Chapter Text
Aoda spoke again, “Give me a reason that I should not kill her where she stands!”
Shizune was so aghast that she couldn't even defend her master. Luckily, Jiraiya came to her defense. “Retrieving her, alive, is your summoner's mission. Killing her would be quite bad for the mission. Not to mention other reasons.”
“Mention them! I would have a better reason than a failed mission.”
Jiraiya sighed, “She is to be the next Hokage. Two of the kid's teammates need medical attention, which is her specialty. I would have to stop you from killing her.”
Aoda peered at her as close as possible without being in punch range. He snorted, “Very well. She lives, for now.” He took off underground and brought them to a nearby clearing. He placed Naruto on the ground and coiled defensively around him. “You find yourself in danger quite often don't you, Naruto-sama?”
Naruto gave a weak laugh, rubbing along Aoda’s face. “Yeah. It's not my fault, it just kinda happens.”
“Maybe you should come train with the snakes for a while. Get you strong enough to get through the sage trials. Then you would be in far less danger.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
They spent the night braced upon each other, something Jiraiya made sure to point out to Tsunade. That she had gone so far, that even a summon wouldn't let him sleep in the hotel.
Naruto decided that every time he felt irked by her presence, he would ‘accidentally’ prick his finger. That was definitely something Anko would do. Surprisingly, Shizune and Jiraiya only gave him disappointed looks, not actually telling him to stop. And each time, Tsunade would freeze and then become angry at him. Thankfully, she kept her temper from making her act physically once more. They still all ate together through that ‘game’.
It had been a week since they met up and Shizune was escorting a stumbling Jiraiya into his room. “She's gone to meet with Orochimaru!”
Quick as they could, they ran to where Shizune said the deal was supposed to go down. They made it just in time to see Kabuto flick blood into Tsunade's face. Not only was she reminded of her past, but she was reminded of each and every time Naruto attempted to irritate her.
Kabuto and Orochimaru were chuckling at how lame a medic she must be, when Tsunade lunged at Kabuto and caved in his chest. They were so sure of their strategy and her hemophobia that he didn’t even get out of her range. She was visibly shaking, from rage, not fear. She then turned to Orochimaru, who backed away trying to placate her. “Now Tsunade, I'm sure we could come up with a deal.”
“I'm dealing with you now!” The beating he got was even worse than when Jiraiya peeped on her years ago.
Naruto, noticing movement to the side, went and secured Kabuto with his snake hands. Eventually, bringing him over to Jiraiya. Jiraiya didn't even hesitate to kill him. Then, on death's door, Orochimaru emerged as a large white snake, emitting poison gas. He was gasping for breath and looking for any avenue of escape.
Tsunade did not want to just walk into poison like that, so she called out to her old teammate, “Jiraiya! Give me some oil!”
‘Toad oil bullet’
‘Fire dragon bomb’
They watched as Orochimaru flailed around screaming in pain until he stilled. After they made sure he was dead and both bodies burnt to ashes, they retired to a bar.
After a long night drinking to the memory of their long lost comrade, Jiraiya and Tsunade met up for breakfast to talk about their mission.
Tsunade put forth her idea, having heard his desires all week. “How about, I go with you, you give me control to run the hospital as I wanted to decades ago, and you become Hokage?”
“Tsunade, be reasonable.”
“I am being reasonable. I do not want the hat! End of story.”
Jiraiya, knowing if it wasn’t either of them, it would be Danzo, knew he had no choice. He had hoped that seeing Naruto would spring the desire to be Hokage upon her, but it wasn’t to be. He also knew Danzo would mess with any fun he tried to have, so it wouldn’t matter if he was in charge or not. Plus, he liked spending time with his godson. He sighed, “Fine. You are being recalled and you have full control over the hospital.”
Upon returning to the Hokage’s office, Jiraiya turned to Naruto, “Sorry kid, looks like you failed a mission.”
Naruto, who had been thinking about it for a while, disagreed. “Oh? How do you figure? I helped find the old lady. And I brought back our new Hokage.”
“That’s… but… fine, be that way.” He was really proud. Not only of all that transpired, but that he was able to weasel himself out of things like that.
“Speaking of things that exist, you mind if I tell Anko about her old teacher?”
“Sure kid, I’m sure she would rather hear it from you anyway.”
Naruto grabbed a few sticks of dango, once again transforming into Ibiki and entering the T&I building. Either Ibiki wasn't there, or he was letting Naruto move freely.
He wandered slowly through the complex. Whenever he wasn't sure about where he was going, he made to look like he was inspecting whatever was around. After checking where he was led to last time, Naruto luckily found Anko walking in the hallway toward him. “Anko. Your ‘apprentice’ brought these in for you. I assured him I would get them to you. Do we need to have another talk about his visiting during working hours?”
“Dango! Mmmm, delicious. Really good try with the transformation there. Might have had me but for a couple things. I was just talking to Ibiki. He would likely just escort you to me again, instead of carrying dango, and his neutral face is more menacing.”
“Rotten luck! Oh well. Are you free later?”
“Hmmm, depends on what for. I still want to get some training in today. Also it's really weird talking to a different person than I'm talking to.”
Naruto chuckled as he normally would, before making it shallower and more gruff. “I was mostly wanting to hang out with my favorite teacher. Well, only teacher. There was something important too. But, training is always good.”
Ibiki interrupted further conversation. “Anko is right. It's weird watching my body flirt with my subordinate.”
That ignited an idea that Naruto wasn't thinking about yet. She was on his side, taught him, and was beautiful. But, he had no idea if she could possibly be interested, and didn't want to mess up what they had. Plus the news he had.
Anko, too, considered the idea. Masking it by throwing several weapons at the real Ibiki. They meshed together really well, and almost nobody was interested in her due to Orochimaru. He definitely had potential, both as a ninja and a partner. Fortunately Anko had an idea, “Take the rest of the day off? Good idea! Thanks boss!” She then dragged Naruto off to their usual training ground.
Naruto dropped his transformation and rubbed his head, “Ahh, sorry…”
Anko waved him off, “Don't worry about it, I appreciated the dango. And the excuse to leave. So, how far did you get in earth manipulation?”
“Barely started actually. But, I did get this.” A rasengan showed up in his hand, then used a snake to launch it at high speeds into a nearby tree.
Anko was impressed. “Huh. That works too. Let's do some hard training, then I'll help you with more earth stuff.”
Naruto was breathing heavily as Anko handed him a rock. “So… enter into any brothels?” His rapid head shaking made her smile wider than either of them expected. “Good. Why would you pay for company when I am sexy right here?” It was a combination test and some extra thoughts slipping out. The lack of legitimate male interest showing slight insecurity.
Naruto's eyes glazed over as he looked at her, rock pulverized by wind chakra. “Yeah…” Realizing what just happened, Naruto snapped his eyes up to Anko's to see how bad he messed up.
Her stern expression was giving way to a slight grin. “And just what is that supposed to mean?” Her eyes narrowed menacingly.
Deciding he was screwed either way, Naruto latched onto the first thing that came to mind to defend himself. “Isn't the reason your skirt is orange is to get my attention?”
“Pfff.” She couldn't help herself. That was too funny for her to keep the stern look. Her skirt has been orange for a long time, but the fact that it was his favorite color did bring into question such a coincidence. “Maybe it's the other way around? You like the color because I'm wearing it.”
Sensing the change in attitude, he tried pushing further. “It does look quite good on you. I would need to see you without it for comparison.” The sharp look made him think he took it too far.
“Let's not get ahead of ourselves.” While she was flattered he thought she was sexy, Anko was not a slut. Nor a stripper. Still, she deserved something like that for how she was teasing him. And she could see how forced the comment was, likely picked up from the trip with Jiraiya.
Deciding to completely skip over what just happened, Anko threw another rock at him. Thankfully, Naruto took the hint and kept his mouth shut on that topic, attempting earth nature training once more. “Uhh Anko, we kind of ran into Orochimaru on our mission.”
She stiffened, “And…?” He was alive, taking care of her most pointed concern.
“And I irritated old lady Tsunade to the point that she flattened him?”
She clenched her neck, “He’s gone?”
Naruto nodded, “As far as we could tell. His traitor Kabuto too.”
She was in a daze until she got home, where she curled up and cried herself to sleep in relief.
A week later, Naruto decided to test the waters again. He again entered the T&I building, this time disguised as Maito Gai. And again he ran into Anko near the same room as usual. She gave him an odd look, tentatively calling out to him. “Gai?”
Naruto gave her a thumbs up and a winning smile, “Nice! Anko-san, I have just come from a meeting with my rival’s most youthful pupil, Naruto-kun!” Naruto made sure to at least double his volume.
Anko was still a bit suspicious since Naruto had been infiltrating quite a bit lately. But Gai was someone she did not want to piss off. “...Okay”
Naruto pulled back his arms to another boisterous power stance. “We were having a discussion and I have decided to help with such a youthful endeavor!” He took a second to clear his throat. “Ramen is delicious, dango is too, your apprentice is sweet on you!”
Anko glowered at him, kunai making their way to her hands. “And this is something you came up with, or he did?” Her face was reddening, something between anger, embarrassment, and that small bit of enjoying the idea of it.
Gai’s expression reflected being sheepish and his voice lowered slightly. “Ah, Ibiki-san gave me the idea that it might be taken well. I came up with it.” He made a deliberate glance over her shoulder where Ibiki was watching with interest. As she began turning her head, Naruto fled toward the village and shouted with exuberance, “Youth!”
Anko was gritting her teeth, wondering if it would be worth chasing him. Also what possessed Ibiki to say such things, Gai was not a liar after all.
Ibiki, knowing he didn't say such a thing and that Gai wouldn't do that, chucked darkly. Anko’s glare focused entirely on him. Still looking where Naruto disappeared from, he commented, “That boy worries me.”
The conclusion Anko came to shortly, added more uncertainty. “Permission to kill my apprentice?”
Smirking, Ibiki turned to her, “Only if you can justify it on the report.”
Anko went to their training area as fast as she could get out of work. Naruto was there with several dango for her. He actually looked a little nervous to her. She started in on his peace offering, “So… care to explain what happened? Before I assume the worst, that is. You have until I finish eating.”
Naruto gulped, “I like being your apprentice. You've taught me so much and you treat me like a person. But, I'd be lying if I said you weren't sexy. And well, the way you and Ibiki act around me makes me wonder if we could be more.” He finally dared look up.
She was staring at him very intently. “So, that was you. And you were serious.”
He nodded, “I had hoped the dango reference might help. I'll uhh, just leave you to your dango.” He wasn't sure if he really messed that up or if she just wasn't interested.
Just as he was about to hit the edge of the clearing, she called out to him. “Stop. Come here. Sit.” Now he was really worried, but he complied nonetheless.
Unfortunately for Naruto, Anko was in no hurry to speak. She was surprised and wanted to think about it more, but did not want him to leave like that.
Finally, she decided that she wanted to give it a try. “There will have to be ground rules, of course. Like when I'm working. I guess you can keep infiltrating, but keep it reasonably professional. I have no problems with the occasional comment while training, but we are there to train.” She sighed, “I don't really want to be public about us. I'll have to come up with something for Ibiki.”
Naruto tilted his head to the side, “Training dates?”
Anko's grin was wide, “Training dates.”