The next day, Kabuto Yakushi slipped into Konoha without a hitch. Instead of reporting to Danzo, he quietly made his way back to the orphanage where he grew up.
It hadn't changed much. Fewer orphans now, and the caregivers were just a little older. His childhood playmates were long gone. He stood in a corner, recalling the day he'd been given a helmet (kabuto), and with it, a name.
"Can I help you?" an elderly caregiver asked, eyeing the gray-haired ninja with glasses.
"I'd like to make a donation," Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses to hide a flicker of disappointment that she didn't recognize him. "I heard this orphanage has been short on funds."
"That's right," she said, wiping sweat from her brow. "Our previous director passed away, and we haven't been able to secure enough funding since. However," she added, a complicated look on her face, "we might not need much today. We just received a donation from a friend of the director's. It should keep us running for at least ten years."
"The director's friend?" Kabuto asked, surprised.
Since when did the director have friends?
As a spy, Nonō Yakushi had lived a life of constant fear. How could she have made such a wealthy friend?
"He must have been a very close friend," the caregiver whispered, launching into gossip. "He brought a portrait of the director with him. You can tell he's a very powerful person. He's inside now, helping the children with their illnesses."
Kabuto's curiosity was piqued. But when he walked in and saw a familiar figure, his heart clenched.
Emiya...
An uneasiness washed over him. The first time they'd met, he could believe the man was just a kind medical ninja. Now, he knew he was looking at the leader of the Akatsuki.
"You're amazing!" a little boy from the orphanage shouted, touching his chest. "It really doesn't hurt anymore! The caregiver said our old director was great at healing. I wonder who's better, you or her?"
"That would be me, I suppose," Shirou answered without a second thought. "Your previous director was skilled, but she never dared to call herself a medical ninja in my presence."
"Really?"
"I'm not one to lie."
"Wow!" the little boy's eyes were full of stars. "Then who's stronger, you or Lady Tsunade? I heard she's the best medical ninja in the whole world! The caregiver said once she comes back, she can cure my illness for sure!"
Shirou lowered his head, as if reminiscing about the name. "If she worked hard enough, perhaps she could be the strongest right now. She should have already mastered my skills, though I haven't seen them myself."
He added softly, "But even if she is excellent, in the future, it will definitely still be me."
"Wow!" the little boy was truly shocked. "Then who's stronger, you or the legendary Lord Emiya Shirou?"
"Equally powerful," Shirou said, ruffling the boy's hair. "Now go play with your friends. You can do whatever you want in the future."
The boy ran off happily. Shirou dismissed the thanking caregiver and turned to Kabuto.
"You're late."
"Yes," Kabuto's heart sank.
He was expecting me.But what was he doing here?
"I originally thought you wouldn't come," Shirou said, glancing at the portrait of Nonō on the wall. "When I resolved her lingering attachment, I told her that her children would all be safe. Since you're here, it seems I won't have to worry about these things anymore."
"Yes," Kabuto bowed respectfully. "I must still thank you, Lord Emiya. I originally thought..." He had thought the new, hardened Shirou would no longer care about small figures like them.
"Are you going to stay here?" Shirou asked. "This orphanage, it was your home, wasn't it? You, like Nonō, sacrificed a lot for it."
"Home?" Kabuto muttered the unfamiliar word, then slowly shook his head. "I can't stay. Not yet."
Orochimaru and Danzo wouldn't let him. Orochimaru had plans for him as an assistant, and Danzo knew he held too many secrets. Danzo would definitely use the orphanage to threaten him. That was just his style.
But Kabuto had no idea how to solve this. Siding with Shirou could work, but what value did he have to offer?
His medical skills?
Shirou was the strongest medical ninja alive.
His skills as a spy?
The Akatsuki didn't need someone like him. In this world, you had to give something to get something. He was already indebted to Shirou for liberating Nonō's soul.
Now this... taking care of the orphanage in her name. To always take and not give back went against everything he'd been taught.
"It seems you haven't thought it through yet," Shirou said, oblivious to Kabuto's internal turmoil. "Time waits for no one."
"No," Kabuto shook his head, his eyes lowered. "The ninja world is always at war. Even if I stay, I'll only bring disaster to this home."
"Oh," Shirou nodded, as if he understood. "Then change this world filled with conflict first, and then come back."
Kabuto could barely manage a bitter smile.
Change the world? As if it's that easy!
Even the great First Hokage only managed to end one era of war, just to usher in another, more brutal one.
You say that so easily... even a great figure like you only managed to quell one war.
This grand ideal... even a genius like Orochimaru thought it was a joke. He never took the Akatsuki's "grand plan" seriously, and that view had influenced Kabuto.
"That kind of thinking is a bit... naive," Kabuto gritted his teeth, trying to reason with him. "As long as there are ninjas, as long as there are humans, there will always be conflict. No one can change that."
It was the ultimate, unchangeable truth. Whatever Shirou did would be erased by history, a useless effort. He might even be mocked for it.
Kabuto almost wished Shirou would just stick to being a pure, untainted saint, instead of embarking on this path of no return, becoming an enemy of the entire world. It was a little sad, really.
The saint he had admired since childhood, a man who had shown him immense kindness, was now inexplicably walking towards his own doom.
"I know what you're saying makes a lot of sense," Shirou's voice was as calm as an ancient well. "But what I want to do also has its own reasoning."
He looked at Kabuto's conflicted, struggling face.
"Kabuto Yakushi, do you want to come with me?"