Including Hyuga Arin—now posing as Mu Yu—there were actually ten people under Kusamori's command.
Eight of them were assigned to monitor the city's four entrances.
The remaining two were responsible for compiling and organizing intelligence.
Mu Yu's original duty had been to monitor one of the entrances. But now that Hyuga Arin was pretending to have completely lost his memory, he was instead reassigned to the intelligence aggregation work.
The problem was that the ninja working alongside him, Shi Shui, was clearly dissatisfied.
"So you're just going to sit there like that?" Shi Shui snapped.
He watched as Hyuga Arin lounged in a chair, casually wiping down a knife that had come from who-knew-where. The blade was bronze-colored—an unusual hue for a weapon.
Hyuga Arin looked at him with a half-smile.
"What else should I do? I've lost my memory, haven't I?"
Right now, he was a full-blown amnesiac—
and a mentally unstable one prone to violent outbursts.
Bang.
Shi Shui slammed the documents in his hand onto the table.
"Mu Yu, don't push your luck," Shi Shui said coldly as he stood up.
Shi Shui looked to be around twenty years old, far larger and taller than Hyuga Arin's current disguise. He stared down at him from above.
"Don't think that pretending to have amnesia lets you sit on my head."
Just as he was about to "teach Hyuga Arin a lesson," the person in front of him vanished.
"Actually," a voice whispered by his ear,
"besides amnesia, I also go berserk."
Niko Style · Fire Heaven Form · Ghost Step.
A sudden, sharp pain stabbed through Shi Shui's chest.
He lowered his head in disbelief, only to see a bronze blade piercing straight through his heart from behind.
"I really like coworkers with bad relationships," Hyuga Arin said calmly as he appeared behind him and yanked the blade free.
Shi Shui staggered two steps forward, struggling to turn his head.
His eyes were filled with disbelief as he looked at Hyuga Arin.
"You… how dare you…"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Darkness swallowed him as he collapsed to the floor.
[Experience +124]
Hyuga Arin activated the Byakugan and quickly scanned the surroundings. Then he pulled out Konoha's summoning scroll and spread it open on the ground.
His hands flew through seals.
Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram.
Bang!
A cloud of smoke erupted. Shi Shui's body vanished.
Hyuga Arin swiftly rolled up the summoning scroll and stored it in his inventory.
Then he picked up Shi Shui's dropped loot.
[Low-Grade Mana Potion]
"Not bad. That's a decent drop," Hyuga Arin muttered, putting away the potion. It could restore lost chakra.
He then calmly turned around, sat down in Shi Shui's seat, and began doing the work Shi Shui had been assigned.
…
Having regained command of the border camp, Hiru—no, Hiruko finally felt triumphant.
Tsunade and the other two had already departed. Now all the ninja here were under his authority again—temporary though it was, it still satisfied his vanity.
He was in the commander's tent organizing intelligence, which was basically his only real job.
Just then—
Bang!
A body appeared atop the summoning scroll beside him.
Hiruko stared at the corpse, his gaze landing on the Rain Hidden Village forehead protector.
He fell into silence.
What the hell did Hyuga Arin do this time?
Why did he send over a Rain ninja's corpse?
This summoning technique is NOT for disposing of bodies!!!
And isn't this way too blatant!?
…
"Where's Shi Shui?" Kusamori asked when he returned to the tower, only to find Hyuga Arin alone.
Hyuga Arin looked at him with a smile that carried an unsettling meaning.
"He was too noisy."
The implication was obvious.
Kusamori went silent.
After a long while, he finally said,
"You'd better restrain yourself. Don't casually kill your comrades again."
The person in front of him was a certified mental patient. There really wasn't much he could do.
Besides, Rain Hidden Village ninja killing each other wasn't exactly rare.
With Shozo and Hanzo locked in opposition, plenty of people had already turned their blades on fellow villagers.
Until the two sides decided a victor, incidents like this were considered minor.
"This is too boring," Hyuga Arin said, his expression filled with manic intensity.
"If it stays like this, I can't guarantee how long I'll hold back."
With Endorphin masking pain and regulating emotions, no one could see through him.
What he was showing now was genuine.
Kusamori, however, nodded in satisfaction.
"You really are suited to become one of Lord Hanzo's men."
After hesitating for a moment, he pulled a mission scroll and a ninTechnique scroll from his clothes.
"This is a mission issued by Lord Hanzo. If you complete it, you'll earn the honor of meeting him in person. The ninTechnique scroll—I applied for it on your behalf."
Originally, Kusamori had wanted to observe Hyuga Arin longer, in case Mu Yu was a spy planted by Shozo.
But Shozo's people wouldn't casually kill their own comrades.
He tossed both scrolls to Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin opened the ninTechnique scroll first.
"Water Release · Water… Water Release, huh?" Hyuga Arin muttered, disappointed.
Water Release wasn't within his preferred range, and he didn't possess a Water chakra nature.
His chakra affinities were Fire, Lightning, and Wind.
If this were a game skill, he could've learned it instantly.
But with a real ninTechnique scroll, he'd have to start from scratch—and without Water affinity, he couldn't learn it at all.
Keeping his expression neutral, Hyuga Arin stored the Water Release scroll and opened the mission scroll instead.
"Assassinate Kojima Kōji."
Kojima Kōji was the city lord—a noble.
"…Just an ordinary person?" Hyuga Arin said, disappointed.
Kusamori shook his head.
"He's a supporter of that old bastard Shozo. A large part of Rain Hidden Village's finances comes from him. He definitely has ninja guarding him."
Hyuga Arin frowned.
"If there's a jōnin—or even a special jōnin—I'll give up."
Kusamori glanced at him in surprise.
Does he still retain some memory related to ninja strength, even after losing his memory?
Still, Hyuga Arin hadn't even mentioned chūnin.
Was he implying he could handle one?
Impossible.
More likely, the amnesia had made him arrogant.
Kusamori said solemnly,
"Kojima Kōji only has one chūnin and a few genin guarding him. No jōnin or special jōnin would bother with someone like him."
In short, Kojima Kōji was just one of Shozo's supporters. Shozo wouldn't waste valuable jōnin resources protecting him.
Hyuga Arin nodded.
"Then it's worth a try."
One chūnin was worth over a thousand experience points.
If he could kill Kusamori as well—
That'd be over two thousand experience.
Find another fifteen hundred, and he could level up again.
He was level 15 now. Three more levels until class advancement.
This "mental patient" identity was surprisingly useful.
The mission scroll in Hyuga Arin's hand suddenly ignited, quickly burning into ash that fell to the floor.
"This mission requires secrecy. It must not be exposed," Kusamori said.
"Then what about the time and location?" Hyuga Arin asked.
"I'll notify you when the time comes," Kusamori replied coldly.
He glanced at the documents on the desk.
"You're free to move around during this period. Someone else will handle the paperwork."
Judging by Hyuga Arin's state, he clearly wasn't cut out for clerical work.
"Got it," Hyuga Arin replied casually, waving his hand as he headed for the stairs.
Konoha's task for him was to monitor Iwagakure and Sand Village, not Konoha itself.
These documents were useless to him.
Only Kusamori remained behind, watching Hyuga Arin's retreating figure with an unreadable gaze.
No one knew what he was thinking.
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