His own voice echoed through the office, unusually loud.
Kumoi realized he had lost his composure and quickly covered his mouth, looking around—thankfully, no one was there. Otherwise, if the Hokage's appearance got out, tomorrow's Konoha headlines would probably read, "Hokage Suspected of Going Insane."
But he truly could not control the expression on his face.
That smile... how should he put it? If anyone saw him right now, they would definitely think the Hokage had fallen under some strange Genjutsu.
The corners of his mouth stretched to his ears, his eyes gleamed, and his whole body radiated the smug delight of someone who had found treasure.
"The next generation of workers... no, no."
Kumoi hurriedly corrected himself, cleared his throat, and tried to restore a normal expression. "The seedlings of the next era have appeared."
He took several deep breaths to calm himself, but the smile in his eyes remained impossible to hide.
Kushina! That was Kushina!
The Nine-Tails' jinchuriki in the original story, the Fourth Hokage's wife, and the mother of the Child of Prophecy!
Though she was only a two-and-a-half-year-old little girl now, in the future...
Kumoi leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth rising again despite himself.
"I found treasure. I really found treasure."
Then he remembered something else and abruptly sat upright.
Since Kushina had appeared, then...
"Little Sun Minato Namikaze should have been born too, right?"
Kumoi narrowed his eyes and began searching his memories for information about that Yellow Flash.
Those fragmented scenes from another time and space became especially clear at this moment.
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage in the original story, Konoha's Yellow Flash, Jiraiya's disciple, Kushina's husband, and Naruto's father.
Born a civilian, with no clan background and no Kekkei Genkai, he had nevertheless climbed step by