I Can Help Treat Your Cursed Seal

Before the bell rang, the classroom was still as chaotic as ever.

Kiba spun around in circles, dragging Akamaru along as they danced.

Naruto used chalk to draw a crooked Kage Rock on the blackboard, painting all four faces to look like himself.

Shikamaru slept with his head on his desk.

Sakura and Ino were by the window in the back row. Whatever they'd quarreled about this time, they were tugging at each other's hair.

Sasuke sat by the window in the second-to-last row, quietly gazing outside.

The classroom door swung open, but the woman who walked in looked nothing like an ordinary teacher.

Anko wore a dark gray Konoha Ninja uniform beneath an open coat, its hem swaying with every step.

Her hair was tied messily at the back, with a few loose strands hanging beside her ears.

A toothpick stuck out of her mouth. She strode up to the lectern and tossed the attendance book onto the desk.

"I'm Mitaraishi Anko, a Special Jonin." She took the toothpick from her mouth. "Iruka's taking the day off, so I'm filling in."

Naruto pointed straight at Anko's nose. "You're lying! You don't look like a teacher at all!"

Anko put the toothpick back in her mouth and walked up to Naruto.

She raised her right hand, pressing her middle finger against her thumb, and aimed at Naruto's forehead.

"Flick."

Naruto stumbled backward three or four steps. The back of his head struck the edge of the blackboard, and he slid down the wall to the floor.

Clutching his forehead, he yelped in pain, tears welling in his eyes.

"Does that look more like a teacher?" Anko asked, looking down at Naruto on the floor.

Kiba quietly lifted Akamaru down from the chair and obediently sat back in his seat.

Sakura and Ino let go of each other's hair at the same time, then silently pulled out their chairs and sat down. Shikamaru lifted his face from his arms, glanced at Anko, and put his head back down.

Anko clapped her hands and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Today we're covering practical shuriken-throwing techniques."

She picked up a piece of chalk and quickly sketched a few target diagrams on the blackboard, marking the wrist angle for a throw with arrows.

Her handwriting was sloppy, but the diagrams were clear.

"Put power into your wrist, rotate your forearm, and use your fingers only to control when you release."

"Most of you little brats miss because you grip too tightly and release too early."

As she spoke, she paced through the aisles, the Shuriken in her hand tracing arcs through the air.

When she passed Sasuke, her eyes swept over the White Dog at his feet.

The White Dog's belly rose and fell steadily with each breath, its ears twitching every now and then.

Anko glanced at the patch of shadow beneath it, noticeably darker than the shadows around it.

Then she quickened her pace and returned to the lectern.

Sasuke lightly tapped his cheekbone with the fingers of the hand propping up his chin.

This teacher knows there's something wrong with that shadow. Is she here because of Black?

Sasuke looked away and continued gazing out the window.

Anko's lesson wasn't bad.

She was irreverent, but she had a solid grasp of Shuriken throwing. Even Shikamaru had lifted his head from his desk and listened to a few points with half-lidded eyes.

The bell rang just as Anko finished her final point.

She brushed the chalk dust off her hands.

"Class dismissed."

Several students immediately crowded around her.

"Anko-sensei! Are you really a Special Jonin? Are Special Jonin stronger than Iruka-sensei?"

"What was that jutsu you used to flick Naruto? Can you teach me?"

Anko leaned against the lectern and pulled a skewer of Three-Color Dango from the paper bag she'd brought with her.

She ate as she casually answered the students' excited questions.

Sasuke stood up, grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and headed for the door.

As he passed the lectern, a bamboo skewer suddenly stopped three inches in front of his nose.

Two uneaten dumplings coated in glistening syrup were threaded onto it.

"Sasuke Uchiha, stay a moment. Your teacher has something to ask you."

Sasuke stopped and glanced at Anko.

She was still chewing, and her expression was as carefree and almost-smiling as it had been during the lesson. But there wasn't a trace of amusement in her eyes.

He said nothing. Turning around, he went back to his seat, set his backpack on the desk, and sat down again.

Naruto poked his head in at the doorway. "Hey, Sasuke, aren't you leaving? And Anko-sensei, why are you keeping him—"

"Whoosh."

A Shuriken shot from Anko's fingers and embedded itself in the doorframe beside Naruto's ear.

"Class is over. Get out."

Naruto ducked back, and his footsteps faded as he ran down the hallway.

Only Anko and Sasuke remained in the classroom.

Anko got up from beside the lectern and walked over to the desk in front of Sasuke. She braced one hand on it, then hopped up with a single lift of her leg.

She turned around on the desktop, crossed her legs, and looked down at Sasuke.

She raised the skewer and pointed it at the shadow by Sasuke's feet.

"Call out the dog that got bitten. Lord Hokage has already told me everything."

Sasuke looked up at her without moving.

Anko waited a moment. Seeing that he had no intention of doing anything, she tossed the skewer onto the floor.

Then she reached up and pulled open the collar of her coat.

Sasuke thought she was about to do something suggestive, but that wasn't it.

She exposed the skin on the side of her neck for him to see.

Three Tomoe formed a ring, their color faded. Two overlapping Sealing Jutsu patterns had left burn scars along the edges.

The scar tissue was a darker shade of red than the surrounding skin, as if it had been burned over and over, healing several times.

"Orochimaru was my teacher." Anko released her collar but didn't pull it closed again. "This thing's been on my neck for years."

She took out another skewer of Three-Color Dango and started eating again.

The Third Hokage had sent her here. That was official business.

But not a word she'd said had mentioned the Hokage's orders.

She wanted to see the dog Orochimaru had bitten, not because the Hokage had ordered her to keep an eye on Sasuke, but because she wanted to find a clue about Orochimaru through the dog.

"So I wanted to see for myself. Maybe he's made some new discoveries about the Cursed Seal."

Sasuke looked at the burn scars on her neck, then at her nonchalant expression as she chewed her dumpling.

"You could just say you want to know how strong Orochimaru is now." Sasuke met Anko's eyes.

Anko's chewing paused for half a beat.

She casually tossed the skewer onto the desk and licked the syrup from the corner of her mouth.

"You're even more difficult to deal with than the Third Hokage, kid."

She uncrossed her legs and braced both hands on the desk, leaning forward until her face was only a hand's breadth from Sasuke's.

"Fine. I do want to know. If he could sneak into the village without anyone noticing, find you, and bite your family's dog, why didn't he just take you with him?"

Anko tapped her fingers lightly against the desktop twice.

"Orochimaru doesn't do anything without a reason. If he's set his sights on you, then you must have something he wants. If he didn't take you, something must have forced him to back off."

"Are you that something?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

He looked at the Cursed Seal scars on Anko's neck, then suddenly spoke.

"Does that Cursed Seal still hurt?"

Anko frowned. Her hand rose unconsciously to touch the scars on her neck, then dropped again.

"That's none of your business."

"I can try treating it."

Anko's fingers froze beside her neck.

Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.

"What did you say?"

"I said I can try treating it." Sasuke stood up, bringing himself level with Anko's gaze.

"Your Cursed Seal has been sealed, but the sealing jutsu can't completely stop it from eating away at you. You know that better than anyone."

Anko hopped down from the desk. Her soles hit the floor with a dull thud.

She stared at Sasuke for a long time. Her expression shifted from scrutiny to something else.

An uneasy mix of doubt and uncertainty.

"What makes you think you can treat it?" Anko's voice was a little hoarse.

"I never said I could definitely cure it." Sasuke picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

"We can just try. Since you came here, you might as well not leave empty-handed."

Anko raised a hand to touch the Cursed Seal on her neck.

Every night, she dreamed of Orochimaru's face, and it terrified her.

The medical team in Konoha couldn't treat what Orochimaru had left behind. The Third Hokage's sealing jutsu could only suppress it, not get rid of it completely.

Mitaraishi Anko had grown used to the pain, so used to it that she had almost forgotten it was still there.

"Fine." Anko pulled her coat collar closed.

"If you really can treat it, I'll owe you a favor. If you can't, I won't hold it against you."

"But I have one condition."

Sasuke stopped and glanced at her.

"Whether you can treat it or not, you have to tell me what Orochimaru did in front of you that night. Not the version you gave the Third Hokage."

Sasuke turned back to her and looked into her eyes, no longer carefree.

"I gave the Third Hokage a full account, but if you want to know, I can tell you too."

"Tomorrow after school, at the training ground in the Uchiha Compound. Come alone."