Flying Thunder God Formula.
Baishi stared at the black bird-like pattern inside Venom Fang's shattered Mask, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
The wind in the Canyon carried a thick stench of blood into his nostrils. He had no time to marvel at Namikaze Minato's deeply laid schemes. Within a tenth of a second, his mind shifted into an absolutely rational tactical analysis mode.
Minato's Chakra sensing range was enormous. Once the ambush battle in Redwood Forest ended, or once Minato noticed that the abnormal Chakra fluctuations in this direction had suddenly subsided, he could teleport here through this coordinate at any moment.
He might have ten minutes left. Or perhaps only thirty seconds.
The countdown began.
Enduring the numbness and excruciating pain in the left side of his body, Baishi grabbed half of the Mask and threw it into the blackened Black Mud pit created by the Explosive Tags. Then he turned around and limped toward the Iwagakure Jonin's corpse, dragging his toxin-ravaged left leg behind him.
Several chunks of shattered rock infused with high-density Earth Release Chakra lay scattered beside the corpse. Baishi lifted a sharp rock weighing dozens of pounds with his right hand, walked to the edge of the deep pit, and smashed it down viciously at the Mask's location.
Bang!
The rock thoroughly crushed the Mask, along with the Flying Thunder God Formula, and drove them deep into the mud.
Physical destruction. This was the safest method. If he used his own Chakra to erase it, traces would definitely remain. But now, it looked as though the Iwagakure Jonin's Earth Release technique had accidentally struck Venom Fang's Mask during the battle.
But that was far from enough.
Baishi turned and walked toward Venom Fang's corpse. Venom Fang had two fatal wounds: his throat had been slit by a kunai, and his heart had been shredded. Both injuries were too clean and concentrated, bearing all the hallmarks of assassination. They made no sense for a frontal battle against Iwagakure elites.
They had to be concealed.
Baishi walked over to the remains of the Iwagakure Wind Release ninja he had killed with the Substitution Technique. From the man's ninja tool pouch, he pulled out a specially made Fuma Shuriken with serrated edges. An extremely faint trace of Wind Release Chakra still lingered on its blades.
He carried the shuriken back to Venom Fang, raised it expressionlessly, aimed at Venom Fang's gaping throat, and chopped down with brutal force.
Rip—
Flesh curled back and bone snapped. The serrated blade tore the originally neat incision into a mangled mess, forcibly turning it into a laceration caused by a close-range Wind Release ninja tool.
Then Baishi returned to the Iwagakure Jonin's corpse. Before dying, the man had used Super Weighted Rock Fist, and his right arm had completely petrified, becoming immensely heavy.
Gritting his teeth, Baishi used his remaining right hand to hug the heavy petrified severed arm and dragged it before Venom Fang. He took a deep breath, raised the severed arm high, aimed at Venom Fang's chest, and smashed it down with all his strength!
Crack!
The scalp-numbing sound of a breastbone shattering rang out. Venom Fang's entire chest cavity caved in beneath the immense force, completely crushing the kunai-shredded wound around his heart into a mass of pulp.
A perfect scene of mutual destruction.
Venom Fang had slain the Wind Release ninja at the cost of his life, only to have his throat ripped open by the enemy's dying Fuma Shuriken. Then the enraged Iwagakure Jonin had smashed his chest apart with Super Weighted Rock Fist.
Baishi tossed aside the petrified arm and panted heavily. Sweat and blood flowed into his eyes, stinging unbearably.
Next came the most critical step—himself.
If a bottom-tier expendable survived the Meat Grinder battlefield of eight Iwagakure elites and an ANBU captain with only a single poison wound, Minato and the Third Hokage would absolutely grow suspicious. He had to fabricate a fatal injury for himself, one that showed he had been desperately saved by his captain and nearly died.
Baishi lowered his head and picked up the standard-issue ANBU Ninja Blade Venom Fang had dropped.
The blade was cold and sharp, reflecting his pure white Mask smeared with mud.
He gripped the hilt and aimed the tip at the right side of his abdomen. In his mind, he rapidly simulated a safe cutting route that avoided his liver and intestines.
Without the slightest hesitation.
Pfft!
The blade pierced through his armor and stabbed into his flesh.
"Urgh—" Baishi let out a muffled groan, veins bulging across his forehead. He gripped the hilt tightly with both hands. Instead of pulling it out, he followed the grain of his muscles and violently slashed outward!
Blood instantly gushed forth like a breached dam, staining a large section of his uniform red. The wound was extremely deep, its turned-out flesh grotesque and terrifying, less than two centimeters from his vital organs.
The extreme pain made Baishi's vision blacken in waves, but he stubbornly endured without passing out.
He pulled out the Ninja Blade, stuffed its hilt into Venom Fang's stiff right hand, and angled the blade toward where he had been standing moments earlier. Then he used a kunai to carve a deep trace of an Earth Release eruption into the muddy ground before him.
The logic loop was complete.
The Iwagakure Jonin had used Earth Style: Earth Rising Spears in an attempt to skewer Baishi from underground. Before dying, Venom Fang had thrown his Ninja Blade, cutting off the tip of the Earth Rising Spears and saving Baishi. But the deflected blade had also accidentally sliced open Baishi's abdomen.
Baishi leaned against a rock and gave the battlefield one final inspection from the corner of his eye.
Lightning Release!
When he had counterkilled the Iwagakure Jonin earlier, he had used max-level Lightning Release, leaving obvious high-temperature carbonization marks on several rocks. Lightning Release at that level was not something a disposable Genin could possibly use.
Baishi gritted his teeth and took the last two Explosive Tags from his ninja tool pouch, precisely sticking them onto the rocks bearing scorch marks.
He stepped back and formed a seal with one hand.
Bang! Bang!
Two explosions went off in quick succession. The blast waves shattered the rocks, while the thick smoke and distinctive burnt smell of Explosive Tags perfectly covered the traces of Lightning Release.
Everything was ready.
Baishi took out an inferior Soldier Pill and stuffed it into his mouth. He did not even have the strength to chew, swallowing it whole with blood. The medicine that drained his potential dissolved in his stomach, barely squeezing out an exceedingly faint thread of Chakra.
He tore off a strip of cloth and tightly bound the wound on his abdomen, then put the damaged Mask back over his face.
Dragging his numb left leg and clutching his bleeding abdomen, Baishi staggered toward the Canyon exit. He had to leave quickly, meet Konoha's reinforcements, and cement his role as the miserable "sole survivor."
The Canyon returned to deathly silence, with only muddy water mixed with blood slowly seeping into the ground.
Half an hour later.
An extremely subtle spatial fluctuation suddenly streaked across the sky above Redwood Forest.
Whoosh!
A golden flash descended without warning upon the edge of a cliff above the Canyon.
Namikaze Minato crouched halfway down a tree trunk, holding a specially made Three-Pronged Kunai. A few drops of not-yet-dried blood stained the hem of his white Hokage Haori, making it clear that he had just gone through an exceptionally brutal battle.
Minato's gaze swept over the devastated Canyon below, and his normally gentle blue eyes instantly froze.
Corpses covered the ground.
Terrain altered by large-scale Earth Release.
And a blood stench so thick it could not be dispersed.
"The Venom Fang Squad... was wiped out?" Minato frowned deeply, his figure flickering as he instantly appeared in the center of the bog.
He immediately walked toward Venom Fang's corpse. Looking at the collapsed chest and torn throat, Minato's eyes sharpened immensely.
He crouched down and gently pressed his fingers along the edges of Venom Fang's wounds.
"Traces of Wind Release tearing... and crushing damage from Super Weighted Rock Fist." Minato murmured, his gaze shifting to the Ninja Blade clenched in Venom Fang's hand and the severed trace of Earth Rising Spears not far away.
The battle logic at the scene was extremely clear. This had been a brutal encounter battle. Venom Fang had perished alongside Iwagakure elites to cover his subordinates.
Minato rose and walked toward the deep pit smashed out by the rock. The Flying Thunder God coordinate he had left on Venom Fang's Mask had completely vanished at this very spot.
He reached out, brushed aside the rubble, and saw the shattered ANBU Mask.
"Destroyed after being caught up in Earth Release..." Minato muttered thoughtfully.
Everything appeared flawless, perfectly logical.
Yet deep in Minato's heart, an exceedingly subtle sense of discord kept frantically throbbing. He closed his eyes, and his powerful sensory ability spread outward like ripples, attempting to capture the remaining Chakra trails.
Iwagakure's Earth Release... Wind Release... and traces of Explosive Tag detonations.
Minato slowly walked to a rock shattered by Explosive Tags. He crouched down, extended his slender fingers, and pinched up a bit of still-warm Black Mud.
He brought the soil to his nose and gave it a light sniff.
The next second, Namikaze Minato's pupils abruptly contracted, and the fingers clutching the soil instantly tensed.
Beneath the pungent gunpowder smell of the Explosive Tags was an extremely faint yet highly distinctive scent.
It was the unique burnt smell produced when potassium nitrate mixed with Lightning Release Chakra after Explosive Tags had been treated with Lightning Release Chakra for moisture resistance.
He had only ever smelled this obscure and highly difficult Chakra control technique on one person.
This morning, in front of Ichiraku Ramen Shop.
That bottom-tier ANBU whom Kushina had tightly held back, carrying the smell of nitrates—Baishi!