A/N: Thank you guys for all the feedback you gave me. I'm glad to see that most of you enjoyed the recent chapter. :) And from now on, in the beginning of every chapter in both this story and 'Broken', I will respond to reviews or questions that I feel should be addressed to, if I receive any for that particular chapter.
Doom Marine 54 - "That was fucking stupid, you don't tell someone who just murdered their friend and loved one to get over it, what a rushed and sloppy way to resolve the issue. Learn more about people before you try to right a character piece."
My response - Um... One cannot simply 'right' a character piece. Lol. I'm just kidding, I know what you meant. But I thank you for your criticism. However, I feel that you missed a few points in the story. First off, the way I would have addressed Naruto's issue in this story is not the same way Anko did in the last chapter. So when you say 'you don't tell someone who murdered their friend and loved one to get over it', it wasn't me that said it, I was capturing my view of Anko's persona and putting her response into the story. Secondly, Anko wasn't rushing Naruto to get over the death of Sakura, she was basically telling him to get over himself, and to handle the situation better, rather than throwing his life away pathetically. I made sure that she stated that in the story, as well. And third, when you say 'learn more about people before you try to 'right' a character piece', are you suggesting that all people are like Anko and Naruto, who are fictional characters in an anime, who are also ninja that hop around at insane speeds, performing missions, and performing jutsu? I think I know a bit about modern day people, if I do say so myself.
And by the way, saying things like "That was fucking stupid," makes your review sound a bit harsh and intimidating, don't you think? Don't get me wrong, your review in no way affects or will affect me emotionally. I welcome all criticism; I use and have used it to shape me into the writer that I am today by trying to see the story through your eyes and looking it over from there. And I completely understand that this is your opinion. But I think most people would agree that your review sounds a little... hostile. Like you're angry at what I wrote or something. I could be wrong, and I'm not accusing you of anything, but that's just my opinion on the review in general. However, I still thank you for your insight on that chapter and look forward to reading any concerns or criticism that you may post in the future. :)
Around Naruto, lingered an eerie echo of droplets of water hitting a water's surface. He also felt what felt like water around his feet and ankles.
Naruto knew where he was.
"Hi, Naruto-kun." Said a woman behind the cell in front of him. The first feaure of this woman was her firey-red hair. The second was her blood red eyes, with slitted, fox-like pupils. Featuring upon her gorgeous face was six whisker-like marks, three on each cheek. Her body and the kimono that fitted perfectly against it could easily strike envy into any woman that would see it.
Naruto sneered as she grinned at him, "Fuck off, Kyuubi. I really don't want to talk to you right now."
Kyuubi feined shock, "Naruto-kun...! I thought we've established a good relationship over the years!"
"Fuck you!" Naruto shouted, "It's because of you that Sakura-chan is dead! You killed her, you fucking bitch!"
Kyuubi grinned evilly, "So? And I'll do it again, gladly." Naruto was grinding his teeth now. "It was fun to rip her to shreds. It was more fun than that fight we had with Sasuke."
Just when Naruto was about to explode, he slowly managed to calm himself down. He was about to go berserk, but remembered what happened last time he let words like those get to him. There was still rage within him, just not beyond the surface.
Kyuubi saw this and thought that it'd be fun to pick on his nerves even more, "If it wasn't for that annoying jutsu that Yamato guy knows, I probably would have gotten to him next."
Naruto bit his tongue. He tried.
"Stop it!" He shouted, "I only gave you control to go after Orochimaru! Not my fucking teammates!"
Kyuubi rolled her eyes, "Oops?" She could see that this simple word made him begin to tremble with anger, "In my defense, I did manage to rough him up a bit. It's not my fault he got away."
Again, Naruto tried to calm himself down. It wasn't easy to ignore Kyuubi's words, let alone prevent them from striking his nerves.
"But you weren't supposed to hurt any allies, either." He said calmly with closed eyes.
The vixen raised an eyebrow, "And since when were you my master? Just because you contain me inside you, doesn't mean you have authority over me."
"But we had a deal."
"Deal?" She repeated, "No, no, what I said was that I'll take care of Orochimaru if you let me gain a bit of control. He got away, so I guess I didn't live up to my word." She shrugged, "Oh well. Still, you never said anything about me doing whatever I want once I had control."
Naruto took a very deep breath. Bottling in his anger was as easy as beating Tsunade in an arm wrestle.
"Even still, you took too much control! You didn't say that you were gonna take over like that."
"So I lied, big woop. And who's fault was it for even letting me gain that much control?" She asked with a teasing grin.
Naruto looked straight in her eyes, "Yours."
"Are you sure about that? Aren't you the almighty Naruto Uzumaki? You seemed to talk big when we first met. But now I feel like I could almost gain control whenever you want my power."
Naruto could hear the muscles in his jaw tightening up, "So how about I just never use your power again."
Kyuubi scoffed, "Please. We both know that you're shit without me and my power. You may think you're strong, but you're weak. Everything you've accomplished as a shinobi was thanks to me. You couldn't even beat Sasuke with my power, so how do you expect to get him back without it?"
Naruto remained quiet for a while. Every letter and word she sent his way was eating at him.
"I am strong..."
Kyuubi laughed at this, almost hysterically, "Are you kidding me? You can't even manage to hold me back when you get angry, and I'm in a fucking seal for crying out loud! It's like I said, you're weak without me. You need me. The only reason why I wasn't able to be free yesterday was because of that whore, Anko. I don't know how, but she snapped you out of that state you were in to let me convince you to let me free." She crossed her arms, "I was so close, too. But be that as it may, it doesn't change anything. You're still weak. My powers can give you the strength you need, however. All you have to do is-" she pointed at the middle of the cell, at the note attached to it, "-tear that stupid thing off. And I promise you, I can give you power beyond your wildest imagination."
Throughout Kyuubi's speech, Naruto's head was hanging so low, his bangs covered his eyes.
After a few seconds of silence, Naruto's breathing began to hitch, as if he were sobbing.
Then, just when Kyuubi was convince he was crying, Naruto raised his head, and a grin was shown on his features.
He wasn't crying. He was laughing.
"You must not know who I am, still." He said. Kyuubi narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. The Number One, Knuckleheaded shinobi of The Hidden Leaf Village. And if you think that I'll let some dumb slut of a fox convince me that I'm weak, you've got another thing coming."
She sneered.
"I'm am strong. Yeah, you may have helped me in the past, but that was because you had no choice. If I die, you're coming with me. You say that I need you, when the truth is, you need me. I may have my slip ups, and I may have trusted you when I shouldn't have before, but now I know never to do that again. You're the prisoner, and I'm the jailor. I'm using your powers to help me, and the fact that I am makes me stronger. However, since you're a kniving little bitch, I know now to use your powers only when I have to. I'm going to train, without using you. And I'm going to work on holding you back. I'll be damned if I'll let anyone, including you, keep me from becoming Hokage. Believe that shit, bitch."
Once Naruto finshed, Kyuubi slowly started to roll into fits of laughter. Her voice echoed throught the whole room.
"Ah, you sure got a lot of spunk, Naruto. I respect that. However, you'll see that no matter how hard you train, you won't be strong enough to achieve your dreams without using my power. It's only a matter of time. And until then, I'll be waiting for you to come back to me, and beg me to give you the strength you so desperately need." She taunted, stepping back into the shadows of the cell.
Naruto smirked, "We'll see, you dumb fox."
Naruto slowly started to drift back into reality, due to the spears of sunlight stabbing through his eyelids. He groggily raised himself up in the bed and rubbed his eye. He then held his head, as the blood in his head felt like it was pulsing, earning him mild pain.
He focused his eyes, and saw that he was not in his apartment. He was about to question why that was, until he remembered the events of what happened last night. He was in Anko's home.
He then faintly heard a toilet flush nearby, followed by the running water of an operating sink. He looked over once he saw a door open. It revealed Anko, who was still in her 'pajamas', which consisted of a slightly revealing black bra, along with a pair of navy blue sweatpants. Naruto had to try hard not to gawk at the cleavage of her amazing breasts.
She looks at him and grins, "Oh, finally awake?" She then chuckles a bit, "Got a hangover, huh?"
Naruto nodded painfully, "Yeah..." He answers, "What time is it?"
"A little past noon. You were out cold." She then heads into her kitchen, "You snore loudly in your sleep, by the way."
"Sorry." He apologized, as he moved, sitting on the side of her bed with both feet planted on the floor.
"It's okay, I do too." She says, "Sunny side up, or scrambled?"
"Huh?"
"Your eggs; you want them sunny side up, or scrambled?" She repeated.
"Oh, scrambled." He answered, "You're making breakfast for me?"
Anko shrugged, grabbing a few eggs from her fridge, "Yeah. It would be fucked up if I made myself breakfast without offering any for you." She then went into the fridge again and grabbed a cup. The door to the fridge was on Naruto's side, so he couldn't see what she was doing behind it. She closed it, and began walking toward him with a glass of orange juice.
"Here," she handed him the glass, along with two asprins, "I know you still probably have the taste of liquor on your tongue, and a killer headache."
He nodded, "Yeah, thanks." He said, taking the asprin along with the citric beverage. Anko walked back to the kitchen to resume her cooking.
"Um..." He mumbled after gulping down he last bit of juice, "I didn't wake you up in the middle of the night or anything, right?" He asked.
Anko shook her head, after grabbing butter and a pack of raw bacon out of the fridge, "Nah. I slept like a baby. You might find dry drool on your chest though."
Naruto looked down and saw that there was indeed dry saliva on his left pec. Anko gave him an innocent smile.
"My bad. I drool in my sleep, too."
Naruto felt awkward, "Er... It's fine..." He says, scratching the residue from off his skin.
"Hey, Naruto." She suddenly called, cracking the eggs and dropping the insides in the pan.
"Yeah?"
"Does anyone else besides us and Yamato know how your teammate died?"
A slight pain struck Naruto's heart as she said that. He wasn't mad at her for bringing it up though, his heart is just still very fragile.
"Um... No. I haven't told anyone, and Yamato promised not to tell anyone either."
"So what happened when you reported back to the Hokage?"
Naruto frowned, "I told Baa-chan that Orochimaru was the one that killed her..."
Anko nodded, now placing eight strips of bacon into the other pan, "I see. And what did she say?"
Naruto was about to answer, but if he had continued, he would have been majorly upset again, "I don't wanna talk about it."
The Jounin shrugged, "Fair enough."
Soon, they both ate the breakfast/lunch that Anko had served, and had cleaned themselves up. They were now dressed (with Naruto having to clean some of his odorly clothing), and ready for the day.
Anko put on her trench coat, "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked.
"We're gonna train. It'll be a productive way to get your mind off of things." She answered, opening her front door.
Naruto nodded, and followed Anko out the door.
Anko took Naruto to The Forest of Death, the place where he had his first interaction with her. This was also where he first met Orochimaru, where he had gotten eaten by a snake for the first time, and where Sasuke started... changing. Becoming more power hungry.
He had to admit, coming back here, looking at that high fence with the barbwire on top gave him some nostalgic memories.
Anko looked at him and grinned, "Brings back memories, huh?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. More bad ones than good, though."
"Is meeting me for the first time one of the bad ones?" She teased.
Naruto chuckled, "No. But if you asked me that before yesterday, I'd probably have a different answer."
Anko laughed and started walking toward the entrance, "Well, come on. We wont get any training done standing out here all day."
The Mitarashi and Uzumaki then entered the hazardous forest, with Anko locking the gate behind her. Naruto followed her deeper into the forest until they found a clearing.
"This seems like a good spot." Anko mumbles, turning to face Naruto. "But before we get started, "I have to ask you something."
"Sure." Said Naruto.
"You don't plan on using the Kyuubi's powers, do you?"
"In this training session?"
"No, in general."
Naruto shook his head, "No, never again. I don't want anything to do with the Kyuubi after what happened two days ago."
"I figured you'd say that." She says before sighing, "The thing about that is, I think you should use the Kyuubi's powers to your advantage. It can really be a trump card for the future."
"No," Naruto said. And from that response alone, she could tell he felt really strongly about this, "The Kyuubi's powers are far to dangerous. If I can turn on and attack my teammates while I'm like that, I don't want to every use that power again."
"I understand that," said Anko, "But the thing is, you view the Kyuubi to be a curse on you, when it can actually be a blessing. And maybe you should find a way to use that blessing to make you even stronger. I know you're strong already, Kakashi would always talk about you. But you have a demon sealed in you, and now it's probably a part of you, whether you like it or not."
"But I already told you; if it means that I can possibly hurt or kill anymore of my friends or comrades, then I don't want anything to do with it." He stated.
"I was getting to that. Have you ever considered learning how to control the Kyuubi's powers?"
"Control?" He repeated.
Anko nodded, "Mm-hmm. You've seen how strong the Kyuubi can make you. You've made Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, and my ex-sensei, run from battle. And yesterday, when I got you angry, I knew to back up off of you before I pushed you too far because I know that you could easily overpower me in that state. So if you trained yourself to control your emotions and actions while in that state, you could really become a major badass."
Naruto took Anko's words into deep consideration, "That... doesn't sound very possible."
"You can't make assumptions like that. In this world we live in, almost anything is possible. So just give it a shot."
"But... How can I go about doing it?" He asked. Anko shrugged.
"I dunno, I hardly know anything about you, the Kyuubi, or how you can learn to tame a demon's powers. But aren't you that perverted bastard's apprentice? And isn't he, like, a master of seals or something?" Naruto nodded, "So go to him for help. He's one of the Sannin, I'm sure he can figure something out."
"... I'll think about it." Naruto mumbles after a bit of deep thought.
"Good. Now lets get to the training. You can still train to be stronger without the Kyuubi." She shifted into a Hebi style fighting stance, while Naruto shifted into his own custom battle stance.
She smirked, "I'll try to take it easy on you."
Naruto copied her smirk, "I don't think your future Hokage would appreciate that."