Chapter 029

Naruto landed on the branch and narrowed his eyes as he saw a pile of mud. He jumped into the air when several snakes shot out of the tree bark, rebounding off the surface of the tree he pushed chakra into his legs to land on the next branch up.

He spun around as he heard a whooshing sound and blocked a kunai that came his way. He looked at the person attached to the kunai and smiled. "Do you have to greet me this way every time I come here?" he asked.

Anko smirked. "Of course I do. I've got to make sure to keep you on your toes; otherwise you'll just die out in the field as some nameless loser."

"Aw I knew you cared for me." Naruto said with a grin.

"Don't look too into gakI." Anko replied with a similar look. "I'm just protecting my reputation. After all, what would people think if you died and they found out I trained you?"

"Who knows…" Naruto said with a shrug. "Though, they would probably think you did it on purpose and praise you for finally killing the 'demon'."

"Now there's an idea." Anko said, pushing him back a bit.

"Maybe." Naruto grinned. "However I'm not that easy to kill."

"Oh?" Anko raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I could kill you right now if I wanted to."

"You'd think that wouldn't you?" Naruto asked with a smirk, mouthing a word that made Anko's eyes widen.

'Boom.'

BOOM!

A loud explosion destroyed the top of the trunk the two were on. Naruto came out from hiding behind a bush on the ground level. "Did I get her?" he wondered out loud. His question was answered when a pair of snakes wrapped around his torso and held them.

"Not quite." A voice sounded in his ear. The snakes turned him around to see Anko grinning at him. "Not bad gakI, but you should never let your guard down after a move like that. Always assume your opponent escaped, and plan your next move."

"Ugh…" Naruto grunted as Anko's snakes squeezed him hard enough that he felt his ribs creek. At least she did not make her snakes bite him like the last time he had made a mistake when they sparred. "I'll try to remember that."

"Good boy." Anko said as she put him down. "So how was your meeting with Kakashi?"

"Not bad." Naruto said, rubbing his now sore ribs. He smirked. "You were right about him. You should have seen the look on everyone's face, especially his face, when I mentioned his porn addiction."

Anko gave a sadistic grin. "I know, it's a little depressing that I can't rub it into his face without him finding out that I was the one who told you all of this."

"Still, we might be able to have more fun with him this way." Naruto commented, thinking of all the fun he could have messing with his sensei's head using the knowledge Anko gave him. "We're taking a test tomorrow." Naruto said, changing the topic.

"Ah yes, the genin graduation." Anko nodded. "Did he say anything about it?"

"Only to meet at training ground 7 at 5:00 am and to not eat breakfast." Naruto replied.

Anko chuckled. "Wow it's no wonder so many people fail his test if he gives instructions like those. What are you gonna do about it?"

Naruto frowned in thought. "Well I'm definitely not going to skip breakfast. If the test is as hard as he says it is, and he's as good as you told me, I'm going to need all the energy I could get."

Anko nodded her head, pleased to see the blond was getting smarter. Ever since she saw the books his kage bunshin were reading, Anko had taken to testing the knowledge and ability to analyze information properly during their spars. If he got one of the questions she asked wrong or if he was unable to analyze her body language and look underneath some of the statements she made, he would get punished. This normally just consisted of her kicking his ass even worse then she would have otherwise. Anko went under the motto that the best way to learn anything was to inflict enough pain on someone that they would never forget. It seemed to work well because Naruto would always remember what she told him or what his clones read, for fear that she would stomp a mud whole in him if he failed to meet her expectations.

"As for the time… to be honest I'm not sure. If he's as intelligent as you said, this may just be part of the test. We'll show up late, thinking that's what he's gonna do, then he shows up early and berates us for being late."

Anko scoffed. "Trust me on this, Kakashi may be smart enough to pull that off, but he lacks the motivation to try that hard." She looked at him and shook her head. "Never figured you for such a heavy thinker." She teased.

"HEY! I think!" Naruto shouted at her, his glare only causing her to laugh. "That's it!"

Naruto lunged at Anko while she just smirked.

The rest of the day Naruto spent it trying to beat Anko, with no luck what so ever as she proceeded to beat the crap out of him.