The trio of ANBU were jumping through the tall trees on the small island in the direction of the coast to charter a boat back to the mainland. The atmosphere was quite tense within the group; after what they had seen inside the base, none were in the mood for talking. Naruto especially was quiet, it was strange for his temporary teammates; throughout his first year in ANBU Naruto and Shisui were always the ones trying to make conversation. Suddenly the redhead stopped in a branch ahead of them, forcing them both to come to a rest next to him.
"What is it Tora?" Naruto just looked left out over the beach with slightly narrowed eyes; it was fading but there was a barely visible trial of footprints leading out over the sand.
"I don't know, we might as well check it out though." His two teammates looked between themselves uncertainly but nodded all the same. Naruto had been put in charge of this mission and as uncomfortable as the two experienced ANBU were with being led by an twelve year old kid, there was no mistaking Naruto's abilities. They took off, quickly racing across the beach while leaving barely any trace of their existance.
Finally they caught a glimpse of a lone figure, limping painfully across the sand of the beach, clutching their shoulder. Naruto's heart raced as his eyes widened behind the mask; they had their purple hair done up in a spiky pineapple style. With a gasp Naruto vanished from in front of his teammates, causing them to fault for a moment before they saw him reappear next to the lone person, catching them just as they collapsed from exhaustion. When they caught up Naruto was gently rocking Anko in his lap, a single tear of happiness managing to roll out from behind his mask.
'I found you.'
Anko hated waking up in hospitals. The pure odor of anesthetics and anti-bacterial sprays always burned in her nose and irritated her eyes. There was also the pain from the reason why she was in the hospital, on that day it was a dull but constant throb from behind her left shoulder. With a groan she managed to open her eyes only to immediately close them again as she was assaulted by the horrifically sterile whites of her hospital room. She tried again, more slowly this time, and tried to sit up against the protests of her sore and tired body. The aches just intensified as she struggled.
Surprisingly as soon as she did so she felt a gentle but firm hand push her back down again. After a moment of natural subconscious resistance the tired girl relented and allowed the oddly warm hand to guide her head back onto the pillow. She tried opening her eyes again, this time meeting some success as she caught sight of an all too familiar mop of red hair. She could have almost laughed from the absurdity and for more than a few moments after that she thought she was hallucinating.
"Anko don't move, the doctor told me to tell you to stay still if you woke up." Of course hearing his voice for herself had her immediately trying to sit up again, straining her bleary and tired eyes to see him.
"Naruto?" She heard a small chuckle before once again she was pressed back down onto the reasonably comfortable hospital bed.
"What did I just tell you?" Anko managed a small laugh of her own as she settled back down with an equally humourless groan of discomfort. Immediately, she felt the bed shift as Naruto stood back up from where he had been perched, instead settling in the chair to her left. Finally she managed to open her eyes and see something other than fuzzy or swimming shapes dance across her vision. Instantly, she turned towards his voice, only to blink in confusion.
She had been right about the shock of red hair she had seen and she knew that its spiky and wild design could only belong to one person. However the Naruto sitting in the chair next to her, if it even was him, was nothing like the one she had left behind all that time ago. Two years had changed the redhead she knew and she had a feeling it wasn't just physically. However he had definitely grown, filling out from his previous four foot nine inches into a decent five foot two. His hair had grown out, becoming spikier and shaggier and from what he could tell his bangs had also lengthened, quite adequately framing his face.
It was difficult to get anything else though due to the ANBU porcelain mask covering his features. She was surprised he would wear it around her; however upon thought she hadn't ever seen him take it off except for when he was at home before she left. Aside from that, she could also see he had kept up with his training, the fruits of which could now be seen in his firmly toned, tightly-coiled, but still lithe frame. Lastly, he had the ANBU tattoo conspicuously imprinted on his right bicep, something that hadn't been there before her departure. She chuckled again weakly before flopping back down onto the bed.
"You look-" an unsteady breath, "-different." Even she was slightly annoyed by how weak her voice sounded right then, it was hoarse and dry which was pretty much how her aching, constricted throat felt anyway. Taking the hint Naruto quickly got her a glass of water from a nearby pitcher which she thankfully downed in a few long gulps. He watched her for a moment before sighing and leaning back further into the chair.
"I can't say the same for you Anko."
He was partially right at least; other than growing taller Anko had never really seen fit to change her style under Orochimaru's apprenticeship. Fishnet stockings cinched tightly up her smooth legs to her usual beige shorts and dark navy t-shirt. However, to the more trained eye the rewards for her own training over that time were also visible in the way her legs and arms pinched or sloped inwardly in places, but not in a way that would alert anybody but with the most trained eye to her position as a rather deadly Kunoichi.
"Shut up."
They both shared a laugh as Anko playfully punched her oldest friend in the shoulder, only to wince as her own immediately began to burn. Immediately recoiling on herself and grasping the offending spot in pain she could only bite her lip to stop a pained gasp coming from her mouth. Naruto could only look on in surprise and helplessness as Anko hunched over in pain, still clutching what he had at first assumed to be a tattoo, only to now see it glowing and pulsating a dangerous orange aura.
"Anko!" He was right by her side sitting hip to hip in an instant, looking over the mark in an attempt to see what was wrong. When he got no response he shook her shoulders to get her attention only for Anko to immediately recoil from him, her arm lashing out on instinct, her nails findinghis mask. There was silence in the room for a moment as Anko stared first at Naruto, then at her own hands in horror. Likewise Naruto could only blink in shock as he brought his hand up to his mask, feeling the four thin lines Anko's nails had gouged through the material.
"Naruto, I..." she couldn't continue and her voice sounded small and meek, still not quite believing any of this was real, refusing to. She gulped audibly as Naruto brought his hand back down, only to immediately clasp both of them over the one Anko was still staring at, horrified. His hands were warm beneath the soft finger-less gloves of his ANBU uniform and even though Anko initially pulled away from him he held on firmly.
"Anko, look at me." It took her a moment but eventually the young Kunoichi managed to tear her eyes away from the hand so tightly clasped over her own. She stared into his expressionless mask, idly noting the way the whisker marks that denoted it as the tiger mask reflected the ones he hid behind it. He moved a hand away from their small contact and gently removed his mask, finally allowing her to see his face. She stared at his deep purple eyes for a few seconds, neither of them saying anything before her entire body shook from a violent sob.
She hadn't even noticed the tears trailing down her face until Naruto carefully brushed one from her cheek. The effect of the contact was instant, all the familiarity and nostalgia from his face broke down all the walls she had. A few moments later she was sobbing herself into a fitful sleep against Naruto's strong chest. In turn the redhead gently wrapped his arms around the crying girl, unsure what to do in a situation like this but finding his arms moving on instinct anyway. He stayed like that for at least ten minutes, until he was certain Anko was asleep, before he very carefully slid her back onto the hospital bed.
He took one last unobstructed look at her sleeping form before placing his mask back on and vanishing in a blur of red.
"Mission accomplished Hokage-sama." Hiruzen nodded once from behind steepled fingers before leaning back in his old leather chair with an audible creak.
"Good work Tora; I take it there were no complications?" It wasn't really a question, even if he phrased it as such. With Naruto there weren't complications, not on any mission he had been on during his time in the ANBU. It was why the rest of the operatives looked forward to being on a squad with him; they almost treated him like a lucky charm.
"Well, actually Hokage-sama..." That alone had the elderly man quirking a single eyebrow, although years of experience told him this day would have to come eventually. The fact that Naruto seemed unusually hesitant about the subject also had him slightly on edge. It made him wonder if his old student had been sighted before dismissing it instantly; that was the type of thing that got reported the minute the team was back in the village, if not by messenger hawk.
"What is it?" Naruto struggled with the answer for a moment, a tiny smile adorning his concealed features.
"It's Anko, Hokage-sama. We found her." Hiruzen let out a small sigh of relief, not that anybody in the office could hear the minuscule reaction.
"That seems like very good news, but why so hesitant to tell me?" The hidden smile behind the whiskered mask twisted into fetid frown as the young redhead's eyes narrowed.
"It seems that Orochimaru did something to Anko during their training trip. He left some kind of awful Mark on her shoulder, possibly a seal, that causes her pain." Hiruzen sat back in the chair again with another, more audible sigh.
"I see..." Internally the older man was much more worried than his outward appearance would have anybody believe. "...well, when Jiraiya is next in the village I can have him take a look." Very much out of character for Naruto he quickly raised a hand to quiet the older Hokage in a way that he hoped wasn't too disrespectful.
"If I may Hokage-sama, I would appreciate it if I could handle this issue personally; if it is a seal then I believe I would be much better suited to dealing with it." Hiruzen eyed the young ANBU operative critically, the youngest they ever had in the village, before shaking his head slowly.
"I'm truly sorry Tora-san, as much as I do not doubt your abilities I would feel better knowing somebody with more experience dealt with this before it becomes a potential threat to the village." Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly further when he noticed Naruto's hand clench into a tight fist.
"Hokage-sama..." Sarutobi couldn't help but notice the way Naruto stressed his title through gritted teeth "...Anko is not a threat to this village, she is a Kunoichi." The Hokage nodded serenely as he turned to the left, looking out the window overlooking his village.
"I agree emphatically, but that mark on her body is another issue and until it is neutralised I have to look out for the best interests of the village." He sighed internally when Naruto's hands unclenched and his body language returned to that of his professional apathy, as was the norm in the ANBU corp. He just seemed entirely exhausted then, unable to look at his leader in the eye for some reason.
"Very well Hokage-sama, I will defer to your judgement." Hiruzen nodded sagely even as Naruto began to turn and leave the office; with a quick tap on the desk he halted the young Shinobi before he could go too far.
"Tora. You have my permission to come up with a method of removing this mark but you will not touch it before Jiraiya has a chance to look over it, am I understood?" Naruto didn't say anything but his frozen body spoke more than any words ever could. He nodded once before quickly hurrying out of the office and disappearing in his unique Shunshin.
Naruto pounded the desk in monstrous frustration, his fist knocking one of the many scattered scrolls on the surface to the floor. Each of them were filled with complicated sealing arrays and sketches, most of which stemmed from one simple illustration of the wicked mark currently adorning Anko's neck. He was agonizing over how little progress he had made; his heart pounding in the fingers that held his sealing brushes, muscles often spasming at the worst moments. At this rate he wouldn't have done enough to help Anko by the time Jiraiya was next in the village. Although knowing the habits of the famous toad sage, as all ANBU were required to, that could be anytime from the next day to a month from now.
All he had worked out so far was that each tomoe of the mark in the mitsudomoe design had a different purpose when expanded out. Like he had though it was a vast and complicated sealing array condensed down into a form that could easily be transferred onto a subject. He assumed that was what the two other, still not fully healed marks on her neck were; either from injections or much more worryingly, a bite mark.
One of the tomoe seemed to be a simple Chakra storage seal, although its design was beyond many things Naruto had ever seen, allowing for truly vast amounts of chakra to not only be stored, but be collected as well. That was where his limits were, he had no idea how such a thing was possible without a direct transfer of chakra into the seal, this one just seemed to absorb it from who knew where. There was also something about it he couldn't understand, something about the intake array that confused him but he couldn't quite place.
The next tomoe of the seal was completely beyond him; it seemed more like a Fuinjutsu version of an intravenous drip in his opinion. Unfortunately he couldn't find out exactly what would be injected into the system, luckily, that part didn't seem to be active at the moment which was a small relief. Still, it was obvious to him that knowledge of sealing wouldn't be enough when it came to Orochimaru's handiwork, he would need a medical ninja with him when the time came to remove the seal.
Finally, and most horrifically in Naruto's opinion, the last tomoe of the seal was more than obvious to the young redhead. He had seen many versions of the inner workings before in slave camps and even some prison institutes like Hōzukijō. It was designed to send enormous amounts of electricity directly through the mark-bearer's nervous system with the application of a certain hand seal. It was also coded directly to Orochimaru's chakra through a small amount stored within the first tomoe.
Eventually, too tired and irritated to fret over his total inability to help his friend, Naruto pushed away from his desk, leaving his scattered workings for tomorrow. He ran a hand through his unruly hair as a sigh escaped his mouth before standing up and lurching towards the door. He blinked, not realizing just how tired he was until now, and moved lazily through the house towards his room. He stopped however just outside of Anko's room where he could easily hear her moving about, despite knowing she was still asleep.
He was thankful the doctors had let him take her home, despite some of their protests. There was nothing physically wrong with her asides from slight exhaustion and there was nothing they could do about the curse mark any more than Naruto could. Still tired, but now worried about his friend and tenant, he slowly opened her door a crack to make sure she was okay. He could only look on in sadness as he saw her bed, soaked in sweat, with a writhing Anko rolling about on top of her disorganized sheets that had become unbound from her body at some point.
With a long sigh, he walked in quietly, padding across the floorboards until he was looking over her pained and frightened form. He placed a hand on her cold and sweaty shoulder and the effects were immediate. She stopped moving, her breathing calmed and the frightened mask that was her face settled into a more neutral, but still slightly pained expression. Naruto smiled, glad that he could help at least a little, before he carefully manoeuvred Anko's body until the sheets were back over her form.
He stood up to leave again but a hand firmly holding onto his wrist didn't allow him to. He looked back around to see Anko staring back at him with half-lidded eyes, her mind still deep within the realms of sleep. Noting that it was only reflexive Naruto attempted to prise Anko's hand off his arm, only for her to pull him even more intently towards her. Still half-awake her other hand sought out his body and reluctantly he allowed her to grab his other hand, once again pulling his body towards her.
With another small, but not wholly unwelcome sigh he resigned himself to being Anko's comfort toy as she pulled him the rest of the way into her bed. Only half-conscious, she securely wrapped her arms around the warm and soft object she had found in her slightly delirious state. Anko was sweaty and her skin was slightly clammy from the cold night air but even so, Naruto couldn't help but feel comfortable in that embrace, with his friends arms wrapped around him. On instinct he pulled her a little closer, an action the girl didn't seem to mind in the slightest if her contented sigh was anything to go on, and wrapped his arms around her slimmer frame in turn.
"It's okay Anko. It's going to be okay now." His only response was a small whimper that was lost to the silence and darkness of the small room.
"So, you're Jiraiya?" The large man standing in front of him simply grinned, his eyebrows wiggling almost comically.
"The one and only! Although I am known around the nations by many names, I prefer the much more humble toad sage of Mt. Myoboku! The mighty and inexhaustible..." his eyebrows wiggled again in that same manner even though he now seemed to be looking into what Naruto could only think of as the foreground "...the gallant, JIRAIYA!" Naruto simply gave him a blank look, not that it was really required from behind his mask.
"Right..." He did his best to keep himself straight-faced. No need to antagonize the only person who could help them. To his left, Anko was giving the strange man an equally exasperated if barely-subdued look, her eye twitching in irritation.
"Aren't you that pervert that always gets the crap beaten out of him by the hot springs?" Jiraiya just laughed in an off-handed manner, waving his hands in a well-practised placating manner as he turned his attention to the young Kunoichi.
"So you're Anko Mitarashi, my old teammate's apprentice." Everybody in the room could immediately feel the temperature drop. To his relief, Anko managed to show some rare restraint and settled for just glaring at the white-haired pervert. "Alright then, let me take a look at the seal." The blinks of confusion were almost audible as Jiraiya's attitude became surprisingly serious. Anko was so surprised by the change she simply complied without a word of protest, turning around and pulling down her shirt slightly to reveal the curse mark.
Jiraiya took his time studying the mark, his hand resting against his chin in thought as his eyes skimmed over every detail with a professional gaze. Finally, he looked up, seemingly having a silent conversation with his sensei with just their eyes communicating. He took a step back with a sigh that had Naruto and Anko immediately worried.
"I would have to open up the seal and have a more in-depth look to be sure, but at a precursory glance, I can't remove this." He shook his head tiredly at the gazes of shock and disappointment he received from Naruto and Anko respectively. "The best I can do is place a restriction seal around it, but even that would be purely determined by your will not to use the mark." At this point Naruto's eyes was convulsing and he had never been more thankful for his mask hiding his face. A restriction seal?! He could have done that!
"Unfortunately, my old teammate seems to be living up to his praises as a genius, he has somehow worked in some very complicated medical Ninjutsu into the seal. I couldn't remove it if I tried." He looked up in thought, staring out the window forlornly. "Maybe if Tsunade were here..." he sighed before shaking his head; both he and his sensei knew that was a lost cause. "Anyway, the good news is that the whole array seems benign, Orochimaru can't activate unless he is nearby." Anko's fists were clenched shut at this point and her whole body was shaking slightly.
"What the hell kind of good does that do me!? How the hell am I supposed to get back at that bastard if I can't even get near him?! And what the hell do you mean benign? I can't get to sleep at night for hours because of this thing!" A single tear was rolling angrily down her rage-filled face; Jiraiya could only sigh in defeat.
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Anko was just about ready to lash out at the man before a firm hand caught her wrist. She just looked around at Naruto in confusion before sighing and hanging her head in defeat. At that moment Naruto stepped forward, eyeing Jiraiya carefully as the older Sannin did the same to him.
"You're wrong." Jiraiya just raised an eyebrow in amusement at the stoic ANBU questioning him.
"Oh really? About what?" Naruto just stood there impassively, not giving even the slightest hints he had a reaction. If his ANBU captain had seen him then, staring down a Sannin, he would have been proud; at least before he asked the Sannin for an autograph.
"Even if you can't remove the seal entirely due to the chemical contained in one of the tomoe, you could still do more than just restrict it." Jiraiya chuckled rather obnoxiously, laughing as if nothing he said could be wrong.
"Listen kid, you're a few years short of questioning my decisions when it comes to sealing, let the grown-ups handle this." Again, Naruto remained impassive, ignoring the man's jibe in favour of pulling out a scroll from his back pouch and handing it over. Jiraiya took it with another amused smirk before glancing it over briefly. Even a small check showed him it was filled nearly to the brim with various sealing designs and arrays, none of which he could spot any problems or faults with.
That would be what most people saw, however Jiraiya was not most people, he was a sealing master. He instantly spotted the unmistakable signs of Uzumaki techniques, having had the privilege of learning a few from Minato, and indirectly Kushina. Before he could read much more Naruto quickly took the scroll back off him without a word and replaced it in his pouch, right next to the one that would explode rather violently if opened; each looking identical of course.
"Well kid, as impressive as all that was, you still don't have my experience, especially when it comes to Orochimaru. Trust me, you don't want to go messing around with his handiwork; he's the type to cover his tracks extremely well." Naruto said nothing, stepping back to where he had been standing originally. Hiruzen just sighed deeply, leaning further back in his chair as he contemplated the options before him.
"Well in that case I'll have to allow Jiraiya to place the restriction seal, in any case..."
"Wait!" All three other occupants of the room turned to Anko with some modicum of surprise. "If he..." she pointed to Naruto, knowing better than to say his name while he wore the mask "...says he can remove the seal then I want him to try." Jiraiya looked somewhat offended; however that same offense seemed too exaggerated to be genuine so Anko did not relent. Hiruzen in the other hand, looked at Anko more critically. His pipe moving to the other side of his mouth in momentary thought, he gave her a glazed look, "Really Anko-chan..."
A slight shiver went up the girl's spine as she remembered all the times her 'sensei' would call her that "...Jiraiya is the village's foremost expert when it comes to seals and while Tora-san is particularly adept, I am more inclined to defer to Jiraiya's judgement." He shot a small apologetic look at Naruto who didn't even turn his head.
"I don't care. If it means getting this damn thing off I'll do anything!" Nobody could see but there was a small smirk of victory adorning Naruto's features, partly at being chosen over a Sannin and partly at seeing some of Anko's old fire back in her attitude. Sarutobi stared at Anko a little longer, weighing everything up in his mind.
"I'm not going to be able to change your mind on this am I?" Anko just shook her head with a slight defiant smirk and Hiruzen could already feel the oncoming headache. "Very well, I leave the removal or sealing of the mark up to you Anko, unless it becomes a hazard to the village, then I will have to take action." Anko nodded once in understanding; Jiraiya seemed like there was more he wanted to say but he kept his mouth closed until he could speak with his sensei in private. On the way out the white-haired Sannin caught Naruto's arm, turning him slightly so he could look right into his masked face.
"I hope you know what you're doing, kid." Behind the mask Naruto's eyes narrowed and he quickly slipped his arm out of the hold.
"I would never do anything to harm Anko." Jiraiya just sighed as he allowed the young man to leave.
"Maybe not intentionally..." His parting words were left unheard as Naruto had already disappeared in a blur of red, taking Anko with him. The older man sighed deeply to himself as he turned around to his sensei, the much older man blissfully blowing out a thin stream of smoke from his pipe. "I don't understand how you can be so calm, sensei. A kid that young? He could kill her if he gets the sealing wrong." Hiruzen just continued to puff on his pipe, his gaze absently wandering to the window where he could look out of the village.
"You should have more faith in him Jiraiya. Maybe if you were around more you would better understand his abilities." Jiraiya sighed with a small smirk.
"Not this conversation again sensei! You know how busy I am with the spy network; I always have to be moving if I want to catch any leads on Orochimaru. Plus, I still have to find the child of prophecy the great toad sage spoke of." Jiraiya looked down sadly, he had put all his hopes into Minato, the once in a generation genius that he was lucky to find. He looked up again in thought, idly gazing out the same window as his aged sensei.
"Do you think the boy would object to going on a training trip with me? I could really hone his sealing abilities, maybe pass on a few of my techniques and maybe even the toad contact?" Hiruzen shook his head slowly, finally looking away from the village and back to his desk.
"I do not know Jiraiya, but if he finds out you are his godfather..." he left the sentence hanging knowing full well it would remind Jiraiya of another particular redhead's temperament. Jiraiya got the message and gulped loudly, absently rubbing a spot on his side that was the result of a peeping he would never forget.
"Yeah, well, I guess you're right."
Hiruzen merely shrugged, already sorting through the mess of papers on his desk.
"I never said he would object, just that you had better be ready to face the consequences." Jiraiya nodded with a small frown before simply vanishing in his usual manner. He decided to place the problem to the back of his mind for now, maybe he could find the child of prophecy yet; he just had to maintain his faith.
Anko was surprisingly quiet as the two of them walked through the streets of Konoha towards the Namikaze estate. Naruto kept taking glances at her from behind his mask but she just kept her gaze low and pensive.
"Were you serious back there?" if Naruto hadn't been standing right next to her he might have missed her voice it came out so meek.
"Of course." Anko just nodded, reaffirming her choice in her mind; she believed that if Naruto said he could remove the mark then he could do it.
"You better. If you don't I'll kick your ass myself." They both chuckled, or at least Anko did, Naruto just vaguely shook his shoulders; he was still an ANBU after all.
"I'd like to see you try! Just because you've been on a training trip doesn't mean you're at my level yet." Anko raised an amused eyebrow, thankful for the diversion from her darkening thoughts.
"Big words. Care to back them up?" Naruto smiled broadly behind the mask as he picked up the pace slightly; using long strides that Anko couldn't quite match.
"If you think you can keep up." He immediately disappeared in a red blur with Anko hot on his heels in a leaf Shunshin that had a little extra impact than usual. The sound of her echoing laughter caused a few civilians in the street to turn their heads only to see the settling leaves in her wake.
Shisui sighed happily as he walked through the streets in the direction of his friend's house. He had just gotten back from a long mission outside of the village and it felt good to be out of his stifling uniform. He especially hated the mask; while his two best friends took quite well to the emotionless, stoic appeal of the ANBU, he wasn't quite as comfortable. He now had a better idea of why so few people did more than five years in the organisation; something like that for too long could mess with your head.
He entered Naruto's back garden through the side gate; he could usually find the redhead here either training or just enjoying the sun. He was surprised then to find his friend crouched in the centre of his training field in a ready stance, his eyes carefully scanning his surroundings. Shisui had no idea who he could be sparring with. Itachi was still on a mission and he only sparred with other ANBU operatives in their special training grounds.
Suddenly, four snakes erupted from the ground all around the redhead, immediately crashing into the lone Namikaze. Shisui was shocked for a moment, not understanding at all what was going on; at least until 'Naruto' burst into a cloud of smoke. Not soon after he heard a grunt of pain and a purple blur was thrown into the middle of the field from the tree line. He was even more shocked when the figure revealed herself to be Anko, an older Anko than the last time he saw her.
"Hey! You said you wouldn't use Shadow clones!" Shisui turned to see a chuckling Naruto emerge from the same area Anko had been thrown from. He was still wearing the standard ANBU uniform and body armour but had removed his tanto and mask.
"And the fact that you believed me shows you still aren't ready for me to take you seriously." He said it with a jesting smirk but Shisui could tell the comment got to Anko if her scowl told him anything. However it was immediately covered up with a devious smirk as she walked closer to Naruto. The redhead immediately tensed in a subtle way that would allow him to react to anything Anko threw at him. However he was definitely not expecting her to suddenly grab his shoulder and pull him towards her so she could plant her lips firmly on his own.
Both Naruto and Shisui could only stare, wide-eyed, as Anko deepened the kiss; the redhead's body went slack from the shock. That was the exact opportunity Anko used to squarely knee Naruto in the side making him double over in pain. She quickly flipped over his body, lashing out again with her foot to catch him on the other side before pulling him back and holding a kunai to his throat.
"Or maybe you're not ready for me to take you seriously if you'd fall for a ploy like that."
The redhead in her hold blinked one last time before gaining a smirk of his own.
"Wrong again." Anko cursed as once again the Naruto she had captured burst into a cloud of smoke. At this point Shisui was still not comprehending what was going on, his mind was having trouble rebooting.
"Anko?" The Kunoichi turned cautiously at the familiar voice before her eyes settled on one of her other friends.
"Shisui!" Said boy suddenly found himself in a bone crushing hug that actually lifted him off his feet for a moment before the overly-energetic girl set him down again and parted.
"Oh, are we done?" it was Naruto who spoke, emerging from the tree line again from a different position, as if he had been there the whole time. Knowing Naruto the way Shisui did, he probably had.
"Naruto? What's going on? When did Anko get back?" Naruto simply responded with a warm smile aimed at both of them.
"Come on, I'll explain it all inside." Shisui nodded dumbly before following the two of them into the house, the reason for him coming over completely forgotten.