I apologize for not having updated in so long. The last couple years have been very chaotic and about a year ago my laptop died and I lost all the work I had done on both my current stories as well as a few ideas I had been playing around with. I only recently was able to afford a new laptop but I had no inspiration. But after playing some games, one of which was the inspiration for this story, I decided to come back and force my mind to work. I now have a rough outline for the next few chapters, hopefully it stands up to what I previously wrote. Now, on with the adventure.
Oh, and a warning for this chapter. There are descriptions of various deaths and cursing, so if you're squeamish, you are warned. Also, this chapter is unbeta'd, so if you notice any mistakes I missed, let me know.
As always, I don't own anything but what I create.
Anko and Naruto silently made their way through the trees, now able to follow the faint tracks left behind by the bandits as they knew which way they had headed thanks to Naruto's gifts. He kept his mind open to everything around them, not wanting to be caught by surprise while Anko led the way.
After about an hour, they slowed as they approached a natural clearing, but found it empty of the bandits. Anko moved forward to where the remains of a fire-pit could be seen while Naruto checked the area for any clues or traps left behind.
"Gaki, the embers are all dead, so they have a significant lead on us," Anko said softly as she held her hand close to the dead coals. "Probably from early this morning."
"Nothing of value left behind. They must be traveling light, so their base can't be too far away," Naruto spoke up as he walked closer to his sensei.
Anko grinned at her student and then a glint came to her eyes. She stood abruptly and grabbed Naruto by his jacket and pulling him closer. "Alright, brat, I've got a challenge for you. Impress me and I'll teach you a jutsu," she told him with a grin.
Naruto wasn't surprised by her move, but she still moved faster than he could react. He rolled his eyes and gave her a cocky grin back. "What's the challenge then, Anko-sensei?"
Anko gave him a little push and let him straighten up before motioning to the clearing. "As you said, they are probably not too far away. So, my challenge is that you alone handle them," she told him, her grin widening at his shocked expression. "You've come far, and I'm sure a few pathetic bandits won't stand a chance against you, but it's always good to find out. So, I'll shadow you, but from here on out, you do this alone. If I have to step in to save your sorry ass, you lose and I'll force you to take nothing but D ranked missions for the next three months."
Naruto paled at that threat of failure. Doing D ranked missions was a hell he had no intention of visiting. But he could also feel her confidence in him, in his skills, and he regained his composure quickly. He took a minute to straighten his clothes and his expression grew firm. "Well then, it's a good thing I won't lose," he told her, his eyes shining with a faint blue light before fading.
"That's the spirit, brat! Now, get to it," Anko told him as she turned and sauntered away, an evil grin still on her face.
Naruto sighed and shook his head at the antics of the woman and turned his focus towards the mission. He took a quick inventory of his supplies, which were pathetic considering how Anko hadn't let him gather anything beyond what he had on him or what he could find since.
"Alright, I have a full quiver of arrows, my bow, a basic medical kit, some flint and steel, and some kunai. Hmm, I also have some ninja wire as well stored in my quiver," Naruto thought to himself, wincing at how little he had to work with. But he shrugged it off and focused on the here and now. "If I can get the drop on the bandits, then my limited supplies won't be too much of an issue...so that means I'll have to get close and wait for dark. Shouldn't be too much of an issue there...but I still have no idea how many bandits there are. The original mission said it was a medium sized group, so that could be up to a couple dozen men."
With a slight glance back at a bored looking Anko, Naruto found the trail of the bandits and stealthily started to follow the tracks, nearly fading into the shadows even to Anko's trained eyes. He could feel her start to follow him from a distance, but she was obviously serious about letting him handle this alone as she trailed behind him significantly.
Pausing only occasionally to get his bearings, Naruto steadily followed the trail the bandits made, only slowing a few hours later as he started to feel other minds at the very edge of his senses. He crept closer, keeping to the shadows and the trees, and then stopped a fair distance away. He looked around and found a particularly tall and sturdy tree, and without hesitation, he rapidly climbed it using the Tree Sticking technique. Though doing so brought back a memory of Inoichi teaching it to him to help him with his control issues, which only reminded him of his falling out with Ino. Something that still hurt.
Naruto shook off the memories and focused on the present as he quickly reached a height where he could see out over the other trees. He settled down on a branch and leaned back into the leaves as he was able to overlook the camp the bandits had led him to. Naruto frowned slightly as he saw a decent sized camp that had obviously been there for a while, judging from how well protected it was. The clearing wasn't natural based on the many tree stumps dotting the area. The trees had been cut down and used to build walls surrounding the camp.
The camp was designed in a basic square shape, with a clear space of at least twenty feet on all sides between the walls and the trees. There was a gap on each of the four sides where there was a guard at all times, a single bandit at each opening leaning against a spear as they watched with a bored air to them. Within the walls of the camp there were several tents set up around the various stumps that remained, though some stumps had been removed to make way for a fire pit and a place to train. One tent was more elaborate and larger than the others, marking someone special which was probably the bandit leader.
One thing that caught Naruto's eye was that there were still some bushes within the camp, something he could use to stay out of sight once he made it inside. But that was for later, right now he needed to see how many people were in the camp so he could plan.
Naruto closed his eyes and stretched out his mind towards the camp. After only a few short seconds he had a pretty clear picture and he quickly counted thirteen adult minds and one child, the kidnapped girl. He swallowed to wet his suddenly dry throat as he realized that this was probably not all the bandits either, with some of them probably out hunting or doing bandit things. Sure enough, some of the thoughts he picked up from the camp confirmed that there was a hunting party due back by nightfall. So, he made himself as comfortable as he could as he settled down to wait. The last thing he wanted was to be caught between two separate forces all alone.
A few hours later, as the sky started to darken as the sun went down, Naruto picked up some new minds approaching the camp. He sighed as he counted them, and the total tally of bandits went up to an even twenty men. For a moment he cursed his sensei in his mind for putting all these deaths on his hands and the pain he was about to put himself through with feeling all those deaths. But he pushed that aside as this was the path he had chosen, to sacrifice his honor and well-being to protect others.
Naruto waited until darkness had truly set in before making his way back down the tree and around to the side of the camp he had mentally marked earlier that seemed the best way in. It had the most cover and with the changing of the guards around the camp, he had a pretty simple way in. He had noticed that all the guards seemed to be used to nothing happening, and only kept a watch because they were forced to, not because they were actually worried about someone finding them. That overconfidence was about to be their undoing.
As he got into position near the edge of the trees, Naruto silently drew an arrow and knocked it to his bowstring. Peeking around the tree he was behind, he waited until there was no one paying any attention to the area with the guard and then drew back his arrow and sighted down the shaft as he aimed for the inattentive guard's head. Once he could feel the time was right, Naruto let the arrow fly.
The bandit on guard yawned as he absently scanned his area of the camp borders, scratching his chin as he leaned against his spear. No one had ever found anything, and he had made the mistake of accidentally tripping the boss man the previous week, so he'd been stuck on guard duty since, bored out of his mind while his comrades got to relax, eat, and drink to their hearts content. He'd be lucky if there was any food left for him after his shift was over. A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention but it was too late for him as an arrow slammed into his forehead and brain. He was dead before his body hit the ground.
Naruto grimaced as he used his limited telekinesis to slowly lower the guard's body to the ground and then roll it down the slight decline towards a bush he had noticed before. The bush would help hide the guard's body from anyone doing a cursory glance of the area, but it wouldn't hold up to someone actively looking for the now dead bandit. He waited a few heartbeats for any sign of someone noticing what happened, but when there was no call of alarm, he dashed across the open ground and into the camp.
Keeping low, Naruto made his way from shadow to shadow, using all his sneaking experiences to stay out of sight. A few times he had to duck around a tent suddenly or hide in the bushes he had noticed before as some bandits wandered the area, deep into their cups as they celebrated yet another successful raid against the nearby village as well as the hunting team having bagged several large deer.
Eventually he came across the sleeping tent that most of the bandits used, his telepathy letting him sense that there were several men inside that were sleeping away. He found a slight gap in the bottom of the tent where it wasn't fastened securely to the ground, and he raised it up enough to slip inside. In the light from the campfire, he could make out a half dozen men sleeping on cots or on the ground on mats, and he took a deep breath before starting his grisly work.
He moved silently towards the closest sleeping bandit and pulled out a kunai that he had already sharpened as much as possible while he had waited for nightfall. This man had the smell of alcohol on his breath as he lay on a mat on the ground, dead to the world around him. Taking no chances, Naruto firmly slapped his hand over the man's nose and mouth before sliding his kunai deep into his throat and then across and out, cutting deeply through skin and muscle and severing not only his airway but the major veins and arteries as well. A large spurt of blood shot up into the air before the man rapidly bled out, his eyes widening in shock as he awoke only to pass out and die from rapid blood loss.
Naruto had to pause to keep from retching at what he had just done, which also allowed him to listen for any signs of attention both physically and mentally, giving him enough time to recover only to repeat his actions five more times. As the last man in the sleeping tent died to his blade, Naruto swallowed the bile that had threatened to escape his control and looked around, constantly on edge. That had been the easy part of his job, now he had to deal with the rest of the bandits.
"Seven down, thirteen left to go," he said to himself mentally, keeping his objective in mind. He then grimaced as he looked down at himself and saw that he had traces of blood all over his clothes. "What a mess. Well, nothing for it now. I think it'll be best if I can get the girl clear of danger before finishing up with the rest of the bandits, but I'll have to move fast. Maybe I can cause a distraction..."
With that idea now in mind, Naruto glanced around again, and his gaze fell on a nearby unlit lantern, its fuel supply nearly full. He grabbed it and gently opened it up and let the flammable liquid inside flow out onto the empty mats and then poured the rest on the fabric of the tent before grabbing his flint and steel and quickly creating a spark. A few strikes later and the tent caught on fire, the flames quickly spreading as Naruto made his way back out the way he came into the tent just as cries of alarm sprung up as the other bandits caught sight of the flames.
"What the hell?" a man called out in surprise. "Fire! Fire! Someone grab some fucking water!"
Naruto escaped the immediate area as the bandits quickly started trying to control the already massive blaze, shock and worry for the already dead men inside drawing their attention better than Naruto could have hoped. He smoothly made his way around and towards the bandit leader's tent, where he had sensed the mind of the little girl earlier. Just as he got there, the tent opened up to reveal a very large and burly man, covered in scars and tattoos.
"What the hell is going on?" he bellowed as he moved to leave his tent only to spot a small boy dashing towards him. "The fuck-!"
Naruto didn't waste any time and leaped forward faster than the man could react to, and he buried his kunai under the man's chin, piercing his brain from below. He gently lowered the now dead man and removed his blade from his body. He peaked through the flaps of the tent and saw the little girl cowering in the corner. He gave her a gentle smile and sheathed his blade before slowly approaching her.
"Shh, it's OK, I'm here to rescue you," he told her softly, the noise of the bandits scrambling to fight the raging fire nearly drowning out his voice. "Your grandpa told me the bad men had taken you and asked me to come get you."
The little girl tearfully looked up at him, though he could both see and feel hope blossom within her. "Grandpa sent you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yup, so how about it? Want to get out of here and go back home?" he asked her with a friendly grin, though the effect was marred slightly from the blood on his clothes and a little on his face. He mentally chided himself for not cleaning up a little before coming inside, but he was pressed for time.
But the girl either didn't notice the blood or ignored it as she nodded rapidly and quickly moved towards her savior. Naruto picked the little girl up, mentally estimating her age as being around five or six and held her tight to his body.
"OK, I'm going to get you to a safe spot, so hold on tight. Also, close your eyes, OK? I'll let you know when to open them," he told her softly and waited until she had screwed her eyes shut, burying her head into his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly.
With the girl secure in his arms, Naruto dashed out the tent and made his way through the chaos of the camp until he was back outside and in the trees. He jumped high into a tree and landed on a very solid branch that was far out of sight of the bandits' camp.
"OK, princess, I need you to be brave now. I'm going to leave you here for just a little bit while I go back and make sure those bad men won't be able to hurt anyone else, alright?" Naruto said soothingly, instantly feeling the girl tense up in fright at the thought of being left alone. He rubbed her back soothingly and gently pried her arms from around his neck and looked down at her. "Hey, it's OK. I'll be back before you know it, I promise."
The little girl sniffled and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "You promise?"
Naruto smiled reassuringly at her and nodded his head. He then had an idea and pulled out his little froggie wallet. "Tell you what, this is my most treasured possession, I call him gama-chan. Why don't you hold onto him for me, and I'll come back for both of you in a little bit."
After a bit of thinking, the girl nodded and slowly lessened her grip on him and he guided her hands, one of which was holding his wallet, so that she was now clinging to the trunk of the tree they were hiding in. He swiftly took out his ninja wire and secured her to the tree so that she wouldn't fall out on accident.
"That's a brave girl," he told her with a proud smile, causing her to duck her head shyly. "Alright, princess, I'll be right back."
He ruffled her hair before dropping out of the tree, ignoring her gasp of shock. Landing lightly on his feet, Naruto dashed back towards the camp, but this time he didn't go inside. Instead, he moved around the camp and into the tree he had been hiding in earlier in the day as it had a clear view of most of the camp.
Once up in the tree, Naruto drew his bow and an arrow from his quiver and watched as the bandits hurried to try and put out the fire, noticing as he did that the fire had since spread to the other tents, including the leader's tent. He saw one of the bandits moving away from the blaze, an empty bucket in his hands as he headed to one of their many water barrels to refill the bucket. Naruto took a deep breath as he drew back the arrow, and as he exhaled, he let the arrow fly, guiding it slightly with his mind as the arrow flew through the air until it impacted with the man's head, dropping him to the ground.
He repeated this action several more times, killing another five men before he dropped to the ground and dashed to another tree, climbing it easily.
"Thirteen down, seven to go," Naruto said mentally as he sighted another man that was distracted by the fire before killing him with an arrow to the head as well. "Six left now."
As his latest kill dropped to the ground, his head skewered by an arrow, the other bandits were just starting to notice that their numbers had been shrinking rapidly and the latest body caused the remaining six men to look around in terror, the brightness of the flames making it impossible for them to see beyond the borders of the camp.
"What the fuck? We're under attack!" one of the bandits shouted as he drew a worn katana.
"Where are they attacking from? Who's attacking us? What the fuck is going on?" another bandit shouted, panicking as he looked around in terror.
"Quick! Get to cover!" the first one shouted to the others, who were slightly slower on the uptake. However, as the man moved to try and find safety, an arrow punched through his chest, the impact knocking him off balance. "What...no...not like...this," he said weakly as he reached for the shaft with a trembling hand before falling backwards as he collapsed, his heart having been destroyed by the arrow.
The remaining men decided there was safety in numbers as they huddled together, their backs to each other as the desperately searched for their attackers. One man had grabbed the lid of a nearby crate as some form of makeshift shield, but he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut as an arrow took him in the head from behind. The other men all whirled to face that direction. Another arrow came from another direction, dropping another bandit, which caused two of the bandits to panic and try to run for safety.
"Fuck this! I'm out of here!" one of them shouted in terror.
"Wait for me, Kogi!" another one shouted as he dropped his sword and sprinted after the other man. Two arrows came from the darkness and slammed into their chests, each arrow dropping one man each.
The last man whimpered as he spun around, desperately trying to see the enemy that had been picking the other men off with ease. "Please! Mercy! I beg you!" he shouted in terror, his legs trembling and liquid flowing down his leg. "I don't want to die!"
"Did you show mercy to the villagers that begged you to spare them?" a voice said from the darkness around him. He whirled around, trying to see where death would strike from. "Why should I show you mercy, bandit?"
"I never hurt nobody! I swear! I didn't want to hurt anyone, but they made me join them!" the man cried out in desperation. "All I did was rough up some villagers, I swear! Please...I just want to go home," the man said, tears rolling down his cheeks as he could feel death approaching him at any moment. "They would have killed me if I didn't join them, so I did what I could to not hurt people while still doing what they told me to."
Naruto watched from the shadows as the man broke down in terror, and pity pushed away the coldness that had settled in his mind and heart as he destroyed the remaining bandits. He sighed and slowly relaxed his bow, putting the arrow back into his quiver.
"Very well," he said, using a trick that Hawk had taught him to throw his voice, as well as change its pitch, using chakra to do so. "But you won't be going home, not yet."
"What? What do you mean?" the man asked as hope started to fill him.
"You and the other bandits hurt the village nearby, and while they have been punished, so must you," Naruto told him, moving to another location just to be safe. "If you want my mercy, you must turn yourself in to them. You have one day to do so."
"But they'll kill me!" the man shouted in desperation.
"If what you say is true, they may show you mercy. Or I can kill you now. Make your choice," Naruto growled, his voice filling the air as the flames started to slowly die down as they consumed what fuel they could.
"OK! I swear, I'll turn myself in, just don't kill me, please!" the man started sobbing as he fell to his knees and bowing until his head touched the dirt.
"Remember, you have until sunset. If you haven't turned yourself in by then, I'll find you," Naruto warned the terrified man before making his way out of the now destroyed camp.
After waiting a bit to calm himself as well as making sure the man wasn't just waiting for him to lower his guard to try and make a final attack of desperation, Naruto made his way back to the tree he had hidden the girl in. Leaping up through the branches, he found her right where he had left her, still clutching both the tree and his gama-chan wallet.
"I told you I'd be right back, princess," he told her with a smile, forcing himself to act cheerfully. "Thanks for looking after gama-chan for me."
The girl gasped in surprise as he appeared before smiling shyly at him. "Why are you calling me 'princess'? I'm not a princess," she said shyly, handing him back his wallet and hiding behind her hair.
Naruto let out a fake gasp, smirking slightly. "Of course you're a princess," he told her with a wink. "You think I would come out here all alone to rescue anyone other than a princess? Well I did, so that must mean you're a princess, right?"
The girl blushed at his words, and he could see a smile on her face at the thought of being considered a princess. He gently removed the wires holding her to the tree and wrapped her arms around his neck again. "Now that we have that settled, I need you to hold on tight, alright princess? It's time for you to go home."
Once she had tightened her grip on him, and he held her securely to his body, Naruto leapt away from the bandit camp and towards where he figured the village to be. He occasionally stopped to both make sure she was alright as well as get his bearings. After a few hours, with dawn quickly approaching, Naruto made it to the village, which was indeed the same one that had hired them. He could feel Anko still holding back, and he figured she wanted him to finish the mission before she would make an appearance.
As he approached the village, Naruto could see several guards on watch and he lowered the girl to the ground, setting her on her feet. "Almost home, princess," he told her with a friendly smile on his face. He offered her his hand, which she eagerly took, before walking the rest of the way openly.
"Halt, who goes there?" one of the guards called out as he got closer.
"I'm a shinobi of Konoha, returning a kidnapped girl that I came across on my mission," Naruto called back as he stopped a reasonable distance away, not wanting to startle the guards as the rising sun started to illuminate the area.
"Kimiko? KIMIKO!" an older man called out as he rushed past the guards and towards the little girl.
"Papa!" the now named girl, Kimiko, replied as she let go of Naruto's hand and ran towards the man, who scooped her up in his arms and held her close, tears falling from his eyes as he held his daughter.
"Oh, my little girl, I was so scared when your grandfather came back without you, telling us that the bandits had taken you," the man breathed out as he pulled away slightly to check her for any injuries. Finding none, he turned to Naruto with gratitude shining in his expression. "Shinobi-san, I can't thank you enough for returning my daughter to me. Nothing I can do will repay you for what you have done for me and my family."
"It was my duty and my pleasure to return her safely," Naruto said with a respectful bow. "You hired us to take care of the bandits, and I made sure to protect your daughter as well when we discovered she had been taken while on our way here."
"Forgive me, I am Nobushi Sanada, the commander of the village militia," Sanada said as he awkwardly bowed to Naruto, still holding his daughter tightly as if she might disappear if he let her go. "My father said there were two of you who saved him in the forest."
"Ah, yeah," Naruto replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "My sensei should be along shortly. She's...taking care of something."
"She left you alone to return my daughter? Are the bandits still an issue?" Sanada asked cautiously.
"No, she's just a crazy bit-" Naruto stopped himself before continuing. "I mean, she had some other things to take care of while I handled the bandits. You won't have to worry about them anymore. In fact, there was one survivor who should be showing up sometime today to turn himself in. He said he was with them under protest and didn't hurt anyone, so I figured he could earn some good will by throwing himself on your mercy and show you the remains of the camp."
Sanada scoffed in disbelief. "And you trust this honor-less bandit to keep true to his word?"
"Considering that I told him that I'd track him down and kill him if he didn't, and he was beyond terrified at the time...yeah," Naruto replied with a shrug. "I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I have a feeling that he was telling the truth."
Sanada growled, but eventually nodded. "If what you say is true, and he did indeed refrain from hurting my village himself, then mercy might be given to him. But for now, might I offer you my home to clean up in and rest for the day, Shinobi-san?"
Naruto gave him a grin and eagerly accepted, wanting nothing more at the moment than to get cleaned up and scrub all the blood from his clothes and body. He could feel some of it in his hair and wanted to rid himself of the reminders of the night.
XxXxXxXxXx
After getting cleaned up, Naruto rested in the guest room of the Nobushi home, mentally going over his actions the night before, still too wired to even think about sleeping despite having been up all the day before as well as the night.
"So, nice catch keeping from actually calling me a bitch, brat," Anko said from where she entered the room.
Naruto sighed, not surprised in the least at her sudden appearance. "I just ended nineteen lives and felt each and every death as they happened. Forgive me if I'm not feeling too charitable at the moment, Anko-sensei," he snapped at her in annoyance.
Anko paused as she considered what he said before slowly nodding, giving that point to him. "Alright, fine. I won't string you up by your toes for that," she told him as she sat down next to him. "Why'd you leave the last one alive?"
"He was telling the truth," Naruto said simply. But he sighed as he felt his disbelief and continued. "That and I didn't see the need to kill him. The bandits here are done. Destroyed completely. Plus, I figure that leaving one alive will spread the tale of what happened to any others in the area, making them less likely to pick up where these guys left off."
"Better reasoning there," Anko told him, though she could also understand that Naruto wasn't used to killing just yet, so killing a man that didn't need to die wasn't something he would do. Not yet at least, and privately she hoped that her little brat wouldn't get to the point where killing was easy for him. Simple yes, but not easy.
"So did I pass?" Naruto asked her wearily, hoping that what he did wasn't in vain.
Anko let out a chuckle and reached over to ruffle his hair, ignoring his protests and complaints as he tried in vain to stop her. "You passed with flying colors, 'Ruto. You definitely earned that jutsu."
"Don't call me that!" he grumbled as he tried to fix his hair without getting up.
"Aw, does my little 'Ruto not like the nickname his beloved teacher has given him?" Anko teased him as she pinched his cheek.
"You're three seconds away from getting zapped, sensei," he deadpanned as his eyes started to glow, an early warning she had noticed for when he started to prepare to use his abilities.
Anko let out another laugh as she let go of his cheek and started to look him over. She hadn't seen him get hurt during his hunt, but she had been a fair distance away and wanted to make sure.
As she casually examined her student, said boy suddenly say upright and turned his head as he sensed something. "That bandit just showed up," he told her softly as he made his way to his feet and headed towards the door.
The two ninjas left the house and swiftly headed to the gate closest to the direction of the bandit camp. Sure enough, coming out from the trees was a blood covered man, walking with shaky steps and completely unarmed, his hands held out to the sides in a nonthreatening manner.
"Don't attack me, please! I'm here to turn myself in as the Ghost demanded of me!" the man called out, falling to his knees as several guards came towards him with their weapons drawn.
"What ghost are you talking about, bandit scum?" one of the guards demanded as he pulled out some rope to bind the man with.
"The vengeful ghost that destroyed the men that have been attacking your village," the bandit said as he almost relaxed as he was bound, though there was still an obvious desperation to his voice and body. "He told me to turn myself in or he would kill me. He could see that I didn't hurt anyone and offered me a chance at mercy. But you have to find a way to let the Ghost know I did as he asked! Please, I don't want him to think I ran and hunt me down like he did the others!"
The guards shared a look and the one that had bound the man pulled him to his feet. "I think we can find a way to let him know. Now, you claim you didn't hurt anyone. Is there anyone that can confirm that?"
The guards led the former bandit towards the village jail, passing by a very amused kunoichi and her student, as he freely gave them all the details of everything he had ever done while being forced to join the bandits.
They were still watching as Sanada walked up to them. "I must admit, shinobi-san, I truly didn't expect him to actually turn himself in," he admitted to Naruto before looking over at Anko. "You trained your student very well. You should be proud of him."
Anko grinned at the older man and pulled Naruto into a one-armed hug. "Oh I am. This brat here is going to be amazing when I'm done with him."
Sanada gave Naruto an amused look, seeing the annoyance in the young man's face. But then he bowed deeply to Naruto before standing back up. "Might I have your name before you leave, shinobi-san?"
Naruto blinked as he realized that he hadn't told the man even that little bit of information. "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he said with a bow of his own.
"Well, Uzumaki-san, we will never forget what you did for us, and you will always be welcomed here for as long as I or my family live here," Sanada told him with no small amount of gratitude and respectfulness. "Do you need any supplies before you return to your village?"
Anko butted in before Naruto could say anything. "We would love some supplies, as long as it won't take long. We really should get back to our village as soon as possible," she said with a grin.
Sanada nodded and motioned to a nearby villager, who hurried over. "Please take Uzumaki-san and his teacher to the supply depot. Give them any supplies they need, and I will pay for it myself." He then turned back to them. "Again, we cannot thank you enough for freeing us of the bandits as well as the safe return of my daughter." He gave them another deep bow of respect before turning to head towards where the guards had taken the former bandit.
"Look at you, making friends wherever you go," Anko said to Naruto before ruffling his hair again.
"He's just grateful, not like you would know what that feels like," Naruto groused as he pulled away from her.
"Touchy," Anko said with a smirk before looking at the villager. "Alright, let's go pick up some supplies and get back to Konoha."
After getting resupplied, with Naruto getting a very good quality pack filled with supplies seeing as he had left Konoha without the pack he had prepared but was unable to grab before they left, the two shinobi left the grateful village behind. After they had been walking for a bit, Anko turned back to Naruto with a playful grin.
"Well, well, well...first real mission and you already got a nickname. I'm so proud I might actually get a tear in my eyes," she said to her student, pointing to one of her eyes as she did. "See, just there...or is that just an eyelash?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and gave her a shove. "I've been called worse, so I guess 'the Ghost' is as good a nickname as any."
"Certainly beats my first nickname after becoming a genin," Anko said with a scoff, but then she tensed up. Before she could change the subject, Naruto looked at her sharply and grinned like a fox.
"Oh? And what was that nickname, Anko-sensei?" he asked her curiously, mischief shining in his eyes.
"Uh...I...don't remember. It was a long time ago," Anko said sheepishly, begging him to let it drop.
Naruto didn't believe her for a second and his blue eyes glowed for a brief moment before he started laughing. "Twig? Oh, that is great! The great Mitarashi Anko, infamous Snake Mistress of Konoha, was known as twig?"
Anko leveled a glare at the laughing brat and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. "I was a late bloomer, alright? Now knock it off!"
Naruto only started to laugh harder. "Whatever you say, Twig!"
Pulling out a kunai, Anko glared at Naruto. "I will cut you and say you got hurt during the mission. I could do anything to you and get away with it with that excuse, brat," she told him dangerously.
Naruto slowly stopped laughing before looking at her with another foxy grin. "Gotta catch me first...Twig!" he said before taking off at a dead sprint down the road.
"Get back here and take your punishment like a man!"
Well, my muse finally came back, at least for this chapter. Not sure when the next one will be out, but it'll definitely be quicker than this last one took. Reviews are always helpful, and any constructive criticism is always appreciated.