Chapter Text
It was the first time the three of them were to leave the village, gathering at the gate.
Kakashi believed they were ready for a C-rank escort mission, so they were in formation around a bridge builder, while their sensei was at the back.
Naruto reached into one of his pouches and got the builder’s attention.
“Tazuna-san. Heads up.” With both hands, the older man caught it.
“A…bottle?”
“It should help with your hangover. Warning that it won’t taste good.”
Seeing as this team was there to help him, he drank it and gagged, suddenly looking to not have a headache anymore.
“What-”
“Hangover cure. One of my dads gets horrible hangovers, when he drinks. It’s, mostly, vinegar and bitter flavors. I can show you how to make it, when we get to Wave.”
Tazuna rubbed his eyes.
“Ah…Thanks…Hey, Kid?”
“Hm?”
“What’s with your eyes?” A dark brow lifted.
“My eyes?”
“They’re very unique and I don’t think I’ve seen them on anyone else. Are you from a clan?”
Naruto shook his head.
“My eyes aren’t a clan thing. I get them from my other dad. His’re a bit more brass than mine, but it’s close. I get most of my coloring from him, while I got my other dad’s hair texture and part of his build.”
“Two dads?”
“Yeah. Medical things that I don’t really understand much, myself.”
He knew. He just didn’t have the energy nor will to tell a stranger about the surrogacy.
Tazuna turned his head to where Sasuke walked on his other side, since Sakura was at front.
“You…two look a bit alike. Are you two related?” The Uchiha shrugged.
“Distantly, but yes. Our great-grandparents were half siblings, so we fall into the same clan. The four of us fall into one clan or the other.” Sakura looked a little bashful.
“Uh…Civilian clan, for me…”
Naruto gave a gentle smile.
“A clan, nonetheless…and one that stretches back to before The Warring Period, no less. No less important.” She gave him a sisterly smile.
“Thanks, Naruto.”
At the back, Kakashi could only smile, under his mask, knowing that both Sasuke and Naruto would always be there, when she felt inadequate about her clan.
When those two nin came out of that, rogue, puddle, neither were prepared to be taken straight to their stomachs, their chain pinned to the ground, with a blade positioned at the smalls of their backs.
A low growl reached their ears, from the taller raven.
“Would you rather be paralyzed or dead?”
Sakura was still at her position, but, now, at Tazuna’s rear, while Kakashi was at his front.
The silverette peered at the nin with a cold stare.
“Well? Answer him.”
The one with two horns hissed.
“You’re just gonna let your genin make their first kills?!”
“If you so choose, yes. They need to experience it sooner or later…and who’s to say this would be their firsts?”
The one with one horn was looking for a way out, but, with their gauntlets useless, their main form of attacking was out the window.
He cried out, when a kunai went through his other hand, nailing it to the ground as well, a hand grabbing his hair and pulling his head up.
“We don’t have all day, Meizu. Make your choice.”
Being paralyzed would only be a longer death sentence and it would cut off their main source of income, since their ninja days would be over.
He heard his brother cry out, as his head was yanked back by his shorter hair.
Meizu scoffed, knowing there was no way out.
“Tch…Kill me. At least, then, it would be quick…”
His brother groaned.
“...Fine…I know when I’m a dead man, anyways…”
Two blades were heard being sheathed and Tazuna found himself turned away, as the two boys reached around the brothers’ throats. A chilled tingle shot up his back, when he heard both gasping for breath for a second, before a crack and a snap precursed two thuds.
After a couple minutes, the crackling of flame filled the area, before Sakura removed her hand from the man’s arm, allowing him to turn back to see only the other two genin.
“Where’s-”
“Dead. Cremated, just in case.” Sasuke nodded.
“We went through their persons for things that would be useful.”
“I…I see…”
Naruto sighed.
“My father’s been out of the village, recently, and brought back word of Gato’s tyranny. I know your people can barely scrape together food scraps, let alone the money for a B or A-rank.” He flicked gold eyes to the jounin.
“Sensei, we will be walking, head first, into Zabuza, should we continue. I believe the four of us can hold him off or wound him long enough to slip by, but, at the end of the day, it’s your call what we do, from here. You’re our leader and our superior.”
“How do you know Zabuza’s lurking around?”
“Those two tag along with him and where they can be found, he’s not far away.”
The silverette fell into thought, looking over his team, before sighing.
“Our combined might should be able to, as you said, deal with him, for now. Which of your summons is fastest?”
“For messages, my foxes, as they can summon themselves.”
“Summon one. We’ll be informing the Hokage of the change in mission rank.”
Tazuna watched Naruto bite into the large pad, at the base of his thumb, with his top teeth, making it bleed, profusely. His eyes widened, as the wound started sealing up, and the raven made some seals.
“Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”
A small fox with silver and black fur appeared in front of him, maybe, the size of a house cat.
Both Naruto and Kakashi crouched, the former passing some jerky to the fox, while the latter produced a small scroll.
“Thank you, Mizukitsu.”
“No problem! I’ll come back with a reply! Don’t worry about staying in one place, if you gotta move!”
The kitsune disappeared in a puff of smoke and both shinobi stood, starting on their way towards the water, motioning for Tazuna to return to the middle of their formation.
Back in Konoha, Jiraiya found Orochimaru in Naruto’s room.
“Hey…He’ll be back before we know it…”
“...I know…I just…” The taller noticed how his husband held onto a shirt from an open drawer. It was ripped up and the bottom edge was torn off.
“Oro?”
“He…keeps all his clothes…”
The raven looked up, tears burning his face.
“It’s so damaged, but he kept it…He used it to bandage his wounds…his own shirt…”
Jiraiya wrapped an arm around Orochimaru’s shoulders, knowing that their son’s first eight years of life…and even to now…had been hell on earth.
“I trust him…He’s my son…But, I…keep thinking about what if he has one of his episodes, when out of the village?” The snowette pulled the shorter’s head to his shoulder.
“If he does, Kakashi’s there and so is Sasuke. Kakashi’s got a sixth sense for when Naruto feels like shit. He should be enough to keep him together. You know they both become putty around each other.”
Brass eyes closed and the raven took a deep breath.
“I’m…alright with it…You know that, but…I never asked how you were with their relationship?”
“What do you mean?”
Orochimaru fiddled with the old shirt in his hands.
“It’s quite obvious, to me, that Naruto likes Kakashi and I got Kakashi to confess to liking Naruto…”
“Ohhh…Yes. I might be dense, but I can see how much they care for each other.” Jiraiya nodded.
“Honestly, if they’re happy, it’s fine with me. We both know he’s gay. He told us, flat, outright, knowing we’d be supportive, since…you know…”
It was open that the two of them were bi…in a gay relationship.
Orochimaru put a hand to his husband’s chest, briefly.
“Naruto inherited my insomnia…”
“I noticed. He leaves the house almost every other night.” A hand went over the side of midnight locks, before brass eyes saw something.
“What is that?”
He got up and moved some clothes that were on top of the first layer of laundry, in the hamper, where a piece of paper came into view.
“A seal?” Jiraiya joined him and lifted the page.
“It’s a recording seal.”
As soon as he added chakra to it, feeling a little bad about going through Naruto’s things, a beautiful humming came through it, a violin coming through in the background.
Both men could only listen, in silence, as the vocalizing filled the room with a powerful sorrow, yet there was a contentedness and a strange relief.
That was Naruto’s voice.
By the time it started to loop, the two had tears running down their faces, feeling the full brunt of the emotions that coursed through that recording.
Orochimaru noticed something on the back and, carefully, turned it over, in his husband’s hands, revealing a note on the back.
‘Konoha’. ‘For you both, Tou-chan. Tou-san. Remember me, while I’m out of the village.’