On the way to the training ground, two figures, one tall and one short, strolled along at an easy pace.
Uzumaki Hayashi walked half a step behind Kakashi, growing more puzzled with every step.
He had held this question in ever since they left the examination room, but finally, he could not help asking.
"Jonin Kakashi."
"Hmm?"
"Didn't Grandpa Third say you would come get me after everyone finished their assessments?" He looked up, his question entirely earnest. "Aren't you a little early?"
Kakashi Hatate could not help chuckling at that.
He reached over and ruffled the boy's red hair.
"Isn't it better that I came early?"
Uzumaki Hayashi ducked his head but did not pull away. He opened his mouth, about to argue.
From the school building behind them, a thunderous cry suddenly erupted-
"Whoa-!"
A crowd of students, some finished with their exams and others still waiting, had crowded against the windows to watch the two leave. Only now did they burst into an uproar.
Uzumaki Hayashi did not even turn his head. His steps never slowed as he continued forward.
The cries of amazement chased after them for quite some distance.
It took no brains at all to know that the Copy Ninja personally conducting his assessment would be news all over their year by tomorrow.
"It is better." After thinking for a moment, he picked up where he had left off. "It just feels a little too showy."
Showy?
Kakashi Hatake turned his head and glanced at the child walking beside him.
The afternoon sunlight fell across that almost impossibly pretty little face. He was looking ahead, his brow lightly furrowed, as if this genuinely troubled him.
The boy was only twelve, yet his way of thinking carried a levelheadedness that did not belong to