Ninjas were a group with high offense but low defense.
What mattered most in their battles was composure—and the ability to think clearly in the midst of combat.
The reason jōnin were strong wasn't just their abilities and experience, but their capacity to remain calm during a fight. Even when at a disadvantage, they could still search for a chance to turn the tables.
But once one's mentality collapsed, even a jōnin could easily die at the hands of a genin.
Just like these special jōnin.
Under normal circumstances, in a one-on-one fight, Hyuga Arin would have had a chance to win—but it definitely wouldn't have been easy.
Yet these people had been slaughtered by Hanzo to the point of complete mental breakdown.
At the instant the explosive tags detonated, the scene was as dazzling as fireworks—
Only, instead of sparks, what flew through the air were severed limbs.
[Experience +5231] [Experience +5124] [Experience +5142]
Three lines of experience flashed by in an instant.
Hyuga Arin walked over from a distance. Not far away, four people were still on the ground—two struggled back to their feet, while the other two had completely lost their ability to fight, lying there wailing.
But the two who stood up hadn't even managed to act before a flying sickle sliced across one man's neck. With a tug of the chain, the sickle returned to Hanzo's hand.
And Hanzo was already standing behind the second man.
"My experience!!" Hyuga Arin's expression changed. A shuriken flew from his hand, harvesting the lives of the remaining two.
Those two had no ability to resist at all—only able to watch helplessly as the shuriken descended.
[Experience +5548] [Experience +5657]
If he'd gone after the man still standing, he wouldn't have made it in time.
Hanzo's retrieved sickle chopped off the head of the man in front of him.
The terrified head hit the ground with a dull thud.
Hyuga Arin let out a soft breath.
Another two heads picked up. Nice.
"You did well," Hanzo praised Hyuga Arin.
At least he'd taken the initiative to support him during the fight.
Hyuga Arin gave an awkward chuckle.
But this wasn't over yet—there was still plenty left to loot.
"Lord Hanzo, I'll clean up the battlefield," Hyuga Arin said respectfully.
"No need," Hanzo refused outright. "This must be left for Zhengzang to see—to let him understand how laughable the power in his hands truly is."
He had deliberately drawn these people out. They were also the only remaining force Zhengzang had.
He wanted to tell Zhengzang clearly: if not for the burden of 'righteous cause,' he, Hanzo, could take his life at any time—to instill fear, to make him wary.
You say 'no need,' then how am I supposed to loot anything?
Hyuga Arin cursed inwardly.
Items couldn't be seen by anyone until he picked them up. But once he did, others could see them—and even use them.
That was precisely why Hyuga Arin had once given a bandit's bracer to Nawaki.
After a moment of thought, Hyuga Arin said,
"Lord Hanzo, they were still Rain Hidden Village ninjas. At the very least, let them leave with some dignity."
Hearing this, Hanzo nodded and didn't object. He jumped onto a tree, clearly signaling Hyuga Arin to handle it himself.
So he really was being treated like a workhorse.
Hyuga Arin sighed inwardly—but this did make looting much more convenient.
He arranged all the corpses on the ground, lining them up neatly in a square formation. Many of them were missing body parts, making the task especially troublesome.
Still, if you were going to put on an act, you had to see it through—after all, there was still an audience named Hanzo.
As for the scattered limbs he found, he had no idea which belonged to whom.
He simply matched them based on who was missing what and placed them back.
There were twenty-five people in total.
He'd only managed to pick up eight heads.
Truly tragic.
As for what exactly he picked up, he didn't examine it carefully. Everything went straight into his inventory.
Hanzo was watching—he couldn't exactly inspect things openly.
This had been an enormous haul.
A total of 12 items dropped.
Four people dropped two items each, while another four dropped a single item.
This harvest was incredibly rich—far easier than the last time he nearly worked himself to death sneaking attacks on a jōnin.
Sure enough, farming mobs really did require a strong carry.
Look at the squad Murakami Hua had led—killing a single jōnin took forever, and they still got played twice.
Right now, Hyuga Arin really wanted to tell Hanzo:
Give me ten more waves like this, and I'll show you what it means to instantly become a jōnin.
…Probably.
He wasn't entirely sure.
After arranging all twenty-five bodies, Hyuga Arin walked over to Hanzo.
"Lord Hanzo, everything's been taken care of."
Hanzo glanced at the open ground in the distance. Each corpse occupied its own small space, arranged neatly in a square.
At the very least, their bodies were far more complete now.
"Then let's go."
Hanzo's eyes flickered as he glanced at Hyuga Arin, then leapt into the forest. Hyuga Arin hurriedly jumped onto a tree as well, following close behind.
The two of them moved swiftly through the dense forest. The rain continued to pour, yet Hyuga Arin's thoughts were entirely on the spoils he'd just collected.
Still, now wasn't the time to check them.
Matching Hanzo's pace, Hyuga Arin shifted his focus and asked,
"Lord Hanzo, with your current prestige in the Rain Hidden Village, how is the leader even able to contend with you?"
He was genuinely curious.
From the looks of it, the Rain Hidden Village clearly trusted Hanzo more.
Zhengzang, the so-called leader, seemed almost like a figurehead.
So how exactly was he holding out against Hanzo?
"Nobles and conservatives," Hanzo replied without hiding anything. "Right now, the Rain Hidden Village is divided into two factions. One is my radical faction. The other is the conservative faction led by Zhengzang."
"But the conservative faction isn't strong—only about one-fifth of the village's overall power."
Which meant that even if Hanzo wiped out the conservatives entirely, the Rain Hidden Village would only be seriously injured, not destroyed.
That amount of power alone clearly wasn't enough for Zhengzang to stand against him.
Hanzo continued,
"The most important factor is the nobility of the Land of Rain. The Rain Hidden Village's economy is supported by them—and they only support Zhengzang, not me."
Although Zhengzang didn't have much force under his command, he controlled the entire economic lifeline of the Rain Hidden Village.
That was his true capital for opposing Hanzo.
"Are the nobles of the Land of Rain really that united?" Hyuga Arin raised a question.
Hanzo looked at him, signaling for him to continue.
After some consideration, Hyuga Arin said,
"These nobles are the true culprits behind the Land of Rain's civil wars. How could they possibly all support Zhengzang?"
Before coming to the Land of Rain, Hyuga Arin already knew that even when the Five Great Nations maintained superficial peace, the Land of Rain had been mired in constant internal conflict.
And those conflicts had little to do with ninjas.
They were wars between nobles, with the Rain Hidden Village acting as a hired military force supporting them.
These nobles were fundamentally incapable of unity.
Hanzo fell silent for a moment before replying,
"The Rain Hidden Village has always supported the daimyō of the Land of Rain. Zhengzang only managed to gain the support of all the nobles through the daimyō's mediation."
"Not necessarily," Hyuga Arin disagreed. "If the daimyō really had that kind of ability, the Land of Rain wouldn't have fallen into civil war in the first place."
As far as he knew, the Land of Rain had gone through quite a few daimyō already.
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