(With Naruto in the Forest of Death)
Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he entered the tower in the centre of the Forest of Death, and the end point for the second stage of the Chunin Exams. The last few days for Naruto had been very irritating.
After his fight with Orochimaru and his brief conversation with his sisters he had been confronted by Anko Mitarashi. Who upon hearing the details of what had passed had preceded to drag Naruto into the forest in an attempt to track down Orochimaru before he escaped.
This was despite the fact that Naruto had told her it was no use, and that the Snake Sannin was likely to have already disappeared.
Were it any other Shinobi, Naruto thought he would have a chance of catching up to them and taking them down.
But this was Orochimaru of the Sannin they were talking about, a much older and much more experienced Shinobi, even Minato Namikaze would struggle to kill the Snake Sannin by himself.
And that was not taking into account the fact that he would be tracking Orochimaru through a heavily wooded forest, which is pretty much home turf for a Konoha Shinobi, which Orochimaru used to be.
Still though Anko had been persistent and Naruto had humoured her at first, after all what else did he have to do whilst being a proctor for the second stage of the Chunin Exams.
He had already finished the mission he had been sent here to do, Kabuto's soul had provided a huge amount of information on the Oto and Suna Invasion Plan, which even now several days later he was still processing.
That wasn't taking into account the fragment of Orochimaru's soul that he had devoured, which although useful did not provide as much information as he had hoped.
Still though the combined knowledge he had received from those two was enough for him to make a report to Mei, and for him to label his part of the mission a resounding success.
Which had initially put him in a very good mood, but four days later he was losing his cheeriness. Anko was a very beautiful, sexy woman, with a dry, sarcastic wit that Naruto very much enjoyed, in normal circumstances Naruto would likely enjoy spending several days in very close proximity with her.
These weren't normal circumstances though as Anko it appeared had a real hard on when it came to hunting down Orochimaru.
Apparently she used to be the man's apprentice back when she was still a genin, but had been cast aside when he had turned traitor and fled Konoha, after of course giving Anko, his apprentice, an experimental Cursed Seal as a going away present.
Since then she had nurtured a deep resentment for the Snake Sannin, partly due to the suspicion many Konoha Shinobi treat her with due to her former ties to Konoha's most infamous traitor and the stigma which surrounded those ties, and partly because of the fact the man had used her and cast her aside.
Truly there was nothing more frightening than a woman scorned.
Never before had Naruto understood those words better than after having spent four days with an angry, pissed off Anko.
Although the woman was never especially unpleasant to him, she did tend to bring the mood down and was not as amusing to talk to as she had been before the Sannin's appearance.
Which made what could previously have been a pleasant jaunt through the Forest of Death quite an unpleasant task.
Thankfully though the second stage of the exams had ended and the Hokage had recalled the proctors for the exam.
It appeared that whilst Naruto was taking part in a wild goose chase in the Forest of Death, Minato and his advisors had been made aware of Orochimaru's presence. Including his attack on the members of Team Seven, his putting the Cursed Seal of Heaven on Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto's intervention and subsequent removal of the Seal.
Apparently according to a rather talkative Shinobi called Iruka, who they had run into when they were entering the tower, Naruto's actions had somehow managed to win him a few friends. Well not friends, but perhaps a slight modicum of respect from some of the Konoha Shinobi.
After all Naruto had taken on an infamous S-rank Missing-nin, all to protect a team of Konoha Shinobi.
A team that happened to include the Hokage's daughters and the last Uchiha. It may not fully absolve him of killing Kakashi in the eyes of many Konoha Shinobi, but it lessened the amount of hostility.
Not that Naruto gave much of a damn what the majority of the Konoha Shinobi thought about him.
Of course had the team of Shinobi been any other then it was likely Naruto would not have stepped in to help, instead he would have stayed out of it and just let them die.
After all he liked to think he generally fought sensibly, and taking on a Sannin in their home territory was not sensible. Especially since depending on Mei's decision he might be working with that Sannin again quite soon.
Unfortunately though it had been Team Seven that was attack, and although Naruto didn't care much for Sasuke. He did care a lot about his sisters, and would very much prefer it if they were not killed.
"Hey cheer up Grimm, your jobs over you can relax now." Anko said from where she was walking beside him.
"Well you seem to be in a better mood." Naruto replied dryly as he and Anko walked through the building, heading for the arena where those who had finished the second stage had been gathered.
Anko shrugged in response. "I'm still a bit pissed off that the snake escaped, but I am feeling a little better after venting for the last few days."
"Good for you." Naruto replied irritably, she might be feeling better after venting her frustration, but Naruto wasn't. Why did she had to vent by rampaging through a deadly forest, couldn't she vent in a normal way, like by drinking or fucking.
"Ok, I am starting to get why you got your alias. Are you called Grimm because you always act so grim?" Anko asked with a large grin as she looked sideways at Naruto.
Naruto gave her a bland look at that. "The pun was funny the first few times, now it is just becoming painful."
"But I thought you would like a bit of pain…" Anko replied her grin growing as she saw she was getting under Naruto's skin.
"Again, the pun is getting old, you need to come up with some new material." Naruto replied with a very faint groan. Now he loved a good pun as much as the next person, but being bombarded with the same ones for the last four days was getting draining.
Already he was beginning to suspect that his sense of humour might never recover.
Anko laughed loudly at that, casually bumping Naruto's hip with her own. "So I am curious, the name Pain. Was that really given to you at birth or is it another alias."
"I chose my own name." Naruto replied vaguely.
"That's cool I suppose. But you could have been a bit more imaginative. When I hear the name Pain, I almost immediately think of a bad guy.
Which for a Shinobi is not a bad thing considering the rep it will get you, but for clients… well I wouldn't be too comfortable hiring a guy called Pain to protect my family…" Anko continued casually chatting along with Naruto as they made their way through the tower's corridors.
Occasionally passing an ANBU, Chunin or Jounin as they made their way towards the arena.
"Good thing I don't do protection missions then. I was a Hunter-nin, I hunt down other Shinobi and cut of their heads…" Naruto replied blandly, his lips twitching slightly as he saw Anko stumble beside him.
"Ok admittedly the name Pain suits that profession. But come on don't you want to do anything else.
I work in the Torture and Interrogation Department, a nice cushy job and a great place to work out any anger issues you might have." Anko replied, far too cheerfully considering the topic of conversation.
"Plus the name Pain… it would be perfect for a Shinobi with that job!"
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