"Naruto… Naru… to…"
Inside a temporarily organized ward, Kushina Uzumaki, whose breath was already as faint as a thread, gently stroked the cheek of Naruto, who had just cried himself tired.
Her weak eyes were filled with reluctance and tender maternal love.
When the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball was about to explode, Minato Namikaze's timely appearance saved Kushina Uzumaki.
However, because the reaction time left to him was too short, although he successfully transferred Kushina away, Minato Namikaze himself was still caught in the aftermath of the Tailed Beast Ball's explosion.
The moment he landed, he vomited blood and fainted.
By the time Minato Namikaze finally woke up through his concern for his wife and the village, the night sky on the horizon had already begun to show a faint fish-belly white.
His expression changed drastically.
He hurriedly brought the still-unconscious Kushina Uzumaki back to the village, only to see ruins everywhere and Jiraiya already leading Konoha shinobi in search and rescue operations.
Through his conversation with Jiraiya, Minato learned what had happened while he had been unconscious, as well as the location of Konoha's temporary hospital.
He immediately brought Kushina, who for some reason still had one breath left, to the hospital.
There, through the joint efforts of Mangetsu Hozuki, who had been forced to work, and Tsunade, Kushina Uzumaki successfully woke up.
But that was the limit.
Even Princess Tsunade, renowned as the pinnacle of medical-nin, was powerless before Kushina Uzumaki's life, which was like a candle in the wind.
After exhausting every method she could think of, she could only extend Kushina Uzumaki's life slightly, changing her from someone hanging on by one breath through sheer obsession to someone who barely had two breaths left.
Knowing deeply that she could no longer be saved, Kushina shook her head and refused Tsunade's continued treatment.
After saying that she only wanted to see her newborn child one more time before dying, Minato Namikaze, wrapped in bandages from head to toe, forced back his tears and brought her to the small room where Naruto had been placed, allowing this unfortunate mother and son to sense each other one last time.
Watching the parent-child interaction before him, which held no warmth at all and only endless sorrow and regret, Minato Namikaze clenched his fists tightly.
He did not notice at all that the wounds on his palms, which had just been treated, had split open again and were bleeding.
He had failed to protect the village.
He had failed to protect his wife.
He had even failed to protect his final student.
How could there be a Hokage as useless as him?
For the first time, he felt regret and doubt over having taken the Hokage's position from the Third Hokage.
Looking at Minato Namikaze's trembling back, Kakashi Hatake, who had lost one eye and had been stabbed in the waist by a poisoned kunai, silently stopped the hand he had raised to knock.
Without making a sound as much as possible, he retreated.
He understood very clearly that Minato Namikaze's current reaction was actually very similar to how he had felt after killing Rin Nohara.
Regret.
Self-blame.
Overwhelming guilt.
Endlessly magnifying the mistakes he had made during actions he already knew about, then sinking deeply into them, unable to break free.
At a time like this, immediate comfort was completely useless.
One had to wait for an opportunity—a turning point that forced a person to move forward.
Only after that appeared would later persuasion and comfort have positive meaning.
And just as he staggered away, his weak and powerless body stumbled, causing him to crash headfirst into someone who happened to be walking over.
"S-sorry…"
Subconsciously assuming the other person was also a patient in the hospital, Kakashi Hatake hurriedly took two steps back and looked toward the other party with concern.
But what entered his right eye was a face he had always been unwilling to recall or confront.
"Kakashi Hatake, is it?"
Rei Kaguya looked at the white-haired unlucky fellow before him, whose face was rapidly changing, and casually asked,
"Lord Fourth Hokage should be inside this room, right?"
"What are you looking for Sensei for, Mizukage… sama?"
Very reluctantly, Kakashi Hatake added an honorific at the end of his words for the Kirigakure forces who had come from afar to support Konoha.
Ignoring the weakness of his body and the difference in strength between them, he looked vigilantly at Rei Kaguya's blindfold and face.
"I came to talk to him about the payment Kirigakure should receive for accepting this support mission, as well as…"
Rei Kaguya paused slightly.
Only after watching Kakashi Hatake's expression change again and again did he continue in a slightly lighter tone,
"To see whether there is still hope of saving the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."
"You can save Lady Kushina!?"
Kakashi Hatake's face was filled with doubt.
"Maybe. Maybe not. After all, this is also my first time seeing a Jinchuriki after their Tailed Beast has been extracted."
Rei Kaguya shrugged and walked into the temporary ward behind him with Shisui Uchiha, whose appearance was slightly more harmless.
"But trying should not make the result any worse, should it?"
Kakashi Hatake gritted his teeth, turned around, and followed the two of them into that small ward.
"It has been a long time, Lord Hokage."
Looking at Minato Namikaze, who was covered in wounds, Rei Kaguya slightly restrained the relaxed emotion on his face and spoke in a low voice.
"Lord Mizukage… Regarding what happened earlier, on behalf of Konoha, I thank you."
Minato Namikaze turned around and looked at Rei Kaguya, who had come searching for him, with a complicated expression.
Then he slowly extended his hand, making a gesture to shake hands with him.
Although he knew that Rei Kaguya had no small "contribution" in turning Konoha into its current ruins, reason told him that without Rei Kaguya's participation, what awaited Konoha would have been the end of being razed flat by the mysterious Uchiha who controlled the Nine-Tails.
He saw that very clearly.
Not to mention, before Rei Kaguya personally entered the field, Akatsuki, which was funded by Kirigakure, as well as his clone, which had been hiding in Konoha Village for unknown reasons, had already provided Konoha with tremendous assistance.
If Konoha still treated Kirigakure with hostility at a time like this simply because of a war that had already ended two years ago, then what awaited the current half-paralyzed Konoha would only be destruction.
"I will skip the nonsense. As fellow Kage of our villages, you should understand clearly that Kirigakure's aid will not be free. Although we will not demand that Konoha pay all compensation in one lump sum right now, we will require more long-term rights and interests as compensation."
Seeing Minato Namikaze suppress his grief and take on the attitude of discussing serious matters, Rei Kaguya also had no desire to exchange too many pleasantries with him.
After playing the villain role that made Minato Namikaze show helplessness, Rei turned slightly and looked at Kushina Uzumaki, who had also turned her gaze toward him.
Calmly, he said,
"Shisui, do you still have any of the secret medicine I gave you before?"
"Yes."
Shisui Uchiha moved quickly and took out the Biscuit that looked very familiar to both Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
Then he handed it to Kushina Uzumaki, whose face was filled with surprise.
"Lady Kushina, Nagato… Do you still remember him?"
"So… it was you?"
Kushina Uzumaki looked at this Uchiha boy wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector with a complicated expression.
"You… don't hate us? Don't hate Konoha?"
"I made my own choice. I should naturally understand what kind of result it would bring."
Shisui Uchiha shook his head.
"Please eat it first, Lady Kushina… Although it cannot completely recover your life, it can at least leave behind a little hope."
"You have a way to save Kushina!?"
Minato Namikaze's expression first showed surprise, but it immediately turned into hesitation and worry.
"But the price… will not be low, will it?"
"Actually, the method came from your Konoha."
Rei Kaguya shrugged and spread his hands with a relaxed expression.
"But looking across the entire shinobi world, the only side that might be able to do this right now is ours. As long as we name a price, you—or rather, you personally—will pay it in the end, won't you?"
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