Whispers of the Snake's Shadow

The safe house's lights were dim and yellow, stretching their shadows across the walls.

Anko curled up on the bed in the corner, cold sweat soaking the ends of her hair. She bit her lip hard, her nails digging deep into her palms as she tried to use pain to fight the restless sense of erosion within her.

Hyuga Xiao sat cross-legged opposite her, his hands forming seals as he kept his Byakugan activated.

His veins bulged around his eyes as his pupils scanned Anko's chakra pathways dozens of times per second—the black Curse Mark patterns wriggled through her blood vessels like living things, and every pulse made her body twitch slightly.

"How much longer?" Anko's voice was hoarse.

"Forty-one hours." Xiao's voice was terrifyingly calm. "The dormant command inside you is weakening. At this rate, the Curse Mark will reactivate in thirty hours at most."

Anko closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then she opened them, a trace of resolve flashing through her gaze. "Orochimaru... when the Curse Mark's erosion was at its worst, I heard his voice."

Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

"What did he say?"

"He said..." Anko's voice drifted, as though she were recalling a nightmare. "If one day I was about to be consumed by the Curse Mark, or... about to die, I should go to Snakebone Gorge in the north of the Land of Rice Paddies. There was a way to completely remove the Curse Mark there."

She paused, pulling a bitter smile. "But he said there would be a price. A very heavy price."

The safe house fell into brief silence.

Only the faint sound of rain beyond the wall remained, pattering steadily against the window lattice.

Xiao's mind raced.

The Land of Rice Paddies—the site of the Hidden Sound Village Orochimaru had established after defecting. Snakebone Gorge—a place name not marked on any map. A method for completely removing the Curse Mark—it sounded like bait.

But...

"Do you believe it?" Xiao asked.

Anko shook her head, then nodded, finally giving a bitter laugh. "I don't know. But it is the only... the only possible way to escape him. Even if it is only a possibility."

Xiao stood and walked to the window.

Through a gap in the curtains, he could see Leaf Village's streets blurred into patches of gray by the rain. The outline of Hokage Rock flickered in and out of view through the downpour.

Orochimaru would not have left behind such information for no reason.

Either it was a trap—meant to lure Anko in and turn her into a new test subject.

Or...

It was real.

But what was the price?

Xiao turned back to Anko. His Byakugan activated once more. This time, rather than merely observing the Curse Mark's activity, he condensed his chakra to its limit, attempting to pierce through its outer layer and glimpse its internal structure.

The black patterns appeared as a complex three-dimensional network within his Byakugan's vision.

They had rooted themselves in Anko's chakra pathways like tree roots, tightly entwined with her life force. Tearing them out by force would be equivalent to shredding her entire chakra network—certain death.

But Xiao noticed one detail.

At certain nodes in the Curse Mark network, there were tiny "gaps."

Like...

Reserved interfaces.

"Anko," Xiao suddenly said in a low voice, "what state were you in when Orochimaru said those words?"

"What?" Anko froze for a moment.

"Did you hear him while conscious, or while unconscious? Was the Curse Mark acting up, or was it an ordinary time?"

Anko frowned as she recalled it. "It was... three years ago. I was on a border patrol mission when I was ambushed by Hidden Mist. I was badly wounded and near death. The Curse Mark activated on its own and saved my life, but it also left me half-conscious. That was when I heard his voice."

A sharp glint flashed in Xiao's eyes.

Near death.

Curse Mark activation.

Clouded consciousness.

—The perfect moment for implantation.

"I understand." Xiao returned to the bedside and took a small metal case from his ninja tool pouch.

When he opened it, twelve silver needles lay neatly arranged inside—finer than the ones he had used before, their tips glowing with a faint blue light.

"What are you going to do?" Anko asked warily.

"The information Orochimaru left behind is probably not a lie." Xiao drew out a silver needle and carefully inspected its tip beneath the light. "But his so-called 'complete removal' is probably not the kind of removal you imagined."

Anko's face paled.

Xiao continued, "The essence of a Curse Mark is Orochimaru implanting fragments of his own chakra and will into the recipient's body. It is like a Seed, taking root and sprouting inside its host. There are two possible meanings of 'removal'—"

He raised one finger.

"First, forcibly remove it. But that would tear apart your chakra pathways. You would certainly die."

He raised a second finger.

"Second, let the Seed 'mature.'"

Anko's breathing grew hurried. "What does that mean?"

"Let the Curse Mark completely erode your body and transform you entirely into Orochimaru's 'vessel.'" Xiao's voice was cold and clear. "At that point, the Curse Mark naturally ceases to exist—because you and the Curse Mark will have become one. You will be the Curse Mark itself."

The air inside the safe house seemed to freeze.

Anko's pupils shrank violently, and her body began trembling uncontrollably.

"So... Snakebone Gorge..." Her voice shook.

"Most likely, it is a 'conversion site' prepared by Orochimaru." Xiao rolled the silver needle between his fingers. "He has arranged some ritual or device there that can accelerate the Curse Mark's maturation. If you go, you will become his perfect spare body."

"Then why..." Anko gritted her teeth. "Why tell me at all?"

Xiao was silent for several seconds.

"Because it is also an opportunity."

He lifted his hand, aiming the needle's tip at the Curse Mark patterns on the side of Anko's neck.

"Orochimaru's fragment of consciousness is hidden within the Curse Mark network inside you. Normally, it remains dormant, waking only when you are near death or when the Curse Mark is fully activated. And now—"

Xiao's Byakugan locked onto a node in the Curse Mark network.

"—I have a way to force it out."

Anko's eyes widened.

"Force it out? Then what?"

"Then," Xiao said, the faintest curve appearing at the corner of his lips, "we can ask it some questions. Such as Snakebone Gorge's exact location. Such as Orochimaru's true purpose. Such as..."

He paused.

"How to strip away the Curse Mark without killing you."

Anko stared at Xiao for a long time.

This boy from the Hyuga Branch House was clearly only thirteen, yet his gaze was as calm as that of an old ninja who had lived through countless brushes with death. His plan was mad and dangerous—deliberately provoking a fragment of Orochimaru's consciousness? That was like waking a sleeping viper.

But...

"How confident are you?" Anko asked.

"Thirty percent." Xiao told the truth. "If I fail, Orochimaru's consciousness will immediately take over your body. I will kill you at once."

"And if you succeed?"

"If I succeed, we will gain vital intelligence about the Curse Mark. And—" Xiao's gaze deepened. "Orochimaru's consciousness fragment itself is a valuable 'sample.' By studying it, we may be able to work backward and determine how to break the Caged Bird Seal."

Anko froze.

Only then did she remember—the boy before her also bore a Curse Mark on his neck. The Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird Seal.

So that was it.

Saving her was also a way to save himself.

"Let's begin." Anko lay flat and closed her eyes. "Either way, I am dead. I might as well gamble."

Xiao did not act immediately.

First, he set four sealing talismans around the room—soundproofing, chakra fluctuation isolation, confinement, and alarm. Then he took a small glass vial from his ninja tool pouch. It contained a pale green liquid.

"What is that?" Anko opened one eye.

"A Vitality Seed sample I extracted from Kimimaro." Xiao dripped the liquid onto the silver needle. "It can temporarily enhance life activity, creating a 'false near-death state' inside you to lure the Curse Mark into activating. At the same time—"

He looked at Anko.

"—it will protect your core consciousness from being completely eroded. But it only lasts ten minutes. I have to complete the extraction within those ten minutes."

Anko took a deep breath and nodded.

Xiao drove the silver needle into the center of the Curse Mark on the side of her neck.

The instant the needle pierced flesh, Anko's body arched sharply!

Agony.

Not physical agony, but something deeper—as if countless needles were piercing her soul. She opened her mouth but could not make a sound. All she could do was watch as her vision distorted and changed color.

Black patterns spread wildly from the side of her neck.

Like venomous snakes come to life, they crawled along her blood vessels toward every part of her body. Anko could feel something cold and slimy awakening within her.

"Hold on." Xiao's voice seemed to come from very far away.

His hands had already formed a complex sequence of seals—the Curse Mark Resonance Art he had derived from data in Orochimaru's Laboratory. By mimicking the Curse Mark's chakra frequency, he established a temporary connection with the Curse Mark inside Anko.

His Byakugan opened to its fullest.

In his vision, the blackness was rapidly devouring Anko's chakra pathways.

But amid that black tide, Xiao saw a faint glow—a pale green radiance belonging to the Vitality Seed. Like an isolated island, it firmly protected the core pathways near Anko's heart.

Now.

Xiao drove his second silver needle into Anko's forehead.

This time, what he injected was not a Vitality Seed, but his own chakra—precisely regulated chakra that mimicked the frequency of the Caged Bird Seal.

A transformation occurred.

The black Curse Mark inside Anko suddenly convulsed violently!

As if it had encountered a natural enemy, it began contracting and gathering frantically. The black patterns flowed back from throughout her body toward the side of her neck, forming a writhing mass of black matter beneath her skin.

And at the center of that mass—

A crimson light ignited.

"Found you," Xiao said softly.

His third, fourth, and fifth silver needles pierced different acupoints across Anko's body at the same time. Together, the needles formed a temporary sealing array that firmly locked the black mass at the side of her neck.

Anko's body stopped convulsing.

She opened her eyes—but those eyes were no longer hers.

Her pupils had become the vertical slits of a snake, her gaze cold, mocking, and filled with inhuman intelligence.

"A brat from the Hyuga Clan?" A low, hoarse male voice came from Anko's throat. "Interesting. You actually managed to force me out."

Xiao's expression did not change in the slightest.

"Orochimaru. Or rather, a fragment of Orochimaru's consciousness."

"Anko's" lips split into an exaggerated grin. "Clever. So, after going to such lengths to awaken me, what do you want to ask? How to remove the Curse Mark? How to gain power? Or—"

Those snake eyes fixed upon the Caged Bird Seal on Xiao's neck.

"—how to escape that?"

"Where is Snakebone Gorge?" Xiao asked directly.

"Anko" paused, then let out a low laugh. "You want to go? That is a 'hatching ground' prepared for the girl beside you. If you go, you will die."

"The exact location." Xiao's voice was cold.

"There is no harm in telling you." "Anko" tilted her head. "Deep inside the Forest of Death in the north of the Land of Rice Paddies. There are ruins of an ancient shrine there. The entrance is in the third secret chamber beneath the shrine—it requires a Curse Mark bearer's blood as the key."

Xiao committed the information to memory.

"Is the method for completely removing the Curse Mark real?"

"Of course it is real." "Anko's" smile became strange. "As long as the conversion ritual is completed, the Curse Mark will completely merge with the host. At that point, the Curse Mark naturally ceases to exist—because the host has become the Curse Mark itself. Perfect, isn't it?"

Just as expected.

It was exactly as Xiao had deduced.

"One last question." Xiao stared into those snake eyes. "What was your purpose in remaining inside Anko, besides surveillance and keeping her as a spare vessel?"

This time, "Anko" fell silent.

An extremely complicated emotion flickered in those snake eyes—wariness, calculation, and a trace of... curiosity?

"You are more interesting than I expected, brat from the Hyuga Clan," Orochimaru's consciousness fragment said slowly. "The fragments I left within every Curse Mark bearer have one shared task: collecting data. Data on the host's growth, data on Curse Mark adaptability, data on..."

It paused.

"Data on the possibility of 'soul transfer.'"

Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

Soul transfer.

Orochimaru had always been researching immortality. The Curse Mark was likely not merely a tool of control, but also a "springboard" for his soul transfer experiments.

"Time is up," Xiao suddenly said.

"What?"

"The Vitality Seed's protection will last another thirty seconds." Xiao's hands began forming a new sequence of seals. "And I have already obtained the information I wanted."

"Anko's" face changed.

"What are you going to do? Kill me? Then this girl will also—"

"No." Xiao completed the final seal. "I am going to 'strip' you out."

The sealing array on the silver needles suddenly erupted with blinding white light!

"Anko" let out a shrill scream—not Anko's voice, but a bizarre sound mixed with a human cry and a snake's hiss. The black matter inside her began struggling frantically, attempting to burrow back into Anko's body.

But Xiao would not give it the chance.

He bit his fingertip and used blood as ink, rapidly drawing a complex sealing formula on the side of Anko's neck.

Modified Evil-Sealing Method!

This was a variant he had derived from the Uchiha Clan's sealing techniques—a stripping technique designed specifically for "fragments of consciousness."

The black matter was forcibly pulled out of Anko's body!

It coalesced in midair into a mass of constantly twisting black mist. Within the fog, a human face was faintly visible—pale, feminine, with golden vertical pupils like a snake's.

Orochimaru Consciousness Fragment.

"You... you actually did it..." An incredulous voice came from within the black mist. "Brat from the Hyuga Clan, what is your name?"

Xiao did not answer.

He took out a specially made sealing scroll and drew the black mist into it. Dense sealing runes automatically emerged across the scroll's surface, completely imprisoning the Orochimaru Consciousness Fragment.

Only after finishing all that did Xiao look at Anko.

The girl had already fallen unconscious, her breathing steady. The Curse Mark patterns on the side of her neck had noticeably faded—though they remained, their activity had greatly diminished. With the Orochimaru Consciousness Fragment stripped away, the Curse Mark had lost its "core." It was now merely a mass of ownerless chakra imprints.

Xiao wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He had succeeded.

But the price was this—once the Vitality Seed's effects wore off, Anko would enter a three-day period of weakness. And while the Curse Mark had been weakened, it had not disappeared. It remained rooted within Anko's body; it simply would not flare up for the time being.

More importantly...

Xiao looked at the sealing scroll in his hand.

Orochimaru must have noticed by now.

The consciousness fragment he had left inside Anko had been stripped away, meaning an unexpected variable had appeared in his plans. Given that snake's temperament, he would never let this go.

"Looks like I need to speed things up," Xiao muttered.

He walked to the window and looked out at Leaf Village through the curtain of rain.

Tsunade would arrive tomorrow.

Before then, he had to deal with Anko's condition while preparing for the Main House's next move—Ko Hyuga's talk of the "Level-Two Caged Bird Seal" was probably no empty threat.

And Kimimaro.

And Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan.

And...

Xiao touched the Curse Mark on his neck.

Time was growing tighter and tighter.

But at least tonight, he had obtained two crucial things: intelligence on Snakebone Gorge, and a sample of the Orochimaru Consciousness Fragment.

The former was a trap, but also an opportunity.

The latter was a danger, but also a key.

"System."

[Fate-Breaking System activated]

[Detected that the host has successfully stripped away the "Orochimaru Consciousness Fragment"]

[Interception progress updated: Mitaraishi Anko's fate alteration degree +15%]

[Calculating reward...]

Xiao closed his eyes and waited for the system's response.

The rain was still falling.

The safe house's lights shone in the rainy night like a lone island.