It's Okay, I Was Born the Best Actor (Please Vote for Monthly

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To this day, Orochimaru could not forget that day six years ago.

Year 48 of the Ninja World calendar, the Third Shinobi World War had ended.

Konoha, besieged on all sides, had paid a grievous price before finally claiming ultimate victory in the war.

But...

"What meaning was there in it?"

Orochimaru's thin lips moved soundlessly as he calmly lowered his gaze toward the front.

Lead-gray clouds had spread across the entire sky. The already cold and gloomy graveyard seemed even more desolate and sorrowful. The crowd bowed their heads and sobbed like reeds bent by rain, while their dense black umbrellas resembled a flock of gathered crows.

He stood among the sea of black, looking at the old man at the front of the crowd.

That was his dear teacher, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen brushed the rainwater from the gravestone with his hand. Perhaps moved by that gesture, grief began to spread through the crowd.

"..."

Orochimaru looked at the watermelon-headed child slightly ahead of him.

He knew the child. He often saw him and his Genin father running laps around Konoha on their hands. In his memories, the pair had always been foolishly optimistic and hot-blooded, utterly unconcerned with the annoyed and mocking looks around them.

But now...

This was the first time Orochimaru had seen the child cry. He cried especially foolishly, snot and tears mixing across his face into mud.

He had heard that the child had encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist while on a mission. That Genin father, mocked as trash, had arrived to cover his child's escape.

In the end, he had single-handedly killed four of them, while the remaining three fled in disgrace with grievous injuries.

And that Genin father had died as a result.

There was also that child...

Orochimaru's narrow eyes shifted aside, his pupils reflecting a young face. The child held no umbrella, allowing the rain to soak him through.

His crying was faint and hoarse. With his head lowered, his shoulders trembled as he made a rasping sound, like cloth being torn open in fits and starts.

Yet his tears never stopped, streaming in several rivulets from his eyes and mingling with the rain.

Hyuga Yunchuan. Timid and cowardly by nature, frail in body. While children his age had already begun learning Gentle Fist, he had not even awakened his Byakugan. He was a well-known "waste" within the Hyuga Clan.

The child's father had not actually died on the battlefield. Rather, because a Main Branch member under his protection had been severely injured, he had risked his life to carry that person back to camp. With his Chakra nearly exhausted, he had then been tortured to death by the Main Branch Elder using the Caged Bird Cursed Seal.

Speaking of which, that child's father had once earned merit under Orochimaru during the Second Shinobi World War.

How old were these two children?

Nine? Ten?

Heh heh.

Thrown onto the battlefield so young, losing their only family so young...

Orochimaru looked once more at the old man at the front. Branching lightning flashed through the dark clouds, abruptly staining the world in shades of gray and white.

The dazzling white light cast the old man's hunched shadow long across the ground like an evil ghost, splitting Sarutobi Hiruzen's compassionate face into light and dark.

Having lived through two Shinobi World Wars, Orochimaru suddenly felt an incomparably profound disgust, so nauseating he nearly wanted to vomit.

What meaning did the lives of those who died in war truly have?

Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed.

Once the crowd dispersed and people gradually departed, only the bleak gravestones remained.

Orochimaru stood before Nawaki's gravestone. A black umbrella, dark as ink in the rain, sheltered him as he placed a white chrysanthemum before the marker. Looking at that familiar name engraved upon it, he unexpectedly felt nothing at all.

Grief? Wrath? Pity?

None of it.

Yet he was not calm.

He merely watched the rain drip from the edge of his umbrella, vanish after falling into the grooves of the inscription, and felt a fear rising from deep within his heart.

"Um, excuse me..."

A timid voice came from behind him, as though it had been squeezed out from someone's throat.

Orochimaru came back to himself and instinctively turned toward the voice, only to meet a pair of Byakugan.

The lingering chill on his face seemed to startle the other person. The child's body shuddered as he took a step back, but he eventually steadied himself.

"Um, excuse me, sir... your complexion looks very bad, so..."

Under Orochimaru's gaze, his voice grew softer and softer.

Orochimaru looked down at the child named Hyuga Yunchuan. He knew he had been standing before the gravestone for too long. The child was probably worried about his physical and mental state.

Kind, yet weak.

He truly was a waste.

Orochimaru passed judgment on the child in his heart. He did not intend to say much more, merely stepping away with an indifferent expression...

"Lord Orochimaru."

A voice came from behind him. For some inexplicable reason, he stopped.

"Do you know what the meaning of life is?"

At those words, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly and turned around. The child behind him still looked timid, but he raised his head and asked in confusion, "My father often mentioned you when he was alive. He said you were Konoha's hero. I thought... someone like you must know many things..."

"There is no meaning."

Before he could finish, Orochimaru softly interrupted, "Even if there is, it exists only while life remains alive."

"And a life that has died has no meaning whatsoever."

Death was the fairest equality in this world, one that applied to everyone.

No matter what one had done in life, no matter what one had possessed, when death came, one would have nothing.

Thinking of that, Orochimaru once again felt a coldness that seeped into his bones. Even the sensation of the freezing wind slipping into his collar became sharper, making the fingers gripping his umbrella tighten until they turned white.

Yes. Once dead, it was like water vanishing into water.

Death meant losing everything. He did not want to lose everything. He wanted to possess everything.

So he did not want to die, and he could not die!

"Lord Orochimaru." Hyuga Yunchuan suddenly raised his head. "Do you believe there are 'gods' in this world?"

Orochimaru came back to himself and looked at the timid child before him, suddenly finding it somewhat amusing.

Just as he looked down on Jiraiya, who constantly spoke of the Child of Prophecy who could change the Ninja World.

In his eyes, both the so-called Child of Prophecy and so-called gods were laughable fictional figures imagined by incapable people to deceive themselves.

An all-knowing, all-powerful god did not exist. Even if one did, it would merely be a more powerful being.

"What if... what if it possessed eternal life?"

Seeing the mockery in Orochimaru's eyes, Hyuga Yunchuan hurriedly said, "Before my father died, he gave me a Scroll and a corpse... a body. He said the Scroll recorded a secret of the Hyuga Clan, but I could never open it. And that body belonged to an ancestor of the Hyuga Clan. He had not died and would not die; only his soul had left his body..."

Although Hyuga Yunchuan's voice became quieter and quieter, as if he himself did not quite believe what he was saying, Orochimaru's narrow pupils trembled.

In the entire Ninja World, no one understood so-called "souls" better than Orochimaru.

To most people, souls were intangible and illusory. It was even more impossible for anyone's soul to exist independently outside their body.

But to Orochimaru, who was obsessed with studying the essence of human life, this was entirely possible. And the Hyuga Clan was undoubtedly one of the most ancient ninja clans...

"..."

Studying the child before him, whose forehead had begun to bead with cold sweat, Orochimaru inexplicably began to place some trust in his words.

Perhaps there was no harm in taking a look?

Then Hyuga Yunchuan, who had already lowered his head, suddenly felt a shadow fall over him. The freezing rain no longer struck him.

"Can you tell me why you are telling me this?"

Hyuga Yunchuan blankly raised his head, meeting a pair of narrow eyes.

Orochimaru stood before him with an umbrella in hand, one hand resting on his knee as he lowered himself slightly, meeting Hyuga Yunchuan's gaze at eye level.

"This should be a secret of the Hyuga Clan, shouldn't it? Why not tell the clan elders?" A faint smile rested on that pale face, somehow giving him an unusual charm.

"M-My father told me that if he died, I could use that Scroll and that body to exchange for better treatment from the clan."

Perhaps because Orochimaru's tone had softened, some color returned to Hyuga Yunchuan's young face. He lowered his head and said, "But I don't trust them. My father was forced to death by them."

A trace of Resentment could still be heard in his trembling voice. Orochimaru glanced at his slowly clenching fists, surprised that this child had a little spirit in him after all.

"You want me to help you take revenge?" Orochimaru asked with a narrowed-eyed smile. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell the Hyuga Clan about this?"

"I think someone like you wouldn't do that. And even if you really did..." Hyuga Yunchuan slowly shook his head, raised his eyes to Orochimaru, and softly said, "I would not lose much."

"Only myself."

"..." Facing those resolute white eyes, Orochimaru fell silent for a moment.

A moment later, he suddenly smiled and placed a hand on Hyuga Yunchuan's head.

Just as he thought. Living did not necessarily have meaning, but only by living on could one find interesting people and things.

Later, Hyuga Yunchuan handed that Scroll and body over to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru deciphered part of the Scroll's Sealing Technique. From the contents on its first few pages, he learned of the Otsutsuki Clan that had existed at the birth of the Ninja World.

They were "people from the heavens" who came from another planet. Every member was born immensely powerful. They did not need to train like the humans of the Ninja World. Through something called a Kusabi, they could reincarnate and resurrect. They were beings who transcended death.

They explored the universe in teams of two, but their sole purpose was to plant something called the God Tree and devour all life on a planet.

The members of the Main House would return to the Home Planet, leaving Branch Family members behind to watch over the planet and ensure that the God Tree's "fruit" ripened smoothly.

And according to the Scroll, that body which had lost its "soul" belonged to a member of the Otsutsuki Clan's Branch Family.

He had spread Chakra throughout the Ninja World and left descendants behind—the present-day Hyuga Clan.

Because Orochimaru had yet to break the seals on the latter half of the Scroll, he still did not know why that Otsutsuki clansman had abandoned his body. But even this much was enough to make Orochimaru tremble with excitement and delight.

Such exquisite Meridians, such a perfect body—compared to the humans of the Ninja World, they were entirely different species!

Eternal life truly existed. All tangible things would one day die, but the "soul" could exist forever!

He only needed to explore the mysteries of the Otsutsuki Clan. One day, he too would understand every truth in this world!

It had now been exactly six years since Orochimaru obtained that Scroll and body.

Over those six years, Orochimaru believed he had completely brought Hyuga Yunchuan under his control. The youth's eyes held nothing but admiration for him.

He obediently cooperated with every experiment.

Orochimaru had even sent the child to approach the Third Hokage, and even to Root to deliver information to Shimura Danzō. Though terrified, he had never refused.

Moreover, Orochimaru had discovered that although the child possessed no talent as a ninja, he seemed to have a peculiar curiosity and intuition for research. He often inadvertently gave Orochimaru inspiration from insignificant details.

That was truly rare.

Even Tsunade, known as the "medical master," merely treated medicine and Ninjutsu as means of healing the wounded and saving the dying. She had no interest whatsoever in exploring the secrets and essence of life.

For that reason, Orochimaru had even developed a faint sense of kinship with him, becoming somewhat reluctant to kill the youth's soul.

But in the end, his Greed for truth and immortality overcame that last shred of recognition.

Until now.

Looking at the youth who had suddenly attacked him, looking at the headless corpse, Orochimaru even found it absurd.

It was as though everything he had experienced over those six years had been an unreal dream.

"You..."

The violent emotional shock made the normally composed Orochimaru ask a foolish question.

"What are you doing?"

Fortunately, Hyuga Yunchuan seemed to know what he truly wanted to ask. He merely smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."

"Just as you told me, true ignorance is not lacking knowledge, but refusing to acquire it."

"I also want to tell you that weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival."

"Pride is."

Yes. Because of Pride, Orochimaru had never considered a "waste," a child barely over ten, worthy of his attention.

Because of Pride, he had kept his gaze fixed upon that Otsutsuki "remains" and overlooked every anomaly that had occurred right before his eyes.

After all, what could a timid child barely over ten do?

What could a waste who could not even awaken his Byakugan do?

Hyuga Yunchuan was like an isolated island closed off from the outside world. Orochimaru had only seen the completely ordinary forest surrounding it, never the bottomless, tranquil swamp upon the island.

Only when matters slipped beyond his control did Orochimaru awaken as if from a dream.

From beginning to end, it had not been him who chose Hyuga Yunchuan. It was Hyuga Yunchuan who had chosen him.

He had actually been played by some brat?

Realizing that, Orochimaru was so enraged that he laughed instead. A savage smile appeared on his pale face.

"You think you can escape from me?"

The instant those words left his mouth, Orochimaru vanished from before him.

A chilling, terrifying killing intent erupted in that instant!

It was like the ice covering a river suddenly shattering. The flood that had accumulated beneath the solid ice over countless days let out a thunderous roar that shook the heart as it poured toward Hyuga Yunchuan!

Buzz!!

A shrill hum rang out—the sonic boom of air being torn apart.

Too fast.

The Kunai had lost its shape to its extreme speed. It moved so quickly that its full form could not be seen.

As expected, even with his Chakra nearly exhausted, Orochimaru was still not an opponent he could handle at his current level.

The Otsutsuki body materialized from thousands of Reality Points was, in the end, merely an incomplete Otsutsuki body. It could only grant him powerful potential, not actual strength.

With that thought in mind, Hyuga Yunchuan's blue-white pupils reflected the Kunai's cold gleam, yet not the slightest ripple rose in them.

Then, under Orochimaru's stunned gaze, he not only did not dodge but instead deliberately met the Kunai's blade.

Splat!

Thick crimson blood instantly gushed forth, flowing and splashing across the ground with a wet sound.

That strike sliced through half of Hyuga Yunchuan's neck, cutting through his vocal cords and throat all the way to the cervical vertebrae. Within seconds, blood would flood into his lungs with every breath. For an ordinary person, it would almost certainly be fatal.

"As expected."

The smile on Hyuga Yunchuan's face did not change. Watching Orochimaru's lips move, he silently said, "Even now, you still couldn't bear to stab my heart?"

In that case, I won.

Bang!

A deafening crash rang in his ears. Orochimaru instinctively looked behind him and saw an aged face twisted with fury.

"Orochimaru! What are you doing?!"

The furious roar echoed out. Hyuga Yunchuan slowly closed his eyes and collapsed onto the operating table, a final thought surfacing in his mind.

Heh, a useless thing burdened by the Caged Bird.

Fate really gave me the worst possible "script."

But it doesn't matter.

I was born to be the best "actor."

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