"When I first joined ANBU, I was inexperienced and suffered for it more than once. Take this scar, for example."
"It wasn't inflicted by an enemy, but by someone I'd rescued."
"It was my first mission: rescuing villagers being terrorized by a band of rogue ninja who'd claimed a mountain as their territory. It took everything I had to get all of them out safely, and I was badly injured in the process."
"Some of the villagers thought that, badly injured as I was, I couldn't fight off the rogue ninja. They feared those men would come back for revenge and slaughter the village, so they wanted to cut off my head and offer it as a gift to appease them... They drugged the candy a child gave me."
"Unfortunately, I fell for it. When I woke up, the villagers were discussing whether to cut off my head with a butcher's cleaver or a watermelon knife."
"They weren't used to my kunai. They felt their hands would slip when they cut, and they wouldn't be able to kill me in one stroke. Fortunately for me, they weren't used to it."
Minato Namikaze recounted the past in an even tone, his eyes calm, as though he were telling someone else's story.
"The drug hadn't worn off, and my injuries hadn't healed. After waking up, I could barely defend myself, much less escape."
"Fortunately, Captain Sakumo realized my mission had taken longer than it should have and tracked me down. He took care of everything for me. Otherwise, I might have died at those villagers' hands-the villagers I'd rescued."
His voice remained calm as he told a story that would have chilled anyone who heard it.
Listening to those spare words, Kushina pieced together a bloody, perilous scene from his understated account,