Once Wrote Hundreds of Love Letters to Lin

A few days later.

Inside a dumpling shop in Konoha.

"Have you heard? People have been going missing across the Land of Fire lately. The Daimyo is furious and has ordered the Third Hokage to investigate the matter thoroughly."

"There are rumors suggesting that the final destination for these missing people is our very own Konoha."

"Who do you think is behind this?"

"Well, it certainly isn't us."

"But speaking of which, hey! Why is a guy even more annoying than Kakashi showing up here?!"

A group of students from a certain Ninja Academy class were holding a gathering among the boys.

A young boy with orange goggles perched on his forehead was gossiping, but upon spotting someone at the stall, the dumpling in his hand suddenly lost its appeal.

Zhengyi, who had been trying his best to minimize his presence due to a guilty conscience, pointed at himself in confusion, "Me?"

"That's right! You jerk! How dare you show your face here?!"

If one were to ask why Obito was so angry.

It all traced back to before Zhengyi's memories had awakened.

He had been a student in the same Ninja Academy class as Obito and Rin Nohara.

If Kakashi was a genius at being a ninja, then Zhengyi was, without dispute, an academic genius.

While other students were still learning their letters, Zhengyi had single-handedly written an annotation on the Will of Fire, which even the Third Hokage had praised repeatedly, remarking that he hadn't seen such a brilliant student in a long time.

After Kakashi graduated early, Zhengyi was the undisputed No. 1 at the Ninja Academy.

And then, this No. 1 had a budding romance; he was very fond of a gentle young girl, and that gentle girl was none other than Rin Nohara.

To be honest, Zhengyi really didn't want to recall that dark history.

Back when he was young and foolish, he had confessed his feelings to Rin in public no fewer than ten times.

He had written hundreds of love letters.

Oh~

No wonder Obito was so agitated; they were rivals in love, after all.

Although sending love letters was childish, Zhengyi was quite talented with words, and even though Rin had no intention of dating, she would often stare at his letters in a daze for a long time.

Obito saw it and felt anxious, but the fortunate thing was that after Zhengyi was taken as an apprentice by Orochimaru, he was rarely seen. The frustrating part was that whenever Minato talked to them about fond memories of his student days, Rin would always bring up Zhengyi.

Ah, this.

Zhengyi didn't quite know how to face Obito, because before he fell for Rin, he and Obito had been the best of brothers—the kind who would get punished together for being late to class.

"You jerk! Why aren't you saying anything?!"

"Why aren't you answering me?"

"Come outside and fight me one-on-one!!"

Of all the people in this life, Obito hated Zhengyi the most. Back when they were being punished outside, he had told Zhengyi all of Rin's preferences, begging him to help him come up with a plan, only for Zhengyi to...

Brothers! Would it count as self-defense if I killed Zhengyi?!

"I won't fight you." Zhengyi sighed. Obito treated him like a brother, yet he had... he deserved this, sigh.

"What kind of man are you? What kind of man?"

"Hey, Obito." Asuma quickly put out his cigarette and grabbed Obito's arm.

"We are classmates." Guy appeared behind Obito, holding him steady with both hands.

"You guys." Hayate Gekko stood in front of Obito to prevent him from doing anything impulsive.

"Childish." Kakashi found this behavior boring and chose to leave early.

A perfectly good class reunion had been ruined just like that.

"Zhengyi! I will never let you off! Ahhh! You just wait!!"

"Zhengyi!!!!!!"

Obito was eventually dragged away, his finger still pointing at Zhengyi.

"Sigh, it might take ten or twenty years for Obito to understand the value of our friendship as classmates and reconcile with you." Ebisu patted Zhengyi on the shoulder.

"Ten, twenty years?"

Zhengyi hadn't realized Obito hated him that much; he looked ready to eat him alive.

And that Nine-Tails Incident in two or three years?

I'm afraid the Nine-Tails' spawn point might end up being at his house.

"Where's Obito?"

"He went to find Minato to learn ninjutsu, saying he absolutely has to kill you in the future." The two who had escorted Obito away returned, shaking their heads helplessly.

Obito's words before his corruption were just angry outbursts, but after he was corrupted, it was hard to say.

Zhengyi felt the pressure mounting.

Misfortune truly loves the miserable, it really does.

He had spent his entire life accumulating merit and doing good deeds, so why was he being treated like this?

"Keep eating." Asuma sighed. It was a good thing he hadn't told Zhengyi about Kurenai's preferences back then, otherwise?

"Asuma, your father is the Third Hokage. Do you know anything about the missing persons cases?" someone asked.

This matter had caused a huge stir. People were going missing in the Land of Fire every few days, and the villagers lived in constant fear. With a war already raging outside, the public was in a state of panic; if things went on like this, the Land of Fire might actually fall!

"Tch, you know that old geezer wouldn't know anything, which is why I didn't even bother asking him."

"Fair enough, but he is the Hokage, after all. To think you'd call him that."

"What Hokage? He's nothing but a skeleton in a grave." Asuma lit a cigarette.

"What about Zhengyi? Do you know if he does?"

"No idea!!"

"?"

"If the Third Hokage doesn't know, how could Master Orochimaru know?"

Inside Orochimaru's laboratory.

Several batches of "consumables" had arrived over the past few days.

Men weighing around 60kg were locked separately in two cages.

Then, there were two other cages containing women weighing around 45kg.

The men were roughly 172cm tall, while the women were around 156cm.

These people had their throats sealed by Orochimaru, rendering them unable to speak. As they stared at the eerie master of the laboratory, their hearts were filled with nothing but despair.

"Master."

"Not bad. You have done very well."

Orochimaru's eyes were full of appreciation; this was exactly why he liked Zhengyi.

His ability to get things done was exceptional, and he was meticulous in his work.

Having conducted human experiments for so many years, Orochimaru had never thought to capture subjects based on weight and height to create control groups.

In the past, he had studied people of all different shapes and sizes, which made his experiments prone to errors.

The task he had entrusted to Zhengyi—capturing these people—had been completed perfectly by the boy.

"But, Master."

Zhengyi kept his head lowered, feeling he had betrayed his own name; he was supposed to represent justice!

Yet, what was he doing now? Helping Orochimaru conduct human experiments?

He was nothing but a bastard!!!

"Do not feel guilty, Zhengyi-kun. The progress of humanity always requires the sacrifice of a few insignificant lives. These people did not contribute much value to the Land of Fire, so using them for human experiments now can be considered... their most useful contribution."

Orochimaru did not want his most prized subordinate to feel depressed, so he offered this self-righteous consolation.

Listening to the conversation between Zhengyi and Orochimaru, the captured men and women closed their eyes in resignation.

"Very well, I am going to begin the experiment. Go outside and guard the door for your master."

"I'm sorry." Zhengyi could only stand outside the laboratory door, his heart tormented as he whispered apologies over and over again.

"No, please~~" The people inside the laboratory watched helplessly as Orochimaru drew closer and closer to them.

"Wuu wuu wuu..."