The Eve of Departure

The streets of Leaf Village were deserted late at night.

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 bolted the door behind him and stood silently 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 abnormal chakra residue, no one was watching within thirty meters outside the window, and the spider in the corner was still spinning its web in the same spot.

Safe.

Only then did Xiao walk to the table and light the oil lamp. Dim yellow light flickered across the walls, illuminating the spartan 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 permitted.

He took out the scroll Anko had given him and slowly unrolled it on the table.

The surface of the scroll was covered in dense frequency codes written in a special solution, which would only appear when stimulated by chakra. Xiao infused it with chakra gathered at his fingertips. The codes immediately glimmered with faint blue light, flowing across the paper as though they had come alive.

"Orochimaru's chakra frequency..."

Xiao muttered under his breath, then took out a specially made blank scroll and an ink brush, beginning to copy it stroke by stroke.

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

The brush tip 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, but careful analysis revealed that they would resonate at certain nodes. If used, they would instead trigger a Curse Mark rampage.

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

Xiao stopped writing and closed his eyes.

A diagram of the chakra flow inside Anko's body when her Curse Mark had gone berserk surfaced in his mind. That black, viscous chakra had coiled around her chakra pathways like venomous snakes, while the frequency left behind by Orochimaru was like a key—it could unlock the seal, but it could also trigger a deeper trap.

He opened his eyes again, crossed out that segment of the frequency, and wrote down the corrected values beside it.

The process continued for a full two hours.

By the time he wrote the final stroke, the sky outside had begun to pale. Xiao put 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 contained the corrected safe frequencies, and the last contained the formula for "Curse Mark Suppressant, Version 2.0," which he had reverse-engineered from 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%; Curse Mark resistance permanently increased.]

[Current Byakugan purity: 57%]

[Caged Bird Seal removal progress: 15%]

The system's notification rang in his mind, but Xiao did not inspect it immediately.

He rose to his feet, walked to the cabinet in the corner, and opened 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's blood resin... five drops."

"Chakra-conductive metal shavings... grind to micron size."

Xiao's movements were as precise as a surgeon's scalpel. He took out a scale, mortar, and alcohol lamp, setting up a simple compounding station on the table. Every ingredient had to be measured strictly, the mixing order could not be off by even the slightest amount, and the heating temperature had to remain within a specific range—making a Curse Mark suppressant was itself a delicate art.

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

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

He could see chakra flowing through the medicinal solution, merging and stabilizing. When the final ingredient was added, the chakra fluctuations in the liquid suddenly became calm, like the sea after a storm.

Success.

Xiao extinguished the alcohol lamp and poured the solution into specially sealed bottles. The bottles were cold to the touch, and through the glass, the medicine glimmered with faint blue-violet fluorescence.

He made ten bottles.

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

After finishing everything, Xiao returned to the table and opened the system panel.

[Fate-Breaking System]

[Host: Hyuga Xiao]

[Current main mission: Completely remove the Caged Bird Seal (Progress: 15%)]

[Side mission: Save Anko Mitarashi (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 field glowed with faint golden light, followed by a line of small 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 became, the greater the power it granted—but the price was the gradual loss of humanity, turning its bearer into a cold, indifferent god of the cosmos.

And the system's solution was... emotional bonds.

Using the connections between people to fight the coldness of divinity.

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

He remembered the complex emotions in Anko's eyes when she woke in the hospital room—wariness, confusion, and a faint dependence that was hard to notice. That gaze differed from the pure trust Hinata showed him. It was more like someone in the darkness clutching at a lifeline, knowing it might snap, yet gripping it with all their strength anyway.

That connection was the beginning of a bond.

Xiao opened his eyes and looked out the window.

It was already daylight. Morning sunlight streamed through the window, casting mottled shadows across the table. Today was the day he would leave for the S-rank mission, and also 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 in a paralytic toxin.

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

A medical kit containing standard 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 gently ran his fingertips over it.

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

After checking everything, Xiao began packing.

His movements were methodical. Every ninja tool was placed where he could reach it most easily, the medicine was wrapped in soft cloth to prevent collisions, and the scroll was stored close to his body. Just as he fastened the final strap, footsteps sounded outside the door.

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

Xiao instantly hid every trace of expression and put on the slightly humble, gentle face typical of a Branch House member. He walked to the door but did not open it immediately. Instead, he peered outside through the crack.

There was no one there.

But beneath the threshold lay something new.

A white envelope.

Xiao frowned and swept the envelope with his Byakugan—there were no traces of chakra, no poison. It was just ordinary paper. He crouched down, hooked the envelope up with the tip of a kunai, and brought it back into the room.

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 roughly sketched in charcoal. One valley was marked with a red circle, with two words written beside it: "Safe House." On the back of the map was a line of small writing:

"If you find yourself in desperate straits, 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 such a time? Was it an enemy or an ally? Or was it... another trap?

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

The 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 was located 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 so that it was impossible not to be suspicious.

But on the other hand... if this truly were a trap, why would the other party go to such lengths? Simply reporting his secret investigation of 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 hidden inner pocket of his ninja tool bag.

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

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

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

The bell summoning them to gather rang out from outside.

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

Morning light fell across his face. In those pure white eyes flashed a trace of cold determination.

Today, the game began.

And he would no longer be a pawn at the mercy of others.