Strength From Within (A Naruto Neglect Book)

14

Naruto woke up the next morning to a loud banging noise on his door, followed by the door opening and two sets of footsteps that signalled people entering the room. His eyes opened quickly, and in less than a second he was holding up a kunai that he kept under his pillow. With meticulously scanning eyes he gazed the people in his room, both dressed in full ninja gear and prepared for training.

"Get changed and get up now, gaki," a female voice said, coming from a young woman in a trench coat with a smirk on her lips. Shikaku smirked before chucking a uniform at him, nodding in agreement at her words.

"This is Anko Miterashi. She's up and coming in the torture and interrogation department and her training methods are quite brutal, having been in the anbu herself. She also has experience with poisons and things that you're studying, and she will be one of the people instructing you in this coming week." The uniform landed on Naruto's lap, and the boy just nodded and put away his weapon. "He's all yours until lunch, Anko. Good luck, Ichigo Daidai."

Anko just grinned and patted Shikaku on the shoulder. "I'm looking forward to this, I admit that I was sceptical when you asked, but seeing his reaction to us entering was fun," she said, glancing at Naruto and then dragging Shikaku out the room. "I'd be quick, because if you aren't done in thirty seconds I'm coming in regardless and taking you training without any gear on!" She closed the door before she yelled those words, keeping a close eye on the time.

Of course Naruto was already changed by the time she was back, just barely having time to slip some sealing scrolls into his leg pouch that contained his poison tipped senbon and a few other weapons. He was dressed in standard anbu gear, however instead of a full face animal mask it was a half one similar to a certain copy ninja, and the clothes were a different colour. It was just for the purpose of training with, as actual anbu gear would be provided if he made it.

Anko whistled when she came back in and saw him, nodding in approval. "You work quick, I gotta give you that much. Though you'd better hope you're good enough to get through today. It's a rough training program and it's only going to get worse as the week goes by. Though it's going to be rather fun for me to watch~" She laughed after she spoke, it was one of those laughs that made it obvious she knew something he didn't and was pleased about that. If it wasn't obvious she was trusted (Shikaku had picked her out), Naruto would have called the laugh villainous, almost.

"I wonder what she could have in store, I probably need to keep my guard up. If Shikaku chose her to help me prepare for the anbu, there's no doubt I'll need to be ready to expect the unexpected," Naruto pondered, directing his thoughts to Kurama.

"You're right, she seems like the loose cannon type. Probably gets riled up easily and likes violence, and if her training is fun to watch and she's in the T&I department..."

"Then she's probably going to be throwing things at me or something that'll make me work to avoid injuries or something. I know I have the skills but my body is still young. Though hopefully if it does increase in difficulty over the week it'll allow me time to adjust to that and improve both my stamina and the skills that she's going to be training me in." Naruto smirked and looked up at Anko, a mixture of true happiness and excitement in his eyes. Training was training, and it would be good to learn from someone in the anbu, someone new that would provide more opinions from a different perspective than the people he was used to seeing. Anko seemed to be more blunt too, and wouldn't hide it if she believed he wasn't performing well. "Let's go, sensei."

The woman nodded before disappearing, leaving him and Shikaku who had entered the room again alone. "Good luck, Naruto. Your first task will be tracking her, aiming to retrieve a green scroll that she has on her person. It might end up taking all day, who knows with that troublesome woman. Use as much as you need to but no more than that."