now is the winter of our discontent (Pt.10)

[cywscross]

Fandom: Naruto

Summary: Confrontation time.

 

Maru-ji leaves on his mission.  Naruto goes to school.  Anko splits her time between her friends and Naruto.  Sasuke is back, moody and silent and glaring at everyone like all of the world’s problems are their fault.  Life goes on.

 

And then, the day before Maru-ji is supposed to get back, everything goes to shit because Naruto is a careless moron who should be drawn and quartered and never ever forgiven.

 

“Let go of me!”  Naruto snarls, twisting in the unrelenting grip of some stupid one-eyed Jounin who apparently goes around stalking kids.

 

“You're on private property,” The man points out in a lazy voice.

 

“No, you're on private property,” Naruto bares his teeth in a grin.  “But please, go right on in; the door’s still unlocked.  I'm sure it’ll be an explosive once-in-a-lifetime experience for you.”

 

Literally, Naruto tacks on nastily in his head.  Maru-ji explained a few years ago that the seals placed around the clearing weren’t exactly for decoration, and the ones directly on the house that prevented entry even less so.

 

“So you live here then?”  The Jounin enquires like he doesn’t care less, but his hand is still an iron band around Naruto’s forearm, and his visible eye is focused intently on Naruto himself.

 

Naruto shuts his mouth and doesn't say another word.  The evidence is already pretty damning; the situation speaks for itself.  This Jounin must have seen him slipping away into the woods (Naruto should have been more careful, but it’s been years, and nobody’s caught on, nobody until now), followed him, seen him enter the house, and then waited for him to come back out, and Naruto knows that a thousand different scenarios that all paint Maru-ji as the bad guy are running through this idiot’s head right now, and shitfuckdamn Naruto deserves to be de-balled for his carelessness.

 

“I think we should go see the Hokage,” The Jounin decides before his eye does this stupid little downward curve thing like he’s smiling from behind his mask, like he’s mocking Naruto, and Naruto would punch him if he thought it would do any good.

 

But he refrains because that would be assault, and instead, as the man plucks him up by the back of his shirt and Shunshins away, Naruto begins compiling arguments and reciting Konoha law in his head.

 

He made this mistake so he’ll fix it.  No one and nothing, not even the friggin’ Hokage, will rip him from his family.

 

~0~0~0~

 

Anko hurtles over the rooftops, breaking sound barriers as she sprints towards the Hokage Tower.  She’s already sent Kougyoku off with an urgent message to Sensei to get his ass back to Konoha stat right after receiving a summons from the Hokage himself, and seeing as she just got back from a trip to her favourite weapons shop for some new shuriken, only to find the door unlocked but no one home, she’s fairly certain that she knows what’s finally happened.

 

It’s been a long time coming; she’s shocked it hasn't happened sooner.  But it’s been years, she’s grown used to having an actual family waiting for her to come home, and she’ll be damned if the Hokage takes her little brother away just because his trust issues have trust issues when it comes to Sensei.

 

She storms down the hallways of the Tower, her glare more than enough to scatter all the people in her way and give her a clear path to the Hokage’s office.  She completely ignores the secretary screeching at her to wait, and with only a cursory knock on the door, she throws it open and sweeps into the room.

 

“You asked for me, Hokage-sama?”  Anko barks out tersely, taking in everyone in the room in the span of a heartbeat.  The Sandaime has already pinned her with a hard stare, Naruto is standing straight-backed with restrained fury in the middle of the room, and...

 

“Hatake.”  Right then and there, Anko vows that she’ll hate this man for the rest of eternity.  Especially when the bastard just eye-smiles at her in response like this is all just some great big fucking joke.

 

“Good afternoon, Anko,” Sarutobi begins, hands clasped on top of his table.  “Am I right to assume that you know what this is about?”

 

The upfront way it is.

 

“I can make a good guess,” Anko steps up next to Naruto and drops a hand on his shoulder.  Some of the tension leaks out of his frame.

 

The Sandaime’s eyes narrow.  “And...?”

 

“And what?”  Anko keeps her tone polite but cold.  “I’m sure Naruto’s told you all about it already, right kiddo?”

 

Naruto nods at once, none of his typical goofiness colouring his expression or voice as he speaks up.  “I haven’t done anything wrong, Hokage-sama.”

 

Anko hasn't ever heard the kid refer to Sarutobi as anything other than ‘Jijii’, although lately, he hasn’t referred to Sarutobi at all.

 

“If anyone’s broken the law, it’s him,” Naruto jabs a finger over at Kakashi.  “He said so himself – we were on private property, and he was on it without explicit permission from the owner, the owner who’s a shinobi, which is even worse because everyone knows that if you wander onto a ninja’s property without permission and get blasted off the face of the planet, you've got no one to blame but yourself.  He’s just lucky that the seals weren’t activated to their full extent this time because Anko-nee is still on leave.  And then he even abducted me.”

 

“There was no abduction involved, Naruto,” The Hokage interjects.  “Kakashi here simply wanted to clarify a few matters.”

 

“Abduction is defined as the action or an instance of forcibly taking someone away against their will, and I definitely did not give my consent to be taken anywhere,” Naruto retorts as formally as an eight-year-old trained by a genius with sky-high standards can manage.  Sensei’s taught him wonderfully in the art of political-speak.  “I was not in danger, I was not breaking the law, and I am still an Academy student, which means I'm a civilian.  If I was already a shinobi, then as a Jounin, Hatake-san would be my superior, and he could hypothetically haul me up in front of the Hokage for whatever crimes he thinks I’ve either committed or been a victim of, but I'm not, so he had no right.  Short of a blatant crime that absolutely no one can mistake for anything else, such as murder which would need to be stopped at once by anyone with the ability to do so, the only two groups of people who are allowed to officially arrest Konoha civilians on suspicion alone are the Konoha Military Police Force and the civilian branch of Konoha’s law enforcement.”  Naruto’s gaze cuts over to where Kakashi is slouching.  “Hatake-san, are you a part of either group?”

 

Kakashi says nothing, just stares back with a hooded, impassive eye.  It’s with a rush of vindictive satisfaction that Anko remembers that this man used to be Naruto’s father’s student.  In a perfect world, Naruto probably would have grown up with Kakashi as an older brother figure.

 

Oh well.  Too fucking bad.  It’s the guy’s own fault.  There’s a law against speaking about the secret of the Kyuubi to Naruto, and for the ones who know about it, it’s also silently agreed upon that no one would mention the identities of the boy’s parents to him either, but nobody said Kakashi couldn't get to know the boy in his own time, much like the way Anko did, and Sensei as well.  So the Copy-nin has no one to blame but himself.

 

“I’ll take that as a no,” Naruto swings back to face the Hokage, whom Anko thinks looks minutely stunned.  The fact that she can pick up that emotion at all means that Sarutobi must be internally thunderstruck.

 

Oh, Sensei will be so proud.  All those endless evenings spent drilling Konoha regulations into an energetic child, patiently coaxing him into taking his studies seriously even though a good chunk of it was either not taught at school yet or simply not taught at all, and some of it was as boring as watching grass grow.  And the fact that it was Orochimaru-sensei who taught Naruto to both read and write means that the boy’s vernacular and penmanship are both above reproach when he needs them to be.

 

Still, their position is precarious at best.  Hidden villages – no matter how pleasant the living conditions – are not democracies.  When it comes down to it, what the Kage says, goes, though there should be a good reason for it if only because no one likes an unjust dictator, and one too many because I say so’s will eventually incite rebellion at some point or another.  It’s why Konoha is the nice village; their Hokages have always been more lenient with the citizens’ whims.

 

Even worse in this case however, it’s this kid in question.  Uzumaki Naruto, and when it comes to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, ‘unjust treatment’ doesn't even begin to cover it.

 

“Naruto, Kakashi was only worried about you,” Sarutobi said at last in a slightly stilted but still soothing tone.

 

“Why?”  Naruto demands, and some of the eight-year-old child peeks back out.  “I don’t even know this guy, and let’s be honest here, most people in this village hate my very existence and wish me dead.  You can’t really think I’d believe some random Jounin followed me home because he was worried about me.  He probably brought me here just to try and get me in trouble!”

 

Sarutobi heaves a sigh that makes him look his age.  “Naruto, I believe I told you years ago that the man whose house you were... visiting is dangerous.”

 

“Obviously,” Naruto deadpans, sounding exactly like Sensei.  “He’s the Snake Sannin.  I sure hope he’s dangerous.”

 

“Naruto,” Sarutobi’s voice sharpens, and it’s the Hokage speaking now.  Naruto’s mouth snaps shut with a click.  “That is not what I mean.  There are many things you do not know about him, things that make him potentially dangerous to Konoha.  Kakashi is aware of that, and so he sought to take you away from there as quickly as possible.  He meant you no harm.”

 

Naruto’s jaw clenches but he doesn't lose his temper.  “...Okay, I get it.  That’s cleared up then.  This was all just a big misunderstanding.  So can I go now?”

 

No chance, kiddo, Anko thinks grimly.  Come on, Sensei, hurry up.

 

Actually, what can Sensei do in this situation?  Anko knew this was coming, but she’s put it out of her mind because she doesn't actually know how to convince the Sandaime to just let the three of them continue living in peace.

 

“Naruto, you must understand,” Sarutobi is saying now, leaning forward in his seat.  “This cannot carry on.  You said you have been interacting with Orochimaru for years, and I can’t – in good conscience – allow for that to continue.  It seems that you see him as a friend but his intentions towards you are more than likely anything but innocent.  I know him better than you do, Naruto.  He was my student after all.  He is not someone you can place your trust in, and whatever he has told you or promised you must always be taken with at least a grain of salt.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to ban you from seeing him again-”

 

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!”  Desperation makes Naruto’s voice crack as he reverts to the orphan outcast who knows what it’s like to have no family.  Something flashes across the Sandaime’s face, too quick for Anko to catch.

 

And just like that, the entire story comes pouring out, a waterfall of rapid-fire words that Anko suspects Naruto has been bursting to say since he first arrived.

 

“Look, I already know Maru-ji’s done something to make you hate him; he’s never lied to me about that.  Back when I was four, after I first met him, I went back after you set me up with an apartment.  It took me a month, a whole damn month of knocking on the door every single day to finally get him to talk to me again, and even after that, he kept saying stupid things like ‘listen to the Hokage’ and ‘you should stay away from me’ and ‘you should go back to your own apartment’ and ‘I deserve to be alone’.  He was trying to chase me away, but I said no, and I stuck by it because he’s just like I was.  He didn’t have anyone either; this entire stupid, self-righteous, judgemental shit of a village looks at him like they think he’s scum, and yet he still stays!  For you!  For Konoha!  For his two asshole teammates who are who-the-hell-knows-where!  And I mean I thought this village was supposed to be big on teamwork, no leaving a man behind, support each other through thick and thin, blah blah blah, but what the heck do I know, right?!  ’Cause Maru-ji sure didn't have anyone!  But he does now!  He has me, and he has Anko-nee!  He has a family!  I have a family!  Anko-nee is like a sister to me!  She helps me train and study for tests and picks on me and buys me ice-cream!”

 

He pauses to suck in a huge breath before barreling on ahead, blue eyes glowing with fervent resolve.  “And Maru-ji... Maru-ji is everything.  I was four when I finally got my apartment but I didn't even know how to read and write because the orphanage workers wouldn't teach me the kanji for ‘Konoha’ if I grovelled at their feet.  But Maru-ji taught me both, you know?  Even though I struggled at first, he never lost his temper with me.  He cooks me breakfast and dinner every day when he’s not on a mission, and he makes me bentos to take to school.  He bought me all the clothes I currently own because the stores never sell me anything nice, or they don’t sell me anything at all.  I don’t have to spend a single ryou of my own on necessities because he pays for everything, even my schoolbooks and extra reading material.  Even some of my toys.  He set me up with a bank account under a fake name and told me to save up the allowance I got from you, to only spend a little of it each month on things I wanted because there’s always the possibility of me needing emergency funds in the future, and he’s been teaching me how to manage my own money so that I’ll be able to do it all by myself once I become a Genin.  He helps me with homework and taijutsu and even studies that aren’t required at the Academy like law and the importance of trade routes and the necessity for treaties between Konoha and other villages, and he’s been doing his best to hammer diplomacy into me too.  He doesn't treat me like I'm dumb, and he always expects me to work hard.  He lets me have fun, lets me do whatever I want in my spare time, but he also doesn't let me slack when it’s time to study or train.”

 

His hands fist at his sides, and he’s glaring through tear-bright eyes now.  “It’s been almost four years since I first met him, and Maru-ji has never once hurt me in any way.  You haven’t even suspected anything going on between me and Maru-ji, so he could've done anything to me during that time, and he would've gotten clean away with it.  And even if he didn’t, he’s a Sannin.  If Uchiha Itachi could murder his entire clan before getting outta the village scot-free, Maru-ji sure as heck is fully capable of escaping capture and becoming a missing-nin too!”

 

Naruto’s shoulders square even further, and he looks like he’s readying himself to fight to the death if need be.  “I haven’t broken any laws.  Maru-ji hasn't broken any laws.  And yeah, I know I'm a ‘ward of the state’, and for some reason that not even he will tell me, I can’t be adopted.  But he hasn't adopted me.  I still own an apartment.  I still have an independent source of income that comes from the ‘state’.  I just sleep over at Maru-ji’s place.  And he’s nice enough to buy me stuff.  Which means you have no right to ban me from seeing him.”  He swallows hard.  “He’s my family.  He and Anko-nee are my most important people in this entire world.  Nobody means more to me than them.  They've given me a home, and that’s more than I can say for anyone else.  Even you.”

 

His eyes darken, and in that moment, Anko can see a shadow of the man Naruto will one day become, strong and firm and utterly indomitable.

 

“And if you try to take them from me, I can’t stop you.  I'm nowhere near strong enough.”  His gaze cools to arctic degrees, and it’s the exact same look that Anko has seen Orochimaru-sensei use to stare his enemies down.  “But if you do, I won’t forget it, and I will never forgive you for it.”

 

It sounds like a threat.  Like a promise of retribution.  And from a Jinchuuriki who’s just made it perfectly clear that his regard for Konoha is only about a dozen steps up from Iwa’s regard for Konoha, that’s a terrifying thing.

 

Deafening silence suffocates the office.  Nobody moves.  Anko is fairly sure that Kakashi isn’t breathing.  And the Sandaime’s features may as well be carved out of marble.

 

“Settle down, Naruto.”

 

The room jerks back into real time, and Anko’s eyes leaps over to the far window where her master is perched, silent as a cat, golden gaze calm.

 

“Maru-ji!”  Naruto’s adult facade folds like wet paper, the abnormal pressure in the office shatters, and without wasting a second, the boy darts across the room just as Sensei steps off the ledge and onto the floor, only to be met with a tangle of limbs that tackle him from mid-jump.

 

The reaction is one hundred percent genuine, and Sensei even wraps an arm around the boy’s waist to steady both of them despite not being one for human contact of any kind.

 

“Welcome home, Sensei,” Anko calls out, but her smile feels strained.

 

Orochimaru flicks a fleeting look over at her, and even though they're not out of the fire yet, she feels herself relax anyway.

 

“Not much of a welcome home,” Naruto mumbles into Sensei’s neck.  “I'm so sorry.  That one-eyed bastard over there stalked me home like some creep and kidnapped me.”

 

Sensei doesn't spare half a glance at Kakashi, as if the Copy-nin doesn't even rank as dust mite in the Sannin’s eyes, much less a threat.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Sensei’s voice is softer than any tone Anko has ever heard him use in public.  Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Sandaime’s eyes widen.

 

“Now down you get,” The Sannin shrugs his shoulders a little.  “You're not getting any lighter.”

 

The boy slithers to the ground but stubbornly latches onto Orochimaru-sensei’s right hand instead.  Sensei sighs but allows it, and that reaction is genuine too because Anko’s seen him do it in private, but it’s also calculated for maximum effect in the face of their judge and jury.  The fact that the gesture isn’t even planned on Naruto’s part is icing on the cake.

 

Sensei is a big fan of taking out a lot of birds with one stone.

 

Seconds later, they’re all standing in front of the Hokage again, and nobody misses the way Sensei plants himself firmly in front of both Anko and Naruto.  His voice holds that glacial quality that the Sannin specifically perfected a long time ago for people on his shit list.

 

“Sarutobi-sensei,” Orochimaru-sensei inclines his head, mouth already twisting into a condescending smirk.

 

Sarutobi gazes back with dark condemning eyes.  “You've been keeping secrets from me, Orochimaru.”

 

The laugh Sensei scoffs out is humourless and harsh.  “I always keep secrets.  Don’t we all?”

 

Anko wonders if that’s a stab at the Uchiha Massacre issue.

 

“You've lured the boy in,” Sarutobi continues as if he didn't hear.

 

“He came to me of his own freewill,” Sensei assures nonchalantly.  “I had no hand in persuading him to stay.”

 

“Yes, and it seems you've taken over quite a bit of his education,” Sarutobi’s gaze narrows.  “I’ll ask directly, Orochimaru.  Why?”

 

Orochimaru tilts his head in a way that conveys nothing but his deepest disdain.  “Did you want the boy illiterate?  To pass his classes as nothing but a dead-last?  Well I suppose you did make that plenty clear when you announced what the boy was yet you didn’t bother explaining it properly, and then you went and issued a law that ensured the boy’s status as the village’s most hated pariah.”

 

Anger flares in the Hokage’s eyes, and the old man’s formidable killing intent surges, just for a split second though or else Anko would've fallen to her knees right alongside Naruto, who’s looking somewhat perplexed at Sensei’s words but doesn't interrupt.  Even Kakashi shifts his weight in discomfort.  Only Orochimaru-sensei looks wholly unbothered.

 

“Do not put words in my mouth,” Sarutobi bites out in a low, uncompromising voice.  “And do not test me.”

 

Orochimaru-sensei doesn't push it, but he also doesn't lower his gaze in submission.  He doesn't yield an inch as he stares back at his former sensei without fear.

 

Anko’s quite sure he’s beyond fear at this point, at least for himself.  Her master had no one for almost five years – arguably a lot longer than that – before Naruto entered his life, and Anko doesn't need to hear it out loud to know that she and the kid are pretty much all he cares about these days.

 

Sensei’s different now.  Anko wasn't kidding all those years ago about the Sannin looking like a walking corpse; even before the Yondaime and his wife died, or maybe even before Jiraiya and Tsunade got too wrapped up in themselves to give a shit about their third teammate spiraling down into a hole that life threw him in, something was dead inside him, and it only became even more so after the night of the Kyuubi attack.  Over the course of those subsequent five years, whenever Anko managed to catch a glimpse of her master before the idiot slipped away from her again and again, she was always so damn scared that one day, he wouldn’t come back from all those suicide missions, and it wouldn't be because he lacked the skill to complete it.

 

But he’s better now, so much better.  He’s more animated, more alive, a little more open around them, and even if it’s not always, maybe not even two-thirds of the time, he is happier.  They make him happy, she and Naruto, happier than the pursuit of power and immortality ever did, and she would literally give up everything to make sure he stays that way.

 

“Hokage-sama,” Anko cuts in, stepping up to stand beside her master.  “I’ve known Orochimaru-sensei for years.  Before and after, and he’s not like that anymore.  Anyone can see it if they just look.”  She reaches out to ruffle Naruto’s hair.  “And I live with both of them too.  I can say with complete honesty that Naruto is safe and taken care of.”  She pauses.  “I’ve always been a reliable kunoichi; my friends and comrades can attest to that.  I’ve sweated and bled for this village.  So has Sensei but you don’t trust his word.  I hope you can at least trust mine.”

 

Sarutobi doesn't; not entirely.  More than he does Sensei’s, but she’s Sensei’s apprentice (always will be even though she’s made Jounin, because there’s always more that he can still teach her), and she’s proven to be devotedly loyal to him.

 

Sarutobi stares at each of them for several long minutes.  He eyes Anko with assessing eyes, surveys Naruto with a strange mix of sorrow and frustration, and finally scrutinizes Orochimaru-sensei with an indecipherable expression.  Sensei stares back, cool as a cucumber, and giving nothing away.  He won’t give anyone he doesn't trust that much power over him.  It’s already a concession from him to allow Naruto to hold his hand, and Anko to defend him so directly, when there’s an audience watching.

 

“I will allow Naruto to continue his interactions with you,” The Hokage says at last, and Anko can already hear the ‘but’.  “On one condition – inform him.”

 

Orochimaru-sensei doesn't play dumb.  He doesn't pretend that the Sandaime wants him to tell Naruto about the Kyuubi or his parents or anything else that has to do with the kid.

 

A muscle jumps in Sensei’s jaw, the only outward sign of his apprehension.  Anko swallows the objections that rise like bile in her throat.  She won’t embarrass her master like that.  If Sensei is strong enough to get through this, then she sure as hell isn’t going to make him look weak.

 

This is a test.  A test to see how far Sensei is willing to go to keep Naruto (and no doubt, in the Hokage’s mind, that’s more a bad thing than a good thing), and how far Naruto will be willing to go for Sensei.

 

Sensei blinks once.  “Fine.”

 

Kakashi makes a noise in his corner of the office, almost inaudible, and it’s one of surprise.

 

“Naruto,” Orochimaru tips his head to look down at the kid, straight into sombre but inquisitive cerulean eyes.  “You remember I told you years ago that I’ve done terrible things, and you might recall that I once mentioned that the Yondaime Hokage prevented me from doing even worse?”

 

Naruto nods, slow and cautious.  He hasn't let go of Sensei’s hand.

 

The Snake Sannin’s next words are so brusque and straightforward, without the faintest glimmer of anything but the brutal truth, that it takes even Anko off-guard.

 

“I wanted to find a way to become immortal,” Sensei begins frankly, eyes burning into Naruto’s.  “I wanted more power.  So I started experimenting with animals and prisoners captured during the war first.  I cut them open, I tested jutsus on them and carved seals inside them just to see what would happen, and I kept them alive and suffering through every one of those experiments until their bodies couldn't take it anymore and they simply gave out.  Enemy shinobi usually died on the battlefield in those days however – there was never an endless supply of them for me to experiment on because it was too much of a hassle to capture them alive all the time – so the majority of my testing was done on animals that I went out and caught myself.  Animals can scream, did you know that?  I dissected them alive, split their cells, added extra body parts, severed their little hearts out of their chests while they were still beating, and I didn't like the way they whimpered, but only because the noise irritated me.  Eventually, I lost count of how many animals died in my lab.  I just thought it was annoying that they didn't last longer.

 

“And then, in time, animals became inadequate.  They were always going to be trial runs anyway.  Their body structures and meagre chakra networks, while similar in some ways, simply couldn't compare to an actual human’s.  So I made plans.  I made a list.  A list of children – unwanted orphans – whom I would abduct and experiment on exactly the way I did the animals and even the handful of captured shinobi that the village agreed to give me for my research.  I wanted children instead because they weren’t fully grown yet, their chakra networks and brains and organs were all still developing, and if I could keep them alive for a certain number of years, I would be able to see how age would affect the statistics.

 

“All I cared about were the results.  I didn't care that they would've been children.  I didn't care that they would've been innocent.  I didn't care that they would've screamed and begged for me to stop while I bled them dry, and I would've healed them only so that I could do it all over again.  I didn't care that it would've been wrong.  And I didn't regret it.”

 

Sensei falls silent, features detached and cruel, and he hasn't looked away from Naruto, whose head is bowed, and his eyes are shadowed by his bangs.  Anko can see the shocked tremors running through his body.  She herself wants to scream.  Or shake Sensei silly.

 

Her master’s given no excuses.  He doesn't say that his mental state was nowhere near working at full capacity.  He doesn't reveal that Anko was one of those potential lab rats so that Naruto can see that she’s obviously forgiven him for it.

 

He doesn't even bring up Danzou, and even though that man was the one sticking point that Orochimaru-sensei never breathed a word about to anyone because Danzou covered his tracks well and his retaliation would’ve been swift and terrible, Anko knows that that manipulative old bastard had a hand in pushing her master even further down that road he almost didn't return from.  After all, she can remember the handful of clandestine visits Danzou made to Orochimaru-sensei back when she was still a Genin, and her master always came out of those meetings with wilder eyes and a power-hungry fervour in his actions as he went about his experiments.

 

Orochimaru-sensei doesn't talk about any of this though, and he hasn't sugar-coated a single word; on the contrary, he’s chosen instead to use some of the most graphic descriptions possible to paint his past.  He wasn't this vivid even back when he told Anko, and she thought he was blunt back then.

 

This was his plan, Anko realizes with sudden, horrified clarity.  This was his plan all along.  Orochimaru-sensei has never once believed he would be able to keep them.  He tried, of course, it’s never been in his nature to roll over without a fight, but once the Hokage gave him an ultimatum with Sensei’s past being the deciding factor, that was it.

 

Anko’s lungs seize when Naruto’s hand lets go of Sensei’s.  It drops limply back to his side.

 

Sensei smiles like he’s dead.

 

Anko can’t move, can’t find any words (because it isn’t supposed to end like this and she doesn't know what she’ll do if Sensei reverts back to that vacant shell again) even as the Sannin steps away, already retreating into himself as he turns a thousand-yard stare onto his former teacher, evidently waiting for his dismissal.

 

“...”

 

It takes Anko a moment to realize that Naruto just said something, too quiet for anyone to make out.  Orochimaru-sensei is the only one who doesn't give any sign that he heard anything from Naruto though.  Everyone else looks at him.

 

“Did you say something, Naruto?”  Sarutobi prompts.  Even he looks blindsided by Orochimaru-sensei’s ruthless bout of honesty, like he never believed his former student would’ve deigned to tell the truth in the first place.

 

“But the Yondaime stopped you?”  Naruto repeats, a little louder this time, though he still doesn't look up.

 

Sensei doesn't answer.  Anko jumps in for him, croaking out, “Yeah.  Yeah he did.  There were- other people there – Hatake, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama, a few others too – but Yondaime-sama was the one who was... able to stop him.”

 

She doesn't know the details about that particular bit, only that Sensei held the Yondaime and his wife in high regard because of that incident.

 

“Do you regret it?”  Naruto asks next.

 

Sensei remains impassive but something flickers through his eyes.  “...I believe I told you-”

 

“No, you said you didn't regret it,” And now the kid does look up, and his eyes are blazing with something fierce and resolute.  “I'm asking if you regret it now.”

 

For a long moment, Anko thinks that her master won’t answer, that it will give too much of himself away, especially in front of both the Hokage and Kakashi, neither of whom will ever take his word at face value, and that will only double the blow to his dignity.

 

But then- “...Yes.”

 

There’s a rawness in Orochimaru’s voice that scrapes that one-worded reply to the bone, leaving something painfully vulnerable, and just because of that, Anko wants to rip out Kakashi’s spine and feed it to him, shove the Hokage’s pipe up his nose, and toss the brat off a roof for forcing such a response from her master.

 

But then the kid says, “Okay,” and he takes a step forward, slips his hand into Sensei’s again, and grins up at the motionless Sannin.  There’s knowledge there now, a dark patch of awful truth, but it’s smoothed away with an unreserved sort of acceptance, and he’s still the boy that looks up to Orochimaru of the Sannin with a blend of steadfast adoration and unconditional respect even now, even after that revelation.

 

Sensei is suddenly very, very still.

 

“You stopped,” Naruto says, crowding closer to the Sannin and giving the man’s hand a squeeze.  “That’s what counts.  I told you that once.”

 

Blue eyes that reflect the world turn to face the silent Hokage.  “Maru-ji kept his end of the deal, Hokage-sama.”  Anko wonders if the boy will ever call the Sandaime ‘Jijii’ ever again.  “Are you gonna let us go home now?  It’s almost dinnertime, and there was a new recipe I wanted to let Maru-ji and Anko-nee try.”

 

“Food poisoning, here we come,” Anko mutters, and although she’s way off the mark of the playful mockery that she was aiming for, Naruto squawks indignantly at her all the same.

 

“Dismissed,” The Hokage says at long last, his features inscrutable.

 

Kakashi takes a step forward.  “But Hokage-sama-”

 

“Hey, creepy stalker,” Naruto cuts him off, childishly petty this time as he glowers at the Copy-nin.  “Don’t come near my home again.  Don’t come near me again; I don’t wanna be abducted.  Again.  If you do any of the above, I’ll prank the crap outta you.”

 

Ooh, burn.  Kakashi looks like he’s been slapped.  By Tsunade.

 

The kid tugs on Sensei’s hand, pulling him towards the window.  “Can you use Shunshin to piggyback me home, Maru-ji?”

 

Sensei looks... dazed, for lack of a better word, but at least there’s life in him again.  He doesn't stumble but it’s a close thing as he trails after Naruto, and Anko quickly falls into step behind them, shielding them from view as much as possible, and grinning wide and relieved when she catches Sensei’s eye.

 

This brat is kind of amazing, Anko thinks as she takes in her master’s face, and the way he stares at Naruto – still just an eight-year-old child – with something like faith, the sort of faith one would have in somebody that they're starting to believe won’t ever leave them to flounder, won’t ever leave them behind.

 

It’s rather ironic that Naruto already has that exact same faith in Orochimaru-sensei.

 

And as the Sannin numbly lifts the boy onto his back where Naruto proceeds to stick to him like a koala bear, chattering all the while, Anko thinks – at last – that they're really going to be okay.