Kushina felt the strength of her body slip away as she fell into Minato's arms, who fell along with her onto Gamabunta's head.
"I made you put in quite a lot of effort." Minato said between sighs. He felt his chakra deep down was almost gone, but he still had enough for one more thing. He placed the seal on Kushina's belly as she lay on his chest. Minato doubted if now the Kyuubi could break out of the seal.
Without Kushina's response, Minato ran his finger over her face, her eyes closed. Minato felt guilty, because it was really for this reason that she had pushed herself so hard.
Minato felt his chest lighten; the weight of Kushina brought that relief, a smile appeared on his face. He was going to live as Minato Namikaze, but he would be himself. It's not like he remembered Minato's personality beyond the anime.
"What a bad feeling." Minato muttered in agony, being without chakra was really unpleasant. How do shinobi recharge their chakra? Minato, using only his hand, made a seal like the characters from the Naruto game. Minato decided to try, whether it would work or not, he didn't know, but it didn't hurt to try.
A few seconds passed, but nothing. Minato almost stopped, but then he felt chakra beginning to enter his body.
His eyes couldn't help but widen—was this right?
10 seconds were enough for him to feel his chakra completely full. Only confusion remained on Minato's face.
"Man…" Only disbelief left his mouth. He expected something, but not like this. He just stared at the dark sky, mind blank.
His gaze returned to his chest where Kushina's red hair was spread out, and he couldn't help but run his hand through her hair.
He took a strand of Kushina's hair, it was so soft in his hand that Minato almost let go, afraid that his hands would soil it and ruin the softness.
"It feels like a dream. Doesn't matter, whether it's a dream or not, I'll make you fall in love with me!" Minato murmured determinedly. He would be himself. He would make Kushina fall in love with him, not because he was Minato now.
"Boss? Did you say something?" Gamabunta asked curiously. He was slightly curious because the boss was talking today; he didn't like talking much, especially to himself.
"No, nothing." Minato held Kushina's waist before standing up, but he stopped. Two shadows landed in front of him.
Two people Minato knew well, the Third Hokage and Danzo.
"Good thing nothing happened to you." Hiruzen sighed in relief, his gaze lingering a moment on the unconscious Kushina, relieved that everything had worked out.
"I told you." Danzo said coldly, both eyes fixed on Minato's face.
"Thank you for your concern." Minato thanked Hiruzen, but didn't speak to Danzo, he wasn't in the mood to speak as the original Minato would.
"You should hand her over to me, I am the only one who can keep the Jinchuuriki safe. Today almost became a disaster, only proves that I am right."
Hand her over? Minato almost burst out laughing. He really had messed up, but regardless, he would never hand her over.
Minato was going to ignore it, if not for what Danzo was about to say, which made him stop.
"She is not safe at your side. If the Kyuubi hadn't been stopped, she would have caused great destruction. It is not appropriate that our weapon stays with you, it will only bring danger to everyone. With Root, I will train her, make her master the Kyuubi, then later you two can go back to your married life. When the village no longer needs to fear anything."
Danzo said all the words without any pity, he didn't care if they hurt Minato's feelings. What mattered was the village. And the village had to have a strong leader; if Minato opposed it, it would only show he wasn't fit to be Hokage. Hard choices had to be made.
Feelings had to be flaws when compared to the well-being of the village.
First came the nation, then everything else. Danzo's two eyes fixed on Minato's back, who was standing there waiting for his response.
Minato couldn't believe Danzo was asking him to hand over his wife as if she were an object. Much less a weapon. Others might see her as one, but not him.
What would Minato say? He would try a calm conversation and wouldn't be rude at all. That was what Minato was considering.
"Fuck that…" Minato thought before turning to Danzo.
"Listen here, you piece of shit." Those words came out of Minato's mouth, catching everyone completely off guard. Never would they have thought that would come from Minato's mouth.
"She will stay by my side. Unfortunately, it was my mistake, but it will never happen again. As Hokage, I will not allow it to happen. However, I give you a warning, Danzo, don't try anything against me."
Minato said before looking at the forest; he had the impression something was watching him from there, but there was nothing. Maybe it was just his imagination. Before vanishing with Kushina in a yellow flash.
Three beings were stunned, Gamabunta blinked his eyes in confusion. What had he just heard come out of Minato's mouth? Gamabunta vanished in a puff of white smoke, making Danzo and Hiruzen fall on their backs on the ground.
That would never have happened if they hadn't been so surprised by what they had heard. Looking at the dark sky, they wondered if they hadn't misheard the words that came out of Minato's mouth.
How could the gentle Minato say such words? If it had been Kushina, they wouldn't be surprised, but Minato… this was truly shocking.
"What?!" Was all that came from both their mouths, who didn't know what to think, other than to remain speechless, staring at the stars in the sky.
---
"He sensed us? How?" A voice sounded in the forest, not far from where Minato was.
If anyone heard this voice, they would think it was Minato. Unfortunately, nothing in this world could hear it unless they were dead.
"He didn't sense us, only his gaze, nothing more. He must have dismissed it as just his imagination." A gentle voice arose. Minato was sitting on a tree trunk. His body glowed faintly blue, besides being transparent.
Beside him, a human form entirely made of blue light—it was from there the gentle voice came.
"Shall we go?" the being said, holding out its hand to Minato, who gave one last look before taking it.
Everything began to turn white as they appeared in an entirely white place. The being looked at Minato.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Yes, is this really the only way?" Minato asked, as he faced the being. He didn't want to doubt, but…
"Do you remember when I approached you? I said: destiny cannot be changed unless there is an anomaly."
"I offered you a way to help, but I warned you of the dangers. You could refuse, or try one of the methods, being: making you or Kushina an anomaly, or bringing a soul, thus creating an anomaly."
"Sorry if somehow my question seemed rude, I didn't mean to offend. I just really wanted to know if those were the only options." Minato said with an apologetic expression. From the beginning he only sought Kushina's happiness, even if it wasn't with him. His heart ached, but knowing the fate they had, he tried to change it, yet nothing worked, as if there were a force pushing, no matter what he changed, it led to the same ending.
"I wasn't offended. As I said from the very first time: destiny cannot be changed unless there is an anomaly." The being said, though its expression couldn't be seen, as it had no features.
"I'm glad about that." Minato said, even though his chest ached. He did this for Kushina, he didn't want to see her dead, even knowing in the end they would be together forever. But that wasn't his wish, he wanted her to live a life, to grow old, even if not with him.
"Can I see how their fate will be?" Minato continued. He hoped that at least she would be happy.
"Unfortunately, I cannot. There's no way. There are many variations, but the ending is the same. The efforts of both of them are truly incredible." The being said with admiration. He waved his hand before a blue screen appeared like a photograph.
There was a blond-haired man with his arm around the shoulders of a red-haired woman. You could see some wrinkles on his face, showing they were older. A giant smile on each face while their eyes shone with happiness. In the woman's arms was a blond-haired baby smiling, showing his toothless jaw.
Beside him was a blond-haired man with whisker marks on his cheeks, embracing a black-haired woman with white eyes, along with two children. The four were smiling. Next to them was another red-haired man with whisker marks on his cheeks, together with another red-haired woman also with whisker marks, smiling.
Minato stood still while tears streamed down his face. He began to wipe them away.
"I can go in peace." The murmur left Minato's mouth, making the being lightly tap his shoulder, drawing his attention.
"Well, I want a happy ending for everyone. Yours is no exception, come with me. You weren't the only one who tried to change destiny. One of the Kushinas chose to stay with her son and guide him. Now she is here. I think it's good that she sees her husband, even if he's different." The being said, leading Minato to a room that opened, where Kushina was sitting before looking at Minato.
The being left the room, leaving them alone. A smile appeared on that entirely blue being.