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cywscrossFandom: Naruto
Summary: The most astonishing thing of all is that Orochimaru doesn't even notice Naruto invading his house until he walks through the front door one day and finds toys and comic books that most certainly do not belong to him scattered about the place.
After that absurd month of having the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki knocking on his door almost every single day, Orochimaru gives up on ignoring the kid. He’s fairly sure that it’s nigh impossible, there’s just something about Uzumaki Naruto – a certain exasperatingly determined charm – that absolutely refuses to let Orochimaru go, and if he’s honest with himself, he doesn't really want that unbelievably compassionate child to leave anyway. Not after what he said that night.
(Orochimaru wants to laugh at how pathetic he’s become. He’s almost forty-three years old, and he’s clinging to a four-year-old’s childish beliefs for comfort.)
He knows – of course – that if Sensei ever finds out (and Naruto is wrong about that; Sensei doesn't see, never sees, no matter what Orochimaru does), there’ll probably be consequences no matter how evident it will be that Orochimaru hasn't inflicted any sort of harm on Naruto, but he’s stopped caring about how much other people will condemn him for his actions a long time ago. On occasion, he resents it, but truly caring, well, not so much. Not anymore.
So he invites Naruto into his home again, and within three weeks, it’s like the boy’s moved in. Orochimaru’s bedroom is large enough to divide in half with a spare bed sheet, and there’s really nothing inside but futons, a low table, and a closet anyway so there’s plenty of space for Orochimaru to lay out the second futon for his house guest whenever the boy stays late and doesn't want to make the trip back to his apartment (which happens more and more often as each day passes). There’s also a set of doors in the bedroom that opens out onto the porch, which Naruto adores for some reason, so the kid tends to lounge on the wooden deck and read his manga or play video games while Orochimaru researches seals and new jutsus in the sitting room or study.
The most astonishing thing of all is that Orochimaru doesn't even notice Naruto invading his house until he walks through the front door one day and finds toys and comic books that most certainly do not belong to him scattered about the place. There’s even a stack of clumsily folded clothes in one corner of Naruto’s side of the bedroom.
They're shabby, is the first thing that comes to mind when he sees them, instead of, Naruto-kun, pack these back to your own house at once.
In the end, he only stares at them some more before resigning himself to the inevitable. Naruto is like a particularly dogged army; he marches in and occupies, and there’s just no getting rid of him.
So Orochimaru does the next best thing – he sits the boy down and asks, “Who bought your clothes for you?”
Naruto looks embarrassed but eventually reveals that the caretakers at the orphanage gave him some hand-me-downs when he was old enough to dress himself.
“And people don’t really like selling things to me,” Naruto mumbles, and as soon as Orochimaru lets him wriggle out of the uncomfortable discussion, the boy is darting back outside, returning to his latest activity of climbing one of the taller trees surrounding Orochimaru’s house. Orochimaru goes back to sitting on a bench outside with a fuuinjutsu scroll in hand while keeping one attentive eye on Naruto. It won’t do for the kid to break his neck falling out of the tree.
Three days later, Orochimaru returns from a shopping trip with a bag of children’s clothes, all brand-new, made for easy movement, and mostly in shades of grey and blue but also a few shirts in orange, as well as a pair of black pants with a vivid orange stripe running down each pant leg. The orange shirts especially make him wince but they're in Naruto’s favourite colour, and when Orochimaru presents his purchases to him, the child actually gets teary-eyed, expression torn between joy and disbelief.
It takes nearly an hour to shut down every one of Naruto’s objections about accepting the clothes, Orochimaru starting with, “Take them as your birthday present.”, and closing the argument once and for all with an adamant, “While you're living under my roof, I won’t have you walking around dressed like you're destitute. It doesn't reflect well on me.”
Neither of them mentions the fact that nobody knows that Orochimaru is pretty much providing for Naruto nowadays, and once ‘destitute’ is explained to the boy, along with why it’s an insult to Orochimaru, Naruto capitulates and tackles him in a hug that leaves him stiff and nonplussed before running off to change into his new clothes.
By the time Orochimaru has to leave for another six-day-long mission, he gifts Naruto with a key to his house, having already tweaked the seals to allow the boy entry weeks ago. He locks all his research into his study (Naruto is curious by nature but he has enough sense to respect the boundaries Orochimaru set for his privacy and the boy’s safety, one of which is to never enter his study), and cautions Naruto to at least go back to his apartment every few days if he absolutely has to stay at Orochimaru’s place.
“Don’t worry,” Naruto assures him, clutching the key in his hands like it’s a priceless treasure. “I don’t think the animal-mask people are around anymore ever since Jijii got someone to check up on me every Sunday.”
Orochimaru actually knows this for a fact because he’s verified it. Discreetly. The ANBU rotation watching over Naruto has lifted now that the boy’s got his own place, and the weekly reports from Shiranui Genma or Namiashi Raidou are enough to ease some of the Sandaime’s concerns. Not to mention the ANBU is unsurprisingly still a bit short-staffed so as long as Naruto is still in pristine condition every Sunday, the guard on him will be pulled back onto active duty.
All the better for Orochimaru.
“Then I’ll be back next Wednesday,” Orochimaru tells him, grudgingly staying still for another one of those glompy hugs that Naruto has – irritatingly enough – grown terribly fond of (the kid certainly didn't pick up the bad habit from him), and then he leaps away into the trees, heading for the gates with all the swift silence of a shadow.
This time, he dispatches his targets with days to spare, and he finds himself racing back to Konoha faster than he normally would. He’s probably happier than he should be when he gets home and the door flies open, and Naruto comes tumbling out to greet him with a surprised grin and a “Welcome back, Orochimaru-san!”
(It won’t last, a voice whispers in Orochimaru’s head. Throw him out now before you get attached.
Too late, he counters ruefully as he makes dumplings for Naruto and listens to the boy recount his latest prank.)
~0~0~0~
Naruto’s face burns with embarrassment when Orochimaru finds out.
“You can’t read?”
He can’t meet the Jounin’s gaze as he reluctantly shakes his head in confirmation. He hates it all the more because he knows that Orochimaru is really smart. Whenever Naruto asks what he’s working on with all those scrolls and books, sometimes writing in them more than reading, Orochimaru has told him that he’s developing seals or expanding on concepts for creating new jutsus, and Naruto didn't even know you could do that. He can’t even get through all the words in a manga. He usually just looks at the pictures to figure out what’s going on, and if he can’t, then he makes up his own stories for them.
“Can you write?”
Again, Naruto has to shake his head, but he hastily tacks on, “I can write my name, and a few other words. Same with reading. But- I just haven’t learned it all properly yet.”
It’s not like the caretakers at the orphanage were willing to teach him; most of the time, they wouldn't even let him sit in on those basic hour-long classes they held a few times a week. And it isn’t as if Jijii has time to teach him. Even if he did, Naruto only sees him once a month for an hour or two, and it’s just so embarrassing to have to ask someone – anyone – to teach him to read and write, especially when – in the few times he has asked – the orphanage matrons just sneered at him or flat-out refused. Or both. Mostly both.
“Alright.”
Naruto blinks and involuntarily looks up. Orochimaru has disappeared into his study (Naruto really wants to know what cool jutsus are stored in there, but he made a promise not to, plus Orochimaru said he would one day teach Naruto some of them once he’s made Genin) but he comes back out a few minutes later, carrying pencils and papers and a few old-looking books.
“Sit,” Orochimaru nods at the dining table. “You must learn sooner or later; today is as good a day as any.”
Naruto’s jaw drops, somehow surprised even though he probably shouldn't be by now. “Y- You're gonna teach me?”
Orochimaru just arches an elegant eyebrow in a mockingly amused sort of way. “Well, if your goal is still the Hokage seat, you can’t be an illiterate one. You wouldn't want the other villages to laugh you out of office, would you? Now come sit. We can start with something simple.”
Naruto doesn't know what ‘illiterate’ means but he can guess the gist of it. He feels a bit shaky as he clambers into his chair (and yes, it’s his, he’s been here long enough to claim it, and Orochimaru never sits in it anymore), and even as Orochimaru lays out a piece of paper with columns of empty squares on it in front of him, along with a pencil and the instructions to write down all the kanji he does know, Naruto can’t help taking quick peeks over at Orochimaru whenever the man isn’t looking.
“Concentrate,” Orochimaru tells him with a light rap of his knuckles against Naruto’s head after the eighth peek. Naruto grins sheepishly and quickly bends his head back to the words that he’s working on.
“How do you write your name?” Naruto asks three exhausting hours later when his brain feels like mush, and Orochimaru finally lets him take a break.
Orochimaru glances at him before scrawling down three kanji, all precise lines and sure strokes and not at all like Naruto’s own wobbly script.
“It’s so long to say,” Naruto makes a face. “It’s five syllables!”
Orochimaru looks like he wants to roll his eyes. “I'm sure you’ll survive. You have for nearly three months; the rest of your life shouldn't kill you.”
Orochimaru, Naruto huffs, has a very sarcastic sense of humour. When he wants to show it anyway. He didn't at the beginning when Naruto first barged his way into the Jounin’s life.
“I could give you a nickname!” Naruto suggests excitedly. Suddenly, Orochimaru looks almost worried.
“Naruto-kun...” The warning is clear.
“How ’bout just shortening your name?” Naruto compromises. “Like... Orochi-san? No, that’s still a mouthful. Maru-san? How ’bout Maru-san?”
Now Orochimaru looks faintly murderous. And he’s giving Naruto the you're a grade A idiot and I don’t know why I put up with you look. At least that’s how Naruto interprets it. Orochimaru’s got a lot of silent Looks, most of them an insult of some sort. Naruto’s still trying to categorize all of them.
“How about no?” Orochimaru shoots back disdainfully. “There’s nothing wrong with my name.”
“I didn't say there was,” Naruto quickly assures. “But what if someone’s attacking me and I need to get your attention, and your name’s too long for me to get it all out in time?”
Orochimaru doesn't even blink. “Then I suppose you’ll die early.”
“Orochimaru-san! That’s mean!” Naruto cries out indignantly. “Hmph! Well I think ‘Maru-san’ sounds good, and it’s shorter, so I'm using it!”
Orochimaru looks like he wants to argue some more, but then he seems to change his mind and only heaves a sigh instead before gathering up the writing utensils and papers. “Do as you please. I doubt I can stop you.”
Naruto beams before hopping to his feet to help Orochimaru clean up. The Jounin can stop him, and they both know it; if Orochimaru really does have a problem with it, then he’d let Naruto know, but Naruto is totally getting to him, and Orochimaru tends to let him do whatever he wants when it comes to anything besides following the house rules and – apparently – his studies.
