When Hyuga Arin walked out of the intelligence room, Murakami Hua was leaning against the wall, waiting.
"You're done reading?"
"Yeah. I've got a rough grasp of things."
Hyuga Arin replied perfunctorily. After reading the intel, he had also organized and summarized it for Hiruko and sent it off.
After all that effort, this mission was finally complete.
Now all that remained was to wait for Hiruko's next instructions.
"Let's go. Next, we'll assign your task. Every chūnin has a long-term assignment," Murakami Hua said to Hyuga Arin.
Under the Rain Hidden Village's system, genin were nothing more than consumables. They waited passively to be selected by chūnin or jōnin, with no right to choose missions themselves—only the right to be chosen when manpower was needed.
But once one reached chūnin, things were completely different.
Chūnin could choose missions on their own, but they were also required to carry at least one long-term assignment.
Garrison duty, surveillance, intelligence gathering—each chūnin had to shoulder one such ongoing responsibility.
Of course, there were chūnin without long-term assignments, but they essentially fell back into the same passive position as genin, waiting to be conscripted.
"Let's go."
Today, Murakami Hua planned to take Hyuga Arin through all the important areas of the base.
As a chūnin, how could he not be familiar with the key terrain here?
In the end, Murakami Hua brought Hyuga Arin to the most important location.
This wasn't a room, but the central plaza.
Four massive pillars supported the underground base.
Countless sheets of paper were pinned to the pillars with shuriken.
Hyuga Arin had seen these long ago.
"You can choose a task from there. After that, report it to me, and you can prepare to carry it out," Murakami Hua said, pointing at the papers on the pillars.
There weren't many people around. Those who came here to pick up tasks were mostly newly promoted chūnin.
There really weren't many new chūnin these days.
Promotion to chūnin wasn't easy in the Rain Hidden Village. There were only two ways to advance.
The first was to rack up enough combat achievements—like Hyuga Arin, who had repeatedly fought against chūnin-level opponents. Only with such a record could one be promoted.
The second was to participate in the Chūnin Exams.
But the Chūnin Exams were usually hosted by major villages. Every session, the Rain Hidden Village would send some promising genin to participate.
The past two years, however, had been an exception.
Tensions between the Five Great Nations were high, and the five great ninja villages were openly hostile. Konoha—the usual initiator of the exams—had made no move.
On top of that, the internal struggle between Zhengzang and Hanzo had left the Rain Hidden Village unable to participate.
Hyuga Arin stepped forward to take a look.
There were very few garrison missions left. These were usually good, leisurely jobs that many people liked to take.
What remained now were mostly garrison missions for remote villages.
There were also several missions to protect important figures of the Land of Rain.
He didn't see any surveillance missions—those had probably already been taken.
The remaining ones weren't great either, such as missions to gather intelligence on the movements of the three great ninja villages.
That one tempted him quite a bit. It offered chances to farm experience.
But it was a squad-leading mission. Without a jōnin as backup, running into a jōnin-level enemy could easily spell disaster.
Just as Hyuga Arin was struggling to decide which mission to take—
A Rain ninja appeared beside Murakami Hua and whispered a few words into his ear before vanishing in a flicker.
"Wait," Murakami Hua stepped forward and stopped Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin looked at him in confusion. He hadn't even chosen a task yet.
"Your mission has already been assigned," Murakami Hua said. A trace of jealousy was visible on his face—something Hyuga Arin keenly picked up on.
In that case, his mission…
Had it been personally issued by Hanzo?
"My mission is…?" Hyuga Arin asked cautiously.
"To protect Lord Hanzo," Murakami Hua said in a deep voice.
This task had actually fallen onto the shoulders of Muyu, a newcomer.
Hyuga Arin: "???"
A chūnin protecting Hanzo, whose strength rivaled a Kage?
And on top of that, he himself was a Konoha infiltrator.
Was this even remotely reasonable?
"Report to Lord Hanzo tomorrow. You know where it is," Murakami Hua said, no longer bothering to hide his jealousy.
Following Lord Hanzo had been Murakami Hua's lifelong aspiration.
Yet it had been snatched away by Hyuga Arin—who had clearly arrived later than him.
Hyuga Arin wanted to refuse.
Sure, he dared to pull small tricks under Murakami Hua's nose.
This guy looked smart on the surface, but in reality his intelligence wasn't anything special, and his strength didn't stand out either.
But pulling tricks under Hanzo's nose?
That pressure was on an entirely different level.
And Hanzo was always hiding away, never showing his face. Was he supposed to hide alongside Hanzo from now on?
Then how was he supposed to farm experience?
Murakami Hua clearly didn't want to continue the conversation. His figure dissolved into a stream of water and splashed onto the ground.
Water Body Flicker Technique.
Hyuga Arin helplessly looked up at the ceiling.
The massive chandelier was the main light source here.
Even so, it couldn't illuminate every corner. Candles were still lit along the walls.
This mission hadn't given him any chance to refuse.
Suddenly, he sensed a gaze different from ordinary surveillance. He turned toward the rocky wall, but couldn't find the source.
…
Hanzo looked through the window at Hyuga Arin standing in the hall, completely at a loss.
The fake Hanzo stepped up beside him, puzzled.
"Lord Hanzo, he's only a chūnin. Why choose him?"
If a guard was needed, shouldn't it be a powerful jōnin?
Hanzo withdrew his gaze.
He noticed me…
That Muyu was surprisingly sharp.
"Do you think I need a strong guard?" Hanzo asked in return.
In the entire Rain Hidden Village, there wasn't a single person who could defeat him.
"T-this…" The fake Hanzo was even more confused. Then what was the point of assigning a guard?
Hanzo said gravely, "What I value most about that Muyu isn't his strength—but his thinking."
Someone with that kind of insight was exactly what he needed.
Right now, he and Zhengzang were locked in a stalemate. He needed a different way of thinking to break it.
He was very optimistic about this Muyu.
In the entire Rain Hidden Village, there was no one else who could say what that young man had said.
…
Hyuga Arin returned to his quarters with a completely blank expression.
Tomorrow, he would be going to protect Hanzo.
That news didn't make him happy in the slightest.
He wasn't sure whether staying by Hanzo's side would give him any chance to farm experience or [Exorcist Skill Fragments].
Bang! A soft sound rang out as Hyuga Arin pulled Konoha's summoning scroll from his clothes.
Hiruko had replied.
He opened the letter, quickly read through its contents, then placed the paper beside the candle, watching as it was slowly consumed by the flames.
Hiruko-sensei first praised him, saying the mission had been completed perfectly, and that he could now end the assignment and return.
The firelight flickered in Hyuga Arin's pupils.
"Go back…?"
Just now, his status in the Rain Hidden Village had finally risen, and there were plenty of opportunities to farm the Rain Hidden Village.
If he went back now, he'd have to wait until the war broke out to continue farming.
But if he stayed, he'd be stuck guarding Hanzo—this utterly cursed mission.
For a moment, he found himself caught in a dilemma.
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