Once Wrote Rin Hundreds of Love Letters

A few days later.

Inside a dango shop in Konoha.

"Have you heard? People have been disappearing frequently in the Land of Fire lately. The daimyo is furious and has ordered the Third Hokage to investigate it thoroughly."

"There are supposedly clues that the missing people are ultimately being sent to Konoha."

"Who do you think is behind it?"

"Anyway, it wasn't us."

"Speaking of which, hey! Why is an even more annoying guy than Kakashi showing up here?!"

Students from one class at the Ninja Academy were having a gathering among the boys.

The little boy with orange goggles resting on his forehead had been happily gossiping, but upon spotting someone inside the shop, even the dango in his hand lost their appeal.

Masaichi had been desperately trying to hide his presence out of guilt. Now, he pointed at himself in confusion. "Me?"

"Yes, you bastard! How dare you show your face?!"

As for why Obito was so angry—

It all dated back to before Masaichi's memories had awakened.

Back when they were children, he, Obito, and Rin had all been students in the same Ninja Academy class.

If Kakashi was a ninja prodigy, then Masaichi was an indisputable academic genius.

While the other students were still learning how to read and write, Masaichi had independently written an annotation on the Will of Fire. Even the Third Hokage had repeatedly praised it, saying he had not seen such a clever student in a long time.

After Kakashi graduated early, Masaichi became the unquestioned number one at the Ninja Academy.

Then, this number one experienced his first stirrings of love and fell for a gentle little girl. That gentle little girl was Nohara Rin.

Honestly, Masaichi really did not want to remember that dark chapter of his past.

Young and foolish as he had been, he had confessed to Rin in public no fewer than ten times.

He had written her hundreds of love letters.

Oh.

No wonder Obito was so worked up. They were love rivals.

Although sending love letters was childish, Masaichi was quite the writer. Even though Rin had no interest in dating, she would still stare blankly at his letters for a long while.

Obito had watched it all with growing anxiety. Fortunately, after Masaichi became Orochimaru's disciple, he was often nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, whenever Minato-sensei asked them about fond memories from their student days, Rin would always reminisce about Masaichi.

Well, damn.

Masaichi did not know how to face Obito. Before he had fallen for Rin, he and Obito had been the best of brothers—the kind who got punished for being late to class together.

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

"Why aren't you answering me?"

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

Masaichi was the person Obito hated most in his life. Back when they had been punished outside together, Obito had told Masaichi every single thing Rin liked and begged him to help come up with a plan. Who would have thought Masaichi would...

Guys! Would killing Masaichi count as self-defense?!

"I won't fight you." Masaichi sighed. Obito had treated him like a brother, yet he... He 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 up with both hands.

"You guys..." Gekko Hayate stood in front of Obito, preventing him from doing anything rash.

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

A perfectly good class reunion had turned awkward just like that.

"Masaichi! I'll never forgive you! Aaaah! Just you wait!!"

"Masaichiiiii!!!!!!"

In the end, Obito had to be dragged away, though he kept pointing at Masaichi.

"Sigh, perhaps ten or twenty years from now, Obito will understand how precious the bond between classmates is and reconcile with you." Ebisu patted Masaichi on the shoulder.

"Ten or twenty years from now?"

Masaichi had not realized Obito hated him this much—enough to want to eat his flesh.

Then what about the Nine-Tails Rebellion in two or three years?

The Nine-Tails might very well spawn right in his house.

"Where's Obito?"

"He went to study ninjutsu with Jonin Minato. He said he would definitely kill you someday." The two people who had escorted Obito away returned, shaking their heads with helpless expressions.

Before turning evil, Obito's words were just angry talk. But after turning evil, that was harder to say.

Masaichi's pressure doubled.

Misfortune truly picked on those already suffering.

He had done good deeds all his life, so why was this happening to him?

"Let's keep eating." Asuma sighed. Luckily, he had not told Masaichi what Kurenai liked back then. Otherwise...

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

This matter had caused a huge stir. People vanished from the Land of Fire every few days, and the villagers lived in constant fear. There was already a war going on outside, and now everyone was even more terrified. At this rate, the Land of Fire might be destroyed!

"Tch. Obviously, that old man doesn't know either, so I didn't ask him."

"Fine, but he's the Hokage. You actually call him that?"

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

"What about Masaichi? Do you know anything?"

"I don't know!!"

"?"

"If even the Third Hokage doesn't know, how could Orochimaru-sensei know?"

Inside Orochimaru's laboratory.

Several batches of test subjects had arrived over the past few days.

Men weighing around sixty kilograms each were kept separately in two cages.

Two more cages held women weighing around forty-five kilograms.

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

Orochimaru had sealed their throats, robbing them of the ability to speak. As they looked at the grim laboratory master, their hearts were filled with despair.

"Sensei."

"Not bad. You did very well."

Orochimaru's eyes were full of approval. This was why he liked Masaichi.

He was highly capable and meticulous in everything he did.

After conducting human experiments for so many years, Orochimaru had never thought to capture people according to their height and weight to create control groups.

Previously, when he studied people of all shapes and sizes, experimental errors occurred easily.

The task he had given Masaichi—capturing people—had been carried out perfectly by this child.

"But, Sensei..."

Masaichi lowered his head, feeling that he had betrayed his own name. He was supposed to represent justice!

But what was he doing now? Helping Orochimaru conduct human experiments?

He was simply a bastard!!!

"Don't feel guilty, Masaichi-kun. Human progress always requires the sacrifice of a few insignificant people. These people have not created much value for the Land of Fire. Now that they are being used for human experiments, it can be considered... their most useful contribution."

Orochimaru did not want his most capable subordinate to become depressed, so he comforted him with a clear conscience.

Hearing Masaichi's conversation with Orochimaru, the captured men and women closed their eyes in despair.

"Alright, I'm going to conduct the experiment. Go outside and guard the door for me."

"I'm sorry." Masaichi could only stand outside the laboratory door, tormented as he whispered apology after apology.

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

"Wuwuwu..."