Chapter 4:
Memories

"Nii-san! Nii-san!"

"…" Itachi turned around from where he sat on the edge of the genkan and stared at him.

"You were going to help me train with the Fireball today!" he whined.

"… I was too busy."

"You always say that!"

Itachi waved his hand, beckoning him to come closer, his expression as blank as ever.

Don. A pair of fingers reached out and poked his forehead.

"Sorry, otouto. Next time, alright?" Itachi told him, smiling slightly.

Naruto woke with a start, gasping for air. A cold sweat drenched him, making his pajamas stick to his skin uncomfortably as he struggled to fill his lungs and catch his breath.

That dream had been so vivid. Uncomfortably vivid.

Even now, he could still see the shades of the wood paneling and the slight sheen of dust that had been in certain corners, the sunlight that had peeked through the slightly open door as Itachi had been putting on his sandals to leave.

Why had Itachi been in his dream? And what was that place? Naruto couldn't remember seeing any place like it.

His mind's rapid whirling slowly decelerated as he tried to puzzle over what it could mean. But in the end it only left him feeling exhausted and tired, unable to do anything more than re-position himself on his pillow before he fell into the comforting embrace of sleep.

Anko Mitarashi loved her job.

She was currently engaged in her favorite activity: "Information retrieval". Or as it was better known, interrogation. The physical kind.

The man strapped to the seat in front of her (an Iwa-nin) was quivering in his proverbial boots. They were in one of the small, windowless, solid concrete cubes that acted as the T&I department's working rooms, illuminated by the bright fluorescent tube light above that washed out any color. A selection of various sharp stainless-steel instruments were spread out on the metal table she stood behind, glinting from the bright light above. The man was looking at them fearfully, his eyes wide as he undoubtedly imagined the horrors that would soon be visited upon him with those very tools.

Unlike usual, Anko's focus was not on him. Instead, her thoughts were on the blue-haired girl that she had offered to teach on a mere amusing whim that she'd thought would only entertain her for a few days at most. Mostly just because she wanted to see someone like the Hyūga's own princess squirm. But instead of bowing out of the harsh and brutal training, Hinata had run full-force into it, embracing it with a fervor that Anko struggled to comprehend. Hinata's tenacity was appalling, even now when she was beginning to understand the drive behind it.

Without her notice, days of training had slipped into weeks. Idle curiosity had become vested interest. Mild amusement, understanding. And now, only three weeks later, she was actually planning on offering the girl the opportunity to become her apprentice.

Damn the girl had gotten under her skin.

Anko sighed as she ran her fingers across the handles of the tools in front of her, and the man whimpered in response.

Kurenai had hit right on the head when she'd guessed that Anko was sympathizing with Hinata.

Despite the fact that she hated Orochimaru and her greatest wish was to see him wiped off the face of the earth, preferably without enough left to even put in a shoebox, she couldn't deny that there was some pervasive mental trauma that remained from his betrayal of Konoha and subsequent abandonment of her.

At the time, he had been her sensei. A man she had looked up to and adored. Idolized. Having him declare her nothing more than a 'failed experiment' had hurt in ways she couldn't even describe. As she had grown up, that pain had slowly turned to bitterness and hatred as she recognized that her self-worth wasn't decided by what the assholes around her thought, but by what she decided it was.

But the pain was still there, like an old wound that refused to heal properly, twinging and pinching whenever you moved in the wrong direction.

Hinata… Hinata clearly suffered from similar problems of confidence and doubt about her abilities that Anko had gone through at the same age, existing under an atmosphere of disapproval and even disgust directed at her. But instead of it originating from the civilian population as it had for the tokubetsu jōnin, it was from the girl's own family. Anko had been able to ignore the whispers and glares thrown in her direction by drowning herself in work and just detaching her emotions for the most part. Hinata didn't have that option. She had to return to her house and the constant oppressive environment that it represented every night without exception, weathering away at her own self-image.

At least, until now.

Now, Hinata had somehow found a purpose to no longer accept that. That boy. Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko. "Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja" according to Kakashi.

Anko had looked him up after the first week. It'd been around then that she'd realized she was becoming invested in the girl's progress. And thus, she had needed to know more about the thing that drove her, what pushed her and inspired her so strongly.

Reading the boy's file had been unnerving.

She'd never really paid attention to him, despite having heard of him and seeing him around Konoha once or twice, but as she usually kept to herself and avoided social interaction on principle, she hadn't ever really known what had been going on with him.

Half of the first few pages had been covered in black ink, blocking out all but a few pieces of information (such as the fact that he was, in fact, the living container for the most powerful bijū in existence). The rest, however… it hadn't been what she'd been expecting at all. Hell, she didn't even know what she had been expecting, but it hadn't been that.

Seventeen broken bones before the age of eleven. Numerous compound fractures. Head trauma on no less than five separate occasions. And those were only the things that had been major enough to warrant hospital treatment. Who knew what hadn't actually been recorded. The Kyūbi's presence and chakra reportedly granted him some form of advanced healing ability, which meant that he more than likely hadn't even been treated for cuts or flesh wounds.

He was vilified and hated by the civilians to a degree far worse than she had been. Not just passively, but actively discriminated against. The same whispers and looks following him that she'd had to endure. At least she had been a teenager when it had started, but he had suffered that experience his entire life.

It made her wonder how the fuck he had come out of it so well-adjusted. Hell, shinobi she tortured gave up their entire life's story for less pain than he had gone through. And she knew guys who had been mentally scarred for life from a fraction of the shit his file had talked about.

After reading through the entire thing, she'd gone out and gotten drunk, and she wasn't embarrassed to admit it. It was the sort of thing you needed following something like that.

But investigating him had definitely given her a better idea of why her cute little student was so inspired. The boy never gave up. He couldn't stay down. He just kept getting back up. Now, granted, that wasn't always a good idea, but damn if it wasn't impressive with the things he'd endured. And continued to endure on a daily basis.

If that was the inspiration that gave Hinata the desire overcome her own insecurities, Anko could find no fault with it. And the Hyūga had put that desire to full use, empowering her to work as hard as she could to get out of the same place the snake summoner had been. That effort and determination she had expressed was what had made Anko grow to like her so much, why she was going to give Hinata the chance to be her formal student.

The purple-haired woman picked up a gleaming silver knife from the table, her own image reflected in the flat of the blade as she twisted it around, the actions causing the man in front of her to begin making noises around the gag that was in his mouth.

Kurenai had requested that she leave some of the girl's personality intact. And she would, at least as much as she could, not intentionally manipulating the girl psychologically (unless requested, which was what had been the start of this whole thing). But really, in the end, it wasn't up to her. It was up to Hinata. Anko wouldn't push her to do wet-work, assassinations, or information retrieval missions, but if she was given the option of joining the tokubetsu jōnin on a mission of that type, and the girl accepted, it wasn't like she could say 'no'. It was just one of the consequences of becoming the official understudy to one of Konoha's best torture specialists.

Though, she secretly wished the girl would join her on at least a few of those. Because they were the most fun Anko usually got during the year. Most of the time it was just boring assholes like the one in front of her, who she could already tell would spill his guts on the first cut.

Ah, well. Nothing to be done about it. She'd just ignore his willingness to confess until she was done playing.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Anko shifted her attention to the man before her. "You and I are going to have some fun." she whispered, her voice low and sultry. The man's eyes became as large as dinner-plates and he began shaking his head rapidly. "Oh yes, we are. But don't worry, I'll be sure to be extra careful not to hit anything vital. Wouldn't want you to miss all of the excitement, you know." She stepped closer, so that she was less than a foot away from his face.

"Now… let's see how much pain you can handle before you pass out. Your buddies were such disappointments. Finished in less than five minutes. How's a woman supposed to enjoy herself with that?" She reached out and traced the edge of the knife along his cheek, up towards his ear and down his neck, a thin line of blooming red following her path.

"But you wouldn't do that to me, right?"

Hinata walked slowly, cautiously, into the field that Anko had claimed as 'theirs' with her Byakugan active, looking at all of the spots that the purple-haired woman had previously used as traps, and the ones that she hadn't yet but would match her style

Thankfully, there appeared to be no deathtraps of spring-loaded kunai launchers or the unexpected flashbang tags that had quickly trained her to be able to disable her dōjutsu and close her eyes in less than half a second or risk annoyingly bad blindness for over ten minutes.

Reaching the center, she stood still, her eyes still active, keeping close watch on the immediate surroundings.

A blur appeared at the edge of her vision, dropping down directly in front of her. Hinata immediately slid into a defensive stance, prepared for whatever happened.

"Nice reflexes." Anko commented, nodding in satisfaction at the girl's caution. "No worries though, I'm not going to start off going for your throat today."

Hinata's brow wrinkled in confusion. That's how Anko-sensei had started every session they'd had so far. Why would this day be any different? She didn't seem to be the type to change habits easily.

Anko answered her questioning look. "Today, we've got serious things to talk about." The woman shifted her weight slightly back, and then returned to her previous state.

… Was she fidgeting? The blue-haired girl's confusion grew to bewilderment.

Anko cleared her throat. "So. I've been thinking. Um, we've kind of been working together a lot. Like, a lot. But you're still on Kurenai's team… so I was wondering… if, you know…" She tugged on the edges of her trench-coat while glancing at the ground.

"Aw, fuck it. I was never good at this kind of polite shit anyways." The woman took a breath and looked up, locking eyes with the girl who stood before her. "How'd you feel about officially becoming my student?"

Hinata was so shocked she unconsciously released her Byakugan. "W-w-what?"

"Yeah. You, me, doing stuff like this all the time, but for real. I never thought I'd ever say this to some rookie genin, but I've had a lot of fun working with you, and I'd like to keep teaching you. I hadn't planned on ever taking a student, hell, I'd said I never would. Guess I'm eating my words now…" Anko laughed nervously. "So, what do you think? I know it's kind of sudden, but I thought I'd at least ask…"

Hinata just stood there for a moment before realizing that Anko was expecting an immediate response.

Her first thoughts went to Team 8. Shino and Kiba and Kurenai-sensei. She loved her team. As weird as it was, she still loved it. She didn't want to give that up, just walking away to go to a new teacher. If she said yes, she'd be leaving them all behind.

But on the other hand, as soon as one of them became chūnin, they would be broken up anyways…

"Oh! And if you're worrying about your old team, I already talked to Nai-chan and she said that she's fine with you transferring, but that she'd still want me to let you do missions with them which I've got no problems with. Really, you'd just be training with me more, and I'd get more time out of the T&I department to do it. Oh, and I'd get to teach you some of my personal techniques." The woman grinned.

… Well, there went her worry about losing the bond she had with Team 8. If Kurenai-sensei had given her blessing of it…

And Hinata got the feeling that this was one of those opportunities that you would regret for the rest of your life if you declined. Training with Anko-sensei, she'd improved more in the past three weeks than she could have imagined possible. Part of that was more than likely due to the snake-summoner's teaching methods, but there was also no denying the results.

This was no small commitment, and Hinata knew that. But at the same time, she'd also enjoyed being taught by Anko, and would like to continue it, something that would eventually become impossible when all of Team 8 was fully gathered again. Did she really want to do this?

… Yes. Her father wouldn't care what she did with her ninja career, as she was already a failure in his eyes. And this offer was one that she would be a fool to pass up, leading to the possibility of much higher jobs, more trusted positions, and the chance of advancing quicker through the ranks to get to where she could help Naruto-kun the most.

The implications of being Anko's full-time apprentice were not lost on Hinata. She knew exactly what the snake summoner's job was: assassination, torture, and interrogation. The 'dark side' of ninja work, as it were. By becoming her student, Hinata would be accepting that path. Naruto strove to be Hokage, the "Fire Shadow". But he wasn't someone who would (or even could) work from the shadows. She could see that as clearly as day. He was a bright light that caused people to gravitate and orbit him like a star. But everything needed a balance to be strong. A yin to yang. Dark to light.

And that solidified it.

She would be the one to deal with the darkness for him. She would selflessly take on that burden, that task, to spare him from it, to fulfill her wish to support him. Such was her devotion.

"U-um. Thank you. I humbly accept your generous offer." Hinata bowed. "Please take care of me from hereon."

Anko laughed. "Awesome! This is going to be great." she said, grinning from ear to ear. "Come on, now we've just got to go talk to the Hokage and fill out all of the paperwork."

And before the Hyūga could make so much as a single protest, the purple haired-woman grabbed Hinata, whisking them away towards the Hokage by shunshin.

Naruto Uzumaki sat under a tree on the edge of Training Ground 3, staring at his right hand. The sharp smell of ozone filled his immediate area, evidence of the small bolts of lightning he was creating in his palm.

Four weeks of practice. Five hundred clones. Sixteen hours a day. Five days a week.

Eighteen years of practical experience molding his chakra and converting it to Lightning Nature. Kakashi had said that in less than a week he would surpass the jōnin in the amount of time he'd been using the nature.

Naruto's Sharingan had only made learning how to use it all the easier. He could literally see where his chakra was converting to the nature. The vibration that was perfect for this size or that amount of current. Forever embedded in his mind, impossible to forget.

Naruto stopped the small arcs and shifted to collecting the Lightning over his hand, compressing it tighter and tighter to form a second skin of purple-blue-white electricity.

A high-pitched squeal cut through the silence, and then shifted to what sounded like birds chirping.

The Chidori.

He hadn't even shown Kakashi-sensei that he could do this. Somehow, he had just… known how to.

This was the jutsu, the technique that Sasuke had tried to kill him with. The technique that–

CHICHICHICHI

"RAAAGHHHH!"

He ran across the surface of the River of the End towards the blonde in front of him, his left arm raised. Black lightning escaped between his fingers, screaming in a high-pitched whine/chirping as he increased the cursed chakra's flow towards the jutsu, fully focused on his goal of driving the arm into the heart of his best friend.

Naruto sprinted towards him in reaction, his footsteps creating large splashes in the water. Another of those yellow-orange balls of swirling chakra sat in his hand, created from both the boy's own energy and the bubbling red mass that surrounded him.

If his own curse seal felt like ice and cold darkness, then Naruto's power was like the sun. An angry, malevolent, red sun. The metallic tang of blood and hatred followed the blonde every time they clashed, saturating the air and threatening to overwhelm him.

So far he had only survived by being smart, careful. Drawing out his power when there was no other choice, conserving himself to fight the true monster of chakra in front of him, whose power seemed to have no end.

He gritted his teeth and growled, infuriated.

Why was he pushed like this?

Why was Naruto always stronger?

Why didn't he have this, a power that would let him be that much closer to his goal of killing him?

And now here he was, forced to put all of his power and strength into one last attack.

He could hear Itachi's voice in his head. Pathetic. Is this all you can do? You will never become strong enough to kill me, little brother. Not like this.

"SAASSSUUKEEEEEE!" Naruto bellowed as the two of them closed the gap.

"NARRUUTOOOOO!"

Their hands connected, orange with black, sun with void, light with darkness.

And then the impossible happened.

The whirling sphere in Naruto's hand touched the underside of his wrist. His Sharingan allowed him to see exactly what would happen. But there was no way to stop Naruto's hand as it was propelled around his arm and downward, the rotating nature of the blonde's attack combined with the sudden contact and friction of his own skin throwing the jutsu off-target.

No time to react. No time to move.

The ball of chakra moved in slow motion, following the curving path that his eyes predicted towards his stomach, his core. He didn't even notice that his own hand had become buried in the boy's chest and right lung, because the ball had made contact, and with the contact came

PAIN

Naruto leaned over and threw up, the contents of his stomach forced up his throat as the phantom ghosts of agony burned through his nerve endings. His eyes felt like they were on fire. Sweat dripped off of his face onto blades of grass as he propped himself up with his arms, trying to catch his breath and stop the pulse that pounded in his ears.

This was the second time he'd remembered something that he'd never experienced. And unlike the first, he knew exactly what that memory had been.

His and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End.

Except it hadn't been how he remembered it. It hadn't been his own point of view; it had been from Sasuke's. He had seen everything, experienced everything, felt everything from Sasuke's point of view.

His frustration and resolve to kill Naruto. His raw, pure, undiluted loathing and hatred for Itachi. His anger that he had been pushed so far in the fight.

Why was he seeing these things? The only possible explanation was these eyes, but Kakashi-sensei had never said anything about memories when they had talked about the effects that Sasuke's Sharingan would have on Naruto.

He'd been told to expect fatigue. Which hadn't happened.

He'd been told to expect headaches for the first weeks. He hadn't had any.

Instead, he was remembering events he had never experienced before.

Memories that could have only come from Sasuke.

Why could he remember these things? Why could he make a flawless, seal-less Chidori despite never having practiced it once?

And if it was because of Sasuke's Sharingan, what did it mean?

Sweat dripped off of her brow as the high mid-day sun beat down on the two combatants. The dirt ground of the Hyūga sparring ground only served to reflect the heat instead of dissipating it, acting like an oven.

Hanabi stared at her sister in barely-concealed amazement and awe. How? How!? A month ago, she had barely been able to stand for five minutes against their Jūken sensei.

And now? Now Hinata had been standing for twenty minutes straight, and showed no signs of backing down despite being on her last legs. Every valid opening that the man had given her, she had taken without any hesitation. In fact, Hanabi would even say that she took advantage of them aggressively.

Hinata. Aggressive. The two words just didn't seem possible to fit together, unless there was a 'not' preceding it. But no, her nee-san had been unyielding and efficient, in both attack and defense. She was almost… gliding over the ground.

The Jūken was very much an upper-body taijutsu style, focusing on arm speed and quick movement. Stances were only basic, and moving positions was discouraged unless necessary. But Hinata wasn't following that. She was moving at every opportunity, even twisting between the strikes of the man's attacks, using unconventional strikes that moved up or down instead of just the standard outward strikes to attack any limb that got too close to her.

"I think that's enough, Hinata-sama."

The blue-haired girl nodded in response, barely managing to return the man's bow that formally ended the sparring session before walking drunkenly over to the wooden porch where Hanabi sat. She collapsed on the ledge heavily, taking slow deep breaths in her attempt to shake off the faintness of over-exertion as quickly as possible.

Hinata had informed them about her formal apprenticeship to this 'Anko' person earlier last week, and it was the only thing that the Hyūga heiress could think of that had changed. She had noted her sister coming home tired on a few occasions, which also pointed to the likelihood of this being a consequence of her sensei. …But still, to make such progress in only a months time… Hinata-neesan's training must be even more grueling than otou-sama's lessons.

"N-nee-san?" Hinata turned around to face Hanabi, her face flushed red. "H-how…" The younger girl struggled to articulate her confusion and desire to know more.

Hinata smiled enigmatically but gave no answer, her face slowly fading to a more normal color from its previously flushed state. Taking one final deep breath, she stood up and began walking to the main building across the training ground, entering it and disappearing inside.

The sound of a wooden shōji sliding open sounded from behind Hanabi, and she turned around to see who it was, looking up at the face of her father. "O-Otou-sama! Were you watching?" He nodded silently in response. "H-how did she…?"

Hiashi stared blankly at the place where Hinata had been sparring. "Your sister has discovered that the best motivation comes not from outside, but from within." he said cryptically. "The strength of love is not a thing to dismiss out of hand. She is becoming more like your mother every day."

The man turned and walked along the porch to the building on the left, leaving Hanabi still confused and confounded, thoughts of her nee-san and the fight she had just seen running through her mind, leading to another fight that she couldn't forget.

A fight that had been so similar, and yet so different.

"BEGIN!" the main house member who was presiding over the match stepped back to the sidelines to watch and referee.

Hanabi lowered herself into an aggressive starting stance, Byakugan active and watching as her nee-san imitated her action, but with a much more neutral stance. They stood there for a few moments, the breeze blowing through the sparring ground, dust kicking up and swirling around them.

Well, if Onee-san wasn't going to make the first move, she would.

Darting forward, she closed the gap between them, Hinata responding by shifting her feet into a more defensive position. Hanabi started off with a feint, aiming towards her sister's core with her right hand and then shifting when the blue-haired girl moved to block the first strike. Her palm got about three-quarters of the way towards its target before Hinata's left arm rotated upwards, pushing the extended forearm up and to the side, passing harmlessly over her shoulder. However, she wasn't done, and continued her assault on Hinata, managing to get a few hits in. But her sister wasn't retaliating with any sense of purpose.

Confused, Hanabi quickly drew back towards the center of the area to get her bearings, and the older girl returned to her initial neutral stance.

Both combatants paused for a second before advancing simultaneously at some unspoken signal. This time, Hinata was the first to reach out, an open-palm strike aiming towards Hanabi's side that was easily deflected and retaliated with her own palm towards the now-exposed joint of her sister's left arm. Just before it was about to make contact, Hinata's other hand pushed it off of its path, leaving a gaping hole in Hanabi's left defense.

The younger girl braced herself for the strike, knowing this would be the deciding strike of the match, as Hinata would have access to all of the tenketsu on her arm and side.

But the attacks she expected never came, Hinata instead stepping backwards, allowing Hanabi to regain her previous stance and close the opening

What was she doing? Hinata-neesan would lose her place as the heiress if she lost this match! Why hadn't she taken that opening and attacked?

"Nee-san! What are you doing?" she hissed.

Hinata shook her head with a slight frown on her face.

What? Why?

The girls advanced towards each other for a third time, and this time Hanabi did not hold back, attempting to provoke her sister into a position where she would need to counter-attack. But when that moment came, Hinata hesitated, her palm only inches away from the brown-haired girl's chest.

Hanabi's frustration grew. Her sister wasn't taking this seriously. This match would decide their futures. And if Hinata would hesitate like this when she was clan head, then she would not be a good leader.

And so at that moment, she decided.

Forgive me, Onee-sama.

Hanabi pushed the still-hovering hand in front of her to the left with a circular deflection and lashed out with a strike to Hinata's chest that landed with a solid 'thump', lifting the girl off of her feet and making her fall backwards.

"Stop! This match is now over!"

Afterwards, Hanabi had been escorted inside by her father, only looking back once to see her sister who had been struggling to get up from the dirt on her own, nobody willing to help her as the few spectators from the clan heads whispered in hushed tones, all of them looking at the new 'former' heiress.

And then the door behind Hanabi had slid closed, clicking shut on the scene that she had witnessed.

Hinata had most definitely changed from that day. From that girl she had been.

Hanabi now got the sense that this new person her sister was slowly becoming would not be one to accept her defeat lying in the dirt like that. And it was all because of this new sensei.

The brown-haired girl's curiosity flared.

She wanted to meet this person.

"Ahh-choo!"

Kurenai looked at the purple-haired tokubetsu-jōnin to the left of her in alarm. "Cold?"

It was answered with a shake of a head and a sniffle. "Someone must have been talking about me." Anko smirked. "I wonder if they're cute." Her friend only rolled her eyes in exasperation. "So when's everybody else supposed to get here?" she asked.

"It shouldn't be too long. And they've still got five minutes." Kurenai answered.

Anko sighed and draped herself across the rectangular table they were seated at in the restaurant they had all chosen this month. Now that Anko had taken Hinata on as an apprentice, she'd been invited to join the other rookie teams' jōnin senseis for their routine dinner. She had been about to tell Kurenai 'no', until she'd seen the glint in those ringed, red eyes. Nai-chan could be really scary when she wanted to be.

So here they were, in a place that was primarily frequented by shinobi, but was still supposed to have decent food.

"Why do we have to eat here? This place doesn't even have dango!" Anko whined.

Kurenai regarded her flatly. "I'm sure you'll survive."

"Yo."

The two women turned towards the voice that had appeared at the end of their booth, Kurenai blinking a few times.

"Hey Hatake." Anko greeted from her place on the table's surface.

The genjutsu mistress squinted at this person with lopsided silver hair and trademark mask/hitai-ate combo. "… Who are you and what have you done with the real Kakashi? Because the man I know wouldn't be on time to his own funeral, much less early."

A bead of sweat formed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Was it really that bad?"

"Yes." both women replied together in a monotone.

"Ah! I have been beaten here by my eternal rival! How humiliating! To regain my honor, tomorrow I shall run around the walls two-hundred and fifty times. And if I cannot do that, I shall do it on my hands five-hundred times!" A monstrosity of a man wearing a hideous green jumpsuit walked towards the table, standing next to Kakashi, yet displaying no sense that he had lost any 'honor'.

The silver-haired man turned to him as if he had only just noticed his presence. "Hm? You say something, Gai?"

Gai clenched his fist while rivers of tears ran down his face. "Damn your cool, hip attitude Kakashi!"

"Uh-huh." was the man's only response. He got into the booth across from the two women, Gai eventually calming down and joining him. "So we're waiting on Asuma?"

Kurenai nodded in affirmation.

Only seconds later, the man himself appeared, complete with cigarette stuck between his lips.

"Speak of the devil…" Anko commented, finally sitting up from her position.

"Put that out." Kurenai told him, looking pointedly at the stick of tobacco in his mouth.

Asuma stared back, and the genjutsu mistress' glare intensified at his delaying. He sighed, taking the offending object from his mouth and crushing it into the ashtray at the end of the table that Kurenai had placed there just for his use.

A glint of purple caught his eye and he turned towards it, looking at the face of Konoha's most famous sadist. The Sarutobi quirked an eyebrow. "What's she doing here?"

"Oi!" Anko shouted in offense.

Kurenai placed a calming hand on the torture-specialist's shoulder. "I invited her here, seeing as she's one of us now."

"Oh? Really?" he asked, joining Gai on what had become the guy's side of the table. "And who would be crazy enough to be her student?"

"Hinata." the red-eyed woman replied tersely.

A second eyebrow joined the first. "Hinata? As in Hinata Hyūga? That Hinata? I thought she was on your team."

"She was. She transferred and became Anko's apprentice by choice."

"How youthful! Why, it reminds me of my own cute student and our bond of–"

Kakashi cut him off, saving them all from another of Gai's rants. "How's she doing? I haven't noticed her around Naruto as much as she used to be."

Anko grinned. "That's cause she's usually too dead tired at the end of the day to do anything else."

"… And you agreed to this?" Asuma asked incredulously, still looking at Kurenai.

She bristled at the fact that he was questioning her judgment concerning one of her own students and her friend. "Yes. Anko's my best friend. I know her better than anybody else and trust her just as much. Hinata has already improved more in the past month she's been with Anko than the year and a half she was with me. I'm fairly certain the results speak for themselves."

Asuma backed off at seeing how agitated she was getting.

"What about the Raiton exercises? How far has she gotten?" Kakashi questioned.

"Not too far. Less than a quarter of what you showed us. But for what we're thinking of doing she doesn't need power, just precision. So we're trying to develop something even while she's not quite mastered it yet." Anko told him. "What about blondie?"

"He's already done. Practicing with his clones, in only a month he's gotten almost as good as me with using it. And then I tested him and found out his affinity is Wind." The silver-haired man laughed. "I thought it would be, but I wanted to see how long it would take him to learn an element that wasn't his affinity. I figure I'll be teaching him all the elements anyways. With how he learns, his clones, and the Sharingan, he'll probably be the best ninjutsu user the world has ever seen by the time he's our age." All of the others around the table stared at him. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to do recompositions before he's twenty-five."

The purple-haired woman whistled. "That girl sure knows how to pick 'em."

"A Wind affinity? That makes him the only other one in Konoha that I know." Asuma said. "If he has any problems picking it up, I could give him a couple pointers."

Kakashi nodded in recognition of the Sarutobi's offer.

The waiter, a young man, walked up to their table, and the five jōnin gave him their orders for both drinks and food, returning to the conversation once he had left.

"My own precious Lee has been improving as well! He has fully recovered and is working twice as hard as he had been before his injury! His flames of youth are truly unmatched!" Gai's eyes began streaming tears of pride for his charge. After a few moments he recovered himself and cleared his throat. "Of course, my other two students are also progressing quite nicely." he said. "They are all becoming such wonderful shinobi."

The members of the table turned to look at Kurenai.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, we've talked about our kiddies Nai-chan. Tell us what you're doing." Anko told her.

The genjutsu mistress sighed. "Kiba is as headstrong as ever. And Shino… well, he's Shino. Kiba was a little upset about Hinata leaving the team, but once he learned that she was still going to be doing missions with us and how much she's been growing, he quickly changed his mind. Shino just said that as it was the most logical decision, it only made sense." She frowned. "I can't really do much with them besides team activities and missions at this point, because they're from clans that have such extensive hiden, and spend most of their time with their families."

Asuma nodded. "That's where I'm at too. Ever since the kids fought those Sound ninja, the clans have become more intent than ever on teaching their kids clan techniques."

"Tch. Stop your bitching about having too much free time, you two." Anko said from the other end of the table. "Me and Hinata have to deal with balancing our own training, her clan's training, my job with T&I, Kurenai's missions, and we're going to be starting up our own missions soon. I'm lucky if I get a free hour a day now. They're supposed to be re-adjusting my schedule in the next month so that I'm doing more fieldwork, but for now it's a complete pain in the ass."

"Hey, you knew what you were getting into when you took her on." Kurenai countered.

The snake summoner waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. And she's totally worth it too." Anko had never thought she would say that she enjoyed having a student, but Hinata had proven her completely wrong.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "It's so nice to see that even you can grow up, Anko-chan."

"Bite me, Hatake." she said, glaring daggers at him. "And this is coming from the guy who failed the last five teams he was assigned and was chronically late to everything no matter what."

Gai laughed loudly. "Mitarashi-san has caught you, my rival."

The silver-haired jōnin just stared with a half-lidded eye at Anko while she smirked.

"…touché" he conceded.

The food arrived at that point, and their talk slowed down as they ate, drifting towards discussing different training strategies and comparing missions that they'd done recently. Hours later, long after the sun had set, they finally departed, splitting up and going their separate ways.

Anko smiled slightly as she jumped over roofs towards her apartment.

That had been nice. As much as she loved hanging out with Nai-chan, it would probably be good for her to have some more regular contact with the other sensei. Kurenai was really the only person she considered a 'friend', but these dinners gave her the perfect excuse to step out of her comfort zone a little bit and forced her to get to know the others now that she was one of them, with her own genin student.

She still could barely believe that she was actually a teacher of a genin. And a Hyūga, no less.

The world worked in strange ways.

Naruto arrived early in the morning at what he was coming to think of 'his' training ground, thinking about what he would be doing today, probably looking over the storage seals Kakashi had been showing him. The sun was just barely above the horizon, breaking over the wooden posts–

"Well, there's no need for you guys to go back to the Academy." Kakashi said, looking down at them.

He smirked. Of course he wouldn't be going back to the Academy. He was an Uchiha.

"No, you should just quit trying to be ninja all together."

All of three of them froze.

…WHAT!?

"QUIT AS NINJAS? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" The orange idiot next to him yelled. "Yeah, we couldn't get the bells, but why the hell do we have to quit!?"

No. This could not happen. He could not allow this to happen!

How was he supposed to kill Itachi and avenge his clan if he wasn't even a proper ninja?

"Because all of you are just brats who don't deserve to be ninja." Kakashi told them.

He saw red, his breathing and heartbeat speeding up.

No. No NO. NO! NO!

Before he even realized what he was doing, Sasuke was flying towards the silver-haired jōnin, a kunai pulled out of the holder taped to his leg.

And then he was suddenly on his stomach, arms pulled behind his back as Kakashi sat on him, a foot on his head.

"No! Sasuke-kun!"

He struggled to free himself, trying to get out of the man's grip.

"Are you guys underestimating ninja? Why do you think you were split into teams and are doing this training?" the jōnin asked.

"…" There was no response.

"You guys have completely missed the point of this test."

"And what the hell's the point of this stupid test anyways!?" Naruto demanded.

"… Teamwork."

"B-but, there are only two bells!" Sakura stated. "Even if we all worked together, there would still be one person who got sent back!"

"Exactly. This test was to see if you could get past your own selfish desires and still work together successfully. And you failed." Kakashi said harshly.

Sasuke's arm and shoulder were beginning to burn from the position it was being held in. He had given up struggling, and now just lay where he was, his face in the dirt, the jōnin still positioned on top of him.

"Sakura only thought about Sasuke, even when Naruto was right next to you. Naruto was just running around by himself. And you, Sasuke," Kakashi looked down at him, and he glared back angrily. "You assumed everybody else would just get in your way, and did everything on your own."

Kakashi turned away from him. "Individual abilities and talents are important, but what's even more important is 'teamwork'. If you only think about yourself, you'll only be putting the entire team in danger."

He felt the weight lift off of his back as the man finally got up. But instead of walking towards the two idiots, the jōnin went in the opposite direction, stopping in front of a large rectangular stone.

"Every single name on this stone is the name of a hero."

"Really!? Then I'll get my name on there too!" Naruto shouted.

"…these aren't normal heroes." Kakashi said calmly.

"Yeah? Then what kind are they?"

"…" The man stood there for a moment, just staring at the gray slab. "These are the heroes who've died while serving the village."

They all stilled.

Tch. And I bet not a single Uchiha from that day is on there.

"This is a memorial to the fallen. My best friend's name is on here."

Sasuke's mind went blank.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder. "I'll give you guys one last chance. But it'll be a lot harder than last time. Anyone who wants to try can eat their lunch. But don't give Naruto any."

"Huh!?"

"It's punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If either one of you gives him food, I'll fail you immediately. I am the rules here. Understand?" he said sharply.

And then in a blink, he was gone.

Sasuke sat down on the dirt area around the wooden posts and opened one of the bentō, beginning to eat the rice and umeboshi that was inside.

"Ha! The joke's on him! I don't need any food!" Naruto bragged. His stomach grumbled, immediately countering the blonde's words.

… What an idiot.

"Here." Sasuke held his box out towards the blonde.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura hissed. "Sensei just said–"

"He's not near us." he said, still holding out the box. "We'll work together after lunch to get the bells. If he didn't get any food, just be in the way."

At least if the dobe ate he might have enough energy to act as bait…

Sakura looked at her own bentō box and then whipped around, holding it out towards Naruto.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" A large cloud of smoke exploded outwards in front of them. "YOU GUYS!"

Sasuke raised himself up onto a knee, ready to draw a kunai and fight whatever threat might appear.

"AAHHHH!" Naruto screamed.

"… pass!" Kakashi said, smiling strangely with only his eyelid. "Heh. You guys are the first. All the others were morons, and just did whatever I told them. But a ninja cannot only look at the surface. They must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash. But you know? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash."

… Comrades are just another thing that'll slow me down.

"That ends the training! All of you pass! Starting tomorrow, Team Seven–"

SeVEn

sEvEN

SEVen

seVeN

The word pounded behind Naruto's eyes, and his head felt like it was splitting open. Some kind of liquid dripped down his face, landing on the grass and staining it red.

SeVen

He couldn't think straight. All that he was aware of was the pain. The burning in his eyes.

sEVeN

"–seven. Let's start with introductions." the man in front of them said.

"What kind of introductions?" That girl, Sakura, asked.

"Hm… How about… Your likes, dislikes, and… your dreams for the future. Stuff like that." he answered.

"Hey! You haven't even told us your own name!" The dobe actually a good point for once.

"Yeah… You look kind of suspicious…" Sakura noted.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. I don't really want to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…" He paused, looking thoughtful, but after a few seconds, moved on. "And I have a lot of hobbies."

"So… all he told us was his name?"

This was the extent of the deductive power of the Kunoichi of the year? Pathetic.

"Lets start on the right." Kakashi said, pointing to the blonde.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, and I especially like when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen. I dislike waiting the 3 minutes for ramen to cook. And my dream… I'm gonna surpass the Hokage and have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

What an idiot. Did he really think he could be any better than the Hokage? He was just the class dobe. The Hokage was the strongest man in the village. And Naruto was just some worthless dead-last wannabe.

But he was different. He had a plan. And he would achieve it, if it was the last thing he did.

"… Hobbies? Pranks, I guess." the boy finished.

"… I see. Next."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are lots of things I dislike, and I don't really like anything. I don't really have a dream… it's an ambition. The revival of my clan… and to kill a certain man."

Naruto finally managed to pull himself from the memory, panting, his face embedded in the ground, feeling like it had gotten pounded into it.

These flashbacks were happening more frequently. This was the twelfth time now in a week. And this last one had been triggered just from the previous one. He hadn't said anything to Kakashi because he'd been afraid he wouldn't believe him. But now he had to tell someone, and his sensei was probably the best person.

Naruto tried to open his eyes, but something was keeping them shut, so he weakly reached up and wiped at the left one, feeling something hard and sticky crumbling under the motion. Dried blood.

He attempted to sit up, but found that his muscles had locked up and were barely allowing him to move at all. The pain in his head suddenly increased, going from bearable to excruciating agony. Liquid fire blazed through his veins like acid, and his vision swam with reds. He heard something crying out, and seconds later realized that it was his own voice screaming. Screaming in agony.

There was no sense of time. Only pain.

It could have been seconds, or minutes, or hours. He didn't know. He couldn't tell

But finally, the small eternity of pain was interrupted by a voice that cut through his cries. "Naruto!? Naruto!"

The last thing he saw was a swatch of silver in his blurry red vision as he finally succumbed to the grip of the cold darkness that rose and captured him in its claws, dragging him down into the horrors of his mind.

A/N:

God, I love Anko. She's so much fun. Easily one of my favorite characters, if you couldn't tell already.

I would like to give a huge thank you to Ziltoid for the glowing recommendations for both of my stories, you should totally go read The Honored Guest and Pareidolia if you haven't already. They're fantastically written, and explore alternate events and scenarios in a way that just sucks you in.

Please! Review! Let me know what you thought about this chapter! I read everything and do respond to the more complex comments and questions via PM.

Until next time!

/ensou out