Chapter 3: Naruto and Hiroki

-3rd Person POV-

Naruto often experiences being hated by the village by the time he was born. Unable to understand why the village seems to hate him and call him a Demon.

Often bullied by adults and children alike, he would try to ask questions yet only given a cold shoulder or in the worst case, either being mocked or thrown stones to make him go away.

Sometimes villagers even go as far as beating up the child yet for some reason, Naruto would find them well-behaved the next day, only to glare at him at a distance.

His thinking was still childlike and often felt the resentment of the Villagers, at the same time trying to understand why all of the Villagers seemed to distance themselves from him.

Children don't want to play with him, adults wanting to beat him up but unable to, and the Ninjas often provide necessities yet glare at him as if they hated this kind of job. Only some though as others would see pity or trying to comfort him but unable to.

Naruto kept trying to show anger at the life he was given, yet the moment the emotional build-up of rage started to consume him, it slowly began to disappear at the last moment, unable to lash out his grievances. He couldn't understand why all the negative emotions he had in his heart just randomly disappeared but he felt he didn't need to question it and just move on with life.

But!

For the first 5 years of his life, he finally has a friend....or he has forcefully friended. Mainly because he often saw this kid being alone just like him.

While he is alone due to the villagers hatred of him, his friend is often alone mainly because the people don't notice him to a point where he is often ignored.

For Naruto who was desperate in wanting to have a friend, even desperate enough to try and learn Forbidden Techniques to summon demons themselves just to be friends with him, began to interact with the boy who was different from the other kids.

While the children in the village hated him because he was often being called a demon by the village, the boy just hated him because he didn't want to interact with him at all.

He would view Naruto as an annoyance rather than a demon, often avoiding him because he didn't want to talk to anyone, even Naruto himself. But Naruto suddenly realizes that this kid didn't seem to call him a fox demon yet only hates him because he was just annoying. Feeling that this kid could be his first friend if he tried hard enough.

So, Naruto gave a bright idea of befriending this person to a point where he would accept Naruto as his friend.

And he succeeded!

Naruto definitely didn't blackmail him or anything, such as revealing his secret base and tunneling areas around the village. He would never scam his only friend to the higher-ups and definitely didn't ask where he knows how to do so from an old man.

Naruto is stupid and a prankster.

He just politely asks the old man to learn how to befriend(blackmail) a boy his age and even starts reading books to learn how to befriend someone even though he hates reading. The old man would often ask Naruto about his friend yet he didn't want to reveal much since that kid wasn't his friend yet and even if he did, he won't since he promised that he won't reveal his secrets with anyone, even to those he knows.

Hiroki is his only friend and he was afraid that he would hate him if he broke his promise.

"I will never break a promise, dattebayo!"

Naruto promises Hiroki. That was his ninja way.

Plus, Hiroki was so resourceful that he often received meals and even toys from him that he didn't want to betray his friend.

Did that old man provide Naruto with money and toys? Hiroki even gives him a full-course meal with all sorts of delicious foods and snacks that he is definitely not being bribed by Hiroki at all. Naruto is an honest child.

Hiroki even provided Naruto with tools and equipment to help him train in being a Ninja such as weights to increase his strength, a ninja obstacle course that trains his skills and even builds puppets that Hiroki calls them 'Iron Golems' to be used in fighting.

That Old Man might have given him emotional comfort but Hiroki was helping him achieve his dream in being a Hokage.

"You are my friend Naruto. As long as you achieve your dream, you're also helping me out as well." Hiroki told Naruto that he was born to help out people but was too weak to become a Ninja. So, seeing Naruto who wants to become Hokage, he decided to help Naruto achieve that.

Naruto feels sad since both of them were in different classes and can't be together even if they graduate but promises him to make his life's goal to become Hokage and help people whenever he can.

Their friendship became close as they continued to interact more but their lives changed one day as Naruto came to their Secret Base but found out that the place was empty with only Hiroki packing stuff in his backpack.

"Hiroki? Are you leaving?" Seeing how Hiroki was packing up and preparing to leave, Naruto felt sad since it's been 3 years since they were friends. Hiroki even made durable gloves with metal plates on his fist for Naruto on his birthday and a cake which he loves. So, seeing his friend leaving saddens him as he didn't want Hiroki to leave.

"Yup. The world is massive and there are so many places for me to go. The danger is also there but I'll get through it eventually. Though I'll miss this place and the friend I have here, there are so many people to help around the world that I can't do anything while trapped in a safe place. So this Miner's job is to dig around the world and help as many people as I can."

Hiroki didn't want to reveal the truth to Naruto as he has been investigating a certain clan which was about to go extinct and the sense of saving innocent lives was his priority over trying to comfort his childhood friend.

While he slowly bonded with this blond-haired kid, he was secretly risking his life, saving as many people as he could. He was given the ability to do so and while the being that gave him these powers didn't tell him to save lives, Hiroki believed that he was given these powers to do good and even if it wasn't, he would still do so as it is his nature.

When he saved some ninjas who was sent to die by Danzo, he ended up risking his safety just to save them. Seeing the sense of helping others, Hiroki's belief had grown stronger as he didn't want this dark world to torture lives because of some manipulation was going on in the shadows.

He didn't want to stick to one place just to be biased in one village, he needed to go outside and help others in need.

This wasn't a mission, order or obligation. It was his will to take on this responsibility.

'This time, I want to make the world a happy place. For Naruto, for the people and for myself.'

And this starts with changing the life of a certain emo kid and a guilty older brother who was manipulated by old men who had been in the seat for too long.