Let's start this from the beginning
Swordsmen of the Mist
X
Anko knew that six years was a long time, but it still caught her off-guard when Itachi appeared next to her on Aoda's head and she saw just how much he had changed since she last saw him. Gone was the weenie little seven years old she had said goodbye to when she left Konoha to go on her journey, replaced by the teenager she saw now.
However, no matter how much he might have changed, she instantly realized he was still very much the Itachi she remembered. Sure, the lines on his face were deeper than a few years ago, he now wore a Jōnin uniform instead of his simple back top and beige pants, and he was taller than before, but the look in his eyes -weird Sharingan muster aside- hadn't changed one bit.
(Although she wouldn't admit it out loud, Anko was glad that he wasn't quite as tall as she yet. The idea of him towering over her instead of the other way around annoyed her more than she would like to admit.)
Someone who hadn't changed in all that time she hadn't seen him, on the other hand, was Orochimaru.
Anko felt the anger in the pit of her stomach stir at the sight of him and only grow stronger by the presence of her former teammate at his side, but she swallowed it down. Now wasn't the time to let her emotions get the better of her. Besides, there was something else she needed to take care of first before she could devote herself to taking care of the two traitors in front of her. It wasn't easy, but after waiting for several years already, she could be patient for a few more minutes.
"Anko, what are you doing here?"
Although it didn't show on his face aside from a slight widening of his eyes, the genuine surprise in Itachi's voice made her grin. Weren't the situation so grim right now, she would thoroughly enjoy the rare occasion of having caught him completely by surprise.
"Well," she drawled, just a little bit smug. "A helpful little snake told me that a certain Sannin was causing trouble in this area, so I thought I give it a look. I didn't expect to run into any old friends, though."
"So you decided to seek out Orochimaru the first chance you got without telling anyone?"
"You could at least try to act a little bit more thankful that I'm here now to save your ass, you know."
Contrary to her words, her grin grew only wider; of course the first thing he would do was reprimanding her.
"I am thankful for your aid, but that doesn't make your decision any less reckless."
Anko rolled her eyes in an extravagant manner to not only express her thoughts on that matter but also to subtly check the area for more enemies. "It's not like I planned to actually confront him once I found him." She then tilted her head in mock consideration. "You know, now that I think about it, the only reason I do so now is that you were obviously in trouble, so one could claim that me being here right now is your fault."
To be fair, when she first got her lead onto her former sensei, she did plan to fight -and kill- him. However, once her emotions had cooled down somewhat, she realized what a terrible idea that was. As much as she had improved over the last six years, she wasn't arrogant enough to believe she could take him on by herself quite yet. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't find out his location, bring the information back to Konoha, and then join the team that would doubtlessly send to deal with him, right?
Never would she have expected to find a team already present, even less so one that included her teammate.
Itachi opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by the silky voice of Orochimaru. "Well, if that isn't Anko-chan. What a nice surprise! I just mentioned how sad it is that the rest of our linage wasn't here. Say, you didn't happen to bring Yukio as well, did you?"
Although they had been talking, both she and Itachi had kept most of their attention on him in case he used the opportunity to attack them. After all, if he attacked them with the expectation of catching them by surprise, they might turn the table on him instead; no matter how small this advantage might be, it was still better than nothing and they needed to take whatever edge they could get their hands on.
The knowledge that the two of them could still silently communicate and agree on a plan like this even now sent a surge of elation through her veins before she concentrated back on their current situation and sent a glare right at the Sannin.
"Unfortunately, I did not," she said, her voice dark. "I'm sure he will be disappointed when he hears that we took care of you without him."
Orochimaru chuckled, but it was Nakamura who replied. "It seems you're still as arrogant as ever, Anko," he said while adjusting his glasses. "You can't possibly think the two of you will be enough to beat not only Orochimaru-sama but me as well, can you?"
"To be honest, I didn't really consider you as enough of a threat to include you in any of my thoughts. It's not like your presence will change anything about the outcome, after all."
While Anko presented a tough appearance, inwardly she didn't know what to feel. She had always hoped that Nakamura didn't run away with Orochimaru willingly, that he had been kidnapped and pulled along without his consent, so him being so openly antagonistic now felt like a slap to her face while also making her feel both angry and sad. On the other hand, a part of her was relieved that he wasn't just another victim of their sensei's crimes. At least this way, things were straightforward; he was their enemy and needed to be treated as such, nothing more and nothing less.
Nakamura took an angry step towards the edge of the slope. "If you think you're still stronger than I am, you're wrong. I-"
"'I trained a lot and became much more powerful than you could ever imagine'," Anko said with an intentionally terrible imitation of his voice. "Is that what you're going to say? Because if it is, don't bother."
"You-"
"Don't let her rile you up, Nakamura," Orochimaru interrupted him, the hard look in his eyes belying the softness of his voice. "I don't have any use of you if you're distracted."
He sent one more heated look her way before visibly collecting himself. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
The Sannin nodded with a satisfied smirk on his face before turning his gaze back towards them. "Now that this is settled, why don't we discuss your terms of surrender?"
Now it was she who took an angry step forward, but before she could get very far, Itachi's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "Don't do anything rash, Anko."
"I know that!" She was aware that she acted without thinking sometimes, but the White Snake Sage had made very sure to beat some patience into her head. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trick!"
Anko thought he would fight her on that, but to her surprise, he took one look into her eyes before releasing her shoulder. "It seems the last six years have been good to you."
Much to her embarrassment, she felt herself flush at that. "H-hey, what are you saying? You're not Tanaka-sensei, so stop acting-"
The whistling sound of a thrown weapon made her stop mid-sentence and turn around to catch the kunai before it could hit her head, coincidentally distracting her enough to let the short darkening in Itachi's eyes at the mention of their sensei go unnoticed.
"Oh, are you feeling impatient now, Sensei?"
Orochimaru's face had turned from a mostly amused smirk to a more annoyed expression. "You know me too well, Anko-chan. I just don't like being ignored."
She smirked a bit at that, but instead of replying to him, she once again turned towards her teammate while keeping the Sannin at the edge of her sight. "Itachi," she said. "I found Kakashi on my way here. He has been injured and needs medical care. I did some first aid, but I don't know any healing techniques and didn't have the means to do more than that."
He obviously understood what she was implying immediately. "You want to fight them on their own?"
"Only until you got him fixed up." While saying that, she used her body to hide her right hand while secretly flashing him the hand signs for 'distraction', 'regroup', and 'retreat'. "I would prefer it if you could hurry with that, though. It would look bad on your resume if you only got back here after I already beat them up."
Maybe the two of them could actually win this fight, but the odds weren't exactly in their favour. Especially considering Itachi had clearly already exhausted about a third of his chakra and suffered at least some minor injuries if the way he held his arms were anything to go by. No, as much as she hated to admit it, now wasn't the right time to take care of her traitorous former teammates.
However, Kakashi's condition needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. His injuries weren't life-threatening but still very bad. According to him, Itachi knew some medical Ninjutsu, so the best course of action right now was for him to fix Kakashi up enough so that he wouldn't be a burden and then find a way to flee from here.
They didn't have much time to discuss, so it was fortunate that Itachi only needed a second or two to come to a decision. "I trust that you can survive until I get back here."
It was formulated as a statement, but she heard the underlining concern for what it was.
"Of course I can!" she said with her best confident grin. "I didn't spend the last six years just sitting idly and twiddling my thumbs, you know!"
There was no need for any more words between them. Trusting her decision, Itachi nodded before vanishing in a shunshin. Curiously, the deformed body that laid on the ground a few metres to Aoda's right vanished a second later as well.
Anko returned her full attention back towards the two men on the slope above while also beginning to make the necessary preparations for the fight to come, making note specifically of Orochimaru's confident smile.
"Oh?" she said, raising a single eyebrow. "Not gonna run after him? I don't remember you being someone who let their 'prey' escape."
Unfortunately, rather than being riled up by her words, he only appeared amused. "You Konoha-nin are so very predictable. You're always trying to play the hero and save your teammates. As long as you're here, Anko-chan, I don't need to worry about him getting away." His grin then widened to a degree that made even her uncomfortable. "Trust me, my dear. At the end of the day, his eyes will be mine."
Yeah, she thought. I don't think so.
"However," Orochimaru continued. "I agree that it's somewhat bothersome that he took my test subject with him." He turned his head. "Nakamura…"
His back immediately straightened under his master's attention. "I understand," he said. "I will take care of that immediately."
"Hey, what-"
Without as much as a glance at her, he rushed into the direction Itachi had vanished earlier.
Anko wanted to jump after him or at least follow him with her eyes, but she didn't dare to move around. Even just turning her head was no option. It was dangerous enough to just speak while doing what she was doing; any more than that, however, and failure would be guaranteed.
"Oh?" Orochimaru asked in a mocking imitation of her voice. "Are you not going to run after him? I didn't think you would allow either of us to escape our righteous punishment at your hands."
She scoffed. "I can just as well go after him once I took care of you."
"Is that so?" he chuckled. "Then let us hope that your comrades will still be alive by then."
"You should know better than to think he can beat any of them, Sensei."
Surprisingly, he agreed. "Fair enough, but as long as he stops them from doing anything to that girl, his death won't be meaningless. Everything else is secondary."
Anko actually felt bad for Nakamura after hearing Orochimaru dismiss his life so easily, but then she remembered that he, too, was a traitor and discarded that stupid sentiment.
"What's so special about her anyway?" she asked. "Don't you have enough prisoners to torture?"
He tilted his head and adopted an expression of sorrow that was so fake that it made Anko grit her teeth. "I do, of course, but not all of them provide such magnificent results as she does. It's also important to get out as much information as possible from those subjects that survive the initial procedure, you see, and with how little time this one has left, it's all the more essential to get her back and continue my research before it's too late."
Her eyes narrowed, but Orochimaru continued before she could do as much as open her mouth, apparently predicting her question.
"The human body is host to so much energy, Anko-chan. Energy that rests patiently in every cell of our bodies, content with being inactive until it's needed to keep us alive instead of being available at our beck and call. And once it runs out, we die." His face momentarily deterred into one of disgust before returning to its default state. "Wouldn't you agree that this is such a waste? Every day, countless people's lives are cut short long before they can fully exploit the full extent of their bodies, and even those that are still alive can't reach their full potential as long as they can't access what lies hidden in their cells. Just imagine what humans could do with that kind of power!"
The realization of what he had done made her blood run cold. "You transformed her life force into chakra?"
"Isn't it amazing? A civilian girl with no talent to become a shinobi managed to gain the power to face the much-celebrated prodigy of the Uchiha and not only stay alive but actually push him back for a time!" He chuckled in a mixture of amusement over her disgust and glee over his successful experiment. "The exchange ratio is not yet as effective as it could be and the unfortunate side effect of losing one's mind is regrettable, but such things can be solved with time. Now, finding a way to stop the life force from continuously escaping once the metaphorical plug has been taken out on the other hand…"
Anko knew what crimes Orochimaru had been accused of, knew of his cruel and vile experiments on innocents and even babes he had carried out, but there was a difference between theoretically knowing about such things and listening to him talking about them similar to how you would talk about an academy assignment. To listen to him now, knowing that she could have continued to study under him for who-knew-how-long had things gone just a little bit different, made her sick.
Not only that, but it also made her furious.
She knew better than to let her emotions control her actions these days, but dammit was it tempting to just let her anger take over.
"Hey, Aoda," she said, her bland voice standing in vivid contrast to the turmoil she felt on the inside. "I'm ready."
"Please don't do anything stupid, Anko-sama."
It was clear to her that he wasn't any less worried than he had been when she first convinced him to tell her what was wrong with him, but at least he understood that now wasn't the time for long arguments. She was thankful for that.
"Of course not, idiot. And what did I tell you about not calling me -sama?"
Aoda hissed in what was the equivalent of a nervous chuckle for a human. "I will stop to do so if you survive this confrontation, Anko-sama."
She gave him a vicious grin, knowing that he could hear it in her voice even if he couldn't see it. "Deal."
"Are you quite done?" Orochimaru spoke up, his arms crossed and his mouth curved up in a mocking smirk. "For your sake, I hope whatever plan you have come up with will be worth it. I would hate to have been as patient as I was only to be disappointed." His grin gained an edge to it. "And you know how much I hate to be disappointed."
"Don't worry, Sensei. I promise this will blow your mind!"
On her unspoken command, Aoda vanished in a gigantic puff of white smoke that instantly swallowed her in it, hiding her from Orochimaru's eyes.
"Katon: Karyū Endan!" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)
Barely a second after she had vanished in the smoke, a high-pressure stream of fire shot out from it that quickly formed the body of a long, serpentine dragon while its flames became white in colour as its heat increased.
The attack smashed right through the ground where he stood, melting earth and stone alike as everything in its path was destroyed in the blink of an eye.
"A powerful technique indeed, but useless all the same if it doesn't actually hit its target."
Orochimaru, however, had evaded it by simply jumping high into the air.
The smug grin on his face didn't waver as he observed the destruction her technique had brought, and at first, that didn't change even when she suddenly appeared behind him, but the moment he turned around and caught sight of her, his smirk faltered and his eyes widened in surprise. "You-"
His reaction was understandable. After all, her appearance would catch almost everyone by surprise, especially when one knew what it meant.
With two small horns growing from each side of her head, parts of her skin becoming more scalelike, dark markings forming around her eyes that had black veins twisting away from them, and green chakra flicking in and out of existence around her, she certainly made quite the curious sight.
Also, in her personal opinion, she looked pretty badass. Sure, her fingernails growing sharper and more claw-like kinda sucked, but other than that, this form was pretty amazing.
However, the thing that she thought probably threw Orochimaru off the most was the fact that her eyes were now exact matches of his.
Most of these changes would cease to exist once her mastery over the natural chakra increased, but for now, they were to stay, and Anko wasn't too mad about that. After all, they were proof that she had indeed learned how to use Sage Mode.
Furthermore, they had just proven their worth by catching her opponent off-guard enough to allow her to break through his guard and connect a kick with his chest before he could raise his arms in defence, catapulting him straight to the ground where his impact caused a loud explosion that stirred up dirt and rock and created a big crater.
Anko wasn't done yet, though.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)
An orb of flames much bigger than anything she could have ever imagined producing a few years ago crashed into her former sensei's motionless body barely a second after he had crashed to the ground, instantaneously filling the area with the smell of burned flesh.
Anko wasn't fooled by that, however, as her increased sensory abilities warned her about the presence moving through the underground, meaning she was well-prepared when the ground broke open and Orochimaru emerged, his lower body replaced by that of a snake and his mouth unnaturally wide open. A second later, a snake shot out from it that then opened its maw as well to summon a sword that aimed right at her.
Instead of foolishly trying to dodge it when she was still mid-air, she instead twisted around and caught the weapon between the soles of her feet before putting all her power into throwing it back towards the ground, the force behind that move pulling first the snake and then Orochimaru himself with it.
By the time her feet touched the ground, Orochimaru had already used his own brand of substitution technique and stood once more on his own two legs, no worse to wear from their previous bout.
The only change from before was that now, his face spotted an excited and -probably more importantly- downright greedy expression.
"Sage Mode," he muttered barely loud enough for Anko to hear before raising his voice to address her directly. "Never would I have imagined that you were strong enough to master that technique. Had I known you held such potential, I would have taken you with me when I left the village."
Anko didn't have any time to waste considering she could keep this up for only seven minutes at a time, so she pushed off the ground. "Then I will count myself fortunate that you didn't!"
She reached him in an instant and threw a fist at his face that he blocked almost absentmindedly before bringing his knee upwards to knock the wind out of her. However, instead of just letting that happen, Anko jumped into the air and twisted with no regard to the arm that was still in Orochimaru's grip, catching him by surprise once more when her arm twisted with her as if there were no bones in it. The kick she then followed up with while still in mid-air missed his head but forced him to let go of her fist and back away a bit.
"Oh, but think of all the strength you could have gained had you continued to study under my tutelage."
Not wanting to give him time to rest, she rushed after him before smoothly falling into a crouch and trying to sweep his legs away. He simply dodged that by taking another step back before bringing a heel down to where her head would have been had she not jumped away just in time, smashing the ground into pieces.
"I only grew this strong because you left, and because I came into contact with people I would have never met had I stayed your student!"
It was he who rushed at her and threw a punch to her head this time. Anko didn't catch it like he did before, however, and instead redirected it to the side before sending a roundhouse kick to his chest that he blocked by crossing his arms in front of him. Then it was his turn to throw a kick at her, but she evaded it by ducking under it and breaking into his guard that that way, only for him to avoid her follow-up punch by flipping over her and landing behind her back where he immediately avoided her mule kick with a mere tilt of his head.
"Then maybe you should join me now and combine what you have learnt so far with what I have to offer."
Jumping around in one fluid motion, she aimed a slash with the edge of her hand at his throat that he redirected away from himself with a simple slap. Unfortunately, that unbalanced her enough to make it impossible to dodge his following kick to her chest, forcing her to raise her other arm to block it. He had evidently not put too much power into that attack, though, allowing Anko to stop herself from being pushed away more than a metre or so, but the force behind her still made her teeth clench.
"You have nothing to offer that I could be interested in!"
"Maybe I should just bring you with me without your consent, then."
When he rushed at her this time, he was notably faster than before, and it were only her enhanced senses and instincts rather than any conscious decision that made her duck her head under his fist and back away from the blow of his elbow. However, there wasn't anything she could do when he grabbed the hem of her top and threw her away, making her bounce off the ground several times before finally coming to a stop on all fours with several scratches to show for it.
Orochimaru was already rushing at her again when she looked up, one arm raised in preparation for some kind of technique.
Desperate to not allow him to take control over their fight, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
"Sen'ei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
"Sen'ei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
Eight white snakes shot out from his sleeves and headed straight for her, mirroring the three that shot from hers.
One couldn't be blamed for thinking that she was at a disadvantage because of these numbers alone, but there was one glaring difference: while Orochimaru's snakes were normal specimen aside from their colour, hers were constructs of pure, poisonous green chakra. Consequently, when the two techniques met, her snakes tore through his like a knife through butter before moving on to pierce right through Orochimaru's chest.
A second later, his body dissolved into mud.
She jumped around a moment before he spoke up again from where he stood a dozen metres away from her.
"I never quite understood the pride many teachers take in the successes of their students," he said, his breathing calm and no hair out of place. "However, watching you now, I can't help but think that I get it now. At least to some degree, that is."
"Don't try to take credit for my achievements when the only thing you have contributed to them was running away with your tail between your legs."
"Yes," he chuckled, completely ignoring the second part of her reply. "If someone deserves credit, then it's the White Snake Sage. You did well in seeking her out and convincing her to teach you. Sage Mode is a powerful asset, after all."
Anko snorted. "Is that jealously I hear in your voice, Sensei? It must be frustrating to have searched for Ryūchi Cave for ages only to find that you're unable to master its technique because of all the changes you made to your body that you were oh so proud of."
For all that these modifications doubtlessly made him stronger, they were at its core a perversion of nature. It was only logical that such a body wouldn't be able to use a technique that required the moulding of natural chakra as Sage Mode did.
Unfortunately, rather than being angered by her comment like she hoped he would, Orochimaru just shrugged. "A temporary setback, I guarantee you. Nothing that can't be overcome with time."
"Well, too bad that your time is up, then!"
The respite had been short, but it was enough for her to regain her breath and come up with another plan now that the straightforward approach had proven to be ineffective. With that in mind, she quickly formed three hand seals.
"Senpō: Hakugeki no Jutsu!" (Sage Art: White Rage Technique)
Anko took one deep breath before expelling a red dragon-like entity with an orb in its front claws that rushed towards Orochimaru who didn't waste any time and retreated backwards. However, that quickly proved useless when the dragon didn't actually follow him but coiled around itself and released both a blinding light and a deafening sound that made the air in the area oscillate.
One advantage of her current form was that she could close her cornea and thus negate the effect of the bright light, but that was something she suspected her opponent could do as well. What he most definitively couldn't do, on the other hand, was coating her body in a protective layer of natural energy that at least partially protected her from the vibrations in the air. Together with the earplugs she had made specifically for this technique, Anko was as well protected from the effects of her own technique as humanly possible.
The same couldn't be said for Orochimaru.
While even the lesser effect the vibrations had on her body were extremely painful and made her feel as if she was walking through quicksand when she moved, she at least still could move. He, however, was very much paralyzed, and judging from the combination of pain and surprise on his face, he hadn't expected anything like that to happen at all.
Ignoring the agony that shot through her veins with every yet so small movement she did, Anko rushed towards him and drove a fist into his stomach with enough power to make him gasp. Not stopping there, she then sent him flying into the air with a kick to his chin before jumping after him and continuing to rain blows down on him while he was defenceless.
One could think that it would be smarter to try cutting off his head or something like that, but that assumption would be wrong. Anko knew of his ability to just shrug off most if not any physical damage and thus didn't even try such an approach.
With that logic, dealing blunt trauma didn't appear any smarter, but that was only the case when one ignored a very important detail:
She didn't just hit him but also tried to infuse natural chakra into her fists and insert it into his body with every punch. That wasn't a technique she had mastered yet, but she hoped that even the less than stellar result of her attempt would be enough if she hit him often enough.
After all, just like with poison, there was a certain amount from which on even a relatively harmless substance became absolutely lethal.
Unfortunately, it was just when she began to think that maybe she could actually win this fight when Orochimaru somehow twisted out of the way of one of her punches, grabbed her, rotated them both until it was he who was on top and her who was with her back to the ground, and sent her downwards with a kick to her chest that knocked all the air out of her lungs.
That effect was intensified tenfold when she crashed into the hard earth and every part of her body cried out in pain. She didn't even feel it when her own technique stopped, the new pain that replaced its effect on her being too omnipresent in her mind to notice.
Still, even when every fibre in her body protested, she fought herself back to her feet in just about five seconds without even intentionally thinking about it, her instincts telling her that staying down would mean certain death.
Her blurry sight immediately fell upon Orochimaru who watched her from a safe distance with an appraising look in his eyes, quickly followed by the empty hull that lied next to him on the ground, indicating that he had used his substitution technique once more.
Interestingly enough, there were still some light bruises to be seen on his skin that should have healed immediately when he shed his skin. They were already healing, of course, and doing so quickly, but the fact alone that they were still there at all meant that her technique had done something. Now if she could just master it completely, she might actually stand a chance.
"That was quite the interesting technique. I never had the chance to study Sage Art attacks, so I'm thankful for the opportunity to observe them first-hand."
Anko scowled, ignoring the taste of blood in her mouth. Just how had he escaped her attack?
Her eyes widened when her eyes fell on the empty hull again and noticed the trails of blood trickling from its ears. No way, she thought. Don't tell me… "Did you direct your chakra into your ears to burst your eardrums?"
He gave her a smile that almost appeared to be proud of all things. "Well deducted, Anko-chan. I'm glad to see that it's not only your fighting prowess that has improved but your mind as well."
She ignored him, however. Such a simple trick and yet so effective. Of all the ways I imagined that technique could be countered, that wasn't one of them. In fact, she had come up with not much at all; the White Rage Technique had seemed like one of these overpowered jutsu that were almost unbeatable to her when she first learned about it. To have it beaten the very first time she used it was honestly rather disheartening.
What was worse, she now had only a little bit more than two minutes left during which she could use Sage Mode. If she couldn't create an opening to flee in that time, this would be it for her.
Anko had no time to continue that line of thinking because her instincts suddenly screamed for her to move, and when her brain caught up with her body a second later, she found herself crouching flat on the ground after having just dodged Orochimaru's slash with a sword that he got from somewhere.
"You shouldn't get distracted during a fight," he purred. "That was one of the first things I taught you, remember?"
Not bothering with a reply, Anko tried to use the opportunity to throw another chakra coated fist into his stomach only to find herself thrown into the air when he brought up his knee and connected it with her chin.
Before she could even fully understand what had happened, another kick made her fly away until she came to an abrupt stop against a tree.
She barely avoided the blade that would have decapitated her but was helpless against the sweep of his leg that sent her flying once more.
This time, she managed to twist herself while still in mid-air and land on her feet which then allowed her to jump into the air and flash through hand seals a second before her opponent's heel crashed into the ground where she stood mere moments ago.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)
The fireball had barely engulfed Orochimaru before he broke straight through it and appeared right in front of her, the only sign that he had just jumped through flames being the melted skin on his face that she knew would be gone the next time he substituted himself.
All she could do was to raise her arms to lessen the blow when he sent her back to the ground with another kick.
He was just playing with me, Anko realized grimly while he continued to throw her around as he pleased. He could have ended this fight the entire time and only didn't do it because he was curious about what I can do. Even now he's not taking me seriously at all. She had known that he was stronger than her, of course. She had held no illusions about that fact. However, she now understood that the gap between them was much larger than she could have ever predicted.
If she wanted to come out of this alive, she needed to act now, and she needed to do it in a way he didn't expect.
The next time he stabbed at her with his sword, she didn't try to avoid it completely and instead pushed it aside while staying where she was, ignoring the burning pain when it cut her at her hip. Furthermore, she then jumped straight at him without even bothering to do anything against the fist that slammed into her stomach.
While the force behind it almost made her throw up, she willed through it and kept her concentration. After all, she hadn't gone through all of that to get close to him only to waste the opportunity because of a little pain.
"Sen'ei Jashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
Two snakes made of chakra emerged from her sleeves and immediately tried to wrap around Orochimaru, and while he barely managed to avoid that, he was momentarily forced to back away. That, on the other hand, allowed her to from hand seals freely.
"Senpō: Muki Tensei!" (Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation)
That wasn't an easy technique, nor was it one that Anko had fully mastered yet, but she could use it relatively reliable as long as she didn't move around and concentrated on it entirely.
Natural chakra filled the area while she breathed life into the ground, and a second later, it rose up and began following Orochimaru around while moving more like a liquid than actual earth.
His only mildly surprised expression quickly changed into genuine shock when more and more earth began to come alive and tried to catch him. Anko couldn't fault him for that; the way that this technique allowed her to control her environment was strange and unique, manipulating the elements beyond what was considered advanced for even Ninjutsu experts.
It was probably this unexpected extend of her ability that managed to surprise Orochimaru enough to capture him in a ball of hardened earth several metres above the ground.
She wasn't done yet, however.
"Let's see how you dodge this, Sensei!"
Anko summoned every last bit of natural energy left to her as she rushed through hand seals one last time.
"Senpō: Orochi Ikazuchi!" (Sage Art: Great Snake Lightning)
Lightning wasn't a chakra nature she was very proficient in, but she had painstakingly practised this one technique for ages to access as much of its potential as she could. Consequently, when two cyan lightning-shaped snakes shot from her arms, they were gigantic in size and destroyed everything in its path with laughable ease.
The explosion that engulfed the ball Orochimaru was imprisoned in was a sight to behold, and Anko actually forgot to run away for a few seconds as she watched it from afar. However, she caught herself quickly and instantly turned around to run away.
Her legs felt like jelly and the exhaustion that came after losing the energy that Sage Mode provided made every step feel like an ordeal, but she couldn't let that stop her. As much as she would like to believe her attack had killed Orochimaru, she wasn't foolish enough to truly think so or even wait and find out.
Hopefully it was at least enough to give me plenty of time to get away, though. That had been her strongest offensive technique, so it should have done at least some damage, right? Now I need to catch up with Itachi and his team before getting away from here as fast as possible.
As if in reaction to these thoughts, a head suddenly burst out of the ground a few metres ahead of her.
Anko couldn't do anything but widen her eyes before Orochimaru sank his teeth into her neck.
Cursed Seals
At some point, Orochimaru discovered that the body of one of his subjects has an innate ability to passively absorb natural energy. Furthermore, it apparently also secretes special bodily fluids that react to contact with senjutsu chakra, causing immediate physical alternations with further controlled shape-shifting quality to the user's body, along with greatly enhanced physical capabilities (see Itachi's report of his confrontation with one of Orochimaru's test subjects for more information). By isolating an enzyme from that subject's special fluids and mixing it with his own senjutsu chakra, Orochimaru created a set of cursed seals he can brand others with.
One is the Cursed Seal of Earth, which seems to be the variant Itachi's opponent had been burdened with. While strengthening its carrier's body and increasing their charka immensely, it seems to have much stronger side-effects than its counterpart (see attached list of observed side-effects and weaknesses for reference), most notably the continuous decrease of life energy that ultimately and unavoidably results in death.
The other Juinjutsu, the one I have been branded with, is the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Fortunately, this one lacks the aforementioned loss of life energy, meaning I don't run danger of dying any time soon. However, some of my tests seem to indicate that there is the possibility of it being in some way connected to Orochimaru himself (see attached test results for reference). Apart from the pain and temporary inability to mould chakra in the immediate aftermath of my confrontation with Orochimaru, there seem to be no other side-effects to this seal, but only further tests will show whether this is actually true or not.
It's impossible to say with absolute certainty why he created these seals, but my understanding of Orochimaru's character and the results of the primary tests make me believe that…
- Excerpt from Anko Mitarashi's first monthly report to the Hokage regarding the ongoing research into Orochimaru's Junijutsu
IMPORTANT NOTE: It has come to my attention that someone is publishing this story on another website without my knowledge, let alone my permission. I'm only uploading this on AO3 and FFN, so if you find it on any other website, I would appreciate it if you could report it.
On another note, I want to use this opportunity to thank both all the anonymous reviewers and those that have disabled PMs on their account for their feedback. I might not be able to reply to you, but I'm thankful for your support all the same! :)