"Even though I ’t see chakra..."

  The sensation of cutting something, however, was unmistakable.

  Link gripped the Chakra Scalpel, carefully trag around the three a-shaped marks of Anko’s curse seal. sidering that Orochimaru's sciousness could potentially reside within the chakra of the seal, he meticulously sliced through every bit of it, carving out the fragmented chakra piece by piebsp;

  The process was swift. Uhe influence of the Mystical Palm Teique, his hands moved with precision araordinary speed, exeg his thoughts almost instantaneously. The only limiting factor was the speed of his owal processes and reflexes.

  "Swish! Swish! Swish!"

  Anko Mitarashi watched as Link’s hands blurred, moving so quickly that afterimages formed. In mere moments, the curse seal’s chakra was pletely excised before she could eveer what had happened.

  She lowered her gaze to the three dark as on her colrbohey felt i now, as if they were nothing more than lifeless marks.

  "It’s do shouldn’t have any effeymore…"

  Link pressed his hand over the marks, releasing chakra to check for any residual activity. There was none. With the structure of the seal dismantled and the chakra removed, it was effectively ralized.

  However, the seal's foundation, derived from the infusion of Jūgo’s enzymes, remained physically intact. The Chakra Scalpel could remove chakra but couldn’t destroy the biological material.

  Now, the curse seal was little more than a tattoo.

  A rather unique one, he thought, gng at the trio of dark as etched against Anko’s pale skin.

  "Hmm~" Before he could ponder further, Anko suddenly lunged forward, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

  "Thank you, Link," she said, her voice choked with emotion.

  "This woman…" Link tried to push her away, not out of embarrassment but sheer disfort. At ten years old, he didn’t possess any particur feelings toward women; he was simply suffog under her grip.

  If it weren’t for his awareness of her ck of hostility, he would have kicked her away on instinbsp;

  Anko didn’t seem to care. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and ughed heartily. "I’ve decided! I’m treating you to dango and red bean soup!"

  "If there’s nothing else, you leave now." Link’s tone was resolute. "Examiner Mitarashi Anko."

  "e on, don’t be so cold! You like sweets too, don’t you? We could—hey, hey!"

  Anko’s casual demeanor and pyful attempts to close the distance were abruptly halted as Link forcefully guided her to the door and pushed her out.

  Standing in the doorway, he looked up at her and said evenly: "If you experieny issues ter, feel free to find me."

  "Click." The door to the medical room shut firmly.

  Anko stood outside, staring at the closed door. Memories of Orochimaru’s remarks about Link resurfaced in her mind.

  "He’s nothing like you, Orochimaru…"

  "Huh?"

  Her attention shifted to the hallway’s end, where a boy with a gourd on his back stood silently, his cold gaze fixed on her.

  "That kid… he’s the Sunagakure genin who pleted the Forest of Death in one hour and thirty-seven minutes."

  Anko grinned, her curse mark no longer hindering her. In a fsh, she vanished from her spot.

  "Kid," her leisurely voice echoed in Gaara’s ears, "don’t look at me with such murderous eyes…"

  "Or else—"

  "Swoosh!"

  A swirl of sand rose behind Gaara, f a shield that luoward the examiner—only to meet empty air. In the moment, a kunai ressed against his nebsp;

  "I might just kill you first." Anko’s voice turned chilling, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across her fabsp;

  This was the woman known as Konoha’s most dangerous kunoichi.

  Gaara’s hand remained poised in front of his chest, half-formed seals frozen mid-motion.

  "This kid’s gaze… it’s uling." Anko narrowed her eyes. "Is Sunagakure here for Link?"

  She lowered the kunai slightly but didn’t let down her guard. Her smile was deceptively sweet as she warned: "If you dare attaother proctor or staff member, I’ll disqualify you immediately."

  Gaara hesitated before releasing his seals.

  Anko removed the kunai, brushing past him. As they passed, her tone grew icy. "Stay away from Link."

  Gaara remained rooted irembling with anger as her words echoed in his mind.

  "Again… always the same…"

  Link, with his enigmatic demeanor and protective allies—teammates who bore peculiar expressions and an adult ninja who shielded him—stood in stark trast to Gaara’s own isotienbsp;

  "I ’t stand it anymore… I’m going to kill you…"

  "Link!"

  …

  Ba the medical room, Link sat pting his findings.

  "The Mystical Palm Teique lets me physically press natural energy, disrupting chakra infused with Sage energy…"

  He activated the teique again, waving his hand through the air, yet felt nothing.

  "Natural energy is everywhere, so why ’t I se now?"

  After a moment, realization strubsp;

  "It must be a density issue. When the curse seal attraatural energy, the tration increases enough for me to i with it. Without such attra, natural energy is likely too diffuse, like a mist, to grasp."

  Link’s thoughts deepened. If this teique truly ied with natural energy, it must be tied to Sage Mode. But without a curse seal or access to Sage Mode, how could he test it further?

  He briefly regretted destroying Anko’s seal so decisively—it would’ve been a valuable research tool.

  Then he remembered: besides Anko, there was oher in Konoha with a curse seal—Uchiha Sasuke.

  If Orochimaru hadn’t yet bitten Sasuke, Link would have to sider capturing one of Orochimaru’s test subjects from the Sound Four.

  Or several.

  "So many possibilities…"

  Realizing there was no immediate solution, Link sighed a aside the Mystical Palm Teique for now. The sed stage of the in Exams would st five days, and only one day had passed.

  With long nights ahead, he resumed his studies.

  Bleam