June 13th - nearly eight years after the Kyubi attacked.

The past eight months were a blast for both Haku and Naruto. The young blond never had a friend his age. With Haku around he finally had someone to play with. Never in his life was he happier. And it truly showed itself in the garden of the Senju cottage. It literally was a paradise.

Haku felt the same as the Senju heir did. Despite living in a small village, she was by far the youngest child there. Not that she wanted to be reminded of that place. But living with Tsunade and Shizune made her forget about those times.

At first Tsunade her relationship with Tsunade was a little cold compared to the one she had with both Shizune and Jiraiya. It was strictly a student-teacher relationship. Well that was until Haku proved herself to be a genius in the art of medical ninjutsu and her opening up about her past. After Tsunade heard how her father killed her mother and how Haku in turn killed him in self-defense, Tsunade let her wall crumble. She already had Naruto in her life, maybe having a daughter in Haku wouldn't be so bad.

"So who's first?" Naruto asked. "You of course Naruto. After all you are the youngest here," Haku teased the young blond. It always bugged Naruto that Haku was nearly a year older than him. And boy did Haku tease him about it.

"She got you there Naruto," a cold voice added his two cent. "Oi. You are just as old as I am," came Naruto's reply, "If anything Haku is first. She is the only one who is eight." "Yeah but you're also the only one not born in the Land of Water here. Not to mention that his birthday is the day after tomorrow. After that you're the only one who's seven."

"I agree with her on that too Naruto."

"Damn you Kimimaro. We boys should stick together."

At that statement Haku just giggled at Naruto's reaction while the newest member of the group, Kimimaro, just stared blankly at him. And that was just a completely normal reaction from the boy. He just didn't talk or express his feelings very often.

Kimimaro was a boy around Naruto's age and taller than Naruto, which was quite the achievement considering how tall Naruto was for his age. He had shoulder length white hair, pale skin and vivid green eyes. The most eye-catching of his features were two red dots on his forehead. He currently wore a simple white, short sleeved shirt and simple black shinobi pants.

The boy was one, if not the last surviving member of the Kaguya Clan. The Kaguya Clan were a savage and battle hungry clan located in the Land of Water. A select few members possessed their bloodline, known as "Dead Bone Pulse". It let's those gifted with it produce and break down their own bones, as well as manipulate them.

It was a bloodline limit feared not only across the elemental nations, but also among the Kaguya Clan themselves. As a wielder of the bloodline, Kimimaru shared the same fate as the other users had. They were locked away, only released if the Clan needed them to kill.

For some odd reason the savage clan decided to attack Kirigakure and Kimimaro was released to kill. Considering that the Kaguya underestimated their enemy and the hatered Kirigakure hat for bloodline users, they were slaughtered till the last child. Kimimaro was the only survivor, escaping at the first chance he got. He didn't plan to die for the clan that mistreated him. He would be free. Ironic isn't it, that a child, feared by his own clan for his bloodline, was actually the gentlest soul.

Kimimaro had luck as he ran straight in the arms of Jiraiya. He was once again in the country to confirm the rumors about a resistance forming with the intent to remove Yagura from power. Sadly he didn't have any luck in discovering them. That's when he ran into the young Kaguya.

Jiraiya immediately recognised the young boy as one, the dots were a dead giveaway. 'So he must be a survivor huh.' Deciding to be friendly, the sage kindly asked "Hello my boy. Isn't it dangerous to be all alone in the forest?"

No answer. Just a blank stare as an answer. But Jiraiya recognised the look in his eyes. 'First Haku, now this child. What is it with this country and children feeling hopeless,' thought the pervert. 'Tsunade is going to kill me, but I can't really let him be alone. Imagine someone like Orochimarut getting his hands on him.' "You know a forest isn't a place for a child to be alone. If you want I can take you somewhere more safe. Giving you a new home."

After a short moment of silence, Jiraiya continued "My time is limited you know. If you want you can come with me." With that being sad Jiraiya went on his way till he heard the voice of the boy for the first time.

"You're not going to lock me inside a cage like an animal?"

'Dead Bone Pulse. How interesting. If he is like the rest of his clan, Tsunade is going to kill me for bringing someone so dangerous to her to raise. But those eyes…' Jiraiya turned his head over his shoulder "Why should I? I don't see an animal. Just a young boy that could need some help," he finished and continued on his way.

As he heard the tiny footsteps running behind him to catch up, he just hoped that he wasn't like the rest of his clan. But his fears vanished rather quickly as the young boy shyly looked at him and introduced himself "My name is Kimimaro, sir. Kimimaro of …"

"... the Kaguya Clan. I recognised your marks immediately. Well kid I'm Jiraiya."

"The legendary Sannin?" "Oh you heard of me? The one and only."

Kimimaro couldn't believe it. He gained his freedom, met a legendary shinobi like Jiraiya, who wasn't afraid of him and would be taken to a new home. This was the best day of his life. But he was scared that Jiraiya would leave him, or that it would only be a dream and he would awake in his cell, Kimimaro clutched on Jiraiya's hands.

While Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at this, he figured that the boy was scarred. At this moment he knew that Kimimaro wasn't like the rest of his peers. He was a polite, shy and sweet young boy. Hopefully Tsunade did see this too.

And she did. At first she was a little bit worried that the young boy would be a danger to her children but after he politely introduced himself, she decided to at least give him a chance. After he lived there for a week, both Tsunade and Shizune adored the shy and quiet boy. He always helped in the household and always tried to make himself useful. He was a true sweetheart.

Now Naruto and Haku immediately took a liking to the white haired boy. Naruto bonded with him due to Kimimaro's love of plants and Haku could understand the pain he felt. Although his bloodline scarred Haku a little bit, Naruto thought it to be the coolest thing in the world.

There was one incident where Kimimaro showed the savageness that was part of his blood. During a spar with Naruto against Jiraiya, the old man was a little rough to the young blond. Now Kimimaro became highly protective of both Naruto and Haku and fell into some kind of bloodrush. He saw red and wanted to hurt the toad sage. Thankfully both Naruto and Haku could calm him down.

But back to the present. Naruto pouted at the other boy. He should be on his side dammit. "Ara is Naruto angry at Kimimaro?" Haku loved to tease her first friend. He was just so cute if he blushed.

"That's not it," Naruto stuttered with a blush, "it's just that I thought that he would be on my side. I mean girls are kinda weird."

"So I'm weird?" Haku asked with irritation.

"No of course not," Naruto hastily replied. Kimimaro just stood beside the scene, wondering why his two friends were so weird. "It's just the only other girl I met that was about our age also blushed a lot. And she was stuttering a lot."

"Other girl?," Kimimaro asked. Haku was also curious. Who was the other girl in Naruto's life.

"I only met her once. It was even before I even met you Haku. Grandma, Zune and I were at Daimyo's palace. I was bored so I walked around in the garden. This girl, she had really weird eyes, was harassed by 3 older boys. I just stepped in to stop them. After that she just stammered her thanks and apologised how she was as weak as her father thought she was. She seemed to be really down but cheered up after I told her that you're only as weak as you choose to be."

"You're only as weak as you choose to be. That sounds too smart to come from you. Who said that Naruto?" Kimimaro asked his friend. "Uncle Tobi of course. Anyway after that I heard Zune searching for me. So we split off."

"Do you remember her name?"

"Not really Kimimaro. I think it was Hi-something."

Haku was kinda down hearing how he safed another girl. Despite feeling proud for what he did, her stomach was acting weird. Why couldn't he have saved her instead? "I guess our little hero needs a small reward."

"Oi who do call little Haku. I'm tall…" Naruto went completely red as an equally red Haku kissed his cheek.

While Kimimaro once again asked himself, why his friends were so weird, a certain author was chuckling perversely from the roof of the cottage. 'Despite your young age, you are a goldmine my boy. Oh Minato you would be so proud,' the man thought while taking notes in his notebook.

"What are you doing Jiraiya?" and he knew he was in trouble. "Well I'm… You know Tsunade I'm...," he knew it was over. Tsunade stood right beside him, cracking her knuckles and looked at him menacily. It was beating Jiraiya would never forget.

AN: And another chapter is done. Nothing major happened besides Kimimaro joining the crew. Just like Haku, Kimimaro is such an interesting and underused character. Those three will be our main cast for the rest of the story.

Other than that the only thing this chapter did, was setting up Hinata to be like her canon counterpart. I mean I needed to have a meeting between her and Naruto. Otherwise there would be no logical explanation for her to turn out the same way as in canon.

So that's it. Thank you for the attention, drop a review if you want to and stay tuned.