First Encounter

A few days later, at Orochimaru's residence.

Ye Zi ate silently while Orochimaru sat across from him. His casual, ordinary loungewear had washed away some of his coldness and killing intent.

No talking during meals...

Ye Zi and Orochimaru both demonstrated this perfectly, and the meal passed quietly in silence.

After eating, Ye Zi sat idly in the hallway, staring blankly at the only tree in the courtyard, its leaves nearly all gone.

Orochimaru's residence was very large. The courtyard alone was as big as an ordinary house, yet only a single old tree had been planted there. Perhaps once that old tree completely withered away, the vast courtyard would become as barren as a desert.

A few days ago, when he learned that Orochimaru would be responsible for his life from then on, Ye Zi had instantly felt awful. But when he considered Orochimaru's strange abilities, he found some comfort. After all, if he wanted to return sooner, there was nothing better than being around someone with extraordinary powers.

Over the past few days, aside from bringing him back to this residence on the first day, Orochimaru had seemed to vanish. Ye Zi did not know whether Orochimaru had simply forgotten about him, but there had not been any food stored in the enormous residence, leaving him hungry for days on end.

When Orochimaru returned and saw Ye Zi looking as though he were about to starve to death, he said nothing. Under Ye Zi's resentful gaze, he went into a room to change into a set of home clothes, then headed out. When he came back, he simply prepared a tableful of food.

Since he often left the village to carry out missions, sometimes for long periods of time, Orochimaru never kept ingredients at home. He only went out to buy them when he needed them.

"That kind of person can cook too." Looking at the old tree, Ye Zi thought of the delicious meal from earlier and could not help shaking his head.

"If you were a little smarter, you would have seen the money on the table in the living room."

A cold voice suddenly sounded from behind him. It was Orochimaru, though Ye Zi had no idea whether he had heard what Ye Zi said.

Ye Zi froze. He truly had not noticed any money on the living room table. The house was so large, and when he had searched for food, he had focused mainly on the kitchen.

After speaking, Orochimaru sat down beside Ye Zi. Though he had taken the initiative to secure custody of Ye Zi, he was still somewhat unused to having another person in his cold, empty home.

Ye Zi glanced sideways at Orochimaru's pale profile, his expression slightly hesitant. He wanted to ask Orochimaru many things, but he did not know how to begin.

The two of them sat in the hallway, watching the lonely old tree in the courtyard. Neither spoke.

"If you have nothing to do, you can go for a walk." After a long while, Orochimaru suddenly tossed out that inexplicable remark, then rose and headed toward his room.

Ye Zi stared at Orochimaru's back in astonishment, not knowing what to say.

People were not machines. They always needed rest. Having just completed a mission, Orochimaru only wanted to rest properly during his rare downtime.

The situation was turbulent now, with conflicts breaking out everywhere. Small-scale battles showed no signs of stopping, leaving Konoha's ninja with endless work every day. Fortunately, the Second Ninja World War had come to an end, giving every ninja village room to recuperate.

Although Ye Zi had been in this world for nearly a week, he knew nothing about it. Ever since he had been brought back to Konoha, he had remained inside Orochimaru's residence for days. Come to think of it, he truly had not gone outside at all.

"Go for a walk...?"

Ye Zi stood and headed toward the living room. As soon as he entered, he saw more than a dozen copper coins on the table. He walked over, scooped them up, and casually put them in his pocket. He had no idea what the coins could be used for, but he needed to carry at least some money with him.

Leaving Orochimaru's residence and walking forward for a while, he arrived at the street.

There were not many people coming and going, but there were indeed quite a few shops on both sides of the street. Whether a village was prosperous could be seen from the businesses operating there. At the very least, the shops in Konoha sold nearly everything. From this alone, it was clear that Konoha was more prosperous than the other ninja villages. After all, Konoha's geographical environment was far better than that of the other countries, with fertile land stretching as far as the eye could see.

The bleak atmosphere inherent to wartime was not very obvious here...

Ye Zi wandered casually down the street. The passing crowds did not stare at him because he was unfamiliar, but when Ye Zi looked at them, they would smile and nod in greeting. This surprised him and made him feel rather embarrassed, so he began to curb his habit of looking around everywhere.

Because his body was so frail, the clothes Orochimaru had worn as a child hung loosely on him, making him look somewhat mismatched. As he walked, the clothes kept slipping down without notice, forcing Ye Zi to tug them back into place every so often.

"Even though I still know nothing about this world, this place really does seem much better."

After casually making a round of the streets, Ye Zi compared Konoha to the deserted little village where he had first arrived. The difference was like heaven and earth.

Lost in thought, Ye Zi failed to notice as he passed around a corner and collided head-on with a child. The impact was not particularly strong, yet it sent Ye Zi reeling backward onto the ground.

"Damn it."

Pain made Ye Zi frown slightly after being knocked down. He looked up at the child in front of him, who was somewhat bigger than he was, and once again keenly realized how weak his current body was. For now, he could only hurry and build his body back up.

The child who had knocked Ye Zi over looked about seven or eight years old. He had golden hair, delicate features, and sapphire-like blue eyes now filled with deep apology.

"Are you... okay?"

Minato Namikaze's childish face was full of remorse as he extended a hand toward Ye Zi on the ground.

Ye Zi looked coldly at the small, childish hand offered to him and ignored it. He got to his feet on his own, brushed off the dust he had picked up from the fall, then walked straight past Minato Namikaze.

Seeing Ye Zi ignore him, Minato Namikaze froze. He remained in the awkward pose of holding out his hand, at a loss for what to do. After several breaths, he withdrew his hand and turned to watch Ye Zi's departing back, confusion appearing on his small face.

His encounter with Minato was only an insignificant interlude. Ye Zi walked expressionlessly toward Orochimaru's residence, his backside faintly aching. His current body was far too frail; even a minor collision could injure him. If he wanted to recover quickly, then no matter how unwilling he was to speak to Orochimaru, he had no choice.

To come into contact with those strange abilities sooner, to return to Earth sooner...

Ye Zi decided that as soon as he got back, he would lay everything out before Orochimaru.

He needed to build up his body, so he needed proper food.

He needed to return to Earth as soon as possible, so he needed to understand this world.