At around two in the afternoon on July 10, an anxious Minato Namikaze had no choice but to travel to the eastern Land of Fire and personally pursue Itachi Uchiha and the others who had left the village.
The news that had just arrived from the Land of Iron left Minato's thoughts in turmoil. He had never expected things to develop this far.
Perhaps his happy, comfortable life had dulled his vigilance. Even now, Minato could not understand the plan his teacher had spent more than a year setting in motion.
Peace in the Shinobi World had never truly existed. To Minato, simply postponing the outbreak of war was already a tremendous success.
Hatred could not be erased. Minato knew perfectly well that, after he had killed so many Iwagakure ninja, their comrades would hate him. But that was what it meant to be a ninja. Their profession doomed them to bear such hatred.
Even the so-called "Child of Prophecy" could never make people forget the murder of a father or the grief of losing a child.
Now that he enjoyed a happy life, Minato could understand what Jiraiya sought, but he held no hopes for this supposed "mutual understanding."
He had argued with his teacher about it more than once. When Jiraiya settled down, Minato had briefly thought he had persuaded him. Only today did he realize that he had failed completely.
Changing someone's mind was incredibly difficult. As Minato raced through the dense forest, his thoughts churned. Now, he finally cast aside those unrealistic fantasies.
Behind him, Kakashi kept picking up speed with Pakkun. He had heard some of the news too, and his head was still full of questions.
Pakkun said nothing beyond giving directions. As they left the dense forest, his nose twitched, and he called