Chapter 76 White-haired Fool
"Wow, it really is..."
"I told you, didn't I? That guy's a pervert!"
Haruko and Tsunade crouched in the bushes, watching intently as Jiraiya tried every means to spy on the bathhouse from the opposite side.
“His legs are so short, he definitely can’t climb up,” Haruko Hayama commented.
Tsunade said confidently, "I bet ten dollars he'll definitely lose!"
Unexpectedly, after Jiraiya realized he couldn't climb over, he rummaged around in his pocket and pulled out a stick-like object. He then poked it along the crack in the wall, and surprisingly, he actually managed to poke a hole that revealed the inside.
"Damn it! You pervert, why did you think of so many ways to spy on me?!"
Enraged, Tsunade rushed out and gave Jiraiya a hard knock on the head.
Haruko Hayama tried to stop her, but Tsunade ran too fast and couldn't catch her, which also caused Haruko Hayama to be exposed.
Jiraiya covered his head and stubbornly said, "What do you know, you washboard!"
"What did you say……"
Tsunade transformed into a horned demon with a ferocious expression, panting heavily, and approached him step by step.
"That brat! You need to take care of her!" Jiraiya frantically asked Haruko Hayama for help.
Haruko Hayama, who was called a brat: "...I didn't see anything."
In the end, Jiraiya was severely beaten by Tsunade and lay on the ground unable to move.
Haruko squatted down next to him and poked him with her finger. "Tsunade, it looks like you killed him."
Upon hearing her words, Tsunade kicked Jiraiya in the butt, sending him flying a meter away while screaming and clutching his backside.
She replied smugly, "I told you I knew what I was doing!"
Jiraiya's eyes were brimming with tears, but he held them back, gritting his teeth as he threatened them, "You'll all regret this!"
"...He looked like a white hedgehog that wanted to cry but remained stubborn." Haruko Hayama found it a bit strange.
Upon hearing this, Tsunade nodded vigorously as if she had discovered a new world.
"Who wants to cry? I won't cry!" Jiraiya stood up shakily.
But seeing that Tsunade looked like she was about to rush up and hit him again, he quickly raised his hands and feet to protect his body.
Tsunade scoffed, "Coward!"
Haruko Hayama chimed in, "Hedgehogs are all timid; we have to understand that."
Jiraiya couldn't take it anymore, "You just wait!"
Then he ran away.
...What a vicious villain's lines.
Haruko was speechless. She stood up and said to Tsunade, "Tsunade, would you like to come to my house?"
"Eh? Is that okay?" Tsunade looked at her expectantly.
“Of course!” Haruko Hayama stepped forward and took her hand.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi returned home after finishing his mission, he found that there was an extra child in his house.
Hearing his voice as he returned, Haruko peeked out from the kitchen. "Hiruzen, that's my friend Tsunade."
Tsunade greeted him energetically, "Hey! I'm the beautiful Tsunade!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't mind her carefree attitude and said with a smile, "Tsunade, don't be shy, relax."
He recognized the child with the ponytail; she was Tsunade, the granddaughter of the current Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Haruko currently only knows how to prepare ingredients in a simple way, so if Hiruzen Sarutobi is away on a mission and won't be back for a while, she will go into the kitchen first to prepare the ingredients.
Taking a spoonful of rice, Tsunade asked curiously, "Haruko, is he your father?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi spilled the soup he was drinking. After taking the tissue Haruko handed him, he wiped his mouth and forced a smile.
"Do I look that old?"
Haruko suppressed a laugh. "Hiruzen is like an older brother to me because he doesn't want to be my father."
"Huh?" Tsunade was a little confused.
“When I was little, Hiruzen found me and raised me. I even took other people’s advice and called him Dad, but Hiruzen said it made him look old and forbade me from using that term.”
"I see. I also really want to find a cute little sister like Haruko."
Tsunade couldn't help but fantasize about how wonderful it would be if she had a younger sister or brother.
Hearing the two children's innocent words, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.
This reminded him of his encounter with Haruko in the rain...
Having just finished his mission, Hiruzen Sarutobi hurried home, only to see a child huddled in a corner on the way.
He jumped down in front of the child, squatted down, and asked in a soft voice, "Little one, why don't you go home and stay here?"
The child, who had been keeping his head down, heard his kind tone and quietly raised his innocent eyes to look at him.
"I...I have no home."
The weak, small voice made Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart tighten. This was not a peaceful era; war raged everywhere, and it was common for stray children to appear in villages.
His gaze swept over her thin body and rumpled clothes, and Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart softened. He reached out his hand, "Would you like to come home with me?"
The child stared at him for a few seconds, then finally raised his cold hand and placed it on his large hand, which then completely enveloped the child's hand.
Such warm hands...
"Little one, do you have a name?"
"My name is... Haruko Hayama."
"You can't remember anything else, but you still remember your own name. You're quite a strange kid."
...
Because of Haruko's enthusiastic invitation, Tsunade readily agreed to stay overnight at their house.
At night, the two children lay snuggled together on the same bed.
"What is Tsunade's family like?" Haruko Hayama asked curiously.
Tsunade answered without hesitation, "They are all incredibly powerful people! Especially my grandfather, he is the current Hokage!"
"Eh? The Hokage! Tsunade's grandfather is the Hokage?" Haruko Hayama exclaimed in surprise.
"Only you idiot Haruko don't know, almost everyone in the village knows."
"That's great! Will Tsunade become Hokage someday?"
"I want to be Hokage! But Grandpa said that only those who are strong enough to protect everyone in the village and are recognized and loved by the villagers can become Hokage. It seems so difficult." Tsunade looked troubled.
“But I think Tsunade is so amazing, she will definitely become Hokage in the future!” Haruko Hayama was inexplicably full of confidence in her.
"Really? Thank you, Haruko!" Tsunade kicked the blanket excitedly. "And Haruko, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Hmm... I want to become a powerful ninja and then earn money to support Hiruzen in his old age? Does that count?" Haruko Hayama asked uncertainly.
"That's quite an ambitious dream!" Although Tsunade thought the dream was a bit strange, she was happy to support her good friend's idea.
Haruko couldn't help but ask again, "What kind of person is the Hokage-sama?"
"Haruko, are you bothered by this?"
"Yes! Because I've heard many people say that the Hokage is an extraordinary person! Hiruzen also said that he admires the Hokage very much."
"Grandpa is a straightforward person, and... well... he's a bit of a crybaby?" Tsunade said tentatively after thinking for a moment.
"A crybaby?"
Haruko Hayama clearly had no idea that the respected Hokage was actually a crybaby in private.
Tsunade recalled: "Because Grandpa always had a sad expression on his face, Grandma said that if he looked upset, it meant he was about to cry, so Grandpa must have been a crybaby!"
Hashirama Senju, who never cries but only sighs: ?
"As expected of the Hokage." Haruko praised him without thinking, unaware of Ming Li's true intentions.
That night, both children slept soundly.
The next day at school.
"Aaaaaah—!"
Tsunade jumped three meters away, her face pale. When Haruko Hayama, who had accompanied her to her classroom, came up to her, she quickly hid in Haruko Hayama's arms.
"What's wrong, Tsunade?" Haruko asked worriedly.
Tsunade buried her head in Haruko's arms, her finger trembling as she pointed to the drawer, "A snake...it's a snake!"
Haruko looked closely in the morning and found a small, green snake coiled up in the drawer.
Haruko Hayama, who was also afraid of snakes, turned pale the moment she saw them and quickly led Tsunade back a few steps.
"Hmph, this is the price you pay for underestimating me!"
Jiraiya swaggered towards them with an air of superiority.
Tsunade instantly shed her fear, her expression changing drastically, the rage in her eyes almost materializing. "Jiraiya!!!"
After being bullied by two little girls yesterday, Jiraiya was determined to get revenge.
"But how should we get revenge on them..."
Jiraiya walked down the street, deep in thought, determined to come up with a prank so outrageous that they would never dare to show off in front of him again.
Jiraiya suddenly stopped in his tracks. He noticed a small, green snake hissing and flicking its tongue on a deserted path beside him.
"This is simply divine intervention!"
He eagerly picked up the snake, "But this snake is quite docile; it didn't even run away."
"But isn't it a bit inappropriate to use this on a girl..." Jiraiya hesitated, but in the end, his desire to get revenge on Tsunade won out. "Never mind, I'm going to make sure Tsunade remembers this lesson!"
After Jiraiya ran off happily, another person appeared on the once quiet path.
"That idiot Jiraiya never even considered that there might be snakes on the street."
Orochimaru watched Jiraiya's departing figure, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.
He recalled Haruko, that chattering idiot from the morning.
I should have been quite happy without her interference, but... that girl actually got together with Tsunade from our class.
Tsunade goes without saying; as the Hokage's granddaughter, she's somewhat worth befriending. But even a clueless idiot like Jiraiya can get close to her, showing she has absolutely no ability to select people who are useful to her.
It was incredibly stupid of me to have befriended her because of the level of skill she displayed!
Haruko Hayama is like a dark history to Orochimaru. Seeing her flaunting herself in front of others always makes Orochimaru feel uncomfortable.
Consider this a lesson for her; she should stay away from these shady characters...
Jiraiya was not only used as a pawn by Orochimaru, but also beaten up by Tsunade. In particular, when his teacher found out, he was made to stay behind and copy texts as punishment, leaving Jiraiya utterly devastated.
"It was clearly that airport that targeted me first, so why am I the only one being punished!"
Jiraiya slammed his pen on the table in a fit of anger. He hated being punished by copying texts; he was someone who couldn't sit still at all.
Tap, tap, tap.
A cautious, light tapping sound came from the glass window.
Jiraiya turned around and saw that it was Haruko Hayama, one of the culprits who had made him copy the text as punishment.
Because of her height, she seemed to be standing on tiptoe, and Jiraiya could see her swaying back and forth through the glass window.
"What on earth are you doing?" Jiraiya said, speechless.
Haruko raised her hand and beckoned to him, signaling him to come over.
"Huh?" Jiraiya asked, puzzled, but he still obediently walked to the glass window.
He instinctively took into account Haruko's height, opened the glass window, and leaned out to see what she was up to.
Unexpectedly, Haruko whispered, "Jiraiya deserved it for bullying Tsunade."
"...You specifically asked me to come here just to insult me to my face?"
Jiraiya looked bewildered, completely unable to understand her strange thought process, and was almost amused by her antics.
Haruko explained to him with a serious expression, "I need to finish scolding Jiraiya before I can talk to him normally."
"What do you mean?" If Jiraiya hadn't seen the serious look in her eyes, he would have thought she was playing a trick on him.
“Because Tsunade is very angry, she wants me to share her hatred.” Haruko Hayama said while rummaging through her backpack, “So I have to scold Jiraiya first before I can talk to him.”
Jiraiya truly didn't understand the inexplicable friendship between girls, and he couldn't help but feel grateful that he was a boy.
Finally finding the only rice ball in his backpack, Haruko Hayama held out her hand and handed it to him, saying, "Here, take this."
Jiraiya was taken aback for a moment, then awkwardly turned his head away, "I don't want your charity."
“It’s not charity, it’s an apology!” Haruko Hayama raised her voice unconsciously when she heard his refusal.
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