Anko woke up groggily and in an uncomfortable position. Due to the seal array, she was still unable to function at full capacity, so it took her longer to process just what she was in. She attempted to move her arms without luck. Something bound them in a crossed position, and her legs were strapped together as well. She was unable to move her head down to look at herself, but she quickly recognized that she was in a straitjacket. She could also tell that it was true due to the fact that a mask covered the lower portion of her face, with a small barred window at her mouth so people could hear her when she spoke, albeit muffled though. She began to move and thrash about, her memories coming back about the impostor who she had found sleeping with her son in her arms. The woman looked just like she did, and seemed to have the same talents that she did.
"You're absolutely sure that she won't be able to escape?" A voice spoke from small distance away. Anko could easily recognize that it was Kurenai's voice, and attempted to move her head to look at the red eyed, raven haired woman, without any luck.
Next to Kurenai, Tsunade nodded, looking at the bound woman as she thrashed about in anger. "Mostly…" She replied offhandedly, shrugging and examining which parts of the jacket seemed to be getting the most wear and tear. "After all, nothing is entirely escape-proof, especially for a Kunoichi of Anko's caliber and unpredictability."
In the corner of the room, Yugana sat with Naruto, reassuring him that his mother was alright, and just a little agitated at the moment.
"She has a few strands of red hair." Yugana pointed out vocally, getting Tsunade to nod once more.
"The seal's worked. I'm not entirely sure why she doesn't have a full head of red hair, but in all actuality, it isn't a bad look for her." She shrugged once more, imagining all of the different and unique things Anko would be able to do with her new fiery strands of hair. "It seems she has their temper as well. I'm surprised she hasn't ripped that jacket to shreds yet, but I guess a few seals courtesy of the seal master-to-be helps with that."
Naruto blushed at the title given to him by Tsunade. He and his family had been working to make sure that he was adept in his clan's talents, and he had excelled with sealing. The array that had been used on Anko was a kage level seal array, due to the abundance and complexity of all of the seals used. He had mastered a few of the Jonin level seals and a larger amount of the Chunin and Genin level ones as well. He was well on his way to becoming a seal master in his own right, but still had a long ways to go. Months ago, he had found out that Uzushiogakure had a more strict ranking system, and a number of the Genin level seals that he learned were considered high Chunin level seals in the eyes of Konoha.
He also excelled at creating his own seals, having to move his work elsewhere in the compound to avoid destruction of any of the more important buildings. One of his favorite seals was one of his own design. It was a pressure seal, and when sat on, it would release a cloud of near toxic gas that could easily clear out a room. He hadn't developed a name for it that his family would accept. 'Fart Cloud Seal' was one that Naruto wanted to call it, but the majority of his family decided against it. Surprisingly, Kurenai thought it was rather funny to give it such a brutal and direct name, but she seemed to be the only one who was not against using that as the name for the seal. Many of the members of the new Uzumaki clan in Konoha had been subject to the testing of this seal, unknowingly of course, since its creation, and as of a few months prior, it had been outlawed from use inside the Uzumaki clan grounds. Despite this, he still used it to prank Kurenai, who did not hold it against him.
Naruto had also been studying his clan's laws. The Uzumaki clan was notable for being honorable and holding their word until the end. There were only a small handful of moments in all of recorded history that ever had the Uzumaki clan going against a deal that they were a part of, and those times were only because the other party was going to break the deal in the first place. The clan also had several branching skills for the other jutsu types. His family had trained him to the best of their abilities, but he still lacked in kenjutsu due to the fact that Yugao was unable to teach him as well as she wanted to. Even with that setback, he was going to be an amazing student at the academy, one of the best as far as his family was concerned.
Naruto looked at his mother with concern. She was mad, but it was not the worst that he had seen from her. He was in the arms of Yugana, but reached out as if to touch his mother from a distance. "Please Kaa-san, calm down. We're just trying to make sure the seal worked right."
Anko grunted and made an effort to look in the direction that she heard her son's voice from. She said nothing to him, and continued to thrash about in an effort to get out.
"I should knock her out again." Tsunade stated rather bluntly, getting Anko to pause and look at her with an incredulous expression on her face. Her comment also got Kurenai to look at her once more, but the latter didn't seem to be opposed to the idea.
Clearing her throat, Tsunade moved a hand down to the mask on Anko's face, her fingers wrapping around the jaw section of the mask.
"Alright Anko, we are going to explain to you - peacefully, I feel the need to add - what happened in the last few days that you missed out on, and I will strap you back up if you get too wild, understand?" She directed as an order at Anko, who grunted once more and nodded to the best of her current abilities. Tsunade released a small burst of chakra out from her hand and out to the mask before retracting her hand and turning to look at Yugana. The older woman motioned for her to speak and explain things, which she did soon after.
Yugana had Naruto sitting on her lap, the little boy looking at his mother with signs of concern and curiosity. She picked up her nephew and moved the chair they sat on closer over to Anko before sitting back down.
"Anko." She started. "I can't explain everything in detail right now, but I'm from another world. In my world, I am your sister, your twin sister actually, and... Our Sensei is still a good man to the village. I thought that you were posing as my sister, which is why I attacked you a few days ago. I don't know why I assumed that, or if anyone told me that, but that's what happened. Naruto was kind enough to offer to let me into the clan, and Sarutobi-sama has agreed to get people to help me integrate into this world."
It took Anko several minutes of silent pondering to finally accept the answer that the imposter had given her. Her head turned as far as she could get it to look at Tsunade, and cleared her throat to get her attention. "Tsunade, take this mask off." She stated, rather than asking, her voice muffled. After the older woman gave her an intense glare, the snake mistress sighed. "Please." She added, hoping that she could get out of the ridiculous suit.
Tsunade shook her head and moved her hand away from the mask. "I'm sorry Anko, but until you prove that you aren't going to pounce on her like a maniac, I can't let you out of this getup."
Anko groaned and feigned agony. It obviously didn't work, so she calmed down some and tried a different approach. "Fine? Fine. I guess we're having some bacon tomorrow..."
Tsunade quickly grew uncomfortable for Shizune and Tonton's sakes. With another sigh, she began to take the mask off of Anko's face. "Fine, but one wrong move and you're back with the mask on. I don't even see why you need it off since you can speak just fine with it on."
"I'm just asking some questions, and this thing is a little uncomfortable." She looked around at her friends and family and landed her gaze on Yugana. "I won't attack you. As I said, just a few questions."
Yugana met Anko's gaze and returned it with equal seriousness. Naruto still sat on her lap, but moved a little since he could feel the tension between the two women. "Okay, but I don't think it'll help much."
And so, question after question, Anko became more acquainted with the woman who had apparently come from another world. As expected, she had formed a connection with her. They were both so very much the same, but also very different from one another. As the day went on, they shared stories with each other about their respective worlds and people, and Anko was eventually able to get out of the straight jacket and have a good meal.
Like Hiruzen had promised, several people had come to the Uzumaki clan compound to help Yugana get used to the new world that she was in. Little did they know beforehand, all of the people sent to help her and the clan were the clan heads and heirs of Konoha. This brought the clans closer together, and made the Uzumaki compound a meeting place of sorts for all of the other clans to come and socialize with one another in an informal setting.
Yugana was regarded as a rather special Shinobi, with her records being accessible only by the Hokage himself under punishment of death by painful public execution. She was the first ever 'Phantom-Nin', holding almost zero records and technically not existing. She was sent on rather dangerous missions with rather high pay, and got through almost all of them unscathed.
It was another morning at the Uzuamki compound, and was just as lively as ever. Ibiki had grown tired of regulating his interrogations, and had exhausted all of the prisoners that he had available. Kurenai had just come back from an exceptionally difficult mission a few days before with Anko and Tsume. Even though she trusted Hana to look after Kiba, Tsume did not trust the fifteen year old girl to look after the little ball of energy for an entire week, and had Kiba stay with the Uzumaki clan with Tsunade, Shizune, and Ibiki watching the kids. That boy was too much for the best Inuzuka caretakers to handle on their own, but not for Tsunade.
"Get back here!" A young boy yelled as he raced through the halls of the compound.
"I'll think about it!" Another called back as he ran in front of the previously mentioned boy. His tone was cocky and sarcastic, and was growing to become more so every passing day.
The boy in the back growled and made even more of an effort to go faster. "You better hope that I catch you, because you know what Sasuke's going to do if he gets you first!"
"That's if he can catch me." His tone was as boisterous as ever. Naruto turned his head to look back at his wolf-like friend who insisted on catching him, and stuck his tongue out as he purposefully tripped and skidded down the hallway.
Kiba saw that moment to pounce forward and catch Naruto. The blonde boy was excellent at ninja tag, one of the best in Konoha, but Kiba was going to try and prove that he was better.
Naruto slid across the hallway and hit one of the walls. Just as he made contact with it, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, causing Kiba to hit the wall where Naruto was supposed to have been.
Soon after he had come to an abrupt stop, a small little puppy raced down the same corridor and jumped onto Kiba's head, yipping and sniffing the air before placing his paws on its nose.
Kiba growled in anger once more and hit the ground with a little bit of force. "Naruto!" He shouted his friend's name out to the heavens before making his way to his feet and sulking out of the compound. "Man, Sasuke's going to get him again..."
Meanwhile, Naruto smirked as the memories of Kiba's chase came to him. While he didn't know the specifics of how Kiba reacted to finding out he was chasing a clone, the blonde boy was able to hear his friend shout in rage. He wanted to laugh at his friend's expense, but was unable to because of his current location. He had been warned time and time again not to hide where he was currently, but it was a high risk, high reward area.
Suddenly, Naruto winced and doubled over in pain. It was one of the side effects of having the shadow clones. The memory and phantom feeling of pain always came before the memories themselves did, so he always experienced the pain twice. From what he had seen from his clone, Sasuke had almost captured him, and kicked one of his legs in to get him down. It was a brutal and punishing tactic, but Naruto knew Sasuke wouldn't do that unless he knew that it was a clone, and that Naruto wouldn't actually have a broken leg because of it.
Sasuke was close to Naruto's location however. He was in the same hallway, and was only a few doors down from where his target was hiding.
He had to get out. If Sasuke found him, Anko would surely beat the both of them with her Uzumaki strength for being in her room. She was especially tired after that last mission with Kurenai and Tsume, and would certainly be in a bad mood if woken up. Naruto moved out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible. As soon as Naruto escaped the room, he took a mad dash for the end of the hallway. Unfortunately, Sasuke heard him sprinting down the hall, and chased after him.
The two ran all throughout the house, eventually escaping the compound and heading into the village.
Naruto began to push large amounts of chakra out, covering his body in a blue aura. He moved faster, his legs pushing him further and faster, he loved this technique that he, his mother, his godmother, his aunt, and his first godmother had worked together to develop. The boy looked over his shoulder and smirked at Sasuke. "You're too slow!" He chimed, getting his friend to grunt in frustration.
"You're too fast!" Sasuke yelled in frustrated reply to his friend's taunting. "Slow down a little so you don't crash into someone!" He knew that Naruto had problems with controlling this technique at times, but Sasuke really was worried that all of that chakra would make him a bomb if he were to run into a building or a person.
As much as Naruto didn't want to admit it, Sasuke was right. If he wasn't careful, he could easily level a good part of the village just by accident. Deciding to take the chase elsewhere, Naruto began to lead Sasuke to the forest of death, an area he was well acquainted with thanks to his mother and aunt, much to his two godmother's dismay.
Sasuke chased Naruto into the forest of death, both of them ignoring the warning signs and large fence surrounding the area. The raven haired boy was starting to get tired, but he pushed on in hopes of tagging Naruto. It was a goal he was always so close to, and was only able to capture him a handful of times.
The two of them ran for another ten minutes through the forest before they both started to get tired. They both still moved onward, finally stopping as Naruto was faced with a large tree.
Naruto turned around and watched as Sasuke appeared before him. They were equally matched in several areas, persistence being one of them.
"Give it up Naruto, you can't keep going." Sasuke panted, slowly moving closer to Naruto.
Naruto smirked and moved as far back as he could until he hit the tree. "Yeah I can! I'm stopping for your sake." He replied confidently.
"I'll get you!" Sasuke yelled, lunging at Naruto. He stopped as he heard an animal roar just near the two of them. Both of them turned to look at the animal that made its presence known, and identified it as a panther.
Slowly, the panther stalked over in front of Naruto, as if defending him from Sasuke. It crouched low and began to growl, causing Sasuke to take a cautionary step back.
Naruto was confused, but said nothing and watched as the panther stood still. Eventually, Sasuke let his guard down and took several more steps back.
Once the boy was far enough away, the panther turned around and looked up at Naruto. Naruto knelt down in front of the cat and slowly moved a hand in front of its face. The panther pushed its head into Naruto's hand and allowed itself to be petted. Naruto quickly understood what was happening, and began to pet it some more, which caused it to purr and lick his hand slowly.
It didn't take long for Naruto to remember his mother telling him something about a panther from almost two years before when she had used too many poisons on him for his immunity training. It was possible that it was the same panther, and since he had never seen any other panthers in the forest before, it was the only conclusion that he was able to draw on.
Sasuke watched as Naruto petted and played with the panther, anslowly began to approach the two again. "Naruto, is this your panther?" He asked, looking at the black furred animal with slight awe.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke and let up on his petting, getting the panther to turn around once more. "I don't know, but it likes me!"
"Well we should probably get going before that thing eats us or something." Sasuke stated warily before starting to walk away. The large and clearly dangerous panther was unnerving him more and more, and he didn't want to be around when that thing decided to snap.
"I win!" Naruto cheered, surprising the panther. Quickly, he looked at the large cat and petted it once more. "I gotta go, I'll see you later!" He told it before walking away with Sasuke.
The two walked slowly and calmly out of the forest of death and back into the village, entirely unaware that they had a follower with them.
When they got back to the compound, Naruto opened the door for him and Sasuke to walk through, but was caught off guard when Sasuke yelled in surprise from hearing a familiar roar.
Sasuke had closed the door just as the panther was walking through the doorway, and accidentally hit the panther in the side with the door.
"That thing followed us!" Sasuke hollered, taking several quick steps into the house to avoid the panther that was trying to get free from the door and doorway.
Naruto looked at the creature carefully and knelt down again, only for it to approach him and attempt to get him to pet it again.
The panther roared once more, this time in obvious pain, before hiding behind Naruto. It was all too quick for Naruto to process, and he was forced to look around to see what had happened.
Hana now stood in the doorway berating one of her dogs. "Bad! Bad Ichimaru!" She scolded the front most dog, getting it to whimper and put its head down in shame.
Sighing, she stood up fully and looked at the panther and Naruto. "I'm sorry about him biting your... cat..." She leered at the feline carefully and glanced back at Naruto. "Cats and dogs don't get along very well, you know."
"Uh, but it's not mine..." Naruto told her unsurely, getting the other teen to look at him in surprise.
"Really? From what I'm seeing right now, it looks like she likes you." She told him in response, kneeling down to Naruto and looking at the panther. "Are you sure she isn't yours?"
Naruto nodded and petted the panther. "Yeah..." He drifted back as he remembered the poisons. "Hey, didn't Kaa-san say something about a cat or something a while ago?"
Hana hummed in thought, remembering everything and anything she could about a panther. The memory came back to her as she remembered a panther picking Naruto up to carry him away. "Yeah, you're right. She might be the same one for all we know. That seems to be the best possibility here as well.
"Wait a minute, She?" Naruto asked, unsure how Hana was able to come to that conclusion.
Hana nodded back to him. "Yeah, she." She told him, smiling and waving a finger knowingly. "I work with animals, remember?"
"Oh yeah..." Naruto sighed and looked back at the panther, which had lay down to relax while Naruto was talking with Hana.
Hana looked back at the panther, inspecting it as close as she was able to without it being too aggressive towards her. She hummed lightly and watched as it slinked around Naruto in a defensive manner.
"Huh." Hana spoke. "That's a little odd..."
Naruto's brow rose in curiosity, "What's odd?" he asked her, the panther turning its head towards Naruto.
Hana attempted to move towards Naruto and the panther, the latter of the two growling lowly as she got closer. As she moved away, the panther stopped growling and nuzzled itself into Naruto's side.
"Your panther friend here seems to be pretty close to you. Almost like a bond." She told him, getting both Naruto and Sasuke to look at her with curiosity.
"Bond?" They said in unison, causing Hana to chuckle at their cute reactions.
"Yeah, a bond." She knelt down and pet two of her dogs, smiling at them and looking at them as they yipped in joy. "Inuzuka dogs bond to a clan member soon after they're born. They were a bit of a special case, being triplets and all, but I took up the responsibility to raise them all!" She laughed quietly as she gave the third of the trio some much needed attention. "Since your panther obviously isn't a canine of any sort, it isn't the exact same, even more so since she's a fully grown panther."
"What do you mean?" Naruto began to pet the panther as he listened to Hana's explanation, unaware that his actions were causing the cat to calm down.
"Some of the signs are there, I've seen them. They usually stay close to whomever they choose to bond with, and are pretty protective of them." Hana paused and examined the panther once more. She hummed to herself and sighed as the returned her gaze to Naruto. "Again, it's a little odd given how different this is, so it might not be a full bond, or even one at all. I'm not really sure what to say, so we should probably go and tell Kaa-san. She'll know what to do."
"You're going to the Inuzuka compound?" Sasuke spoke up, getting the blond boy and the teen to look at him. "Can I come with you guys?"
Hana shook her head and gave Sasuke a sad look. "Sorry, but this is pretty serious business, and since she decided to bond with Naruto, it's really best if only him and other Inuzuka are around. Maybe next time Sasuke."
Sasuke sighed and proceeded to walk to the door. "Can't win them all I guess." He said to himself. "I'll see you later Naruto, tell me what happens when you get back!" He ran out the door and made his way back to his house, hopeful that his brother would have some time on his hands to train him a little.
With Sasuke now gone, Hana stood back up and whistled. Her dogs rose to attention and looked up at the Inuzuka heiress. "Let's go boys." She told the trio, all of which yipped and walked out the door, followed by Hana herself. Turning around, Hana motioned for Naruto to follow.
Naruto walked out with his new panther, which walked closely next to him and constantly looked around at the passing people in the short distance there was between his house and Hana's.
Suddenly, Naruto stopped and looked back in the direction of his house. "Shouldn't I tell someone I'm leaving for a while?"
Hana stopped along with their dogs and turned around to look at the boy that she was trying to help. "I'm sure that you'll be fine, Naruto. You're just going to be at the Inuzuka compound just next door, and your mom is good friends with my mom. Nothing to worry about!"
"Well, if you say so..." Naruto sighed and resumed walking with Hana.
Soon after, the duo and their respective animal companions arrived at the Inuzuka compound. Hana made sure to tell Naruto to be careful with his panther, so they had moved straight to the main building in hopes of not attracting attention.
Hana had instructed Naruto to stay with the triplets and his panther while she went to find her mother. It didn't take long to find her in her office, and the heiress quickly explained the odd situation.
"Well. This really is strange." Tsume scratched the back of her head. There had been a few stories here and there about 'wild children', and those who were raised by wild animals, but it was an odd case for specifically one panther to decide to protect a human child. "I guess we just have to wait it out and see what happens."
Hana looked at her mother with confusion. "Wait it out?" She asked her. "What do you mean by that? Can't we just put them through natural bonding to see if this partnership is real or not?"
"Absolutely not." Tsume replied quickly, shaking her head. "Honorary clansmen or not, this is just too different to put them through natural bonding. Not to mention that it's used only for Inuzuka clan members to bond with their pups. He isn't a full member, she's a panther, she's a fully grown panther, and what happens if natural bonding doesn't work, or worse, goes wrong?" She put on a more serious tone, causing Hana to look down at the ground and think, "We'll just have to find another way to see if this is serious or not. Shouldn't be too hard."
Hana knew her mother was right, and made the decision to say nothing as she followed her mother to the main room of the house.
Hana and Tsume were introduced to a rather strange sight as they entered the living room. The large and once ferocious panther was laying of its side, its paws matching the movements of Naruto's hands as it played with him, much like a kitten would. Neither of them had any words for what was displayed before them, and only broke the silence a minute later.
"Well... That was certainly something..." Tsume mumbled to herself, just loud enough for the others in the room to hear.
Naruto stopped playing with the panther and looked at Tsume, the aforementioned animal stopping and mimicking Naruto to look at the clan head as well.
Hana was surprised to see it copying Naruto's movements, but that only supported her theory of a bond even more so. "Seems like they're bonded, Kaa-san." Hana chirped.
Tsume hummed in thought, her eyes focused on the animal that looked back at her with a similar intense look. It was all so strange for a panther of all things to decide to protect Naruto.
"Naruto." Tsume spoke, getting the boy to look at her. "Go and stand up against that wall there." She pointed at a nearby wall a good distance away from the panther.
Naruto did what he was instructed to do and stood up against the wall. "What are we doing?" He asked her, his tone being as curious as ever.
Tsume didn't speak. Her hand moved to her side and in an instant, she pulled out a kunai and launched it at Naruto.
The panther's head perked up, the large beast lunging at Naruto and catching the blade while it was still in the air with its jaws.
Once it reached the ground, it crouched low, growling at Tsume and narrowing its eyes at her.
Naruto was frozen with fear. The kunai was only inches away from his face before the panther had caught it. It seemed to be too much a distance for it to travel in such a short amount of time, but obviously not due to the most recent event.
"I see." Tsume murmured to herself, seemingly unaware of the glare that her daughter shot at her.
"What was that!?" Hana asked incredulously. "You could have killed him!"
The clan head shook her head. "It wouldn't have hit him. I aimed close to his head, but not at it. He was fine all along."
Tsume walked over to Naruto carefully. She had stirred up the panther with her earlier action, but she needed to reassure Naruto that everything was okay. Her steps were slow, careful, and deliberate, trying not to disturb the animal any further then she already had.
Once she got close enough, Tsume rested her hand on top of Naruto's head and ruffled his blonde locks. This got the panther to growl, but Tsume was unphazed.
"Sorry kid." She said to him. "But I had a few thoughts to test, and your new friend here just proved them."
"Thoughts?" Hana spoke up, looking at her mother quizzically. "What kind of thoughts?"
"This panther was conditioned." She told her daughter rather bluntly.
"Oh." Was all the others could say.
"Conditioned?" Naruto chipped in, as curious as Hana was. "What's that mean?"
Tsume smiled and ruffled his hair once again before pacing around the room. "This panther had the speed of a ninja and the reflexes of one to boot. She's much more responsive to Naruto than an animal would be during the second meeting. She's going to have to stay here so we can see what's up with her."
"But how can you make a panther a ninja?" Naruto replied, his eyes wandering towards his feline friend. "Don't they need that chakra stuff, and I don't think she wants to leave me."
Tsume paused. That was a very good question, and it came with a good answer. "Well, for the chakra bit, it's a little odd. Animals all have their own chakra pathway systems... per se. Just like humans, not all animals have a usable amount of chakra. Some animals might not be smart enough to learn how to correctly mold chakra, and the whole thing is pretty iffy if you ask me. Anyways, chakra in panthers is pretty unexplored as far as I know, so I can only tell you that this cat learned through lots of training and watching. Probably because it was in the forest of death."
The older woman sighed, wanting to find a better way to explain this to the almost eight year old boy. "Maybe I should get Guy to explain this better. His crazy ass would understand."
Hana's eyes widened at the mention of the crazed ninja. "Guy!?" She asked in shock. "Kaa-san, that's a really bad idea. You know how impressionable Naruto is."
"Bah!" Tsume pushed her hand though the air. "He'll be fine." She had little more to say on the subject, and proceeded to push Naruto out of the door. "Bye Naruto, we'll take care of your panther for you while we check it out. Check back regularly!"
As soon as Naruto left the compound, Tsume quickly shut the door and leaned against it, her body sliding down to the floor. "God dammit this is a bad idea," she said to herself.
Naruto was well on his way back to his home when it all happened. While he did conform to Tsume's orders, he still felt bad knowing that he had left the panther that was protecting him with what it probably believed to be total strangers that loved and harbored dogs.
He was curious about the conditioning. He assumed it was like training, from what Tsume had told him, but the word sounded strange, ominous in a way. If it had been a conditioned panther meant to guard or care for Naruto, who could have trained it to be so talented?
All of his thoughts stopped as he felt a single, hot breath on his neck. On instinct, he bolted away as fast as his legs could carry him, despite knowing that the chase was futile.
He could only get a few yards ahead before he was tackled down to the ground and pinned, a kunai digging into his throat just barely.
"Where have you been all day?" A sweet voice asked him just into his ear. It was one he was all too familiar with, and he knew that he was in trouble.
"Me and Kiba and Sasuke were playing tag, and Sasuke chased me into the forest of death..." He quickly submitted to his mother's tactics, gulping and moving his eyes back to look at her. Quickly, his eyes shifted to her hand, which seemed to have lessened its grip on the kunai at his neck.
An idea came to Naruto as he thought of a way to get out of the grasp of his seemingly frozen mother, but all of that was shut down when she tightened her grip on him as soon as he made the slightest of movements.
"You were where?!" She asked him rhetorically.
He said nothing to her, too afraid to utter even the simplest of phrases.
Sighing, Anko got off of her son and helped him to his feet. However, her hand did not let his go. Her hand roughly pulled Naruto back into the direction of the compound, dragging him behind her.
She had never explicitly told him not to venture into the forest. It was just a place that he had not been too much since the immunity accident, and she assumed that it was best if they stayed away from there until he was more experienced as a ninja. None of the other parental figures in his life ever capitalized on it either, and it was a gray area in their teachings.
Naruto had told Anko what had happened during the day, with her being a little on edge about the entire panther situation. She'd have to talk to Tsume on her own time.
Once they reached the compound, Anko finally let her son's hand go. She wasn't really mad at him, but just worried about the situation at hand and to come.
Anko opened the door to the compound, and motioned Naruto forward. She'd have to get some money circulating around so she could hire a workforce of talented and 'good looking' shinobi to guard and take care of the house as well as the people in it. A little eye candy for when she would be off after an abnormally tough mission or series of missions, maybe one of two of them could massage her and relax her muscles as well. She could picture it all now.
"Anko? Anko? What are you doing Anko?" The snake mistress could hear a voice calling out to her as she fantasized. The louder and more aggressive the voice became, the closer she got to snapping out of her trance.
Anko quickly glanced around and looked at the woman that was practically yelling at her.
"Anko!" Tsunade roared, looking at the younger woman as she continued to hold the door open. Tsunade had watched her hold the door open for a solid fifteen minutes before deciding to act.
"What? I wasn't daydreaming about hot, muscular, guys, doing all the work around the house!" Anko fired off far too quickly before moving away from the door and power walking out of the room.
The red tint on her face told Tsunade all she needed to know, and decided to leave it at that. Only a sigh could escape her lips as she retreated to talk to her godson.
"And you." Tsunade leered at her godson. "Where have you been? Last thing I remember, you, Sasuke, and Kiba were sitting around the main room of the compound." Earlier in the day, Tsunade had left with Shizune to take a rather short shift at the hospital, leaving the three boys to their own devices in the compound. When she had gotten back, none of them were anywhere to be seen.
While Tsunade seemed scary to Naruto now, she was nowhere near as angry she could be on an annoyed day. Her current state of rage sprouted from her worry over Naruto's wellbeing, which could also become much worse given the correct circumstances.
Naruto looked down at the ground and weighed all the available options. All of them led to him eventually cracking and telling her what he was actually doing.
"Well..." He began to trail off, looking up at his godmother with a weak smile as he scratched the back of his head. "We were playing ninja tag, and I may have chased Sasuke into the forest of death..."
Tsunade almost popped a vein at what she had just heard. She already didn't like the forest of death as it was the place where Anko had lost Naruto and almost got him kidnapped by an animal, but she also had to reprimand herself for not telling Naruto to stay away from there. She simply assumed that he would keep away for his own safety.
Then again, Naruto and safety never mixed all that well anyway.
The Senju Clan Head sighed and hung her head, ready to reply. Before she was able to speak, Yugana walked in and looked at the odd-pair.
"Anyone know why Anko is blushing so much?" She asked out of the blue, getting Tsunade and Naruto to move their attention to her. "She's a little meaner than the Anko I know, but still."
Tsunade could only shake her head and give Yugana a look. "Male servants..." Was all she could mutter without getting Naruto too curious about it.
Smiling, Yugana nodded and spun on her heel before walking away. The tough-as-nails Anko that this world had, now had something that Yugana could use for some serious teasing. She knew that if Naruto wasn't around, then Tsunade would surely talk about it more.
With Yugana gone, Tsunade looked back at Naruto and poked his nose like a button. "So, what happened at the forest of death, brat?" She spoke in a lighthearted manner, letting Naruto know to not think about the term too much.
"Wait... No, I wasn't chasing Sasuke..." Naruto muttered to himself. "He was chasing me..."
The boy pointed a finger into the air. "That's right!" He exclaimed. "I used shadow clones to get away from Kiba, and I almost got away from Sasuke. I ran into the forest, and just before he could tag me, this big panther thing came out and protected me!"
"WHAT!?" She yelled loud enough for the other hidden villages to hear her, so to speak. "Naruto!"
"Don't worry, don't worry." Naruto did his best to stand against his 'scary godmother', as he sometimes called her when she wasn't within hearing range. "I'm okay, and the panther is at the Inuzuka compound. Tsume-san said it was…conditioned, or something...It was a ninja panther I guess."
Tsunade became quiet. She'd have to give Anko a stern talking to when it was just the two of them.
She cracked her knuckles one by one, making it a point to Naruto that they were going to continue with her training.
It was only a few weeks before he and many of the other clan heirs started their first year at the academy, and Anko and Tsunade agreed that they should be pushing Naruto's training a bit more. Of course, the others in the clan would help with the boy's training as well, but the main focus was between the two of them, with Yugana adding a bit here and there.
"Time for strength training, brat." She announced with a smirk.
Her history of extensive and painful lessons caused Naruto to groan. There were days where he could hardly move without aching all over and letting out constant groans of agony, but he wasn't in a position to argue as he would soon be able to move mountains with a well-placed punch. Despite this, he did not look forward to losing the ability to lift his arms for the next few days without help from another.
Back at the Inuzuka compound, Tsume and Hana continued the full checkup on the panther that Naruto had brought in.
Tsume couldn't believe that she continued the project without her knowledge. The matriarch was inwardly seething with anger. It was borderline madness, especially without the Inuzuka knowledge of animal care. But then again, borderline madness was right up her alleyway.
She was going to have a long talk with Anko later.
Omake: The Fan War Continues
With a more than a year passing by for the two rival fanbases, many things had been debated and discussed. As it had been Ino and Inago leading the Naruto fan club, and Sakura leading the Sasuke fan club. They had found a way to argue about everything involving the boys of their affections, with Inago eventually having to break apart the pinkette and the platinum blond before the fights became too much.
"Naruto's mother is a total badass, Sakura!" Ino bellowed. "She's an inspiration of what Kunoichi can accomplish if they put enough effort into being one."
Sakura huffed and looked to the side. "My mother says that she dresses like one of those 'Ladies of the Night', and I agree with he-" She would have continued speaking if not for Inago, who had stepped forward and continued her effort to be more outward towards people.
"Anko-san dresses the way she does in order to lower the guard of her enemies." She stated, looking at the pink haired girl from behind her round glasses. "She uses what Kami gifted to her to her advantage."
The other two girls looked at the Aburame incredulously. She could only look back at them with a look of confusion.
"What?" She stated as monotonously as usual.
Ino shook her head, but continued to stare at Inago. "How do you know that for a fact? I know you wouldn't have said it if you didn't absolutely know for sure that it was."
Inago was quiet for what seemed to be an eternity, her face tilted down and covered by the high collar on her jacket. If looked at by someone taller, they could have seen that she was blushing mildly. "I...I h-h-h-have my...sources..." She muttered quietly, backing away and shuffling out of the room as quickly as she could.
The two others, as well as all of the other girls in the room, could only watch as the shy girl shuffled away.
Meanwhile, at the Uzumaki compound, several bugs began to retreat from their hidden positions in one of the bedrooms next to the master bedroom.
Omake: Dirty Old Men
In the Land of Rice, an older man flew through the air while screeching in pain. He had just been kicked out of a tavern, literally so by a kick to the groin from the owner of the tavern. Who just happened to be a young woman.
"NOW STAY OUT YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!" She yelled to the heavens, her face etched with a seemingly permanent look of blind rage. "I'M NOT ONE MY GIRLS WHO YOU CAN PAY FOR A NIGHT WITH, AND I'M NOT LYING ABOUT MY AGE!" She chased him about, getting attention from several men and woman throughout the town. Many of them joined the chase after the white haired man, after him for trying to get with the lovely women of their town.
The man ran as quickly as he could, given that he had not been training and keeping his athleticism up lately, he was unable to outrun them by much.
He looked back at them and continued to sweat. "Can't we just talk about this like Adults?" He asked shakily. "I was just trying to do some research!"
"SCREW YOUR RESEARCH YOU DIRTY OLD PERVERT!" The woman continued to yell. "STAY OUT AND I'LL CONSIDER NOT GOING TO THE GUARDS TO LOCK YOU UP FOR HARASSMENT!" She lunged at him with all the power she could muster. Fortunately, she was able to latch onto him and bring him down to the ground long enough force for a few of the men in the mob to grab a hold of him and drag him off into an alley way.
Once the men had grabbed the apparently legendary ninja, the woman got off of him and let them do their work. "Make it hurt..." She muttered just loud enough to be heard by the ones holding the old man. Clearing her hands of the dust, she watched and listened in as he still attempted to plead mercy. "We don't want to be a part of your damn books, you pervert. We make our own smut, and its non-fiction."
Hello everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of Raising a fox! It's been a while, I know, but we are still working on the story! I don't really have much to say at the moment, but just hang tight, things are going to start moving again!
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Until next time!