A/N: And now we see the results of the twins' training…and we confirm that Anko is indeed in the harem. In addition, we'll be seeing GSD again. Not much to say other than my disappointment that nobody has voted on my poll…how sad. In any case, do read and review would you kindly?
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[Streets of Konoha near the Ninja Academy Training Grounds, four months later…]
She loved dango…she loved the texture…she loved the shape…she loved the variety in flavor…she even loved the various methods in which she could savor the taste of each and every little ball. Now don't get her wrong…Anko liked other foods, even mochi (being the big brother of the dango ball), it's just that dango conquered her heart first—especially the ones that corresponded with her name. As she walked down the streets of Konoha, enjoying the green tea-flavored goodness of today's special, she decided to take advantage of her break to investigate the status of a certain blond Jinchuuriki…she hadn't had the chance to come on out in a while, given that she was torturing an Iwa spy half to death. The good thing about it was that she won that bet with Ibiki earlier over who would break the poor rock-headed dumbass first—the amount of dango she had purchased normally would've put a dent in her paycheck…a shame however, that said Iwa spy would not be enjoying the proceeds of her victory, nor would he be tasting the sweet taste of victory she was currently enjoying.
In any case, she was walking down to the Ninja Academy to go check up on Naruto. Last time they spoke, Kurenai had said that he had gotten stronger since she last saw him. She didn't want to think about it—when she was there in Naruto's rescue that night before he left on that training trip of his, she counted all the wounds on his body that had healed…several broken ribs, a slashed throat, and a formerly severed arm among others. Needless to say, after that event, she found that she enjoyed torturing her victims even more when said victims have harmed that boy. She didn't know why, but something about him seemed to make her curse mark react in such a manner as to make her want to be closer to him…now that he has that apparently demonic arm, the feeling had intensified to the point that it was like it wanted her to knock him down, tear off every inch of his clothes, and then ravage him on the spot regardless if they were in public or not.
As she continued to eat each ball of her green tea dango very slowly, she found herself at her intended destination—supposedly Kurenai was standing at this very spot doing her early scouting mission for potential candidates for students. Anko watched as the site was getting prepared—the taijutsu final would involve fighting the teachers, but until then, all matches were student vs. student; that much she knew from her time in the Ninja Academy. She watched as Iruka was preparing the dummies for the current competition before committing to sparring again—target practice.
She simply watched as many of the students were hurling shuriken left and right, trying to get their aim right. Anko laughed to herself in bitter amusement—many of those kids were going to die, especially the fan-girls, considering that they put more time on wearing makeup than they did on studying! She watched as the Uchiha twins took to the firing range, and prepared their kunai and shuriken for throwing—Sasuke was first, throwing each knife and shuriken with a lot of power behind them, practically destroying the dummy as the thrown blades over-penetrated the dummy. Tsukiko on the other hand, simply focused more on speed, and hit the next dummy with her throwing blades to ensure her target did not escape. Neither twin had scored any less than nine out of ten hits with a shuriken, and ten with kunai. Next up was Hyuuga Hinata—her scores were eight hits out of ten with both throwing implements, and then all the way up to Inuzuka Kiba. Anko never really liked Kiba so much—the little perv got what he deserved as far as she was concerned…the boy was really a close-up fighter, so it was no surprise that he had scored five out of ten hits with shuriken and seven out of ten with kunai. The most pathetic score however, went to Haruno Sakura—that screaming banshee was only there because she wanted to seduce Sasuke, because she could store a lot of theoretical information in that hideously large forehead of hers, and because her useless Civilian Councilwoman of a mother was fucking the headmaster who also happened to be a Naruto-hater. No, she never liked the Haruno family one bit—okay, that wasn't true because there were a few exceptions; Sayuri, her friend and appointed supplier of dango, was an example of the 'black sheep' in the family. But aside from those exceptions, she didn't like the Haruno family by and large.
As she watched that spoiled little Haruno girl walk out of the arena with her pathetic score of four hits with shuriken and three with kunai, Anko watched as Naruto walked on down to the arena. It was embarrassing how she felt her nether-regions starting to heat up upon seeing him and his pectorals…it also broke her heart what she heard from Uchiha Mikoto—but then again, she still wanted to look into the fog of those cataracts…to see what mysteries where behind those mist-covered blue eyes. She continued to watch as the table was placed in front of Naruto. His response was to poke his finger into his mouth, and then raise it above his head to point it in all directions and then nod in satisfaction…then he wiped his finger on his vest and then started throwing a shuriken, eliciting a heavy 'thunk' from the impact before he started picking up and throwing each and every implement at the dummy—earning him a ten out of ten on both weapons rather quickly.
It was then that Anko understood why he did what he did with his finger! He was calculating wind speed and direction so that when he threw his shuriken and kunai, they would fly faster and stronger! It also seemed…hot to her when he did that…like a bondage scene where she would…her thoughts were interrupted when she realized exactly what she was thinking. No way! What crossed her mind was nothing short of statutory rape—she'd get thrown in prison for such an act! But then again, her mind had reminded her of the fact that as soon as Naruto graduates from the academy, he's fair game…but for now, she'll have to be patient and settle for that pornographic image in her head…in addition to watching the fun as students kicked the crap out of each other in the spars; and she had plenty of dango in that paper bag of hers to enjoy the show…
…
[Ninja Academy Training Grounds, an hour and a half later…]
Iruka sighed—while he was proud of several of his students, he couldn't say the same for the majority. A good deal of the civilian boys had gotten better…some were even meeting the standard for a ninja graduate, but others were more concerned with trying to win the hearts of the top-five girls in the class. This was the case with the majority of the girls—a lot of them were too busy fawning over Sasuke to care about their studies, although some starting to join a fan-club for Naruto with Ino being the apparent president. The only good thing about the Naruto fan-club was that the apparent requirement for membership was that the girl had to want to get stronger…which was in fact an improvement for those girls—not by much, but at least it made them study more. Sakura on the other hand, was not happy that the number of Sasuke fan-girls were dwindling—and the fact that Sasuke was a part of the apparent fan-club for Naruto didn't help matters any when said fan-girls joined the Naruto fan-club just to get to Sasuke. Still, what he thought of those die-hard Sasuke-loyalists was simple: it was their loss.
He had watched as many of the students beat each other to a pulp—and the majority of the boys had finally broken out of their stalemates to compete against the clan children and Naruto. Unfortunately, they never stood a chance…and then came the girls' matches—the founding members of the Naruto fan-club had proven to be every bit as competent as the boys when they beat down the competition. Nobody was able to stand up to the ninja children—then came the matches of ninja vs. ninja: As he was about to announce the first fighters, the twins appeared before Iruka.
"We're sorry for the interruption Iruka-sensei…" began Sasuke.
"…but we have a bit of a special request for the first match of the finals…" finished Tsukiko.
Now this had his attention…what could the twins possibly want? "I'm listening."
Sasuke simply grinned—he was waiting for this day! Perhaps today was the day that he would get even for that week of free ramen he had to pay for the dobe…although treating the idiot actually made him feel good then, it still hurt his pride and wallet. "Our mother has been teaching us in the art of the sword…"
Tsukiko was excited at the prospects of seeing where she stood when faced against Naruto. Her mother had been training them quite hard in the art of kenjutsu, and she wanted to actually test herself…maybe even get a shot at that fine ass of Naruto's. "…and we want to test our skills against the only other swordsman in class…"
It was here that both twins finished at the same time. "…and so with your express permission we'd like to borrow some shinai from the academy in order to challenge Uzumaki Naruto to a sword duel."
Iruka had considered his options with their request…and saw no problems with it. "Very well then…if the three of you will just wait here…"
Five minutes had passed, and Iruka finally returned with three shinai. "Okay then, the two of you can fight Naruto in a one-on-one duel each. The rules are simple—one mortal strike ends the match…so any unblocked blow to the stomach, neck, and head will result in a loss. Also, if you are forced out of the ring, that also loses you the match. You may use chakra, but you may not use any jutsu…the use of any jutsu at any point in the match will disqualify you automatically, understood?"
The three fighters nodded…the first up to fight was Sasuke. Even in the second that both him and Naruto had arrived at the stands, the grin had never left his face—he now had a chance to get even, and the power to fight his opponent on a level playing field…Mikoto had increased the weights in their training regimen, and so now they were even stronger. It won't be long now...all he has to do is avenge Itachi's treachery against the family, and then there will no longer be any need for the deception! Sasuke stood facing down his opponent—sword raised in the air prepped and ready to strike down on his opponent. The die-hard Sasuke fan-girls were cheering…hoping that their idol would finally beat down this blind and hunky eyesore and show him his place! They were hoping that if they couldn't have Sasuke, then they'd have his opponent as a slave at the very least…and a very hot slave at that. Naruto simply stood in a ready stance with his sword behind him—as usual, he was using only one hand as his left arm was right in front of him. Sasuke could only ponder as to why his opponent only fought one-handed…granted, he was powerful enough with only one hand as evidenced by how badly he was beaten the first time he dueled with swords against Naruto, but it still begged the question as to why he wouldn't use both hands.
He simply shrugged off his question, and switched from the high jodan no kamae his mother taught him to properly use, to the low gedan no kamae…and then charged his opponent silently hoping his lack of a battle-cry would improve his odds. The second he swung that sword from the hip, he watched as Naruto switched from the normal grip to an underhanded grip before getting to one knee and intercepting his opponent's shinai with his and using his left arm to reinforce the block before pushing the blade away and using that momentum to swing his shinai upwards. Sasuke immediately intercepted that swing and immediately countered with a thrust before Naruto spun away from the attack and mischievously tapped the blade of his shinai at his opponent's left butt-cheek. Oh he was going to pay now! As much as the girly side of him wanted to feel that spank again, Sasuke's main emotion at the moment was rage—and that showed when he started swinging his shinai rather quickly and getting closer and closer. Naruto soon realized his mistake as many of the blows were too quick for him to block, and so it forced him on the defensive…he needed to end this quickly! With one well-timed power-strike, he knocked away Sasuke's shinai, spun around, and locked the edge of his shinai against Sasuke's throat…
Before he could struggle, Sasuke heard those words from Naruto. "Fast and deadly…reminds me of Uchiha Tsukiko."
Sasuke's eyes widened as his muscles tensed in shock…he could tell him apart from his sister now? How could this be? But then again, he could only grin…this was but the first step in which Tsukiko would be honest with the boy she came to love…yes, love: the emotion that seemed to be shared with Satsuki regarding the same boy, the girl that was disguised as her at the very moment.
"Maybe we can treat you to ramen some time after this?"
This time, Naruto whispered in Sasuke's ear. "I'm looking forward to it one day…but we've still got to hold up your disguise; so…" at this point, Naruto's voice had increased enough for everyone to hear. "Do you surrender?" Sasuke feigned a look of defeat in his eyes. "Yes, I surrender."
As Naruto released his opponent from the grab he held, he then had to deal with the screaming banshees that made up the die-hard Sasuke fan-girls as they booed him from the stands. Accusations of cheating, homosexuality, and sexual harassment were being fired at him—a shame that none of them knew the truth of Uchiha Sasuke's gender, nor did they know of his true identity. They then watched with a bit of pride that at least an Uchiha would put this baka in place…even if it was Uchiha Tsukiko that would do the deed. "I hope you're ready Naruto-kun," she said, her voice starting to take on a slight nasal tone to it, as she took on the chudan no kamae stance, "because unlike brother-dearest, I never make the same mistake twice."
Upon hearing this, even the girls started having a nosebleed—this was the sexiest voice they'd ever heard Tsukiko make. Naruto simply stood at the ready with his sword behind him in one arm. Oh he was ready for this. "You want a piece of me? Then come and get me Uchiha, I'm just dying to dance with you."
The amused look on Tsukiko's face was clear. Not only did he realize the difference between the twins, but she also knew what he meant by 'dance'. "What kind of gentleman invites a lady to a dance and then makes her come to him?"
Her opponent's response was simple—he grinned widely as he answered, "The kind that is very patient and would like for the lady to make the first move."
"Fine then…if you insist!"
Tsukiko began the fight by switching to judan no kamae, and charging her opponent intent on swinging down the shinai upon Naruto's shoulder. Naruto smirked and swung upward…but to his surprise, Tsukiko quickly changed the direction of her swing and brought the shinai down upon his, and the two bamboo blades met—and Naruto found himself exerting more force to hold the swing before Tsukiko softened her grip and forcing Naruto to clumsily follow through with his movement. Once she saw the opportunity, she made an attempt to strike him in the torso for what would be a killing blow…victory was hers until Naruto changed the grip of his shinai at the last moment and drove the tip down to the ground in order to stop the strike at the last moment, exerting all the force in his arm to hold it there before he moved in closer to drive Tsukiko back with an elbow. "Impressive," he said, tension building up from the excitement, "besides Meilan, you're about the only person I can fight seriously with."
"If you really were serious about fighting, you'd have used both hands…and I know you're capable of using that left hand of yours—strange and dangerous-looking as it is, you can still use it properly."
"I'm only holding back because it simply makes the duels more interesting…"
"Well let's see how interesting you find this!" Before anybody could react, Tsukiko charged Naruto at point-blank with the intent of knocking that shinai out of his hand and going for the kill…until she saw Naruto disappear, and then realizing that he was about to end this duel with a downward strike aimed at her head which she managed to block. Unfortunately for Tsukiko, that single block had sealed her fate: as the strike that was aimed for her head was rather light, and then she felt Naruto spin around and strike her from the front and across the stomach, ending the duel with his back to her. Once Naruto put down the sword, and Tsukiko did the same, she watched as he turned to face her wishing he could see the look of satisfaction on her face. Before long, Sasuke also walked on up to Naruto to stand next to his sister…and then both twins bowed from their hips at their adversary.
"We thank you for the duel…" began Sasuke.
"…and now we know that we've still a long ways to go…" continued Tsukiko.
"…we look forward to sparring with you again at another time."
"But until then…"
"…make sure you're ready for the day we beat you." They both finished at the same time…satisfied with what they had to say before they went up the stands. Naruto simply grinned…it was a good fight and he enjoyed it. As he walked up the stands with the Uchiha twins, he could not help but have chills of excitement at the prospect of fighting both twins at once…
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[Nearby the Ninja Academy Training Grounds…]
Anko had seen it! Naruto was fighting well against two Uchiha in a row! Although that spanking he performed on Sasuke seemed to be a dirty and perverted trick, she also found it to be kinky…wishing she were in that girl's place getting spanked instead. Yes, she knew the secret of the twins—and Yamanaka Inoichi only had himself to blame for letting it slip…and he knew that snippet of information because, aside from the flower shop and the Torture and Interrogation department, his job was to erase the memories of anyone who found out that both of the Uchiha twins were girls. Good thing he never found out that Anko was around the corner, and listening when he spoke of them.
She understood why the secret was kept—the days before she became an ANBU member were still fresh in her mind. It was only thanks to Old Man Hokage that she had been saved from rape attempts. Naruto on the other hand was not as lucky…as there were a good number of rape attempts made at him, some of which were successful (she had stepped in many times to save him, and there were few times when she was too late) and many of which were perpetrated by men. She took more pleasure from torturing those offenders than any other…as those men found themselves less so by the time she was done with them. She was also there to comfort him whenever his friend Tenten was not around to be there for him whenever it happened…good thing for them too, because she was certain that girl would not settle for anything less than personally castrating every man responsible for Naruto's misery. Anko was on the other hand, surprised that he found himself comfortable with physical contact with other people—perhaps that Baihe girl was responsible for healing that part of him.
All other thoughts aside, she found herself satisfied with her free pornography of Naruto's body, and her bag of dango empty as she had eaten them all. All Anko had to do was wait for the gaki to graduate, and then she was free to work her feminine wiles on him, in order to show him how to love a woman properly…and all the while, show him how sex should be done properly. But in the meantime, she could take her anger at some people of the village out on the next unfortunate prisoner that found his way into the T&I department…and if that prisoner happened to be a woman, then all the better in order to vent out her sexual frustration!
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[Near the Ninja Academy, almost an hour after class…]
Naruto and Meilan had just gotten out of class when they had been stopped briefly. "Naruto-kun! Meilan-chan!" called Tenten, running towards them, "How are the two of you?"
"We're fine, thank-you Tenten," said Meilan, pulling Naruto closer to her, "how are you this fine day?"
"Oh fine…my dad wanted to meet Naruto-kun though…said he wanted to take a look at his weapons."
"My weapons?"
"He did say something along those lines. Said since he wants to meet you, he may as well inspect your weapons for you as well…perhaps even sharpen them a bit."
Naruto seemed to consider that. He never did meet Tenten's dad…although given the fact that several of the parents he met so far were nicer to him did not lift enough of his wariness around a lot of other people. He only managed to start trusting other people again after training under GSD-sensei, and then it only got better when Meilan came into his life. But then again, where was the harm in meeting her father? He had more to gain than to lose by going…at least he'll learn if her father was one of those stupid animals that call themselves human beings. "I'll come," he said, "after all I may never know when I'll be using my weapons again…maybe you can get yourself something you'll like too Meilan."
Her eyes had brightened up upon hearing that. Meilan had in fact been looking for some fighting gloves for a while now…although she could've sworn that there was an ulterior motive behind it on Tenten's part, she knew she also wanted some cool weapons in order to be ready to fight. Maybe while she's at it, she'll get a wedding ring prepared for herself…
Little did they know that as they were leaving the Academy Grounds, glares were being directed at Tenten…a pair of very jealous and very Uchiha glares peering out from around the corner, and on top of each other; oh, it'll be a cold day in the thirteen basement floors of Hell before they would be outdone by the Weapons-Mistress of Konoha!
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[Elsewhere…]
The sun was setting…and the grassy plain was splattered with blood violently expelled from their bodies and from the dismembered stumps found on various ninja. Some of the unfortunate victims were burnt away until there was not even a drop of fat on their charred bones…others were frozen while their unfortunate colleagues were impaled by ice spikes behind them. There were no survivors…and each ninja wore a hitae-ate with a musical note on it, denoting that they were all ninja from Otogakure no Sato. Scratch that, there was only one survivor, and he was trembling in fear before the blind old man that had just decapitated another of his colleagues with a katana. The body fell to the ground on its knees as the arterial spray rose like a fountain in front of the old man before he used his free hand to gently push the body back.
The old man flicked the blood off the blade of his katana, and then turned his attention to the last remaining Oto ninja. "I must apologize for the mess," he began, as he started walking towards him, drawing his short sword, "but you refused to give me the information I required. Tell me what I want to know, and I may let you live depending on how useful your information is."
The tremors wracking the ninja's body were such that it would not be out of place if he had urinated on himself. He was not even holding his kunai with a steady hand. "B-b-b-bullshit! Y-y-you're j-j-just g-g-g-gonna k-k-k-kill m-me a-a-a-as s-s-s-s-soon as I tell y-y-y-you anything!"
The blind swordsman's response was to sigh, as he quickly closed the distance and cut the ninja's kunai-holding hand off before pointing the edge of the blade against his neck as soon as he was on his knees from the pain. "I will kill you now if you don't tell me anything. But if you tell me what I want to know, then you'll at least have a chance for survival. Now tell me, what is your master up to?"
"You may as well kill him now GSD," said a voice hiding in the tree-line, "those ninja from Oto are die-hard loyalists to their leader. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to take his own life just to spite you." The Oto-nin turned to see just who it was that spoke…walking in an iron-grey shinobi shozoku and a red vest over it and on a pair of geta was an old man with a forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' on it. Damn it! This was Jiraiya of the Sannin! This just was not his day today…and then his eyes had widened in both fear and shock when he had heard the name that was apparently in reference to the old man before him. Oh he'd heard stories in the shadows about this man—they say he was such a great swordsman that he even taught the Rikudo Sennin himself!
"Jiraiya, it has been a long time," began GSD, not taking sword or his attention off the dying Oto-nin, "although I do have to ask; what are you doing here?"
"After hearing rumors that you were looking for something, I decided to track you down. I thought perhaps we were after the same thing."
"If you speak of those ten rogue ninja that are chasing after the bijuu, then I can tell you here and now that this is a matter I have no interest in at the moment. My concern is that of a greedy coward doing something very evil and very foolish…and I aim to stop him before he continues what he's doing."
Jiraiya had a look of surprise on his face, before it had melted into confidence. "And what if I tell you that I have information for you to help in your investigation?"
"Is that so?"
The Oto-nin saw that the two old men were distracted, and began to reach for the pull-string to the explosive tags lining his robes. If he was going down, he may as well take these two old farts with him! No sooner than he touched the ring of the pull-string, his last view was of the world falling down, and then he saw his own body, and Old-Man GSD's sword having moved across his shoulders. "I'm listening…"
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A/N: I wonder what Higurashi Hiten wants to speak to Naruto about? And just who is GSD looking for, that he would be willing to trade information with Jiraiya? All this and more in the next chapter of "Naruto: The Dark Knight". Also, I'm getting disappointed that nobody is adding anything to the poll on my account…your input would help greatly in what decisions I make for the future chapters people, so please don't be afraid to vote.
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Slayer Techniques:
Guard—Blademaster
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Songs Used:
"Afternoon of Konoha" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"—Anko's walk
"Confrontation" by Junichi Nakatsuru from "Soul Calibur III"—Naruto vs. the Uchiha Twins
"Infernal Offering" by Masaharu Iwata from "Soul Calibur IV"—GSD's battle
"Battle Stations" by Masashi Hamauzu from "Musashiden II: Blademaster"—Naruto meets Higurashi Hiten
Vocabulary/Culture Notes:
Dango—a small ball-shaped dumpling related to the mochi, often served with several of them skewered with a sharp stick in much the same way as a shish kebab. This is usually a sweet dish.
Anko's name—Anko's name is actually a play on two kinds of dango; 'anko' is the sweet Chinese red bean (known as 'adzuki' in Japanese), while 'mitarashi' is a kind of sweet syrup made with soy sauce.
Jodan no kamae—a kendo stance where the sword is positioned above the wielder's head
Gedan no kamae—a kendo stance where the sword is held low and the tip behind the wielder
Chudan no kamae—a kendo stance where the sword is held in front in a 45-degree angle
Shinobi shozoku—the stereotypical ninja outfit…may or may not have a hood
Priest—a class in Dungeon Fighter Online…at the moment, there is only a male priest, but there is a possibility for a female counterpart later. The priest is a large man that specializes in using the cross, rosary, scythe, totem, and giant axe as well as healing spells. His subclasses are Crusader (does a lot of tanking, buffing, supporting, and healing), Monk (uses a technique called "Will Driver" to create a ward that buffs him up while using a lot of boxing-style moves such as ducking and throwing), Exorcist (uses a lot of talismans, and has the most weapon masteries of the priest subclasses), and the Avenger (the newest class, specializes particularly in using the scythe, and can transform into a demon…he can also trade HP for MP). Senju Tsunade would fit under the Monk subclass, while Higurashi Hiten is an Exorcist.