Tsunade pushed open the door to the medical department.
White walls and glaring lights. Three patients were strapped down on three beds. Their eyes were tightly shut, but their eyeballs rolled violently beneath their eyelids.
Inoichi Yamanaka stood beside the beds, sweat already beading on his forehead.
"Are you ready?" Tsunade asked as she walked over to him.
"Whenever you are." Inoichi took a deep breath.
"Begin."
Inoichi formed hand seals with both hands. Chakra fluctuations spread outward as his consciousness began connecting to the first patient's Mental Sea.
Tsunade closed her eyes as well. Her chakra followed Inoichi's channel and entered that chaotic mental world with him.
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
Then... light.
Twisted, blinding, nauseating light.
Tsunade saw it.
A Mental Imprint woven from hatred, fear, and madness floated in the center of the patient's Mental Sea. It resembled a black sun, constantly radiating Pollution outward.
At the core of the imprint was a single sentence.
"Uzumaki Naruto is the source of all disasters. He must be eliminated."
The sentence played on an endless loop in the Mental Sea, over and over again. Without end.
Tsunade tried to approach.
The imprint suddenly expanded, and countless black tentacles extended from it, reaching for her consciousness.
"Don't touch it!" Inoichi's voice echoed through the Mental Sea.
Tsunade retreated. The tentacles brushed the edge of her consciousness, bringing with them a bone-chilling cold.
"This thing..." Tsunade stared at the imprint. "It's already fused with the host's Mental Sea."
"Yes." Inoichi's voice was heavy. "It isn't attached to the surface. It's rooted in the deepest reaches."
Tsunade gathered chakra. Green light converged around her, forming a sharp shape like a scalpel.
"I'll see if I can cut it out."
She swung the Chakra Scalpel, slashing at the edge of the imprint.
The instant