"Disciple?"
Nagato stared at Hyuga Arin in confusion.
How did things end up like this?
He had only wanted to thank Hyuga Arin by bringing over the bento his mother made.
He had never even considered becoming someone's disciple.
And judging by the other party's age, he didn't seem that old either—already taking on students at this stage?
Were ninja really that precocious?
"That's right," Hyuga Arin said. "There's an enormous amount of power inside you, but you don't know how to use it. I can help you learn."
His tone carried a hint of sourness.
Most ninja had to rely on chakra refinement techniques, squeezing chakra out of their own cells bit by bit.
But some exceptionally gifted individuals didn't need refinement at all—their bodies naturally generated chakra.
Such people were extremely rare.
Nagato was clearly one of them.
Despite never receiving formal ninja training, he already possessed chakra reserves on the level of a jōnin.
Hyuga Arin couldn't help but feel envious.
He didn't know how Nagato came to have such vast chakra, but one thing was clear—Nagato needed guidance.
"Become… a ninja?"
Nagato murmured softly. That had never been part of his life plan.
"Then… what exactly is a ninja?"
He knew ninja existed—almost everyone in this world knew of these superpowered people called ninja.
But what they actually did?
Most people didn't really understand.
They only knew that ninja killed people—nothing more than a bunch of murderers.
"Ninja, huh…"
Hyuga Arin tapped the edge of the rice bowl with his chopsticks, thinking for a moment.
"They're tools. A group of tools that constantly twist themselves."
In Hyuga Arin's view, the ninja of this world had long defined themselves as tools.
And those who wielded the tools were the daimyō, nobles, and merchants.
It was these people—locked in endless struggles for power—who used ninja as tools to seize resources from one another.
That was why conflicts kept expanding, growing ever more intense.
Take the war that was about to erupt:
At its core, it had nothing to do with ninja.
Ninja were merely tools used by daimyō, fighting wars on their behalf.
What the war ultimately decided wasn't the standing of the Five Great Ninja Villages—but the hierarchy of the Five Great Nations.
Ninja fought the battles, ninja died on the battlefield, yet the ones who gained the greatest benefits were the unrelated ruling classes—the daimyō and aristocrats.
And this wasn't a one-time thing.
The ninja class actually possessed enough power to decide a nation's fate, yet they willingly defined themselves as tools.
Bound by the interests of the nobility, they fell into endless infighting and war.
The key problem was this:
These tools could think.
Under such a social structure, their thoughts became twisted over time, giving birth to countless mentally unstable individuals.
Uchiha Madara.
Uchiha Obito.
Uchiha Itachi.
Uzumaki Nagato.
Regardless of whether their actions were right or wrong, their mental states were clearly abnormal.
Why did so many of them involve the Uchiha?
Truly worthy of the title the cursed Uchiha.
Of course, there were plenty of others who were mentally unsound as well—these few were just the most representative, with the greatest impact.
"Tools…?"
Nagato looked at Hyuga Arin in a daze.
He was still just a child. The deeper implications were completely beyond him.
It was like playing a lute to a cow.
"Uh…"
Hyuga Arin scratched his head awkwardly. "Let's talk about that later."
He changed tactics.
"So—do you want the power to protect your family?"
"…Yes."
Nagato thought for a moment, then nodded.
He really did want to protect his family.
"Finish eating, then come with me," Hyuga Arin said, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.
Outside the city, inside a cave.
It was a cave Hyuga Arin had discovered earlier when he and Kusomori had passed through the area.
At the time, neither of them had paid it much attention.
Now, Hyuga Arin had chosen it as the place to train Nagato.
"Teacher, why did we leave the city?" Nagato asked curiously.
"Because it's inconvenient there," Hyuga Arin replied.
"When you become a ninja, it's not so you can show off. You need to hide your identity. This power should only be used to protect your family."
Nagato nodded seriously. That aligned perfectly with his own thoughts.
"From now on, all training will take place here."
Hyuga Arin began teaching Nagato.
He didn't have many ninTechnique himself, so his plan was simple:
the Three Basic Techniques, taiTechnique, and throwing techniques.
Once Nagato mastered those, he would already qualify as a solid genin.
As for future growth—Jiraiya would surely be more than willing.
The first day of training was only for testing Nagato's physical condition and chakra refinement.
Nagato indeed had a huge amount of chakra, but it functioned more like a one-time resource.
Once depleted, it took a very long time to recover naturally.
Chakra refinement techniques would allow him to replenish it much faster.
After the day's training ended, Hyuga Arin escorted Nagato home, then returned alone to the tower.
Everything seemed to sink into a strange calm.
The rogue ninja within the city kept a low profile, terrified of drawing attention.
On the border, Konoha made no moves at all.
Every day, Hyuga Arin skimmed the intelligence reports, then went out to train Nagato.
There was still no word from Hanzo's side.
After finishing another day of training and returning to the tower, Hyuga Arin found the place eerily quiet.
He rubbed his temples.
"What exactly is Hanzo doing?"
The complete lack of response was starting to make him restless.
Take me or don't—just say something.
Ever since he sent that message, there had been nothing.
Not even a fart.
The confidence he once had was beginning to waver.
He sat down at the desk and poured himself some tea.
The green matcha rippled in the cup, then slowly settled.
Hyuga Arin took a sip, his face relaxing.
Drinking hot tea on a rainy day really was comforting.
It would've been perfect—
if there weren't poison in it.
"Water Release: Water Shuriken!"
The moment he heard the shout, shuriken formed of water burst through the ceiling, shooting straight at Hyuga Arin's head.
"So you're going all in, huh?"
Hyuga Arin flipped backward over his chair.
The chair was instantly shattered by the water shuriken.
But the shuriken didn't disperse—instead, they chased after him relentlessly.
Swish.
A bronze blade appeared in his hand, slicing through the water shuriken and shattering them into fragments.
Hyuga Arin looked up at the figures that had appeared in the office.
"So," he said calmly,
"you've finally made up your minds to kill me?"
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