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Orochimaru still cannot forget that day, two years ago.
In the Ninja World Chronology Year 48, the Third Great Ninja War had come to an end.
The Hidden Leaf Village, surrounded on all sides and at a disadvantage, paid a heavy price but finally achieved ultimate victory in the war.
But...
"What was the point?"
Orochimaru's thin lips silently moved as he calmly nodded toward the front.
Gray storm clouds had spread across the entire sky. The already cold and gloomy cemetery appeared even more desolate and sorrowful. Crowds of people stood like rain-bent reeds, weeping quietly beneath black umbrellas that densely gathered like crows.
He stood among the sea of black-clad mourners, looking toward the old man standing at the forefront.
That was his beloved mentor—the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen wiped the rainwater from the gravestone. Perhaps moved by his actions, a wave of grief spread through the crowd.
...
Orochimaru turned his gaze toward a boy with a watermelon-shaped haircut standing slightly ahead to the side.
He recognized this child—he often saw him and his low-ranking ninja father running laps around Konoha doing handstands, always acting cheerful and full of youthful energy despite the mocking glances from others.
But now...
This was the first time Orochimaru had ever seen this boy cry—crying stupidly, with snot and tears mixing together into mud on his face.
He had heard that during a mission, the boy had encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. His father, mocked as a useless lower-ranked ninja, had rushed in to protect his son's escape.
In the end, the father single-handedly killed four of them, while the remaining three fled severely injured.
And the father died as a result.
Then there was that other child...
Orochimaru's narrow pupils shifted sideways, reflecting a young face drenched by the rain without an umbrella.
His crying was soft and hoarse, just low sobs as his shoulders trembled, producing intermittent tearing sounds like cloth being ripped apart.
Yet tears continued to flow nonstop in multiple streams, blending with the raindrops as they poured from his eyes.
Hyuga Unsen—timid and frail, even among his peers who had already begun learning the Gentle Fist technique, this child hadn't even awakened his Byakugan yet. He was famously known within the Hyuga clan as a "failure."
Actually, this child's father didn't die in battle. Instead, after risking his life to carry back a seriously injured Main House member to base camp, he was tortured to death by the Caged Bird Seal curse mark imposed by the Main House elders when his chakra reserves were nearly depleted.
Thinking about it, this child's father had actually served under Orochimaru during the Second Great Ninja War.
How old were these kids?
Twelve?
Hmph.
At twelve years old, thrown onto the battlefield; at twelve, branded with the Caged Bird Seal; at twelve, losing their only family...
Orochimaru looked again at the elderly man leading the ceremony. Thunder flickered like branches across the darkened clouds, momentarily turning the world gray and white.
Blinding light cast elongated shadows on the ground resembling demons, dividing Sarutobi's sorrowful face into halves of light and shadow.
A veteran of two great ninja wars, Orochimaru suddenly felt an intense revulsion so deep it nearly made him want to vomit.
What meaning did the lives of those who died in war have?
Nothing changed. Nothing at all.
After the crowd dispersed and people left one by one, only silent gravestones remained.
Orochimaru stood before Shigekuni's grave. A black umbrella loomed over him like ink against the rain. He placed a white chrysanthemum atop the gravestone and stared at the familiar name carved upon it, yet surprisingly felt no emotion stir within.
Sadness? Anger? Pity?
None of it.
But he wasn't calm either.
He simply watched as rain dripped from the edge of the umbrella into the grooves of the inscription, feeling a fear rising from deep inside.
"ano... ano..."
A timid voice came from behind, almost squeezed out from the throat.
Orochimaru snapped out of his thoughts and instinctively turned toward the sound, only to meet a pair of Byakugan eyes.
The coldness on his face seemed to startle the speaker, causing them to flinch backward slightly—but eventually steadied themselves.
"A-ano... y-your complexion looks terrible, so..."
Under Orochimaru's gaze, the voice grew quieter and quieter.
Orochimaru gazed down at this child named Hyuga Unsen, realizing he must've been standing too long before the grave. This kid was probably worried about his physical or mental state.
Kind-hearted and timid.
Indeed, a complete failure.
Orochimaru made that judgment inwardly and had no intention of saying anything else. With a cold expression, he took a step to leave.
"O-Orochimaru-sama..."
A voice called from behind. Unexpectedly, he stopped.
"Do you know what the meaning of life is?"
Upon hearing that, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, turned around, and saw the child still appearing frightened, yet raising his head with confusion: "My father used to speak highly of you, calling you a hero of Konoha. I thought... someone like you would surely understand a lot..."
"There is none."
Without letting him finish, Orochimaru interrupted softly: "Even if there is, it exists only while one is alive."
"And once life ends, it holds no meaning whatsoever."
Death is the most impartial equality in this world.
No matter what you did or possessed in life, everything vanishes when death arrives.
Thinking thus, Orochimaru felt a chill creep into his bones, intensified by the icy wind slipping into his collar, making his fingers grip the umbrella tightly until his knuckles turned pale.
Yes. Death is like water disappearing into water.
Once dead, you lose everything. He didn't want to lose *everything*; he wanted to possess everything.
Therefore, he neither wanted nor could afford to die!
"Orochimaru-sama." Hyuga Unkawa suddenly lifted his head. "Do you believe gods exist in this world?"
Upon hearing this, Orochimaru returned to reality, staring at the timid child before him—and suddenly found himself amused.
Just like how he looked down on Jiraiya, who kept talking about the prophecy child destined to change the ninja world.
To Orochimaru, whether it was the prophesied child or the concept of deities, both were laughable fictional constructs invented by weaklings seeking comfort.
An omnipotent god never existed. Even if one did, it would merely be another powerful entity.
"What if… if They possessed eternal life?"
Seeing the mockery in Orochimaru's eyes, Hyuga Unkawa hurriedly spoke: "Before my father passed away, he gave me a scroll and a… body. He said the scroll contained secret knowledge of the Hyuga clan, but I couldn't open it. And that body—it belonged to an ancestor of the Hyuga, not truly dead, just separated from its soul…"
Though Hyuga Unkawa's voice grew softer—as if he himself doubted his words—Orochimaru's sharp eyes flickered with excitement.
Throughout the ninja world, perhaps no one understood more about the concept of the "soul" than Orochimaru himself.
For most people, the soul was intangible, and absolutely impossible to separate from the body.
But to Orochimaru, obsessed with studying the essence of human life, such a thing was entirely feasible—and the Hyuga clan happened to be among the oldest ninja clans...
"..."
Looking at this child whose forehead had started to sweat, Orochimaru oddly began to believe what he was saying.
Perhaps… it wouldn't hurt to take a look?
Thus, Hyuga Unkawa—who had lowered his head—suddenly felt a shadow envelop him, and the cold rain ceased to fall.
"You can tell me why you're telling me all this, right?"
Hyuga Unkawa blankly raised his head, meeting a pair of narrow eyes directly.
Orochimaru stood before him holding the umbrella, one hand resting on his knee as he bent slightly to maintain eye contact with the boy.
A faint smile curled the pale lips, strangely enhancing his allure.
"This should be a secret of the Hyuga clan, shouldn't it? Why not tell the clan elders?" Orochimaru asked gently.
"My father told me, if he died, I could use that scroll and body to bargain with the clan for a better future," Hyuga Unkawa replied, his face slightly flushed from Orochimaru's gentler tone, then bowed his head again. "But I don't trust them. My father was driven to death by them."
There was bitterness in his trembling voice. Orochimaru glanced at the tightening fists and was surprised to sense some fire burning within this seemingly timid boy.
"You want me to help you seek revenge?" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Don't you worry I'll report this to the Hyuga clan?"
"I don't think you'd do something like that. And even if you did…" Hyuga Unkawa shook his head slowly, lifting his gaze to meet Orochimaru's. "I won't lose much."
"It's only myself."
"…" Facing those resolute Byakugan eyes, Orochimaru fell silent briefly.
Moments later, he suddenly chuckled and placed a hand on Hyuga Unkawa's head.
Indeed, living doesn't necessarily mean having meaning—but only by staying alive can one discover interesting people and things.
Later, Hyuga Unkawa handed the scroll and the body over to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru deciphered part of the sealing techniques on the scroll and read the first few pages, discovering the existence of the Ōtsutsuki clan at the dawn of the ninja world.
They were "beings from the heavens," extraterrestrial entities possessing immense innate power. Unlike humans in the ninja world, they didn't need training—merely using a mysterious seal called "Kāma", they could reincarnate repeatedly, transcending death itself.
Each pair traveled the cosmos, their sole purpose planting the "God Tree," which would consume all life on a planet.
Among them, the "Main Family" members would return to their homeworld, leaving "Branch Family" members behind to monitor the growth of the God Tree's fruit.
The body missing its "soul," according to the scroll, was a Branch Family member of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
He was the one who brought chakra to the ninja world and sired descendants—what became the modern-day Hyuga clan.
Since Orochimaru had yet to fully decode the rest of the scroll, he couldn't determine why this Ōtsutsuki abandoned his body. But even so, the discovery alone sent shivers of excitement down his spine.
Such exquisite Chakra Network (Keirakukei), such perfect physique—compared to ordinary humans in the ninja world, they were practically a different species!
Eternal life truly exists! While tangible things inevitably perish one day, the "soul" can endure forever!
By unraveling the secrets of the Ōtsutsuki, someday he could comprehend all the truths of the world!
It has now been exactly three years since Orochimaru obtained the scroll and the body.
During these three years, Orochimaru believed he had completely controlled Hyuga Unkawa. The boy's eyes held only admiration for him.
He obediently cooperated with every experiment.
Even when Orochimaru ordered him to approach the Third Hokage or deliver messages to Danzō in Root, though fearful, he never refused.
Moreover, Orochimaru discovered that although the boy lacked conventional ninja talent, he exhibited unusual curiosity and intuition in scientific research, often unintentionally sparking inspiration for Orochimaru in unexpected ways.
This was incredibly rare.
Even Tsunade, renowned as the "Legendary Sucker," treated medical ninjutsu merely as tools for saving lives rather than investigating the mysteries and essence of life.
Because of this, Orochimaru occasionally felt a kindred spirit with the boy and hesitated slightly before erasing his soul.
Until now.
Watching the teenager suddenly strike, watching the decapitated corpse fall, Orochimaru felt almost absurd.
As if everything that had transpired in the past three years was nothing but an unreal dream.
"You…"
The surge of intense emotions overwhelmed even the usually composed Orochimaru, prompting him to ask a foolish question.
"What are you doing?"
Fortunately, Hyuga Unkawa seemed to understand exactly what he meant and simply smiled.
"Thank you, Orochimaru-dono."
"As you once told me, true ignorance isn't lack of knowledge—it's refusal to gain knowledge."
"I also want to tell you—weakness and ignorance aren't obstacles to survival."
"Arrogance is."
Yes. Because of arrogance, Orochimaru never took seriously a mere "failure," a fifteen-year-old child.
Because of arrogance, he focused solely on the Ōtsutsuki's "abandoned shell," ignoring all anomalies occurring right before his eyes.
After all, what could a fifteen-year-old, timid child possibly do?
What could a waste who couldn't even awaken his Byakugan accomplish?
Hyuga Unkawa was like a secluded island closed to the outside world. Orochimaru only saw the normal-looking forest on its surface, failing to notice the bottomless quiet swamps hidden inland.
Only when events slipped beyond his control did Orochimaru finally awaken from his delusion.
From beginning to end, it wasn't Orochimaru who chose Hyuga Unkawa—it was Hyuga Unkawa who chose him.
Was he really tricked by a brat?
Realizing this, Orochimaru nearly laughed in fury, his pale face twisting into a hideous grin.
"You think… you can escape from me?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Orochimaru vanished.
Bone-chilling killing intent erupted instantly!
It was like the collapse of river ice, releasing a flood that had accumulated beneath it—a roar capable of shaking the soul, surging toward Hyuga Unkawa!
Buzz!!
A sharp buzzing sound rang out—an air-piercing sonic boom.
Too fast.
The kunai lost its shape due to extreme speed, moving so quickly it became invisible.
Indeed, even a nearly chakra-depleted Orochimaru was still far beyond what he could handle now.
Thousands of "Reality Points" spent to manifest the incomplete Ōtsutsuki body granted him talent, not actual strength.
Thinking thus, Hyuga Unkawa's blue-white eyes reflected the cold gleam of the kunai, yet showed no sign of disturbance.
Then, under Orochimaru's stunned gaze, instead of dodging, he deliberately stepped forward to meet the blade.
Puchi!
Scarlet blood sprayed violently, splattering loudly across the ground.
The knife sliced halfway through Hyuga Unkawa's neck—from vocal cords and larynx to cervical vertebrae. Blood would enter his lungs within seconds, undoubtedly fatal for an ordinary person.
"Exactly as expected."
Hyuga Unkawa's smiling face remained unchanged as he silently observed Orochimaru's lips move: "Even now, you still hesitate to pierce the heart, huh?"
If that's the case… I win.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed in his ears. Instinctively, Orochimaru turned around, seeing the furious, aged face of the Third Hokage.
"Orochimaru! What are you doing?!"
A furious roar sounded. Hyuga Unkawa slowly closed his eyes, collapsing onto the operating table, his final thought echoing in his mind.
Heh. A failure burdened with the Cage Bird Seal.
Fate really gave me the worst possible script.
But it doesn't matter.
I was born to be the best actor.
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