Chapter 27

"Nice to see all of you on time, future Chunins!" my team appeared by the doors of the auditorium from Shunshin just a few minutes before the exam started. Show-offs. I can't blame them, though. They picked this up from their lovely sensei.

"As if we would miss out on a chance to kick somebody's butts!" Jiraya energetically exclaimed, hugged Orochimaru's and Hiruko's necks and dragged them into the auditorium. His two captives didn't fight back, as it was futile. Tsunade sighed, lowered her head and sprinted into the room as well.

Now all I had to do, was wait. Team captains were not allowed to leave until the exam is finished so that they could provide emotional support in rare cases it would've been required. The staff brought chairs and water for us and left.

"The Academy is so big..." an enchanted blonde boy exhaled, finally unfreezing from his fascination on my lap.

"Took you long enough," I hugged him tighter. "We've been here for over an hour now."

"I know..." he smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "I just... never thought it was this big!"

"Yeah, it looks way smaller from the entrance's side."

Minato got down from my lap and sat on the separate chair next to me. Probably a little embarrassed because of the teasing gazes from awake senseis (most of them decided to take a nap). I smirked and leaned back on my chair.

Minato reached inside of his over-the-shoulder bag, took out a notebook and a pencil and began his passionate studying. He was learning hard kanji and was making a lot of progress. Both alphabets, numbers, and reading were always a piece of cake for him, so I suggested we move onto something more challenging.

I peeked into his notebook and saw that he had already memorised a lot. Looks like I'll have to honour our little deal a little sooner than I expected.

It had been three months since I became his guardian. He proved himself as a very kind, intelligent, genius even, person. He was never stuck on something troubling for a long time and would often find an interesting way out of his situation. Though, he is still a child and often makes silly mistakes. He would occasionally try to sneak a treat before lunch, read in the middle of the night, or break something in the house. The first few times it had happened, he was a little terrified at the never-to-be-true consequences his mind would make up, but then learned that everything is alright and finally relaxed.

"You'll be five in a month and in spring you'll start your time in here."

"Yes," he looked at me with a strong resolution shining in his ponds, "and I'm determined to start learning Runes before that!"

"You do realize that they are way more complicated than kanji, right?" I looked at him in amusement. This conversation had already happened three times and it's still funny.

"I know! That's why I want to start early!"

"But what will you do in the Academy if you'll learn everything too fast? You can't graduate before you turn 12."

"I will learn more! I will learn Runes, Fuinjutsu and become so strong, that you won't have to be scared in your dreams."

"..."

I snatched him from his chair and just hugged his tiny body hiding my face in his golden locks.

"You're too cute, Minato, and it's my job to protect you."

"I will become strong and it'll be the other way round!"

"Heh, don't push yourself. You are already protecting me!"

He stopped his struggle of escaping from my arms and looked at me with confusion, "How?"

"You protect from being lonely in my house!"

The child's face turned into a serious thinking state and his body completely relaxed in my grip.

"Then I'll do my best to keep doing so," he solemnly informed me as he clenched his small fists.

"You are my little hero! Not even the Hokage is as strong!"

***

"The participants will be there for five days during which you are to be on standby in case of an emergency," the one responsible for the second stage of the Chunin Exam informed us after our students entered the Forest of Death.

"You are not to engage with your, or others' squads. They will have to deal with everything on their own. Any type of interference is only allowed when they gave up or passed out from not following the rules."

"Is that clear?!" his stern voice announced as we responded with nods and vanished from our places.

I reappeared in my house and heard mischievous chuckling from the kitchen. I slowly made my way behind the back of my little sunshine and peeked into the pot of the food that I make separately.

"Minato, if you want to play a prank, make sure it won't kill the pranked one," the boy jolted away at a lightning speed, "I know that adding an egg to the soup would make it taste different but delicious; however, I'll die from it, you know?" I informed him with a smile.

His shiny, blue eyes stared at me in shock as the horrifying truth began registering in his mind. The eggshells fell from his trembling hands as he slowly blinked and fell on his butt.

"I-i-i-i....I..."

"Shhhh, baby, it's completely fine. See, I'm alive and well and you now know this side of me that I had to tell you about a long time ago. I'm sorry for failing to do that, sweetheart," I hugged my son and began petting his head and back whispering reassurances.

He flinched and started trying to get away from me but my hugs are known to be inescapable.

"I'M SO SORRY, MOM!!!" his eyes overflowed with hot tears, his face being buried in the fabric on my shoulder, "I-i-i d-d-didn't know!"

We sat like this for a long while: me stroking his shaking frame and him crying, muttering broken apologies. In the end, he fell asleep right in my arms.

I stood up and carried him into his bed. Well, there goes my plan on talking to the Rabbit Princess while my students were busy. If I leave now, the child will definitely think it's his full and he was abandoned. Despite all his brilliance, he tends to over-complicate and overthink things. It doesn't help that he has a very vivid imagination as well.

***

We had a talk during which I spent a lot of time convincing him that everything is completely fine and this was just a mistake.

"Let's count this as a shinobi lesson, shall we?" I asked when he was finally reassured that I'm not going to disappear or leave him and he isn't a bad boy.

*Sniff* "How?"

"This incident happened because you didn't have enough information about your prey, right?"

"Y-yes..."

"Which means, before you make a move, you should always thoroughly investigate your target. This applies to shinobi life as well. Before you make a move, you should always collect as much information as possible." I scooted over and put him on my lap for maximum cuddle potential.

"Understood..." he leaned into the hug and smiled. "I will keep it in mind."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to put eggs into my food?" I asked after a few minutes as I placed my chin on his head.

"You never ate them or any other tasty stuff and I thought you just didn't like them so I thought if I'd add one to the food you always eat, see your reaction and tell you that there are things you never eat. You'll see that it's tasty and would also eat them with me..." he hung his head again, "I choose eggs since they would taste good in the soup. Sorry."

"My little dandelion..." I gently tightened my grip, "I love you way too much to just disregard for a small mistake."

"Ok." He turned around and hugged me back. "I love you too," he said as he nuzzled into my shirt.

I was all for long cuddles but I've received a ping from my students' scrolls. Show-offs...

"Do you want to meet my students with me? They finished their second stage of the exam." I asked still holding him. Or was it him holding me impersonating a monkey child?

"Yes!" he beamed.

"Then off to the tower we go!" and we teleported into the smoke from the opened scrolls.