Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

I'll figure out what caused her sudden flip in emotions later, right now I've got more important things to do. "You've got to realize that we both were dealt the same hand. Our superiors told us to go play nice with someone we don't know and on top of that there's a huge age gap between us. You're what, late twenties? I'm barely a teenager. Then we're told to leave a good impression, me to try and strengthen ties to Kumo and you to try and get in my good graces should I inherit Oto. So here's what I propose, as a sort of fuck you to our respective superiors for forcing us into this situation we take a few days to complete our assignments. We're in Hot Springs, let's kick back and relax while we do what we're here for."

"Well…" Yugito ponders in thought for a moment. "I did get screwed into doing this. I'm game, might as well make the best of a bad situation."

"Sweet." I lace my fingers together and place my hands behind my head. "So know any good hotels arou-"

"How dare you!" Sakon's shouting draws both my attention and Yugito's away from our conversation. It looks like the Sound Three and the Kumo shinobi are getting ready to fight. They're all acting hostile and are holding kunai or… a knitting needle?

"Just saying the truth." The brute looks down his nose at Sakon with an arrogant air about him. "Orochimaru isn't what he used to be. He's dy-"

"You will hold your tongue or I will rip it from your mouth!" Jirobo steps to be in front of the brute, ready to find out who is the strongest. "You know nothing of Orochimaru-sama!"

"Well I know that the Third Hokage did something to him." The knitter twirls the needle around her fingers, displaying a surprising amount of control for such an unusual weapon. "Something that he can't stop. Something lethal."

"We will not stand by as you insult Orochimaru-sama!" Kidomaru roars. If one looks very closely his skin has taken on a slight golden tint, he's already excreting that weird substance that I never bothered to learn the name of. "Take. It. Back."

"Make me." The knitter idly tosses the needle in the air and catches it. Then she sneers at Kidomaru. "Or are you cowards?"

"That is it!" Sakon shouts as he readies himself to attack. His curse seal starts to expand, taking over all of his skin. It's not just him either, both Kidomaru and Jirobo are letting their curse seals spread. "You will -"

"SOUND THREE!" My voice completely drowns out all other noise as it resonates through the clearing. It carries the will of a person who demands to be heard and have his words followed to the letter. It demands respect and obedience.

It gets it. Every single person here is now fully focused on me.

"You're embarrassing us." I stomp over to them as I let my anger bleed out of me in the form of killing intent. Sweat forms on each of their brows, suddenly attacking the Kumo shinobi is the furthest thing from their mind. "We are a delegation sent by Orochimaru-sama to represent him. We are acting in his stead. This is how you choose to conduct yourselves?"

"B-but they -" Sakon stutters out but I don't let him finish.

"It doesn't matter what they did!" I don't stop my furious stomping until I'm right in his face. "They're riling you up on purpose you insufferable simpleton! They want to see how you would react! It was a test! You failed it. Horrendously."

"They insulted Orochimaru-sama!" Jirobo attempts to plead their case. "We can't let that slide!"

"You can and you will." I snarl at them all. My fierce tone brokers no argument. I'm daring them to continue this farce. "Or you will face my judgement. This is your one chance to avoid punishment. Apologize to the Kumo shinobi for your actions and I will forgive your transgressions. You will not get another opportunity."

"I can't forgive them!" Kidomaru blurts out even though he's trembling in his boots. They're all scared, no not scared. Scared isn't strong enough, they're terrified of me. "They insulted our Kag-"

"They insulted my father!" I roar at the top of my lungs and the clearing goes deadly silent once more. Not even the sounds of nature dare to break it. "Do you see me vying for their blood? Do you see me attempting to rip them to shreds? Do you see Orochimaru's son trying to rip out their hearts? No. You don't. Do you know why?"

None of them respond. They are rooted to the spot, like their instincts are telling them that even the slightest movement will provoke the beast before them.

"Because he wouldn't want me to." My voice is low and gravelly. It's almost more terrifying than when I was yelling, those were the actions of a wild man. These actions, the softly spoken words, are the actions of a controlled man. A man who will meticulously plan out revenge and relish in dark joy as he gets his vengance. "Sound Three. You have disappointed me and I will not allow you to ruin this."

"Al-Alvarcus-sama p-please for-"

"You all will go into town and check into a hotel room." I evenly say to them and they flinch at the coldness of my tone. "You will remain there until I say otherwise. You will not harm anyone while here, including the Kumo shinobi. Am I clear?"

"Ye-"

"MOVE!" I roar and the Sound Three flee from me to follow my instructions. Once they're out of sight I take a deep breath. I hold it for a fleeting moment then let it all rush out. If only getting rid of my stress was that easy.

I casually turn on my heel to face the other four people in the clearing. The young teen is absolutely terrified of me, his knees won't stop shaking and he's sweating buckets. The brute of a man is showing a look of respect, he has acknowledged me as someone not to cross lightly. The knitter went back to knitting, I think she has OCD or something. Yugito - the only one whose opinion and reaction really matters - has her arms crossed and a look of approval.

I just earned respect for telling off my underlings and seeing through their ploy to manipulate them. Wait. Hold on a moment. That doesn't make sense. It's not a respect and approval of someone who has earned it, it's for someone who has passed a test.

"You cheeky douche waffles!" I accusingly point a finger at them with a playful smile on my face and an air of friendliness. It's not them I'm mad at. "This wasn't a test for them it was a test for me! You didn't care how they reacted you wanted to see how I'd react to them reacting!"

Okay so I just lied, I am a little mad at them. I don't like being manipulated.

"Haruku you owe me five spools of yarn." The knitter says without looking up from her work. "Told you he'd see through it. I expected no less from that man's son."

"HAHA! I'll gladly pay up that was great to watch!" Haruku, the brute of a man, let's out a deep belly laugh. "Kid you got style! I like it!"

"I-I'm just glad that's over." The nervous wreck forces a contribution to the conversation.

"Though it was mildly interesting to watch." Yugito chimes in.

"Right. Please don't let the next five seconds stain our future relationship." I clear my throat. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. And fuck me for falling for it! Okay, there. Got it all out of my system."

"Well wasn't that vulgar?" The knitter blandly says to me.

"Knits, that was nothing." I assure her.

"Knits?" She finally looks up from her knitting in confusion then a moment of clarity his her harder than a semi truck. "Oh. I get it. Because I'm always knitting. How original."

"Honestly I'm a little disappointed I didn't have anything better but then again we just met. I'll have to ease you into my madness." I turn away from them all towards the town. "I'm getting a hotel. A very expensive hotel that Oto will be paying for. We can meet up later for chatting and whatnot once we get settled in Yugito. This is going to take three days at least, I'm thinking four."

"How am I supposed to find you if I don't know what hotel and which room you have?" Yugito calls after me as I'm walking away.

"Listen for the screams." I shout back to her over my shoulder. "Wait that won't work. You won't be able to hear the screams, I brought sound dampening seals. Don't worry about it, I'll find you. You smell like burnt cat, it'll be easy. Oh god why do I know what that smells like?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did he just do like four major personality jumps in five minutes? First it was laidback leader, then blunt cocky arrogant prick, outright terrifying and cold dictator, then whatever the hell that last one was. I think I see why his bingo book page says 'possibly insane.'" Yugito speaks to her teammates. "And I do not smell like burnt cat!"

Present, Orochimaru's Office

"You… you truly said that?" Orochimaru asks me in genuine surprise.

"Yeah." I offhandedly confirm. "I don't know when I've ever been around a burnt cat before. I mean I've accidentally roasted a rabbit or two with seal malfunctions but never a cat. Maybe burnt cat and burnt rabbit smell similar? Oh no! Did I torch Tora but then violently suppress the memory and it's only now surfacing?! But I like Tora, why would I do that?"

"Tora? Who is Tora?" Orochimaru is confused by my distracted musings. "No, I must not get distracted. I didn't mean the burnt cat, I meant something else."

"Oh? What was it?" I pull myself away from ransacking my memory bank for a burnt cat. "Perhaps I can clarify?"

"Father." Orochimaru breathily whispers out. "You called me father."

"Hm." Did that slip out? Please say that wasn't a Freudian slip cuz that would make things… awkward. "I suppose I did. Sorry if that bothers you, it was in the heat of the moment and I really wanted to drive my point home to those morons. Who are now dead. So that ended up being a waste of my time."

"No no! It didn't bother me!" Orochimaru blurts out then quickly reins himself in. "I mean it's fine. I call you my child, it's only natural that you call me father."

"Don't expect it to stick around." I'm stopping this now, damn his reaction. I won't call him father. Again. "It's just… to me you've always been Orochimaru. It's who you are, but calling you father feels like I'm assigning you a title. Like me calling you the Snake Sannin or you calling me the Heart Thief. It just doesn't feel right. It's not who you are, it's a part of who you are. You're so much more than just that."

"I suppose that does make sense." Orochimaru says after a scary pause. "It does seem rather… limiting considering everything I've done. Doubly so since we are a very unique case, we're far from the normal."

"You're damn right about that." I snort out. I'm so glad he agreed and didn't insist on me referring to him as that. I don't think I could take it. Where the hell did it come from in the first place? "So back to the story?"

"Yes, back to the story. What happens next?"

"A dinner date." I bluntly tell him.

"Excuse me?" Orochimaru is startled, he would never expect that. "Not torturing the Sound Three?"

"Oh believe me they got what was coming to them, just not from me. I summoned Arachne in their hotel room and told her to have fun." I smile fondly on the screams of terror. "Left them together for a few hours. There was one hell of a mess to clean up after she was done. I felt bad for the custodians so I made them clean it incase you were wondering."

"I wasn't." Orochimaru sighs as we both slip back into our normal atmosphere. "Now you mentioned a… dinner date? Should I be worried?"

"The dinner date was mostly professional, we handled business and once it was all taken care of we simply enjoyed the other's company. Okay so that might have been stretching the truth a bit, I know I had a good time."

"I can't help but feel worried." Orochimaru admits with a tinge of concern.

"Then you're in for one hell of a ride, it only gets weirder from here."

"Just tell me about the dinner date. I'll deal with the rest as it comes."

Flashback, First Night at the Resort

"So..." I semi awkwardly try to open up conversation with Yugito.

She has traded her outfit out for something a little more classy and that doesn't scream I am a shinobi. She's dressed up in a… well for lack of a better term a little black dress. That's not the only thing that has set me on edge though, when I finally tracked her down after siccing Arachne on the Sound Three and listening to their screams she demanded that I go back and change into something nicer.

So here I am, wearing black dress pants, a high collared white button up dress shirt, my sunglasses and scarf. But did she stop there? No, apparently she is set on making this trip hell for me because she then proceeded to drag me to the best - and most expensive - restaurant in town.

"Yugito, darling, I hate to break it to you but you're way too old for me. Did you not hear me earlier when I said I was barely a teenager? By that I meant thirteen." I glance at the fancy sign for the restaurant then return my gaze back to her. "Never pegged you as a cougar. Hell this is pushing craddle robbing territory."

"Stuff it." Yugito doesn't get riled up at my jab at her sexual preferences, either she's extremely confident and self assured or has been forewarned of my tendencies by someone else. "We're here to talk business then once that's done I'm going out to a bar, hence the outfit. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to find someone in Kumo? Even just a one night stand? Very difficult, no one wants to date a jinchuuriki because no one wants to piss me off. I'm taking your advice, as a fuck you to the Raikage I'm going to have as much fun as possible."

"Ah, so you're in heat then." I state in a matter of fact tone. "Interesting, I've only really sat down and talked with one other jinchuuriki. He only displayed one animalistic trait, whiskers if you're curious. I wonder if he has more or if you're a unique case?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response." Yugito doesn't even twitch at my words, she merely shrugs them off and walks inside the restaurant.

"You're no fun." I pout as I follow her inside.

"How's life in Oto?" Yugito asks me over our meal. We went it, got seated instantly and ordered. Then we sat in relatively awkward silence until our food arrived. Well the silence was awkward for her, I was just waiting for her to speak while amusing myself by watching the other people in the restaurant.

"Depends who you ask. For some it's an easy life, no life in Oto is never easy. A good life, a certain type of individual can prosper in Oto. For others it is hell personified." I casually say as I cut up my steak with the efficiency only a shinobi can manage. "It's surprisingly easy and usually civilized for me. Perks of being the boss' 'child' I suppose. Though there always are a few idiots who want to do something to test me."

"And what happens to them?" Yugito asks as she's idly spinning the water in her glass. "Those who want to test you?"

"It varies." I shrug as I take a bite of my steak. "Totally not worth how much it costs. Good thing I'm not paying. Anyways, like I said it varies. The two extremes are a stern talking to or hours upon hours of torture as I do everything in my power to cause as much pain as possible while keeping you alive until Death takes pity on your soul and takes my plaything away. Then I jolt your heart with electricity to restart it so I can get another hour or two of fun. I wonder if the mashed potatoes are any better than the steak?"

"Uh… what?" Yugito uncertainly asks in great confusion.

"The potatoes." I point at the mashed white lump on my plate. "I wonder how good they are. I bet they'd be better with shredded cheese on top. OH! Melted shredded cheese!"

"Not the damn potatoes." Yugito let's a tinge of anger surface at my obliviousness. "You torture people?"

"Oh that? Why didn't you say so sooner? I've been known to use torture on various occasions. It's a very rare thing, I don't go around torturing people because I'm bored. I'm not a monster, thank you very much! People must earn punishment from me, one fitting their actions. Usually I go to great lengths to find something specific to each person and subject them to that form of punishment instead. For instance there's this one person at Oto who I've forced into a suit on multiple occasions because I know he hates it. Things like that."

"What did the person do, the one that you tortured for hours on end?" Yugito has forgotten about her meal, she's fully engrossed into our conversation.