Moonlight filtered through the paper windows, casting mottled shadows across Tsunade's temporarily rented room.
Hyuga Xiao sat cross-legged on the tatami. The Curse Mark on his forehead glimmered with eerie bluish-black patterns in the dim light. His chakra circulated through his body with difficulty, every cycle like walking along a blade's edge—the Curse Mark clung to him like gangrene on bone, constantly devouring his life force.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Tsunade's voice came from across the room. She stood against the wall with her arms folded, her long golden hair glinting coldly in the moonlight, an unusual gravity in her expression.
Xiao opened his eyes. Those pure white pupils shone startlingly bright in the darkness.
"Do I have a choice?" His voice was calm, so calm it made one's heart tighten. "Three days. Either I find a way to break it, or I die. The Main House won't give me a fourth ending."
Tsunade fell silent for a moment, then took a yellowed scroll from her robe and spread it across the tatami.
It was a detailed layout of the Hyuga Main House estate, marked with densely packed guard posts and patrol routes. Deep within it, an area circled in cinnabar stood out sharply—"White-Eyed Chamber."
"This was material I 'borrowed' from the ANBU archives when I was still in Leaf Village." Tsunade tapped the cinnabar circle with a finger. "It's a forbidden ground of the Hyuga Clan, supposedly holding the Main House's secrets from the past thousand years. The origin of the Caged Bird Seal is very likely inside."
Xiao fixed his gaze on that area.
"What are the guards like?"
"In theory, twelve Branch House Elite Ninjas rotate shifts outside the White-Eyed Chamber. There are also trigger-based barriers inside. Any non-Main House bloodline entering will