Hearing that sudden voice, Sarutobi Shinnosuke blurted out instinctively,
"Where did this little bastard come from—how dare you talk back to me?!"
He was just about to fly into a rage when he finally saw the face of the person in front of him.
The newcomer was tall and imposing. Compared to Shinnosuke—barely over 170 centimeters—this man looked overwhelmingly powerful. His jet-black, slightly tousled hair, paired with a close-fitting combat outfit, perfectly outlined his well-defined muscles. Coupled with his strikingly handsome features, he looked like someone who could easily captivate tens of thousands of girls.
Swallowing hard, Sarutobi Shinnosuke stammered,
"A-Ar… Arata Itsuki!"
The Uzumaki clan ANBU, along with Uzumaki Kushina, immediately lit up upon hearing the name. Both of them carefully examined the man now standing with his back to them.
Even setting everything else aside, just that broad, towering back alone already felt far more reassuring than Sarutobi Hiruzen's short, stooped old figure.
Moreover, the Uzumaki clan was naturally gifted in perception. Almost instantly, both the ANBU and Kushina sensed it—Arata's energy was like a vast ocean, deep and unfathomable.
The two of them unconsciously swallowed.
As people of considerable standing within the Uzumaki clan, they were accustomed to being around their clan leader, Uzumaki Suikyō. Yet compared to the chakra radiating from Arata, their clan leader's reserves were inferior by several times over!
Such terrifying energy left even the well-traveled ANBU utterly unable to judge Arata's true level of strength.
For a fleeting moment, he recalled the two legendary figures from Konoha's founding era. But having never seen them in person, he couldn't be certain whether Arata had truly reached that long-unattained realm—the Kage level.
As for Kushina, she felt something different altogether. From Arata, she sensed an inexplicable warmth and familiarity, as though there were some hidden connection between them.
In truth, this stemmed from Arata's Uchiha Madara bloodline. After all, both the Uchiha and Senju—like the Uzumaki—were distant relatives, all tracing their origins back to the Sage of Six Paths. When a bloodline reached sufficient purity, such subtle resonance could naturally be felt.
However, unaware of these ancient truths, Kushina had no way of understanding where that sense of closeness came from.
Arata had originally been about to head out to support the Uzumaki clan. He hadn't expected them to arrive at Konoha's gates before he even left.
Previously, every Uzumaki envoy seeking aid had been received by the Third Hokage—or more accurately, dismissed with flimsy excuses and never truly granted an audience. Arata had long held that behavior in contempt.
But now that they had come directly to him, he could no longer sit back and do nothing. After all, his own plans involved bringing the Uzumaki clan into Konoha.
Moreover, hadn't he already intended to support them anyway?
Arata glanced at the arrogant and overbearing Sarutobi Shinnosuke. His disdain for the Sarutobi clan deepened further. Allowing such a spoiled second-generation official to hold a gatekeeping post spoke volumes about Sarutobi Hiruzen's character.
Since he had already openly fallen out with Hiruzen, Arata decided he might as well teach this habitually arrogant Sarutobi Shinnosuke a lesson.
"So," Arata said calmly, "from what you just said… you were planning to make a move against me?"
At Arata's questioning tone, Shinnosuke shuddered. Though he had been shouting confidently earlier, in the face of Arata's overwhelming presence, his mere jōnin-level strength amounted to nothing—less than an ant.
Furthermore, Arata was the Deputy Captain of ANBU, one of the highest positions in Konoha. Shinnosuke, a mere gate guard, was several ranks below him.
Still, relying on the fact that his uncle was the Hokage, Shinnosuke forced himself to stand firm.
"You're just an ANBU deputy captain. The Hokage is my—"
Seeing that he still refused to back down, Arata frowned. Earlier, he had clearly seen that this brat intended to attack Kushina and her escort.
Someone like this—an arrogant official's brat—wouldn't hesitate to kill once he acted.
Arata slowly raised a finger, pointing it directly at Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"So what if you're the Hokage's nephew? Spreading false intelligence and delaying the war effort—I can sentence you to death right now."
As Arata's finger pointed at him, Shinnosuke finally panicked, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"What… what are you trying to do… I warn you… if you dare lay a hand on me—"
BOOM!
A deafening crash of thunder erupted.
A blinding white flash engulfed the area, forcing the surrounding ten jōnin—and even Kushina and the Uzumaki ANBU—to shut their eyes.
When their vision finally returned, Sarutobi Shinnosuke lay sprawled on the ground, his body scorched pitch-black.
Arata's attack had been heavy—but not fatal. This was still Konoha, after all. No matter how outrageous Shinnosuke was, Arata lacked the authority to execute him on the spot.
That said, Shinnosuke was effectively finished.
Even if his burns could be treated, the paralysis caused by the lightning strike had severely damaged his chakra pathways. From this point on, he was no different from a cripple—whether he would even be able to walk again was uncertain.
Seeing Shinnosuke's miserable state, the ten surrounding jōnin stood frozen in panic. They had been ordered by the Hokage to look after this privileged brat. Now that he'd ended up like this, they had no idea how they would explain it.
Kushina, on the other hand, was delighted. Watching that detestable man finally get punished, she pumped her little fist in triumph—her innate fiery temperament already beginning to show.
As for the Uzumaki ANBU, shock filled his heart. Though he himself was an elite jōnin, taking down a clan-born jōnin like Shinnosuke would normally require several exchanges.
Yet Arata's lightning strike had been swift and ruthless—so fast that there hadn't even been time to react. In a single instant, a jōnin had been rendered completely combat-incapable.
At that moment, his conviction solidified.
If the Uzumaki clan were to survive… the man standing before him was their only hope.
After dealing with Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Arata glanced at the remaining ten jōnin. He knew well enough that they were little more than hired muscle—likely marginal figures even within the Sarutobi faction.
Most of them were of civilian origin, after all, and rarely received any real respect.
"Go back and report exactly what happened," Arata said calmly. "Tell them I did it. The Third Hokage won't dare do anything to you."
The ten jōnin, who had been sweating bullets, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Arata's prestige in the village was immense now—joining his side meant they no longer had to tiptoe around the Third Hokage.
And since Arata himself came from a civilian background, he would naturally take better care of people like them.
"Yes!" they replied in unison.
Once that was settled, Arata turned around and looked down at the little girl standing there- Uzumaki Kushina, only four years old.
She was still very young, yet her features already carried the unmistakable marks of the Uzumaki bloodline, faintly resembling Uzumaki Mito.
Arata knew better than anyone what that lineage represented.
And because of that, he understood just how much potential the girl carried for the future.
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