Lin Zi suddenly spoke from behind Kakashi, his voice light and airy.
Kakashi's whole body stiffened. He spun around, his hand already reaching for the kunai at his waist. But when he saw the pale, paper-white face of the person who'd come, he abruptly stopped.
"What, want to spar with me?"
He froze for two seconds. The muscles in his face twitched, then he quickly lowered his head, his expression turning respectful.
"Lord Orochimaru... what brings you here?"
"I'm out for a walk."
Lin Zi folded his arms and lifted his chin toward the tombstones. His snake-like pupils swept over Kakashi's face.
"And you? Skipping your mission in broad daylight to come pay respects to someone?"
Kakashi tightened his grip on the flower stems and lowered his eyes. His voice was subdued.
"...For Obito and Rin."
"Oh."
Lin Zi answered without pressing him further.
"Lord Orochimaru,"
Kakashi said with his head bowed.
"I'm very grateful that you saved my sensei's wife, Kushina."
Before he could finish, he bent at the waist. The bouquet of wild chrysanthemums in his hand fell with a slap onto the flagstones, scattering petals everywhere.
"What's with everyone around here?"
Lin Zi took half a step back and raised a hand to his forehead, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes full of helplessness.
"Why does everyone keep bowing without saying a word?"
Kakashi straightened but said nothing. He simply lowered his head, his dead-fish eye fixed on the scattered flowers on the ground.
Lin Zi folded his arms and studied Kakashi's face. The kid had looked like he wanted to say something ever since they'd started talking. In Ryūchi Cave's heightened perception, his thoughts lit up like a beacon.
"I think I've figured it out."
Lin Zi sighed, his voice carrying a lazy, "What am I going to do with you?" sort of resignation.
"You had more to say, didn't you? What's the question? I'm in a good mood today, so I can humor you and answer."
Kakashi's head shot up. His one visible eye widened slightly.
"Really, Lord Orochimaru?"
"Honest as the day is long."
Lin Zi tilted his head. His forked tongue flicked out and quivered in the air.
"Ask while I still feel like it."
Kakashi swallowed. His Adam's apple bobbed as he bent to pick up the flowers and brushed the dust from their petals. His voice was so soft it seemed he was afraid of disturbing something.
"Then... in your world, how are Obito and Rin doing?"
Lin Zi clicked his tongue and looked past Kakashi's shoulder at the tombstone in the distance, engraved with the name "Obito Uchiha."
He fell silent for two seconds, then spoke.
"They died too. And you... you were just as depressed."
"I see..."
Kakashi tightened his grip on the stems again and lowered his eyes. It was as if those words had knocked the strength out of him, and he'd shrunk back into that silent stone once more.
The cemetery suddenly fell quiet. Only the wind stirred the fallen leaves, sending them spinning at their feet.
Lin Zi stared at him. Then he spoke, his voice low but precise as a needle piercing straight through.
"Hey, Kakashi. What if, in another world, your friends survived, but you were the one who died?"
Kakashi froze and abruptly looked up. For the first time, confusion showed in his dead-fish eye.
"Would they be like you are now?"
Lin Zi folded his arms, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes unblinking.
Kakashi parted his lips, but for a long while, no sound came out. He looked down at the flowers in his hand, then at the familiar name on the tombstone. At last, he shook his head.
"I don't know. But I think... they'd have more backbone than me."
"Backbone?"
Lin Zi scoffed and stepped closer, laying his pale hand on Kakashi's shoulder. His touch wasn't hard, but it still made Kakashi's whole body shudder.
"Don't overthink it."
Lin Zi's voice suddenly softened, as if drifting from somewhere far away.
"Who knows? It might not be long before those good friends of yours... get a mission to come find you."
"Really?" Kakashi's pupils contracted.
"I don't know." Lin Zi grinned, the cemetery's bleak sunlight reflected in his snake-like eyes. "But I think there's a good chance."
He withdrew his hand, tucked it into his pocket, and turned toward the cemetery exit. His black ponytail swayed in the wind.
"So don't be too sad. Pull yourself together and go help Minato. Young people are better off staying busy. Keeps them from filling their heads with too many useless thoughts."
Kakashi stood still, watching that retreating figure for a long time.
At last, he bent down and arranged the wild chrysanthemums neatly before the tombstone. He brushed the dust off it, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.
His footsteps gradually faded.
The cemetery fell silent once more.
Lin Zi stood on the stone steps at the exit but didn't leave right away.
He rubbed his chin, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes half-closed, and summoned the system interface only he could see. A list of character cards scrolled slowly through the air.
"Obito Uchiha, huh..."
He murmured, ran his tongue over his lips, and slowly curled them into a dangerous smile.
"Interesting."
The wind lifted the dead leaves from the ground and swept them past his feet, carrying them toward the eternal silence deeper in the cemetery.
By dusk, Lin Zi wandered out of the cemetery. The sun had already sunk behind Kage Rock, leaving only a streak of orange on the horizon.
He strolled along the streets being rebuilt. After watching the day's events, he was a little hungry, but the Senjutsu energy of Ryūchi Cave had nearly burned away the emptiness in his stomach, so there was no rush to find food.
The lanterns along the street lit up one by one, stretching his shadow long, then flattening it, then stretching it again.
As if sensing something, he slowed to a stop. The corner of his mouth curled into a mocking smile.
He didn't return to the house beside Minato's. Instead, he turned and headed out of the village.
He walked slowly, as if deliberately waiting for someone.
The farther he went, the sparser the lights became. The air grew damper, carrying the musty smell peculiar to the woods.
By the time night had fully fallen, he'd stopped amid some ruins at the edge of Konoha's barrier.
The place had been trampled flat during the Nine-Tails' attack and hadn't been rebuilt. Broken bricks and rubble littered the ground, and even the patrolling Anbu couldn't be bothered to come here.
"You've been following me all afternoon."
Lin Zi folded his arms, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the dense shadow ten paces away.
"Not tired? Come out and get some air. Stay cooped up much longer and I'm afraid you'll start growing mushrooms on your head."
The shadow rippled.
Something pushed up from beneath the earth. First, several strands of long hair emerged, followed by a forehead, eyes, and nose.
Original World Orochimaru slithered out of the shadow, like a snake shedding its skin as it crawled from the earth.
He straightened. His long black hair fell to his waist, and his golden, slit-pupiled eyes were identical to Lin Zi's, though his gaze held a dead, chilling coldness.
"So you're the one impersonating me?"
Orochimaru tilted his head toward Lin Zi, his voice hoarse.
Lin Zi scoffed, arms folded, and didn't move. His black ponytail swayed in the night breeze.
"Impersonating you? That's hilarious. I don't recall having a habit of being a missing-nin or experimenting on human subjects."
Orochimaru's pupils narrowed, then he laughed, his shoulders shaking as a low, hissing sound rolled from his throat.
"Interesting... Danzo said you'd mastered the complete Senjutsu of Ryūchi Cave. I didn't believe him. But now it seems you really do know quite a bit about me."
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