Chapter 22

Her body felt heavy, every muscle felt strained and even the idea of moving caused her pain. Her sheets were soaked through but she was freezing and the splitting headache caused a ringing in her ears. None of that compared to what she saw in her sleep. For years, Anko hated no one more than she hated her sensei. She detested everything about the woman, the embodiment of everything evil about their world.

Now, she simply wanted to kill herself as the two years of missing memory returned. She was there, by her side. Taking part in the experiments, the torture and the needless bloodletting. If Orochimaru told her to burn down a village, Anko would do it because her sensei told her to. It was just that simply, her obedience was just that unthinking, reflexive even. Even when she had misgivings, even when the things she did made her sick she tried to hide it from Orochimaru. Anko never wanted her to think her apprentice couldn't keep up, didn't have the stomach for what was asked of her.

But she did eventually reach her limit, when asked to prepare a small child for an experiment, Anko broke down. She became a quivering mass and struggle to get out apologies in between her sobs. Orochimaru smiled and patted the girl on her head, telling her she didn't have to do it. The next day, Anko received the cursed mark and remembered nothing else until she was found by a Konoha strike team some time later.

She hated herself. Hated what she did. Hated why she did it. A small part of her even hated that her devotion wasn't appreciated but considered a detrimental feature. All she did to please that woman and she didn't even care.. Anko became a monster for a monster and was abandoned because of it. It was distressing how much that realization hurt, that it was all for nothing. That Orochimaru valued someone so unlike her in the red haired Uzumaki but disdained Anko.

It was a sad joke, she was a sad joke; a perfect intersection of tragedy and farce. Not good enough to be her student. Not debased enough to be her disciple. Not even worthy of killing. Just some toy Orochimaru tired of playing with and then abandoned.

Throughout her emotional turmoil she wasn't unaware that someone was in, she assumed, her apartment. She simply was in too much pain to care. Besides, she knew who it was and wanted to prolong the hateful bitch's gloating.

"Are you going to pretend to be asleep for much longer, Anko-chan?"

"I'd hoped you'd leave if I did." Anko said, Forcing herself to sit upright against her headboard. Her bedroom was pretty basic, containing her bed draped in dark purple sheets, a metal and glass top nightstand to her left and a chest of drawers on the right wall. Orochimaru was sitting at the end of her bed, keeping a keen eye on her former apprentice.

"So, is this your final joke? Let me hate you for years and then reveal I'm just like you?" Anko spat, tired of the woman watching her so intently.

"If you've gotten your memories back you know you aren't just like me. You were a little girl trying to please her sensei."

"I still did those things. Doesn't matter why, I did them. I'm no better than you and these people had reason to hate and reject me. They knew what I was."

"If that is who you were you'd still do those things but you don't. You didn't become like me and in that area you bested me." Orochimaru said and meant it. She realized she had taken advantage of Anko's admiration the same way Hiruzen had done to her. It was one of the few things she genuinely felt bad about.

"What do you mean?" Anko asked, not understand what the Sannin meant.

"Let's just say there is more to Hiruzen Sarutobi than you know and not all of it is good." Anko wanted to argue but reconsidered and let the matter drop, she was in too much pain for a unnecessary argument.

"Why did you remove the seal?"

"Because I want to make amends, Anko." The violet haired woman looked unconvinced. "I've been told to make amends but I agree. You've gone as far as you can with hating me as motivation. You may never forgive me but seeing as how I'm not going anywhere, I'm hoping you can move on."

Anko snorted and then grimaced in pain. She may hate the She demon but she was rational enough to admit said demon was right. She hadn't been advancing and on a purely skill level she was no more closer to killing her former sensei as she was to sprouting wings and granting wishes. It's not like she's never contemplated it before, just moving on with her life but there was an ache of injustice, scores unsettled that wouldn't allow her to.

"I can't make any promises. I've hated everything about you for so long but it seems what you did allowed me to not hate myself."

"Be thankful for small mercies."

"I'd be thankful for this pain to end. Did it really have to hurt this much?"

"Yes. Besides you're strong, you'll manage."

"Your bedside manner sucks."

"Kukuku."

Orochimaru left soon after. Whatever Anko and her relationship was to be, it'd take time though she highly doubt it'd ever be more than a resigned acceptance. She could live with that and Koharu couldn't claim she hadn't an effort. The woman got really, really unpleasant when she believed that.

The snake sannin decided to walk through the village. It was still quite early, the sun just peaking about the horizon. Not many people were out but those that were seemed conflicted on how to treat her. She could see the fear they had but there was also a layer of security, the villagers stood a little straighter because the legendary three had returned. If only they understood, she'd never make some grand effort to save a single one of them. Konoha had what she wanted, it remaining standing was the best path to her goals. If that should ever change, this place would burn and she'd not spare one thought to their suffering.

She shook her head when she noticed someone following her, poorly. As she made her way toward the last street before her residence said tag along finally appeared. A chunin, going by the vest with stringy, silvery chin length hair. The main looked familiar but she really was drawing a blank.

"Orochimaru-sama, if we could have a word," the man requested.

"And what can I do for you today, Chunin-kun?" she replied and saw the man bristle at the question and form a slight sneer. He recovered quickly to most but to her experience eyes, he might as well shout his emotions.

"Mizuki, Orochimaru-sama."

'Oh," she thought. It was the Chunin fuckup that couldn't even manage to do what she ordered Hinata to at a fraction of the age. It was a simple observe and report as she wanted multiple sources on the Uzumaki heir. She knew he'd be easy to manipulate, he wore his insecurities for all to see. Jealous, frustrated, self-entitled. It was nothing to give him a prototype curse seal but withhold the means to activate it. "Oh, of course. How could I forget, Mizuki-kun. How many I help you today?"

"Well, your agent said if I helped you I'd one day be granted access to incredible power."

Orochimaru had to suppress a sigh. This deeply uninteresting man was wasting her time, time she could be with Naruto-kun. He wasn't uninteresting, even just sitting and reading she could feel the ideas racing through his head and the palpable excitement at doing something new or finding a way to do an existing skill better. She idly wondered if she just killed this Chunin how many people would truly miss him. It would certainly be faster than this conversation.

She formed a smile, a great show at how to project emotions you decidedly weren't feeling as she was simply bored by this thing in front of her, "Kukuku, I recall ordering you to keep an eye on a certain student. From my other operatives, I was told you were negligent. Withholding instruction and other means to subtly sabotage his education."

"I just thought-"

"Kukuku. I did not order you to think, only obey. How can I reward you when you potentially derail my plans? You failed and it was due to factors outside of that pathetic academy you didn't cause any real damage."

"But he's the kyuubi!" he nearly shouted. She actually had to blink at that. Did this fool actually believe he was the kyuubi? Not even civilians believed he was the actual kyuubi. This conversation just got too stupid for her to devote any further attention to.

"That's idiocy and even if he were, I ordered you to chart his progress and report to me. You did not so you get nothing." she replied simply and Mizuki didn't bother to hide the sneer this time.

"I know things. I can tell Sandaime-sama how you gave me a cursed seal and told me to spy on the Kyuubi brat."

"Kukuku, and I'll tell him I gave it to you after you suffocated a comrade. Nothing will happen to me and you'll be executed. Which would save me the trouble of doing it myself so please, Mizuki-kun go run and tattle." She simply walked away after that, nothing more needed to be said. The Chunin instructor just stood there in silent fury at being dismissed and denied what he was owed. He promised he'd get her back one of these days.

Orochimaru continued back to her residence fully aware the idiot Chunin was likely making plans of revenge. She'd let him try, if for no other reason than the potential entertainment value. One must fend off boredom whenever they can. When she returned she was not at all surprised to see her student out back. He was in a red shirt with a white spiral on the back, black pants and sandals to match. Him being surrounded by ten shadow clones, each writing or sketching ideas was also not unique. However, the, she assumed, original squinting in frustration or extreme concentration was. She surmised it had to do with the sphere of water above his head.

She could see the beads of sweat on his forehead as he held his hands in the ram sign, breathing slowly. His concentration was broken when one clone shouted, "BOSS!" to get his attention, causing the condensed water to fall on his head, drenching him. The offending clone dispelled instantly, likely preferring it to more forceful alternative.

"Stupid clone. Stupid Nidaime. Stupid water manipulation! It couldn't have just been a high water affinity! Outside of primary and secondary, strength of affinities might not even be a thing, 'ttebayo!" Naruto had, for some time, attempted to recreate the Nidaime's method of water manipulation. He'd progressed to where he could feel the water in the air and even draw some of it to him to shape. It was minimal and taxing. The amount of water obtained for chakra used was highly unfavorable.

"The science isn't settled on if primary affinities are stronger or weaker in cross comparisons, Boss. If they aren't, it may be reflective on other aspects of chakra being measured, not strength of the affinity." One clone spoke. "Chakra paper may just be a significance test, telling the elements one's chakra is inclined toward but the strength of the reaction may mean very little."

"Especially if the chakra is untrained anyway. If someone can use fuuton jutsu then what may prevent them from using a level of said jutsu isn't due to the strength of the affinity. If you demonstrate a strong wind affinity but have the reserves of a genin you can't do S-rank jutsu. Reserves and capacity overrule it."

"Some people have inclinations toward various aspects of chakra, Boss, not just elemental affinities. We just don't test for them in any rationalized way. We see people struggle with ninjutsu and say they are a genjutsu type."

"Exactly, 'ttebayo! The Nidaime didn't have a stronger affinity for water, the idea makes no sense. How would you judge it? If we say it's because of how he wielded it in battle that's improper methodology. The reason is circular, we know the Nidaime had a 'strong' water affinity because he had a strong water affinity. Outside of his method of taking water from the atmosphere why else is he said to have such a strong affinity?"

"He could do the [Water Dragon Jutsu] with one hand seal" another clone spoke.

"Yea, but much of the difficulty of that jutsu is about shape manipulation. We've managed to half the required hand seals after we learned the rasengan." Another clone added.

"That's true, it's one of the reason doton jutsu tend to have fewer hand seals. The element is inherently more stable, creating a shape out of it is just more straightforward." said an additional clone.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, fellas. Let's go back to first principles. What are the elements to jutsu?" the original asked.

"Nature and shape." the clones chorused.

"But not just that." One clone said after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, it's nature and shape. That holds true for ninjutsu and genjutsu but they aren't the same. And it wasn't only the water dragon that got easier after we learned the rasengan. Our genjutsu got a little more manageable as well."

"That could just be due to an increase in chakra control." said one of the shadow clones.

"Yea, except we weren't only learning the rasengan around that time."

"How would the [Edo Tensei] have-"

"It wouldn't have. It's what we did before then."

"Yin and yang." Original Naruto responded with a glint of understanding. "We were able to feel, at least a little better the balance of yin and yang in our jutsu. Ninjutsu tends to favor yang, genjutsu jutsu tends to favor yin; iryo ninjutsu is likely the most balanced of the two. Maybe… maybe that's how. He somehow could use higher concentrations of yang chakra in his suiton ninjutsu and it improved the conversion rate, making it possible to do high level jutsu with the water molecules around him." Naruto finished only to hear clapping coming from behind him. The clones turned as well, none realizing they had an audience, too focused on their discussion. They collectively rubbed the back of their heads, sheepishly.

"Hi, shishou" they said and she laughed.

"Good morning, Naruto-kuns. I see we're making some breakthroughs this morning." she spoke, earning a series of smiles. "You know, some say the reason the Shodai was able to wield the mokuton was not simply because of his affinities for doton and suiton but also the high concentration of yang chakra. Some call it the life element." She thought the look of utter amazement in the face of her student to be adorable. Naruto quickly formed a [Yang Style: Shadow Clone] and it began trying to draw water out of the atmosphere. It got splashed immediately and broke into a similar tirade.

"I hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, you aren't. They were actually working on a different project before I distracted them."

"And what are they working on, maybe I can be of service."

"Oh, we got to know Hyuuga Hinata-san yesterday and apparently she's an archer. How cool is that?"

"Yes, quite cool." Orochimaru said with no enthusiasm at all. Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"But she only uses plain arrows. When I asked what they could do she seemed confused. So, we went to dinner last night and exchanged some ideas. I'm just having my clones go over some sealing arrays."

"Leave it to an Uzumaki to turn to fuinjutsu, I suppose. What are some of your ideas?"

"Well, one was a knockout arrow but instead of a poison or electric shock I was trying to translate my [Ninja Art: Chirp] into an array."

"I didn't know you'd gotten it down enough to attempt that." Orochimaru asked as she quirked her brow. She'd heard Naruto complain several times about his super sonic chakra technique being near impossible to form into an actual jutsu. The only one he'd managed was a high pitched sound that caused the target to go unconscious. The jutsu had two issues. One, it was used in conjunction with his sword so it couldn't require hand seals. Secondly, he had difficulty limiting the range with any precision. Since he'd seemingly stalled she hadn't asked about it but it appeared that the Hyuuga heiress provided some inspiration. The White Snake didn't like that; not even a little and made note to visit Hinata.

"I had some clones perfecting it last night so I've finally got the control I need."

"Well done." she said while gentle stroking his cheek, causing him to admit a very low purr.

"That never happened, 'ttebayo." the rookie Chunin exclaimed in embarrassment.

"We'll see but I make no promises."

"Moving on, there were talks of exploding arrows. Lightning and wind coated arrows. Arrows that had sound dampening seals on them so they wouldn't alert the intended target and even arrows that released a poison fog but I ran into a complication with that."

"What complication?"

"Well, I don't actually know what kind of poison the [Poison Mist] jutsu releases. And that got me thinking, can it be changed to different kind of poisons? It's really more a gas anyway so can we create a jutsu to mimic other gases? Imagine, your target is in a locked and poorly ventilated room so you fill it with a concentration of carbon monoxide. One that dissipates soon after?"

"Hmm, that is a very good idea. I think I might have to run some experiments myself, I can't let my rival eclipse me so easily," Orochimaru said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, squinting and leaning his head to the right.

"You didn't think I'd simply allow you to be known as Konoha's greatest jutsu creator without some competition did you? But, I like this idea. I'll see if I can isolate the properties in that jutsu and we can go from there. I'd suggest you focus on your water manipulation."

"Any particular reason, Shishou?"

"To stick it to Hiruzen, of course. My student, mimicking one of the crowning achievements of his beloved Sensei. Something even the Professor hasn't managed. Oh, turning that knife will be mmmh, words can't describe."

Naruto, having no words of response went back to work.