A few days later.
Inside a Konoha dango shop.
"Have you heard? People have been going missing all over the Land of Fire lately. The Feudal Lord is furious and ordered the Third to investigate the matter thoroughly."
"I heard there are clues suggesting the people are ultimately being taken to our Konoha."
"Who do you think is behind it?"
"Definitely not us."
"But speaking of—hey! Why is someone as annoying as Kakashi showing up here?!"
A group of students from one class at the Ninja Academy had gathered for a boys' outing.
A little boy with orange goggles resting on his Forehead Protector was gossiping. But when he spotted someone at the stall, even the dango in his hand lost its appeal.
Zhengyi had been trying to keep a low profile out of guilt. Now he looked a little confused and pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Yeah, you bastard! How dare you show your face here?!"
If you wanted to know why Obito was so angry, it all went back to before Zhengyi's memories had awakened.
He, Obito, and Rin had been in the same class at the Ninja Academy when they were little.
If Kakashi was a genius ninja, then Zhengyi was an undisputed academic genius.
While the other students were still learning their letters, Zhengyi had already written an entire commentary on the Will of Fire by himself. Even the Third had praised him repeatedly, saying he hadn't seen such a clever student in a long time.
After Kakashi graduated early, Zhengyi was unquestionably the number-one student at the Ninja Academy.
Then this number one had his first crush. He'd fallen hard for a gentle little girl—and that girl was Rin Nohara.
Honestly, Zhengyi really didn't want to remember that dark chapter of his past.
He'd been young and foolish, and he'd confessed to Rin in public more than ten times.
He'd written over a hundred love letters.
Oh~
No wonder Obito was so worked up. They were still rivals in love!
Sure, writing love letters was childish, but Zhengyi was eloquent. Even though Rin had no interest in romance, she would still stare at his letters for a long time, lost in thought.
Obito had watched it all, anxious and helpless. The one bright spot was that after Orochimaru took Zhengyi on as a student, he was often nowhere to be seen. The annoying part was that whenever Minato-sensei chatted with them about their fondest memories from their school days, Rin always ended up reminiscing about Zhengyi.
Oh, boy.
Zhengyi wasn't sure how to face Obito. Before he'd fallen for Rin, Obito had been his best friend—the kind of friend who got punished for being late to class together.
"You! Why aren't you saying anything?!"
"Why won't you answer me?"
"Come outside and fight me!!"
Of all the people in his life, Obito hated Zhengyi most. Back when they'd been made to stand outside as punishment, Obito had told Zhengyi all of Rin's likes and dislikes, asking him to help figure out what to do. He hadn't expected Zhengyi to—
Guys! Would it count as self-defense if I killed Zhengyi?!
"I'm not going to fight you." Zhengyi sighed. Obito had treated him like a brother, but he had... Well, he'd deserved this. Sigh.
"What kind of man are you? What kind of man?!"
"Hey, Obito." Asuma hurriedly stubbed out his cigarette and grabbed Obito's hand.
"We're classmates." Guy appeared behind Obito and held him back with both arms.
"You guys..." Gekko Hayate stepped in front of Obito to stop him from doing anything rash.
"Childish." Kakashi found the whole thing pointless and chose to leave early.
Just like that, the whole class reunion went dead quiet.
"Zhengyi! I'll never forgive you! Aaaah! Just you wait!!"
"Zhengyi!!!!!!"
In the end, Obito had to be dragged away, still pointing at Zhengyi.
"Maybe ten or twenty years from now, Obito will understand how precious our friendship as classmates is and make up with you." Ebisu patted Zhengyi on the shoulder.
"Ten or twenty years from now?"
Zhengyi hadn't realized Obito hated him this much. The guy practically wanted to eat him alive.
What about the Nine-Tails Incident in two or three years?
At this rate, the Nine-Tails' spawn point would be right in his house.
"Where's Obito?"
"He went to learn ninjutsu from Jonin Minato. He said he'd definitely kill you someday." The two who had escorted Obito away returned, shaking their heads with helpless expressions.
Before he turned dark, Obito's threats were just angry words. But after he turned dark, who knew?
Zhengyi felt the pressure mounting.
Misfortune really did seek out the unfortunate.
He'd spent his whole life doing good deeds. Why was this happening to him?
"Let's keep eating." Asuma sighed. Good thing he hadn't told Zhengyi what Kurenai liked back then. Otherwise...
"Asuma, your father is the Third. Do you know anything about the missing people?" someone asked.
It was a huge scandal. People kept disappearing from the Land of Fire, and the villagers spent every day on edge. The country was already at war, and now everyone was even more panicked. At this rate, the Land of Fire might fall!
"Hmph. I knew that old man wouldn't know anything, so I didn't even ask him."
"Still, he's the Hokage. You really call him that?"
"What Hokage? He's just a dead man walking." Asuma lit a cigarette.
"What about you, Zhengyi? Do you know anything?"
"I don't know!!"
"?"
"If even the Third doesn't know, how would Orochimaru-sensei know?"
Inside Orochimaru's laboratory.
Several batches of test subjects had arrived over the past few days.
The men, each weighing around 60 kilograms, had been locked in two separate cages.
Two more cages held women who weighed around 45 kilograms.
The men were about 172 centimeters tall, while the women were around 156 centimeters.
Orochimaru had sealed all their throats, robbing them of the ability to speak. As they stared at the laboratory's sinister-looking master, their hearts were filled with despair.
"Sensei."
"Good. You did well."
Orochimaru's eyes were full of approval. This was why he liked Zhengyi.
He was capable, and he was meticulous.
Orochimaru had conducted human experiments for years, yet he'd never thought to capture subjects based on their height and weight to create control groups.
Before, he'd studied all sorts of people, tall and short, fat and thin, and the experiments had been prone to error.
He'd assigned Zhengyi the task of capturing people, and the boy had done it perfectly.
"But, Sensei..."
Zhengyi lowered his head, feeling he'd let his name down. He was supposed to stand for justice!
But what was he doing now? Helping Orochimaru conduct human experiments?
He was a monster!!!
"Don't feel guilty, Zhengyi. Progress always requires the sacrifice of a few insignificant people. These people have contributed little to the Land of Fire. Using them for human experiments now is... probably the most useful contribution they could make."
Orochimaru didn't want his most prized subordinate, Zhengyi, to feel down, so he comforted him without a trace of guilt.
As they listened to Zhengyi and Orochimaru talk, the captured men and women closed their eyes, utterly despondent.
"Now, I'm going to begin the experiment. Go outside and keep watch at the door for me."
"I'm sorry." Zhengyi could only stand outside the laboratory, tormented as he whispered, "I'm sorry" again and again.
"Please, nooo!" Inside the laboratory, the helpless people watched Orochimaru come closer and closer.
"Waaah..."
Before you continue