By Silver Dragonfly
Chapter 11 – Training with Guardians
Anko found herself relaxing as she wandered through the forests while following the near invisible
trails that lead to the various public training grounds. It was now late afternoon and she had
spent the better part of the day trying to locate her new student. Well, scratch that—the first part
of the day had been just simple information gathering; finding out what she could about the
supposed book-genius of Team Seven. Her information gathering had been rather intriguing, for
she had found Haruno Sakura to be an interesting character.
Throughout her search she had found evidence of a bright cheerful girl who excelled in book
smarts, but was average in other areas. Her greatest weak point, however, was her obvious
obsession with Uchiha Sasuke—not that most of the girl's female peers weren't as obsessed with
the boy; Even so, none of them were also on his team. If Anko had much to say, she would do
her best to see to it that Sakura saw Sasuke not in romantic terms, but rather as her teammate.
That, however, would greatly depend on just how much time they would spend together in the
coming month before the Final Matches.
She had first gone to the girl's home only to be told that Sakura had gone out earlier that
morning to visit her teammate at the hospital. So Anko had made the trip to Konoha's hospital
only to discover that Sasuke had flown the coop with no sign of where or when he left. Anko
already knew that his disappearance would be a hard blow to the girl, but just how deeply she'd
react to it Anko wasn't sure. She managed to find out from another rookie Genin that Sakura
was last seen heading off towards the training areas, and so now that was where she found
herself searching for the girl.
She paused as a series of 'thunks' reached her ears. Anko smirked, If that isn't the sound of kunai
being embedded into wood then I'm not a shinobi. She changed her course and slipped down
the barely identifiable trail to come out into a clearing full of logs and targets. Anko watched as
the pink-haired girl took aim with several kunai at once, and then let them fly. There was a
series of thunks as the kunai found targets. Anko raised an eyebrow, not bad considering her
record showed only average skill in projectile weaponry. "Not bad, but not good enough."
Instantly the girl whirled and sent a kunai at her intruder.
Anko remained still, catching the kunai before it hit her shoulder. "Good reaction, but you should
have been able to notice me sooner. Kuso!" She cursed as the kunai suddenly seemed to burn
and she dropped it to the ground, shaking her fingers in reaction. She turned to look at her new
student who stood staring. Apparently shocked at what she had just done. "Now that's a trick I
haven't seen before. Something Kakashi teach you?"
Sakura shook her head, obviously wary.
"Interesting. I'm Mitarashi Anko. Sandaime-sama has assigned me to take over as your sensei
until after the final matches. It seems Kakashi has his hands full with other business."
Sakura hung her head. "With Sasuke…."
Anko blinked. Sakura hadn't said it but she knew what else was being dealt with in the girl's
mind. So it wasn't just Sasuke that had a run in with Orochimaru…yet all three members of the
team survived. Just what was he really up to? Unconsciously Anko raised one hand to cover the
location of the curse seal on her neck.
Sakura's eye's widened. "You know!"
Anko met her student's emerald gaze head on and nodded. "I know." Anko sighed and glanced
around. "Here, why don't we take a seat and I'll tell you about it…and then you can tell me
what's on your mind. Fair enough?"
Sakura paused for a moment but then nodded and found a seat on a nearby log that had been
knocked over. Anko sat down beside her and took a deep breath before beginning.
"Orochimaru is a class S Missing-nin, and has been since before you were born. He was also my
sensei—and I ended up being one of his guinea pigs. I was the first he used the curse seal on,
but I definitely was not the last…"
*********
Naruto concentrated as he carefully signed his name in blood on the toad-summoning contract
scroll, listening as Ero Sennin explained the seals that were needed to activate the ninjutsu. He
grinned as he finished with his fingerprints and stood—now it was time to try it out.
"Tell me again what you want to do with my power?" Kyuubi asked dryly.
It's a toad summoning, haven't you been paying attention? Naruto responded.
"YOU want to use the strength of a Guardian Kitsune to summon TOADS!? Forget it you're on
your own kid."
What!? But!!!
"No way…If you want to summon toads do it on your own." And with that Kyuubi's obvious
presence faded from Naruto's mind.
Naruto frowned, then mentally scoffed. Who needed the grumpy old fox anyways? Spreading a
bit of blood on his palm as instructed he then performed the series of seals; boar, dog, bird,
monkey, sheep, and slapped his palm flat on the ground. There was a tiny puff of ninjutsu smoke
as a result. Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he eyed the tiny tadpole and attempted to ignore
Ero Sennin laughing at him. Damn Kyuubi… This was going to take awhile.
**********
Sasuke breathed heavily as he finished his training routine, the midday sun shining down
brightly. He scanned the edge of the rocky plateau as he stretched out his muscles slowly to keep
them from cramping up. Kakashi hadn't arrived yet—not that it surprised him. The Jounin had
never been on time for anything, so it really didn't surprise him that he was late to arrive. It gave
him time to meditate and work with Ryukai on getting rid of the damn curse seal anyways. The
seal had already begun to fade, and Ryukai had said that it would likely only take one more big
push to get rid of it completely, although it would not be an easy task as of yet.
He turned towards a rocky formation near one end of the plateau and settled down in the lotus
position in the shade. Almost immediately he felt Ryukai's presence all around him.
"Are you ready? This will not be easy." Ryukai stated.
Hai. I want to get rid of this thing.
And then it began.
To all outward appearance Sasuke was sitting calmly and meditating, but as one watched they
would note the occasional scrunching of his eyebrows, twitches of his cheek muscles, the
clenching of his jaw, or the beads of perspiration that occasionally dripped down the side of his
face. Inwardly, however, it was a far different scene.
Once again Sasuke found himself in the featureless place that was his mind. Immediately his
attention turned to the form of a large snake trapped under a black net. He studied the serpent
as it hissed at him from where it lay immobile. He had already faced this opponent several times,
and save for the very first, he had been winning. The snake showed signs of these fights in its
sliced and occasionally flattened body. It currently lay motionless under the net that was its
prison—a combination of the seal Kakashi had used and his work with Ryukai since then. But this
time—this time they wouldn't be just pinning it under a net. No, this time they would be killing it.
He felt Ryukai's presence behind him, the dragon's strength a constant. Sasuke opened himself
up to the dragon's power, and then released the seal that was holding the net in place. Instantly
the snake struck, but Sasuke was ready for him as he dodged and threw a series of kunai that
vanished, as they hit nothing. The snake coiled and hissed weaving its head back and forth,
tongue flickering in and out as it looked for Sasuke's weakness. Sasuke remained still, waiting for
the curse-snake to make its move. It seemed to draw in on itself, pulling back as if to retreat. Oh
no you don't… Sasuke thought as he charged forward and attacked with vigor, kunai flashing as
the darted back and forth in strike and block.
The snake hissed and then launched forward coiling around Sasuke's waist and chest before he
could move away. Sasuke let he snake think it had the upper hand, focusing his attention on the
head and keeping it from biting and gaining dominance. Overhead and all around him, Sasuke
could feel Ryukai's strength growing—and then the dragon was there. With a snap of jaws the
snake's head fell to the ground, its body falling away from Sasuke as it writhed.
"Quickly—run your kunai through its head." The dragon urged as it caught the snake's body in his
claws and began to rip it to shreds. Sasuke struck quickly and watched silently as the snake's
tongue flickered one last time—its eyes glazing over.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open as a burning pain where the curse seal had formed spread
throughout his body, he briefly noted the black scrawls of the seal spreading over his skin,
constantly shifting, moving, flashing red, and then withdrawing, leaving his skin and muscles
feeling raw in their wake. Then the burning was gone, the pain nothing but an echo. He slowly
climbed to his feet, breathing heavily. Did we do it? Is it gone?
At first there was no answer and Sasuke suddenly feared that something my have happened to
Ryukai, but then he felt the dragon's presence once more.
"It is done. The curse seal is gone. Well done, the snake has no further hold on you."
Sasuke smirked, his body fully relaxing for the first time since the start of the second Chuunin
exam. It was then he heard the crumbling and clatter of rocks falling down a cliff side. Frowning,
he approached the cliff edge, and then smirked. "So you're finally here…Kakashi-sensei."
**********
The Third smiled softly as he watched Iruka instruct a class of Academy students—the same
class he'd talked with just the other day, but now was not the time to chat with them. He had to
visit a couple Genin in the hospital as a result of the preliminary matches—Genin who had been
reported to be healing much faster then they should have. Hyuga Hinata and Rock Lee both had
received very serious injuries during their matches as they tried to prove against opponents that
outmatched them that they were strong and would not give up. In his eyes they had both
succeeded—but that wasn't what brought him to visit them today.
After hearing the reports about their remarkably fast healing, he's been reminded of Naruto and
what he now knew to not be a demon fox, but a Guardian sealed within him. He was almost
positive that that these two had bonded with Guardians as well. He had heard back from Anko
that Sakura had confided in her, the girl now carried a bond with a Guardian phoenix—Hitori.
Naruto's he knew was Kyuubi, which made two of the legendary Guardians bonded to Konoha
Genins. The Yondaime had been right when he said there was something much bigger going on
at the time Kyuubi attacked Konoha.
Sandaime nodded to the receptionist as he headed down the hallway, stopping in front of the
first door that he knew concealed one of the Genin he was seeking. He knocked softly and then
opened the door and smiled as he spotted a rather alert looking Hinata on the other side. The
reports hadn't done the reality justice. Hinata was not only physically better, but the Third could
see that she was stronger in spirit as well. "Hello Hinata-chan. You appear to be healing
remarkably well—your Guardian has been helping correct?"
Hinata's eyes opened wide. "You know… You know about Kilin?"
The Sandaime smiled. "Kilin—lets see…Unicorn right?"
Hinata nodded surprised. The Third smiled. "Don't worry, everything is fine and you are not the
only Genin to have gained a new partner. What would you say to visiting Rock Lee with me?"
Hinata nodded. She'd overheard some of the hospital staff discussing the boy's serious injuries,
and already knew she could help. "Hai. I'd like that."
"Well then, let's go see him and find out just which other Guardian has arrived."
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