A/N: Hey guys and gals, welcome back to the story! It's currently 4:40am for me if any of you were curious as to how my quarantine is going. It's awful, but I hope all of you are taking the necessary precautions to safe out there. As for the voting, I want you guys to keep going until the moment the results are hinted to or announced. So, if you haven't voted NaruMiko or NoMiko, please do that at the end of your read; this does decide Mikoto's fate within the story to an extent. Also, not as many people taking the vote for Son Goku or Kokuo, please drop those votes for your favorite between those two bijuu as well. Please keep in mind that I am tracking them, and duplicates will not be counted. That's all, enjoy the chapter and see you at the end for another note!
A/N update: Yeah, vote between the Bijuu is still technically active if you haven't voted as of 7/22/2020. I've also dug out an old Fairy Tail fanfic I never posted and began working to get it updated and possibly published, if you're passing through and reading this; let me know if that's something you'd be interested in reading! Or, if you want to issue me a challenge for a one-shot of a specific Naru x Rando Female (I don't do Yaoi) let me know. Anyways…. Hey, hey, chapter edit, yeah!
{Edited}
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The Wolf and the Fox
Chapter 12 – Loss of Control
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"Heavy bastard," Menma grumbled, repositioning the still unconscious Uchiha on his shoulder. "Why couldn't this asshole be the one carrying me?" he asked, not directing the question to any of the other four conscious Gennin. Sakura and Ino seemed to share a giggle at his misfortune, Chouji ignoring it in favor of eating the last bag of chips he had and Shikamaru only sent the crimson haired boy a questioning look.
"Well the sun is beginning to set, we could go ahead and take a break, wait for the sun to finish setting to make the rest of the trip," Sakura offered, Menma taking the chance to unceremoniously drop his best friend from his shoulder and onto the ground. Oddly enough, the boy didn't even stir in the least. "Menma-kun, you should be gentler with Sasuke, we have no idea what that person did to affect him this way!"
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he said with a sigh, plopping down next to the Uchiha and leaning against a tree.
"Should we really be stopping with him when there's still a chance we could be attacked?" Ino questioned, earning a sigh from Shikamaru.
"There's more of us then a regular team, meaning more people on watch and capable of defending, I don't think many would want to fight two teams at once," the Nara said as he fell to his back, folding his arms behind his head with that signature lazy air about him. Chouji took that as a wordless invite for him to take a load off, still happily munching away at his chips.
"Don't worry Ino-chan, we won't be long," Menma assured her with a smile, placating the girl's worry with ease.
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The Previous Night:
Naruto leaped from branch to branch his mismatched eyes cold and focused as his chakra surged every few seconds like a sonar system. Many chakra signatures filled his senses, too many to ascertain the specific one he was looking for. He had to find that snake, or at least be sure that the bastard truly had gone and left the area.
The blonde halted his movement as memories flooded his mind and his head snapped towards the east, a growl escaping his throat. "The bastard's on the other side of the damn forest," he begrudged, allowing only a few seconds for the signs of his Sennin Modo to morph before he was off again. "It looks like that damn woman has found him too, I hope she's not planning what I think she is." He worried for his sister figure aloud before disappearing in a blur of godly speed. The branches and trees behind him groaning at the draft in his wake as they swayed back and forth.
Anko had found the snake, something Naruto hadn't originally planned for at all, it wasn't good. Especially not with the information he had revealed to her when she had come to his home for him to look over her seal, neither of the options he had told her seemed feasible or beneficial. On the one hand, the seal would fall completely broken if Orochimaru was to be killed, which would be certainly beneficial, but feasible for Anko alone was unlikely. Secondly, she would need to be forced to the second stage of the seal so that he could actually see all of its workings and fully rewrite the fuinjutsu construct. For that to happen, Orochimaru would have to reveal how it happened or allow her to attain it.
Based on what he had learned from Tayuya, that wasn't going to be a pleasant choice, and Orochimaru was vindictive enough to allow her; if only to see her pain. Some part of him knew he was right about that, and only hoped he could make it in time to stop the woman from trying.
Several miles away from the blonde, Anko herself was already panting heavily, her former sensei even in a weakened state had only been toying with her. Nothing she threw at the man seemed to land, and if it did the slippery bastard just seemed to shrug it off or replace himself with a mud bunshin.
Her skin crawled as he released that dreadful chuckle of his, "Anko-chan, you've made quite the name for yourself but, it would seem you have not come any closer to completing your dream," he frowned as he narrowed his slit golden eyes at her. "To kill your dear old sensei before he could harm any more lives, like he did yours," he chuckled darkly once more, his hand moving to form a simple one handed ram seal. "How pitiful," he sighed, before channeling chakra.
Anko in mid-charge was halted, pain immediately beginning to course through her body as her hand reached to clasp the mark on her shoulder. "B-Bastard," she glared daggers at him, the Snake Sannin only smiling sickly at the weak display.
"To believe my chosen apprentice, to whom I gave the original of my most powerful gift, would be such a letdown and not even harness what has laid dormant within her," Orochimaru shook his head, taking slow steps to reach her as his technique only amplified in strength. "Or is it true, and do you not even remember what I truly gave you, the form which you were the first to ever activate. What you did in those moments must've been far too grueling for your weak, coddled mind to accept," He sneered, reaching down and ripping her hand from the seal.
A cruel chuckle escaped his throat as he looked at the faded ink, "So it is true, you have shut out the memories of what you did for your precious sensei."
"Wh-What are you tal-talking about you d-damn," she wasn't able to finish as a scream broke from her lungs.
"Remember," he commanded, increasing the chakra he was exerting tenfold, flashes beginning to force their way into her mind before she fought back. "Do not fight it, accept what you are and remember!"
Another scream ripped from her before more and more memories were forced to the surface. A moonless night lit only by the flames of an entire village burning, screams filling her ears and fueling her, a small winged figure shrouded by billowing smoke and a feminine cackle of insanity ripping through the night. Unbeknownst to Anko, Orochimaru wore a sick smile as he watched black flame like patterns work their way across the first half of her body.
"Dynamic Entry!"
The snake had no time to react as a foot connected with his jaw, but it wasn't any normal attack, it had the force behind it to send the snake sailing in a Jetstream of force. "Gomen, Gai-san, but you really do know how to make an entrance," the blonde smirked, examining the Snake Sannin's flight path as trees fell and toppled over themselves in his wake. "Anko are you o – "
The blonde was forced to back up as the woman swiped at him, his eyes widening as he caught glimpse of a cruel smirk and a glowing golden eye. He side stepped several more strikes, his worry growing as the strange flame like markings began to spread, what skin they didn't cover beginning to darken.
However, his eyes truly widened when he was forced to flip to an adjacent branch, the tree that had once been at his back completely bisected. "So, this is the beginnings of the second stage of the curse mark," he sighed, allowing the senjutsu chakra to disperse from his form. He didn't want to hurt her, and in her current state he very well could and not intend to. It almost seemed as if the Anko he knew had up and left to be replaced by this demonic looking form, her purple hair even growing wild and beginning to fade into a silverish grey.
"You're strong," her voice was deeper than usual, carrying insanity behind it, and pure bloodlust. The Kunoichi grunted before two hand-like wings ripped from her back, shredding the jacket she always wore. "But, I'm stronger," she growled with hungry, golden eyes.
"Anko-nee, you need to fight its control, you're being flooded with pure nature chakra and it's corrupting who you are," Naruto said, forced to dodge once more as she attacked him, completely obliterating everything in her wake. Realizing he had no other option, he sighed, activating his Mangekyo as he stared at the woman cautiously. His Mangekyo pulsed as their eyes met, chakra rushing to it, "Mangekyo Genjutsu: Benzaiten (She's a goddess, no translation except to Benten for short)!"
The transformed Anko went ramrod still, before her eyes seemed to relax and Naruto quickly moved to catch her. Her new form stayed activated, his technique not able to cut the technique and only force her into a strong unconsciousness.
He quickly shouldered the woman's body, allowing her to slide back far enough that her wings weren't hitting him in the head. With that done, the blonde bit his thumb before running through five quick one-handed seals before crouching and slamming his hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Smoke immediately filled the area, a chorus of howls following shortly behind. "This must be serious to summon so many of us, Naruto-sama," the voice of Hanta snarled, seeming to smirk as Naruto heard him shake his fur.
Naruto ignored the rhetorical statement, clearing the smoke with a simple Futon release. "Your objective is Sannin no Orochimaru, you know his scent, fan out and clear the forest; stay out of sight," he ordered before another chorus of howls broke and the twelve revealed wolves rushed into the darkening forest. His eyes looked to the extremely tonned, tan almost brown thighs in his peripheral vision, "Let's get you back to the tower and fixed up, my clones will have to take care of the exams, neither of us will be in any shape to after this," He sighed before he and the unconscious demonic form of Anko vanished thanks to his Hiraishin formula.
Unknown to the summoned wolves, for the moment, or their summoner, was the pair of golden snake-like eyes watching from the forest floor below. "What exactly do you have planned for my old student, Hangyaku no Okami?" Orochimaru murmured, his head sinking back into the ground a moment later. Those wolves would be distracted with the remains of his Mud Bunshin long enough for him to properly escape the forest and any possible run-ins.
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Naruto reappeared within Hiruzen's secondary office inside of the tower at the center of the forest of death, the old man looking at the woman on his shoulder in surprise. "So, it would seem her mental walls have been torn down by Orochimaru," he remarked knowingly, Naruto's eyes hardening at the new information.
"I shouldn't be surprised that you knew about this or that you kept it from me," he begrudged the man before shaking his head. "Regardless, I need your help to rewrite the seal, my genjutsu won't last long enough for me to do it alone."
"Since when can you perform Genjutsu?" the Hokage asked, earning the smallest smirk from the boy he considered one of his great grandson.
"You're not the only one with a few secrets, bastard monkey," Hiruzen scoffed at that, specifically the word few. But, the blonde would learn with time that both of their jobs came with many secrets indeed.
As the old man stood, Naruto and Anko vanished as quickly as the blonde had appeared with the woman, forcing a sigh from the man's lips. Knowing where he was headed, the aged Kage simply channeled a small amount of chakra before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. When he appeared deep within the underground sealing chamber of the same building, he watched as the blonde gingerly sat the woman into a kneeling position in the center of a partially formed fuinjutsu formula. "Your ability to plan ahead is remarkable indeed," he noted, the blonde chuckling as he unsealed two sets of inkwells and brushes.
"The formula I devised requires the most basic of sealing arrays at its core, everything else you'll need to help me copy from this scroll," he answered, tossing the Hokage a scroll and then beginning his work. "You read it over while I get a head start on it, I'd advise you changing out of the ceremonial robes."
Hiruzen wordlessly removed the Hokage hat, sealing it within his own seal on his wrist, before pulling the robes over his head to reveal his old school shinobi attire. His wizened eyes watching as the blonde was taking long and precise brush strokes across the cement floor before he did as he was asked and opened the scroll.
About half an hour later, he found himself amazed by the young man's Fuinjutsu knowledge, partially reminded of the Shodai's wife, Uzumaki Mito. Their styles were similar, most likely thanks to being derived from the same clan's expansive knowledge, but Naruto's was also influenced by Jiraiya and what he assumed to be the Okami tribe. Mito for the most part had been a master of anything the Uzumaki had known, but even she had her own personal flare with the limitless art.
Hiruzen lifted his eyes from his work to find Naruto now just a few feet from the woman's head, drawing what appeared to be the head of a wolf with the Kanjis for Kirin and an older kanji for dragon, translating to their spoken tongue as Tatsu. Looking back down, his eyes focused on the Kanji of Earth he had just finished, then looked to either side where each of them had drawn what came to be known as the Uzumaki swirl. Between all of these kanji and drawings were designs and markings that would seem random to the untrained eye. But, to Hiruzen and Naruto, each one had its own specific meaning. Even the three tomoe just outside of the sealing array had their own meaning, them being the original physical appearance of the seal on Anko being very significant.
"Well, that certainly took a while," the blonde sighed, carefully walking towards the small circle attached to the one Anko laid within by a small stream of seals.
"That was only the easy part, wasn't it," Hiruzen stated more than asked, earning a nod from the blonde.
"I've had to reinforce the jutsu keeping her down twice already, I'll most likely have to summon clones to form a barrier around she and I before I begin," He sighed, doing just that as four perfect copies appeared with no more than a thought. However, his eyes turned to give the older man a soft yet stern gaze, "I know you care deeply for all of us under you, but I'm going to need you to leave before I can start this."
Hiruzen only nodded, carefully stepping out of the circle, his eyes suddenly locking onto a glowing pair of sky blue within the darkness. As he turned to look to the blonde, he was surprised to see several more sets of glowing eyes, silently amazed the boy had summoned the wolves without him even noticing. "I understand the delicacy that comes with such a technique, and given your guards, I doubt any would be foolish enough to attempt to interrupt you," he smiled as he locked eyes with the boy, for the first time truly seeing the powerful man he had become. "I'll place guards at each entrance to this place just in case, good luck Naruto-kun."
The blonde watched as the Hokage used the body flicker to most likely return to his office, his eyes then moving to his clones before nodding tightly. Each one ran through the same string of lightning quick hand seals before slamming their hands to the ground, a barrier of green energy immediately encompassing the original and Anko. "Forgive me for any pain this causes you, Anko," Naruto whispered, before his own hands began rushing through possibly the longest string of seals. Just to mold the chakra required for this technique he would have to go through one hundred and ninety-two hand seals, and that was the shortened amount, a seal of this level usually requiring over eight hundred.
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Ino glanced over to where Sakura was sitting, the pinkette focused solely on the sleeping form of Menma. The Yamanaka had been using the time to think over and truly process everything that had happened today, the way Sakura had fought and stood her ground sticking out to her the most. It brought back the day that the two of them had been arguing about who was stronger between them, instead of enjoying the ramen Menma had treated them to.
After seeing the pinkette in action, Ino no longer had any doubt that she had indeed fallen behind her best friend. It was almost painful to admit it, having been stronger than the girl at one time and to take that loss from her own rival no less. But, it was true, Ino knew without a shadow of a doubt had their positions been swapped; Sakura wouldn't have hesitated for even a second and been able to save her. It hurt even more for the blonde to remember that fact, that she couldn't do anything at all to help her friend. It hurt even more than watching Sakura hug Menma for dear life, that gesture being what had snapped the boy out of his out of character rage.
That was probably the only question in her mind strong enough to bring her out of her funk, what was that power? It wasn't anything she could ever associate with the outgoing, brash and kind boy she had grown up alongside. It wasn't anything like the boy who had found her crying one day and comforted her, who supported her and inspired her. Possibly the most confusing thing about that strange power, was while it overwhelmed her and made her ask so many questions, it never brought any fear into her heart. Was that just a side effect of how she felt for Menma, that she just couldn't ever be afraid of the boy she always dreamed of being with? The chakra dying off nearly the moment Sakura had collided with his back in tears was something else, would it have been the same if she had been the one begging him to stop? No, the voice in her mind screaming at her right now was right, Menma would've done the exact same in either situation. It was painfully obvious that the boy cared for both of them, to what extent was the question she really needed to ask.
"Be careful, wouldn't want your face to get stuck in that grimace, Ino-pig," the blonde jumped nearly a foot at the sound of Sakura's voice. Ino hadn't even noticed the pinkette move over and sit next to her. However, she quickly calmed as her eyes picked up the calm look on Sakura's face. "Can I be honest with you, Ino?"
The blonde felt her heart beat increase, sensing the trepidation in her friend's voice, "I hope you always are." The response was in a joking manner, followed by a small laugh from each girl.
"I don't ever want anything to come between us, you're my best friend in the entire world, even if we count Menma-kun," Sakura said in a low voice, her eyes finding the grass below them. "But, I know how you feel about him, and I – "
"I know, Sakura," Ino smiled sadly, catching the pinkette off guard.
"You know?"
"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to especially when it's just us three or I happen to see you two walking around together," Ino's smile only seemed to sadden, Sakura frowning at the display. "I always wondered how long it would take you to see just how amazing of a guy was interested in you, part of me always wished it was after I had him," she smiled bitterly as her eyes moved over to look at the peacefully snoozing boy. "I guess he's just too persistent to look away from who he sets his eyes on and look at his other options."
"Come on, quit talking like you don't have a chance, that's not you," She was shocked by the words Sakura said, her eyes widening as they drank in the playful smile she wore. "I'm just telling you I like him the same way you do, not saying he's mine and as much as I would like to have no competition," she paused, her own eyes turning to enjoy the visage of a sleeping Menma. "I've seen the way you look at him, and the way he looks back at you, you've got just as much a chance as I do from my point of view."
Ino smiled at her friend, "You're really okay with competing over a boy, this isn't going to come between our friendship?"
Sakura shook her head, "You liked him first, it wouldn't be fair of me to have feelings for your crush and ruin our friendship over it," then a small, almost dreadful smile came to her lips. "Who knows, maybe there will be some reason for the council to put him under the CRA just like Naruto-sensei and then we can both have a better chance."
Ino rose a brow at that, "You'd seriously be okay with sharing Menma-kun?" she asked, and then snorted as the pinkette shrugged slightly. "You haven't seen Naruto-sensei in those council meetings, Menma-kun gets brought up and suddenly you're looking at the Shinigami if you're not careful," she laughed at the comparison, the one time she had been required to tag along with her father on a monthly meeting had been eye opening. There was little wonder in her mind as to why many of the council respected the blonde, but also kept a healthy fear of the man.
The laugh they shared however was suddenly cut short, their heads snapping towards where Sasuke lay as a spike of chakra exploded from the unconscious boy. Their eyes widened, seeing a vortex of spiraling purple chakra violently raging around the boy's prone form. "What the hell?" Sakura whispered in shock, what was radiating from the Uchiha was even more toxic and murderous than the mysterious chakra Menma possessed.
Ino and Sakura nearly jumped in fright when the boy suddenly sat up, black flame like patterns beginning to extend from his collar to half way across his entire body. Apparently, the chakra spike had even managed to awaken Menma, who looked on shocked at what he was witnessing. Sasuke had never exuded an energy like this, and he had certainly never looked at him with such malice before. "Teme, what is th – " the crimson haired boy was suddenly cut-off as a kick to his jaw sent him sailing, he hadn't even seen Sasuke move.
Sakura and, the now completely alert, Team ten watched as Menma rolled in his flight to land on his feet against the tree he had been sailing towards. The pinkette had no clue what was happening, Sasuke had never struck Menma without provocation, nor had he had this chakra, ever. She felt her anxiety rage as she looked at her teammates locked in a stare down, this didn't look like something that would end quietly.
"I don't know what your problem is, or where this chakra came from, but you know for damn sure if you want a fight where to come knocking," the crimson haired boy growled, falling into his father's taijutsu style. Unlike usual, Sasuke didn't meet it with his own clan stance, nor did he shoot back a snarky comeback. The Uchiha only glared angrily at Menma, his immature sharingan spinning dangerously with two tomoe in one eye and three in the other.
The young Uchiha continued to not respond, making several hand seals before extending his right arm out perpendicular to his body, white lightning screaming to life and wrapping around his hand. Menma glared at him for using the technique, "You'd use that technique on me, it must really have something to do with those markings all over you right now," he gritted out, holding out his hand before a spiraling ball of pure chakra formed within his palm. "I don't want to do this but, it's the only technique I have to stand up to the chidori," he thought bitterly, his violet eyes trained on Sasuke.
Sakura was watching what was happening in silent horror, this wasn't like Sasuke at all and it began to frustrate her that, that was all that was running through her mind in this moment. But, these two, from her perspective, should never have reason to fight one another; having been thick as thieves as long as she had known them. Her eyes widened, watching as Sasuke began to sprint towards their crimson haired teammate, eyes wild and technique now creating a gash in the ground in his wake. Without even a thought her hands immediately ran through several hand seals before, just as Sasuke had been nearly within striking distance of Menma, she slammed her hands to the ground, "Doton: Doryuheki!"
Far faster than she ever had before, the pinkette forced up a thick barrier of earth between the two, their attacks poised to clash slamming into either side of the thick wall of earth. However, she wasn't prepared for Sasuke to pin her with such a feral look in his eyes. "Stay out of my way!" he roared out, another chidori arcing into life and charging at her, without even a single seal.
Ino was the first to move, throwing herself in front of her best friend with arms spread wide, Shikamaru and Chouji screaming at them to move. The Nara was already crouched into a kneeling stance, his shadow speeding towards the enraged Uchiha, Chouji's body expanding into a ball as he began to roll along the shadow; a means used to hide and extend the distance of the Nara technique.
Menma was witnessing the events in practical slow motion, his eyes unbelieving what they were witnessing. But, he felt it, actually felt it, as his violet orbs bled into crimson and he vanished from his spot. In hindsight, he would've described this moment as an inexplicably warm heat wiping out the chill of watching Sasuke act in such a way wash over him. But, not a single eye did not widen as Menma fazed into Sasuke's path, his left arm bathed in an orange flame wrapped around it coming up to bat the Uchiha away like he was a fly. Unbeknownst to the Uzumaki-Namikaze, a pair of crimson eyes within a pit of darkness sensed and watched the event with surprise.
"So, that truly is a trait my jailor's possessing affinities close to my own can manifest, how interesting," the entity thought rolling its eyes sarcastically before returning his head to the folded paws below him.
In reality, Menma was looking at his hands in shock, both appendages wrapped in the same odd, solid flame that he could just tell wasn't a normal Katon technique or even manifestation. His eyes, having transitioned back into their violet hues after the moment, turned towards where Sasuke now lay completely unconscious, a large burn across his face where Menma had swatted him away, the skin looking more like rough leather than the redness most burns would take. As if the single instance of contact with Sasuke's face had dehydrated the skin itself instead of actually burning it. "What… What is this?" he questioned internally, unable to ask aloud thanks to his shock.
"H-He really saved me, without even a thought," Ino thought, a part of her happy at that small amount of knowledge before she focused on the strange element wrapping the boy's arms before it vanished just a moment later.
"Sakura," Menma spoke up, his eyes still trained on his bare hands. "Were those marks related to why we were attacked today, and the day before?"
"I… I don't know, Menma-kun," she answered him after a moment's hesitation, completely shell shocked by what had just transpired. Not only had Ino thrown herself in front of her to protect her from an assassination technique, but Menma had used yet another power unknown to her. Most importantly and easily the most troubling, Sasuke had just raised his hand against not just one, but both of his teammates.
"I've got no idea what you two are talking about, but I think we need to get ourselves to the tower before anything else can happen," Shikamaru spoke, forgoing his usual lazy ways after witnessing what he had.
Menma nodded in agreement, "Naruto-nii-chan will be there, and I think he'll have the answers we're looking for." He suddenly turned his eyes to Sakura and Ino, "Don't either of you ever put yourself in harm's way like that again, I don't want to lose either of you because of some heroic act," both of their eyes widened at his reprimand, the hurt in his eyes barely veiled.
"We couldn't just let that happen," Sakura found it in herself to still challenge him, easily considering her desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, Ino nodding in agreement a moment later.
Menma released a sigh as he began to walk over to Sasuke, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder, "Just please be more careful, the last thing I want is either of you to throw your lives away for me," he said, his eyes unusually cold as he stared at the ground. A second later the look was gone as he turned in the direction of the tower, beginning to walk towards it without a word.
Sakura and Ino both noticed Shikamaru and Chouji looking at the crimson haired boy with knowing and sorrowful looks, something each of them decided to save for later. Not one of the three conscious boys seemed up to talking about it at the moment, and no one could blame them after that short lived moment.
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Naruto panted heavily, his eyes hanging half lidded as Anko's screams of pain finally faded along with the barrier and the clones who had held it in place. He had never felt such an immense drain on his reserves, not even when he had first tried the Hiraishin or the senjutsu arts of Mokuton. The only time that surpassed it was when he and Ein had sealed Isobu within him, that mainly having drained him because of the immense change to his chakra coils and reserves at the time.
His tired eyes looked down to where the seal array had once marked the entire ground, every inch of the ink and blood mixture now completely vanished, or so it would seem. But, forcing himself up to his feet he walked over to inspect where it had all gone, into one of the most compact, complex seals he'd ever worked with. "Good, it's stable," he murmured, a small smile coming to his face as he collapsed next to the woman. It had been nearly a full twenty-four hours straight of chakra exertion, the only way he had even kept it up was thanks to the several clones outside of the barriers channeling Senjutsu chakra. Each of them waiting for the original store of the powerful chakra to nearly deplete before dismissing themselves and empowering him with more. Jiraiya would probably try to kill him if he knew he had gone to such an extent, probably even Ein or Shiro of the Okami tribe would attempt the same.
A small chuckle escaped his lips as he thought about Mei's reaction, knowing the woman loved him too much to try and kill him. She would've just held her face in her hand and released the deepest sigh she could, proclaiming her disappointment in his reckless ways. But, just as when he had sealed Isobu within himself, she would kiss him and thank him for being such a selfless idiot, asking for him to be more careful in the future.
"Guessing since the two of you are still breathing, I can assume you succeeded," Naruto smiled slightly at the lazy voice, one of very few people his wolves would allow to pass through their patrol of the expansive room. The silver haired Jounin crouched next to him, Naruto able to sense his thankfulness without Kakashi even having to say it. "Thank you, for putting so much work into helping Anko-chan with this, Otouto."
Naruto chuckled, his body groaning in pain as he forced himself up, "So, now it's Anko-chan, Nii-chan?"
Kakashi smiled fondly beneath his mask, removing his Jounin vest and placing it over the woman's body to offer some warmth to her. "It's always been Anko-chan, Otouto," he admitted, earning a confused look from the younger man. "I suppose even between you and I there are still a fair many things we keep to ourselves."
Naruto actually scoffed at that, it was beyond an understatement, shinobi were the types to keep a great many things from each other. Just look at what Jiraiya had kept from Tsunade and his tou-chan, somethings however were better to be kept that way. Some things, you just never had a reason to bring up or explain.
"It's not really as complex as I'm making it, you know my past for the most part, Tou-san, Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei and Kushina-Kaa-chan," he listed the names, Naruto nodding his head in understanding at the story behind each one; two of them being a part of his own batch of scars. "Anko-chan was the only person growing up who didn't look at me as someone special, the prodigy, well maybe she was the second person," he chuckled slightly, a memory of Obito berating him playing in his mind. "But, it was because like me, she had gone through her own share of troubles early on."
"The snake," Naruto uttered with a stern look, earning a nod from Kakashi.
"When he abandoned her, for whatever reason, Kushina-Kaa-chan had been the only Jounin-sensei willing to take her on as a student forming the first all Kunoichi team to date," he smiled fondly at the memories of how the woman he considered his honorary mother had changed the cold and isolated girl before all their eyes. Even if the civilians besmirched her and disliked her, Anko was taught it was more important to ignore it and focus on those who truly mattered to you. It was particularly why Anko was easily twice the flippant person he himself was, and had always dealt with her broken past much better than he did his own. "The rest I guess, you could say is history, she wormed her way into my heart, with demands to call her 'Anko-chan,' and an undying refusal to give me any room to breathe," he laughed heartily. "Though, I must admit she did nearly scare me off when the demands changed from 'Anko-chan,' to 'Anko-sama,'" he shuddered ever so slightly, remembering what had happened to him the few times she had caught him. Who was he kidding, he was into all the weird little kinks she tried, he just didn't need to admit that to his otouto of all people.
Naruto however caught the small blood trail leaking from the older shinobi's mask, "Uh-huh," he muttered, entirely unconvinced.
The silver haired Jounin watched as he forced himself to stand, "You might want to get her home to rest up, she should be fine before the second stage ends," he explained earning a nod from Kakashi.
"And, what about you, what are you going to do?"
"Menma has used that a total of two times since I last saw him, considering that they got their scroll early on; I've got a feeling some things have happened that I'll need to take care of," Kakashi nodded in acceptance, disappearing a moment later in a simple shunshin, leaving the blonde with his wolves. "Have there been any reports from the scouting team?"
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A/N updated: Huh, didn't leave an original not here….. odd, but whatever! Chapter update complete, review and yada, yada. Also, fun fact, in the original write of this chapter Anko jumped Naruto during the sealing process and some very steamy things happened. I think it's obvious as to why that was cut-out, but it's kind of fun just to tell you what could've happened, haha! K bye!