Hidetaka's words immediately made Sakumo frown. He quickly pulled Hidetaka back behind him and said in a stern voice,
"Hidetaka, I may not fully understand Arata's current strength, but I know his character well—he's not someone who talks big without backing it up."
The last time, Arata had given Sakumo an enormous shock. Back then, with nothing more than what seemed like tokubetsu-jōnin–level strength, he had single-handedly wiped out an elite jōnin squad, and later even directly killed the Kage-level Zoshirō.
That alone convinced Sakumo that Arata was absolutely not the type to boast idly. This time, he didn't turn a blind eye when Hidetaka tried to grab attention. Instead, he stepped forward immediately and reprimanded him outright.
Sakumo was usually very gentle with his subordinates and rarely raised his voice like this.
Arata, seeing Sakumo's reaction, didn't take it to heart at all. In his view, this Inuzuka Hidetaka clearly had something wrong with his head. If he kept courting death in the future, Arata wouldn't mind killing him.
He even suspected that the dog bastard who, in the future, would turn around and accuse Sakumo after being saved by him… was probably this very Hidetaka.
Judging by appearances, this guy was the most beast-like of them all—constantly stirring up trouble for no reason. People like that were easily exploited by the likes of Danzō.
That said, Arata wasn't in a hurry to deal with him. He was nothing more than an ant—one stomp would be enough.
For now, he would consider it doing Hatake Sakumo a favor. Arata actually held Sakumo in high regard. A man with both strength and integrity like him was exactly the kind of person Arata wanted to bring under his command.
Of course, Sakumo himself had doubted Arata as well—but his doubt wasn't so direct. It was more astonishment than disbelief.
Arata didn't bother answering verbally. Instead, he walked over to an open area nearby.
Seeing this strange behavior, Sakumo had no idea what Arata intended to do—but he had a strong feeling that whatever came next would shatter his understanding yet again.
In the next instant, the empty ground before Arata began to twist and distort. Space itself warped, and a pitch-black opening appeared.
Immediately after, one red-haired figure after another emerged from that space—first ten, then a hundred, then more and more—
Until over two hundred people were standing in the open ground, Arata finally stopped.
By then, Sakumo was already sucking in a sharp breath.
He understood now.
This was space–time ninjutsu.
He would never mistake that spatial fluctuation. He had once been fortunate enough to be taught the Flying Thunder God Jutsu—though he'd failed to master it.
Even so, he was extremely familiar with the nature of its spatial ripples. And because he had once tried to cultivate Flying Thunder God himself, he knew exactly what kind of talent was required to reach this level of space–time mastery.
Even someone like him, who had always considered himself a genius, was completely lost in this field.
Yet Arata had reached such a level.
That meant Arata didn't just surpass him in raw strength—his talent in space–time ninjutsu far exceeded Sakumo's as well.
As for the Uzumaki clansmen, suddenly stepping out into the outside world after being transported in an instant, they were momentarily disoriented.
Then they noticed the massive gates of Konoha standing before them.
After staying in that space for some time, they had already arrived at Konoha Village.
Their shock at Arata's strength deepened once again. To cover such a distance in such a short time—if Arata fought at that speed, just how terrifying would the battlefield be?
Meanwhile, Hidetaka, who had mocked Arata earlier, was now so stunned he couldn't utter a single word.
His understanding of space–time ninjutsu was nowhere near Sakumo's. But even someone who struggled for years just to learn summoning techniques knew how impossibly difficult space–time ninjutsu was to cultivate.
And yet Arata had achieved this level.
That alone proved his talent was nothing short of monstrous.
And the sudden appearance of these red-haired elders, women, and children was the clearest proof that Arata's earlier words were no joke.
In the entire shinobi world, aside from the Uzumaki clan, there were very few people with such striking red hair. With so many appearing at once, it could only mean one thing—they were Uzumaki.
Most of them still wore clothing bearing the Uzumaki clan's spiral crest.
That was proof enough.
Arata had truly rushed to Uzushiogakure—and in front of tens of thousands of enemy troops, he had rescued these Uzumaki clansmen.
Sakumo's reaction wasn't much better than Hidetaka's.
Originally, he had thought that even if Arata had reached super-Kage level, saving a few dozen Uzumaki would already be impressive.
When Arata returned alone, Sakumo had assumed he'd done his utmost—but failed to save anyone.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect this.
Not only had Arata succeeded, he had brought back a large number of the Uzumaki clan's elderly, women, and children.
As someone whose own clan had once suffered annihilation, Sakumo loathed clan-destroying wars more than anyone. Seeing Arata truly preserve a significant bloodline of the Uzumaki clan filled him with deep respect.
After all, the Uzumaki clan had once refused to join Konoha. For most people of the Land of Fire, that alone was enough to harbor resentment toward them—unless they were someone like Sakumo.
Yet Arata was still willing to risk his life to save them.
Compared to the Third Hokage, who refused to act at all, Arata's character shone incomparably brighter.
"Arata… you… actually did it…"
Seeing Sakumo so emotional he could barely speak, Arata waved his hand casually.
"No need to get that excited. This isn't everyone yet. I left some of the Uzumaki ninja who can still fight in Kazama Town, and had them help take care of the tsunami survivors as well."
Sakumo, already stunned, froze again at the mention of disaster victims.
Only then did he remember—he himself had a mission right now.
His assignment was to head to the disaster's front line to put on a show. Even though the task was largely ceremonial, he still wanted to save as many civilians as possible.
After all, they were living, breathing people. He couldn't just watch them die like numbers on a page.
With that thought, Sakumo grabbed Arata's hand in excitement.
"Really? I just received orders to go there—to rescue disaster victims and oversee post-disaster reconstruction!"
Arata hadn't expected Sakumo to be rushing out for exactly that mission. A quick glance told him the whole story—behind Sakumo were only three people.
One Kage-level fighter and three jōnin, sent to rescue a disaster zone spanning over ten kilometers?
That was nothing short of delusional.
Being sent with so few people made the intention obvious. Arata instantly understood what Hiruzen was thinking—this was just for appearances.
A man who could order the annihilation of a fellow village's allied clan without hesitation would never truly care about the lives of ordinary civilians.
To him, those civilians were nothing more than statistics.