As Ginjiro walked back to his apartment he couldn't help but grin slightly. As much as he would rather just ignore his bullies it felt good to stand up for once. Much better than standing back and letting them assault him verbally.

He knew for sure his newfound confidence came from the news that he was a prodigy. No matter what horror stories about child soldiers they told him he would always have that to his name. Something more than the simple graves laying side by side in a cheap plot.

The Akiba family had no standing. His father was a merchant and his mother a kunoichi. What little money and possessions they owned were not his until he either became a chunin or turned eighteen.

His parents had no connections and no friends. Or... at least not any that were willing to take him in.

So he was raised in the orphanage alongside several other children. One of them being Naruto.

When they turned five and were deemed capable of caring for themselves they were given an apartment and joined the academy. They were young and put at a disadvantage but managed to stay afloat. They had to, they were the village freaks. Too strange looking with their unnatural features.

Meeting Iruka-sensei had helped of course. He, like all the other villagers, disliked Naruto at first. But the man never let it get in the way of teaching them. He showed them the correct katas and helped them with their chakra control as best he could.

But the class was large and his assistant had no problem messing with the two. Mizuki-sensei often marked Naruto wrong even when he was right. Or asked him questions he definitely did not know the answer to.

And he took one look at Ginjiro, who always stood protectively in front of Naruto with his gangly limbs and skinny body, and named him a troublemaker. A label that Ginjiro,calm tempered as he was, definitely did not deserve.

Mizuki-sensei had never been up to any good. Hokage-Jii-sama had said the man simply disliked them and not to let it bother them. But as far as he could tell they were the only students Mizuki-sensei messed with. In fact, Naruto was hated by most of the village. A topic Jii-sama had avoided whenever it was brought up.

He shrugged aside his thoughts and walked to the only grocery store that would sell to them, remembering that they were out of milk. Knowing Naruto he would probably come home late after talking with Iruka-sensei and setting up some pranks.

-----

Ginjiro was awoken by a series of quick knocks on his front door. He stood up grumbling. If this was Naruto because he forgot his keys again he would noogie the smaller boy into the ground.

He opened the door, yawning and scratching his head, ready to administer a fresh noogie to his younger brother only to stop in shock.

"Iruka-sensei?!"