"There's... a god hidden in his mind!"
Yamanaka Inoichi's shrill howl echoed through the sealed underground interrogation room. Like a fish out of water, he convulsed violently across the cold stone floor. Dark red blood gushed madly from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth, staining the front of his clothes red in the blink of an eye.
"Inoichi!" Sarutobi Hiruzen shot to his feet, his pipe smashing against the floor and scattering sparks.
Shimura Danzō's remaining eye contracted sharply. Without a moment's hesitation, the mechanism at the base of his cane sprang open. A frigid flash of steel, accompanied by the piercing shriek of Wind Release Chakra, shot straight for Baishi's throat!
"Whatever is hidden in his mind, Konoha has no need for an uncontrollable variable!" Danzo's voice was cold as ice.
The blade sliced through the air, and the chill of death instantly pressed against Baishi's skin.
Baishi was bound tightly to the iron chair by Chakra chains, with nowhere to evade. Yet beneath his Mask, his eyes remained utterly calm.
The Simulator's backlash mechanism? He sneered inwardly. It was a dimensional creation capable of stealing a world's fate. The spiritual power of the mere Yamanaka Clan dared to touch it? That was like an ant trying to shake a tree.
On the surface, however, Baishi looked terrified out of his wits. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a desperate scream. "Lord Hokage, save me—!"
Just as Danzo's blade came within half an inch of Baishi's carotid artery—
Boom—!!!
The half-meter-thick reinforced steel door let out an overwhelmed blast and was forcibly blown inward by an unimaginably violent force!
The metal door, weighing several tons, hurtled toward the center of the interrogation room like a cannonball. Danzo's expression changed drastically, forcing him to withdraw his blade and retreat.
A scorching wave of heat, carrying a heavy stench of blood and violent Chakra, instantly filled the entire underground space. The searchlights overhead flickered wildly beneath the intense energy fluctuations, crackling with electric static.
"Who dares touch him—!!!"
Accompanied by a hoarse, despairing roar, a crimson Nine-Tails Chakra cloak blazed like hellfire, illuminating the dim interrogation room.
Uzumaki Kushina stood barefoot amid the wreckage, her dazzling red hair whipping wildly in the blast of air. Her eyes had turned into beastlike vertical pupils as she stared fixedly at Danzo, who held the blade. Her killing intent was nearly solid enough to take form.
"Kushina?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's face changed in alarm. "How did you get here? Put away the Nine-Tails Chakra, now!"
Kushina ignored the Third Hokage entirely. At a glance, she saw Baishi locked to the interrogation chair.
He was soaked from head to toe. Beneath his half-shattered Mask was a mangled, bloody wound—the graze left by Minato's Kunai. And now, like a lamb awaiting slaughter, he was curled up in the chair, trembling uncontrollably.
In that instant, the ANBU youth covered in blood who had taken a fatal blow for her merged perfectly with the pitiful disposable nobody before her.
"Baishi..."
Kushina's eyes instantly reddened. She lunged toward the interrogation chair and seized the Chakra chains made of special metal with her burning hands.
Sizzle—
The scorching heat of the Nine-Tails Chakra instantly raised blisters across her palms, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh. Yet she did not even furrow her brow. With sheer terrifying strength, she tore the thick chains apart!
Clang! The broken chains crashed to the floor.
Kushina pulled Baishi tightly into her embrace. Her trembling arms locked around his shoulders, as if he would vanish completely like he had in her dreams the moment she let go.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I came too late..." Scalding tears fell onto Baishi's cold neck. Kushina's voice was so choked that it barely sounded human. "Did they hurt you? Does the wound still hurt? Don't be afraid. I'm here. No one will ever hurt you again!"
Buried in that softness and heat, Baishi smelled the unique fragrance in her hair, along with the bloody scent radiating from her overwhelming grief and fury.
He forcibly suppressed the sneer in his heart, and his body shook violently in perfect cooperation. Rather than return Kushina's embrace, he used his handcuffed hands to push hard against her shoulders in resistance.
"M-my lady... you've mistaken me for someone else..." Baishi bit through his tongue and coughed up a mouthful of blood, his voice as weak as a dying candle in the wind. "I'm just a Genin... Don't... offend Lord Hokage for my sake..."
At a time like this, the more he distanced himself from her, the more it would stir her desire to protect him.
Sure enough, hearing his "self-sacrificing" words, Kushina's heart felt as though it had been twisted by a knife.
He had already been driven this far, yet he was still trying to protect her! Still trying to swallow the secret of saving her all those years ago!
"I won't let you say that!" Kushina whirled around, her crimson vertical pupils locking onto the Third Hokage and Danzo. Behind her, Nine-Tails Chakra faintly condensed into three enormous tails. "If anyone dares touch a single hair on his head today, I'll tear this entire building down!"
Just as the tension reached its peak, a golden figure slowly emerged from the shadows by the doorway.
Namikaze Minato.
He had just arrived using the Flying Thunder God, and he had not even caught his breath. But when he looked up and saw the scene inside the interrogation room, his entire body froze.
Under the searchlights' pale white glow, his fiancée—the red-haired girl who usually blushed even when they held hands—was clutching a low-ranking ANBU in an intensely intimate, possessive posture.
For that man, she had unleashed Nine-Tails Chakra, challenged Konoha's highest authority, and remained completely oblivious to the fact that her hands had been burned into bloody ruin.
Minato's smile, always flawless and as warm as the sun, shattered piece by piece at that moment.
It felt as though something deep in his heart had been violently torn open, allowing a howling cold wind to pour inside.
"Kushina..." Minato's voice was somewhat dry. He struggled to maintain his composure as he took a step forward. "This is an interrogation room. Let him go first. Whatever it is, we can talk when we get home."
"Don't come any closer!"
Kushina suddenly shouted. One of the Chakra tails behind her lashed out like a whip. With a crack, it struck the stone floor at Minato's feet, leaving behind a deep fissure.
Minato was forced to stop. He stared at the crack in disbelief, his golden bangs concealing the stormy darkness in his eyes.
"Home?" Kushina gave a miserable laugh, her eyes filled with disappointment and obsession. "Which home? That place filled with lies? Minato, you know perfectly well who saved me on that rainy night five years ago!"
Minato clenched his fists fiercely, his nails digging deep into his palms.
She still didn't believe him! She would rather believe an absurd illusion, believe some low-ranking ANBU of unknown origins, than believe her own fiancé!
"Kushina, the Nine-Tails has affected your mind." Minato took a deep breath. His tone became harsher than ever before as he quietly gripped a Flying Thunder God Kunai. "I have to take you out first."
"Try touching him!" Kushina refused to back down. Adamantine Sealing Chains had already emerged from behind her, pointing straight at Minato.
A three-way showdown erupted within the cramped underground chamber.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, watched the scene with his brows knotted tightly. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was rampaging in the heart of the village—this was no joke. If the Nine-Tails broke free of its seal, Konoha would face utter destruction.
But what he feared even more was Yamanaka Inoichi, lying on the floor with his life and death unknown, and the seemingly frail ANBU youth sheltered in Kushina's arms.
"There's a god hidden in his mind..." The Third Hokage exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his gaze terrifyingly deep.
Danzo snorted coldly and tightened his grip on his Ninja Blade. "Hiruzen, mercy has no place in command! The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has lost control, and this Genin is the culprit. He must be eliminated immediately!"
"Enough, Danzo." The Third Hokage cut him off sharply, then put on a gentle expression as he looked toward Kushina. "Kushina, the village never intended to hurt him. Inoichi was merely conducting a routine examination. Now that the examination is over, he has been proven innocent."
The moment those words fell, Danzo looked at the Third Hokage in disbelief.
Minato also suddenly raised his head, his expression complicated.
Buried in Kushina's embrace, the corner of Baishi's mouth finally curled into an imperceptible cold smile beneath his Mask.
An old fox was still an old fox. Before learning the truth behind the "god," and in the face of the threat of the Nine-Tails running wild, the Third Hokage had chosen to yield.
The vigilance in Kushina's eyes did not fade. She held Baishi tightly, like a lone wolf guarding its prey. "I'm taking him with me!"
"No!" This time, it was Namikaze Minato who spoke.
Minato strode up to the Third Hokage and dropped to one knee. His face had regained its calm, but it carried a chilling resolve.
"Lord Third Hokage, since Kushina trusts him so much, and he has proven his innocence..." Minato slightly raised his head, his blue eyes locking onto Baishi, who was curled up in Kushina's arms. "I propose that Genin 'Owl' be transferred into my personal squad, where I will personally guide him."
The interrogation room instantly fell silent.
Baishi's breath caught. Keeping his romantic rival under his watch? Namikaze Minato, you're more ruthless than I imagined.