Naruto almost couldn't believe he was doing this. He was sitting on a tree branch that overlooked a small clearing, silently staring. Anko was tumbling down the tree or blasting herself off it - chips of bark flying as she careened into the dirt below. Naruto remembered his own training to do just this a few months ago with his mother and dropped from the branch into a crouch before standing up and walking over.
"You're still putting too much chakra into it," he droned. Anko just huffed from her position lying on the floor; from here she could look straight up into Naruto's long face. She once again noted that his voice held no condescension or arrogance; he was just stating a fact. It was a little infuriating because it meant she couldn't criticise him, although that didn't stop her from trying.
Her cheeks puffed, "What's your point?" she grumbled. Naruto raised an eyebrow but his eyes showed no amusement at the statement. The purple-haired girl who just couldn't understand him, glared; his stony tone bothering her. Naruto sighed again as he looked between her and the tree. The way his father taught him wasn't going to work here. He offered out a hand and to his surprise, Anko took it, still out of breath from all her previous attempts. He pulled her up, the girl standing with a grunt.
There was a brief pause as Naruto dwelled on his thoughts.
"Lie down next to the tree." He instructed. Anko looked at him questioningly, wondering why he had suddenly changed his method of teaching.
"Finally admitting you were wrong?" she glowered. Naruto just gazed at her emotionlessly, making the girl take half a step back, her open palms rising up in placation.
"No, it's just people learn differently. It's obvious that the way my father taught me isn't going to work for you." Anko's lips came firmly together, slurring into a frown at that. She complied begrudgingly, lying down with her feet against the trunk.
"Now what?"
Naruto just motioned to the tree, staring at her with a slackened expression.
"Now apply an even layer of chakra to the soles of your feet and begin to take small steps upwards. If you feel yourself slipping just adjust your control and try again." Anko nodded as her tongue suddenly emerged from her mouth, Naruto had noticed she did that whenever she was concentrating really hard. It was certainly different to her attitude in class. Anko began to slowly walk up the tree, using her hands to support herself on the ground until she felt confident enough to let go.
She felt her grip loosening and quickly applied more chakra, only to have put too much in forcing her to brace her hands to stay on. In a second though she got the right mix and held it as best she could, a small smile spreading over her features as she hesitantly took her hands off the ground.
"Hey Fishcake, I'm doing it." Naruto twitched at the nickname but stayed quiet all the same, watching her as she slowly took one step, then another. He could see she was visibly straining her core muscles in order to stay horizontal but some additional training and general growth would fix that. "So um, speaking of your dad, don't you have to get back home or something?" Anko blinked when she didn't get a reply; looking around she saw that Naruto had vanished.
"Hey Naru-oof!" She suddenly lost her grip on the tree and fell a good three feet to land squarely on her back with a small gasp. She got up unsteadily with a groan and looked around the clearing; sure enough Naruto had gone. The girl just blinked as she glanced around, now suddenly alone in the training ground. "Something I said?"
The next day Naruto was one of the first into class again. He sat down in the same spot again and quietly waited for the rest of the students to arrive. This time though he had a small scroll laid out on his desk and every so often he would make a note of something. He continued to get strange looks from his young classmates, at least the ones who bothered to look his way anyway. To anyone else it simply looked like he was doing homework, even though they hadn't been assigned any.
He also noticed he wasn't the only one wrapped up in individual study, the same black-haired pale-faced boy he had noticed yesterday was calmly reading through a scroll at the same desk. Naruto ignored him for now, just like he did everybody else. Except until Anko burst into the room, barely on-time for class. It was hard not to pay attention to her. Somehow, she managed to look even more tired and dishevelled than yesterday.
She was wearing the exact same shirt. He was positive of that. She hadn't actually changed clothes since yesterday, familiar grass stains all over the back of it.
Granted, he was wearing the same tracksuit as before, or at least of the same style, it turned out his father had a lot of them in his wardrobe. He shut his eyes for a moment, going through his parents' room had brought up a lot of memories for him. He had broken down. Crying for all of last night, for the first time since their deaths; the gripping visions vividly haunting his senses. He felt refreshed today though, a lot better than he had before. He supposed he just needed to let out some emotions he didn't even know he had kept bottled up. He opened his eyes only to see Anko sitting next to him again, grinning happily as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"I did it."
Naruto raised an eyebrow while at the same time taking in Anko's appearance again. This close he could in fact confirm she had not changed her clothes since yesterday, she stunk of the forest and damp earth.
"Did what?" Anko just blinked at him before sticking her tongue out childishly, the action was so unbefitting of somebody wanting to become a Shinobi that Naruto nearly smiled at it.
"I walked up the tree," she declared. Naruto just nodded slowly as he turned back to face the slightly flustered teacher that had just entered the class.
"So you'll be eating with me again then?" Anko just nodded with a shit-eating grin that clearly told him she would, it caused him to sigh, yet at the same time... he couldn't fight the tingle in his cheeks. His self-imposed isolationism had already begun to get old and he was warmed, yearning for the company. As strange as Anko was, it wasn't unpleasant to be with her.
"Of course Fishcake-sensei." she murmured with a goading smile. Naruto blinked at that but didn't turn, not allowing Anko to see the hint of a smile that quirked up his lips. The rest of the morning passed slowly. The redhead listened to what the teacher said while occasionally making notes of his own in his scroll. Anko was, well, Anko; she proceeded to piss of their teacher as much as physically possible - starting up cruel a game of 'dodge the eraser'. The rest of the class, save a select few, seemed to find her antics just irritating; teacher included.
One girl on one of the front benches laughed every time Anko would dodge the soft, chalk-stained projectile which earned her a few harsh glares from the teacher at encouraging the purple menace's behaviour. Naruto took a moment to look at her, long brunette hair that flowed down her back like a wave, pale skin and the two red triangular markings on her cheeks that marked her as an Inuzuka. Minato, as Hokage, found it very important that Naruto be knowledgeable about all of the major clans in Konoha, it was important he didn't embarrass himself in a social situation, not that it mattered in the end.
Other than that, the morning passed on without problem. Like clockwork, as soon as they were dismissed, he vanished from the room in a barely-visible blur of red. When Anko chased him outside she saw him scaling the side of the building, almost taking lazy steps to walk up without problem. Tentatively she placed her feet on the wall, remembering everything the redhead had taught her yesterday as she slowly, but eagerly, scooted her way up the academy wall.
A few kids stopped to watch her with amazement but she ignored them, focusing on the chakra flowing to her feet, keeping it even as she made her way up. Finally she was able to walk over the edge of the roof where a quiet Naruto was calmly eating from his bento. She was a little irritated that he didn't even mention the fact she had successfully walked up the wall, like it didn't matter. She sat down next to him in a huff, not even bothering to strike up a conversation as he just continued to eat.
Naruto looked around, wondering why Anko hadn't started pestering him for something yet. He noticed she didn't have any lunch in front of her. Thinking she probably forgot it in her haste, he offered up his opened bento to her. Anko just stared down at the offering for a moment, blinking in surprise at the kind action that had no apparent prompt to her.
"Why?"
Naruto gazed at her with inquisitive purple eyes, he was just doing what he thought was right. His mother had always stressed the importance of equality while his father had always imposed the importance of working together.
"I have food and you don't. It just seems like the right thing to do." Anko stared at him a moment longer before picking up one of the rice balls. She raised it to her lips but paused before she bit in; Naruto just looked at her with the smallest of smirks. "What? It's not poisoned or anything." Anko frowned and bit onto the rice ball, smiling as she enjoyed its home-cooked taste. She finished it quickly, much to Naruto's mutual shock and mild amusement before licking her fingers clean.
"Thanks for that." she mumbled. Naruto just nodded as he returned to his own meal
"No problem." The roof quickly returned to some semblance of silence.
"Why are you being nice to me when all I do is bug you?" Naruto looked around; they had managed to stay quiet for almost five minutes before Anko finally spoke up again.
"What do you mean? Like I said it's just what I think-" Anko looked at him sternly, the look unbecoming, his red brows raising nervously in confusion at her.
"I mean why do you even let me hang out with you? Why bother training me? I'm sure you had family to go home to yesterday, wouldn't they be worried if you stayed out just because of me?" Naruto went very quiet as he turned away from Anko, staring out over at the kids talking and playing or eating lunch down on the ground.
"My parents died in the Kyuubi attack." Anko went quiet as well, her mouth opening and closing rapidly without really knowing what to say.
Her lips fumbled, "I'm sorr-" But Naruto raised a hand, waving off her apology quickly.
"Don't bother, it gets really sickening after a while. Having everybody's pity..." he trailed off, "You didn't know. So don't worry about it." He chuckled, a relatively humourless laugh but it was better than anything else he had managed in the last few days. If he had been looking at himself then he would have been amazed that he could even manage a laugh at this point. "I don't know, having you around just makes it, less lonely I guess." He laughed dryly again as he turned, his hand rubbing the back of his head as he offered the first genuine smile Anko had seen so far, even if it was only small.
"I guess that sounds pretty sad huh?"
Anko quickly shook her head, not wanting to upset Naruto any more than she already might have. He laughed again as he settled back on the roof, looking up at the sky with clearer eyes than he had for a while. He felt a tiny bit of that weight that settled over his chest lighten as he looked up.
"You manage to fill a silence pretty well."
Anko smiled at that, until she got the hidden message and promptly punched Naruto in the arm.
"Ow." He said it fairly flatly, not having actually felt the punch compared to what his mother would dish out when he got especially cheeky. Anko just smiled that sickly-sweet smile she could do, the one that looked innocent enough but was clearly a sign of her growing irritation. Naruto laughed it off, suddenly something he could do with relative ease again. "Thanks for that." Anko turned, looking at the redhead curiously with a cocked brow.
"For punching you?" Naruto nodded with the barest hints of a smile as he returned his gaze to the ground.
"Yeah, people have been treating me like glass ever since Kaa-san and Tou-san died, I'm sick of it. At least you don't tiptoe around everything like I might break or something." He turned, his smile growing ever so slightly.
"It's refreshing."
Anko nodded stiffly, looking down at her hads in thought, maintaing a neutral quirk in her lips, which Naruto didn't seem to mind at all.
"Any time." Naruto chuckled emptily again as he straightened up, feeling a lot better, at least until he caught somebody on the periphery of his senses.
"It's rude to eavesdrop on people you know." Anko just looked around curiously, wondering who Naruto was talking to. It was answered when a tall black-haired boy dropped down behind them, gazing at them almost as dispassionately as Naruto.
"Apologies, I didn't mean to intrude on anything." Naruto turned, noting that it was the same boy he kept noticing in the classroom, probably an Uchiha by his sharp eyes and even sharper hair.
"Hey, it's a free roof." The boy just smirked briefly as he sat down on the opposite side of Naruto to Anko.
"So it is. You're Naruto Namikaze, correct?" Naruto just nodded, continuing to pick at his bento without much enthusiasm. "My mother asked me to look out for you." He reached behind himself and pulled out a spare plastic container with a lunch in, holding it in front of her. "Apparently she and your mother were friends, she asked me to give you this but it appears you already have a lunch." He blinked suddenly as the food disappeared from his hands.
"I'll take that then, thank you." He blinked again, looking around at Anko who now happily began to eat away at the free food before chuckling himself.
"Your friend is quite forward." Naruto smiled across at the black-haired boy.
"Tell me about it." That earned him an elbow in the ribs as Anko continued to happily tuck into the food. The new boy just stuck out his hand which Naruto quickly took, never one to be rude thanks to both his parents' lessons.
"Itachi Uchiha." Naruto smiled and nodded as they shook.
"I thought as much." Itachi just nodded as he began to eat his own food making Naruto curious as to why he wasn't eating with his own friends. He shrugged it off though, as Itachi leant back, this time with his attention on Anko.
"I saw you scale the building, quite impressive. Who taught you how to do that?" Anko grinned cheekily as she wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder, an action he didn't mind in the slightest, smirking.
"Fishcake-sensei of course." The nickname on the other hand, he could live without. He blanched. Itachi just smirked amusedly at the pair, chuckling to himself as he ate the rest of his meal quickly.
"I should have expected as much from a Namikaze, or an Uzumaki for that matter." Naruto smirked wide, in a challenging way. The boy raised himself to his feet. Anko on the other hand just seemed confused as she looked between the two.
"Am I missing something, what's so special about the name Namikaze?" Itachi's flat expression morphed into one of disbelief. His brows raised high, wandering thoughts lingering on how she didn't know seem to know the most obvious things; then again the Uchiha had always impressed the importance of knowing everybody who they deemed 'mattered' in the village.
"Well for one they were a founding clan of the village and secondly it was the family name of our late fourth Hokage." Anko quickly spat out the rest of her mouthful over the edge of the building in surprise, unknowingly covering the teacher below them in half-chewed rice.
"You're the Hokage's son?!" She pointed a finger at Naruto as she blinked in shock, Naruto on the other hand just sighed as he gently brushed her almost accusatory hand to one side.
"Was the Hokage's son; he's dead remember?" His tone was a bit icier than usual and Anko noticed, remembering back to when he had talked about people treating him differently. She chuckled sheepishly as she playfully punched him on the arm.
"Yeah well I could still beat you down." Both Naruto and Itachi shared a look in surprise at the sudden turnaround, but Naruto quickly smiled, a small sigh of relief passing through his mind. The three of them stayed up on the roof until their lunch break finally ended, quickly being herded in with the rest of the students.
Naruto took his seat in class. He wasn't too surprised when Anko snagged a seat beside him. He did pause dramatically when Itachi took the other adjacent seat. He blinked in mild surprise, wondering when he started attracting people like a magnet. Class dragged on for another hour until the teacher finally stood up, smiling for once.
"Right! We're going to go out into the training field and have brief spars just to get an idea of where you're all at. That way we know what you need improvement on or we need to focus on more. We'll have sessions like these once a month until your full Taijutsu lessons come into play next year. Of course any students who have personal Taijutsu styles from family or clans - oh and self-taught styles too - are fully welcome to use those times to study or practise." One kid on the second row put up his hand a little angrily.
"Hey, how is that fair that they get special Taijutsu styles and the rest of us just get the Academy taught one?" The teacher raised an eyebrow at this, clearly irritated by the question.
"There is a reason we teach this style of Taijutsu at the academy, it is flexible. Many of the Jounin you will see out in the village use the very style we teach here, tweaked of course to better suit their skills. However if you must know one of the most powerful and highly praised Taijutsu styles to come out of Konoha, the Goken, was created by a student no older than yourself, self taught from scrolls in the library. You are more than welcome to try and replicate the feat if you are so inclined." The student quickly sat back down, now a little embarrassed as evidenced by his red face.
"Alright now if we all will come outside." All the students in the class suddenly braced for the sudden gust of wind they were expecting as Naruto exited the class. However, all looked around in bated breath to see him sitting still with his arms crossed over his chest.
"What?"
Everybody blinked simultaneously, some sharing a laugh. It was an amusing sight when they were all staring at the same boy. Naruto just followed along quietly as the class filed out of the building into the small training ground out the back of the Academy. He sat on the farthest side of the bleachers, barely paying attention as various kids were called up to spar against one another. Most of the time it was pitiful at best; kids that didn't know the difference between throwing a punch and flailing an arm.
Finally he watched with some curiosity as Anko was finally called up to fight against the brown-haired girl he had observed earlier. They took their stances and Naruto noted that Anko's form actually looked half-decent even if the other girls' seemed more honed; most likely due to the fact it had been tested out through countless battles with members of the Inuzuka clan. Anko offered up a cheeky smirk as she leaned back slightly on one foot, putting all her weight backwards. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the strange and risky tactic, wondering what it would accomplish.
He got his answer as Hana shot forward, typical of their style she rushed in without really thinking about the consequences. Her speed was impressive, especially for a fresh academy student, but even so Anko seemed prepared. At what looked like the last possible moment she managed to pivot on her back foot, swinging out of the way of the sloppy frontal assault. She quickly capitalised on her opponent underestimating her as she carried through with her momentum, completing her spin by bringing her elbow down on the Inuzuka's back.
The girl was instantly floored, crumpling up onto the ground with a jolted groan. But she quickly recover, rolling forward. She gracefully curled back up onto her feet with a determined look. Naruto was surprised by the seemingly uncoordinated yet efficient strategy that Anko achieved. Maybe he had been a bit quick when he so easily dismissed her hollow jibe at beating him. It continued in this strange manner for a minute or two, the girl would launch fast, but sloppy frontal attacks on Anko who would counter without ever moving her weighted foot.
Finally, the Inuzuka seemed to twig what her opponent was doing and in a surprising display of tactics, she readjusted her attacks. Suddenly spinning to one side as she ran forward, she launched a leg forward past her crafty opponent, intent on sweeping out Anko's leg with a battlecry. The purple-haired girl just smirked as she used her other leg to swing up, using that momentum to carry through, flipping her body around and delivering a harsh but effective axe-kick to the other girl's face. The Inuzuka went spinning out of the small ring the teachers had set up, dazed, while Anko casually strode out.
The teachers failed to hide their slack-jawed, shifty-eyed gazes at one another. It was damn-near unheard of for a civilian to defeat a clan heir in pure Taijutsu, especially this early on in the academy. Naruto just found himself smiling as Anko strode over; plopping herself down next to him with a look that said 'beat that'. They had to wait another few matches, some more interesting than others, before Itachi's name was called up followed by a civilian trainee.
It was barely worth being called a fight; the boy just rushed the more stoic Uchiha, hoping to get in a lucky hit early on. Itachi simply waited for him to get close, diverted his barely coordinated punch away and delivered a quick but brutal open-palmed strike into the boy's chest. Needless to say the boy was sent flying out of the ring while Itachi walked back over to the stands to sit next to Naruto and Anko. Many of the teachers were a little disappointed, hoping to see a proper Uchiha fight; many now looking out for any decent candidates for Itachi to spar with next time.
A few more fights later and Naruto was finally called up, apparently the last spar of the day. Surprisingly his opponent was another Uchiha, a boy with short and unruly black hair called Shisui. They both entered the ring, settling back into their desired Taijutsu stances which made many of the teachers widen their eyes. A few of them blinked at Naruto, instantly recognising his father's personal style, built around the Namikaze's legendary speed. Shisui just settled into the typical Uchiha interceptor stance as Naruto cocked his head to one side.
"You know that style is much more effective with the Sharingan." Naruto stated clinically. Shisui offered small smile in return, not rising to the jibe.
"I have to make do until it surfaces, until then it has proven effective enough."
Naruto just nodded with a small shrug as neither opponent moved; the inevitable problem arising when two Taijutsu styles built around counter-attacking meet. Naruto decided to get things moving considering the only disadvantage he had with his style was that his body wasn't at its peak speed yet. He moved forward, pressing off his dominant leg as he flashed across the small arena in a blur of red. Many of the students and even some of the teachers were left speechless from the display of speed.
Naruto quickly unleashed a small but efficient sweeping blow to Shisui's left side, hoping that it was the boy's weaker side. He was wrong though and even without his Sharingan the inherent reflexes honed by training allowed the Uchiha to divert the blow from his body before counter attacking with a higher punch aimed at Naruto's head. The Namikaze couldn't bite back a smile, finally allowing his style to come into its own.
The whole concept of the Taijutsu style was to be faster that your opponent, allowing you to first predict their attack, much like the interceptor style. However unlike the Uchiha's patented style his did not work by diverting attacks followed by counter attacking. Instead the idea was to attack while your opponent was still attacking, strangely more of an interception that it's Sharingan-reliant counterpart.
He demonstrated this quickly as he moved his body out of the way of Shisui's precisely aimed, but too slow punch. He quickly brought his own arm up, landing three successive blows along the boy's arm at the wrist, elbow and shoulder consecutively. While Shisui was caught off guard by the attack, he swung around, delivering a powerful kick faster than most could follow to the boy's chest. He was sent skidding back, but not quite out of the arena as a small smile appeared on the Uchiha's face.
"Impressive."
Naruto just nodded politely, his opponent's style was also nothing to be laughed at, even if it wasn't complete. If he was any slower the fight would be swinging the other way for sure and there would be nothing he could do about it. Deciding to finish it quickly as not to be upstaged by Anko, he rushed forward, dissolving into a bur of red. He span mid-stride, looking as though he was going to deliver a spinning kick to Shisui's chest again only to suddenly drop down onto his back, spinning on the ground until he thrust upwards, catching the Uchiha in the chin.
Shisui was finally sent flying out of the arena, not injured very badly but that wasn't the point of the exercise so Naruto didn't have to do any more. If the students watching weren't startled before then they were now, even a few of the teachers were quieted by the performance. Most were writing off Naruto as a Genin already, easily if his other skills matched his incredible Taijutsu. That wasn't to say they weren't also impressed with Shisui but without really seeing more of him fighting they couldn't be sure of his skill-level.
Naruto walked over and offered a hand to the dark-haired boy who smirked and took the offered hand, letting the redhead pull him to his feet. They were done for the day so the teachers just let them leave and Naruto was about to go home when a hand caught his shoulder. He spun, only to see the smiling face of Shisui staring at him kindly.
"Hey, you want to train some time? It's so hard to find a good sparring partner when everybody you train with has the same style." Naruto paused for a moment in surprise; he had never really been invited to do anything before.
"Uhh, sure I guess." Shisui just smiled in response and he waved goodbye to Naruto and walked off.
"Alright, I'll meet you at the Uchiha compound tomorrow night then?"
Naruto just nodded lamely as Shisui ran off, Itachi in tow as they both headed back to their homes. Naruto noticed the grounds had pretty much been vacated except for Anko who stood off to one side, smirking at him deviously.
"What?" Naruto gawked. Anko just shrugged innocently her face turning into a mask of barely hidden amusement.
"Nothing, just noticing for somebody so cold you seem to be attracting a lot of friends." Naruto just chuckled, she wasn't the only one who had been noticing; it seemed the more he wanted to be left alone the more people seemed to flock to him.
"I'm not that cold am I?"
Anko just chuckled as she moved closer, mischief glimmering in her eyes.
"Of course not. Anyway, what's on tonight's agenda, Fishcake-sensei?" she whispered conspiratorially. Naruto grimaced at the still irritating nickname before his own curious look graced his features.
"And who do say you needs training? I saw you fight that Inuzuka, you've obviously been trained by somebody." Anko raised an eyebrow at the implication as she crossed her arm over her currently non-existent chest.
"And what if it's all self-taught?" There was a chuckle from Naruto, genuinely this time, "Then I think I should be the one asking for training." Anko just snorted, her harsh attitude melting as quickly as it had formed as she uncrossed her arms again.
"As if! You have all those fancy family moves." Naruto just shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing completely as he began to walk off in the direction of his home. "Oh, are you going home already?" Naruto turned with a slightly bemused expression.
"Uhh... yeah. Why? Aren't you?" Anko seemed nervous about something, even if she was trying to hide it well; her hands were fidgeting behind her as she looked away from him.
"Oh, uhh, sure." She made a turn to leave and Naruto grimaced, getting the idea that she didn't really want to go home at all. He fought with it for a moment as Anko continued to walk away, far too slowly to be at all eager about where she was going.
"Hey Anko, do you want to go and get something to eat or something?" Anko spun on a heel, obvious surprise on her face as she looked at Naruto, taking in his slightly concerned expression.
"Umm, Okay." She quickly hurried back over but for good measure punched him in the arm lightly. "If you insist, I mean jeez." Naruto chuckled but it didn't stop his eyes from furrowing into a frown as he led Anko away from the academy. She would talk about inane things as they walked but even so he still caught the signs of nervousness that slowly eased the more they talked.