"So… what about Kuromori-sama?"
The ninja who had returned to deliver his report asked cautiously, probing as he spoke.
Hyuga Arin looked at the genin in front of him.
Straw hat. A scar on his face. The overall look screamed wannabe Pirate King.
And yet—
Why was someone who looked like he was cosplaying One Piece speaking in such a timid tone?
Shouldn't you be shouting about becoming the Pirate King or something?
Instead, even his waist was slightly bent as he spoke, radiating the aura of a polite, well-mannered good kid.
It left Hyuga Arin with no good excuse to lose his temper.
With a helpless tone, he replied,
"Kuromori? He died while carrying out a mission."
If the guy dared ask how Kuromori died, Hyuga Arin was fully prepared to reenact it on the spot.
"I see…" The Rain ninja nodded in sudden realization and placed the prepared report on the desk. "Mu Yu-sama, this is today's intelligence."
Hyuga Arin picked it up and skimmed through it casually.
It was still mostly trivial nonsense.
Ever since Konoha had dispatched that group earlier, things had fallen into an eerie silence.
Hiruko hadn't told him anything at all.
As for rogue ninja—there were far fewer of them now. Most of the outsiders were gone, and those still hiding within the city had become even more cautious after Hyuga Arin's last stunt.
The remaining Rain ninja couldn't track them down at all.
"You're not curious about the mission details?" Hyuga Arin suddenly asked in a low, eerie voice.
"Huh?!" The Rain ninja shook his head frantically, a bead of cold sweat sliding down his forehead.
"Mission details are classified. I don't have the qualifications to ask."
Originally, there had been two ninjas stationed here.
Now there was only Mu Yu left.
Even Kuromori was gone.
He couldn't help but overthink things.
In fact, all the Rain ninja stationed in this city were overthinking it.
Everyone already knew that Mu Yu had lost his memory—and become unstable.
They desperately wanted to know the truth.
But none of them dared to ask.
They were terrified of ending up on the missing list.
"Alright." Hyuga Arin waved his hand disinterestedly. "You can go."
He'd thought there might be some struggle for control.
Instead, it had fallen into his hands this easily.
The Rain ninja carefully backed away. As he reached the doorway, one foot just stepping out—
Boom!!
His head exploded like a watermelon.
No hesitation. No thought.
His headless body collapsed straight to the floor.
Hyuga Arin withdrew his hand after throwing the shuriken.
"How dare you step out with your left foot first? Don't you know I really hate that?"
He glanced at the floating notification.
[Experience +265]
Only then did he nod in satisfaction.
Kuromori was gone.
Who was there to stop him now?
From this point on, things would be done by his rules.
Everyone here was just experience waiting to be collected.
Perfect.
At that moment, another Rain ninja walked in—and froze when she saw the corpse on the floor, swallowing hard.
As expected.
Mu Yu really had gone mad.
She entered cautiously, walked up to Hyuga Arin's desk, and placed her documents down.
"M-Mu Yu-sama… this is today's intelligence."
"Mm." Hyuga Arin glanced at her.
Brown hair. A female ninja.
She stood there trembling, not daring to move at all.
"You may go." Hyuga Arin waved his hand.
The female ninja swallowed nervously and asked,
"Um… Mu Yu-sama… which foot should I step out with?"
She had clearly heard what he'd said earlier.
"…Hmm?" Hyuga Arin put down the file and his face darkened instantly.
The color drained from the female ninja's face.
"You dare question me?!" Hyuga Arin snapped angrily, pulling out a shuriken as if to teach her a lesson.
Just then—
Several people rushed in through the doorway.
Hyuga Arin frowned at the group of Rain ninja who entered, then disappointedly put the shuriken away.
Turning back to the female ninja, he spoke in a tone full of "earnest guidance."
"If you have questions, just ask them. Don't keep testing people like that."
"If you really want to know what you did wrong… come to my room tonight. I'll teach you properly."
That teaching doesn't have to be improper—but it absolutely sounds fatal.
The female ninja screamed internally.
With her sharp instincts, she could tell—
The way Hyuga Arin looked at her wasn't the desire of a man toward a woman.
It was the gaze of a beast locking onto prey.
This guy was seriously sick in the head.
She glanced at the other ninja who had entered.
They gave her absolutely no sense of safety.
Even Kuromori was gone—what could a few genin like them do?
At best, Mu Yu just wasn't confident in killing all of them at once.
"I… I think that won't be necessary," the female ninja forced a stiff smile.
Hyuga Arin sighed regretfully.
"If you don't want to improve, there's nothing I can do."
He shook his head, disappointment written all over his face, even a trace of contempt in his eyes.
The other ninja stepped forward and placed their reports on the desk.
"Mu Yu-sama, this is today's recorded intelligence," a stern-faced ninja said in a deep voice.
"Alright, you can all leave." Hyuga Arin waved them off, finally reining himself in.
The group hurried out—taking the corpse of the ninja who had died for stepping out with his left foot along with them.
Once again, only Hyuga Arin remained in the tower.
He placed the intelligence on the desk but had no intention of reading it.
Walking to the window, he looked down.
Soon, he saw a group of ninja leaving below.
Hyuga Arin's gaze was dark and distant as he watched the genin depart.
"That should be enough to establish my persona."
While harvesting experience was part of it, his true goal was to create an image for Hanzo—
A bloodthirsty maniac.
Unstable.
Loves killing.
With that image in place, if he killed more people later, Hanzo would already be mentally prepared.
Hanzo wouldn't summon him without first gathering intelligence.
And the only way to understand what kind of person he was—
Was through these so-called colleagues.
"For someone as peace-loving as me, doing something this insane is really asking a lot."
Hyuga Arin felt he could easily be awarded the title of Peace Ambassador.
"I wonder if I can make the image even more vivid."
And maybe harvest a bit more experience along the way.
…
"Mu Yu is absolutely insane. He's a bloodthirsty lunatic."
A group of Rain ninja gathered together, the female ninja's voice shrill as she denounced him.
"If we keep going like this, we'll all end up dead at his hands!!!"
Everyone fell silent, drinking their alcohol in gloomy silence.
How could they not understand that?
A tall Rain ninja finally spoke in a deep voice,
"If this guy really becomes our commanding officer… we won't last long."
"Then why don't we kill him?" someone suddenly suggested.
All eyes immediately turned toward the speaker.
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