While the children were laughing, recalling how Rinyūaru—tasked with stealing an item from beneath the proctors' noses—had convinced his team to let him substitute with the item in question, safely delivering the gaudy bedazzled kunai to his teammates while the proctors gawked at the preteen boy that had suddenly burst forth from the glass casing, showering them with the sharp shards.

Rinyūaru had been failed on the spot, as it was supposed to have been a test of stealth and deception. The proctors had then tried to fail his teammates as well, to which he argued, with both passion and logic, that if the scenario had been real, his teammates would have absconded with their precious cargo with none the wiser. They had never been seen. The proctors couldn't follow any method of entry back to trace them, nor trace them by other standard means, because they hadn't entered the building.

Only Rinyūaru.

One proctor had scoffed, claiming that it wouldn't take long to find them with a basic sweep, because substitution only worked over short distances.

Rinyūaru had taken the declaration as a challenge and promptly substituted himself with Naruto's hokage hat.

The man in question had blinked himself into existence in a flash of yellow light to retrieve his hat, cheerfully clapped the antagonistic proctor on the back and exclaimed, "that goes to show you, ha!", and hirashined back to his office where he left a cackling Rinyūaru.

The Hokage's office was clear across the village from the building they were holding the second exam in.

Sakura had been a mixed of proud and exasperated when brought her son home for dinner and regaled her with the story.

"—and then my hat was gone from my head and the weight of a dragon dropped on top of me, smashing my face into the desk."

Sakura's eyes shined, watching as Naruto animatedly reenacted the event by stealing back his hat from atop Rinyūaru's head and asking the boy to swap with it again.

Not that she needed to witness it to visualize how ridiculous it must have looked, especially considering Naruto was supposed to have been meeting with the construction company responsible for the expansions to the village.

Rinyūaru obliged and Naruto's face met her dinning table with enough force to break his nose, presumably for the second time today.

Sakura, conditioned by decades of friendship and twelve years of semi-co-raising her son together—there was no better role model for her son than Naruto—hefted Rinyūaru with one hand and mended Naruto's nose with the other.

She withdrew her hand slowly, reminding herself that Naruto had never outgrown his desire for physical affection and that it meant nothing when he leaned into her palm and essentially nuzzled it.

Dinner resumed, with Naruto jokingly offering to promote Rinyūaru to chuunin anyway for his overwhelming display of cunning and analytical thinking. Rinyūaru had lazily waved a hand, claiming he wasn't in any rush to move up in the ranks.

"Maybe I'll stay a gennin forever. Just like you."

Naruto had pouted, thinking her son teasing him for the fact that, despite his age and skill, Naruto was for all intents and purposes still a gennin. He had simply been too busy to sign up to take the exam a second time, and honestly, it would have been a formality.

Everyone knew just how capable Naruto truly was, turning his official rank as gennin into a inside joke to the ninja community.

But Sakura had spied the signs of sincerity in her son's face. Less for remaining a perpetual gennin, but the intention of trying to become just like the man he admired most.

The pink-haired woman had choked up emotionally at the idea, imagining how proud Sasuke would have been and wishing that he had been there to see his son grow.

Naruto eventually had to leave, work as a kage was never done. Rinyūaru helped her gather the dishes and bring them into the kitchen to clean.

"Can I ask you a question, kaa-san?" he asked, slowly swiping a dish cloth against the plate to dry it.

Sakura typically would have responded that he already had, but sure, he could ask another. However, she sensed this would be a rather serious question.

She turned to face her son, mouth already open to defend his actions and reassure him that she wasn't disappointed he hadn't made chuunin.

"When are you and Naruto going to get together?"

Sakura had choked for real at that. Never in a million years would she have expected those words to come out of her son's mouth.