Shisui Uchiha had recently welcomed a new cellmate.
Like him, and like Hyuga Makoto, who was currently working under intense pressure, she also came from Konoha.
The only difference was probably that Anko Mitarashi was a girl.
At first, Shisui had been curious about how Rei Kaguya had managed to lure a young shinobi like Anko Mitarashi, one of Orochimaru's disciples, all the way to Kirigakure.
But when he heard from Rei that Orochimaru had been listed by Konoha as an S-rank missing-nin, Shisui froze completely from the sheer impact of that fact.
"I don't understand, Fourth Mizukage."
After recovering from his shock, Shisui looked at Rei, who was sitting on the other end of the dining table, calmly enjoying a plate of steamed deep-sea lobster.
Using the new form of address he had recently come up with, Shisui asked, "Why would even someone like Orochimaru, who held such a high position and was also the Hokage's disciple, choose to betray the village? Konoha could never have developed into what it is today without the effort he put in, right? So why… why could he abandon everything connected to Konoha so easily?"
"The way you say that makes me suspect you haven't properly read the history of Konoha or your Uchiha clan, Shisui."
Rei swallowed a piece of sweet, tender lobster, then looked at Shisui with a half-smile.
"Back then, Madara Uchiha founded Konoha together with Hashirama Senju. He was even close to becoming the First Hokage. And what happened later? Didn't he still abandon the village and his clan for the path he saw? Didn't he later return with the Nine-Tails and try to burn the hard work he and his best friend built together to the ground?"
"Those two things… still aren't quite the same, are they?"
Shisui fell silent for a while.
Then he looked at the crab spreading its claws on the plate in front of him with complicated eyes.
"In Madara's case, according to what I heard from the elders in my clan, even long after Konoha was founded, he was still feared by almost everyone else in the village… Aside from Hashirama Senju, he barely had any friends in the village. For someone like that, I can understand why he eventually chose to abandon everything he had in Konoha and leave."
"But Orochimaru is different. He was born and raised in Konoha. His teacher is the Third Hokage. His comrades are Princess Tsunade of the Senju clan and Jiraiya, who earned the recognition of the Toad Sages. Countless Konoha shinobi were once under his command and protection. Many young shinobi were willing to become his followers. There were even quite a few people who hoped he would become the Fourth Hokage…"
"He had so many bonds. Why was he still able to cut them all off without any burden?"
Anko Mitarashi, who was eating with them, kept an expressionless face and said nothing.
But her ears had already perked up.
Her curiosity toward her teacher, Orochimaru, was exposed before Rei's eyes with no concealment at all.
"Simple. Because the road he wanted to walk was different from the road Konoha wanted to walk."
Rei continued cutting the lobster in front of him with the knife and fork in his hands.
His tone was as calm as if he were commenting on whether tonight's dinner was too salty.
"As a person, Orochimaru can be considered a dyed-in-the-wool orthodox old Konoha elite in every sense, but his thoughts are not quite the same as those of a normal Konoha shinobi raised under the Will of Fire."
"Maybe before he clearly understood himself, he once had thoughts of sacrificing himself to protect the village. But from the fact that Orochimaru later mixed together with someone like Danzo, you can tell he had already clearly understood one thing—he could never be like those people who could become Hokage, putting other people's lives above his own."
"Lord Orochimaru, he… he didn't…"
Anko Mitarashi gave a weak protest that even she could not convince herself with.
Rei glanced at the girl Orochimaru had handed over to him as a deposit, then continued.
"What kind of place Root is, and what kind of style it has, I shouldn't need to explain that to you."
"If Danzo Shimura were still alive, then with his strength and the power he had accumulated over the years, even after the Fourth Hokage rose to power, Root might not have been able to act as arrogantly as it did during the Third Hokage's era, but it would not have been suppressed to the point of suffocation right away either."
"The problem is, Danzo is dead. Root's greatest pillar of support vanished. And the Third Hokage took Root's ownership away from Orochimaru, the only person who could still continue providing shelter to Root…"
"Then what Konoha intends to do next with Root, which is buried deep within the darkness, is self-evident."
"In this situation, Orochimaru, who had already thrown himself into darkness, was essentially completely excluded from Konoha's core of power. To Orochimaru, since the current Konoha no longer has a ship capable of carrying his dream, parting ways with Konoha and pursuing his own ideal is a very normal choice."
"Though I didn't expect both sides to tear off all pretense to such a merciless extent."
After listening to Rei's sharp evaluation, Shisui picked up the crab's two large claws and murmured somewhat absentmindedly.
"A struggle over paths… Is it really cruel enough to make people abandon their homeland, abandon friends and family, abandon their teacher, abandon memories and every bond they have?"
"When two people both feel they are not wrong, the argument that erupts between them is the kind that can truly become fierce enough to make them hate each other to the bone. And disputes over ideals and paths are usually built on the premise that both sides believe they are the correct one."
As Rei said this, he made no attempt to hide the thoughtful and extremely malicious look he cast toward Shisui.
After being stared at by Rei until his scalp went numb, Shisui asked with a full-body chill, "W-Why are you suddenly looking at me?"
"Because I think you will also be a very good and vivid example, Shisui."
Rei snapped his fingers and said with a friendly smile, "I feel that in a few more years, I should be able to transform you into an internationalist shinobi who firmly believes peace in the shinobi world does not have to be achieved with Konoha as the absolute core."
"If, at that time, Kirigakure and Konoha jointly hold a Chunin Exam, and I send you to Konoha as the jonin leader for the exchange…"
"What kind of fierce argument do you think would break out between you, your comrades in Konoha, and your relatives in the Uchiha clan, Shisui?"
Looking at Shisui's face, which instantly turned deathly pale, and at Rei, who began letting out a very wicked chuckle, Anko silently shoveled tonight's dinner into her mouth.
No wonder Lord Orochimaru sent me, his disciple, to Kirigakure…
Maybe only someone like the Fourth Mizukage, who is so good at toying with people's hearts and whose brain is also very strange, can become an ally who interacts with Lord Orochimaru on equal footing.
No, wait.
If I think of it like that, doesn't that mean I'm saying Lord Orochimaru is also someone with a very strange brain?
…
"Cough… cough, cough…"
Looking at Madara Uchiha, whose coughing in front of him had become more and more frequent and severe, Obito Uchiha frowned slightly and asked with some displeasure, "Are you going to die, Madara?"
"Unfortunately, although my body has always been growing weaker, as long as the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path remains under my control, this body will not truly die from old age…"
After panting hard for a while, Madara looked at Obito's right eye, which gave off a mysterious and dangerous aura.
He grinned.
"I can tell that your ocular power has been increasing very quickly lately… Is it because that Rei Kaguya's actions have started becoming bolder and bolder?"
"The war has ended, but that bastard's speed of growth may not slow down because of that…"
Obito clenched his right hand tightly, his brows furrowed.
"I must obtain power above his before he finds a way to surpass you."
"Then go retrieve your other eye, Obito."
Madara looked at Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan, shaped like a three-bladed windmill, and said weakly, "Only when a Mangekyo Sharingan possesses both eyes can its full power truly be displayed… Especially for a Mangekyo like yours, with such a special ability. The enhancement and improvement brought by having both eyes together will far exceed your imagination."
"After I learn all your knowledge, I will retrieve my eye. But right now, I need to improve the parts I lack."
Obito rejected Madara's suggestion expressionlessly.
In a voice so calm it made the heart feel cold, he said, "That bastard's physique should already be approaching your old opponent, Hashirama Senju. I must raise my ninjutsu and taijutsu to a level close to your prime before I can hope to defeat him. Otherwise, even if I possess a complete Kamui, it will still be very difficult to guarantee that I can kill him on the spot."
"What an arrogant brat. You say that as if you've seen me and Hashirama in our prime…"
Madara first glared at Obito with some displeasure.
Then he narrowed his eyes and said, "But you are not wrong. That boy is indeed not an enemy who can be dealt with by relying on a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan alone… Since you do not plan to retrieve your eye for now, go help me confirm that another pair of eyes remains within our control."
"Another pair of eyes?"
Obito frowned.
"That was an investment I made in another boy for the sake of realizing the Eye of the Moon Plan. Originally, it had already reached the time for him to learn of our existence and fall into darkness. But because Rei Kaguya interfered, the owner of those eyes fled from the trap I prepared for him on his own, and there are signs that he may break free of control…"
Madara coughed several more times.
Then he called out a White Zetsu clone from underground and leaned back weakly.
"Follow White Zetsu to the Land of Rain. It will tell you exactly what to do… Do not disappoint me, Obito."
"You don't need to tell me."
Obito placed his hand on White Zetsu's body.
With a cold snort, he disappeared together with it into the dark underground.
Only before he vanished, a trace of doubt and a trace of thought flashed through his cold Mangekyo Sharingan.
That person escaped the trap you set for him…
Then what about me?