Now, hopefully that made this chapter easier to read. I think what I'm wanting to do is edit these chapters here to make the story easier to read before I move on to a new chapter. We'll see what happens. (Update #2)

On with the show!

While stepping back on the arena, Naruto watched his and Anko's opponents rise on the stage. The incident before had been handled and something new had been found, but now... now they needed to focus back on the matter at hand. They could iron out what happened before later.

Switching glances from Anko to them, he got a firm nod in response before he too eyed his opponents up with a scrutinizing eye. Staring closer, Naruto noted the Musical Notes emblazoned on the metal of their headbands.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he felt the wind shift. The Sound Shinobi stared. His enemies people in the stands felt it. There was a tense silence, hell a stick could break a mile off and someone could probably hear it. The announcer hadn't started the match and yet it felt like a form of mental-warfare waged on either side.

Beside him, Anko quickly checked the belt-bindings on her lower-shins while her trench coat fluttered in the wind. His sword moved and struggled against his trench coat before he finally let it taste the suckling air flying back, allowing his sweet cover to lavish outside his coat, before it stopped and settled with his hand resting neatly on it, as if soothing it. His blade had never tasted flesh. Maybe now she would?

Naruto smiled. He would let them see his sword along the edge as it shined and glared if only to raise the stakes of their warfare, striking fear in their hearts by the ferocity of his blade and the silent moves he made. Nothing happened. The audience grew more anxious as they witnessed what Naruto and Anko were sure was their first true visage of a Shinobi battle. Something far more real than they had ever seen before.

Seeing all this happen the announcer quickly ushered his arm up with his hand shooting skyward before rocketing down. His voice echoed as he backed away.

"Hajime!"

Long had it been since they followed them. Their shadows remaining blind to sun. Footsteps invisible, shiftless in the grass, and above all no marks left of their steps. For as long as Naruto and Anko had been living in this village the Hokage had assigned three ANBU to protect them. This had been their duty.

Watch.

Listen.

Then report. A cycle each of them knew well by now. Hiruzen had chosen each of them for specific reasons. One of the many that the ANBU could discern was their either neutral or liking for Naruto and Anko as from what they had heard was that the Hokage had a soft spot for the Jinchuuriki. While cute they all knew it was more than that, even if the Hokage wanted to say otherwise. The key-word being wanted.

Hyo (Panther) had been close to the boy's father during his reign and watched the boy from afar after the Kyuubi attack. He had no family beyond that of his comrade's and Naruto always seemed to be a light that he enjoyed looking after. Perhaps that was the reason he was chosen. A lack of prejudice.

In civilian clothing Hyo would look to be in his early twenties with his usual dress-wear consisting of a neatly made black shirt and long working-class grey pants looking like they'd seen their better days. At a closer look Hyo had lightly tanned skin and a scar running up his cheek and hooking over his right eye, his black hair pulled back with his red eyes giving him an exotic look women couldn't seem to take their eye off.

His business as a merchant made the perfect cover for their purposes.

Beside him sat, Raion (Lion). This guy had a reputation of being protective of Naruto as he knew in passing of his father, which struck immediately in the Hokage's mind as he asked the question on whether he would be willing to look after him. Raion answered swiftly and could've been found above Naruto's door step the next morning when they were leaving.

Just like Hyo, Raion worked in the Merchant business to have a long-term role to keep himself in the loop with rumors and up-to-date on their positions as they worked in their kitchen more often than not. Raion looked to be in his late twenties with a wife and child of his own, who, despite his better judgement, moved out with him to support the stand and also give him that extra layer of cover. Yes, his wife knew the circumstances.

And just like Hyo, he looked exactly the same except for the white shirt and rolled up forearms. He had short brown hair and an impressive beard that framed his face perfectly, never encroaching too close on his cheeks and staying in line enough to give him a humbled facade. Perhaps the light scar over the corner of his lip made him a little intimidating but he supposed that wasn't a problem.

Tonbo (Dragonfly) sat further apart from the others, her slender fingers weaved together as she watched the fight begin. The Hokage recruited her for the same reason as the others but what made her more qualified than other ANBU was not that she cared for Naruto but because she acted. When Naruto shouted in need and she was in the area she often times indirectly influenced the tide and its ripples. Beatings, reduced, stopped if she could. Hunger, sated, food strategically placed for him to find. Though one thing against all others placed her as one of the most qualified and that reason was simply because she gave him company once in an alley when the boy barely reached out of his younger years.

Also, unlike Hyo or Raion, Tonbo worked with the Ichiraku's in direct contact, despite her companion's warnings of attachment. However, those warnings came too late as even before the mission ensued she had already been attached.

She worked as an apprentice alongside Naruto and Anko to the Ichiraku's and proven proficient with her cooking. Making sure she became the two's best-friend and confidante she managed to receive very important information the others could not. Though often times this proved troublesome, working in the stand alongside Ayame the two would be hit on more often than not with Naruto having to play door man on a daily basis to get the perverted ones out before they said something they would regret, and to her benefit her age spanned a few years younger than their mother. And in some ways she was adopted in their family by Ayame as well, disregarding her feelings on the matter.

Tonbo gripped her fingers together again in thought as the battle waged. Naruto and Anko had the upper hand, though from her position the difference in strength between them and their opponents was obvious. Years of training and self-teaching made them strong and no fondling from a teacher or parent—beyond Ayame and Teuchi—made them rely completely on their will to fight. A will to burn their desires and drive their skills forward, acting as stilts in their time.

She watched with bated breath as Anko twisted in mid-air and unleashed a hail of snakes from her trench coat, ensnaring and almost biting the other sound nin before he made a hand-sign. The snakes falling lifeless to the ground.

Turning to stare at Raion, she addressed him in a calm voice, a soft one most assumed belonged to a soft-spoken girl.

"When will the message be here?"

Raion didn't break his eyes from the fight as he replied with a voice deep and careful. "Hokage-sama said to look for a hawk and its message if what he said was true is to arrive at three O' clock, coming north of our position."

Training her sights north and high she blinked, bored, at the clouds overhead, gray and gathering.

"I wouldn't hold your breath."

Hyo chuckled.

"Think it's to deal with those Sound nin, Naruto-kun and Anko-chan are fighting?"

Raion shook his head at that as he replied. "I doubt that. It's unlikely we're here to deal with newly-made Chuunin. It's more likely Hokage-sama wants us to deal with a few bandits outside town."

Tonbo gave the two a look before she returned to watching the fight. Over the years the Hokage would send them to do missions from time to time to make the area as safe as possible—though they were sure the purpose relied upon the fact Naruto lived in that respective area.

Before Hyo could look at Raoin, Anko made a show of dragging one of the men around by the ankle like some entertainer before she threw him over to Naruto, who sat at the other end of the arena, his man on the ground and trying to stand, as he turned, caught, and then threw the man back.

The three sweat-dropped and knew Anko and Naruto were just playing with them now. Sighing to herself, Tonbo squinted her eyes to look off in the distance.

"Time's running out," she thought out loud.

"I'm aware of that."

"The bird's got two minutes and in the north is a storm."

Raion didn't bother to reply, instead pointing to a dot in the sky as a birds large wings flapped, swooping down and landing on Hyo's outstretched arm.

"And the bird beats the firefly."

Tonbo looked around, not bothering to reply, to see some civilians looking at them, including Ayame, as she was suddenly happy she wore the facemask. It only covered the lower part of her face yet it proved effective as Ayame, nor any others could tell who she or any of the others was as they adorned themselves in regular ANBU outfit for the occasion, though no animal masks, lest their charges figure them out. Each of them only looked like well-equipped shinobi with their tanto's hidden in seal's tattooed on their wrists.

"We've got new orders," Hyo said simply.

"And?"

Curious to hear what, Tonbo leaned closer and narrowed her eyes at the implications.

One moment, Naruto and Anko are fighting the two Sound whelps with ease. Barely having to exert any of their actual skills before they saw a hawk fly down over their heads and landing on some shinobi's arm. Though Naruto didn't have much time to think about it as the Sound Shinobi that had previously been strewn on the floor next to him, managed to settle himself on one knee before charging him, and soon after regretting it as Naruto easily flourished the long length of his slender blade and ending it's trail in his opponents right shoulder. The end easily making it through, drenched in a deluge of blood, bone seeming to crack as he removed it—one foot to the Shinobi's stomach to help. Naruto watched as he collapsed in a heap before turning to Anko, who seemed content to leave her opponent to lie on the ground with kunai being abandoned.

The crowd cheered and workers came to clean the battle-scarred stage as much as they could in time for the next match. The match had been a spectacle for the non-shinobi in view as Naruto and Anko tried to do their best to put on a show once they knew they had bested their opponents.

Cheers were their response which prompted more bravado, more finesse in their actions, though after a time of playing with their prey like viper and mouse they swiftly ended it with Naruto doing the former and Anko ejecting a minor poison through the fangs of a Snorkel-nosed Viper to finish it.

After giving a man an antidote from a pocket in her coat she sauntered off over to Naruto as the medic saw the Sound nin off in a splint.

Coming close, Anko diverted her eyes from him while the adrenaline coursing through her system settled and previous events came back to haunt her. Naruto gave her a strange look and shortly after the same thing happened again causing him to look away in embarrassment as well—an amusing shade of red coupling together their faces like a matching set.

"I-I," Naruto tried to start.

Anko rubbed the back of her head head while her eyes checked the floor for the umpteenth time. Not ten minutes ago they had just been kissing, so why did she feel nervous now! She rubbed her temple and she swore she could hear their mom hollering at them from the stands which only served to embarrass her further and from the looks of it, the way Naruto was trying to avoid her gaze and stuttering at that, it looked like the feeling was mutual.

Grabbing his arm, she led them off the stage to resolve this. Perhaps to end in each other's arms, she hoped. However, as she took one step down the ramp something exploded behind them. Yanking her head around, Anko narrowed her eyes at what she saw along with Naruto.

They peered into black abyss, ever shifting like sand, blowing by wind. Whoever used those smoke-bombs was using them to mask themselves and considering that the pit crew was still up there meant this was not a match that just started quickly, but rather an attrition of fortitude.

Letting his blade soar overhead, Naruto left a line of blood splatter on the grass beside the ramp as he swung down to cleanse it. The two exchanged glances and knew their moment would come later.

Anko prepared her kunai and makeshift bombs in pocket and pouch as Naruto's eyes sorted out the dugout for the other fighters, finding them thoroughly asleep by what looked like... feathers? Like Angels wings flying overhead beautiful feathers glistening from the sun fell from the sky.

One touched his nose and he felt sleep coming for him. He looked over to Anko, who seemed to be having the same problem, and in a matter of moments Naruto and Anko both found themselves leaning on one another. Sleep embraced them. Though at the last moment Naruto and Anko simultaneously opened their eyes, if at the cost of feeling even drowsier as their muscles relaxed against them.

One thought intruded their minds: Genjutsu!

Both of them tried to lift their arms to center and use their chakra but the time for that passed as no matter how hard they tried the Genjutsu overrided any commands they sent. Not even their fingers could move.

They slept as three figures stared sombrely at them. Gnarled hands slinging them over black clothed shoulders while Ayame struggled to move from the steps of the stands. One eye on them, all her muscles being taxed and yawning to sleep. She saw them and muttered out one thing before she succumbed, unable to stand the Genjutsu any longer.

As they disappeared tears rolled out of her eyes. "Please..." one finger outstretched as the rest of her body collapsed. "Naru-chan, Anko-chan..."

When sleep finally encompassed her a blinding realization washed over her like a cold bucket of water even in sleep: They were taken and she was powerless.

Hours later, Ayame's eyes opened, her stomach turned and vomit nearly made it past her throat. Smacking a hand over her mouth, she wrenched her body up and down to the stage. She stumbled over to where she last saw them to see the remnants of blood that Naruto inflicted.

She flinched.

Three figures had come and took them. Kidnapped them. Ayame gritted her teeth while her fists clenched with sweet rage as she stared at the spot where her children were last at.

Others were just starting to wake up, even people from the dugout only now managing to coerce their bodies to move while Ayame wiped her eyes and stubbornly strode out of the area and back into the towns dirt streets, the moon high overhead and her normally content mood distinguished. Whoever those people were they were dangerous—trained.

Even to an amateur to the Shinobi arts it was obvious they were High Chuunin, one with a high contingency for Genjutsu.

Ayame's face reddened as the tears threatened to fall eventually running to their stand. She needed help. No way was she going to be able to find them, not without either hiring someone or somehow acquiring the intelligence to find them herself. Which at the moment was unlikely to say the least. Muscle around the Hi no Kuni was a far cry away from being able to handle Chuunin and even then they were more like bandits than actual help.

When the sight of her father's stand came into view she breathed a laugh of relief as tears did in fact fall. Running into Teuchi's stand, Ayame felt her headache pulse more.

"Tou-san!"

Teuchi looked out from his kitchen, a contented smile crossing his face until the desperate look on his daughter registered and suddenly he was in front of Ayame. He took her in a warm hug as he listened to her tear up, small whimpers gently whispering into his ear in unintelligible sentences.

Teuchi tried to calm her. "Shh, sweet-heart. What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

He held her out at arm's length to get a good look at her, worry written all over his face.

She shook her head as she wiped her eyes, quickly trying to pull herself back together.

"Naru-chan and Anko-chan are gone!" she could feel his hands tighten on her arms, her voice sounded faint, airy. "They were taken by some Shinobi after they just finished their match! I-I tried to help, but..." her voice drifted off at the end, her head dropping as she looked to the floor, losing confidence as the memory rolled in her head again.

Lifting his daughters head, Teuchi offered her a comforting stare."Ayame-chan, focus. Tell me what happened." Teuchi tried to instruct her gently, putting whatever skills as a mediator to the test while Ayame settled him in on the situation.

Tonbo lifted her hand to lay a message in its case and sending the bird off and back to the Hokage. Changes had been made but luckily their objective hadn't.

Staring off into the forest ahead her comrade's sprinting beside her she bounded in the upper forest tops to stare down at their target held steadily in cold arms. He was safe for now though the situation promised danger.

It had been expected Naruto and Anko were to be taken, never had any of them held the illusion that they held nary a hope that they weren't going to be grabbed at some point. However, the direction at which they were going to take them wasn't the way they wanted, in fact, it was the exact opposite. Boosting her steps again Tonbo soared over the tree top into open sky to spot their quarrel. Three Sound-nins. Two of which cargoed with Naruto and Anko's bodies—luckily, incapacitated.

From their intelligence, courtesy of their spymaster, the Toad Sannin, they learned of Orochimaru's interest in not only Anko but Naruto from his infamous spy network. Though they learned long ago his eye was on Anko. Ever since he left the village his eye had been on her to be his one apprentice because when she rejected him he had apparently told the Hokage that he wanted her more. Really, the Hokage compared it to a challenge he had to beat.

But what made Tonbo shiver was that he wanted Naruto. Why though? It was known that he was the Kyuubi contained by the older generation. Most hated him for it. However... she shook her head in thought, eyes glued to his form on the Sound nin's shoulder, she could only think that he wanted him for the Kyuubi. Cold eyes glared at the nin with clear contempt, even behind her mask as if she was a hawk.

Hyo turned to Tonbo before giving Raion a shrug. Either of them knew of her attachment with Naruto and Anko and as of now it was truly showing.

Keeping one eye on their target, Hyo watched the subtle twitches and grips her body was showing, her nonverbal messages, which normally could've been interpreted as normal now showed slight anger, if for her clenched fist and strained wrist—perhaps if he had seen her eye twitch he could've seen her nervous stare wrench her eyes from Naruto to Anko. Though she hid it well as Hyo, nor Raion could detect anything else.

They followed them for what seemed like hours, spiralling through branches high in the flora with the Sound-nin bounding over the forest floor at impossible speed's blurring black with the environment. Stopping Tonbo gripped the bark of a tree as she crouched, watching Naruto and Anko's forms settle with the Sound-nins stop.

This time Raion turned to stare. This wasn't the first time the two had been captured, yet this was the first time they had been captured by someone other than nukenin, so he wondered whether she was even more on edge due to that fact. Narrowing his eyes, he disregarded it.

He signaled with his hands a few messages to both of them.

"Remember the mission: Find hideout. Rescue Naruto and Anko. All else is secondary."

He made the hand seals quickly and efficiently as Hyo and Tonbo nodded their affirmative. Nodding his head Raion made one more hand seal to Tonbo as if an afterthought.

"Control your anger."

Despite the hard glare he was getting he sent the two a final message.

"Go!"

Dashing down in between trees and branches, Tonbo showed what it meant to be called Dragonfly as she was the first to meet their offenders without a single leaf fluttering out of place. Silent.

Whipping out her tanto she sank inches of hardened steel deep into the Sound-nin holding Naruto's neck without so much as his blood gurgling out of his throat as he fell to his knees in agony. Neither of his compatriots noticed before their blood left their body through surgical accuracy puncturing their throats and hearts.

Backing up, tanto in place, deep in his neck, though just missing his vitals she brought him up to a tree and pushed him up against it. Careful to settle Naruto down next to her she watched with softening eyes not a scratch on him except for the three whiskers on either cheek. Next she heard two bodies drop and an almost smug smile cross her face as the man's face contorted in agonizing pain. She leaned in close her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Tell me where your hideout is, little fish and this blade lets you live." she made her point by turning the blade inside his throat, just enough to cause more blood to come splashing out his mouth.

She held him firm with one arm holding what she identified as his dominant arm and the other holding the tanto, her legs separating his for complete control.

The Sound-nin coughed lightly. What little of his face left normal from scars and insanity showed a certain mix of satisfaction at the developments, which only served to annoy Tonbo.

"Heh, little fish? Is that all you Konoha nin got?" At the slight widening of her eyes he smirked a little though he twitched as she twisted the tanto again. "I was wondering when you would get here. Ya know, we've been searching for you for a long time, a very long time. Orochimaru-sama almost gave up hope he would ever find you. Hehe..."

Tonbo's eyes narrowed and her gripped tightened. "What are you talking about? Explain..." she threatened softly.

"Would you believe that if I was going to die that I was ordered to give you a message?"

At her apathetic stare he continued.

"Heh, you would then... Good. Orochimaru-sama knew we were going to die, so he charged us with a message. Here you go:

"I've been waiting for the moment when my little Anko-chan would accept, oh, but I can't forget my precious Naruto-kun either, can I? Hehheha, that would be a shame. You know, we've found where you live. It's no longer safe... Ha! I would recommend taking them back to Konoha if I were you but that would be suicidal as well, wouldn't it?"

The next moment went by fast as he finished. He shut his mouth and smiled knowingly at her, however his eyes widened in a moment of panic as his body dropped, yet his head remained in her hand, blade dripping with blood.

Turning over to look at Naruto, Hyo, and Raion walked over to her.

"You know you weren't supposed to kill him." Hyo stated.

Tonbo merely nodded though she pointed to a tree not too far off, just before a clearing.

"The hideout is over there... his eye flickered over there from time to time when I was interrogating him," she said softly.

Nodding the both of them disappeared from view before she picked Naruto up with Anko laying a few feet away. Checking to see if both were still asleep she sprinted back to the town, intent on taking them back to Ayame.

Teuchi watched his daughter sleep back in her house. Her head was in his lap, rivers of tears marring her normally beautiful face as she hiccupped in her sleep. Whenever her children were taken she would become like this, which Teuchi couldn't blame her for.

Her children were taken and she couldn't do anything for them except hope they would be alright. Mind you, every single time she actually raced after them Teuchi had to calm her down and talk common sense to her. This was perhaps the first time she had actually talked to him first rather than rush after them. All other times she had went to local samurai to help her, to which they would oblige, but after a few hours of searching and no leads Ayame wouldn't be of any mood before she found Naruto and Anko asleep in their house.

At the time she didn't question it and just assumed it was a local shinobi who helped, though after this persisted she couldn't seem to shake the feeling there was more to it and when she questioned her kids they merely looked at her and shook their heads, wondering themselves.

Teuchi shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What are we gonna do with them, eh Ayame-chan?" he asked silently, stroking her ponytail.

Suddenly, the door opened to see Tonbo carrying Naruto and Anko on her shoulders. Yes, Teuchi knew her. He had figured it out after a while and being how things was he knew it was better this way.

"Who was it this time?" Teuchi asked, checking to make sure Ayame was still asleep.

Tonbo settled the two on the nearest couch, arranging them just so to make them blush the next morning. Teuchi sighed at that but relented.

She turned and faced the door, away from Teuchi.

"Sound Shinobi. The rest is classified."

Walking out the door Teuchi sighed as he stroked Ayame's head before he watched Anko and Naruto actually cuddle each other from where they were causing Teuchi to chuckle a little. He'd heard from Ayame what those two did, so he could only think of what they would do when they woke up.

I'm glad to see you made it. Did my changes make reading easier? Hopefully it did!

Review!