The Critical Point of the Storm Within and the True Player Behind Amegakure

It was deep into the night.

The lights in the Hokage's Office were still on.

The commotion at the guesthouse had already died down. Inuzuka and the Sunagakure ninjas had been taken to the ANBU Interrogation Division. Like a few stones tossed into a deep pool, they had failed to stir even a genuine ripple.

Shikaku Nara had already taken people to handle the follow-up paperwork. Those official documents sent to the Land of Wind, severe in wording yet flawless in detail, required him to personally strike the right balance.

Baishi sat alone behind the desk, quietly gazing at Konoha's countless lights outside the window.

All the concentration he had summoned in the conference room and the guesthouse had ebbed away like a tide. A belated exhaustion, mixed with some deeper sense of tearing, rose from the depths of his Meridians.

His throat turned sweet, and a warm liquid surged uncontrollably upward.

Baishi did not panic. He simply took a spotless handkerchief from the drawer, covered his mouth, and let out a suppressed, low cough.

When he moved the handkerchief away, a small patch of glaring dark red stained it.

It was not the vivid red of fresh blood, but a dull color mixed with the scent of sand and earth.

The two forces within his body had finally gone out of control.

The Leyline Origin forcibly stolen from the Kyoto Underground Palace was like a heavy mountain, carrying the earth's weight and savagery. The One-Tail Chakra taken from Sunagakure, meanwhile, was like a raging sandstorm, filled with an impulse toward destruction and chaos.

These two forces had gone from coexisting without interference to a violent clash within his Meridians.

Baishi calmly tucked the handkerchief into his sleeve and lightly rubbed it between his fingertips. The cloth silently crumbled into