Hiruko looked at Haruto's back as it departed from his office and licked his lips slightly.
'It's getting tense, isn't it Haruto-kun…'
To Hiruko, Haruto reminded him of his younger self.
A boy with a frail body doing his best to grow in this messed up world through any means he could get his hands on.
Hiruko's eyes fell on the blood clinging to his hands as he smirked.
'I wonder what Kakashi-kun will do if his most valued disciple is found supporting the enemy.'
'Hehehe~'
***
"Hiruko! Hiruko!"
"Huh? Jiraya? What happened?"
"You idiot! Tsunade found out!!"
"Huh? What did she find out about Jiraya-kun?"
"She found out about me peeking into the woman's bath!!! Again!!!"
Hiruko's eyes widened as his entire body trembled with fright. "Then why have you come to me!!!!????"
"Because Tsundae has a weakness for good looking guys! She won't hit me if I'm with you!!"
"No way!!! Go away!! I didn't do anything!! Don't get me involved in this for god's sake! You don't know how much it hurts to be hit by that woman!!"
"Trust me Hiruko-kun, I know it! That's why I'm here!"
"Jirayaaa!!!!" An angry shout interrupted their conversation as both the boys slowly turned around and looked at the blond girl whose short hair was tied up in a single pony tail.
"Tsu- Tsunade!" Jiraya exclaimed, his knees shivering as he searched for a way to exit the room he'd been cornered into.
"Jiraaayaaa!!!!" Tsunade shouted again, cocking back her hand as if she were about to punch straight through his head.
Jiraya trembled and suddenly put Hiruko between the two of them causing Tsunade to blink in confusion.
"Hiruko-kun? What're you doing with this perv? Did you peek in on the bathhouse too?"
"Noo! Tsunade I would never!! Jiraya is the one who is guilty here, not me!" Hiruko wailed like a little baby.
Jiraya gasped as he shot a look of betrayal towards Hiruko before taking the short leap towards the window to save his life!
"Ja~ne~! Tsunade!" Jiraya said with a smile as he looked at the both of them before jumping out of the window and dropping down into the alley below.
"Agghhh!!! Jiraya!! Get back here!!" Tsunade shouted running after Jiraya but when she remembered that Hiruko was in the room she calmed herself. "Sorry for disturbing you Hiruko-kun…"
Hiruko, who noticed that Tsunade had calmed down, offered a comforting smile. "It's alright Tsunade, you can beat up Jiraya at another time. Wanna practice medical ninjutsu with me?"
"Erm…" Tsunade looked down at the street that Jiraya had just jumped into and sighed, "Well… he's gone for now… I guess it doesn't hurt to practice medical ninjutsu for a while… you're seriously the only one in the academy that can keep up with me apart from Orochimaru Hiruko-kun… you're amazing!"
"Haha~ You flatter me." Hiruko blushed from the praise but didn't let it get to his head. After all, he knew just how impressive Tsunade's medical ninjutsu was even while they were still in the shinobi academy.
Tsunade smiled, raising her head in pride as she said, "You must accept praise when it is offered, Hiruko, otherwise you seem arrogant, not humble."
Hiruko nodded and accepted the praise as he pulled out two scrolls from his drawers and handed one over to Tsunade, "Inside is a live fish."
"Live fish? Inside a sealing scroll? How?" Tsunade instantly asked, curious about the seals making it possible since she'd never heard of sealing scrolls being able to store living objects.
"Haha! Open it. You'll see then!" Hiruko said mysteriously as Tsunade placed the scroll on the table and rolled it open.
Only-
"Hahahahaha~! That was funny Hiruko! You stored the fish directly in the scroll! Is it to keep the smell from the fish away?" Tsunade asked, slapping Hiruko's back, each slap making him feel like his organs were being rearranged.
The fish flopped around on the unfurled scroll trying its best to escape into water but Tsunade held it with one hand and began using a healing technique with the other.
"Is that the mystic palm healing technique?" Hiruko asked curiously and with his eyes wide in shock and surprise.
'Without any hand seals…'
'No way… she's already progressed so far ahead…'
"Yep! It is! Just learned it yesterday! Amazing isn't it? It activates the yang nature chakra in the target's body and rapidly divides cells to restore any wounds. But what did you do to these fishes? They aren't getting any better at all."
The words 'just learned it yesterday' felt like a stab at Hiruko's chest.
'To be able to use an A rank jutsu without any hand seals after learning it in a single day…'
'Will I ever be able to reach such a level?'
'No! I must reach such a level! No matter what! Or I'll just die like my useless parents before me!'
"Hiruko?" Tsunade asked while tilting her head cutely.
"Ah… I poisoned them…" Hiruko said, performing a series of hand seals as he caused a blue glow to emerge on his palm. He brought it towards the fish in his own scroll and a thin deep black liquid emerged out of the gills of the flopping fish.
"Hmmm… is that soo… I'm so stupid that I didn't realise! You're amazing Hiruko!"
"Haha~ Please don't flatter me so much Tsunade."
Tsunade performed the same jutsu as Hiruko once again, without hand seals again before extracting the poison from the fish and dropping it into the tank that was right beside the desk, letting the fishes begin swimming once again.
"Good job Hiruko. That was a good test of skill… wanna go hang out with Orochimaru? I saw him while I was tracking Jiraya."
Hiruko took the words differently, 'Am I not enough that she wants to hang out with Orochimaru?', but he didn't let it show on his face or in his words. Like the poison hidden in the fish, he kept his poison hidden.
"Oh? What's he doing?"
"Erm… If I recall correctly, he was practicing the fireball jutsu… apparently he asked that to the third as his gift for coming first in the academy sparring tournaments."
"Is that so…" Hiruko suddenly felt saddened.
'I can never win those fights with my frail physique…'
'If only I had the physique of the Senju or the Uchiha… then things would be different.'
"Hiruko?" Tsunade asked again, seeing the weird expression on Hiruko's face.
"Haha~ Let's go to Orochimaru then!" Hiruko said, masking his pain with a decent smile on his face.
"Yosha!! Let's go!!" Tsunade said all fired up as they both walked over to Orochimaru's training ground.
Orochimaru, who was resting and consolidating his gains, frowned upon the entry of the two people he knew.
"What is it this time Tsunade? I don't know where Jiraya went."
"Let's spar!!" Tsunade suddenly shouted, charging at Orochimaru with the intent to kill him, albeit in a friendly way if that was even possible.
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with passion as he braced himself for the punch Tsunade was about to throw at him.
Hiruko on the side tried to join in several times, but each time he even thought of joining, Orochimaru's gaze flickered towards him and stopped him dead in his tracks.
Even then, within minutes the fight was well beyond what he could hope to accomplish with his frail body.
'They're moving so fast!'
'Are they already at chunin level?'
'If only I had a body like Tsunade…'
'Even just Orochimaru would be fine…'
'No… even just Jiraya would be fine…'
'Why can't I have a better body?'
'Is there really no way for me to improve myself?'
'No!'
'I will have the perfect body! An immortal body with immortal techniques to go along with it!'
'I will become the epitome of perfection!'