Chapter 2: Play Pretend and Tea Parties

A/N- Just to clarify; In After the Rain Naruto was born a girl, is a girl and will continue to be a girl throughout the story. There was no gender switch at any point. Just de-aging.

Chapter Two – Play Pretend and Tea Parties

"No, you don't get it, that's why I'm telling you. You think you get it, which isn't the same as actually getting it. Get it? - Hatake Kakashi

One Legged Parade was located on the west side of Konoha and was a road leading all the way from the main street to the west side gate of the village border.

The street had originally been named after an incident many years ago before the Akimichi clan had settled in Konohagakure.

One of their clan members, Akimichi Cho, had jumped all the way from a battlefield close to the desert of Sunagakure on his only remaining leg to get help to save his family who'd been taken hostage.

It was said he came through the west gate and made his way through the main street without being stopped. Everyone who saw him felt pity for his injuries, so they let him through. There he jumped straight into Senju Hashirama, better known as the First Hokage, who agreed to help free his clan.

With the help of the Nara and Yamanaka clans they successfully rescued his family from a rival clan, that no one today recalls the name of, and the Akimichi as a result settled in Konoha. Cho was without a leg, but miraculously still survived even after the immense amount of blood loss from getting it chopped off.

To this day, the Akimichi still lived on the west side along the street, and everyone born within the clan has heard the story in greater detail.

Here was also the entrance to the Nara clan compound, but the majority of the inhabitants of the west district were still civilians. The only two clans living in the area were peaceful ones, and the civilians were rarely woken up during the night from ninjas jumping across their roof or random brawls.

This also happened to be the location of Konoha's Orphanage home.

After three days of travelling, mostly by getting a piggy back ride from Jiraiya to increase their speed, they had arrived on a sunny Wednesday at noon. Naruto had been in Konoha for about two days in the custody of Jiraiya before being granted citizenship as an orphan resident of the Village Hidden in Leafs.

And this meant she was back in this kami awful building, which often came up in Naruto's less pleasant dreams from her childhood.

When she had actually been a child the orphanage had been a place of loneliness, relentless bullying and many days with little to no food. They had never bothered to care for her enough and she had remained the smallest of her age group for her entire stay.

Naruto had been given an apartment when she turned eight. It was after the ANBU discovered that she had been starved for two days with only water to keep her alive. She didn't remember it all that well anymore, but she'd gotten into a fight with a boy a year older and the isolation was her punishment.

As she watched her could-have-been godfather leaving the outdoor grounds from her window, Naruto wondered how it would be this time around. It couldn't possibly be the same since no one knew she was a jinchūriki, and therefore had no reason to mistreat her.

Still, she wished she never had to set foot in this place again.

She let out a sigh while running her fingers through her hair. Naruto guessed it could have turned out worse.

The uneasiness between the countries was growing, and everyone were automatically suspicious of people who were without a home and sought sanctum in their village. Of course, Naruto did have a home, they just didn't know it.

Yet she had been accepted into Konoha during these turbulent times.

This was no easy feat to manage and Naruto knew Jiraiya must have pulled a lot of strings to make it possible.

There had been no disgusted or hateful glares from anyone so far. Only a kind smile from Sarutobi Hiruzen, the surprisingly younger looking Hokage, when she had been introduced to him the day before. It had been painful to see him at first, but was there one thing Naruto knew how to do than it was to conceal her emotions with a smile.

He had asked her many questions regarding her past and Naruto had lied through her teeth about it all.

She claimed she was from somewhere in the north, which strictly speaking was true. Naruto had ended up somewhere in the past Otogakure area when she landed in this time. Something she didn't know before Jiraiya had told her where she was while they were travelling. She had then made her way south through the wild land until she came across Jiraiya.

The blond had explained how her family had lived by simple means outside a small village which later burned to the ground while she was absent. It was the only story she could think of, but it explained the state Jiraiya had found her in and her need to keep moving. If someone was putting people's houses on fire, there was a possibility that she might be hunted because of her age. Seeing her distress the Hokage had luckily believed her.

Naruto had sat through tests done by the medics and they had confirmed that her age was around six. After that was a short visit from someone who greatly resembled Yamanaka Inoichi from her time. Though his hair was a little more brown than blond, and since invasive techniques to barrage into someone's mind was risky; they didn't dare to use it on a six year old.

The man had stayed long enough to confirm that she was telling the truth when she swore loyalty to only Konoha with his lie detector technique, before being dismissed.

There had been questions about what she would like to do with her life and Naruto hadn't been sure how to answer that. Could she just say she wanted to become a kunoichi? Wouldn't that just set off some warning bells and make them suspicious? But it had yet again been Jiraiya who saved her. The white haired Sannin had told them that Naruto had a lot of chakra that she has no control over but with a great potential, and suggested she started the academy right away.

The Hokage had looked uncertain at first and told her that it was a dangerous occupation. Naruto had answered she wanted to be like Jiraiya one day, and if going through the academy was the way to get there, then so be it. Jiraiya had looked immensely proud, and the old man had chuckled before accepting.

The blond was sure she would have a lot of surveillance for a while, but she had no intention of breaking the trust she had been given from the Sandaime and from Jiraiya.

Therefore she was at last entered into the Academy where she would start in a little over a week for the winter term on the first of November.

While she waited for that day Naruto was reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that she had to go through the Academy a second time and stay in the dreadful orphanage all at once. It had made her fantasize about staying out like a hooligan in the wild.

At least out there she could choose her own bedtime there.

The jinchūriki could hear children playing outside in the garden, enjoying the fall time and playing ninja. She wondered how the people she had once known looked like now, the older generation such as her parents.

Naruto had never been good at maths, but had concluded that her mother and father should be around twenty four at the moment, while Kakashi was around nine.

The Third Shinobi War was right at their doorstep. Civilians were sceptical of strangers since tension and suspicion was running high. It was lucky for Naruto they didn't see much threat in a lonely, six year old girl.

Turning away from the window Naruto released a deep breath and laid down on her bed, thinking about how she had ended up in this situation, and cursing the nine tailed demon fox for being such a sore loser. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that freak accident could have resulted in time travel. It was a good thing Naruto didn't believe in fate, if she had, the blonde would have cursed them for landing her in this mess.

There was a feeling of frustration building up inside her as she thought back to that day.

Naruto had been on the island Genbu, located somewhere far out at sea. The only occupants of this island were a variation of interesting, unusual and downright abnormal animals.

They all seemed to have inhaled something when they were young since they all had grown to incredible sizes. Smarter than most animals and were both civilized and ominous.

The island itself was located on the shell of an enormous turtle, where trees, cliffs and waterfalls had been given the time to grow.

Very few people knew of this mysterious island, as it was a very well-guarded secret of the Tsuchikage. But because of the Fourth Ninja War looming on the horizon he had, for the first time, allowed someone from another village to enter it.

Naruto was one of the outsiders that were allowed to set foot on the land. She was being taught by a man named Killer Bee, who was also a jinchūriki, to control her Bijū's chakra.

The Kyūbi was probably one of the oddest creatures to ever come to island Genbu. He was a large nine tailed fox who, for years, have been sealed away inside human sacrifices. To be able to control such a power would be a feat, but Naruto had been in the middle of trying to do just that when her world had been turned upside down.

Her mother, who showed herself because of the chakra sealed within Naruto, was trying to help her subdue the Kyūbi to take his chakra.

She had been so close to achieving it. But to do that Naruto had been forced to open the seal and face the Kyūbi. Her goal was to weaken it and then drag out it's chakra from him through his tails. To drag out someone's chakra, you had to use your own chakra as a net to catch it. And in this state, with her chakra connected to the Kyūbi's, and nearly winning their intense tug of war with the help of her mother who was subduing the fox, said fox had snapped.

He'd roared so loudly, and with the seal open and their chakra connected whatever he did affected her too. The world had exploded in more colors than Naruto could recognise, and then abruptly gone blank.

When she'd woken up, she was alone, hungry and confused. For about a month she walked aimlessly and heard snippets of talks of the Third Ninja War from worried civilians. That it was approaching and at any moment the war may break out from just how hostile the ninja villages were to each other.

The fox was yet again imprisoned within her. He looked extremely pissed off about that fact too, but had reluctantly told her they were indeed in the past. That it was his doing, and that she was never supposed to have come along with him.

It had only raised as many questions as it answered, but along with her confusion came panic.

Until Jiraiya had found her, she had truly felt lost.

Coming back to herself from the trip down memory lane Naruto again swore she'd get the fox to talk. He'd already admitted that she was stuck here, but Naruto wanted to know more than just that.

Sitting on the top bunk bed and looking down at her room, Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.

It was such a depressing thought to realize she was back to scratch.

The orphanage looked exactly the same as the first time around. The paint on the walls were maybe a little more intact, the floors less tired, but in all she recognized everything.

The only real difference was that she had roommates this time. There were three bunk beds in her room, and they all looked occupied from all the stuff already being stored in the closets and on the night stands.

The other time she'd been in the orphanage Naruto had been all alone, put in a storage they dubbed a room for her to be separated from the rest of the kids. Back then she had wished more than anything to share a room with the other kids. To have someone to talk to when it grew dark and she got scared.

It was ironic that this time around her wish had come true, but instead she dreamed she had gotten that shed instead. It was better than having to socialize with kids "her age."

Naruto had always been called immature and stupid, but even if she looked a decade younger now, mentally she was sixteen years old, almost seventeen, and it sucked having to deal with children who thought they were older.

The door opened then, and the shrill voices from kids playing were intensified as a group of girls filed in through the door.

"Hello! I heard we had a new roommate, it's you isn't it? I'm Akiko, who're you?" A tall girl of about six said and waved excitedly as she moved from the door to one of the bottom beds.

Four other girls followed closely behind Akiko and waved too as they presented themselves to Naruto. The only name she caught except Akiko was Hana, a short girl who looked a little older than the rest.

"Um… I'm Naruto…" She replied uncertainly and waved up to the girl in the other bunk bed opposite her.

Akiko smiled brilliantly, her short, black hair falling flat and close around face as she sat down. An awkward silence fell between them as Naruto shifted uncomfortably.

"Do you like horses, Naruto-chan?" Asked Akiko and leaned forwards.

"... They're nice." Replied Naruto and looked back at the girl. "Eh..." She twiddled her fingers as they lay in her lap. "Do you?"

"No, I'm scared of horses since I fell off one during the farm outing last year. I broke my arm and it was really scary." She replied matter of factly.

Naruto was reminded of the time Ero-sennin had pushed her off a rocky cliff and down into the deep cavern while she tried desperately to use the kyūbi's chakra.

It was probably best not to mention that incident...

"I like horses." Said Hana and rolled her eyes at Akiko.

Naruto nodded as she tried to keep up with the strange subject. Never had she talked about something as mundane as horses before.

"I like squirrels, they're so cute." Said the girl with sandy blonde hair next to Hana and smiled idly to the others.

"But they look like mice, bleh', dogs are the best." The last girl said and shook her head.

"Oh, yes. I wish I had a dog, it could sleep in my bed and it wouldn't be a bother at all, but Madam May won't let us. She's so strict." Akiko told Naruto and pouted at the end as she described the old lady who worked at the orphanage.

"I know! She threw out that cat from the kitchen that time. It was so cute too; it was just hungry, you know. I like cats, they're so sweet." Said the girl who didn't like squirrels, Naruto was trying desperately to remember her name but it all came up blank.

"Oh, me too."

"Me too!"

"Yeah, me too."

They all looked at Naruto who nodded. She figured it was best not to mention Tora the cat and how she'd plotted with Sasuke to use his katon jutsu on it after Team Seven's second round capturing that thing. It had probably been for the best that Kakashi had overheard them.

"I still like dogs the most, what animal do you like best, Naruto-chan?" Asked Akiko, and all four of them looked curiously at Naruto.

It was the oddest question anyone had ever asked her, and franticly Naruto tried to think of an animal she liked. After a moment's hesitation she said the first thing that came to mind. "…. Toads?"

While Naruto soon found out no one seemed to mind her company, she still didn't have much in common with them. All the girls seemed to only want to run around with the orphanage dolls or mix it up with 'playing house'. Which was some sort of game Naruto had never heard of in her previous life.

The girls would pretend to be a family and sometimes drag in the boys to play the father or son. Naruto thought it resembled some type of impromptu theatre which was incredibly dull.

They were all civilians and were planned on staying that way. The girls dreamed of prince charming or long lost family members coming to fetch them from the orphanage, and other silly fairy tale dreams that seemed farfetched.

While they were very sweet, Naruto found herself avoiding them at every turn after two days. She had enough of tea parties with mud cakes as fake food, and paper cups filled with tap water to represent tea while the girls played pretend.

However, the incomprehensible games the orphanage girls had dragged Naruto into wasn't a complete waste of time. It was in this fashion Naruto first found out that there was indeed someone she recognized amongst the children.

Mitarashi Anko.

Anko, who had been a Tokubetsu Jōnin in her own time, walked past Naruto and the girls as Akiko offered the blonde a mud cake topped with grass sprinkles. The by passer had noticed this and reacted the way Naruto was wishing she could, by sneering at them before marching away.

Considering how young Anko was in this timeline, Naruto remembered that Anko had once been the apprentice of Orochimaru of the Sannin. It was possible that she was again.

It had taken Naruto a moment to place the girl who'd walked past them, but after about four minutes she finally realized who it was. By the time she swirled around to look for Anko, the girl was already long gone.

The daily routine in the orphanage was similar to those she recalled, breakfast at eight in the morning in the food hall which becomes boisterous despite half the inhabitants barely being awake.

Then there were civilian social studies, a class devoted to civilian history and geography. They also lectured about future employment and made sure to stress how dangerous it was to be a ninja for the village. How short their life expectancy was and the risks while on missions even if the pay was decent. Plus, in the life of a shinobi; there is also the responsibility of protecting lives and taking them. It was true, but it still annoyed Naruto to listen to Madam May go on and on about how sensible people who chose to work in the mail office were instead.

The blond was sure that if the postman had more chakra training the job would be done a lot faster.

After this they had outdoor time for two hours where they did activities such as softball and orientation.

After this they went inside and had an hour of reading and writing lessons followed by lunch. Then there was maths where Naruto was happy to see she could follow relatively easily. They were still just doing the simple stuff anyway.

The day ended with indoor activity before they all headed for dinner. After the meal they could do as they wanted, and most of the kids liked to spend their time outside or in the play room.

Naruto loved the outdoors instead of being cooped up inside majority of the day. So she made sure to spend as much time as she can outside.

Konoha was very different before the Kyūbi attack, or at least that's what she presumed had caused so much change.

The main street was all wrong, and led to the library instead of the Hokage building, and the shops were all in different places. She wouldn't have recognize them if it wasn't for the names. Those hadn't changed much.

It was also here she first spotted her mother for the first time. She was running with a dark haired woman over the rooftops heading towards the Hokage's office.

Naruto had frozen in her tracks when she saw long red hair swirling from the corner of her eye, and done a double take as she recognized who the hair belonged to; Uzumaki Kushina.

The beautiful red head hadn't noticed her staring, they were going too fast for that, and it was hardly uncommon for civilians to stare from time to time. Naruto remembered when she had watched ninjas using the rooftops as a high speed lane to move around the village back in her timeline.

Getting to know this Konoha had taken her a little while. The hardest blow so far was realizing Ichiraku's ramen stand didn't exist yet. Not that she could have afforded a bowl of ramen now that she was didn't receive an allowance anymore, which apparently no orphan got in this time.

It had taken Naruto an afternoon of asking around to figure out that every orphan was completely penniless. Everything they got, they got through the orphanage, and not a penny more. If you wanted money you had to take a job, either working for civilians or as a ninja.

But her lack of money didn't bother her nearly as much as the lack of the familiar ramen stand. It bothered her to not see the stand when she walked by in the street. However, she had spotted the ramen chef Teuchi walking around town the day after she moved into the orphanage. Naruto had almost cried out in greeting.

She hadn't recognized the old man at first since he was so much younger. His hair line had yet to retreat backwards, and it was a rich brown color instead of pale grey. She had the same problem recognizing him as she had with Anko, they were just so young.

When Naruto heard him talk to a seller in the dango booth she realized at once who it was, but the greeting had died in her throat and then she silently walked away.

It would take a long time before she got used to the fact that no one knew her here.

After almost a week had passed, Naruto had settled in pretty well into her new situation. She was getting impatient to start the academy and get it over with. It would be wonderful to get a break from the dreary life at the orphanage too, but she wasn't looking forward to the piles of never ending homework.

The Academy might be boring, but luckily they didn't do kunoichi classes yet. The tension between the nations was so tense everyone was on war time curriculum. Therefore the academy followed a tougher and more combat orientated regime then what they had been the first time Naruto went there.

Flower decoration was such a waste of time. Even though Naruto enjoyed growing plants, she didn't like fluffing them into bouquets. Ino had always insisted they were useful, but Naruto hadn't had the patience for it.

But maybe cutting flowers was better than some aspects of her home life anyway, at least at the academy they were less strict about defending yourself when you were bullied. Something the orphanage had a zero percent tolerance for.

Since she first saw the young version of Anko, the blonde had figured out a few more things about her. Not all of it good either.

Mitarashi Anko was about two years older than Naruto according to her physical age and a newly graduated genin. She lived in the orphanage but was saving up money for her own place. This was something everyone knew since Anko had very recently managed to save up enough money to buy herself a new outfit and bragged about it loudly. She wasn't allowed to wear it while at the orphanage, but when she left in the morning for mission or training she was clad in her new brown T-shirt and beige shorts.

And last, but far from least, she could be an absolute nightmare.

The kunoichi liked to be very visible, and Naruto saw her every single day so it was hard not to take notice of the loud girl. In fact it surprised Naruto that she hadn't noticed her sooner.

But Anko had been bragging extensively about her newly acquired genin status. Maybe when Naruto first arrived the older girl had been temporarily distracted by her new occupation to cause havoc at the orphanage for a little while. Anko was almost as eccentric as Naruto suspected she herself had been at that age.

There was one glaring difference though. After the day Naruto had recognized her during a make belief tea party she had taken more interest in the other girl, and the blond quickly noticed that Anko was a bully.

She seemed to like picking fights and was always rude to everyone. But unlike the bullies Naruto remembered from her childhood, who went in packs and attacked because they outnumbered their victims, Anko was alone.

She had no friends as far as Naruto had seen. Anko sat on her own at lunch and was always annoyed with anyone who came too close. The rest of the kids avoided her like a plague, and she got into trouble with the grown-ups at the orphanage on a daily basis. It was maybe a good thing that Anko was a freshly graduated ninja since at least she didn't attend daily classes like the rest of the civilians.

Anko was the only kid who had never gone to school with the rest since she had gone to the academy instead. That was also the reason why she was the only one who knew how to fight too.

Naruto privately thought that Anko must have been very good as an academy student. She had spotted her walking up the wall using chakra one day, and Anko was only eight years old without anyone teaching her these things.

Naruto had been twelve, almost thirteen when she had been taught that by Kakashi-sensei.

It was obvious that she took her training seriously, the few times Anko was down in the common room she was reading thick books on different sort of ninja subjects silently. She practices her katas every morning and evening, plus she disappeared for hours and came back looking like a mess. There would be leafs stuck in her hair, her clothes dirty and her steps shaky after her practice sessions somewhere off the orphanage grounds.

It was also the fact that apparently Anko had graduated top of her class, so she had to be quite skilled for a young girl. But yet she lacked that air of superiority that people like Sasuke, Kakashi and even Itachi had worn. All who also had been skilled from an early age; Anko was definitely under the impression she was better than everyone in the orphanage. But it reminded Naruto more of how she herself had wanted to get attention. It was the only way for herself to prove that her existence mattered.

Naruto wondered if maybe Anko was so hostile because she hated her situation. Hated being an orphan and living in this place. In a way Naruto could easily sympathize with her, but when she'd tried to talk to her she'd gotten a book flying at her head instead. She had ducked out of the line of fire in time, but the book had hit a water filled vase full of flowers on the window still, making it break with a loud splash. Afterwards, the blond had then been ordered to clean everything up before Anko marched off.

She was such a bitch.

Naruto also had a strange impression Anko very much disliked her. After the spectacularly failed attempt to get to know Anko, she had been malicious towards Naruto. The dark haired girl would try to trip her in the hallways, make fun of her if she was close by, and scowl every time Naruto looked back to retaliate.

What Naruto had done to deserve such treatment from her; she didn't know, but she figured it was some stupid ego problem that made her look down on everyone who wasn't a ninja.

It wasn't an uncommon trait in that field.

Anko was rash and lacked empathy which repelled away most of the other orphans. Naruto had dealt with much larger ego's than Anko's in the past though, and was never afraid of voicing her opinion about it.

She figured if Anko used this form of lashing out as a way to gain attention, than Naruto would very well retaliate.

Three days before Naruto was set to start the academy she visited the main street again to look around.

She couldn't deal with Akiko and the gang discussing how boring math was, even if she did agree with them. It was strange to realize some kids were just too naive for her to deal with; especially the civilians.

Talking about wanting to become a hairdresser was just something Naruto couldn't emphasize with. It sounded extremely dull, even if Sakura had always loved going there and gushed about the latest fashion. Naruto had always been tomboyish, and that would never truly change.

After an hour of aimless wandering she found herself where she wanted to go, the forest, and started training. She had already informed the staff at the orphanage that she applied and was accepted at the Academy, and had gotten leave to drop the last activity sessions of the day to practice.

None of them could help her out, and the first week she had been forced to do all her training inside the grounds. But it had soon been clear Naruto didn't need supervision. It had taken some nagging, but eventually she was allowed to go train on her own.

She did one handed climbing today, trying to get as high as possible climbing up without chakra. The task had been scary at first since she had been so weak, and the soreness the day after had been agony. The last couple of times however she'd done a lot better, and now she managed to scale the whole, slightly short, mountainside with one hand.

Today she made it up in an hour, and laid flat on her back, panting when she reached the top. Naruto was feeling more exhausted then she remembered being the last time. Maybe because she'd done it so slowly, it took more out of your muscles tostay still then to move, at least that's what it felt like.

Her right hand was trembling and her bangs were soaked with sweat as she sat up. It was a nice view from here, not as good as the one from the Hokage mountain, but decent enough.

It was so calm and quiet compared to the always buzzing orphanage, and for someone who'd spent most of their time alone it was a big adjustment. In her time she'd been alone even in the orphanage, but now no one had a problem with her. In fact, she was quite popular for some reason. She was the new kid, the only blonde and she constantly got remarks because of that…

It was easy to just sit there and imagine that the village was the one she knew, the one with all her precious people, but it was also glaringly obvious not.

Her father's and baa-chan's face were missing from the mountain, and it was a constant reminder of her situation. Getting to her feet when she felt someone coming closer, Naruto started the tiring route down again with one hand.

The next morning went by like it usually did. Akiko tried to make her join a round of playing house, Naruto refused, then Akiko would get watery eyes and Naruto reluctantly relented. Following was a never ending hour of acting out the role of the little sister of Hana, while Akiko blackmailed a boy into playing her husband.

But lunch did not go as planned. It was the weekend and Anko was free of both training and missions. For the rest of the kids Saturday was basically one big activity day since school was only on weekdays.

As Naruto came into the food hall for lunch, her path was suddenly blocked by a scowling Anko who stood with her arms crossed in front of her.

With a huffing sound she looked hard from Naruto's hair to her red T-shirt and rugged sandals. It was the standard orphanage clothing everyone wore. A red top, to represent they were in the Fire Nation, with the Konoha emblem on the back, with black simple pants and sandals.

The clothes weren't so bad, but since everyone in the orphanage had to wear them it screamed to everyone what you were; an orphan.

"Why do you do your hair like that? It's so childish." Anko drawled and grabbed one of Naruto's pigtails, studying the spiky strands. With a sudden pull she yanked Naruto's hair so hard she was forced forwards by her pigtail. Once she had her footing back the blonde glared up at Anko annoyed.

"They keep my hair out of my face, idiot. Let go of my hair!" She snapped and tried to grab at Anko's hand. Instead the older girl pulled harder, making it painful this time.

"Your hairdo is so lame; it makes you look like a crybaby. Are you a crybaby? Let's check." She said and started dragging Naruto forward by her hair.

All the kids looked frightfully on as Anko forced Naruto across the room towards the abandoned table she usually ate by.

"Let go." Naruto demanded and got so angry she growled the words at Anko. That seemed to both delight her and make her angry at the same time.

"Can't deal with a bit of pain can yah'? You're so pathetic, I am a kunoichi you know, it's basic to know how to deal with pain when you want to become a ninja. Look at you; are you going to cry now? Huh? Answer me crybaby!" She jeered and pulled so hard that some of Naruto's hair was ripped out.

"I'll show you pain, you bully!" Naruto shouted and with one push Anko was on the ground and Naruto on top of her. Her pigtail was finally free when Naruto punched the older girl straight in the jaw. In retaliation from Anko she got a kick to the stomach and a bite mark on her arm.

Around them the kids got to their feet, some shouting for Naruto to beat her up, other for them to cut it out. Naruto didn't bother to listen to what they were saying. Anko had managed to get a hold of her ear, and was twisting it painfully so she'd fallen backwards, and taking advantage of this Anko managed to get free.

Panting they got to their feet, Naruto wasn't sure if the other girl had enough yet, but got her answer when Anko suddenly did a pirouette with a kick. With a small grunt, Naruto caught her foot just as it made contact with her abdomen, and pushed her backwards into the wall. The blonde might be a head shorter then Anko, and her body might be reduced to a pitiful state, but she hadn't forgotten her old skills just yet.

She had to restrain her years of training, experience and instinct as a ninja from taking over. Her body couldn't handle all that yet. And this Anko was not the experienced and sadistic kunoichi she would later become.

With a sound of fury Anko pushed herself off the wall and came at her with another punch. Naruto managed to block it by wrapping her hand around the incoming fist and twisting it sideways. Her palm hurt like a bitch, Anko could clearly throw a punch, but she ignored the sting. The older girl was forced around, and Naruto twisted her arm up on Anko's back and forced her to lean forwards. As she was about to push her into the ground again, a voice bellowed so loud it broke through the commotion.

"What on earth is going on here? STOP IT THIS INSTANCE!" Shouted a woman, making Naruto and Anko freeze.

Madam May pushed herself through the crowd with her eyes fixed on Anko, who Naruto had hurriedly released.

"Mitarashi! Explain yourself!" She shouted and pointed threateningly at the girl with an angry expression.

Anko scowled and looked at the ground, a bruise was blooming by her jaw while she seemed to curse the floor with words even Naruto's good hearing couldn't catch.

For a moment, Naruto relished in not getting the blame. It was a refreshing change compared to when she'd grown up and was blamed for every single bad thing that happened in a mile's radius.

Anko looked up and opened her mouth to explain. "It was Naruto's fault." She said and looked angrily at the blond. Naruto tilted her head with an eyebrow raised while she tried to comb her hair back to its normal state.

"I do not believe you Mitarashi, you're a liar and this is hardly the first time you've gotten into a fight. Now tell me the truth Naruto dear." She said kindly and turned to Naruto who looked smugly back at Anko's furious expression.

"Madam May, I'm so sorry for the commotion. Anko here was helping me with ninja training. It looks like we went a bit too far though. I'm so very sorry madam." She explained and bowed.

For several seconds the meal room went deadly silent, but the best of all was Anko 's stunned expression. Her eyebrows were almost up by the hairline as Naruto continued talking. "We'll clean up the mess and we won't fight here in the meal room again. You see, the bad weather made us not want to go outside."

The woman stuttered as she looked from Anko's now composed face then to Naruto, and back again. She was obviously trying to see if this was a lie or not, but no one in the room admitted to anything to the contrary. Who knows, maybe Anko regularly threatened the kids to cooperate with her.

"I see… You are new here of course, Naruto-chan, but it is common sense not to fight inside, dear. Don't you ever do that again. As punishment you will be given wash up duty for a week. Now go to your rooms. You both have a two hour time-out, and if I see you do something like this again I will not be so lenient with you." She said briskly and put her hands on her waist and marched them out of the silent room.

At the door she turned to the other kids. "Please continue your meal, there's only fifteen minutes left, dears."

As Anko and Naruto were being escorted up the stairs to make sure they didn't try to get out of their punishment, Anko looked sideways at Naruto. Her face had gotten pretty swollen by the hits Naruto had gotten in, and it was very red turning purple. Naruto wondered what exactly Anko had done to her ear too; she couldn't really feel anything except for an intense thumping and dull numbing.

For a moment her angry eyes met Naruto's, and a small mischievous smile grew on her lips, before she hurriedly got the scowl back on her face. Naruto chuckled as they reached Anko's room.

"Since this is far from your first warning Mitarashi, you will get the whole day in time-out as punishment, and you will eat in the kitchen for dinner. Tomorrow you can resume normal activity. I won't stand for this sort of behaviour, do you hear me?" Madam May said sternly to the dark haired girl. Anko nodded, and with a last look at Naruto she was locked inside her room.

When Naruto walked down for breakfast the next morning she stayed a few steps behind her roommates. They were talking about boys and how Akiko had a crush on one of them; the boy who sat next to her during home-room or someone close to there. Naruto wasn't sure since she was trying to ignore them.

Akiko was a six year old kid, so Naruto found the whole thing very disturbing.

As they came into the meal room she suddenly felt someone grab her elbow forcibly, and looked startled up into Anko's determined face.

Maybe she wanted another fight? Naruto wouldn't mind another spar, but this time she wouldn't hold back. Anko seemed to be the type of person who didn't give up, and these random battles would get annoying after a while.

"You're sitting with me today." She said firmly, and dragged Naruto after her while the rest looked on surprised.

Akiko sent Naruto a scared glance, but didn't interfere. "I think you mean; "Would you like to eat breakfast with me today oh' great lord?" I take better to flattery, Anko-san." Naruto replied and chuckled at the frown the dark haired girl sent her.

"Dream on, I was a little tired yesterday, but next time you won't stand a chance, crybaby." Anko retorted as they sat down by her empty table. Naruto looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Good, then I won't have to hold back so much either." She replied with a wide, foxy grin.

During breakfast Anko and Naruto started talking about everything from their intense dislike for mud cakes to the art of being a ninja. It was also confirmed that Naruto's first acquaintances were terrified of Anko, and Naruto had no objections to the sudden lack of tea party invitations for that afternoon.

"I just graduated from the Academy a couple of weeks ago. I passed the exam on my first try, many don't do that you know." Anko bragged while spooning up a mouthful of porridge drowned in sugar and jam.

Anko had done them the curtsey of scaring away two of the bigger boys who was sitting by the table she wanted. "It sucks you're so young Naru, since you're planning on becoming a kunoichi we could have been on the same team if you'd just been my age. Both of the two boys I was placed with failed the genin test and were sent back to the Academy. So I'm now an apprentice instead of a member of a team. My sensei is the Orochimaru of the Sannin." She gushed, sounding extremely proud.

"I'll say though, you have better moves then some of my classmates did back in the Academy. That kick still makes it hurt to lie on my back when I sleep. Wouldn't be surprised if they let you skip a year when you start. A boy in my class did that and graduated at eight. I'm eight too, but I'm an orphan so I was allowed to start a year early." She said while absent-mindedly running her fingers over the kunai she always carried around.

"I'll be awesome Anko. I might not like writing papers much, but I bet you I'll be able to jump up a class before two months, dattebayo!"

"Maybe you will, but no matter what I'll always kick your arse!" Exclaimed Anko excitedly.

"What? No way, I already kicked your arse once, and I'll do it again, dattebayo!" Said Naruto heatedly back.

"What do you mean with 'kicked my arse once?' I so won our fight!" Shouted Anko, now getting angry at the younger girl.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!" They both shouted back at each other.

"Did too! And I'll give you a demonstration to prove it, brat!" Said Anko, and the next moment they were rolling down the food hall while attempting to claw each other's eyes out.

Two minutes later, when Madam May tore them apart, she was so angry Naruto swore there was steam coming out of her ears. Not surprisingly, they got a week of extra dish wash duty, and they had to sit in separate rooms while eating dinner.

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To be continued…