To say his life was good, he was an orphan. To say his life was bad, he had met Torifu, a magnate with immense wealth.
Torifu and Amado left the Hokage Building and, at a street corner, encountered Sarutobi Hiruzen and his group, who were on their way to report for duty.
"Yo, Torifu, long time no see!" Hiruzen greeted him warmly. Koharu, Danzo, and the others behind him also extended their greetings to Torifu.
After replying to each of them, Torifu pulled Amado forward and introduced him, "This is an orphan I met outside the village. Hokage-sama just finished his identity procedures, and from now on, he'll be living at my house."
Upon hearing this, everyone was a little confused but didn't voice their thoughts in front of Amado. Their main confusion stemmed from why Torifu wouldn't send the child to an orphanage, but rather adopt him himself. He had no familial ties, so there was no need to go to such lengths. Previously, Torifu had helped arrange for other families he encountered to enter Konoha Village, but this time, he directly brought someone into his own home. However, they had no idea that this was merely an excuse from Torifu, solely to allow Amado to legitimately enter Konoha Village. After all, this was the key to Torifu's happy life.
"Amado, these are my friends. Say hello."
Amado nodded after hearing this. "Hello, Nii-san, Nee-san. I'm Amado. Please take care of me from now on."
Koharu was the first to walk up to Amado, squatting down and holding his hand. "Amado, Nee-san doesn't have much to give you, but here are some candies." As she spoke, she pulled out a handful of candies from her pocket and slipped them into Amado's shirt pocket. "Only one a day, okay? Otherwise, they're bad for your teeth."
Amado grinned. "Thank you, Nee-san."
"You're welcome." Koharu patted Amado's head before standing up.
Following suit, Hiruzen and the others also gave Amado some small trinkets. Though not valuable, they were heartfelt gestures, mainly out of respect for Torifu. Otherwise, an orphan like Amado wouldn't have received such attention.
"Torifu, when do you have time? We should call Naori and go out to have some fun!"
Torifu gave an awkward laugh. "Nii-san, you should be asking yourself that. I'm always available."
Hiruzen slapped his forehead. "Why did I ask such a foolish question?"
"Because you are foolish!" Koharu couldn't bear it anymore and spoke for Hiruzen. "We have a four-day holiday in a week, so we can go out for a day or two then."
Torifu nodded at her words. "That works. Just call me when you're ready. I want to rest for a while and not take on any missions."
"Alright, it's settled then. In a couple of days, we can gather and discuss where to go." Hiruzen was quite enthusiastic about this, while Danzo seemed indifferent; he was fine with going anywhere, letting the others decide. Homura was quietly discussing something with Koharu, likely brainstorming some good ideas.
Once such topics came up, it was easy to get carried away. Hiruzen and the others nearly forgot they had a mission and needed to report in. They were probably running late now.
"Oh no! We need to report!" Hiruzen roared, and the others also snapped back to reality, remembering their urgent duties.
Koharu frantically said to Torifu, "Um, Torifu, we'll get going now! Talk to you another day! And little Amado! Remember not to eat too much candy!" With that, Hiruzen and the others swiftly ran off, disappearing in just a few blinks of an eye.
"So amazing!"
"Haha, you'll be just as amazing in the future. You're going to the Ninja Academy next month, so study hard and make lots of friends."
Amado felt a little apprehensive hearing Torifu say that. As an outsider, could he truly make friends in such a large village? Would he be bullied or discriminated against? Amado shook his head. Thinking about it now was useless; he would only know for sure when school started. From the Nii-san and Nee-san he had just met, the people of Konoha Village seemed pretty nice.
Amado didn't know where Torifu's house was or the roads of Konoha, so he could only follow Torifu. Along the way, he truly witnessed Torifu's popularity in Konoha Village. Almost everyone they encountered greeted Torifu, and they were all curious why Torifu was with a child. But few asked, and when they occasionally did, Torifu simply said he was his younger brother, never mentioning anything about an orphan.
Upon arriving at Torifu's house, Amado was momentarily stunned. He had expected Torifu's house to be large, but he hadn't imagined it this big. How many people could live in such a large compound? It must be an enormous clan.
Torifu looked at Amado and smiled. "Don't be scared. It's just me in the whole house."
"Torifu-nii, are you saying..."
Before Amado could finish, Torifu said, "Yes, I'm an orphan too, but luckily my ancestors had some savings. Once you move in, you'll be my younger brother. Don't be too reserved. I'll also give you pocket money, so you can buy whatever you want." Amado had thought Torifu was the young head of some large clan, but it turned out he was an orphan just like him. Amado observed that Torifu seemed to have long been accustomed to this, which was why he could speak so casually about it.
Amado adjusted his mindset and followed Torifu into the Kumotsuru Clan compound.
"Snowflake, we're home."
Snowflake, who was leisurely lounging in the courtyard, heard Torifu's voice and didn't move at first, only responding with a sound. But then she suddenly reacted. "We? Who is 'we'?" After speaking, Snowflake immediately stood up and looked at Torifu, noticing he had a small boy beside him. He looked quite cute, with large eyes.
Amado saw a white hen in the courtyard, and it was talking. He immediately hid behind Torifu, peeking out with only a tiny bit of his head. He thought to himself, Konoha Village is so amazing, even chickens can talk? His young worldview had been completely overturned.
Seeing this, Torifu reached out and pulled Amado forward. "This is Snowflake. She's part of our family. Don't be afraid of her. She's just a bit talkative usually." Although Torifu said this, Amado was still a bit scared. Torifu couldn't explain how Snowflake became like this. After all, Amado didn't even know ninjutsu, let alone what a Summoning Beast was. He could only let Amado get used to it.
"Torifu, who is this?"
Amado found Snowflake strange, and Snowflake found Amado strange too. How could Torifu go out in the morning and bring a child back so soon?
[T/N: I changed some prompts for my translations, so the read might feel different? I dunno. To me it feels fine.]