Chapter 8

Orochimaru

Because Sakumo opted to carry his son back to the house, I had to carry Naruto on my back. I suppose I could look less dignified, but still. I know if the situation with Kakashi wasn't so bad Sakumo would be making fun of the fact I have a child on my back. We'd stopped the major bleeding, but I still have to heal the wounds up.

"I can't believe I missed…" Naruto mutters.

"Listen; next time there is a fight like that don't get involved. That was really stupid, and you could have gotten yourself killed!"

For a second he's taken back by my outburst, and I am as well. "I… sorry…"

"It's fine. Your shot was good, and it was lucky you weren't hurt this time, but don't do it again. Until you learn how to fight better, you need to keep your head down," I tell him.

"But they were trying to hurt you."

"I've already told you, I've been a ninja for a long time. I had everything under control. You, on the other hand, are simply an academy student. You didn't stand a chance. Think before you act."

For a while he doesn't answer, and I wonder what he's thinking. He's a very interesting child so it could be anything.

"Thank you…" he whispers after a while.

"For what?"

"Telling me off."

"You're happy I told you off?"

"Well… no, but… you told me off because you care about me."

I can't deny that. I do care about the boy quite a lot. It's strange. I never thought I would care about anyone, but this boy… he just has a strange power about him.

This time it's my turn not to say anything for bit. The only thing I can say is "You're welcome."

Once we reach the house we go in, and Sakumo puts Kakashi down on one of the beds in a spare room. I pull away the soaked makeshift bandages we'd wrapped around him before we came here. "The wound isn't too severe. It's mostly just blood loss."

"That's a relief," Sakumo sighs sitting in one of the chairs. I look at him. He seems older. Obviously nearly losing his son was a scary thing. We both knew he was watching us, but we thought he sensed the enemy when we did. He's been just a fraction too slow to completely avoid the first attack. He'd probably have taken even more damage if I hadn't killed that one ninja with my snakes.

I close my eyes letting the chakra turn into healing chakra. I put my hands to the wound. I start to heal it using the medical ninjutsu Tsunade made us learn before she believed we were able to handle solo missions.

After a while the wound is sewn up, and I take the clean wrapping Naruto offers me with a lot of happiness. Obviously the idea that he is able to help me is exciting, and wrap it around Kakashi's wound.

"Why did they do that?" Naruto asks. I look at him, and I can tell that what happened earlier finally caught up with him.

"Various reasons. Might have been revenge from the last war. Might have just been rogue ninja looking for some fun. Or to test their skills. It's hard to say." I say looking at him.

"You can let it out you know," Sakumo says. I look at Naruto knowing what Sakumo is referring too.

"We're not throwing up everywhere because we're used to it. I'm sure this is the first time you've seen death, especially like that," Sakumo says.

"I hope this banishes any naive thoughts about how glorious a ninja's life is. A lot of it isn't glorious at all. You're going to have to do things you might not like, but that's what we have to do."

He nods then pukes into a bucket Sakumo gave him. The older man pats his back gently.

"You're stronger than most kids your age. Most of them would have gone screaming," he says.

"One time when I was going home late I saw this one guy beating up this other guy, and I ran because it was gross…" he says.

"Well, despite the fact that you should have left it to us, you did good today," Sakumo says.

"But I didn't hit where I wanted," Naruto complains.

"What have I told you about complaining?" I ask. "That was your first time fighting a moving target, and this was a serious fight. It's actually a testament to your skill that you could hit him at all."

"Really? You think I've gotten better?" he asks excited.

"I would hope so," I scoff. "We've been training you for a few weeks now. If you haven't been getting better, I would be very concerned."

"Umm…"

"What is it?" I ask.

"Who is he anyway?" Naruto asks pointing to Kakashi.

"He's my son," Sakumo says simply looking over at Kakashi.

"Guess that's why you look alike then," Naruto says.

"Good observation, not that it was hard to tell," I tell him. He's observant though. I can tell he watches things that most people don't.

"So who do you look more like?" Naruto asks.

"My mother," I reply simply.

"My grandfather on my father's side of the family. He took after his mother a bit more than his father," Sakumo says.

It's a testament to his training that he's learned not to just ask questions that are pointless. He knows neither of us are going to talk about his parents right now, so he doesn't ask questions about them even though I know he's dying to know.

"Orochimaru," he says after a bit.

"Yes?"

"Your snakes are really pretty."

"Thank you. They appreciate you saying so," I reply. Most people don't like my snakes, but that's alright, they don't have to.

"Even Manda?" Sakumo asks.

"Especially Manda. He's vain."

"And opinionated?"

"Now you're catching on," I say, and he smiles a little bit.

"Who's Manda?" Naruto asks.

"My personal summon. I can't summon him here; he's far too big. We'd have to go outside, and I'd rather not make a big mess of things by drawing attention to myself. Manda is very recognizable."

"Yes, I would say there aren't many giant purple and black snakes around," Sakumo says sarcastically.

"There aren't? I thought I saw at least ten of them on the way here."

"Only ten? That's less than last time."

"He's still better than those flea-bitten mutts you call summons."

"Wolves."

"What's a summon?" Naruto asks breaking us out of our playful fight. It's something that I used to do with my teammates as well. It's strange, but somehow fun.

"When a person signs a contract in blood with a certain animal, they are able to call forth that animal using the summoning jutsu," I say. I bite my thumb, and do a few hand signs. I pull my sleeve up ready to draw the blood across my tattoo.

"Hey Oro?" Naruto asks.

"What is it?" I ask pausing.

"What's that?" he asks pointing to my tattoo.

"It's my summoning tattoo. It means more than that though, but when you summon an animal you usually have a place where you want to apply your blood in order to use the jutsu. Mine is this tattoo."

"Oh," he says. "So what else is it?"

"I may explain that another time," I say slamming my left hand onto the ground. A small snake appears. "I have a contract with snakes, while Sakumo has a contract with wolves. How you go about getting a contract is different for different people, but I wouldn't worry about that right now. It's more advanced than what you can do right now."

"One day?" Naruto asks. "Wait… so can a person have more than one?"

"Technically it's possible, but usually not done," Sakumo says.

"So… so this kid in my class has a summon then?" Naruto asks.

"He's an Inuzuka, right?" I guess.

"Umm… yeah I think it was something like that."

"Then no. His dog isn't a summon. There is a difference between a summon and a familiar like what the Inuzuka clan have. Your classmate goes everywhere with his dog, and he has to because they are partners on the battlefield during every fight. They have jutsu that capitalize on that bond they share. A summon isn't always in battle with you. I summoned one to protect you, but I normally wouldn't have summoned one for low-level idiots like those ones."

"Oh, so that's why the teachers let him have him. I thought it would be against the rules or something."

"Not in the case of the Inuzuka. That would be like saying you can't have your shuriken with you. To them their dog is pretty much another weapon in the crudest of terms."

"Oh, that makes sense," Naruto says.

"Learning about the various clans in your class will be helpful if you ever have to face one. Each clan in the village is unique and has their own talents," Sakumo says.

"Like the sharingan," I say a bit excited. I mean, an eye that can copy almost any jutsu!

"Yes, like the sharingan," Sakumo says eyeing me a bit. He knows when I get excited about these things.

"Sharingan?" Naruto asks.

"Did you see Kakashi's left eye?" I ask.

"Umm… yeah, it was kind of red, and had these swirly things in it."

"That's a mature activated sharingan. Because Kakashi didn't activate it since he's not capable of that he can't deactivate it. It was a gift from someone. It's the bloodline of the Uchiha clan. It's able to copy almost any jutsu, and a few other things," I explain.

"So Sasuke will have those kind of eyes?" Naruto asks.

"When he uses the sharingan, and if he gets it. Not everyone does. Just because it's your bloodline doesn't mean it's going to catch on. The first Hokage's wood style never passed down to any of his children or grandchildren."

"Wood style? Bloodlines?" Naruto asks puzzled.

I walk over to him. "Let's talk about bloodlines and such another day. Right now you need rest. We all do."

"Okay," Naruto says and yawns.

"I'll take him to bed. You can say here."

"Alright," Sakumo says with a grateful smile.

I walk out of the room with Naruto. Right before I close the door I hear Kakashi softly say "Father…"

I close the door shutting out anything those two were going to say to each other. They need their moment of family time after all. They have a lot to catch up on.

We walk into another room where Naruto quickly crawls into a bed. "Hey… Oro…?"

"What do you want, kid?"

"Umm… some of the kids at school say their parents… and I was just wondering if you could…"

It takes me some time to realize what he's talking about. "Alright, I'll tell you a story."

He beams so bright that I swear he's made of the sun. I can't help but smile as well. I can't believe I care so much about a child. Especially not this child, but I can't help myself. I'm going soft, and… I don't care. I welcome it.