"Your teacher, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen."
As Nagato's words fell, Orochimaru's slit pupils trembled slightly.
"I see." He slowly rose to his feet. "Would you accompany me outside for a walk, Nagato?"
"Of course." Nagato followed Orochimaru out of the base.
Beneath the eaves of the loft, Orochimaru leaned on the railing and gazed at the rain-soaked street below. The bustling crowd moved through the rain beneath umbrellas, and vaguely, he recalled his youthful teacher, Sarutobi, leading the young him, Jiraiya, and Tsunade out to relax after completing a mission.
That had also been a rainy day—a rainy day in Konoha.
"Since you asked for my opinion, Nagato, you must be certain that deep down, I still feel attached to Konoha and to my former teacher, correct?"
"Do you want to hear what I truly think?" Nagato stepped beside Orochimaru, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
Orochimaru glanced sideways. "Go on."
Nagato reached out and caught the rain dripping from the eaves. With a thoughtful look in his eyes, he said calmly, "I brought you to my side through force, and partly through coercion."
"Even if you obtained truth from me... ultimately, I am still the one who benefits from your truth."
"No matter how grandly we dress it up, doesn't that make you something like a tool?"
Orochimaru revealed a smile entirely unlike his usual one, its meaning different from before. "Nagato, you truly are blunt... Well, it is not a bad thing. Please, continue."
Nagato said, "But I do not want things to be that way. I want to treat the people around me sincerely. So I want to understand what you truly think, understand what you need most urgently, so that in this relationship, you can obtain what you genuinely desire as well—not merely empty truth."
Nagato