Seeing the younger version of Kimimaro and Haku kneeling in front of me left me baffled for a long while, and when the old man locked me inside with them didn’t make the situation any better.

It was an awkward reunion, as I didn’t know how to speak with them or where we should start. Hiruzen mentioned they were clan vassals, and as far as I was concerned with some clan history, clanless orphans didn’t get clan vassals. Only powerful clans could get that privilege.

But I’ve been told that I was clanless, and I was sure since I didn’t possess any sort of bloodline in me. My parents’ background was a complete mystery, as they abandoned me in an orphanage as a baby near Kusagakure’s border before unmarked shinobis took me to the secretive organization known as Root.

And those two were as clueless as me regarding the supposed powerful clan I was part of, they only knew that they must serve and protect me since they were toddlers, however, they received help from an anonymous benefactor to finally find me and fulfill their generational duty.

There were too many questions to take Hiruzen’s words at face value and by the way he treated me moments ago, it was more than clear that I would not get any answers, and that was infuriating. 

But I would not lash out at them. In the most fucked up scenario, someone have brainwashed them to become my servants, which still made little sense, but it could be some sort of farfetched explanation.

So after the quick introductions, I should have spoken about my own life, but my life was technically non-existent. It was disturbing to try to recall childhood memories, and nothing came to mind. And Haku was a girl, at least that was what she told me, so I was going to take her word for it and wait for the passage of time to fully confirm it.

Moving on with my thoughts, I had to explain what they should expect once we were back home and then spend an unnecessary long time calling for the old man to let me out and return home and two pairs of eyes staring at me in confusion didn’t help the situation.

At least my request was heard when a masked bird Anbu opened the door and let us out, but the old man was nowhere to be seen and the Anbu just said that he would escort us back home since it was getting late and the skies were getting darker.

How considerate of him.

The return was silent and slow, rather than jumping and using the roofs we just walked through the streets, which earned a couple or weird looks coming my way.

A little kid with two kids following close with their gaze down. I had to correct them with their posture fast, but I knew rumors and gossip spread faster than light. 

Once we reached our home, we left our sandals at the entrance and made our way to the kitchen since I had a hunch that they were hungry but weren’t voicing it since servants couldn’t bother their master.

When we entered the kitchen, I had to invite them in and offer them seats. It was oddly cute to see them curiously checking my home. And my heart fluttered a bit when I handed them a pair of apple juice boxes and was drinking it from the straw, their eyes widening in surprise before they practically slurped the entire thing and left the crumbled box on the table. 

It was cute but also sad to see their eyes gain so much color and life with only juice that was bought in a convenience store. I knew their background history, but I didn’t know how much happened to them since they were already with me. But they came from a war-torn country, so I couldn’t be a quick judge and try to be some sort of psychologist.

Their gaze turned to me with the same joy, expecting something else from me.

And since I already gave them a drink, it was only fair I would give them a little snack. After all, we were a couple of hours away from dinner.

Going back to the fridge and opening, I was both glad and annoyed at Naru terrible eating habits, with her large allowance she bought whatever she wanted to eat in bulk and quickly get bored with the taste so she store her food on the fridge and forget about them until we need to throw it away since it spoiled.

At least we had a full fridge.

I grabbed a pair of sweet rolls to give them and went to grab a spoon before handing them their sweets, since I had a hunch that they would eat them with their bare hands.

Just like the juice, they devoured it instantly and excitedly.

They were truly kids, even if they claimed they had a generational duty to serve. I couldn’t help but doubt they actually knew what to do or what their sacred duty entailed. But I could always teach them and correct any mistake along the way.

 It could be a fun experience.

But I was still mad at the secrecy and shocking the problems at me without caring of my opinion.

“Why are you upset, kid? Weren’t you complaining about the lack of servants earlier today?”

I jumped in fright from my chair and almost stumbled down to the floor, but thankfully I reacted in time to grab the table's edge and prevent my fall. The little mini heart attack was still beating hard in my chest as I looked up to the person responsible for my short misfortune. 

The very familiar long and spiky white hair was a dead giveaway if it wasn’t the older face with long red lines painted under his black eyes. Or the very provocative smug smile he was wearing while staring me down with.

With deep breaths, I could calm myself down and slowly get up, and glare at him, “This is different! It’s just weird the way I got them.”

The old shinobi looked at the two kids quietly watching the scene unfold. “You shouldn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.”

After he spoke, he walked up to them and leaned closer towards Kimimaro, his brow narrowing for a moment. Action that didn’t go unnoticed by me, but his silence only caused my heart to beat faster again as my mind raced for the sudden action.

“How could I not? The situation is very sketchy and I cannot help but worry that there are ulterior motives. I still didn’t know where I come from or who my parents were.” I spoke up to shift his attention to me. Which worked as he wasn’t looking at the Kaguya, who was getting uncomfortable, if the fidgeting wasn’t enough sign.

“You know they can hear you, right?” Jiraiya pointed at the kids, who were staring at us with blank looks, then they tilted their heads in unison as they looked at me. At least Kimimaro was nervous.

I let out a sigh. They knew of my discomfort and objections when they met me,  “What difference will it make?” 

Jiraiya rubbed his chin as he looked at the roof in thought, only to end with a mild shrug, “You made your point very clear. And I would be very suspicious if I were in your shoes, but you should trust the old man on this one. If he deems them safe enough to meet with you, then you shouldn’t overthink it.”

“I guess…” Jiraiya had a point, at least to an extent. But I couldn’t forget that he was more than capable of shill for the hokage.

“Besides, with them around, I no longer need to hire a cleaner.” He added. The clean lady always came on Sundays and the apartment was quite a mess. At least they accustomed me to organizing and washing my own things so I could be self sufficient, or the lady would direct her frustration at me as well. Even if she was being paid to clean didn’t mean we should make it harder for her.

He leaned closer on Haku, “And I can tell that this little one will become quite the looker.”

Instinctively, I jumped between the two, trying to hide Haku from the old sanin’s view, my face turning ugly, hoping to work as a deterrent. “Don’t you dare. She is off limits from any of the ideas you could have.”

He didn’t back down, instead he gave me a teasing grin, “Ah possessive much? Not even a day, and you are already claiming a girl for yourself.” 

Only a kid would become a blubbering mess, but I wasn’t the average kid when an idea popped up and my lips twisted into a smile and my eyes looked at him defiantly, “Yup. Is my dream to get a big harem of beautiful and exotic kunoichi when I grow up.”

There was no change of expression, but I could swear I saw a spark in his eyes.

“HA! I like your attitude, kid. But let me give you a little advice, a single woman is enough to drive you crazy. Several of them might end up killing you. Besides, you are way too young to be thinking about adult stuff, but good initiative. There is a bright future ahead of you.” The sanin ruffled my hair quite hard, much to my annoyance, so I pulled away from him.

The old man turned and left, laughing all the way. Even with the loud laughter, I heard the click from his pen and assumed he took notes for his smut novels. How couldn’t he? I practically handed him excellent material. And thinking about books, I too got the idea to write down some from memory. Despite how hazy it was, I could remember the plot of some stories.

Being lost in my thoughts, I totally ignored the duo, who indirectly broke me away from my thoughts with their presence. They were standing close to me, and the silence allowed me to hear their breathing.

“This is weird. So, can you two clean?” I asked and pointed at the sink, “We keep all our… cleaning stuff under the sink.”

They didn’t say a thing as they approached the drawer and took out all the stuff to start their newly assigned chore. Kimimaro took upon himself to sweep the floor and Haku grabbed a rag with liquid soap to clean the table and the kitchen counters.

I merely watched them do their job as I made my way to grab another juice box and take a snack from the endless and wasteful supply of junk food.

“Hey Kichiro-kun!” A high-pitched voice caught my attention.

Slowly turned around and saw the little blonde girl I knew quite well through the month. She was wearing a simple white shirt and a pair of light blue shorts. The only thing that caught my attention was that her hair was arranged differently. She had a pair of straight pigtails that reached her shoulders.

It surprised me a bit since she usually had her hair in a natural style.

“Ah Naru. Let me introduce you to Haku and Kimimaro. They are our new… house servants. They will be living with us from now on. I like what you did to your hair, by the way.” I gave each of them a pat on their back, since they were conveniently close to each other while cleaning.

She ran up towards Kimimaro and stared at him closely as if she was trying to find something on him, “I like your hair.”

Her compliment earned a small smile from the Kaguya kid, “Thank you for your kind words.”

Naru walked away, her gaze constantly shifting direction trying to find something in the room, “Where is oji-san?”

“I didn’t hear him leave. Maybe his room?”

She rapidly shook her head, “I already went there.”

Her brow narrowed and her lips pursed, “Mmm well, I don’t think he will mind.”

“Mind what?”

Her pursed lips turned into a smile and eyes beaming with joy, “Hinata-chan is coming tomorrow!”

“Oh? Is she your new friend?” She occasionally mentioned her, but it was brief and Naru preferred to talk more about the ninja arts and her training. If she didn’t change the topic about food.

Hinata was important, but that was all I could remember. She was important for some reason. Perhaps I would remember more after seeing her in person.

“Of course! She is really nice and gives me delicious sweets!” She exclaimed.

“Then I guess there is a lot of cleaning to do. We can’t be terrible hosts and present a disorderly home, can we?” I said. 

“Yeah! Start cleaning you two!” She pointed at the duo, who visibly showed their displeasure as their innocent and calm faces twisted into scowls. The little hands tighten their grip on their cleaning tools.

Her attitude made me frown, “Don’t yell at them or talk like that. Is disrespectful.”

“But didn’t you say that they are our new servants?” Naru tilted her head, visibly confused.

“Yeah? I should add the tiny detail that they are mine, not yours. And even if they were under you, you can’t just yell at them or treat them less than human.”

“I don’t get it.” She scratched her head, her eyes alternating between me and them.

“Treat others how you want to be treated. I don’t want to see you turn into those stereotypical nobles.”

“Stereo…what?” The jinchuuriki became even more confused.

I facepalmed and slowly dragged my hand over my face, “Just be nice to people. Nobody likes a… jerk.”

“Okay.” She nodded and tried to leave.

My hand quickly reached for her shoulder and stopped her from moving. and slowly turned her around and saw her with a wide sheepish grin.

“Apologize.” 

She gave in and sighed. The blonde girl walked up to the duo and slightly bowed her head, “Sorry for yelling at you.”

The Yuki and the Kaguya silently nodded and resumed their activities as if nothing ever happened, or at least I hoped they didn’t hold a grudge against the jinchuuriki.

“That’s better.” I walked up to the table and took a seat, “So, how was the academy today?”

Naru followed my example and sat across the table, “It was boring. They just talked about stuff I already know. Then the teacher tried to do a surprise quiz, but it was really easy.”

“It’s good that you excel at history, but I believe you should do the same with math, if the last test score wasn’t more than enough motivation.” At least she could add and subtract, since those were the only exercises she bothered to solve, leaving the rest of the test blank.

The blonde girl crossed her arms and closed her eyes, “We are supposed to be ninjas! Not…”

She struggled to find a word fitting to describe whatever she had wanted to say. Good thing I had a vast vocabulary with me.

“Erudite? Scholars? Mathematicians?” I added.

“Yeah that!” She quickly agreed.

“Honestly, how was Jiraiya raising you?” I asked. At least I could be sure that she wasn’t lacking the essentials for a decent living. And witnessing the attention and affection she always received, it was more than clear that she didn’t lack it.

“He is the best! He always gives me money and buys me cool stuff!” She wore a foxy grin that matched very well with her whisker marks.

“He spoils you rotten, doesn’t he?” I deadpanned.

Her smile never faltering was enough of an answer. I was assuming he was being nice, but he indirectly was enabling her poor attitude. I didn’t believe he was a bad person, but that didn’t mean he was a good guardian to oversee growth.

Though she didn’t become all bratty and confrontational whenever I called her out.

Yet the more I was thinking about it, I could only see myself correcting her or teaching her whatever she needed and preparing her meals or making sure she did her chores. Jiraiya was just there, either watching or busy with other things if he didn’t leave the apartment. 

It all clicked.

“I can’t believe he indirectly made me a babysitter.” I groaned.

“I’m a big girl!” She puffed her chest and cheeks, trying to make herself look bigger but quickly deflated as she couldn’t hold her breath long enough.

I rolled my eyes as my lips failed to suppress a smile and my amusement. Even if I felt used by the lazy perverted old man, it wasn’t really a bad experience. It was nice to have someone looking up to you.

“You know what? Why not?” My hand reached for her head and slowly caressed her hair and played with her short pigtails, “I’m sure there is plenty to learn.”

Raising, possibly,  the most important kid in the entire world to my image.

It would be fun.

And there was… lots of potential.