A/N - Hello all. :) This is the part where I respond to reviews and such, so if you just want to get to the story, simply scroll past the bold/italic text until you've reached the horizontal line.

And for those of you who have mixed feelings about the whole Female Kyuubi thing... I dunno, I like Fem Kyuubi. Don't let it stray from the story though, I make Kyuubi a female for no particular reason other than me being a fan of it (Which is also stated in my profile).

Doom Marine 54 - "Oh so you just decided to portray Anko the same way everyone else does, a slutty, bitch, with no poise. How original. Murdering your friend is not something you just get over, i'd love to see how you'd just shrug it off. I meant learn more about how people actually react. Anko is an older ninja who has seen death countless times instead of seeing her as some kind of bitch who would just disregard Naruto's feelings and tell him to get over it, normal people don't do that. People in the military still have things like feelings and empathy regardless of the amount of death they've seen. The fact that you had here say that and think it was the appropriate response shows you don't understand people on an emotional level and are probably emotionally stunted."

My response - Hm, you think I'm making Anko out to be slutty, and a bitch with no poise... Tell me, in what way have I made Anko slutty? I'm making her out to be a bit provocative and blunt, but not slutty. I love Anko far too much to do that to her. It's not like she had sex with Naruto, or even showed a noticeable sexual interest in him. And a bitch? She may have a few bitch-like traits in regards to her brutal honesty, but I'm not making her a bitch. I don't think taking Naruto in her home to have a talk with him to set his head on straight, while at the same time, letting him spend the night and feeding him in the morning would be something a bitch would do. Also not to forget that she's training with him to help him feel better. I feel as though you're looking at the story in more of a negative outlook than positive.

And again, as I said last chapter, I'm not making Anko force Naruto to get over the fact that he murdered Sakura. She's telling him to buck up, and handle the situation better, instead of allowing the thought of killing himself to corrupt him like he previously was. Sure, she may be rushing him just a tad, but I feel Anko (Not me) is the type to say "Hey, life's too short to take everything slow. Sometimes you have to hurry up and accomplish what you strive for before its too late.", especially since they're shinobi, who risk death upon themselves frequently on certain missions. And if I accidentally murdered my friend, I agree, that I wouldn't be able to shrug it off. But that is not my, nor Anko's or Naruto's intention in this story. I intend to have her guide Naruto off the negative path, which is deep depression, and put him back on the right one, even if Naruto might not ever get over what happened.

Also, Anko is not disregarding his feelings. She stated in the first chapter, that she understands where he's coming from. But she's disappointed that the usual happy-go-lucky Naruto is so depressed that he's considering suicide. She doesn't want to see him like that, so she wants to (a bit aggressively, I admit. But that's Anko) help him back onto his feet. Everyone knows that Anko isn't exactly what most people consider a "sweetheart", like Kurenai for example. It even says in the Official Naruto Wikipedia, word for word, "Anko has also shown a slightly sadistic side and is seemingly not the most sympathetic of people, which comes as no surprise, being the former student of Orochimaru. Anko is also a very strict and blunt person, wasting no time in announcing bad news."

And you say Anko has no empathy? Dude, she took him into her house, gave him an ear to talk to, let him spend the night so he wont feel lonely, cuddled with him, cooked for him, and trained with him to help him feel better. Sure, she's not being a total angel about it, but I feel you're making it seem like she told him "You're dumb for being sad over killing Sakura, get the fuck out of my house.", or something. I'm pretty sure I do understand people on an emotional level, and aren't emotionally stunted. But Anko isn't what most people call normal, anyway, in terms of both real life and in the Naruto-verse. I don't think you should connect the dialogue I've given for Anko, a fictional character in this story to my overall personality, because that's not what I intend. But I digress. This is your opinion and I respect it, nothing personal. I'm just trying to help you see my view on this story, since I feel you're misinterpreting the whole moral it. Because honestly, I don't think anyone that read this story so far feels the way you do, since quite a few people have told me they enjoy the way I portrayed Anko already... But I can be wrong, and for the readers who agree with you... Well, you all already read my argument against it.

But hey, if you don't like it, no one is strapping you to your computer chair and forcing you to read it. If you don't like, don't read. ;) I don't beg for readers or reviewers. But I do love the readers who do enjoy my work, however. :)

I'm glad to see that you enjoy 'Broken' though, by the way. :)

darkassassin619 - "This seems like a good fic but I was wondering any chance this could be a harem ?"

My response - Nah, no harems in this story, buddy. It's just a one-on-one pairing for this story, Broken, and for any similar stories like this that I may or may not post in the future.

Anko grinned as she managed to repel another Rasengan coming her way. She swiftly sidestepped away from his hand, grabbed his arm, and threw him over her shoulder.

Naruto was sent a dozen feet into the air before shifting his body to land on his feet.

Anko placed her hands on her hips, "Come on, Naruto-kun. You gotta be faster than that if you want to get me." She taunted.

Naruto grinned, getting into a readied stance, "We're just getting warmed up."

Anko rolled her eyes playfully, "You said that eight Rasengans ago. I haven't even tried going on the offensive side yet."

Naruto chuckled challengingly, "Good, that's why I said we're just getting warmed up." He took off at Anko, with both of his index and middle fingers crossing each other in a plus sign-like figure. "Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Behind him, spawned a mini army of identical Naruto clones charging behind him.

Anko could only grin as she readied herself, "This is what I'm talking about."

Her prowess in Taijutsu was displayed greatly as she either dodged, blocked, countered, or attacked each clone that threatened to lay a finger on her. She didn't have too much trouble with all the clones, but it wasn't an effortless process for her, either.

Nevertheless, even when she was hairs away of getting caught by Naruto's clones, her grin never disappeared.

After a few minutes of dispelling the Naruto copies, Anko did a quick overview of the battlefield and concluded that her stamina would run out before she even became close to dispelling all of Naruto's clones this way. After performing a sweeping kick on one Naruto clone, she leaped up, and planted a foot onto the head of another clone that was charging for her. She vaulted off its head and leaped even higher, now being able to see each clone in the clearing. She turned around, and launched a kunai into the big crowd of Narutos, one with a wire attached to it.

As she holds the other end of the wire, she flips through a few hand seals while in the air, "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu." She then positions her mouth just above the wire. Red flames are sent from her mouth, to the wire, and quickly run down the thin material, heading straight for the dozens of clones.

She grins once the flames reach the end of the wire, and a big explosion of fire is spread down to each clone.

Quickly, each clone is dispatched. She wasn't worried about the original Naruto getting seriously injured in her jutsu, though. She made sure to hold back the technique's full strength.

"Gotcha!"

A second later, a fist slammed against Anko's cheek. Before the force made her go off in the opposite direction, she glimpsed down and saw the victorious grin of a certain Uzumaki.

Anko recovered from the jab that came to her mid-air, and performed a back flip, landing on a tall tree branch. Naruto landed on one in front of her, not too far away.

She grinned as she rubbed her cheek, "Heh, not bad for a Genin."

Naruto copied her smirk, "I hope I didn't hit you too hard."

Anko chuckled and cracked her neck, "Nah, that was nothing but a love tap." She then grinned, "But I'm sure this might hurt you a bit."

Before he could reply, Naruto was suddenly struck in his face. The force made him fall off the tree branch, onto the forest floor below.

Naruto groaned in pain. He groggily sat up and looked up at Anko. Standing on the branch he was previously standing on, was another Anko, grinning down at him.

His shock distracted him from his pained cheek and back, "Hey, what the hell?! Is that the Kage-Bunshin technique?!" He shouted. Both Anko's jumped down from the branches, directly in front of him.

"Uh-huh." She said, "You're not the only one that knows it."

Naruto stood up, "Yeah, I get that, I know Kakashi-sensei learned it too, but..." He raised an eyebrow, "How did you learn it?"

"Well, when you've been on as many B-ranked and above missions as I have, you come across a few jutsu scrolls every once in a blue moon when you find that you have to infiltrate and steal from certain areas around the world." Said Anko's clone.

"But, I didn't learn this jutsu while on a mission. Orochimaru taught me this back when he was my sensei." Said the original.

"Whoa, wait a minute," said Naruto, making sure he heard Anko correctly, "You used to be Orochimaru's student?"

Anko dispelled her clone and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? I thought you knew, since I'm pretty sure I mentioned something about it earlier today, and you didn't say anything about it then."

"Well..." Naruto thought for a second, "I probably missed it."

Anko shrugged, "Well, yeah, I used to be Orochimaru's number one student, just like how you are to Jiraiya."

"But how could you learn from a bastard like him?" He questioned. "He wants to destroy Konoha, and you learned from him?"

"Orochimaru wasn't always a traitorous bastard." Anko stated, "He used to be a loyal shinobi of the Leaf, believe it or not."

He showed signs of shock, until remembering how Jiraiya told him that Orochimaru used to be his teammate, "But... Why does he want to destroy the Hidden Leaf now?"

"I'm not completely sure. All I know is, Orochimaru's a bit fucked up in the head. I know I am too, just a bit, but Orochimaru's on a whole 'nother level."

"So if you knew that, how come you still wanted to be his student?"

Anko hesitated for less than a second before replying, "I used to be an orphan, and Orochimaru took me under his wing when I was young. I looked up to him because he was the only one that showed any real interest in me. But he then showed me that he only looked out for me to help his experimentation."

She then turned around and dropped the collar to her trench coat past her shoulders. Behind the fishnet, on the skin of the left side of her neck, Naruto spotted a familiar symbol.

Naruto went wide-eyed, "That's..."

Anko readjusted her coat and turned around, "Yep, The Cursed Seal of Heaven. The bastard gave it to me, even though he knew I had a one in ten chance of surviving."

Naruto remembered where he last saw that seal, "That's the same seal that Sasuke has..." He mumbled. Then, flashbacks of how Sasuke's skin would be surrounded in similar symbols like that before he began to transform, right before the fight they had when he last saw him.

Anko nodded, "That Uchiha kid, right? Yep, Orochimaru wants to use him, too."

"I know..." Naruto mumbled again, while still thinking, "I told Sasuke that, and he still went with him. All the teme said was that he wanted more power..."

Anko scoffed, "All he'll be doing is giving Orochimaru more power. Orochimaru doesn't help anyone but himself, and the fact that Sasuke betrayed the Leaf and went with him shows how stupid he is, if you ask me." She then shrugged, following after with a sigh, "But I digress. He'll learn when it's too late."

Naruto went silent for the next several seconds. Anko noticed how he seemed very deep in though, hardly blinking as he stared at the ground.

"...Anko-sensei?" He finally said.

"Hm?"

"Let's get back to training."

Anko noticed the tone in which he said that. It held a lot of determination but it didn't sound like it was toward the training only.

She wondered where it came from, but simply shrugged and got ready, "Sure."

Neither of the loyal shinobi of the Leaf knew how long they've been at it. But sunset soon approached, and Anko began to grow weary.

Naruto seemed to still have full energy as he charge at Anko once again. She sighed and just barely managed to block his attacks.

Naruto attempted to give her a high kick, which Anko blocked as well. She held his foot and took a deep breath.

"Yo, Naruto."

Naruto looked at her, "Yeah?"

"As much fun as it is to train with you, you're wearing me out." She said, attempting to catch her breath.

Naruto grinned and put his foot back onto the ground, "So you're surrendering?"

Anko chuckled, "I'm suggesting we continue this another day."

"So you're giving up, like I said." He accused teasingly.

Anko gave another tired laugh, "If it makes you happy, Naruto-kun, yes."

Naruto gave one of his signature cheeky smiles, following after with a happy chuckle.

Anko rolled her eyes. But she was still smiling.

"Anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." She said.

"Me too." Naruto agreed.

"So let me take you out to some dango." Anko offered.

Naruto didn't hesitate to nod. Who would turn down free food?

Anko took Naruto to the local dango restaurant on the other side of the village. It was beginning to get dark out, and only a few people were at the restaurant.

The purple-haired Jounin takes one of her dango skewers off of her plate, and takes a bite of the sweetened dumpling.

Naruto, who was across from her, does the same. While chewing, Naruto begins to chuckle.

Anko looks at him, "What are you laughing about?" She asked.

Naruto swallowed, and continued chuckling just a bit, "I was just remembering a memory we had together."

"Oh? And which memory would that be?" She prompted with an amused grin. Naruto's smile was contagious.

He let out a few last chuckles, "Remember that time where I wanted to ask you about the Fourth Hokage's legacy, and I ate some of your dango around three years ago?" Anko looked a bit confused, so he elaborated, "It was in this restaurant. When you saw me eating them, you tried to kill me by using dango sticks as senbons."

Anko laughed when she recalled the memory, "Oh yeah... I don't joke around when it comes to my dango." She says, smiling, "But don't do it again." She said, suddenly flipping her tone of voice and facial expression over like a coin.

Naruto laughed.

Anko did not.

Naruto laughed again, more nervously.

Anko's serious expression didn't change one bit.

His smile slowly faded away, "Er..."

Anko then grins cheekily, "Just kidding!" But her facial expression switches back, just less serious this time, "But all jokes aside, don't take my dango again."

Naruto let out a small laugh, "Okay."

A few minutes pass by, with the pair eating in silence. Anko was the first to finish all her dango. She burped loudly, something the people around her didn't seem pleased with. But she simply acted as if they weren't there and patted her stomach contently.

Naruto looked at her then her plate, "You're done already? You eat faster than I do."

"Only when it comes to dango." Anko said satisfactorily. She then stood from her seat and walked to put away her plate.

As Naruto looked at her and ate his remaining dango, he caught a quick glimpse of her curse mark when she turned around.

He was thinking to himself until Anko returned to her seat, "Um... Anko-sensei?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"That seal... How often do you use it's power?"

Anko seemed ready for this question, "Never. The Third suppressed the seal years ago. Around a week after Orochimaru left the village."

Naruto nodded slowly, "So... You've never used it?"

"No, I have. Once."

The Jinchuuriki thought for a minute before speaking again, "...What did it feel like?"

Anko looked Naruto straight in the eye, "I'm not going to lie here, Naruto. Honestly, it felt good." She said. "You feel so strong with all that power at your disposal. I felt like an elite Jounin in that state, when I was only a Chuunin when I used it. I assume you feel the same way when you're in that Kyu-" she stopped herself and looked around before whispering, "The state you told me about yesterday."

Naruto nodded. He could relate; whenever he enters the Kyuubi state, he becomes drunk off of power, thirsty for more.

"So the old man made you suppress it?"

Anko shook her head, "No. I asked him to do it. He didn't even know I had it 'til I told him."

Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit, "Why did you want it suppressed? You talked about me using the Kyu-" He stopped himself, remembering where he was, "-my special powers to their full advantage. So why don't you do the same for your curse seal?"

"Well," Anko began, "I don't want to use it for a number of reasons. My main one is because Orochimaru gave it to me. As ironic and fun as it would be to train myself to train and control those powers, and kill him with it, I don't want to use anything that bastard created. Another reason is because if I were to use these powers while on duty, my teammates and possibly my village would have a hard time trusting me, seeing as I'm using something Orochimaru gave me. Third, is because the properties and effects of that seal is still somewhat unknown to everyone except Orochimaru himself. I don't know how bad of an effect using those powers would have on me. Also, for all we know, he could have some sort of control over that seal or something. I doubt he would give me something that can make me stronger than him, knowing I'd pose a threat and wanting revenge for using me."

Naruto nodded, letting all this sink in.

"If it wasn't for the fact that this was Orochimaru's creation, I'd consider using it more often. But then again, you should always find out the drawbacks of every technique and power before just going out and using it." Anko advised. "So I'm not sure if using your special powers will have any negative side effects on you, but it wont hurt to find out."

"True." Naruto said, "I'll talk to Ero-Sennin tomorrow if I can."

Anko nodded, and saw that Naruto finished his dango, "Alright, so now what? The night is still young. Is there anywhere else you wanna hang out?"

Naruto thought for a minute, "Ah, we could just walk around the village and whatnot."

Anko smirked, "Is this your way of taking me out on a date?"

Naruto's face reddened, "N-No... You were the one who offered..."

"Relax, I'm just busting your balls." She says, laughing. "But we can take a little stroll around the village, I don't mind." She stands up from her seat, and Naruto does the same. As they leave, Anko begins to pay for the food they had, but it turns out that Naruto already beat her to it.

Anko gives him a playful shocked expression, "You're paying for our dango? Such a gentleman."

Anko and Naruto departed from the dango shop, and walked along Konoha's streets, side by side.

Naruto pointed toward a small alleyway with a grin, "That's a shortcut I used to take when I'd get chased by Iruka and other Chuunin and Jounin whenever I pulled a prank three years ago."

Anko looked and chuckled, "I remember how Iruka, Yugao, and other Jounin would talk about you back then." She then looked at him with a smirk, "Apparently, you were really fast for someone who could outrun them, when you weren't even a ninja then. The Hokage asked me to chase you once, but I was busy. If I had done it, I'm pretty sure I would have caught you."

Naruto snorted, "Ha, yeah right. If those other Chuunin, Jounin, and ANBU members couldn't catch me, what makes you think you would?"

Anko's smirk widened, "I dunno. I'm just saying, considering that spar we had earlier... It gives me the impression that everyone that chased you were slackers." She then winked at him, "Unless, of course, you've slowed down in the past three years."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed, an amused grin pasted on his features, "In fact, I'm faster than I used to be!"

Her playful, doubtful smirk never left, "I dunno, kid, I'm having doubts about that. Yugao is just as fast, if not, faster than I am. So if you can outrun her before you even became a Genin, that's something to brag about. But it didn't seem like you were holding back in our spar, so..." She said in a sing-song tone of voice.

Naruto sent her a playfully mean glare, "You wanna find out right now?"

Anko sent a mutual look, "Maybe."

A second later, Naruto grinned and took off as fast as he could.

Anko stood there and smirked. She figured she'd let him get a head start, "Oh, this will be fun."

Next, Anko pursued Naruto at high speeds.