A Deep Farewell at Konoha Hospital and the Shattering of Reality's Door

Baishi?!

Upon hearing this name, Baishi's body froze instantly, his mind going completely blank.

This name was his real name from before he transmigrated.

In this world, besides himself, it was absolutely impossible for a second person to know it!

And that voice...

That familiar tone, laced with violent chakra...

It was Uzumaki Kushina!

How could this be?!

Baishi's heart hammered wildly, and a chill of extreme absurdity surged from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp.

Wasn't that just a simulation?

Wasn't that just a play performed in a parallel space-time to farm rewards?

Why... would the real-life Kushina come knocking on his door?

And call out his real name in one breath?!

"Who is Baishi? Do we have someone by that name in the Anbu?"

"I don't know! But that chakra... it's the Nine-Tails jinchuriki! Has she gone mad? Daring to storm our Anbu base!"

"Go notify Lord Hokage immediately!"

Chaos erupted all around. Countless Anbu ninjas were shocked by Kushina's violent rampage, yet not a single one linked the unfamiliar name "Baishi" to him.

In the Anbu, they only had codenames.

Baishi forced himself to calm down, but his face beneath the mask had turned ghastly pale.

He stared fiercely at the simulator panel on his retina.

Behind the line [Bond: Uzumaki Kushina (Vow of Life and Death)], a small line of text had appeared at some point.

[Warning: Excessive interception of destiny will trigger "plane repulsion" and "reality shura-field backlash." Bonds and causality from the simulation will map onto reality in unpredictable ways. Please act with caution, Host.]

"..."

Baishi stared at the warning, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

Act with caution?

What was the point of saying that now?!

He had calculated everything—the hearts of men, the scripts—but he had never calculated that this golden finger would have such a god-awful side effect!

BOOM!

Another loud crash echoed.

This time, the sound was closer.

Accompanied by the sound of shattering walls and the screams of Anbu members, that violent chakra was rapidly closing in on the restroom!

"Get out of my way!!"

Kushina's voice carried a sob and an unquestionable madness.

Golden chakra chains erupted from behind her like dancing giant pythons, whipping away every Anbu ninja who dared to block her path.

Her dazzling red hair moved without wind, her eyes were bloodshot, and tear tracks still stained her face. She looked like a mother beast driven to absolute fury.

Just moments ago, an incredibly realistic "dream" had been branded into her mind.

In that dream, an Anbu youth codenamed "Owl" had blocked a lethal poison for her, bleeding out his last drop of blood in her arms.

He said her hair was beautiful.

He said he had been guided here by that flash of red.

He said that to die for her was his own willing choice.

After waking from the dream, that heart-wrenching pain still lingered.

What she found even more unacceptable was that the youth's face, at the very end of the dream, had merged with a vague figure in her mind.

Baishi.

A graduate from her ninja academy class, a plain, ordinary boy who always sat silently in the corner.

She couldn't even remember if she had spoken to him more than a few times.

But her intuition—the beast-like intuition of the Uzumaki clan—was screaming at her:

The person in the dream was him!

He wasn't dead! He was still alive!

He was in the Anbu!

And so, she had charged over like a madwoman, kicking the gates of the Anbu base to pieces.

"Baishi! Get out here right now!!"

Kushina's roar echoed from just outside the door.

Inside the restroom, Baishi felt his scalp prickling with dread.

He was currently facing a lethal dilemma.

Should he go out, or stay put?

If he went out, there was no way to explain any of this. How could a low-level Anbu cannon fodder be involved with the Nine-Tails jinchuriki? How could he explain what Kushina meant by him "abandoning her"?

Doing so would immediately mark him as the most unstable variable in the eyes of Konoha's high command; the Third Hokage and Danzo would swarm him like sharks smelling blood, tearing him apart to study him down to the bone.

But if he didn't go out...

Listening to the increasingly violent chakra outside, he had no doubt that in the next second, Kushina would tear the entire restroom to pieces!

By then, he would be exposed anyway.

Damn it!

Baishi cursed under his breath, his brain racing at an unprecedented speed.

His current persona was that of an unremarkable, perhaps even cowardly, low-level Anbu.

He had to maintain this facade!

Got it!

Baishi's eyes narrowed as he made a split-second decision.

Gritting his teeth, he forcibly suppressed the S-rank Lightning Release affinity talent he had just fused with back into his body, making himself appear once again as a genin with mediocre chakra levels.

Then, he took a deep breath, instantly shifting his expression to one of terror, confusion, and helplessness.

Just then—

BOOM!!!

The wall of the restroom was smashed open by a tremendous force!

Amidst the flying debris, Kushina appeared at the breach, her red hair whipping in the air.

Her gaze, sharp as the most precise radar, instantly locked onto the figure in the corner wearing the "Owl" mask, whose body was trembling slightly with "fear."

Their eyes met.

Time seemed to stand still in that moment.

Kushina looked at that familiar "Owl" mask, and her eyes instantly turned red.

It was this mask!

In her dreams, it was the person behind this very mask who had made a vow of life and death to her!

"How... how much longer do you intend to hide from me?!"

Kushina's voice trembled as she took a step toward Baishi.

The surrounding Anbu members had all been knocked to the ground by her, and no one dared to step forward again.

Baishi took a "terrified" half-step back, his body pressed tightly against the cold wall, his voice carrying just the right amount of tremor and confusion.

"Kushina... My Lady? What... what are you talking about? I... I don't understand..."

He played the role of a low-level Anbu terrified out of his wits by the Nine-Tails jinchuriki's aura to perfection.

Seeing this "stranger" posture, Kushina's heart stung as if pricked by needles.

Hiding?

He was still hiding from her!

Did he think that by pretending not to know her, he could erase everything?!

"You don't understand?" Kushina let out a bitter laugh, her crimson eyes fixed intently on him. "Then tell me, why is it that every time I close my eyes, my mind is filled with images of you dying for me?!"

"Tell me, why does your name appear in my head?!"

"Tell me, is there a freshly healed wound on your side?!"

The last sentence struck Baishi like a bolt of lightning, hitting him hard in the chest.

His pupils contracted violently.

How could she know about the wound?!

Had the injuries from the simulation manifested in reality?

He instinctively wanted to touch his side, but realized it in an instant and forcibly stopped the movement.

Yet, this tiny, almost imperceptible pause was precisely captured by Kushina.

It was him!

Kushina no longer had any doubts; all her grievances, lingering fears, and anger erupted in that moment.

"You bastard!"

She lunged forward, grabbed Baishi by the collar, and slammed him hard against the wall.

"Do you think I'll go on living just because you died?!"

"I'm telling you, Baishi! Without my permission, you aren't going anywhere! Not even to the underworld!"

The young girl's tears, mixed with her fury, dripped scalding hot onto the back of Baishi's hand.

The tyrannical chakra belonging to the Nine-Tails within her miraculously calmed the moment it touched Baishi, transforming instead into a sense of extreme, clinging attachment.

Pinned against the wall, Baishi felt the girl's trembling body and the intense, inseparable emotions radiating from her, and a stormy sea surged within his heart.

This romantic entanglement is coming on way too fast and too hard!

What was worse, he sensed at least three powerful and hidden chakra signatures already locked onto this location.

One was as warm and dazzling as the sun, yet currently carried a trace of cold scrutiny.

It was Namikaze Minato.

Another was aged and profound, like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, filled with calculation and prying intent.

It was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

And the last one was cold, vicious, and like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, itching to devour him whole.

Shimura Danzo!

Baishi's heart sank to the bottom of a well.

He knew that from the moment Kushina kicked open the Anbu door and shouted his name, he had transformed from an ignored piece of cannon fodder into the center of a whirlpool, right in the crosshairs of Konoha's top brass!

His life's script had completely collapsed from this moment on.

Just then, a gentle but unquestionable voice rang out from the corridor.

"Kushina, that's enough. Let him go."

With a flash of golden light, Namikaze Minato, dressed in his jonin vest, appeared at the shattered entrance.

He watched the girl he loved clutching the collar of an unfamiliar Anbu operative, her emotions spiraling out of control, and for the first time, his signature sunny smile looked incredibly strained.

His gaze fell upon Baishi, his eyes complex, filled with inquiry and a trace of... imperceptible hostility.

"Baishi-kun, is it?"

Namikaze Minato smiled, asking every word with deliberate care.

"Don't you think we should have a proper chat?"