A/N: Greetings.

This was a story written back in 2013, but have recently decided to delete and polish up to make it a more enjoyable read. To most, this will just seem like a new story. To the rest, it should most likely be an improvement.

But in any case, have fun reading and enjoy!

Somewhere, in a forest not too far from Konoha, a purple-haired Jounin, and a blonde-haired Genin could be heard talking amongst themselves.

"You're so lying."

"Am not!" Naruto protested, "I learned the Kage-Bunshin technique in one day, what's so hard to believe about that?!"

Anko's brow twitched, and she looked at him with a mean grin, "Because you're a small fried brat. It took me a week to learn a technique like that, and I was a Chuunin at the time."

"Who are you calling small-fried?! I'm taller than you!"

"I meant you're a small fry when it comes to your skills."

Naruto growled, "Okay, that's it! You wanna prove it?!"

Anko grinned at his challenge, "As much fun as it would be to prove you wrong, no. We're on a mission, remember? And stop yelling, it's annoying and it could attract attention."

"So what, it's a simple C-rank mission. And we already completed our assignment. So why not back up that big mouth of yours, and fight me?" Naruto grinned, "Unless you're scared."

Anko chuckled evilly as it was becoming a challenge not to entertain Naruto's ignorance, "Listen, kid. You're just a snot-nosed Genin, and I'm an elite Jounin almost twice your age." She peeked at him through the corners of her eyes, "You better know your place before it gets you hurt."

Naruto crossed his arms and stopped walking, even as Anko continued, "I knew you were a wuss. You just wanna prevent the embarrassment of getting your ass kicked by a Genin." He says, grinning.

Anko stopped walking.

She turned her head, "...You really wanna fight me, huh Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I kinda do."

The Tokubetsu Jounin gave a small snort. Not a second later, Naruto found himself holding her fist that was aimed for his face. Now, he was face to face with her, both of them sharing the same smirk.

No words were spoken as Anko grasped the wrist of the hand holding her fist with her other hand, and began to spin Naruto with her strength. She released him, toward a nearby tree, the inertia forcing him to start running toward it. Naruto jumped and spun, planting his feet against the tree, then leaped off of it, holding his fist out toward his partner. Anko grinned and maneuvered herself to grab Naruto's arm, and slammed him flat on his back onto the forest floor. The blonde coughed as all the air was stolen from his lungs.

Anko placed a foot atop of his chest, grinning down at him, "Is that really all you got? I knew you were all talk, but geez." She mocked. Naruto grinned and pointed up toward the large tree he leaped off of, which was now about to fall onto him and Anko. Anko gasped in surprise, and performed a few gymnastic-like back-flips to move herself out of harm's way. Naruto barrel-rolled himself to safety, the tree just missing him by a few inches.

The wood crashed loudly as it hit the ground, forcing small birds within the area to fly away in fear. Just as the dirt and dust settled, Anko landed on her feet, but barely had any time to block an incoming attack from Naruto from up above. She held his fist and grinned once he landed.

"Using chakra to break the tree with your feet... Not only is that kinda smart, but it takes quite some power to break a thick tree like that."

Naruto chuckled, "So do you take back what you said?"

"No," Anko teased, "Still kind of ameteur-ish." She then unexpectedly swept his feet from below him, and spun him again. This time, she tossed him into a cave a few meters away, and watched as he rolled deep into it's shadows.

She places a hand on her hip and dusts herself off, "Let's hope there's no bear in there."

A minute or two pass by, and Naruto hasn't exited the cave. Just as Anko was about to go in and check on him, "A-Anko-sensei! Come here!"

Anko starts walking toward the cave, "Don't tell me you can't handle a bear. You're a shinobi for crying out l-"

"No, just come here, quick!" Naruto exclaims. Anko soon enters the cavern and sees Naruto kneeling beside someone.

He looks over his shoulder at her, barely able to see her due to the darkness, "It's this girl... She really seems hurt." He said. Anko looked past Naruto and can see a figure with what she thinks is red hair squirming on her back. It's too hard for her to be sure, with the lack of light.

"Bring her outside, it's too dark in here."

"I can't," said Naruto, "She says it hurts to even move."

Anko walks up to the squirming woman and can hear her breathing raggedly through her teeth, "Listen, I don't know who you are, but if you want us to help you, we need to get you out this cave." Anko says. The woman replies non-verbally by sucking her teeth in protest.

"F-Fine..." She manages to groan out. Anko squats and scoops her into her arms bridal style, despite the other female's outburst of pain. Anko carried her outside and into the sunlight with Naruto following. She carefully placed her back onto the ground and got a better look at her.

Her hair was indeed a deep red color, she confirmed. Her face was twisted into a suffering expression, as she clenched at her left collarbone. She wasn't ugly, Anko and Naruto thought, but she had a few scratches and dirt marks over her skin, wherever her shirt and pants didn't cover. Anko didn't spot a hitai-ate on her, and she seemed harmless in the state she was in.

"S-Shit...!" The girl growled, her eyes shut in pain.

"What's wrong with you? What happened?" Asked Anko. The girl managed to crack her eyes open enough to look at her.

"It's... my shoulder..." She replied. Anko glimpsed at the area she was holding again.

"What about it? Did you injure it?" Naruto asked.

"N-No, I don't know what the hell is wrong with it...!" She growled, "It... just burns like crazy...! And it feels like the pain is spreading all over my body...!"

The girl then coughed, and a wad of blood shot from her mouth.

"Can you sit up?" Anko asked. The woman looked at her with a glare, signifying that sitting up was a task that wouldn't be easy for her, "We need to see what's wrong with it."

Anko and Naruto assisted her in her task of getting her torso off the ground, "Now can you move your hand?" Anko requested, looking at her collarbone that she was holding. The girl hesitated like she wanted to protest, but did as she was told.

What Anko saw once she moved her shirt out of the way made her eyebrows raise in surprise.

"The... Curse Seal." She mumbled, rubbing over her own collarbone unconsciously. She saw the seal glowing red, like it was about to activate.

Anko had a lot of questions, "...Who are you? Who gave you that seal?"

Tayuya almost bit her tongue, "Is that really important right now?"

"Yes." Anko said firmly.

Tayuya sighed despite the pain she was in and glimpsed at their headbands, "Konoha-nin... Hmph. You guys would kill me if I told you."

Naruto looked at Anko, then back at her, "You don't seem dangerous right now, and you look like you're really hurt, so we won't do that."

"Or at least not yet." Anko added, crossing her arms, "Talk."

Tayuya managed a small chuckle, "M-My name is Tayuya. And I'm sure you know who Orochimaru is. He was the one that gave me this fucking seal..."

Naruto and Anko scowled at her, "So you work for Orochimaru?" Naruto assumed.

Tayuya shook her head, "Not anymore. I haven't seen or heard from the bastard in over three years." She then groans and clamps a hand over the seal, "God dammit, this thing is killing me..."

Anko studied her carefully, "...How long have you been working under him?"

Tayuya sneered, "What is this, a fuckin' interview? What's with all the questions?"

Anko gave her a glare, "If you're hoping for us to help you, and not put you out of your misery the easy way, I suggest you answer our questions."

The ex-sound nin grumbled, "I've worked under him for around four years. And if you're wondering, no, I have no more connections with him, and I don't have any hopes in dealing with him again. Working for him was torture."

"So he abandoned you. Or did you abandon him?" Anko asked.

"Kind of both. I was presumably dead. But I never went back looking after him."

The redhead coughed again, and a bigger wad of blood was seen, "Ugh, shit... So are you guys going to help me or not?"

"... I think we should help her." Naruto said as he and Anko were making their minds up.

"Why should we?" Anko said a bit bitterly.

"Because, she's in a lot of pain and she's defenseless. She may have worked for Orochimaru before, but that was three years ago. Besides, if we can bring her back to Konoha, maybe we can find out more information on Orochimaru himself."

Anko thought for a second, "But what if this is all an act? You and I both know that Orochimaru is very sneaky. How do you know she isn't lying, and this isn't some kind of trap?"

Naruto looked at Tayuya, "... She's not lying."

"How can you tell?"

"Because... I don't know. I can sort of just... feel it." He said, "Besides, don't you work with that big scary guy interrogating people all the time? I'm sure you can tell that she's not lying, too."

Anko sneered, "Fine. But I'm not dropping my guard for a second." She looked back at Tayuya, "Now how long have you been like this?"

"You mean before or after you guys spent the last ten minutes asking me useless questions?" She replied rudely.

Anko sent a hardened glare her way.

Tayuya cleared her throat, "E-Er, just kidding. The Curse Seal has been like this around twenty minutes before blonde-boy here bumped into me in that cave."

Anko narrowed her eyes, "...You wouldn't happen to be activating it by any chance, right?"

Tayuya shook her head, "I'm pretty sure my chakra system is screwed up right now. If I tried to activate it, I can tell that something might go horribly wrong. And I told you, I despise Orochimaru. I don't know if that fucker will find me if I tried using it."

"So do you have any idea what might be wrong with it?" Naruto asked.

"If I knew, I would have told you by now." She said.

Anko stared at her in thought, "Well neither of us are Medic-nin, so we can't really do much. We could bring you to Konoha and have them look at you. We're close by to it, anyway."

Tayuya struggled to stand up, "Do whatever you have to do, just help me with this piece of shit seal, it's fucking killing me..."

Anko nodded, "I'm sure you can't walk right now. Naruto, carry her."

"Hey, why do I have to carry her?"

"Because I'm a Jounin, you're a Genin, and I told you to do it. Besides, be a gentleman and sweep her off her feet."

Naruto blushed, then looked at Tayuya.

She sent him a glare, "Just don't touch me anywhere inappropriate, pervert. I saw you looking at my tits earlier."

"What! I never-!"

"Save it." Tayuya said, "Just get me to Konoha."

Things were quiet for the first few minutes of Anko, Naruto, and Tayuya heading through the trees, to Konoha. Occasionally, Tayuya would give an outburst of pain while Naruto carried her on his back. Anko still had her doubts, and made sure to be ready to use her kunai at any given moment, if need be.

Naruto staggered as he hopped onto another tree branch. Anko quickly looked back, and placed a hand on her kunai holster.

"T-Tayuya, you're kinda choking me..." Naruto mumbled, patting the arm that was around his neck.

Tayuya bit her tongue as she loosened her grip, "My bad... This fucking seal is killing me..."

Anko huffed and slowly turned her head back. She was still very skeptical.

Things were quiet for a few more minutes until the foul-mouthed red head spoke up, "So... What were you guys doing that got blonde boy here tossed in that cave?"

Naruto was about to answer, until Anko spoke up first, "Listen, we're not allies. The only reason we're helping you is because Naruto has a soft heart. Therefore, we have no liability to tell you anything, or give you any reason to believe that we trust you even for a second."

"Well, considering how I'm on this kid's back, with an arm around his windpipe shows that you trust me to some extent." Tayuya wisely chose not to vocalize, "Geez, it was just a question. I feel as though you're treating me like I'm a prisoner."

"That's basically what you are." Anko spat, "As soon as you get to Konoha, we'll try to treat the condition of your Curse Seal, then you're going into interrogation right after."

"Sounds wonderful." Was Tayuya's sarcastic reply. "So I'm assuming that I no longer have a choice in this."

"Nope. You can try to run right now if you want. But you will either be wounded even more, or dead. So pick the option that will benefit us all and save us a lot more time and energy."

"I never planned on running." She says, "I'm weak as shit right now. I haven't eaten in three days, and my chakra's pretty damn low. If anything, I'll gladly be a prisoner, that way I can be treated, and get a bite to eat."

"That brings me to my next question." Says Anko, "How did you end up in that cave yourself? And why haven't you eaten in three days?"

"Again with the questions..." She mumbled, "Ever since I presumably died, I've been living on my own. For the first two years, this weird but kind old man took me into his home and looked out for me; gave me a place to sleep, fed me, all that jazz. Then, bandits came one night, and robbed and killed him. They then caught me off guard and captured me, taking me back to their hideout to treat me worse than Orochimaru ever did. I was basically a slave at that point. But one night, I managed to escape, and killed all the dick-less fuckers that laid even the slightest finger on me. After that, I was on my own again. I don't know my way around Fire Country, so I've just been scavenging for things like clothes, food, and a place to sleep. For that whole year, I've done things I wasn't proud of just to survive. Then, one rainy night, I decided to kill off a bear and take it's cave to sleep in. I woke up in excruciating pain the next morning, and not twenty minutes later, I run into you guys."

Anko looked at her through the corner of her eye. Her story explained every scar and bruise she currently had on her body.

She still didn't trust Tayuya the slightest bit. But she gained a bit of respect for her.

"I see." Was all Anko decided to respond with.

"There's a lot more to the story, but that just about sums it up." Tayuya added.

"That's... horrible." Naruto mumbled.

"Yeah, no shit." Replies Tayuya, "But I did what I had to do, and I'm proud that I made it at least this far. I have and will try my hardest to survive under any circumstances, because I refuse to go out without a fight."

"...I respect that." Said Anko.

"Me too." Naruto said. "You have a lot of heart, Tayuya."

"Thanks." Tayuya said.

A few more minutes passed, and they finally arrived at the gates of Konoha.

"So this is Konoha. I haven't been here since-" She mumbles before cutting herself off, "Never mind."

Anko cut her eyes at her, but decides to say nothing.

"So now what? Do we take her to the hospital, or to Baa-chan?" Naruto asks Anko.

"We should take her to the Hokage before we do anything with her. Besides, we have to tell her everything that occurred on our mission." She said. Naruto nodded and continued carrying Tayuya, walking with Anko to the Hokage tower.

"...Who the fuck is Baa-chan?" Tayuya said, after some hard thought.

Naruto gave a small chuckle, "That's what I call the Hokage."

Tayuya looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "...The Hokage is your grandmother?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, but she's old like one." He said with a grin.

"...So the new Hokage is a woman?" She asked.

"Wow, you have been living under a rock lately." Anko said, "Yes, the position of Godaime Hokage belongs to a woman named Tsunade."

"Of the Sannin?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"So you've heard of her."

"Of course," The redhead replied, "After serving under Orochimaru, how could I not?"

Anko looked around, then looked back at her, "You may want to be careful of what you say around here. Not a lot of people will take your past too lightly."

Tayuya said nothing further.

Once they've reached the Hokage tower, Anko knocked on her door before entering with Tsunade's approval.

Tsunade was talking to Shizune, until she spotted Naruto and Anko, along with someone she wasn't familiar with.

She never was the type to beat around the bush, "Who is that?"

Anko made the first attempt to explain, "This is Tayuya. We found her upon returning from our completed mission."

Tsunade rose an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Is there any reason why you've decided to bring her to Konoha?"

Anko nodded, "Yes. We found her in a lot of pain, and upon analyzing her, we saw that she was suffering from the effects of a Curse Mark." Tsunade showed interest in hearing this, "We learned that she worked for Orochimaru three years ago, but was presumed dead and has departed from Orochimaru's service. We've decided to bring her to you, in hopes of retrieving any intel about Orochimaru that she may currently have."

Throughout Anko's explanation, Tsunade was simply analyzing Tayuya harshly, which honestly made her feel uncomfortable.

"...I see." Tsunade mumbles, "But has it occurred to you two that it could have possibly been a trap? That maybe she was lying about everything she said?" She said with narrowed eyes.

Anko cleared her throat, "Yes, Hokage-sama, and I was going to simply avoid getting involved with her, but Naruto strongly suggested that we help her."

Tsunade's eyes then shifted to the other blonde in the room. Naruto saw this and became nervous.

He glared at Anko, "Hey, you just totally ratted me out!" He said.

"I'm just telling the truth." Anko shot back with enough of a glare to keep her posture in front of the Hokage.

"Naruto, explain. Why did you decide that helping her would be a good idea?" The Godaime asked just as Naruto sent another glare Anko's way.

"Um, well, look at her! She was in a lot of pain when we saw her. And she looks terrible. Her hair is messed up, her clothes are dirty and torn, she has cuts and bruises everywhere, not to mention her breath, and-"

"Hey, watch it." Tayuya grumbled in his ear.

"Uh, the point is that I didn't feel it would be right to leave her there like that. I don't think she has lied about anything she told us, and I do believe that maybe we can get some intel on Orochimaru through her." He explains.

Tsunade stares at him and sighs, "Naruto, it's good that you have a good heart, but this is a village of shinobi, not caretakers. And it would be gullible to believe anything anyone you don't know tells you, especially if she worked for Orochimaru. Even if it turns out that she was honest about everything, how do you know that anything she knows about Orochimaru isn't old news? Three years is a lot of time, Naruto, and it's possible that we now know more about him than she does."

Naruto realizes that she has some good points.

The room was quiet until Anko spoke up, "So what do you say we do with her, Hokage-sama?"

Before Tsunade gave a reply, Tayuya cleared her throat.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, hope you understand that I no longer wish to serve under Orochimaru. Everything I've told these two were true. Working under him was torture, and now I wish to live an easy life. I'll gladly tell you everything I know about Orochimaru. I hate the bastard just as much as you guys probably do."

The room fell quiet again after Tayuya finished. Anko, Naruto, and Shizune all anticipated how Tsunade would react to Tayuya speaking to her without being directly addressed to.

Tsunade simply stared at her, looking her over as she thought to herself..

"...As leader of an entire village, I have to make the safest decisions in order to keep my village from harm. We have no liability to trust anything you say. You have a Curse Mark, which means that you've served under one of Konoha's top enemies, and we have no actual proof to believe that you no longer do. You can be leading us into a trap, after all." Tsunade took a breath, "However... Naruto means a lot to me. And as gullible as he may look, he's a very smart and trustworthy shinobi. So if he's willing to vouch for you, that means something. I've dealt with lies and deception for many years, and you do seem sincere... So, I'll let you stay here under the supervision of these two, for now at least."

Tayuya smiled. For once in quite a few years, she heard some good news that made her genuinely smile.

"But, I will still have to keep you restrained in some shape, way, or form, Tayuya. I will have chakra seals placed on you as soon as possible. I'll personally take a look at your Curse Seal and see what's wrong with it, and after that, you'll either go to me, Anko, or the captain of our T&I department to tell us everything you know about Orochimaru. Are we clear?"

Tayuya nodded.

Tsunade turned to the other two shinobi in the room, "Now I'll give you guys two choices. You can either have Tayuya live temporarily in one or both of your apartments, or you can choose to have her stay in a prison cell."

"You're letting us choose?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Tsunade responded

Anko and Naruto look at each other, then at Tayuya. She decides not to look at them, but inwardly hopes that she'll get to live in an apartment instead of a prison cell. But beggars can't be choosers, she realizes. Either way, she'll have a place to stay, and will be taken care of, compared to living in caves and having to live like a savage.

"Well?" Tsunade prompts, getting slightly impatient, "What's it going to be?"