Minato slowly stared at Kushina, who had a worried expression on her face. Even though she was pale thanks to the experience she had this night, Minato still found his wife beautiful.
Minato opened his mouth, yet he couldn't speak. He is unable to bring himself to tell his wife about the action he is currently about to take.
He can already picture in his mind the reaction of Kushina upon learning the action he must take from this moment.
Kushina notices this abnormality, and the bad feeling she felt right now only grows stronger as the time passes.
This is especially true when she saw the conflicted emotion within the eyes of her husband. There was sadness, self-blame, and regret as well as burning conviction in his eyes that made her trance for a moment.
Tsunade already felt something was wrong and had to help Kushina to stand up. Her guts tell her that it has something to do with the responsibility as a Hokage.
Minato was about to teleport back to the Nine-Tailed Fox's current location. He knows that his clone is unable to occupy the Nine Tails Fox for a long time, and he needs to take action as a Hokage.
"Minato..." Kushina whispers.
Minato froze in place as his determination faltered after hearing the voice of his wife. Minato understands there's something he must do as the Hokage even if it means hurting the people close to him.
He understands the responsibility that comes with being the Hokage, and he accepted it with all his heart.
But the weak voice of his wife made him want to give up everything and be with his wife and children. These thoughts were quickly squashed by him since he knows he can't do it.
Many lives were at stake in this situation, and he can't be selfish, especially as the Hokage.
"Sorry," Minato whispers, and the two women wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't for the fact that the room is incredibly quiet.
Minato quickly performs his technique to teleport back into the Nine-Tailed Fox. His actions were quickly noticed by Kushina and Tsunade.
Kushina immediately dashes towards Minato. After hearing his apology, she knows that Minato is doing something that might cost him his life.
Kushina manages to touch Minato before the latter teleports to the Nine Tails Fox. Both Minato and Kushina alongside the two babies—Menma and Mito.
Tsunade left shocked and saddened at the same time. She already realized what Minato was planning and the reason why he had to bring out two of his children.
Tsunade was left alone with the rest of the quadruplets. She couldn't help but bring out a ring that used to belong to Biwako.
Due to the attack of the masked man, many people died, and this included Biwako, the wife of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen. Her corpse is transformed into ashes, with only the ring remaining.
Tsunade felt regretful for being unable to save the wife of her teacher. She blames herself for Biwako's death. Right now Tsunade is unable to imagine herself facing her teacher and explaining what happened to his wife.
She is afraid to see his reaction to the death news of his wife.
Suddenly Tsunade felt another presence close to her, and this quickly made her turn her head to see this person. The presence appeared so suddenly that she first thought it belonged to Minato, but upon seeing the person who appeared out of nowhere, her expression transformed into shock.
"S-Sensei...?" Tsunade stuttered.
"Tsunade?" Hiruzen asks in puzzlement.
He used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to his wife's location and find out the reason for the Nine-Tailed Fox's sudden appearance at the center of the village.
While he did consume much of his reserve when fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox, he still had enough to teleport into his wife. With the help of Minato, he also put a mark on his wife's ring so he can protect her in case of emergency.
The fact that he appeared close to Tsunade means that something bad happened, and his eyes couldn't help but glance at Tsunade's hand, which currently held the ring.
"...Tsunade... What happened?" Hiruzen asks.
"Sensei..." Tsunade muttered, and tears started to flow in her eyes.
Seeing the reaction of his student, he knows that something terrible happened to his wife, and his heart aches so much that he unconsciously places one of his hands on his chest.
"I'm sorry... I failed to protect her..." Tsunade added while her tears continued to flow.
"...I understand. It's okay... it wasn't your fault," Hiruzen muttered, trying to gather as much courage as he could.
Hiruzen knows that it wasn't the time to mourn the loss of his wife yet. He must learn the situation first and solve it, especially if it's about the Nine-Tailed Fox.
"What happened, and where are Kushina and Minato?" Hiruzen asks while trying to be as professional as possible.
Tsunade stared at her master after wiping her tears. She saw despair in her teacher's eyes, yet at the same time there was still burning conviction in them, like he always had when he was the Hokage.
Tsunade then slowly tells what happened, the reason why the Nine-Tailed Fox managed to get loose, and the deaths of ANBU guards and midwives, especially Biwako.
Tsunade also informs Hiruzen about the action of Minato, and upon hearing it, Hiruzen manages to realize Minato's plan, and burning resolute burns within his heart.
"Tsunade, we need to follow Minato," Hiruzen seriously said.
"Why?" Tsunade asks, but deep down she knows the answer to her question.
"I'm going to do my final act as the 3rd Hokage," Hiruzen responds with a smile while carrying the two babies—Naruto and Yayoi.
Tsunade was further saddened since her gut feeling was correct, but she knew she couldn't change her teacher's thinking, especially the fact that the main reason for this decision was mostly about the death of his wife.
"Don't feel sad about this," Hiruzen comforted Tsunade. "Old people like me already have a short amount of time left in this world compared to you."
Meanwhile, Minato and Kushina appeared at the locations where the Nine Tails Fox and Minato's clone were currently fighting. The location is far enough that it wouldn't affect anyone or cause an untold amount of destruction to infrastructure.
Some ninjas who have already arrived are providing support to Minato against fighting against the Nine-Tailed Fox. These ninjas who suffered light injuries still ran to support the 4th Hokage, while those who suffered severe injuries were placed in a safe place for medical ninjas to take care of them.
"What are you going to do, Minato?" Kushina asks, but her voice is unable to hide the anger she felt.
She already had a guess about the plan that Minato was currently about to do. This made her mad, but it doesn't mean she didn't understand the logic behind it.
She hopes that her guess is wrong, but with the evidence she has, it is completely unlikely, but she hopes that Minato will tell her that her guess wasn't true.
Minato looked at his wife for a moment before deciding to speak. "I'm going to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox to our children."
"Why?!" Kushina asks, tears flowing in her eyes.
Her guess is true, and it was like a nightmare to her.
Kushina knows the pain that a jinchuriki would experience the moment they were chosen. She experienced that kind of pain herself, and she didn't want her children to experience the same kind of pain.
Yet she needs to hear the reason behind Minato's action because she knows that this action was more painful for Minato than for her since he is the one that decided this despite knowing the terrible outcome.
"The man that caused this incident is still alive and running free. He will come back in the future to once again control the Nine-Tailed Fox and cause a disaster in the ninja world," Minato explains seriously. "This is why I need to seal the fox in our children to protect the village and stop that madman."
"You know I don't like this, right?"
"...Neither do I, but..." Minato's eyes lock at the rampaging Nine-Tailed Fox before his eyes stare at Kushina. "I don't have a choice. I am truly sorry for this."
"For one last time could you help me, Kushina?" Minato added, his voice filled with warmth and tenderness while a tear slowly fell from his eye.
Kushina couldn't find herself speaking and only took a nod while crying out loud. She knows she can request Minato to stop, but she knows it would only insult Minato's determination.
She knows Minato; she knows that this man was a selfless person who will try to shoulder all responsibility just for everyone to be happy, even at the cost of his own happiness.
She also knows that Minato will not stop the moment his mind is made up. Right now it was as clear as day for everyone that Minato's going to make this decision no matter what it takes.