"Undo the curse mark?"
Hearing Aoba's words, Anko froze for a moment, staring at him in disbelief, "You've found a way to undo the curse mark?"
"Mm," Aoba nodded.
Anko's mind went blank.
'He only told me two days ago that he'll think of a way, and now he'd already figured it out?'
'Aoba really is amazing.'
"Do you still have other things to handle today? It might take a little time," Seeing Anko dazed, Aoba continued.
Anko shook her head, "No…"
"Then I'll help you undo it right now," Aoba suggested.
"Oh," Anko answered in a muffled voice.
Aoba frowned, "Why do I feel like you don't look very happy? Don't you want it undone?"
"How could that be?", Anko rolled her eyes at him, then her expression turned a little emotional, "It's just… this problem that's troubled me for so many years is suddenly about to be solved. It feels unreal."
"Tell me, what do I need to do?"
Her whole spirit suddenly revived, showing a beaming smile.
Aoba was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid there might be danger?"
"After all, this is Orochimaru's curse mark."
Anko froze briefly, then reached out her arm to wrap around Aoba's neck, smiling as she said, "Would Aoba let big sis fall into danger?"
"No," Aoba replied.
"Then that's that. I believe in you."
Anko pinched his face.
Aoba said nothing more.
"Then get ready, we'll start soon."
"Huh? Get ready for what?", Anko blinked in confusion.
She thought about it. He hadn't said anything about preparations since coming in.
"No need to prepare anything. It'll just hurt a bit."
Aoba said, "You might faint, so be mentally prepared."
"Hurt?", Anko's face shifted, "Alright."
Her endurance was very high. Even among the jonin, she was one of the rare endurance types.
That was one of her few natural talents. Otherwise, she wouldn't have survived Orochimaru's curse mark experiment back then.
Plus, after years of the Cursed Seal of Heaven acting up from time to time, her tolerance for pain had only increased.
To her, pain was no longer such a big deal.
"So what do I do now?"
Aoba: "Just turn around and expose the curse mark."
"Okay."
Anko immediately turned around and unfastened the clasp at the back of her qipao collar.
The fabric slid down, exposing her pale neck to Aoba's eyes. The Cursed Seal of Heaven appeared clearly.
Anko instinctively held the cloth in front of her chest to stop anything more from being revealed.
"...", Aoba looked at her action and felt it was actually worse, made it look even more suggestive.
"Maybe you should change into something else first, Anko-neesan?"
Anko turned her head and gave him a charming side glance, lips curved with a faint smile, "Why? Isn't showing the curse mark enough?"
She was doing it on purpose.
Aoba was speechless. This was about something so important for her future, yet she wasn't taking it seriously at all.
Seeing his silence, Anko batted her eyes, teasing him again, "Aoba, you won't take this chance to grope big sis, will you?"
"..."
"Anko-neesan, there's something I need to remind you of," Aoba suddenly said.
"What?"
"After the curse mark is undone, you really will need to eat less sweets."
Aoba casually dropped the news that, to Anko, was like a thunderbolt out of the blue.
"W-why?", Anko blinked in confusion.
Aoba explained seriously, "Because the curse mark sometimes consumes a lot of your water and calories. Without it, if you keep eating sweets like before, you'll really turn into a sweet potato."
"...", Anko felt like the sky was collapsing. Suddenly, she thought maybe this curse mark wasn't all bad after all.
It had its perks.
"Are you hesitating about undoing the curse mark?", Aoba's face hardened.
"N-no…", Anko's expression looked guilty.
Aoba saw right through her, "It's fine if you eat like before."
"Really?", Anko's eyes lit up.
"Of course."
Aoba placed a hand on her shoulder, looked at her seriously, and said, "As a friend, even if you turned into a sweet potato, Kurenai-neesan and I wouldn't dislike you."
"..."
'So just a friend, huh.'
Anko's mouth twitched. She suddenly had the urge to bite him. Turning her head away in annoyance, she muttered under her breath, "Fine, I'll just eat a little less then."
Seeing her sulking expression, Aoba almost laughed.
"Actually, as long as you keep a certain amount of exercise and balance your intake and output, it'll be fine."
"Forget it, I'll just eat less sweets," Anko said with a resigned look.
"..."
So lazy. She'd rather eat less than exercise.
Aoba placed his hand on Anko's neck, "Get ready, it might hurt."
"Okay!", Anko instinctively bit her lip, bracing for the pain to come.
"Right, I just remembered something," But before the expected pain arrived, Aoba spoke again.
"In your mind, there seems to be another seal, connected to the curse mark. It looks like it's sealed part of your memory. If you want, I can undo that too."
"You can undo it?", Anko was surprised.
Back when Hiruzen was Hokage, he had tried everything to get information about Orochimaru's experiments from her, only to get nothing.
"Mm. I'm pretty skilled in sealing. Undoing this along with the curse mark isn't difficult," Aoba said with confidence.
Anko hesitated, then nodded, "It's related to Orochimaru's experiments. If you can undo it, then do it too."
Even though she no longer cared about that past, the gap in her memories still felt uncomfortable.
"I understand."
Aoba quickly formed hand seals, then pressed his hands onto the Cursed Seal of Heaven at the back of Anko's neck.
The curse mark immediately glowed red and began to spin. Cracks spread across the surrounding skin.
"Ah!"
Anko let out a cry of pain she couldn't suppress.
Seeing her pained expression, Aoba's heart ached, but there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, the process of erasing the curse mark was fast. And there was no scene of eggs birthing snakes, snakes spitting out Orochimaru.
When the curse mark finally vanished completely, Anko's body suddenly went limp and collapsed right into Aoba's arms.
And the armor in front also slipped away with it.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.