Chapter 57 : Heaven and Earth(5)

Hiruzen had been watching the whole encounter with the Sand Siblings from Sunagakure. He had initially been very upset with how the one named Kankuro had treated Konohamaru, but like always, his Shadow was able to handle it.

The deaths of the Kazekage's children might have started a war, but his Shadow knew as much. The thing with Naruto was, he didn't want to start a war, not unnecessarily. But if there was to be war, then he could wage one all on his own.

Konoha had an army killer, and his name was Uzumaki Naruto.

There was no doubt in the old Sarutobi's mind that his Shadow could end wars all on his own. And really, it wasn't as far-fetched as it sounded. It actually happened before. Namikaze Minato was the prime example of this.

Now, Hiruzen was not a sensor like his Shadow, but over the years, he developed a way of reading Naruto. Right now, he could tell that something was wrong.

That's when Naruto actually looked at him, like he could see him through his seeing glass ball. He nodded his head, and wasn't surprised when his Shadow nodded back. The message was clear. The two of them had much to speak about.

It had been another week, and Naruto was enjoying a celebratory dinner with Team Eight plus Anko. The dinner was for the three genin getting into the Chunin Exams, but Naruto could tell why Anko was here.

The two of them were sitting together, enjoying the food and sake they were served. Naruto could see Kurenai sipping at her preferred vodka, speaking with Hinata. Kiba and Shino spoke a little, but the young Inuzuka was constantly stuffing his face with meats so the conversations were short lived.

"So what are you going to do now? Teach?" Anko asked, taking another sip of her sake.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I was assigned to the teams to learn how to work with shinobi who aren't ANBU-qualified. The Hokage might not even give me a genin team." He replied, also sipping from his sake cup.

"If you could choose, what would you want to do?" She asked.

Naruto smiled. "I'd want to re-join the ANBU, but that can't happen. I'm too well-known worldwide to be a secret operative anymore. But besides that, I think I'd like starting up a little group outside of the Operations Unit, Medical corps, and the ANBU Black Ops."

"Oh. So you have a dream, then. Good. I was starting to think you weren't human at all." Anko chuckled.

Naruto laughed like nothing was wrong, but on the inside he was starting to believe he wasn't human either. And after he discovered what he could do now… it honestly scared him.

"What about you? What's your dream now that the curse mark is gone?" Naruto asked, deciding to push his worries to the back of his mind.

Anko's expression darkened. "I want Orochimaru's head." Naruto felt her hate for the traitor, and understood.

"I agree. Orochimaru has lived long enough." Anko looked at him, giving him a dark smile. She knew he could feel what she was thinking, but she didn't care. She wanted him to know.

Naruto sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Anko groaned at the light assaulting her eyelids. She hated the inconsiderate ball of heat at times like this. She was so comfortable, and she just wanted to stay where she was.

This source of warmth was amazing. Her arms had been wrapped around it for a while now, and she wanted to stay that way. Her head was laying on something hard but soft, and very comfortable. She couldn't really remember what happened last night, but that didn't matter right now. Right now, all that mattered was this warmth.

Wait… last night… Naruto!

Her eyes shot open, her heart almost stopping when she saw blond hair. She pushed herself up to sit upright, finally seeing what she knew was there. Lying next to her with his arms wrapped around her body, one Uzumaki Naruto was there, shirtless. Looking at herself, she found where his absent shirt was.

Why was she wearing his shirt? More importantly, how did his shirt fit her?

Focusing on the more important of the two, Anko shook Naruto with her hand, marveling at how lean and toned he was.

The blond opened his eyes, smirking at the woman's confused look. "Good morning, Anko. Did you sleep well?" He asked, also sitting upright.

"Did we…" She left the question in the air.

Naruto shook his head in the negative. "No, we didn't." He smiled. "I walked you home last night after you got really drunk. When we got here, you wanted me to stay the night and wouldn't take no for an answer." He looked at his shirt she had on. "That's when you started taking off your clothes…" Anko had the decency to look sheepish. "Then you realized that I was with you and got all embarrassed. I gave you my shirt so you would feel better."

"How does it fit me?" She thought out loud.

"Oh, that's because of Jiraiya-sensei. It was a gift. It has a seal on it that fits the wearer on touch. That way I don't have to worry about growing out of it." Naruto answered.

With that out of the way, Anko could finally focus. "I'm sorry about last night… You were probably miserable."

Naruto smiled and shook his head. "Not at all." He got to his feet and stretched. "I liked it, actually." He smirked, knowing how hard Anko was trying to hold back her blush.

"You know, most people would have taken advantage of a drunken woman."

Naruto sighed. He could feel her heart.

And I wouldn't have minded.

He needed to tell her now, before this went any further. The longer he waited the more he felt like he was betraying her.

"Anko… I… I need to tell you something." He started. Anko looked nervous, like she thought he felt her feelings and didn't like them. "I… you need to know that I really like you." Her face brightened a bit. "No, that's not right… Anko, I love you." Anko was just silent, not trusting herself to speak. "But… I also love another." When those words left his mouth, she didn't understand what was going on.

"W-what?" she asked in a confused tone.

He sighed again. This was really hard for him to admit. "When I was in Mizu no Kuni… I fell in love with the current Mizukage." Her emotions hurt him. "You have to understand, with my ability to understand people, it's hard to keep my own emotions in check. When I met Mei… she was the first person I ever felt this way for…" He knew how she was taking this, even without his empathy. "But then I had to leave, and that's when I met you. I had no intention of developing these feelings for you, but when we synced… when I felt your soul… how couldn't I have fallen for you?" He took in a deep breath.

"Y-you…" Anko tried, but stopped, still not able to fully speak.

"I know what I'm saying just sounds like another guy trying to get with as many women as he can, but I swear, on my Nindo, this is not like that. I never looked at women before I met Mei, and I never thought I'd fall again, until I met you. I have no idea what I'm doing or how to make it work and it's killing me! I've never met a problem that I couldn't overpower. I'm so lost and I don't know what to do."

Anko didn't, by any means, understand right now, but even she, in her shocked mindset, could see the confusion and uncertainty in his face. He wasn't lying to her, and that was something.

"I've never been close like this to anyone. I've never had a family, or many friends… I… I don't want to lose you, but at the same time, I don't want to lose her." He gave a sad laugh. "I don't even know if she feels the same for me anymore, either. She could have moved on and forgotten about me." He closed his eyes. "When I think about Mei, I hate myself every second of it. And when I think about you, I hate myself. Lately, I feel like my worst enemy is me." He shook his head slowly. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this."

She could see what he meant. He was pretty young. He had no experience, and probably didn't have too many people to talk to about it. Not many fifteen year olds did. She was still upset, but ever since she had met him at Shushuya's, it was like they were still synced, like she could understand him.

He didn't know what to do. She hadn't met this Mei woman, but she could tell that he did care for her. And she knew he wasn't looking to fulfill a fantasy harem or anything because if that's what he wanted he wouldn't need the two of them. Plenty of girls wanted to be with the Bringer of Hope, and she believed him when he said he was a virgin. If sex was all he wanted he would have had his way with her last night.

She didn't like it, at all, but she could see where he was coming from. That didn't mean she was all for sharing him, but she would at least wait until she could meet this woman before she made her decision.

She looked at him, knowing he had already felt her decision. When he nodded, she was grateful. Having to say it out loud would have been embarrassing.

Anko sighed. "Well, we can't do anything about it until I meet her, so I'm just going to act like she doesn't exist until then. I'm hungry, let's get something to eat." She gave him a giant smile, one that he knew all too well.

It was a mask.

No one could hide from the Kamikage, and right now, he hated that fact.

She was still hurt.

And he hated himself for it… even more.

....

Four astral figures stood in a dark cave. One of the figures had purple, ripple-patterned eyes. Another had a pair of Sharingan's. The third was female, and the fourth had shark-like eyes.

The purple-eyed man spoke. "You expect me to believe that a teenager incapacitated two of my strongest shinobi with nothing but the force of his chakra?"

"We have nothing to accomplish by lying to you." The Sharingan-eyed man said stoically. "I've warned you how strong the Kamikage is. Maybe now you'll believe me."

"The kid's not human. I've felt the chakra of a Jinchuuriki before, and that was not normal," the shark-eyed man commented.

"You said he had a message for us. Let's hear it," the only female said.

The Sharingan-eyed man looked their leader in the eyes when he delivered the message of the Bringer of Hope.

"Death to all enemies of Heaven."

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