I don't own Naruto or the song used.

Destiny's Path

John Williams

Memoirs of a Geisha

iiii.

He vaguely remembered his father, but he knew that the man had loved him. He remembered his mother, his beautiful mother. She was such a fragile looking creature, until it was time to switch roles. And when he caught her once switching from her sweet, kind mother role, to the role of a cold hearted, blood thirsty kuniochi – he was completely fascinated.

They had been traveling away from a small village that his mother had settled into when she had been pregnant with him. It was around the time that he was three that his father appeared again and his mother couldn't have been happier. Then it was just the three of them, though one day he had overheard his parents saying it wouldn't be just three anymore. It was then he noticed that his mother's stomach had begun to grow bigger, and he was astounded. His small, pale hands would always reach up to touch the underside of his mothers stomach, before sliding up to the middle were her belly button where something would always kick at his small hand.

'Its your sibling saying hi, Chi-chan.' his mother would always say as she placed her warm, tanned hand over his. His father would just chuckle, kiss his mother on the cheek and mess with his dark hair. But he wouldn't mind, because it was a gesture that his father cared.

He couldn't be happier.

But when he got home from a training session that his mother had him do, he was shocked to find his father face down in a puddle of his blood. His mother had screamed as she tried her best to run to her husbands side and crouch down to hug his prone form. It twisted him, when he saw his mother crying, and it hurt him even more that his father was gone.

It slowly dawned on him, how fragile human life was.

So he tugged on his mothers sleeve, he pulled her away from his fathers dead body and he hugged her. He hugged his little sibling to, that was still safe in his mothers stomach. And he prayed to whoever heard him, that they protect them, that whoever did this to be shown no mercy.

But this is a ninja world.

Mercy was the last thing that anybody saw.

'We are leaving, Orochimaru.'

He was five, his little brother was almost two and his mother had gotten the body and sorted out her skills as a kuniochi once more. She had taught him her clans style, the ways of the serpent. She called him her little genius, that he was just like her grandfather. And once she knew that he could be able to both protect himself and his little brother, they packed their things, burned down their home, and left with only ashes in their wake.

And they were traveling on the road. It was peaceful, almost calm, that was until bandits attacked them .His mother had dealt with them, but one had sneaked around her and gotten to where her two sons were hiding. Orochimaru tried his best to fight off the big bandit, but this one turned out to be a shinobi. The man had managed to wound the young boy and had grasped his little brother. The man chuckled as he kicked away Orochimaru, threatening to kill the little boy if either he or his mother made a move.

Of course his mother wouldn't let such a thing happen, like her ways, she tricked the man. Though he had managed to injure her son, for that she killed him instead of letting him flee with his tail between his legs.

The man had cut into the boys throat, causing the child to begin to choke on his blood and unable to breath. His mother tried her best to heal him, but it wasn't her specialty, she only managed to spare him more time to live. Enough time for him to call to her and Orochimaru, before the light in his eyes faded and he was just staring blankly above them. Orochimaru gripped at his brothers hand and shook his shoulders, telling him to stop playing. Tears ran down the pale boys face as his brother didn't answer him back or look at him.

'Yaso!'

His mother pulled him away, she hugged him as Orochimaru cried into her vest. She cooed at the crying boy, rubbing his back trying to get him to calm down. While her own tears silently fell for her lost son.

'Why Yaso? Why!'

Human life could so easily be taken away, it was always on the line, never sure if the life would be taken away today, or if it'll live another day.

They appeared at the gates Konoha, the symbol over the large gates, was the same one that was on the plated gloves his mother wore and the head band she had around her thigh. The men at the gate asked her for her papers and she withdrew both hers and his and showed it to them, along with a piece of paper that the Sandaime had granted her permission to leave and wonder the lands.

They let them through and led them to the Hokage Tower.

Orochimaru showed no interest in looking around the bustling village. His eyes were glued to the floor, he never noticed how a white haired boy his own age stayed staring at him, before he glanced away and returned to doing what he was doing before.

Everything was blur after they entered the village and it wasn't until they were situated in his mothers old apartment that he let himself crash on the small futon that was laid out in the guest room and sleep. Only his sleep was unwelcomed, he was bothered with the visions of seeing his brother dying, along with his father who lay face down in a puddle of his own blood.

He was able to overcome it quickly though, with his mothers help and support. They lived a somewhat alright life after they came to the village, he soon started the academy while his mother decided to start taking up missions again.

It went well for the next couple years. He graduated from the academy top of his class and was placed on a team with the blond haired girl from the Senju clan and the stupid idiot Jiraiya.

The years seemed to go by, he and his team grew strong. While his mother seemed to grow older and weaker. He hated coming home to her, seeing her so weak and withered, but he couldn't leave her. He loved her too much to abandon her, they had been through too much.

So when he woke up one morning and went to help his mother with breakfast, he was surprised to not find her away and shuffling about the small kitchen. His brow furrowed, he went to her room and announced himself. When she didn't answer back, he opened her door, and his breath caught in his throat.

She looked so peaceful as if she was just sleeping. But she wasn't, he could tell. He walked to her side, knelt beside her, and took her hand that was over her body. It was cold and it felt aged and gnarled in his hand. He could feel something build itself in his throat, but he wouldn't let it out.

At least she had gone peacefully.

But it struck him, much harder this time, how anything could so simply end a human life.

Be it an outside source, a knife, even age.

And he let her hand fall and looked at his own hands. They seemed young, but soon they would be like his mothers were. The skin would be spotted by scars, small little dots and withered looking.

He didn't want that.

He owed it to his mother to live a long life.

He owed it to his little brother.

To his father.

To himself.

He would find a way, so that human life wouldn't have to end. Ever.

"Immortality, your equation will be solved."

What started out as a way to help others and himself, turned him into an obsessed freak. People couldn't see his way anymore, they thought he had gone insane. But no he hadn't. Sure maybe his ideals in finding immortality was sick, but he owed it to his family. He owed it to them.

Maybe it was for the best that he had been chased out of Konoha. They didn't understand, they just lived on and died. They could keep doing that if they wanted. He would always be an outsider, he was born one and if it so happened, he would end like one.

Iiiiii.

"Orochimaru, are you listening?"

The voice of the young Uchiha snapped Orochimaru from his thoughts. He sighed and turned to look at the fourteen year old boy. His yellow snake like eyes examined the young boy.

"What is it that you want now boy?"

If the Uchiha wasn't taken back by how he was spoken to he didn't show it. The boy just scoffed and turned away.

"Nevermind."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, before he sneered at the backside of the boy. What an insufferable little boy he was. His parents had coddled the thing and so had his dear older brother. To think that he was a genius, please, the boy was an idiot. The only way he could take down his older brother was if he trained for decades and waited until the man was sick with old age.

That caused a pang of guilt to go through him.

Oh well.

He'd get over it.

But not in this lifetime.

So Orochimaru closed his eyes and his sleep took him back to when he was a toddler, within the loving embrace of his mother.

He wasn't crazy, he wasn't insane, he just wished he was happy.

AN:

There'll be another two going with this one and it'll be complete.

I actually see this happening to Orochimaru and because of that I like and can understand his character - even if this is an assumption that I am making. It's one of the few explanations that can be said for the way Orochimaru is, no? If it isn't, well meh, its an idea. Hopefully you guys like this and the next two.

Review? Please?

Sorugao-Bandgeek