The Eve of Defection

In a corner of the Konoha Library, sunlight slanted in through the high windows, cutting sharp patches of light and shadow across the old desks.

Hyuga Xiao sat by the window with a copy of Records of Shinobi World Geography open before him, but his gaze rested on the training grounds outside. For three consecutive days, he had "run into" Mitaraishi Anko at this hour—the first day at the library entrance, the second on a wooded path outside the training grounds, and today was the third.

Footsteps came from the stairwell.

They were light, deliberately restrained, but Xiao's Byakugan had already caught that familiar flow of chakra—slightly chaotic, carrying suppressed agitation.

"Meeting again."

Anko's voice came from behind him. Xiao closed his book and turned, a gentle smile already on his face. "Senior Anko, here to look something up again today?"

"Yeah." Anko sat across from him, holding a scroll titled Atlas of Poison Pharmacology. Yet her fingers unconsciously rubbed the scroll's surface, her knuckles slightly tense.

Xiao quietly activated his Byakugan. His sight pierced through her clothing, revealing the chakra pathways within her body—several nodes were abnormally active, a sign of chakra slipping out of control during intense emotional turmoil. Deeper inside, at the back of her neck, a pale purple Curse Mark flickered in and out of view, radiating cold chakra.

Orochimaru's Curse Mark of Heaven.

"Senior, you seem to have something on your mind." Xiao's voice was soft, like an offhand expression of concern.

Anko raised her head. Her eyes, usually carrying a trace of wildness, were somewhat unfocused now. She stared at Xiao for several seconds, then curled her lips. "You're just a kid from the Branch House, but you're pretty good at reading people."

"I merely observe more carefully." Xiao lowered his eyes, his fingers lightly tracing the edge of the page. "After all, in the Hyuga Clan, people who can't read the room... don't live long."

He said it calmly, but Anko's pupils contracted slightly.

She fell silent for a moment. Outside the window came the sharp whistling of shuriken from the distant training grounds, along with the shouts of an Elite Ninja instructor. In the quiet library, those sounds seemed especially clear—and especially distant.

"My teacher..." Anko suddenly said in a voice so low it was nearly drowned out by the rustle of turning pages. "He's leaving."

Xiao's finger stopped on the page.

"Going somewhere far away." Anko continued, her eyes fixed outside the window, though they focused on nothing. "He said that's where the truth he seeks lies."

Only the sound of pages turning remained in the library. A bespectacled Chunin passed between the bookshelves, his footsteps making faint creaks on the wooden floor before vanishing behind another row.

"Will you go with him?" Xiao asked.

The question was so direct that Anko froze. She turned and stared into Xiao's pale eyes—those eyes were calm, without curiosity or probing, simply waiting quietly for an answer.

"I'm a ninja of Leaf Village," Anko said slowly, each word seeming to squeeze out of her throat.

Xiao nodded.

He did not say, "That's good," nor did he say, "You should stay." He merely nodded.

That reaction made Anko uncomfortable instead. She had expected this Hyuga Branch House boy to show surprise or relief after hearing that Orochimaru was leaving, or at least press her for more details.

But Xiao did not.

He simply closed his book, rose to his feet, and walked to the window. The setting sun stretched his shadow long across the old bookshelves.

"Senior Anko." Xiao spoke with his back to her, his voice especially clear in the quiet library. "Do you remember when you first learned Shurikenjutsu?"

Anko frowned. "Why are you asking that?"

"I learned when I was seven." Xiao did not turn around as he continued. "That day, I trained for six whole hours. My arms were so swollen that I couldn't lift them, but in the end, I finally hit the bullseye three times in a row. My father—a regular Chunin from the Branch House—secretly brought me sweet red bean cakes that night and said, 'Xiao, you did very well today.'"

He paused.

"That was the last time I remember him praising me. Three months later, he died on a mission. The Main House said it was a 'necessary sacrifice.'"

Anko's fingers tightened around the scroll.

"What I mean is..." Xiao turned around. In the sunset, his pale eyes carried a faint golden glow. "As we live in this world, people will always stick labels on us—'Orochimaru's disciple,' 'Hyuga Branch House,' 'genius,' 'trash'... But those labels were never who we truly were."

He walked up to Anko. They stood so close that she could clearly see her own face reflected in his eyes—a face filled with confusion and struggle.

"So, if one day you find yourself standing at a crossroads," Xiao said softly, yet his words struck Anko's heart like a hammer, "remember this: you are Mitaraishi Anko. You are not anyone's shadow, nor are you an accessory to any label. The choice you make should belong to you alone."

Anko froze.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her throat seemed blocked. The emotions buried deep inside her—the contradiction of both worshipping and fearing Orochimaru, her doubts about the value of her own existence, her confusion about the future—suddenly surged up, washing away the calm she had struggled to maintain.

She abruptly stood up, her chair scraping harshly across the floor.

"I... I have something to do."

Anko grabbed her scroll and turned to leave as though fleeing. Her steps were hurried. At the stairwell, she nearly ran into a female ninja carrying books, then rushed downstairs without even apologizing.

Xiao stood where he was, watching the direction in which she had disappeared.

The library clock chimed five times, its lingering toll echoing through the dusk. The training grounds outside were already empty, with only a few wooden posts standing alone, shuriken still embedded in them.

[Ding!]

[The target character "Mitaraishi Anko" has had a critical inner turning point stirred. Bond establishment has risen to "Initial Trust."]

[Destiny Points +30.]

[Warning: Based on currently available intelligence, countdown to Orochimaru's defection—48 hours.]

The corner of Xiao's mouth lifted slightly.

He returned to his seat and reopened Records of Shinobi World Geography, lightly tapping the page labeled "Land of Rice Paddies." After defecting, Orochimaru would go there and establish Hidden Sound Village. As for Mitaraishi Anko—this young Elite Ninja who had been branded with Orochimaru's Curse Mark and regarded by Leaf Village's upper ranks as a "dangerous factor"—she would fall into years of self-doubt and surveillance after the defection.

In the original story, it would take her a very long time to truly move on.

But now...

Xiao closed the book. A thread of extremely fine chakra gathered at his fingertips as he carved a complex jutsu symbol into the tabletop. The symbol existed for only three seconds before dispersing without leaving a trace.

"The piece has already been placed," he murmured. "Next comes waiting for the board to be thrown into turmoil."

Outside, dusk deepened.

One by one, the lights of Leaf Village came on. Viewed from Hokage Rock, the entire village resembled a sea of stars. And in one corner of that sea, Mitaraishi Anko leaned against the fence of a training ground, gripping a shuriken so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

"I am Mitaraishi Anko..."

She repeated those words again and again.

In the distance, the top floor of the Hokage Tower was still lit. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stood by the window, the ember in his pipe flickering in the darkness. Behind him, Shimura Danzō emerged from the shadows.

"Has everything been arranged on Orochimaru's side?" Danzō's voice was hoarse.

"Yes." The Third Hokage exhaled a cloud of smoke. "ANBU will 'pursue' him after he leaves the national border, but they won't truly stop him."

"What about that test subject?" Danzō asked. "Mitaraishi Anko. She carries the Curse Mark Orochimaru left behind. She's a hidden danger."

"She's still young." The Third Hokage turned around, the wrinkles on his face especially deep beneath the light. "And we need someone... to remember this."

Danzō snorted coldly and said nothing.

The two silently watched the village outside, each lost in his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, in the Hyuga Clan compound, Hyuga Hiashi sat in seiza before a tea table in a Japanese-style room within the Main House estate. Across from him sat a white-haired elder. The tea between them had already gone cold.

"Has there been anything unusual with the Branch House lately?" the elder asked.

Hiashi lifted his teacup, then set it down again. "Hyuga Xiao's behavior has been perfectly normal—more 'loyal' than most Branch House children, even. He trains diligently and completes his missions well."

"Being too normal is suspicious instead." The elder narrowed his eyes. "I heard he has been visiting the library often lately?"

"A Branch House member wanting to learn more is perfectly normal." Hiashi said, though there was a trace of barely perceptible chill in his tone. "As long as he doesn't cross the line, let him do as he pleases. The Caged Bird Seal is still on his forehead. He can't turn the heavens upside down."

The elder nodded, but a trace of doubt flashed through his aged eyes.

The night grew deeper.

When Xiao returned to the Branch House dormitory, Tokuma was already asleep. Xiao quietly walked to his own bed, sat cross-legged, and activated his Byakugan.

His vision pierced through the walls, through the ground, and extended thirty meters underground—where the outer boundary of the Main House Treasury's barrier lay. Complex sealing formulas wrapped around it layer upon layer like a spiderweb, each layer slowly rotating and radiating pale blue chakra light.

One of the nodes was 0.3 shades lighter than the others.

That was the "back door" he had planted three days ago using a special method, a minute flaw only detectable once the Byakugan had evolved to a certain degree. Through that flaw, he could slowly erode the barrier with chakra like water seeping through stone, without triggering any alarms.

The process would take time—at least three months.

But Xiao had patience.

He withdrew his gaze, closed his eyes, and began refining chakra. His chakra pathways were clearly visible under the inward sight of the Byakugan. The nodes that had once been somewhat sluggish because of the Caged Bird Seal were now much smoother.

On the system interface, the Byakugan purity progress bar stood at [57.3%].

The Caged Bird Seal removal progress stood at [18.7%].

It was still far from enough.

But compared to the Hyuga Branch House boy from three months ago, who could only lower his head before the Main House and had to be cautious even when breathing, he now possessed the capital to flip the table—though it was still insufficient, at least he could see hope.

"After Orochimaru defects, Leaf Village will enter a period of unrest." Xiao organized his plans in his mind. "The Third Hokage will tighten internal control, Danzō will use the opportunity to expand Root's influence, and the major clans... will all reassess their positions."

"This is an opportunity."

"And also a crisis."

He opened his eyes, his pale pupils glowing faintly in the darkness.

An owl called outside the window, long and lonely. In the distance, the stone faces of the past Hokage on Hokage Rock silently overlooked the village beneath the moonlight. Within the eyes of those carvings, it seemed as though all the village's secrets and darkness were hidden.

Xiao lay down and pulled the blanket over himself.

In the second before closing his eyes, he softly spoke words only he could hear.

"Forty-seven hours remain."