I didn't wait to see the relief hit him. I didn't want to... Because relief meant hope, and hope meant he believed I could fix this.
I wasn't sure I could.
Minato bowed his head, deeper than he ever truly had to. "Thank you."
It sounded wrong. Gratitude didn't belong in moments like this. I waved a hand, already turning toward the door. "Don't thank me yet."
The hallway outside felt longer than usual. Quiet, suffocating like the air before a bloody battle. My footsteps echoed off polished floors, each one tapping out the same thought I'd been trying to outrun.
Tsunade.
I could already hear her voice in my head. Already see the way her jaw would tighten. The desperate grief behind her eyes.
You dragged me back for this? Another child? Another life balanced on a knife?
She'd earned her peace. Earned the right to run from this place and never look back. And I was about to rip that away.
I told myself it wasn't like before. Told myself this was different. It was a lie.
Outside, the village was waking. Vendors setting out produce. Shinobi leaping across rooftops. Civilians walking around smiling like the world wasn't tearing itself apart. Completely unaware of the life balancing precariously on a knife's edge.
Life goes on.
It always does.
I stopped at the gates longer than I meant to, staring down the road stretching beyond the walls. It would be easier to chase war fronts. Easier to lose myself in chaos where the only rule was survival.
Minato wasn't just a shinobi asking a favour. This was personal.
He was the kid who used to hang on my every word. The student who believed every technique could be perfected if you just tried hard enough. The boy who grew into a man capable of carrying the weight of the village on his back, with a smile on his face.
And now he was a father standing beside a crib, pretending he wasn't terrified. I rubbed a hand down my face.
"Damn it," I muttered.
Because I knew what came next.
A few short days on the road. Following rumors. Gambling dens and border towns. Listening for whispers about a blonde-headed drunk that gambled everything away. I'd find her the way I always did, because I never truly lost her.
And I'd be the one to say it... To say, I need you.
Not the village.
Not the Hokage.
Me.
Because once Tsunade saw the child, once she felt that storm under such fragile skin, she wouldn't be able to walk away.
That was the cruel part. I wasn't dragging her back to serve the Leaf. I was dragging her back because she still cared too much not to come. Though it would hurt all the same.
The gates loomed behind me as I stepped onto the road.
The wind carried the smell of dust and distant rain. War lingered on the horizon like a bruise that refused to fade. It didn't matter, not now anyway
"Guess I'm travelling again," I muttered.
No laughter followed.
Just the quiet understanding settling deep in my chest.
I wasn't going to Tsunade as a comrade.
I wasn't going as a shinobi.
I was going as a teacher who owed his student everything. As a godfather trying to save a pure, innocent soul.
And as much as I hated it...
...I was going to ask an old friend to tear open old wounds one last time.
----Author Note----
I am really sorry to say this is all I have for you today. Life has been hectic recently, and I will try to get some extra writing in over the weekend, but I won't make promises of more than 1 chapter a day.
Thank you for all the support.