In Naruto, multiverse and more with Gacha system

Saeko stood frozen, a statue carved from shock and gore. Her breath hitched in ragged gasps, the air thick with the metallic tang of blood. It coated her hands, her katana, her very being, a dark, viscous tide that mirrored the grim scene around her

Her stomach clenched.

She'd thought she was fine with this. Hell, she liked it, didn't she? The way the blade cut through flesh, the rush in her veins, the sheer ease of it.

But the silence now was a deafening roar.

The bodies, once vibrant and alive, lay still, their screams replaced by an unsettling quiet. The last victim, a woman, had clawed at the floor, her desperate fingers reaching for a phantom escape, before her life flickered out, leaving only a chilling stillness.

A wave of nausea washed over Saeko, her stomach twisting into a knot of revulsion.

I'm a killer.

The stark reality slammed into her, a brutal, undeniable truth. The weight of her actions pressed down, suffocating, crushing.

I liked it.

The thought hit her like a punch to the gut, and suddenly, the room felt small. Too hot. Too wrong.

She swayed.

And then—

SLAP!

Her head snapped sideways, a sharp sting spreading across her cheek.

She fall down.

Orochimaru stood there, looking down at her like she was pathetic.

"Are you finished with your little performance?" he drawled, his voice a low, mocking whisper. "Or do you require a moment to weep for your victims?"

Saeko's jaw tightened.

"You killed them. They're dead. You freaking out changes nothing." He flicked something off his sleeve, completely unbothered. "So? What now? You wanna curl up in a corner, or are you gonna move?"

Her heart pounded against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the silence. She wanted to scream, to lash out, to deny the reality of what she'd done. But more than anything, she craved a breath of clean air, a moment of clarity..

Saeko exhaled, slow and shaky, then wiped her sleeve across her face. Her hands weren't shaking as much anymore.

A thin smile played on Orochimaru's lips. "That's better," he murmured. "I almost thought you were going to break. A pity that would have been."

He wasn't clueless about what was going on in her head. Hardly.

He'd witnessed this reaction countless times.

The trembling hands, the haunted eyes, the mind's desperate attempt to reject the body's actions.

He'd seen people crumble, retreat into denial, or embrace the darkness.

And then there were the rare few, the ones who could swallow the fear, the guilt, the horror, and forge it into something harder, something sharper. The ones who could keep moving forward.

Seeing her like this only reminded him of Jiraiya's first kill.

How scared he was. How confused. How he kept staring at his hands like the blood would crawl up his arms and choke him.

And him? Orochimaru felt nothing.

Back then, he had wondered if there was something wrong with him. If he was missing something. But now? Now he knew better.

Some people broke. Some people hesitated. And some—like him—just did.

Sighing, he did something he'd never done before.

He reached out and ruffled Saeko's hair.

"Don't feel bad," he muttered. "You're not a monster."

She flinched, blinking up at him like she wasn't sure if she'd heard right. Like the words didn't fit coming from him of all people.

Orochimaru just said. "Not yet, anyway."

Not like me.

Even that fool wasn't without support.

"Let's go," he turns as his clone arrived, mission complete.

The clone passed him a scroll before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Orochimaru tucked the scroll away and kept moving, stepping through the door without a glance back.

Saeko watched his figure disappear, but her thoughts were tangled elsewhere. The feeling when he ruffled her hair… it was too good.

Strange.

Even her father had never made her feel like that.

Not that he ever would, given the way he treated her.

But that wasn't all.

Her fingers ghosted over her cheek, the sting of his slap still fresh, still real.

A small smile crept onto her lips—only to vanish just as fast.

She mumbled to herself before trailing after him.

"…Weirdly enough… it felt good."