I felt like I had been hit by a truck, drenched in gasoline and lit up like a Christmas tree. I was also lying on my back, it felt like a bed of nails. I struggled to get my eyes open but my eyelids were sticking together. One final push and a wave of blinding white compelled me to close my eyes again, but I didn't. Anko, in her regular outfit, was draped over my left arm and shoulder, sleeping peacefully but a worried expression still marred her features, on my right shoulder was a similarly sleeping Naruto. On a chair, right across from the bed, was the Third, with a content smile on his face.
"I see you've finally woken up. You've had all of us worried." he said with warm eyes.
I tried to speak but the dryness of my mouth and throat made it basically impossible, I struggled to sign for some water and the Third walked up to me and handed me a glass, I sipped some water with the help of the old man, my hands still trapped by the sleeping bodies next to me.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." I said in a groggy voice.
"No, no, it's completely fine."
"What happened?" the Third's eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes narrowed slightly, he held the expression for a moment before relaxing and sighing.
"The mission was a success... albeit with consequences. The Daimyo and the other clients are safe. Sadly, we lost three experienced ANBU and if it wasn't for you, possibly more. The two prisoners you sealed are having a talk with Ibiki at the moment... the suicide jutsu however, killed the leader as well as the Kusa nuke-nin that you were fighting and the one paralysed by Anko's snakes."
"I see..." I stated with a sad expression, loss of life, even if it was an enemy, was never a good thing "How long have I been out?"
"The trip back, which was just over a day and two days in the hospital. A normal shinobi wouldn't have survived this ordeal, even with your... tenant... I don't understand how you managed to get through this with no permanent damage..." the Third said with a thoughtful expression.
"I managed to push a lot of chakra into my body to brace it for the impact. I guess it worked..." I said, not entirely truthful, but I couldn't exactly tell him I went in a kind of sleeping hibernation named 'Curato' that protected my vitals until help could arrive...
"I sense that there is something you are not telling me... but it is not important. What is, is that you are back and you are expected to recover fully by the end of this month. I will be taking you out of duty until you enter the Academy. Do not think of this as punishment... the doctors said that your pain levels were so intense that it's a wonder your synapses haven't stopped to protect your brain... It's good to see that you're fine. Well... sadly... I have..." he paused for a moment and then I could see the hatred burning in his eyes "paperwork to do." he left the room with a few curses under his breath, I just chuckled and in the process, woke up Anko, she blinked a few times and then hugged me.
"Thank you." she whispered through a set of sniffles.
"Your my sensei and my Padawan, do you honestly think I would let you die that easily? I still have much to learn from you and you from me." I said with a smirk and she raised her head up, her face now in a shit eating grin, I recognized the look, she knew something that I didn't.
"What is it this time?" I said and sighed, her grin only grew wider.
"You've passed the first three trials. Congratulations!" she said and hugged me tighter. She was of course referring to the four trials required to graduate to a Jedi Knight.
"Well... I get the Trial of the Skill and the Trial of Flesh... I did defeat my opponents and I was in a lot of pain, but what about the Trial of Courage?" I asked, confused because I didn't show that much courage in the fight at all.
"That's easy! Your superiors, one of which is your sensei, were losing their fights and you didn't hesitate to jump in to help... I'm surprised you didn't think of that." she said, now as confused as I was.
"He he... I didn't really think about any of it during the fight to be honest, I just knew that I had to protect you guys so I... jumped in, kind of pathetic now that I think about it..."
"You talk too much." she dead panned and poked me in the forehead.
"Hey! That's not nice." I said in mock protest and she just ruffled my hair. I turned my head to where Naruto was and found him sitting up and watching the exchange with a foxy grin, he pointed his finger towards and Anko.
"I didn't know the snake lady had a soft side! Nii-chan, why didn't you tell me her insides were made of marshmallows and rainbows?" Anko growled sinisterly and turned an angry look towards my brother.
"Oh Naru-kun, stay there and I'll show you just how soft I can be." she said in a sweet voice that didn't match Anko's look or the way in which she was cracking her fists. One small 'yelp' later, Naruto was out the window with an angry snake summoner on his tail. I chuckled at their antics, it was good to be back.
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"I'm nervous, what if they don't like us? What if the teachers don't like us? What if we're really bad at being shinobi and we won't graduate?" my brother was reminding me of Omoi when he's exercising Murphy's Law.
"Settle down, Naru-kun. I'm sure it will be fine." I said precisely when we arrived at the Academy gates.
"Nii-chan, tell me again why we arrived just two minutes earlier than last call?" Naruto asked, I just chuckled and decided on a quick Gandalf quote.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." I said sagely, oh the things I could do if I had a pipe.
"We're not wizards! What the heck is a wizard anyway?" Naruto huffed.
"That's a question for another time, my young Padawan. We don't have much time left, we should head inside." I said and in my mind I could see myself rubbing my hands together and cackling maniacally. Naruto just pouted and muttered a small 'fine...'.
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Once inside, I could see a myriad of familiar faces – Sakura was arguing heatedly with Ino, Shikamaru was sleeping, Chouji was stuffing his face, Hinata was somewhere in the back sitting quietly, Kiba was trying to talk to a disinterested Shino and then there was Sasuke. Brooding, I expected that, it had been just over an year since he lost his whole family and he didn't exactly know why. I wanted to change the way he thinks but I was not the right person for the job – no, that was Naruto and he was the only one capable of that.
We took seats towards the front of the class, I realised that a shinobi should always protect his back and all, but we were among allies and showing them your back actually bred trust. Just as we settled in our new desks, a chipper Iruka walked in.
"Good morning, class. My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your new Sensei. How about some introductions, you two in the front." he said while pointing at us. I stood up and dredged my voice.
"My name is Uzumaki Menma." I said and motioned for Naruto to continue.
"And I'm his twin, Uzumaki Naruto." he said with a grin, Iruka returned it.
"Could you tell us some of your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future?"
"Yeah, sure, I like ramen and dislike people that don't respect their peers. My hobbies are training and gardening. My dream for the future is to become the best Hokage." he said with a thumbs up and a grin.
"I like reading, writing and peaceful scenery. I dislike people that prey on the weak. My hobbies are training and meditation. My dream for the future is" 'to establish a new Jedi Order...' "to change the current shinobi world and its ideals." I said in a softer voice and shouts of 'Yeah right!' and 'Boring.' could be heard from behind me, I didn't really mind.
"Quite the achievers, eh? Well... I'm happy to say that with my knowledge and training you two will be closer to your goals!" Iruka said with a smile and a thumbs up that reminded me a lot of Naruto's own. He motioned for us to sit down.
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It was now lunch time and Naruto and I were eating our home-made bento. We each made our own because self-sustenance was of great importance to a Jedi. Because of our training and balanced diets, we were now much taller than our peers, around a head or so taller, the only one that was close to us in height was Shikamaru. I guess that canon Naruto eating only ramen didn't help him at all. Minato was one of the tallest shinobi in the village and we had Uzumaki genes on top of that, there was no real reason for him to be the shortest person in his generation.
Talking about the devil, Shikamaru closed in on our table and sat down, followed by Chouji and Kiba.
"Can we sit here? All the other tables are occupied by troublesome people. I'm Shikamaru, these are Chouji and Kiba."
"Mh..Hello..mhmhm" Chouji's muffled voice through his chips.
"Yo!" and Kiba, waving his hand in salute;
"Of course you may sit here. I would like for us to be friends." I said while nodding towards both Chouji and Kiba in sequence, the former just smiled and offered us chips and the latter threw us a feral grin. Naruto and Kiba hit it off right away and were now happily chatting about how they each like to train and how strong they want to become and I was chatting with Shikamaru about books and promising a Shougi match sometime, in my previous life, I was a decent chess player and I was ranked in the 1700s by FIDE ratings.
"Have you ever heard of chess, Shikamaru?" I asked, genuinely curious if the game even existed here.
"Isn't that the western board game that looks a lot like Shougi but 8x8 and different starting positions?"
"That is correct, I am quite good at that game and we can play that if you want, I figure it'd be good practice in tactics." I said and he smiled back and nodded approvingly.
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Shikaku and Chouji were staring wide eyed at us, chins almost touching the ground.
"Even I didn't think about that move..." Shikamaru's father muttered under his breath and Chouji was muttering 'Shika... lost?'
Shikamaru was rubbing his chin thoughtfully and merely extended his right arm for a handshake.
"Good game. You said you were good at chess but I wasn't entirely truthful to you, I played this game a lot with my dad when Shougi became too troublesome. Although you're still a long ways to go at beating me at Shougi, you're really good at chess!" he said with a rare smile, I nodded and shook his hand.
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We were nearing the end of our Academy years and Naruto, Sasuke and I were currently battling it out for the first place. Naruto was slightly behind in the theoretical part but he had amazing stamina and physical shape, we also were limited in that we couldn't reveal jutsus and anything about the Force, so we couldn't show our true potential. I generally held first place, but Sasuke had become really competitive and he considered me and Naruto his rivals already and he was training a whole lot to match us. I had been using all the time that Naruto spent studying by studying as well - Fūinjutsu to be exact. I was already at intermediate level and I had a really easy time grasping most of the concepts, this was the level at which you were supposed to travel the world and discover new seals but I was inventing my own, even though it was really dangerous, I always tested them with Shadow Clones first. I was working on Cursed Seals and counter-seals specifically. I already had something prepared, but it wouldn't be easy.
"You summoned me, Master?" Anko asked in a way that didn't suit her at all, but we had already established our personae during training.
"Indeed I have. I believe you are ready to face your Trial of the Spirit." in order for the seal to work, she had to have faced her inner fears and defeat them.
"I understand. Even though it is a difficult step and dangerous, I don't want to cling to the past anymore... I will go prepare the pond for meditation." she left and went to set up the incense sticks and other materials. At this point she would have to enter a deep meditation and face her fears, if she succeeded, then she would be ready for my counter-seal, otherwise... she could die, or her mind be forever broken. It was of no use to think of such outcomes and I had complete faith in Anko, she had come a long way from the scared teenager she was when we had started her training. People were now really wondering about us three, we wore strange clothing, we had suspicious braids that started just underneath the right ear. Mine was red and looked rather strange and Anko's fit her really well for some reason, she also didn't have to grow hers since she already had lots of hair to work with. People were starting to think we were some sort of Mafiya or Yakuza or something with our Padawan braids and Jedi apparel. Even the Third had to call me aside and have a talk with me about it but I assured him it was nothing of the sort.
"I am ready, Master." Anko said and bowed slightly, we made our way to the pond and she sat in a Lotus position. After about twenty minutes of meditation, she began levitating slightly above the ground, which often happened when communing with the Force. This was a very personal experience and I could have no idea what she was going through and could not help her in any way. It was her war to fight.
Anko's expression changed multiple times throughout the ordeal and sweat now marred her features, her face's colour also changed from dark crimson to pale white. After about six hours, she gasped for breath and she fell towards the ground, I caught her smoothly on her way down and checked her pulse, slightly elevated but okay. Her eyes were focused so it was conceivable that she was not mentally broken. She took a few more laboured breaths and then her expression turned to one of sadness.
"It was... terrifying... I fought myself, but not really myself. She was so evil and dark... and so like that snake bastard... but every word she said... I knew deep inside it was true. At first I was so angry and I wanted to eliminate her, to reject her... I realised she was part of me and that I had to accept her, even if it saddens me." she said, now slightly calmer and more composed, I put her down and reached for her left shoulder with my right hand, I rested it gently on her and looked straight into her light brown eyes.
"You did well, Anko. I have a gift for you, now that you have succeeded in this trial. I have prepared a bed inside, you will have to lay down for this." she looked afraid for a second but then nodded and headed inside.
"What's this about?" she asked, now the fear in her voice returning.
"Turn over, so that your back is towards me, this will hurt, a lot, but it will be worth it. Okay?" she turned her eyes towards me and nodded.
"I trust you with my life." she said and did as she was told.
"I'll need some of your blood, so I will cut into the tip of your finger, don't be alarmed." I said and grabbed her finger and cut it lightly on the tip and collected the blood in my ink bottle, I mixed it up and did the same with my finger. The seal I had developed was loosely based on the Fūja Hōin ( Evil Sealing Method ) originally placed on Sasuke, but took into account his battle with Itachi and how he sealed it.
"Now I will release a part of your seal, prior to your Trial of the Spirit, at this point you would be corrupted by the fragment of Orochimaru's soul that is already embedded into this seal. I will merely release that and seal it and then destroy it, as I mentioned before, you will have to withstand a high amount of pain." she nodded slightly and I started drawing the necessary circular seals around the Curse Seal of Heaven. After finishing, I started doing my handseals, around thirty or so, and then placed my right hand on Anko's neck and my left hand formed a seal of release and screamed 'Kai!' while shooting a great amount of chakra into my hand, Anko screamed in pain and I started pulling my hand away and with it, a white slightly translucent snake. I moved quickly and placed it on a seal prepared in advance on a scroll and muttered 'Fūin', the snake sealed once again.
"Now I will have to move quick and remove that seal. This step will be less painful but it will take longer, your seal may be released to a level II." I said and Anko nodded one again, this time covered in the black tomoe of the cursed seal and sweating, all her muscles contracted in pain.
I began another seal on her and she screamed once again, I was now doing my handseals, around one hundred this time, as fast as I could to minimise the exposure to the seal, her skin now turned a purple colour, a bit lighter than her hair and her hair was getting longer and spikier, her shoulder bones were now trying to pierce the skin of her back and were protruding rather strangely through her clothes.
I finished the last seal and screamed 'Fūin' once again, the bones in her back receded, her skin turned normal, her hair shortened and softened and the tomoe flew into the Cursed Seal, then it turned blue and it dissipated into a disgusting black slime, I had already prepared towels and wiped it off, Anko was now sweating and gasping for air.
"Is it over?" she said and then suddenly relaxed, now snoring quietly and obviously deep asleep, two life-changing experiences in a single day... Master Yoda would be proud. I tucked her in and put the sealing equipment away. I muttered a quick 'Good Night' and went to tell Naruto how it went, he was ecstatic to know about it but made him promise to not interfere, I couldn't handle any distractions.
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The following morning I woke to the smell of a deliciously smelling dough being cooked in one way or another in the kitchen. I flew with the smell, basically floating above the floor and skipped and jumped my way towards the kitchen, eyes still closed.
"Hmmm... what smells so good, Naru-kun?" I asked, my eyes still closed in bliss.
"Dango." wait. That's not Naruto's voice. That's Anko. What's – I'm an idiot. I opened my eyes and looked from the floor up, what I saw took my breath away and was forever ingrained into my memory. Long, perfectly toned, bare legs that led into a beautiful waist covered in cotton, pale red panties on which the words 'Hebi-hime' were written in a flowing font, I looked further upwards and I could see a toned abdomen and a delicious looking belly-button and just above it – one of my T-shirts. A white one that had the Namikaze symbol on its front and that was much too tight for Anko's bosom, the slight V in the collar revealing way too much for my now pubescent mind and the hormones associated. I could already feel my face burning and the shit-eating grin spreading across it.
"Like what you see, Master? Would you like to train me, one-on-one?" she said in a sultry tone and I couldn't find any coherent thoughts – Anko – cleavage – toned abdomen – perfect waist – supple legs... Okay, I've seen these things before, I just have to calm down... breathe...
"Hey! Don't you try to meditate in front of me, am I really that unattractive?!" Anko said angrily.
"Quite the opposite, Anko-chan, I am simply afraid I wouldn't be able to restrain myself if I am... exposed to you any longer. Or should I say... you exposed to me?" I pointed towards her chest and she looked down and had the courtesy to look sheepish.
"It's not like that... I'm just more comfortable like this and I didn't have any of my shirts, so I borrowed one of yours... Here, have some dango, that will cheer you up!" she grinned and put a plate of dango in my hands, I just shook my head while looking at it and smiled.
"I'm not mad at you, Anko-chan, it's just that... never mind." I couldn't exactly tell her that I, a twelve year old, was physically and emotionally attracted to her. Not yet, at least. People always think that Jedi are these monks, and in a way it's true, but in earlier years of the Jedi Order and especially after Luke became Grand Master, relationships were not avoided as much, the man himself was married and had a kid. Luke even made some notes that the lethality of Form V of lightsaber combat is balanced by using the Force in compassionate ways and that compassion is a source of strength when it comes to the Light Side of the Force. Granted, "There is no emotion, there is peace." is often interpreted literally, but it refers to mostly Dark emotion, like hatred, fear and anger, if you are at peace with yourself and your Light emotions, things weren't so black and white, so literal.
"This isn't about the fact that you're not going to be my apprentice any more, is it?" Anko asked, eyebrows tilted like a puppy dog's and expression worried.
"No, nothing like that. We're still friends and we're still going to train together, both as shinobi and as Jedi. It's... something personal." I said, trying to dismiss the issue.
"It's related to me, isn't it?" she asked and walked towards me.
"Yeah. Although I'm not ready to tell you what it is just yet." I smiled at her, our height was now almost the same, she only had about 5 centimetres over me ( about two inches ). She nodded in understanding and we returned to eating our dango, joking and smiling all the same, soon enough, Naruto was down as well and hungrily ate most of the remaining dango, leaving behind a pouting and slightly annoyed Anko.
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I was now waiting at Training Ground 3, the place where I was supposed to meet none other than Kakashi. Arguably, the coolest Jounin in the entire series. I had brought a blank book and I was rewriting The Lord of the Rings, as accurately as I could. I wouldn't publish it under my own name, of course, but it's THE milestone in the high fantasy genre. I couldn't NOT write it when I had read it so many times. I had already written The Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, some Isaac Asimov works and a few others.
"Yo!" Kakashi's voice broke the sound of quill scribbling on paper and I looked up, waited for a second in order for the ink to dry, sealed up my writing utensils and the book and smiled.
"What's up, Inu-san?" I had already met Kakashi on several occasions, either at drop points or in passing while on my ANBU missions, I didn't know if he knew who I really was but I wouldn't really think something like that would get by Kakashi.
"Aegis-kun... that explains a lot, actually. I wasn't entirely sure since those robes you wear really conceal your scent, must be the seals on the material... Anyway, I'm told you are to be my new apprentice, so how about we get to know each other." he said with an eye smile.
"Yeah, sure. My name is Menma Uzumaki, but you already know that, I like reading, training and teaching students, I dislike adversity and aggression. My hobbies are meditating, writing fiction and... studying my spiritual self, if you will. My dream is to change the shinobi world." I grinned at him, I couldn't really be completely honest with the man, even if I trusted him a whole lot, he didn't know me all too well and didn't trust me, yet, either.
"I am Hatake Kakashi. I have no intentions of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... I have few hobbies." he said in a deadpan voice and I merely shrugged, he'll get there eventually.
"So... I would think you won't send me on D-ranks, since you know my real identity and I wouldn't think you'd trust me to go on a squad with you, so what are we doing, exactly?" I asked, eager to see what the man would teach me.
"Well... I was thinking of maybe teaching you some tracking and maybe some useful jutsu, what are your affinities?"
"I'm a Lightning and Water user, I've mastered water almost completely, but I still have some ways to go with my lightning jutsu, Anko said that I may have a Ranton ( Storm ) kekkei genkai, but we'll only find out if I master lightning, I know a few decent other jutsu, since I've also developed a minor affinity for Wind, but my Fire is extremely weak, I can't cast a single Fire jutsu." I explained and he was nodding all the way.
"Okay, what's the most advanced Lightning jutsu you know? Just so I can get an idea..." he asked and I was now a little pale and was laughing awkwardly. How will I explain that I know his Chidori... oh, I have an idea!
"Well... it's the Chidori." his single exposed eye widened a bit in surprise but relaxed right away.
"How?" he said in a flat tone.
"Well... I studied my father's scrolls and I was trying to develop the second stage of the Rasengan, and I tried combining it with my Lightning affinity... When I used it in combat, Anko told me that you had already invented the jutsu and you called it the Chidori." I explained and he seemed to believe my story, it was exactly the way he discovered Chidori.
"Although... I prefer not to use it too much, it takes a whole lot of precision to disable someone without killing him with a Chidori, though it is possible." I said and he seemed thoughtful for a moment then nodded to himself.
"This is not widely known, but I have developed the Chidori further and created a variation that is more powerful but also more concentrated, more precise. It is at the same time more and less lethal than the Chidori." The Raikiri ( Lightning Cutter ), the epitome of Lightning manipulation, even better than Force Lightning, which was devastating in its own right.
"It would be an honour to carry the responsibility of handling such knowledge, Sensei." I bowed in respect, this was the Kakashi I had admired in the series.
"Okay then, if you master it until the Genin test I will be giving to your brother and his team mates, I will have a surprise waiting for you." he eye smiled and began teaching me the theory behind his signature jutsu.