Cool morning mist drifted across the flagstones. The clamor of the nearby market seemed strangely shut out of this small stretch of street.
Baishi stood with his back to Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. His right hand moved slowly toward the Ninja Tool Pouch at his waist. Rough leather brushed his fingertips, and he could feel the ache in his forearm from holding its muscles so tight.
Behind him, Minato's thumb pressed hard against the wooden grip of a Flying Thunder God Kunai. The tiny click of its metal clasp sliding open struck Baishi's hearing, sharpened by Max-Level Lightning Release, like a thunderclap heralding his death.
If Baishi looked back now, or responded in any meaningful way to Kushina's "distress signal," Minato would strike without hesitation. The blond genius known for his gentleness was, at heart, ruthless in his absolute loyalty to Konoha. He would eliminate any potential threat that might cause the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to lose control.
There was not a ripple in Baishi's eyes beneath his mask.
He drove Lightning Release Chakra precisely into the fingertips of his right hand, forcing down his body's instinct to draw a Kunai and fight back. Then he hooked open his Ninja Tool Pouch and casually pulled out a spare length of transparent chakra-conducting wire.
Click.
Baishi wound one end of the wire around his wrist and fastened it to the metal clasp on his ANBU bracer. The movements flowed without a wasted pause, like a shinobi making one last equipment check before entering battle.
With that done, he spared them not even a glance. The hem of his black coat cut a cold arc through the air as he walked away without looking back.
His steps stayed steady. His pace did not change.
With every ounce of reason he possessed, he ignored the plea for help from the woman who had once been willing to give everything for him in the simulated world.
"You..." Kushina stood frozen. Her hands, hidden in her wide sleeves and poised to form Hand Seals, fell limp.
She watched the black figure fade into the morning mist. The tears trembling in her eyes finally spilled onto the cold flagstones, scattering into tiny droplets.
Why won't you look back?
Why are you pretending you don't know me?
Kushina's chest heaved, her breathing broken by stifled sobs. Then her obsession-driven mind began racing.
He's only a low-ranking ANBU now, while I'm a Jinchuriki placed high above him. Minato is right here, and the Third Hokage must have watchers nearby. If he'd admitted it just now, if he'd looked back, the Konoha High Command would have secretly executed him as a traitor trying to lure away the Jinchuriki!
He's protecting me.
He'd rather bear every misunderstanding and appear cold than stop protecting me!
Kushina bit down hard on her lower lip. A salty, metallic taste spread through her mouth. The despair in her eyes did not fade because Baishi had ignored her. Instead, a hotter, wilder fire kindled deep within them.
"Kushina." Minato's gentle voice broke into her thoughts.
He slipped the Flying Thunder God Kunai back into his Ninja Tool Pouch, stepped forward, and blocked her view of the far end of the street. "Owl is just going on a mission. You've been on edge lately. Let me take you back to rest."
Kushina shot Minato a cold glance. Without a word, she pulled away in disgust from the hand he reached toward her shoulder, then turned and headed for the Senju Compound.
Minato remained where he was, watching her leave. His smile slowly vanished, and a dangerous darkness settled in his blue eyes.
The smell of pork-bone fat drifting from Ichiraku Ramen seemed cloying now.
Beneath the cover of his loose sleeve, Minato's right hand formed a cross-shaped seal at his side.
Pop.
A faint puff of white smoke burst in the shadow at his feet. A Shadow Clone with only one-tenth of his chakra slipped along the base of the wall like a bodiless ghost and vanished into the morning mist after Baishi.
As a leading contender for the title of Fourth Hokage, Minato would not allow any variable beyond his control. The ANBU codenamed "Owl" smelled too strongly of saltpeter, and that tiny pause of his had felt wrong.
Whether he was a pawn sent by the higher-ups to test Kushina or something else entirely, Minato had to find out what he was today.
Konoha Main Gate.
The massive wooden doors cast deep shadows. By the time Baishi reached the meeting point, the other three members of the Venom Fang Squad were already waiting.
"I thought you'd run away, you useless coward." Captain Venom Fang leaned against a gatepost with his arms crossed, undisguised mockery in his masked voice.
Beside him stood a Root operative codenamed "Wildcat" and a burly ANBU called "Wild Boar."
Baishi hurried over with his head slightly bowed, the right amount of alarm in his voice. "Sorry, Captain. I stopped at the ninja tool shop for more Explosive Tags and lost track of time."
"Explosive Tags?" Venom Fang sneered, his gaze sweeping contemptuously over Baishi's slight frame. "With your pathetic little bit of chakra, Iwagakure elites would kill you before you could set one off. Enough excuses. Move out!"
"Yes." Baishi answered obediently and took his place at the front of the squad, accepting the most dangerous role as its scout.
Four dark figures became blurs as they swept through Konoha Gate and plunged into the dense old-growth forest near the Land of Fire's border.
Wind roared past their ears. Rough tree trunks streaked by on either side.
Baishi leaped swiftly through the treetops. Each time he landed, he placed chakra beneath his feet with such precision that he did not crush a single leaf.
He appeared focused on scouting the route ahead. In truth, his Max-Level Lightning Release Chakra was surging through his meridians at a carefully concealed rhythm.
He pushed his Lightning Release Chakra's sensitivity to energy fluctuations around him to its limit.
He could clearly feel Venom Fang's hostile gaze fixed on his back from twenty meters behind. Farther out on the left flank, Wildcat's Yin Release Chakra was unnaturally subdued, as though he might break away from the squad at any moment.
Baishi had anticipated all of that.
But roughly five kilometers beyond Konoha Gate, as they entered a dim Redwood Forest, Baishi's pupils suddenly contracted.
There was someone besides Venom Fang and Wildcat.
About two hundred meters behind the squad was another chakra signature, so faint it had almost blended with the surrounding Natural Energy.
Its rhythm was remarkably steady. It carried no killing intent and trailed them at a distance like a breeze.
Namikaze Minato.
A cold smile touched Baishi's lips beneath his mask.
No wonder they call him the Yellow Flash across the Shinobi World. Even his tracking is flawless. If I hadn't acquired Max-Level Lightning Release and achieved Cell Activation beforehand, I never would have sensed this Shadow Clone.
What does Minato want?
Dozens of possibilities ran through Baishi's mind in half a second.
If Minato's Shadow Clone kept following them, Baishi's plan to kill Venom Fang and Wildcat would be exposed. Once Minato saw his Max-Level Lightning Release, Baishi would face both Root and ANBU hunting him down when he returned to the village.
I have to lose him. And I have to do it without leaving a trace or raising his suspicions.
Baishi quickly surveyed the terrain ahead.
The Land of Fire's forests were dense. Five hundred meters ahead lay a steep cliff, with a swift river below it shrouded in mist year-round. Air currents were at their most chaotic there, making chakra sensing easy to disrupt.
"Captain, I've spotted signs of an Iwagakure tripwire trap ahead. I need to circle around and check it," Baishi reported in a low voice over the ANBU radio.
"Make it quick. Don't waste time," Venom Fang snapped back.
Using that plausible tactical excuse, Baishi veered sharply right, broke from the squad's straight path, and plunged into the thick undergrowth.
The instant he passed out of Venom Fang's sight, Baishi's hands blurred beneath his wide sleeves.
Ram—Boar—Ox—Dog—Tiger!
With no wasted motion in his Hand Seals, chakra coursed through his body in an instant.
Two hundred meters away, Minato's Shadow Clone landed lightly on a thick branch. His blue eyes caught Baishi breaking from the squad through the layers of leaves.
"Checking for traps?" Minato frowned.
His instincts told him something was wrong. The ANBU called "Owl" had chosen that route too deliberately.
Minato pushed off the branch. His figure flashed forward in a streak of gold, closing the distance before landing silently above the thicket where Baishi had vanished.
He parted the dense foliage and searched the dark forest floor below with sharp eyes.
The next second, Namikaze Minato's usually composed face went rigid.
Baishi was nowhere in the blind spot below.
Only a mud-smeared Substitution Log lay among the fallen leaves, an Explosive Tag stuck to its surface.
The vermilion markings on that Explosive Tag were flaring with a blinding red light!