Anko Mitarashi

is the examiner for the second exam of the Chunin Selection Exams. She announced this during Ibiki Morino's speech, after she made a rather loud entrance into his class, annoying him since she was early. Anko is easygoing, tomboyish and sometimes hyperactive, making her very similar to Naruto in many ways. According to the official databook Anko's favorite foods are sweet bean soup and dango (dumplings). Mitarashi and anko are ingredients of dango. Her least favorite foods are spicy food. Her hobby is tea ceremonies and her favorite phrase is "Arriving!"

During the exam, she arrives at a confrontation with Orochimaru and it is revealed that he used to be her sensei. Anko, along with nine others, were branded with Orochimaru's first ten Cursed Seals of Heaven. Of the ten, Anko was the only one to survive, establishing the one-in-ten chance of surviving the Cursed Seal. Orochimaru supposedly rejected Anko as a subordinate, believing she did not have the lust for power or vengeance needed to fuel the Cursed Seal. Orochimaru lost interest in her, though he believes there is some value in letting her live. Orochimaru was able to reawaken her cursed seal during their battle in the Forest of Death, thus incapacitating her with pain and ending their fight. Anko knows several forbidden techniques taught to her by Orochimaru, the most notable of which is Twin Snakes Mutual Death, a murder-suicide technique she attempted to use to eliminate her former sensei in the Forest of Death for the sake of Konoha. She can also summon snakes like he can, though she only does so once during the Sea Country filler arc. In that instance, she summoned a blue version of one of Orochimaru's normal snakes.

In the anime, Anko's past is explored during the Sea Country filler arc, in which she leads Naruto, Ino, and Shino on a mission to protect a shipping convoy. The Sea Country is where Anko was found after Orochimaru had branded her with his cursed seal and subsequently abandoned her. Orochimaru had also erased any memory Anko had of the event, so this was a chance for her to remember. After the mission, Anko finds her way back to the place where she received the curse mark from Orochimaru and remembers what happened. She discovered that she wasn't tossed away like trash, but chose to leave Orochimaru herself.