"Konan, how did your mother die?"
That same pleasant voice reached her ears, and Konan's curled-up body trembled.
Then she slowly raised her head, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Wuye... big brother..."
That soft, choked cry startled everyone on both sides.
Konan merely looked at the impossibly handsome young man before her and said hoarsely, "Mom wanted to take us to the Land of Fire... She said that if the Land of Fire would take us in... we wouldn't have to fear being killed anymore... But..."
"Heh, during wartime, civilians from another country who dared approach the Land of Fire's border were bound to die," Orochimaru said with a cold laugh.
Hyuga Wuye fell silent.
"I warned Mom... because you told me... to be wary of all shinobi... including Konoha shinobi..."
Konan broke down in tears. "But... but Mom said... there were good people like you among the Konoha shinobi too... Maybe... maybe we would meet another good person..."
"I'm sorry, Konan..."
Yahiko could not help crying as well. "I... I shouldn't have agreed..."
Nagato kept his head bowed tightly, not daring to let anyone see his eyes.
"I'm very sorry," Wuye said quietly.
Konan stared blankly at him, allowing her tears to flow.
She clearly knew she should not take out her anger on him. She clearly knew that without him, her mother would have died long ago. She clearly knew she should be grateful to him...
But because her mother had ultimately died at the hands of Konoha shinobi, and he too was a Konoha shinobi, it felt as if there were an extra barrier between them, making it difficult for her to let it go.
"Wuye, do you know them?" Kushina could not help stepping forward to ask.
Hyuga Wuye neither nodded nor shook his head. He