Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Okay, here's the start of the Ocean Country arc ... bear with me people, there is original stuff coming up after about 3 chapters but I have to set the scene. Thanks for reading :)
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Chapter 3
Memories
...o..o.o..o...
The ocean spread out before her, with a number of nearby islands seeming to float on its surface. Anko was younger, and smiling, staring at them in the distance from the edge of a wooden pier.
This is ... her younger self seemed to echo the older, This is ... Where ... is this?
A sudden gust of wind had her hiding her eyes, but the wind seemed to pass right through her as well. It was a foul wind that tore through her heart as she looked up to smile at the man next to her. He smiled back ... but who was he? She reached dimly for the memory but it faded away to a small enclosed space, where the light was being taken away by a closing door and the sound of a lock.
She was on her hands and knees in the darkness, with sweat pouring off her. There wasn't enough air – she panted and gasped at the pain shooting through her. She collapsed to the ground, knees curling in to her chest as she cried out in agony and betrayal. Thrashing on the hard cold ground, scratching at its surface as her shoulder throbbed with lines of fire that spread through her body and made her want to tear herself apart. She screamed, with his laughter seeming to reverberate around her, through her, intensifying the pain that ate away at her flesh.
...o..o.o..o...
Anko sat up with a gasp, the sweat dripping from her seeming to mimic her younger self in the dream. The nightmare. Her eyes were wide as she panted, drawing air in to her lungs to reassure herself that she could still breathe – that she wasn't there. She grimaced, clutching her shoulder and the curse seal. I'm not there I'm not there I'm not there ... She made it into a mantra to pull herself out of what she knew were fragmented memories of the time he stole from her. Lightning cracked outside the small room, and Anko knew it would be a long night.
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"Kaima soudo?" Anko repeated. She was standing in the Hokage's office, with Tsunade, the new Hokage, and her aide Shizune facing her.
"Kaima." Tsunade confirmed. "It's written as 'Sea' and 'Monster'. It seems to be dominating the seas right now."
Anko frowned slightly as she matched the Godaime's stare look for look. Her heart beat was suddenly too loud in her ears, with the dream from the previous night so fresh in her mind. The Hokage narrowed her eyes at her, her medic and shinobi training helping her to instantly read Anko's hesitation. "What's wrong?" she asked sternly, chin resting on her hands.
Her eyes narrowed further, with her hands moving up to hide her mouth so that she was peering at the jonin from above them. "You'll go, right?"
Anko was intimidated by this woman. She hated to admit it to herself, but she knew that this woman who had grown up on a team with Orochimaru would probably be able to read her better than anyone, including Kakashi. She couldn't help but jerk back a little at the Hokage's tone, which practically challenged her to refuse.
She collected herself firmly. "Of course." The aide, Shizune, was staring at her in concern but she kept her eyes on the Hokage.
"Shizune!" the woman said sharply.
Shizune jumped, looking back at Tsunade. "Yes!"
"Explain the mission."
Shizune nodded, and pulled down a map. She proceeded to tell Anko about the sea monster that was attacking ships carrying goods around the Ocean Country.
"Survivors claim they were attacked by a sea monster," Tsunade added.
"So our mission is to eliminate that monster thing?" asked Anko.
"Yeah, but there's more to it than that."
Shizune went on to explain the politics of the situation – how the money the Ocean Country paid to the Water Country for protection was on the ships, and to keep good relations the monster had to be stopped and the next shipment had to reach the shore. Anko considered the situation, understanding its delicacy immediately. She focussed on the problem, trying to block out thoughts of her nightmares.
"Your mission is to protect the next ship and eliminate the monster." Tsunade clarified. "Well, I'm ordering some subordinates and leaving the rest to you."
"Subordinates?!" Anko repeated. She wasn't used to working with anyone, and generally didn't like it anyway. But subordinates ... Hmm, might be some fun in this for me ...
A knock came on the door and three young genin entered. Anko looked at them curiously – Seem familiar – and when the loud one in orange with bright yellow hair shouted and pointed at her she remembered that they had all participated in the chunin exam. They all made it to the preliminaries. Interesting.
"The one from the chunin exams!" the Kyuubi brat squealed in alarm. "That really dangerous examiner!"
Anko grinned widely at him, a less-than-sane expression on her face as she remembered his blood. "Oh, you're saying some pretty nostalgic things there." Teasing the boy was a welcome distraction from her thoughts.
"Mi-Mitarashi ... Anko-sensei ...?" the blond girl said in surprise.
"Um, why are you here?" Naruto asked fearfully. Is she still after my ... blood? he gulped to himself.
"I will now give you your mission!" the Hokage interrupted authoritatively. "Aburame Shino! Yamanaka Ino! Uzumaki Naruto! The three of you will follow Mitarashi Anko's leadership to complete this mission."
Tsunade made some comments about the choice being the right combination for the mission at hand, but neither Anko nor Shizune believed it. After Orochimaru's attack with Sand the village was very short-handed and yet could not refuse missions for fear of being seen as weak. Kakashi's barely been around these days. As soon as he gets back from one mission, he gets sent out on another. I'm starting to miss the lazy bastard ... Anko knew she would not normally have been trusted with genin or with a mission to Ocean Country if there were anyone else.
"Use your individual talents to the fullest to complete this mission!" she concluded.
"Hai!" jonin and genin answered attentively.
"But something seems off here," Naruto interrupted Tsunade's self-congratulatory smirk at her attempt to convince them that they were not called together because there was no one else.
Tsunade sweat-dropped (Damn Naruto), but Anko intervened. "Yeah, yeah, no complaining once the mission's been decided!" she said sternly, grabbing Naruto's ear and yanking it firmly. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! I got it!" he yelped.
"Well, we'll be leaving soon," Anko smiled, "Make your preparations and meet at the West gate!"
"Understood!" said the other two genin, while the Kyuubi boy rubbed his ear and grumbled. They all left swiftly, leaving the older three women behind. Anko moved to follow.
"Anko!" Tsunade's voice stopped her, but she said nothing. "Be careful."
Anko stood still for a moment longer, her back to the other two, before reaching for the door and leaving.
"Hai."
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At the west gate, the genin were debating about the monster, and its supposed characteristics. The Aburame boy seemed to think it was pirates, and Anko was inclined to agree but-
"Well, we need to investigate it first," she said to them cheerfully. The blond girl, Ino, nodded agreement. "The middle of Ocean Country is Hahajima, the largest island." Anko informed them. "We'll go to the nearest port and cross by boat from there."
"Understood!" the three said in unison. "Let's head out to the Ocean Country!" the boy, Naruto, proclaimed exuberantly. Anko just smiled at his enthusiasm before they all set off.
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Back in the Hokage's Tower, Shizune set down some green tea for the Godaime. Tsunade looked at it sideways, wishing it was sake. She knew Shizune wanted to ask her about Anko, and waited for her to speak. She would have been a fool to have missed the tension around Anko at the mention of the Ocean Country, and Shizune was no fool.
"Um, Tsunade-sama," she began, "About Mitarashi Anko ... Did something happen before?"
"Sort of." Tsunade replied, taking a sip of the tea.
Shizune picked up Anko's file that lay on the desk and glanced through it. "Her mission log from age ten is pretty scattered," she said, surprised.
"Anko worked with Orochimaru, after all." Tsunade said in explanation.
"So the blacked out parts have connections to Orochimaru's actions." Shizune mused, "So maybe in the secret files ... There are also blacked out pages."
"That means that there are points that have no records," Tsunade told her aide calmly.
"No records?! Even though Anko is still in the village?" She didn't understand how they could not have records when Anko was around to fill them in.
Tsunade rested her head against the back of the chair and sighed. "That Orochimaru ... He probably didn't want to be tracked. He left the village and erased part of Anko's memory."
Tsunade turned and stared out at the village through her window. Orochimaru ... Everything always seemed to come back to him. She knew Shizune was questioning Anko's reliability, but the Sandaime had vouched for Anko and she would not deny the dead man's wish that she be treated with all trust and respect. Though, from her reactions to going back to the place where it all ended for her with Orochimaru, Tsunade had to wonder ...
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"It's salty!" Naruto exclaimed happily as they stood on a hill with clear view of the sea. The sea breeze was definitely salty, and cool and refreshing. It was obvious that the boy had never been to this part of the country before.
"Since we've come this far, the Ocean Country should be visible," Anko said to them.
"Then that's Hahajima, right?" Ino replied, pointing towards the largest of the distant islands.
Anko looked out from the cliff top towards the islands, and suddenly it was as if the cold wind from her dream was blowing through her soul again. She couldn't feel the warmth of the sun, and stared out in horror, flashes of a strange gate crossing her mind. The seal pulsed fire into her flesh, and she was caught up in a memory of running with not enough breath, panic choking her, terror clouding her vision as she looked behind her to see the snakes closing in. There was that gate ... and a dark cold corridor, and a room filled with bottled horrors that made her feel sick and dead inside.
Anko put her hand over her mouth, battling to breathe over the remembered fear. What ... what is this feeling? She felt the Aburame boy looking at her and pulled herself together, unwilling to let anyone see her weakness.
"Everyone," she said, her voice slightly strained, "I'm sorry but I'll leave you to organise the boat. I have to deal with my own matters – I'll catch up later. Bye!" She was gone before they could protest.
Anko stopped when she felt she was far enough away from them in the forest, and clutched her neck, sweating with the strain of her memories and its force on her body. The seal is throbbing. This presence ... there's no mistaking it! She glanced around to try find the direction it called from the strongest. This way!
She raced towards a lighter patch in the woods, and came to another cliff edge with a clear view of the sea and the Ocean Country's islands. She looked down, and saw a pier far below that caused her heartbeat to increase in pace and volume. She was overcome by memories again ...
...o..o.o..o...
Anko laughed lightly as they stood at the end of the pier, looking out at the sea, "I can see it clearly. Let's see, that's Hahajima, this is Tarojima and that's Jirojima." She pointed them all out happily, "And that's ... Kikaijima!"
"It seems like you have done your research," his cold voice replied, but it made her feel warm and happy hearing him.
She smiled, looking up at him admiringly: "I want to be a strong and informed shinobi like you, Orochimaru-sama." She offered him her life with her eyes.
He turned and smiled down at her, taking what she offered and more.
...o..o.o..o...
The wind blew through Anko again, but it blew away her fragment of memory and didn't reveal any more. The force of the memory had hit her so hard. This was the place she had dreamt of ... this was the place where her path and that of her old sensei had parted. She had a feeling that terrible things happened here, but couldn't remember any more for the moment. Anko continued to stare out at the islands, lost in her thoughts.
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When Anko arrived back to the genin, they were arguing amongst themselves but more out of habit than true irritation.
"You are so like sensei!" the Yamanaka girl scolded Naruto. "Both of you just go and disappear!"
"What did you say?!" Naruto shouted at her angrily, "How rude of you! How dare you compare me to that aggressive teacher?! What an insult to-"
Anko smirked to herself as she came up behind the boy quietly, stopping his tirade with a kunai to his throat. "Who?" she licked her lips, adding to his discomfort and drinking in his fear.
"I'm sorry!" he gasped.
Anko pulled the kunai away from his throat, and smiled at the other two. "Well done with preparing the boat."
"Sensei, what have you been up to?" Ino asked her.
"Well, I guess some information gathering," she told them. Naruto slumped in her hold, relieved she hadn't drawn his blood again. She grinned widely at them. "Well, let's head off!"
The first part of the boat trip was uneventful, with Anko having to chuckle at the interactions between Ino and Naruto. The Aburame boy said little, but Anko knew that it was characteristic of those of his clan.
The attack on their boat came suddenly, with a whirlpool attempting to draw them in and drown them. Anko had been keeping an eye out, expecting something to happen, but still had been caught a little by surprise.
She used the Shadow Snake Hand to try pull Ino back when she was grabbed by a long tentacle that burst out of the water, but ended up having to dive in the water after the girl when she disappeared under the waves. She stood on the surface of the water with Ino in her arms, glaring around her. "It's finally come out." she observed.
The boat was pulled in to the whirlpool, with the watching shinobi standing on the ocean surface. "Both of you be careful," Anko warned the two boys. "We are still targeted from underwater."
She watched with interest as the Kyuubi boy used a summoning technique, but the small toad that appeared was not worth her attention with enemies around so she ignored their banter. So the Toad Sannin taught him to summon as well ... She frowned suddenly, and passed Ino on to Shino.
She ran swiftly across the water surface, allowing an emerging tentacle to wrap around her waist before countering. Fire element, Fire Dragon Technique! She blew an enormous flame that followed the tentacle into the water. She saw a silhouette in the flames, that dissolved into water. Water clone? Another tentacle wrapped itself around her neck as a shinobi came up behind her. The tentacle was actually the man's arm. "You let your guard down!" he laughed at her, but he was beaten off in a moment when Naruto came to her aid.
The boy was pulled in to the water by another shinobi. Anko dived down, searching frantically for him. Where did he go? Damn it! It's too still. She emerged next to Ino and Shino, to see the two enemy shinobi standing on the water next to where Naruto was floating, face-down.
"Who are you guys?" she growled.
The shinobi responded by using a water attack which sucked Naruto's body back underwater, and then disappearing. Anko dived into the water again, trying to find him.
Minutes later, Anko emerged from the water again, still unable to find the boy. A veil of fog had fallen across the ocean surface, making her search that much harder.
"Where's Naruto?" Shino asked.
"It's no use," Anko replied, "I can't find him. He doesn't seem to be around here any more. He either got swept away or escaped." She got back on the boat they had managed to retrieve. "Either way, in this fog ..." she looked down at the still-unconscious Ino, "we can't afford to stay here any more. In the meantime let's head for the nearest island and try again later."
"Okay." Shino replied shortly.
Anko's seal chose that moment to throb piercingly again. She couldn't help but tense at the pain, and hold her shoulder. It was like that last time ... she felt like he was close ...
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The room was dark, with only a candle to provide some faint light, though it seemed to spread the shadows more than chase them away, and leant to the oppressive feeling in the room. The man knelt before an ornate chair, bowing his head to the being that sat there.
"It's been a while, Orochimaru-sama." he said respectfully.
"It really has." his cold, slithering voice replied. "I didn't think you would still be here when I got back on my feet and had a good look around."
"But thanks to that, I was able to see you again," the kneeling man said ingratiatingly.
Orochimaru chuckled darkly. "So, if you're here, does that mean that you're continuing with that research?"
He feigned surprise at the question. "Yes. I thought it might be of some use for you someday, Orochimaru-sama."
"I wonder if that's true," Orochimaru hissed from behind his bandaged face, the glint from one gold eye visible. He could easily see past the man's charade.
"This is all out of my loyalty to you," the man tried to protest.
Orochimaru closed his eyes, showing his disinterest. "Well, do as you wish."
"You have my gratitude." He looked up, motioning towards the dark figure that stood at the Sannin's side, "By the way, is he the one you mentioned before?"
"Yes. He's Uchiha Itachi's little brother." the snake took delight in saying the man's name, because he loved the tension and hatred it invoked in his pet traitor. "Yes, and my -"
"Unnecessary things like that," the boy interrupted, his voice just as cold as his master's, "Don't talk about them." He opened his eyes to reveal bloodshot Sharingan. Orochimaru watched him from the corner of his eye, smiling at the monster he had created and ignoring his insubordination.
His other servant gasped at the glimpse of those blood-coloured eyes, at how he had ordered the great Sannin, and then dropped his head reverently.
Orochimaru laughed, filling the already cold dark room with his darker presence, and unknowingly causing the seal which his old student possessed to flare in response. He found the boy so amusing ... and he was his.