Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_523: INTERLUDE_13.10: Mitarashi Anko Pt. 2

“He called it the Seal of Heaven,” Anko said as she absentmindedly gazed at the training ground. She had never been to this particular training ground; in fact, she wasn’t sure if it existed in public records. It was prepared by the Third Hokage for her. “Of course, that bastard conveniently left out the ‘Cursed’ prefix when he talked about it to me…”

Sarutobi Hiruzen, dressed in the Hokage robes, stood beside her. Three bodyguards in the regular Leaf uniform stood nearby while two masked ANBU were hidden close by, ready to spring out at a moment’s notice. They were on the lookout for any threat, but they also had their eyes on Mitarashi Anko. They weren’t given all the details, but they were told that things could very well turn dangerous.

“It was not your fault, child,” Hiruzen said.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Anko said with a little heat, but quickly reined herself in. It wouldn’t do her any good to lose her temper.

Thinking about how naive she was back then made her wince. She was a sparkling-new chūnin and had placed an unhealthy amount of blind trust in her master. How could she not? He was one of the Legendary Sannin. He had taught her everything she knew and seemed to know the answers to all her questions. He had even convinced Ryūchi Cave to accept her as one of its summoners.

“He said it would make me stronger, which didn’t seem strange, you know?” Anko continued to reminisce, with a mix of bitterness and a ghost of sweetness in her gaze, about the simpler times of her childhood. “He had already put me through so much. The number of poisons and venoms I had to endure, the harsh training that he called basic—which he, just so you know, claimed was easier than what you put him through,” she glanced at Hiruzen before once again turning her back to him, “but I didn’t mind because I didn’t want to disappoint him and because all of it did make me stronger…

“So when he talked about a miraculous seal that would help make me stronger, I was sold.” Anko chuckled. “He said he studied Princess Tsunade’s seal—I don’t know what it’s called—and devised a seal of his own. Bullshit! He said he made it just for me. Bullshit!”

Even if Orochimaru was her master, there was no kunoichi who didn’t look up to Tsunade as a role model. The thought that she could be like the only female Sannin and possibly the strongest female jōnin in the Hidden Leaf had stars twinkling in Anko’s eyes and dreams in her mind. She was blinded by the splendour of it all.

Of course, there were no stars in her future—only darkness.

“I’m ready,” Anko said after telling Hiruzen things he already knew to alleviate her nervousness.

“Let’s start.” Hiruzen removed his Hokage cap and handed it to one of his bodyguards. He stepped forward to Anko, who knelt down and exposed her shoulder, where the jūinjutsu sat right in the centre.

He had seen it numerous times and yet couldn’t get used to the vile creation. It resembled the three-tomoe of a fully matured Sharingan, which reminded him that Orochimaru now possessed the body of a young Uchiha.

He weaved a set of hand seals that caused his thumb to be set ablaze with a pale blue, ghostly fire that he pressed onto the cursed mark, making Anko moan in pain and discomfort. A three-part seal that suppressed and restricted the cursed mark’s influence over Anko became visible around the mark. Every time the jūinjutsu tried to raise its ugly head, the seal would beat it down.

No matter what he tried, Hiruzen couldn’t remove the cursed mark without risking Anko's life, so he decided to seal it. He hadn’t developed any jutsu since he had taken the office again after the Fourth Hokage’s death; Anko’s seal was the only thing he had personally worked on and slowly refined over the years to make it stronger and reduce any burden that the jūinjutsu would cause her. He wanted to ensure that even if no cure was found, Anko would continue to live her life without many problems even after he was gone.

Ironically, that same seal that was helping her was also stopping her from living her life to its fullest potential.

In the next three minutes, Hiruzen undid the three-part seal, each time causing the cursed seal to thrum and twitch as it sensed freedom. The cursed seal itself wasn’t the problem. There was something wrong with the chakra in the seal; it was vile and repulsive. He didn’t know what Orochimaru had done to birth such a twisted power.

“I will ask one last time. Are you sure?” Hiruzen asked, his thumb poised with a ghostly flame, ready to fully unlock the seal.

The act of unlocking the seal itself wasn’t dangerous. He could easily reapply the seal with some work. The real concern was how Anko would feel if she lost control. The last time she had lost control—a time before he had met her and applied the seal to provide some relief—it had caused Anko a lot of trauma because of the deeds she had done under the influence of the jūinjutsu. It had been scarring then, and he was sure that it still lingered on her mind and conscience to this day.

Hiruzen didn’t want a repeat of that. Anko had regained her confidence; a hope burned in her heart for a bright future. He didn’t want her to lose that.

“Thank you for doing this,” Anko said, turning her head to look up at him with firm conviction. “I’m ready, Lord Hokage. Please release it.”

Hiruzen nodded and then stared at the cursed mark for a moment before pressing his thumb down and turning it to release his seal.

Behind him, his bodyguards tensed up without cause, as nothing of note happened. Anko was fine aside from her nerves and laboured breathing; the cursed seal sat there just as it had before, causing no chaos or destruction.

All in all, a very anti-climactic affair.

He told her that it was done and stepped back.

———

.

Anko was scared. The last time she had been without a seal to suppress the cursed mark, she had gone out of control under its influence. She had hurt people, lost a friend, destroyed property, and had nearly killed a group of civilians. She was extremely lucky to have been stopped when she was—before it was too late.

And that was the problem Anko had identified.

Fear.

Even though it had been years since she was out of control, the feeling of madness was still fresh in her mind. Orochimaru hadn’t lied when he had claimed that the cursed mark would make her stronger—and that was the problem, because the power it gave was enthralling. She could remember it clearly even after years. She remembered what it felt like to let the cursed mark take over and allow herself to indulge in actions that would disgust her, only to feel pleasure from them instead.

Anko began channelling her chakra and almost immediately felt the cursed mark thrum as it fed off her chakra. It made her heart skip a beat as she clenched her fist. At this level, it wasn’t a threat; she could push it down, have the seal reapplied, and forget about this whole thing—but that was not the plan.

“It’s happening today,” she whispered and began moulding more and more chakra, enough to power a B-rank ninjutsu. Instantly, the cursed mark exploded as it feasted on the chakra it had been denied for years.

———

Hiruzen’s eyes widened as the reaction was almost instantaneous. The three tomoe spun, biting into her flesh like a physical set of fangs. Black, flame-like markings erupted from the cursed mark, crawling across her shoulder, down her arm, and up the side of her face.

Anko screamed, her hand slamming into the grass as her back arched.

“Lord Hokage, please back away.” His bodyguards tried to make him step away from her and lead him to safety, but he waved them off. “Whatever happens, you are not to touch her. Do not interfere,” he ordered.

He was fully dressed for combat below his Hokage robes. He knew the dangers of what they were doing today. If things went out of control, he didn’t want Anko to be hurt. His bodyguards were skilled, but he didn’t think they could capture and contain her without hurting her. If the situation reached that point, he would do it on his own.

———

.

The power was intoxicating, a rush of unnatural chakra that made her muscles bulge and her senses sharpen to a razor’s edge. Anko evaluated the chakra flowing through her; this was not hers. It had been twisted by the cursed mark. And yet, she couldn’t deny that it was much stronger. Was this the power of a jōnin? She felt she could do anything in the moment. But with the power came the corruption. The air grew heavy with the phantom scent of dead scales and damp earth. A familiar, hissing madness began to claw at the edges of her mind.

She turned around and looked at the Hokage, who had a concerned look on his face. His bodyguards were looking at her with open hostility, like they didn’t trust her at all.

He thinks of me as a little girl broken by his student, a voice said in Anko’s mind—her own voice. It continued, whispering that he didn’t care about her and saw her as a problem—his problem—that needed to be contained, not helped.

Submit, the chakra whispered, slithering through her neural pathways. Destroy. Revel in it.

The fear hit her then, vivid and paralysing. It was the memory of the days before the seal—the days of waking up with blood under her fingernails, her mind a passenger in a body driven by sadistic whims. The instinct she had relied on for years screamed at her to retreat, to clamp down on her chakra coils, to build a dam and hide behind it.

She began to pull back, her breathing shallow, her own chakra retreating like a frightened prey animal.

No, Anko thought, biting her lip until she tasted copper. That’s what I’ve always done. That’s why I’m stuck.

For years, she had suppressed her chakra. She had treated it like a bomb that could explode at any moment. Despite Lord Hokage’s seal, she feared that if she pushed it, the cursed mark would break through and take her over. She had stopped training in fear that if she got stronger, the cursed mark would grow stronger with her. She had started drinking and going out every night to clubs and parties to distract herself, hoping that if she weakened herself, the cursed mark would weaken as well.

Even after she returned from the war with a new vigour, she still subconsciously held back from using her chakra to its full potential.

She realised, in a moment of agonising clarity, that the cursed mark didn't overpower her because it was vastly stronger—it overpowered her because it filled the vacuum she created when she shrank away from it.

“Fuck you,” she spat.

Instead of pulling her chakra back, she pushed. She reached deep into her core, into the very foundation of her physical and spiritual energy, and opened the floodgates. Her own chakra—sharp, vibrant, and fiercely untamed—surged upward with a level of freedom that it had not been given for years.

The internal clash was violent. Orochimaru’s cursed seal tried to corrupt her chakra, to twist it to make it more powerful, but she refused to let it. For the first time, free from fear, she observed that change as it happened. It was brilliant—terrible, yet brilliant. She didn’t pretend to understand it completely, only scratching the surface.

“Ah… so that’s it.”

She realised what she had been missing.

And it pissed her off because she would rather die than admit that even after so many years, Orochimaru had managed to teach her something.

———

.

Hiruzen grew increasingly nervous as he saw the marks growing denser and denser across Anko’s body. She was losing control; the cursed mark was exerting more and more influence. It had been many years for Hiruzen, but he also recalled it as if it were yesterday when he had asked her to show it to him and tried to convince the little girl who was too scared to use her own chakra.

Anko turned to look at them, and his heart dropped when he saw the pure hatred on her face, directed right at him.

“Lord Hokage?” one of his bodyguards asked, ready to move. Even the ANBU guard had stepped out of hiding.

“Back away and don’t speak,” Hiruzen said, but he was having doubts. He wanted to give her a chance, but at the same time, he couldn’t bear seeing Anko like this. As he struggled with what to do, something changed.

Anko’s posture changed, and her entire body relaxed. She closed her eyes, and the struggle on her face lessened.

A wave of intense, Wind-natured chakra exploded out of Anko. It was chakra twisted by the cursed seal, making it more powerful. She took a deep breath and once again released the same wave of chakra.

Hiruzen didn’t know what was happening, but seeing that Anko wasn’t attacking them, the situation seemed to have improved. He raised his hand to steady his bodyguards, who were now on edge.

Anko, on the other hand, released half a dozen more waves until one wave was suddenly weaker. Hiruzen’s eyes widened. It was faint, but he could tell that the chakra was different. The next couple of waves resolved his doubts as the chakra started to change. It grew weaker, but it was reverting to what Anko’s usual chakra was.

A minute later, there was some movement over Anko’s body as the black marks began to retreat until her skin was once again clear. The heated cursed marks on her shoulder calmed down and went inert, as though they were only ink and nothing special.

A smile appeared over his weathered face. “She has done it. She has gotten it under her control—”

BOOM! Another wave erupted from Anko, only it was stronger than before.

BOOM! The chakra remained the same.

BOOM! This was not the power of the cursed mark.

BOOM! And yet, each successive wave was getting stronger.

Hiruzen’s eyes softened when he realised what was happening.

Everyone possessed the same chakra. The chakra the Hokage possessed was the same as that of a genin. There were factors like chakra quality, but barring that, everyone possessed the same chakra. The Tailed Beasts’ chakra was different, but they were exceptions. The truth was that everyone wasted chakra. Be it genin or chūnin, no matter how skilled they were with their jutsu, they couldn’t get the most out of their chakra.

That’s what set jōnin apart. Chakra was so much more powerful than most people ever realised. And jōnin could pull out more of that potential hidden in chakra than anyone else because they understood the real power of chakra. That was chakra enlightenment.

However, even at his peak with all of his knowledge, Hiruzen didn’t think he had ever pulled out all of what chakra had to offer—not even close. That’s how deep the mysteries of chakra were. It wasn’t possible to explore it all in one lifetime. The thought gave him pause because his former student understood that well.

“Congratulations, gentlemen,” Hiruzen said as another wave hit him and his bodyguards, buffeting their clothes. “You are lucky to witness the birth of a future jōnin. The Hidden Leaf has a new jōnin in its future,” he said, utterly joyous.

A minute later, Anko stopped and stepped out of her trance. She reached to touch her shoulder; a grin stretched over her face when she realised what she had just accomplished.

Hiruzen stepped forward to congratulate her. “Anko—”

“Step back, Lord Hokage,” Anko suddenly said to him with a twinkle in her eyes before leaping away from them.

He stopped in his tracks and followed her with his eyes. She began weaving hand seals. At first, he smiled, thinking that she wanted to test her newfound, elevated understanding by using a ninjutsu. It was only proper given that they were in a training field.

He guessed that it was going to be her strongest B-rank ninjutsu until he saw the hand seals and instantly recognised them.

“Summoning Jutsu? What—”

With a feral grin, Anko slapped her hand on the ground.

The amount of smoke that was released from the jutsu covered the entirety of the training field. It quickly vanished, revealing dark purple scales with black rings running down at intervals.

Hiruzen’s jaw slackened because craning his neck all the way back didn’t allow him to see the top of what was summoned. It easily dwarfed trees, tall buildings, and large rock formations. In front of it, humans were comparable to ants. The large training field no longer seemed vast as it was instantly filled.

However, he didn’t need a full view to know what it was, since he had seen it a couple of times before.

It was the largest snake in the world.

It was Orochimaru’s strongest summon, the best the Ryūchi Cave had to offer.

It was Manda.

Manda was in the Hidden Leaf Village.

"This chakra? It’s unfamiliar. Who is it that dared to summon me?!" A deep voice boomed over the area, accompanied by a terrifying hiss. The colossal serpent’s body moved, crushing countless trees under its mass until he found who had summoned him. “Oh, it’s you, little girl! I see you finally managed to summon the great me! You’re finally strong enough for me to acknowledge you as a summoner of the Ryūchi Cave,” Manda said arrogantly. “But don’t think just because you can summon me that I will do your bidding. If you wish my help, you must pay tributes. I demand humans—”

There was another large smoke explosion as Manda disappeared, leaving behind the destruction caused by his presence alone.

A moment later, Anko appeared before them. “Yeah, I don’t like him. I was never able to summon him, so I wanted to see if I could do it now. Don’t think I’m going to use him,” she said, pleased with herself. “I know it’s a little early in the day, but I’m in a good mood. Let’s go drinking! My treat!”

In response, they looked at her like she was some strange creature.