Konoha Hospital's Forced Entry and the Red-Haired Witch's Overbearing Clearing

"Boom!"

The heavy solid wood door and its metal frame were instantly torn apart by a force of extreme brutality.

Sharp wooden splinters and debris flew across the ward like shrapnel from a fired shell. Baishi instinctively turned his head, raising his uninjured right hand to shield his face.

The movement tugged at the stitches on his abdomen, and a piercing, tearing sensation made him gasp.

Before he could catch his breath, a scorching, violent wave of red energy, reeking of sulfur and blood, flooded into the ward. The pungent smell of disinfectant was instantly evaporated, the temperature in the air soared, and even the metal IV stand by the bed emitted a faint, distorted groan under the unbearable heat.

Baishi squinted, peering through the gaps between his fingers.

Amidst the wreckage, Kushina stepped over the shattered door and walked in.

Her signature red hair was currently defying gravity, dancing wildly in the turbulent red chakra current. Her once clear eyes had completely transformed into the dark, slit-pupiled gaze of a beast, and eerie fox-like markings were spreading from the corners of her eyes.

"K... Kushina-sama?"

Baishi suppressed his racing heart, tightening his voice to perfection, playing the role of a low-level ANBU operative facing the sudden outburst of a high-ranking official's fiancée with extreme terror.

His body recoiled toward the head of the bed uncontrollably, accompanied by a few weak coughs: "You... what are you..."

Crazy woman!

Baishi cursed wildly in his heart.

I just finished playing the "loyal cannon fodder" role flawlessly in front of the Third Hokage and Namikaze Minato, and Danzo's Root is watching this ward from the shadows with a magnifying glass! You burst in here radiating Nine-Tails chakra—are you trying to get me killed faster?!

Kushina ignored Baishi's pretense entirely.

Those slit pupils were locked onto Baishi, or more accurately, locked onto the blood-soaked bandages on his collarbone and the long, stitched incision on his abdomen.

"Get out."

Kushina spoke suddenly. Her voice was not loud, yet it carried an absolute, undeniable authority.

Baishi froze for a moment, wondering how he, a severely injured patient, was supposed to "get out," only to realize that Kushina wasn't talking to him at all.

"Swish—!"

Three golden chakra chains, each as thick as a wrist, erupted from behind Kushina without warning.

Adamantine Sealing Chains!

One of the chains struck like a viper, piercing directly into the ventilation duct above. Following a muffled, suppressed groan, a large chunk of plasterboard mixed with blood came crashing down. The Root ninja hiding in the duct conducting "Grade A surveillance" didn't even have time to use a Body Replacement Technique before the chain tightly coiled around his neck, tossing him out into the hallway like a ragdoll.

Immediately after, the other two chains lashed out toward the window.

"Crack!"

The thick branch of a century-old locust tree was snapped in half, and another Root scout hidden in the canopy scrambled toward the distant rooftops, looking utterly disheveled.

No hand seals, no wasted words.

Absolute, crushing power.

Cries of alarm from hospital security and medical ninjas echoed from the hallway, but they were quickly stifled by the suffocating pressure of the Nine-Tails chakra, leaving only the sound of chaotic, retreating footsteps.

The area was cleared.

Kushina waved her hand, and the Adamantine Sealing Chains wove into an impenetrable golden web across the door and windows, completely sealing off the ward.

All sight and sound were cut off.

In the cramped space, only the sound of Baishi's heavy breathing and Kushina's heavy, approaching footsteps remained.

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The heart monitor by the bed emitted a rapid alarm, exposing the fact that Baishi's heart rate was anything but calm.

"Kushina-sama!" Baishi swallowed hard, his back pressed firmly against the cold wall, his face pale as paper. "This is the intensive care unit... Namikaze Minato-sama just left, if you have any instructions, you could wait..."

He deliberately brought up Namikaze Minato's name, attempting to use the identity of her fiancé to awaken the sanity of this madwoman.

However, upon hearing the name "Minato," the red bloodshot veins in Kushina's eyes only grew more intense.

She reached the bedside.

She looked down at Baishi from above.

The high heat scorched Baishi's skin, and the pressure of the Nine-Tails chakra made his chest feel as if a giant boulder were pressing down on it, making even breathing extremely difficult. Yet, he dared not channel even a sliver of Lightning Release chakra to resist, forced to endure it head-on.

"How much longer do you intend to keep up this act?"

Kushina's voice was hoarse, as if she were gargling coarse sand.

Baishi opened his eyes in feigned confusion, his lips trembling: "I... this subordinate does not understand what you mean. I am just a low-level ninja who barely escaped death at the border, is there some misunderstanding..."

"Misunderstanding?"

Kushina suddenly laughed, a sound more painful than crying.

She lunged forward, bracing her hands firmly on the bed frame on either side of Baishi, narrowing the distance between them to less than ten centimeters.

The scent of a woman mixed with the manic aura of the Nine-Tails instantly enveloped Baishi. He could even clearly see the tiny droplets of moisture on Kushina's long eyelashes.

"Border cleanup? Bait mission?"

Kushina gritted her teeth, her eyes so red they looked as if they might bleed. "If I hadn't stopped you at Ichiraku Ramen this morning, if I hadn't seen that look of absolute resolve to die in your eyes... were you planning to just die out there without a sound?!"

Baishi's heart gave a violent jolt.

That morning, in order to avoid revealing his strength, he had indeed ignored her distress signal with the posture of a "cannon fodder accepting his fate." He hadn't expected that this would instead become ironclad proof in Kushina's mind that he was "sacrificing himself for others"!

"Subordinate... this was for the mission of Konoha..." Baishi bit the bullet and continued to recite the Will of Fire, "As ANBU, being prepared to sacrifice oneself at any moment is..."

"Shut up!"

Kushina suddenly erupted into a hysterical roar.

This roar was laced with the snarl of the Nine-Tails, vibrating so hard that Baishi's eardrums buzzed, and even the fluorescent light tube above them shattered with a sharp "pop."

The hospital room plunged into dimness, with only the faint red glow emanating from Kushina illuminating the small space.

"For Konoha? For the mission?" Kushina's tears finally broke their dam, splashing in large droplets down her cheeks onto the white sheet covering Baishi, blooming into patches of water stains.

She stared fixedly at the blood-soaked bandage on Baishi's left collarbone.

In her dreams, in that "memory" forcibly implanted by the system, the man wearing the mask had also been pierced through the body by a black rod, standing firmly in front of her while she was weak.

"You are always like this... like this in my dreams, and like this in reality!"

Kushina's breathing was rapid, her chest heaving violently, and her voice was filled with a heartbreaking despair and obsession. "Do you think that by giving all the credit to Minato, by pretending not to know me, and by taking on those suicidal missions, I would be able to be the Hokage's wife with peace of mind?!"

Baishi's breathing stalled for a heartbeat.

This is bad.

This woman's ability to overthink had welded her logic into a closed loop!

She believed that the reason Baishi disguised himself as low-level cannon fodder and acted coldly toward her was entirely out of "love" and "devotion" to her!

"Lady Kushina, you really have mistaken me for someone else..." Baishi refused to budge, attempting one last struggle.

"Mistaken you for someone else?"

Kushina suddenly straightened up, a flash of madness crossing her eyes.

The next second, she knelt on one knee onto the hospital bed, swung her other leg over Baishi's body, and in an extremely oppressive and ambiguous posture, locked Baishi firmly between the headboard and her own body.

"You..." Baishi was truly shocked this time, forgetting even his feigned stutter.

Kushina didn't waste words; her hand, knuckles white from excessive force, suddenly grabbed the collar of Baishi's hospital gown.

With a harsh, tearing sound of fabric, the thin gown was ripped open violently. The buttons flew off, striking the wall with a crisp sound.

Baishi's lean, muscular upper body was completely exposed to the air.

The hideous surgical wound on his abdomen and the bloody hole in his collarbone where the poisoned blade had pierced him were presented to Kushina without reservation.

Kushina's breathing became completely ragged.

She reached out with a trembling hand, her fingertips hovering over the fatal wound on Baishi's collarbone, but she hesitated, unable to bring herself to touch the bandage.

"Almost... it was almost..."

Her voice was trembling uncontrollably, and her tears fell like broken beads onto Baishi's bare chest, scaldingly hot.

Baishi looked at the Red-Haired Witch inches away, feeling the astonishing heat radiating from both sides of his thighs, his brain racing as he tried to find a way to break the deadlock.

Just then, Kushina's fingertips suddenly crossed the final distance, pressing gently against the blood-soaked bandage.

"Baishi."

Kushina lowered her head, her warm breath hitting the hollow of Baishi's neck, her tone carrying a chilling, morbid sense of resolve.

"Since you aren't even afraid of death..."

She suddenly raised her head, those dark golden vertical pupils staring deep into Baishi's eyes.