Seclusion in the Underground Safe House and the Second Simulation Launch

Downstream of the Naka River, an abandoned sewage outlet was tightly concealed by waist-high weeds.

The current was swift, carrying silt from upstream as it lashed against the moss-covered stone walls. Baishi emerged from the murky depths like a sleek fish, utilizing the cover of night. Cold river water slid along the edge of his pure white mask, dripping onto the newly scabbed scar on his collarbone and sparking a faint, stinging pain.

He snatched off the mask painted with a blood-red lightning bolt and stripped off his black night-suit, which was saturated with the heavy stench of blood and gunpowder, skillfully stuffing them into a storage scroll.

After changing into his spare, standard ANBU uniform, Baishi took a deep breath. The air was thick with the fishy smell of water weeds and the fermentation of rotting mud.

That guy Minato must have noticed something. Baishi thought, wringing the water from his hair while rapidly reviewing the clash at Howling Canyon in his mind.

Namikaze Minato's Flying Thunder God was indeed unreasonably fast; it was a form of spatial suppression that transcended the laws of physics. If they were to face off directly, Baishi had no doubt that he would have his throat slit by that custom-made three-pronged kunai before he could even form a single hand seal.

But so what?

A cold sneer tugged at the corners of Baishi's mouth. Even if Minato suspected him due to the lingering scent of burnt ozone from his Lightning Release, without concrete evidence, the Konoha high-ups would never question the Yellow Flash—who had just achieved glorious military success—for the sake of a bottom-tier cannon fodder with no background. Furthermore, once he initiated the second simulation tonight and brought back power capable of overturning the chessboard, any so-called suspicion would be nothing more than the impotent rage of the weak.

He did not return directly to the ANBU dormitory. Although he had a high-precision Shadow Clone filling in for him there, the Root's eyes were everywhere like flies; if he stayed away too long and his chakra ran dry, he would inevitably be exposed.

Baishi's figure flickered as he vanished into the dense canopy. Weaving through the trees, utilizing visual blind spots and pre-placed insect repellent powder, he silently bypassed two patrols of ANBU and finally slipped into a secluded stone forest behind the Memorial Stone.

Pushing aside a heavy stone slab overgrown with vines, he revealed a dark staircase leading straight underground.

This had once been one of Orochimaru's many abandoned temporary laboratories. Baishi had accidentally discovered this blind spot during a perimeter sweep mission and spent three months using Explosive Tags and sealing techniques to transform it into his true safe house.

Descending the damp stone steps, the mixed scent of aged formalin and moldy earth rushed into his nasal cavity.

"Snap."

Baishi struck a match and lit the kerosene lamp on the wall. The dim, yellow halo struggled to dispel the darkness, illuminating the basement of less than ten square meters.

There was a crude operating table, wooden crates piled with tactical supplies, and a perception-blocking barrier array in the corner that emitted a faint glow.

Baishi walked to the rusted sink and turned on the faucet. Icy groundwater gushed out, and he thrust his hands under it, scrubbing hard at the blood residue between his fingers. The water washed away the stains on his hands, but it could not wash away the deep-seated ambition for power in his eyes.

He looked up at himself in the shattered mirror. His face was pale, his black hair plastered wetly against his forehead, and his gaze was as cold as unmelting ice.

After drying his hands, Baishi walked to the table and took out the lukewarm, deep-blue multifaceted crystal from his bosom.

Raija's Chakra Crystal.

Under the dim light, miniature thunderstorms seemed to be churning inside the crystal, emitting a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation.

Without the slightest hesitation, Baishi tilted his head back and swallowed the crystal, worth over a million ryo, in one gulp.

"Gulp."

The hard crystal slid down his esophagus. In less than three seconds, his stomach felt as if he had swallowed a red-hot branding iron.

"Ugh..." Baishi let out a muffled groan, his hands gripping the edge of the wooden table so hard that rough splinters pierced his fingernails, drawing beads of bright red blood.

Violent lightning-attribute chakra exploded in his stomach, transforming into countless tiny steel blades that rampaged through his blood vessels and meridians, slicing into his limbs and bones. The forced fusion of such high-purity foreign chakra was no less painful than being sliced to pieces without anesthesia.

Sweat instantly soaked his back. Baishi's muscles spasmed irregularly from the excruciating pain, and the veins on his forehead bulged like earthworms. Yet, he didn't let out a single scream, only biting down on his molars until the taste of thick blood filled his mouth.

This pain... is nothing compared to having my heart gouged out by the Nine-Tails' claws! He squeezed a hoarse laugh from his throat.

After a full quarter of an hour, the blue electric arcs ravaging his body finally faded beneath his skin.

Baishi collapsed into the chair, exhausted, gasping for air. His chest heaved like a bellows, but he could clearly feel that the chakra already present in his body had now expanded to a terrifying magnitude.

Chakra baseline met. The key to starting the simulation was complete.

Baishi closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into the depths of his mind.

"Activate, Life Script Simulator."

[Ding—Detected that the host possesses sufficient chakra and a high-purity energy source. The second life simulation is now starting.]

The cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind, and immediately, a deep-blue, translucent light screen slowly unfolded before his eyes.

[Targets for potential fate-snatching have been updated.]

[Please select the time node and target object for intervention...]

Baishi's gaze swept rapidly across the light screen.

Having had the experience of snatching Minato's fate to save Kushina the first time, he understood the underlying logic of this simulator very well. The greater the potential gain from a node, the higher the risk of death. The backlash from snatching away a bond had already triggered a rampaging "Shura field" for Kushina in reality.

If he made the wrong choice this time, the real world might be completely turned upside down.

With his current strength, relying on max-level Lightning Release and his Uzumaki Constitution, he could at most touch the threshold of a Special Jonin. Going up against those god-tier battles would still make him nothing more than a slightly higher-level cannon fodder.

But he was a gambler. A refined, egoistic gambler who would stop at nothing to survive.

The list on the light screen scrolled downward, and familiar major historical events flickered before his eyes.

"Battle of Kikyo Pass? No, that's a meat grinder with tens of thousands of people; the variables are too great."

"Kannabi Bridge? Obito's Kamui Sharingan is indeed tempting, but trying to snatch it now would make it too easy to be targeted by that old monster Uchiha Madara lurking underground. I haven't lived enough yet."

Finally, Baishi's gaze rested on a super-high-risk node flickering with a glaring red light.

That node concerned the core power transition of Konoha, the life and death of Kushina, and the ultimate highlight moment for Namikaze Minato to ascend to the pinnacle of the ninja world.

The corners of Baishi's mouth spread bit by bit, curving into an almost insane arc.

"Since Senior Minato has already started to suspect me..." he whispered, his eyes looking exceptionally cold under the deep-blue glow, "...then I don't mind stripping you bare in the simulation."

His finger hovered heavily over the option on the light screen that read: [Night of the Nine-Tails · Namikaze Minato Fate Line].

As long as he pressed this button, he would be instantly air-dropped outside that delivery room on the night of blood, coming face-to-face with that Uchiha Obito wearing the tiger-striped mask.

Just as Baishi's finger was about to touch the light screen.

Click.

An extremely faint, almost imperceptible crisp sound suddenly pierced through the heavy soundproof barrier and reached Baishi's ears.

It was the mechanical snap of a tripwire being severed, triggering the fuse of an Explosive Tag.

The source of the sound was right outside the safe house's thousand-catty iron door.

Baishi's finger, suspended in mid-air, froze abruptly, his entire body's muscles tensing to the limit within a thousandth of a second.

Someone had found this place.