The air in the Hokage's Office instantly tightened at the urgent buzz of an internal communicator.
Baishi had just set down the border defense adjustment plan he had finished reviewing, his fingertips still holding the lingering warmth of vermilion ink.
"Speak."
He did not look up. His voice was calm.
The report came from the duty officer at the ANBU Intelligence Compilation Office, who was struggling to suppress his breathlessness.
"Lord Hokage, we have an emergency. After the Barrier at the frontline 'Scorpion's Nest' was breached, the escaping energy did not dissipate as predicted. Instead, an unidentified attractive force compelled it to flow back. The energy flow map has pinpointed its final destination... the underground Special Care Unit at Konoha Hospital."
"Widespread chakra disruptions have already developed in the life-support equipment. The alarms haven't stopped."
Baishi's movements paused for a second.
He raised his head, his gaze falling on the document he had just signed: "First Order of the Fifth Hokage Regarding the Launch of Counterterrorism Operations on the Eastern Border."
The office door was shoved open from outside.
Tsunade barged in without even knocking, travel-worn and frantic. She slammed a medical report stamped "Urgent" in red onto Baishi's desk. The force crumpled the edges of its pages.
"Look at this!" Tsunade's voice was hoarse, edged with barely contained fury. "The chakra circulation systems of every life-support device in the Special Care Unit are overloaded, and the energy readings are still climbing by three percent a minute! At this rate, in less than half an hour, energy overload will trigger a chain of explosions throughout the unit's underground pipeline network!"
She drew a deep breath, her chest heaving.
"We have to initiate the S-Rank physical disconnection procedure immediately and sever the Special Care Unit's connection to the main network! It's