Poisonous Snakes in the Night, Danzo's Second Test Descends

The night was thick as ink, heavy clouds blotting out the last sliver of moonlight.

The weathered vermilion gates of the Senju Clan Grounds were tightly shut. The autumn wind swept up the dead leaves piled in the courtyard, sending them against the broken window lattices with a rustling sound.

Inside the bedroom of the main house, candlelight flickered.

Tsunade held an empty medicine bowl as she tucked the blanket around Sosuke on the bed. Looking at the boy's bloodless face and his thin shoulders trembling from repeated coughing, her eyes were filled with an unbearable ache.

"Sleep." Tsunade reached out and gently brushed aside the damp strands of hair stuck to Sosuke's forehead with cold sweat. Her voice was soft. "I'll be in the side room outside tonight. This is the Senju Clan Grounds. With me here, no one will lay a finger on you."

"Thank you, Sis." Sosuke obediently nodded, his eyelids drooping weakly as though even one more word would exhaust the last of his strength.

Tsunade sighed and turned to leave with the medicine bowl.

The door closed. Her footsteps gradually faded, and at last the door to the outer side room clicked shut as well.

In the bedroom, silent enough to hear a pin drop, Sosuke, who had been lying there with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

There was no trace of frailty or fear in those gentle, innocent black eyes now. In their place was a coldness like ancient ice, along with the brutality of a beast eyeing its prey.

He threw back the blanket and stepped barefoot onto the cold wooden floor.

The Four Symbols Seal was like countless chains, completely locking down the chakra pathways within his body. Right now, he could not even use the most basic Three Body Technique. To any sensory ninja, he was a complete cripple.

But that old viper Danzo was suspicious by nature. The test at Hidden Leaf's gates during the day could never fully erase his doubts.

"Since you don't believe it, use your lives to clear the way."

Sosuke walked to the windowsill and shifted a withered potted plant half an inch to the left. Then, like a ghost melting into darkness, he silently vanished into the blind spot beneath the roof beams.

So what if his chakra was sealed?

The system reward, [Beginner Sage Body], had long transformed the density of his flesh, bones, and muscles to a terrifying degree. Even without using a trace of chakra, the pure strength unleashed by this body was enough to tear apart any prey foolish enough to underestimate him.

At midnight.

Two black shadows, clinging like lizards, silently climbed over the high walls of the Senju Clan Grounds.

They wore no Hidden Leaf forehead protectors. Featureless pale masks covered their faces, and their bodies radiated the chilling aura of people who had spent years steeped in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Root's death soldiers, codenamed A and B.

The two exchanged extremely covert tactical hand signals, avoided the side room where Tsunade was staying, and crept along the walls like wisps of black smoke until they reached the window outside Sosuke's bedroom.

Lord Danzo's orders had been clear: test Senju Sosuke's true condition. If he really was crippled, then make him die of illness tonight without anyone noticing. If he had merely been acting during the day, retreat immediately and bring the intelligence back to Root at any cost.

A took a long, hollow bamboo tube from his ninja tool pouch and slowly inserted it through a hole in the window paper.

He puffed out his cheeks and blew lightly.

A colorless, odorless poison drifted into the room through the bamboo tube. It was an exceptionally rare chronic poison. Those who inhaled it would gradually suffer heart and lung failure in their sleep, ultimately displaying symptoms of a natural illness. Even a top medical ninja like Tsunade would struggle to spot anything wrong at first.

They waited for the time it took half an incense stick to burn.

Only steady, faint breathing came from inside. There was no other movement.

A and B exchanged a glance and simultaneously drew the short swords from their backs. The blades had been coated in matte paint, giving off no reflection in the darkness.

A thin blade slipped through the crack in the door and silently lifted the latch.

The two slid into the room one after another, their movements so light they did not even disturb the dust on the floor.

The room was dim. The gauze curtains around the raised bed hung low, and beneath them was the vague outline of a raised figure.

A tightened his grip on his short sword and approached the bed step by step. He abruptly threw open the curtains and drove his blade without hesitation toward the figure's heart.

Squelch.

The sound of a blade piercing cloth rang out, but there was no resistance of steel entering flesh.

A's pupils contracted sharply.

There was no one beneath the blanket. Only two pillows stacked together!

"Retreat!"

A reacted quickly. The instincts he had honed on the edge of death made every hair on his body stand on end. He gave a low roar without hesitation and leaped backward.

But it was too late.

From the beam overhead, a black shadow dropped silently like a falling meteor.

Sosuke made no hand seals, nor did he emit the slightest chakra fluctuation. He simply fell from above, his legs like iron pincers forged from refined steel as they locked precisely around A's neck.

With the combined force of gravity and the terrifying explosive power of his Sage Body, Sosuke violently twisted his waist.

Crack!

An exceptionally crisp sound of breaking bone exploded through the night.

A's head twisted backward one hundred and eighty degrees at an angle utterly contrary to human anatomy. Before he could even scream, his cervical vertebrae were brutally snapped, and his body collapsed like a lump of mud.

It had happened too fast. Less than a breath had passed from Sosuke's descent to A's instant death.

"You're courting death!"

B, standing at the doorway, was so furious his eyes nearly split apart. He had never imagined that the sickly cripple described in the intelligence, supposedly stripped of all chakra, possessed such terrifying taijutsu!

B's hands instantly became afterimages as he began forming seals to use Wind Release and open the distance.

As long as the disturbance from the ninjutsu alerted Tsunade next door, his mission would be complete. Lord Danzo would naturally know that Sosuke had been pretending.

However, Sosuke gave him no chance to finish his seals.

The instant he strangled A, Sosuke's feet hit the floor, and he kicked off hard with his toes.

Bang!

The hard wooden floor was crushed into a dent. Sosuke's body instantly broke the sound barrier, turning into an afterimage as he closed in.

B had only formed half his seals when his vision blurred. The youth in thin sleepwear was already right in front of him.

Sosuke's gaze was as calm as if he were looking at a corpse. His left hand shot out like lightning, seizing B's wrists as they formed seals. Then his five fingers clenched fiercely.

Crack, crack, crack.

Dull sounds of shattered bones rang out in succession as B's wrists were crushed to pulp by that inhuman strength.

The agony made B instinctively open his mouth to scream, but Sosuke's right hand had already flattened into a blade. Carrying a gale that tore through the air, it violently thrust into his throat.

Splat!

His Adam's apple shattered instantly. The savage force severed B's windpipe and carotid artery.

Scalding blood sprayed out like a fountain, splattering across Sosuke's pale, handsome face and slowly dripping down the sharp line of his jaw.

B's eyes bulged horribly as his hands weakly clawed at Sosuke's arm. A leaking gurgle escaped his throat while life drained from him as swiftly as the tide receding.

Sosuke coldly withdrew his hand and let B's corpse crash onto the floor.

Having no chakra did not mean he had no way to kill.

In this world, overly reliant on ninjutsu, the close-combat abilities of ninjas were as fragile as paper toys before Sosuke's fully developed Sage Body.

"Danzo's dogs are getting harder and harder to kill."

Sosuke casually tore off a bedsheet and unhurriedly wiped the blood from his fingertips.

He walked to the window and listened to the sounds outside. Tsunade was sleeping deeply. No chakra had been used in that brief fight, and the commotion had been deliberately kept to a minimum. She had not been disturbed.

Sosuke bent down and efficiently stripped the ninja tool pouches and explosive tags from the two corpses. Then, gripping each corpse by the back of its collar, he walked toward the rear courtyard as though dragging two bags of weightless trash.

Behind the Senju Clan Grounds was a dry well that had been empty for more than a decade.

Sosuke threw both corpses into the bottom of the well, then pulled a small bottle of corpse-dissolving liquid from the seized ninja tool pouches. He removed the stopper and poured it in.

Pungent white smoke rose from the well, accompanied by the sizzling sounds of flesh being corroded. Several minutes later, only two pools of murky yellow liquid remained at the bottom.

After finishing everything, Sosuke returned to his bedroom.

He filled a basin with water and washed the blood from his face. The clear water gradually turned pale red, reflecting his face as it returned to its gentle, sickly appearance.

Just as he picked up a towel to wipe away the droplets, that cold, mechanical voice suddenly exploded in the depths of his mind.

[Ding! Detected that the host has successfully survived and eliminated hostile targets. The novice protection period has officially ended.]

[The Senju Revival System's main quest has been updated.]

[Current family reproduction progress: critically endangered (only the host remains).]

[Phased core mission issued: establish branches and spread leaves, seize fortune.]

[Mission target locked: Host, please find a high-aptitude female as soon as possible to reproduce and neutralize the divine erosion within your body.]

[Radar scan complete. A special target within Hidden Leaf who meets A-rank aptitude or above has been locked onto for the host—Uchiha Mikoto.]

[Target aptitude rating: A+ rank.]

[Current interception progress: 0%.]

[Mission reward preview: Fully Developed Sage Body (can greatly neutralize divine erosion), Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence.]

Sosuke's hand paused slightly. His water-speckled lashes lowered gently, and an exceedingly dangerous curve formed at the corner of his lips.

The Uchiha clan?

This system really knew how to pick its targets.

What Danzo and the Third Hokage feared most was the Senju Clan rising from the ashes. And throughout all of Hidden Leaf, the only clan that could stand alongside the Senju in heritage and strength—and even keep the higher-ups awake at night—was the Uchiha clan.

If the last surviving seedling of the Senju intercepted the Uchiha clan's future mistress and pressed those proud Sharingan beneath him, turning her into a warm bed for bearing Senju descendants...

The expressions on those old dogs among Hidden Leaf's higher-ups would surely be spectacular.

"Uchiha Mikoto..." Sosuke casually tossed the towel into the basin and watched the rippling water. Tangible ambition and aggression churned beneath his gentle eyes. "This prey is mine."

The System's New Target Is Locked, an Encounter with the Uchiha Clan's Jewel

The next morning, a deep-autumn frost laid a silvery white layer over the rooftops of Hidden Leaf.

Sosuke wore a heavy snow-white fox-fur cloak as he stepped over the withered yellow leaves carpeting the ground and walked out through the gates of the Senju Clan Grounds.

Tsunade had spent a great deal of Yin Release chakra last night to straighten out his chakra pathways and was still asleep. Using the excuse of buying medicinal herbs to suppress his blood and qi, Sosuke came alone to Hidden Leaf's busiest commercial street.

The street was bustling with people, and merchants' cries rose one after another.

When Sosuke's pale, handsome, bloodless face appeared on the street, the surrounding clamor briefly fell silent.

"Look, it's that Sosuke from the Senju Clan..."

"I heard he was crippled on the Land of Rain battlefield. Now he can't even refine chakra and can only stay alive by taking medicine."

"How pitiful. The greatest clan that founded the village has been reduced to a single sickly boy."

The villagers' whispers drifted into his ears on the autumn wind. Sosuke ignored them, tucked his chin deeper into the fur of his cloak, and let out a restrained cough from time to time as he walked unsteadily toward the Yamanaka Apothecary on the corner.

The moment he reached the apothecary's entrance, a muffled argument reached his ears.

"Lady Mikoto, the elder's meaning is already very clear. Young Master Fugaku is the only candidate to become the next clan head. As the finest woman of the elder's branch, marrying Young Master Fugaku is an honor for the entire Uchiha clan."

On the apothecary steps, three young men wearing the Uchiha clan's high-collared uniforms and Uchiha Police Force armbands had formed a loose encirclement around a girl, blocking her at the door.

The girl wore a plain light-purple kimono, her black hair cascading down to her waist like a waterfall. Her features were exquisite, and there was a gentle grace in her brows and eyes, like the water towns of the south. Yet her autumn-water-black eyes were now filled with exhaustion and suppressed pain.

It was Uchiha Mikoto.

"I've said it many times already. I only want to focus on training right now. I don't wish to discuss marriage." Mikoto's slender fingers gripped the hem of her clothing tightly, her fingertips turning white from the force. Her voice was gentle but carried a stubbornness that refused to yield.

The leading Uchiha youth sneered. Much of the respect in his tone vanished, replaced by forcefulness. "Lady Mikoto, that is not for you to decide. The Uchiha clan's bloodline cannot be allowed to flow outside the clan. Your marriage is a bargaining chip for the clan, not some personal game. Give us a clear answer today, please. Don't keep Young Master Fugaku waiting."

As he spoke, the young man actually stepped forward and reached out to grab Mikoto's wrist.

Mikoto retreated in fright, her back pressing directly against the apothecary's doorframe. A flash of despair crossed her eyes.

At that critical moment—

"Cough, cough, cough..."

A fit of wrenching coughs suddenly sounded beside them.

A thin youth in a white fox-fur cloak had somehow already stepped onto the stairs, placing himself directly between the Uchiha youth and Mikoto.

Sosuke covered his mouth, coughing so hard that his shoulders shook violently. A sickly flush appeared on his pale cheeks. He raised his head, his gentle black eyes apologetic as he looked at the Uchiha youth before him.

"Sorry... let me pass. This wind is far too cold. It hurts my lungs terribly."

Sosuke's voice was hoarse, carrying the frailty of someone who might collapse with a gust of wind.

The Uchiha youth whose actions had been interrupted frowned, a flash of hostility passing through his eyes. "Where did this sick ghost come from? Can't you see the Uchiha Police Force is handling business? Get lost!"

As he spoke, he abruptly raised his hand, intending to shove Sosuke down the steps.

Mikoto cried out, "Watch out!"

However, Sosuke did not dodge the incoming hand. He did not even blink. He merely straightened up with extreme slowness, his previously hunched back becoming perfectly straight.

An invisible yet immensely heavy presence suddenly radiated from this "cripple."

"The Uchiha Police Force is responsible for maintaining Hidden Leaf's public order and laws." Sosuke did not look at the hand stopped an inch from his chest. Instead, he stared directly into the youth's eyes. His voice was mild, but every word struck at the heart. "What? Do the current public safety regulations now permit police force members to coerce women of their own clan in broad daylight and even attack an unarmed invalid?"

The youth froze. Under the gaze of Sosuke's deep black eyes, he inexplicably felt a chill run up his back.

"Who are you? Stop meddling in things that don't concern you!"

Sosuke smiled faintly and adjusted the collar of his cloak. His tone was neither servile nor overbearing. "Senju Sosuke. I'm just a cripple who can't even refine chakra. But if you truly intend to make a move, my worthless life is not worth much. I just wonder whether Young Master Fugaku can bear the diplomatic consequences if the Third Hokage and Sister Tsunade learn that the Uchiha clan publicly beat the last surviving member of the Senju Clan on the street."

The expressions of the three Uchiha youths changed instantly.

Senju Sosuke!

The sole remaining Senju descendant who had awakened Wood Release on the Land of Rain battlefield, only to become crippled from the backlash!

The higher-ups of all Hidden Leaf were watching him now, and Tsunade had made it known that anyone who touched even a hair on his head would pay with their life. They were merely Fugaku's lackeys. Even if they had ten times the courage, they would not dare provoke the Senju Clan at a time like this.

"You... what are you, to dare use the Third Hokage and Lady Tsunade to pressure us?" The leader gritted his teeth, but he forcibly withdrew his hand.

"I'm not pressuring you. I'm simply reasoning with you." Sosuke coughed twice more, leaving the corners of his eyes slightly red and making him appear even more harmless. "This apothecary is a place of business. By blocking the entrance, you are not only harming the owner's livelihood but frightening this lovely young lady as well. Why not leave it at that for today?"

The leader's face turned livid. He glared at Sosuke for a long while before finally snorting coldly. "You win this time! Let's go!"

He turned toward Mikoto and lowered his voice in warning. "Lady Mikoto, you can hide today, but not forever. Take care of yourself."

With that, the three stormed through the crowd and hurried away from the commercial street.

Once the disturbance settled, the villagers watching the spectacle gradually dispersed as well.

Sosuke turned toward Mikoto, who was still leaning against the doorframe. He did not take the chance to approach her. Instead, he stepped back half a pace like a perfect gentleman, maintaining an absolutely safe distance.

"I'm sorry you were frightened, Miss Mikoto." Sosuke gave a slight bow, his voice as warm as spring sunlight and instantly soothing the alarm in Mikoto's heart.

Only then did Mikoto come back to herself. Looking at the youth before her, who was one or two years younger than she was yet had shielded her from all that pressure, she felt an immensely complicated surge of gratitude.

She knew who Senju Sosuke was. Whenever the elders in her clan mentioned that name, they always did so with unconcealed contempt and mockery, calling him a complete and utter waste.

But today, this "waste" had stood before her and used his sickly body to force back the police force members who usually strutted around with their noses in the air.

"Thank you, Sosuke." Mikoto straightened her slightly disheveled clothes and bowed deeply. "If not for you, I truly wouldn't have known what to do today."

"It was nothing. With this body of mine, I can only rely on my ancestors' legacy and wag my tongue a little." Sosuke gave a self-deprecating smile, letting just the right amount of loneliness and shattered helplessness over his own inadequacy show in his eyes.

That vulnerability, displayed so casually, was practically fatal poison to a girl like Mikoto, whose nature was gentle and whose maternal instincts ran deep.

Mikoto's heart tightened, and she hurriedly tried to comfort him. "Please don't say that! The way you argued your case just now was far stronger than those people who possess nothing but force and use it only to bully the weak."

"Strong?" Sosuke lifted his head and looked past the bustling street toward Hokage Rock in the distance. His voice was so soft it seemed the wind might scatter it. "True strength is the ability to control one's own fate. Miss Mikoto, your eyes carry burdens that someone your age should not have to bear."

Mikoto trembled as though he had pierced the most hidden corner of her heart with a needle.

"Great clans have the sorrows of great clans. The Senju Clan bled itself dry for the village, only to see its gates grow desolate. The Uchiha clan seeks to preserve its bloodline, yet sacrifices the freedom of its own people." Sosuke turned back, his deep eyes quietly watching Mikoto. "If it is for the clan, perhaps one should learn from these autumn leaves. Even when they fall into the soil, they need not hurry to be blown away by the wind. Marriage alliances have never been the only way to save a clan."

Boom!

Those words exploded in Mikoto's mind like thunder.

Ever since she was young, everyone had told her, You must be obedient. You must marry Fugaku for the glory of the Uchiha clan. Never had anyone stood in her shoes and told her, "You don't have to let the wind carry you away so soon."

A resonance unlike anything she had ever felt made Mikoto's gaze at Sosuke change completely.

It was no longer simple gratitude, but laced with deep curiosity and a fluttering unrest.

"Sosuke..." Mikoto opened her mouth, only to find her throat dry and unable to form the words.

"The wind's picking up. Miss Mikoto, you should head home early. Don't catch a chill." Sosuke gave her no chance to probe further. He understood the art of push and pull well. After casting a boulder into a woman's heart, the wisest course was to turn and leave, letting the ripples spread on their own.

He pressed his knuckles to his lips and stifled several more coughs before turning and entering the apothecary.

Mikoto stood there blankly, watching Sosuke's slender yet upright figure vanish behind the door curtain. An autumn breeze swept past. She drew her collar closer, yet felt a warm current slowly flowing through her heart.

Senju Sosuke... Was he truly the useless cripple the rumors claimed him to be?

Mikoto bit her lower lip, carving that name deeply into her heart before turning toward the Uchiha clan grounds.

Meanwhile, in a shadowy corner of the apothecary.

Sosuke stood behind a row of tall medicine cabinets, watching Mikoto's retreating figure through a gap in the window.

The gentleness and frailty vanished from his face in an instant, replaced by the utter coldness of a hunter watching prey step into a trap one step at a time.

The system's cold notification sounded in his mind as expected.

[Ding! Detected intense emotional fluctuations (favorability/curiosity) from special target 'Uchiha Mikoto' toward the host.]

[Interception progress increased to: 15%.]

"Fugaku, the woman you regard as your forbidden possession will soon be in my bed, bearing new life for the Senju Clan."

Sosuke casually picked up a poisonous herb from the counter. His fingertips suddenly tightened, crushing it into a puddle of green juice.