Naruko still found it hard to believe they'd gotten off so easily after facing Orochimaru. When she'd met back up with Kiba and Hinata, the latter was already conscious again and seeming no worse for the wear. Not running into any other S-class ninja, they were easily able to grab the scroll they needed from some hapless team and complete the second exam. Then it was just a matter of waiting. That and trying to fend off Kiba's constant questioning about just who had attacked them and what was going on. Hinata was too polite to ask once Naruko made it clear she considered the topic closed, but it was obvious she was interested as Kiba.
Anyway, when the waiting was over, Naruko wasn't sure which surprised her more, the fact that only five teams had arrived before time expired or that three of them were composed of Konoha's rookie genin. A fourth team hailed from Konoha as well, that being Tenten's team. A single team from Suna managed to keep the third exam an international event. When the second exam was over, the five remaining teams were led to a large room where Minato-sensei stood waiting for them. Behind him were five people she assumed to be the leaders of the teams. Kushina stood with the other four, likely taking Minato's place due to his administrative role in the exams, being the leader of the hosting village.
"I'd like to congratulate you all on making it this far," Minato told them. "However, I'm afraid not all of you will be proceeding on to the third exam." Naruko could practically sense the discontent caused by that statement among her fellow genin.
"I hate to do this after what everyone has accomplished, but the accord that setup the Chunin Exams states clearly that there can be no more than 12 participants in the final exam," Minato explained. "You all deserve to continue on, but my hands are tied on the matter. The best I can do is keep the maximum number allowed. As such, 6 of you will be randomly paired off and fight preliminary matches. The three who lose will be eliminated."
"That's not fair," Kiba complained. "The third exam doesn't start for a month. If we beat up our opponent, what's to stop them from telling their teammates all about how we fight? Not only will some people get a free pass to the finals, they'll have all that time to prepare counters."
"Actually, all genins will be watching all the preliminaries," Minato answered. "So regardless of who you're fighting you will be at a disadvantage in that regard. However, those who fight now will all have byes in the first round of the finals. So you'll have had a chance to see how everyone else fights before your second match. They'll have had more time to prepare, but that's balanced by the fact that you'll be completely fresh when your first opponent may still be recovering from their previous fight."
This mollified Kiba to some degree. Naruko of course felt he was getting ahead of himself. He was more worried about people seeing his abilities than actually losing in the preliminaries. He had been training hard under Minato, so there might be a few people here Kiba could beat, but Naruko's instincts told her than he was definitely on the weaker end of the fifteen remaining genin.
With no further questions to answer, Minato announced that they would soon begin. Naruko was looking forward to the preliminaries. She'd have at least a couple of fights where she could simply sit back and enjoy the show. In addition, given the variety of jutsu that would surely be thrown around, it would most likely be a very entertaining show indeed.
Naruto wasn't particularly looking forward to the preliminaries. He'd still had plenty of opportunities to observe fights between genin after that little ruckus Orochimaru had started. Yet in all of those, he didn't see anything that remotely interested him. Many of the techniques were quite deadly, but almost all of them devolved into throwing, hot, pointy, and/or heavy objects at their opponents. Even the more subtle techniques were generally quite simple in application and had little use beyond hiding from or killing someone.
There was some small part of him that was excited to see such things nonetheless, but the years had jaded him to the point where the more practical side easily drowned out that voice. And practically speaking, nothing he'd seen had any potential to free him from his tie to the Biju. Naruto supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Genin weren't likely to have access to more advanced techniques like summoning, or Minato's hiraishin. He'd love to get a good look at the theory behind them and see if there were any potential applications, but the Chunin Exams didn't appear to be the place to see them on display.
As low as his expectations were, there was always a chance he'd see something interesting, and he really didn't have anything better to do. Of course this part of the exam wasn't exactly open to the public, which is why he found himself physically a safe distance away, while projecting his chakra into the building the exam was being held in. It allowed him to see and hear as if he was physically present, even if it was a bit distorted. He was capable of clearing that up, by increasing the power he was putting into the technique, but there was already a significant risk of detection, and that would only make it worse.
A stealth technique this was not. While no one could physically see him, he needed to use a non-trivial amount of chakra, which could easily be sensed. As such, he was counting on the fact that with so many people there giving off chakra auras, no one would even pay enough attention to see that there was one that didn't seem to be attached to a body. Too much power though, and people would take notice.
For now, his plan seemed to be working, as he blended in with the small crowd. Not that it was doing Naruto much good. The first fight started off about as dull as he'd feared. The Choji kid had a highly unusual ability where he turned himself into a giant ball and tried to run down his opponent. That didn't work out well for him in this particular matchup, as his increased size just made him an easy target for Kankuro's poisons, which quickly immobilized the young Akimichi.
The second match was at least a little more engaging, even if the jutsu used were just as useless to him. Naruko's teammate, Kiba, was up against another Konoha genin by the name of Lee. Kiba actually seemed to be getting the better of the other boy at the start of the match. He filled the arena with smoke while he and his dog did their best to tear Lee up with that gatsuga of theirs.
They got in several solid hits, and Naruto was about to write the match off as over when at the direction of his jonin sensei, Lee removed some ridiculously heavy weights he'd been wearing. Without them to slow him, Kiba was unable to keep up with the green-clad genin. He was shortly knocked out leaving Lee to be declared the winner. That left only one match remaining for the preliminaries. Time to sit back ... well ... float back and hope for the best.
Naruko was pleased to see that Kiba was already coming to as he was being carried out by medic-nins, with Akamaru and Hinata looking on with worry. He may be annoying at times, but that didn't mean Naruko wanted to see him hurt. Almost as soon as he was conscious again, Kiba fought his way free from the medics and made his way to where the rest of his team was waiting.
"Shouldn't you let them examine you?" Hinata asked him in concern.
"I'm fine," Kiba insisted tersely. "There's nothing broken. He just packed a bit more of a punch than I was expecting, that's all."
"Your mistake was that you toyed with him," Kushina told him. "You should have gone all out and finished him when you had the opportunity. If he was still holding back at the time, that's his fault. Consider it a lesson in underestimating your opponent."
"Meh," Kiba replied. "I know how these exams work. You need to show off a bit if you want to get promoted."
"Well, you did it your way, and you're certainly not advancing to chunin now," Kushina spat back in annoyance, obviously not pleased with having her advice so rudely dismissed.
"That was just poor luck," Kiba insisted. "I got matched with a monster of an opponent when most people don't even have to fight. If we'd fought in the finals, my showing would have been enough to earn a promotion whether I won or not."
"You must think we let just anyone become chunin," Kushina countered, her volume having risen to the point where most would consider it yelling, even if they wouldn't say so to her face. It had also attracted a lot of attention. Nearly everyone in the room was looking at the pair of them, although Minato was studiously looking anywhere but there, as if pretending he didn't notice what was going on.
"What are you all looking at?" Kushina demanded of the spectators. "And don't start with that Minato. You're acting as if you're embarrassed to be in the same room as me."
Minato finally looked their way, but rather than try to calm his wife, he cleared his throat and addressed the room. "Anyway, the next match is decided. It will be Haruno Sakura versus Tenten."
Naruko immediately looked to where her friend stood a short distance away, trying to judge her reaction to the announcement. She expected her to be worried about the upcoming fight. After all, apparently she'd witnessed Tenten easily defeat Ino, and when they sparred, Ino would beat Sakura more often than not.
If Sakura was nervous, however, she was doing a good job of hiding it. She looked determined than anything. Naruko hurried over to her before she entered the arena.
"Don't push yourself too hard," Naruko warned her. "You've only just begun your career, there's no hurry to get promoted. If you're clearly beaten, there's no shame in giving up."
"There's no need to worry," Sakura assured her. "I have a plan."
"You'll need more than a plan to win," Ino interjected, having also made her way to Sakura. "Maybe something more a like a miracle."
"Don't forget, thanks to you getting yourself beaten up, I've already seen how Tenten fights," Sakura reminded her. "I owe you a favor for not realizing when you're outclassed."
"Then if you win, dinner is on you when we go out celebrate," Ino said cheerfully, before turning more serious. "Just be careful. She's extremely fast and deadly with those weapons of hers."
Nodding in reply, but not delaying any longer, Sakura made her way to the arena. There she faced off against Tenten until the start of the match was called. Immediately Sakura jumped back, creating more space, but no sooner had she done so that she was forced to dodge a hail of shuriken heading her way.
"What is she doing?" Ino asked. "She saw how deadly Tenten is from range. If she wants to stand a chance she needs to get up close."
Sakura's plan must not have been along that line, as she continued to keep her distance, even as Tenten was increasing the tempo of her ranged attacks. Soon, Sakura was forced to resort to kawarimi to avoid getting skewered by the various weapons, a technique she began applying very liberally. Sakura was completely on the defensive, and had yet to even try an attack of her own. This was a fact that seemed to irritate Tenten to no small degree. Tenten began trying to predict where Sakura would appear after her kawarimi and often had attacks already flying in Sakura's direction almost as soon as she reappeared.
Although on one occasion, she completely misjudged where Sakura was moving to, which bought Sakura a little time until the next wave of attacks came. It was then that Naruko took note that Sakura had quickly made a couple of other hand signs prior to using kawarimi. If Tenten had noticed the same thing she gave no sign of it. Still, Naruko couldn't see any effect from that jutsu, and began to wonder if Sakura had even had time to finish it before she was forced to avoid Tenten's attack.
This was especially true as the pair of combatants immediately went straight back into their original pattern. Tenten didn't continue for much longer before she tired of the routine and pulled out a couple of scrolls, setting them on the ground. Almost as soon as they'd settled in their position, smoke began to pour from them, as they flew up into the air, unwrapping as they twirled around each other.
Tenten then leaped up into the center of the scrolls and began summoning weapon after weapon and throwing them across the room at a pace far faster than before. The air was practically filled with the weapons, leaving Sakura little in the way of safe places, even if she did use Kawarimi. She must have realized this herself, as instead she pulled out a pair of kunai and began to deflect what weapons she couldn't weave around. She was moving much faster than Naruko had ever seen her move before, and still was clearly at the limits of her ability.
In fact, Naruko was sure it was beyond her ability and that she would be quickly overwhelmed. The only reason she could see why this hadn't already happened was that Tenten was inexplicably slowing her assault in the middle of her technique. She even stopped it when, based on the scrolls, it looked like she could have continued for some time.
"Thank goodness Tenten is giving her a chance to surrender," Ino said in relief. "If she had kept that up, she'd have made Sakura into a pincushion."
"Actually, I think Sakura did something to Tenten," Naruko told her, as she recalled the hand seals she'd made earlier in the fight.
"What do you mean?" Ino asked curiously.
"I'm not sure," Naruko admitted. Tenten didn't look the least bit worried by the events, as she would most likely be if Sakura had done something that had forcibly slowed her assault. So maybe Ino was right, and she was just giving her a chance to concede. Still, Naruko couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than that.
Tenten watched her bloodied opponent as the girl glared at her angrily. She had countless cuts and scrapes from where she'd been just a little too slow to dodge, but her worst injury was the sai that pierced her right shoulder, causing the whole arm to hang limply to the side, useless to her. Tenten hadn't intended to wound Sakura that badly, but that was always a risk when so many weapons where being employed. You never knew just how your opponent was going to dodge.
"It's clearly over, so give up," she instructed the other girl.
"Never," Sakura spat out, trying to advance toward Tenten but falling to her knees instead as her legs gave out beneath her. Nevertheless, she looked every bit as defiant as she had before her fall. Tenten actually respected her determination, as foolish as it was, but if Sakura refused to give up, she would have to end this. She'd just do it as mercifully as possible out of respect. A quick knockout blow and it would be over.
So she walked up to the pink-haired girl, giving her a last chance to see reason before Tenten acted. When she was within arm's reach, Sakura finally acted. Tenten had been half expecting Sakura to make one last half-hearted attempt at something, but she was completely surprised by the strength with which she lunged to her feat. Tenten hastily put up a defense, but was caught flatfooted when the Sakura's supposedly useless right arm came up in an uppercut that slipped under her guard and nailed her in the chin.
Tenten was lifted off her feet by the force of the blow, as Sakura proved to be stronger than she looked. Tenten's vision even went black for a moment as she came dangerously close to losing consciousness. Fighting against the blackness by force of will alone, her vision cleared just in time for her to get a defense up against a kick that was coming straight at her. This time, she managed to successfully block, but was rattled nonetheless as she was sent hurtling backward, having not yet even landed from the first attack.
It was then that Tenten noticed a very important fact. Sakura was completely uninjured. Even still slightly addled from the punch, it only took her a moment to come to the conclusion that she must have been under the effects of genjutsu. She'd only thought she'd been hitting Sakura when in fact the other kunoichi must have avoided every attack. It was a clever trick, and Tenten had fallen for it as if she were the rookie instead of Sakura. Still, she wasn't out of this yet, and Sakura was still pressing her taijutsu assault, which played right into Tenten's strengths.
Using the string that was attached to the weapon, she pulled a spear into her hands as she landed. Then, swinging the weapon before she'd even fully regained her footing, she countered the next attempted attack by Sakura, impacting side of her charging opponent's head before the girl's fist could reach Tenten. Then, spinning the weapon around, she shoved the butt of the spear into Sakura's stomach, forcing her back and knocking the wind from her. Stepping forward, she then swung the spear again slamming it into the side of Sakura's head with even more force this time now that she had proper leverage.
This proved enough to cause Sakura to crumple to the ground, unconscious. Not being willing to fall for the same trick twice, Tenten immediately worked to dispel any genjutsu she might be under, but was pleased to see that Sakura's body remained motionless on the ground.
"Winner, Tenten," the ninja refereeing the fights announced.
Tenten smiled at this, looking up to where Naruko stood looking down at the fight. She'd now defeated two of the three kunoichi that been the talk of the town, but strongest of the three still remained. Sakura shouldn't have been any challenge for Tenten at all, but she'd come much closer to losing than she was comfortable with due to her own negligence. She vowed she wouldn't underestimate Naruko in the same way and would give her everything they got if they fought in the finals. Tenten only hoped that neither of them ran into someone like Neji before they got a chance to fight.
Tenten was determined to prove she was the stronger of the two of them, and doing it in front of the audience that would be gathered for the final exam would be perfect. Yes, this next month couldn't go by quickly enough as far as she was concerned.
The final fight had been more intriguing than the other two, even if that wasn't saying much. At least there had been one technique he'd been mildly interested in. That was the reason why he was waiting for Naruko in the small apartment she lived in. It was a couple of hours before she arrived, but he hadn't been in any particular hurry, using the time to simply play with some ideas for seals he had in his mind.
"It's rare for you to show up here," Naruko pointed out. "What do you want?"
"That jutsu Tenten used to summon weapons from the scroll, how does it work?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not actually sure," Naruko admitted. "It's a pretty basic ability. Most every ninja learns how to do it sooner or later, even if they're not quite as good at it as Tenten was. I just never had any motivation to learn it."
"But you could ask Minato to teach you, right?" Naruto questioned her.
"Of course," Naruko agreed, "but I don't think it'd do either of us much good. I somehow doubt storing physical objects in a scroll is going to have much application in separating your soul from the Biju."
"That's probably true," Naruto admitted, "but as I don't know how it works, I can't say. Maybe there's some way to modify it to store spiritual objects instead of physical. If I could make the energy of the Biju simply vanish, it wouldn't matter how entangled it was with my own soul. I understand how incredibly unlikely that actually is, but at the very least the ability might give me some new ideas."
"Yeah, but Minato would teach me that anytime I asked," Naruko countered. "Right now he's really into making sure I outdo the Sandaime's team. I might be able to use that to get something really good out of him. If I play my cards right over the next month, it's even possible he'd let me in on the toad summoning contract. That'd probably be a much better starting point for what you're hoping to do than a simple storage seal."
"Good point," Naruto agreed. "I wouldn't mind if you got that hiraishin jutsu out of him too."
"Um ... that's kind of his signature ability," Naruko pointed out. "I somehow doubt he'll teach that to a genin no matter what he bet the Sandaime."
"Well, see what you can do," Naruto told her. "Just don't forget what this is all about. Whether you win your fights or not doesn't really matter, so try to steer him toward teaching you stuff that's useful to us rather than just abilities with combat utility."
Recently, Naruto worried she was getting a little too into her role. Not acting suspicious was important, but she'd yet to actually bring him much of anything of interest. He could see that even his gentle reminder hadn't sat too well with her, however.
"Don't you think I know that already?" she asked him tersely. "Remember that I'm basically you but with a better idea of how to actually go about an infiltration without getting caught. They've actually trained me in this sort of stuff."
"Don't get so worked up about it," Naruto told her. "If it's just acting than you should be proud of the fact you even had me wondering."
With that, he left before she had a chance to reply. Despite her claim, it was getting harder and harder for Naruto to think of Naruko as just a clone of him. Maybe it was just her acting skills, but too often she behaved in a way completely counter to what Naruto would have done in her shoes. Ah well, as long as she did was she was supposed to do, Naruto didn't care how she behaved.
With Naruto having departed, Naruko was left to her own thoughts. She was having trouble fully understanding why Naruto was becoming so obsessed with her mission lately. Even if it took her years to discover anything interesting, that was nothing to them. This went beyond him simply being bored. It was a fairly recent change, but it was as if someone had flipped a switch in him and he went from being laid-back about the whole thing to really getting into it. It might not appear that much had changed to an outsider, but even while his behavior confused her, she still knew him well enough to see how worked up he was becoming about this.
Before she worried too much about that, she wanted to look into another matter. Now that she had some time to herself, she could try to figure out why she wasn't able to call on as much spiritual energy as she should have been able to while fighting Orochimaru. Beginning to meditate, she focused her senses inward. She expected a very deep dive into her spiritual self to get any hints, but almost as soon as she'd begun she saw something that shocked her.
A key chakra construct that had been used in her creation was coming unraveled. It was the same one used in ordinary bunshin that gave them memories and personality despite not having any physical form, much less a functional brain. The fact that it was beginning to fall apart explained a lot. When she momentarily couldn't recall that technique to save her from Orochimaru's attack for example. There were a number of other small memory lapses like that she'd had recently now that she thought of it, although she hadn't paid them much attention at the time.
It made sense what was happening, but Naruko couldn't figure out why it was falling apart. The construct should remain stable no matter how long it was in use. Unless … of course! That was it! It was that stupid seal in Orochimaru's lab that Kiba had messed with. The shock from that must have damaged the construct. She should have known it was Kiba's fault.
Of course, as bad as that was, Naruko was certain there was even worse news. The limited spiritual energy she'd been able to call upon would easily be explained if the construct used as an artificial soul had been similarly damaged. And if that completely broke down, well ... she would die. Naruko's mind raced trying to come up with any solution to this problem. Repairing a construct damaged in this manner was much more difficult than actually crafting it. She might be able to figure out how, but she doubted she'd be successful before it finished unraveling. And she couldn't simply create another clone as well-crafted as herself, as she couldn't summon enough spiritual energy to do so.
Idea after idea she tested in her mind, and for each she found a flaw. Some were more likely to hasten her death than save her. Some she didn't think she could work out the details in time. No, she had things she could try, but the odds were against her with any of them. She estimated she had only months at the rate it was falling apart, and she really needed years, if not decades.
Obviously it didn't hurt to try one of them when there was no other option, but it would be foolish not to have a plan in place in the likely event that it failed. Naruto could easily create a perfect physical copy of her body with his memories. Then if Naruko left it enough notes, it might be able to continue her work without rousing too much suspicion. Of course that had its own potential for failure. Naruko wondered if that might explain Naruto's sudden change in attitude. Maybe he sensed what was happening to her and wanted to do what he could before everything fell apart.
Dutifully, Naruko wasted little time in starting her notes. She wrote it out as if she was keeping a journal, so it wouldn't look strange if someone got their hands on it. Even so, she still felt bitter about the whole situation. She knew academically that she was just a clone, and if another clone could take over for her, then that should be fine. Nevertheless, the thought of losing years worse of memories didn't sit well with her. Even though it would be another clone fulfilling the same role she currently was, it felt more like it would be someone else entirely pretending to be her, and that idea may have bothered her even more than thinking of the clone as if it were her only missing some memories.
Well, other than hoping for a miracle, she didn't know what else she could do. So hope for one she did, more fervently than she would have expected.
Kabuto was pleasantly surprised by how well his plan was proceeding. All it had taken to get Koharu to show up at the hospital was a note reminding her she hadn't been in for a checkup in quite some time. The fact that this was true, and that the hospital regularly sent out notes just like that made it quite believable, but he knew from experience that patients could be stubborn, and few more so than the elderly. So he had expected it to take more than three days to get her to make an appointment.
After that, it was a simple matter of a little forgery and alteration of reports to make it appear that Koharu had a cancerous tumor in her neck, but one that could easily be removed via surgery. Now things were getting a bit more risky as he was no longer able to simply change paperwork from the shadows. He'd have to get directly involved himself. So he found himself entering the operating room in a henge that disguised him as one of the hospital's surgeons. There he discovered Koharu lying on the operating table.
"Hello there," he greeted her warmly. "I'll be the surgeon performing your operation. Do you have any questions before I begin?"
"No, I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she answered gruffly. "It's not my first operation, although at my age one always has to wonder if it's their last."
"I wouldn't worry about that," Kabuto told her comfortingly. "We discovered the tumor early so this is actually a very low risk procedure. Now, I'm just going to administer the anesthesia. You might feel a slight burning sensation, but you'll be asleep before you know it."
It wasn't, however, the anesthesia left in the small tube by the hospital staff that he put into the IV, but a little something he'd come up with himself. He saw her eyes glaze over as it took effect. It would leave her mind quite foggy and open to suggestion. It really was a remarkable set of chemicals. Those he tested it on never even had the presence of mind to realize something was wrong, but they were still capable of having mostly coherent conversations. All the anti-interrogation training in the world didn't help you if you had no idea you were being interrogated. Although it was most effective when combined with a simple genjutsu that he was now applying.
"Koharu, it's me, Naruto," Kabuto told her, knowing that she'd now see him as such thanks to the genjutsu.
"Naruto?" she asked in confusion. "Where am I?"
That was odd. None of his test subjects had ever shown any curiosity as to their current situation. Her mind may actually be picking up that something was off despite the drugs and genjutsu. It was an impressive feat if it was true. He should try to distract her as quickly as possible just to be safe.
"We're at my home," he answered. "You came to visit. Now tell me, how did we first meet? I don't quite remember."
She hesitated for a brief moment, and he almost thought he'd failed, but she soon began to talk, and oh what a tale she had to tell. As Kabuto continued questioning her, it became quite apparent just why Orochimaru had been so interested in Naruto. He continued as long as he could, trying to get any remaining details from her, but he was soon forced to stop as he sensed two people approaching. Quickly taking the real anesthesia, he distributed it through the IV, watching Koharu's consciousness fade just as two nurses entered the room. The drug he'd put in her wouldn't be too hard to detect if you actually knew to look for it, but if all went well, they'd have no reason to look.
"Oh, you've already sedated her," one of them asked.
"Yes, just now," he answered. "Now, if you'll wash up and prepare, we can get started."
Kabuto then went through the motions of performing the procedure. A little sleight of hand even produced a small mass that would look just like a tumor as he removed it from Koharu's neck. Then, quickly as he could, he sliced through the left carotid artery. As the cut began to bleed profusely, he went put on a performance of frantically trying to stop it, but Koharu's life soon faded away.
"I ... I killed her." Kabuto cried out when he'd confirmed her heart had stopped. Then, slipping the fake tumor back into a pocket faster than the nurses could see, he shoved past one of them and ran out the door. He sprinted out of the hospital, and dropped his henge as soon as he was out of sight.
The doctor he'd disguised himself as had been the perfect scapegoat. The man had always reacted poorly to losing a patient, and had a known drug problem in his past. They would find him back in his home, unconscious and heavily drugged up with the substance Kabuto had conveniently found hidden away in the man's home. Given his state, it would be no surprise that he wouldn't recall the operation that 'he' botched, leading to his relapse into drug abuse.
Yes, he had his information, and he was optimistic that no one would be the wiser.
Naruto hadn't done much besides mope around the former restaurant since he heard of Koharu's death a few days ago. It wasn't that he'd been particularly close to her. He'd barely known her as a girl and knew even less of the woman she'd become. Still, it was never easy being reminded that eventually everyone around him would age and pass on while he kept on living. Sadly though, he'd learned to deal with that years ago, and what was probably responsible for the majority of his moroseness was the fact that he'd lost his best connection to Konoha and its secrets.
She may not have actually given much of anything yet, but at least there was hope that would come in time. Without her to defend him, Naruto couldn't even be certain he'd be allowed to stay in Konoha. She was always quick to remind him that there were those who would prefer to see him go. So Naruto brooded and waited to see what would happen. He must have been even more lost in his thoughts than he'd realized as he barely sensed that someone was coming before they walked through the door. Naruto welcomed the distraction, until he realized just who it was.
"Hey there," Anko greeted him. "I've been kind of busy what with the whole Orochimaru thing, but I figured it was about time I stopped by to collect on my favor."
"I don't suppose you'd accept free dango as payment, would you?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"No, but you can get started on those anyway while we discuss the matter," Anko replied.
Groaning Naruto did just that, waiting for Anko to state what it was she wanted. He was waiting for quite a while as she appeared to be deliberately drawing the matter out, probably wanting to see him squirm. She remained silent while he cooked the dango, and then only spoke to compliment him on their quality as she slowly ate them. Naruto did his best to play along, looking impatient and worried, emotions that didn't require much acting at the moment, but at the very least he could exaggerate them a bit. Denying her this small pleasure would only put her in a bad mood, and he didn't want to make this any more difficult than need be.
"Are you going to tell me what it is you want or just sit their torturing me all day?" Naruto finally asked.
"Can't I do both?" she replied coyly smiling as she earned a glare in response. "Anyway, it seems to me I witnessed some events you don't want to get out. Now I would consider it a fair trade for you to give me some information I want, in exchange for me keeping silent on the information you don't want to get out. So tell me, what connection do you have with Orochimaru?"
"Easy enough," Naruto told her. "There's really very little to tell. That was the first time I'd ever met the man and I've never really done anything related to him. It was my sister he was after, and as far as I know, the only reason he cares about either of us are because of our connection to the Hokage."
"There must be more to it than that," Anko insisted. "And even if there's not, that certainly isn't valuable enough to pay off your debt. You'll have to come up with something worth my silence."
Naruto had suspected it wouldn't be that easy, but he was going to have to set his foot down. He doubted there was anything he could say to satisfy her that wouldn't be worse to reveal than what she already knew.
"Even if there was more, I'd be pretty stupid to give you more information to blackmail me with," he told her firmly. "If you're not satisfied, then go tell the Hokage everything. It may get me in trouble but I don't care about that as much as you seem to think I do."
"I had a feeling it might come to this, so I did think of another form of payment," she told him. "If you agree to do this favor for me, I'll let you off the hook."
"And what favor might that be?" Naruto asked suspiciously.
"Come now, it's no fun if you get to hear what it is before you agree," she told him playfully. "Don't worry though, it's not too bad. You might even enjoy it."
Naruto still didn't trust her, but he'd been mostly bluffing when he suggested she tell the Hokage. The last thing he wanted right now was the headache of them demanding to know what he'd been doing lurking about where he wasn't supposed to be at the same time and place as Orochimaru. Still, he wasn't going to agree to do just anything without some sort of out.
"I'll agree to do it if you're telling the truth about it not being too bad," Naruto answered. "But that's as far as I'll go without more information."
"Meh, good enough," Anko agreed, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to him. "I want you to follow the instructions on this list."
Reading it over it became clear that this was some sort of hit list for her enemies. It described exactly how she wanted the people punished or humiliated. Most of them weren't too bad. Things like dumping a bucket a mud on them while they were in public. There were, however, some notable exceptions.
"Some of these items are pretty drastic," he pointed out. "What did these people do to you?"
"All of them deserve worse than I'm asking for," Anko insisted. "As you may already know, I haven't been very popular since Orochimaru betrayed the village. This list contains some of the most vocal advocates for holding his former pupil responsible for his actions."
That did explain a lot. He'd certainly seen that ninja villages didn't exactly produce the most trusting of people, so it was a believable story. Still, there was one item in particular that stood out as worse than any of the others.
"You want me to burn down someone's house?" Naruto asked her. "Look, I'll do the rest of the items on the list, but this is just too much."
"Oh no," she said firmly. "You don't get out of that one. It's the most important item on the list."
"I'm sorry," he told her refusing to back down. "I'm not even going to consider it unless you can convince me she guilty of something quite heinous."
Anko simply glared at him, and he just matched her glare, it almost becoming a contest of wills between them. Naruto wasn't going to bend on this, however, and it was Anko who backed down.
"Okay, I'll tell you," she exclaimed. "It's hardly a secret in the first place. Before Orochimaru's betrayal, she was actually a close friend of mine. I'd been telling her since we were kids that I wanted to move into that house someday."
"And she bought it first just to spite you," Naruto completed for her.
"Worse than that, she waited until I finally had enough money and was already working on a contract to buy it from the owner," Anko spat out angrily. "Then she swooped in and bought it out from under me at the last minute. And now she can't so much as cross paths with me without rubbing my nose in the fact that she lives there now."
Naruto could actually empathize with her if that was the case. But he was still a little reluctant to go through with the act without hearing the other side of the story. It wasn't too hard to imagine that Anko wasn't as innocent in all this as she made herself out to be.
"You do realize that if these really are your biggest enemies, it will be quite obvious that you're behind this," he pointed out, hoping she'd see reason.
"Of course I do," she answered. "I want them to know I'm responsible. I just want to be able to prove I wasn't directly involved. While you're out having fun, I'll make sure I'm constantly in a public place surrounded by as many witnesses as possible. They won't be able to do a thing besides fume about it."
Naruto sighed but didn't think she was likely to back down on this. "You win, I'll do it," he eventually told her. "But you better keep your end of the bargain."
"Great," she said cheerfully. "Come and find me as soon you're done. I want to catch them when the shock is still as fresh as possible."
Taking the list with him, Naruto decided he'd better get started.
Author's Notes:
I was originally planning to go a bit further before stopping this chapter, especially as it would have included some Naruto centered action scenes that I'm sure many of you have been hoping for. Those readers will be pleased to know that they should become a bit more frequent in the coming chapters.
Those chapters should have a few more surprises too, which will please me at the very least, since this story has been a bit too predictable for my tastes so far. Anyway, I'm traveling for the Christmas holiday, and will likely do almost no writing until New Year's weekend. (This is why I cut the chapter off a little early rather than make you wait two more weeks.)
With that three day weekend, however, I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on this and possibly get you chapter 11. Oh, and I think I'm done with naming chapters. I don't know what possessed me to start in the first place. More trouble than its worth considering I'm not any good with names.