Puppet Legend

Chapter 10 - Snake Lady

The battlefield flashed before Naruto's eyes, small details springing into focus while large patch remained blurred, the vivid green of the trees around the clearing he was kneeling in slowly turned gray. He swayed, on the brink of toppling forwards. A million different thoughts were rushing through his head. All of a sudden one catching his attention: 'Weird Snake Lady.'

Naruto shook his head and jumped to his feet, immediately regretting it as he fell flat on his face, dizziness overcoming him. He finally managed to stagger to his feet with the fourth attempt, and grabbed hold of a tree for support. He quickly contacted one of the clones he'd sent with Anko, and found them struggling against two giant snakes. He spat out a curse and noted their location, about half a mile in the direction of Konoha.

Naruto had expected snakes to be patrolling the area, but had not expected the quantity there were. One of the reasons he'd noticed the fight was the giant snake that had tried to eat him on his shortcut through the forest after all, and Anko's and his clones that had been sent for help had been disposed of fairly easily. However the clones and two salamanders had managed to fight off seven snakes already not including the two current ones, and Naruto suspected Orochimaru had sent them all after the group as soon as they'd left.

He could feel the poison of the seal spreading through his system, trying to secure it's strangle hold on his body. He couldn't resist it; all of his chakra was used up. Finally he couldn't hold it any longer, and let his resistance fall, releasing the evil black chakra through to mix with his feeble pale blue reserves. His last image was of his second last clones being crushed under the belly of one of the two snakes leaving just the one clone holding the prone form of the Chuunin exam proctor.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at the stone ceiling of the room he found himself in, a good thirty foot above him. He blinked twice, and slowly clambered to his feet. Looking around it took a moment for his sluggish brain to recognise it: His consciousness, or if you'd have asked him half a year ago, the weird sewage place with the big monster.

Said big monster was looking down almost pitifully at her confused contain in front of her.

"Good fight Naruto, you've improved."

"Thank…you, but weird…snake…lady needs…"

"Yep, I'm working on helping weird sna…her names Anko alright. You met her with Kakashi once, and you heard Orochimaru talking to her."

"She was scary, even Kakashi was terrified of her, he put his book away, created a clone and hid."

"Yes. Anyway, she's been injected with an unknown poison, and I think I've come up with a way to heal her." Naruto looked like he had something to say, but obviously figured that there were better ideas then interrupting a demon when they set their mind to something. "First you need to deal with those snakes, then cast that healing Jutsu you learnt last month, however..."

The snake reared back, the sword thrust deep into its neck. Rather than disappearing in a cloud of smoke it flipped and landed in a heap on the forest floor. Satisfied it wouldn't be moving again anytime soon, Naruto staggered over to the clone who was loosely holding the snake mistress in his arms. Not wanting to waste any energy with speech, Naruto motioned to the clone to lay her on the floor, and knelt down besides her limp body.

Naruto gently reached over and pulled back the collar of Anko's trench coat. He let out a little gasp when the black cursed seal was revealed. Kyuubi had told him about it, but he hadn't been prepared for how similar it was to his own, and the reek of evil surrounding the wound. He glanced at his own shoulder and tried to ignore the feelings of anger and self disgust that were rising up inside him.

He slowly formed three hand seals, ignoring the splitting headache the curse seal was giving him, and slammed his palms down onto the cursed seal.

Anko groaned, and struggled to lift her head off its very comfortable pillow. She gasped and clutched her head as a splitting headache hit her. She blearily looked around, taking a few moments to process the information. She was lying in a clearing in the forest; she recognised it as being only a few minutes from her house.

Littered around her splintered trees lay strewn across the ground as if they were blades of straw. Kunai and an assortment of other weapons lay alongside, some imbedded in the trees. Scorch marks showed evidence of various fires around her, some areas still smouldering slightly.

Her memory of the recent events began slowly filtering back. Orochimaru. She'd been defeated. She'd used that move. Why had she done that? Why was she alive? All she knew was she was alive and her head hurt which was good enough for the moment. She collapsed back onto that comfortable pillow and closed her eyes.

Something was bothering her. What was it she was resting on? It was far too comfortable to be the floor, and what would there be in the forest that felt like this. Without opening her eyes, she reached out with one hand, and felt around her. Her fingers brushed against a soft fabric. She worked her way down.

Now she felt skin. Rough against her weak hand, cold and clammy. It kept moving further down. Anko suddenly realised where she'd reached, and scrambled away from where she was lying, blushing madly despite her unknown predicament.

She glanced to her left at the person. They were wearing dark heavy looking books and baggy black trousers. The long sleeved skin tight black top showed off an impressive set of muscles. The material was ripped in several places showing smooth tanned skin broken in numerous places by a series of both old and new scars.

The head was blocked from view by one of the few trees in the immediately vicinity still standing. Anko staggered to her feet, her curiosity overcoming the pain for the moment. She remembered now, someone had saved her from Orochimaru, someone had been watching, someone must have driven him off. Who were they?

She slowly began to shuffle back over to the prone figure, and knelt down next to him. She reached out grabbing his chin and turning his head to face her. Long blond hair spilling around his face, strong angular features and six dark lines, three on either cheek.

She couldn't have been more surprised. Naruto: Kakashi's self proclaimed failure; the Kyuubi's container; the hyperactive wanna-be Hokage and much to Anko's fury: the winner of last year's most addicted to one type of food contest. (Herself being the winner for the previous five years.)

She remembered the position she'd been in a moment ago, and blushed again. "Who would've thought the Gaki would've been so loaded." She muttered to herself, turning even redder as she thought about what it had felt like.

Suddenly she recalled the conversation she'd had with the Hokage's advisers a while back. She reached for the pouch on her belt, but found it empty. It didn't matter, she'd read that sheet of paper enough times to remember exactly what it had said. Why in the world would this young teenager lying in front of her be worth that sort of bounty?

She was tempted to turn him in. It would mean a much more comfortable life then she currently lived, and wouldn't have to go on as many A-ranked missions. Anyway, he must have done something pretty bad, so maybe he would deserve it if caught him.

She couldn't shake the image of the small blond hair innocent looking boy running around Konoha pulling pranks and shouting about becoming the next Hokage. Surely he wouldn't betray Konoha if he wanted to be their leader. Plus he looked so peaceful lying there, so at peace with the world. She couldn't turn him in could she. He was just a boy. No knowing what they'd do to him. Anko had firsthand experience of what would happen from when she'd escaped from Orochimaru, and she'd spent a couple of years from the opposite end of the tunnel, and she wouldn't abandon him to that.

Besides it was probably him who had saved her from Orochimaru and healed her. She didn't know how he would've done it however he had been lying underneath her, and now she'd been awake for a bit longer she was sure she remembered a flash of yellow before she'd finally been knocked out.

Yes, she remembered now, Orochimaru had been about to stab her. Metal on metal. Orange and Black clothes. Blond hair. Blue Eyes. It had to be him. She absently wandered where his jacket had gone as she looked down at his body spread out before her.

Shaking her head violently. She needed to think straight. Someone would come looking for her when the end of exams came and she wasn't there to give her report to the Hokage. In fact they might be looking for her now. What was the time? What day was it?

Her ninja senses kicked in. She knelt down next to a faint footprint and ran her hand gently across it. Two days old at the most. It was nearing the evening, probably around Seven O'clock, almost defiantly on the fourth day of the exam. This gave her some breathing room. At the tower there would only be a few Chuunin to greet the teams that passed, and stop any fighting between the contestants after they'd finished. She'd have to report to the Hokage tomorrow when the exam ended.

She shrugged. She'd have to take him with her. Oh well, it'd be the first time for a while she'd be taking a guy home.

"I thought we had an agreement." A hushed voice spoke angrily at the hunched figure standing next to them wearing a long black cloak obscuring their face.

"We do."

"Then why are we here. You do know I'm being followed. The Hokage isn't that foolish.

"Don't take me for a fool you old cripple. There's been a change in plan. The vessel is here in Konoha."

"Where, how do you know?"

"I fought him in the forest yesterday."

"Then why didn't you capture him?"

"I was tired from a previous fight, he'd gotten stronger, and besides I managed to leave the mark on him, and complete the first stage of the plan."

The old man smiled slightly. "Excellent."

His companion sneered. "I don't know what you're excited about. Colleting the target was your job. If you're not careful I won't need you, and Konoha will fall all the same.

The other man didn't react, other to frown slightly. "We've done everything you've asked. Three teams of ANBU have been looking for that boy round the clock, not to mention the ten Jounin we've got on long term missions to bring him back here. Besides he would still be here hiding right under the Sandaime's nose if it wasn't for us."

The man in the cloak merely nodded, and looked over his shoulder at the young lady shopper with a scarf wrapped tightly across the majority of her face, and then at the slightly older man sitting opposite from him at the tea shop clutching a newspaper close to his face. Noticing their returning gazes, he quickly turned his head, and backed even further into the entrance of the ally the two were standing in.

"You know what you have to do. Get the boy, and make the betrayal realistic. I want dead bodies of friends, preferably real, but fake will do. This time we will finally get the beast."

"Are we nearly there?"

Sakura sighed and checked the compass, and then the position of the sun in sky. "If we keep walking at this pace for another hour we should be there." Hanabi grunted and activated her bloodline, presumably checking she'd been correct, and that the path was clear.

A simple please or thank you wouldn't go astray. Maybe even a name here or there. Even Sasuke had used her name from time to time, and had viewed her as part of his team. Well, maybe enough that he wouldn't let her die. She wasn't sure whether he'd truly ever thought of anyone as a proper team mate. Maybe Naruto?

Team 7 had been making fairly good progress through the forest up to about noon on the third day, when they'd been attacked by a team from the hidden village of cloud. They seemed to only be interested in capturing Hanabi, which didn't sit too well with Konohamaru who defiantly didn't like being ignored.

Sakura hadn't seen much of the other two's fight as she was busy with the only female of the opponent team. She had officially had her arse handed to her, and if it wasn't for a last minute Kunai from Hanabi which killed her opponent just as she'd been about to take her head off, then she probably wouldn't be here now. Sakura was of course grateful, and had thanked the other girl, however she had merely shrugged it off, and looking back Sakura was becoming more and more convinced the shot was more of an afterthought then a valiant attempt to save the life of a teammate.

Eventually they turned a bend in the rough track they were following through the forest, and came out into a clearing with a large round building in the centre. They entered clutching weapons tightly, looking around cautiously. Konohamaru, taking the lead, read the sign on the chalkboard aloud, and opened the scrolls as instructed.

"Kakashi's team I presume." Sakura turned to face the woman who'd appeared suddenly in a cloud of smoke behind them. The voice sounded tired and confused, almost unsure of itself, Sakura noted. Much different from when they'd last seen her nearly five days ago.

Sakura was lying in bed much later tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep. She'd spent the last five days in the wild, barely sleeping, eating and drinking just enough to survive. She should have no problems nodding off; however she found her thoughts turning to her old team, as they had been doing increasingly over the last couple of months.

She'd always rejected Naruto, mostly out of instinct. Had she ever even considered one of his numerous proposals? Had she really been that babyish? Was she really as bad as Konohamaru's fan girls? She wanted to deny it, however she couldn't. She knew it was true. She couldn't escape that now, and she'd have to live with the consequences. If she ever saw Naruto or Sasuke again, she wouldn't make the same mistake. Sometimes it takes loosing it to truly appreciate what you had.

The sun rose over the Hokage Mountain, pushing its way through the dense canapé of the forest, and landing on a small cottage nestled up against a small cliff face in a small clear area devoid of the usual giant trees that inhabited the forest. The pale yellow walls stood out from the surroundings, seeming out of place with the dull greens, browns and greys. A small wisp of smoke curled leisurely out of the chimney dancing up into the Chrystal clear blue sky.

One particular beam of light found its way through one of the two windows, symmetrically placed either side of the door. It landed on a thick mop of spiky blond hair atop an angular tanned face. Three familiar markings adorned each cheek.

The eyelids fluttered open and closed revealing for a slip second the vivid blue eyes hidden underneath. A moment later they opened again cautiously, the pupils shrunk down to pinpricks to reduce the amount of light entering. After what looked like a great deal of effort he managed to gently roll his head to the left to avoid the sun's glare.

Naruto was confused. He was staring intently at a pile of small objects on the table next to the bed he was lying on. As his brain started to slowly cough to live, he became able to distinguish shapes and colours. Small details jumped out at him. Random thoughts began screaming for his attention. One of the items on the table caught his attention. The shape was familiar. A picture frame, side on to where he was lying.

Finally after much effort, he managed to sit up in the bed. Looking around him curiously he found himself in the middle of a small comfortable looking room well lit by the morning sun now streaming in the window. He had a splitting headache, his arm was sore, and his left leg was stiff. Come to think of it he was running out of places that weren't injured in some way or another.

He thought of the inviting bed that lay under him, and how easy it would be to fall back into the comfortable abyss of sleep. But then he remembered the photo. Maybe it would tell him where he was, maybe whose cosy bedroom he was currently inhabiting.

Naruto glanced back across to the picture. Summoning up all the small pockets of energy he currently had, he reached across, and grasped the picture turning it around ninety degrees so it was facing him and the bed.

He allowed him body to collapse back into the comfortable bed, and looked across at the picture. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the multitude of colours in the picture. The photo was of a group of adults sat around a table in a bar Naruto vaguely recognised. He recalled it being quite close to the ANBU and Jounin buildings, being a popular location for a lot of the higher rank Shinobi to go and relax.

He immediately recognised the tall spiky grey hair of his former sensei. Kakashi was sitting down at the far end of the table, wearing his typical lazy smile hidden behind the face mask. Well at least he presumed his old teacher was smiling, no one he knew had ever seen the ninja's actual face, so he couldn't be sure. He noticed that one of the small orange books the Jounin was addicted to wasn't in his hand as normal, which Naruto guessed this was due to the two smirking women sitting either side of him.

He recognised the first of the women as the Sensei of team eight, with her red eyes and long black hair. Looking at the other woman must have triggered something in his memory as he sat bolt upright, and grabbed the picture for a closer inspection. Yes it was her. The long trench coat and revealing fishnets, the short dark purple hair and the mischievous smirk.

He quickly flicked over the rest of the picture. There were about ten people in total, the majority wearing the traditional green jacket Jounin normally wore, except for the two women, and one strange looking guy to one side wearing an all green body suit. He was grinning at the camera so hard it almost made Naruto cringe just looking at the photo, and that wasn't taking into account the bowl cut and hugely bushy eyebrows

He needed to get his bearings, and then find the Hokage. He wasn't safe here, wherever here was. The coast looked clear for the moment, so it would be best if he was quick.

Reluctantly he climbed off the bed. Now he was more awake, he looked around the room curiously. It could well be a spare room, set aside for when an old aunty came to visit, but then why was the picture there, and why were there a multitude of clothes littered across the small floor space that wasn't taken up by the large bed, or cupboard in the corner.

Bending down Naruto turned over a few of the items. A short skirt, a couple of clean pale beige trench coats folded neatly just in under the bed, and much to his embarrassment a lone pare of red lace knickers.

He was in no doubt now. This had to be the snake ladies house. But why was he here? Didn't she have a mission to capture him? Why take him to her house, and leave him here? That's if she was gone.

Naruto moved cautiously to the door and peered through the small crack in the doorway into the next room. There were another two doors leading out of this room, leading to a bathroom and outside he presumed, making this an incredibly small house if his guess was accurate. Then again from what he knew of her, Anko did seem to be quite the loner.

The room was bigger than the bedroom but only slightly. It was split roughly into two, with one half devoted to a miniature kitchen with the usual items such as a small cooker, and fridge freezer. A manageable pile of dirty dishes were piled on one side next to the sink.

The other half of the room was filled with a small one person dining table, and a large comfortable armchair. A single shelf high up on the wall was crammed full of books and scrolls, and finally a small collection of pictures adorned the pale blue wall just to the right of the doorway that Naruto was occupying.

Well, at least it looked like she didn't get many visitors. His instincts screamed at him. He knew what he should do: get out while the going looks good. But it made little difference. His legs wouldn't hold him any longer, and he collapsed onto the armchair, sinking down into its comfortable depths. Besides, he reassured self, it would make little difference as he was in no fit state to fight even a Genin let alone any Jounin or ANBU that could be looking for him. Better to hope and wait, and face the music with his head held high, and with a surprisingly comfortable bottom, then hiding in a ditch somewhere almost defiantly covered in mud, cold wet and uncomfortable. Well at least that's what he told himself.

Feeling something behind him, Naruto shifted his weight; however the object dug into his back even harder. Reaching around behind his back, Naruto pulled out a pale pink bra from between the folds of the chair.

"Ah, you found it. I've been looking for that all over." A feminine voice called out from the door. "Not that I usually wear one, however it does keep the girls under control when there's lots of fighting going on. I know you used to be Kakashi's student, but somehow you don't seem perverted enough to break into a ladies house just to get your hands on some of my, incredibly hot I admit, underwear."

"uh..."

"Joking, but you may want to stop fondling that or I may yet be proved right. I'm Anko, we've met before, but not really had enough time to introduce ourselves."

AN: Not sure whether this chapter flowed properly, it's quite different from chapter 9, feedback please?

Thanking God my exams are finished! Guessing that's the case for a large percentage of you guys reading this, so hope everything went alright for you to. I'm probably going to be updating a bit more especially with the summer coming up, so watch this space

Ashes! Phew, hope the rest of the series isn't as tense as the first as I've no nails left to bite. What a game.

Oh and God bless the legend that was Michel Jackson

Later.