The reward for saving his teacher

The wind in the forest had stopped.

The suffocating, chilling presence had completely dissipated with Orochimaru's departure.

Mitaraishi Anko leaned against the rough bark, her chest heaving.

Although the warm current called "Ki" had suppressed the rampaging Cursed Seal, it felt like she had just run a marathon. Every muscle in her body protested, and aching pain seeped out from deep within her bones.

She glanced around.

The once-dense forest now looked no different from a demolition site.

That man named Orochimaru... even after all these years, he remained a nightmare she could never shake.

"Hey, Miss Anko."

Son Goten's face suddenly loomed in front of hers, his nose almost touching hers.

Anko tilted her head back.

"What?"

"You promised earlier."

Son Goten pointed at Anko's long legs, looking as though it went without saying. "A lap pillow."

The corner of Anko's eye twitched.

What exactly did this brat have in his head?

A battle on that level would have scared even a Jonin weak at the knees. Not only had this guy beaten up that freak Orochimaru, but he had immediately turned around and started thinking about taking liberties?

"I don't have the energy to fool around with you right now."

Anko waved a hand, trying to push that punchable face away. "Hurry up and check on your teammates. That Uchiha Clan kid is about to pass out from the pain."

"He won't die. That's the price of getting stronger."

Son Goten glanced back at Sasuke, who was still rolling around on the ground, and curled his lip. "It's like eating something bad. He'll be fine once he throws it up. Besides, I'm not a medical ninja. Going over there won't help."

With that, he turned back, his big, gleaming black eyes staring straight at Anko.

"Teacher, people should keep their word."

"I just saved your life and gave you a full-body heat treatment. Now I'm only borrowing your lap to lie down for a bit. Is that asking too much?"

Anko looked at the brat's shameless, "If you don't agree, I'll cry" expression, then remembered that the warm, overpowering force really had come to her rescue.

She sighed.

"I really can't win with you."

Anko stretched out her legs and pressed them together, revealing the fishnet stockings hidden beneath her trench coat. "Just this once. Never again."

"Yay!"

Son Goten cheered and dove straight down without the slightest attempt at politeness.

His head settled on those two soft, springy mounds of flesh.

They weren't hard as he had imagined. Instead, it felt like sinking into a warm bundle of cotton.

The sensation reached him through the thin fishnet, carrying a distinctive firmness.

Son Goten narrowed his eyes in comfort and rubbed the back of his head against her legs twice, finding the most comfortable position.

"Stop moving!"

Anko stiffened, two patches of red rising on her cheeks. She raised a hand and flicked Son Goten on the forehead. "Keep rubbing against me and I'll throw you out to feed the snakes."

"Teacher, you're so mean."

Son Goten covered his forehead but still refused to get up. "But these legs really are top quality. They've got even more spring than the noodles at Ichiraku Ramen."

Anko rolled her eyes.

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

She pulled a skewer of Three-Color Dango from the ninja tool pouch inside her coat.

It was an essential sugar replenishment she always carried. She had used up too much energy earlier and urgently needed something sweet to soothe her nerves.

Just as she was about to bring it to her mouth,

a wide-open mouth presented itself from below.

"Ah-"

Son Goten tilted his head back like a fledgling waiting to be fed.

Anko's hand froze in midair with the dango, her mouth twitching. "Don't you have hands?"

"I do, but I'm lazy."

Son Goten sounded perfectly justified. "Besides, I'm the hero here. What's wrong with enjoying a little feeding service from my teacher? It's called respecting the old and caring for the young. I'm the young."

Anko looked down at the face so close to hers.

Although the brat had an awful personality, a lecherous streak, and a sharp tongue, his face really was quite cute. That harmless expression in particular made it hard to get truly angry with him.

"Open up."

Anko irritably stuffed a dango into Son Goten's mouth. "Choke on it, why don't you."

Son Goten chewed the sweet, sticky dango and mumbled, "Delicious... more."

For a moment,

an extraordinarily bizarre scene unfolded in the ruined forest.

Not far away, Sasuke clutched the Cursed Seal on his neck, rolling across the ground in agony. Beastlike growls escaped his throat, and cold sweat soaked his clothes.

On a branch on the other side, Naruto hung like a salted fish, while Sakura remained unconscious.

And beneath the large tree right in the middle,

Son Goten, one of the culprits, lay comfortably on the beautiful examiner's lap, enjoying her feeding service as she cooperated despite her reluctant expression.

The contrast was so jarring that they might as well have been two different worlds.

"You little..."

Looking at Son Goten's carefree expression, Anko couldn't help asking, "Were you really not afraid at all, facing a monster like Orochimaru?"

He was someone who made even her, his former student, shudder.

That murderous intent, that disregard for life, that nauseating greed.

An ordinary person would probably have nightmares for several nights just from meeting his gaze.

Son Goten swallowed his last mouthful of dango and gave Anko a puzzled look.

"Afraid?"

"Why would I be afraid of a long-tongued freak who likes playing with snakes?"

Son Goten picked his ear in disgust. "Being ugly is one thing, but he has terrible hygiene, too. He keeps a sword in his stomach, and his mouth reeks of spit."

"Other than grossing people out, there's nothing that special about a guy like that, is there?"

Anko froze.

She had imagined all sorts of answers.

Courage, for example. Confidence. Or the fearlessness of ignorance.

But this reason had never occurred to her.

Just because he was... ugly and disgusting?

Orochimaru's terrifying presence was enough to make the Shinobi World tremble at the mere mention of him, yet this brat only disdained him for his "terrible hygiene"?

"Pfft."

Anko couldn't help laughing.

With that laugh, much of the shadow Orochimaru had cast over her heart also dissipated.

"You really are a freak."

Anko reached out. This time, she didn't hit him, but gently ruffled Son Goten's messy short black hair. "Still... perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if Konoha had a few more freaks like you."

Feeling the touch on his head, Son Goten closed his eyes contentedly.

A beautiful woman's lap beneath his head, sweet dango to eat, and someone massaging his scalp.

Now this was how a ninja should live.

All that fighting and killing really spoiled the mood.

Just then, Anko braced herself against the trunk and stood up.

The warm lap pillow vanished instantly, and Son Goten's head struck a tree root with a thunk.

"Ow!"

Son Goten sat up, clutching the back of his head and looking aggrieved. "Teacher, aren't you being way too cold after pulling your d*** out? A moment ago, I was your sweetie, and now you're tossing me onto the ground?"

"Enough of your smart mouth."

Anko straightened her slightly disheveled trench coat, her expression turning serious again, though her eyes had lost some of their earlier sharpness.

"I've rested enough. I have to go back and report."

"Orochimaru showed up at the Chunin Exam site. This is far too serious. Lord Hokage must be informed immediately."