The Cracks in the Black Coffin and the Extreme Cold That Freezes the Soul

The temperature inside the Hokage's Office plummeted the instant that dull cracking sound came through the Water Mirror.

Baishi leaned back against the broad leather chair, his eyelids lifting slightly. A layer of eerie blue frost rapidly crawled along the edges of the Chakra Water Mirror floating in midair.

He exhaled, and a distinct cloud of white mist formed before him.

"So cold..." Kushina, pressed against Baishi's back, suddenly shuddered. The Nine-Tails Chakra that had been flowing calmly within her seemed to have been provoked by some immensely dangerous natural predator and instantly boiled over. A golden-red Chakra cloak uncontrollably spilled from her body, forcibly driving away the biting cold around them.

Mikoto Uchiha, standing behind them to the side, also caught her breath. A thin layer of ice had actually formed on the surface of the hot tea she had just lifted. Frost covered the outside of the cup, making her fingers stiffen slightly from the cold.

This chill had actually traveled along the Yin Release Threads connecting Baishi to the Water Mirror, crossed more than half of Konoha, and forcibly invaded the heavily guarded Hokage's Office.

Baishi did not turn around to comfort Kushina. His gaze was fixed on the center of the Water Mirror's image like a Scalpel.

Interesting.

A strand of Yang Release Chakra flowed from his fingertips, easily dissolving the freezing aura spreading along the threads.

Within the Water Mirror, the scene at the edge of the Forest of Death had completely changed.

Orochimaru's left hand, pressed against the surface of the Black Coffin, was giving off wisps of white vapor. The sealing runes drawn in dark red cinnabar twisted and struggled violently as if alive, followed by sharp cracking sounds as they reached their limit.

Crack—bang!

Web-like fractures spread across the entire coffin lid.