His eyes were gentle, but the clouds of doubt in his heart grew heavier because of Kushina's overreaction.
Why did Kushina suddenly choke?
And that glare she gave Gu Lingxiao… It didn't look like the annoyance of a superior towards a subordinate; it looked more like… the coquettish scolding between lovers?
As soon as this thought emerged, Minato's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
He calmly helped Kushina sit down, then turned to Gu Lingxiao and spoke in a gentle tone: "Lingxiao, thank you for your hard work. Was there anything unusual about the patrols in the Village yesterday? I haven't had a chance to look at the handover report from Anbu Team 3 yet."
This was a probe.
A seemingly casual question about work.
[Here it comes, the interrogation from the main wife. What a pity, you can't pin anything on me.]
Gu Lingxiao's inner voice rang out leisurely, while he answered fluently: "Reporting to Hokage-sama, everything is normal. Last night, when Team 3 Captain Uehara Yuichi was handing over at the South District B3 checkpoint, he reported suspicious Chakra residue, but subsequent tracking yielded no findings. The preliminary judgment is that it was a passing wandering Ninja, and the file has been archived."
His answer was detailed, precise, and flawless.
The smile on Minato's face remained unchanged, but his heart sank.
He certainly knew about this matter, because that "suspicious Chakra" was left behind by the Anbu he had sent to monitor the situation.
"Is that so? I see." Minato nodded and asked no more.
He said softly to Kushina: "I'm going to take a shower first. You should rest a bit more after you finish eating."
"Mm." Kushina replied sullenly.
Watching Minato turn and walk toward the bathroom, her heart was in a chaotic mess.
Minato… Did he misunderstand something?
It's all this bastard's fault!
She glared at Gu Lingxiao fiercely again.
Minato finished washing up quickly and changed into casual clothes, but he didn't rest; instead, he put on that brand-new Hokage haori again.
"I still need to go to the office; there are some documents that must be finished today." He walked over to Kushina and kissed her forehead apologetically.
Before leaving, he took a deep look at Gu Lingxiao, who was standing to the side. The gaze was calm and waveless, yet it made Gu Lingxiao feel a chill of scrutiny.
Afterward, Minato smiled gently at Kushina and pushed the door open to leave.
The moment the door closed, the smile on his face vanished without a trace.
"Goshawk." He whispered a call.
An Anbu wearing an eagle-faced mask appeared silently behind him.
"My Lord."
"From now on, monitor Gu Lingxiao around the clock for me." Minato's voice turned cold. "I want to know everything about him, including who he meets every day, what he says, what he eats, and… his entire background. Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find it out for me!"
"Yes!"
...
"Let's go for a walk."
After Minato left, Kushina looked at Gu Lingxiao and said coldly.
She didn't want to stay in the same enclosed space with this man for even a second; she was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from actually attacking him.
The two walked one after the other on the bustling streets of Konoha.
Kushina was extremely conflicted inside.
She desperately wanted to extract more information about Minato's future from Gu Lingxiao's mind, wanting to know how to help him escape the fate of being a "puppet."
But she was also afraid—afraid of hearing more news that would leave her in despair.
Just as she was battling with herself, Gu Lingxiao's inappropriate internal monologue began again.
[Tsk, it looks peaceful on the surface, but in reality, undercurrents are surging. This security system of Konoha is truly a sieve.]
[The Uchiha Police Force, responsible for the Village's internal security, is guarded against like thieves by the Third and Danzo and that group of high-level officials, held back at every turn. The 'Root' that should actually be guarded against acts like rats in the sewer, running wild in the Village.]
[At the end of the day, that old thing Danzo is just a troublemaker. Seeing that the Uchiha Clan's achievements overshadow the master, he desperately suppresses and ostracizes them, forcing them into a corner. Of course, the Uchiha side is also sick; Fugaku, that clan leader, is indecisive. He has the power but dares not flip the table, and in the end, he was wiped out by his own son. It's truly a historical curiosity.]
[A sinister, ruthless, yet weak old schemer meets a cowardly, vain clan leader—a perfect match.]
[The most regrettable thing is Uchiha Mikoto… A woman like that, gentle as water, is a true Yamato Nadeshiko.]
[She should have had the most stable and happy life, supporting her husband and raising her children, watching them grow up to be talented. Instead, she had to be dragged into this cold political vortex along with the entire clan, ultimately withering away along with everything she loved. It is truly the most cruel waste of beauty in the world.]
[Fugaku, that man, as a husband and clan leader, couldn't protect her, and couldn't even let her see her children grow into adults. Damn this Konoha.]
Uchiha… Mikoto?!
Kushina's footsteps came to a sudden halt.
Mikoto was her best friend; they had grown up together, and their relationship was inseparable.
What did he just say?
Perished?!
A cold chill surged wildly up her spine.
Before she could recover from this huge shock, Gu Lingxiao's inner voice threw out an even more hair-raising bombshell.
[Speaking of which, the reason the Uchiha Clan eventually chose to stage a coup, besides being pushed to a dead end by the high-level officials, was mainly because they were brainwashed. From top to bottom, a bunch of idiots bound by family honor and narrow-minded views.]
[Three Mangekyo Sharingan, Fugaku, Itachi, Shisui, at least three Kage-level combatants, were actually played in the palm of Danzo's hand, and in the end, they suffered the fate of being wiped out. It is simply the biggest joke in the history of the Ninja World.]
A coup?!
Extermination?!
Boom—!
A coup?! Extermination?!
These two words, like two poison-tipped daggers, instantly pierced Kushina's eardrums and nailed themselves deep into her soul.
She froze in place, her whole body cold. The bustling Konoha street before her eyes instantly lost all color, leaving only a shocking blood-red.
She seemed to see her best friend Mikoto, the woman who had held her hand just a few days ago, smiling gently while discussing parenting tips, the mother who looked forward to her children's future…
Lying lifelessly in a pool of blood, those beautiful eyes that always carried a smile losing their luster forever.
In Kushina's mind, it was as if countless thunderbolts were exploding simultaneously.
She froze in place, her whole body cold, feeling only that the world was spinning.
A fear and chill originating from the depths of her soul gripped her heart, sharper and more painful than when she learned of Minato's fate!
She would fight against Minato's future!
And Mikoto's future… her best friend, the mother of the future playmate of her unborn child, was she also going to die a tragic death?!
No! She would not allow it!
Absolutely not! The immense grief and anger transformed into a wave of crazy power. She suddenly turned back and stared fixedly at Gu Lingxiao, and in those azure eyes, for the first time, burned a flame of determination to pay any price.
She had originally thought that Minato's "puppet" status was the darkest secret she could possibly encounter.
But now she realized that perhaps… it was merely the tip of the iceberg.
In the future she did not know of, a huge vortex capable of overturning the entire Konoha, and even causing her best friend to die a tragic death within it, was already quietly brewing.