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Chapter Two

The Hokage, the leader and strongest of the Konoha shinobi was not what I expected.

For example, what kind of ninja takes up smoking a pipe? I mean, the smell of that smoke would linger around you like a miasma. How the hell do you sneak up on someone when you stink? Of course, his ‘sneaking around’ days are probably over, unless he’s sneaking up on a bottle of ‘special medicine’. I mean, I thought the Old Man was old, but the Hokage made him look pretty damn good.

Of course, I found out later that he’d actually retired — he was really the Third Hokage, and had stepped down to let the Fourth take over… until a certain nine-tailed public menace decided to pay a little visit. So I cut him a little slack.

But when we first met, I was wondering if we’d come to the right place. Then I remembered how easily that trio of mimes had captured us… and they called this old codger boss, too. Maybe there was more to him, and Konoha, than was readily apparent. Asuka seemed to trust him as well. She slumped tiredly in her chair the minute he’d asked us to sit down.

On the other hand, it wasn’t looking too promising at the moment, because he was frowning. "So you came to Konoha because of Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Who?" I asked. Then my brain turned back on. "Oh, you mean the one who holds the Kyuubi."

"Yes. I find it… interesting that he is so well known in Iwakagure," he replied in a dubious tone.

"I don’t think they necessarily know who it is," I assured him. "Or at least the Old- my sensei was not privy to that information."

"I see," he murmured thoughtfully. "I understand your reasons for coming here," he said after a moment, "but what you ask is not a small thing. On the other hand, if Konoha were to turn you away, we risk you being found by our enemies and used against us at a later date."

I supposed he wanted us to think he hadn’t considered the third option — cutting our throats. But I kept my silence.

"However," he continued after a moment, "harboring you does bring additional danger to Konoha."

I snapped my head upward like I’d been struck. I looked at Asuka for a moment then turned to glare at him. Fortunately, she’d started dozing as I told my tale, and I don’t think she heard his words.

But the Hokage merely held up his hand as I started to retort. "No, I imagine she will be able to control herself, particularly with you to help her. She would not have survived in the Tsuchikage’s household if it were otherwise," the Hokage said slowly as my blood cooled. Had he phrased that in such a way as to gauge my reaction? Canny old bastard if he was, and as bad as another old man I’d known.

"What sort of hazard do you envision, Hokage-sama?" I asked respectfully. I wouldn’t let him bait me into saying something rude that I could justly be punished for.

"There are… groups… who would wish to make use of children such as you," he said in somber tone. "They are very dangerous, and your presence here may draw their attention even faster than a single one. For your own protection, and to aid Konoha, would the two of you be willing to complete your ninja training? As members of The Leaf you would be bound to protect Konoha, even as it helps protect you."

I struggled to keep my composure. If he would let us stay, my second request was to do just that. It was odd that he was making it a requirement. It implied that whoever he was referring to must be pretty formidable. I wrote that on "things to worry about later", a scroll that was nearing infinite length in my mind.

Of course, I didn’t discount the possibility that he just wanted to use us against Konoha’s enemies. But that was likely to happen no matter where we went, and at least he was being up front about it. As official members of The Leaf, we’d also have the same rights and privileges as regular citizens of Konoha — which seemed to be a step up for both of us.

I glanced over at Asuka, who awoke with a start when her chin touched her chest. "As long as we are not separated," I said. "I made a promise, you understand…" I felt ridiculous saying such a thing, but the Hokage didn’t laugh. Asuka gave me a small smile and suddenly I didn’t care because I knew I’d done the right thing.

"I don’t think that will be a problem," the Hokage agreed. "If you both manage to graduate from the Academy together, it might be possible to place you on the same team as well. Until you are able to go on missions to earn money, I will see to your upkeep. Where to house you poses an issue though…" his voice trailed off and he looked thoughtful.

I wasn’t about to interrupt him. He was being more than generous, so I knew there had to be a catch.

"For obvious reasons, you two should stay in a secure area," the Hokage said thoughtfully. I figured it was about even odds that he already had some place in mind, but didn’t want to let on. "I have an ANBU squad keeping an eye on one apartment building in particular, where Naruto lives. It’s an older building, but that might be the best place for you to stay. He’s out of the country right now on a mission, but he should be back soon."

"He doesn’t live with his family?" I asked.

The Hokage’s eyes went a little unfocused. "They were lost in the attack."

"Then why doesn’t he live with you?" Asuka asked, frowning. I agreed with her. You’d think the savior of the village would have some nice digs, after all.

"I should probably explain some things," the old man said in a tired voice. "The two of you should think carefully before you advertise your… conditions, or talk about Naruto. The village suffered incredible losses when the Kyuubi attacked. Many families were completely wiped out, and almost every survivor had lost friends and relatives. The Yondaime wanted Naruto to be seen as the hero of the village, but there are many who cannot put the past behind them and see him for what he is. They hate and fear him, and many called for his death as soon as it was understood what my successor had done. I created a law as soon as I returned from my retirement. The adults of Konoha are not allowed to talk of the Kyuubi or it being sealed within Naruto. I hoped he would be allowed to at least grow up with children who didn’t hate and fear him. Though silenced, the adults still shunned the boy, and their children picked up on this and did the same. Naruto has very few friends. He wants to become Hokage some day so that everyone will be forced to recognize him."

"That’s the most incredibly fucked up thing I have ever heard," I breathed, forgetting my manners in my outrage.

Asuka made a peculiar noise, something between a hiccup and a sob. Her face was reddening, so I put my hand on her shoulder.

The Hokage sighed. "Naruto learned the truth from Mizuki, an instructor at the Academy who turned traitor. Fortunately, the two of them were found by Iruka, who convinced Naruto that he didn’t blame the boy for the deaths of his parents. The traitor tried to kill Iruka, but surprisingly Naruto rose to the occasion and defeated Mizuki."

"But he still lives alone because the adults hate him. He’s only what, twelve, thirteen years old? No one would take him into their home, would they?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

The Hokage slowly shook his head. "No, and it wasn’t really safe to let him live here, not with the factions in the village who wish him harm. I carefully selected the ANBU shinobi that watch Naruto’s home; they are people I would personally trust with my life. They watch that building twenty-four hours a day, and a couple shadowed Naruto while he was attending the Academy… though he tended to lose them when he wanted to." The old man actually smiled a little at the end.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Naruto was very lonely as a child, so he would pull pranks for attention," the Hokage said, "some of which were quite elaborate."

I scowled, but Asuka looked even more upset. "I think we should be Naruto’s neighbors," she said, turning toward me.

"I suppose," I reluctantly agreed, not sure if I wanted to live next to a prankster. I was also disappointed to discover that the ‘heroic Jinchuuriki’ my teacher had built up in my mind was just as screwed as the rest of us.

Asuka frowned, blinking rapidly. "Hikaru, he’s one of us. Remember what you told me?"

I sighed. There was no way I could possibly win that argument, so I didn’t even try. "Yes, I remember," was the only thing I could say to her.

OoOoO

A couple of hours later, we were sitting in a small, furnished apartment with a small bag of money. Carefully budgeted, our stipend would purchase what we needed to enter the Konoha Ninja Academy, and leave enough for us to purchase a week’s worth of food.

Of course, compared to my prior accommodations, this place was the lap of luxury. I lay on a bed for the first time, too disconcerted by the softness to sleep. I heard Asuka sigh as she came out of the bathroom, heading toward her room.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

"I… I feel stupid," she said.

"You’re not stupid," I disagreed.

"Is it stupid to miss my stuff?" she asked. "I’m not sorry I left, not after… but I miss my toothbrush, and my comb, and my blue shoes, and my stuffed…"

"No, it’s not stupid," I said firmly. "You’re in an unfamiliar place, so you feel a little disoriented, that’s all. I even miss that cell a little bit."

"You’re making fun of me," she said petulantly.

I shook my head. "No, this bed is way too soft. It feels weird to me. You are about the only familiar thing in this place."

She smiled a little, and then sniffed. Suddenly tears began pouring down her face. "Asuka?" I asked.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. While I was sort of an idiot about such things, even I could tell that something was wrong. When she eventually choked out that she was afraid to go to sleep, I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. Sleeping in a separate room, if she had a nightmare without someone there to wake her…

At that point there was nothing to do but move the other bed into the first bedroom. After a moment’s thought I pushed them together as well. This would have to do until she got over her night terrors, no matter how awkward it was.

She must have been running on nervous energy and fear, because no sooner did she push her shoulder into my back than I heard her breathing go quiet and even.

Oddly enough, the softness of the bed stopped bothering me so much and I was able drift off to sleep after that.

OoOoO

Spending the first decade or so of your life in an underground cell gives you some odd habits. It was perfectly soundless when we slept, except for the old man’s snoring, so I tended to be a light sleeper.

When there was a distant crack of wood breaking, I jolted out of my sleep. I sat up, looking around, and then I heard another crack. I got up as silently as I could. I was still wearing my loose drawstring pants, and my feet were quite thoroughly calloused, so I went directly to our front door and opened it.

A knot of people were just down the darkened hall, clustered around one of the doors. One of them threw himself forward and there was another loud crack as the door gave up and split apart.

"What the fuck are you assholes up to?" I yelled. I was pretty sure I knew whose door that was.

Several of the adults flinched at the sound of my voice, and one even gave out a yelp. Then another voice from the middle of the group said, "Relax, it’s not him. It’s some other brat. I told you the fox is out of the country right now."

"Very nice, losers," I called out scornfully as I stepped fully into the hall. There was no way ninjas could possibly make that much noise, so these had to be simple villagers. Simple-minded anyway. "He’s away on a mission for Konoha, so you want to burgle his apartment while he’s away. How nice. Why don’t you get the hell out of here before I throw you out?" The old man who’d raised me was occasionally… creative… in his use of language, and I appear to have picked up some of his bad habits. Pity.

"We don’t want him here!" one of the shadowy figures snarled, and my patience snapped.

I funneled a little more chakra into my legs than I intended, because I felt the cheap carpet tear under my feet as I charged forward. I ran until I was right next to them, and then dropped on one foot as the man I’d been charging at swung on empty air. He looked rather foolish, but I suppose he thought it was impressive. While he was doing that, I dug my fingers into the carpet and swept my other leg in a circle around me. The man before me, as well as two others, hit the ground, knocking back those behind them. One guy swung a length of metal pipe at my head, but his attack was so laughably slow that I merely snatched it out of his hands and jabbed him in the solar plexus with it. He went down, wheezing for breath. "Got to cut back on the smoking if you want to fight ninjas," I said with a smirk as I jumped backward.

The two who’d been trying to tackle me managed to slam their heads together as they converged on the empty space where I’d just been. I shook my head in mock sympathy. What a pack of losers.

They were starting to get up again, glaring and muttering. I saw a glint of steel as someone pulled out a tanto knife. I narrowed my eyes and took a deep breath. The odds of this ending without someone’s blood on the floor were getting lower by the minute. I was determined that it wasn’t going to be mine though.

Then there was a loud pop as clouds of smoke engulfed the hallway. I did a quick somersault backwards, but spun around as I felt a presence behind me. I threw myself to one side so I had a wall at my back as the smoke cleared. Then I saw it was one of the ninja-mimes, this one wearing a stylized cat-mask.

I relaxed a little from my guard position and looked back down the hall. When the smoke clouds dissipated, they revealed three more of the ANBU shinobi surrounding the welcome wagon losers.

"Thank Kami you are here!" one of the quicker-witted cretins gasped. "That crazy kid attacked us!"

"He lives here," one of the ANBU replied in a bored voice. "Which brings us to a better question. What, precisely, are you doing here at four in the morning?"

As they began a frantic babble of bullshit, I turned to the ANBU who’d startled me out of a year’s growth. "What took you so long?" I asked in a conversational tone.

"We usually wait until they actually get through the door," he said in a bored voice. "That way we can charge them for burglary instead of just vandalism."

"Ah," I said, feeling a little stupid. "Isn’t that a little hard on the doors?"

"We’ve replaced that door three times since he left town," the ANBU explained, still bored.   I suppose door-watching duty is not a sought after assignment, and that I had just spoiled the only fun they had. I may never recover from the guilt.

I scowled. "Would you guys be offended if I made an example out of the next bunch? Getting beaten down by someone my age would be even more embarrassing, wouldn’t it?"

"I’ll include your offer in my report to the Hokage," he said in that same indifferent tone. "Get some sleep," he said as he sauntered off down the hallway, "Iruka will have no mercy on you if you fall asleep in class."

I twitched a little at that, but it only stood to reason that the Hokage would have fully briefed them in about Asuka and me. I turned back toward our apartment and grimaced when I saw the girl glaring at me from the doorway.

"They weren’t shinobi, just untrained villagers," I said as she opened her mouth, "nothing worth losing your beauty sleep over."

She flushed a little, and he supposed most people would consider that scowl to be cute on someone her age. But she did allow me to draw her away from the doorway so  I could close the door.

In the morning, we got cleaned up and looking as presentable as possible… which wasn’t very in my case. We had a short list of the equipment we’d need for the Konoha Ninja Academy, and we were to purchase it and present ourselves at noon to a teacher there named Iruka. From what the Hokage had said, he sounded like one of the more intelligent people in Konoha, so I was looking forward to it. Or maybe dreading it a little less.

The old man had done the best he could with regards to my education, but there were some things that our circumstances forced him to neglect. I had yet to touch a kunai in my life, and unless I turned out to be some remarkable unknown prodigy, my throwing accuracy with kunai and shuriken was likely to be abysmal. My calligraphy practice had been very constrained, and I assumed that would be pretty rough as well.

On the other hand, my taijutsu and my chakra control seemed to be fairly advanced, from what Asuka could tell me of her training. Despite her more well-rounded education, she was a little worried as well. If we wanted to be assigned to a team together, it meant that she had to make sure she was ready to pass the genin exam at a younger age than most.

So we were a little stressed as we hurried to gather our school supplies. As we were harried out of the first shop, I was forcibly reminded that my appearance made people uncomfortable. The typical Konoha reaction to such discomfort was… somewhat aggressive.

We were forced to waste a couple of coins so Asuka could slip into a hat-maker’s shop and buy a large straw hat for me. I’d normally just let her do all the purchases, but she wasn’t sure she’d buy the right things. At least with the hat, my eyes were hidden in shadows and we could converse in whispers. I still let Asuka handle the money and talk to the shopkeepers. I think she might have even gotten a discount or two.

I only really had trouble in one more store. The sight of all that paper for sale made my fingers twitch and my knees tremble. By all the gods, there was enough paper in that one shop that I could write forever and not use it all. I had to forcibly remind myself that we still needed to buy food; otherwise the remainder of our money might have been spent on paper and ink.

Hey, think about my teacher and what our cell was severely lacking, before you laugh at me! Ink that didn’t come out of my veins was both a novelty and a luxury.   And paper?   Forget it.   All I had was the floor! Although there was one time where the old man picked the wrong time for a nap…

Anyway, we managed to report to the Konoha Ninja Academy at the stroke of noon, both of us carrying a bag full of books, paper, writing implements, and weapons. We each also sported a pair of sandals that covered most of the foot, Asuka’s in blue and mine in black. She seemed particularly relieved to not be barefoot anymore, and I remembered her saying something about a pair of blue shoes… but I decided not to ask her as she counted out the money.

Iruka appeared at the gates and led us inside to a small office. He peered at me curiously until I sighed and took off the straw hat.

He immediately blanched and didn’t quite suppress his flinch.

I scowled. "Look," I snapped, "I understand that I’m not the most attractive guy in town, but would you explain to me why you look like you just saw a ghost?"

"My apologies," Iruka said with a bow of his head. "The Hokage said you were partially trained in the ninja arts. Have you heard of the Sannin?"

I frowned as I cudgeled my memory. "A trio of S-class shinobi, loyal to Konoha, even though they have left?" From some of the stories the old man had told of them, I suspected they were not condemned as missing-nins because no one wanted to piss them off.

"That is… mostly… true," Iruka said approvingly. "However, the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru, is, in fact a traitor to Konoha. He was involved in the grisly deaths of countless shinobi and villagers before he was discovered."

I nodded. "And?" I prompted.

"I’ve seen his picture in the Bingo Book, and you bear an unfortunate resemblance to him. His hair is black and his eyes are yellow, but the complexion is the same and…" the instructor shrugged as things started to make sense. I’d seen a lot of odd-looking people as we walked around that morning, most of whom I guessed were shinobi. I knew it couldn’t be the shape of my eyes alone that was scaring adults who had no issues with a guy covered with bugs, or those weirdoes with no pupils in their eyes.

"That’s not fair," Asuka huffed. "It’s not his fault his skin is so pale! If anything, it’s my… someone else’s fault."

"So I look like this Orochimaru’s bastard love child. Wonderful." I said, rubbing at my temples. "I know why I look like this, and it has nothing to do with whoever knocked up the Iwakagure whore that birthed me."

Asuka hissed and Iruka visibly winced at my words. I felt a little guilty then. He’d apologized and I did ask him why. It wasn’t his fault that I didn’t like the answer. I held my hand up in a placating gesture. "Sorry. It’s not your fault, so I’m not blaming you… but do you have any suggestions on what I can do, besides a permanent illusion?"

"You can do Henge no jutsu?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not very well," I admitted. "I can’t hold it for more than half an hour at a time."

Iruka blinked, and then shook his head. "You’re right, it would be inadvisable to use that. I would suggest cutting your hair much shorter. Orochimaru was always known to have long hair. Is your complexion from lack of sunlight?"

I nodded. "My original teacher and I were imprisoned for roughly ten years until I escaped last week."

Iruka’s face transformed for a moment, and I was reminded that this man was a Konoha shinobi. Then he mastered his emotions and the patient instructor began to reappear. "That’s barbaric, imprisoning a child!" he snapped. "What could you have possibly done to deserve that?" he asked.

I started to answer, but my eyes were drawn to a picture on his desk. He was shown standing next to a smiling blond boy about my age who also wore a forehead protector. What drew my eyes was not the shinobi insignia, but the faint whisker marks on his cheeks. Suddenly, quite a few things clicked together in my mind. "Is that Naruto?" I asked, pointing to the picture.

Iruka nodded, obviously confused as to the thrust of my question. The Hokage obviously trusted this man, and he was one of the few people who accepted Naruto for what he really was. So I decided to take a chance. "I suppose you could say that my… appearance… is the way it is, for the same reason he has those whisker marks. That’s also the reason we were imprisoned."

To his credit, Iruka’s eyes only widened a little as he sat back in his seat. After a moment, he spoke again, "I am ashamed to admit it, but it would be better for you if people thought you were Orochimaru’s son than… something else." His eyes flickered over to Asuka and he frowned.

"She helped me to escape Iwakagure," I said, which was technically true. Her Biju hadn’t marked her as obviously as mine, so Iruka might buy it.

"I am the same way, sensei," she said, frowning at me.

"I’d appreciate it if no one else knew of this," I said quietly, ignoring the girl’s glare.

"You have my word," Iruka said, his voice steady, even though his eyes were a little wide. "From what I understand, the two of you have some prior training?"

I nodded.

"Everyone in my… household was trained," Asuka said.

"The Hokage requested that you both be placed in the same class," Iruka said, "though you are a bit younger, Asuka."

"I have some… gaps in my skills," I said slowly.

"Perhaps it would be better to evaluate you both then," he said with a smile that made the scar across his nose wrinkle. "I planned for this and arranged for someone to cover my advanced class today." A loud crash echoed down the hallway, followed by the tinkle of broken glass. Iruka’s smile grew even wider. "Let’s head out to the exercise yard before it gets even noisier."

As we left the building, I thought I heard the faint echo of a scream. What the hell had we gotten into here?

OoOoO

The evaluation was a lot like a fairly urgent medical procedure: Painful, embarrassing, but necessary. I knew it was going to be a long afternoon when my first kunai throw completely missed the target board. Asuka could at least hit the board, though she was less than happy with her accuracy. I got a little better after Iruka showed me how to hold a kunai, but it was still fairly humiliating.

The taijutsu was better, and I at least felt I wasn’t shaming the old man when I faced off against Iruka. Of course, as a chuunin he handled me pretty easily, but I at least made him block and step back a couple of times. Asuka’s strikes didn’t seem to have as much power, but she had a fair bit of speed and moved very gracefully.

Ninjutsus were a little less promising. I knew all the seals by heart, but the old man couldn’t mold chakra at all within the suppression field on our cell, so he couldn’t demonstrate anything. I knew the theory behind Kawarimi, the substitution technique, but I didn’t have any targets I could practice on. I was, however, able to do a damn near flawless henge of the old man, since he was the only target I could practice on. Iruka seemed encouraged by my performance there.

I was shocked, and maybe a little envious, when Asuka did a quick series of seals and blew a stream of fire out of her mouth, setting a patch of grass ablaze. She definitely seemed to have a gift for fire techniques. Probably went with the temper and the red hair.

I was completely useless with genjutsus, mind-bending illusion techniques, and Asuka wasn’t much better. Iruka tried to cheer us up by telling us that new genins were rarely much better, unless they had a special gift for it.

The academic evaluations were a little more promising. Asuka obviously had well-paid tutors like her ‘siblings’, but she’d also paid attention to them. All those hours listening to the old man’s lectures paid off as well. I was also gratified to discover that calligraphy was much easier with the proper equipment. When I was done, Iruka seemed pleasantly surprised. Asuka was still transcribing the same passage, and her characters weren’t quite as detailed as mine, nor as crisply executed. Still, he looked a little disturbed when I shrugged and said "This is good ink, much easier to work with than blood."

When we were done, Iruka gave us two options. We could join the class that was getting ready to test for graduation from the Academy in a few weeks, or the next one behind it. We would have to really work hard to pass all areas in time for the next genin exam, and in the second class we would be well ahead of the students, but won’t be taking the test for another year.

I looked over at Asuka. She stared back at me with her face all scrunched up, her lips pressed together in a thin line and that vertical crease between her eyebrows was back again. She looked either very determined or very constipated, it was hard to tell. The former option seemed the safest assumption. "The more advanced class?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"We’ll go with the more advanced," I said. "The sooner we are earning our own way, the better."

Iruka nodded and sighed. "Then I will see you in classroom three tomorrow at eight a.m. sharp. I understand you are staying in Naruto’s apartment building as well?"

I nodded. "It’s not too bad, except for the vermin I caught trying to break into his flat."

At that point, Iruka-sensei wanted to know the whole story. He seemed puzzled by the time it was over. "How did you knock those men down?" he asked. "Your taijutsu isn’t that strong."

"Well, I was pushing chakra into my legs when I swept them," I said, like it wasn’t obvious.

Iruka blinked. "That’s not a degree of chakra control we normally see in our genin. Why didn’t you do that when we sparred?"

"Oh," I said, nonplussed. "I thought you wanted to assess my taijutsu, not how well I can cheat while using taijutsu."

"Cheating?" he asked with a laugh.

"That’s what the old man called it. He said I shouldn’t depend on it, and only use it in dangerous fights, or I will over-rely on it, get sloppy, and die, bringing shame to him and all his ancestors." The old bastard liked to lay it on a little thick at times, but I got the point.

Iruka actually laughed out loud, and after a shocked expression, Asuka giggled as well. I sort of understood her surprise. Konohagakure was full of contradictions; faceless ANBU and garrulous old Hokages, idiotic villagers and instructors who actually dared to smile, let alone laugh. These Leafs were an odd bunch. Maybe we would fit in better than I thought.

OoOoO

Iruka surprised us again by asking if we wanted to eat an early dinner with him. Asuka accepted for both of us before I could say anything. I was a little suspicious, but she seemed to trust ‘Iruka-sensei’ more than I did.

Nonetheless, when we walked outside, she was practically within my shadow. Oddly enough, that actually made me feel a little better. Maybe because it indicated she was maintaining an appropriate degree of paranoia.

If Iruka noticed this, he didn’t say anything. Soon he’d led us to a noodle-stand not too far from our apartment called "Ichiraku’s". I was a little dubious about the location, but the smell coming from the cramped cooking area had my mouth watering.

Oddly enough, when Iruka told the older man behind the counter that we were Naruto’s new neighbors, he immediately smiled and offered us a bowl on the house. I blinked, looking squarely at him, but he just shrugged and said Naruto was his best customer.

"What’s his favorite flavor?" I asked, since I had no idea what most of the varieties on the menu would taste like.

"Usually pork or miso," the cook said thoughtfully, "but he liked to try something different every few bowls."

"Every few bowls?" I asked.

Iruka snorted.

"Er, I’ll try the miso then," I said, while Iruka asked for beef. Asuka peered at the menu a little longer before asking for the crab-flavored.

As the cook set to work seasoning the broth and starting a fresh batch of noodles, I turned to look at Iruka. "I take it he eats here a lot?"

"You could say that, Hikaru," he said with a grin. "He practically lives off ramen, between here and making cup ramen at home."

"It must be pretty good," I said cautiously.

"Sometimes when he was upset, I’d take him here for dinner," Iruka said quietly. "For a long time, I think I was his only friend."

That jibed with what I’d heard from the Hokage, but it didn’t exactly make me want to jump for joy either. "And now?" I prompted.

"He’s gotten through to a few people," Iruka said. "He has his teammates now, and a new jonin-sensei. The Hokage’s grandson idolizes him."

"But the rest of Konoha?" I asked.

Iruka sighed. "They still see only what they want to see. You encountered some of them last night."

"They suck," Asuka said firmly. "I was sad when the ANBU showed up and Hikaru had to stop hitting them."

I rolled my eyes as Iruka chuckled. "Why are you bringing this up?" I asked.

Iruka’s face grew somber once again. "I don’t see as much of Naruto anymore. Not since he graduated, and I’m still a little concerned about him. I don’t know how well he gets along with his new team or…" he frowned as his voice trailed off.

"And you want us to spy on him?" I asked coldly.

"No, no!" Iruka said quickly. "Just please… keep an eye on him. He’s too alone, and I… I worry about him. I would hope that you would tell me if he was in trouble, or needed anything, but I won’t ask you to invade his privacy on my behalf."

The poke in my ribs from Asuka was more than expected. "My apologies," I said in a formal tone, "I misunderstood your request, sensei."

Iruka waved off my apology. "Don’t worry about it. I do hope you two get to know him though. For all his flaws, he is a good person. I’m glad I got to know him when I had the chance."

At that point three steaming bowls were placed before us. I mimicked Asuka and Iruka’s actions as they placed their hands together and said "Itadakimasu!" before taking out their chopsticks. All the fumbling with uncooperative utensils and strange dining customs disappeared from my head after I took my first bite of the hot noodles.

While the food in the Tsuchikage’s prison may have been warmed at some point in time, it was never delivered to our underground cell in such a condition. Likewise, my understanding of spices and flavorings was mostly theoretical, from the old man’s reminiscences. As I chewed, the salty-tangy taste of the miso flavorings flooded my mouth, and I ignored the complaints of my slightly-singed lips and gums. This was really good stuff. It required a major act of willpower to avoid gobbling it down as fast as I could shovel it into my mouth. Instead, I savored it as much as I could. When the bowl was empty of noodles, I copied Iruka and slowly drank down the broth. When I was done, my stomach felt like it had been replaced with fire-warmed stones.

I turned to look at Asuka, feeling like I’d just experienced some sort of religious conversion. "It’s good," she said, and smiled.

Good? This was beyond good, it was… not prison food. That’s what it was. I abruptly deflated and turned back toward Iruka. "I can see why you both eat here a lot," I said.

Iruka smiled and put some money on the counter. "As I said, I will see you tomorrow morning for class, so don’t be late. And let me know if you need anything or if you have any questions. The Hokage has asked that I keep an eye out for you two while you are at the Academy, and I take my responsibilities seriously. But I know you will both do well. Study hard, and you will succeed!"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!" Asuka said brightly. I merely nodded. I wasn’t so sure about all this rah-rah stuff, but I wasn’t afraid of a little hard work.

After Iruka left, we politely declined when the cook asked if we wanted another bowl. We couldn’t really afford to use up all of our food money here, no matter how tasty it was.

"But Iruka-san left enough for three bowls, and I said you two’s were on the house, so each of you get one more!" the man said with a grin.

It was a little unnerving, the way some people were trying so hard to be nice to us. Well, it was for me, anyway. Asuka seemed a little less suspicious though. After we each ordered our second bowl, I asked her why.

"Well," she whispered, "I think Iruka wants us to be friends with Naruto."

"Really?" I asked.

"Well, he’s always talking about what a nice guy he is, and how he doesn’t have many friends in Konoha. What do you think?"

"I think Konoha has a lot of people with crap for brains and a few smart ones," I said in a serious, but still quiet voice.

Asuka giggled out loud, but stifled it when the cook glanced over at us. After a moment she regained her composure and continued. "And I think some of the shop-keepers were nice to me because they could tell that I was getting things for Academy classes."

"Why would that make a difference?" I asked. Some of the subtleties of hidden village life were just beyond me. The old man had avoided cities like the plague before he was captured.

"When a shinobi takes on dangerous missions, the pay is often lots and lots of money," Asuka explained. One thing I always appreciated about her is that she never got an attitude when explaining about things I’d never experienced before. She neither pitied me nor condescended, which was nice. "The tough missions can only be done by elite ninjas for lots of ryou, but even middle-level missions can get you a good bit of money."

"So if we graduate and become ninjas…" I said as the light began to dawn.

"You’ll have lots and lots of money to spend," she confirmed in a whisper as the smiling cook brought a pair of steaming bowls to the front. We thanked him again.

"I can’t wait until we can afford to eat here every night," I said with a smile. I wasn’t really exaggerating that much, either.

OoOoO

Over the years, I’ve sort of become used to getting stared at by all sorts of people, starting with the guards I caught glimpses of when they left food or removed the waste pot from our cell. For whatever reason, the Biju imprisoned within my seal wreaked greater changes on my appearance than anyone else. Naruto got the whiskers from the Kyuubi, and Asuka was apparently unmarked… though I wonder if she was born with hair that red.

In any event, I understand that I’m a little odd looking, and I’ve eventually come to accept it. But it took a while before I grew accustomed to being stared at. By large numbers of people. All at once.

So being presented to the class by Iruka-sensei was not a comfortable way to start the morning. Asuka was equally nervous, so I didn’t feel like a complete wimp.

We’d even gone out of our way to make ourselves presentable. We were wearing our new clothes, black long-sleeved shirt and pants for me, with a dark green tunic belted on over that, and dark red shorts and tunic for Asuka. She wanted freedom of movement for taijutsu, but while my shirt and pants were cut loose, they also covered as much of my unusually pale skin as possible.

I’d both shortened and evened up the length of my hair with a kunai the night before, and now wore it tied back with a spare leather cord. I wasn’t going to be able to hide my eyes forever, and it would also help if I didn’t wear my hair like that snake-sannin-son-of-a-bitch.

But all our efforts seemed to have come to naught as our classmates silently stared at us after Iruka introduced us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Asuka’s jaw muscles clenching.

"Great, we’re about to graduate and we’re joined by a snake-freak and a runt," a voice said from the back of the class.

Asuka blinked and I could see the color rising in her cheeks. She was the shortest person in the room, primarily because of her age I imagined, but she didn’t seem to appreciate being reminded of it.

I decided to respond before she did, for obvious reasons. "I’d rather be a freak than a buffoon," I drawled.

The other students all froze in their seats.

"Jaboru!" Iruka snapped from behind me. "That is not a proper greeting, especially for someone that fancies they are ready to become a genin!"

"Sorry, Sensei," the voice replied, and I zeroed in on its source. A large, hulking boy sat near the back of the room, barely able to fit behind the desk.

Iruka scowled and gestured curtly toward a pair of seats near the front of the class. Isn’t funny how those are always the last seats to fill?

As we sat down and opened our bags, a low voice was heard behind us. "Welcome to the class, Asu-chibi and Snake-boy," Jaboru murmured scornfully.

Asuka’s face was rigid, but she relaxed when I touched her wrist. The boy was quiet enough that Iruka hadn’t heard as he was writing on the chalkboard. As the instructor began his lecture, I took a piece of paper and folded back a corner. On one side I wrote a few sentences in large type. When the teacher looked away, I placed the improvised sign on my back with the folded tag hooked into the neck of my tunic to secure it.

"I am Hikaru, this is Asuka to my right. Feel free to make up stupid names if you can’t pronounce three syllable words," it said.

The students directly behind us began snickering, which turned into fits of coughing when Iruka frowned at them. Soon, other students were craning to see what was written on my back, and after a while most of the class seemed to have gotten a laugh out of it.

The lecture on recent history was fairly absorbing, and I had to remind myself to take notes. Iruka wouldn’t be making me repeat his words back to him until they were engraved in my memory. I needed to learn this on my own.

The period after the lecture was spent outside. Unfortunately, we were practicing with throwing weapons. My aim was only slightly better than yesterday. I knew I just needed to practice the proper motions until the muscle memory began to set in, but that didn’t make the snickering any easier to hear. At least Asuka didn’t suck as badly. She gave me an apologetic look as we went back inside, but I just shrugged at her.

The chakra control exercises seemed interesting at first, until I realized that was all we were doing for that hour. I was doing stuff like this with the old man years ago. Iruka-sensei wasn’t kidding when he said I had good control for someone my age. He didn’t even bother to ask me to demonstrate when he reached our table. I spent most of the hour working with Asuka instead. When she struggled too hard and grew frustrated, I’d feel a warning pulse of heat radiating from her. It wasn’t too intense, and I doubt anyone more than a few feet away would notice, but I still tapped her knee whenever it happened. My best guess is that the Biju sealed up inside of her reacted when she became emotional… but everything was guesswork where those damn things were concerned.

However, it meant that Asuka needed to gain control of her emotions if she wanted to avoid accidentally setting things on fire. Things like her blanket, our apartment, me… You know important things, like the village of Konoha, or even the forest we saw on the way here. If being nice could prevent third degree burns—or worse --I was more than willing to reassure her.

Lunch was some cold rice balls and a few minutes laying on the grass and looking up at the clouds. I never really did get tired of looking at the sky, which wasn’t too surprising, I guess. Asuka ended up talking to some of the other kunoichi’s in our class, so I was by myself when a large shadow fell over me.

"For someone who can’t throw a kunai, you have a lot of attitude," Jaboru growled.

I quickly pulled my knees up to my chest, then kicked downward, snapping to my feet in a kip-up. My back was toward the enormous boy, which was rather rude, not to mention tactically unwise. I slowly turned toward him and cocked my head. "My old teacher didn’t do much with weapons," I said with a shrug.

"He must have been pretty pathetic," Jaboru sneered.

Through a fair bit of teeth-grinding, I managed not to tear him a new one. "Maybe, maybe not. He didn’t emphasize weapons, but I do know the difference between a five-element seal and a six-point binding pattern."

As he struggled to digest this, the bell rang to summon us back to class. I wondered how wise it was to mouth off to a boy whose forearms were nearly as wide as my torso.

I found out the answer during the last period of the day, when we went back outside to practice taijutsu. We did some warm-up exercises, which actually felt good. This was followed by some katas, which I had to pick up awkwardly as I went along, and then some free sparring. Asuka and I partnered up immediately. She was actually a handful since she was so fast. The fighting styles we’d picked up from our previous instructors were also quite different, so it was a lot of work anticipating which direction she would attack from next.

We broke apart for a moment to catch our breath when a thick finger poked me in the shoulder blade. "Let’s see what you got," Jaboru said with a smirk.

Asuka frowned, but I just shrugged and dropped into a ready stance. No sooner had I done that than he exploded forward, crashing his fist into my jaw. My feet left the ground and I landed on my back almost ten meters away.

Some of the other students were looking at Jaboru, who just spread his hands and smiled. "He looked like he was ready," he simpered, "I thought the big hot shot could take a hit, but I was wrong."

My jaw felt numb, but if I spoke slowly enough I could still be heard. "I’m fine," I said as I stood up, making a show of dusting off my pants. As I stepped back toward the hulking boy, I felt a twinge. He was doing something with chakra. "You’re using chakra," I said quietly, as I dropped into my stance again.

"So?" Jaboru grunted. "Just because you can’t doesn’t mean I should take it easy on you."

"No," I replied with a smirk. "I was being nice because I thought you couldn’t."

The big idiot snarled and charged at me again. He slammed his right fist into the side of my head. If he hadn’t been funneling chakra into his arm, I doubt he could have caught a cold with that swing.

Still, there was a lot of momentum behind it. However, my feet stayed planted on the ground, thanks to the chakra I was circulating in them. I twisted, bending backward at the waist and knees. My back arched so far that my right elbow actually touched the ground for an instant.

Then my whole body snapped back like one large, irritable spring. My legs and spine straightened like a whip cracking and my chakra-laced fist slammed into Jaboru’s center of mass, blowing him backward off his feet. He hit the ground hard, and it took him a moment to get up. When he shook his head to clear it, I was leaning over him with my hand extended. He grudgingly took it and I helped him to his feet.

"How…?" he asked. He must have bounced hard enough to knock all the arrogance out of him.

"You’re bigger than I am," I said quietly, "but I have more chakra."

Jaboru nodded warily and we switched partners again. The brown-haired kid with his hair in a top-knot was fairly tentative in his attacks after watching what just happened, but I let my chakra subside and just worked with him normally.

By the time the last bell rang, I was bruised and tired. Working with unusual taijutsu styles meant that a lot of blows were slipping past blocks, on both sides. Asuka and I were dead tired as we trudged home. After only a couple of days, our apartment was already feeling like a refuge of sorts. Maybe it was just because it was ‘ours’, after a fashion. Are people naturally territorial or what?

The fifty pound bag of rice seemed like a good idea when we purchased it… we needed to make our food money last. But Asuka was getting a little tired of plain rice for the third meal in a row. I agreed with her that we needed to look for opportunities to earn a little extra money, but there was nothing I could think of at the moment to try. Most of the simple tasks I came up with were usually reserved for D-ranked genin missions, according to Asuka. Konoha might do things differently, but since they did follow the standard rank system, it was unlikely.

After racking our brains for a while, we decided to call it an early night. As usual, Asuka was lightly snoring a minute after her shoulder nudged me. I stared up at the shadowed ceiling for a little longer, waiting for my mind to quiet down a little.

I was awakened by a muffled racket from hallway, followed by some muttered swearwords. I shook Asuka awake this time, wary of deliberately pissing her off. We made our way in our sleepwear to the hallway. I noted that the loose shorts and t-shirt she wore were appropriate for a little taijutsu if necessary.

When I warily stuck my head out into the hallway, I had to bite back some curse words. The lock on Uzumaki Naruto’s door had already been defeated, and someone was messing around in there with the lights off. I heard another crash and took off down the hall. Inside the apartment, a shadowy figure was tearing at the wall.

"Leave his stuff alone!" I snarled, grabbing at its shoulder as I cocked my fist back.   That earned me a quick elbow in the gut, but I didn’t let go as I fell back. I spun as I dropped and sent the figure tumbling to the floor. However, instead of rolling into the wall head first, the figure came up in a low crouch. I saw the glint of a kunai in one hand.

"Katon: Burning Torchlight!" Asuka called out from the doorway. A small ball of fire sparked into being above her open palm, dimly lighting the room.

The first thing I noticed was the bright orange jacket and pants. The second was the golden yellow hair. The third was the vibrant blue eyes. The whiskers didn’t register until a lot later.

"You’re Uzumaki Naruto," I said.

"Yeah," the boy said. "Now who are you and what the hell are you doing in my apartment?"

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