Hyuga Arin tossed the letter in his hand into the nearby brazier.
The paper writhed in the flames, gradually turning into ash.
It was a letter from Hiruko. Aside from a round of scolding, it contained absolutely no useful information.
"What kind of valuable intel could I even get from a place like this?" Hyuga Arin curled his lip.
This area corresponded to the Konoha direction, so any intelligence gathered here would naturally be related to Konoha.
Unless he was reassigned elsewhere, it was impossible for him to obtain anything truly useful for Konoha.
Watching the letter burn completely to ash, he walked to the window and looked down.
The city itself wasn't very large. From the tallest structure, nearly half of it was visible at a glance.
Unlike Konoha's brightly lit nights, this place fell into near-total darkness once night arrived, with only a few scattered points of light still burning.
Outside, a light rain dripped from the sky. The entire city looked like an abandoned ghost town, carrying an inexplicable sense of desolation.
"So this is the main battlefield where the Second Shinobi World War is about to erupt."
Hyuga Arin's lips curled upward.
If history followed its normal course, the Land of Rain would be completely reduced to a primary battlefield.
And that would be his golden opportunity to level up rapidly.
"Soon… very soon."
Before the war fully broke out, he needed to build up a certain amount of strength. War was indeed the best leveling ground—but it was also extremely dangerous.
"Gentlemen, I long for your war."
…
Before dawn the next day.
Kuromori led Hyuga Arin out of the city and into a mountain forest. The two hid themselves in the trees.
Hyuga Arin glanced at the grass below. Fresh green grass covered the mountain path, with no signs of human footsteps—aside from a few traces left by animals, there was no hint of human activity.
"This is the route they're guaranteed to take?" he asked Kuromori curiously.
Kuromori replied with a grave expression, "This intelligence came directly from Lord Hanzo. There won't be any mistakes."
He scanned the surroundings, waiting for the replacement squad to appear.
The city behind them would belong solely to Lord Hanzo.
"Then can you be sure when they'll arrive?" Hyuga Arin asked again.
At this point, he had already activated his Byakugan to observe the surroundings, but there were no chakra signatures at all.
Kuromori shot him a look. "It's written in the scroll I gave you yesterday. Didn't you read it carefully?"
Hyuga Arin couldn't help averting his gaze. He'd only checked the team composition—he really hadn't read the rest in detail.
Seeing his reaction, Kuromori immediately understood.
Veins bulged slightly on his forehead. This guy was actually so careless with a mission.
Hyuga Arin stopped asking questions. He moved from the tree branch onto the trunk, hanging sideways against it.
Tree-climbing and water-walking were basic skills he had mastered long ago.
After all, his chakra control was, frankly speaking, absurd.
"What are you doing?" Kuromori demanded in a low voice.
What if those people arrived right now?
"Setting traps, obviously." Hyuga Arin replied as if it were only natural.
He began wrapping steel wire around shuriken and tossing them outward. The wire quickly wound itself around multiple trees.
Next, he took out explosive tags, leaping between the trees and slapping them into place, setting them to trigger on contact and leaving a trace of chakra behind.
All the words Kuromori had been about to say died in his throat.
He could only stare as Hyuga Arin calmly wove trap after trap.
No—
Where was he getting so many ninja tools from?
It felt like even his own stockpile as a chūnin was nowhere near as large.
Was this guy really a shinobi of the Land of Rain?
For the first time, Kuromori seriously questioned it.
Hyuga Arin kept his Byakugan active. In the black-and-white world, he could still distinguish expressions.
He clearly caught the suspicion flashing across Kuromori's face.
Landing on a tree, Hyuga Arin stabbed a kunai into the trunk and smiled with an unreadable expression.
Only after finishing all the traps did he return to their original tree.
As if nothing had happened, he waited alongside Kuromori for the enemy to arrive.
Silence settled between the two.
…
Aki-shima led his subordinates swiftly through the forest.
"Captain Akishima, will there be fighting when we get there?"
The half-grown boy following closely beside him asked curiously.
Akishima glanced at him.
This was a young talent favored by Amegakure's leader, Masakado. The main purpose of this mission was to escort him safely away from Amegakure.
The village was far from peaceful now. Hanzo's threat was growing by the day.
Although Hanzo himself wouldn't openly rebel while lacking the banner of righteousness, his subordinates had far fewer scruples. Skirmishes between factions were frequent.
Hanzo had fewer men, but they were elites. Masakado had numbers, but few truly strong fighters.
"Probably not," Akishima shook his head.
This was merely a handover. The so-called violations by the other side were just an excuse.
The real goal was to get these three away from the center of the conflict.
And honestly, he couldn't imagine why any fighting would break out.
The boy sighed and muttered, "This non-resistance policy is really terrible."
Akishima pretended not to hear him, but his heart grew heavy.
Out of fear of the Three Great Ninja Villages and conflict with them, Masakado had chosen a policy of non-resistance.
That decision had disappointed many.
The enemy had practically invaded their homeland, and the first response was not to fight.
Even Akishima couldn't understand it.
Such actions had already driven many people toward Hanzo's side.
"Kage-sama… what exactly are you trying to do?" Akishima sighed inwardly as the whoosh of wind passed by his ears.
The group remained relatively relaxed. If they encountered rogue ninja, they would usually avoid them.
Not because they couldn't win—but because they feared the possibility of Konoha shinobi in disguise.
Although the Three Great Villages hadn't yet entered full-scale war, intelligence gathering was already underway.
In such circumstances, who could be sure whether a rogue ninja was real or fake?
If real, fine.
If fake, they might not stand a chance against shinobi from a major village.
Just as they were nearing their destination, Akishima's expression suddenly changed.
He raised his hand and rapidly formed a signal.
"Something's wrong. Hide."
The genin behind him showed flashes of excitement, but they obeyed immediately, dispersing and concealing themselves.
Akishima halted on a tree branch, his gaze fixed on a nearby tree.
A kunai was openly embedded in the branch.
There were no signs of battle in the area—so where had this kunai come from?
As he cautiously scanned the surroundings—
"Help!!"
A sudden scream rang out.
Someone had been hoisted upside down, dangling in midair. Akishima immediately saw the steel wire wrapped tightly around the person's ankle.
"It's a trap!! Retreat!!" Akishima roared.
But the young man favored by the Rain Shadow ignored the order and charged toward his trapped companion.
"Retreat!!" Akishima shouted again, trying to snap him back to his senses.
The boy turned a deaf ear—
Until—
BOOM!!!
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/CanonBreaker