Anko's pupils shrank abruptly, her heart sinking.
He heard my entire conversation with Orochimaru. More importantly… he seems to know Orochimaru very well.
She didn't answer directly, instead probing cautiously."Do you know Orochimaru?"
Naruto let out a soft chuckle."An S-rank rogue ninja. Once a disciple of the Hokage, he conducted human experiments without authorization. After his crimes were exposed, he betrayed Konoha—and during that 'falling out,' he took on quite a few 'students.'"
His gaze lingered on Anko's neck, where the Curse Mark was carved. Her eyelids twitched, her breathing quickened, and her chest rose and fell sharply.
My god… Anko is really overdoing it, isn't she? This must be her slightly fuller figure from her previous life…
Naruto steadied his emotions and continued calmly,"Maintaining a teacher–student relationship with Orochimaru isn't, in itself, a major problem. I'm sure the Hokage has already run a background check on you…"
"But as an examiner—if your former teacher, now an S-rank rogue ninja, is freely roaming the exam grounds, what do you think the others would say?"
Anko froze.
On one hand, she was shocked by what Naruto had just said. On the other, she was confused by his decision to ambush such a terrifying senior.
Everyone knew Orochimaru was an S-rank criminal, yet this boy still charged in head-on.Was he not afraid of Orochimaru at all?
People like that were either foolish… or unimaginably powerful—strong enough to handle Orochimaru with ease.
Judging by Naruto's clear, logical explanation earlier, the former seemed highly unlikely.
Suddenly, Naruto felt hard to read—despite how young he looked.
After hesitating for a moment, Anko asked,"Then… what do you want?"
"Two things," Naruto replied evenly."First—when you interacted with Orochimaru, did he carve anything into a tree, or say something like 'hehe'?"
Although his shadow clone had heard most of the conversation, he wanted to be absolutely certain.
Anko pretended to think. After a moment, she shook her head."No one carved anything in front of me. And no 'hehe,' either. I don't remember anything like that… Why do you ask?"
"Don't answer a question with another question," Naruto snapped coldly.
Anko instinctively shrank back.
"Second—starting now, you must continue tracking Orochimaru and stay in contact with me."
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Anko asked seriously,"Can you tell me why?"
"Heh."
Naruto said nothing. He raised a finger and slowly waved it side to side as the Nine-Tails' chakra began seeping toward her.
A chill suddenly ran through Anko's entire body."Ah—!" She gasped and stumbled back two steps.
Naruto watched her with a faint smile. Only then did Anko realize she had crossed a line—she shouldn't have asked that question.
Meanwhile, Naruto thought to himself:
This Nine-Tails chakra is really convenient. In the future, when I meet strangers, I can just use its pressure to act like some big shot and scam free food and drinks… Hmm. Looks like I should visit the bathhouse sometime.
Seeing Anko purse her lips in silence, Naruto chuckled lightly and pointed at her forehead protector."Look—do you really think someone from Konoha would do anything harmful to the village?"
"Don't worry. I just hold a grudge against Orochimaru. Villagers don't lie to each other."
Given how the story unfolded, that hatred genuinely existed—so this wasn't a lie.
After a long hesitation, Anko finally summoned a small white snake and handed it to Naruto.
"You can use this to contact me," she said, her gaze complicated.
Naruto accepted the snake calmly, letting it slip into his sleeve, and nodded slowly.
Then, without any warning, he said,"By the way… you seem really tense. Want me to give you a massage?"
As he spoke, he stepped forward as if to touch her.
Anko jumped in fright and instinctively stepped back—but immediately felt a pair of hands grip her shoulders firmly from behind.
She turned her head and saw Naruto's shadow clone, radiating the Nine-Tails' oppressive presence, smiling gently."Relax."
As he spoke, he gave a light squeeze and guided the Nine-Tails' chakra toward the area of her Curse Mark.
Anko first felt a cool sensation spread across her pale neck—then an indescribable feeling washed over her. The discomfort Orochimaru had once caused began to slowly fade.
Naruto's real body quietly observed her expression, already forming a preliminary conclusion.
The Nine-Tails' pressure isn't just intimidation—it can act like a shield against the Curse Mark… Or rather, the Nine-Tails' chakra can neutralize its effects?
"How does it feel?" he asked. "Comfortable?"
"…Okay—no, wait—no, it's not!" Anko blurted out, her sharp features flushing red.
"Good. Then I'm relieved."
Naruto said nothing more. He smiled faintly, dismissed the shadow clone, and left.
The instant his hand withdrew, the sensation of touching her skin flooded back into his mind. He could still feel the smoothness against his palm, sending a surge of excitement through him.
They say women are made of water—guess that's true. Heh… Anko is delicious—cough. Anyway, this mission wasn't a total loss. At least I established a connection with Anko, and Orochimaru's suspicions should be eased a bit.
After整理ing his thoughts, Naruto rushed back toward Sasuke.
Meanwhile, inside another tree hollow—
Sakura wrung out a towel soaked with sweat, checked the surrounding traps, and returned inside.
According to the original story, she would fight the Sound Ninja the next day—her hair would be cut during the battle, then she'd be rescued by Rock Lee and later by an awakened Sasuke.
She touched her ponytail, with no intention of cutting it. That decision had been born of desperation in the original timeline—her situation now was completely different.
"Scrape… scrape…"
Suddenly, Sakura heard a sound outside the tree hollow—like someone scraping a kunai against the bark.
Her eyelid twitched.
Was encountering a time traveler really just coincidence? Or had he followed her?
Orochimaru?
After all, he wasn't far from the last battlefield.
A deep sense of unease washed over her. Trembling, Sakura stood up. She had thought that after spending time with Naruto she'd be able to handle herself—but the nightmare in her heart hadn't faded, and she still couldn't fully bring out her fighting strength.
"…Let's do this!"
Clenching her teeth, she pulled the thin wire connected to the tree-hollow traps. With her other hand, she quickly rummaged through her ninja pouch and pulled out an explosive tag.
If that person really was a pervert who had tracked them down and forced his way in—then dying wouldn't be such a bad outcome.
Worst case scenario: we die together.
Even so, Sakura held her breath, unable to stop herself from thinking—what if he hadn't noticed her at all, and was just carving something into the tree? Wouldn't leaving be safer?
Time passed slowly.
Eventually, the sounds outside nearly vanished.
Clutching the explosive tag tightly, Sakura crept toward the entrance of the hollow.
Then—she suddenly peeked out.
No one was there.
Only a line of small, crooked characters carved into the bark.
She stepped closer and read them carefully:
[Found you… hehe.]
plz support me if you can
patreon.com/fatimasoomro123
All the fanfiction is 30-chapter ahead but this "A Witty Life in the Naruto World" is 30 chapters ahead there