"Aoba…"
Ino, whose eyes could barely stay open, suddenly moved her cherry lips and murmured something so softly it was almost impossible to hear.
"Hmm?"
Even though her voice was low, Aoba still heard it. He reached out and brushed aside the strands of hair stuck to her face with sweat.
"What's wrong?"
"Good night."
Ino murmured again.
"Hm? Good night."
Aoba paused, then lightly tapped her smooth forehead before pulling her into his arms.
After she fell asleep, he left briefly for a short while, but soon returned.
Up to now, Aoba had always believed that Absolute Sealing was one of the most useful abilities he had obtained.
It was practically a divine skill.
With this ability, the time management that once gave him so much trouble was no longer an issue at all.
———
The next day—
If staying up late leads to waking up late, then staying up late doing intense exercise in bed leads to completely passing out.
The kind that's very hard to wake up from.
When Aoba woke from his deep sleep, the first thing he saw was Ino's peaceful, delicate sleeping face.
After the massive physical and mental exertion last night, her stamina had been severely overdrawn. It was no surprise that she was still in a deep sleep.
"Ino?"
Even after a whole night, when Aoba gently poked her cheek and softly called her name, she only furrowed her brows slightly in her sleep and mumbled in dissatisfaction.
Then, like a little cat, she curled up her bare body and snuggled closer into his arms.
Only then did her slightly knitted brows slowly relax, as if she had found a safe harbor.
Seeing that she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, Aoba stopped teasing her and simply held her for a bit longer.
Another hour passed.
Aoba suddenly felt the girl in his arms start to move restlessly, her body squirming back and forth.
"What's wrong?"
He asked without even opening his eyes.
When he did open them, he met her gaze filled with embarrassment.
They already knew each other inside and out, so why was she still shy?
Aoba felt confused and asked again.
"Are you sick?"
"No."
Ino shook her head slightly.
"Then what is it?"
A ring of green chakra wrapped around Aoba's palm as he checked her body.
Other than some muscle fatigue, there were no injuries.
Ino's face turned bright red.
"It's just… just… I need to use the bathroom."
"Ah?"
"But I don't have any strength left."
Ino said pitifully.
"..."
'Well, for someone young like Ino, it really is hard to say something like that out loud.'
Aoba didn't say anything else. He lifted the still completely naked Ino out of the blankets and carried her toward the bathroom.
Every extra second in this situation was pure suffering.
"Do you want me to hold you while you go?"
"No! Get out!"
Ino immediately, flustered and embarrassed, shoved him out of the bathroom.
After taking care of her physical needs, since she didn't even have the strength to go to the bathroom on her own, she could only let Aoba handle the rest.
He carefully cleaned her from head to toe, then dressed her in a fresh set of clothes.
Only after that did they sit down for breakfast together.
"Why do I feel like this is worse than just getting beaten up by Sakura and the others?", At the table, Ino suddenly spoke the truth.
In her current limp state, even getting beaten up by Sakura might not have been this bad.
"Regretting it?"
"Not really."
Ino's face reddened.
Aoba's physique ensured that her body wouldn't be harmed from overexertion.
So aside from feeling tired, the rest was just... just very, very tiring.
Aoba couldn't help laughing.
"After breakfast, I'll take you home. Stay in and rest properly for the next couple of days."
"Mm."
———
Aoba planned to drop Ino off at home and then head straight to the Hokage Tower.
But when they returned, they happened to run into Yamanaka Rino, who was watering the cosmos flowers on Ino's windowsill.
It was the hot, dry season, and morning was the best time to water them.
And so… they ran into each other.
Three people, six eyes meeting. The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet.
"..."
"M-Mom…"
Still being carried in a princess carry by Aoba, Ino noticed her mother staring at her and felt embarrassed.
"Aoba, put me down first."
"Your body isn't in great shape right now. Don't force yourself."
When Yamanaka Rino heard him say her body wasn't in great shape, and saw her daughter looking exhausted yet shy, the hand holding the watering can trembled slightly.
A few drops of water fell from the spout.
They landed on the center of the cosmos flowers.
The elegant expression on her face was briefly hard to maintain.
"Welcome home, Ino."
After taking a deep breath, Yamanaka Rino smiled at her daughter and continued, "Since you're not feeling well, go lie down and rest first. Hokage-sama, I wonder if you have time to talk privately for a moment?"
"No problem."
Aoba nodded.
"Mm, then I'll prepare some tea."
After saying that, she didn't give Ino a chance to speak and walked out with the watering can.
"Did… did Mom get angry?"
Ino asked worriedly.
"Probably not. Maybe she's just feeling emotional about her daughter suddenly growing up," Aoba replied.
"Huh?"
Ino didn't understand. She had grown up a long time ago, okay?
"Alright. What you need to do now is lie down and rest. After I finish talking with your mom, I'll head to the Hokage Tower."
Aoba placed Ino onto her soft bed.
"Mm."
Ino nodded obediently.
Even if she didn't lie down, she couldn't go anywhere today.
———
By the time Aoba stepped out of her room, in just that short moment, Yamanaka Rino had already prepared tea and was sitting gracefully on the sofa in the living room.
Seeing him come out, she raised a hand and gestured to the seat across from her.
"Hokage-sama, please sit."
Aoba sat down.
"Aunt Rino, you don't have to be so formal. Just call me Aoba like before."
Yamanaka Rino pressed her lips together and smiled.
"Since you say so, Aoba, then I won't stand on ceremony and will continue calling you as before."
"Mm."
Aoba nodded, then took the initiative to bring up Ino.
"About Ino…"
"Your relationship with Ino, Inoichi and I accepted it a long time ago."
Yamanaka Rino interrupted him.
She pressed her lips together again, coughed lightly, and continued,
"Ahem! The reason I wanted to talk to you alone is to hope that you young people can be a bit more restrained."
"The future is long. There's no need to indulge so much in the moment."
"..."
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