The dark-blue system panel flashed frantically in the dim underground safehouse, streams of data pouring down like a waterfall before finally freezing into a dazzling dark-gold color.
The cold mechanical voice echoed through Baishi's mind, making his eardrums buzz.
[Detected that the host forcibly interfered with the core event of the 'Night of the Nine-Tails' during the simulation, successfully changing the fates of 'Namikaze Minato,' 'Uzumaki Kushina,' and 'Uchiha Obito.']
[Destiny Hijacking Rating: SSS-Rank (Unprecedented)!]
[Bond Plunder Rating: SSS-Rank (Soul Engraving)!]
Baishi leaned against the damp, cold stone wall. The musty smell of the Basement's soil mingled with the sour odor of sweat on his body and rushed into his nose. He gasped heavily, his chest heaving violently, yet his pitch-black eyes gleamed with frightening intensity.
"SSS-Rank..."
He murmured the words, the corners of his mouth stretching into a crazed arc.
Using the life of a simulated body to withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb and force an all-or-nothing exchange. What a deal—he had struck it rich!
Namikaze Minato, I tore apart the heroic rescue romance you were so proud of. Your perfect fiancée now had the image of me burned to ash etched deep into her soul. That guilt and obsession would completely destroy her reason like poison, turning her into a pawn entirely under my control!
[Settlement complete! The host may choose and extract any two of the following three SSS-Rank rewards:]
Along with the system's notification, three orbs of light wrapped in dark-gold radiance slowly emerged from the void and hovered before Baishi. Each orb radiated a terrifying aura powerful enough to make the entire Shinobi World tremble.
Baishi stared fixedly at the first orb.
A dark-red halo flickered in the Basement. Inside the orb, countless fine blood vessels and Meridians phantoms pulsed like living creatures, radiating an extremely immense vitality.
[Reward One: Uzumaki Clan Sage Body (Incomplete Version)]
[Description: The ultimate vitality originating from the Asura bloodline. Forcefully breaks the host's Gene Lock, granting extraordinary physical vitality and self-healing capabilities while generating an enormous chakra foundation. Note: Extraction will deeply restructure the host's existing cells.]
Baishi's breath abruptly caught for a moment, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.
Sage Body!
The foundation of every top-tier power in the Shinobi World!
Without this thing, the Sharingan would suck a person dry, while forbidden techniques would tear the body to pieces. In a world where even a single Explosive Tag could kill a Kage Level powerhouse, having a thick health bar was the true path to survival. With a Sage Body, he would finally possess a ticket into the club of top-tier powerhouses.
His gaze shifted to the second orb, which glowed with a cold silver-blue light. Countless complex black technique coordinates could vaguely be seen constantly appearing and vanishing within it, exuding a sharpness that seemed capable of severing the distance of space.
[Reward Two: Space-time Ninjutsu Talent (Namikaze Minato Level) and Massive Chakra Infusion]
[Description: Obtained by hijacking the core destiny of the child of destiny. Grants the host absolute sensitivity to spatial dimensions, along with the remaining maximum chakra reserves of the Nine-Tails night simulated body.]
The smile beneath Baishi's mask grew even wider.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was not something just anyone could learn. Aside from the Second Hokage, only Namikaze Minato in all of Konoha had mastered it. It required an abnormal sensitivity to spatial dimensions. Now, that sensitivity, along with a massive amount of chakra, had been packaged and delivered right in front of him.
The third orb was scarlet as blood.
A phantom of a black Mangekyō Sharingan slowly revolved inside it. Baishi merely looked at it, yet even his vision felt dizzy, as though it were being forcibly twisted.
[Reward Three: Mangekyō Sharingan: Kamui (Right Eye)]
[Description: The same space-time ocular technique as Uchiha Obito's. Note: Transplantation into a non-Uchiha bloodline will cause extreme rejection, and each use will irreversibly consume lifespan and eyesight.]
Baishi stared at the scarlet eyeball, a trace of instinctive greed flashing in his eyes.
Kamui's ability to save one's life could be called the greatest in the Shinobi World. Its Intangibility mechanism was practically an unsolvable defense.
But that greed survived for only half a second before the extreme rationality in his bones ruthlessly crushed it.
"Without Hashirama Cells to suppress the rejection, this eye is a death warrant." Baishi let out a cold snort. "I don't want to end up like Kakashi, lying in the hospital for half a month after using two techniques. An idiot devoured by his own power won't live to see the ending."
Without the slightest hesitation, Baishi issued a command in his mind.
"System, I choose One and Two!"
[Ding! Selection confirmed.]
[Rewards being distributed... Warning! The fusion of 'Uzumaki Clan Sage Body' will violently restructure all the host's cells. The process will be accompanied by agony surpassing lingchi torture. Please prepare accordingly.]
Baishi quickly stripped off the black skintight suit soaked through with cold sweat, revealing a lean upper body covered in old knife scars.
He pulled a section of a hard Kunai handle from his Ninja Tool Pouch, placed it crosswise in his mouth, and bit down hard. Then he rapidly formed hand seals and created two Shadow Clones to guard the safehouse entrance.
"If anyone breaks in during the transformation, detonate the five hundred Explosive Tags buried in the walls immediately." Baishi issued the Shadow Clones a death command in his mind.
He would rather be blown to pieces than fall into Danzo's Root.
After doing all this, he closed his eyes and welcomed the coming storm.
"Come."
At the same time. Konoha Village Center, Namikaze Minato's Residence.
Cold moonlight passed through the paper windows and cast pale shadows across the floor. Because of an emergency ANBU shift change, Namikaze Minato had not returned home that night. On the spacious bed, only Kushina lay curled beneath the silk covers.
The red-haired woman had been breathing steadily, but her brows suddenly twisted into a painful knot.
Large beads of cold sweat instantly seeped from her forehead, soaking through her pajamas.
Deep in her mind, a desperate memory that did not belong to reality was forcibly tearing apart her dream with overwhelming force.
A dark-red Four Red Yang Formation... the violently rampaging Nine-Tails... a black Tailed Beast Bomb that obliterated heaven and earth...
In the dream, Kushina felt her hands pressed tightly against the scorching Barrier. The sizzling sound of flesh being roasted magnified endlessly beside her ears, while the stench of charred flesh shot straight into her head.
She desperately tried to grab the man inside the Barrier, but caught only a handful of black ash.
That broken figure, which had turned into ashes scattered across the sky amid the flames yet still smiled gently at her through the Barrier, was etched with absolute clarity onto her retinas.
"Live well, for both of us."
That silent final message was like a red-hot blade, ruthlessly stabbing through Kushina's heart!
The overwhelming guilt and suffocating pain of losing the person she loved most instantly shredded her sanity.
"No—!!!"
A heart-rending scream suddenly erupted in the quiet bedroom.
Kushina jolted awake. Her originally clear pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints, her sclera completely covered by a savage crimson!
Her fingers curled into claws and dug deeply into the tatami. Splinters pierced her fingertips and blood spilled out, yet she remained completely unaware.
"Baishi... Baishi!"
A beast-like roar squeezed from her throat as tears streaked with blood burst from her eyes.
Boom!
An intensely evil and violent surge of Dark Red Chakra erupted from her like an exploding volcano, violently breaking through the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style in her abdomen! The tangible chakra storm instantly tore the bed apart and, together with the bedroom roof, hurled it violently into the air!