Chapter 5: Eternal Life in Solitude Is the Cruelest Punishment
"The moon?"
The single word cut through Orochimaru's fevered excitement like a blade through mist. His mind, which had been racing with the thrill of discovery, cooled instantly.
"...And how exactly would you know that?"
His tone was low, wary — the voice of a serpent circling its prey, uncertain if the creature before him was dangerous or simply amusing. His eyes studied Nobunaga's serene smile, the unshakable calm of a boy who looked far too composed for his age.
Could it be that this young daimyō was simply toying with him?
Was this a trick — an elaborate misdirection, sending him chasing an impossible dream?
To set him searching for something he could never reach, as futile as Jiraiya's endless quest for the so-called Child of Prophecy?
And if he were to dedicate years — decades — to the idea of reaching the moon…
How much time, how much potential would he lose?
---
"While none of the scrolls explicitly state where the Goddess was sealed," Nobunaga began smoothly, "we can still extract truth from implication."
He moved with practiced ease, unrolling several aged scrolls across the table before them.
"The original chroniclers weren't eyewitnesses," he continued. "Many of their notes are laced with conjecture and personal bias. But through cross-referencing and analysis, we can still reconstruct a likely truth."
He gestured elegantly toward the open scrolls, each one marked with notes and annotations.
"Before the battle between the Sage brothers and the Goddess, there are no records of the moon in any surviving texts."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"It only appears after the battle. Humanity's records of the heavens suddenly begin to mention a new celestial body — one that wasn't there before."
He raised his gaze to meet Orochimaru's.
"In other words, the moon was not ancient. It appeared suddenly — just as the Goddess herself did."
Orochimaru frowned slightly, following Nobunaga's logic despite himself.
"There are even fragments of writing," the daimyō continued, "that describe her as a visitor 'from beyond the stars.'"
"So tell me," Nobunaga asked, his voice calm, his smile faintly knowing, "if she truly came from the heavens, where do you think she would have been sealed?"
He straightened, his hands clasped behind his back, the glow from the lamplight haloing his head like a prophet's crown.
"From the perspective of our era," he mused, "it's not impossible to imagine that the Goddess was a being from another world — perhaps even another race altogether. She came to the shinobi world for a purpose. What that purpose was, I cannot say. But surely, to arrive here at all… she must have had a means of travel."
---
"An extraterrestrial…?" Orochimaru murmured, more to himself than to Nobunaga.
His skepticism was fading fast, replaced by an almost childlike fascination. He snatched up the scrolls, scanning their lines with obsessive speed.
Multiple accounts mentioned the sudden "appearance" of the Goddess — never birth, never ancestry. Her features, too, were unlike any recorded human form of that time: the pale skin, the horns, the eyes of moonlight.
And, curiously enough, chakra itself — the lifeblood of all ninjutsu — only emerged after her arrival.
The shinobi, the arts, the entire system of chakra manipulation — all traced back to her sons.
"So that's it…" Orochimaru whispered. "The origin of chakra, the birth of the shinobi… all of it began with her."
He laughed quietly, a rasping, mirthless sound.
"Chakra — once meant to connect hearts… now used for killing."
The bitterness in his tone made Nobunaga's smile deepen.
The serpent was almost fully ensnared.
Now he believed.
---
"So," Orochimaru asked finally, eyes gleaming, "how does one reach the moon?"
There was a trace of genuine respect in his voice now — an acknowledgment that Nobunaga was no ordinary child. In his mind, the boy had already surpassed Danzo, even outshone the scheming elders of Konoha.
He wanted to hear what this mind had to offer.
Nobunaga's expression remained composed.
"As I said before," he began, "if the Goddess came from beyond the stars, then the heavens are vast — too vast for any mortal body to cross unaided. Therefore, the key is simple: we must find the vessel she used to traverse the cosmos."
He withdrew several more scrolls and laid them out.
"These describe the ancient sites associated with the Sage of Six Paths — particularly the early temples of Ninshū, the precursor to all shinobi villages."
"Here," he pointed to one map, "is where the Land of Ancestors once stood. According to the records, its people built a massive temple in the Goddess's honor."
He looked up, eyes gleaming.
"If her vessel still exists — the device that carried her through the stars — then it would likely be hidden in one of these sites."
---
Orochimaru's pulse quickened.
A vessel capable of crossing the void…
A relic of the Goddess herself…
His mind raced with possibilities — ancient technology, lost power, a pathway to eternity.
He could almost see it already: his pale hands touching that divine mechanism, his consciousness expanding beyond mortal flesh.
For the first time, he truly believed.
Yet Nobunaga, watching quietly from the shadows of the lamplight, felt only a calm satisfaction.
Because he knew—
Eternal life for one who cannot love, who walks alone among corpses,
is not salvation.
It is punishment.
And if the serpent truly found the heavens he sought—
then one day, in the cold silence of eternity, Orochimaru would finally understand that.
---
For most of the day, Orochimaru had been buried in scrolls — deciphering, cross-referencing, muttering calculations under his breath like a scholar on the edge of obsession.
Now, frowning slightly, he lifted his head from one of the aged parchments, the candlelight reflecting off his snake-like eyes.
"So… the Land of Ancestors, also called the Land of Sun, was situated near the Fire Country, River Country, and the Land of Shadow?"
He turned a page, brows knitting tighter.
"But this says the true Land of Ancestors lay across the sea — on the Meika Continent. And that the Sage of Six Paths founded Ninshū there?"
His fingers paused mid-turn.
"Only specific individuals — disciples of the Sage himself — could reach it?"
He frowned deeply, the contradiction gnawing at him. Even his vast intellect could not ignore how fragmented the records were.
Every new scroll only raised more questions. Every revelation seemed to contradict another.
Finding the truth — and by extension, the Goddess — would take years.
He was already calculating how much time, manpower, and risk it would cost him.
---
"I'd suggest beginning your search near the Fire Country," Nobunaga said mildly.
Orochimaru glanced up, suspicion flashing in his golden eyes.
"The Fire Country, the River Country, and the Land of Shadow border this region," Nobunaga continued. "And they're all far easier to reach from the Land of Fields. If you start close and move outward, I can maintain contact and… offer support."
His tone was perfectly measured — logical, reasonable, but not pleading.
"After all," he added, smiling faintly, "I'll still need your assistance, Orochimaru-dono, with the founding of Otogakure and a few other… projects."
That made Orochimaru pause.
"…Oh?"
It was not often that the serpent was caught off guard.
He had assumed all along that this cunning little lord wanted to get rid of him — to send him off chasing some cosmic mirage while the Land of Fields was left in peace.
But now the boy was saying the opposite. That he needed him.
Orochimaru could not read him.
Was this genuine partnership — or another layer of manipulation?
He studied Nobunaga in silence, eyes narrow. This was the same boy who had initially dismissed the idea of establishing Otogakure, the very same who had seemed so reluctant to work with him.
And now he spoke like a man inviting an equal to the table.
---
"You seek immortality," Nobunaga said quietly, breaking the silence. "But I seek to understand why the Rabbit Goddess came to this world."
He didn't look at Orochimaru as he spoke. Instead, he walked slowly through the towering shelves of the library, tracing the spine of an ancient tome with his fingertip.
"A visitor from beyond the stars," he mused aloud. "Why would she come here?"
"She possessed power beyond comprehension — power to cross the void between worlds. Do you truly believe such a being came out of charity? That she brought the gift of chakra simply out of compassion for us?"
He turned then, smiling thinly.
"Tell me, Orochimaru — if you were in her place, would you show such selfless virtue?"
The question hung in the air like a blade.
Orochimaru said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
Nobunaga pressed on.
"Some records even suggest she did not come alone. So where, I wonder, did her companion go?"
He stepped closer, voice dropping lower — almost conspiratorial.
"And if one such being could reach our world… who's to say others have not followed?"
A chill ran down Orochimaru's spine.
He'd faced monsters, gods, and men alike — but something in Nobunaga's tone, calm and speculative, struck deeper than any killing intent.
The boy wasn't theorizing. He was deducing.
And in his mind, the picture he painted felt disturbingly possible.
Orochimaru didn't doubt for a second that Nobunaga had seen straight through him — that he knew perfectly well about his obsession with immortality.
But this new thought… this unsettling question of the Goddess's purpose…
Even he could not ignore it.
No, the Goddess had not come to "enlighten humanity." Orochimaru didn't believe that for a moment.
If he were a god arriving in a new world — a world that could not threaten him — and its people treated him as divine…
He would not give them power out of kindness.
He would use them.
He would reshape them.
He would make them his tools.
The realization rippled through him like a shudder.
---
"I'll fund your search," Nobunaga said suddenly, his voice returning to its usual calm tone.
Orochimaru blinked, taken aback.
"You'll… what?"
"In exchange," Nobunaga continued, "you will help me strengthen the Land of Fields. So that one day, my nation can protect its own people with its own hands."
He turned, extending his small, pale hand toward Orochimaru — a gesture half of alliance, half of command.
"For our survival," he said softly, "we must each pursue what the other cannot."
Then his eyes, so young yet so ancient, met the serpent's gaze.
"Because eternal life, when lived alone…"
His voice dropped to a whisper — almost tender, almost cruel.
"…is not a blessing, Orochimaru."
"It is punishment."
---