Minato is Lured Away, Baishi's Decisive Interception and Attack

The blade sliced through the air, emitting a sharp whistle.

Baishi's surprise attack was timed with vicious precision—exactly during Obito's moment of absolute relaxation, when he believed the situation was settled and his fingers were about to touch the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.

The short sword, coated in potent poison, lunged straight for Obito's throat.

But Obito was Obito, after all. That pair of crimson, three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, his dynamic vision capturing the killing intent within the lightning flash in a mere 0.01 seconds.

Spatial ripples erupted.

Baishi's right hand, gripping the sword, along with half his shoulder, passed through Obito's neck without obstruction.

Phasing.

"Boring sneak attack," Obito's hoarse voice echoed in Baishi's ear, laced with condescending disdain. He had phased his upper body, but his right leg, hidden beneath his black robe, shot up with a dull whoosh, aiming a powerful kick at Baishi's abdomen.

Within Kamui's mechanics, one had to materialize at the moment of attack.

Obito intended to cripple Baishi the instant his old strength gave out and before his new strength could manifest.

But there was no trace of panic in Baishi's eyes.

He knew the weakness of Kamui all too well.

"Explode," Baishi's thin lips moved slightly.

His left hand crushed the fuses of three high-explosive Exploding Tags he had prepared earlier. He didn't throw them at Obito but instead flung them directly onto the bluestone slabs beneath his feet!

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted between the two. The violent shockwave, mixed with debris and intense heat, swept outwards in a hemispherical, indiscriminate blast.

Obito's Sharingan constricted sharply.

If he continued his kick, his right leg would undoubtedly be blown off by the Exploding Tags. Faced with such a suicidal, life-risking tactic, Obito could only forcibly retract his attack, completely phasing his entire body and letting the explosion's flames pass through him.

This was exactly what Baishi wanted.

He squeezed out the last bit of Lightning Release chakra within his body, forcibly twisting his body amidst the explosion's shockwave, and shot backward like a cannonball.

Bang.

Military boots heavily landed on the stone slabs, slick with amniotic fluid and bloodstains.

Baishi landed steadily before the birthing bed. His left hand hung at his side, the back of it scorched black by the edge of the Exploding Tags' blast wave, emitting a pungent smell of roasted meat. But he stood tall, an insurmountable iron wall, firmly blocking the space between Kushina and Obito.

The smoke and dust gradually dispersed.

On the birthing bed, Kushina struggled to open her eyes.

Sweat blurred her vision. Just minutes ago, Minato had vanished with Naruto in the golden light of the Flying Thunder God. She didn't blame Minato; it was the responsibility of a Hokage, and the instinct of a father.

But the moment Minato left, in this cold, blood-soaked cave, she was left alone to face the monster wearing a tiger mask.

The Nine-Tails within her roared, its seal tearing. Despair drowned her, like icy seawater.

She thought she was dead for sure.

But now, a not-so-broad back entered her sight.

A pure white "Sparrow" mask, a dark ANBU uniform, and the short sword still dripping poison.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone and blood.

"You are..." Kushina's voice was incredibly hoarse, her throat feeling like it was being scraped by shards of glass.

Baishi didn't turn around. He simply tightened his grip on the short sword, Lightning Release chakra re-gathering on the blade, emitting the sharp, resonant cry of a Chidori.

"Rest easy," Baishi's voice, filtered through the mask, carried an undeniable, cold hardness. "As long as I have a breath left, he won't dare touch a single hair on your head."

No lengthy vows, no slogans of the Will of Fire.

Only the purest form of protection.

Kushina trembled all over, and warm liquid welled up in her dry eyes once more. In her desperate situation, abandoned by the world, this cold, hard promise struck her most vulnerable nerves like a red-hot iron nail.

"The rat in the tree just now, it was you."

Obito slowly emerged from the lingering smoke. He brushed some dust off his black robe, his exposed right eye flashing with cold killing intent.

"Since when did Konoha's ANBU produce such a master of Lightning Release? Risking your life for a doomed Jinchuriki?"

Baishi narrowed his eyes.

Obito was stalling for time. His forced phasing to evade the explosion had caused a slight lag in his chakra circulation.

"Information warfare, you talk too much."

Baishi gave Obito no chance to breathe. He stomped his foot, crushing two stone slabs, and transformed into a blue lightning bolt, charging at Obito once more!

The short sword slashed horizontally, aiming straight for Obito's eyes.

Obito snorted coldly, neither dodging nor blocking. The blade once again passed through his head.

But the instant it penetrated, Baishi's left hand, at an extremely strange angle, swept upwards from below, two extremely thin steel wires held between his fingers.

The other ends of the wires were connected to two ANBU kunai that had scattered on the ground during the explosion!

"Up!"

Baishi flicked his wrists.

Two ninja blades struck out like vipers, one from the left and one from the right, viciously aiming to shred Obito's lower body from his blind spots.

Kamui's intangibility was full-body. If Obito didn't deactivate it, the blades would pass right through him; but if he wanted to attack Baishi, he had to materialize, and in that split second, the blades would sever his legs!

Forcing him to make a choice.

Obito's gaze finally shifted.

This ANBU was not only incredibly strong in Lightning Release, but his tactical instincts were also ruthless to the extreme. Every move was calculated to exploit the mechanics of Kamui.

"You're courting death."

Obito completely lost his patience. Minato could return at any moment using the Flying Thunder God, and he could no longer afford to waste time with this troublesome ANBU.

His Scarlet Sharingan widened abruptly, his ocular power erupting as if it were a physical force.

He didn't dodge the blades on the ground; instead, he reached out his right hand and grabbed the right arm Baishi was using to hold the blade!

The moment they made contact, Obito's arm materialized.

Puchi!

The blades on the ground sliced through Obito's calves, sending blood spraying.

But Obito didn't care. His fingers clamped onto Baishi's forearm like iron pincers, and spatial ripples began to swirl violently, centered on his palm.

Kamui: Strangulation!

The space around Baishi collapsed instantly. A terrifying, twisting force acted directly upon his right arm.

Crack, crack, crack—

The sound of bones buckling under the immense pressure rang out clearly through the cave. The muscles in Baishi's right arm were forcibly twisted into a knot by the spatial force, and blood instantly soaked through his ANBU uniform.

Agony engulfed his nerves like a tsunami.

Baishi gritted his teeth, not letting out a single scream. Beneath his mask, the veins on his forehead bulged, and cold sweat poured down like rain.

"No!" Kushina shrieked in anguish as she watched that twisted, deformed arm. Her heart felt as though it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand; the figure from her memories who had died under the Nine-Tails' claws to save her perfectly overlapped with this ANBU who was having his arm twisted off to protect her!

A cruel arc curled the corners of Obito's mouth.

"It's over, little rat."

The spatial vortex expanded rapidly, and it looked as though it were about to suck Baishi's entire body into that dark, sunless dimension. In this life-or-death moment, a blinding flash of lightning suddenly erupted from the short blade that was about to slip from Baishi's mangled right hand.

It wasn't aimed at Obito.

Instead, he backhanded it directly into his own right arm joint!