Wait! Why did I suddenly get the feeling this kid was kind of unsafe? Recalling that night beneath the crescent moon and stars, when Number 15 had sat by the ship's rail just like now and told that story, Chiba suddenly felt a chill run down his back.
Perhaps because they had grown so close over the past few years, and because he had appeared during Number 15's most vulnerable time to offer support and comfort, Chiba had overlooked certain things before.
But now, as he recalled it, he suddenly realized.
If the story that guy had told was actually about himself, then wasn't the boy in that story Number 15? And at the end of the story, the protagonist—the boy—seemed to have completely fallen into darkness!
Not only had he fallen into darkness, he had done so thoroughly. He destroyed everything belonging to the person he had once admired and been willing to give everything for. He did not even let her end her suffering, keeping her life and sanity barely intact with the best doctors, not allowing her to go mad or die, forcing her to spend the rest of her life reliving, scene after scene, the sight of her husband and children being skinned alive and chopped into meat paste...
Compared to that, killing someone and breaking their spirit was practically merciful! At that moment, Chiba suddenly realized that Number 15, who often left even him speechless in their arguments and somewhat resembled Hyuga Yukyō...
Was completely different from Hyuga Yukyō!
They both bickered, but Hyuga Yukyō was, after all, a native of Konoha. Regardless of their opposing positions, things could never truly develop into a fight to the death. Back then, Hyuga Yukyō had tried to kill him because years of misunderstandings had bred a father-killing