The air was so heavy that one could almost hear dust settling. Kushina's roar seared Minato's nerves.
After a long while, Minato slowly raised his head. He made no attempt to defend himself.
"...I know. I wasn't a good father. I failed Naruto... failed him in everything he lost."
"Then why did you have to die with me?!"
Kushina's tears surged forth again. "He was just a fox! Why didn't you choose to live?! You clearly had so many options! Why did you pick the stupidest one?!"
She abruptly rose to her feet and glared down at Minato, who was still sitting there.
"That damned Pure Land is a place where you can't feel anything! It's cold and empty! What was the point of dying with me?! Other than making it so I couldn't get away from you, you idiot, even down there, what was the point?!"
"What kind of Hokage were you?!! Why did you dump all the responsibility... onto a newborn baby who couldn't even speak yet?!!!"
This was the heart of what she could neither understand nor forgive. Her husband's choice had been the equivalent of cruelly piling the responsibility they bore as parents, along with the village's expectations and the burden of its future, onto their child's tiny shoulders.
"I'm sorry..." Minato repeated. "I can say that as many times as you need me to. But..."
He drew a deep breath and met Kushina's eyes, burning with fury and tears.
"I couldn't do it."
"What?!"
"I'm your husband. I... couldn't watch you leave alone. Watch you disappear before my eyes while I stayed behind by myself... I couldn't do that."
His reason struck the most vulnerable place in Kushina's heart. It was not the calculation of a Hokage, nor the choice of a shinobi. It was