Though Orochimaru was pleased, he also felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps that was the burden of the mission he carried.
"The operation went smoothly. Why aren't you smiling?"
Orochimaru turned to Nagato and Yahiko, both looking gloomy, and couldn't resist teasing them.
Nagato merely shot Orochimaru a cold glance, then left without a word.
Yahiko said icily, "You'd better stop trying to manipulate Nagato. If I find out you've been doing it, I'll terminate our agreement on the spot!"
With that, Yahiko stormed off.
Orochimaru watched them go and shook his head helplessly.
"He really is well protected," he muttered.
After hearing what the villagers had said, Nagato couldn't get their words out of his head. They clung to him like a curse.
Restless, Nagato decided against going home and rushed toward the edge of the village instead.
He moved at tremendous speed, not even using Chakra to shield himself from the rain. He let it soak him to the bone.
Nagato swept over the village, abandoned buildings flashing past beneath him like the ruins of a deserted city.
The sight made him feel wretched.
The longer he looked, the more his heart ached. Nagato used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished beyond Amegakure's border in an instant.
By the time Yahiko chased after him, Nagato was nowhere to be seen.
Worried, Yahiko headed home first.
The moment Nagato crossed Amegakure's border, the sorrow on his face vanished, replaced by an icy expression.
He stopped abruptly and looked east.
After a pause of barely a second, Nagato changed direction and raced that way.
Three to five minutes later, he stopped before a tree.
"Now that you're here, what's the point of hiding?"
A wet, squelching sound suddenly came from the otherwise unremarkable tree.
A pitch-black figure emerged from it.