Minato commented with a slight smile:
"As I said, you're not weak."
Kushina crossed her arms and replied, feigning disdain:
"That's just your impression."
Minato merely laughed at her childishness and continued walking home by her side.
---
On a road in the forest, around one in the morning, a carriage sped along at high speed. The man holding the reins swayed a lot on the seat, forcing the horses to accelerate even more.
From inside the carriage, an urgent female voice sounded:
"To the Land of Fire… how much longer until we get there?"
The man replied, worried:
"Lady priestess, even at this speed it will take until morning. Not to mention the breaks… the horses won't be able to keep this pace."
The voice inside the carriage fell silent for a few moments. When it spoke again, there was a tone of desperation and helplessness in it:
"All right… I hope there's still time to warn the Hokage."
---
In the morning, sunlight streamed through the window of the house, right onto Minato's face as he lay in bed. He shifted, bothered by the brightness, and soon opened his eyes.
He had slept in the bed together with Kushina. She wasn't as close to him as before, but still, the relationship between the two of them seemed better.
Minato looked to the side and realized that Kushina had already gotten up. A feeling of expectation arose in his heart as he gently picked up a strand of her hair that was still on the pillow. Then he got up and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
A little later, he came out, sensing a pleasant smell coming from the kitchen. When he got there, he saw Kushina sitting with Naruto in her arms, breastfeeding the baby.
"Good morning," Minato said, his voice still sleepy.
Kushina turned her attention to him before replying:
"Good morning. You woke up late. Is it a day off?"
She gave a light laugh. She knew very well that there was no such thing as a day off for the Hokage — it was a pretty demanding job, even if most of the time it didn't require physical effort.
Minato remained silent for a few moments before sitting down and speaking in a low tone:
"No… I was removed."
He hadn't intended to tell her, but ended up deciding to say it anyway.
The news caught Kushina by surprise. She widened her eyes slightly and asked, worried:
"What happened?"
Minato looked at her face and replied:
"There was a meeting. They wanted an agreement with them… They said I wasn't fit to protect you or the village. And I was removed after I refused to hand you over to Root."
Kushina felt her heart tighten.
"Why did you do that?"
She felt touched, but deep down she thought Minato shouldn't have gone that far. For her, that was just an obligation. And, as she had promised herself the night before, she would try to be happy, even knowing that all of this existed only out of duty, because of what had happened to Minato — nothing more than that.
She comforted herself with that thought and decided to accept it.
"Why?" Minato repeated, surprised. "What kind of question is that? I'm not going to hand you over. It's my duty."
Kushina fell silent and lowered her head. Before she could say anything, she felt a hand on her chin, gently pulling her face up. Two blue eyes, full of firmness, stared into hers, as if seeing into the depths of her soul.
Minato spoke in a firm voice:
"I may not be the original Minato, but you and Naruto are my family now. And I'm not going to let them lay a hand on you, regardless of whether I'm removed from the position of Hokage or not. That's just a title… unlike you."
Kushina's eyes trembled. Her heart beat faster for a brief moment.
She merely murmured before falling silent:
"Thank you."
Kushina even felt embarrassed, averting her gaze. Minato went to eat his breakfast while she remained distracted. But soon she snapped out of her thoughts.
"Are you really not sad or angry?"
Kushina asked. She doesn't know if Minato knows what it means to be Hokage, something any Leaf ninja dreams of — it's not just any position.
She thought that maybe Minato didn't know the importance of that position. Don't get her wrong, Kushina is happy; she wouldn't want to go to Root. She knows she would only be treated like a weapon there, nothing more than that, and that's not what Kushina wants.
"Why would I be?" Minato replied before going back to eating.
Kushina looked closely at his face and he really doesn't seem like it matters much, making her wonder if he really knew what it meant to be Hokage, but she didn't say anything else. Since he really doesn't seem to care, there's no reason for her to insist.
Kushina left her chair and went to the bedroom to put Naruto in the crib. He had fallen asleep. Soon she came back and sat down in front of Minato.
"What was in your world that's different from here?" Kushina asked.
"I already told you."
"No you didn't, you barely said anything, come on! Say it!" Kushina insisted like a child who had just gotten a new toy and was pestering someone to play with her.
Minato explained the differences. He mentioned that there were no powers there, explained about cars, airplanes, and cell phones. He kept talking. Soon he finished his meal and went to the fridge to get something to drink and saw that inside a container was the passion fruit pie.
He opened it and ate a piece. Kushina saw that he was chewing something, and a bad feeling arose in her.
"Hey! What are you eating? Hey! That's my pie. Last night I saw you taking some! That's mine!"
Kushina felt as if her soul had been eaten; she jumped onto Minato's back trying to take the pie from him.
"Calm down! It's just a piece! Calm down!" Minato raised his voice a little, trying to save his piece from Kushina's hungry mouth.
"There's only this piece left, yesterday you ate almost all of it! You glutton!" Kushina said anxiously while stretching out her hands, which to Minato were more like claws trying to take his prey, which was the piece of pie.
"I'm just going to take a very small piece, nothing more." Minato said sincerely. Kushina calmed down; he seemed sincere to her — too bad he wasn't.
Kushina's eyes widened when she saw that he opened his mouth as wide as he could to eat it. Kushina lunged, knocking both him and herself to the floor, and she fell on top of him.
Seeing that she had gone too far, Kushina was about to apologize and ask if he was okay.
"Did you get hurt?" Minato asked worriedly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye, since he was on his back and she was on top.
Kushina's lips formed a pout; she really doesn't understand. She could have hurt him, he had risked his life for her on the day of the delivery, even though he wasn't her husband, and he seemed perfectly willing to abandon the position of Hokage for a woman she had become married to just a few days ago.
Kushina really doesn't understand, and she's getting irritated and frustrated. Seeing his neck there, she gave it a bite to vent her frustration; it wasn't hard, it was quite moderate.
"Ouch, what was that!" Minato exclaimed in surprise. When he turned around, she was already off him; he only saw her hair swaying. Minato has no idea what goes on in Kushina's head.
"Women are complicated," Minato muttered. A small involuntary smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, something he didn't even notice.