The Venomous Serpent's Arrogant Declaration and the Helplessness of the Gentle Fist

Inside the Hokage's Office, Baishi leaned back against the broad chair, his fingertips rhythmically tapping the solid wooden armrest.

A trace of restless sulfur seeped into his nostrils—the scent of Kushina's suppressed Nine-Tails Chakra burning in the air. The room's temperature was steadily rising, baking the side of his face, yet his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan remained utterly cold as they fixed themselves on the Water Mirror floating in midair.

The surface of the Water Mirror rippled, faithfully conveying the bloodshed and bitter cold within the Forest of Death.

The Mutant's huge, twisted body stood amid ice and snow. With every heavy breath it took, a deep-blue whirlwind rose up, draining the natural energy from its surroundings.

"Clan Head! We'll cover you!"

The hoarse roars of three elite Hyuga Branch Family members came from the Water Mirror. Seeing Hyuga Hiashi's bleeding eyes and his temporary blindness, they did not hesitate to burn the remaining Chakra in their bodies. Stepping over their comrades' still-warm corpses, they charged toward the Mutant in a triangular formation.

Watching this, Baishi's lips curled into a mocking smile.

Foolish loyalty. The essence of the Gentle Fist is to strike Chakra into an enemy's Meridians and destroy their internal organs. But against a stitched-together monster whose body is nothing but an energy storm, getting close is the same as jumping willingly into a Meat Grinder.

He gave no order to retreat. Since they were weights meant to measure Orochimaru's "creation," the lives of these Hyuga shinobi were nothing more than a string of fluctuating numbers until their final scrap of data had been squeezed dry.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

The three Hyuga elites instantly closed in on the Mutant. Their palms became dense afterimages, while concentrated, solidified Chakra gathered at their fingertips like hundreds of sharp steel needles,