"M-my, my room is over here."
For some reason, Izumi started stammering.
She showed Gua her room next door.
Gua glanced inside. It was spotless, completely different from outside, as though this tiny room of less than ten square meters was the only place with any warmth or life.
Gua felt uneasy.
Izumi's father had died, and so had her mother. Shinobi were bound to die, sooner or later.
There were many people like Izumi in this village.
They had no family.
They had only their little houses.
They lived all alone. The world was bright, but very little of its light ever reached them.
In the shadows.
Orochimaru silently watched the scene. Two children stood quietly in a lonely room, saying nothing, simply standing there.
At that moment.
Orochimaru once again felt the emptiness and cruelty of life.
Gua, as long as death exists, suffering will always exist.
How far can the two of us really go?
Orochimaru, too, had lofty ideals.
Madara wanted a world without suffering.
And Orochimaru wanted to escape all suffering through immortality.
They merely walked different paths.
Orochimaru did not believe in illusion. He believed only in reality.
Science would lead the shinobi world out of its cage of suffering!
At that moment,
someone else was panicking.
That someone was Kakashi.
He crouched in a tree, watching the scene below, itching to jump down and hurry Gua away.
Gua, oh, Gua, please don't spiral into despair.
Kakashi knew the Uchiha all too well.
The moment they got upset, everything went to hell.
They would head down a road of no return.
Kakashi could only pray silently.
But nothing happened below.
Everything was peaceful.
Gua and Izumi sat in the living room for a while without saying anything. The two of them simply