The same technique that had brought so much surprise today began to take shape in his free hand. A dead technique Minato had not passed down. That no one knew how to wield, blooming to life in a boys hand.
Orochimaru removed the hand that had been silencing the blond, now gripping his uninjured wrist with a burst of chakra released into his flesh, disrupting the delicate control, fraying the Rasengan from its perfect sphere into a grinding, flayed array of spinning chakra slivers that soon dispersed.
Naruto hissed, teeth clenched and fangs bared.
"There are only two people that have ever known that technique. Both were dead before you could form a coherent thought." He tightened his grip, feeling the bones grinding together beneath his grip. "Who taught you?"
He laughed, a hissing, pained thing through clenched teeth. "White hair, dressed like a Kabuki. Peeped on-"
He tightened the grip and felt something else snap.
The boy groaned.
More and more it was becoming obvious that this simply wasn't normal. No child no matter how well trained could have a pain tolerance this high.
"Jiraiya is dead." He hissed.
Naruto giggled. "I know! Hahaha! I know everyone who's dead now!"
The giggle persisted, morphing into a hysterical mockery as the boy in his grip twitched eyes turning glassy with pain even as he laughed.
Orochimaru bared his fangs. "Who taught you the Rasengan!"
"I even know you." He answered instead. "Hehehehe. I know you." The gennin squinted. "Oh but I think you got away..." His smile vanished, turning serious. "...you got away."
The laughter returned.
"That's just...so pathetic!"
He let go, pulling back before tossing a sleeping illusion over him, watching as the boys eyes drifted shut and the laughter finally died down with him succumbing to slumber leaving a thoroughly confused Sannin behind.
-0-
Its later on at night, when he's contemplating whether or not he should indulge in a strong drink like some common imbecile that he finds himself wondering just what it is he can do now that he's drawn a conclusion as to what is wrong with the boy.
He's insane.
Or at least he *should*be insane. Fact of the matter is no one just pulls off a dead technique or an even more perfected, powerful variant of it on lunacy alone. The boy's behavior indicates some kind of...delusion, dementia, schizophrenia or dissociation or...something
But...he knew those techniques.
He pulled them off easily.
He ran his tests on the boy, what few he could, re-examined the seal trying to find something that could explain this.
But nothing, just like before, could be found.
There was nothing out of the ordinary.
Except of course the six year old that had just displayed a technique that could level a city.
Him knowing more than he should was why he'd nominated him for early academy enrollment in the first place. But those things had been skewed, wrong teachings that his body simply couldn't handle and he'd shown little more, until now, to indicate that there had been more that he'd been taught.
Especially notmore that could be used so effectively.
Clearly, these false memories that had been implanted into him were something far more significant than some infiltrators attempt to cover up his escape after extracting the Kyuubi from him.
They were also turning the boy insane, if not adding jutsu to his repertoir..
The very least he had to do was speak to Sarutobi about this. This situation was very much unprecedented and one of the most tight lipped secret Konoha had at the moment was that they had no secret weapon. The more people involved in Naruto's life or mental health were more people that could let slip the secret.
Well...at least now they wouldn't have to worry about Iwa for the foreseeable future.
Still...in regards to his sometimes hostile student, he was truly at a loss. Not just because, of the strangeness of the situation, but most especially because he didn't really comprehend the root of the cause.
One doesn't exactly take a course on how a lifetime of false memories can skew the psyche of a developing child.
The doors open admitting Koutou into the residences' common area Orochimaru looked and nodded over his shoulder.
The man took in a loud, deep breath through his nostrils. "I was very impressed today." He said marching over to one of the more comfortable seats, the one the Sannin himself had been eying before the Daimyo decided to plant himself on it.
The serpent breathed. "They did very well for their skill level." He marched back sitting down on a different seat as well before his fingers came up to massage his right temple, trying to rub away the headache that had been pounding away for hours now.
"They did well." The ruler of Hi no Kuni agreed before leaning forward smiling."But...truthfully there was someone else that impressed me more."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "Oh?"
Koutou nodded. "There was someone there you see. Someone who looked out on that field with little more than bored disdain. Even when his life hung by a team of children to fight for three more minutes against an elite."
The man smirked. "Could you imagine my surprise at that? Someone that could stare near certain death in the face in such a calm way? Someone that could hide so much...well...that's someone to be impressed with don't you think? Who knows how dangerous that man could be."
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