Anko seemed unable to fall asleep at home for the second hour already. As a rule, many experienced operative shinobi could drop into sleep instantly when needed and wake just as quickly, reacting to changes in their surroundings. But this time, something was preventing Mitarashi from sinking into blessed oblivion.
Scattered rays of dim moonlight filtered through the room's window, giving the outlines of objects a mystical bluish-silver hue. Outside—not a sound. Even the crickets seemed to have forgotten their usual chirps tonight. Lying on her back in bed, the girl sighed heavily and tried to roll onto her side…
Suddenly, a shadow flashed outside the window. Anko tensed. She stayed motionless, but a bad premonition began rising inside her.
There was a barely audible sound of the front door lock being picked, followed by the quiet but grating creak of floorboards.
"Who's that?" flashed through Anko's mind.
Had an intruder broken in to steal something? Not even funny. With her reputation, no one in their right mind would dare not just break into her house, but even wake her. And she had nothing in the house that thieves would want anyway… It definitely wasn't ANBU. They could've just knocked if it was urgent; no need to sneak in.
Running through the options, Anko reached one grim conclusion: someone from Root had come for her. But why? Because she'd started getting close to the jinchuriki? Seemed like it…
The door to the room opened, and a dark silhouette entered. He stood at the entrance for a moment, as if hesitating. Mitarashi decided to play it safe and unobtrusively pull a kunai from under her pillow. But as soon as she tried to move…
"Bijuu! What's this? Nara Clan technique? But can that jutsu even be used at night?"
The girl couldn't move a finger; she was paralyzed. Everything inside Anko went cold. She tried Senei Jashū, but failed again. Any chakra manipulation was now impossible. She tried to scream, but only a faint moan escaped her throat.
"What's happening?.."
The Tokubetsu Jonin wasn't the fearful type. She'd give her life for the village without hesitation. Yet now Anko was utterly confused, her body breaking out in cold sweat and goosebumps. She'd never felt so helpless. Dying in battle was honorable. But like this, unable even to open her mouth, let alone resist… Terrifying… humiliating.
The silhouette stepped into the moonlight in the middle of the room. It was a bald man in a shinobi bodysuit. A sly smile played on his face.
Anko's eyes bulged in surprise. The paralysis partially lifted. Her body was still wooden, but her lips and tongue obeyed her now.
"S-Saitama?" the girl whispered.
"I knew he wasn't that simple…"
She didn't finish the thought, as the guy's silhouette blurred and the shinobi was instantly by her bed. The Kunoichi squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the fatal blow…
"Shh… Quiet, Anko," a voice sounded right by her ear.
Her body still wouldn't obey, but she hurriedly opened her eyes.
"Why aren't you… oh…"
Mitarashi didn't finish her question, feeling the guy gently nibble her earlobe. The bald shinobi's hands began carefully exploring the curves of her body hidden by the sheet.
"Saitama, what are you…"
She didn't finish the next question because her lips were occupied. The shinobi covered her mouth with his. The girl squeaked, but it didn't affect the guy's intentions. The sheet was yanked away and tossed aside, revealing the Kunoichi's beautiful body. Mitarashi always slept naked at home, covered only by soft silk fabric.
With each moment, Anko's heartbeat quickened. Saitama showered her body with kisses, gradually moving lower. From her neck to her collarbones, threatening to switch to her soft mounds.
"Stop, wait!.."
The bald shinobi paused, but only to return to her lips and devour them greedily, as if trying to drink and eat the girl whole. His hands began stroking, then gently massaging her firm breasts.
"M-m-m…" a hot moan escaped the girl, and Mitarashi realized her movement had finally returned.
But instead of pushing the shinobi away, Anko began stroking his bald head in response, then frantically tore off his top, barely breaking from his lips, which she periodically bit passionately.
Moments later, Saitama was shirtless. Mitarashi breathed heavily and rapidly, barely restraining her desire to give herself to the guy as soon as possible and let him inside her. She wrapped her legs around his sinewy torso corded with tight muscle ropes and pressed his smooth head to her chest. Saitama began caressing her charms, teasing her swollen nipples with the tip of his tongue from time to time…
Suddenly, the bald shinobi pulled away.
"What?" Anko asked.
"Heh," he exhaled. "It's time for you already."
"What do you mean?" Mitarashi didn't understand.
The guy slowly leaned to her ear.
"It's time for you… BR-R-R-R-R!"
Suddenly, tiny hammers plunged into the Kunoichi's head, hammering a ringing, buzzing trill at mad speed. The world blurred, and the girl jerked her eyes open.
"BR-R-R-R-R…"
Anko gritted her teeth and irritably smashed the alarm clock off the nightstand. One hit—and fragments flew to the far wall.
"Bijuu! Just a dream!"
She couldn't say if "just a dream" was fortunately or unfortunately. No, of course she was insanely glad it was just a dream. What a thing to dream about—her and the bald guy…
At those thoughts, the girl's cheeks flushed crimson.
"Br-r-r…" she shuddered. "Me and Saitama?.. No way. Anyone but him!.."
She lay in bed under the light sheet, memories of the past week flashing through her head.
Yes. A week had passed since Saitama and Anko's first meeting. That first evening, the Kunoichi had come to report to the Hokage. Imagine her surprise when Sarutobi smirked slyly and said he wouldn't accept her report; the mission rank was raised to "B," and now Anko had to escort Saitama for a month. She was also ordered to get close to the guy if possible and learn the secret of his strength. At that moment, the Kunoichi wanted to throttle the old fart. Mitarashi had barely endured one day with the bald guy, and now she had to escort him for a whole month! And what did "get close" even mean? She wouldn't have to sleep with him, right? Probably just try to befriend him. Oh Kami, why? Good thing she'd bargained for payment as for two B-rank missions.
By the way, regarding the "secret of strength," the girl understood nothing. Was the Hokage interested in Saitama's training level? Didn't he know himself? And what strength could this idiot have, bijuu forbid? No, the guy's head was tough, and based on Anko's previous conclusions, he was almost certainly a shinobi with 100% probability. But for him to interest the Third as a fighter and for Sarutobi to order her to learn his power's secret?.. Either the old man had lost his mind, or the bald guy wasn't so simple. Anko had asked the Third what this "strength" was and where the weird guy came from. The Hokage just puffed his pipe. On Saitama's origin—he said it was classified. On the strength—he advised her to check herself to see how powerful the guy was.
At first, Mitarashi thought Hiruzen was just messing with her. Because he spoke as if wary of the bald shinobi. Which couldn't be real, because it couldn't be never! The God of Shinobi afraid of someone? Nonsense!.. But on the third day, Anko realized how wrong she'd been and what a monster she'd been ordered to escort.
It had all started like this…
"Shadow Clone Technique."
The training ground 66 clearing filled with clouds of white smoke, and then Mitarashi saw the orange sea again. And though the Kunoichi had witnessed this scene for the third day, the corner of her mouth still twitched, and she barely kept her composure.
"Bijuu brat…" she thought every time.
The reaction was quite understandable, since Naruto wasn't just using the Shadow Clone Technique, but the forbidden jutsu—Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
It was forbidden due to the danger to the user. It consumed a massive amount of chakra, which could lead to chakra exhaustion, and in some cases (with weak chakra pathways and underdeveloped core) to complete inability to use the chakra circulatory system in the future. However, Uzumaki apparently felt no discomfort at all. Anko could probably make a few clones. Six or seven was her limit. The kid effortlessly created five hundred. How much chakra did he have? Or was he using some other variant of the technique?
Mitarashi tried her best to suppress waves of envy. Yes, she envied him. A lowly genin used the most chakra-intensive A-rank technique without issue, which he'd learned overnight (the Hokage had confirmed this in conversation with her). Plus, it was a Kin jutsu.
"You know what to do, Naruto!" Saitama said firmly, arms crossed over his chest.
The redheaded crowd nodded in sync and split into groups. One hundred ran toward the academy. Another to the village library. The remaining three hundred stepped aside together, assumed perfect stances, and took turns thrusting their arms forward…
On the first day, the clones' punches were completely chaotic, so Mitarashi had approached, corrected their stances, and showed proper strikes. She hadn't expected the kid's copies to heed her words and nail decent Konoha taijutsu punches within ten minutes…
Anko had to admit Saitama's pedagogical talents. First, the clone training method worked great; clones could perfectly drill taijutsu; by the third day, Uzumaki's copies showed nearly perfect punches. Second, at the bald guy's request, Naruto had become much quieter. No surprise: when you can barely crawl home by evening, you don't feel like yelling. The little jinchuriki had also stopped pranking and finally got to work, so no more defacing the Hokage faces.
Watching the panting original blond doing push-ups, Anko addressed Saitama:
"How about a spar?"
Sarutobi had said for the Tokubetsu Jonin to verify the bald guy's strength firsthand. Nothing else to do, why not warm up. Especially since he seemed pretty tough, so she didn't have to hold back much.
"Nah…" the hero yawned. "Too early for him. Let him train alone for now; we can go stroll meanwhile. You haven't shown me the whole village yet, by the way…"
"Saitama, you don't get it," the Kunoichi interrupted. "How about a spar with me?"
"Uh?.. What? You're a girl! What kind of spar with you?" the bald ninja wondered.
"I'm a shinobi just like you!" Anko began boiling.
"Um… So not at all?.. I already said, I'm not a shinobi. I'm a 'B' class hero, Caped Baldy."
Mitarashi hissed like a real snake.
Playing along with Saitama's game for now, she calmed down and decided to support the nonsense for once:
"Fine-fine. But there's one snag. If you're a hero, where's your hero cape?"
"Left it at home, in the other world," the bald guy replied carefree. "With the costume. Why? Want to make me a new one?"
The girl closed her eyes for a couple seconds, then slowly inhaled and exhaled.
"Alright, Saitama. I propose a training fight—in exchange, I promise to treat you to one super-large bowl of ramen. Deal?" This time the girl specified the number of bowls. Otherwise, Saitama might eat everything at Ichiraku.
"Anko, you should've started with that. But it's not enough," the hero scratched his sun-glinting bald head. "As a bonus, show me your Forest of Death. The name's intriguing."
"Uh-huh," the girl agreed reluctantly.
Training ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death, wasn't dangerous for jonin. For genin and inexperienced chunin—definitely. But if you followed safety protocols and avoided strong beasts' territories, the place was mostly just a scary tale for young ninja. So taking Saitama there was feasible.
"Good. Now let's move farther away," the Kunoichi suggested.
The guy and girl walked about half a kilometer and stopped at the other end of the training ground near a row of makiwara set by a small cliff.
"So, what are the rules? I'm not gonna hit a girl, so think of something."
Anko clenched her teeth. Did this guy think she was a pushover? Mitarashi was a Tokubetsu Jonin, student of the Snake Sannin, after all.
Since their first meeting, she'd wanted to kick that smug face for all the teasing. And now was the perfect chance.
"Fine, don't want to hit—better for me," the girl grinned. "But I'll still attack! I'll use everything except forbidden techniques. Gotta check what you're worth, Master Saitama," Anko added sarcastically.
The Kunoichi leaped back, drawing a kunai from her pouch mid-jump.
"Whistle"
Saitama tilted his head slightly, and the thrown weapon grazed past his cheek.
The girl formed a concentration seal and used one of the strongest illusions in her modest jutsu arsenal. Staring intently into Saitama's eyes, Mitarashi froze for a few moments.
"This is…" the guy scratched his bald head in confusion.
No further attacks followed the girl's kunai throw. She just stood staring at him, fingers twisted in a strange gesture. The hero was a bit thrown off but then got it:
"Oh! Got it. You wanna play staring contest. First to blink loses, right? Challenge accepted!"
His gaze turned serious, but glancing at Mitarashi's twisted fingers, he realized he needed a cool hand pose too. Trying to copy the concentration seal, Saitama realized the finger trick only looked easy; he couldn't get anywhere close. Spitting on the weird mudra, he decided not to bother with nonsense and showed Anko two "rocks": it looked like Saitama was paying homage to rock culture with a heavy metal sign…
Sweat beaded on the girl's temples. For half a minute already, the Tokubetsu Jonin had tried immersing her opponent in genjutsu. But he seemed oblivious to her efforts. It was like trying to genjutsu a rock. The guy just mocked her again, babbling about staring contests.
"Maybe it's because the bald guy's got no brains? Logical explanation. Can't affect what's not there. How else to explain his genjutsu immunity? Or maybe that weird hand seal he's holding?.."
"Gotta warn you," Saitama spoke up. The girl tensed immediately. "I once played staring contest with Genos; half a day passed, draw. We had to stop for supermarket discounts…"
Suddenly Caped Baldy's eyes widened as if remembering something:
"Wait! Genos is a cyborg. Does he even blink?.."
The girl first thought Saitama would say something serious, but he spouted nonsense again. Realizing the futility, Anko switched to other strength tests.
"We're not playing staring contest," the Kunoichi hissed. "We're having a training fight."
"Oh-h-h…" the guy drawled, nodding absently.
Finishing genjutsu, Mitarashi formed seals and intoned:
"Katon: Dragon Flame Technique!"
A stream of fire shaped like small dragons rushed straight at Saitama. But he nimbly leaped aside, fully dodging the jutsu damage.
With her right hand, the Kunoichi quickly threw several kunai, while snakes emerged from Mitarashi's left sleeve, lunging at the bald hero. He should've been trapped, but before she could blink, all projectiles were caught and shoved right into the snakes' open mouths. The summoned reptiles vanished in smoke puffs.
"Interesting technique," the bald shinobi scratched his chin. "Too bad the snakes disperse; could've gotten free meat. They say snake meat's tasty if cooked right."
Mitarashi irritably clicked her tongue:
"All you think about is eating…"
"Got hungry again, Anko. How much longer we sparring?" Saitama asked.
Mitarashi drew two kunai, throwing one at the guy's head. Naturally, he caught the metal at his nose bridge effortlessly.
"You win as soon as you hold a kunai to my throat," the Kunoichi smirked. "That marks victory."
Now she'd stay vigilant and test his close combat. Anko wasn't on Might Guy or Kakashi's level in taijutsu, but it was the only option left with the bald guy. Kunai in hand, she was about to charge, but…
"Heh-heh, looks like I win."
"W-what?" the girl felt cold metal of the weapon handle against her neck.
The guy was behind her, pressing the handle to her throat. How? She'd kept him in sight the whole time. What was that? Body Flicker Technique? No. Unlikely. Mythical speed element? Impossible… but facts were facts; only the Fourth Hokage or his level—like the Third and Yondaime Raikage—could move that fast. Anyway, Anko realized in a real fight with Saitama, she'd be a cold corpse long ago, without a peep.
"I-I surrender," she rasped hoarsely.
"Goodie," the bald hero grinned, handing the weapon back. Mitarashi automatically took it and stowed the kunai in her pouch. "Now ramen time. Let's go, Anko!"
The guy sauntered off across the recently scorched grass. The Kunoichi stared into space for a bit, then shook herself like from a spell and followed Saitama.
Mitarashi snapped from her memories and reluctantly headed to the shower to freshen up. Three weeks left until mission end. But now she didn't see the assignment as punishment or anything like it. Far from it. She'd do what needed doing. The mission would be valuable experience.
She just needed to sort herself out. Or rather, her feelings from the dream. Dreams were amazing things. Sometimes they expose and reveal our secret, hidden desires. They're our dark subconscious pit, often catching what consciousness can't. And though her conscious mind and common sense actively protested what she secretly wanted; you can't command the heart, as they say.
No, not love. The girl understood relationship psychology. Just, spending lots of time with someone creates a habit. A habit that over time can grow into attachment or even infatuation.
Maybe she'd been alone too long, distancing from everyone. That's why this desire, this need for someone strong arose. Someone who could always protect… Who knows?
On the other hand, Anko would prefer to leave things as is. It'd be much simpler. But bijuu!..
Whole three weeks left…
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan