Side Chapter – Storm Over Silence

The Pure Lands were quiet, timeless.But that silence shattered tonight.Suspended in the still air between life and death, a window had opened—a glimpse not into war or chaos, but into something far more devastating.A boy.Alone.Sitting beneath the cold shadow of a stone face carved in his father's likeness, trying to hold himself together while the weight of the truth threatened to crush him.Minato Namikaze watched in silence, breath caught in his throat.Kushina Uzumaki stood beside him—motionless, but trembling. Her fists clenched. Her chakra flaring. Her eyes, once soft with maternal warmth, now burned like a wildfire.Jiraiya crossed his arms with a heavy frown.And Hiruzen Sarutobi… just stared, brow furrowed, but silent.The voice of Naruto Uzumaki broke through the vision, raw and aching:"If it's true… if you really were my dad… then why did you do it?"No battle could prepare them for this.Not this.Not their son—breaking, not from pain of injury, but from the realization that his suffering might have been chosen for him.By the people who claimed to love him.Minato didn't move.He couldn't.The words echoed again through the ethereal light:"Was I just a weapon to you?"He looked shattered. Mouth slightly open, eyes wide—not with disbelief, but realization.Kushina stepped forward, her chakra flaring around her in red wisps of raw emotion."He thinks you saw him as a tool," she said bitterly. "As a container. As a goddamn seal!""Kushina—" Jiraiya began."DON'T."Her voice cracked like thunder. "You were his godfather, Jiraiya. HIS GODFATHER! You were supposed to protect him!""I did what I could," he said sharply. "The village—""No!" she screamed. "Don't you DARE hide behind the village! You chose to stay away! You knew what they were doing to him! You let my baby grow up thinking no one wanted him!"Jiraiya's jaw tightened. "I thought it was better he learned to stand on his own."Minato turned to him slowly, voice low. "He was a child, sensei.""Do you think I don't know that now?" Jiraiya shot back. "I saw what the village became, I see it—but I can't change the past. I thought staying distant would keep him safe from the people who hated him.""And instead," Kushina hissed, "you made him feel unloved."⸻Hiruzen stepped forward at last, his expression grave. "I take full responsibility. I was the Hokage. I—""You made a promise to me," Kushina cut him off, her eyes blazing. "I was DYING, and I begged you to protect him.""I tried," Hiruzen said, but his voice lacked conviction."YOU LET THEM OSTRACIZE HIM!" she roared. "You let him grow up alone! Hungry! Miserable! I asked for protection, not a damn prison cell built on neglect!""I gave him an apartment, I—"Kushina's hand shot up, her fingers trembling with rage. "You gave him a room. You didn't give him a childhood."Silence followed her scream—until Minato finally spoke again, his voice distant, hollow."I shouldn't have trusted the village."Everyone turned to him."What?" Jiraiya blinked."I was the Hokage. I thought I knew the people. I believed they would protect my son, honor the sacrifice." Minato's voice cracked. "But I was wrong. I failed him. Worse than any of you."Jiraiya took a step toward him, stunned. "Minato…""I sealed the fox into my own son," Minato said, staring blankly at Naruto's image. "Told myself it was for peace. For strength. For the future. But I never imagined he'd be treated like that. That the village I died for would turn its back on my child."Even Hiruzen looked shaken.Minato's next words came out like a confession."I should've chosen differently."⸻Naruto's voice came through again, softer now, full of quiet devastation:"I just wanted to know why."Kushina's fury faltered into grief. She lowered her head and whispered, "He still wants to love us. Even now."Minato shut his eyes. "And he has every right not to.""He's not broken," Jiraiya said finally, shoulders low. "He's hurting, but he's not done. He's still standing. Still walking forward."Minato gave the faintest nod. "He's stronger than any of us ever were."Kushina's voice was steel. "Then he won't need apologies. He deserves the truth. And if we ever get the chance…"She looked straight at Jiraiya and Hiruzen, eyes hard and wet."…you're going to tell him everything. And you'll tell him why you failed."Both men bowed their heads.And for a long while, they stood in silence, watching Naruto descend from the Hokage Monument—shoulders squared, eyes forward, alone… but never again unloved.

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End of Side Chapter(Return to the living world…)