"So listen to me and behave yourself, got it?!"
Minato watched Kushina lecturing Kyusei with a helpless expression.
Honestly, this kid really was Kushina's counterpart through and through. If Kushina herself had been a jinchūriki—watched day in and day out like this—she probably would've gone crazy too.
Knowing her personality, she might've even yanked the Third Hokage's beard…
"And Kaoru—make absolutely sure you keep an eye on this guy in the future!"
Kushina turned to Kaoru, who was standing nearby looking obedient and sweet, and couldn't resist pulling her into a big hug.
So cute… I really want to kidnap her and take her home.
Damn it—why didn't I give birth to a daughter?!
"Okay~ I'll keep a close watch on Kyusei," Kaoru replied cheerfully, her beautiful eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.
Ever since Hinata and the Namikaze couple arrived, it felt like everyone had firmly bound her together with Kyusei. Strangely enough, she found herself quite happy with that outcome—especially since she'd been unsure how to interact with him before.
She snuck a glance at Kyusei, who was pretending to look annoyed by Kushina's nagging.
Honestly… he was clearly reluctant to part, yet he insisted on putting on that indifferent act.
Maybe this was just a boy's stubborn pride?
"Are you done yet?!"
"I seriously don't want to stay in this place for even one more second!"
Not far away, Hinata snapped irritably at Minato and Kushina.
This version of Konoha clearly made her extremely uncomfortable. When she'd first arrived, her temper had landed her in a full-on fight with Seiran and Naori, who were guarding Kyusei—earning her a month in prison.
After that, her other-world mother, Hyūga Naoriri, had dragged her back to the Hyūga clan, where the current clan head spent half a month drilling "etiquette" and "rules" into her.
It had nearly driven her insane.
If she hadn't been completely outmatched by the Hyūga clan head, she'd have rebelled already.
As for running away?
She might be impulsive, but she wasn't stupid.
Who could escape from a clan full of Byakugan users?
"When you get back, behave yourself," Naori said calmly, looking at her daughter.
"Don't cause trouble or make things difficult for others."
"Yeah, yeah!"
"So naggy!"
Watching Hinata's openly irritated attitude, Naori sighed softly in her heart.
Perhaps returning to their respective worlds was the best possible ending for everyone.
Looking at that wild, thorny rose before her—maybe someday she would bloom into something dazzling in her own way. But right now, she truly wasn't the kind of person Naori could bring herself to like.
Then again… perhaps she didn't need Naori's affection at all.
She was simply herself. Nothing more, nothing less.
"All right, let's stop here," Minato said gently.
"If this drags on any longer, we might not even be able to leave today."
Seeing Kushina still clinging to Kyusei and Kaoru, Minato had no choice but to step in.
"Fine then," Kushina said reluctantly, looking at the two kids with obvious reluctance.
"Take good care of yourselves, both of you."
Because of the whole counterpart thing, she felt an instinctive fondness for Kyusei, and Kaoru—being Minato's counterpart—naturally earned her affection as well.
With the age difference, she'd subconsciously started treating both of them like her own children.
"Mhm. You take care of yourself too, Sister Kushina," Kaoru said softly, just as reluctant to part.
Kushina ruffled Kaoru's hair, then shot an unhappy look at the red-haired boy.
"And you? You don't have anything you want to say to me, Kyusei?"
"Tch. What's there to say?" Kyusei muttered, turning his head away.
Then—to Kushina's surprise—he pulled a photograph out from his chest and handed it to her.
Kushina took it, and the moment she saw what was on it, her clear eyes curved into crescents.
She was obviously very pleased.
"Then… goodbye, Kyusei. Goodbye, Kaoru."
As Minato and Kushina left through Konoha's gates with Hinata, Kyusei stood there in silence for a long time, staring at the now-empty entrance.
"Kyusei, let's go home."
Kaoru gently took his hand.
Looking down at the blonde girl beside him, Kyusei finally smiled.
"Yeah. Let's go back. One day, we'll be even stronger than those two."
—
"By the way, where exactly are we heading?" Hinata asked as she followed the Namikaze couple at high speed.
"We came to that world because of the Dragon Vein," Minato explained patiently.
"So we'll return the same way—by reaching this world's Dragon Vein and using the space-time transfer seal there."
"What if we end up in the wrong place?" Hinata asked, a little worried.
"That won't happen. Sakura was on the mission with us," Minato replied.
"To be safe, I had her stay at the Dragon Vein with one of my Flying Thunder God kunai."
"If anything goes wrong, I can use its marker as a guide and forcibly pull us back to our own world."
As he explained, a faint sense of unease crept into Minato's heart.
If the Dragon Vein could allow them to travel between worlds… then people from other worlds might be able to do the same.
If such power fell into the hands of someone with malicious intent, the consequences would be unimaginably catastrophic.
They could freely alter history, treating entire worlds like toys in the palm of their hand.
Minato wanted to completely eliminate this danger—but he knew he couldn't.
He was still not strong enough to fully seal the Dragon Vein.
Yet as his gaze drifted toward his wife, he noticed that even while moving at full speed, Kushina was looking down at a photograph in her hand.
"Kushina? What are you looking at?" Minato asked curiously.
"Here, Minato. Look."
Kushina smiled and handed him the photo.
Minato took it—and froze.
The picture was from the night they'd eaten together with Kyusei and Kaoru.
The atmosphere was warm and lively: Kushina was mid-complaint about Kyusei dragging them around the night market forever; Kyusei looked stubbornly unconvinced; Kaoru seemed torn between defending Kyusei and being intimidated by Kushina; and Minato himself was smiling as he helped Kushina pick food.
The restaurant owner had snapped it casually, saying they were the five-thousandth table since opening.
…How wonderful.
Minato's eyes softened, his resolve growing firmer than ever.
It was precisely because he wanted to protect moments like this that he had to eliminate the danger of space-time jumps via the Dragon Vein.
But it wouldn't be easy.
Which meant—he would need more allies.
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