"Whew, that scared me. I thought we were busted."
As soon as Orochimaru and the others were gone, three small figures emerged from the nearby trees.
It was Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.
They were starving, and the smell of something cooking had led them to the cave.
Fortunately, there were still some leftovers from the food that had been cooked.
Whether it was because of their anger or because Orochimaru had intentionally left it behind, the cave still had some uneaten rations.
In their hurry to leave, neither Tsunade, Jiraiya, nor the Anbu had noticed or cared.
Orochimaru had seen the three kids hiding in the trees but hadn't thought much of it.
So, the food was left behind.
"Mm, smells good, but it's nothing compared to Xin-sensei's grilled meat."
"Yeah, I really miss Xin-sensei's cooking."
Konan nodded in agreement with Yahiko as Nagato quietly ate his portion, not saying a word.
Even though Xin hadn't officially accepted them as his students, Yahiko, Konan, and
Nagato still regarded him as their teacher.
After all, he had given them food, given them hope to survive, and a chance to become stronger.
And just like that, they narrowly missed their opportunity to become Jiraiya's disciples.
"Three little kids, huh?"
As they walked, Jiraiya suddenly asked, breaking the silence.
Orochimaru glanced at him and nodded without saying anything.
Jiraiya chuckled. "Since when did you get so soft? I remember you used to be pretty ruthless."
I'm only ruthless to you, Orochimaru thought as he stared at Jiraiya.
"Xin once said that all of this-the war, the suffering-was caused by those who should be held accountable. But children... children are innocent," Orochimaru finally replied.
Orochimaru admitted that Xin had influenced him in some ways. In the past, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill those three kids, thinking it would be a mercy to send them to the next world. After all, if they survived, they'd only face more suffering.
"Yeah, right. Like I'd believe that," Jiraiya said, flipping Orochimaru off.
Orochimaru ignored him and continued walking away.
Unfazed, Jiraiya just shrugged it off. Orochimaru had always been that way-cold and unapproachable. Looking back at the cave where the kids were hiding, Jiraiya muttered, "Hang in there, kids. It's not your fault, it's the war's."
Meanwhile, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato were still hungrily devouring the food they had found.
As he chewed, Yahiko spoke up, "I wonder if we'll ever see Xin-sensei again. If the war ends, he'll probably go back to Konoha."
"Let's finish eating and find a place to train. Nagato's already using jutsu, so we can't fall behind," Konan added.
Among the three, Nagato was the most talented. With just a few pointers from Xin, he had managed to extract chakra and use jutsu in no time, much to the envy of Yahiko and Konan.
Unfortunately, they didn't have Nagato's natural talent, so they had to work even harder to catch up.
Their paths were already diverging from what was written in the original story. Without Jiraiya's direct guidance and moral teachings, their personalities were slowly but surely taking a different shape.
....
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