The Dark Turn of Kabuto

"Originally, I didn't want to take things this far."

"But your performance lately has left me rather dissatisfied."

Kabuto gritted his teeth, a chill spreading through his entire body.

"So that's all it takes... What do you think a human life is worth?!"

Xuanye looked faintly troubled, then said slowly:

"That's a hard question to answer. After all, you don't remember how many pieces of little bread you've eaten in your life, do you?"

Even Orochimaru was startled by what Xuanye had said.

He had thought himself evil enough. He barely cared about human lives, and his methods were cruel.

At most, he had cleaned up his act enough to stop targeting his own people.

But Uchiha Genya's performance left him dumbfounded.

He knew it was all an act, but wasn't Uchiha Genya playing the part a little too convincingly?

It wasn't that his acting seemed fake. It was that it didn't seem like acting at all.

Could the man be revealing his true nature?

After hearing Uchiha Genya's words, the last thread of Kabuto's reason snapped.

That Little Bread Theory was the final straw.

"Aaaah!"

Forgetting the gulf in strength between them, he formed hand signs to attack Xuanye with the Water Release Ninjutsu he had just learned.

"Water Release: Water Iron Cannon—"

But before he could finish the signs, Xuanye punched him in the stomach. Agonizing pain brought his thoughts to a momentary halt, and his hands froze.

Xuanye looked at Kabuto, who knelt trembling on the ground, unable to muster a shred of strength. He felt the boy still needed one more push.

Despair alone wasn't enough. After despair came rage, and a vow to risk everything for revenge.

Only then might he make it out of the man-eating hellhole that was Ryūchi Cave alive.

Xuanye grabbed