Yukina...
Kushina...
Kakashi...
Rin...
As Minato Namikaze's account grew increasingly heavy, Chiba's fists gradually clenched tight without his noticing. His nails slowly dug into his palms, yet at this moment, he could no longer feel the pain.
How could this be...
So much... had happened! Damn it!
Damn it! Why... why...
Why hadn't I stayed in the village, by her side?! At that moment, his heart was completely engulfed by pain. Compared to the pain in his heart, the pain in his palms was not worth mentioning at all.
"That was roughly what happened."
Seeing expression gradually return to Chiba's face, Minato Namikaze frowned slightly, but said nothing more. He simply began with the news of Chiba's death reaching the village and recounted everything to him.
After he finished, Minato Namikaze fell silent as well. So much had happened during that time. Telling it all again felt like reliving it, and some of those events weighed heavily on his heart.
Although he had mentally prepared himself before recounting everything, revisiting certain memories still left him unable to suppress that heaviness.
And now, seeing Chiba's expression, his face stiffened by all kinds of emotions, Minato Namikaze could not find any words to comfort or console him. Even if he could, those words would not have convinced himself. How could they convince Chiba?
Too much had happened in the past three months. It had all been too unexpected, its impact too immense, and it had come just as he had taken over all of Konoha. He could not even remember how he had made it through that first month.
Even now, when he thought back on it, he found it a little unbelievable that they had managed to keep this matter hidden.
At the same time, he had deeply felt the pressure—the