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"But he still looks just like a baby no matter how you see it."Kushina walked over and stood next to Akio, gazing down at the sleeping infant. Her maternal instincts kicked in again, and she gently kissed his cheek.
Still asleep, Akio raised a tiny hand and scratched his face.
"Akio really is such a lovable little guy," Kushina said, then returned to her seat.
"Speaking of which," Rin said with a smile, squinting a little, "Minato-sensei's becoming the Fourth Hokage in three days.""Too bad I won't be around to see it."
"Yeah, me neither," Kakashi added, a little regretfully.
"Don't sound so disappointed," Minato said with a laugh. "It's not necessarily a good thing—just means more headaches in the future."
After dinner, Kushina and Kakashi started clearing the table together. Rin stayed behind to play with Akio, but she ended up waking the baby by accident.
Even though he'd been woken up, Akio didn't start crying like most babies would. Instead, he just looked at Rin and smiled.
"Eh? Now that I'm looking closely, his eyes are kind of light purple. So pretty," Rin leaned in for a closer look at his eyes—only to get a surprise kiss on the cheek from Akio.
"Wha—?!" Rin jumped in shock. She hadn't expected that at all. Akio looked absolutely delighted after the kiss.
"Aww, even I haven't gotten a kiss from little Akio yet. Looks like he really likes Rin," Kushina called from the kitchen, sounding a little jealous.
"Geez... no one's ever kissed me before," Rin said, blushing bright red. She was getting flustered over a kiss from a baby.
"If Obito ever finds out, he'd be furious," Kakashi said, bringing an awkward silence over the room. Rin's blush faded instantly.
"Oh, come on," Kushina muttered, then smacked Kakashi lightly. "Why say something like that right now?"
"Mm-hmm!" Akio clapped his tiny hands and even nodded, clearly enjoying the sight of Kakashi getting hit.
"You little rascal..." Kakashi muttered, eye twitching as he watched Akio giggle.
After that, Minato walked Kakashi and Rin out. Once the dishes were washed, Kushina changed Akio into a fresh outfit and took him out for a walk in his stroller—it was still just early afternoon.
On the way, they ran into a bunch of people Akio already knew. Everyone greeted Kushina and played with Akio a bit. Of course, the baby giggled and charmed them right back. Among the people they met were Might Guy, and some of Minato's peers like Hiashi Hyuga and Shikaku Nara.
As for the rest of Konoha's "Twelve Little Ninjas," only Neji, Tenten, and Lee had been born so far—around the same age as Akio.
After that walk, pretty much everyone in the village knew that Minato and Kushina had adopted Akio. The kid had now unofficially earned the title "Little Prince of the Fourth Hokage."
Kushina picked up a few baby items Minato had missed, then brought Akio home.
Now, it's not that Minato was careless—he had actually bought doubles of almost everything except the stroller and crib. He was preparing for Naruto, who was due to be born soon.
Minato didn't come home until the evening.
"Where'd you run off to?" Kushina asked him right away.
"Hiruzen called me over to talk," Minato scratched his head with a grin. "Gave me a rundown of things to watch out for… then got all sentimental again."
"Ugh, that old man. Still treats us like kids!"
"Well, I can't really blame him. He's just looking out for me. He also talked about Akio."
"Huh? What'd he say?" Kushina asked quickly, totally focused now.
"They still haven't figured out who was behind the attack. All they know is that Akio's entire clan was wiped out in their sleep—no one even had time to fight back. Peace made them too soft."
"I see..." Kushina's mood darkened as she looked over at the baby happily playing in his crib. At least he was too young to understand any of this.
But Akio did understand—and inside, he felt nothing but dread.What if those people come back to kill me someday? What am I supposed to do then...
"It's okay, though. We'll protect Akio from now on," Minato said, trying to comfort her.
"Pfft. Protect me, huh? You guys'll be dead in a few months. What can you protect me from? I won't be able to do a damn thing when the time comes," Akio thought bitterly.
When the night of the Nine-Tails attack came, he'd still be less than a year old. A tiny baby like him couldn't save anyone—even a breath from the Nine-Tails could probably kill him.
The smile on Akio's face slowly faded as he squinted his eyes. Kushina thought he was getting sleepy, so she picked him up and gently rocked him. Before long, the baby had dozed off again—his tiny body got tired so easily.
That nap lasted all the way until noon the next day. The moment he woke up, his stomach was growling. Thankfully, Kushina had been sitting by his side the whole time. The moment she saw he was awake, she smiled warmly at him.
She fetched a bowl of warm water and wiped his face and hands with a soft towel before feeding him.
Half a bottle of milk later, Akio was full. His belly was so tiny, there wasn't much room in it anyway.
The days passed like that until the big day came—Minato officially became the Fourth Hokage. On the day of the ceremony, the area in front of the Hokage building was packed with villagers, and the whole village was buzzing with excitement.
Everyone loved Minato.
Kushina stood behind him, holding Akio in her arms. Watching the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" flutter on the back of Minato's robe, Akio couldn't help but feel a little inspired.
Not long after Minato took office, a major event shook everyone—Rin died by running straight into Kakashi's Chidori. The guilt nearly broke him. First he lost Obito, and now he had to live with the fact that he'd "killed" Rin with his own hands. Kakashi was on the verge of falling apart.
At Minato's suggestion, Kakashi joined the ANBU. His new job: protect Kushina from the shadows.
Since Kushina was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, she was extremely vulnerable during her pregnancy and needed extra protection. Minato was swamped with Hokage duties and couldn't always be home, so the responsibility naturally fell to Kakashi.
He never entered the house—just stayed hidden on the rooftop, always on alert. At the first sign of trouble, he'd be there in an instant.
Kushina's belly grew bigger day by day, and Akio's dull, sleepy baby phase slowly passed. All he did was eat and sleep.
Since Kushina was getting more and more pregnant, it became hard for her to take care of Akio by herself.
So she hired a nanny—not just to care for the baby, but to help out Kushina too.
"....."