You're about to get hit with real life physics so prepare.

2 Weeks Until The Joint Birthday

Menma closes the last of his folders and stands up from his desk. "I know how it's going to work, now all I have to do is test it out on something fitting."

Menma walked out into the open training grounds, he noticed it was raining but it wasn't too heavy. He thought no one else was out there, but he saw Suigetsu testing out what he learned from his folders on cells. He observed and saw Suigetsu turn his arm into water.

Everything was completely normal and exactly what he expected, but then Suigetsu's water arm grew 20 times its original size. Menma was impressed and curious as to how he did that. The closest he's seen to Suigetsu showing off such a feat was when he redirected the water in his body towards his arm to make it grow in size. Although the size of the arm that Suigetsu created was many times the size of his own body, so he didn't think it was water based.

He decided he would question him about it later and started trying to work on his own ability. Menma rehearsed everything to himself out loud for it to make the most sense, "Alright, so as you get closer to the speed of light both your mass and the energy required to move that mass increase. I can move at light speed just fine so that's not a problem, and once I'm right below light speed my mass and energy become infinite. Then anything I hit while moving that fast is going to start moving that fast. The closer my speed gets to light the slower time goes by for me. Once I reach light speed then time should stop for me, and then going above that should theoretically let me go back in time. I'm only going to be going right below light speed while he'll be far above it, so I'll be fine while his soul will have that affect placed on it."

Menma smirked and continued, "Alright, this is pretty simple. Now using what I learned in the Quantum Entanglement folder there was something called Quantum Coupling. It had to do with two things being connected to each other and doing something to one thing will affect the other thing in the same way no matter how far away they are from each other. Now doing this with a soul probably wouldn't work since that only happens with particles, so I'd need a way to avoid the laws of physics for that too... alright, so once I figure out a way to deal with connecting the different pieces of his soul he's spread throughout the world the plan will work. I'll hit him while going below light speed, his soul will start moving at infinite speed making it go back in time while it's entangled to the other pieces of his soul, so since they're all going back in time they'll eventually return to a state where they were all one!" Menma started feeling pumped since his plan was coming together. Now he just needed to figure out how to actually put it into use.

Once that thought came to mind he felt less motivated and he dropped to the ground. Suigetsu walked over to him then slightly bent over and asked, "Are you having problems coming up with a technique?"

Menma stood up and cleared up his misconception, "No I already have the technique down. I just need a way to get around some of the laws of physics behind it."

Suigetsu nodded and replied, "You remember what Nero told us the other day right? About restrictions?" Menma looked slightly confused at first but the memory came back to him. "Ohhhh yeah, he did bring that up!"

Suigetsu stood straight up and offered a hand to Menma. He took it and once they were both standing Suigetsu walked about 5 meters from Menma and showed off the ability he was practicing earlier. He started explaining how it worked, "The reason I can make my arm so big this way is because I'm duplicating my cells at an extremely high rate. Naturally the problem with this is that when cells have divided enough times they stop dividing and reach a state called senescent. That's because telomeres on the ends of chromosomes get smaller every time cells divide, eventually they can't get any smaller so that's why they stop. I just have to ensure that they don't get any smaller when I'm using this technique. This technique isn't particularly a difficult thing to do nor a very powerful technique. So I just have to sacrifice a bigger amount of chakra than usual."

Menma understood now, "Ahhhh, that makes sense! Thanks Suigetsu!" A smug expression appeared on Suigetsu's face and he chuckled, "Hehe, I'll be here if you need anymore help. Soon you'll be calling me your senpai." Menma shutted him down fast, "Don't go that far, you probably asked Nero about all that." Suigetsu felt exposed and just said "Ah shut up," in a friendly way.

Menma went back to his training, but a realization fell upon him. "My technique is a lot more complicated and higher scale than Suigetsu's," a troubled look appeared on Menma's face. His eyes narrowed as he remembered that it utilizes infinite energy. "It would have to be something extremely valuable. Although... I'm only using infinite energy, not making it since I can already naturally do that, so it shouldn't be something of infinite value... what should I make it?"

While Memna pondered about what he wanted to sacrifice Nero walked up to him. Menma didn't notice him until he was tapped on the shoulder. Nero asked him, "How's your progress going?"

Menma told him, "It's going great, I'm learning things a lot faster than I thought I would... although there has been something else that's been troubling me..."

"Something really just doesn't seem right about how the Uzumaki's were exterminated. They could pull off things like this but somehow nations that we don't even know the name of were able to destroy them all. It just doesn't make sense!"

Nero smirked a knowing grin and made a "come closer" sign to Menma. Menma leaned in and Nero whispered in his ear, "I've been wondering the same thing. Also don't you think it's suspicious how Kiritsugu sensei is an outlier out of the people who survived the Uzumaki genocide? Out of the five Uzumaki's that survived the genocide being Nagato, Karin, Kushina your mother, me, and my sensei. He was the only one who was in the village while it was being destroyed. At the time he was in his 50s when this happened, when our clan were in the prime of their existence we only got better with age, so he would have been one of the ones on the front lines. And yet he managed to be the lone survivor yet he's quite lacking in scars. Doesn't this all seem strange to you?"

Menma's eyes widened when he came to the realization of what Nero was trying to tell him. He almost blurted it out but Nero put a finger up to his lips and made a shush sound with his mouth. Menma regained composure and he whispered it this time, "You're thinking that Kiritsugu helped in their extermination?" Nero grinned again and replied, "I'm glad that you catch on fast. Anyways it could just be a coincidence, but considering how much we know they're capable of it doesn't seem likely that they could have been taken down any other way."

Menma asked him, "How long have you known this?" Nero fell silent for a moment as his head dropped. "I've known about it for a couple years. I read his mind and figured it out." He clenched his fist and continued, "The way you feel about Orochimaru is similar to the way I felt about him... I hated him for taking away such a fantasy of a life away from me. Sometimes I wish he just left me to die there..."

Menma felt frustratingly confused now and he asked, "Well why didn't you kill him then?!? You're just gonna let him get away with being responsible for the deaths of all our people!?" Nero unclenched his fist and started smiling, "I know what you're saying Menma... I really wanted to for a while, although I understood his reason for doing it. Even if the 5 Kage at the time teamed up against the clan they wouldn't have been able to defeat them. Their abilities were too versatile and they were too powerful compared to everyone else. They had started planning something not too different from the Uchiha coup. They were allies with Konoha, but they didn't like the other 4 nations. If they were apart of the 3rd Great Ninja War it would have all been over in just a few days, and with how corrupt Konoha was at the time they would have potentially turned into something that resembles a facist state."

Menma remained silent as he too didn't think Kiritsugu's motivation was a bad reason. Nero continued, "Even then I still wanted to kill him, but at the time I didn't have anything else to live for, someone to care for, a shoulder to lean on, so if I killed him I would have been lost. And on top of that killing him wouldn't have really changed anything since everything was already said and done. Even if I put it into words, it isn't something someone could really understand unless they had the same mindset."

One thing that Nero said stuck with Menma. 'Something else to live for, huh?' Nero noticed that it looked like Menma lost focus. Menma burst out laughing. Nero was caught off guard by this, and once Menma finished laughing he stated, "Something else to live for? How could I not take notice of something so simple?" Menma smiled continued while looking down, "Why couldn't I notice sooner? Naruto would have realized this from the start... I'vebeen so consumed in my hate for Orochimaru that I've lost sight of what matters." Nero patted him on the shoulder and they both walked inside. Nero thought to himself, 'Suigetsu, Mina, Nozomi, I saved him from vengeance.'

As Nero said It wasn't something that could truly be put into words. But from one man to another that have both craved vengeance from the depths of their hearts, there were no words needed for them to understand the depth behind the words of "living for something else." What may come off as simple to most was something that held so much more weight for them when they grasped the full picture most could not.

Northern Hideout

Orochimaru stayed in his room doing nothing but thinking about his life the whole day. Those three foster children offered him the chance to grow a conscience again. Calling him their father set off a spark in his head that slowly unraveled his repressed memories and emotions. It was still all too unfamiliar to him due to how soon it happened. Although all of it has been making him question his actions he's been following through with these past years.

He became like this after losing his memory. But the thought process he was left of came in fruition due to how fragile he realized life was before losing his memories. It was so easy for people to die, and he tried to avoid how easy it was to die by becoming immortal, and in the process he killed hundreds of people. But by growing a conscience and regaining his memories he had come to the realization that he was exactly the type of person he was running away from. Someone with no concern for life just like how his father was. Completely absorbed by self interest. At his current level of skill and power he could live a peaceful life without being killed by anyone. When he realized all of this everything he's been doing over these years started to feel pointless.

Orochimaru was hesitant but he decided to disband his gang indefinitely. He said he would call them back if he ever changed his mind. Although at the mind he didn't see the point in continuing things.

Pokanto Mountain

Nozomi rolled around in her bed and thought, 'Learning about how the brain works was surprisingly easy. I originally wanted to learn how to read memories but I also learned about how to manipulate emotions so that's a plus... now, who's mind should I read? Coming up with a restriction was pretty easy so it should be a piece of cake.' Her thoughts were interrupted when Mina entered her room. Nozomi's eyes lit up at the opportunity and he instantly read her mind.

Once she figured what she was going to try to talk about she instantly jumped up her strategy to escape. Mina noticed the urgency on Nozomi's and her eyes narrowed. She thought, 'Does she already know what I plan on doing? Maybe she chose the study of brains to read minds.' Mina involuntarily grinned. 'Maybe she learned it to read Menma's mind.'

Nozomi started panicking more, 'She knows that I know what she's thinking! Quick! I have to think of something!' Mina opened her mouth to start talking but Nozomi cut her off while stuttering, "Uh, M-Mina! Before we start talking can you get my kimono over there? I don't have m-much on under these sheets."

"Hm? Oh, sure." Mina turned around in the direction where Nozomi pointed and as soon as she did Nozomi already tried bolting past her at top speed, but Mina anticipated this and quickly grabbed her. 'Lying about not having any clothes on isn't very appealing for a lady, Nozomi." Mina released her and Nozomi pouted, "I studied brains all the way through and then I'm the one getting my mind read?! What's up with that???"

Mina giggled and replied, "Well because of my past I can tell what people are thinking from their facial expressions pretty easily. Based on how you were acting is it fair to assume that you already know why I came here?"

Nozomi didn't respond and Mina took that as a yes. She continued, "Nozomi, you're going to have a joint birthday. You should open up more and"-"No way!!! I already tried that yesterday and he only revealed his perverted intentions!" Nozomi spouted waving her hands in front of her face.

Mina noticed that her words told a different story from her body as she tried to hide her blush. "Is that so? Well I guess you're right, I'm going to call off the joint birthday party then," Nozomi was caught off guard by Mina's sudden response. She quickly blurted out, "W-wait! You don't have to cancel the party! I still want to have it!" Mina grinned with her back facing Nozomi so she couldn't see it.

She put on a straight face and turned back around towards Nozomi. "Oh really? Why do you still want to have the joint birthday if you're so disinterested in Menma?" Nozomi was stumped, she couldn't come up with a response. She started stuttering as her brain raced through different ways to respond, "I... I... I..." Nozomi's face became redder and redder as each moment passed by. Mina advanced further, "Say, Nozomi. Do you dislike Menma in any way?" Nozomi naturally responded, "Not at all!"

Another smirk appeared on Mina's face. This time she couldn't hide it from Nozomi. Nozomi thought to herself, 'Damn this woman and her manipulative skills! She's making me say weird things I don't want to think about!' Mina decided to stop and chose to be more direct. "Nozomi, if you keep on suppressing your feelings you're just going to hurt yourself. At some point it might be too late to let them out. Why are you so scared of accepting how you feel?" Nozomi's blush disappeared and she took on a more sad expression. She looked down at the ground as she replied, "I feel like Menma might see me as more of a daughter, if I suddenly start feeling romantic towards him and let out those feelings... I feel like it might destroy our current relationship... but yes, it's true. I really, really, like Menma!"

Mina involuntarily smiled, she was glad that she was finally accepting how she felt. "Well then you should express those feelings." Nozomi shook her head. She responded, "No way! What if he doesn't like me back?" Mina sighed and thought of what to say. Eventually she told her, "You and I both have seen how nice Menma can be, he'd never start viewing you weirdly or anything like that... also, you may not know this, but you're the only girl that's ever made him blush. By accident too! And let me tell you, he's been in... some interesting situations. Please don't read my mind," Mina had to add that last part because she didn't want Nozomi seeing what she did before.

Nozomi wasn't sure why she had to ask that but she thankfully complied. Although after hearing that information a small hopeful look became visible on Nozomi's face. She asked, "Really?" Mina nodded. Nozomi even read her mind and could tell she wasn't lying. Her tail started twitching thoughts(purely innocent) entered her mind. Mina started walking towards the door. She stated, "I'll leave you alone so you can think about what you want to do. I'll come back tomorrow."

As Mina left Nozomi's room Menma was conversing with Nero on the other side of the estate. "Menma, are you sure you want to go through with this?" Menma nodded and Nero continued, "Well we can go there tomorrow, you need time to get your thoughts straight. After going through such a sudden change you need some time to adjust." Menma sighed and reluctantly accepted his condition. Menma said, "Alright Nero, but don't back out now. We're going to go see Orochimaru tomorrow," they both shook hands and went to their own rooms.

Unlike before Menma didn't plan on going there with malicious intent, he just needed closure. He arrived here two weeks ago with the intent of killing him and anyone else that got in his way. Menma chuckled a little when he thought about how the old Menma would react to how he is now. He used to be so tunnel visioned that he didn't notice much of anything else around himself.

As his room entered within his field of vision he also noticed that Nero's sensei was walking down the hallway. Kiritsugu noticed Menma and gave him a smile and wave. Menma felt awkward when he returned the gesture due to what he learned about him, but he continued on. He entered his room and fell right onto his bed. He noticed it was still evening when he looked out of the window, but he was so mentally exhausted from everything that happened today that he was confident he would sleep until morning.

His eyes became heavy and his consciousness was about to fade, but he noticed a familiar holy glow out of the corner of his eye. He opened his eyes all the way and looked towards the source of the light and noticed Adonai. Menma felt slightly annoyed, but he welcomed Adonai nonetheless.

Adonai greeted him with a smile and stated, "You've gone through a change," Adonai glanced towards his very slightly cracked door. Menma followed his gaze wondering what he was looking at but noticed nothing. Adonai looked back towards him and continued, "In more ways than one."

Menma wasn't sure how to respond so he simply nodded in response. Adonai walked closer to Menma and announced, "There has been something that I've been wanting to show you. I believe that you're ready now," Adonai lifted one of his arms and placed his hand on Menma's head.

Suddenly memories flooded into Menma's mind. He saw the life of Orochimaru in his younger years, he saw every tragedy he experienced, ranging from his father, his memory loss, his discovery of those 3 boys, growing a bond with them, all the way to their deaths all from the perspective of Orochimaru all the while feeling what Orochimaru felt each time.

After Adonai lifted his hand off of Menma's head Menma had a look of anguish and regret on his face. He saw the humanity in Orochimaru, how he was stripped of it, how it was reopened by some boys, and then how he killed those boys. Menma opened his mouth to say something but Adonai quickly cut him off, "I've shown you this so you have a better understanding of him. You can choose what you want to do with this information."

Adonai faded away before Menma could say anything and he was left to his thoughts. And while he sat there stuck in his thoughts he didn't take any notice to the cat girl silently weeping outside of his door. Nozomi had seen everything due to her new power, and she saw more than that. She saw Menma's entire life too. She felt a little guilty for invading his mind like that, but she also started feeling distraught from the realization she had a mom which answered the question to the gaps in her memory. Her silent weeps slowly started building up into sobs. She had felt lied to by the person she admired the most.

Suigetsu happened to be nearby and he ran in her direction. "Nozomi, is something wrong?!" He noticed that he was right outside of Menma's room and he clenched his face. "Don't tell me"- he was quickly cut off by a crying Nozomi. "N-no, he didn't do anything wrong. It's just... it's just..." Suigetsu couldn't tell what was wrong but he decided to just take her to her room.

They quickly arrived there and Suigetsu sat her on her bed. Nozomi silently thanked him and told him, "I... need some time to myself." Suigetsu nodded and left the room. Once he shut the door behind him he started heading towards Mina's room. She's been talking to her more so she should be able to help more than he can.

Nighttime passed by as the sun was rising in the sky. Menma left his room and started heading towards the gate to meet Nero who was most likely already there. As he passed by Nozomi's room he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. But he shook it off and continued on. He opened the door leading outside and let the sun Ray's grace his face. He walked down the steps and he noticed Suigetsu was training out on the training grounds. Suigetsu noticed him and stopped for a minute. "Good morning, Menma. You look like you're going somewhere," Menma nodded in response and Suigetsu continued, "Well when you come back make sure you don't bother Nozomi. You should just wait until the next time she approaches you," Menma wasn't sure what he meant by that but he continued on.

He walked up to Nero who was leaning against the entrance gate to the estate. Nero noticed Menma and he simply nodded. Menma placed a hand on him and they both arrived at Orochimaru's final hideout via Kamui. Nero had already known about this place so he informed Menma about the layout of the place.

They got into their combat modes and started sneaking around the hideout and noticed that everything seemed abandoned. There were half built guns everywhere and it looked like everyone who was here just dropped everything and suddenly left. Menma was confused but he continued on through the facility. He eventually reached areas which assumed were the holding cells. Although all of those also happened to be empty.

Now Menma was really confused. He expected this to be more of a factory and prison, and it seemed like that's what it used to be. They both felt as though the place was abandoned so they naturally ended up letting down their guards.

Eventually after enough searching around they found what looked like the main hall and Nero stopped walking. Menma also stopped and looked back at him. "Menma, this is something that you have to deal with yourself. I'll stay here and wait for you," Menma smiled and continued on. As he walked down the huge hallway he noticed Orochimaru all the way at the other end of the hallway, and it seemed like he hadn't noticed him yet. As he got closer and closer to Orochimaru he started remembering more and more. He started thinking, 'Now that I think about it, it's been two years since I've last seen Orochimaru. A lot has happened since then, I can tell he's a lot different than he was when I last saw him. So hopefully things go differently now than how they did back then.'

Menma has had conflicted feelings for two days now. Could he really forgive Orochimaru for everything that he's done? Even after he understood him? This remains to be seen, it can only be answered by him confronting him. Both Menma and Orochimaru shared the same feelings.

Orochimaru finally noticed Menma and turned around to face him. There were no words shared and they simply stared into one another's eyes. This went on for an entire minute. After that minute passed they both loosened up. They were curious as to what they would feel once they confronted one another, and that feeling was no longer hate. Menma decided to initiate the conversation, "Orochimaru... I didn't expect things to turn out like this, I had thought there would have been a lot more activity here."

Orochimaru responded, "I... had an epiphany, and I decided to stop all operations," Menma was surprised by what he heard, but he was happy to hear it nonetheless. He even smiled a little. "So, as you know I originally came to this village to kill you, but that's not necessary anymore... is it?" Orochimaru looked down at the ground and pondered on what to say. He finally came up with his answer, "I've done countless horrible things, I wouldn't blame you or hold anything against you if you still wanted to kill me. I'm not asking you to spare me, but if you did you wouldn't have to worry about me continuing any of my previous... activities."

Menma felt an odd sense of relief after hearing that and asked him, "What about Kabuto? He was completely willing to go along with everything you did. Do you think he'll protest this change?" Orochimaru shaked his head, "Not at all, although he might have seemed like he enjoyed what he did, the reality is that he enjoyed following the instructions I gave him. He's completely loyal to me, he'll follow me no matter what."

Menma fell silent for a minute. He started thinking about everything that's been going down and he couldn't help but laugh. He spoke, "And to think, I studied a whole new area of jutsus to come up with a technique to kill you... and now this has happened. It almost feels like an anticlimactic joke... but I guess this change was for the best, for both of us."

Orochimaru turned around and couldn't help but laugh a little himself, "Well I have been doing something similar, but it seems like I won't be using it," Orochimaru turned back towards Menma and continued, "It would be way too optimistic to believe that we could be friends, but I'll help you when the time comes that you need help," Menma nodded and started heading back the way he came.

Nero came back into eyesight and he asked, "So how did it go?" Menma answered, "We have nothing to worry about anymore. Let's go back home."

Nero analysed Menma's body and noticed no signs of fatigue or damage on him, so it seems like there was no trouble. 'He really has conquered hatred... hopefully.'

They quickly arrived back home and once they did so they noticed it was noon. Menma was ready to call it a day, he was happy with how things turned out and it almost seemed too perfect. And it seems like it was, he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door and his eyes were greeted by a stern-faced Mina. "Nozomi wants to speak to you."

Menma nodded and started following Mina. He wasn't sure what the problem was but he could tell that it was serious due to Mina's tone. As he followed her down the hallway his anxiety increased more and more. By the time Nozomi's room came within eyesight he noticed his hands felt cold. 'Why am I so nervous? I don't even know if anything's wrong yet. It's always like this when it comes to her.'

Menma stopped in front of her door, but Mina continued walking. Before Menma could say anything Mina told him, "This is something for you to deal with Menma. Make sure you don't back out, she needs you."

Menma wasn't sure what she meant at first but then he remembered what she said some days ago about love. He started blushing and thought, 'Wait, l-love? As in a relationship with Nozomi???' He started pondering on it in his head. He ended up realizing that he definitely looked at her differently than every other woman that he's met. 'Well, I do feel different around her... but is it really love?'

He called out to Mina, "Hey, Mina! What you said the other day... I feel different around her, like I have a compulsive need to protect her, for personal reasons instead of just because Minako told me to. Is that really love?" Mina simply smirked, "You just gave yourself the answer," and she continued on her way.

Menma wasn't sure what she meant by that but he decided to just enter Nozomi's room. "I remember that Kakashi told me something when I was with Temari, he said that love was something that developed overtime, and consistency can breed and nurture that love. He also said that love at first sight isn't really love, it's superficial and childish. I think I got mad at him since I thought he was talking about my relationship with Temari at the time, but maybe he was right... then, maybe this is love. I definitely didn't feel like this towards her at first, although we always did have a spark, and Adonai brought her up once or twice too... whatever, now isn't the time to think about all of that. Nozomi needs me for something.'

Menma fully entered the room and closed the door behind him. Both he and Nozomi made eye contact. Her cat ears were low and her eyes looked puffy as if she was crying not too long ago. She initiated the conversation, "Menma, I want to talk about some things... I know about my mom."