-Why the f*ck did I have to feed Naruto!? Isn't the 3rd doing that already!?...(Yeah, no. He clearly isn't doing that either... Then, where the h*ll are my dead relatives taxes going towards? It sure as h*ll isn't going towards my orphanage! That shrewd old man! I hate him more every passing year!...Wait... Isn't Danzo somewhat in charge of Konoha's budget? If that is true, that would somehow explain  a lot more things about Kabuto's backstory and my current circumstances... Evil prick.)

Homura left Ichiraku ramen quite salty for having to have to pay for Naruto's portion of the bill, especially since he did not eat nearly as much as the other party did.

So while going back home, and having nothing else to do for the day...Homura could not help himself but curse Naruto's name on the way back to pass the time.

-D*mn you, Naruto! I swear one day...I will make you pay!...just you wait...my anger has no limits! You should never mess with someone that will awaken the SHA-! (Sh*t! I shouldn't be saying this stuff out loud... Shinobis are pretty much just peeping toms... who knows who might be listening...or watching me!)

No one was watching but paranoia is a hard thing to get rid of, especially when you have things you want to hide.

...But it wasn't wrong per se...Anyone who watched the anime knows that the Hokage himself, the highest authority within the village was a master at peeping on people himself.

So was it fair for Homura, to make such a statement?...who knows at this point?

-Hm? Tomorrow I should visit Akane-baa chan in regards to what I want to ask her...but I wonder how I should go about that... should I be more honest or insidious?... I can never be too careful with her...but she is the only person who seems to listen to me... sad.

Homura had gotten really close to her the past year or so while training with Takao and visited several times the house of the elderly woman and her grandson...but he mainly went there to eat a free meal.

Not that it mattered to the elderly woman, she was content to have company in the house and did find Homura to be quite a funny boy.

She had realized that the boy and her grandson were very similar, but the boy was far more mature in other aspects.

Which made her feel a bit saddened by such a thing since she has no concrete idea as to what might have happened, for him to be forced to partially grow so early.

But to Homura, her reasons for treating him well...did not matter in the least.

He neither cared nor knew what made her become more open with him.

To him, this just meant that she had become friendlier and he could perhaps use this leverage to gain something out of it in the future... but he did come to have a sweet spot for the old lady. She was the most stable person he knew, and a certain amount of life stability that made him feel at ease.

She was not a little kid, nor just another orphan, nor a little hyperactive moron, nor the pariah of the village, nor a future terrorist, nor a stressed young woman taking care of a bunch of kids, nor a man obsessed with not losing his youth, nor a man suffering from survivor's guilt and depression, nor a man that was troubled about the future of their clan, nor a closeted pervert of an old fart carrying the fate of an entire military village resting on his shoulders.

So, he almost felt like he was at home when he went to Takao's house.

It was a way for him to forget his messed-up circles of weird acquaintances that he had managed to form... somehow.

Going to her house was a way for him to relax and forget his life.

Which was now more than ever thanks to the secret passage, he found with Takao's help.

- Hey, Homura-nii! Sister Kasumi said she wanted to talk to you!(???)

-  Huh?! To me!? Are you sure, Ki-chan (Kimie)?...- said Homura to a young girl that intercepted him as he was about to go inside the orphanage.

The girl that had intercepted Homura was one among the many children that resided within the orphanage.

- Yes! She told me and the others when we're playing outside to tell you; if we ever saw you coming in. (Kimie)

As soon as Homura arrived at the orphanage, a young girl called out to him.

The young girl was younger than himself and had a very bright smile.

The most shocking part was that he actually remembered her name.

This could not be said to be a small feat, since he didn't remember a lot of the other orphan's names.

But Homura, tried or pretended to fancy himself to be a gentleman in some weird way and tried to remember the name of all the girls...so in other words, he was deep down just a closet creep/pervert.

But it wasn't that he had a thing for kids or anything of the like, he was not that twisted.

However, he once had a very huge collection of 2D NSFW material... sadly he wasn't aware that his skill could recreate the image inside his head... Sadly for him, even if he did it, they would all become 3d and adjusted to somewhat look like things in his reality leaving him a lot to desire.

Although he liked 3d very much, he LOVED 2D more!!! His heart would never agree to sully his precious memories this way.

- I see thank you for telling me that; here's for you.

He gave her candy that grandma Akane gives him from time to time.

It was a bit too sugary for his tastes but because Takao likes cr*p like that, she had no other choice but to buy those and give some away when Homura came to visit.

He himself did not really want to offend her by denying her kindness so he just took them with him, whenever she offered... so these days he had always a few leftovers inside his pockets; whom he would eat whenever he was hungry or just gave them to Naruto... in order to earn some friendship points.

But he was also afraid that by doing so much, he may become a sacrificial pawn to make the little lad stronger in his path to save the world... but it was a risk worth taking, at least for now.

-Thanks Homura-nii! Do you have more? (Kimie)

- More? (I swear orphans are ruthless...give them a hand and who knows what they will take next)((Author: This is just a joke don't take it personally. Apologies for all this horrible attempt at a joke has offended))

- So that I can give to Rumi-chan and Kenna-nee! (Kimie)- she smiled kindly at Homura.

- *sigh* here you go...(People like her are my kryptonite... She makes me feel like a bad person and paranoid...)

- Thanks!!!(Kimie)

The young girl left as soon as she got her candies, leaving Homura behind and watching as she left towards somewhere else.

-...(That was something else... but what the h*ll does Sister Kasumi wants with me this time?... It's never a good thing when she wants to see me!)

The last time, when he really, but really heard from her, was when he refused to get a haircut... it was a rough first couple of months.

Sister Kasumi could not give up so easily.

If one orphan just suddenly refused to get a haircut... who knows how far down the rabbit hole this whole thing might have escalated; so they had to strike a compromise... between both parties.

He would get a haircut and it could be one that was quite long, but she had to choose.

So this is how the whole mess of him looking a bit like a girl started.

She had thought that he would give up but she underestimated how stubborn Homura could be even if he was annoyed by being mistaken for a girl all over the place.

This had nothing to do with the haircut but he did more or less look like Itachi, who himself looked a lot like Mikoto... and since he was still young, plus the long hair... his boyish traits were not immediately apparent to save his ass from ridicule.

He had already heard everything he could from Naruto, but the kid was very simple-minded in his beliefs... no wonder he got tricked by Haku.

It was what Homura thought in order to dismiss his worries.

- (Should I run now and come back later?...*sigh* it would be just a waste of time and more house chores down the line... what is it going to be this time?)

Homura could not put the finger on what Sister Kasumi could want to talk to him about this time, that he was so close to taking the entrance exam for the academy.

He had overall been a well-behaved child as of late, so as to not incur her wrath.

-...If this was a manga, this would be the time the hero finds a secret about himself... your grandfather is the unsung hero of the* insert generic-sounding war* or you possess the very rare power of the* insert generic-sounding op ability*... but that's too good to be true... and I already have the latter one... I also more or less know who I am...*sigh* I just hope it's going to be quick this time.

Homura did not expect much from this meeting.

The fact that no one knew anything about him could only mean that he came from a very long line of fodder mob characters... maybe they were quite gifted but they were still fodder nonetheless... so there was nothing to expect further besides the fact that he had somehow messed up again or did something wrong.

Chapter end