"Menma, stop hogging the mirror!"
Rolling his eyes, a now four year Menma pushed a brunette kid who was a year older than him away from the mirror.
"Stop being annoying Tenten," the boy muttered, giving himself one last once over.
Menma, who still found it weird to refer to himself as that despite almost being in his new body for four years, expected to either look like a carbon copy of Minato or a carbon copy of Kushina. If given a choice, he would have wanted Kushina's hair color with Minato's eye color, but he knew he couldn't be that lucky. But he still expected to get one of the features he wanted.
So imagine his surprise when he didn't get his parents' hair color nor their eye color.
No, instead he apparently had orange hair. Which was a total surprise for him considering he was a brunette in his past life. And instead of having either blue eyes or violet colored eyes, he had a strange mix of the two. If he could describe it, he'd call it violet eyes with blue specks all over it, kind of like a violet-blue color. He found his current eyes weird, but kind of okay, if that makes sense?
It didn't even make sense to him. Hopefully his eyes were just weird enough to seem attractive.
He did escape the one thing he really didn't want though, which was the whisker markings that Naruto had. So the weird hair and eye color were worth it for him.
Well, aside from the baggy clothes he was wearing, he looked alright. If a little malnourished, but then again all kids in the orphanage looked a little on the skinny side.
"Move!"
Menma made a surprised noise as Tenten shoved him out of the way, causing him to fall on the floor with a hiss.
He scoffed as the girl started fussing over her hair, knowing damn well she wouldn't care about it in the future. When he was old enough to walk, Menma expected to be treated like a pariah and be neglected. While this did happen, because of bitchy caretakers and monkeys known as kids, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Heck, it wasn't nearly as emotionally scarring as Naruto made it out to be.
Then again, he did have an adult's mind which helped to make him actually think logically on how to make things good for him, or at least as good as it can be. For example, he escaped any "incidents" of forgotten wake-up calls or room cleanups by getting himself a roommate. The caretakers might treat him like trash, but they wouldn't extend the shitty treatment towards Tenten.
Yes, he befriended Tenten just to make sure he doesn't get treated like trash. To make sure he would be treated semi-normally at least. Does that make him a shitty person? For using a naive kid?
It doesn't matter.
He was used to being the shitty excuse of a human being already.
"Menma," Tenten whined, earning his attention as she held out her hair ties. "Could you help me out?"
With a resigned sigh Menma got up and took the hair ties from the brunette. He ignored the smug smile Tenten held as he combed his fingers through her hair, separating it in two sections.
"You know, for a boy you're really good at this," Tenten complimented with a hint of curiosity in her tone.
Menma released a non-committal hum as he tied the sections up in Chinese-styled hair buns. He didn't bother even coming up with a lie or anything, Tenten wasn't someone who pushed for an answer after all. Not to mention, he couldn't really give an honest answer. He couldn't tell the brunette that he had a lazy girlfriend that constantly needed someone to handle her hair.
"Let's go!"
As Tenten dragged him away, Menma allowed his mind to wander to cigarettes and nails scratching his back.
He missed it.
He missed the feel of that damned cancer stick between his fingers. He missed exhaling smoke rings. He missed smoking it all away.
He missed the mindless sex. The hate filled make out sessions. The torn clothes littering his floor every morning when he woke up. The feeling of being needed by someone.
He really missed it.
"Kids!"
Menma blinked, noticing that he was sitting at a table with Tenten, with a bowl of what was probably cold porridge in front of him. He turned his head around to locate the caretaker who had just yelled for him and the others.
Their caretaker was a middle-aged woman with already graying hair and green colored eyes. The caretaker was named Reiko.
"What do you think Reiko-san wants?" Tenten whispered to him.
"If you don't shut up we won't find out."
Menma muttered a curse as Tenten pinched his arm.
"Okay, maybe she wants to finally quit? Or maybe someone got adopted? I dunno."
Tenten gave a satisfied nod and turned back to Reiko.
"The Hokage will be visiting today," Reiko announced.
Everyone's eyes widened, including Menma's.
Muttering and mumbling broke around the space they were in.
'Hiruzen?' Menma clenched his fists tightly. 'Fucking hell...'
Menma wasn't going to lie. He didn't really like their Hokage. For a lot of reasons, such as the old geezer's lack of proper attention to orphanages around the village or the fact that the idiot made him a scapegoat. A fucking pariah.
Menma sometimes wished it was Hiruzen who died instead of Minato. At least then he'd have a father. He didn't care that Hiruzen dying would mean Asuma being an orphan or Konohamaru not having any grandparents. Menma never claimed to be a saint after all.
"He'll be here at two, so I expect all of you to go-"
Menma stood up and walked away.
No one would care enough to notice after all.
Well, aside from Tenten. But the brunette probably won't notice until Reiko's done talking.
It was too early for him to care about any possible interaction with Hiruzen. Heck, if he was lucky he'd be able to just play truant like he usually does when "important" guests came to visit.
Naruto's favorite food was ramen.
Menma's favorite food was dango.
But, funnily enough, Menma mostly ate ramen whenever he was out.
Why?
Because he was only treated like a proper human being at the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Why would he go eat at a place where he would be treated like trash when he could go eat at a place where he's treated like a customer? It didn't matter that he preferred dango. He preferred eating at the Ichiraku ramen stand.
"What can I make you today Menma?"
Menma glanced at the menu behind Teuchi, his eyes scanning over the options. "Pork ramen."
Teuchi grinned at him, "Coming right up!"
When Teuchi's back was to him, Menma allowed himself to smile. Yeah, ramen may not be his favorite meal, but Teuchi was his favorite adult in general.
"Anything interesting happen?"
"Nah, there's just a guest coming over later."
Menma relaxed as Teuchi chuckled.
"Playing truant as usual, huh?"
Menma shrugged, "I'm not getting adopted either way. No one likes me."
Another thing he liked about Teuchi? Teuchi didn't bother with false reassurances. The man didn't lie to preserve his feelings. No, Teuchi was an honest person who didn't try sucking up to him or pitying him.
"Well, I like you well enough. Ayame does too."
"Then why don't you adopt me?"
Menma smirked as Teuchi tensed up. Yeah, Menma knew it was a dick move of him to ask that. He knew that there was probably a rule against adopting a Jinchuriki. But he still wanted to see Teuchi's reaction.
"Menma, trust me, if I could-"
Menma yawned, cutting the cook off. "I was just pulling your leg, Teuchi."
Teuchi relaxed, releasing a small laugh, "Kid, ya really have quite the silver tongue, ya know?"
Whistling an innocent tune, Menma watched as Teuchi put on the finishing touches of his ramen. At this point, Menma was sure he himself could replicate Teuchi's ramen. It wasn't like there was any special ingredient to it or anything. But, our main character still preferred to buy it. If only because the company made it taste better than it really was.
"You going to become a ninja?"
Menma froze at the quiet question, chopsticks hesitating above his bowl.
No.
He didn't really consider the possibility of becoming a ninja. In fact, he had subconsciously assumed that he would basically live in the orphanage before getting a legal job so he could afford to move out. Then, when he's stable enough he'd get into the dark side of the trades like he was in his past life. He'd probably get into smuggling drugs or selling valuable merchandise.
"Menma?"
Easy money was the trade he lived by and ended up dying by.
Yeah, he knew it was dangerous work. But being a ninja was also dangerous work.
"Oi, Uzumaki, you're looking pale..."
Menma's eyes widened.
Uzumaki.
Nononononnononononnono...
He couldn't not become a ninja, could he?
He was the fucking Jinchuriki. There was no way they'd let him do as he pleased. He'd probably get manipulated or forced into joining the Academy. Then he'd end up graduating and being conditioned to lay his life down for the godforsaken village he lived in.
"Menma!"
Menma jerked back into reality, eyes focusing on Teuchi's fingers which had just flicked his forehead, "Y-yeah?" he casually asked, failing to keep his unease away.
Teuchi gave him a concerned look, "Are you okay kiddo?"
'No, not really...'
"Yeah."
Teuchi frowned.
"As for your question," Menma rolled his shoulders, "I have two years left before I join."
He didn't bother showing his distaste. It wouldn't change anything.
"Ah, so you're planning to join the Academy."
Instead of verbally confirming, Menma continued eating his ramen.
The sun was already gone by the time Menma had strolled back into the orphanage.
He paused after he closed the door, noting how silent it was. Usually, the kids would be running around making a lot of noises until their bed time at eight. Furrowing his eyebrows, he strained his ears to try and locate where everyone else was.
"...become a ninja?"
Suddenly, he heard a chorus of kids yelling agreements.
"Yeah, I wanna be a ninja!"
"Me too!"
Scowling, Menma made his way to the spacious living room the orphanage had, which was enough to fit all forty orphans living in the orphanage. Pausing at the door, his scowl deepened when his eyes landed on Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Hokage was sitting on a chair, surrounded by kids of various ages who were all sitting on the floor.
"I wanna be just like Tsunade-sama!"
Menma didn't even bother sighing at Tenten's outburst or the chorus of agreements that followed it.
"To answer your question," Hiruzen started, effectively making everyone go quiet as he looked directly at one of the orphans, "Yes, you can become a ninja. I'm sure Reiko-san will explain the process once you're old enough. Now, is there any other question?"
Menma pushed the door open loudly, earning everyone's attention.
"Menma!" Reiko yelled, glaring at him.
Menma lazily eyed every single person in the room before looking Hiruzen directly in the eyes. Hiruzen's facial expression was practically blank, not showing surprise nor anger at his rude behavior.
"Yeah, I have a question. When the hell are you leaving?"
Gasps filled the room.
He managed to catch a look of surprise filter through Hiruzen's face.
"Menma!"
Menma didn't react when Reiko pinched his arm, hard. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, he's-"
"It's okay," Hiruzen cut Reiko off, eyeing the red mark appearing on Menma's arm with a frown, "There's no need to harm a child."
While Reiko flushed in embarrassment, Menma couldn't help but scoff.
'Yeah, says the man who sends children to war.'
"Is something wrong?"
Menma crossed his arms, not bothering to portray any respect towards the man in front of him. "Yeah, instead of entertaining us, shouldn't you be doing your job? No wonder this village is shitty, considering its leader slacks off to go hang around with kids."
Hiruzen simply smiled at him, "A leader's job is to ensure that the future generation is competent. What is your name?"
'As if you don't already know my name.'
"I'm Menma Uzumaki, commit it to memory."
Chapter End.
Author's Note: I'm back! For those of you who didn't know, I was on a field trip abroad. And now I'm back with this update. I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. As for Menma's personality, I wanted him to be as realistic as possible and considering the information of his past life, he couldn't suddenly be a cheerful kid in his current life, no?
I forgot to say this, but in this fanfiction, there are a lot of key/main characters. Tenten is one of them. I'll reveal the others as they appear.
Questions:
1. What do you think Hiruzen thinks of Menma?
2. Dango or Ramen?