Orochimaru would never be able to forget that day six years before.
In the 48th year of the Ninja Era, the Third Great Ninja War finally came to an end.Konoha was victorious — but at a horrible price.
But even in the winning, Orochimaru only pondered:
"What was the point?"
Gray clouds shrouded the sky.The cemetery was cold and quiet Folks stood huddled, heads low beneath black umbrellas, like a murder of crows over the dead.
Orochimaru stood among the group, observing the old man in the front — his teacher, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Hiruzen cleared rain from a gravestone. His simple gesture communicated misery among the crowd like ripples in calm water.
Orochimaru's eyes fell on a boy with a bowl-cut haircut.He recognized that boy — perpetually seen dashing about the village with his head spinning over his father, both of them brimming with energy and laughter.But now the boy was sobbing, snot and tears merging with rain on his face.
Myth had it his father battled the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.A low-level ninja, belittled as worthless — but he battled solo, dispatched four of them, and allowed his son to escape.He perished of wounds.
Then Orochimaru saw another boy — Nael Hyūga.
The boy stood still in the rain without an umbrella.He didn't sob loudly; his voice came out broken, thin, almost soundless.Tears kept falling, mixing with the rain as they hit the ground.
Nael was weak, shy, and often sick.He was known in the Hyūga clan as a "failure."While others his age had begun to train in the Gentle Fist, he hadn't even awakened his Byakugan.
His father hadn't perished on the battlefield but returned — his wounds never healed.Some within the clan muttered that the elders had activated the Caged Bird Seal on him for his inability to safeguard a main-branch member.
Orochimaru recalled that man during the Second Ninja War.He had fought valiantly under his orders.
He gazed once more at the two children — they were perhaps nine or ten years old.
"So young," Orochimaru growled. "Placed in war, and then abandoned."
Lightning flashed across the horizon.The old man's crooked shadow lay long upon the damp earth.Orochimaru experienced a sickness — crawling, crawling deep within him — a need to vomit.
"All these lives lost… for what?"
Nothing changed.Nothing ever changed.
When the mob dispersed, the gravestones were the only things left.Orochimaru stood by one inscribed Rope Tree.He laid a white chrysanthemum there and gazed at the name.
No sorrow.
No rage.
No sympathy.
Only a hollow fear in the depths of his heart.
Then a quiet voice behind him.
"Um… excuse me…"
He turned around to face a pair of pale Byakugan eyes.Nael, tiny and shy, took a step back in fright under Orochimaru's icy stare.
"You looked pale, so I was worried…"
His voice trailed away beneath Orochimaru's gaze.The man remembered that he had stood too long beside the grave — the boy only cared about him.
Timid and kind. A useless boy, Orochimaru mused.
He didn't say anything and walked away.
"Lord Orochimaru."
He didn't move.
"Do you know what the meaning of life is?"
Orochimaru shifted a little, eyes narrowing.Nael looked up, bewildered but sincere.
"My father used to talk about you. He said you were a hero of Konoha. So… I thought you might know."
"There is no meaning," Orochimaru said quietly, interrupting him."If there is, it only exists while you're alive. The dead have no meaning."
Death — the one true equality.No matter what you had in life, death took it all.
Orochimaru's grip on his umbrella hardened.
I don't want to die. I can't die. I want everything.
Then Nael spoke softly,
"Lord Orochimaru, do you believe in gods?"
Orochimaru came very close to laughing.To him, "prophecies," "chosen ones," and "gods" were fantasies of the weak.
"And suppose a god did exist?" Nael said hastily."My father left me a scroll and… a corpse. He said the scroll contains Hyūga secrets, but I cannot open it. The corpse was that of our ancestor — someone who never died. His spirit just departed."
Nael's voice went away, but Orochimaru's slit eyes quivered.If there was anyone in the world who knew about souls, it was him.Him thinking a soul could exist without a body — that was his strongest fixation.
The Hyūga were an old clan.Was it possible?
He examined the terrified boy and thought — maybe it was worth investigating.
"Tell me this for what reason?" he demanded.
Nael gazed up.Orochimaru bent down, his face serene but keen.
"This is a Hyūga secret. Why don't you tell your elders?"
"My father said… if he died, I could exchange the scroll and body for protection."Nael dipped his head.
"But I don't trust them. They murdered him."
His little hands shook, fists full of rage.
Orochimaru was taken aback — there was some spark in him then.
"You want revenge?" Orochimaru sneered with a cold smile. "Aren't you scared I'll tell your clan?"
"You wouldn't," Nael whispered. "And even if you did… I wouldn't lose much."
"Only myself."
Orochimaru was quiet for a moment, then smiled weakly and patted Nael's head.
"You're right. Living may not have meaning — but you can only find it if you stay alive."
Later, Nael handed Orochimaru the scroll and the body.
Inside, Orochimaru discovered partial seals, old records — and the truth.
The Ōtsutsuki clan.
Aliens from another planet.Beings who sowed the God Tree, devoured life, and realized rebirth through markings known as Karma.
Immortals who beat death.
That body belonged to an Ōtsutsuki "branch" member — the Hyūga's ancestor.
He had disseminated chakra across the world and left descendants behind.
Orochimaru quivered with excitement.
Eternal life was a reality.
If he could realize the Ōtsutsuki, he could learn every truth that existed.
Six years went by.
During that period, Orochimaru thought he had completely dominated Nael.
The boy did everything he was told to do — even spying, even putting himself in harm's way.
Weak as a ninja, Nael possessed a rare research-oriented instinct, frequently providing Orochimaru with ideas by mistake.
Even for a moment, Orochimaru developed a fondness for him.
But his desire for immortality always prevailed.
Standing before him now, Nael had struck back.
Orochimaru gazed at the headless corpse lying on the ground, shocked.
"You…"
For once, he lost his composure.
"What are you doing?"
Nael merely smiled.
"Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."
"Like you taught me — ignorance isn't a lack of knowledge. It's a refusal to learn."
"Weakness and ignorance aren't the issue."
"Arrogance is."
Orochimaru came to a standstill.
Through arrogance, he never considered taking this "failure" seriously.
He concentrated on the Ōtsutsuki body — and disregarded the threat right next to him.
He picked me, Orochimaru understood. I didn't pick him.
His lips curled into a lunatic grin.
"Do you think you can get away from me?"
He disappeared in a flash, killing intent swarming the room.
A kunai sliced through the air like thunder.
Too quick.
Nael didn't flinch. He stared directly into Orochimaru's eyes — and took a step forward into the blade.
Blood spattered. The kunai sliced halfway through his neck.
Orochimaru was paralyzed.
Nael's lips formed the words silently.
"Even now, you can't shoot for my heart?"
Then I win.
A deafening crash shook the room.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's enraged voice thundered from behind:
"Orochimaru! What are you doing?!"
Nael closed his eyes.
His very last thought disappeared—
A failure bound by a cursed seal…
Fate gave me the worst script.
But that's okay.
I was born to play the role just right.