Fox and Serpent

[Chiaroscuro]

It had been several months since Orochimaru had chosen to brand Naruko in the Forest of Death. Several months during which the missing-nin had had no contact with the girl. After all, he knew better than anybody the effects the seal had on the bearer's mind. He simply had to bide his time and make the right offer.

Which is why Naruko might be surprised when, one day, she came home from a long and tiring day of training to find a man sitting on her couch. This was all the more noteworthy for the fact that there were no signs to warn her of the intrusion; even the faint layer of dust on the floor lay undisturbed. The man was dressed in the cloak and mask of a Konoha ANBU, but as Naruko entered the room his head swiveled towards her in an unnaturally smooth fashion and he reached up to pull the mask away. The face beneath was instantly recognizable. After all, not many had a face like Orochimaru's. He let out a quiet, raspy chuckle before speaking.

"Well well, Naruko. It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Have you enjoyed my present?"

 

[ToshiyalovesKyo]

Naruko had grown in the months since she had been bitten and the villagers seemed to hate her even more then ever now that she had been bitten by Orochimaru, they saw it as even more of a reason to hate the holder of the Kyuubi. They acted as if it was all her fault and she had asked for all of this. "I bet that if it was Sasuke who had been bit, everyone would be feeling sorry for him, not thinking that he was a monster like me." She muttered bitterly to herself as she finished the ramen that she had bought with the rest of the last of the money that she had saved from the last mission they had gone on.

Later that day she was making her way home, tired and ready to just get some sleep after all the training that she had done today, but when she got home she saw the ANBU sitting on her couch. "L-Look, I don't know what they told you, but it wasn't me for once." She said, only for her eyes to go wide with shock when she saw who it really was. "Orochimaru! You jerk, you've made my life worse then it already was, the village hates me more then ever thanks to your little present!" She snapped at him as she stomped one of her feet.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Orochimaru seemed unfazed by the outburst. Instead he merely smiled thinly, a touch bitterly, as he set the ANBU mask on the arm of the couch. "Konoha doesn't value its treasures. You've protected this village since the day you were born, and still they spit on you. You've saved it from the Shukaku, even brought them their Hokage, and still have nothing but their scorn to your name. Haven't you ever wondered if it's worth it? What could ever be enough?"

The Sannin cocked his head to one side as if considering what he was going to say next before finally continuing: "You see, that's a pain I know all too well myself. I too was hated by the villagers of Konoha. I too believed I could make them accept me by becoming stronger." Not strictly true, but it was close enough for what she needed to hear and no trace of the deception crept into his tone.

 

[ToshiyalovesKyo]

Naruko blinked a few times at that, she knew that Orochimaru had been kicked out of the village, but she never knew what for. "Why did they hate you?" She asked softly as she walked closer, lightly bitting at her bottom lip in thought, she couldn't deny that leaving the Leaf Village really did sound tempting at the moment.

"If...If I where to leave with you...why would be the one to train me? We kind of beat up the people you last sent for me." Naruko said as she lightly rubbed the back of her neck, her long blond pig tails swishing slightly behind her as she thought a bit.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

"I've always looked like this," he said while gesturing at his face. "At first, they only feared my looks. Then they began to fear my power. The harder I tried to become a great ninja, the further I was pushed away." Orochimaru rose from his seat with serpentine grace, and his smile widened as Naruko continued to speak.

"Konoha doesn't value its treasures. When they see you, they see mud. But I? I see a gemstone." It was at this point that he began to draw closer to Naruko. Though he towered over her, his movements were slow and deliberate so as not to startle the blonde. "A rough and unformed one, true, but with the right polish I believe you can shine brighter than all." With that said, he held his hand out to her, palm up, as if beckoning. "If you want to get stronger...if you want to prove this decrepit village wrong...then come with me. Only I can help you reach your potential...but only if you'll let me."

 

[ToshiyalovesKyo]

Naruko couldn't help but to frown at that, what right did these people have not regect someone just because of how they looked? She had half a mind to go out there and give those people a piece of her mind.

She looked at the pale hand that was being offered up to her as she started to really think it over, Orochimaru was right, it would never matter to them how stong she got or how many times she tried to save them, they would never accept her. "Alright, I'll go with you." She said as she took the offered hand in her own with a small smile on her face, she was willing to place her trust in his hands for now at the very least.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Orochimaru smiled faintly. And just like that, the course of history was changed.

...

Three years later, and the Sannin was quite satisfied with Naruko's progress. She was growing stronger every day, and soon she would be ready to help him seize his next body. But that was for another time. Today Orochimaru found himself waiting in his private lab for his apprentice to return from her most recent sparring session. Normally he liked to watch, as there was a certain purity he enjoyed in watching her demolish people on his orders, but...well, some experiments couldn't always wait. He was just finishing up cleaning his hands (you don't even want to know what was on them) when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Very familiar footsteps.

Like most rooms in the hideout, it was sparsely lit and gloomy; candles set into the wall and on tables cast a feeble glow that left large portions of the room hidden in shadow. The walls were covered in bottles and jars of various medicines and poisons (quick! Guess which is which!), plus the occasional bookshelf overloaded with books and scrolls. A large table in the center of the room was covered in a single sheet of rice paper laden with fuinjutsu. The only sign of who (or what) previously occupied the table was a large, suspiciously dark stain.

 

[ToshiyalovesKyo]

Three whole years Naruko had been here and had been training, she had grown taller and now had a larger chest, though it was still no where near the same size as the one that Lady Tsunade had, that was one of the few people that she missed from that village. "They didn't even care enough about me to send someone to come looking for me, so why should I care?" She asked with a small scowl on her face as she took a quick shower after she was done training, she knew she was suppose to go right to Orochimaru after training, but she wanted to be clean when she went to go and see him.

Once she was done with her shower, she got dressed in the rather revieling outfit that she had been given to wear before she walked down stairs to the masters private lab, a place she hated to go, before he started to look around for him. "Lord Orochimaru?" She called out as she walked farther into the lab and looked at some of the books and scrolls that she knew had forbidin justus on them.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

"Ah, there you are Naruko."

Orochimaru's voice came from the rarely-seen door to his personal quarters. He had apparently taken advantage of the extra time to take a shower as well, except that she had caught him early. He was clad only in a pair of loose black trousers, leaving his surprisingly muscular (yet pale) upper body on full display. One of the many advantages of his shapeshifting.

Most people in Hidden Sound wouldn't have dared to keep him waiting, but Naruko had always had special privileges and Orochimaru had never hidden (or explained) the blatant favoritism. Instead he favored her with his usual bemused smirk, his amber eyes sweeping over her body appraisingly. She had grown into quite a beauty, after all, but there was something about surveying his handiwork that he just couldn't resist.

"So tell me," he said while pulling on a tunic that was folded over a nearby chair, "how was your opponent this time?"

 

[ToshiyalovesKyo]

Naruko spun around when she heard him come into the room, her eyes going tight to all that bare flesh, a light blush crossing her cheeks before she shook her head and did her best to focus on what he was saying to her. "I suppose it was alright, though I think he was more interested in trying to get a peak at my chest then trying to fight me, I told you that I need training clothes." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest, she had never hid how much she disliked the outfit that he had her wearing, no one else had to wear something like this after all, only her.