Anko was surprised when Naruto, instead of taking her towards the village, began leading her towards the clan districts. She was doubly surprised when he finally led her to a small, but quaint two story home, hidden next to the Nara clan estate. Naruto just smiled at her as he unlocked the door, leading her through as she looked around in trepidation. Naruto caught her nervousness again and just patted her on the shoulder before moving through the house towards the kitchen.
"You wanted to eat right?" Anko just nodded with a small from as she took after the redhead, suddenly very curious about where he lived.
"Yeah but I thought you meant a restaurant or something." She heard Naruto snort from the kitchen and quickly walked through the door to already see him put a large pot on for boil.
"Why would I take you to a restaurant when I make the best ramen ever?!" Anko snickered at that, some of the tension easing form the air with the small boast.
"Isn't that a bit presumptuous?" Naruto turned around, blinking at the long word for a moment. His smile returned slowly, thinking he understood it.
"Kaa-san taught me the recipe and hers was the best ramen ever so naturally mine will be too!" He said it as though it should be obvious. In a weird way, the slightly twisted logic made sense to Anko's young mind. Naruto left the water on to boil as he sat down at the kitchen table, struggling just a bit to get onto the tall chair.
"She sounded awesome." Naruto nodded with a sad smile as he looked down at the table, noting some of the stains that littered the wood. He couldn't remember what each was from but he was sure it was probably a humorous moment when his Kaa-san found out about it.
"Yeah." He looked up suddenly, curiosity evident on his young face. "You're always talking about my parents, what about yours? I mean won't they be worried if you don't go home?" Anko looked away for a moment, her gaze just catching a photo on a shelf nearby. In it she saw a younger Naruto, maybe four years old, on a tall blonde man's shoulders she recognised as the former Hokage. To their left a kindly red-haired woman hugged her husband tightly, smiling at the camera with beautiful purple eyes, the same colour as Naruto's.
"I, I don't have parents; I never knew them." Naruto looked down sadly, his next question dying on his tongue as he looked across at the melancholic girl sitting next to him. "I was raised in the orphanage for as long as I can remember." Naruto looked away, idly checking on the boiling water before turning his attention back.
"But then why don't you-" Anko turned suddenly with a hint of anger, not aimed at Naruto though.
"No, I hate it there. The other kids are mean and bullies." Naruto went quiet again as Anko once again took to staring at the small framed photo, wishing that she could have memories like that.
"So who taught you how to fight?"Anko scowled at that, managing to tear her eyes away from the photo for a moment. Her eyes softened though when she just saw Naruto's genuinely curious expression; she was still shocked at just how genuine he could be.
"There was a boy, a few years older than us. He was at the orphanage as well; he was called Aoi. There were some kids picking on me because of my eyes so he beat them up." Naruto blinked at that, he couldn't see anything wrong with Anko's eyes, they reminded him of chocolate. "After that he taught me how to fight so I could protect myself; then he left, went to the academy and I never saw him again." Naruto nodded at that slowly, still trying to puzzle out the thing with Anko's eyes as he failed to prioritize in his mind.
"Ever since then the other kids just ignored me, treated me like I didn't belong just because I defended myself. The people who work there hate me as well, I can tell, they ignore me too and think I'm a bad influence on the other kids." Naruto wasn't quite sure what to say at this point, he couldn't imagine living like that, it seemed really lonely. Suddenly his eyes shot open wide and he nearly fell off his chair as he rushed over to the pot on the stove, now boiling over. He quickly adjusted it so it was on simmer before adding in the noodles and various vegetables for flavouring.
When he returned to the table Anko seemed pretty much back to her usual self, the sadness in her eyes gone, or at least hidden for now. Naruto didn't say anything, not wanting to upset the girl any more than he might have already. They stayed in silence for a little bit as Naruto continued to cook and Anko flitted her gaze between him and the photos dotted around the room. Finally when the ramen as ready Naruto lay it out on the table in front of Anko, giving the girl a small smile as he did so.
"Itadakimasu." Anko nodded back with her own fleeting grin before tucking into the steaming Ramen, her eyes immediately lighting up as she drank in the broth.
"Het, fis is reaggy goog!" Naruto chuckled as she returned to trying to eat the ramen as fast as physically possible, managing to get through it in an impressive time.
"Wow! If you think this is good just wait until I take you to Ichiraku's." Anko just nodded happily as she drank down the rest of the broth, smacking her lips loudly in satisfaction.
"If it's better than this, then I'm in!" Naruto chuckled again as he took her bowl, bringing it over to the sink where he could wash it up later. He turned back around with a smile and Anko suddenly looked very meek, her hands once again fiddling behind her.
"So umm, thanks for the food, I guess, I should, uhh, probably go then." Naruto cocked his head to the side ever so slightly as he gazed at her suddenly inverse attitude. He was amazed at how quickly she could go from a bubbly pile of energy to a meek little girl. He just stood there, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he looked between her and the door.
"Umm, you don't have to, I mean you could uhh stay here I guess; It's not like I have to ask my parents or anything." He chuckled lightly, blinking afterwards when he realised just what he said. Anko just looked startled, not really expecting anybody to ever be so kind to her.
"Really?" Naruto just nodded without really meaning to, his body just reacting automatically.
"Umm yeah?" In a flash so quick he though his dad was back, Anko was across the room, hugging him tightly with her head over one of his shoulders.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" Naruto stared blankly, frozen in the contact, completely unsure of what to do in this situation. Once again though he was reminded that Anko hadn't changed in two days as his nose was assaulted by the scent of earth and pine needles, as well as a few other less pleasant scents.
"But you umm, might want to take a shower." Anko immediately broke away, a huge blush staining her cheeks as she coughed into her hand nervously.
"Uhh right, sorry." Naruto led her to the bathroom where she quickly ducked in, still managing to maintain her slight blush the whole way there. Naruto laughed as he went back downstairs; scampering away to grab his scroll. He had left it absently in the hallway along the way. He sat at the kitchen table, eating the rest of his ramen calmly as he occasionally scribbled down a note in his scroll. By now he would usually be out doing his normal exercises but he supposed that could wait for a day, while he had a guest.
He heard Anko before she came in, the smacking of her damp feet against the tiled floor was a dead giveaway. However he wasn't expecting her to come down only wrapped in a towel, covering her almost like a full dress. She laughed excitedly with a hand behind her head, her eyes closed in a sheepish way as she motioned to the towel with her hand.
"I just remembered I don't have any other clothes." Naruto blanched, a strange blush spreading across his face before he beat it back, not even sure why it was there in the first place.
"O-Oh. Right. Umm, there should be clothes that fit you in the closet upstairs; my parents never threw anything out." Anko just nodded, still with her eyes closed in that strange smiling fashion that somehow managed to look cute.
"Thanks." She quickly spun on her heel as Naruto turned back to his scroll, but not before his eyes naturally gravitated toward Anko's retreating form. He shook his head wearily, the day just kept getting longer. Anko jogged back through the house, taking the steps two or three at a time as she quickly hurried into a large room with double bed. She figured it was probably Naruto's parents' based on the photos on the dresser. She opened up the large walk-in closet and was surprised by the mass of clothes she found.
Naruto was right when he said his parents never threw anything away; there were clothes that looked like they would fit them when they were kids her age. She saw a load of the same tracksuit that Naruto always wore and wondered briefly if they once belonged to his father. Her attention was quickly diverted when she spotted the large white coat hanging at the very end on the closet. She blinked in surprise as she gently trailed a hand down its silky material, ending at the red flame pattern at the bottom.
The Hokage had visited the orphanage a few times when she had been there and she had always been captivated by the coat. He always looked so confident, so powerful; it made her wonder if Naruto would be like that someday. She let it fall back onto its hanger as she took in the rest of the wardrobe. It was mostly Jonin outfits, a few flak jackets and some long dresses that had to belong to Naruto's mother. Finally she managed to find a long yellow shirt that acted as a dress as well. It wasn't really Anko's style but she didn't have anything else; she quickly slipped it on, tying it across with a light grey sash that seemed to go with it.
Finally, she looked at herself in the mirror on the door, turning to look at herself fully. She was fairly indifferent to the clothes, but they would do for now, at least until she got her own washed. She rushed back downstairs only to find Naruto in the exact same position as before, casually writing in his scroll. Knowing how good his ears were, she didn't even bother to try and sneak up on him. Instead, she just walked up behind him and peered over his shoulder. If Naruto minded the action he didn't show it, but inside he couldn't help but notice how nice Anko now smelt.
"Watcha doing?" Naruto just lifted the scroll slightly higher so that Anko could see it better however when she looked she just saw a bunch of seemingly random squiggles and the occasional annotation. "What are they?" Naruto put the scroll back down, putting away his ink brush as he rolled the scroll back up.
"Seals. My dad was a master in them. He had me practise my handwriting every day so that I could learn them as well. He told me to always have a scroll with me so that I could jot down anything that came to mind; he said it was how he first thought of the Hiraishin." Anko blinked at the unfamiliar word, looking between Naruto's neutral face and the scroll a few times.
"The Hirai-what?" Naruto's lips curled up into a small smile as he pushed off the chair, standing up next to Anko.
"The Hiraishin was my father's signature Jutsu, it allowed him to instantly move to anywhere he had placed a special sealing formula." His brow seemed to furrow in thought as he slowly moved into another room, carefully rummaging in a drawer before pulling out a strange-looking kunai. "Most of the time he used these" He pointed out the kanji wrapped around the hilt of the kunai "He would throw them to surprise his opponent then flash to it. He used the Jutsu to end the third Shinobi war, earning his nickname, the Yellow flash." Anko just listened in amazement, starting to realise just why the man had been elected Hokage.
"Wow, he sounds really smart." Naruto nodded with another sad smile as he replaced the kunai in the drawer.
"Yeah, but one day I'll figure out how he did it, something not even his teacher could do, then I'll make him proud by making an even better Jutsu!" In that brief moment Anko couldn't doubt Naruto for a second; despite his level voice she could feel he determination radiating off him in waves. He shrugged with a small smile, motioning to the scroll again "But until then, I have to work my way up from the basics like he did." Anko pouted at that, if there was one thing she didn't like - it was having to wait for something good - even if it was definitely worth it. However a smirk quickly replaced the pout as she looked at Naruto.
"Well just make sure you don't leave me behind when you become the fastest guy alive." Naruto's smile grew a bit as he laughed.
"Of course not. You're my friend aren't you? Come on, I'm used to training at this time, you can join me if you like." He smiled again and walked out the room towards the large open field out the back of the house. Anko just stood still, rooted in her spot as she let Naruto's words sink in. She had never had a friend before, at least not anybody who would openly say it like that. While her tone had been joking it was a genuine concern of hers; the only other person to ever show her any kindness had quickly abandoned her, thrown her aside to move on with their own life. She just didn't think she could go through that... again.
Realising she had zoned out a little and could hear Naruto calling her from outside, she quickly ran out, slipping on her sandals as she went. The two sparred for a while, Naruto testing out how effective Anko's Taijutsu was. It was an excellent style, if seemingly haphazard, unrefined and imbalanced. Despite her skill, due to his inherent speed, Anko was still unable to land a hit on him once. Even so, in that brief hour he managed to correct a few things that she had let develop into habits that would very well get her killed in a serious fight.
By the end, the purple-haired Kunoichi-to-be was panting and out of breath, while Naruto was only a little winded, his reactions slightly dulled. Usually, a session like that would have him feeling the same as Anko, but lately he had been less and less tired by what used to be exhausting. He looked down with narrowed eyes at his stomach, knowing exactly why that was. Anko caught her breath as she stood back up, sweat now soaking her clothes and slickening the hair that wasn't tied into her pineapple-styled ponytail.
"H-How come you aren't even tired?" Naruto just shrugged with a casual smile, for once not having to strain himself to do so. He always felt relaxed after a training session; it meant his mind was focused on one thing alone, keeping his thoughts from straying to the past.
"I'm just used to it I guess." Anko just nodded, too tired to argue with the explanation as she slowly walked back inside. She managed to catch a second wind as she straightened up, looking at Naruto curiously as he wiped of the small amount of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.
"So uhh, where can I sleep?" Like before, Naruto immediately froze, for some reason feeling incredibly awkward as he stood there and again not knowing why. Anko seemed to notice this and quickly clarified with a nonchalant shrug. "Like, I'm okay with the couch if you don't have room or anything." Naruto quickly shook his head, managing to push out a small smile.
"Umm no, we have a few beds or some fold-out futons." Recently he had just been sleeping in his parents' room, ignoring his old room in favour of the one that reminded him of his parents. Anko just nodded as Naruto led her upstairs again, this time in the opposite direction to the master bedroom and the bathroom. As the passed a slightly open room Anko peeked in subtly, noticing the colourfully painted walls and small but cosy crib set up in the corner.
Finally Naruto stopped at the end of the hallway, pushing open a door to a fairly plain, white-painted room with a single bed and a few unused shelves. It was a guest room for the times when his father would personally host a guest from another nation. As such the bed was suitably comfortable while the entire room maintained a very neutral atmosphere. To Anko though, when she compared it to the slightly dingy room that she shared with two other girls, it was like a small palace.
"You could sleep here if you want." Anko just nodded lamely before catching herself and smiling her usual bright smile.
"Umm... thanks. It's perfect." Naruto shrugged, still feeling slightly awkward about all this. He turned to leave and put Anko's clothes in the wash, but she quickly caught his hand before he could go. He turned, not quite sure what to expect; it certainly wasn't to be pulled into a brief but warm hug. He took a shallow breath, struggling to process a vague feeling inside him, once again finding himself in a situation he had no idea how to react to, twice in a day.
"Thank you for being my friend." Naruto just nodded mechanically, chuckling nervously, before Anko finally released him, disappearing into her own room with the smallest of blushes across the bridge of her nose. The redhead walked towards the bathroom in a daze, not realising the smile that had automatically found its way onto his face.
The next day found Anko, for once, waking up with a smile in a warm, dry bed to the smell of cooking drifting into her room. She rubbed her eyes, stretching out in the bed as she fought off the last vestiges of sleep, swinging her legs out of bed. To her surprise, she found her clothes neatly folded at the end of her bed, cleaned and dried by Naruto. She paused in surprise before slipping them on not having felt so clean and warm in a long time. She slipped on her sandals as sleepily made her way downstairs where she found Naruto calmly eating his breakfast, a bowl of rice and some Sashimi, with another place laid out next to him, obviously for her.
When he saw her come down he smiled in her direction before returning to his meal, reading through a scroll rolled out on the table next to his bowl. Anko just hesitantly sat down, once again kind of unsure how to take the small offering of kindness. In the end though her grumbling stomach won out and she hesitantly but happily tucked into the filling breakfast. When they were both finished Naruto stood up, grabbing his backpack off a peg in the hallway as he looked around at Anko.
"Umm, thanks for the clothes and stuff." The redhead just smiled and shrugged, making the young girl curious as to how he could be so off-handed about the kindness he showed her.
"No problem, it's what friends do right?" Not that either of them knew that, never having had a real person they could properly call a friend before. Naruto honestly didn't mind, having somebody around the house made it feel less empty and that worked for him. "Come on, we gotta get to the academy." Anko just nodded, glad for the distraction as she grabbed one of the bentos Naruto had prepared and followed him out of the house.
The day passed relatively quickly. A few people believed that was because Anko wasn't tying her hardest to annoy the teacher ceaselessly. In fact, the purple-haired girl was relatively subdued throughout the day, something their sensei was gracious for. She looked to be in thought during class, not about the boring lectures of course, but about a certain red-haired boy who she couldn't puzzle out. Itachi joined them at lunch again, surprisingly with Shisui in tow, the two Uchiha apparently having become easy friends since the other day.
Finally the day ended and reluctantly Anko returned to the orphanage, not accepting Naruto's offer to come around again. She wanted to, but it felt so wrong to be taking advantage of his hospitality; just to get away from her own problems. Naruto body seemed sluggish after that. He would have to go home to an empty house again. But, he managed to shrug it off as he jogged off towards the Uchiha compound, not forgetting his promise to Shisui. He knocked on the massive gate and waited for a few moments before a very unimpressed Uchiha opened it from the other side, casually observing the young boy with his Sharingan active.
"Yes?" Naruto gave his best respectful bow, just as his father had taught him before smiling lightly.
"I was invited to spar with Shisui." He made sure not to phrase it as anything remotely like a question and the man at the gate seemed to get that, moving aside for the boy to walk past.
"Shisui's home is the last one on the left down that road." He motioned in the correct direction before closing the gate behind Naruto, walking off without a second glance. Naruto gave him one more look before walking down the road he had motioned to, quickly finding the right house as he knocked on the door. He was greeted by a kindly, but somewhat tired-looking woman who took one look down at him, smiling instantly.
She had long black hair that fell about her shoulders in shiny waves, catching the weak sunlight that filtered through the trees in the area. Her eyes were the same black as most Uchiha but like Naruto had noticed earlier they had an unusual weight or burden to them. She looked well dressed and in shape leading Naruto to believe she was, or at least had been a Shinobi, probably retiring as his mother had to raise her family.
"You must be Naruto Namikaze, Shisui told me you might be coming over. Naruto quickly nodded with a small polite bow.
"Yes Uchiha-san." The woman smiled more fondly as she patted him on the shoulder.
"There's no need for that, please, Shisui is in the training ground around the back with his friend Itachi." Naruto smiled in thanks before following her finger and walking around the back of the house. He rounded the corner only to immediately dodge back lest he be incinerated by an enormous ball of flames that suddenly roared in his direction. He poked his head around the corner again with wide eyes only to see a sheepish-looking Shisui and a slightly amused Itachi.
"Sorry about that Naruto, I was just practising." Naruto just gulped as he nodded, having seen his brief life flash before his eyes; he hadn't eaten enough ramen.
"Uhh, no problem." Shisui smiled more brightly at that, motioning for Naruto to come over to where he and Itachi were standing together.
"Thanks for coming over. It's going to be good to have a sparring partner who doesn't know my every move." He purposefully looked at Itachi as he spoke causing the other boy to simply raise an eyebrow at the semi-accusation. Naruto nodded in agreement, he just thought it would be good to have a sparring partner, period. Until now, he'd had play-fights with his father who'd never really taken him all that seriously. It would be beneficial to have an actual spar with somebody else on, or at least close to his level.
"Do you want to start straight away?" Shisui nodded with a careful grin as Itachi quickly moved out of the way, he too wanted to have a spar with Naruto, but thought he would let his other friend go first. It intrigued him to see somebody defeat somebody like Shisui who had nearly as good a grasp on the interceptor style as he did. Both boys settled into the make-shift ring that was set up in the training ground, falling back into their individual stances.
The fight was relatively short, as was pretty much expected after Naruto's display in the academy. However, Shisui learned a lot from it. One thing he knew was that he seriously needed to activate his Sharingan to make his style as effective as it could be. Another was that Naruto didn't pull punches in a spar, ever; his aching ribs were pretty much testament to that. However, he was happy, hoping that he could learn from his defeats and better himself, as was the Uchiha way. He moved to the side, limping slightly from a particularly vicious kick from Naruto as Itachi took his place.
"If you don't mind, I would like to spar as well." Naruto just nodded with a small grin, feeling slightly confident after beating Shisui again. Like his other opponent, Itachi settled into his Taijutsu stance. Only, this time Naruto was surprised to see him shut his eyes calmly. He concentrated for a flash, opening them again, revealing a single-tomoe Sharingan rotating slowly. Naruto blinked, completely stunned. Only for Itachi to use that to his advantage, rushing forward and going in for a low sweep in order to take out Naruto's speed advantage early.
The redhead flipped back out of the way, using his hands to push off the ground to avoid the low leg only to get a surprise as Itachi spun again, this time pushing off the ground and catching Naruto with a harsh kick in mid-air where he couldn't dodge. Naruto was sent flying back but he caught the ground in time to land in a stable three-point stance, a grin now on his face as he held his ribs. This time he was to one to engage, feinting to the right only to duck down and try to deliver a fast uppercut to the Uchiha's chin.
Itachi pulled his head back at the last minute, flicking out his arm in order to catch Naruto's shirt so he could use his momentum to flip the other boy. However, his hands met only air before he felt Naruto slam into him from behind; this time he was the one to skid across the floor. Both boys stared at one another, one with a grin and the other with a reserved smile as they both straightened up. Shisui was amazed by what he had seen, or hadn't seen due to the speed Naruto was able to move at; he had never seen anybody land a hit on Itachi before.
The two boys traded a few more glancing blows, Itachi using his Sharingan to predict Naruto's fast movements while Naruto just used his speed to evade Itachi's counterattacks. It was fairly clear from an outsider's perspective that the boys were perfectly matched, neither gaining the upper hand on the other. Finally they both stopped, panting from the drawn out spar as they stared across at one another, both smiling from the good fight.
"Very impressive, your style seems to be able to find all the weaknesses in my own." Naruto just nodded as he straightened up, wiping a line of sweat from his forehead.
"Yeah, and your Sharingan's damn hard to get around, I can't wait to fight you when it evolves." Itachi just smirked; he shared that sentiment completely, as did Shisui. They were interrupted by slow clapping form behind them, all three boys turning to see an older man Naruto immediately recognised as the leader of the Uchiha clan. He looked a lot like an older Itachi with a more pronounced jaw and slight wrinkles around his mouth and eyes from age.
"Impressive Itachi, I'm proud that you have already advanced so far with your abilities." The younger Uchiha just bowed politely.
"Thank you father." Fugaku smiled and turned his attention to Naruto, his eyes narrowing slightly even though his smile didn't falter.
"You're Naruto, then. I remember seeing you when you were much younger, cradled in your mother's arms when she would visit my wife. I see a lot of your father in you, especially in your abilities and speed. The two of them wanted you and my son to be friends and it seems that had happened naturally without any intervention. I hope you can keep Itachi on his toes, as future clan heads you two need to be as powerful as you can be." Naruto nodded respectfully in the older man's direction, feeling like there was a more subtle message behind the polite words.
"Thank you Uchiha-san." Fugaku just nodded, turning his attention back to Itachi as he motioned with his hand.
"Come Itachi, I have a clan meeting and your mother needs you to watch Sasuke." Itachi nodded respectfully towards his father, smiling to Naruto and Shisui before following the man out. When the two boys were just alone Naruto heard Shisui let out a deep breath he had been holding.
"Jeez that guy always puts me on edge." Naruto chuckled as he turned back to who he was quickly understanding to be the lighter-hearted of his two new Uchiha friends.
"He seemed alright." Shisui just laughed as he walked back into the sparring ring.
"Try saying that when the guy could have you banished from the clan with your Sharingan sealed." Naruto blinked, wondering why somebody would ever have to have that happen. "Come on, my side feels better now, maybe this time I might be able to land a hit on you." Naruto took one last look in the direction Fugaku and Itachi had walked before turning around with a small smile.
"You can try."