Konoha's Alarm Sounds and the Red-Haired Witch Overturns the ANBU Base

"Have you had enough? I'm not dead yet, so why are you acting like a madman?"

This cold remark sounded jarring amidst the roaring thunder of chakra in the ruins.

The air was thick with the acrid stench of sulfur, the foul odor of charred flesh, and the ozone scent left behind by high-frequency lightning. The hundreds of elite ANBU surrounding them, including the Third Hokage and Danzo, were all on edge. Everyone knew that provoking a Jinchuriki in the Four-Tails state at such close range meant being torn into a bloody pulp.

However, a scene that defied everyone's understanding unfolded.

Kushina, in her Four-Tails state, suddenly stiffened, her massive, berserk dark-red body freezing in place. The bone-white fox skeleton encasing her head emitted a crisp "crack," and her hollow eye sockets remained locked onto the blood-stained half-mask on Baishi's face.

"Bai...shi?"

A hoarse, distorted voice, heavy with a nasal tone, struggled to squeeze through the gaps in the bone.

The next second, the violent Nine-Tails chakra receded like a retreating tide, shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye with a shrill, hissing sound. The bone-white skeleton crumbled into dust, and the high-density Tailed Beast Cloak dissipated, revealing Kushina's scarred, blood-streaked shoulders.

She stumbled forward, tripping over a piece of rebar on the ground, and scrambled toward Baishi, crawling on her hands and knees.

"You're not dead... you're really not dead!"

Kushina slammed into Baishi's arms, her arms locking tightly around his neck. Tears mixed with mud poured out, soaking Baishi's tattered ANBU vest.

The residual Nine-Tails chakra was scorching hot. For an ordinary ninja, this embrace would have been enough to char the skin on his chest to a blackened crisp. But Baishi had just fused with the complete Uzumaki Sage Body; this level of heat couldn't even breach his epidermal cellular defenses.

But he was a perfect actor.

Baishi let out a muffled groan, his brows knitting tightly beneath his mask. Large beads of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and he suppressed a pained gasp in his throat. His right hand, which had just been used to sever the Tailed Beast Bomb and was still trembling slightly, landed with extreme gentleness on Kushina's dust-covered red hair.

"Cough... I promised the Hokage that I would complete the mission at the border, so how could I die so easily?" Baishi's voice was filled with extreme weakness, but to Kushina, this was merely a lie he was telling to comfort her.

She wept even harder, her fingers clutching the corner of Baishi's clothes as if grabbing a life-saving straw. "Liar... you liar! I clearly saw you burned to ashes..."

Not far away, Namikaze Minato stood frozen in place.

The night wind blew through his tattered Hokage Haori, stirring up a cloud of ash. He watched the Red-Haired Witch, who had been on the verge of destroying Konoha just moments ago, now sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of a low-ranking ANBU like a fragile girl who had lost her support.

Minato's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, and even his breath tasted of blood.

He took a heavy step, his feet crunching on the shattered stone slabs.

"Kushina..." Minato reached out, trying to pull her away from the dangerous man's embrace. "He's fine now, let him go. Your body can't handle so many rampages..."

"Don't touch me!"

Kushina whipped her head around. Those eyes, once clear, turned icy the moment they landed on Minato, with vertical pupils faintly visible, not yet fully faded.

"Stay away from him!" Like a mother wolf protecting her cub, she shielded Baishi firmly behind her, her gaze sweeping past Minato and then over to Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo in the distance. "You high-ranking officials who only know how to scheme against him—whoever dares to come closer, I will kill!"

Minato's hand hung frozen in mid-air.

That phrase, "you high-ranking officials," struck him like a heavy hammer, shattering his spine. In Kushina's heart, he, Namikaze Minato, had been equated with Danzo and the Third Hokage, becoming one of the perpetrators who had forced Baishi to his death.

The Yellow Flash, of which he was so proud, had become a complete joke in this moment.

In the shadows, Sarutobi Hiruzen puffed on his extinguished pipe, his aged eyes churning with extreme gravity.

"Hiruzen, you saw it." Danzo stepped forward, leaning on his cane, his single eye fixed on Baishi's hanging right hand. "That Lightning Release shape transformation just now surpassed even Hatake Sakumo. A low-level cannon fodder hiding so much... what's more terrifying is that he can calm a rampaging Jinchuriki with a single sentence."

Danzo's killing intent was almost palpable. "This variable has slipped out of our control. The Root of Konoha will never allow such an uncontrollable pawn to exist; we must erase him now."

"Shut up!" Sarutobi Hiruzen hissed in a low, stern voice. "If you move against him now, the Nine-Tails will break its seal immediately! Do you want the entire Konoha to be reduced to ruins tonight?"

"So we just let him hold the Jinchuriki hostage like this?" Danzo scoffed.

"Seal the news immediately. Today's events are classified as S-rank secrets." Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled a breath of stale air, his gaze complex as he looked at Baishi. "Since he is willing to play the part of a loyal ANBU, give him the status he wants. As long as he remains within Konoha's system, he is the best shackle to restrain the Nine-Tails."

In the center of the ruins, Baishi leaned against a broken wall, taking in the malice, shock, and despair surrounding him.

This was the perfect opening he had wanted.

The moment he pushed Kushina out of the barrier, this night's "shura field" was destined. He wasn't just going to steal Minato's fortune; he was going to use Kushina's influence to completely shed the low-level fate of being "bait that could be discarded at any time."

Now, all the high-ranking officials in the village had seen that he was the only one capable of calming the Jinchuriki.

To stabilize the Nine-Tails, the Third Hokage couldn't kill him—he would have to treat him like an ancestor. This noose, once called "village-wide wanted," had been turned around and placed firmly around the necks of Konoha's leadership.

The timing was right.

Baishi pushed Kushina's shoulders away, forced himself to stand, and knelt on one knee facing Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Hokage-sama..." He began to cough violently, large mouthfuls of blood surging from beneath his mask, staining the concrete floor in front of him red. "Your subordinate... is incompetent. I failed to stop the Nine-Tails' rampage. Please, punish me..."

Before he could finish, he closed his eyes and collapsed forward, completely "passing out."

"Baishi!" Kushina let out a shrill scream and lunged forward to catch him.

Namikaze Minato finally found a reason to intervene. He bit his tongue, using the pain to suppress the jealousy and bitterness in his heart, and used a Body Flicker to appear beside Baishi.

"Kushina, move! I am a Medical Ninja, let me check his injuries!" Minato's tone was beyond reproach as he reached out and pressed his hand against Baishi's chest.

Though Kushina was extremely resistant, seeing Baishi's bloodless face, she could only grit her teeth and step back, staring fixedly at Minato's movements.

Minato closed his eyes and probed Baishi's body with his chakra.

He had expected to find a broken body with depleted chakra and severed meridians. After all, the Lightning Release used to sever the Tailed Beast Bomb would have surely drained every ounce of potential from an ANBU.

However, the moment his chakra entered, Minato's azure pupils shrank to the size of needles.

There was no depletion.

There were no serious injuries.

What he felt was a terrifying life force, deep and boundless as the vast ocean, even purer and more violent than Kushina's! That vitality surged through Baishi's meridians, carrying a hint of familiarity that made Minato shudder—it was the Sage Body Constitution on the level of Senju Hashirama!

Not only that, but deep within Baishi's heart, Minato also caught a trace of an extremely subtle fluctuation in space-time laws.

Minato snapped his head up, staring fixedly at the unconscious Baishi.

Just what kind of monster was this man, who had been playing dead before him just moments ago to win Kushina's sympathy?!