Disclaimer: of all the characters depicted here, only Hinote has sprung from my twisted, twisted mind. Everyone else is Kishimoto's, as is the setting.

Chapter 5

The silence was finally broken by otou-san.

"Hinote... do you know who that is?"

"A great scholar?" My face fell. "He's not dead is he?"

Kakashi-san burst out laughing. Honestly, teenagers... I hope he inhales that mask of his. I looked around, trying to determine why everyone was giving me pitying looks.

"Hino-nee, that's the Hokage..." whispered Itachi-nii by my side.

EH!? "The Hokage!?" It seems I've asked for a really busy person!? I was thankful no one seemed to think I wanted the introduction for political reasons, or that otou-san and okaa-san had put me up to it... But really, do you need to laugh so much? Otou-san, where is that dignity of a clan leader you always talked about?

"Does that mean I can't meet him?" I shuffled my feet and tried to put on my best puppy face for uncle. I couldn't keep the glare off, however–he was still wheezing and clutching his sides.

"S- Sorry, Hinote-chan. Whatever do you want to meet the San-," hiccup, "the Sandaime for?"

"Well I found some scrolls he sent you and I've been studying them and they were really good and I have soooooooo many questions! Wait a moment I'll get my notes!" I ran to my bedroom, ignoring auntie who snorted again in the middle of trying to clean her face.

My bedroom was, actually, a lot like the rest of the house: full of scrolls, both my own and borrowed from uncle and auntie. The main difference was they had to share space with my toys and plushies. A couple of drawings hung from the wall: Me and Itachi-nii, otou-san and okaa-san, uncle and auntie with Kakashi-san.

Sleeping had proven to be a struggle in the first few nights after moving, without otou-san's bedtime stories and Itachi-nii's comforting presence. A few times, I'd barged into uncle and auntie's room, unable to sleep (I never managed to catch them "having fun", unfortunately. Freaking ninja and their super hearing). It had become much easier, however, once I had made the room mine; auntie and uncle had also helped, putting a mini-bed next to mine for Tora-kun.

I got my note-scrolls from their drawer and rushed back, dumping them onto uncle's hands. He thanked me and gave them a cursory look, nodding now and then.

"Well, Hino-chan, the Sandaime is a busy man... but I have been working closely with him recently, so if I may hold onto these I could pass them on to him. Would that be okay?" I nodded fervently.

Auntie clapped.

"With that out of the way... who wants cake?"

It was a beautiful, two storey cake with frosting and sweet lemon sauce atop it. Auntie was a great cook, even when she just made ramen–although then it was harder to tell. Add in the fact that she had cooperated with okaa-san and uncle and we had this piece of gourmet heaven.

First piece went to Itachi-nii, who was clearly going mad with anticipation. Then it was my turn. I put my fork to it gingerly, noting how the two layers had different textures, and drove a piece into my mouth.

I may or may not have tried to shove the rest of the cake in all at once, then blushed and proceeded to eat like a proper lady. That's it, I'm getting auntie to teach me how to cook. I knew the basics, from living alone for a few years, but I had mostly subsisted on takeout and easy dishes. After over half a decade of that, followed by months of hospital food, I was surely not going to skip out on learning the way of the kitchen.

But first, I had to secure some more cake. The thing was vanishing into Itachi-nii, and even Kakashi-san, with his notorious dislike of eating in public, had wolfed down two slices.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not an easy man to impress. He had lived through three world wars and been Hokage through two, had mastered more jutsu than most shinobi ever witness, and invented a few of his own. Still, Minato always managed to surprise him.

"So you're saying someone asked you to pass me some questions on my notes? Those old things? Very well." He extended his hand.

They were waiting for Intelligence to come up with a strategy to deal with increasing concerns about the situation with Kirigakure. The Third Shinobi World War had just ended, and yet their current lack of stability raised concerns that the Fourth might start soon.

He read the notes, scribbling corrections, comments and answers as necessary. "Well, whoever this is needs to work on their vocabulary and grammar. Still, their grasp of the theoretical aspects is pretty good. Another couple of years and they should be ready to teach in the academy… you have good eyes, Minato."

Minato gave him a strange look.

"Hiruzen… these were written by my four year old niece."

Hiruzen now had a strange look of his own.

"A young genius, huh?" A memory came to him, of a pale boy with golden eyes, long ago… "And your niece? I wasn't aware either you or Kushina had any siblings with children."

"Well, it's a long story..."

Uncle came home from work a few days later with my newly annotated scrolls and great news:

"Hino-chan. The Sandaime Hokage has requested to meet you next week."

"Really?" Ohmygosh I have to get all my notes and questions and- Breathe. This was really exciting! I had read up on Hokage-sama and by the toes of my feet was he impressive. Known as The Professor, inheritor of the title of God of Shinobi, master of a thousand jutsu. He was also Konoha's greatest bōjutsu master. I have to be careful, or I might develop idol worship!

I had kept working on my bukijutsu with the help of okaa-san's notes, but I was beginning to feel the limitations of my young age and lack of Sharingan. Still, I was stronger and faster than I felt any four year old had any right to be. That the Uchiha had been shinobi for generations, even before the founding of Konoha, was certainly a factor. If there was such a thing as a genetic lottery, I had got one of the top prizes.

There were also improvements my chakra control, in great part due to auntie's help. After all, if anyone knew how to keep a tight hold on rebellious chakra, it was her. The drills she had me doing were apparently from Uzushiogakure, and very different from the ones I had gotten from otou-san. Separating all my chakra in halves, fourths, and so on; making a thin film of chakra under my skin; focusing on a single strand of hair and making it move without disturbing the others.

We had kept up with the fūinjutsu classes. I could recognize most of the basic symbols by now, and auntie had declared me sufficiently proficient to start working on seallets–small, self-contained bits of fūinjutsu that were the building blocks of many larger seals. She had promised to show me the lighting array, a simple 5-symbol seallet which lit up when chakra was circulated through it, next week. Once I could reproduce it, we would work on others. At the speed we were going, auntie expected me to be making exploding tags by my next birthday.

Most important of all, however, I had learned how to clean and prepare fish. No more burning the food, my fingers, or uncle's hair! That had only happened once, but uncle just wouldn't let it go. How was I supposed to know the fat would jump up when I put water in? I'd been banned from even putting my hands near the oven after that. But now that was all past. Next week uncle was going to show me how to bake cookies. I couldn't wait to learn how to make delicious cookies, then lord it over Itachi-nii. Bow to your master!

The meeting with the Hokage was going pretty well, Minato thought. So far, Hinote had been hyper in that way only kids can manage, but her questions and comments had been surprisingly insightful, and Minato had found himself actually interested in the conversation. A couple of the points on the nature of chakra which Hiruzen-sama had expounded on had substantiated ideas he had started to guess at with his experimentation on the Rasengan.

At one point he noticed the Hokage was making shinobi sign code at him discreetly. "Why did the Uchiha let someone so promising go?", was the message. He sighed. Fugaku-san had managed to keep the news of Hino-chan's anomaly mostly within the clan, although no doubt some of the more well-connected shinobi would know by now. It was actually surprising the Hokage was not aware.

He interrupted the two. "Hino-chan, do you mind if we show the Hokage your… chakra control problem?"She seemed a bit nervous, but assented. "Hiruzen-sama, if you would make a clone?"

The Hokage complied, seemlingly interested. Hinote removed one of her gloves gingerly–she only took them off for showering and to wash–and touched the clone's hand. As it poofed out of existence, Hiruzen-sama's eyes widened.

"That… is a very interesting thing. I can see how that would worry the Uchiha, in the hands of a young child."

"Hino-chan had to have her dōjutsu sealed, for fear that activating it would render her blind. Additionally, she has difficulties using ninjutsu."

"I see… if Tsunade-hime ever returns, we should have her have a look at her. Maybe she can figure something out. For now… Hino-chan, was it? This is a pass for the Central Library's middle floors. Normally, they're only accessible to Academy students third year and up, but something tells me you are ready."

A/N: An interesting tidbit: The mission on Kannabi Bridge happened in the same year as Hinote's expulsion from the clan.

This chapter came out a bit more easily than the other 3 and 4. I guess I'm hitting my stride? So much for posting a chapter a week…

Please tell me your opinions; I value them greatly! Reviews are welcome!