The Protagonist System-317 You Gotta Fight

It happened just as the Kazekage had been warned. Three squads of troops had shown up near the village and two went on to the prison and the third went to the other side of the village to cause a distraction. They set a fire to an empty building that they didn't realize had been intentionally left that way.

After a day of observing the movements of the village, they had been confident about completing the rescue mission. They knew where the prison was, that their target was a high profile prisoner, and there were minimal guards. What they didn't know was some crucial information that they would have discovered if they had waited another day.

The second squad assaulted the prison's guards and killed them as they were caught unaware by the surprise attack. The first squad infiltrated the prison when the way was clear and murdered each and every guard they passed on the way through. It was a petty way to make the locals pay for what they did and only a couple of the shinobi felt guilty about the unnecessary deaths.

The second squad stayed outside to guard against anyone stumbling across their mission and the first squad made their way to the high profile section of the prison. When they opened the secured door and one of them entered the fancy hotel suite, they were shocked to find Asuma Sarutobi on his knees with a sword to his throat, held by the Kazekage himself.

“You fools fell right into their trap.” Asuma said with a sigh.

“What... what do you mean?” A disguised voice asked.

“Go ahead and tell them.” The Kazekage prompted his hostage.

Asuma took a breath and let it out. “All the guards you unnecessarily killed, weren't guards. They were the other Chunin Exam participants from Konoha.”

All the members of the first squad froze for a moment and the two that felt guilty let out curses. They had known something was wrong and couldn't figure out what it was. Now they knew.

“This isn't a prison. It's the dormitory building set aside for the Chunin Exams.” A female voice said from behind them and the six members of the first squad turned to look at a dishevelled looking Anko Mitarashi wearing a prison guard uniform. She had her throat slit from ear to ear and it was very slowly healing.

“By the First Hokage's grace.” A disguised female voice said and lifted the bottom of her mask to throw up.

“Thanks for trying to make it quick.” Anko told her old friend, whom didn't answer and threw up again.

“How are you still alive?” The squad leader asked.

“Temporarily granted regeneration.” Anko said and walked over to the side of the room the Kazekage stood and sat down on a nearby chair. “How surprised do you think I was when the Kazekage's warning about the rescuers not bothering to check who they were killing to get to Asuma was true?”

“You're a kunoichi of Konoha. You put your life on the line for the village every day.” The squad leader deflected.

“Against our enemies, yes.” Anko agreed and her hand went to her neck to rub the thin red line there. “However, the Land of Wind are our allies and not our declared enemies... unless you have a scroll hidden on you that declares war upon the Hidden Sand Village?”

None of the shinobi answered her.

“By the way, they know who you are and that you're all in disguise.” Anko told them. “You see, the outfits you're wearing are from one of the hidden villages that are here for the Chunin Exams. Isn't that a surprise? They said they don't have this many available shinobi and that was why they had brought so many participants this time.”

The squad leader knew then he was screwed. When he started to give the hand signs to fight for a chance to retreat, two arrows made of sand pierced his eyes and his head snapped back, then he dropped to the floor, dead.

“Before you try to retaliate, that was our Jinchuriki protecting me from attack.” The Kazekage said.

The five remaining ninja felt fear as the sand arrows became a small cloud of sand and whipped away from the body and back into the darkness.

“The others should have been caught by now.” Anko said and used a cloth to wipe at her bloody hand and then at her neck. “I hope they weren't stupid enough to try and fight the five squads waiting for each of them.”

The five members of first squad exchanged worried looks and didn't respond.

“As promised, you have my protection if you choose to defect to my village.” The Kazekage reminded her. “If you wish to apply for a job with the Uzumaki Shipping company instead, I will warn you that the Hokage believes they are responsible for causing all of this.”

Anko snorted and barked a laugh. “Only an idiot would believe they were behind any of this.” She said and stood. “This has my old sensei's snakey fingers all over it.”

The female ninja that had slit her throat let out a surprised sound.

“Oh? None of you realized that? I figured that out right away.” Anko said and motioned off to the side. “He knows all about Kumo's antagonism towards Konoha and how to manipulate things in the various offices in the village because of his close association with old Danzo and how he was studying to become Hokage.”

Asuma couldn't stop himself from cursing over so easily falling into the trap himself. He also noticed the five squads of strong shinobi that appeared with weapons aimed at his rescue squad.

“What's the worst sin a ninja could fall to? Complacency.” The Kazekage said and held in his own sigh when he realized he was guilty of that as well, especially where his kids were concerned.

“When you're smugly confident about yourself and your achievements, and believe you can do no wrong, that is when you will do the most wrong.” Anko said and walked around the captured shinobi. “Lord Kazekage, please take my advice and keep them alive. They are more valuable as ransom or as missing-nin than they would be as dead bodies.”

The Kazekage let out the sigh he was holding in. “You won't defect?”

“No, sir. I might not like what my Hokage has done, or is doing, or will do; but, Konoha is my home, even if they treat me like a leper.” Anko responded as she reached the door to the suite.

“Anko.” The female ninja said and the kunoichi turned to look at her. “I'm sorry.”

“You will be.” Anko said and stepped out of the room. “The Hidden Sand Village's T&I section is nowhere near as nice as ours.”

Several curses came from the captured ninjas and Anko walked down the hallway to gather up the recovering Chunin examinees. She knew that they had passed their final exams, thanks to this incident, and they were going to be quite happy to become full Chunin-ranked shinobi. They just had to decide if they wanted to return to Konoha or not.

After she talked to them, Anko was going to approach the defunct Uzumaki Construction Company to see if their offer really was something she could consider. Could they really help her deal with the Snake Sannin's seal on her neck or were they just trying to trick her into revealing all the secrets Orochimaru had trusted her with before he discarded her?

*

“I really didn't think it would be that easy.” Tsuru said as she watched through the vision as her former teammates and coworkers were rounded up and secured in the same building that Asuma had been held in.

“It's a surprise that it went so well.” I agreed as I ended the shared vision with everyone and both Akiko and Yui nodded. “Should we give Anko another chance?”

“The Kazekage himself thinks it's a good idea.” Yui offered and Temari gave me a thumbs-up.

“If you can deal with that thing on her neck, I'd say she might be so grateful that she'll agree to anything you want her to do.” Tsuru answered.

I knew what she was implying and chuckled. “I'm only 8!”

That made her, Yui, and Akiko laugh.

“Anticipation is the spice of life.” Tsuru said with a knowing smile and Yui blushed. Temari gave me a pointed look as she considered it and looked thoughful.

“I did have a nice conversation with one of the interns at the hospital last night.” Akiko said and she was instantly surrounded by Tsuru, Yui, and Temari as they badgered her for details.

I shared an amused look with Kankuro and Gaara and we left the girls to their gossip. Anko wouldn't show up at our residence until tomorrow, so there was no need to worry about it until then. It was also quite late and everyone was still awake, with no real intention to go to bed after all the excitement, so I made everyone food to snack on and we all settled down in the living room.

We had already said the next day's training would be called off because of the rescue mission and we all relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Even the Chunin Exams had been delayed for a day, for the same reason, and it was almost funny that the other nation's representatives had some pretty vocal opinions about Konoha's high-handedness and how they had tried to blame others for their actions.

Allies and enemies alike were angry over what was going on and how the Hokage was handling things. Despite him being the most knowledgeable shinobi in the world, and probably one of the most versatile, his policies and actions reflected two different mindsets and ideologies and everyone chafed under the hypocrisy.

It was definitely going to bite Konoha on the ass with how they tried to frame another Hidden Village to cover up their attempted kidnapping of the Hokage's son and murdering all the prison guards. None of them knew the Kazekage had switched them out for Konoha citizens and the murders ended up only being temporary.

Why did he not tell them? Because it didn't matter if the victims actually lived, the crimes still happened and they were all guilty. That was all that mattered.

Lots of messengers and warnings had been sent out the next day to all the hidden villages and the Daimyos of the various lands when everyone found out the outcome of the event that happened the night before, including the Land of Fire where the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha was. That was going to spark off something when they became the focus of everyone else's attention and ire.

*

Anko waited until lunchtime, when she knew they took a break from working to eat. It was the best time to approach them in the least antagonistic way possible, with food in their mouths as a distraction. She knocked on the door of their residence and waited for only a moment before the door opened.

“It's about time. The soup was getting cold.” The 8 year old blond boy said and took her hand, pulled her inside, and shut the door.

Anko was too surprised by this to do anything except follow along as he led her inside the quite nice home and into the kitchen. She caught her breath when she saw the three Kazekage's children were there with the three women she knew were a part of the company. With difficulty, she hid her reaction over them having such a close connection to the Kazekage and sat down where the boy put her.

“Eat, then we'll talk.” Naruto ordered and sat beside her, which put him between the tall blonde woman that was his adopted mother and her.

“We really should have done more than nap this morning.” Akiko complained and rubbed her face.

“Don't worry about it. We can catch up this evening and get back onto our normal schedule.” Tsuru said. “We only have four days left to finish up here and then we can head off to Wave.”

Anko tried to not let that information affect her decision to come here, since she was sure that was nowhere near enough time for her to learn how to do whatever job they might give her, assuming they hired her in the first place. She didn't want to become a missing-nin or defect to another village, so joining a Konoha-registered business was the only way for her to ensure her own safety.

She ate absently and admitted the food was top notch, especially when dessert was put on the table and it was a platter of delicious dango. She had two of them shoved into her mouth and half-eaten before anyone else had moved their hands to take one from the platter.

“I think someone likes your cooking, Naruto.” Tsuru teased.

Anko almost choked on what she was chewing when she heard that. “Bru babe bish?”

Naruto laughed. “Yes, I made this.” He said and took one to hand to Temari to make her blush. “They are easy to make and playing with the different flavors and colors is fun.” He took one himself and sat back to eat it slowly and to savor the flavors.

“I bobe buu.” Anko said and somehow managed to put all six little balls of tasty treats into her mouth. She chewed happily as she sank back onto her chair and let the mixing flavors caress her taste buds and the sweet feelings flooded her mind.

“Wait, that's all he needed to do for you to admit you love him?” Temari asked and then blushed from her neck to her hair as everyone turned to look at her. “Um... never mind.”

Tsuru chuckled and reached over to pet her blonde hair. “It's all right, Temari. We all have our reasons to adore him in our own way.”

“I'm still only 8.” Naruto said, halfheartedly.

“Yes you are and we love you anyway.” Tsuru said, her voice full of love, and she leaned down to kiss his forehead. “When you're done eating, you can take Anko into the exam room with Akiko and can check her over.”

Naruto pouted at her. “We haven't talked about accepting her into our group yet.”

Tsuru barked a laugh and gave him a hug. “You already did, so you're just putting up a fake front to make her think you might say no.”

Anko had two more empty dango sticks and tossed them onto the table as she tried to not moan with pleasure. They were the best dango she had ever had and she swore she would stay with him forver if he kept making dango for her.

“You're not supposed to tell her that.” Naruto groaned and slapped a hand onto his face. “You just ruined my bargaining position.”

“It's so cute that you think you have that.” Tsuru said and kissed his cheek several times. She let him go and shooed him away. “Hurry up and see how soon you can help her with her little problem.”

Naruto sighed and hopped off the chair he was on. He grabbed the last two dango from the platter and held them out to Anko as he swayed them from side to side like lures. “Come on, the medical room is this way.”

Anko wasn't really sure what he was talking about, since she was in a bit of a food coma. She really only saw the swaying dango in front of her face, as if she was a real snake, and the swaying had caught her full attention. She stood up and followed the delicious desserts until they stopped moving and she laid down on the bed to eat them at a more sedate pace.

When the last balls of dango were well chewed and she swallowed them, Anko had to let out a satisfied moan to let the cook know she really liked them. They really were the tastiest desserts she had ever had and she would remember them for the rest of her life, or until the next batch, which she assumed wer going to be just as good, if not better.

Anko fell asleep soon after that, completely ignoring the medical techniques being performed on her, and it was the best sleep she had ever had in her entire life. She had a wonderful dream where she saw Orochimaru being sucked into a swirling vortex and then he was somehow put inside one of the fluffiest sheep she had ever seen.

That wasn't what gave her a fluttering warm feeling deep in her soul, though. Several of his large summoned snakes started to chase him and had a grand old time hunting the terrified and bleating sheep all over a dark forest and then they caught him and slaughtered him.

Anko was going to remember that dream, and how she felt, for a very long time.