Looking at the boy with furrowed brows, Minko waited for him to explain himself.

With a calm expression, Raijin found Minko's reaction amusing, but his demeanor soon turned to a frown as he locked eyes with her. "Minko-sama, I mean every word of what I just said!"

Minko stared back at him intensely, silently urging him to provide further explanation.

Raijin distanced himself from the bed. "You see… Yesterday, I just happened to come across a very interesting diary named 'Angel Vessel Creation' in your office." 

As he spoke, Raijin's words recalled his experience.

~~ (Before the Nine-Tails attack)

Before sunset, a warm glow still cast by the Moon filled Raijin's room. In his futon, he tried very hard to continue sleeping — something unusual since he was exhausted from the training session he had done before. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling while his mind was running a marathon of thoughts about the impending attack.

'Ah… This won't do. I need some fresh air.'

He rose quietly and made his way outside to the front yard. When his thoughts were endless, his refuge was to look at the sky. Since there wasn't any light pollution in the Shinobi world, he could still see the starry sky even at dawn — a long-lost image in the urban cities from the world he hailed from. 

While he looked up, Raijin grew curious when he noticed a light emanating from Minko's office. 'Strange… She's not going to be here today. Is someone else there?'

He looked intently at the closed window of the second floor. 

Frowning, he resolved to investigate, stealthily approaching the office window. Infusing chakra into his soles, he scaled the wall and peered inside, finding the office empty. 'No one's here… So why is the light on?'

Intrigued, Raijin opened up the window and entered. 'The window is unlocked. Did Minko forget to lock her office?'

Pacing through the office, he scanned all corners, eventually focusing his eyes on the large bookshelf behind Minko's desk. Making his way to it, he stood before the shelves and started to read the cover of each book. 

"Basics of Chakra, Understanding the Fundamentals of Fuuinjutsu and… Advanced Concepts of Jutsu Creation?!" Raijin was shocked to see the title of the book. He tried to go to every bookshop inside Konoha's market main venue before to see if he could find a book like that, but all of them had the same answer — they didn't know of its existence.

"She has a book like this?!" He flipped through the book and confirmed its contents. Considering taking it for himself, he glanced at the shelf once more. Next to the place where he picked up this book, there was some sort of diary named 'Angel Vessel Creation'.

Finding its title amusing, he picked it up. 'I have a weird feeling about this book. This title seems just too ominous.' 

Flipping through it, Raijin took a glance at its contents. Seeing the neat handwriting it had, he identified it as Minko's since he had already seen her writing before. 

The more he read, the more Raijin's face paled. The contents of the book were to… Create a jutsu to revive her grandson?! 

According to the diary, she had been observing the orphanage's kids closely. Noting their potential and habits to identify the best candidate to be her new victim. Her project seemed to be in its final stages and she had already tested it before, since she wrote that it was her ninth attempt at it.

She used talented children as sacrifices to test her newly developed jutsu that allowed the user to reincarnate a person onto someone's body. She got this idea from the rumors she heard when she was still on active duty about a kinjutsu that could bring back the dead.

Due to her limited resources and also lack of sufficient knowledge about Jutsu Creation, she was only able to do it by restricting herself to special conditions such as approximate age, body size, and lack of turning the appearance of the sacrificial lamb to the reincarnated soul's old body. 

Raijin flipped the book quickly while reading at a fast pace. Looking for the most recent pages, he saw the following: "Raijin Shunsui: great potential, exceptional growth, perfect candidate."

Speechless, Raijin's mind went blank. He would never imagine someone whom he had placed his trust in would do something like this. "She once said that her grandson had died at his sixth anniversary. Was she waiting for…" His thoughts trailed off.

Feeling chills going down his body, Raijin slumped in the chair next to him. With a tired appearance, he waited a few moments before recovering his composure.

~~

Minko was shocked. The only thing that came out of her mouth was a low sigh. Turning her head up, she had an unfocused and distant gaze. In a low voice, she inquired. "How?..."

Surprised by Minko's silence, Raijin's anger mounted. Without pause, he replied to her question with another one. "You… You won't even try denying?! Do you have no shame?!"

His speech was laced with fury. He felt betrayed by the first person he could call a trusted ally in this world. If this ordeal had taught him anything it was that he had to be more careful on who he placed his trust and care for in the future. 

Seasoned Shinobi certainly won't be his choice for a long time, since when someone lives so much in that profession, they are bound to accumulate mental disorders like no other.

Waiting for her reply, Raijin watched her closely.

Minko's expression turned to a frown and her breathing pattern became steady once more. "Shame?... Why should I have that when my grandson is suffering?"

Contorting his face in disgust, Raijin snapped. "Fine! If that's your stance, even—"

But before he could finish, Minko continued, her face contorted with emotion, wrinkles deepening with each word. "Do you know how many times he begged me to return? Every night since his passing, he appeared in my dreams, reminding me of his desire for life. That's why I took charge of the orphanage. I wanted to surround myself with those children, hoping to capture even a glimpse of his smile once more!"

She then turned to Raijin with a hateful look. "And you! You've ruined everything! All my efforts were on the brink of success. I was on the verge of ending his suffering, of seeing him smile again! You should be grateful for the role you were chosen to play, his vessel, his sacrifice! If only I had more time, then—"

Interrupting her, Raijin interjected in a loud voice. "But you won't! Your time is up. You'll face the consequences for your actions, as any madwoman should."

Looking at him, Minko frowned even more. "A madwoman…? Then I suppose a madwoman would do this!"

Though unable to stand, her upper body and chakra were working just fine. As a former Jounin, she was quickly able to adapt one of the scalpels close by as a projectile, making a high-precision wind nature chakra-augmented throw aimed at Raijin's forehead.

Her outburst was too fast for the current Raijin to dodge. He tried to infuse chakra onto his soles to give him some speed to at least move in time, but it wasn't enough to dodge a high-chuunin equivalent speed at such a close range.

Clang

A kunai hit the scalpel with such force that it lost its trajectory entirely. Looking at its owner, a man, standing between both Minko and Raijin out of seemingly nowhere. 

"Attempting to harm someone inside the hospital... You must possess quite the audacity." he declared.

~~

~~

A/N:

Hey, people!

Still trying to get better at writing scenes and plotting tension, so things might still be a little cliché but I'm trying to improve!

Anyway, back to work it is! Thank you for your continuous support.