Sorry about the wait, I've been busy with testing for some classes .

Narration

"Speech"

Thoughts

Kyuubi/Bijou's Thoughts

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY WORK OR WORKS RELATED TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO. THIS IS PURELY A FAN-MADE FICTION.

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Somewhere in the village, a bored Anko could be found trying to find something to do. She didn't want to do anything too exerting, but her boredom was killing her.

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"Yeah, that's it..."

"Like this?"

"Yep. Looks like you've got it, boy." Ebisu and Naruto have been practicing the exercise for a whole...

"Heh. Didn't think it'd be easy enough to get down in twelve minutes. Shall we get on with kunai balancing?" Naruto grinned. He truly didn't think it would be this easy. Granted, he had the help of a multitude of shadow clones. The exercise itself was easy to grasp in concept. Unlike tree-walking, which had a solid foundation that you could concentrate on, water was always shifting to those that inhabit it. You really had to clear your mind and focus on the movements of the water to meld with it. Once he got in sync with the water that he was in, he performed a modified version of the tree walking exercise. Instead of just enough to balance, he created a thin outline of chakra under the balance, for an extra foundation to stand on. On his first and second try, he fell back in, but after that, he summoned his own platoon of Kage Bunshin's and got to work. After three minutes of failed attempts from the clones, he started dispelling them one by one. He didn't gain any new information, but he came to realize faults in what he was doing. After some minor adjustments to what he was doing, he gave Ebisu one final grin before slowly walking onto the water.

Nodding, the older of the two answered the younger. "Yes, but here's a forethought: the kunai balancing exercise is only a reinforcement of the tree walking exercise. Only, instead of focusing chakra underneath your feet, you use a different limb. In actuality, the exercise should be practiced repeatedly, each time using a different area, but nowadays, people only consider their hands and fingers important enough to practice it on." The man paused for a second, realizing something. Before he could say anything, however, he was interrupted by the blonde.

"Couldn't I make a couple hundred Bunshins and use those, then?"

"I was just about to say that, actually. Anyway, it looks like we're going to need a bigger area for this. Let's head over to the Hokage's office, I'll ask him for clearance to use the Forest of Death."

Naruto shuddered involuntarily. That was the same place he took the second phase of the exams, and where he met Orochimaru. Now, the fight between the two was one-sided, but the blonde got a good idea of what he was going to be up against. It was a good chance to size up his future opponent. Oh, there was the meeting with the woman of his dreams, though. He mentally chuckled, remembering the show she put on, trying to scare the rookies. Subconsciously, he reached the spot that her kunai nicked. After his brief recollection, he nodded. "Let's go."

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"Anko-san, you do understand the situation we're experiencing with the exams taking place, don't you?" The Hokage sighed. She was truly too much to handle in these situations.

The woman in question nodded, but responded to the old man. "Yeah, but there's got to be something to do in this shithole. We've got several squads of ANBU patrolling the city at all times anyway, so it should give us some space to do missions, shouldn't there? Assigning all these Jounin seems like a waste of manpower if you ask me."

The "old man" in question frowned at her jab at the village, but brushed it off. While he was indeed the Hokage, his opinion of the village's inhabitants were pretty ill-natured. Regardless, he didn't let his judgment affect his duty. He just hoped like hell that someone would fill his shoes soon. "You've got half a point there. While it is a waste, it's still keeping on teams from hostile villages on their toes." He was interrupted by a knocking on the door. He let out a snarl. "Who the hell is it now?"

"It's Ebisu, sir. I'm here with Naruto."

The Hokage let out a breath of relief. He had an appointment to talk to some complaining villagers soon, but he'd settle for this. "A moment, please." Grinning, he paged his receptionist, who answered. "I'm afraid I have some urgent news to attend to. Please reschedule my appointment with the villagers for a later time." Anko let out a short chuckle at this. After receiving confirmation from his receptionist, he headed towards the door and opened it, letting in Ebisu and Naruto. The first thing Naruto noticed was the presence of Anko in the room. A light pink tint appeared on his cheeks.

Now Anko was curious. He knew the young boy from somewhere, but she just didn't know where. She also noticed something off about the boy. What it was, however, she just couldn't place her finger on it. Then her mind clicked. This was the kid that almost wet his pants in the forest of death! She mentally chuckled at the memory, grinning slightly. You see, Anko wasn't as up to date as the rest of the shinobi population. Being on missions all the time and interrogating whenever you weren't would do that too one. Having barely any free time, and not as much time to communicate with colleagues, she jumped to the same conclusion that the villagers have, albeit a little less biased.

"So what brings you two here? Aren't you supposed to be teaching Naruto how to do the water walking exercise?" Now the old man was curious. It's only 11:20, so he couldn't be done yet...could he?

The taller man chuckled. "I'm afraid he's mastered that already sir. The boy's like a sponge when it comes to learning." The old man gawked at this, before regaining his composure.

"The fuck? How long did it take you to learn that, gaki?" NOW Anko was alarmed. Usually, it took people anywhere from a week to a month to learn, yet alone MASTER the exercise.

"Twelve minutes, according to my count." Now she was fuming. Apparently, what she knew about the young blonde were lies. I mean, it's got to take the "dobe of the class" at least a month to learn something like that, shouldn't it? The old man was having thoughts of his own as well. The boy really was unnaturally talented in learning new material. He pinned it on having Haru inside of him.

"So why are you here, then? Shouldn't you be getting to work on the kunai balancing exercise?"

"That's part of the reason we're here. We need a large open space to practice it, we're going to try something unconventional."

"How much area are you talking, here?" The old man was curious, but he'd find out later.

"A few acres. Or a forest would do, we could work between the trees. Really, any place that's closed off to the general public." Anko raised an eye at this, before talking.

"Why not use the forest of death? The place is closed off, and there are some open spaces you could use." Shit, she had nothing to do, might as well watch the kid bleed. Plus, she wanted to learn more about the brat.

"Sounds good. I'll sign some papers to grant access to the two of you for...how long do you think he'll need to work on it, Ebisu?"

"Just today should be enough, if his mastery of the water walking exercise has demonstrated anything."

Nodding, the Hokage dug up his pen from under the pile of paper and walked over to a gray cabinet. He fished through his robes, looking for the key that opened the damn thing. Force could be used here, but he needed the cabinet later.

"So, twelve minutes, huh? What, do you count as a pastime or something?" Small talk was never one of Anko's strong points.

"Nope. Haru keeps track of time for me. That way, I can focus on whatever I'm doing." The woman raised a brow at this.

"Haru?"

"The Kyuubi." The boy started to look around, and rested his eyes on the purple haired woman. The thing that caught his attention almost immediately were her eyes. They were almost exactly like he remembered from his dream. Probably because she was on guard. As it stands, the boy was still a complete stranger to here. Like hell she'd open up to someone she just recently met. Moving away from her eyes, his own rested on her hair. He had the sudden urge to run his fingers through those purple locks. His eyes glazed over for a moment, before he regained control over himself. Of course, he also noticed how Anko tensed up after his mentioning on the Kyuubi.

Now her eyes shot open, but before she did anything stupid, she realized that the blonde must have things under control if the two can communicate. She looked towards the Hokage, who merely nodded back. "You two talk?" She also became wary of the way the boy was sizing her up. Normally, she wouldn't mind, but in her eyes, he was still a minor...once again, she normally wouldn't mind, but she was in the presence of the Hokage. She straightened up and crossed her arms across her chest.

"From time to time. She's been getting bored a lot recently." He said in a nonchalant tone. He frowned mentally. The boy was enjoying the view, but he apparently caught.

"She?" Now the purpled haired kunoichi was curious.

Naruto chuckled. "A common misconception. Just because "The Almighty Kyuubi" is indeed, almighty, you expected it to be a male?"

"True...when you think about it, there aren't many famous female ninja out there. The only one that comes to mind is Tsunade." She received a nod from the blonde.

"Oh well, what can you do? When you're raised to think a certain way, can't change it without giving it some time." The blonde shrugged. He smiled inwardly when she nodded as well; her lips forming a faint smile. She was positively radiant. He didn't see why everyone was so scared of her...well, alright. She might be a little on the edge, but who can blame her? She was given nearly the same treatment that he was given. Now that he thought about it, he was surprised that the woman was still as sane as she was. If one were to be exposed to hatred from the day they were born, they eventually get used to it. To be treated normally, then all the sudden hatred, though, he would imagine it to be a complete shock to the core. 'I'm personally surprised as well. We've heard the same shit, but I wouldn't imagine a woman being able to pull through. She must be a wreck on the inside.' The boy nodded mentally, storing Haru's comment for later reference. 'By the way, the merging's at about 7%. Should be done a week after your exams.' Once again, he nodded mentally, before questioning the demoness. 'Any other major changes? Tails and claws, I could have guessed, but once again, anything else?' 'Your hair should also change colors, but that won't be noticeable until later. You have to wait for it to grow out again, after all, unless you want me to do something about it.' 'Meh, any way of making it all come out at once?' 'I can probably do something about that.' "Whatever."

"Say something, kid?" Anko's attention was still on the blonde. She was now fully intent on getting to know him. He was practically a clone of her when she was first abandoned by her teacher. Minus the whole being female thing.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud." 'Guess that slipped.'

"Screw it." Ebisu, Naruto and Anko switched their attention to the third, who held a scrunched up piece of paper. "Just go, fuck this paperwork." Earning some chuckles from his three guests, Naruto and Ebisu nodded and headed towards the door. Anko watched Naruto leave.

"Heh. He catch your interest?" Earning a mild blush from the kunoichi, he smiled faintly. "You know, he's eight years your junior. If you two didn't have so much in common, I would've done something." Anko's eyes widened slightly, but she stayed quiet. "You know, that's the first time he's talked openly to someone in a long time. Who knows? You should get to know him, he's an interesting kid."

Grinning slightly, she responded. "Seems like it. So..." She started walking innocently with her hands behind her back. "Got anything to do?" She smiled a sickly sweet smile.

Sighing, the old man suddenly came up with an idea. "Why don't you tail Naruto? Point out any mistakes he'll make. The boy's damn good, but no one's perfect."

"Perrrrrfect." Grinning, she headed out, intent on finding the young blonde.

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Once again, sorry about it being so late Been busy with tests, and the like.