I kept myself busy this last week. I either worked at the hospital, worked with Lady Tsunade, or went to watch Naruto train. Kurenai and I have been spending even more time together than before. Since she was pregnant, I helped her as much as I could, so she didn't have to do too much. She always laughed at me, calling me a mother hen. I just smiled at her and laughed with her. Konohamaru's been doing better as well. He doesn't cry as much anymore. I haven't cried since the night of his funeral. I was summoned to Lady Tsunade's office one afternoon.

"Team 10 has done what?" I shouted.

"They've gone after the Akatsuki that killed Asuma. Kakashi has joined them as their master for right now." Lady Tsunade said. I just nodded and hmmed. "How's Naruto's training going?"

"From what I've seen, he seems to be doing okay. Since Master Kakashi has gone off with Team 10, that means Team 7 will be his reinforcements, right…"

"You're smart; which is to be expected of the Third's daughter…"

"But we don't know if Naruto's new jutsu will be complete. We should send a different team." Shizune said.

"Anako, tell Yamato that Naruto has 24 hours to complete his new jutsu. And if he can't we'll send a different team." Lady Tsunade told me.

"Will do." I left her office and made my way to where Naruto was training. I saw a bigger crater than there was before. I smiled and knew Naruto was going to be able to do it.

"Yamato!" I called to him. He looked at me and made his way over to me.

After telling him the plan, I made my way home and began to prepare for the upcoming battle. I packed my medical bag and grabbed my vest. I put some weapons in there and got everything else ready. I knew how much trouble I was going to get in, but I didn't care at the moment. I placed the sash around my waist. Strapping my vest on and my medical pouch, I made my way out of the house and to the front gate. Forgive me, Lady Tsunade. I searched for Master K's mind and knew where they were. I summoned Inza and soon we were on our way to where Team 10 was.


I landed on a tree about 10 feet away from where they were fighting. I saw the two Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu, battling Master K, Shikamaru, and Choji. Ino stayed out of the battle. I looked at Inza and he nodded at me. I noticed that there were four monster looking things behind the two members. Each of them used a different element. I made my way down in front of Shikamaru and Choji, while Inza poofed away. Master K was behind the two members.

"Anako!" Master K exclaimed. "Then that must mean Naruto, Sai, and Yamato are here as well?"

"I'm afraid not. I came sooner than them." I said.

"Well there is a new one to this mix." Hidan said, looking me up and down. "You're pretty hot." I got from him that he was the one who killed Asuma. I clenched my fists and glared at him.

"Shikamaru, what's the deal with these two?"

"They're both immortal." He said.

"Hmmm, long black hair, purple shirt, blue eyes… This is the girl that Deidra described… This is the one that killed Sasori." Kakuzu said. "She must be really skilled to kill a member of the Akatsuki."

"She's pretty hot. I'll handle her. I'd love to take her with my ritual. Oh just the thought of her pretty face in my ritual turns me on."

"Eww. That's fucking disgusting." I spat at him.

"Ha! She's a curser too." Hidan said, smirking at me.

"Enough talk. Let's finish them." They went after Master K and the wind element mask got to him.

"Master Kakashi!" Choji yelled.

"He's alright. Just focus." I said, covering my face from the blast. The lighting one turned to us and opened its mouth.

"Anako, Shikamaru, Choji, run!" I heard Ino holler at us. The lighting shot at us and Master K was suddenly in front of us; stopping the lighting from getting us. Ino jumped down to us.

"Are you alright, Master Kakashi?" She asked.

"Yeah… Somewhat…" He said. Hidan started to talk and then Kakuzu used his other mask, which was the fire one. We all jumped out of the way as the explosion came.

"Anako, Choji, Ino, are you alright?" Shikamaru hollered at us.

"Fine." I said. Master K and Hidan started to fight and Master K landed in front of us. Their teamwork is amazing. I noticed Hidan looking at me and I glared at him.

"You know, you look a lot like that shinobi we killed from before." Hidan said. I didn't listen to what Master K and the others were talking about. I did hear Shikamaru say that we needed to separate them.

"I'll do it." Ino said. "I've saved the most chakra. Plus I'm no use in simple combat. I'll use-"

"No." I said, cutting her off. "I'll do it. I'm skilled in close combat enough. Plus with my strength I should be able to get him far enough away from his partner. I know as a medical ninja I am not allowed to battle, but this is a personal matter."

"No, Anako. I'll do it. After I capture him with my shadow possession, I'll move him somewhere else." Shikamaru said.

"But how are we going to capture him… At this point we need a distraction…" Master K said.

"Then I'll be the bait." Choji said.

"That's not an option either. If he attacks you and gets one drop of blood, it's over for you. It's out of the question for us to go in and attack him ourselves."

"I'll do it then. One thing I learned from Lady Tsunade is to always avoid the enemy's attacks." I said. "We can do this together Shikamaru. I know your plan."

Shikamaru looked at me and gave me an indifferent look. 'Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?'

'Yes, I will. I've dealt with an Akatsuki member before.' I thought back to him.

"Alright, let's leave this to Anako and Shikamaru. I trust my student enough to be able to handle herself." Master K said. "Take this Shikamaru." He handed Shikamaru something and he came and stood next to me. I looked at him and nodded.

"Let's do this." I said, cracking my knuckles. Shikamaru used his shadow possession and I ran at Hidan. He didn't see me since he was focused on Shikamaru and I punched him with all my might. He flew into a tree.

"Damn bitch. She's got some skills." Hidan said.

I was in front of him in a flash, my foot going into his gut. He swung his scythe at me and I ducked. I moved out of the way of the blade Shikamaru threw and landed on the branch above Hidan. He moved again and I kicked him from behind while Shikamaru got him from the front. Shikamaru landed on the ground with the Hidan. The shadow possession was a success. I jumped down from the tree branch and landed next to Master K. Shikamaru and Hidan ran off.

"Anako, follow them." Master K said. "A medical ninja will be good."

"Naruto, Sai, and Yamato should be arriving soon." I said.

"When they get here, I will send Sai since he is a long distant fighter."

I nodded at him and I searched for Shikamaru's mind. I found him and followed to where he was. Hidan was black and he stabbed himself in the heart. So this is the ritual that he was talking about. Shikamaru fell to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" I yelled, running to where he was. Hidan turned to look at me and smirk.

"Well, little hottie decided to show up." Hidan said. "Let's say you and me go somewhere else."

"You're a fucking pervert." I punched the ground near him and I created a hole.

Shikamaru got up and tried to cut his head off. The blade was too dull. Hidan fell to the ground and Shikamaru trapped him with the shadow possession again. He then went on to explain that he used his partner's blood, instead of his own. Hidan started to talk and raise his weapons to Shikamaru. I blocked him with a kunai and kicked him away.

"That person you killed was my brother. This is all personal for me now." I said. Shikamaru closed his hand and trapped Hidan with all the paper bombs that were set up. Wow, amazing. I stood up and looked at Shikamaru.

"Before you do anything else, allow me to take a couple shots at him. I know it won't do much, but I need to get some anger out of me." I said. Shikamaru nodded at me and I went up to Hidan.

"Hey hot stuff." I mocked. I punched him in the face and he laughed. His lip began to bleed and he spit at me.

"You think your punches affect me? Please." Hidan said, laughing. I punched him and he just kept laughing.

"You talk too much." Shikamaru said. He threw knives at a few mark circles and the ground below Hidan suddenly was gone. Shikamaru planned this all along.

"If you curse someone, you dig your own grave too." Shikamaru said, lighting a cigarette. "You killed my teacher by curse; don't think you can just go on your merry way. That's your grave."

"I can't die. Even if my body is scattered, I'll climb out of there and rip both of your throats out."

"This forest is special within the fire country. Our clan and the Sarutobi clan are the only ones allowed to step foot in here, that's why Anako was allowed to come here. She is part of the Sarutobi clan. Other than that, no one else will come." Shikamaru said. "Our clans will watch you forever."

I noticed the deer and looked at Shikamaru. He saw Asuma and I choked back a sob. I smiled as I saw Asuma through Shikamaru's eyes.

"My will of fire, I entrust to you…" He said.

As he faded away Shikamaru threw the cigarette at Hidan and boom. Hidan blew up and fell down into the hole. I watched as Shikamaru went to look in the hole. I could hear Hidan yelling and then Shikamaru closed the hole off. Shikamaru turned to look at me and he gave me a small smile. He walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"I'll play shogi with you from now on. So that way you won't be alone." I said. "You know, Asuma talked about you a lot. I sort of got jealous because I'm his sister and I never heard him talk about me like he talked about you."

"He talked about you every time we were together. He got so sad when you started training with Lady Tsunade because you were gone a lot. He worried about you every time you left the village." I smiled at him as he spoke about Asuma. "He truly cared so much about you."

"The same goes for you. Let's head back to the others. I'm sure my team is here by now." Shikamaru and I made our way out of the forest when I sensed Pakkun and Sai coming towards our way.

"Here you are." Pakkun said, landing in front of us.

"Reinforcements, eh? You're a little late." Shikamaru said.

"We've already took out the Akatsuki member." I said.

"You're more impressive than I thought." Sai said, referring to Shikamaru.

"This time I had to do it myself." Shikamaru said.

"Enough talk. The others are still battling. We need to hurry back to them." I said. They all nodded at me and we made our way back to the others. Shikamaru fell suddenly.

"Shikamaru!" I jumped by his side and helped him up. "Let me treat you."

"Not now. We need to hurry." I didn't argue and helped him up. We made our way back to the others and Master K was the only one there. Kakuzu was on his back, dead.

"Master K, where is everyone else?" I asked.

"They've already headed back to the village. If you go now, you'll be able to catch up with them."

"Did Naruto do that?" I asked, referring to Kakuzu.

"Yes he did. Let's head back, shall we."

I nodded at him and we made our way back to the village. The others were ahead of us, but once we all got back to the village, we made our way to Lady Tsunade's office. I looked at Naruto's arm and gasped. Just by looking at it, I noticed that there were multiple fractures. What was that jutsu that Naruto used?


"Great work everyone. However, the Akatsuki is still out there, so don't let your guard down just yet. For now though, you can all take a break. You deserve it. Anako, I'd like you to stay for a moment please." Oh boy, this is what I feared. Everyone left and it was only Shizune, Lady Tsunade, and I.

"You went ahead without my orders?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm not punishing you, Anako. Although I should, but I understand what it is like to lose a family member that is close to you. Did you notice Naruto's arm?"

"Yes, I did. I wasn't there when he performed that jutsu, but I did notice his arm." I said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Go patch him up as best as you can. Report back here in an hour because you're going on a mission soon."

"Oh?" I asked.

"The Raikage from Kumogakure has requested a medical ninja in his village. His current one has been severely injured and the head medical ninja is out of the village due to maternity. I am sending you."

"Just me?" I asked.

"I'd send Sakura or Hinata, but they are currently out on a mission. I gave Ino a break. Besides, I think it'll be good for you to leave the village for a while."

"How long is this mission?"

"Two months. You should have the other medical ninja nursed back to health then. But I must warn you. There have been some problems that have occurred between the two villages. I don't know how those people are going to act towards you, so be on your guard always."

"Yes ma'am. Am I the only one going?"

"Yes. I don't want to send more than one person." She said.

"Okay, I will see you soon then." I said, leaving her office. I went home and opened the door. Kurenai and Konohamaru were playing cards at the table.

"Hey Auntie!" Konohamaru called to me.

"I have a mission." I said, getting straight to the point.

"How long?" Kurenai asked.

"Two months."

"No! You can't go." Konohamaru yelled at me.

"I can't defy Lady Tsunade's orders." I said, walking over to the table. "I'll be okay. I'm going to another village where I will be safe, okay?"

"Okay." Konohamaru mumbled.

"Turn that frown, upside down." I said and Konohamaru started to laugh. "There's that smile. I need to go pack."

I left them and went to my room. I grabbed my travel back and began packing enough stuff to last me two months. I changed the clothes I had on into new ones and grabbed my flak jacket. I went through my medical bag and made sure I had everything I needed. For my final thing, I grabbed four pictures off of the dresser. A picture of Asuma and me, a picture of my dad and me, a picture of Asuma, Kurenai, Konohamaru, and I took a few months ago, and the one of Team 7. I made my way out of the room and back into the dining room.

"Well, I'm off." I said. Kurenai and Konohamaru both stood up and hugged me bye.

"Be safe." Kurenai told me.

"I will." I looked at Konohamaru. "Don't worry. I'll write to you. So you know I'm still okay." He nodded and gave me a hug. I kissed his forehead and made my way to the door. After leaving the house, I made my way to the hospital. I asked the front desk where Naruto's room was and made my way there. I opened the door and set my bag down on the chair.

"Anako!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hi Naruto, I came to check on you. How're you feeling?"

"I feel great!" Naruto moved his injured arm in the air and he cried out in pain.

"Stupid. Don't move your arm." I said, going over to the side of the bed and looking at his arm. I made my hands green. "You know, that jutsu really is something else. I wouldn't use it unless you absolutely need to, okay?"

"It'll be fine if I have you healing me afterwards." Naruto said, laughing.

"I can't heal everything right away. That's not how medical ninjutsu works." I said. Naruto paused to look at me and he smiled.

"Thank you, Anako. This kind of makes me happy." Naruto said.

"Hmmm?"

"It feels like we're getting closer to him, together." Naruto said. I got a lump in my throat. How was I supposed to tell Naruto I was leaving now?

"Umm, Naruto." I said.

"What is it Anako?"

"I'm being sent out on a mission." I said.

"Oh, when are you leaving?" He asked.

"After I am done here." I said.

"What?!" Naruto yelled. "We just got back. How can granny Tsunade send you out so soon?"

"Kumogakure is in need of a medical ninja. Lady Tsunade is sending me as soon as possible." I said.

"But why now?" I knew what Naruto was thinking. He was upset that I was leaving without him on a mission.

"I wish you could come with me, but Lady Tsunade is only sending me. I won't be gone long." I said, touching his hand. "It's only two months. And when I get back, we'll go look for him. I promise."

"What am I going to do without you? I'll have to deal with Sai by myself." Naruto said. I chuckled at his facial expression.

"I think you'll be able to handle him by yourself." I said, giving him a wink. Naruto smiled and pulled me to him squeezing me in a tight hug. Well, as tight as his one arm let him.

"Just be safe, okay?" He said, kissing my forehead.

"I will. And since I'm leaving, I'll kiss your forehead too." I said, kissing his forehead. "I'll be back before you know it. Until then, try not to have too much fun without me." I made my way to the door and grabbed my bag.

"I'll try not to." Naruto said, laughing. "Bye Anako."

"Bye Naruto." I shut the door and made my way out of the hospital. As I rounded the corner, I gasped when I saw Master K leaning against the wall, reading his book.

"Master K, you scared the shit out of me." I said, holding my chest. My heart was pounding.

"I'm surprised you didn't read my mind." Master K said, chuckling.

"I'm surprised you aren't in a hospital bed; which is very unusual for you." I shot back at him. Master K stopped chuckling and I smirked in triumphant.

"Right now… That's all you see me as… I'm shocked." Master K said. "If I used my Manekyou Sharingan, then I'd be in one. But I didn't use it. Naruto, Sai, and Yamato showed up just in time. Otherwise, I would've had to. I heard you have a mission."

"Yes, that is correct. I was just on my way to Lady Tsunade's office to get the official orders. Naruto didn't take it too well. He's pretty bummed out about it. You'll have to keep him cheerful while I'm gone." I said, smiling at him. "Also, will you tell Sai and Yamato for me? I'm afraid as soon as I am finished talking with you, I must head out immediately."

"I will do. I'd tell you to be safe, but I already know you'll be just fine." Master K said, patting my shoulder.

"Thank you anyways." I said, smiling again. "I'll see you when I get back." I left him and went back to Lady Tsunade's office. Once I got the official orders, I made my way to the front gate. I summoned Inza.

"Another mission?" Inza asked in a playful tone.

"This one is a bit longer than the other one." I said. "We're going to Kumo."

"Oh, so we're going to be traveling for a couple days?"

"Yes, we are. We're burning daylight. Let's go." Inza nodded and we set out for Kumo.


Chapter 08! :) I am on a role! I have enough time to write and do homework! Which is awesome! :)

I wanted a plot for Anako. In the manga, it just jumps to Orochimaru dying and in the anime it has the whole Three Tails Arc. So this is what I was planning. While the Three Tails Arc is going on, Anako is going to be in Kumo. So just pretend that the Three Tails Arc is going on, while she is in Kumo. So that way she can come back when they find out Orochimaru is dead. If this doesn't make sense, feel free to message me. Or just review. And I'll answer on the author's note.

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