Minato's final actions failed to produce any meaningful results.
As for the ultimate outcome of the Byakugan Recovery Mission—regrettably, it ended in Konoha's defeat.
As a result, Konohagakure was steeped in grief.
The entire Hyūga Clan cried until tears ran dry, hearts aching, wails echoing miserably—like a young girl who had suffered some horrific misfortune…
Like losing her jawbone during facial reconstruction surgery.
During the course of the mission, Konoha lost six more ninja. Tragic as it was, such sacrifices were unavoidable realities of shinobi operations.
Judging purely by enemy encounter frequency, Hagoromo and Kakashi's squad ranked near the top. Unfortunately, in terms of actual gains, they came away with nothing more than a single "ping-pong ball."
After the mission ended, Hagoromo and the others returned to Konoha immediately—so quickly, in fact, that they never even had a second meeting with the world's greatest scientist, Orochimaru.
That was, in a way, a pity.
In another sense, it was extremely fortunate—after all, Hagoromo had avoided the very real risk of being dissected. That said, Orochimaru at this stage was still relatively restrained, nowhere near the madness he would later descend into.
Once both sides withdrew, the already-destroyed Land of Whirlpools returned to its former stillness—
Or rather, its deathly silence.
Regardless of how Konoha evaluated the mission internally, upon returning to the village, every squad was required to submit a detailed report of their encounters.
Hagoromo and Kakashi's team was no exception. There was nothing to hide—just tell the truth.
The mission had failed, yes, but when an operation involving a mid-scale deployment of ninja still couldn't be resolved, the blame clearly lay with strategy and command, not with every individual on the execution side.
As such, the ninja who participated—including Hagoromo—were unlikely to face punishment.
However, Hagoromo's reporting duties didn't end there.
After the official debrief, he still had to give a personal report to Uzumaki Kushina.
Unfortunately, this time, the one who got shocked wasn't Kushina—
It was Hagoromo himself.
Kushina, as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, was a strategic, nation-level deterrent—a walking weapon of catastrophic power. As such, she was kept under tight protection within Konoha.
Aside from that one joint mission with Hagoromo, she hadn't left the village even once since.
No one was willing to let her encounter danger again.
During the war, she was—ironically—one of the freest ninja around.
Sometimes she could even stay home all day. When Hagoromo came looking for her directly, there was about a 50% chance he'd find her in.
This time was no exception.
"What?! Marriage?!"
The news hit Hagoromo like a lightning strike, leaving him completely silent.
He wasn't deeply familiar with Naruto's timeline, but he wasn't ignorant either. He knew about the pivotal event tied to Naruto's birth—the Nine-Tails incident.
An event he absolutely had to prevent.
Kushina talking about marriage—
Did that mean it was about to happen?
If so, he needed to speed up his preparations.
No—if anything went wrong, "speed up" wouldn't be enough. He'd need to accelerate dramatically.
Lost in thought, Hagoromo's gaze drifted toward Kushina's abdomen.
Naruto isn't already in there… right?
Probably not.
Her waist and stomach were still slender, very much that of a young girl. And considering Minato's upright personality, it likely wasn't a "shotgun wedding."
Noticing his line of sight, Kushina instantly realized what he was thinking.
So just hearing the word "marriage" and you jump straight to that?!
Her face flushed red.
Embarrassment?
Unlikely—this was Uzumaki Kushina, the Red-Hot Habanero. When her face turned red, it was usually from anger.
…That said, this topic did make her a little shy.
She immediately pressed her left hand over her abdomen, as if that could block his gaze.
Hagoromo's Lightning Release was fast.
His thinking was even faster.
But Kushina's fist was faster than both.
Hagoromo could swear that the words "shotgun wedding" hadn't even finished forming in his mind before Kushina's punch landed squarely on his head.
Two swollen bumps instantly appeared.
The effect was immediate and devastating. His impure thoughts were completely erased.
Why two bumps from one punch?
Because Kushina hit hard enough that after smashing the back of his head, the momentum sent his forehead straight into the low table in front of him.
Perfect symmetry.
"Hagoromo," Kushina said, her blush still lingering,
"haven't I warned you to stay away from Jiraiya-sensei as much as possible?"
She sat down across from him and began what could only be described as ideological re-education.
Notably, she positioned herself so the table hid her abdomen.
…Suspicious.
Was she feeling guilty about something?
Regardless, in order to avoid further head trauma, Hagoromo decided not to pursue the topic.
He immediately raised three fingers to the sky and swore:
"Any inappropriate thoughts I've had are entirely due to excessive exposure to Uncle Jiraiya.
From now on, I will keep my distance from that dangerous individual."
"So one of the Legendary Sannin is that kind of person," Kushina muttered. "Influencing children without them even noticing…"
Blaming Jiraiya was standard procedure.
In Kushina's worldview, if a child she had "basically watched grow up" developed strange ideas, it had to be because they'd encountered someone dangerous—like Jiraiya.
As a disciple, Hagoromo inherited this mindset perfectly. The blame rolled off him effortlessly.
If she still didn't believe him, he was fully prepared to shave his head in protest.
Fortunately, Kushina nodded in satisfaction.
Hagoromo finally relaxed and steered the conversation back on track.
"But… is this really the right time to talk about marriage? The village atmosphere—"
He meant: The war is still raging. Is this appropriate?
If he'd studied Naruto's chronology, he'd know it really wasn't time yet.
"I said we're planning to get married. Planning," Kushina corrected him.
"Not doing it right now. Minato is swamped with missions, and the war isn't over. At the very least, we'll wait until things settle down."
Then she frowned at him.
"Also—why are you so worked up?
Are you marrying Minato, or am I?"
That question, Hagoromo firmly decided, was not worth answering.
Minato's workload really was on another level. Compared to him, Hagoromo's life was easy.
"Still… the Shinobi World War," Hagoromo thought.
"It's entering its final phase, isn't it?"
Out loud, he said, "If there's still some time left, then…"
"Sensei, first I suggest improving your cooking skills."
"Second, maybe work a bit on your temper…"
For some reason, despite Kushina being the one getting married, Hagoromo felt like a father preparing to marry off his daughter.
Kushina narrowed her eyes slightly and asked casually,
"Oh? You think there's something wrong with my cooking—or my personality?"
"..."
"Absolutely not."
Hagoromo knew that expression very well.
He immediately discarded all previous advice without the slightest shame and lifted his teacup to hide his face.
I said nothing. Please proceed as you like.
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