The handover of duties had nothing to do with Hyuga Arin.
Did he even have any duties to hand over?
Sadly—no. And even if he did, they had nothing to do with him. If there was a chance to slack off, he would slack off. Becoming a workhorse was absolutely out of the question.
He only left a single sentence behind:
"All the intelligence files are on the desk. Look through whatever you want. I don't know anything else."
With that, Hyuga Arin spread his hands and went straight back to sleep.
This made the obese ninja furious.
The workload of an entire city couldn't possibly amount to just this much.
Even if they hadn't formally taken control of the city, the volume of intelligence alone should have been enormous.
"He definitely didn't properly collect intelligence!" the obese ninja snapped angrily.
Murakami Hana sat in a chair, casually flipping through the files, not even lifting his head as he replied,
"Kusomori died too suddenly. He wanted to seize this city, but instead ended up dragging himself down with it."
The obese ninja's eyes rolled as another thought occurred to him.
"I suspect Kusomori was killed by that kid. He has the strength."
At the very least, in a direct taiTechnique exchange, he himself had been completely defeated.
With skills like that, even among chūnin he wouldn't be considered weak. The obese ninja didn't know exactly how strong Kusomori had been, but if that kid really wanted to kill him, it wouldn't have been difficult.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound tore through the air.
A kunai sliced past the obese ninja's ear, carving a thin line of blood along its edge.
Murakami Hana looked at him with a half-smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"Don't try to use me. What do you think you are?"
The obese ninja's face darkened, but he still forced out a strained smile.
There weren't many jōnin in the Rain Hidden Village, but every single one of them was utterly unrestrained. He didn't dare provoke Murakami Hana.
This man really would kill him.
"Besides," Murakami Hana continued with a fox-like grin, "you don't have any evidence."
He had personally gone to inspect the battlefield where Kusomori fought.
There were signs of alteration, but not enough to determine who had actually struck the killing blow.
"You really are a lawless little brat," Murakami Hana muttered, growing more interested in Mu Yu.
Killing one's superior was a grave crime—
but only when there was evidence.
Without evidence, one could still kill him, of course, but someone who had already caught Hanzo's eye wasn't so easy to deal with.
"Courageous… no, arrogant," Murakami Hana said quietly, recalling the feverish look in Hyuga Arin's eyes.
When normal people faced an enemy they couldn't possibly defeat, they didn't look like that.
That look was more like a tiger cub staring at prey—
unable to hunt it yet, but already seeing it as a future feast.
Murakami Hana couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.
In the Rain Hidden Village, whether this kid could even become a jōnin was uncertain—and he already wanted to hunt him? That was pure delusion.
The obese ninja shivered beside him.
Most Rain Hidden Village jōnin had something seriously wrong with them mentally. He was starting to worry Murakami Hana might snap.
Murakami Hana ignored him completely.
"He's smart, too. With this level of strength at his age, and a bit of luck, he could become a jōnin."
The biggest flaw of small villages was their lack of a proper system to cultivate jōnin.
The Rain Hidden Village could train chūnin, but its methods for producing jōnin were incomplete. Anyone who became a jōnin did so through talent, chance encounters, or sheer luck.
Hanzo himself was the prime example.
His strength far surpassed that of ordinary jōnin because salamander organs had been transplanted into his body. Under the cultivation of Rain Hidden Village's leader, Shozo, he had gained power that comprehensively exceeded the jōnin level.
According to the great villages' assessments, Hanzo was the Rain Hidden Village's elite jōnin—
and its only elite jōnin.
He was someone who, even in a great village, would be qualified to compete for the title of Kage.
Since the Rain Hidden Village had never produced an elite jōnin before, no one truly knew that even among elite jōnin, Hanzo was extraordinarily powerful.
Other small villages chose only one option when facing Hanzo: flee.
No one had ever truly witnessed his full strength.
But to Rain Hidden Village jōnin like Murakami Hana, Hanzo was an invincible existence.
If not for the constraints of "greater cause" and the teacher–student bond, why would Hanzo still be hiding?
Murakami Hana glanced at the obese ninja, who had buried his head in work.
"Trash," he said coldly, without the slightest concern for how the man might feel.
Looking at him only made Murakami Hana appreciate Mu Yu even more. Every new jōnin was a boost to the Rain Hidden Village's strength.
Of course, becoming a jōnin wouldn't be easy.
The obese ninja didn't dare argue. He merely lowered his head in silence, waiting for Murakami Hana to leave—only then would this place truly become his territory.
His own people were already hidden throughout the city.
As for taking revenge on Murakami Hana?
He didn't dare even think about it.
Attacking Murakami Hana would be insubordination; the Rain Hidden Village would never forgive him.
If Murakami Hana killed him, that would simply be "clearing out trash"—at most, a verbal reprimand.
Besides, he couldn't beat a jōnin anyway.
He couldn't take revenge on Murakami Hana…
but he could take revenge on Mu Yu.
At that thought, venom filled his pea-sized eyes.
He kept his head bowed, not daring to let Murakami Hana see it.
Hyuga Arin had no idea he was being held in such high regard.
He slept until morning, then went straight to see Nagato.
There was no need to return to the tower anymore—it had little to do with him now.
Inside the slightly renovated cave, Nagato threw shuriken at a straw target.
Although they all hit, the force was pitiful—many simply fell to the ground.
When Hyuga Arin walked in, Nagato stopped immediately and greeted him respectfully.
"Teacher."
Hyuga Arin glanced at the shuriken embedded in the target.
With that level of force, even a breeze could knock them loose.
"Not bad."
He nodded.
Nagato had only received a few days of ninja training. Being able to reach this level already counted as decent.
"I'm leaving," Hyuga Arin said bluntly.
"Huh?" Nagato stared at him in confusion. It had only been a few days!
He hadn't mastered the three basic techniques yet. His taiTechnique was nothing more than flailing punches, and shuriken were little more than decorations in his hands.
Hyuga Arin rubbed his chin and asked,
"Nagato, do you want to come with me? Otherwise, you'll have to train on your own from now on."
Nagato thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Sorry, Teacher. I don't want to leave my family."
He was learning these abilities precisely so he could protect them.
Hyuga Arin nodded. He had expected that answer.
"If you need ninTechnique in the future, you'll have to find it yourself. Most wandering ninjas aren't very strong. You can take their techniques. Use that power inside you to judge their strength. If you can't beat them head-on, use traps. If traps don't work—grab their family."
"Wait, Teacher," Nagato interrupted instinctively.
"Isn't that… not very good?"
What kind of teacher teaches this kind of thing?!
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