A/N: Bleh, this was not a happy chapter for me to write. Mostly because I had to keep rewriting, and rewriting what I rewrote, and so on and so forth. Even now, when I finally got it done, I'm not completely satisfied with it, but there's a saying I once heard about writing; it was something along the lines of 'you eventually have to stop messing with it and just move on', so that's what I'll do. I forget where I heard that, but it's definitely some of the most sound advice I've ever heard.

Special thanks to Someone179, Ceralyn, ddcj1990, and xkayxvenx for their reviews! Also, in response to the latter's request for Naru's pairing, I'll keep your suggestion in mind :)

Anyways, while slightly shorter than usual this chapter details the first few weeks of Naru's training under Anko (who is a sadist if I ever saw one), as well as the beginning of her relationship with a certain character (although it's probably not the character or type of relationship you're thinking of, sadly). With that being said, here's the key and disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other anime/manga that I draw inspiration from.

Key:

"This be talking."

'This be thinking'

"Bijuu/Higher Being speech"

'Bijuu/Higher Being thought'

Jutsus will be Italicized and Underlined

Flashbacks are in Italics only

**This chapter is currently Un-Beta'd**

If Naru had to describe the training regime Anko had put her through these past few weeks, in a single word, it would be 'hellish'. Granted, the first day hadn't been so bad—they'd spent most of that one getting to know each other—but the following days were a pure nightmare. The purple-haired tokubetsu jōnin had gotten her up at five AM almost every morning, leaving her scarcely enough time for a hurried breakfast before promptly chasing her at breakneck speed around Training Ground 44 until her legs gave out.

That was her warm-up.

Of course, the conditioning of her body didn't stop there; she was then forced to do push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches under threats of pain until she couldn't feel her arms or her legs. After that she was given her first reprieve of the day, but even then Anko continued her training, hammering the finer points of a wide variety of subjects into her tired brain while her body rested.

By the time her teacher finished stuffing her head full of knowledge Naru was usually ravenous, so each day they'd troop off to a different one of the shinobi-owned restaurants where Anko would buy them both lunch. The restaurant owners were always happy when they came, because Naru had to eat a lot of food to make up for lost calories, given just how much training Anko put the younger kunoichi through between breakfast and lunch.

After said meal they worked on a combination of chakra control exercises and sparring in a process that was no less brutal than the physical conditioning; Naru had learned the tree climbing exercise on the very day the Genin teams were assigned, so the three afternoons after that were spent fending off Anko's attacks while sticking to various surfaces until she was just above chakra exhaustion. Of course, given that by the time the fourth afternoon rolled around Naru had it mastered to the point where she could fight for an hour nonstop while sideways (or upside down), that day Anko had her start the process all over again with water walking. Eventually, though, the young Hyuuga mastered that as well, so the purple-haired kunoichi continued to up the ante.

But even though she was given another break after said exercises, Naru's typical day of torture wasn't done there; her sadist of a teacher would promptly quiz her on the lessons drilled into her skull earlier that day—as well as all of the topics from days previous—just to make sure she retained the information. Provided she got everything right, they'd move onto ninjutsu training.

Said training was perhaps the easiest part of her day, as it only taxed her ever-growing chakra reserves. Of course, they couldn't do any ninjutsu without techniques, so, after using a slip of chakra paper to determine Naru's affinity on the first afternoon they spent together, Anko had dragged her charge to the shinobi-only library. There they spent approximately two hours scouring the shelves for any wind and/or water techniques, as Naru had surprisingly inherited her mother's Suiton affinity in addition to her father's Fūton one.

While by no means did they come up empty handed on that day, there was still a lot left to be desired; the teacher and student duo had only found two wind jutsu to speak of, and their hunt for water jutsu was only a little more successful. Still, both of them knew how to make do with what they had, so it was with some satisfaction that they walked away with five scrolls on said jutsu. Every day after that, Naru spent those same two hours learning the five ninjutsu, practicing and repeating the techniques until she reached the point where she could do each one in the blink of an eye and without handseals.

Needless to say, with all the different forms of training her mentor gave her it had been a grueling first two weeks for one Hyuuga-Namikaze Naru. However, while that might have been the case she'd also reaped the rewards of such a harsh schedule; her speed, endurance, and chakra reserves had essentially doubled from their already impressive high-genin to low-chūnin levels, meaning she was now more than capable of holding her own against the upper echelons of the chūnin rank. This, of course, made Anko immensely proud of her protege, though the elder kunoichi would never admit that out loud.

Today, however, they had a different itinerary planned. Yes, her sensei still had her do a few laps around the forest of death, and yes, she had still done a few sets of the other physical and chakra control exercises, but overall it was a lighter workout. The reason for such a change was that her sensei had to give her first bi-monthly report on Naru's progress to the Hokage, and she wanted said girl to be there to hear it.

When the two kunoichi arrived at Minato's office, though, Naru was surprised to see three people waiting in the room along with the Hokage. However, since they matched the descriptions her teacher had given of the 'Rookie 9' jonin senseis, she suspected they were there for the same reason as Anko.

"Well this is unexpected." The red eyed woman—Kurenai, if Naru recalled correctly—drawled playfully, "Did you forget to send your genin home, Anko? Because if you haven't noticed, she followed you to this meeting like a lost puppy..."

"Oh, I noticed alright." Anko replied with a smirk, for the moment ignoring the jab at her prodigious student, "In fact, I specifically asked her to tag along for the ride, because in case you haven't noticed, Kurenai, I actually think about my genin's future. She's going to have to do this too, you know, once she becomes a jōnin sensei."

Kurenai was about to fire back another retort when Minato cut her off, effectively silencing her before she could do more damage.

"Kurenai, Anko, that's enough. We don't need to fight amongst ourselves." He said quietly, "But Anko is also correct; Naru will gain valuable experience on how we do things by sitting in on this meeting. It's not like we're going to be discussing any highly sensitive information here, after all. Besides, Anko already informed me that she wanted her apprentice to attend, so as far as I'm concerned it's perfectly acceptable for her to be here."

The red eyed woman visibly deflated as her argument was rolled up into a ball and tossed in the trash compactor, though she nodded nonetheless.

"Alright, with that being said we'll do this by seniority. Kakashi, you're up."

Said jonin snapped closed his Icha Icha, placing it in the pouch at his side. (A/N: since this story isn't about the other genin, I'll just do a rudimentary explanation here of what they've been taught. Use your imagination if you want more) He then explained that he had taught Sasuke, Natsuki, and Sakura the tree walking exercise, and how the first two shared a rivalry. They'd also learned a new ninjutsu each, after Kakashi tested their affinities with chakra paper. Other than that, they worked on physical conditioning. Stepping back, he allowed Asuma to come forward.

Said lazy jonin had taught his genin basically the same things as Kakashi had, with the exception of different jutsus due to there being different affinities in his group.

Kurenai was much the same as the first two, though she had taught Hinata a few genjutsu in place of any ninjutsu since her control was good enough.

When Anko stepped up to the plate, however, things got interesting. Kurenai and Asuma had departed, having been dismissed after they finished their respective reports, but Kakashi had remained since he wanted to hear how Minato's eldest daughter was doing.

"So...where do you want me to start, Hokage-sama?" The tokubetsu jonin asked, sharing a knowing grin with her student. It was going to be absolutely hilarious to see the reactions of Minato and Kakashi when she told them how far ahead of her peers Naru was...

"How about chakra control exercises?"

"Well, hmm. She's currently at three leaves..."

"Three leaves?" Kakashi interrupted, his lone uncovered eye as round as a dinner plate, "You mean she's already doing the leaf-sticking exercise? And with three leaves simultaneously?"

Anko gave him a smug grin.

"Yes, yes, and yes."

"But what about the tree- and water-walking exercises?"

"Well I taught her the first one on the day genin teams were assigned, it took her three more days to master it, and then another five to get water walking down, so..."

Kakashi blinked once, twice, three times, before placing his head in his hands.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is only the tip of the iceberg...?"

"Because it is, you pervert." Anko deadpanned, ignoring the silver-haired man as he went to cry anime tears in the corner of the room. "Anyways, as I was saying before I was interrupted, for chakra control exercises Naru is currently at three leaves whilst simultaneously water walking and fending off all of my attacks."

Minato sat back in his chair with a groan.

"So let me get this straight...you mean to say that Naru here..." He pointed to his eldest daughter, who only raised an amused eyebrow in response, "...Is basically already at the level of Chūnin?"

"Er, well..."

"Spit it out, Anko. How good is she?"

"Uh, if I had to take a guess...I'd say borderline low-jōnin."

Crickets chirping was the only response she got.

Eventually, though, the Hokage managed to reboot his brain and process this information, letting out a sigh soon after.

"...Just how hard have you been pushing her these past two weeks?" He asked, mimicking Kakashi's earlier action of placing his head in his hands. However, Anko merely shrugged in response, her expression unusually serious.

"I've only pushed her as much as she wanted to be pushed; when I asked her what she wanted to do on the first day we had together, she replied, and I quote, 'I need to get stronger. Strong enough to protect my family and friends. If that takes you driving me into the ground with training, then so be it. If it takes you giving me your most brutal regime, then I'll come out on top. All I ask is you help me get stronger...' End quote."

She paused long enough for the words to sink in.

"Needless to say, when faced with reasoning like that I couldn't say no. So I did as she asked, giving her the toughest, cruelest, and all around most brutal training regime I could think of, and true to her words she came out on top."

"I...see." Minato said finally, after a few minutes spent in silence. Turning slowly to the lone genin in the room, he finally asked the question that had been nagging at his conscience for the better part of two weeks. After all, he probably wouldn't get an opportunity like this again.

"Am I still a part of your family, Naru? Am I still your father, your tou-san? Or did I lose that privilege when I let you be raised by Hiashi..."

Now, the Yondaime Hokage was said to be capable of many things. He was the creator of two original jutsu, capable of many a feat of genius. He was the Yellow Flash, capable of using said jutsus to decimate an entire battalion of shinobi in just a few moments. He was a seal master, capable of calling upon the very death god himself. But what he wanted to be most was none of these things. What did he want, you might ask? He wanted to be a father to his eldest daughter, something which he had failed miserably at doing for the first sixteen years of her life.

So it was with visible regret on his face that he waited, watching as various emotions flitted through her beautiful cerulean eyes, knowing full well that it would most likely crush his heart if she rejected him as he previously had her.

And yet, deep down, he knew that she had every right to do so.

He was being selfish. Minato knew this. But he couldn't help it; he'd been a terrible parent, a fact he now regretted so much that it hurt. Naomi was probably rolling in her grave with disgust at how he'd acted. But that was beside the point. Yes, he had made a terrible decision. And yes, he'd done nothing to correct it for sixteen long years. He admitted it. But he wanted to make it up to his child in whatever way possible, even if said task took the rest of his life.

However, he was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed her decision.

"...I'll consider it" Naru said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. The Hokage's heart caught in his throat. Was she going to...? "But there's one thing I need to do before I can even do that."

Said girl stood up from her chair and walked across the room, delivering a powerful haymaker directly to Minato's right eye. Needless to say, Kakashi's visible eye went wide, and Anko nearly choked trying to hold back her laughter from seeing the all-powerful kage get decked by his genin daughter.

"That was for pushing me away for all those years, you bastard. And this..." Naru leaned down, placing a soft, chaste kiss over the rapidly swelling eye, "...is for coming to your senses. However, I can't say I've forgiven you just yet. Perhaps I will, given time...but there's still a chance I won't. It all depends on what you do to make up for the sixteen years of neglect you've given me."

"I think I can deal with that..." Minato croaked, idly wondering where she had gotten such a good punch. Kami forbid if she had inherited it from him..."But first I think I need to get some ice on my eye. We'll have to continue this meeting later."

Taking that as a dismissal, the three other occupants of the room silently walked out the door, though only Kakashi gave him a second glance. Pausing with his hand on the handle, the silver-haired man gave his leader an eye smile.

"You deserved that punch, you know."

"Yes, I did. I most certainly did..."

With a friendly wave the Jonin nodded, before leaving the Yondaime Hokage alone with his thoughts.

Another week passed, and Minato's eye had gradually healed to the point where you had to be up close and personal to see any of the remaining purple skin. Still, Naru had shared a laugh with her step-family at his expense when he took her to the Namikaze estates the evening of the progress meeting, so all in all life was good. She'd become good friends with Kushina, and had bonded somewhat with Natsuki, though she had yet to call the older woman 'Kaa-san' or the younger 'imouto'. Thankfully, though, Minato's wife and younger daughter had understood her reservations about doing such a thing before she was ready, merely welcoming her into the family with open arms. Additionally, Kushina had told her stories of the adventures she'd had with her blood mother and father, weaving many a tale as a bedtime treat.

Of course, hesitantly making memories with her new family notwithstanding, Naru hadn't forgetten to further her training; she had continued to hone her speed and endurance, though currently she was taking a break from that and working on trying to cut a leaf with wind chakra. She'd asked her blood father for any tips he had on reducing the chakra consumed by her ninjutsu techniques, and he'd told her about the three stages of Fūton mastery, those being cutting a leaf, cutting a boulder, and cutting a waterfall, all with pure wind chakra. Considering that it took him three years to complete all the stages, she wasn't too surprised when the first of the three exercises turned out to be the most difficult thing she'd ever attempted. But even then she kept at it, knowing full well that if she managed to completely master her two affinities a whole new world could potentially open up for her.

Hyōton, the fusion of Fūton and Suiton chakra.

Granted, the process of forming sub-elements like Ice was said to be nigh on impossible without a bloodline, but Naru had a theory on why this was so, and wanted to test said theory out. So, she'd resolved herself to mastering her affinities, even if it took her more than a few years to do so.

That being said, it was rather frustrating when there was so little progress...

"Naru! Lunch is served!" Kushina called out from the kitchen. Letting out a small sigh of defeat, the young Hyuuga stood up, releasing the leaf she'd been concentrating on for the better part of an hour. Initially she'd been rather hesitant to hang around Minato's family, but, after realizing that it would take some pressure off her adoptive parents, she eventually relented.

"I'll be there in just a sec!" She called back, starting the journey back towards the interior of the Namikaze estates.

Of course, seeing as she was intent on returning to the house to fill her stomach, Naru never noticed the infinitesimally small nick that had appeared in the leaf just before she released it to flutter away on the wind...

A/N: There you have it; the first part of Naru's training. This chapter took longer than the others because I had to spend so much time getting the wording of the first bit just right. In fact, I basically re-wrote this whole chappy about five separate times...

Now I know that some of you might complain that I didn't give a good enough description of Naru's skill set, so I'll just list her Biography, stats and such here:

Name: Hyuuga-Namikaze Naru

Eye color: Blue [Cerulean Byakugan]

Hair Color: Blonde

Affinities: Fūton and Suiton

Known Ninjutsu: Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough), Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu (Dust Cloud Technique), Suiton: Mizurappa (Raging Waves),
Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique), Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Encampment Wall)

Speed: Mid-Jōnin

Endurance: High-Chūnin

Strength: High-Chūnin

Chakra Control: High-Jōnin

Chakra Reserves: High-Chūnin

Overall: Borderline Low-Jōnin

So yeah, those are her approximate stats at this point in the story. Each one of the stats is actually a little higher than what is listed above, due to a week passing after the meeting, but they haven't risen enough to jump up a sublevel (example: High-Chūnin to low Jōnin).

Anyways, now that that's out of the way, you know the deal, leave a comment via that nice blue review button. You know you want to!

Next chappy will have the completion (for now) of Naru's training, as well as the probable beginning of the Wave Arc. I'm not 100% certain the latter will happen at all (or if I'll be able to fit it in), but we'll just have to see, won't we?

Here's to making mince meat of the plot bunnies,

-ZGS