The dense fog of Howling Canyon was brutally torn apart by that sudden streak of golden light.
"Ding—"
The specially made Three-Pronged Kunai was deeply embedded in the rock, while the talisman hanging from its end trembled violently in the raging wind. In the next second, a blond figure wearing a Konoha Jonin Flak Jacket appeared out of thin air above the kunai. He lightly touched the hilt with his toes and looked down at the camp from above.
Namikaze Minato.
Deep in the treetops, Baishi pressed his body completely against the rough bark. He had cut off all chakra flow throughout his body, forcibly suppressing even his heartbeat to forty beats per minute. His breathing matched the cold wind threading through the canyon perfectly. The blood-red lightning pattern on his pure-white mask exuded an intense, bone-chilling coldness in the dim fog.
"The Yellow Flash of Konoha?" Raija abruptly rose to his feet. The flesh on his rugged face twitched as his single eye locked onto the newcomer. He shoved aside the campfire roasting meat in front of him, and violent blue lightning instantly erupted from his body, charring and shattering the surrounding rocks.
Minato did not draw the short blade on his back. His deep-blue eyes held no unnecessary emotion, only the absolute rationality of someone carrying out a mission. "Raija, the Cloud Hidden A-Rank Missing-nin. One week ago, you attacked a medical supply line on the border of the Land of Fire and killed three Konoha Chunins. By order of the Hokage, you are to be executed on the spot."
"Big talk! When I was killing people in the Land of Lightning, you were still drinking milk at the Ninja Academy!" Raija laughed furiously. His hands instantly became afterimages. "Kill him!"
Though the three wandering ninjas were afraid, the lure of the bounty still made them grit their teeth and draw their Ninja Blades. In a triangular formation, they lunged at Minato.
Minato did not even form hand seals.
"Whoosh!"
Golden light flashed. The air held only three faint sounds of wind being cut.
The three wandering ninjas had not even seen their opponent's movements before three blood fountains burst from their throats in unison. Their bodies toppled forward under their momentum, slamming into the muddy ground with dull thuds.
Instant kill.
A trace of wariness flashed through Baishi's eyes in the treetops. The absolute spatial suppression of the Flying Thunder God Technique was simply a dimensional-level advantage when clearing out weak enemies. But he did not retreat. His gaze passed over Minato and, like a scalpel, precisely cut through the lightning surrounding Raija before finally locking onto Raija's chest.
There, a thumb-sized, deep-blue polyhedral crystal hung from a rough black cord. Even from more than ten meters away, Baishi could sense the pure Lightning Release chakra sealed inside, chakra that was practically overflowing.
A High-Purity Chakra Crystal. The key to activating the second round of the Life Script Simulator.
"So fast..." The corner of Raija's eye twitched wildly. He finally realized how terrifying the blond youth before him was. Without hesitation, he bit through the tip of his tongue and slammed both hands against the ground. "Lightning Release: Earth Run!"
A dazzling web of lightning spread wildly across the ground like a spiderweb, sealing off every place Minato could land. At the same time, Raija turned and sprinted toward the depths of the canyon under the cover of the lightning. He knew very well that fighting a monster who possessed spatial ninjutsu was a certain path to death.
"You won't escape." Minato's voice rang out amid the lightning web. He casually threw three Flying Thunder God Kunai, blocking Raija's retreat in a fan-shaped formation.
Now!
Baishi's muscles tensed instantly as he lay in wait among the treetops. He had been waiting all along—for Minato to force an opening from Raija, for the coordinates of the Flying Thunder God to be fixed, and for the distance between the two to widen to the extreme threshold at which he could intervene.
He could never allow Minato to kill Raija. Otherwise, the crystal would inevitably be turned over to Konoha's Sealing Team as spoils. He had to snatch the prey away right under the eyes of this Konoha genius!
"Lightning Release: Micro-Activation!"
The chakra that had been suppressed within Baishi for so long erupted with a roar. The cell activation brought by Max-Level Lightning Release caused his muscle fibers to unleash explosive force beyond the human limit within 0.1 seconds.
"Boom!"
The thick tree trunk beneath his feet exploded into a shower of wood fragments. The figure wearing the blood-red lightning mask transformed into a silent, dark-blue phantom. Using the dense fog as cover, he flew almost along the ground in a bizarre posture, rushing straight toward the fleeing Raija.
Ahead, Minato's kunai forced Raija to stop. He let out a roar and turned around, preparing to take Minato's attack head-on.
Minato's figure flashed through the air, a rapidly spinning chakra sphere already condensed in his right palm—Rasengan. The violent airflow swept away all the white fog nearby.
Just before Minato was about to press the Rasengan into Raija's back, a sudden change occurred!
To save his life, Raija abruptly tore open his Ninja Tool Pouch and directly detonated every Lightning-Attribute Explosive Tag inside.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion rocked the canyon. Violent lightning mixed with flying fragments of stone and shot indiscriminately in every direction. Minato frowned. To avoid being caught in the suicide attack, he was forced to abandon the killing blow. His body flashed, and he retreated to another kunai ten meters away.
Half a second.
That half second in which Minato withdrew was the only vacuum in the battle.
And Baishi precisely seized that gap, no more than a thousandth of a second.
The flames from the explosion had not yet dispersed. Raija was frozen in the brief interval between exerting his strength and gathering new strength, immobilized by the impact of the Explosive Tags. He had not even had time to draw a breath when, from the corner of his eye, a pure-white mask marked with blood-red lightning suddenly appeared.
"What?!" Raija's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.
Too fast! That speed, that terrifying control that completely contained the Lightning Release chakra within an inch of his body—it even surpassed Raija, an elite of the Cloud Hidden!
Baishi said nothing and used no flashy ninjutsu. At this distance, the most primitive physical slaughter was the deadliest.
His left hand shot out and clamped precisely around Raija's wrist before twisting it outward with brutal force. With a crisp crack, Raija's hand seals were forcibly interrupted.
Immediately afterward, Baishi's right hand formed a blade with two fingers. Lightning Release chakra compressed at his fingertips into a thin, razor-sharp electric blade as delicate as a cicada's wing.
There was no pause and no hesitation.
"Splurt!"
The hand blade wrapped in high-pressure Lightning Release tore effortlessly through the Lightning Release Armor Raija prided himself on, just as easily as cutting tofu, and pierced straight into his throat. His windpipe, carotid artery, and cervical vertebrae were all pulverized by the blow.
Hot blood sprayed in a mist across Baishi's pure-white mask before trickling down from his jaw.
Raija did not even manage to scream. His body convulsed violently twice, and the life in his eyes rapidly faded.
Baishi's gaze was cold. His right hand continued downward, ripping away the black cord bearing the Chakra Crystal. The deep-blue crystal landed securely in his palm, and its cool touch pulled a satisfied curve onto his lips.
The entire process was smooth and seamless. From the moment Baishi appeared to the instant he killed Raija and seized the crystal, less than a second had passed.
Ten meters away, Namikaze Minato, who had just steadied himself, abruptly raised his head. His deep-blue eyes were filled with unbelievable shock.
Someone had stolen his kill and taken his target right under his nose!
"Who's there?!" Minato shouted. The Three-Pronged Kunai in his hand transformed into a streak of golden light and shot straight toward the masked shadow in the fog.
Baishi did not look back. He had calculated his retreat route long ago. The moment Minato threw the kunai, chakra erupted beneath his feet and his body shot backward. At the same time, his hands rapidly formed seals.
"Boom!"
A burst of white smoke exploded. Minato's kunai accurately pinned a wooden stake with an already-lit Explosive Tag attached to it.
"Boom!"
The violent explosion sent mud flying everywhere, completely disrupting the airflow and chakra traces within the canyon. Taking advantage of the blast, Baishi's figure vanished completely into the boundless white fog of Howling Canyon, leaving not the slightest trace behind.
The cold wind poured through the canyon. Calm returned, leaving only the crackling of the campfire.
Minato used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Raija's corpse. He did not pursue Baishi, because his opponent's counter-tracking methods were exceptionally sophisticated. The instant the explosion occurred, he had severed every trace of scent and chakra fluctuation.
He crouched down and examined Raija's wounds with a solemn expression.
The cut on Raija's throat was extremely smooth, while the edges of the wound were severely charred and carbonized. It had been caused by an extremely powerful surge of Lightning Release chakra piercing through him in an instant.
"A killing blow completed without hand seals, using only changes in chakra nature combined with taijutsu..." Minato extended the index finger of his tactical glove and lightly touched the edge of the wound.
"Bzzzt—"
An extremely faint blue arc traveled along the glove, leaving a slight numbness in Minato's fingertip.
Minato's finger abruptly went rigid.
A cold canyon wind swept past, carrying the lingering scent of blood and the smoke of ninjutsu into Minato's nose.
Beneath the thick smell of blood was an extremely distinctive charred scent of Lightning Release, one carrying a violent aura of destruction.
That smell.
That method of compressing Lightning Release chakra to its absolute limit.
Minato's deep-blue pupils trembled violently. A thunderclap exploded in his mind. He suddenly remembered the Redwood Forest on the border of the Land of Fire three days ago—the low-ranking ANBU operative he had listed as a prime suspect, yet who had deceived the higher-ups with his flawless acting.
The youth who had coughed blood in the hospital ward, protected fiercely by Kushina.
"Baishi..." Minato slowly rose to his feet and gazed into the depths of the white fog. His hands hanging at his sides gradually clenched.