This time, had my personal feelings finally outweighed my duty...?
Watching Chiba leave the stone chamber, Minato Namikaze did not rise at once to see his wife as he had said he would. Instead, he stared at the place where Chiba had vanished and searched his own heart.
To be honest, as Hokage, he should not have chosen Chiba's plan, even though Chiba's plan was indeed safer and more reliable.
But now there was an organization called Akatsuki, with members like that among them, and they even had designs on the village's Nine-Tails. As Hokage, he should have gathered every force available and used this opportunity to capture that person and obtain critical intelligence on Akatsuki.
A ninja of that caliber was absolutely a core member of Akatsuki, perhaps even someone at the leader's level. This had been a perfect opportunity.
Yet in the end, he had not chosen his own plan. He had chosen Chiba's plan, the one more likely to keep his wife and son safe.
Without a doubt, that was selfishness.
It was the choice a husband and father would make.
"I should go see Kushina."
With that thought, Minato Namikaze took a deep breath and suppressed the inexplicable emotion in his heart. His face gradually returned to its usual gentle expression as he slowly rose to his feet.
He could not let Kushina notice anything, nor could he let her know about this.
At the same time, this thought passed through his mind.
Thinking that, he left the stone chamber and headed for the one where Kushina lived, the place where she would later give birth.
Elsewhere, at the Ninja Engineering Corps camp.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Hirohiko."
"Thank you for your hard work, Deputy Chief Coordinator."
"Then, we'll be going."
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