"Those... were Space-time Coordinates?" Namikaze Minato's blue eyes constricted violently, and his breathing came to a complete halt.
Within the mental space, the Flying Thunder God Formula branded at the edge of that memory scene stabbed into his optic nerves like a red-hot steel needle. That warped curvature, that precise arrangement of chakra—it absolutely was not a mark he had left behind!
How could Baishi know the Flying Thunder God? How could a disposable low-ranking ANBU member possibly block a Tailed Beast Bomb with his life in the desperate circumstances of the Nine-Tails' rampage?!
"Ah—!"
A piercing cry forcibly dragged Minato back from his shock.
Outside the barrier, Kushina knelt in the scalding pooled water, her hands clawing desperately at the ground. Her nails had curled and broken from the force, and blood mixed with mud, staining her skirt red. "He's dead... Baishi is dead! He died to save me..."
Deep within the enormous cage, the Nine-Tails' massive body flickered in and out of view. Its scarlet slit pupils brimmed with cruel delight. "Hehehe... Namikaze Minato, look at your woman's soul! There's no longer any place for you in it!"
Tangible malice became a Dark Red Chakra storm, mixed with the stench of fox and blood as it slammed viciously into Minato's spiritual body.
"Kushina, look at me!" Minato took a step forward against the scorching storm, his voice trembling. "It's fake! Baishi is still alive. He was only discharged from the hospital three days ago!"
Kushina suddenly turned her head.
Her once-clear eyes had now been completely replaced by dark red fox eyes, while two horrifying trails of bloody tears flowed from their corners. She looked at Minato without a trace of the love or reliance she once had for him. Only extreme resentment and despair remained.
"You lied to me!" She gritted her teeth, her voice like an evil ghost crawling out of hell. "Why didn't you save him? Why weren't you there?! Konoha's Yellow Flash... you're not even as good as an ANBU member!"
Those words were like a poisoned kunai, piercing Minato's heart with ruthless precision. The speed he had taken such pride in, the bonds he had fought with all his might to protect, were ripped to pieces by that accusation.
Boom!
An overwhelming repulsive force erupted from the depths of Kushina's soul.
"Pfft!"
Amid the ruins in reality, Minato violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into a shattered stone pillar. The formula on his right hand, meant to undo the seal, was forcibly burned away. The flesh of his palm was charred black, giving off the pungent smell of roasted meat.
"Lord Minato!" Several ANBU members on the perimeter shouted in terror, trying to rush over and help him up.
"Don't come over! Get back!" Minato clutched his chest and shouted sharply, ignoring the blood at the corner of his mouth.
Too late.
At the center of the ANBU base ruins, Kushina raised her head and let out a shriek that did not belong to any human.
The Dark Red Chakra covering her body instantly boiled, and her original three tails lashed wildly in the gale. Then, accompanied by the scalp-numbing sound of flesh tearing apart, a fourth tail burst from her body!
The high-density chakra completely distorted the surrounding light, and the temperature soared. The pooled water on the ground evaporated at once, releasing a foul reek of sulfur mixed with blood. Bleached-white bones began to emerge over the Dark Red Chakra cloak, climbing up her spine until they finally enclosed her skull, forming a savage fox skeleton head.
Four-Tails state! A deep rampage of Partial Tailed Beast Transformation!
A kilometer away, atop a towering tree canopy.
Facing the scorching wind rushing toward him, Baishi watched it all with cold eyes beneath his mask. The exceptional vision granted by the Uzumaki Sage Body allowed him to clearly catch the ashen despair in Minato's eyes.
"Destroy the heart before killing the man." A cruel curve lifted at Baishi's lips.
He understood all too well how devastating that "memory" was. Minato was a perfectionist. He could accept defeat. He could accept death. But he could never accept that the woman he had given everything to protect would completely deny him in the deepest part of her soul because of another man's "death."
The original protagonist's fortune and Dao Heart were collapsing bit by bit in this ultimate hellscape.
Baishi raised his hand and looked at his newly regenerated left arm. It held not only surging vitality, but also the top-tier Space-time Talent he had stolen from Minato.
"This is only the beginning, Minato." Baishi refastened the Fox Mask over his face, concealing the ambition in his eyes. "The life you owe me, I'll take it back bit by bit, principal and interest included."
His figure flashed, turning into an almost imperceptible streak of lightning as he swept toward the edge of the ANBU base. The heat was sufficient. He could not let Kushina truly tear Konoha apart, or it would draw out too many uncontrollable old monsters. He had to close the net in the most "shocking" way possible.
At the outer edge of the ANBU ruins, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, finally arrived with a large force of elites.
"Hiruzen, this is what you called 'under control'?" Danzo emerged from the shadows with his cane. His sole remaining eye was filled with gloom and greed. "The Jinchuriki has completely gone berserk. Root must be deployed immediately to suppress her and reapply the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal!"
"Shut up!" Sarutobi Hiruzen clenched his pipe between his teeth, his face livid.
Kushina, in her Four-Tails state, could no longer distinguish friend from foe. The hollow sockets of her fox skeleton head stared fixedly toward the Hokage Building. That was the center of Konoha's power, and also the source of all those "certain-death missions."
In her subconscious, it was Konoha's upper ranks, this cold system, that had plotted time and again until they finally caused the death of the only man willing to protect her with his life!
"Destroy it... destroy everything..." A hoarse hiss squeezed out from between the bones, carrying the obsession to destroy all things.
Kushina opened her fanged mouth. Yin and Yang chakra gathered madly in a ratio of two to eight. A fist-sized black sphere that made every Kage Level expert present shudder in fear rapidly formed before her mouth.
Tailed Beast Bomb!
"Not good! She's going to erase the Hokage Building directly!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression changed drastically. Even his pipe fell to the ground. "Barrier Team! Deploy the Four Violet Flames Formation immediately!"
"There's no time!" Minato endured the agonizing pain of his torn internal organs and forcibly squeezed out chakra, attempting to use the Flying Thunder God once more to transfer that lethal Tailed Beast Bomb.
Just one second before the black sphere was about to fire.
An incomparably shrill bird cry instantly tore through the battlefield's chaos.
Blue-white lightning stabbed out from the shadows of the ruins like an aurora. It was an incredibly condensed Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear. Without a single unnecessary movement, it precisely severed the path along which the chakra was gathering before Kushina!
Sizzle!
The Tailed Beast Bomb's balance was violently disrupted, and it exploded into a blinding flash in midair. The terrifying shockwave sent dozens of elite ANBU members, along with the surrounding trees, flying.
Amid the billowing smoke and dust, a figure in a tattered ANBU uniform and a half-shattered Fox Mask slowly emerged from the shadows.
He held a lightning-wreathed short blade in a reverse grip. A fabricated wound so deep that bone could be seen still remained at his collarbone. Blood dripped from his fingertips onto the scorched earth with faint tapping sounds.
The entire scene instantly fell into deathly silence.
The Third Hokage froze. Danzo's lone eye narrowed sharply. Namikaze Minato's pupils contracted even further as he stared fixedly at that familiar figure.
Meanwhile, rampaging Four-Tails Kushina abruptly stalled when she saw that familiar half-profile. The violent chakra around her paused, and her savage fox skeleton head tilted slightly. Within those hollow eye sockets appeared a trace of startlingly human bewilderment and wild joy.
Ignoring the stares of hundreds of ANBU members and the Hokage, Baishi fixed his gaze directly on Kushina's dark red-filled eyes. He showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, he stepped forward, his tone cold and carrying an unquestionable command:
"Are you done making a scene? I'm not dead, so what the hell are you going crazy for?"