Demon fox

Snake

Author Note (AN): I don't know what the proper age for enrollment in ninja academy is. Kakashi graduated at six and became a chunun before seven while Naruto and Konoha nine graduated at 12, this is a blurry subject so for convenience I will make five the minimum acceptance age. .....

..........

The white curtains danced with the wind and Naruto watched the green mark on his forehead, dimly visible on his reflection behind the glass of the window. It was a swasthika  with two hooks on either side of it. The Cursed mark of the Caged Bird.

He had it when he woke up, a vague familiarity to it in his mind. He somehow knew what it was, a cursed mark, a brand, something about it was inportant, really important. He just had this feeling.

He had woken up, looked at it and out of some far corner of his mind, he had heard it's name. He remembered it's name as if he had always known, just forgotten, memory waiting to be called upon, vague but there.

He sighed as he closed his eyes and tried to remember, remember what he had forgotten. A face, pale face, with pale eyes, crying as he looked at him, something red stared at him in that memory, a memory he never had.

The man whispered something to him,  who was the man, he was so similar to that other woman, pale eyes, white hair, a gkating red eye on her forehead.

Outside the window he could see the village spill out like a glass of water poured on a table. Naruto had seen this village day after day, everyday but he found himself nostalgic, missing this village when he hadn't even left it. Something was within it, important, precious, he knew. Something he hadn't noticed before.

"You are focusing too hard for a five year old." He heard a voice, soft but slimy, it stuck to him, his goosebumps standing, shivers ran along his body as he pushed himself to lean back. Snakes.. he smelled snakes.

Five year old? Age is just a number.
Naruto was shocked at his own thoughts, his eyebrows came together. Were they even his?

He turned to face the intruder, leaning against the wall.
"Hello doctor." Naruto looked to his side to yet another awfully pale face. He cringed, somehow he knew this doctor was bad news.

He shook his head, some thing had happened to him. He could feel fear in him, the five year old in him screaming as he saw those eyes, devious, frightening and powerful but something held him in place too. From that deep dark within him came a feeling that told him to calm down. He could do it.

You don't know it yet but you have already done it.

"Hello, Naruto kun." The man smiled. "I am Orochimaru."

"I know." Naruto pushed the fear down.

"You do?" The doctor chuckled. "Mmy reputation preceded me." He reached out with his pale hands and Naruto flinched.

He is bad news.. he felt it.

"They painted on you like a canvas, didn't they?" He hummed as his hands pushed his hair too the side revealing his cursed mark.

Naruto grimaced at his words. They did.

"Do you need something?" Naruto asked, shivers shaking his frame as he found the courage to do so.

"Of course." The doctor took his hand and turned it over to reveal that white mark with black outlines. "I just wanted to check it up before you were discharged." The dictor said.