Minato and Kushina's comforting words did get through to Naruto, at least a little.
He clutched their arms tightly, thinking, Even without the village, I'm not alone anymore. At least I have a family!
Yet even as he tried to comfort himself, a tearing pain still throbbed in Naruto's heart.
But more than pain, what filled his heart was bewilderment.
For as long as he could remember, Naruto had made becoming Hokage his lifelong pursuit. Day after day, year after year, he had worked tirelessly toward that dream.
But now the village was gone. Becoming Hokage no longer meant anything, and Naruto's dream had shattered completely.
Naruto's mind went blank. It felt as though the rest of his life had vanished into a fog-
Once I leave the village, what am I supposed to do?
"Hey, Naruto, Minato, why don't we go traveling together?"
As though she had seen through the confusion in Naruto's heart, Kushina suddenly made that suggestion.
"I'd love to look around the Five Great Nations! And the Land of Whirlpools. I really want to go back..."
Once, as the village's second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina had inherited Mito's mission and responsibilities.
Her life had been even more confined than Naruto's. She had been trapped within the barrier the village had erected specifically for her, with no freedom to speak of.
That cage-like existence had been sheer torment for someone as full of life as Kushina.
Now that the village was gone, alongside her sorrow, she actually felt completely free.
Although the village had been her second home, as a lone survivor of the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki Clan, she had always harbored resentment over how only the Senju Clan had supported her homeland, and how Konoha had ultimately rescued no one but her.
Even the