Who Doesn't Like Face Wash?

"Hey, you little pervert, are you done hugging me yet?" Anko struggled to get out of Jimo's arms.

"Quit moving around! Flying takes a lot of concentration. If we fall from up there, I don't mind having you break my fall." Jimo put on an act and tried to scare Anko.

On the ground, Orochimaru searched the sky for a long time, but couldn't find his attacker.

Jimo had already steered the Flying Nimbus into the clouds.

"What kind of jutsu is this? How can you fly?" Anko clung to Xiao Jue like a sloth. Curiously, she poked the Flying Nimbus. It was soft and squishy. She wondered if it tasted good.

"Don't even think about eating my Flying Nimbus..." Jimo hurriedly said when he saw the drool at the corner of her mouth.

Only after he could no longer sense Orochimaru's presence did he bring Anko down from the sky.

Bonk!

A huge bump swelled on Jimo's head, with smoke rising from it.

"I saved you, you know!"

"That's your punishment for getting handsy up there."

Before either of them could react, a giant snake swallowed them whole.

"What an interesting fellow... I don't know how he managed to jump down from the sky, but I should look into it." Far away, Orochimaru sensed that his Summoning Animal had swallowed them.

"Teacher, don't... don't move..." The two of them had been swallowed in a terrible position. Jimo's head was right at Anko's chest.

"Little pervert, I'm going to kill you once we get out!" Anko desperately stabbed the giant snake's stomach with her Kunai, but it was like striking an old rubber tire. It had no effect.

And Jimo was in an especially awkward spot. She could feel the warmth of him pressed against her chest, and every so often, his breath brushed against her.

"Forget about killing me when we get out... if you keep moving, we'll both end up as snake droppings!"

Jimo finally freed one hand and wrapped it around Anko.

"Once we're out, kill me if you want. But I'd rather you killed me than let the snake's stomach acid digest me like a lab rat! Becoming a pile of crap would be way too undignified!"

With his other hand, he formed a Chakra Jade and detonated it inside the snake.

A deafening boom rang out, and the giant snake's body burst apart down the middle. Bits of flesh flew everywhere.

Two figures slammed hard into a tree.

"You little brat... you're pretty capable..." Anko panted as she wiped digestive fluid off herself. The giant snake had ruined her favorite clothes.

"Hey! Kid?"

When Anko saw that Jimo wasn't responding, she hurried over to check on him. Thankfully, his breathing was steady; he'd only been knocked unconscious.

"Kids are such a pain... I guess I'll look after you for a while!"

She realized she'd never been held by a man before, even if this one was only fourteen...

At the thought, Mitaraishi Anko, famous for her bold and reckless ways, blushed.

Night fell.

Jimo finally woke up...

"That was close. I almost died."

Jimo realized he was inside a hollow tree. The campfire seemed to have just gone out. Exhausted from the battle, Anko was fast asleep beside him.

She'd covered herself with what remained of her badly corroded clothes, but Jimo could still see the view beneath them.

Jimo silently took off his shirt and slowly approached the sleeping Anko.

"You're lucky you ran into me..."

Not long afterward, Anko woke up and found Jimo nowhere to be seen. A relatively intact piece of clothing was draped over her.

"Hey, you're finally awake!" Jimo's somewhat tired figure appeared slowly at the entrance of the hollow tree as he called out.

His normally bright, alert eyes were ringed with dark circles, making it obvious he hadn't slept at all the night before.

"Heh, you're lucky. There's food ready just after you wake up..." Jimo carefully walked over, carrying a rat he'd roasted.

The rat lived in the Forest of Death. The unique ecosystem and relative lack of human activity meant these rats were much cleaner than the ones commonly found in the village.

On top of that, Jimo had gone out of his way to find herbs to make the roast taste better. He'd also prepared some salt beforehand. After carefully seasoning it, he'd made a roasted rat that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious.

"You have the makings of a support ninja!"

Anko sat by the campfire with her knees hugged to her chest. Jimo had arranged plenty of leaves above the fire to disperse the smoke and keep enemies from spotting them.

"That man... He really is terrifying, just as you'd expect from one of the Three Ninja." Jimo stretched, then lay down nearby to rest with his eyes closed.

Senzu Beans? The weakened version could heal physical injuries, but they couldn't do anything about mental exhaustion.

After resting briefly, Jimo put out the fire.

He turned to Anko and said, "All right, Teacher Anko, we can set off. Once I get you safely out of this area, I need to hurry and look for my friends. It wouldn't be wise to leave someone as dangerous as that man roaming around in this forest."

Anko smiled faintly and gave Jimo a teasing glance. "You're just a little kid, but you talk like an old man." Then she followed him.

"Don't call me a little pervert!"

"Then who was staring at my chest the whole time yesterday?"

Anko finally scored a point in their battle of flirtatious teasing.

Jimo soon flew Anko out of the exam area on the Flying Nimbus.

"Anko, what happened to you?" Genma Shiranui asked, looking at her tattered coat.

"Go report to the Third Hokage right away. Orochimaru is back!"

"That kid..."

"He's continuing the exam. Also, have the Anbu infiltrate the area and protect the examinees. We don't know how many people the enemy has mixed in this time!"

Jimo said goodbye to Anko, then rode the Flying Nimbus back to the Forest of Death.

"Hey, Anko."

"Huh?" (☉_☉)

"I just wanted to ask... what's it like being carried through the sky?" ?＞?o? .?.?

"You're asking to die!" (ノ=Д=)ノ┻━┻

Anko watched Jimo fly away and muttered under her breath,

"It wasn't bad!"

Jimo tried hard to expand his perception from the sky, but he still couldn't pick Sakura, Naruto, and the others out from among all the different chakra signatures.

Boom!

A sound in the distance caught his attention.

The familiar Bushy Brow lay on the ground. Dosu, Zaku, and the others had surrounded Sakura and her teammates.

A long-haired kunoichi was currently yanking Sakura's hair and pinning her to the ground.

"Damn it!"

Jimo's chakra surged as he rode the Flying Nimbus straight toward them.