The Other Orphan
Chapter 1The class all groaned in unison, this sucked. Just because Naruto had gone and gotten caught after graffitiing the Hokage mountain, they all had to revise the transformation jutsu again.
"Man Naruto, I get that pranks are fun and all, but did you have to go and get caught!?" A single voice sounded out above all the groans of agony. Naruto turned his pouting face away from the wall towards the voice.
The boy had light spikey blonde hair which reached down to the back of his neck, his bangs hung low over his forehead, covering the tips of his eyes, with his side bangs completely covering his ears. Light brown, wide and slightly narrowed eyes adorned his lightly tanned, oval shaped face. He had a smug smirk on his face, and his eyes danced with mirth. He was clearly enjoying the predicament his friend was in.
"Tch, whatever! Like you coulda done any better!" Naruto shouted angrily at the cocky boy, who suddenly disappeared from his seat and reappeared in front of Naruto. Both blondes glared at each other, lightning flew from their eyes before clashing in the middle, both fighting for dominance.
"What! You think I couldn't have done a cheap little prank like that? I'll bet you that I can do a prank that's a thousand times better than yours!" Naruto suddenly pulled away from the clash, a haughty smirk donning his face.
"Ha! Are you sure you wanna make a bet? Remember the last time you made one against me?" The taller boy suddenly didn't look so sure of himself, and for good reason. He'd never in his life won a game, whether it be cards or poker, and Naruto never seemed to lose, much to his constant annoyance. Well except for strategy games, neither of them ever won them.
Just as the lighter tanned blonde was about to give his undoubtedly snarky reply, an angry voice pulled him away from his thoughts.
"Naruto! Hashirama! What the hell are you two idiots doing! Stop bickering and get over here!" The furious voice of their impatient sensei caused both boys to turn towards him, both only now noticing the twenty odd students waiting for them at the front of the room.
Naruto and the now named Hashirama locked eyes before racing towards the rest of the class, and jumping in line.
Line Break
Naruto stood on the steps leading to the top of the Hokage mountain, using a long brush to clean away the paint stains marring the faces of the legendary Shinobi. Iruka looked down from the top of the mountain to see his student weakly pushing the broom back and forth, a bored look on his face.
"You're not going home until all this is clean Naruto!" Iruka yelled at the orange clothed boy, who immediately turned his glare towards his sensei.
"Who cares! It's not like theirs anyone waiting at home for me!" Iruka's eyes widened and were quickly filled with sympathy. Just as he was about to offer his most troubling student out to Ramen, he suddenly remembered something.
"Wait a minute Naruto, isn't Hashirama living with you?" Naruto froze, and the sadness that swirled in his eyes was replaced with a burst of joy, before swiftly changing back to annoyance.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that idiot. Tch, he went and lost his apartment in a bet against some old gambler guys" Iruka's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, his jaw falling to the ground.
"What! That's why he's living with you?! I thought you had always been together since you're both…" He hesitated, not sure how the blonde would react to the word.
"What sensei? Because we're both Orphans with no idea who our family is?" His voice was filled with sorrow for both him and his best friend's situation. Hashirama was an Orphan just like him, and had been raised in two separate orphanages. The first time the two had met was when Old Man Third had shown up at his orphanage with Hashirama in tow. The two were instantly best friends and rivals.
Iruka sighed, he hadn't meant to make Naruto upset, "So how long has Hashirama been living with you"? he asked, hoping to distract him from his past. The blue-eyed Shinobi in training instantly cheered up at the mention of his friend.
"Ever since we started at the Academy. After he lost his house in the bet, he went straight to the old man and tried to get him to buy his house back for him, but he told him he had to start paying for his mistakes on his own, but even though the old man said that, he still pays off all of the debts he makes whenever he sneaks into the Gambling houses." Naruto's face had gone from happy to frustrated in a matter of moments.
Iruka's shoulders slumped as he listened to his student complain about his roommate, but couldn't find it in himself to be surprised. Hashirama was known throughout the entire village for his horrible gambling habits, and even more known by the fact that he never won anything, ever. It was also well known that the Third Hokage was very close with both Naruto and Hashirama. Iruka understood why he was so close and familiar with Naruto, but his closeness with Hashirama had always confused him. In fact, in many ways, Hashirama was closer to Lord Hokage than Naruto.
No one really knew where Hashirama had come from. Lord Hokage had just arrived at the Orphanage on October the 24th, two weeks after the Kyubi's attack on Konoha and had personally spoken to the caretakers about admitting the 3-week-old baby who he himself had named Hashirama. Many questioned the origins of the boy and oddness behind his name, but all investigations were immediately stopped by Lord Hokage himself, and anyone caught looking were detained by the ANBU Black Ops and taken to Lord Third for questioning.
Iruka would know, he had been one of the many people who had attempted to investigate the boy's parentage. Despite knowing the risks, he couldn't help but attempt to sate his curiosity after a certain incident in class.
Flashback
Naruto and Hashirama had both been arguing, the former yelling at the latter because his friend had used his money to pay for his seat in his most recent gambling marathon. Iruka had been doing his best to ignore the boys and continue the lesson, but things had slowly started getting out of hand. The blonde's voices were slowly raising and it wasn't hard to see they were both ready to start throwing punches.
"It wasn't yours to bet! Do you have any idea how long it took me to save all that up?! Gama's never gonna be full again!" Naruto roared in his friend's face, who nonchalantly turned away, giving a weak wave of his hand to ward off the shorter boy's rage.
"Don't be dramatic Naruto, I'll just win it back next week. Speaking of which, I gotta go and convince Gramps to pay off my debt again, and maybe see if I can get my next allowance a week early." Those last words were spoken quietly, more to himself that anyone else, but it didn't stop the rest of the class from hearing it and sweat-dropping.
"Win it back?! Are you kidding me?! You couldn't even win a bet against that Monkey Old Man summoned!" Hashirama flinched at the revival of such an embarrassing memory.
"Shut up Naruto, that was different, that stupid ape was cheating anyway."
Naruto scoffed, "Yeah right! That ape didn't need to cheat! You suck at everything!" Naruto breathed in before a huge arrogant grin split his face. "You're a Legendary Sucker-" BANG!
Naruto flew backwards and crashed into the wall at the opposite side of the room before sliding to the ground. The students were silent. While Hashirama was known to lose his temper and punch things, he'd never hit another student. Iruka's eyes widened as he looked at the angry blonde before him. His eyes were narrowed in anger, his light blonde hair gently blowing from the wind coming in the window, his mouth set in a scowl and his arm was extended from the devastating punch he'd just delivered to his friend.
"I am not a sucker" Hashirama's voice wasn't loud, but it still carried over the entire room, and all occupants nodded under the killing intent that washed over them.
The young boy in front of him suddenly looked just like another who had once lived in the village, one who was known for losing their temper and their insane strength, one who was also known for being called a Legendary Sucker. Iruka felt his entire body tremble as information clicked in his mind. The name Hashirama, the closeness to Lord Hokage, his spikey light blonde hair and light brown eyes. The image of a man and woman appeared on either side of the boy, visible to Iruka's eyes only. The woman with light blonde hair and light brown eyes, wearing a green coat, and the man with white spikey hair that hung down his back like a mane.
Flashback End
Iruka hadn't been able to do much research before the ANBU had come to collect him, but it had been enough. He'd immediately been given a stern talking to by the Hokage, and been made to promise never to look into the subject again, and to never mention to anyone his reasons for his exploration into the child's parentage. More importantly though, he'd been told to never under any circumstances ever reveal what he had found, or he would immediately be taken to Inoichi to have his memories of the situation removed. He was never to reveal that the orphan Hashirama was the son of Tsunade Senju and Jiraiya of the Sannin.
