"..."
Kakashi stood there with his fist clenched, replaying Byakuya's words in his head.
He understood perfectly well what that line had meant.
Byakuya had risked his life to save him, only to turn around and mock him for it, because he was still so shaken by the deaths of the comrades he had lost that he had nearly let a new comrade die too.
Maybe that line had also been asking him how much longer he intended to stay chained to the past.
Just like Byakuya said, he really was an idiot.
He had made up his mind that he would never make comrades again, not if it meant watching something like that happen once more.
And yet in the end, he had still wound up with a new squad. New comrades.
Unlike him, who kept stubbornly denying that any of them were comrades at all, Byakuya had truly treated him like one. That was why he had risked his life to save him.
"Obito..."
Kakashi had always felt that using the Sharingan Obito left him was a kind of sin.
That eye could make him stronger. He knew that.
And yet Kakashi had always carried guilt over using it.
Maybe Byakuya had already seen through that tangled part of him.
If he had not let that guilt hold him back, if he had kept training instead of standing still, then maybe he could have dodged that attack just now.
No, not maybe.
He should have dodged it.
If Obito's death was not going to become meaningless, then Kakashi should have used that eye and become stronger.
His fist slowly loosened as he stared in the direction Byakuya had left.
From now on, he would not hesitate anymore.
He would not stand still anymore.
If something like that happened again, next time he would be the one to save Byakuya.
And for that, he had to train.
He had to become stronger.
Stronger than anyone.
---
"Hey~ Byakuya."
Byakuya sidestepped Asuma, who came noisily running toward him, then lowered his head in greeting to the Third Hokage standing behind him.
He already knew today's training was going to be rough, so he had not exactly been in a good mood to begin with. And the moment he saw the Third, who usually sat in the corridor drinking tea, wearing a warm smile that did not fit his usual style at all, the unease in his chest doubled.
"I'm not the one training with you today."
"Huh?"
The words came out of nowhere.
Byakuya was still standing there blankly when Minato suddenly stepped out from behind the doorframe.
The Fourth Hokage?
What was he doing here?
A bad feeling rose in Byakuya's chest almost immediately.
"I heard you taught yourself space-time ninjutsu just by reading manuals. That's amazing!"
Minato spoke with that trademark smile of his, bright enough to feel like it was glowing, so bright it was almost blinding.
Byakuya listened, then nodded with a faintly awkward expression.
"The sword, can I take a look at it?"
Minato's eyes were full of curiosity as they fixed on the blade at Byakuya's waist, so Byakuya drew it from his back and handed it over.
After thanking him, Minato unsheathed the sword and studied the formula carved into the blade in careful detail.
"Hm. This really is impressive. To pull off something like this on your own..." He casually tossed over a marked kunai. "Here, take a look at mine too."
Byakuya caught it and examined the formula engraved into it with serious attention.
He had actually been about to say something like That's incredible in the same easy way Minato did...
But never mind.
After staring at it for a while, he still did not understand any of it.
"People with talent for space-time ninjutsu are incredibly rare."
"So, Minato, would you be willing to teach him?"
"Mm. Letting talent like this go to waste would be a real shame."
Byakuya did not really follow every detail of the exchange between the Third and the Fourth, but he understood the important part well enough.
They were going to teach him space-time ninjutsu.
A flicker of interest flashed through his eyes, and he looked at the two of them with open anticipation.
After all, he had already hit a wall with his own study of space-time ninjutsu from the scrolls alone. If someone was willing to teach him properly now, of course he was grateful.
"Come on, then. Shall we start right now?" Minato said, looking at him.
For once, Byakuya's eyes were actually shining as he followed after Minato.
---
Minato was a good man.
During the days he trained alongside him, Byakuya came to understand that with painful clarity.
"Byakuya, is there anything you want to protect?"
"..."
Byakuya did not answer. Saying nothing in particular would have made him seem too pathetic.
Whatever Minato read into that silence, he only smiled and said there were many things he wanted to protect.
And if he wanted to protect more and more, then he had to become stronger.
"The more things you want to protect, the more uneasy you become."
"Does even Hokage-sama get afraid?"
"Maybe. Then again, there are just too many people I want to protect."
Byakuya knew how Minato's story would end, and something in his chest twisted painfully.
He forced that emotion back down with everything he had and stole a glance at the Hokage, whose expression had dimmed.
"But I think it'll be all right. You're here, Lord Third is here, and everyone else in the village is here too. As long as we stand together, we'll be able to protect all of it."
"...Can I really help with that?"
Inside, Byakuya muttered to himself: I'm weak as hell.
The Nine-Tails incident would happen soon enough... Byakuya knew full well that there was almost nothing he could do about it, and that was why he asked.
But Minato nodded as if the answer were obvious.
"I feel safer knowing you're here. You protected Kakashi before, didn't you?"
Byakuya had not been trying to protect him back then, but he had done it all the same.
He nodded, and quietly thought to himself: Minato really is a good man.
And people were always like that. When they met someone gentle, someone truly good, they could not help wishing that person would live. That they would not die.
Byakuya knew perfectly well that no matter how hard he tried to bury that feeling, one day it would spill over and swallow him whole.
So he had to shut his heart away even more completely and force himself right up to the edge.
That's right. Even if Minato dies in the end, it has nothing to do with me, Byakuya.
Thinking that, he tried to change the subject, and Kakashi came to mind.
"I looked over Kakashi's mission reports. I heard your child is going to be born soon."
"...That's right. Security will have to be tighter than ever that day."
"I'll arrange the ANBU. Unit One and Unit Two will both be deployed in full."
"Good. It has to be more thorough than ever before."
For the past several months, Byakuya had been keeping an eye on the reports Kakashi submitted while guarding Kushina, Minato's wife.
He had already confirmed the due date through the doctors.
He knew the Nine-Tails incident was coming soon.
"Byakuya, if... if something happens..."
The instant Minato suddenly spoke in that ominous tone, Byakuya's whole face tightened.
So Minato sensed it too. That the day would not pass peacefully.
No way... does he know?
That thought ran through Byakuya's head as he waited for Minato to continue.
"Then I'm entrusting the child to you."
"...I..."
Byakuya had not expected those words at all, and the panic on his face slipped through before he could hide it.
I'm supposed to die at that kid's hands someday...
"I... I..."
"No matter what happens, the child comes first. Understood?"
"...Even if it costs me my life, I'll protect the child first."
"Good. Thank you."
At the end of the day, his goal of eventually dying at Naruto's hands had not changed in the slightest.
If Naruto was safe, then his future remained safe too.
So Byakuya answered Minato with a face full of determination, and Minato, reassured, thanked him once again.