CHAPTER 24: Under the Moon's Glare

"Meet me in two weeks, in the town named Mukage."

That's what Orochimaru had said.

During the first week on his own, his money troubles being nothing more than a memory now, Naruto realized how much he had overestimated his ability to progress on his own.

The more he practiced, the more he felt he was running in circles… inside a square room.

There was only so much you could learn by practicing the same drills over and over again. Jutsu creation was still beyond him, but maybe the Snake Sage could help him there.

The only thing he felt he was making some real progress in was Fūinjutsu, courtesy of Uzumaki Suijin's scroll. And even then, some of it was simply too advanced for him as of yet.

He still wasn't sure what the man had been rambling about when his research went into some sort of flesh carving and sealing thing.

All of these reasons made him leave for Mukage earlier than needed, with three days to spare.

It was very different from Haraji.

Where one had been a crowded — overcrowded, even — city… The other was a quiet little town.

In a word, it was unremarkable.

There were several people he had seen around town that he was sure had been shinobi in the past. The way they carried themselves, reacted sharply to noise said as much.

Still, for some reason, he felt safe here.

Orochimaru met him in another tea shop — he really must love tea, Naruto thought — at noon.

He was wearing a dark yukata, and tomoe earrings. Despite looking entirely casual, Naruto was almost certain he had enough weapons on him to make any ninja pale.

…Not that the man seemed to need weapons.

The people seemed to know him, judging from their cheerful smiles when they saw him. Orochimaru simply nodded politely in return.

"Naruto-kun."

"Orochimaru… Sensei?" He tried out.

The man laughed. "That will do. Come with me."

They left the tea shop, and Orochimaru led him to the forest.

It was strange, the way there seemed to be no way to orient yourself in there. The trees all looked the same, and sun was hard to pinpoint in the sky-

Orochimaru pulsed his chakra.

The illusion dissipated.

Where there had only been a forest now stood a door leading underground.

"After you." Orochimaru said.

"Is this an underground bunker…?"

The man snorted. "Of course not, but we need to pass through this underground passage to reach it. Who would want to live underground? I am the Snake Sage, not the Rat one."

"…Who indeed."

A woman greeted them as she passed them.

"Naruto-kun, meet Mitarashi Anko, my first apprentice. You will be her junior, in a way."

Naruto hesitated. What name was he supposed to give? Orochimaru noticed his hesitation.

"I trust every single person here. You should do the same."

Well, then. "I am Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you." He bowed.

Anko grinned. "What a polite boy! Are you the Namikaze, then?"

"… I am also the Namikaze, yes."

Orochimaru gave him a questioning look.

"Uzumaki seemed to fit better, somehow."

"Suit yourself."

Naruto was given a small tour of Orochimaru's base of operations.

True to his word, it was an above ground structure, mostly built out of fireproof wood.

There was one flat, circular main level, with no real ceiling. The sun shone brightly, illuminating the whole place.

On the outside perimeter of the main level, wooden stairs climbed up the rocks and trees the base was built in the middle of. Wooden balconies overlooking the main level, too.

The central area was a hub, with a notice board full of stickied papers. People were walking around, pretty casually.

Somebody was roasting meat over a fire, and Naruto heard a smith work on a weapon somewhere.

All in all, it was way more cozy than he had expected from the man.

"Don't be fooled by appearances." Orochimaru said, leading him to the second floor, where small wooden buildings stood, separate from each other. "There are enough seals and protections over this place to keep unwanted guests out. It might look open… vulnerable even, but it is far from it."

Orochimaru gestured to one of the empty wooden buildings.

"These shall be your new living quarters. Do what you want with them, as long as you don't disturb the other residents. This is the way we operate here."

Naruto nodded, grateful.

"Now, I shall retrieve your mentor from where I had her stationed. She and I will start your training when I come back here."

"Very well. Thank you, Orochimaru-sensei."

The man left.

Naruto opened the door to the room. There was no key.

He had the feeling Orochimaru was either encouraging him to learn how to insure his room was private on his own… or did simply not care about his privacy.

The room was pretty bare, with a bed, a table and a chest as its only furniture. He would do something about it, if he was going to stay here for a while. It was much larger than he had thought though, bigger on the inside than it was from the outside. He wondered how it had been done.

It was a bit early, but he had woken up early this morning, afraid to miss the Snake Sage.

He laid down on his bed and fell asleep soon enough.

He is the grandson of the first son.

Asuka doesn't know of this before he is grown.

His father doesn't talk much about his own father, only referring to him as "that Traitor".

It's no wonder, either. His grandfather left a bloody legacy in his wake.

People don't get too close to them.

'We are only a means to an end for them.'

This is what Asuka knows the people think.

Sometimes, looking at his own father's eyes, smoldering with an emotion he is not sure he wants to recognize, he thinks they might be right.

But he never turns on his family, his sons.

On the battlefield, his father is like a raging fire. The greatest warrior of his time, some call him.

To his frustration, he is compared to the Traitor. Often.

In Asuka, the envy, the jealousy grows. He has not inherited his father's talent.

He covets it.

His father is like the flame…

That day, Asuka was like lightning.

And just like lightning, he strikes when his father suspects it the least.

When he turns to him, his precious eyes wide with betrayal, not even his strong chakra can save him.

Asuka feels his eyes bleed before he takes his father's as his own.

He becomes much worse than anybody had feared.

Soon enough, his sons take a name of their own, wanting to put distance between them and their monstrous father.

They call themselves the Uchiha.

The fan that feeds the flames.

"I almost forgot about these." Naruto grumbled when he woke up. It was the middle of the night. Again.

Once he was sure he could trust Orochimaru, he would ask him about it.

…This might take a while, though.

The man had a peculiar way of doing things. A sort of casual detachment from most things, until it affected him directly. Naruto didn't quite know what to think of it.

Where did that man draw the line? Killing was obviously nothing to someone who had been a shinobi for decades.

Naruto splashed some cold water on his face. He went out of his quarters.

There was a large campfire in the central area. There were some people talking on the balconies, but he didn't care about them.

Sitting next to the fire, there was a shade of hair he would recognize anywhere.

His breath caught.

'Could it be…?'

He went down.

His hunch had been right. Same red eyes, same red hair… same glasses.

She was grown now, though, closer to an adult than a child.

"I had a feeling it was you." Karin said quietly.

"Karin…?"

She nodded, hesitant. "Your chakra is different, but it's you…"

"I can't believe it."

"Me neither. I was told you were dead, years ago." She rubbed her eyes. "And then I felt your chakra, today. I couldn't sleep."

"Karin, I'm so sorry."

"I get the impression it's not your fault." She looked him up and down. "You look exactly the same as the last time we met. Well, besides the hair…" She looked closer. "The eyes. Even the face, too. Not so close, then. What happened?"

"A space-time technique went wrong. Very wrong."

"Ino said you had gotten captured."

"That's when it happened, yes. Let me tell you."

He skipped over the reason they had gotten him, just mentioning a powerful chakra, unique to him.

"So they're Akatsuki, then. Orochimaru-sama has been looking for information about them."

"So he told me." Naruto said.

They lapsed into comfortable silence.

The fire roared.

"Everyone's asleep. This place looks so peaceful like this."

"Yeah. Even though the rest of the world seems ready to eat itself."

It always seemed like war, or another threat, was looming in the background.

Karin nodded. "I agree. But even if one Nation won over the others… The problems still wouldn't go away."

"I doubt it, too."

"I'm Uzumaki. That's what Orochimaru told me."

Naruto looked at her in surprise. "You… are?"

'Seems like everybody is Uzumaki, now. I might as well ask Sakura, at this point.'

He didn't voice this out.

She nodded.

"He offered to take me out of Kusa. I still don't know what he said to the higher-ups, but when he was done, they let me go without saying anything."

"…"

"To this day, I still don't know if it's because I was Uzumaki… or just because my mother was a foreigner… But I always stood out."

Her hand gripped the railing.

"The people of Kusa treated me like a tool." She laughed wryly when she saw Naruto's face. "No, more than the usual shinobi. Even for an Uzumaki, I have a strong life-force. By consuming my chakra, I can heal others… or myself."

She showed him her arm, which was covered in bite marks.

"Karin…"

"I think people despise what they can't understand. This is likely why Bloodlines were as revered as they were feared. And why so many Jinchūriki end up the way they are. Who could blame them for wanting revenge?"

Naruto nodded.

"I used to resent my abilities."

"I can understand."

"Now, I think that everything a person has might be important in some way."

Naruto smiled. "And your abilities are part of what makes you you."

"Yeah. I have them because they're needed. We're all needed. It's the same for everything else. My power. Yours. Everything we inherited from our parents."

"…I think you're right, Karin."

Karin smiled at him. She was beautiful. "Now I know that it's okay… Just to be alive, 'yaknow?"

It felt like a great weight was lifted from his shoulders.

He had been blaming his father for burdening him with the Nine-Tails.

He had been blaming Sarutobi for hiding so much from him.

He still was.

But it didn't change who he was.

Sarutobi, Namikaze, Uzumaki. That didn't matter.

The dreams didn't matter.

He was himself, and that should be enough.

She had opened up to him. Somehow, he felt he could do the same. There was also the fact that he had known her before, but they were basically strangers again, now.

"There's something wrong with me, Karin."

"What do you mean?"

"There were times… I heard a voice. I know it comes from within me. And there are the nightmares, too. They're not just dreams."

"…What do you think this is about? A bloodline thing? What are they about?"

"I don't think so. Or at least, it's not related to either of my parents. They seem to be centered around the Uchiha, and their ancestors. They usually end up… in a terrible way. I think they're about people that may or may not have existed… and turned bad."

Karin seemed deep in thought.

"Chakra can leave strange imprints. This might be something like that. I will look into it, Naruto."

"You really don't have to."

She smiled. "Sure, but I want to."

He decided to tell her everything.

"Karin… Can you feel the second source of chakra inside me?"

She nodded. "Yes. It doesn't feel like your own. There's something…"

She paused. "It's not human, is it..? It's too big, too… different."

He nodded. "Thirtee- No, sixteen years ago, my father sealed something inside me."

He told her about the Sealing, about growing up in a lie.

He told her about the Nine-Tails, and why Akatsuki had captured him in the first place. About his father.

Karin rubbed her glasses.

"…That's quite a lot."

He nodded.

"And you're Uzumaki as well, then?" Karin asked.

"From my mother's side, yes."

She laughed. "No wonder your head is so thick."

"I could say the same about you. Remember when you beat that guy to a bloody pulp?"

She blushed. "…You remember that?"

"For me, it was a few months ago."

"Yeah. True."

They spent most of the night talking, reminiscing.

Karin asked. "So… What are you doing with Orochimaru-sama, exactly?"

"He promised to train me."

She looked surprised. "He… actually did?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think he took a student since Anko."

"Is she any good?" He asked.

"She's the second strongest ninja here. You must have offered him something of value, didn't you…?"

He shrugged. "Some scrolls that I found and my help with his experiments for… longevity?"

"Immortality."

"Yes, that."

"Well… This is a very rare privilege. Make the most of it. Orochimaru-sama is probably the most knowledgeable man in a few different fields."

Oh. So he was that good. Maybe this was going to be worth his time, then. And worth dealing with the man.

Karin stood up. "This was very nice. I would suggest you eat something light, we'll get started soon."

"Huh?"

She looked at him curiously.

He got it. "Wait… You're my chakra sensing mentor?"

Karin laughed. "Of course. That's why Orochimaru-sama brought me back."

She looked at the sun. "Training starts in two hours. Hope you got some rest."

He groaned.

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