Lying down on his bed, the aged Hokage sighed lightly as he looked up at the ceiling, thinking over the recent events involving his surrogate grandson. After six years of violence and torture, Sarutobi was finally starting to see that the village wasn't going to even begin accepting Naruto unless he proved it to them all, and they weren't going to make it easy.
While he did outlaw people speaking openly about the Kyūbi, as well as doing what he could to watch over Naruto, but it would not be nearly enough. He knew all too well that Naruto was attacked almost constantly, and even with ANBU watching over him, they did not do their job completely. They did come in and save him, but only when he had an inch of his life left. They never stepped in when the attacks started, and he knew that he was going to have to start changing a lot of things.
His relaxed gaze turned into a cold stare as he looked up at the ceiling and thought about Naruto's current condition. If he wasn't as lenient as he was, maybe it would have never come to this. Maybe he would have been respected like the Kumo Jinchūriki he had heard about, who also had close relations to the Kage of his village. If only Sarutobi had been a better Kage, then it was possible that Naruto wouldn't have had to face all of the hatred that he currently did. He could have just taken him into the Sarutobi Clan, as nobody would have messed with him then.
For the sake of Naruto, he was going to be a better Hokage.
Sarutobi wasn't the only person who was thinking about Naruto, as Anko was doing the same on her walk back home, as well as the half hour that she spent while laying in bed.
She didn't know why she wanted to look after Naruto, but something inside of her told her that it had to be done. When she looked around her house, she knew well that it wasn't the best place for a child to grow up in; and decided to start cleaning up, at least a little bit.
On the outside, she wasn't the best choice for being a mother. Even she knew that she wasn't parent material, but something inside of her was telling her that it would be best for the both of them if she were to take him in, and it wasn't the dark whisperings of the curse mark this time. It sounded like her own voice, and didn't remind her at all about the man who had put the seal on her.
He had placed the curse seal on her and later told her that she didn't have the drive to use it, and abandoned her and left her for dead. She idolized the man because he was all that she had, but in the end she threw her away like a piece of trash.
By this time, she was unsure of if she was dreaming or not, but watched as the events unfolded in front of her. She didn't know where she was, but it appeared to be just a plain forest in the land of Fire. Naruto was next to her with a smiling face, and in front of the two of them was another person. It was currently dark out, and she wasn't able to see the face of the third person, but she knew that it was Naruto next to her because of the kind warmth that he constantly gave off.
Naruto took a small step towards the person in front of him and smiled at them. Anko had assumed that the person smiled back from the slight tilt of the head, but was overall unsure of who it was or who it could have been.
Breaking the silence, Naruto took another step forward and kept his eyes on her person in front of him. "Thank you -Sensei! You're the coolest!" He said brightly, getting a nod from the person. Anko looked at them curiously and replayed the sentence in her mind, completely unable to hear the name of the person. It was as if Naruto's voice was completely muted when he had spoke the name of his apparent sensei.
The person nodded and replied back, but to Anko, it wasn't any recognizable voice that she had ever heard. In fact, it was the voices of many people what she had heard before, all speaking different words, but acting as if they were one. "Thank you Naruto. I'm glad that you came to join me in my trip, but I am also disappointed because of it." The voice said sadly, looking down at the ground. Naruto Frowned and took another step over to the person.
"What's wrong sensei? Did I do something wrong?" He asked the person, his voice not being muted because he didn't speak the name of his sensei. As both he and Anko looked at the person in confusion, it nodded as it kept its head down.
"Yes, Naruto. You did do something wrong. You misused my teachings." The voice now said coldly, striking Naruto quickly. Naruto was fortunate enough to move so that she strike wouldn't hit his heard, but the hand of the person hit his shoulder instead, causing him to spin backwards and hit a tree. Naruto grunted with pain and kept his eyes on his sensei as it moved closer to him.
Anko could only watch as the person picked up Naruto and looked him straight in the eyes. She had no access to her voice, and her legs were stuck to the ground, only allowing her upper body to move. She had tried to scream and yell and get his attention, but neither Naruto or his sensei acknowledged her existence.
"What did I do? I'm sure that I can make it up! I didn't do anything at all!" He tried to hell his sensei, but the person didn't do anything other than backing its head with Naruto's then dropping the boy as soon as it pulled its head back. Although Naruto was losing consciousness, the person spoke to Naruto in the same cold voice as before.
"Exactly. You did nothing. You are a disgrace and a monster. Even with the power you contain, you are nothing. Useless When they find you, I will be long gone, and I expect for whoever is looking for me will kill you just to get you out of everyone's way." The being said as it kicked Naruto In the head and ran away at speeds that only a Sannin could have.
Anko was enraged at the person who hurt Naruto, but also worried since she knew whoever would find him would surely finish the job. Suddenly, her legs began to move again, and she quickly ran over to Naruto and held him in her arms. He was a little taller than she had remembered him to be, but it still felt like him.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, crying and trying to wake him up, but the next thing she knew he was back in her bed, covered in sweat and the covers that she was sleeping under now on the ground.
The memories were too real for her, and she replayed them in her mind constantly. Naruto looked so heartbroken when his sensei had told him that it was disappointed. She assumed that he had put a lot of trust into his sensei, and all of a sudden she was out cold and left to die.
Her eyes widened even further as she came to the realization that it was impossibly similar to when she had last seen Orochimaru, but he was in her place, and his sensei was literally anyone, as all of the voices she had heard were from people that she knew.
She struggled to continue thinking about it, but she knew that it was the key to answering the question that her Hokage had given her.
It was so much like her own ordeal, but at the same time it was different. She knew inside that she couldn't let something like that happen to him, and she knew that she couldn't let him turn out like she did.
As she told herself the night before, she began to clean up her apartment after eating breakfast, planning on getting the place clean enough for another person to move in. Anko hoped that the Hokage would allow her to take in the little gaki, and spent more than enough time practicing what she was going to say while cleaning.
After having felt that her apartment was fine for the time being, he smiled to herself and took a brief shower before getting new clothes and heading out. Even though she appeared tough as nails and borderline psychotic on the outside, she wasn't really as mean as she seemed. She had to make an image for herself to prove the village wrong about her, and if that meant not being able to look at things that were even a tiny bit frilly in public, then so be it.
It was still fairly early in Konogakure, and although Anko usually wouldn't be up at the current hour, but she had business to attend to. He had some things to talk to the Hokage about, as well as the fact that she needed to see if Naruto had gotten better since the night before. Kakashi and Yugao had both told her that the Kyūbi wasn't helping Naruto's healing process, and she only hoped that the fox would finally decide to help now.
While busy with her thoughts Anko wasn't able to see the young girl that she had just bumped in to. Looking down at the girl with a bit of surprise, she kept her face somewhat blank while she studied her. The girl did the same and said nothing, but her face said that she did recognize Anko.
Anko looked down at the girl and couldn't help but notice the two large, red fang-like tattoos that were on both sides of her face. She currently had three pups with her, with one of them being on her head, another on her shoulder, and the last on the ground right next to her feet. Despite not having wild hair, slit eyes, or extended canines, Anko knew well that the girl was an Inuzuka.
While the Inuzuka girl was about to say something, Anko placed a hand over her mouth just as her lips opened, and Anko shook her head softly. "Quiet." She said simply, giving the girl a more serious look. She couldn't place the girl's looks anywhere, and sighed in defeat only seconds after ordering the girl to stay quiet.
The snake mistress removed her hand from the girls mouth and looked at her plainly. "Don't know you. You look a little to… normal, to be Inuzuka. No crazy hair, no crazy eyes, and no giant teeth. What's your name?" She asked to the girl, getting the Inuzuka to smile slightly.
"I'm Hana Inuzuka. You're… Mitarashi Anko… Right?" She asked, getting a nod from the older woman. Anko wasn't sure how Hana knew her name, but before she could ask, Hana spoke again. "Kaa-san said something about you. I can't remember what it was, but she was smiling so it was a good sign."
Anko was now wondering who her mother was, and lucky for her, Hana didn't interrupt her this time when she asked a question. "Who is your mother, and how would….. She's Tsume, huh?" Anko said flatly, knowing that there was no other Inuzuka that she knew around her own age group, and she should have known that it was Tsume's kid from the start. Hana simply nodded at Anko with a small smile.
"She is, and I'm sorry to leave, but I need to go and see Hokage-sama." Hana told Anko, snapping her fingers to get the pup that was on the ground to pay attention and follow her.
Anko watched as the young Inuzuka walked away from her and to the Hokage tower. It was a coincidence that she was also going there, but to not seem like a weird stalker, she decided to change her route slightly to head on her way over to the hospital to check up on a certain young blonde.
Tada! Quick little chapter for all of you readers.
I'm already starting up on introducing Hana, as you can see above, and I think that she will turn out great.
I would also like to say that I would like to have a Beta for this, as well as ones for my upcoming stories that I told you all about in the update.
See you all next time!