"I'll take this sword."
"This one's good. This saber is nice too—lightweight, suitable for a girl. You can have it."
"Really? Thanks!"
"And this..."
Watching coldly as the six people casually picked out weapons in front of one wall of the basement, listening to their conversation as they seemed to grow familiar in an instant, acting like old friends who had weathered hardships together, the gloomy look on his past self's face seemed to deepen.
An emotion laced with mockery and disdain quietly entered Chiba's senses, which were already somewhat anxious.
Uh...
This was...
At a time like this, he still felt such intense hostility toward interpersonal relationships?
Was I really such a psychologically twisted person?
As that emotion washed over him, perhaps because he was experiencing it firsthand—or rather, empathizing with it so deeply—Chiba thought this while feeling that mocking disdain alongside powerful unease and urgency.
Even amid such intense unease and urgency, his past self still regarded the six people's behavior with disdain and hostility. That alone showed just how dark his mindset had been. This version of himself had likewise never experienced the trials of life and death, and aside from possessing his complete memories of his previous life, he had been as blank as Chiba before experiencing life and death.
At this moment, Chiba, who had lived through the Naruto World, finally understood a little why his other self had become like that—so gloomy, so cold, even seeming as if he had no emotions at all.
The memories of his previous life had already contaminated his past self's very nature, giving him a dark personality.
He trusted neither others nor the possibility of good relationships between people.
Still, Chiba was rather glad of it now. He knew full well that without that dark mentality, his