"Wuye, what are you looking at?"
Minato Namikaze finally could not help stepping forward, blocking Hyuga Wuye's line of sight.
"Her hair color is exactly the same as Kushina's."
Wuye spoke in a rather strange tone. "Is that why you..."
"Ah... no!"
Minato shook his head. "Although I suspect she is from the Uzumaki clan, like Kushina, I pity her background more. You can look at her arms."
He gestured to Minako. "Show Wuye."
The young woman seemed to trust him greatly. She nodded and rolled up her sleeves.
Dense bite marks covered every inch of skin on her arms...
Hyuga Wuye took a deep breath and calmed the turmoil in his heart.
He truly had not expected Minato to encounter Karin's mother—and seemingly take a liking to her...
"She has a constitution capable of healing ninja, so the Grass Ninja Village's ninja have kept her as a living blood pack..." Minato Namikaze said pityingly.
Wuye nodded. "You brought me here because... you want to take her back to the village?"
The moment he said that, Minako's eyes visibly brightened.
Clearly, she had long since had enough of being bitten and could not wait to escape this den of demons.
Minato Namikaze fell silent for a moment. Then he raised his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at Hyuga Wuye. "By Konoha's rules, the village will never accept people from other countries during wartime, but she..."
"You want to make an exception for her?" Wuye cut in.
"Yes." Minato nodded gently, looking conflicted yet relieved. "I want to make an exception for her."
"Only at this moment do I understand, a little, the choice Jonin Sakumo faced back then..."
He let out a breath and shook his head. "We ninja are still human. We are not weapons of war."