Hiashi's Decision and the Probe with the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm

The air in the Hokage's Office seemed to freeze along with the scene in the Water Mirror.

Baishi lightly tapped his fingertips, dispelling the frost spreading along the Water Mirror's edge, but the chill that came from the depths of the soul still lingered in the room.

Kushina instinctively tightened her arms around Baishi. The golden-red Nine-Tails Chakra burned like flames, barely warding off the sinister cold that had crossed through space.

"Baishi... what exactly is that thing?" A faint tremor ran through her voice.

Baishi did not answer. His Mangekyō Sharingan reflected the scene in the Frozen Forest. Deep within his pupils, three black tomoe slowly rotated like three scalpels making precise calculations, dissecting every detail of the deformed arm with perfect clarity.

Wood Release Cell Activity, Ice Release Frigid Deathly Stillness... Orochimaru, you actually fused these two completely opposite forces together. Baishi's heart remained utterly unmoved, even carrying a trace of appreciation. Though it's merely a crude, defective product, the idea has provided me with some interesting data.

What concerned him now was not the monster's origin, but the level of force it could withstand.

The Hyuga Clan was the weight he was using to measure this "masterpiece."

Forest of Death.

On the ice-crystal-covered treetops, Hyuga Hiashi's teeth clenched with a sharp clatter.

The deformed arm that emerged from the frozen mist, woven from deathly white flesh and wood grain, was like a heavy hammer that smashed the last trace of hope in his heart.

Fear stabbed into every inch of his body like countless cold steel needles.

The clansmen behind him were faring no better.

More than a hundred battle-hardened Hyuga elites now looked like frogs watched by a snake. Their bodies were rigid, and even their breathing had grown cautious. The Chakra orbs in their