Minato paused where he was smothering the fire, glancing at the person joining him. "Tsunade-sama. Is Dan-san resting?"

"Yes." She grunted as she sat. "He'd much more precise with heart surgeries than I am, but he got a bit too close to chakra exhaustion for my liking."

"He's incredibly impressive." He sat back, letting the wood smolder for just a little longer. "As is Kyoko-chan. I've never seen a medic that skilled so young. You've done amazing work with her."

Tsunade laughed, leaning back for a brief moment and tugging her ponytails loose. "I wish I could take all the credit. But honestly, I don't know where she gets most of it from. Sometimes she just knows things I haven't taught her yet, and it's a surprise every time."

He shrugged, chuckling at the familiarity. "Mine do that, too. Kakashi probably the most, but Obito and Rin also. Occasionally, Obito will mention or do something he's learned from his father or his clan, and it's usually something I've never even heard of because it's a clan technique."

"I haven't gotten much of that from Tiny," she mused. "Excluding her sharingan, of course. But most of the stuff she does or knowns isn't necessarily clan exclusive. It's just . . . ." She waved a hand. "I know what I was like at that age, and it wasn't that."

Despite the one combat that had gotten his own student badly hurt because of one of Kyoko's mistakes, he'd been almost overwhelmed by the skill Obito's sister had displayed. Even more overwhelming was her apparent camaraderie with the hardest to reach of his students. Kakashi barely seemed to hold a grudge, and other than that one failure, the two worked in near perfect sync during combat. He had to wonder just how much they actually trained together, because that kind of synergy didn't just happen overnight. "She's got some growth to do, but she's good on a team."

"She hasn't had much practice with that. Which is unfortunate, since teams are a Chunin Exams requirement."

"I know that problem." Minato glanced back at the tent where their students were resting. "I've been trying to get Kakashi an exception to be allowed to participate in the Exam's team portion even though he's already a chunin. Without a third person for that section, Rin and Obito can't even try for the promotion."

"Hmm." Tsunade leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees. "I've been considering Kyoko for the upcoming Exams, and it sounds to me like she needs two teammates while your students need one."

"You . . . can't be serious."

Her face set. "I'm very serious."

Minato scrambled for some kind of understanding, because— "She's five. Even Kakashi wasn't a chunin at five."

"The Exams are in a few weeks, and she'll be six by that point." Tsunade sighed loudly. "Just— Sleep on it, Namikaze. I'll make sure the fire's out before I bed down."

Minato knew a dismissal when he heard it. He got to his feet and dusted off his pants. With one last nod to her in the dim light, he moved away to the tent. He ducked inside and paused.

Kakashi dove back down to his pillow so fast that Minato worried he might have hit his head. Kyoko, however, met Minato's stare straight on. She was sitting lotus on her bed roll. She was on the other side of Rin and Obito than Kakashi but clearly turned in his direction. After a couple seconds, her gaze slid to Kakashi, who had his back to Minato and was doing a very poor imitation of sleep.

"Kakashi, I know you're awake," Minato murmured, stepping fully inside and dropping the tent flap. "Were you two listening?"

Kyoko didn't answer right away, tossing Kakashi a look that Minato couldn't quite read. Then she said, "Yes. But for what it's worth, I'm not surprised Shisho's considering the Chunin Exams. I've mentioned it to her."

"Hmm. And you, Kakashi?"

Kakashi sat up. He turned towards Minato, gaze sliding away for a moment before meeting him straight on. "I don't think I would be allowed to do the Chunin Exams again. So Rin and Obito do need someone else."

Minato sighed. "I know. I'll think about it. Get some sleep." He glanced towards Kyoko. "You, too."

"Finally!" Obito cheered as the Village gates came into view.

"He's almost more excited than you," Tsunade murmured to Dan, dragging a tired hand down her face.

"Doubtful." Dan had had a spring in his step for the past several miles. "Do you think she'll be waiting for us?"

"Probably. She's too much like you."

Dan grinned at that, and Minato barked out a laugh. When they'd sent a hawk back to Konoha a few days ago, Dan had included a letter to be delivered specifically to his niece about their expected return. He'd been buzzing with excitement for a week now about Academy graduation and, therefore, his niece's team placement.

Now that they were almost—finally—to the Village, he turned his attention to his students for one last look-over before their arrival. Obito's seemingly never ending energy was lagging for the first time the entire mission. Even then, he was still out ahead of the group and comedically playing up his relief. Rin was just a couple steps behind him, shoulders slumped from the exhaustion of their trip even while she laughed at Obito's dramatics. Minato himself was just behind his oldest two students, Tsunade, and Dan. Which meant—

Minato glanced back over his shoulder. Sure enough, his last student was bringing up the rear with the friend Minato hadn't known he had until she'd shown up for ramen. But as an outsider looking in, he'd learned some—still less than he would like—about the two during the mission. Which meant he wasn't too terribly surprised to catch Kakashi and Kyoko quietly training together as they walked. He was surprised that the training seemed to be cracking and reshaping rocks in their palms using only chakra. Neither had a complete mastery over it, though Kyoko was clearly far newer to the technique. The most surprising part of it was definitely the fact that she was an Uchiha, and Uchiha were fire-natured. And—he'd thought this a lot in the past few weeks—Kyoko was five.

Minato shook his head and decided not to comment on it. At least all three of his students were alert enough to be able to stand through debrief with the Hokage.

Dan's niece was, in fact, waiting for them at the gate, and she joined them on their walk towards the Tower, excitedly rambling about her new team. She apparently knew Kyoko, too, because the younger girl seemed like she'd expected it when she was dragged into the conversation. She—Shizune, he found out once she'd excitedly introduced herself—separated from them as they reached the Hokage's Office, promising her uncle she would wait for them.

Once the doors had closed, the Sandaime looked up from his paperwork. He looked more tired than Minato had ever seen before, but he still found it in him to smile at their team. "It's good to see you've all returned safely."

"Hokage-sama," Minato said, bowing before he stepped up to put their completed mission scroll on the desk.

The Sandaime picked it up. As he unrolled it, he ordered, "Report."

Minato stepped back in line with the others and began his verbal report. Once he'd wrapped up, the room fell into silence as the Sandaime looked over the scroll.

Finally, the Hokage looked back at him. "Minato, Tsunade's message said she got your permission regarding the Chunin Exams?"

Minato glanced towards Obito and Rin, who looked excited and nervous respectively. He hadn't talked to them about the Exams since before Tsunade had brought up her own thoughts. "Yes, sir."

"Good. I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work." He nodded to Tsunade. "Your student will fill in the gap on Team Minato for the Exams. Both of you will need to indicate that exception on your forms when you fill out your Exams applications."

Obito snapped towards Kyoko. "You're going to join us in the Exams?" he asked, all grins and not seeming to register that his sister didn't look surprised. She did, however, grin in kind when she was dragged into a hug.

"Ah, and Tsunade," the Sandaime said, looking amused, "you might want to lend some advice to Orochimaru. He gained an apprentice during this past round of graduations, and most of the teaching input he's gotten so far is from Jiraiya."

Tsunade snorted. "I'll hunt him down before his mind gets poisoned too badly."

Minato chuckled and was about to come to a weak defense of his sensei when he caught sight of Kyoko's face. Her grin had vanished. The way her eyes had darkened was so similar to how Kakashi had looked during their early months as a teacher-student pair that Minato could feel his skin crawl. She pulled back from her hug with Obito and turned towards her sensei with a mild smile. Minato blinked. It had been so very brief that he almost doubted it had been there, but for a moment . . . .

For a moment, he had sensed just a hint of killing intent.