Half an hour later, Hokage's Office.
"What?"
Minato Namikaze's pen, just about to touch the paper, suddenly stopped. A drop of ink fell onto the white page, spreading into a stain. At the same time, he looked up in astonishment at Chiba, who had suddenly come to see him, and unconsciously asked the question aloud.
"Please assign the bounty on Uchiha Nobuhiko to me, Teacher Minato."
Chiba, standing before the desk, repeated what he had just said.
"The bounty on Uchiha Nobuhiko? Hirohiko's Brother?"
Minato Namikaze frowned. He seemed to have finally processed it, setting down his pen and crumpling up the Official Order he had only just begun, now stained with ink. He tossed it into the nearby wastebasket as he asked.
"That's right."
Chiba's answer was equally straightforward.
"This... why did you suddenly decide to take on this mission?"
Hearing Chiba's firm confirmation, Minato Namikaze's brow furrowed even more deeply as he continued to ask.
This child had been training single-mindedly at home. He rarely even left the house, staying in the village on standby, and there weren't any missions that required him at the moment.
Why had he suddenly chosen a mission for himself?
And that bounty, of all things?
This child had always been obsessed with training. Given the time, he would certainly rather train at home than go on missions. Volunteering for one... hm? Actually, it didn't seem so unusual.
The missions he volunteered for seemed to have always been important or crucial to the village.
Could this bounty be extremely important to the village's current situation? But why this particular bounty? And Uchiha Nobuhiko...
As he spoke, a chain of thoughts flashed through Minato Namikaze's mind, leaving him rather hesitant.
"To give the Uchiha Clan an explanation."
Chiba answered directly.
"An explanation for the