After living there for a while, I discovered that the children of the Hidden Leaf Village never came near the orphan housing area, much less played with outsiders like me. Their gazes were full of contempt. Having lost their parents, the orphans lacked courage. Perhaps they had once resisted being stared down by the village children, but in the end, they now generally stayed in their little rooms except when they went out to eat. That left me with nothing to do all day but recall my family's faces.
One day, just as I headed out to eat, Jiraiya appeared in front of me. I hadn't seen him in ages. Without giving me a chance to say anything, he took me to a little restaurant. I could guarantee that it was the best meal I had eaten since coming here. Afterward, Jiraiya asked whether I wanted to become a ninja. He told me that if I attended school, I could eat there for free every day, and once I became a ninja, I could grow strong, earn lots of money, and eat delicious food all the time. I thought it over. I had nothing to do all day anyway, and becoming a ninja was my only way to grow strong and find a way home, so I agreed.
I took the recommendation form Jiraiya had given me to enroll at the ninja academy. A long line of children around my age waited at the registration desk. Among them, I spotted many familiar faces-orphans I had seen before. There were also plenty I didn't recognize. From the way they looked at us, I knew they were children from the Hidden Leaf Village.
My registration went smoothly, but when the classes were assigned, I wasn't placed with the other orphans. Instead, I