learned how to use nature chakra? What does that have to do with this?" Anko asked clearly confused.
"Well let me try and explain it this way. The toad's oil acted as a magnet for my body to pick up and detect the nature chakra. After I became accustomed to the chakra I no longer needed the oil to gather the chakra. This acts like the magnet aspect of the toad's oil. This glyph gathers nature chakra and converts it to pure energy to power the other seals that make the illusion and the ones that make the illusion real. Got it now?" Naruto finished.
"Actually, yeah..."
"What do you mean actually? I thought I explained it well enough." Naruto half yelled with a pout.
Anko covered her mouth as she giggled at his adorableness and leaned in to stop his complaining with a short chaste kiss. "Come on Blondie, I'm hungry and it's your turn to cook," Anko said and after a few seconds of thought, "and no ramen."
~Timeskip~
~Next Morning~
Anko was roused from her peaceful slumber with a knock coming from the front door. Rolling over she found the bed was already cooling from the lack of Naruto's warmth. 'He must already be up and somewhere in the house' Anko thought. Deciding now was as good a time as any to get up; she slid out of bed and quickly showered before getting dressed. After getting dressed Anko trailed downstairs finding both Naruto and an oddly masked anbu waiting for her at the table. Wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck she lightly kissed his cheek and asked what was happening.
"This anbu is waiting to escort us to the Raikage's office so he can discuss what will be happening in our future." Naruto told her.
With a beaming smile Anko hurried both the anbu and Naruto out of the house and had the anbu lead them to the office. Once there Mabui ushered them to proceed into A's office and he would be with them shortly. After only a few minutes A strode into his office from a side door and took his seat at his impressive wooden desk. Turning towards Naruto first, A began to explain that while he had all the faith in the world in Naruto's abilities he wanted him to shadow a team of elite Jonin and see how things were done in the cloud.
Getting a nod from Naruto, A handed him a rolled scroll and told him to be at the Moon Bridge in 20 minutes. Getting another nod A told him to give the scroll to the team that would be there and to do whatever they told him to do. Naruto pecked Anko on the cheek and left the room in a brilliant flash of flames. A turned to Anko and the conversation finally began.
"Well Anko," A began, "you have an important decision in front of you."
Anko looked puzzled before asking, "And what might that be A-sama?"
"I'm giving you the choice of either a team, or anbu Anko. Tsunade was very forthcoming with your abilities of T&I and if you so wish, we could use your talents here."
Anko sat in thought for a moment weighing both choices very carefully. After almost five minutes she had finally arrived at what she thought was the best of the choices. "I choose the team option Raikage-sama."
Looking genuinely surprised, A nodded his head before pressing a button on his desk and speaking, "Mabui, would you kindly send them in."
"Yes Raikage-sama"
Hearing a knock on his door, the Raikage shouted loudly, "ENTER!" The door swung open and in walked three teenagers. Anko's mouth dropped as she realized what was happening. She was being given a team of genin! After all the years she tried to become a sensei in Konoha, she was finally being granted the chance.
"Anko," A said, "meet Isamu, Michio, and Tadashi."
Each genin nodded in turn to her and Tadashi shuffled lightly on his feet. A stood and said, "Well now that that is taken care of, I believe you guys she head out, though Anko keep in mind, you have a month still before you're actually their sensei, they still have to pass their exams. Anyway, go together to the Crescent Pillars and introduce yourselves." Gaining nods from everyone they filed out and headed to their destination.
~With Naruto~
After leaving the Raikage's office he had gotten completely lost! Naruto stopped several times to ask where the Moon Bridge was and several people just laughed at him for not knowing. Finally he had met a kind shop owner that had given him his answer. Seeing the looming hill up ahead Naruto sped up and reached the top of the hill. In the valley that spread under the hill was a calm flowing river on which was situated a bridge, obviously the Moon Bridge.
Straining his eyes Naruto could make out three people standing idly on the bridge staring out over the water awaiting him. Moving chakra to his feet Naruto made the quick jump and touched down with an almost feline grace in the center of the bridge. The three turned at the feeling of chakra and smiled gently at his arrival. Among the group Naruto recognized Samui and Darui from the recent war, however the third group member he did not think he had ever seen.
The third member introduced himself as Masaaki. Naruto shook hands with all three and asked who was in charge, with a huff Samui pointed towards Darui and Naruto pulled from his pocket the scroll A had given him. Darui read it quickly before rolling it back up and saying "Let's get a move on."
As Naruto and his new team traveled silently across the birth of The Hidden Cloud, Naruto was silently recounting all that he knew about Samui and Darui. He remembered pouring chakra into some weird jug and Samui and her twin brother appeared spinning out of it. Darui he remembered was a ranton, or storm element user, also he could control black lightning like Naruto himself could. Darui had changed a little in appearance however, he had trimmed his hair to be short and spiky, and he wore a full vest without sleeves.
Darui gave the signal to slow and stop. The party came to a halt and Naruto asked what was up. Darui turned towards Naruto and explained to him the parameters of the mission.
"The mission we were assigned is a simple assassination," Darui stated, "We're to be in and out and leave no trace of us being there. Furthermore, Naruto I want you taking point, I heard that your stealth was of the highest regard back in Konoha."
Naruto nodded his head in agreement and moved to lead the group onward. Darui stopped him with a hand to his shoulder and gave him a smile, "You aren't alone I this Naruto, I know moving to Kumo must have been hard for you, but you have friends here." Naruto smiled and grabbed Darui's forearm.
"Thanks Darui, that truly means a lot to me." Naruto responded. "But let's get this thing done! I wanna get home and see a special someone!"
The others laughed at his abrupt change of mood and quickly chased after him as they realized he was several yards ahead of them. They quickly caught up with Naruto and followed his lead of running yet again in silence. As they got closer to their target Naruto went over all the techniques in his impressive repertoire. Deciding on the perfect technique he made a motion of his left hand for the party to lag back and capture the victim once he was finished. Flashing through a few hand signs Naruto forced chakra into the tenketsu of his right hand, specifically the fore and middle fingers and with a mental thought spoke 'Futon: Sessaku-ryoku (wind style: cutting force)'. The target was dead before Naruto had even passed through the area.
~With Anko~
As Anko finally arrived at the Crescent Pillars with her young charges she couldn't help but notice the sear beauty of the serene place. Anko had the teens sit upon the available bench while she effortlessly molded earth chakra to make a rock slide from the ground for her to sit on. Looking at each in turn Anko finally spoke as she saw them begin to get impatient.
"Well, how about we get to know each other hmm? I want each of us to tell the others about our likes, dislikes, hobbies." Anko said. "Michio, how about you go first?"
Michio nodded and started speaking, "As you all know my name is Michio. I like poetry, good books, and watching thunder storms. I dislike when it's humid, I don't like being talked down to, and I absolutely despise sudokus. As for hobbies I enjoy reading and training."
Anko smiled and turned to Isamu, "Next."
"My name is Isamu, I like being nice to people even if I haven't met them before, I dislike talking to crowds and I hate being in large groups, and for hobbies, hmmm I really like to draw, though I don't think anything I've drawn is any good…"
After a moment of not saying anything else, Tadashi figured it was his turn. "My name is Tadashi, I love my friends, and yes that includes you Anko-sensei. I dislike when anyone is not loyal to themselves or their country, and as for hobbies I meditate a lot on what it means to be true to oneself."
Anko gave a broad grin when he specified her as one of his friends even though they had just met. "Well as you all are aware or not, my name is Anko Mitarashi. I just moved here from Konoha with my love Naruto Namikaze, and I like learning new things and a nice stick of dango. As for dislikes, I don't like when people shun others for something that is completely out of their control and I hate people that can not tell the difference between one thing and another. My hobbies are spending time with Naru-Koi and taking care of Amaya, my familiar." As Amaya heard her name she appeared in a burst of mist and wowed the teens.
As the teens sat bemused by Amaya Anko took the chance to really study the children. Isamu was kinda short for his age, but he made up for his height with his clothing. He was garbed in red pants, close toed sandals and a black long sleeved shirt. Michio was tall with long, silky blonde hair that was reminiscent of Ino, he wore it pulled back from his face and was dressed in light brown. Tadashi also was short. He had jet black hair that was cropped close to his scalp and from his sleeveless vest over his gray muscle shirt his tattoo was visible. On his left bicep was Shin (true).
Anko coughed lightly once her observations were done to get their attention. "Well since you guys aren't actually genin yet, we have to postpone any team training or missions until you kiddies are official. So in exactly one month I want all three of you to meet me here for us to begin or time as teammates, got it?"
A rousing chorus of "HAI SENSEI!" was heard throughout the park they were in. Laughing Anko dismissed the teens and began the trek back to the village and the house her and her best friend, love, and confident now shared. As she neared the two story house she saw Naruto strolling up the street from the Raikage's office. Upon seeing Anko Naruto put forth a burst of speed and they both made it to the front door at the same time. Smiling at each other, Naruto opened the door and ushered Anko in.
AN: I hope y'all enjoyed the latest installment of Kumogakura's Lighting Fox! I would like to take a moment to thank everyone that offers kind word of encouragement and constructive criticism when I need it. So thanks
KEY:
Futon: Harikén Dengeki (wind style: hurricane shock)-wind infused with lightning chakra that spins at high speeds while giving a nasty shock.
Raition: Kurayami Inazuma (lightning style: dark lighting)-by using the kyuubi's chakra Naruto creates a similar ball of lightning to Sasuke's curse mark chidori senbon, except pure black.
Raition: Supaku Hamma (lightning style: spark hammer)-creates a mass of lightning around Naruto's body and when he shoves his hands out it is sent at his enemies.
Futon: Sessaku-ryoku (wind style: cutting force)-Naruto pushes sharpened wind chakra from every tenketsu on his body.
Hirashin (flying thunder god)-The 4th Hokage's signature move.
Isamu: Courage.
Michio: Man on The Right Path.
Tadashi: Loyal/Trust.
Masaki: True Brightness.