Only a hundred steps stood between him and home, yet those hundred steps made it impossible for Orochimaru to move forward.
His legs had become incredibly heavy.
Torikaze cast a Clarity Technique on him, which eased him somewhat.
"Why not be bolder? Perhaps what I intend to show you is exactly what you're thinking of?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru turned to Torikaze. "You mean...?"
Torikaze merely smiled without answering and pointed in a certain direction.
Orochimaru looked where he pointed and saw that the familiar courtyard was his home.
Then, a moment later, his pupils suddenly contracted.
An elderly woman in her fifties or sixties walked out of the house and stood in the courtyard, looking around as though searching for something.
The moment Orochimaru saw her, his entire body began trembling uncontrollably.
Though they had not seen each other for decades, Orochimaru recognized her at once.
"Mo... Mother..."
He turned to Torikaze, his eyes filled with disbelief. "My mother is still alive?"
Torikaze was slightly baffled. "Who said she was dead? Didn't I tell you to guess? I thought you'd figure it out easily. After all, you don't have any friends."
It seemed he had just been insulted, but Orochimaru did not care.
"Then that means my father is also..."
Torikaze nodded. "Of course. Konoha never went through war from the very beginning, so naturally they're both fine."
"Come on, shall we go see them? I know them quite well."
At that moment, Orochimaru did not know what to say. Instead, he had become the unfamiliar one.
Decades had passed, and his feelings for his parents had always remained buried deep in his heart, though they had faded somewhat over time.
But he would never forget the grace of the parents who had brought him into this world.
Once, he