A/N: It's finally finished! I appreciate everyone who's been patient, in return I've posted this GIANT chapter! Don't expect a huge chapter like this again, whew, but new chapters should be coming out regularly now that I've passed this block. This one has been kicking me all over the place. I had so many good ideas, a few had to be put one hold, but it was also hard to write these scenes. Yet, I think they came out well. Remember to review!
This is a flashback chapter, much like Chapter 2, "Kakashi's Flashback", taken from several points in Anko's past. This is my version of what Orochimaru did to Anko.
Rating: M
Chapter 10 – Anko's Flashback
Anko rolled into a fetal position on top of the mansion's roof, it wasn't the best place to do so, but she was beyond caring. She gripped her skull with her hands, as if to stop the feelings bursting out of it. Every nerve in brain felt like it was on fire, the invisible flames traveling through every memory until it found something to burn. Images flashed by her eyes and sounds echoed in her ears. A panoramic daydream of forgotten memories from another life was unleashed.
She managed to chuckle despite the situation, once again Orochimaru had given her a new definition for pain. It was just like old times. As the sun continued to rise from the horizon, she filled the new morning with her screams.
The news spread through the village like wildfire. All it took was a single messenger bird and several talkative ninjas to spread the word beyond the Hokage Tower to every corner and now almost every villager had heard the news.
The ninjas sent to fight in the third ninja war were coming home.
Mitarashi Anko pushed her way through a crowd gathered behind the front gate, not afraid to push and shove her way to the front. She ignored their protests as she moved past them, her mind was set on one thing. He would be returning.
The twenty-four year old Chuunin looked around, noting the makeup the crowd, these individuals were teammates, friends, family, or lovers to at least someone who had gone to war. She wondered to herself just which one was she?
She double-checked her appearance, made sure the fishnet body suit clung to her voluptuous curves while her green flak jacket and leather mini-skirt provided some modesty. Her inner thoughts reminded her that she wasn't here to seduce him, but her turmoil of feelings got the better of her. It had been a long time since she had seen him.
The crowd settled a bit, as the waiting grew longer. Anko could hear the casual conversations that were happening all around her.
"Just wait patiently for your father to return," said a young woman to her excited children. Anko was about the age some kunoichi started having families, she hadn't thought about it, but if she did, would it be with him?
"I'm so proud of my daughter," said an old man to a pair of old friends. She doubted her father would be proud of the things she has done and neither would he, but she was fighting every dark instinct to walk away, in order to do the right thing for once.
"I wish we could have gone with him, we're a team after all!" complained a ninja, worried over a comrade. Anko herself was forced to remain. Her sensei used his position to insure she wasn't selected so she would continue to assist in his research, a job she has kept for several years. She long suspected it was because he never thought her intelligent enough to steal the research for herself or use it against him.
At first, the research was innocent enough, Orochimaru was always curious about how techniques worked and performed a number of research and experiments that Konoha considered a contribution to the techniques that made them strong as a ninja village. Yet, they never saw the dark aspects of his research or some of the more disturbing techniques he was learning for himself and things had only gotten worse as Konoha's attention was on the chaos of the war and not his activities.
A man who stood beside her spoke with a nervous edge to his voice, "I'm glad they're returning, things have been strange in the village lately."
"What do you mean?" asked his companion.
"Haven't you noticed the disappearances?"
"I thought it was the Anbu, it is war time after all, they are just taking way those who may have connections with the Stone ninja."
"Nonsense! My neighbor disappeared, the man was born and raised in Konoha, but he was never that great of a ninja and he certainly never had anything to do with Iwa!"
A cold chill went through her body. She knew exactly what the men were talking about, better than anyone did, because she was right in the middle of it all.
Her inner thoughts were in turmoil, her sense of right and wrong versus her devotion to Orochimaru and the horrible images she had seen in the lab versus Orochimaru's love.
Damn seal! She cursed it in her thoughts as she brought her hand to the back of her neck. I can't tell which are my thoughts anymore.
Once upon a time, all she wanted was Orochimaru's attention. She wanted some sign that he cared for her as his student and wasn't merely an unwanted distraction.
The desire to please him and the loyalty of a student were feelings she already had, so she didn't notice or care as the cursed seal made her more devoted as it infected her body further over the years. By doing something she wanted to do anyway, it was hard to notice her free will being slowly stripped away.
Yet, by the time Orochimaru started doing things she thought were extremely wrong and ordered her to help him, much of her ability to choose not to follow his orders had been taken away. She couldn't disobey him and did things she knew was terribly wrong. A part of her did these horrible things without question while another was screaming inside as she felt the cursed seal taking away more of the good person she was. By now, much of her freedom was gone.
However, the cursed seal couldn't stop her feelings for someone else…
Another man in the crowd spoke, "I hear one of the village's ninja is really quite something, even the Stone ninja are afraid of him. He's called Konoha's Yellow Flash."
"I heard he took on an entire army of Stone ninja! He's at the level of a Kage, but he's only twenty-five!" shouted another villager.
Kayaku!
Anko held a memory in her mind and kept it there until her inner turmoil went away. She ignored the conversations around her and imagined a young man with spiky mane of blond hair, brilliant blue eyes, a wide cheerful smile, and a stubborn personality.
The picture in her head gave her a happy smile.
She had loved two men in her life. Orochimaru was one of them and Uzumaki Kayaku was the second. Her love for him was the one thing the seal couldn't stop no matter how much of her free will it took away. Orochimaru had ordered her more than once to forget about him, but she fought the seal with the remaining willpower she had left.
Anko and Kayaku had a relationship back when they were younger, but Orochimaru had interrupted their love lives. He turned the devotion created by the cursed seal into a twisted love and used her body to break Kayaku's heart. With the real reason for the sudden turn of her emotions hidden, Kayaku suddenly left her life, but that didn't stop the real love she felt.
She still remembered the look he gave her as if he was a kicked puppy and she had been the one to kick him. He felt used and didn't understand her devotion to Orochimaru or the cruel manner she had flaunted it. He never figured out she was being used, but she didn't blame him. No one in Konoha had figured out Orochimaru's dark deeds either, not even his own teacher.
Her shame kept her away, but she felt sad when he was with someone else and if they were together for some small reason her heart would pound like teenage girl with a crush. However, she knew if she got too close, Orochimaru would do something again to split them apart.
From Orochimaru's point of view, it was annoying to have an assistant in love with someone else, especially someone who was brilliant with techniques. Anko might not have been smart enough to figure out why Orochimaru was interested in certain things or what any technique he made really did, but someone like Kayaku could figure them out. He wouldn't even have to be near it, all Anko would have to do is tell him about her day.
Later his annoyance turned to anger after each of Kayaku's successes. Kayaku's way of creating new techniques, some of which didn't even use hand seals, was a great annoyance to a man whose dream was to learn every technique. As Kayaku's skill began to rise above his own teacher's, Orochimaru felt threatened by the young man's skill.
Kayaku is someone who feels very strongly for right and wrong. She told herself. He may even hate me for what part I've had with Orochimaru's experiments, but he would want these stopped too. This damn seal won't let me tell anyone else, but maybe I can tell him!
The huge wooden doors of the front gate slowly swung out, breaking her from her thoughts. The crowd was suddenly quiet as a huge group of ninjas began walk into Konoha, exhausted from their ordeals, but suddenly energized at the cheers they were getting.
People yelled out names when they saw a familiar ninja. Anko kept her eyes on the group, searching for a familiar head of spiky blond hair.
The returning ninjas and the crowd began to intermingle into one as family or friends found each other, which made it hard to see or move, but the second she caught a hint of spiky blond hair she swiftly made her way through the crowd and found him.
"Kayaku!" she yelled. He turned toward her, his face was look around at the crowd with a serious expression that she wasn't familiar with. She remembered him as being cheerful, although he was frustratingly cool during combat.
Anko grabbed him by the collar of his flak jacket and kissed him square on the mouth, pushing hard against him. Perhaps due to shock and maybe some enjoyment he didn't break the kiss until after several seconds before pulling her away. She hid her disappointment, but she liked the feeling of his warm hands on her shoulders.
"Anko?" he said, he looked bewildered, which reminded her of the first time she kissed him. She understood his confusion, given their history.
"I'm glad your back," she told him. She felt the smile on her face, an honest good smile that she hadn't used in years, back when she was just a happy girl who knew nothing of receiving or giving cruelty. "I have to talk to you about something."
Kayaku eyed her carefully, the serious expression was back, and the sharp blue looked down her. It occurred to this wasn't the Kayaku she remembered, perhaps he was hardened by war or perhaps he merely distrusted her after what she did, but his arms stayed where they were, which gave her hope.
"Sensei?"
Anko looked behind Kayaku and saw a familiar head full of gray hair.
"Kakashi!" she greeted happily as twisted a bit to look behind Kayaku. The masked teenage boy was standing behind his teacher, trying to figure out he stopped in the middle of the way, becoming an obstacle for others, forcing them to move around him to get past the gate.
"Anko-san?" Her presence was a surprise for him as well, given he was around when she broke up with his teacher and he had to deal with the broken hearted Jounin, who visited one too many bars with his own sensei afterwards.
"You've grown!" she told him. She seemed genuinely happy, like the Anko he remembered. "Still wearing a mask to cover your fish lips?" she joked with a big grin, it was an old joke, she enjoyed teasing him about what may have been under his mask. She examined him, catching one most significant change about him as her eyes looked at the headband tilted down to cover his left eye. "What's with the new fashion statement?"
"It's a long story," he told her. She nodded, but was still confused.
"So where's Obito and Rin?"
Kakashi's eye drifted down and Kayaku looked away.
"Oh," she whispered as she understood. It was war after all. "Kayaku, I'm sorry."
"Why are you here?" asked Kayaku as he finally pulled his hands off her shoulders. His voice was hard, his emotions uncertain. She always had a place in his heart, even after what happened, and a part of him wanted to lean on her after returning from the war and after the loss of his students.
She looked away, unable to voice it into words. One of her hands rose to finger the wooden piece attached to her necklace, an old nervous habit. "I…haven't been myself…for years." She grasped the wooden piece inside a fist, letting the curved edge cut into her skin. "It's taken everything I have just to be here…but there's something important I need to tell you. It's not just about me. It's about Konoha!"
Kayaku and Anko looked at each other, eye to eye. She only saw seriousness, but he saw a hidden desperation.
"Okay," he told her. Kayaku motioned them to walk out from under the gate and past the crowd until they were in an open space.
"Are you still assisting Orochimaru-sama?" he asked casually. While the rift between them had separated them, he wasn't blind. He knew she was still very close to Orochimaru. "I've heard his research is suppose to improve the Leaf's techniques, but I haven't seen anything from it. I'm beginning to share Jiraiya-sensei's point of view about Orochimaru. That Konoha rates him too highly."
Anko's hand rose up to the cursed seal. Kayaku couldn't see it from underneath the collar of her flak jacket, but he watched her carefully as her face twisted with indecision.
"I…the truth is…"
The truth is Orochimaru has been doing human experimentation on live subjects and I've been helping. I wasn't in control of myself, but that doesn't make my hands any less covered in their blood. However, something inside me is screaming for him to stop, but I don't know what to do!
Why was it so hard to say? Was it really the cursed seal stopping her or was she afraid of what he would think of her, would she lose him forever?
The truth is I'm a slave to Orochimaru. He placed a cursed seal on me that made me absolutely devoted to him and it took away my free will. He violated me just to hurt you. The truth is I still love you. I want to tell you the truth, but it's so hard!
Kayaku's eyes narrowed as he watched her while the words wouldn't come, but the frustration in her eyes told him she was trying to say something, but the words were trapped in her own mind.
"Sensei! Look around."
Anko turned due to Kakashi's warning and saw a group of Military Police walking their way. There were four, one was a man nearly thirty years old, and the rest were young men. From their looks, they were also all members of the Uchiha clan.
Did they discover Orochimaru on their own! She thought as she backed away fearfully. She wondered if they discovered the horrors in the lab, but if they did that meant they knew she had helped. No! It's not my fault! The damn cursed seal took away any control I had, I didn't want to do those horrible things!
She turned back to Kayaku, wanted to explain desperately, but his eyes were locked on the Uchiha. In fact, both he and Kakashi looked a little nervous, as if they were expecting it. She turned back and saw the older Uchiha's eyes were on Kakashi.
"W-What's going on?"
Kayaku spoke, but not to her, "I see my message must have reached the Uchiha clan, but I'm guessing since you're all here it wasn't enough."
The older Uchiha frowned, "My name is Uchiha Fugaku. We are not here as Konoha's Military Police, but as representatives for the elders of the Uchiha clan. They wish to see Hatake Kakashi."
Anko looked at Kayaku, "Kakashi? What's going on? Is this about Obito?"
Kayaku's eyes looked at her. He saw the real concern she had for him and Kakashi at that moment and decided to trust her, "Kakashi lost his left eye, but before Obito died he told Rin to replace it with one of his Sharingan as a gift."
Anko turned back to Kakashi in surprise and looked, realizing what the long story about him using his forehead protector over his eye was really about. As someone who knew very well the length that people go to in order to protect a secret, she knew Kakashi might be in trouble.
The group of Uchiha moved closer, "That's what it said in your message, but you weren't there to witness it. Instead, we'll leave it to the elders to determine if it's true or if Kakashi stole the Uchiha's bloodline ability."
"He didn't steal anything," Kayaku answered coldly. "It was done on Obito's request and transplanted by Rin herself."
"Yet your other student is conveniently not here either, so we still only have your word."
Kayaku's eyes burned with anger, but Fugaku stood his ground. Even though he was here in a matter of clan politics, he was looking at the situation as police officer. There wasn't any malice in his tone of voice, just professional detachment. Anko gathered there wasn't enough evidence to support Kakashi's side of the story, but she knew Kayaku and his students. She didn't know Obito and Rin well, they became his students after their split, but she knew Kakashi wouldn't steal an eye.
She turned to Kayaku, "Hey, why not talk to these elders yourself and explain?"
"Because even if they accepted the truth, it is likely if Kakashi steps one foot into the Uchiha district he won't be walking out with that eye or worse. They'll likely interrogate him to determine how much he's learned to use it. If too much they'll decide that he's a risk, that he knows its weaknesses and strengths and that can't be allowed either."
Fugaku smiled in good-natured amusement, "You make us sound like the Hyuuga."
An arrogant sounding young Uchiha spoke up, "I wouldn't expect someone without a clan like you to understand, Uzumaki."
Anko bristled with anger at the mocking tone used to say Kayaku's family name. In reality, it was name he created himself, but it was always intended for the family and clan he hoped to one day create. Once upon a time, she imagined having that name as well.
However, Fugaku placed a hand on the youth's shoulder and gave him a stern look that hinted at his own displeasure at the comment.
"I would speak more carefully," the older Uchiha's grip tightened in warning before releasing it. He turned back to Kayaku, "Forgive him, but he is correct in one thing. This is an Uchiha clan matter and that boy's left eye is of Uchiha blood. He is coming with us."
The three young Uchiha walked forward, ignoring both Anko and Kayaku's reactions and moved toward Kakashi. Anko tried to move, but Kayaku blocked her with an arm, urging her to stay put as he moved toward the three to stop them.
"My student isn't going anywhere with you," he told them calmly.
Uchiha Fugaku moved in his way, his dark eyes hadn't changed into activated Sharingan yet, but the tension in the air rose as two elite Jounin prepared to fight. Fugaku appeared serious, but Kayaku suddenly grinned.
Kayaku's backpack fell to the ground as the person strapped to it suddenly disappeared and was instantly behind Fugaku and at Kakashi's side. Kayaku punched an Uchiha and then kicked the other simultaneously, knocking them both out of the way. He reached into Kakashi's pack, pulled out a kunai with an odd shape and four characters written on the handle, and blocked an incoming kunai thrown by the third Uchiha and then quickly blocking Fugaku himself as he rush forward with a regular kunai in his hand. The two men stared at each other eye to eye.
"I couldn't even see him," complained one of the Uchiha as he picked himself up.
"What was that? It wasn't a Body Flicker," remarked Fugaku, the expression on his face said he regretted not activating his Sharingan sooner.
Kayaku didn't answer, but someone else did.
"Oh ho! You've created another technique haven't you Kayaku?"
They all turned and saw the familiar red and white robes of the Hokage as he approached them. He had a grin on his face and yet he wasn't upset to see several Military Police fighting a returning soldier near the front gates of the village.
He walked up next to Kakashi and ruffled the youth's hair in a grandfatherly gesture.
"Hokage-sama," said Fugaku as he backed away from Kayaku and stood at attention. "Forgive us, but the elders…"
"Want to protect their bloodline. Understandable."
"But Hokage-sama!" objected Kayaku.
"I understand your position as well. How about we all go to the elders and take care of this once and for all."
Now Fugaku objected, "But Hokage-sama!"
"I have important matter to discuss with Kayaku, I've been waiting for him, but I see now what held him up. I suppose if I tell the Uchiha elders as well, it might give more weight on the side of settling this manner peacefully," he told them. He smiled broadly as he raised his pipe to his lips, leaving no doubt he was up to something.
"Very well," Kayaku stepped back.
Anko sighed with a relief. For a minute, there she thought a high-level ninja battle was going to break out right in front of the village gate.
The Third eyed her carefully, "Anko you should stay here."
"But I had something to tell Kayaku first!" she argued.
"It's alright Anko," said Kayaku. His voice wasn't as cold to her as before and it was even a little warm. "I promise after this is over we'll talk. How about meeting at the ramen stand for supper?"
"O-Okay," she reluctantly agreed. She didn't want to put it off, she would keep trying, somehow getting it past the cursed seal. Things would be bad after that, however, after seeing him go to such lengths to protect his student, she felt hope that he would do the same for her.
Anko watched them all leave until she was alone again. She hadn't expected to have to wait. In fact, she was already late to arrive at Orochimaru's lab, but she expected to have told her story to Kayaku by now. If she didn't go, Orochimaru might suspect something and send his other subordinates. If she had to fight them, she might have to activate her seal just to pull to be on even ground with them. However, once activated it might remove the last threads of free will she had left, the ones that had led her to this point so far.
She had no choice, she had to go back until she could meet with Kayaku again.
Orochimaru's lab was well hidden in the dark bowels of Konoha. It only helped to increase the inhumane atmosphere inside the lab itself. It was dark, cold, and reeked of death. There were many dead bodies, each tied to a board propped up against the wall or laid on the floor, left there like specimens. White sheets covered the worse of the bodies, concealing the twisted shapes underneath.
Anko entered the dark room and sighed with relief that Orochimaru wasn't there.
She approached the examination table in the center of the lab. On it was one of the sheet covered bodies that had managed to break the grip Orochimaru had over her, to her surprise there was actually a limit over how much right and wrong that Orochimaru's seal could make her ignore.
After lifting up the sheet, she observed it once more, letting the horror of it make her more determined than ever to reveal what is going in the lab. The body was now very dead, but not before a very painful, horrific death as Orochimaru used a prototype of a new technique he was trying to create. So far, it had been very unsuccessful as it left the poor human as a twisted, dried husk and its face twisted into a terrified expression. The husk was dry and started to peal like a snakeskin, but there was nothing youthful underneath.
She slammed her hands on the table, while trying to steady herself. It was too much, body after body, each yelling and screaming as she watched. Not even the curse seal could stop her revulsion over Orochimaru's latest obsession, but it did stop her from stopping it herself and actually made her help him. That made the vile rise up her throat.
This is why she needed Kayaku. The vice-like grip the cursed seal had on her mind wouldn't allow her to betray Orochimaru to anyone else. Only the individual she felt strongest for in her heart, a part of her that not even the cursed seal could remove, although it had certainly tried before, leaving only shreds for her to desperately grasp.
"Anko."
The words sent shiver down her spine.
"Orochimaru-sama!" she turned and found him watching her. She tried not to let the nervousness creep into her voice, "I thought you were gone."
"I was, but you were late too." He smiled slyly at her as he watched her with his golden eyes, eyeing her as if she was a mouse who stumbled on a hungry snake.
"I was waiting at the gate." She knew better to completely lie, he would know and it was be bad for her. "Konoha's ninja returned from the war. I wanted to see an old friend."
"Would that friend be Uzumaki Kayaku?" he frowned.
"Of course not Orochimaru-sama! You forbidden me to speak with him before, I wouldn't disobey you."
"I've heard a disturbing rumor that Sarutobi-sensei has decided to name Uzumaki as his successor," he hissed.
Anko's eyes widened as she realized what the Third was talking about earlier, his important news that would influence the Uchiha, if Kayaku were made the Fourth Hokage then he could protect Kakashi by using his position to convince the Uchiha to leave him alone.
However, she didn't realize what her expression revealed to Orochimaru.
"I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sama. I know you wanted that title," she tried.
"No matter, I'm finding I have no more use for this village and its people. It's too constricting to my research. That includes useless subordinates."
"But Orochimaru-sama!"
She didn't have time to object before Orochimaru's tongue shot out, wrapped itself around her arm, and jerked her off her feet. She fell hard on her knees and was temporarily dazed while his tongue released her wrist, but her other hand reached for a kunai.
"Do you think you can fight me?"
Her hand stopped over the kunai, she wasn't sure if it was the seal again or if she was just frozen in fear.
"Anko, you were always so strong willed," he crouched down and caressed her face gently like a lover. It made her sick to realize once she enjoyed that touch. "It was one of your few good qualities. It is why you have survived so long when others haven't. You survived my teachings. You survived the cursed seal and resisted it longer than any of the others. Perhaps we should find out if you can survive my newest technique."
Orochimaru stood up and looked at the examination table. She followed his glance and saw the twisted body.
"No!"
He activated her cursed seal through a hand seal. It suddenly flared to life, burning across her skin and mind. He ignored her screams as he continued to speak, "Perhaps you will survive again where others had failed."
It was an odd perspective to witness the experiment from the other side of the table. A part of her felt it was a proper punishment for standing to the side and watching it so many times without trying to stop it. Although, at the time her mind was under Orochimaru's control. Only now, she was feeling her own fear as he performed each step in the ritual.
Her first reaction was to struggle on the examination table, but as she should have known, there were thick leather strapped across her. It was the same as she had witnessed many times before, as the people struggle uselessly.
Anko kept one thought in her mind, that Kayaku was waiting for her. She strengthened herself, willing her body to survive what would come. She knew she would survive it, if only to see Kayaku again. She wouldn't let him think she'd abandoned him again, even as the cursed seal tried to burn away the remains of her free will.
Orochimaru wrapped her head to toe with in bandages against her bare skin, each strip already written on with black ink as if it were a ninja scroll. He had already prepared them, sealing a special power within.
She tolerated the humiliation of the preparation and prepared herself to weather through the incoming storm of pain.
"You should be thankful," said Orochimaru as he walked to the end of the table. "I recently made a breakthrough, that should allow for success. You probably won't end up like the others."
She didn't even bother to voice her false confidence.
He ignored her as he stood near the end of the table and quickly performed a long series of hand seals, "Immortal Snakeskin Sealing Technique!"
The sound of crackling energy from the technique was nearly lost under the sound of her screams. Underneath the bandages, the effects of the technique focused the energy into reshaping her flesh into something else, but it felt to her as if her skin melted and tightened across her body.
She never heard Orochimaru's joyous laughter as he realized it was going to succeed as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Anko dreamed she was dead. Lying on the examination table with a white sheet pulled over her face like all the other dead bodies. She dreamed Orochimaru bringing out his sharp scalpels as he cut into her, performing an autopsy to discover where the technique had gone wrong again.
She told herself, it was just a dream…
"AAANNNKKKOOO?"
Her mind felt sluggish and she could only hear distorted sounds. She couldn't remember how long it had been: minutes, hours, or even days. However, all she knew was it felt as if Orochimaru peeled off her skin and then sewn it back on painfully tight.
"AANNKKOO?"
The voice above her sounded alien to her ears at the moment and her blurry vision could only see a spot of green light in front of her eyes. Wherever the green light went, her body stopped hurting. She could also wiggle a bit now as she realized the leather straps were gone, but she didn't feel like it now.
She tried her voice, but found it rough and harsh due to her screaming earlier. "Orochimaru-sama?"
"Anko?"
The distortion of her senses due to being half awake and half somewhere deeper than sleep itself finally went away, but the voice that repeated her name wasn't Orochimaru, but old and gruff, yet very familiar. Her eyes flashed open in recognition and her heart pounded in fear.
Standing above her was the Third Hokage.
"H-Hokage-sama?" she struggled, but as she managed to rise up physically, something in her stomach managed to rise up as well, causing her to bend over and throw up. The Hokage skillfully dodged out of the way, as he remained at her side, patting her on the back. He continued to unwrap the bandages around her head and neck, while examining her with concern in his old eyes.
"It's alright now," he told her in a comforting tone as she curled up over the edge of the examination table. He pulled up the white sheet around her shoulders to provide her some extra warmth in the cold, damp lab.
"Where's Orochimaru-sama?" she asked weakly. The Third blinked at her in surprise at the amount of concern in her voice.
"Orochimaru has managed to escape, but the Anbu will find him," he told her. The tone in his voice suggested it was meant to reassure her, but it had the opposite effect.
"NO!"
Her arm lashed out, catching the Third in complete surprise as he was knocked out of the way, unable to stop her as she moved off the table and started to run on unsteady legs, covered only in a white sheet and bandages all over her.
"I have to find Orochimaru-sama!" she yelled. He could see she wasn't in her right mind and was reluctant to use a technique to stop her, especially in her current physical state.
"Anko, wait!" he yelled, but she ignored him as she entered the hallway and disappeared within a maze of traps that she knew better than him.
"Orochimaru, what have you done to her," he whispered as he watched her disappear, memories of the happy little girl she had been were on his mind and so was the decision to place her with Orochimaru.
For the second time in one day, despite all the techniques he knew, he found himself reluctant to stop someone from moving past him.
Other than the front gate, there were other ways of getting out of Konoha, especially if you are in a hurry. Some of these paths were ideal especially for a ninja escaping in the middle of the night. One such path was secured by Orochimaru years ago to ensure a quick escape if he ever needed it.
It was also a path that Anko knew very well.
Anko ran through the hidden path after securing the white sheet around her to help cover the bandages that covered her head to toe. With Orochimaru ahead, she didn't give any thought to what happened to her after the technique or to the fact that she was still alive.
"Orochimaru-sama!" she yelled ahead into the darkness.
At the moment, all she could was panic over what happened to him. She didn't think about how much more of her body the cursed seal had infected after Orochimaru activated it or how much more of her free will had been taken away.
Instead, she ran all the plans in her head. Orochimaru was not so blind to believe his experiments would have gone on forever unnoticed. In fact, he had planned on it. She was aware of each plan and where Orochimaru would have gone. She knew she could find him.
Yet, she was a little surprised that he would find her.
"Anko."
She smiled with relief and noticed he didn't seemed harmed at for someone who managed to escape the Third Hokage and a team of Anbu.
"Orochimaru-sama!"
He frowned as he watched her approach him. He observed her carefully, taking not in something that he knew and she didn't. His demeanor was noticeably different than when he wanted to use her for something or intended to do something cruel to her. Instead, he seemed irritated that she was there at all and while she noticed these things, because of the cursed seal she couldn't care less.
"What are you doing here?"
Anko's face twisted in confusion, but her voice kept her concern for him. "I woke up in the lab alone…except for the Hokage. He said Anbu were after you!"
"Like Anbu mean anything to me," he hissed. He had already proven once tonight that it only took one technique from a Jounin of his caliber to kill a group of Anbu.
She approached him while unwrapping bandages around an arm to reveal perfectly normal skin, but it didn't feel normal. "My skin feels strange, but I'm alive so the technique was a success?"
He snarled. "The technique worked, but it failed to do what was intended. It is a dead end, which will force me to start back to the beginning in a new direction, but now that I don't have to bother with hiding my research, perhaps I can get more work done. I'll achieve my own goals and desires without the constrictions of Konoha."
"Where will we go?"
Orochimaru eyed her suddenly, his golden snake eyes looking very intensely. She thought he was displeased for some reason, but then he smiled warmly and brought a hand to caress her face, which she happily leaned into.
"I have one more mission for you Anko," he told her. "Konoha must pay for what they have done to me. As the Hokage, I could have raised them to greatness, but instead they choose another. For their punishment, I want you to kill the Fourth Hokage."
At those words, everything came crashing down.
A small part of her started screaming. Suddenly she wanted to pull away from the gesture that was too intimate for a teacher and student, but her feet wouldn't move.
"K-Kayaku?"
"Yes, I want you to kill Uzumaki Kayaku," he smiled, knowing full well the grip the cursed seal had on her, even if some part of her was able to love Kayaku, she couldn't resist his order.
"Yes, O-Orochimaru-sama."
"I suspect you'll find in back in the village celebrating being named Hokage. He is the student of that fool Jiraiya, so I imagine he's in one of the village's bars or clubs tonight. If you hurry you can complete this mission tonight."
"Then where do I find you?"
"I'll find you," he smiled innocently. "But remember, no matter what you have to kill him, even if it takes using the Twin Snakes Double Assassination technique."
"Y-Yes," she frowned, knowing that there wouldn't be anything left of her to wait for if she used it.
Orochimaru stepped away and continued down the path and Anko watched him until he disappeared.
Running around in a white sheet and deteriorating bandages were hardly the best option when moving through the seedier parts of Konoha, unless the woman liked being ogled by strangers, which in this case Anko did not.
Her first order of business was finding appropriate clothing, before being tempted to kill someone for his inappropriate actions. The first to do so luckily got off with being knocked out, left in an alley, and having his kunai holster and all his kunai taken from him. He was lucky she didn't decide to test their sharpness.
With her own apartment likely being watched by Anbu in case she did something as stupid as return to it, she had choice in finding new clothes somewhere else. That place happened to be the first bar she checked out.
There was no sight of a blond spiky mane of hair at this place and neither did she see Jiraiya either, figuring he would be out celebrating with his former student in a place like this.
"I would have had to kill him anyway for coming to a place like this," she mumbled to herself. Kayaku wasn't a super pervert like Jiraiya, but she was sure the older ninja had corrupted him in some way.
Look who's talking, she thought to herself as she locked the storeroom from the inside after knocking out a waitress. The woman was crumbled on the floor, wearing an orange kimono that caught Anko's eye. Anko stripped the kimono off the unconscious woman and placed her white sheet over her. As she pulled it on, she sniffed it, smelling the flowery perfume still on it, a welcomed difference to the smell of death the bandages had.
Before tying the obi of the kimono shut, she ripped off the remains of the bandages, leaving them in a pile on the floor, wrapped the orange kimono around her, and tied the obi into a bow. Then she pulled the hairpin from the woman's hair and placed it in her own.
Her hand instinctively went to her neck, she just realized her necklace with a carved wooden piece was missing, likely Orochimaru pulled it off of her before his experiment on her and it was still in the lab, but with it missing after wearing it all her life she felt naked.
After tonight it won't matter anymore, she thought sadly. I might as well be dead after this.
"I'll also borrow these, okay?" Anko asked the unconscious woman as she took her sandals. "I'm looking a lot better now."
She checked the waitress before leaving, making sure the woman was safe locked up in her own storeroom, since Anko had after all taken the poor woman's clothing.
With that taken care of she left and checked the next place, glad that Konoha kept most of these types of places together on the outskirts of the city. It made her job easier without being seen by Anbu. So she went from bar to bar, some of them closer to men's clubs and other as close to a brothel as Konoha would allow. In other words, these would be Jiraiya's favorite places.
By the fifth place she checked, she was almost sure that she wouldn't find Kayaku. For that matter she wasn't even sure how long had passed since Orochimaru used that technique on her. She felt as if she had slept forever, but Kayaku was still celebrating then perhaps only days had passed or worse, only hours, which meant her failure to meet him for supper was still on his mind. Would he feel like celebrating after that?
Yet, driven by the cursed seal she couldn't give up.
It was in the sixth place that she finally found him.
The bar was practically empty, highlighting its lone occupants with the soft glow of its paper lanterns. Kayaku was still dressed in his Jounin clothes, but appeared relaxed while filling his cup from a bottle of sake. Besides, for him there were only two men at another table, the bartender, and a young woman in an indigo kimono hanging off Kayaku's arm, pressing her bosom against him.
A jealous part of Anko burned with anger.
Pervert! She's almost a girl! You're no better than your sensei! Her mind screamed as she walked to the couple, all common sense about the concept of stealth when assassinating someone left her.
"Hokage…Hokage…Hokage," she heard Kayaku tell the woman. "I guess there are some who want to be Hokage, but I had a different dream. I only wanted a clan of my own."
"I guess I'll have to call you Hokage-sama!" she squealed as if she didn't have a brain in her head.
He held her tighter and laughed, "I guess you will!"
He looked up and saw Anko standing on the other side of the table with an expression of very cold rage on her face.
She looked at the young woman and spoke with dead seriousness, "Leave."
"What?" the woman asked in confusion. As if the veins popping in the forehead of an infuriated Anko wasn't enough of a clue of her imminent danger.
"Anko!" said Kayaku in surprise.
"Leave!" A kunai dropped into her hand she threw it at the sake bottle, shattering it to pieces, sending sake on both Kayaku and the woman. The woman flew out of her seat and jumped away from her in a move that was entirely too graceful for an ordinary woman. She stared at Anko with a cool expression and serious eyes, the idiotic demeanor completely gone.
Anko was suspicious and looked around quickly. The two men at the table and the bartender were both on their feet and watching her, each a serious expression on their faces.
"What?"
The three men and the woman each burst into a cloud of smoke as their transformation released to reveal their true selves. In their place were Anbu: complete with masks, tattoos, and armor.
"I'm surprised," said the female Anbu who was the woman in the indigo kimono a moment ago. Her voice was now muffled behind her animal mask. "You came right out into the open, just as he said you would. I was sure you would stay in the shadows."
Anko turned to Kayaku with a questioning look.
"You set up a trap for me?" she asked him with a dumbfounded expression. She couldn't believe he purposely lured her out like this. "I thought you were celebrating your promotion, Hokage-sama."
He got up and looked her over, his voice was now cool, but there was a sad smile on his face, "You didn't show up for supper, I got worried. Right now, you're more important to me than that. Are you okay Anko? The Third said Orochimaru had done something to you. He was concerned when you ran off so suddenly."
"Answer the question!" she snapped.
"Kakashi, you can come out," he yelled behind him. Anko almost yelled again, but Kakashi walked out from behind a shoji screen while holding a small dog between his arms.
"A dog?"
"Of the summoned variety," answered Kayaku as he pulled out something form his pocket. "His name is Pakkun and he can track pretty good apparently. He found you with only this."
Dandling from his hand was her necklace with a carved wooden piece.
"The Third found it in Orochimaru's lab. Kakashi summoned a dog to track you and we've been following you all night. You caused use some trouble after you doubled back to Konoha, but after you got to this area, I think I figured out what you were up to. So I moved ahead of you and cleared out this bar before you arrived."
"So you're here to capture me?"
"I'm here to help you."
"It's too late for that!" she screamed. She turned pointed one arm to the two Anbu together and the other to the one who was a bartender. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands."
Four snakes flew out of each kimono sleeve, tearing through the tables between her and them, and wrapping themselves around the Anbu. They left her sleeves completely, keeping the Anbu occupied while Anbu turned back around to find the female Anbu's sword swinging down toward her head. Anko drew another kunai and blocked the sword.
"Give yourself up Anko-san," the woman warned her.
"You won't be that lucky little girl," Anko sneered as she felt the cursed seal activate. Red marks spread across her face like flames crawling along both sides of her face until cooling into a black color and in one eye the whites were turned completely black.
She couldn't even see the Anbu's look of surprise underneath her mask.
Anko was able to knock the Anbu sword out of the way and punch the woman in the face hard enough to knock her away several feet and leave a crack in her Anbu mask. The woman fell on the floor and didn't get back up.
She examined both of her hands and parts of her shoulders and cleavage that the kimono left bare, noticing the black marks had covered both sides of her body for the first time. The infection had grown even stronger, she guessed after the last forced activation that it was close to completely infecting her if it hadn't already. She might already been Orochimaru's slave completely. The last shred of free will that revolved around her love for Kayaku would soon be gone.
Kayaku watched her carefully, but his eyes were wide in shock. "Kakashi, stay back. No one else should try to attack, I'll take care of her."
"Take care of me?" she told him as she released an evil laugh. The dark emotions released by the cursed seal filled her, giving her strength to do what a part of her didn't want to do. "All these years and you couldn't see what Orochimaru was doing to me!"
"I'm sorry," he told her, his sad eyes watched her. A part of her wanted to rush to him to be held in safe arms while another wanted him dead. It was the second part that won.
She threw three kunai at once, causing him to dodge, while she bit her thumb and performed a set of hand seals. "Summoning Technique."
A huge green snake appeared from under a cloud of smoke, thicker than the length of her hand and much longer than she was tall. It circled around her from her shoulders to her feet, in a slinky embrace and hissed at Kayaku.
"Kill," she ordered as she caressed her fingers down its silky scales.
The snake swiftly uncoiled itself from around her and launched itself across the room. Kayaku calmly stood his ground as the snaked lifted the main part of it into the air with its fangs open to strike.
Yet, at the last moment, Kayaku braced himself and lifted his arm up with a Rasengan in his hand. The maelstrom of blue chakra ripped right through the snake, head first, literally drilling its way down the length of it, leaving a horrible mess before it disappeared in white smoke.
"No," she whimpered, it was her deadliest snake and Kayaku had ripped through it like it was nothing.
He slowly walked towards her. The cool, serious expression frightened her than any face of rage. She had heard every rumor about him, she was proud of everything she heard, but now that she was facing him herself she felt a sudden stab of fear. She wanted to step back, but her feet were frozen.
"I've heard about the lab. I know that you were trying to tell me something earlier, but whatever Orochimaru has done, you couldn't. I can also take a guess why Orochimaru has interfered with our love life at every turn. He wouldn't want me too close."
He was standing next to her now and raised a hand. She thought he would slap her or even punch her, knowing that she helped Orochimaru through all of the experiments.
Instead, he caressed her check gently. They stared at each other eye to eye, he didn't seem concerned by the black eye looking at him, or the black marks from the activated cursed seal that he was touching.
Suddenly, he hugged her and despite all the dark emotions flooding in her mind, she relaxed in his arms and rested her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay now, I'll help you."
A hug from a lover was something so simple and for a moment, she was happy, but she couldn't forget…
"Idiot!" she snapped. She focused the chakra of the cursed seal into her strength and pushed him away, causing him to fly into the wall behind him and collapse to the floor. "My mission is to kill you! Stop trying to save me!"
Anko ran toward him before he could get back up. She grabbed one of his hands, her palm against his, and slammed a kunai through both hands and into the wall.
"AH!" he yelled.
She ignored him as she straddle his hips and took his other hand into hers, forming a hand seal with their fingers. Almost like they were intertwining their fingers like lovers.
Kakashi rushed forward, trying to stop her, but she yelled, "Back off! This technique can kill him instantly, but I have something to say first!"
The boy stepped back, setting the dog on the ground while drawing a kunai, ready for the first opening she left.
"What is this?" asked Kayaku.
"A special technique Orochimaru taught me," she told him. Anko was breathing heavy, her body was weakening, and her chakra was almost gone. She wasn't used to running out so soon, but she had after all just woken up from a technique that should have killed her. The cursed seal had almost drawn out all of her chakra and she could feel the beginnings of the painful exhaustion that followed beginning to start. "Twin Snakes Double Assassination technique. It ensures the victims death at the cost of the user's life. I guess in this case you can call it a lovers' suicide."
"The perfect assassination technique for someone who doesn't care about his subordinate's life," noted Kayaku.
"Y-Yeah." She closed her eyes and her expression twisted in an internal struggle.
"You're fighting it, whatever it is. That means there still a chance for you to stop this!"
Anko leaned forward a bit, resting her forehead against his, tears fell down her marked cheeks. She was quickly loosing her chance, the seal was still pulling chakra, but it was being wasted the longer she didn't use it. A part of her that told her to obey Orochimaru told her to do the technique while she still had the chance, while the other part that loved Kayaku told her to hold on long enough that she wouldn't have any more chakra left to be use to hurt him anymore.
"I don't know how much long I can hold it back, but…I love you," she whispered. The words slipped out, not even the activated cursed seal could stop them.
His eyes widened. There was a whole history of love and pain between them, but some emotions just didn't go away.
"It's alright Anko, I understand," he told her.
Blue chakra began to stream out from between their hands and she realized it wasn't her own. She couldn't keep the hand seal in place and she shrieked as she tore her had away. His chakra had burned her hand as a whirlpool of chakra swirled in his palm. The early stage of the Rasengan quickly vanished as he reached up and pulled the kunai out of his other hand.
Anko pulled away and Kayaku managed to get back onto his feet.
Figuring that it was over, she let the cursed seal deactivate and the marks receded back into the seal itself, returning her skin and eye to its normal appearance.
She prepared for a direct attack, but Kayaku suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her with a kunai at her throat.
"Body flicker?" she asked curiously. Anko remembered he disappeared like this when he fought the Uchiha earlier. Her thoughts were surprisingly clear, there was no time to be afraid now, as she figured she was already dead.
"No, its much better than that," he told her, his voice suddenly a little more cheerful. She felt him tug at something on her back and moved his other hand in front of her so she could see a small tag. "I placed this tag on your back when we hugged. It is a special tag that lets me travel to it instantly. It's much faster than Body Flicker. It's called the Flying Thunder God technique."
"Hmm! A glorified name like that means you had to have created that," she complained in a dry tone.
"Yep." If she could see his face, she knew he would be smiling ear to ear.
"Just like old times, except for the kunai at my throat," she told him. She remembered when she was young she tried to impress Orochimaru by trying to defeat Jiraiya's top student, except it never seemed to work out like that, especially when he used some odd technique.
"You were the one who was rather rough when displaying your affection," he joked.
Anko smiled sadly at their history, all of it was about to be wiped out by a single stroke of a kunai. With the dark emotions from the cursed seal gone and her own pent up feelings for him released, she was feeling rather empty. She closed her eyes, ready for the end.
"Kill me."
"What?"
"You have to. You don't understand this cursed seal, it takes away free will. It'll force me to keep going after you because Orochimaru ordered it."
"Tell me about this seal Anko," he ordered. His voice was calm, his hand was steady, but he was behind her, against her back almost intimately.
"It's a form of control," she said softly. She didn't see any harm in explaining why she was a lost cause. "I'm the first to survive it, many just die from it, but I was just a guinea pig. It can give the wearer access to their chakra in a huge burst, but in return, it takes away their free will over time, leaving them in Orochimaru's control forever. So you see, you have to kill me."
"I don't think so," he told her as he moved the kunai away.
"But I need that!" she cried out as she turned partially toward him.
He gave her a wide cheerful smile, as if he had an answer that she didn't know. "If you trust me, then sit down on the floor."
Although, she wanted to keep arguing with him about killing her, she reluctantly did as he asked because she did trust him.
The Anbu were back on their feet. Her shadow snakes disappeared in puff of smoke and the female Anbu regained consciousness.
"You four go find the Third and inform him of the situation," ordered Kayaku.
The female Anbu didn't like it, "But what about you?"
"The situation is contained," he explained. "Anko doesn't have any chakra left and is in control of herself for now. Kakashi will stay here to back me up, but I intend to put a seal of my own over the cursed seal."
"What?"
"Now go!" The tone of his voice suggested no more questions and the Anbu reluctantly left.
"A seal?" she asked as she turned her head toward him. She was hopeful, but experience told her that the cursed seal was stronger than that. "Kayaku, I don't know if that is going to work!"
"Well it won't hurt to try," he told her.
"Kayaku, I'm not worth this. The lab…all those bodies…I helped him! I strapped them down. I watched them scream. I disposed of the dead. I did it!" Tears of guilt fell from her eyes.
Kayaku moved round to the front of her and crouched down. He pulled out her necklace with the carved wooden piece and placed it around her neck. Her hand went up and grabbed it, pressing the edge of the wooden piece into her palm.
"The fact that it is haunting you so much tells me the cursed seal really did control you into doing it. The fact you are trying so hard to break out of its control tell me you are just as defiant as the Anko that I liked when we were kids. The fact you've had to suffer because of Orochimaru because I was too blind to see it. Because of all that, I won't kill you, I'm going to save you instead."
He stood up and moved behind her. "Kakashi, move behind us and use your Sharingan to watch me."
"What?"
"I don't know if this is going to hold forever or if this is the only cursed seal we'll encounter. Just in case I'm not able to, it would make since if you know it too. Even if you can't directly copy it yet with your Sharingan, you should be at a stage that just watching it should help you learn it."
"Yes, sensei," said Kakashi as he walked around and lifted up his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan eye.
Anko turned and glanced at Kakashi's red eye for a second and then looked at Kayaku, "What are you planning to do?"
"Evil Sealing Method, a sealing technique that can counteract the effects of a cursed seal," he explained. "This seal will utilize your own will for power. If you lose faith in your power or your will sways, then the cursed seal will reactivate, but you've already shown you have a strong will by holding on for so long. I have faith in you Anko."
Anko turned away, drawing it all in. Another seal, another powerful technique used on her, but this time she didn't fear it because it was Kayaku.
"You've come a long way to being the kid tied to a log," she giggled with a mischievous smile, remembering her first memory of him.
"Hey!" he objected that long ago event.
However, her smile quickly disappeared as she felt him undo the bow to the obi and pull her kimono off her shoulders. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she screamed as she covered herself up with her arms. She was thankful that Kakashi was behind her now.
"Sorry, cloth is hard to write on," he apologized as he pressed something warm against her back. She turned around and saw him writing sealing characters on her back, using his own blood from the stab wound she gave him in his hand. "Bare with it a bit, I'll be done in no time."
"Pervert," she muttered.
He wrote three lines, two down her front, three down her back, and one down each arm, each starting around the cursed seal and ended on the floor around her. She could feel the buzz of his chakra on her as he wrote each character.
"Hold on," he warned her after he finished writing. He said the hand seals names softly as he made each one in a long series.
Finally, he placed a hand over the cursed seal and Anko was filled with pain. However, it was one she could bare as the seal characters crawled along the ground, across her skin, and around the cursed seal forming a circle.
She collapsed when it was finished, but even as she drifted into unconsciousness, she could feel Kayaku catch her and pull the kimono back on her before lifting her into his arms.
For the first time in years, she felt free.
Nine Months Later
The full moon was glowing in the night sky as an earth splitting growl rattled the building, but the occupants of the hospital room didn't seem to care as Anko released an exhausted scream of her own.
She looked exhausted with her hair drenched in sweat and dark rings around her eyes. Her hands gripped a handful of the bed sheets as she tried to do one of the more difficult things she had ever done, give birth to her child.
However, things were not going well…
"Why is this so hard!" she screamed, but she suspected the truth.
The hand of the retired Third Hokage patted her own as he stood beside her. He no longer wore his familiar red and white robes and now preferred to be called Sarutobi-sama instead of Hokage-sama. That name belonged to man dealing with the Tailed Beast outside. For the moment, the most he could do was insure the safety of the Fourth Hokage's lover and their child.
"It is the failed immortality technique that Orochimaru used on you," he spoke softly. "I'm afraid your body has been altered on such a level that it can't withstand the ordeal of labor. It is complicating it somehow, at this rate, it is placing you and your child at danger."
She released a dark chuckle, "I guess Orochimaru wasn't thinking about becoming pregnant when he designed it."
Sarutobi sighed with regret, "If Tsunade were here perhaps she could have found a way to undo it, but so far no one has been able to understand what Orochimaru did, much less undo it themselves. I'm surprised you've been able to endure your pregnancy this long, it must have been painful."
Anko rubbed her pregnant belly with her hand. "A lot of things in the last nine months had been painful, but I endured it."
First had been her arrest by Konoha's Military Police, which wasn't as bad for her as it was for Orochimaru's other two subordinates. To her surprise, Kayaku had actually used the services of Uchiha Fugaku to ensure she wasn't harmed and in return, she gave them information about Orochimaru's activities, which was easy to do now that she had her free will restored by Kayaku's seal.
Second had been an inquiry by the Council itself. For a while, she was temporarily a missing-nin for leaving the village and her actual part in the human experimentations not only made her future status as a ninja of Konoha questionable, but punishment could have included execution However, she had two Hokage's actively trying to convince them to exonerate her due to the presence of the cursed seal.
The thing that made all this tolerable was her revived relationship with Kayaku. There was a lot of history of pain, but once they accepted it was Orochimaru who had manipulated them into hurting each other, they were able to start over. A love that grew from their friendship as kids grew stronger now they were reunited again.
Yet, nothing was perfect.
It wasn't seemly for the new Fourth Hokage to associate with a former missing-nin and neither was it safe for the lover of a man who had many enemies due to the war that would try to get to him through his family. Therefore, they kept it secret with only a handful of individuals who truly knew why the Fourth Hokage was so interested in the well being of one Mitarashi Anko.
The unborn child inside her was actually a welcomed complication to their problems.
"It is getting closer," she told Sarutobi and she wasn't referring to her labor.
"Hmm, it's attacking Konoha this time, such a cruel time for a child to be born," he remarked as he looked out the window.
"Shouldn't you be out there?" she asked, her voice sounded so weary to him.
He gripped her hand in reassurance, "I am no longer the Hokage. Kayaku now has my duties to protect the people of Konoha. Instead, I should be here for you since he cannot."
"A doctor can stay here instead," she argued.
"Nonsense, besides they already have their hands full with the wounded. While I am not a medical-nin, I do know many medical techniques, including some Tsunade created herself. One way or another your child will be born safely."
She wanted to argue further, but he had a look on his face. The look of a Hokage wanting to protect his important people and this time, she was that important person.
"There is no more time to waste," he told her. "This cursed skin doesn't seem to want to allow your child to be born, so I'll have to use that technique of Tsunade's."
Sarutobi made the preparations while she endured the pains of labor while she waited. She looked outside more than once while rubbing her belly, thinking if she waited forever, the perhaps the end would never come. The last nine months had been one event after another, with no time to rest and soon it would end, whether she wanted it or not.
"I need some of your hair as a medium," he told her as he used a kunai to snip of a lock of her dark hair. "This is a high level technique, involving bending flesh temporarily. It is used more for surgeries when repairing internal organs, but you won't have a mark afterwards."
"Great," she muttered sarcastically. She was apprehensive about another technique being used on her, given Orochimaru's technique was still a mystery that bothered her every day. However, she would endure it for her child.
"Ready?" he asked. When she nodded, he performed the hand seals. From Anko's perspective, she couldn't see it, but from what she felt she didn't want to. She was used to her new, unnatural skin occasionally feeling like it was tightening across her muscles and bones, but feeling her skin feeling as if it liquefied was a whole other experience.
Yet, the pain quickly ended and the room that was filled with her weary and exhausted screams was now filled with the cries of a newborn with a powerful set of lungs.
Anko struggled to sit up despite the lack of energy, but Sarutobi quickly brought the newborn child bundled up in a blanket over to her after cutting the umbilical cord. He placed the child in her arms and let her look at the infant in wonder and shock.
"It's a boy," he told her with a beaming smile.
"He doesn't look like me," she complained with a lighthearted laugh. The boy had blond hair and blue eyes just like his father. It was a comforting to see Kayaku's features instead of black hair and gold eyes that haunted her in her nightmares.
"Have you picked out a name yet?"
Anko didn't have a chance to say, before someone answered for her.
"Naruto," said Kayaku as he walked into the room.
"You're late," she told him dryly as she clutched her baby to her chest, but she felt better as Kayaku sat on the edge of the bed, wrapping an arm around her. She argued weakly, "Just because you're burdened with being named after an ingredient of ramen do you have to do it to him too?"
"But everyone else just names their children with the first character of the father's name. I wanted to be different, but still connected."
"Fine," she reluctantly agreed, not willing to say she actually liked the name anyway. "He looks like you anyway."
"I don't know," he said after taking a careful look.
Sarutobi watched the two lovers' banter. Normally he would have been happy, but there was something else on his mind. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be stopping Kyuubi?"
"I am…at least I have several shadow clones finishing the preparations," he said as he looked at Anko with concern, her exhausted look worried him.
"Preparations? I thought you would take Gamabunta to fight Kyuubi."
"That won't work alone, if by some miracle we manage to kill Kyuubi, he would only return on the next full moon. A Tailed Beast isn't something so easily destroyed, you know, especially Kyuubi. The ninja who died now would only have died for a short reprieve so that others will die soon as well. There is only one hope to ensure Konoha's safety for years to come. The only thing that's missing is one component."
Sarutobi noticed Anko looking at her son sadly after that statement and he suddenly realized something. "You are going to use that technique aren't you! On your own son?"
He looked back and forth between the two and realized that Anko was well aware of what Kayaku had planned.
"We've already talked about it," Kayaku explained. "After Kyuubi's first attacks on a neighboring village last month I realized the best way to stop him was to create a Jinchuuriki, but that required sealing him inside a newborn child. The technique I'll use will use my soul as sacrifice for sealing the Tailed Beast, but to save Konoha, that is what I must do as Hokage."
Sarutobi didn't agree, "I more than anyone in this village understand the duties of the Hokage, but this doesn't require you to give up your own child."
Anko shook her head and argued, "He won't be a weapon of mass destruction like those others Jinchuuriki. He'll be okay. I understand…"
"You don't! Kayaku, with you gone you won't be able to protect Anko anymore. The Council would not allow someone with Anko's history to raise a Jinchuuriki, even if it is her own son. They would separate them, a Jinchuuriki means power and Orochimaru demonstrated the worse use of power in this village. They wouldn't risk Orochimaru's student wouldn't try to abuse that power."
"But I wouldn't!" Anko eyed Kayaku in shock, she hadn't thought about it. She thought her baby would be the only piece of Kayaku she would have left and even that would be taken away.
"They don't know that, not until you prove yourself, which may take time, years even. Kayaku, if you do this to your own son, you leave him without a parent and to face the effect the demon will have on his personality alone."
Kayaku watched Sarutobi with his sharp blue eyes and spoke with confident words. "A Tailed Beast can eat at the personality of its container, but my seal should truly imprison Kyuubi safely within my son while giving him the abilities to protect himself. However, just in case, I know the stronger the personality of the container the stronger he can protect himself from the Tailed Beast, or else he could go on a killing spree."
Sarutobi argued desperately, "You can't guarantee a child will have a strong personality."
"No, I can't, but I have faith in my son because of his parents."
Sarutobi looked at them both and realized how true the statement was. Kayaku was a stubborn hardworking genius, a man unlike he had ever seen, and Anko was an exuberant loudmouth kunoichi with a strong will to survive.
"Kayaku, for as long as I have known you, you wished to create your clan, but when I made you my successor I knew I was taking that away from you. Anko, I was the one who placed you as Orochimaru's student. I hoped that you would be capable of changing him for the better, but I was too blind to see how he was changing you. However, when you both came together to make your own family, I was happy. Myself and the people of Konoha would not blame you if you choose to use another child when you are about to sacrifice your eternal soul for them."
"How could I ask a family for their newborn child in place of my own? Do I just take it because I'm the Hokage? I don't think it should work that way."
Anko leaned harder against Kayaku, "If you did that, you would be no better than Orochimaru."
"Anko," the former Hokage tried again. "By doing this you are giving up your son."
"Sarutobi-sama, I have been a part of taking many lives away from Konoha. If by giving up my chance at motherhood, I give us the chance to save many more lives, then I can do it."
"Don't make this about Orochimaru! You can find your penance some other way. This is a terrible burden, on yourself and your child."
"I trust Kayaku. I know he would do anything to protect Naruto. I've already given him my permission. I won't take it back." She hugged her child one more time, he was now sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Sarutobi couldn't argue anymore. Their minds were made up and if he were thinking as Hokage, he would have done the same. Yet, here he was nearly an old man watching a young family about to split itself apart for Konoha. He didn't have the heart to disturb their last moments together.
The commotion outside broke the silence.
Anko kissed her child on the forehead and handed him over to his father. Her voice broke with barely constrained tears, "You need to go now."
Kayaku stood back up, but leaned down and kissed Anko one last time. The tears finally broke out and fell down her cheeks. No goodbyes were spoken, the words were too difficult, but the looks on their faces were heartbreaking for Sarutobi. Their fingers intertwined one last time, before it was over.
Another thunderous growl from the nearby Kyuubi, prompted them to break their goodbye kiss. Kayaku walked toward the door with his son in his arms, his back to them both.
"Sarutobi-sama, promise me that you will watch over them."
"You didn't even have to ask," he whispered. His heart heavy with sadness from the scene he was watching.
"Naruto is also making a sacrifice as well and because he cannot give us his permission, this sacrifice makes him a hero to every life in Konoha that he will save."
With that, he was gone.
Her body shuddered with broken sobs. She hadn't forgotten all of those memories, but seeing it fresh in her mind again and not as something that she hid in the corner of her mind, brought new fresh pain to her.
However, the most painful were the things taken away from her, by Orochimaru, by fate, and most of all by her own choice. All she could do was let loose a scream that transcended her own anguish.
Next Chapter: Trap Revealed
Author's Note: It has never been revealed when Rin died, but back in my second chapter I mentioned Kakashi was alone after the Fourth's death, so I had to stick with my own continuity. So in this story Rin died in the war.
I created the Immoral Snakeskin Sealing Technique. The whole wrapping her in bandages was like the Egyptian way of making people immortal by turning them into mummies. The snakeskin name is to tie it to Orochimaru for the snake motif and the fact that Anko externally isn't aging, but her insides might be aging or worse. Kind of like a snake sheds his old skin to look brand new underneath, only she doesn't actually shed her skin, it just stays brand new looking all the time. In fact, that is really a nightmare for her.
Anko wearing an orange kimono actually was inspired by her wearing an orange kimono in one of the series openings (the one with all the kunoichi wearing kimonos). I realize the TV series doesn't mean anything, but I liked that she was wearing the color that Naruto seemed to like.
Tsunade's technique came about because I wanted to get around the labor scene, but I wanted the conversations before and after. In addition, it gave a nice explanation why Anko didn't even notice a physical change after her memory was blocked. A combination of the medical technique and the skin that never grew old left her looking normal afterwards. I used hair as a medium from when Shizune was healing Neji.
I left out the Third actually blocking Anko's memories. I thought it was much more emotional just to leave it as the Fourth left with Naruto.
Version 1.0
1.0: Original