Information Trade

The isolation ward was filled with the mingled smells of disinfectant and blood.

Mitaraishi Anko leaned against the wall, cold sweat still clinging to her forehead, but clarity had returned to her dark brown eyes. She stared at Hyuga Xiao as if assessing a dangerous weapon.

"The technique you used just now..." Anko's voice was slightly hoarse. "It wasn't ordinary medical ninjutsu."

Xiao did not answer. He walked to the window and used the Byakugan's penetrating vision to confirm that the corridor outside was empty before turning back to Anko.

"The Curse Mark inside you is a failed product left behind by Orochimaru." Xiao's tone was as calm as if he were commenting on the weather. "But it is consuming your life force. At the current rate, you have three days left at most."

Anko pulled her lips into a mocking smile. "That's what Leaf Village's medical corps said too. So they locked me in here to wait for death?"

"It's not that they don't want to save you. They can't." Xiao took a small glass vial from his robe, containing a pale violet liquid. "This is an inhibitor I prepared. It can temporarily suppress the Curse Mark's erosion, but it treats the symptoms, not the cause."

Anko took the vial and turned it over in her hand. "What are your conditions?"

"Information." Xiao looked directly into her eyes. "What exactly was Orochimaru researching after leaving Leaf Village? Where did he establish his bases? And what was the Curse Mark Project's true purpose?"

The ward fell silent for several seconds.

Anko unscrewed the cap and drained the inhibitor in one gulp. The liquid carried a strange coolness as it slid down her throat, and she could feel the burning pain inside her slowly receding.

"You've got guts." Anko set down the empty vial. "Anyone who gets involved with Orochimaru usually comes to a bad end."

"I've lived under the Caged Bird Seal's curse for twelve years." There was no emotion in Xiao's voice. "Compared to that, Orochimaru doesn't seem so frightening."

That made Anko pause.

She studied the Hyuga Branch House boy before her again—pale skin, standard Hyuga Clan attire, and the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead hidden beneath his headband. He looked gentle and harmless on the surface, yet something hidden in those pure white eyes made even her heart tremble.

"Hidden Sound Village." Anko finally spoke. "Orochimaru established Hidden Sound Village in the Land of Rice Paddies, but that's only a front. The real base is underground—a three-level laboratory."

Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

"The first level is the Curse Mark testing area." Anko continued in a low voice. "He's researching mass production of Curse Marks. Not the current version that requires a special constitution to endure, but a simplified version that can enhance ordinary shinobi as well."

"What's the success rate?"

"Less than five percent." Anko sneered. "The failures either die or become mindless monsters. I was one of the early test subjects, so my Curse Mark erodes me much faster than the later versions."

Xiao lightly tapped his thigh beneath his sleeve. It was a habit he had when thinking.

"What about the second level?"

"The Kekkei Genkai transplantation laboratory." Anko's gaze darkened. "Orochimaru has been collecting cell samples from users of all kinds of Kekkei Genkai. Sharingan, Byakugan, Ice Release, Lava Release... He wants to create a perfect vessel capable of accommodating multiple Kekkei Genkai."

The temperature in the ward seemed to drop by several degrees.

Xiao remembered Sasuke's fate in the original story, remembered the children Orochimaru had used as experiments. The darkness of this world ran deeper than he had imagined.

"What's on the third level?"

"I don't know." Anko shook her head. "I've only been to the first two. But once, I overheard a conversation between Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi... They were conducting research related to the 'God Tree' on the third level."

God Tree.

The words were like a stone cast into a still lake, sending ripples through Xiao's heart.

The Ōtsutsuki Clan, the Ten-Tails, the origin of chakra... all the clues began to connect. Orochimaru had indeed already touched upon this world's deepest secrets.

"There's one more thing." Anko took a deep breath. "The Curse Mark inside me may be a failed product, but Orochimaru left a backdoor. By stimulating it with chakra at a specific frequency, I can temporarily suppress the Curse Mark's rampage and regain consciousness."

Xiao raised a brow. "What frequency?"

Anko did not answer immediately. She stared at Xiao for a long time, as if making one final calculation.

At last, she extended her hand, gathering a cluster of pale violet chakra in her palm. The chakra pulsed in a complex pattern, its frequency shifting with extreme subtlety. If not for the Byakugan's chakra perception far surpassing that of ordinary people, Xiao would never have caught the pattern.

"Remember it." Anko's voice was very soft. "This frequency... can keep me conscious for ten minutes at a time. But it can only be used three times. After the third time, the Curse Mark will completely run wild, and I'll die."

The veins around Xiao's Byakugan bulged faintly. He imprinted every detail of the complex frequency changes into his mind.

[Ding! Acquired critical intelligence: Orochimaru's Hidden Sound Village underground laboratory layout (partial)]

[Ding! Acquired special item: Curse Mark Control Frequency Code (3/3)]

[Destiny Points +500]

[Notice: This frequency code can temporarily suppress the rampaging state of Orochimaru-type Curse Marks for 10 minutes each time. After three uses, the code will fail, and the Curse Mark will completely lose control]

The system notifications rang in his mind.

Xiao withdrew his gaze and looked at Anko. "I'll find a way to completely remove the Curse Mark."

"Why should I believe you?" Anko countered. "Because you're from the Hyuga Branch House? Because you saved me once just now?"

"Because we both want to live." Xiao's tone was calm yet powerful. "Because we both want to escape a fate controlled by others."

Those words struck something buried deep within Anko's heart.

She remembered the day Orochimaru had chosen her as a vessel candidate, the days and nights spent in the laboratory, and the agony every time the Curse Mark flared, as though her soul were being torn apart.

"Fine." Anko closed her eyes. "I'll trust you once. But if you deceive me..."

"You won't have a chance to take revenge." Xiao interrupted her. "Because if I fail, we'll both die. The Main House won't spare me, and Orochimaru won't spare you."

Cruel, but true.

Anko opened her eyes and suddenly smiled. "You're an interesting one. To think someone like you was hidden in the Hyuga Branch House."

Xiao did not respond. He walked to the ward door and used the Byakugan once more to confirm the situation outside.

"The inhibitor will last for twenty-four hours," Xiao said. "During that time, the medical corps will think your condition has stabilized. I'll come again tomorrow night and take you out of here."

"Leave?" Anko frowned. "Leaf Village's barrier..."

"I have a way." There was an unquestionable certainty in Xiao's voice. "But before that, you need to do one thing."

"What?"

"Keep pretending to be unconscious." Xiao glanced back at her. "Don't let anyone discover that you've regained consciousness. Especially... Danzo's Root."

Anko's pupils suddenly shrank.

She understood what Xiao meant. If Danzo learned that she had regained consciousness, he would certainly send people to interrogate her and try to pry Orochimaru's information from her mouth. And given Root's methods, the process would not be pleasant.

"I understand." Anko lay back down on the hospital bed and closed her eyes. "Tomorrow night, I'll wait for you."

Xiao nodded. His figure became a blurred shadow and silently melted into the darkness in the corner of the ward.

A few seconds later, he was already on the street outside the hospital.

Leaf Village was quiet in the dead of night, with only patrolling ANBU occasionally sweeping across the rooftops. Xiao moved through the shadows, his mind racing.

Hidden Sound Village's underground laboratory, mass-produced Curse Marks, Kekkei Genkai transplantation, God Tree research... Orochimaru's ambition was even greater than he had imagined. And all of it would become bargaining chips for him to break fate.

But first, he had to survive the S-rank mission the Main House had arranged for him.

A cold curve formed at the corner of Xiao's mouth.

Since the Main House wanted to use Orochimaru's hand to eliminate the Branch House, he might as well play along—then drag the Main House into this game as well. Let those lofty elders taste what it felt like to be used as pawns.

He turned into an alley and left a chakra mark in an inconspicuous corner of the wall. It was a signal for Tokuma Hyuga, meaning, "The plan remains unchanged. Gather at the original time."

After finishing, Xiao looked up at the night sky.

The moon was full, its pale light spilling over Leaf Village's streets. Yet on the far side of that moon lay the secrets of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the truth of the God Tree, and this world's ultimate fate.

"One step at a time," Xiao murmured. A trace of azure light flashed through his pure white eyes. "I'll start by breaking the Caged Bird Seal."

He turned and headed toward the Hyuga Clan Grounds, his figure quickly vanishing into the night.

Back in the hospital isolation ward, Mitaraishi Anko opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

She raised her hand, and that cluster of pale violet chakra gathered in her palm once more. The frequency code flowed around her fingertips like a struggling venomous snake.

"Hyuga Xiao..." Anko murmured. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

No one answered her.

Only the moonlight outside the window shone coldly into the ward, casting a pale shadow across the floor.