Let's dismantle it like this!
Let's dismantle it like this!
After saying that, Chiba watched Hirohiko's expression shift from a poker face to a serious poker face. He gently pressed his lips together, but his heart slowly began to rise into his throat.
Although Hirohiko seemed to have been completely drawn in by the current situation, Chiba still could not fully put aside the unease in his heart.
At this point, he no longer had time to grieve Nao's departure. It was not that he did not care about Nao, but that he had no energy left to think about her death.
All he could think about now was how to handle Nao's death properly—at the very least, to keep Hirohiko in his current state until they returned to the village.
If he truly had to break down, then he had to break down in the village! That way, Chiba could spare no cost to keep Hirohiko from becoming his enemy, or turning into something he never wanted to see.
Because if Hirohiko truly stood against him or fell into darkness, Chiba believed that he would never be able to bring himself to strike him. Worse still, something he least wanted to see might happen: Hirohiko might stand against Kushina.
Yes, stand against Kushina.
Unlike him, Kushina was the wife of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze; a representative of Konoha's bright side; someone who regarded Konoha as her second homeland and had even become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. She could be said to be a staunch supporter of Konoha. Otherwise, she could never have become the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. Coupled with the relationship between the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan, although both clans had already declined, Konoha, which had been founded by the Senju Clan, still meant more to her than