Eve of Departure

Late at night, the streets of Leaf Village were deserted.

Hyuga Xiao walked home beneath the moonlight to the inconspicuous single-story house at the edge of the Branch House residential area. The wooden door creaked softly as he pushed it open. He did not light a lamp. Instead, he locked the bolt behind him and stood in the darkness for three seconds.

The Byakugan activated.

His vision instantly turned black and white, and the pathways of chakra flow became clearly visible—the room held no traces of abnormal chakra, no one was watching within thirty meters outside the window, and the spider in the corner was still weaving its web in the same spot.

Safe.

Only then did Xiao walk to the table and light the oil lamp. Its dim yellow glow flickered across the walls, illuminating the sparse room: a bed, a table, and a cabinet for ninja tools. There was nothing else. This was the standard arrangement for Branch House members; even unnecessary decorations were not allowed.

He took out the scroll Anko had given him from his ninja tool pouch and slowly spread it across the table.

The scroll's surface was covered in densely packed frequency codes written with a special solution, visible only when stimulated with chakra. Xiao injected chakra gathered at his fingertips, and the codes immediately began to glow with a faint blue light, flowing across the paper as though they had come alive.

"Orochimaru's chakra frequency..."

Xiao muttered under his breath, took out a specially made blank scroll and an ink brush, and began copying it stroke by stroke.

This was not simple duplication. He had to convert the frequency codes into a chakra fluctuation model he could understand while filtering out possible traps—someone like Orochimaru would never casually hand over the true core frequency, even under duress.

The brush scratched softly across the paper.

Fine beads of sweat formed on Xiao's forehead. His Byakugan remained active, allowing him to "see" the chakra structures hidden within the codes. Some frequencies appeared normal at first glance, but careful analysis revealed that they would resonate at certain nodes. Once used, they would instead trigger the Curse Mark into going berserk.

"The third frequency segment, seventh node, abnormal amplitude..."

Xiao stopped writing and closed his eyes.

A diagram of the chakra flow when Anko's Curse Mark went berserk surfaced in his mind. That black, viscous chakra coiled around her chakra pathways like poisonous snakes, while the frequencies Orochimaru had left behind were like keys—they could open the lock, but they might also trigger a deeper trap.

He opened his eyes again, crossed out that frequency on the scroll, and wrote the corrected value beside it.

The process lasted a full two hours.

By the time he finished the final stroke, the sky outside had already begun to pale. Xiao set down his brush and flexed his stiff fingers. Three scrolls lay spread across the table: one contained the original codes Anko had given him, one held the safe frequencies he had corrected, and the last contained a reverse-engineered formula for "Curse Mark Suppressant, Version 2.0," based on those frequencies.

[Ding!]

[Host has successfully analyzed the core frequency of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal and completed the hidden mission "Cursed Seal Scholar."]

[Reward: Byakugan Purity +2%, permanent increase to Curse Mark resistance.]

[Current Byakugan Purity: 57%]

[Caged Bird Seal removal progress: 15%]

The system prompt rang in his mind, but Xiao did not check it immediately.

He stood and walked over to the cabinet in the corner of the room, opening the hidden compartment at the bottom. Dozens of glass bottles were neatly arranged inside, filled with powders and liquids of various colors—materials he had secretly gathered over the past few months from Konoha Hospital, the Hyuga Clan Grounds' medicine storehouse, and even the black market whenever opportunities arose.

"Evening Primrose powder... three grams."

"Dragon blood resin... five drops."

"Chakra-Conducting Metal shavings... ground to micron level."

Xiao's movements were as precise as a surgeon's scalpel. He took out a scale, mortar, and alcohol lamp, setting up a simple medicine-preparation station on the table. Every material had to be measured with absolute precision, the mixing order could not be off by even a fraction, and the heating temperature had to remain within a specific range—making Curse Mark suppressant was, in itself, a delicate art.

The alcohol lamp's flame danced beneath the bottle as the dark purple liquid slowly swirled in the beaker, releasing a peculiar scent that blended herbal freshness with the metallic tang of blood.

Xiao watched the changes in the liquid, his Byakugan still active.

He could see the chakra within the medicine flowing, merging, and stabilizing. When the final ingredient was added, the chakra fluctuations throughout the solution suddenly calmed, like the sea after a storm.

Success.

Xiao extinguished the alcohol lamp and poured the liquid into specially made sealed bottles. The glass felt cool to the touch, and faint blue-violet fluorescence shimmered through it.

He made ten bottles.

Enough to suppress Anko's Curse Mark three times, and enough to... handle certain emergencies.

Only after finishing all that did Xiao sit down at the table again and open the system panel.

[Fate-Breaking System]

[Host: Hyuga Xiao]

[Current Main Quest: Completely remove the Caged Bird Seal (Progress: 15%)]

[Side Quest: Save Mitaraishi Anko (In Progress)]

[Special Status: Divine Erosion Resistance +5%]

Divine Erosion Resistance?

Xiao's pupils narrowed slightly.

He had never seen this status before. On the system interface, the newly added status bar glowed with a faint golden light, followed by a line of smaller text:

[Forming emotional bonds with women of great fortune can anchor one's humanity and resist the Divine Erosion caused by bloodline purification. The deeper the bond, the stronger the resistance.]

So that was it.

Xiao leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He had always believed that the system merely made him stronger and allowed him to break fate. But now, it seemed things were not so simple. The purer the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline, the greater the power—but the price was the gradual loss of humanity, turning one into a cold and indifferent cosmic god.

And the solution given by the system was... emotional bonds.

Using the connections between people to resist the chill of divinity.

"So saving Anko isn't just for intelligence and rewards," Xiao said softly. "It's also for myself."

He recalled the complicated emotions in Anko's eyes when she woke in the hospital room—wariness, confusion, and a faint dependence that was difficult to detect. That gaze was unlike Hinata's pure trust when she looked at him. It was more like someone clutching at a lifesaving straw in the darkness, knowing it might break but refusing to let go.

That connection was the beginning of a bond.

Xiao opened his eyes and looked out the window.

It was already morning. Sunlight streamed through the window into the room, casting mottled shadows across the table. Today was the day he would depart for the S-rank mission, and the beginning of his plan to strike back at the Main House.

He needed to prepare his final equipment.

Xiao opened the ninja tool cabinet and took out its contents one by one, laying them on the bed:

Three specially made kunai, their blades coated with paralytic poison.

Twelve smoke bombs, six of which had been mixed with chakra-disrupting powder.

A medical kit containing ordinary medicine along with three bottles of the Curse Mark suppressant he had just made.

Civilian clothes and a wig for disguise.

And... a palm-sized black scroll.

Xiao picked up the black scroll and lightly brushed its surface with his fingertips.

This was something he had stolen from the restricted area of the Hyuga Clan Grounds—a rubbing of the stone tablet that recorded the Original Caged Bird Seal. Although he could not fully decipher it yet, bringing it with him might prove useful at a critical moment.

After checking everything, Xiao began packing.

His movements were orderly and methodical. Every ninja tool went into the most accessible position, the medicine bottles were wrapped in soft cloth to prevent impacts, and the scrolls were stored close to his body. Just as he fastened the final strap, footsteps sounded outside the door.

They were very light, but they could not escape the Byakugan's perception.

Xiao instantly wiped all expression from his face and put on the mildly humble, gentle look typical of a Branch House member. He walked to the door but did not open it right away. Instead, he looked outside through the gap.

There was no one there.

But beneath the threshold, there was something new.

A white envelope.

Xiao frowned and scanned the envelope with his Byakugan—there were no chakra traces, no poison. It was merely ordinary paper. He crouched down, lifted the envelope with the tip of a kunai, and brought it back inside.

The envelope was unsealed.

Xiao pulled out its contents. It was a hand-drawn map.

The map was crude, with the terrain of the Land of Rice Paddies simply sketched in charcoal. One valley was marked with a red circle, with two words written beside it: "Safe House." A line of small writing was on the back of the map:

"If you encounter a desperate situation, go here. What you need is inside. —One Who Knows the Truth of the Caged Bird Seal"

Xiao stared at that line for a full minute.

Someone who knew the truth of the Caged Bird Seal?

Who knew he was investigating the Caged Bird Seal? Who would offer him help at a time like this? Enemy or ally? Or... another trap?

He held the map beneath the lamp and carefully examined every detail.

The map paper was ordinary, and the charcoal marks were fresh. It had likely been drawn recently. The handwriting was neat, but the strokes had been deliberately altered, making it impossible to identify the writer's habits. The marked valley lay right at the edge of their S-rank mission area, less than twenty kilometers from Orochimaru's Hidden Sound Village base.

It was too much of a coincidence.

So much of one that he had no choice but to be suspicious.

But on the other hand... if this really was a trap, why would the other party go through such trouble? Simply reporting his secret investigation into the Caged Bird Seal to the Main House would be enough to doom him beyond recovery.

Xiao folded the map and tucked it into the innermost hidden pocket of his ninja tool pouch.

Whether it was aid or a trap, he had to make the trip. The truth of the Caged Bird Seal was a knot in his heart that he had to unravel, and it was also the key to taking full control of his own fate.

And if this truly was an olive branch extended by someone in the know...

Then perhaps there were others within the Hyuga Clan like him—people dissatisfied with the Main House and determined to break free from the cage.

The bell signaling assembly rang out from outside.

Xiao took a deep breath, slung his ninja tool pouch over his back, and pushed open the door.

Morning light fell across his face, and a trace of cold determination flashed in those pale eyes.

Today, the game began.

And he would no longer be a chess piece at someone else's mercy.