The night wind suddenly came to a halt. A foul stench of rotting mud crawled upward through the gaps in the rough tree bark.
The muscles beneath Baishi's Mask tensed almost imperceptibly. Within the space-time perception field he had just completed shifting into, the viscous shadow beneath his feet radiated a frigid fluctuation that absolutely did not belong to the Shinobi World.
"Asura bloodline..." Within the shadow, golden vertical pupils stared fixedly at Baishi's back. The hoarse murmur was as fine as a thread. "How could a low-level ANBU bug possess life force on Hashirama's level?"
Black Zetsu had lived for over a thousand years and witnessed the downfall of countless geniuses in the Shinobi World, but the man before him, codenamed "Owl," had completely shattered his understanding.
Killing intent quietly gathered within the shadows.
However, before Black Zetsu's black tendrils could reach out from the tree bark, Baishi moved.
Without any unnecessary words or turning his head to confirm anything, Baishi formed a seal one-handed with his right hand inside his wide sleeve, moving so quickly that only afterimages could be seen.
"Lightning Release: Earth Run!"
Blinding blue-white Lightning erupted from the soles of Baishi's feet. Lightning as thick as a barrel, like a berserk giant python, violently tore apart the tree trunk beneath him. Wood Shavings mixed with charcoal and flew in every direction, while the pungent smell of burning instantly drove away the stench of rotting mud.
"He noticed me?!" Black Zetsu's vertical pupils contracted sharply.
The instant the Lightning pierced through the tree trunk, Baishi's body suddenly turned into a cloud of white smoke with a "bang."
Substitution Technique combined with Lightning Clone!
The real Baishi had already used the micro-control of his Space-time Talent to perform Body Flicker to a thick horizontal branch ten meters away at the instant he formed the seal. He held his ANBU Short Blade in an underhand grip, while high-frequency Lightning Release Chakra coursed along its edge. His cold gaze looked down at the charred tree hollow split open by the lightning.
"Whether you're a rat from Root or a spy from another village..." Baishi's voice was utterly flat, carrying absolute rationality and cruelty. "If you follow me again, I won't mind burning your true body, along with this entire forest, to ash."
It was a warning, but also a test.
Deep within the tree hollow, Black Zetsu completely merged his body into the Rock Layer far underground. He did not counterattack rashly. That ANBU's reaction speed, tactical deception, and extremely restrained yet ferocious Lightning Release all proved that he was by no means cannon fodder who could be easily erased.
"Interesting... Konoha is actually hiding such a variable." Black Zetsu sneered deep underground. "Then let me see how long you can survive in the battlefield between Minato and that fox."
Black Zetsu's presence completely vanished from the range of Space-time Perception.
Baishi sheathed his Short Blade, and a mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth beneath the Mask. As expected of a thousand-year-old fox—he was cautious. It was not yet time to deal with Black Zetsu. He had to handle the real trouble first.
Looking into the distance, the blood-red pillar of light in the direction of the ANBU base grew increasingly violent.
The howling wind swept up twisted steel wreckage and smashed it into the surrounding walls with ear-piercing crashes.
"Where is he?! Hand Baishi over!"
Kushina hovered in midair, three dark-red Nine-Tails tails lashing wildly at the ground behind her. Her distinctive red hair was now like blazing flames, and the corners of her eyes had even split open and begun to bleed from her overwhelming grief.
"Kushina! Calm down! Baishi isn't dead!"
Namikaze Minato held a Flying Thunder God Kunai and repeatedly used space jumps to evade the strikes of the Adamantine Sealing Chains. His white Hokage Haori had already been slashed open in several places, while his golden bangs were stuck to his forehead with sweat and dust, leaving him looking extremely disheveled.
Minato did not understand.
Three days ago, in the hospital ward, Kushina had been stubborn, but at least she still possessed reason. Yet in the middle of the night today, she had suddenly let out a shrill scream in her sleep. Immediately afterward, her Nine-Tails Chakra had completely run wild, blasting through the roof of her home and killing her way to the ANBU base.
"You're lying to me..." Kushina abruptly turned her head. Her blood-red fox eyes stared fixedly at Minato, while tears mixed with blood struck the ground. "I saw it with my own eyes! He was burned to ash trying to save me... He told me to live on, including for his sake... He's dead!"
Minato's heart clenched violently.
What did she mean, burned to ash? What did she mean, taking his place in death?
That low-level ANBU named Baishi had only just been discharged from the hospital three days ago. He had even accepted an out-of-village mission that very afternoon!
"Genjutsu? Or some kind of mental control?" A sharp chill flashed through Minato's eyes. He could not let Kushina continue destroying everything like this. Not only would she destroy the village, she would destroy her own body as well.
"Sorry for the trouble, Kushina."
Minato took a deep breath, determination flashing through his azure eyes. His hands formed seals rapidly, and complex black Sealing Formulas lit up on his fingertips.
Whoosh!
The Yellow Flash lit up once more. Enduring the tearing agony as a Nine-Tails tail scraped across his left shoulder, Minato forcibly teleported in front of Kushina.
"Four Symbols Seal: Release!"
Minato slammed one palm against Kushina's lower abdomen. The violent Chakra instantly scalded his palm until the flesh split open, but he clenched his teeth and forcibly squeezed his spiritual body through the gaps in the seal and into Kushina's Mental Space.
He had to enter personally and see what poison that bastard named Baishi had planted in Kushina's mind.
Drip. Drip.
Minato's spiritual body fell onto the waterlogged ground.
This was not the gloomy underground sewer where the Nine-Tails was imprisoned—the place he knew so well.
The air around him was astonishingly hot, filled with a heavy smell of blood and the carbon stench of flesh burned to ash.
Minato raised his head. The sight before him left the 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.
Within the Barrier, a berserk Nine-Tails threw back its head and roared. In its mouth, a gigantic Tailed Beasts Bomb was taking shape, powerful enough to destroy everything.
"What... what place is this?" Minato's breathing quickened, and his pupils trembled violently.
Just then, he heard Kushina's heart-rending cries.
He spun around and saw Kushina kneeling outside the Barrier, pounding desperately on the unbreakable red curtain of light with both hands. Her nails had split back, and blood flowed freely.
"Baishi! Come out! You get out here!" The Kushina in the memory wept like a madwoman who had lost her entire world.
Following Kushina’s despairing gaze, Minato looked into the Barrier.
A man wearing a tattered ANBU uniform stood in the path of the Tailed Beasts Bomb's destruction, blocking it with his flesh and blood. His Fox Mask had already shattered halfway, revealing a profile stained with blood yet filled with the utmost gentleness and resolve.
It was Baishi!
Boom—!
The Tailed Beasts Bomb exploded. Blinding white light instantly swallowed everything within the Barrier.
Minato watched helplessly as Baishi’s left arm carbonized and disintegrated the instant it came into contact with that destructive energy. Yet he did not retreat even half a step. Instead, he desperately held up the Lightning Release Shield and turned to look at Kushina outside the Barrier.
It was a sorrowful glance Minato would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.
"Live well, including for my sake."
The man's lips formed the words with absolute clarity. The next moment, his body completely turned to ash within the light.
"No—!!!"
Within the Mental Space, Kushina's scream overlapped with the one in reality, becoming a tangible soul tremor that savagely tore apart Minato's consciousness.
This was no genjutsu!
Minato's attainments in Sealing Jutsu and spiritual energy were profound. He could clearly distinguish that this was an utterly real "memory," engraved in the deepest part of the soul. Every detail, every tear, and even the fluctuation of Chakra when Baishi's body carbonized were all flawless—so real that they made his scalp go numb.
"Impossible... This is impossible!"
Minato staggered backward, his face as pale as paper.
If this was a genuine 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 experience such a terrifying tremor and resonance because of this memory?
Just as Minato's mind was about to be completely crushed by this absurd Parallel Memory, he suddenly caught an extremely well-hidden fluctuation of a space-time coordinate within the Tailed Beasts Bomb's fading light in the memory.
It was a Flying Thunder God jutsu formula!
Moreover, the structure and Chakra frequency of that formula were absolutely not the work of him, Namikaze Minato!
Minato abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at the place where Baishi had vanished in the memory. A terrifying conjecture that shattered all his common sense and understanding exploded in his mind.