Chapter 23

Naruto just watched on in a subtle mix between horror, fascination and jealousy; it turned out that Anko liked Dango. By 'liked' Naruto meant that Anko had taken to the sweet delicious dumplings like fish do to water or birds to air or he did to ramen. It was both disgusting and hypnotising to watch her shovel down the food, sliding the treats off the skewers sometimes in one bite. It was just something to try and imagine where she was putting it all, as far as he could tell she didn't even appear to be slowing down after the fifth plate.

He had to admit the dumplings were pretty delicious, not as much so as ramen but they would probably constitute his favourite dessert from now on. However when he reached for his own Anko would merely slap his hands away before picking up the skewer, despite having more in her own hands. In the end, just to get any food at all, he had to resort to using his speed to quickly steal the dango from the ravenous girl as quickly as possible.

Finally, although it seemed like it would never end, Anko sat lazily back in her chair with contented, lidded eyes as she gently swayed and allowed her delicious meal to settle. He smile matched her body language, relaxed and content; it at least let Naruto know what to get Anko if she was ever in a mood again, the sweet dumplings were better than drugs. Suddenly the girl shot forward in her chair, sitting bolt upright as her eyes became fixed on something at the door to the small Dango bar.

Naruto turned only to see a tall man with long black hair wearing the standard Jounin garb, the navy jumpsuit with the olive flak jacket. He walked confidently and seemed to hold an aura of power about himself while his yellow eyes showed experience and intelligence. Of course Naruto immediately knew who it was; his team's fight with Hanzo of the Salamanders was legendary after all.

"Orochimaru-sensei!" Well at least that confirmed it; the older man took note of the excitable purple-haired girl waving to him and smiled warmly. His smirk held a little bit of a calculative edge but otherwise he appeared friendly and kind, if a bit distant and aloof.

"Ahh, Anko-chan, surprise seeing you here, so soon after we meet nonetheless." Anko just grinned happily as she motioned between Naruto and her new sensei.

"Naruto, this is Orochimaru-sensei and..." She would have continued if Orochimaru hadn't placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No need child, I know of Namikaze-kun already; how could I not know of our dear, departed Hokage's son?" Naruto blinked a moment, confused when he thought he heard a hint of bitterness when the man mentioned his father but quickly shrugged it off as his ears playing tricks. He held out a hand which Orochimaru took, only a slight hint of hesitance to substantiate Naruto's previous confusion.

"Nice to meet you Sannin-san." Orochimaru just smiled, the edges of his lips turning up.

"So formal, like your father." This time there was nothing, the snake-like man kept his voice perfectly level, although his handshake was rather tight. Anko didn't seem to notice the tension between the two, only happy that her best friend and soon-to-be mentor were getting along.

"We need more Dango!" Naruto groaned while Orochimaru just seemed amused; he had certainly chosen an interesting apprentice.

Anko was outside working on a jutsu her sensei had instructed her to learn, except the only problem was she was finding it incredibly difficult. Surprisingly Naruto was no help; the Redhead had been very mysterious over the last few days. Whenever she would ask him to train he would simply reply he was busy before returning to his father's study. She had tried to get in and see what it was he was so enraptured with but it was nearly impossible to sneak up on the boy, at least for her.

She focused on her technique again, moulding the chakra Orochimaru had said was required as she tried to unconsciously tap into the summoning contract. Slowly she went through the hand seals; her sensei had told her that if she kept at it she would do it without them but for now this would do. She built up the chakra before sticking out both her arms, letting her new long sleeve shirt hang loosely from her wrists.

"Hidden shadow Snake hands!" She gritted her teeth before miraculously a single long green snake slithered from her wrist, building its body from the chakra she provided. She sighed when it dispelled; she was still unable to maintain the chakra required to use it effectively but at least it was a start. She nearly flopped to the floor out of exhaustion but caught herself on a training post, managing to move her body back towards the house to see if Naruto wanted anything to eat. However as soon as she crossed the threshold of the house she heard what sounded like a slight buzzing come from upstairs like swirling wind.

"YES!" Anko just raised an eyebrow as she turned her head upwards towards where she heard the cry. With a tired sigh she half-dragged herself up the stairs and walked over to the old Hokage's study. Tentatively she pushed open the door, surprised when it actually opened; Naruto had usually kept it locked when he was working on his secret project. Oddly the room was empty save for a scroll on the desk with complex notes and diagrams as well as what appeared to be balloons and rubber balls dotted around the room, all burst.

Suddenly she heard that same strange sound and made her way over to the window to look out over the training field out back. Naruto was outside, the redhead apparently staring at his right hand in intense concentration. To the young girl's amazement chakra began to swirl hypnotically around his palm, seemingly drawn out of the air itself. Finally, it coalesced into a perfect sphere, just larger than Naruto's hand, which pulsed almost excitedly with blue swirling energy.

If Anko had been amazed by that simple display what came next practically had her on the floor out of shock. Naruto charged at a nearby tree, slamming the ball of what seemed like pure unbridled energy into the trunk. Instead of stopping or fading away, the sphere just kept going, sheering through the tree like it was butter. Finally Naruto pushed it all the way through, watching with a satisfied smile as the large tree simply toppled over, it's support now weakened.

He spotted the purple blur out of the corner of his eye, side-stepping as she raced passed; she was suddenly full of energy. She excitedly looked at the remains of the tree, now just a haphazard stump in the ground, before turning back to Naruto with a look of pure amazement.

"What was that!?" Naruto just smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, noting the slight tingle in his right hand that let him know the technique wasn't quite perfect yet.

"That was what I've been working on recently." When it looked like Anko wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer he sighed and continued "It's a Jutsu my father created as a compliment to his fighting style, basically just high tier chakra control." Anko just blinked at the very humble way Naruto described the incredible technique he had just displayed. After seeing what it did to a fully grown tree she could only imagine what kind of damage it could do to an opponent.

"Chakra control?" Naruto just nodded as he held out his right hand, palm upwards, just slightly cupping his fingers. Quicker than before the Rasengan formed, once again pulsing brilliantly with blue light as the energies contained within Naruto's palm tried to break free of their spherical prison.

"It's pure shape manipulation; according to the scrolls he based it off of some kind of attack used by Biju, scaled down of course." He suddenly looked down, slightly sadly as Anko noticed, staring wistfully at the large ball of Chakra. "It's unfinished though." Anko raised an eyebrow while simultaneously scoffing; from what she had seen that attack was anything but unfinished. She couldn't imagine what the proper version would look like or even do.

"In the scrolls it said he always wanted to add his elemental affinity into it but between the war and becoming Hokage he never found the chance." He sighed again before a small smile worked its way onto his now rather apparently tired features. "But that's why I'm going to do it for him; I'll add my elemental affinity and make him proud." Anko smiled at that, unable to avoid being caught up in his infectious confidence that spilled out like waves.

"So what's it called?" Naruto grinned as he slammed the sphere of energy through another tree.

"Rasengan." Anko just stared at the newly disfigured tree or a moment with what can only be described as awe before grinning right back.

"Oh, you are so teaching me that!"

AN: Stones are the hobgolins of my mind. So gib me stones!!!