38 Years
A Naruto Fan fiction by Nerva al'Thor
Characters used are not mine. ;;
People have known me as the Fifth Hokage ever since that boy convinced me to take the title. I thought it was a good idea then – for Dan and my brother. But now I want to beat the ever-loving crap out of that idiot Naruto for ever managing to convince me to take the post. No, don't get me wrong...it's not that I don't like the job...I just don't like the mound of paperwork that seem to be appearing every day on my table. If it wasn't for Konoha, I'd...
...How long since this picture had been taken? It's in black and white. Reminds me how old I am, really. Sarutobi-sensei, me, Jiraiya and...and Orochimaru. In days of unbearable stress like these, I find it really refreshing to just look at this picture. Refreshing and heartbreaking at the same time.
Jiraiya will never get rid of that perverted streak in his eyes. He'd had it ever since we were kids, and it only grew worse until today. His excuses for skipping training had always been the same. That he was gathering 'data'. I remember him trying to take Orochimaru with him one day. The idiot had no idea what 'data' they were going to take, so happily skipped along. When they came back he was red enough to shame ten sunsets. Sarutobi-sensei remarked that we could fry an egg on his head, too. Jiraiya had an outline of a shoe at the back of his head. Orochimaru's shoe.
I think Orochimaru did not speak with him for three days. Until he piped up the idea of playing stripper poker. I had been desperate to prove my abilities; that I was NOT the Legendary Sucker. Goddamn it, who invented that title for me anyway...?
...I can never fathom how Jiraiya and Orochimaru managed to win every time. Jiraiya had had the time of his life, watching me take off pieces of my clothes. Pieces Orochimaru picked. If I'd have known, that day when Jiraiya took him to gather 'data' he had hopelessly acquired some of the snothead's perversion himself. I especially remember his snake-like eyes glinting with amusement as my pants finally came off. And Jiraiya's laughter echoes in my ears until today. shudders
I never played stripper poker with them again.
As the Fifth Hokage and after all the crimes he ever committed, I should stop thinking of Orochimaru with fondness. Hell, he deserves to be flayed alive, killed, brought to life and flayed yet again. I can never understand how he became such a bastard...he had been nice...and silent...and...
...He should have made the greatest Hokage Konoha had ever seen if only he didn't crack. I can't blame Sarutobi-sensei for investing much in him. He was easily the best in the team. Am I wishing for some rewind of the past? Maybe. Maybe...
Orochimaru, why...
...oh this is no use, I'm crying again. I hate it when I cry. I get too soft sometimes.
...I'm sure Dan will forgive me. This picture...just forces me to remember many, many things. I remember vividly...my childhood's love for Orochimaru will never die. The fates might have torn us asunder, as a team, as friends, as...lovers...but he will always have this small place in my heart. Orochimaru, my first...
A warm evening just weeks before the special mission Sarutobi-sensei wanted us to accomplish...Jiraiya had been happily drunk and went away singing that he'd gather his 'data'...how can I forget? I think I will never feel that light and carefree again, while we stayed in each other's arms...a kiss filled with clumsiness, a nervous touch...and then bittersweet pain...
How can I forget? No matter how many times I try to...
...all that, thirty-eight years ago. Why did he become the bastard that he is now? I can't believe I loved him more than my life, once. Life does do funny things.
...I could have done something, at least. Ah, but here I go again. No use crying over spilled milk. Time to keep this picture...until such time I want to cry my eyes out again.