Anko and Jiraiya got to experience for themselves what Naruto did for most of his life. The route they took to the lakes and waterfalls was close to the hospital through the woods last time rather than the village itself. It was a look typically given to strangers who stood out or were public nuisances, except the boy was born and raised in the Leaf Village. They noticed him smiling or waving from time to time in an attempt to relieve the underlying tension, but his gestures were met with more disgust.

"Hey." Anko put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to force yourself to smile."

He slid his own hand over hers before returning it to his side. "I'm not. Just...trying to test the waters. Not gonna fix what I made worse in a day; should've expected that." He chuckled. "Besides, I hate them. This is fun."

"You've got a really twisted sense of humor, kid," Jiraiya said.

"Should've seen me make it rain over one of those gas mask wearing douchebags from the Rain Village."

Anko shot him a look, parted her lips, blinked, and held on to her sides laughing. "You are so awful!"

"What… Eww!" Jiraiya glanced at him with judging eyes. "How could you do that?"

"He tried sneaking up on me when I was taking a piss. Made me go through the effort of beating him up and trying to interrogate him. Really, he was asking for it."

"That's like committing a war crime: you don't do them in fear of your enemy doing the same. Next time you encounter a Rain ninja, don't be surprised if they give you the same treatment."

Anko scoffed. "Name a single war where there wasn't war crimes."

"Plenty ninjas have been prosecuted for them."

"Have they? Have they really?" She inclined her head towards him.

"Well, I hope so." Jiraiya took a deep breath and sighed. "There's too much injustice and hatred in this world."

Naruto hummed. "People are ignorant and short-sighted. Scared of things we don't understand and hypocritical about things we think we do. Doubt that will ever change. The pain of our mistakes doesn't always teach a lesson." He blinked as they both looked at him. "What?" He frowned. "What?"

"That was poetic and insightful of you," Jiraiya answered.

"A bit cheesy but yeah." Anko nudged him closer to her. "You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

Blushing, he raised a hand to rub the back of his head. "I… The past two months or so of my life have been pretty crazy, actually. Feels like years has passed. Started rocky but I think it's turning out alright."

"Just remember you die in the end."

"That's a bit grim, don't you think?" Jiraiya shot her a look.

She shrugged as she pinched Naruto's whiskered cheek. "Gotta enjoy it while it lasts. Is what it is. If it ends in nothing, good and bad are washed out." She smiled at the understanding look in his eyes. "I'd be more terrified of an afterlife really. As if we and everything will be peaceful just because we're dead."

"When you make it sound like that, the prospect of oblivion does become appealing."

The boy laughed. "We're alive now. Isn't that all that really matters?" He hummed as Anko ruffled his hair.

"Life is complicated. Values, trauma, and experiences vary between everyone. To some people, life is precious and everything; some view life like a chore they're stuck in. Then there are people who think life is nothing but meaningless suffering. I like to think most people are unsure, aware of their own limitations as human beings, but they're often too sure their view of life is the correct one. Might seem innocent until you come across someone in unflinching belief life is twisted and must be changed, no matter what the cost is. But I suppose that's me being too sure my unsure view of life is the right one." Jiraiya took a deep breath and sighed.

"And here I thought you were just a perverted old man," Naruto said.

He shot him a snide look. "I'm not that old, and I am The Pervert." He pointed a thumb at himself and smirked. "Try as you might, you will never reach the levels of my perversity!"

Anko held the boy even closer, narrowed eyes on the Sannin. "I won't let you or Orochimaru corrupt him."

He flinched and deflated. "That is ice cold, Anko!" He glanced away. "I'm nothing like him."

"...I know."

Naruto looked from her to him. "What did happen with Orochimaru? Was he always a creepy asshole snake guy?"

"Believe it or not, he used to be adorable." Jiraiya felt blood rush to his cheeks. "I mistook him for a girl, an exotic pale-skinned and odd-eyed girl, when we first met."

"Eww!" The other two said in unison, imagining them together as they were now naked.

"I said he was cute! If I had my old team photo, I'd show you what I meant. Not my fault he went too far with the androgynous snake thing."

"Eh." Anko looked out into the distance. "He had this pretty boy handsome thing going for him when he begun his experiments, but he just got worse as it went on."

Naruto shook his head being petted by a hand. "I refuse to believe that guy looked handsome." He glanced up to his temporary sensei. "What were his experiments for?" A part of him wondered if that was a mistake when her neutral expression soured.

"A better question would be what weren't they for: genetic experiments to replicate kekkai genkai, ninja tools, poisons, Sealing Jutsu, Forbidden Jutsu, Cursed Seal Jutsu, Genjutsu, and Ninjutsu." Anko's expression grew even more dour. "And I helped him with all of it."

"Orochimaru's one of those people who thinks life itself must be changed. He wants to be immortal, see if he can do everything, and learn everything. We wouldn't know just how far he fell if it weren't for you."

She scoffed. "How noble of me to after I helped. Just took him growing bored of me to hero up. Aren't I the fucking best?" She blushed as her temporary student locked his hand with the one she had on his head. "Sorry… I lost it for a second."

"It happens."

They returned to their previous training area with no further words. Much was said all three needed to ponder. Besides, there was training one needed and was aching for. Yesterday's success with the Vacuum Blade Jutsu left him excited to finish the Gale Palm Jutsu to learn more after.

Nearly half a decade ago, a figure in a black cloak waled up to the gates of the Leaf Village. She didn't bother keeping the hood up. There was no point in trying to deceive anyone. Better they realize it was her sooner.

"Welcome to the Hidden...Leaf…" The chunin with the bandage strip over his nose drifted off.

Her brown eyes glanced at him. It'd been years, and her hair was down. "Can I help you?" She didn't have to look at his partner to realize he was drawing a ninja tool. "Of course Izumo would notice." Clucking her tongue, she tilted her head. "Still lazing through life, eh Kotetsu?"

"...You look like hell, Anko." He stepped forward, taking hold of one of the sword handles on his back. "And we're taking you to Lord Third."

"Good. I was worried I'd have to be stopped by some other dumbass duo." She slowly lifted her arms and held her palms flat.

The two flanked her but never once turned away. As they went through the village. Passing ninja and anbu joined in the escort. For the civilians, it was somewhat startling. Why one person would warrant such a large guard was only known to jonin, members of her generation, the anbu, and the Hokage. It dispersed when they reached the Hokage Residence, leaving everyone to wonder what would happen next.

She sat across from Sarutobi alone in a room. On the table in front of them were research notes, locations, and even sketches of underground base layouts. Chin held up by her palm, elbow set on the armrest of her chair, she stared at the nearest wall.

"Anko," he called out softly.

Her eyes glanced at him before returning to the staring. "If you need to check me for genjutsu or hand me over to Ibiki, go ahead. You won't find any, and I'm sure Scarface would love to get back at me for that time during the Chunin Exams."

"I know you're not: Orochimaru would never attempt espionage as straightforward as this."

"Then what are you waiting for?" She turned to him. "Kill me and get it over with. You know what I've done."

He puffed his pipe. "Since when did you care for the consequences of your actions?" His eyes narrowed. "He grew bored of you."

"...Do you want to rub it in before, old man? Not exactly your style."

"Neither is you moping." Rising from his seat, he walked around the table to her.

She closed her eyes. "Finally." She stiffened when he embraced her, just as he did when Orochimaru and her were still family to him. Gritting her teeth, the lingering anger she felt emerged. "Oh fuck off!"

"It's okay, Anko."

"I…" She began shivering. After years, his warmth was still the same. Her arms wrapped around him. "I loved him so much!"

Sarutobi understood her feelings well. "So did I. We all did."

"I thought I was different: I thought I was the only one he'd never toss away. But that just made me boring to him. Couldn't even try to kill him afterward; I'm pathetic." She let the tears fall from her eyes when the old man only held her closer.

The information she provided was vital, leading to the destruction of multiple labs. Anbu and jonin reported Orochimaru leaving one after a brief encounter. She was held for a brief time, reinstated as a chunin, and quickly made jonin with the skills she gained as a rogue ninja. While she wasn't completely accepted by her old friends, she was tolerated at the very least. The home she came back to was always empty.

Naruto was going at it his training with the Gale Palm for hours. While the Vacuum Blade got him to start feeling for ratios in his chakra, the Gale Palm was a more complex technique: he really could supercharge it or just have it flick kunai away with the right amount of chakra. It'd take him far more time to get that down. The basic gust to hasten ninja tools and blast to push people back was in his reach though. Anko, whenever she wasn't watching him, was daydreaming about the past when she looked to the sky.

"I think I've got it down." He turned to his sensei, laying back on the stones by the lake. With growing excitement, he bounced on the balls of his feet. "Can I learn another jutsu?!"

She lifted her upper body. "Easy there, tiger. You already learned two new jutsu in the past two days. Don't you think you should practice with them more after learning their basics? Knowing a lot of jutsu doesn't make you a good shinobi."

"You're starting to sound like Kakashi." He stopped jumping and pouted.

"Well, he was right: the amount of jutsu I know that I actually use you can count on one hand." She stood up, walked over, and patted him on the head. "Kakashi is even worse than I am with that 'Lightning Blade' of his." She scoffed. "Man literally knows well over a hundred jutsu, and I've only ever seen him use that." There was the Sharingan space-time 'Fuck-Off-And-Die' jutsu, but she made a promise to keep it a secret.

"What's the point of learning how to spit fire and shoot lightning if you're never going to use them?"

Anko laughed. "Like I said the other day, jutsu are situational. The simpler ones are better because you can find a use for them in almost every situation. And not all of us have chakra reserves to last us literal days." She shot him an almost jealous look. "When I was your age, I'd be dead from chakra exhaustion if I tried the same thing. You've been using the same jutsu for several hours straight."

"Is it that a big deal?" Naruto asked, tone the epitome of innocence.

"Yes!" She ruffled his hair. "I swear, you have the chakra of a Tailed...Beast."

"She's not wrong."

"I do?" He blinked in realization he spoke aloud.

Flinching, she lifted a hand to her chin. "Never seen one myself, so I wouldn't really know, but your reserves are probably on the level of Old Man Hokage, if not above."

"You'd probably be a match for the One-Tailed Runt. Don't flatter yourself though: he's the weakest, hence the name."

"Just...what are tailed beasts?"

"No one really knows. They're like walking natural disasters. Word is they reform after they're killed, but the people that can pull it off can be counted on one hand. Besides, we just seal...them away."

Naruto looked down. "I know."

"This is all you though." Anko leaned to put herself at eye-level with him. "None of that red stuff from the tower on you." She frowned. "Do you always have to keep that down?"

"It comes out when I'm angry. Been trying to be better so that stops happening too. On the bright side, not being angry has made me realize a lot of things and made it easier."

Petting him again, she smiled. "You're a strong kid, especially for your age."

"Can I learn fire jutsu now?" He asked with a blush.

"Like I said, you're better off focusing on what you have now. It takes a lot of training to learn an element you have no affinity for compared to one you do."

"Wait a minute." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I didn't train to learn how to use wind."

Anko chuckled. "You did. When I instructed you how to use the Vacuum Blade Jutsu, you were learning how to mold your chakra into wind. Some people recommend learning how to cut leaves with your chakra, but how lame is that?" She stepped back and smirked. "Yours truly learned wind the same way she taught you: actually trying a wind jutsu until coming out with both, saving time and dignity."

"It's because of my breath, right?"

"Yup! Breath is wind. When you were infusing it with chakra, you were learning how to make it wind with every attempt. The reason why a lot of yours didn't work was because you also didn't get the chakra right either. I showed you how to do the Gale Palm after because it needed you to know how to make your chakra wind."

"Then how do I make it fire?" He deflated at her no-nonsense look. "...Fine, I'll practice just the two jutsu."

She smiled. "Aww, you're so cute when you're disappointed. Maybe I'll show you the Summoning Jutsu if you've improved."

"Is it snakes?" His eye twitched.

"...Yes."

"Then you can keep it."

It was her turn to become dejected. "I swear they're cute and cuddly when you get used to them. Just imagine the muffled screams and cries of the enemies you feed to the big ones." She closed her eyes and held up her arms, dancing her hands from left to right. "Magnificent."

"You know you're actually pretty scary." Naruto grinned. "But I really like people like you." He laughed at her blushing face. "I thought… I didn't back in Wave with Zabuza, but he turned out to be a pretty cool guy." He frowned. "Being a shinobi, treating a person who was almost his son to him like nothing, and acting like a monster really fucked him up."

"I wasn't there, but you should watch out for that." Anko looked away. "There are some people who seem pleasant, cool, and reasonable yet are really monsters on the inside too. Sometimes it's not just an act; people do cruel things every day for no real reason at all."

"I know. Do you have any other jutsu you're willing to teach me?"

She raised a hand to her chin again, tilted her head in thought, and stared at the boy. "You're not planning on killing that Hyuga boy for that Hyuga girl, are you?"

"If I were going to kill Neji, it would be for myself." Naruto nearly scoffed.

"So you are planning on killing him?"

"No… I mean, I don't think I should but…" He frowned. "Are you asking for my sake or for his?"

"Just asking; you are trying to be 'enlightened' now, right?"

Raising a hand to rub the back of his head, he hummed. "Yeah. The thing is I can talk a lot of good shit, but I'm not sure if I can keep it together, especially when it comes to him." His hand returned to his side. "I really do hate him. There is nothing I find redeeming about him as a person, and I think things would be a lot better if he died." He laughed. "Exactly what he thinks of me."

"Well, I don't think revenge for whatever happened would be good for you right now, so I am going to show you one last jutsu." Anko smiled and patted him on the head. "I trust you, and I don't want you to doubt yourself by refusing you." She giggled as his face turned a bright red. "Just… try not to tell the old man I taught you this." She walked a few steps back and pulled out a shuriken.

"Why?"

"It's…" She shrugged, threw it, and went through eight hand seals. The single shuriken turned into a stream, littering the trees in front of them until the bark could barely be seen. A second after, they poofed into smoke leaving only their marks and the original behind. "Kind of fucking overkill, and he invented it."

Naruto started jumping. "Holy shit! I want that!" He looked to her with gleeful eyes. "Can I do that with the Vacuum Blade?! Can I do that with Gale Palm?!"

"The Vacuum Blade works by infusing a ninja tool with wind chakra. The Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu works almost exactly like the Shadow Clone Jutsu with more hand signs, so it'll only duplicate the shuriken itself. But you can boost their speed with Gale Palm." She laughed nervously at his sheer enthusiasm.

"What are the hand signs?! Ox, dog, dragon, rat?!"

"Ox, dog, dragon, rat, dog, boar, snake, and tiger."

He nodded, repeated the sequence to himself several times along with the signs, and stopped when he was certain he got it. "Alright!" Drawing a shuriken, he felt himself shiver. "It works exactly like the Shadow Clone Jutsu, right?!"

"Uh-huh, just focus on the shuriken instead of yourself."

"I'm going to go all out!"

"Wait, wh–" She jumped back as a sea of black metal crashed into the forest, marking every tree and the ground in the spaces between them. "Holy shit!"

Naruto hopped in joy after her as the cloned shuriken popped out of existence. "Thank you so much, Anko-sensei!"

"I…" She patted his head and stared at the carnage left behind imagining people in their path. "Uh, no problem!" She looked down at his ecstatic, pink-faced self. "Just promise Anko-sensei you'll try to use a lot less chakra next time or Old Man Hokage's really going to kill her."

"Is it a forbidden jutsu?" He looked up to her face, trying to ignore her breasts for once.

"No, he's just picky about who learns it since he views it as his responsibility."

He scoffed. "Name something he doesn't."

"I know, right?" Laughing, she set the boy down.

Jiraiya, stirred by the commotion that occurred several seconds ago, ran from his peeping spot and slowly lost speed at the sight of the ruined forest in front of them. "...What the hell?"

"Please don't tell the old man," Anko pleaded. "It was hard to earn his trust."

"Oh, you taught the chakra national reserve the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu…" He drifted off.

"Yeeeeaaaaaah."

He twitched. "What were you thinking?!"

"I don't get what the big deal is," Naruto chimed in.

"Look at the forest!" He held out an arm towards it. "It's something out of the landscape during the Third Shinobi World War!"

"Awesome!"

"Noooo!"

Anko held the boy close. "Please don't take him: he's cute and cuddly."

"Don't forget dangerous!" A pleased Naruto smirked.

"I noticed!" Jiraiya shook his head. "There is a limit to what you should teach your students."

"Well, I'm not your student now, am I?"

"Don't give him any ideas." She picked him up and nuzzled his pink cheek. "You want to stay with me, don't you?" She giggled at his fast nod.

The Sannin smirked, held out a hand, and created a swirling ball of pure visible chakra in it. "Want to learn this?"

"Don't you think that's a li–"

"Little too powerful?" His tone grew facetious. "Like the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

She rolled her eyes. "I was going to say obvious," She whispered to herself.

"How long will it take me do that?" Naruto asked, staring at the ball of chakra in wonder.

Jiraiya blinked. "Uh, how good's your chakra control?"

"I'm going to stay with Anko."

"That's probably for the best." He dispelled the powerful jutsu.

The victorious sensei licked the boy's whiskered cheek, taunting the failure and rewarding the other's faithfulness. "You're so sweet!" Her eyes narrowed with mischief. "I'll be sure to make you into a man."

"That's my godson," the loser whispered to himself. It was a bizarre mix of anger, jealousy, pride, worry, and fondness. He looked to the woman next to him. "And that's basically my adopted niece."

Naruto, as much as he enjoyed it, slipped out of her grasp. "I have to get back to training! No way in hell am I going to let Sasuke or Sakura leave me behind!"

The three went back to their usual places. Jiraiya was thankful the only crashing wave of cloned shuriken didn't disturb the ladies next door. Anko was relishing in her victory over the Sannin. Naruto did nothing but repeat the Gale Palm over and over again, seeking mastery. All felt oddly comforted by the brief argument.

Kakashi's chosen training spot was not that far away from the village. It was just a hazardous, rocky place with a lot of steep ridges. The entire group climbed up with one arm. Sakura had the least physical conditioning, so she was the slowest, albeit the most determined. Its elevation was supposed to refine their breathing and increase their endurance. Both students were told not to stray far because of the terrain and in fear of Orochimaru.

Sasuke had his hands together in a meditating position, his pointer fingers inches from each other. The hair on his arms stood at attention but not out of fear or cold. Sakura had one hand in the ground and the other going through half-seals. Their sensei sat across from them, looking up occasionally from his book to make eye-contact with Sakura.

Yugao and Tenzo sat on parallel pillars above them as lookouts. The wind was a bit chilly and frequent, but they were used to such conditions. Both were reassigned on Kakashi's request to guard their team. It was a chance to see an old friend, and a chance to use it as material to tease him about later. They noticed he was slower and less refined. Granted, he was still above most jonin and a candidate for Hokage.

Kakashi's eye widened. "Oh wow."

"Did I do it?" Sakura asked, smile beaming.

"...No, something really good came up in my book." He eye-smiled as she twitched. "Keep going. I know you'll get it eventually and likely soon. These kind of things take time. Until then, look on the bright side: you're improving your stamina by just breathing here."

She resumed her one-handed seals with a pout. "I still want to know what your connection to the Fourth Hokage is."

"There is no connection." He flipped a page.

"You are a really, really bad liar."

"Oh, I know."

She held up both her hands. "Oh come…" She drifted off, realizing the material of the ground they were sitting on caked her left perfectly.

Kakashi looked to it and closed his book. "Guess who's learning a new jutsu," he said, sing-song tone.

"Me," Sakura deadpanned.

"If she?"

"If she what?" She blinked and twitched. "If she stops asking questions Kakashi-sensei doesn't want to answer?"

He stood up. "Bingo!" Putting his book away, he squinted at his female student. "Is she?" His tone was playfully threatening but meant no ill will.

"...She is." She stood up and glanced at Sasuke, who opened his eyes to glance back.

"It's okay, Sakura." He concentrated on the space between his fingers. "This is something I need to learn if I'm going to beat Gaara. There's a chance I'll die if I lose, and a chance you might too, so don't bother waiting for me."

Nodding, she focused back on their sensei. "Let's do this."

Kakashi led her away from their little perimeter. "I didn't teach you genjutsu with the intention of you being support. A simple distraction is all it takes to lose your life or take your enemy's. But what else can you do if your opponent doesn't fall for it?" His eye grew mischievous as he stopped. "Taijutsu is just fine, sure. But if they breath a large ball of fire at you?"

"Run away?" She stopped and tilted her head.

"Yes." He fell into the ground beneath his feet, stopping just short of his neck. "It's nice, cool, and safe down here. I can see why moles do it."

She giggled. "Okay, I can see how that's useful in that situation. Not sure about others." She watched the rest of her sensei disappear. "Uh… Where did y–" A hand rose from the ground and pulled her underneath, leaving her stuck while the man popped out.

"Headhunter Jutsu. A basic D rank Earth Style jutsu that's not really a jutsu and more of a technique you can do with the Hidden Mole Jutsu, which is C rank."

"That makes no sense, and I can't move!"

He shot her a look. "It makes perfect sense: the Headhunter Jutsu is the Hidden Mole Jutsu with the effect of trapping your opponent than letting you travel underground. Hidden Mole is more complex where Headhunter is simple, hence the ranking. And you can move perfectly fine if you use the Hidden Mole Jutsu."

"You didn't teach me how!" She glared at him.

"Didn't I?"

"No…" She froze, closed her eyes, and channeled her chakra into the earth around her. As if emerging from quicksand, she lifted her arms out of the softened rock and pushed herself out on the hard. "Woah!" She dusted herself off before tapping a foot against the rock that was previously like sand. "That is actually really cool."

"Nothing flashy, but it's pretty handy."

"That didn't need any hand seals either!"

Kakashi nodded. "Like I said, it's pretty handy. I only really use earth and lightning because I'm very familiar with jutsu in those elements. The jutsu I'm going to teach Sasuke is one I can perform without any hand seals, but he'll need them."

"So that's what you meant when you said knowing a lot of jutsu doesn't make a good shinobi." Sakura raised a hand to her chin. "It's spreading yourself too thin and learning jutsu you likely won't even need. While simple, there are tons of situations where moving through the earth would be useful."

"That's why I use it. And just because you know it doesn't mean you've mastered it. Like with your genjutsu, you need to refine your usage until you expend as little chakra as possible."

"You really are a good teacher, Kakashi-sensei." She blushed and grimaced. "I only hope Naruto is actually learning something and not fooling around with that crazy woman."

He looked down. "Anko was Orochimaru's top student and right hand."

"Is he safe?!" Sakura turned to the village.

"There is probably no one else in this entire world that wants to kill Orochimaru as much as she does. Naruto will be fine." He chuckled. "Knowing her, she'll probably want to try and one-up everyone else by teaching him something absolutely absurd for a genin or a chunin."

"That sounds a lot like something Naruto would be too for."

"Oh yeah. I doubt it's spitting fire and shooting lightning, but it will be something just as flashy yet more dangerous. Considering the research she was involved in, I don't think we should expect anything less."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What kind of research?"

"The question you should be asking is what kind of research didn't she involve herself in." Kakashi shook his head. "But that was a long time ago. Anko's changed. If you thought Naruto was a delinquent, you should've been around back in my academy days, much less the time she was Orochimaru's student." He hummed. "I never saw anyone go from malicious to sweet as much as she did when in his presence."

"That...sounds a lot like Naruto when someone compliments him."

"Both share a lot in common. It's why I was wary of letting her watch him: people who share trauma and issues can help one another except they can also make each other worse through validated self-pity. I'm not saying that's how either are, but that is a possibility."

"And she let him touch her boobs," Sakura added, pink-cheeked.

He laughed and narrowed his eye at nothing. "You have no idea of the seething regret I feel every time I think about that."

Their concerns were valid, and their intentions were pure.

AN: I was in a bit of a rut for this one. It wasn't the usual writer's block of just being unable to think of words but more of scenes. Once those fell into place, I picked up the slack. There's a lot of openness to work with here since Naruto isn't trying to Summoning Jutsu for a month and Sakura is with Sasuke while they're down a week.

I'm giving a lot of focus to Anko because she's one of the more especially wasted characters in canon. Orochimaru's top student yet the ability of a lesser jonin. That felt so wrong. Her entrance and the panel of Naruto's wide-eye admiration is burned into my memory. And her conversation with the Hokage after trying to snake suicide Orochimaru had layers.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.