Nine-Tails' Warning and the Red-Haired Witch's Intrusion

The air in the office turned hot and viscous the instant the door shattered.

The rampaging Nine-Tails Chakra surged through every corner of the room like a sudden tsunami, carrying a thick stench of sulfur and blood. Wood shavings and shards of stone were swept up by the dark-red energy currents, whirling through the air and colliding with one another in a sharp crackling chorus.

Baishi slowly turned around. The mountain peak flattened by Dust Release outside the floor-to-ceiling window was reflected in his dark pupils, yet it was nowhere near as interesting as the out-of-control red-haired beast before him.

Kushina stood in the middle of the wreckage.

The boiling Chakra cloak burned wildly across her body, forming a semitransparent fox-demon silhouette. A thick tail lashed restlessly behind her, leaving a charred mark on the floor with every strike. Her eyes had completely transformed into scarlet vertical pupils, churning with overwhelming terror, blazing fury, and an almost overflowing obsession called "possessiveness."

"Baishi..."

Her voice was hoarse, like two pieces of metal scraping together. Every word was bitten out with such force that it seemed she was squeezing blood from between her teeth.

"What the hell... did you provoke out there?!"

Before the question had even finished, her gaze swept past Baishi's shoulder and locked onto the slender woman behind him.

Mikoto Uchiha.

She wore an elegant kimono and still held the tea she had just brewed for Baishi. But under the terrifying killing intent rushing toward her, her face had gone deathly pale, and even her breathing stopped for half a second.

The flames of jealousy erupted in Kushina's scarlet eyes.

It was the dead of night, the office was shattered, and a lone man and woman were together.

And then there was that terrifying explosion just now, one that