Chương 100: Chapter 100

Stepping in Naruto groaned as he stepped into the shower. Pressing his hands against the wall, Naruto hunched over, letting the water hit his back. He stayed that way for nearly an hour, trying to his sooth his frayed emotions. After a while he stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and went back into his room.

He looked out of his window as he changed into his shinobi clothing. The sun was just beginning to rise, painting a light golden red glow across the sky.

I guess I'll just start doing my own training, Naruto frowned as he tried to think of what he should do. I suppose I could try to improve my elemental affinity. I'll have to come up with my own exercises though, cutting a leaf doesn't seem to be doing anything anymore.

He shrugged off his thoughts and decided to wait until he got to the training aground to figure out what to do.

"HYAAA!"

Naruto gave a loud shout as he brought his bo staff onto the head of one of the giant spiders in the forest of death, lacing his staff with wind chakra and using it as a bludgeoning factor to smash the spiders head.

It was late in the afternoon and Naruto had been in the Forest of Death for nearly three hours already. Fighting any of the animals and plants he could find. Most of the time he would take on the spiders however, since they were more numerous than the others and bred like rabbits though he had also scuffled with a few of the tigers.

He jumped back just as another spider came in and tried to impale him with its legs. Naruto thrust out his hand and used a free form wind blade to slice into the creature's eyes. It was something new he was working on, using free form wind attacks rather than ninjutsu. It was a theory he came up with, that if his control over wind was good enough, he would not need hand seals to use a jutsu and instead rely on pure manipulation of the element. Though since it didn't kill the spider, or even get close to killing it, he knew it would require a lot of work to complete.

Still the creature reared its head back and let out a pained screech. Using the distraction Naruto closed the distance and slammed his staff into the spider's now unprotected belly. He used wind chakra to enhance the amount of blunt force trauma done from the blow, cracking the creature's carapace and also sending it flying off the tree branch and into the forest below.

Seeing several more of the creatures coming towards him, Naruto put his staff away and began doing hand seals. There were a lot more hand seals than usual, about fifty all total since this was his most powerful wind jutsu and one he had just recently learned.

"Fuuton: Kamikaze No Jutsu (Divine Wind Jutsu)!" A huge gale force of cutting winds shot out from Naruto, slicing anything that got within its perimeter apart. Said perimeter was fairly small, being about thirty feet, since he did not have much control over the technique. And the winds could not cut all the way through the trees, however the spiders that had been about to get near him got diced up just fine.

Naruto panted a bit as he looked around the clearing, and noticed that the area was officially spider free. He nodded to himself as he replayed the effects of the jutsu in his mind, trying to see where he needed to improve.

"You know that's a pretty nasty jutsu."

Naruto whirled around to see Anko standing on a branch several meters above him, her arms crossed under her breasts and a rare serious expression on her face.

"Anko," Naruto greeted, "Something I can help you with?"

Anko jumped off the branch she was on and landed next to Naruto, "You can start by telling me why you're avoiding me."

Naruto stiffened a bit but otherwise maintained his composure, "I haven't been avoiding you. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't give me that crap gaki," Anko scowled at him. "I tried finding you in your usual training field, and all of your clones told me you're not there. I try searching for you in the Forest of Death before, but you never showed yourself. Hell! I even went up to training ground nine to see the spandex wearing wonders and that little chick you seem to be fond of. You weren't there either," Anko leaned into him with a threatening gaze. "I haven't been able to find you for an entire month! And it was only luck I ran into now, so why don't you tell me why you're avoiding me, or I swear the next thing you'll feel is are my snakes biting your ass!"

"I…I can't…" Naruto shook his head, not wanting to break down again, he had done that more than enough times in Nami No Kuni and did not want to do it now.

Anko sighed in annoyance, "Damn it gaki, you know how frustrating you are sometimes!"

Naruto turned his back to her and was about to walk off when Anko spoke again, "You know I talked with the Sandaime." Naruto stiffened. "He told me about your last mission. Look, I don't blame you for being all hurt and what not, fuck I'd probably all hurt if all that shit happened to me too! But this is the world we live in, and you need to move the fuck on, or quit being a shinobi!"

Naruto turned to her, his lips set in a thin line, "You went behind my back to get this info on me?"

"Because I was worried about you gaki!" Anko defended herself, not believing that the kid was actually getting angry at her, "Because you haven't been talking to me or anyone else for an entire month! You've been avoiding everyone like the plague. Even that scarecrow Kakashi is getting worried and that's saying something."

Naruto winced a little bit at that, but his face reset its scowl soon after. "I don't have to answer to you! You're not my…" he stopped, finding that he could not say mother, he didn't even know who his own mother was, much less what having one would be like. He shook his head and started again, "You're not my boss, so I don't have to answer you!"

He turned around to leave, but several snakes wrapped around him and lifted him off the ground.