"..."
Hearing Hanabi speak in such an innocent tone, Aoba couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.
There was no way he didn't understand what she meant.
She was hinting at him.
To be fair, she really was his student.
She hadn't learned much in many areas, but when it came to being a troublesome disciple, she had mastered it.
Still, there was no way he could agree now. Hanabi was indeed too young.
Although Hinata and the others had been even younger back then, at least they had been the same age as him.
With Hanabi... he'd end up tied up and getting shocked.
Besides, he had at least waited until after graduating from the academy and completing several missions before gradually coming clean to Tsunade.
Hanabi had gone even further than her teacher.
Aoba reached out and pinched Hanabi's soft lips.
"What coincidence? I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Mmm! Mmm!"
Hanabi didn't believe him at all. It was obvious he was pretending not to understand, so she immediately tried to say it outright.
But with her mouth being pinched, she couldn't open it and could only make muffled sounds.
Hanabi finally understood why he had pinched her mouth shut.
She just hadn't expected him to resist it so much. She felt wronged, and her eyes started turning red.
Seeing her like that, Aoba couldn't bear it anymore. He let go and said helplessly, "You're still too young to talk about this..."
"Then tell me when it'll be okay."
Hanabi puffed out her cheeks and insisted that Aoba give her a clear answer.
"Well..."
He thought for a moment before saying, "At the very least, you'll have to graduate from the academy."
"Really?"
As soon as Hanabi heard that, the disappointment in her eyes disappeared, and they became lively again.
If it was graduation, her grades were already good enough to apply for early graduation.
"Really."
Aoba rubbed her little head.
"Then swear it, Aoba-nii!"
Hanabi wasn't going to let it end there. She had worked up a lot of courage before coming here, so she wasn't going to let herself be brushed off that easily.
"..."
Aoba couldn't help flicking her forehead again.
"You don't trust me?"
"Mmm..."
Hanabi didn't answer. She simply covered her forehead and looked at him with puffed cheeks.
"..."
Aoba almost laughed.
"Fine, I'll swear. Once you successfully graduate from the academy, whatever you ask for, I'll agree to it. Is that enough?"
"No. We have to pinky swear too."
Hanabi's earlier grievance had completely disappeared. Smiling happily, she held out her little finger.
"Alright."
Aoba smiled helplessly and hooked his little finger with hers.
"Hehe!"
Hanabi became even happier after getting what she wanted.
Aoba didn't know what to say.
Nearby, Fu, who had been happily looking around the new house with Uchiha Hikari, was completely stunned.
It wasn't until Uchiha Hikari gently poked her head that she came back to her senses and looked at Aoba with a strange expression.
Uchiha Hikari looked the same, her expression hard to describe.
Although the age gaps between Aoba and Yugao, Konan, Kurenai, and Tsunade were all huge, looking at Aoba and Hanabi from the other direction still felt a little...
It wasn't about the age gap.
The main thing was...
In the end, Kaguya said what they were all thinking.
"Aoba, the books say that if you do that, you'll get arrested."
There was a trace of complaint in her voice.
She wasn't very familiar with Hanabi yet and had originally thought the two of them were just master and disciple, which was why Hanabi stuck so closely to Aoba.
She hadn't expected Hanabi to have that kind of goal.
And this bad guy had even agreed to it right in front of her.
She wasn't happy about it.
"Cough! Cough! You've misunderstood. There's something you don't know yet."
Aoba quickly cleared his throat, feeling very wronged.
"What is it?"
Hanabi was the first to ask. She thought he was about to go back on his word.
"After this semester ends, starting next semester, the academy will switch to a twelve-year system. Even if someone wants to graduate early, they still have to be at least sixteen years old."
Aoba explained, "I've been busy with the wedding recently, so this hasn't been officially put into effect yet."
After all, the Ninja Academy had originally existed to train ninja for the battlefield.
Most of them were cannon fodder, so the focus had always been on finishing as quickly as possible.
Now that Aoba had unified the ninja world, he naturally couldn't let that continue.
A school was a place to teach and educate people, and students were the hope of the future. It was only natural to make it more proper.
That way, by the time Hanabi graduated, she would also be about an adult.
"Huh?"
Now it was Hanabi's turn to be stunned. She looked at her fingers and counted them.
"So... I still have to stay in school for another seven years?"
"Mhm."
Aoba nodded, showing that she was right.
At the same time, he held up his little finger again with a smile.
"We already pinky swore."
"..."
Hanabi's little face immediately scrunched up.
After quite a while, she held Aoba's face and said seriously, "Then seven years it is. But, Aoba-nii, you can't go back on your word."
"Alright."
Aoba didn't try to get out of it.
Only then did Hanabi feel a little better. Even though she still had to wait seven years, she had already achieved what she came here for.
Anyway, he had only said they would talk about it after she graduated. He hadn't said she couldn't do other things before then.
"Um... Aoba, does that mean we can't graduate until we're sixteen either?"
At that moment, Fu raised her hand timidly and asked.
"Of course. It's mandatory."
Aoba gave her a direct answer.
"H-How can this be..."
Now it was Fu's turn to look miserable.
She had only gone to school because she wanted to experience school life. She had planned to finish this year and then see if there was any work she could do at the Hokage Building.
How had it suddenly become several more years?
"Come on. Staying in school for a few more years isn't a bad thing."
Aoba couldn't help smiling when he saw her expression.
"But it still feels awful..."
Fu pouted. She wasn't like Hanabi. She didn't have a promise from Aoba. She had nothing.
"Then when you graduate, if your grades are good enough, I'll grant one request too, as long as it's reasonable."
Seeing her expression, Aoba spoke as if he could read her mind.
"Really?"
Fu looked at him blankly.
"Really."
Even though his own children hadn't been born yet, Aoba already had the feeling that he was coaxing little kids.
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