Battle-Damaged Beauty at the Back Mountain Hot Springs

"Tomorrow, we're going to the back mountain hot springs. Don't sleep in."

"Quit yapping... I'll be up before you..."

Tsunade turned over and mumbled as she nestled her head deeper into Chiba's arms, her breath brushing against his collarbone.

Morning.

Sunlight fell through the window lattice and onto the floor.

Chiba opened his eyes. The woman in his arms was already gone.

He rubbed his neck and sat up, hearing the clack of wooden sandals against stone slabs from the courtyard.

"Well, you're up pretty early, Auntie."

Chiba shuffled outside in his wooden sandals and stood in the corridor.

Tsunade held a teacup as she leaned against a newly built redwood pillar, shooting him a sidelong glance.

"I told you I'd be up before you. Shizune, go massage his neck. He sleeps like a corpse."

Shizune jogged over, placed both hands on Chiba's shoulders, and skillfully began kneading them.

"Chiba, is the pressure all right?"

"It's perfect. With skills like yours, Shizune, you'd make a killing opening a massage parlor."

Chiba closed his eyes comfortably.

"You sure can talk."

Tsunade took a sip of tea.

"The courtyard walls are too high. They block the sunlight."

"It's called privacy, Auntie."

Chiba turned to look at her.

"If they were any lower, what if those old geezers next door used telescopes to watch you bathe? Especially Danzō. That old dog might have some strange fetish."

"He wouldn't dare."

Tsunade raised her fist.

"I'd punch him straight into the sky."

"That's why I used Wood Release to reinforce the trees around the place over the past few days."

Chiba patted his shoulder, signaling for Shizune to stop.

"The money from Yamato-ya has arrived, and the reconstruction fund is more than sufficient. I'm planning to check out the back mountain hot spring area this afternoon and build you a private open-air bath."

"At least you have some filial piety."

Tsunade's lips twitched as she turned her head away. The little red mole by her ear looked especially alluring beneath the sunlight.

"This isn't filial piety. It's concern from your creditor."

Chiba leaned closer and said in a low voice.

"When the time comes, Auntie, you have to invite me in first for a soak."

"Get lost."

Tsunade spat at him.

"I'll soak by myself. You can stand guard."

"What's fun about standing guard? I can use Wood Release to build a divider in the water. We can each soak on our own side and still chat."

Chiba winked.

"Dream on."

Tsunade went back inside.

"Shizune, ignore him. There's not a single decent thought in that boy's head."

"Chiba, the back mountain hot spring area is pretty desolate. You should be careful."

Shizune looked somewhat worried.

"It's fine. In Konoha, no one can do anything to me."

Chiba shrugged.

Over the past few days, aside from using Wood Release to renovate the courtyard, Chiba spent every day drinking tea and bickering with Tsunade in the yard.

Under his renovations, the Senju ancestral estate had completely regained its former glory, becoming even sturdier than before.

Afternoon.

Konoha's back mountain.

The mountain path was somewhat steep, and the trees around it grew increasingly dense.

Chiba walked up the path as the air gradually filled with the scent of sulfur.

"The water temperature really is good. Perfect for building a large pool."

Chiba reached a natural stone pool and tested the temperature with his hand.

Warm water slid down from his palm.

Just as he was about to use Wood Release to reshape the rocks, an unusual scent drifted through the wind.

A powerful stench of blood.

Mixed within it was a sticky, sinister chakra fluctuation.

"This feeling..."

Chiba frowned tightly.

That chakra reminded him of the man who played with snakes in dark corners.

Orochimaru.

Crack.

A sharp snap of breaking wood suddenly rang out from the dense forest to his right.

A figure crashed through overhanging branches, rolled all the way down the steep slope, and slammed heavily onto the gravel shore beside the stone pool.

Chiba turned sideways and looked over.

It was a woman.

The special jōnin flak jacket on her body had been shattered, while her outer ceremonial robe had been torn into strips.

Large portions of her form-fitting black fishnet undergarments were exposed, tightly outlining her full curves.

Several bloody scrapes marked her long legs from the gravel, leaving her in a rather bedraggled state.

Her short purple hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to her forehead, obscuring half her face.

[Second beauty detected: Mitarashi Anko. Current favorability: 0]

[Beauty mission triggered: Suppress the Heavenly Curse Mark and save Mitarashi Anko]

The system notification flashed through Chiba's mind.

Chiba walked over and looked down at the woman on the ground.

"Mitarashi Anko?"

Anko lay facedown on the ground, her body convulsing violently.

On the left side of her neck, three black tomoe-shaped marks emitted scorching black smoke.

The veins beneath her skin bulged high, taking on an eerie purple hue.

"Ah..."

Anko let out a pained growl, her hands digging deeply into the soil as blood seeped from beneath her fingernails.

The black tomoe marks seemed alive, transforming into black patterns that spread from her neck toward her face.

"Orochimaru's Curse Mark?"

Chiba crouched down, watching the changes on her neck.

"Don't... don't touch me..."

Anko struggled to raise her head and rasped out a few words.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her vision was somewhat unfocused.

"If you don't want to die, lie still."

Chiba reached out and pressed a hand against her shoulder.

Sage chakra surged from his palm into her body, trying to suppress that violent, sinister force.

"Go away... you'll... be devoured too..."

Anko clenched her teeth, her body arching from the agony as she growled like a beast.

"Devour me?"

Chiba gave a cold laugh.

"Maybe if Orochimaru himself were standing here. But this little tooth he left behind thinks it's worthy?"

"N-no more..."

Anko shut her eyes in agony as the mark on her neck suddenly erupted with even thicker black smoke.

Heat rose in the air, and her skin became searing hot.

"Damn Orochimaru. What the hell is he up to now?"

Chiba's brow furrowed even deeper as he watched the black patterns nearly cover half her face.

"Go... hurry and go..."

Using the last of her strength, Anko shoved Chiba.

But the moment her hand touched his chest, she lost all strength and toppled backward into the stone pool behind her.

Splash.

Water sprayed everywhere.

The warm hot spring water instantly soaked her through, and her tattered clothes clung to her body, outlining a breathtaking silhouette.

"What a hassle."

Chiba stood at the water's edge, watching Anko struggle and bob in the pool.

"Save... me..."

Anko flailed in the water. Stimulated by the hot water, the Curse Mark on her neck emitted an even stranger red glow.

"If Auntie finds out I brought a woman home, she'll probably tear down my hot spring."

Chiba muttered to himself before beginning to take off his outer clothes.

"Hey, can you still hear me?"

Chiba called from the shore.

Anko could no longer answer. She only rolled about in pain in the water, continuously splashing it up.

"Forget it. I'll pull her out first."

Chiba tossed his outer clothes onto a rock and looked at the curvy figure struggling in the water.

"Orochimaru, you really have a special way of sending gifts."

Chiba sighed and stepped into the warm spring water.

The water rose past his waist.

He walked step by step toward the center of the pool, his gaze fixed on the woman who was already beginning to lose consciousness.

"Go... don't come closer..."

Anko found the stone wall in the water and barely propped herself up, watching the approaching Chiba warily.

"Shut up."

Chiba looked at her coldly.

"In your current state, you can't even stand steadily. What are you going to use to defend yourself?"

"I... I'll kill you..."

Anko gritted her teeth. The black patterns on her neck had already spread to the corners of her eyes.

"Then give it a try."

Chiba had already reached her and looked down at her face, which had grown hazy with pain.

"You..."

Anko raised a hand, trying to gather chakra, but the power inside her had long since been thrown into chaos by the Curse Mark.

"Behave."

Chiba grabbed her wrist, and warm chakra instantly surged into her meridians.

"Ah!"

Anko let out a short scream, her body going limp as she collapsed straight into Chiba's arms.

Her soaked fishnet clothing pressed tightly against Chiba's chest, radiating astonishing heat.

"Hot... so hot..."

Anko murmured unconsciously, instinctively wrapping her arms around Chiba's neck and pressing herself against him.

"The temperature of this Curse Mark is at least fifty degrees."

Chiba held her, feeling the scorching heat radiating from her skin.

"Save me... please..."

Anko rested her forehead against Chiba's shoulder, her voice carrying a trace of pleading.

"Now you know to beg for help?"

Chiba looked at the three nearly boiling tomoe marks on her neck.

"What exactly did Orochimaru do on Konoha's outskirts to make this thing resonate so intensely?"

"Snakes... so many snakes..."

Anko's body began trembling violently, as though she had fallen into some terrifying hallucination.

"As long as I'm here, no snake will get near you."

Chiba wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed his other hand against the Curse Mark on her neck.

"Wood Release: Seal."

Green chakra gathered in Chiba's palm, forming an intricate jutsu formula that stamped directly onto Anko's neck.

"Mmgh..."

Anko let out a muffled groan, her body suddenly tensing before going limp again.

The spreading black markings slowly began to recede into the tomoe-shaped seal under the suppression of the green chakra.

"Looks like Sage Chakra really works."

Chiba let out a breath of relief.

But before he could withdraw his hand, the cursed seal on Anko's neck suddenly erupted with an intense black light again.

That power directly dispersed Chiba's Wood Release technique.

"Damn it, Orochimaru's will is forcibly activating this cursed seal."

Chiba's expression turned cold.

He could sense an incomparably frigid, immense chakra continuously pouring through a spatial passage into the cursed seal within Anko's body.

"Brat from the Senju clan... you're meddling where you shouldn't..."

A hoarse, chilling voice suddenly came from Anko's mouth.

It was not Anko's voice at all, but Orochimaru's.

"Orochimaru, speaking through someone else's body is the best you can do?"

Chiba sneered and increased the force in his hand once more.

"Hehe... the power of Wood Release... how nostalgic..."

"Orochimaru" controlled Anko's body and let out a low laugh.

"Nostalgic? Then take your time reminiscing."

Chiba looked down at Anko in his arms. Her eyes had completely turned an eerie yellow, her vertical pupils fixed tightly on him.

"This woman's body... can't withstand this power... let go. She'll die in your arms..."

There was a trace of smugness in "Orochimaru's" voice.

"Die? In front of Senju Chiba, even the King of Hell would have to leave empty-handed."

Chiba snorted coldly.

The Sage Body chakra within him began circulating madly, while the Strength of a Hundred Seal on his forehead faintly glowed.

"Orochimaru, since you've sent me such a generous gift, I'll gladly accept it."

Chiba looked at Anko's face, twisted in unbearable agony, and said quietly:

"Hey, wild mare, hang in there. Don't scream too loudly in a moment."

Anko's eyes moved, as though she had regained a trace of awareness. Looking at the handsome face so close to hers, she rasped out a few words:

"What... are you going to do..."