To this day, Orochimaru could not forget that day, six years ago. Year 48 of the Shinobi Chronicle. The Third Great Ninja War had ended.
Konohagakure, beset by enemies on all sides, had paid a terrible price to finally achieve victory in the war.
But...
"What was the point?"
Orochimaru's thin lips moved silently as he calmly nodded his head, looking forward.
Leaden clouds had spread across the entire sky, making the already cold graveyard feel even more desolate and sorrowful. The crowd, like reeds bent low by the rain, wept with their heads down. The dense black umbrellas resembled a flock of gathered crows.
He stood amidst the black-clad crowd, watching the old man at the very front.
That was his good teacher, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen wiped the rain from a tombstone. Perhaps moved by his action, a wave of sorrow permeated the crowd.
"..."
Orochimaru looked toward the bowl-cut kid to his side and front.
He knew this child. He often saw him and his Genin father running laps around Konoha on their hands. In his memory, the two always had a foolishly optimistic and passionate look about them, completely oblivious to the annoyed and mocking gazes of those around them.
But now...
It was the first time Orochimaru had seen this child cry. He cried in a particularly foolish way, snot and tears mixing on his face into a muddy mess.
He heard that this child had encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist during a mission. It was his father, the Genin derided as a failure, who had rushed to cover his son's escape.
In the end, he had single-handedly killed four of them, and the remaining three had fled, grievously wounded.
And that Genin father had died in the process.
And that other child...
Orochimaru's long, narrow pupils shifted to the side, reflecting a youthful face. He held no umbrella, letting the rain soak him.
His cries were faint, hoarse. He just kept his head down, his shoulders trembling, making a hissing sound, like a sleeve being torn intermittently.
But his tears flowed ceaselessly in several streams, mixing with the rain as they poured from his eyes.
Hyuga Kumo. Timid and cowardly by nature, his body frail and weak. While his peers were already learning the Gentle Fist, this child hadn't even awakened his Byakugan. He was the infamous "failure" of the Hyuga Clan.
This child's father hadn't actually died on the battlefield. He was responsible for protecting a member of the Main Family. After risking his life to carry that Main Family member back to their post with his chakra almost completely depleted, he was tortured to death by a Main Family elder using the Caged Bird Seal.
Speaking of which, this child's father had rendered meritorious service under him during the Second Great Ninja War.
How old were these children?
Nine? Ten? Heh.
Thrown onto the battlefield at such a young age, losing their only family members so young...
Orochimaru once again looked at the old man in the lead. A branching bolt of lightning flashed through the dark clouds, and the world was suddenly bleached into shades of gray and white.
The dazzling white light cast a stooped shadow on the ground, long and thin like a demon. Hiruzen Sarutobi's compassionate face was also split between light and shadow.
Orochimaru, having experienced two Great Ninja Wars, was suddenly overcome with a profound disgust, so intense it almost made him want to vomit.
These people who died in the war—what was the meaning of their lives? Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed at all.
When the crowd dispersed and people left one by one, only the desolate tombstones remained.
Orochimaru stood before Nawaki's tombstone, a black umbrella as dark as ink in the rain. He placed the white chrysanthemums in his hand on the grave, looking at the familiar name carved on it, yet feeling surprisingly untouched.
Sorrow? Anger? Pity?
None of it.
But he was not calm.
He simply watched the raindrops fall from the edge of his umbrella, disappearing into the grooves of the inscription, and felt a fear originating from deep within his heart.
"Th-that..."
A timid voice came from behind him, as if squeezed from the throat.
Orochimaru came back to his senses and subconsciously turned toward the voice, only to be met by a pair of white eyes.
His face, still holding a trace of coldness, seemed to have startled the other person. The boy's body trembled and he took a step back, but he ultimately held his ground.
"Th-that is, you... you don't look well, so..."
Under Orochimaru's gaze, the voice grew smaller and smaller.
Orochimaru looked down at the child named Hyuga Kumo, knowing he had been standing at the tombstone for too long. The boy was likely worried about his physical and mental state.
Kind and timid.
A failure, indeed.
Orochimaru made his judgment of the child in his heart. He didn't plan to say much more and began to walk away with a cold expression...
"Lord Orochimaru."
A voice came from behind him. As if guided by some ghost or god, he stopped.
"Do you know... what the meaning of life is?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to look behind him. He saw that the child still had a timid expression, just with his head tilted up, asking in confusion, "My father often mentioned you when he was alive. He said you were a hero of Konoha. I thought... someone like you must know a lot..."
"There is no meaning."
Before he could finish, Orochimaru interrupted him softly. "Even if there is, it only exists while life is being lived."
"A life that has ended has no meaning whatsoever."
Death is the most just and equal thing in this world for everyone.
No matter what you did in life, no matter what you possessed, when death arrives, you will have nothing.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru once again felt a chill that pierced his very bones. Even the sensation of the cold wind slipping into his collar felt more profound, causing his fingers gripping the umbrella to tighten until they turned white.
Yes, to die is like water disappearing into water.
To die is to lose [everything]. He didn't want to lose [everything]; he wanted to possess [everything].
Therefore, he did not want to die, and he could not die! "Lord Orochimaru." Hyuga Kumo suddenly raised his head. "Do you believe 'gods' exist in this world?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru snapped back to reality. He looked at the timid child before him and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.
Just as he looked down on Jiraiya for always talking about the Child of Prophecy who could change the shinobi world.
In his eyes, whether it was the so-called Child of Prophecy or the so-called gods, they were all ridiculous fictional characters conjured up by the incompetent to deceive themselves.
An omniscient, omnipotent god does not exist. Even if one did, it would just be a more powerful being.
"What if... what if He possessed eternal life?"
Noticing the mockery in Orochimaru's eyes, Hyuga Kumo quickly spoke. "Before my father died, he gave me a scroll and a cor... a body. He said the scroll recorded the secrets of the Hyuga Clan, but I could never open it. And that body... is an ancestor of the Hyuga Clan. It is not dead and will not die, its soul has just left its body..."
Although Hyuga Kumo's voice grew fainter, as if he himself didn't quite believe his own words, Orochimaru's long, narrow pupils trembled.
In the entire shinobi world, the person who knew the most about the so-called "soul" was undoubtedly him, Orochimaru.
To most people, the soul was ethereal and illusory. It was even more impossible for someone's soul to exist independently of their body.
But in his eyes, as someone keen on studying the essence of human life, it was entirely possible. And the Hyuga Clan was undoubtedly one of the most ancient ninja clans...
"..."
Studying the child before him, whose forehead was already beaded with cold sweat, Orochimaru found himself inexplicably placing some trust in his words.
Perhaps... it wouldn't hurt to take a look? And so, Hyuga Kumo, who had lowered his head, suddenly felt a shadow fall over him. The cold rain no longer fell on him.
"Can you tell me why you're telling me this?" Hyuga Kumo raised his head, somewhat dazed, and met a pair of long, narrow eyes.
Orochimaru stood before him, holding the umbrella, one hand on his knee as he lowered himself slightly to meet Hyuga Kumo's gaze.
"This should be a secret of the Hyuga Clan, shouldn't it? Why not tell the clan elders?" A smile hung on his pale face, which surprisingly gave him a unique charm.
"Fa-father told me, if he died, I could use that scroll and that body to trade for better treatment from the clan."
Seemingly because Orochimaru's tone had softened, a blush appeared on Hyuga Kumo's youthful face. He lowered his head and said, "But... I don't trust them. My father was driven to his death by them."
A hint of resentment could be heard in his trembling voice. Orochimaru glanced at his slowly clenching fist, surprised that this child still had some spirit in him.
"You want me to help you get revenge?" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell the Hyuga Clan about this?"
"I don't think someone like you would do that. And, even if you did..." Hyuga Kumo slowly shook his head, then looked up at Orochimaru and said softly, "I don't have much more to lose."
"Only myself."
"..." Meeting that pair of resolute white eyes, Orochimaru fell into a brief silence.
A moment later, he suddenly smiled and placed his hand on Hyuga Kumo's head.
Just as he thought. Being alive doesn't necessarily have meaning, but only by living can one find interesting people and things.
Later, Hyuga Kumo gave the scroll and the body to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru managed to break part of the sealing jutsu on the scroll and thus saw the contents of the first few pages. He learned of the existence of the Otsutsuki Clan at the dawn of the shinobi world.
They were "Celestial Beings" from another planet. Each member was born with immense power and did not need to train like the humans of the shinobi world. Using something called "Karma," they could reincarnate and be revived, beings who transcended death.
They explored the universe in pairs, but their purpose was singular: to plant something called a "Divine Tree" to devour all life on a planet.
The "Main Family" members would return to their home planet, leaving "Branch Family" members behind to ensure the "fruit" of the Divine Tree could ripen successfully.
And that body, which had lost its "soul," was, according to the scroll, a member of the Otsutsuki "Branch Family."
He had passed down chakra in the shinobi world and left behind descendants, who were now the Hyuga Clan.
Because Orochimaru had not yet been able to decipher the seals on the latter part of the scroll, he did not know why that Otsutsuki clansman had abandoned his body. But this alone was enough to make Orochimaru tremble with excitement and joy.
Such an exquisite network of meridians, such a perfect body! Compared to the humans of the shinobi world, they were two completely different species! Eternal life was real. All tangible things would one day die, but the "soul" could exist forever!
He only needed to explore the mysteries of the Otsutsuki Clan, and one day, he too could understand all the truths of this world! To this day, six full years had passed since Orochimaru obtained that scroll and body.
In those six years, Orochimaru believed he had gained complete control over Hyuga Kumo. The boy's eyes, when looking at him, held only adoration.
No matter what experiment, he would cooperate obediently.
He even had the boy get close to the Third Hokage, and even go to Root to pass messages to Danzo Shimura. Even in his fear, he would not refuse.
Moreover, Orochimaru discovered that although this child had no talent as a ninja, he seemed to possess a special kind of curiosity and intuition in scientific research. He could often provide inspiration from inconspicuous places.
This was extremely rare.
Even Tsunade, the "Medical Master," only used medicine and ninjutsu as a means to save lives. She had no interest in exploring the secrets and essence of life itself.
For this, Orochimaru even felt a slight sense of kinship, a reluctance to kill the boy's soul.
But in the end, his greed for truth and eternal life overwhelmed that last shred of acknowledgment.
Until now.
Looking at the boy who had suddenly struck, looking at the headless corpse, Orochimaru even felt a sense of absurdity.
It was as if everything he had experienced over the past six years was an unreal, illusory dream.
"You..."
The intense mental and emotional shock caused the usually calm Orochimaru to ask a foolish question.
"What are you doing?"
Fortunately, Hyuga Kumo seemed to know what he really wanted to ask, so he just smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."
"Just as you told me, true ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it."
"I also want to tell you, weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival."
"Arrogance is."
Yes, because of arrogance, Orochimaru had never paid any mind to a "failure," a child of ten-odd years.
Because of arrogance, he had always focused his attention on that Otsutsuki "sarcophagus," ignoring all the anomalies he experienced right before his eyes.
After all, what could a timid child of ten-odd years do? What could a failure who couldn't even awaken his Byakugan do? Hyuga Kumo was like an isolated island, closed off to the outside world. Orochimaru only saw its unremarkable forest on the outside, but failed to see the bottomless, calm swamp on the island.
Only when things spun out of his control did Orochimaru wake up as if from a dream.
From the very beginning, it was not he who chose Hyuga Kumo, but Hyuga Kumo who chose him.
He... had been played by a mere brat?
Realizing this, Orochimaru almost laughed out of sheer anger. A狰狞 smile spread across his pale face.
"Do you think you can escape from me?"
The moment the words were spoken, the Orochimaru before him vanished.
A bone-chilling, murderous intent erupted in that instant! It was like a river of ice cracking. The torrent that had accumulated day by day under the thick ice let out a roar that could shake one's very soul, pouring out towards Hyuga Kumo!
VMM!!
A sharp hum rang out—the sonic boom of something tearing through the air.
It was too fast.
The kunai lost its form due to its extreme velocity; its speed was too great to be seen clearly.
As expected, even a near-chakra-depleted Orochimaru was not an opponent he could currently handle.
The Otsutsuki body, manifested from a few thousand "Manifestation Points" out of thin air, was ultimately an incomplete one. It could only grant him powerful talent, not immediate strength.
Thinking this, Hyuga Kumo's blue-white pupils reflected the cold glint of the kunai, yet not a single ripple disturbed their surface.
Then, under Orochimaru's stunned gaze, he not only didn't dodge, but actively met the kunai's edge.
Pfft!
Rich, scarlet blood sprayed out instantly, splattering onto the ground with a sound.
The blade sliced open half of Hyuga Kumo's neck, from the vocal cords and larynx all the way to the cervical bone. Blood would choke his lungs with every breath within seconds. For a normal person, it was a certain death blow.
"As I thought."
The smile on Hyuga Kumo's face remained unchanged. He watched Orochimaru's lips move, mouthing silently, "Even now, you are still reluctant to pierce the heart?"
If that's the case, then I win.
BOOM! A deafening roar entered his ears. Orochimaru subconsciously looked behind him, and an old face, full of rage, came into view.
"Orochimaru! What are you doing?!"
The furious roar echoed. Hyuga Kumo slowly closed his eyes and collapsed onto the operating table, a final thought surfacing in his mind.
Heh, a failure burdened by the Caged Bird.
Destiny really did give me the worst "script."
But, it doesn't matter.
I was born to be the best "actor."