Convergence of Parallel Memories and the Soul's Tremor in Sleep

The night breeze suddenly stagnated. A stench of rotting silt crawled upward along the fissures of the rough tree bark.

The muscles beneath Baishi's mask tightened imperceptibly. Within his Space-time Perception field, which had just finished shifting, the viscous shadow at his feet was emitting a cold, chilling fluctuation that did not belong to the ninja world at all.

"Asura bloodline..." Within the shadow, golden vertical pupils stared fixedly at Baishi's back, a hoarse whisper thin as gossamer, "How could a low-level ANBU worm possess life fluctuations on the level of Hashirama?"

Black Zetsu had lived for thousands of years, witnessing the fall of countless geniuses in the ninja world, but the man before him, codenamed "Owl," had completely shattered his understanding.

Killing intent condensed quietly within the shadow.

However, before Black Zetsu's black tentacles could probe out from the bark, Baishi moved.

There was no superfluous chatter, no turning back to confirm. Baishi's right hand formed seals with a single hand inside his wide sleeve, moving so fast that only afterimages remained.

"Lightning Release: Earth Run!"

Blinding blue-white lightning erupted from the soles of Baishi's feet. The lightning, as thick as a water barrel, tore through the tree trunk beneath him like a violent giant python. Wood chips mixed with charcoal splattered everywhere, and the pungent, scorched smell instantly dispelled the odor of rotting silt.

"Discovered?!" Black Zetsu's vertical pupils contracted violently.

The moment the lightning pierced the trunk, Baishi's body turned into a puff of white smoke with a "bang."

Body Replacement Technique combined with a Lightning Clone!

The real Baishi had already used the micro-manipulation of his space-time talent to teleport to a thick horizontal branch ten meters away the moment he formed the seals. He held his ANBU short blade in a reverse grip, high-frequency vibrating lightning-attribute chakra flowing over the edge, his eyes cold as he looked down at the charred tree hollow split open by the lightning.

"Regardless of whether you are a rat from Root or a spy from another village." Baishi's voice was devoid of ripples, revealing an absolute rationality and coldness, "If you follow me again, I don't mind burning your true body along with this forest to ash."

This was a warning, and even more so, a probe.

Deep within the tree hollow, Black Zetsu merged its body completely into the rock strata deep underground. It did not rashly counterattack. The reaction speed, tactical deception, and that extremely restrained yet violent Lightning Release of this ANBU all proved that the opponent was by no means a piece of cannon fodder that could be easily erased.

"Interesting... Konoha actually hides such a variable." Black Zetsu sneered deep underground, "Then let me see how long you can survive in the shura field between Minato and that fox."

Black Zetsu's aura vanished completely from the Space-time Perception.

Baishi put away his short blade, a mocking curve appearing beneath his mask. A thousand-year-old fox was indeed cautious. Now was not the time to deal with Black Zetsu; he had to handle the real trouble first.

Looking into the distance, the blood-colored pillar of light in the direction of the ANBU base grew increasingly violent.

Gale winds whipped up twisted steel wreckage, slamming into the surrounding walls with ear-piercing roars.

"Where is he?! Hand over Baishi!"

Kushina hovered in mid-air, three dark red Nine-Tails tails lashing the ground madly behind her. Her signature red hair was like burning flames at this moment, and the corners of her eyes were even cracked and bleeding from extreme grief.

"Kushina! Calm down! Baishi is not dead!"

Namikaze Minato held a Flying Thunder God Kunai, using space jumps again and again to dodge the lashes of the Adamantine Sealing Chains. His white Hokage Haori had already been torn in several places, and his golden hair was plastered to his forehead by sweat and dust, making him look extremely disheveled.

Minato did not understand.

Three days ago in the hospital ward, although Kushina was paranoid, she at least still had her reason. But in the middle of the night today, she suddenly let out a shrill scream in her sleep, followed by the Nine-Tails chakra spiraling completely out of control, shattering the roof of their home and killing her way all the way to the ANBU.

"You're lying to me..." Kushina turned her head abruptly, blood-red fox pupils staring fixedly at Minato, tears mixed with blood splashing onto the ground, "I saw it with my own eyes! He... he was burned to ash to save me! He told me to live on with his share... He's dead!"

Minato's heart gave a violent jolt.

What burned to ash? What sacrifice?

Baishi, that low-level ANBU, had only been discharged from the hospital three days ago, and he had even accepted a mission to leave the village this afternoon!

"Genjutsu? Or some kind of mental control?" A biting cold glint flashed in the depths of Minato's eyes. He could not let Kushina continue this destruction; it would not only ruin the village but also destroy her own body.

"Forgive me, Kushina."

Minato took a deep breath, a sense of resolution flashing in his azure eyes. His hands formed seals at lightning speed, and complex black sealing formulas lit up on his fingertips.

Swish!

The Yellow Flash lit up once more. Risking his left shoulder being grazed by a Nine-Tails tail, enduring the excruciating pain of torn flesh, he forcibly teleported in front of Kushina.

"Four Symbols Seal: Release!"

Minato slammed his palm onto Kushina's lower abdomen. The violent chakra instantly scorched his palm until it was mangled, but he gritted his teeth, forcibly squeezing his own spiritual body through the gap in the seal and into Kushina's mental space.

He had to go in himself and see what kind of poison that bastard named Baishi had planted in Kushina's mind.

Drip. Drip.

Minato's spiritual body fell onto the water-logged ground.

This was not the dark sewer he was familiar with where the Nine-Tails was imprisoned.

The surrounding air was shockingly hot, filled with a thick, pungent smell of blood and the carbonized scent of burnt flesh.

Minato raised his head, and the scene before him left this battle-hardened Yellow Flash completely frozen in place.

Not far away, four dark red pillars of light shot into the sky, forming an absolutely sealed Four Red Yang Formation.

And inside the barrier, a violent Nine-Tails was roaring at the sky, a massive Tailed Beast Bomb capable of destroying everything condensing in its mouth.

"What... is this place?" Minato's breathing was rapid, his pupils trembling violently.

Just then, he heard Kushina's heart-wrenching cries.

He turned his head abruptly and saw that outside the barrier, Kushina was kneeling on the ground, her hands slamming madly against the indestructible red light screen, her fingernails torn and bleeding.

"Baishi! Come out! You come out here!" In the memory, Kushina was crying like a madwoman who had lost the entire world.

Minato followed Kushina's desperate gaze, looking into the interior of the barrier.

A man wearing a tattered ANBU uniform was using his own flesh and blood to block the destructive trajectory of a Tailed Beast Bomb. The Fox Mask was already shattered in half, revealing a side profile stained with blood, yet radiating extreme tenderness and resolve.

It was Baishi!

BOOM—!

The Tailed Beast Bomb erupted violently. A blinding white light instantly swallowed everything within the barrier.

Minato watched helplessly as Baishi's left arm carbonized and disintegrated the moment it touched that wave of destructive energy. Yet, he did not retreat a single step; instead, he held his Lightning Release Shield firmly and turned his head to look at Kushina outside the barrier.

It was a hauntingly beautiful glance that Minato would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.

Live on well, for both of us.

The man's lip movements were incredibly clear. The next second, his body completely turned to ash within the radiance.

"NO—!!!"

Inside the mental space, Kushina's scream overlapped with reality, manifesting as a tangible soul-trembling that violently tore through Minato's consciousness.

This was absolutely not some kind of genjutsu!

Minato possessed a profound mastery of sealing jutsu and spiritual energy. He could clearly distinguish that this was an extremely real "memory," etched into the deepest depths of the soul. Every detail, every tear, and even the chakra fluctuations as Baishi's body carbonized were flawless, so real that it made his scalp tingle.

"Impossible... this is impossible!"

Minato staggered backward, his face as pale as paper.

If this was a true memory, then who was the Baishi who had just been discharged from the hospital in reality?

If this was fake, why would Kushina's soul produce such a terrifying tremor and resonance because of this memory?

Just as Minato's sanity was about to be completely shattered by this absurd parallel memory, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an extremely concealed space-time coordinate fluctuation within the fading light of the Tailed Beast Bomb in the memory.

It was... a Flying Thunder God jutsu formula!

Furthermore, the structure and chakra frequency of that formula were not the work of him, Namikaze Minato, at all!

Minato abruptly raised his head, staring fixedly at the spot where Baishi had vanished in the memory, and a terrifying conjecture that shattered all his common sense and cognition exploded in his mind.