[ It definitely is something he can, though— he has to be able to, because how else is he supposed to stop it from happening? He's tired of fixing things after the fact. ]

How am I supposed to do better than my best... [ Is he doing his best? It's one of those vague promises he makes to get people off his back, but this time, he'd really tried, and really thought it was going to work.

There's a sigh before he meets Akira's eyes again. ]

She apologized to me. I asked what for, and it was about something in the past. I'll never not remind her of the past. I'll never not be a source of pain, no matter what I do.

[ Not unless she loses her memories completely, but that's not something Minato would wish upon anybody. ]