A Chance Encounter in the Forest of Death

The dampness of the Forest of Death clung to the skin like a sticky film.

Hyuga Xiao stepped on rotting leaves as his Byakugan silently activated. His vision instantly pierced through layers of treetops, tangled vines, and venomous insects lurking on decayed logs—everything within a kilometer and across all three hundred and sixty degrees lay in full view.

He had accepted a D-rank mission: collect three Blood-Stanching Herbs.

This kind of medicinal herb usually grew only along the forest's outskirts, yet the collection point marked on Xiao's scroll lay deep in the middle section of the Forest of Death. The apothecary owner who had issued the mission had shifty eyes when he explained that the herbs around the perimeter had recently been picked clean, leaving only those deeper inside.

Xiao had merely nodded gently and accepted the scroll.

Now, he understood.

This was a test from the Main House.

That old bastard Ko Hyuga... Xiao sneered inwardly, though his steps remained steady. Several venomous snakes coiled on branches ahead in his Byakugan's vision, flicking their tongues; farther away, a wild boar rolled around in a muddy pit.

None of those were his target.

His gaze continued to stretch outward, passing through layer after layer of obstacles, until it settled roughly eight hundred meters to the southeast—

A girl in a dark purple short-sleeved shirt and black shorts was fiercely driving shuriken into a tree trunk.

Nine-year-old Mitaraishi Anko.

Her movements were far too vicious for a child her age. Rather than throwing the shuriken, she stabbed them into the tree almost as if she were thrusting with a blade, every strike carrying the force of some desperate release. Sweat soaked her short hair and plastered it against her temples. There was no longer any childish innocence in those eyes, only an almost obsessive focus and... a trace of barely restrained brutality.

Xiao deactivated his Byakugan.

The plan began.

He deliberately veered away from the route marked for the collection point and headed toward where Anko was training. He kept his steps light, but not completely concealed—he wanted Anko to "find" him, not merely "notice" him.

The vegetation in the Forest of Death grew denser and denser, while layers of leaves broke the sunlight into scattered patches. The air carried the mixed scent of humus and a cloyingly sweet floral fragrance, the temptation released by insect-eating plants.

Xiao stopped in an area tangled with vines.

He took a short bamboo tube from his ninja tool pouch and pulled out its stopper. Inside was an unconscious Red-Chain Snake—one he had deliberately caught yesterday. Its venom was not especially potent, but a bite would quickly cause swelling and numbness, and the symptoms looked frightening.

He gently placed the snake by his feet and used chakra to stimulate its nerves.

The snake woke up, instinctively raised its head, and aimed at Xiao's bare calf—

It bit down.

A stabbing pain struck him.

Xiao let out a muffled groan and did not use chakra to resist the venom. He allowed the numbness to spread from his calf while circulating chakra through his body, deliberately expanding the blood vessels around the wound. Within seconds, the bite swelled into an egg-sized purplish-black lump that looked horrifying.

He staggered forward a few steps, then "happened" to collapse at the edge of a relatively open clearing.

At the moment he fell, Xiao used his last bit of strength to throw the cloth bag containing Blood-Stanching Herbs some distance away—creating the illusion that he had been attacked while gathering them.

Then he closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.

It became weak, but not weak enough to seem dead.

The sound of shuriken striking the tree stopped.

Mitaraishi Anko wiped the sweat from her forehead and was about to pull out her shuriken when her ears suddenly twitched.

She had heard the dull thud of someone hitting the ground.

She frowned.

Unlucky ninja or animals died in the Forest of Death every day. That was nothing unusual. But that sound... had been too close.

Anko hesitated for two seconds, then drew a kunai and silently made her way toward the source of the sound.

Pushing aside the leaf of a giant fern, she saw a boy lying on the ground.

White eyes. A member of the Hyuga Clan.

Branch House.

Anko recognized him—the Hyuga Xiao from the Ninja Academy who always wore a gentle smile and treated everyone politely. She had heard his talent was ordinary, though he got along well with people.

At that moment, his face was pale, and dark red blood seeped from the purplish-black swollen wound on his calf.

"Red-Chain Snake..." Anko muttered as she crouched to inspect the wound. The venom had already spread. If it was not treated, he might lose that leg, or even his life.

She bit her lip.

Orochimaru-sensei had said that in the world of ninja, unnecessary sympathy would get you killed.

But...

Anko looked at the boy's faintly trembling eyelashes and remembered how she had been injured during training yesterday. The female ninja from the medical unit had wrapped her wound while sighing and looking at her as if to say, "Orochimaru-sama's disciple really does risk her life."

There had been no concern in that look.

Only evaluation.

As though she were examining whether a tool could still be used.

"...Troublesome." Anko spat to the side, but still rummaged through her ninja tool pouch for antidote and bandages.

Rather than applying medicine directly, she bent down and used her kunai to cut a cross-shaped incision into the wound on Xiao's calf, then—

She opened her mouth and sucked at it.

The fishy-sweet blood mixed with venom entered her mouth. Anko quickly spat it out, then sucked again, then spat again. After repeating this several times, the blood flowing from the wound gradually lightened in color. Only then did she apply antidotal herbs and tightly wrap it with bandages.

The entire process was swift and decisive, without a trace of hesitation.

Xiao assessed her inwardly.

Ruthless, but not completely cold-blooded yet.

She could still be saved.

When Anko finished bandaging him and was about to get up and leave, Xiao opened his eyes at just the right moment.

His gaze was unfocused at first, then slowly settled on Anko's face.

"...Thank you." Xiao's voice was weak, but every word was clear. "You're... Mitaraishi Anko, right? Orochimaru-sama's disciple."

Anko froze.

"I've seen you training." Xiao continued, struggling to prop up his upper body and lean against a tree trunk. "At the Third Training Ground... your Shurikenjutsu is incredible."

That sentence caused a faint crack to appear in Anko's expression.

She turned her face away. "...Not anymore."

Her voice was soft, but Xiao heard the suppressed emotions within it.

"Why?" Xiao asked, his tone carrying just the right amount of confusion. "Orochimaru-sama is one of the Three Legendary Ninja. Countless people would envy anyone who could become his disciple."

Anko was silent for a long time.

Long enough for a brightly colored poisonous butterfly to land on her shoulder, then flutter away.

"He doesn't need disciples." Anko finally spoke, her voice dry. "He only needs... experimental material."

The moment she said it, she seemed to regret it. She abruptly stood up. "Can you still walk? I'll take you to the edge of the forest."

Xiao shook his head and slowly pulled himself to his feet using the tree trunk—his movements were difficult, but he did manage to stand.

"No need. I can manage on my own." He gave her a gentle, grateful smile. "Thank you so much for today. If it hadn't been for you, I might have died here."

Anko looked at him and suddenly asked, "Why would someone from the Branch House accept a mission that goes this deep into the Forest of Death? There are Blood-Stanching Herbs outside the forest too."

Xiao's smile faded slightly.

He lowered his head, looking at the bandaged wound on his calf, and spoke softly. "The collection point marked on the mission scroll was here. The Branch House... has no right to choose its missions."

He said it very calmly.

But Anko understood.

She was an orphan who had clawed her way up from the bottom too. She knew what "no choice" meant.

"Next Wednesday," Anko suddenly said. "Three in the afternoon, in the woods east of the Third Training Ground. I'll be practicing Fire Release there. If you're interested... you can come watch."

After saying that, she turned and left without giving Xiao a chance to answer.

After a few leaps, her figure disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Xiao stood where he was, watching the direction Anko had gone as the weakness on his face slowly faded away.

He crouched down and untied the bandage. The wound on his calf was no longer swollen, and the venom had been thoroughly removed. Xiao circulated chakra, and the wound began healing at a visible rate—Hyuga Clan physiques were already superior to ordinary people's, and with him secretly using chakra to speed his recovery, it would scab over by tomorrow at the latest.

"Experimental material..." Xiao repeated Anko's words softly.

It seemed Orochimaru had already begun making moves against his disciple.

In the original story, Anko had only received the Curse Mark of Heaven after Orochimaru defected, becoming his "living sample" for observing the Curse Mark's effects. But now, it seemed this process might have begun long ago—psychological conditioning came far earlier than physical alteration.

A system interface appeared before his eyes:

[Contacted a high-fortune character: Mitaraishi Anko]

[Possibility assessment for intervening in a Fate Node: 72%]

[Recommendation: Establish initial trust and intervene deeply during Orochimaru's defection]

Xiao closed the interface.

He bent down to pick up the cloth bag of Blood-Stanching Herbs he had thrown to the ground and brushed the dirt from it.

The first step of the plan was complete.

Anko had given him an appointment for "next Wednesday." That meant she was at least not opposed to further contact. And Orochimaru's defection would happen in one week—the timing was perfect.

At that time, a nine-year-old girl betrayed by her mentor, branded with a Curse Mark, and on the verge of collapse would be at her most receptive.

Xiao tied the cloth bag at his waist and turned toward the forest's outskirts.

His steps remained steady.

But deep within those pale eyes, something was slowly gathering.

Like a predator lurking in the dark, it had already locked onto its first prey.

And all of it was silently watched by the dense canopy of the Forest of Death. The wind swept through the trees, raising a soft rustling sound, like a whisper—or perhaps a warning.

Xiao raised his head and looked at the gray sky through a gap in the leaves.

The weather was about to change.

He quickened his pace and disappeared at the end of the winding forest path.

The forest returned to silence.

Only the dense shuriken holes in the tree Anko had trained against silently told the story of a child's world that was about to collapse.