disclaimer: again, not mine.

Let's do the chant again!

Ryuha, Touhou Fuhai wa!
Ouja no kaze yo!
Zenshin!
Keiretsu!
Tenpa Kyouran!
Miyo! Touhou wa! Akaku moeteiru!

Naruto: Moeagare Toushi

Chapter 5: First Impressions

Fresh off his manhandling of that traitorous scumbag Mizuki (or so the Konoha ninja grapevine said), one Uzumaki Naruto greeted the new day with gusto.

After all, he would finally go on missions - missions that according to the Third Hokage, his parents were exceptional at.

The beating he gave the former Academy teacher had gotten him a little reward from Hokage-sama about his parentage: though he didn't actually learn what his parents' names were, the old man did say that his parents were actually really good ninja.

He might have been one of his Shishou's best disciples (what with his high aptitude for kinesthetic learning), but as a ninja, he knew he still had a ways to go before he would discover who his parents were (through traveling the road they did).

Putting on his training jumpsuit (he asked Guy-sensei for three of those; one was black - for night ops; one was dark green - for training; and the last one was gray - which went well with nearly anything he wore, so he deemed it his civvies) and his well-worn kung fu shoes, he took off towards the Konoha Ninja Academy after stopping by Ichiraku's Ramen for breakfast (contrary to popular belief, they didn't serve only ramen there).

After a cup of oolong tea, Naruto bowed to Ichiraku Teuchi and then began his jog towards the Academy.

Upon his arrival, he took a seat and waited - he had taken care of his morning workout long before having tea at Ichiraku's.

As the morning progressed, all of Naruto's classmates piled into the room - and as they took their seats, Naruto took a count: wait, they were supposed to be 9... so who's the newcomer?

He feigned stretching out to sneak a look at their 10th member: not only did the boy's complexion make him look like he needed some sunshine, but that all-black garb made him look like those "goffik" guys Tomoyo-senpai used to point out and laugh at while he was going places with Shishou.

Plus, those eyes were creepy as heck... and there was something about his movements that Naruto found even creepier.

People were supposed to have their emotion leak out during their daily movements - and more pour out during a fight, or so his Shishou told.

This guy was as dull as a board - no emotion whatsoever.

Naruto shrugged. Maybe a clan kid, he thought, before going back to his reading.

A bandaged Umino Iruka entered the classroom just as Naruto was getting to the list of prescribed chakra control exercises; he knew he had to get the hang of this school of techniques if he wanted to honor his parents' legacy... whoever they were.

When the scarred chunin coughed and began his address, Naruto discreetly rolled up the scroll and put it away before turning towards the teacher.

"...and these will be the team layouts for this year's graduates: Team 7 is Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura..."

"All right!" the pink-haired girl said.

"...and Sai."

Both the Uchiha and the girl did a double-take. "Who's he?"

Naruto pointed to the "goffik" ninja before turning towards Iruka-sensei again.

"Jonin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 is Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba; jonin-sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 10 is Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino; jonin-sensei is Sarutobi Asuma."

Before Iruka could tell them to wait for their sensei, Naruto was already raising his hand. "Sensei, does that mean I get stuck here?"

"Of course not. Hokage-sama - in light of your circumstances - put you on an apprenticeship for the meantime. You're what we ninja call a 'floater'; ask your sensei and/or Hokage-sama about it later. Anyway..." Iruka continued, "please wait for your jonin-sensei to pick you up here. Congratulations, and do not forget that it will be a more dangerous road from here on out."

One hour later, only Team 7 and Naruto were left - Sakura was making doe eyes at Sasuke while the latter was trying to keep his cool by ignoring her; the "goffik" was reading a scroll, and Naruto was meditating.

Just then, everyone jumped up with a start with the crash of someone kicking the classroom door down.

"All right! Where's the genin I'm supposed to be picking up?" a rather rough female voice echoed in the doorway.

Naruto grinned in anticipation, wondering what his jonin-sensei would be like.

Just then, the wait had ended as a purple-haired and trenchcoat-clad kunoichi strode into the doorway. As she bent down to check on the door she (presumably) kicked down, Naruto, Sasuke and Sai the "goffik" all got the chance to look down her coat.

They had only managed to see that the kunoichi didn't dispense with something like a brassiere before they had to duck to avoid the trio of kunai that sailed towards them.

"Man, they keep starting younger. Is an Uzumaki Naruto here?" she asked.

Sasuke, Sakura and Sai all pointed at the blond.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Excellent. I'm the poor young lady who Hokage-sama basically strong-armed to taking this gig. The name's Mitarashi Anko - and you WILL call me Anko-sama! Come on, let's get with the obligatory introductions so I can whip you into shape!"

With that, Team 7 could only look on in confusion as the purple-haired kunoichi dragged Naruto out the doorway by the arm.

Anko (correction, Anko-sama) had finally stopped at one of the training grounds, and had now seated her (for lack of a better term) understudy on the grass.

"So. Name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Go."

"Uh..." Naruto began. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training, and my Shishou. I... dislike... uh, I haven't found anything worth disliking so far, except that orange mask-wearing dumbass Shishou beat into the ground a few months before getting here... dreams for the future? Finish my training and pass on the School to someone. Maybe Rock Lee, he could do it."

"Well, that's a start," the purple-haired kunoichi said. "But dango is better than ramen."

Naruto shrugged before breaking out into song.

"Dan-go, dan-go, dan-go, dan-go. Dan-go dai-kazoku."

That got his sensei's attention.

"Something wrong, Anko-sama?" Naruto asked.

She smiled.

"No reason. So... I still have yet to see just how good you are. Spar?"

Naruto's grin turned into a full-blown smile as they went into their respective fighting stances.

It was around noon when the special jonin and her understudy walked into Ichiraku's Ramen, carrying several take-out boxes from the dango shop several corners over.

"Two beef bowls, please," Naruto said.

"You don't look too good," Ayame noticed before readying Naruto's lunch. "What happened?"

"Sparring with my sensei," Naruto replied. "Anko-sama! What will you have? It's on me."

"Miso," the special jonin answered. "Why did you get me to eat here, anyway?"

"Because," Naruto replied, his voice going into the singsong of rote, "Shishou said that sweets like dango are best eaten after or between meals. Ramen's acceptable for lunch if there's enough meat in it."

"You're one strange kid, let me tell you that," Anko-sama said.

Even though he was cut, scraped, and bruised from that sparring, Naruto's eyes still twinkled in glee. "Yes... I am."

Afternoon training was more sparring, with Naruto finally understanding just why he had been placed under this kunoichi's guidance.

She didn't have to actively project killing intent towards him for him to sense the turmoil within her as they sparred.

Not only that, after she had found out that her usual "sparring moves" were easily dispensed with, she had gradually upped the ante of her attacks.

It was when they had finished when she realized that she was pulling off taijutsu moves that she normally kept for finishing off a rather powerful foe.

This... kid... managed to keep up with her best moves and come back for more!

But, Anko thought, smiling even though she should be knocked down several pegs, for all this boy's skill, he doesn't have the killer instinct we ninja use.

And instead of bragging or being smug about how skilled he was, Naruto did the unexpected after their sparring session: he bowed.

"I now know where I stand in between being a practitioner of the School and being a ninja of Konoha. Thank you."

The purple-haired kunoichi scratched the back of her head, confused. "You're welcome... I guess."

"I... I'm going to have to get used to killing, won't I?" Naruto asked. "Honestly speaking, my Shishou had me keep from killing, as much as I could. The School is... it isn't a tool for killing."

"I know what you mean, kid," Anko replied. "Anyway, in between D-Ranks, we'll work something out. Now let's go have a bite to eat."

Naruto's look brightened a bit. "All right."

Later that night (and after parting ways with her student after their meal), Mitarashi Anko still had one more stop to make before heading back home.

"Mitarashi Anko reporting for duty," she said towards the Third Hokage, upon entering the office in the Hokage Tower. Most of the office staff had left, and only the night shift guards, cleaning crew, several ANBU and the Hokage remained.

"How did it go?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked.

"His taijutsu is exceptional. I had to pull out nearly all the stops. Kid's a natural, though his prior training has him without any killer instinct - he only moves to disable, not kill."

"Hence the reason why I chose you as his sensei. If we fix that part of him, he'll be ten times the force he already is... plus, his status as a 'floater' means that any genin team that needs extra manpower will benefit from his presence," the Hokage said. "Besides, based on Guy's reports on their sparring, Naruto's Master had taught him a comprehensive amount of fighting styles. He could assist anyone in their taijutsu training, seriously."

"You'll have him at the Academy, won't you?"

"Well, even the basics of the School would vastly improve our ninja's chances of survival, do they not?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

"Good... good. I can assume you're not looking forward to the requisite D-Ranks with Naruto?"

Anko nodded.

"Well, you can try to do 3 in a day. That way, you can get better missions in a week at the minimum."

"Thank you for that bit of guidance, Hokage-sama."

"Think nothing of it. I will still expect a report on these missions, though. Dismissed."

Mitarashi Anko bowed before leaving the office in a swirl of leaves.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in his rented apartment, hunched over a scroll rolled out on the ground, with crayons and pencils strewn about him.

This would probably make sensei's day. Maybe not, but I gotta try, he thought, remembering Anko-sama's favorite food and that schoolmate of Tomoyo-senpai's who shared the same obsession with dango as his jonin-sensei did.

He smiled as he put the finishing touches to his work.

The very next day, Konoha General Hospital had to admit one Mitarashi Anko for acute blood loss the doctors found out was mostly expelled through the nose.

The first person who found out just why that had happened was strung up in ninja wire and left in the Forest of Death for several hours until ANBU stumbled upon his terrified form.

Chapter 5 - End.

Next one will be D-ranks with Anko-sama, maybe a C-rank or two, and Naruto gets to start helping out several genin with their taijutsu.

Cookies to those who figure out what happened to Anko-sama and why. :)