Kabuto seemed ready to talk, so I pulled back on my bed like a psychiatrist, crossed my legs, and then slid over to the edge, leaving him sitting in the empty space. But I could still see some resistance in his eyes.
"Kabuto, I don't have any bad thoughts. I was a pretty smart kid, and from the first day I met Orochimaru, I knew that in his eyes, I was just an Uzumaki, not Eren. A perfect test subject... But I was surprised because the moment I realized he was the one who had taken me over, I expected him to tear me apart and rip me open."
Kabuto finally reacted a little when I spoke of Orochimaru like a monster.
"Orochimaru-sama is only this cruel to criminals sentenced to death. The people you saw there are all real monsters who, with the superiority that comes from being ninja, have slaughtered ordinary people, stolen their possessions, and raped their daughters and wives."
Poor thing, he doesn't even realize that the real reason Orochimaru buys prisoners is so he won't be followed. More importantly, only some of those people are actually death row inmates. I'm absolutely certain that the last girl brought in wasn't a death row inmate.
Besides having healthy skin, from what I can see of her internal organs, I don't think she has any harmful habits. And even if she did, given the current state of the Hidden Mist Village, someone with a bloodline like that girl wouldn't be arrested—she'd be killed outright.
Maybe Orochimaru found the girl as a corpse left behind after a civil war, or maybe he kidnapped her from her family's home and blamed the village authorities to provoke the war. Or maybe he just bought her directly from Obito. Who knows?
"You can't be afraid of me, Kabuto. Ah, ah, I'm just an ordinary villager. I couldn't harm you even if I wanted to. Come sit next to me. I'm really curious about how you met Orochimaru, and more importantly, why you show him so much respect."
Kabuto seemed hurt that I said he was afraid of me. This time, he came over and sat on my bed without thinking too much about it, but he was clearly uncomfortable sitting so close to me and leaned against the iron bars without letting me put my arm around his shoulder.
It's nice that I can manipulate him so easily. I'm lucky that he's not the person he is in most of the anime.
He spent years as one of Danzo's dogs, spying just to help the person he saw as his mother and his friends at the orphanage, and in the end, Danzo betrayed him in the most cruel way.
He's just a young man whose heart, which he tried so hard to protect, has been cruelly shattered.
Well, let's not deny the man his due. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Orochimaru for making him so susceptible to manipulation.
It's as if Orochimaru opened the door to a bank vault, and thanks to him, I feel like I can steal something too.
Before Orochimaru returns to close the door, I need to leave a mark so I can enter that safe later.
"When Orochimaru saved me, I had fallen into a pit."
"I'm listening, and I have plenty of time. Sometimes talking about things can really ease your mind. Did you know there are people in the capital who will listen to things you can't tell anyone else and charge you a ton of money in return?"
Kabuto stared at his feet absentmindedly for a moment, took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"First, you should know that I'm a child who grew up in an orphanage because my family died during the war. I had a caregiver named Nono who loved me just like my mother did. To be honest, I wanted to say she was my mother, but she always preferred me to call her big sister."
As Kabuto said these words, he smiled like someone remembering old, happy memories, but that smile never reappeared as he continued talking.
"Since my mother and father were ninjas, Nono wanted me to take the ninja academy entrance exam. Naturally, I had no objection because I always wanted to be a medical ninja just like her. I was talented and easily passed the exams, enrolling in the ninja academy."
At this point, the nostalgia fading from Kabuto's face was replaced by anger.
"When I graduated from ninja school, an ugly man who looked to be in his forties was waiting in front of my school. You probably know him; he used to talk about you a lot back then."
"How could I not know him? I know him and his root organization better than you think. If Orochimaru was the monster who wanted to experiment on me, Danzo was the monster who wanted to make me his forever. As a child, I used to pray to God that both of them would die."
Kabuto didn't seem offended that I called Orochimaru a monster this time. As soon as I finished speaking, he took over.
"Danzo suddenly entered my life and introduced himself as the Hokage's right-hand man."
"But Danzo is like the Hokage's forbidden love. They constantly fight in front of others, but whenever they're alone..."
When Kabuto heard my comparison, he laughed for the first time since I'd seen him.
"Hahaha. You really know a lot about the Root."
"As the owner of a high-quality and disappearing bloodline, it's not easy to live without being corrupted by Konoha's darkness. Anyway, I already know about the Root, but how did you escape from there?"
When Kabuto heard my question, his expression suddenly changed.
"Danzo gave me one last task to set me free..."
And so Kabuto began to tell me everything.
How Danzo had tricked him. How he had met Orochimaru. How Orochimaru had helped him escape the cursed tongue seal. How he had kidnapped me to gain Orochimaru's trust...
Everything...
....
*Background music: Ludovico Einaudi – Nuvole Bianche. From minute 2:30 onwards*
Two ninjas carrying a large wooden box in their hands passed by Eren, who was sitting at a piano playing music to himself, carrying the box in the direction Kabuto had shown them.
Exactly two weeks had passed since Eren and Kabuto had grown closer.
Thanks to their closeness and Kabuto's level of freedom, Eren finally found an opportunity to complete one of his template tasks.
[Template Task 13: Use music for manipulation. Arataka Reigen remembered how he once used classical music to make an old man let his guard down, and thought you could do the same.
Task duration: 2 days]
[Congratulations, template task completed. Template similarity +10]
[Your current template similarity: 45%]
Eren quickly glanced at all the system notifications that appeared and continued playing music.
Meanwhile, a different situation was unfolding in Konoha.
After nearly two months, a message finally reached the Hokage's office.
The trade caravan Eren was traveling with had not arrived, even though they had exceeded the maximum delay period of three weeks.
Sarutobi Hiruzen listened to this message from an Anbu ninja, with Danzo present beside him.
"How wonderful, hmh! I told you before, Hiruzen. No matter how foolish that boy is, the blood of the Uzumaki clan flows through his veins. You should have given him to me to train as a backup jinchuriki in case of a potential disaster scenario."
"Wait a moment, Danzo. We don't even know what else is going on."
"Should I wait? What if something happens to Naruto? Who in the village has the potential to become a Jinchuriki? Tell me!"
"Stop it, Danzo!"
"Stop what? No, we need to talk about this. You go and summon the village's two elders."
Finding himself suddenly in the middle of an unexpected argument, the ANBU looked at Sarutobi's face, wondering whether to carry out the order he had received.
"Go get them."
The Anbu immediately vanished from the room upon receiving the order.
Seeing that the Anbu had consulted Sarutobi before carrying out his order, Danzo was quite uncomfortable with the situation. It was as if he had realized once again how hollow his position as the Hokage's assistant truly was.
"Fine. Let's talk, Sarutobi. You've been completely emotional about Uzumaki Eren until now. But enough is enough. He's probably eaten more of this village's bread than anyone else, Sarutobi. Now it's time for him to pay his debt to this village."
"Calm down, Danzo! Let's find out where he is first. Then we'll talk about this."
Of course, Danzo didn't shut up and retreat to his corner with such a small warning.
Without even bothering to listen to Danzo until the other two Hokage assistants arrived, Sarutobi took the black tobacco he had bought from Eren out of the desk drawer and lit it.
In fact, even though he didn't say it, Eren's disappearance scared him too.
Eren had been quite happy since he left because Eren's store was making more money than he had expected, but the real profit wasn't coming from there. Eren had a huge trade network at its core, officially.
After thinking for a while, Sarutobi realized that someone with such a trade network could simply supply products to other stores as an intermediary and make huge profits.
Of course, doing something like that would mean a small increase in all prices in Konoha, which would mean inflation.
A sudden increase in prices would have a very bad effect on the economy that Hiruzen had worked so hard to stabilize.
Hiruzen's goodwill towards Eren, who he realized hadn't succumbed to the lure of money and had chosen this path for the village's sake, was greater than Danzo could have imagined at that time.
They needed to find Eren immediately.
At that moment, two people rushed into the room, and thus the big argument began.
And throughout all this time, the only thing that remained unchanged was the way Eren sat at the piano.
------------------
"Where did you learn to play the piano? I've never seen anyone play as well as you, even in the Land of Earth."
Right after I finished playing a piece, I heard Kabuto's praise from behind me.
Of course, I couldn't tell him that I had taken lessons as a child in my previous life. So it was best not to say anything to him.
"Is that what you think? Actually, playing the piano isn't as difficult as you think. I can teach you. If you play according to the notes, you'll become a pianist; if you play according to your dreams, you'll become a jazz musician. Sit down."
"Hahaha, thanks. Right now, what I really want to learn is how to use these technological things to help Orochimaru-sama."
"Alright then. Have they arranged the items Orochimaru-sama sent inside?"
"No, they put the boxes inside, but they're waiting for you to arrange them."
At Kabuto's words, I stretched and got up from where I was sitting. My butt hurt a little from sitting on a hard rock while playing the piano all this time, but it was definitely worth it.
After getting up from my seat, I turned my head and started looking around. Unlike before, I no longer had to spend all my time inside the huge cave; I was now at the cave's entrance.
This place, which would become Orochimaru's main base, the hidden sound village, in the future, was currently seeing new buildings being constructed around it.
The delivery had arrived before sunrise. It took them so long to place everything in the cave that I could see the dawn light.
"By the way, Kabuto. Thank you for secretly having the ninjas who brought Orochimaru's delivery give me some pions. I needed them more than I thought. I feel like the invisible pressure on me has lifted."
"It's all right, it was just a small request. Besides, everyone seems to enjoy listening to you. Anyway, let's go inside."