When Minato's voice fell silent, the air in the underground interrogation room seemed to be sucked dry in an instant.
The smell of charred flesh mixed with the heavy scent of tobacco, fermenting wildly in the cramped space until it stung the throat.
"Namikaze Minato, don't you dare touch him!" Kushina was like a lioness whose reverse scale had been touched, her scarlet slit pupils fixed on Minato. Not only did she refuse to let go, she pulled Baishi even tighter against her. The heat of the Nine-Tails' Chakra evaporated the water pooled on the floor, producing a sharp, hissing sound.
Buried in that scorching softness, the gaze beneath Baishi's Mask was cold as ice.
What a ruthless scheme.
Minato's move of retreating in order to advance seemed like magnanimous acceptance of a romantic rival, but in reality, he wanted to keep Baishi under his nose and flay him alive. Once Baishi left ANBU and became Minato's direct subordinate, with Minato's monstrous tactical ability and the mobility of Flying Thunder God, all his secrets would be laid bare, let alone finding a chance to activate the Simulator.
He absolutely could not go with him.
He had to remain in the building, within the sight of the Third Hokage and Danzo. Only by making the higher-ups believe that he was a "perfect tool" who posed no threat and could even be used to restrain Minato and Kushina would he be able to survive.
"L-Lord..."
Baishi bit through his tongue viciously, using the intense pain to force out a forehead full of cold sweat. He suddenly exerted himself and shoved Kushina away with a violence that bordered on desperation.
The move was so sudden that Kushina, caught off guard, staggered half a step. She stared at him in disbelief.
The next second, Baishi crawled and rolled toward the Third Hokage, his knees slamming hard against the rough stone floor. He completely ignored the blood drawn by the shackles around his wrists and smashed his forehead against the ground.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The dull impacts echoed through the basement. After three blows, a glaring pool of blood had already stained the stone floor.
"Hokage-sama!" Baishi trembled like a sieve, his voice hoarse beyond recognition. "I'm only a code name unworthy of even possessing a name! In life, I belong to Konoha's ANBU; in death, I'll be Konoha's ghost!"
He abruptly raised his head. His face was smeared with mud, tears, and blood, and his eyes revealed extreme terror before the gap in status, along with absolute submission to the system.
"How could a wretched life like mine be worthy of Lord Minato's personal guidance? How could I ever dare harbor the slightest improper thought toward Lady Kushina? I beg the Hokage-sama for mercy. Please let me remain in the darkness... As long as I can carry out missions for the village, I'll gladly die ten thousand times!"
Silence.
The entire interrogation room fell into an eerie silence.
Every word Baishi had spoken had landed precisely on the Third Hokage's and Danzo's favorite points.
The Third Hokage exhaled a plume of smoke. A trace of satisfaction, difficult to detect, flashed through his murky old eyes. This was the perfect product of the Will of Fire—someone without a self, who knew only obedience. Even when misunderstood and dragged into the higher-ups' battlefield, he could still clearly recognize his role as cannon fodder and place the village's interests and rules first.
Danzo's one remaining eye narrowed slightly, and the hand gripping the hilt of his cane sword relaxed.
He had originally wanted to kill Baishi, but it now seemed that this pawn was far more useful than he had imagined. A lowly waste who was loved wholeheartedly by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki yet was extremely afraid of the higher-ups and dared not harbor the slightest thought of overstepping his bounds was practically the perfect valve for controlling Kushina's emotions.
It would be a waste to kill him. Keeping him in ANBU as a hostage who could be crushed at any time would maximize the benefits.
"Minato, you heard him." The Third Hokage tapped his pipe and knocked out the ash inside. His voice was gentle, yet carried unquestionable authority. "The village respects every shinobi's wishes. Since Owl is used to ANBU, don't force him."
Minato's golden bangs fell over his eyes, concealing the emotions roiling beneath them. He looked at the figure on the floor, humbled into the dirt, and quietly clenched the fist hanging at his side.
His instincts told him that this Genin's disguise was too perfect—perfect enough to leave not even the slightest flaw. But at this critical juncture, he could not refute the Third Hokage, much less forcibly demand the man. That would only make Kushina hate him even more.
"Yes, Third-sama." Minato took a deep breath and forcibly pulled out a stiff smile.
"No... don't..." Kushina stared blankly at the blood on Baishi's forehead, her heart seeming to be torn apart by a giant hand.
He would rather smash his head open, would rather remain in ANBU, where he could die at any moment, than go with her. He was still using this self-destructive act to protect her, trying to sever any connection between them!
Several ANBU from the Sealing Team quietly stepped forward and began forming hand seals to suppress the Chakra leaking from her.
Kushina did not resist again. She stared fixedly at Baishi kneeling on the ground, her scarlet slit pupils filled with obsession and madness. Gritting her teeth, she left him with a single sentence: "Baishi, remember this. Even if you hide underground, I'll drag you out!"
Amid heavy footsteps, Kushina was forcibly taken from the interrogation room. Minato gave Baishi a deep look, then vanished from the spot without a word using Flying Thunder God.
The storm subsided.
"Owl, go back and rest. Report to the logistics office tomorrow and collect a new uniform." The Third Hokage waved his hand.
"T-Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Baishi slammed his head against the ground again.
Two dog-faced ANBU stepped forward, unlocked his Chakra shackles, and dragged him out through the underground passage.
The moment he stepped out of the Hokage Building, the night wind, carrying autumn's chill, rushed into his face. Baishi lowered his head, his disheveled bangs blocking his vision.
But beneath that half-shattered Mask, the cringing fear vanished completely in an instant, replaced by utter coldness and mockery.
The higher-ups? A genius? A Jinchuriki?
They were nothing more than NPCs swept along by emotions and interests.
Half an hour later.
At the edge of Konoha, in an ANBU single-person dormitory.
It was narrow and damp. Thick webs clung to the corners, and the air was filled with the musty smell of bedding.
Baishi pushed open the door but did not turn on the light. By the pale moonlight outside the window, he skillfully set three concealed alarm threads across the doorway, windowsill, and beneath the bed, then stuck an Explosive Tag to a load-bearing pillar hidden from view.
Only after finishing all this did he walk to the water-stained mirror and tear off the tattered ANBU uniform.
His lean torso was exposed to the cold air. The puncture scar along his side, where Kushina had forcibly torn open the bandages, looked especially hideous in the moonlight.
Baishi stared at his reflection. With a thought, he summoned the virtual panel that only he could see.
[Simulation settlement complete.] [Successfully intercepted Namikaze Minato's core fortune.] [Reward: Max-level Lightning Release (including shape transformation and extreme nature transformation), massive Chakra.]
Watching the golden text flicker across the panel, Baishi's heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably. In this Shinobi World, where human lives were as cheap as grass, only the power in one's hands was the sole truth.
[Warning: Extracting this reward will subject the current body to deep cellular restructuring. The process will involve extreme pain.] [Extract immediately?]
"Yes." Baishi issued the command in his mind without the slightest hesitation.
The moment he confirmed it, a force of lightning so violent it seemed like a bursting flood suddenly poured into the crown of his head.
"Ugh—!"
Baishi's eyes flew wide. Before he could even let out a muffled groan, he suddenly fixed his gaze on the shadow on the ground.
Under the illumination of the pale moonlight, the shadow beneath his feet did not tremble with his movements. Instead, it stretched and twisted unnaturally, silently climbing up his ankle!