"Kushina..."
Minato Namikaze stared at Kushina before him, her face bearing a gentle smile, and froze slightly as he murmured her name.
Hearing his murmur, Kushina said nothing. She merely looked at her somewhat dazed husband and smiled gently.
All of a sudden, even with a formidable enemy before them, with Uchiha Nobuhiko liable to launch a lightning-fast attack and catch them off guard at any moment, she did not know why, but it felt as though they had returned to the past. She was still the Outsider who stumbled at every turn, while he was already the most popular boy in the village.
As if it were that night, when he held her in his arms.
Or as if it were the day they entered the halls of marriage, when his nervous hands trembled uncontrollably.
All sorts of memories of him surfaced in her mind. His patience, tolerance, and care for her flashed through her thoughts, scene after scene.
Yet among those memories, she had never seen this man look dispirited. The man she had resolved to marry since childhood had never shown her any negativity. There had only ever been that gentle, reassuring smile, or his adorable expression when he tensed his face in nervousness. There had never been even the slightest trace of despair.
It was as though he could shield her from everything and take care of her no matter what happened.
But just now, on this man's face—her husband's face—she had seen a trace of loneliness and helplessness.
For some reason, seeing that trace of loneliness and helplessness, the first thing she felt was not heartache or fear, but warmth and joy.
It was as though she had finally seen this man's vulnerable side, finally found a moment when she could help her husband.
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