The explosion earlier naturally made Kuromori think of explosive tags.
But the key problem was—where did Mu Yu get explosive tags from? Even he only had a few.
During his fight with Suiyu just now, he'd heard several explosions.
Don't tell him this kid was carrying a whole stash of explosive tags on him.
Where the hell did he get them?
Although Kuromori was full of questions, he understood that now wasn't the time to press them. The important thing was that this guy genuinely had thoughts of killing him.
If he asked the wrong question and provoked him, Mu Yu might just silence him on the spot—and there'd be nowhere to complain even if he died.
Hyuga Arin stepped forward, looking down at Kuromori from above.
"Kuromori-sama, can you still walk on your own?"
If he couldn't move and needed to be carried, it might honestly be better to just kill him outright.
That tone really doesn't sound like you're trying to help me, Kuromori complained inwardly.
It felt like this guy might kill him at any moment.
"Yes!" Kuromori forced the word out through clenched teeth. He staggered as he stood up. Just as Hyuga Arin didn't want to help him, Kuromori also didn't want the other getting too close.
Even though he hadn't sensed any killing intent so far, Hyuga Arin's actions already carried a faint, unmistakable threat.
To be able to hide killing intent so thoroughly—after losing his memory, this guy was practically born to be a ninja…
…or so he thought.
Then he remembered how Hyuga Arin had jumped straight down and started slaughtering people in broad daylight.
Maybe not so absolute after all.
"You go first," Kuromori ordered.
Although the poison prevented intense movement, light activity was still manageable.
Right now, Kuromori didn't feel safe letting Mu Yu out of his sight. He was worried the guy might suddenly toss a few shuriken at him.
That was absolutely something he could do.
Hyuga Arin shrugged and walked ahead. Since he'd already decided not to make a move, he had no intention of changing his mind.
"What about Kojima Koji?" Kuromori asked from behind.
"The mission's already done. He's at the back gate," Hyuga Arin replied, tilting his head sideways to look at Kuromori.
"Do you want to go confirm it, Kuromori-sama?"
Kuromori nodded. "We'll go out the back. I need to confirm it. Then we'll leave from there."
Confirming Kojima Koji's death was only proper. They also needed to withdraw—how he covered this up afterward would be another matter.
The man's death couldn't be pinned on Amegakure.
Judging by Hyuga Arin's killing spree, most of the people inside were probably already dead.
Crack.
The sound of a twig snapping echoed out. Kuromori suddenly turned toward a corner, where a figure lay sprawled on the ground, as if they'd tripped while running.
"You didn't kill them all?!" Kuromori's voice warped with shock.
Hyuga Arin looked at him wordlessly.
"I told you—I have zero interest in ordinary people."
People with no ability to fight back weren't even considered monsters. He didn't have a habit of killing NPCs when gaming.
For a few measly points of experience, why bother?
"Besides, they probably didn't even see who attacked."
In the pitch-black chaos, everyone was just trying to escape. Who had time to look carefully at the attacker?
"Let's go." Hyuga Arin said flatly and headed straight for the back gate, ignoring Kuromori entirely.
Kuromori clenched his teeth hard.
This guy absolutely didn't deserve to be a ninja. What kind of ninja left behind such a massive flaw?
But with no combat strength left, Kuromori couldn't silence anyone even if he wanted to. All he could do was follow behind Hyuga Arin.
…
After confirming the target's death, the two returned to the watchtower overlooking the city.
Kuromori hurried back to his own room. Staying around Hyuga Arin any longer would either get him pissed to death—or killed outright.
Once Kuromori was gone—
Hyuga Arin returned straight to his own room.
"This haul was pretty damn good."
Looking at the 4,135 experience points, he spent one point to level up first.
[Name: I'm Hyuga Arin]
[Class: None]
[Lv.XX (0/4000)]
[Chakra: 230 / 160 + 50 + 20]
[Skills:
Gentle Fist (Lv.5)
Clone Technique (Lv.2)
Substitution Technique (Lv.10)
Transformation Technique (Lv.4)
Eight Trigrams Air Palm (Lv.3)
Byakugan (Lv.3)
Fire Release · Unknown Fire (Lv.4)
Medical NinTechnique (Lv.2)
Bear Bo Hands (Lv.4)
Endorphin (Lv.8)
Niko Style · Fire Heaven Form (Lv.1)
]
[Experience Pool: 4132]
Seeing that he still had enough experience to level up again, Hyuga Arin hesitated.
If he were somewhere completely safe, leveling again wouldn't be a problem.
But continuing undercover in Amegakure meant leveling up had to be considered carefully.
One level didn't boost his strength that much, and there was no efficient way to convert it into immediate combat power.
Right now, maintaining his disguise was the most important thing.
Hyuga Arin looked at Transformation Technique on the panel.
"Substitution Technique at max level is basically god-tier… so what about Transformation Technique?"
Transformation was the key to him being able to hide in Amegakure long-term.
Even though Konoha's intelligence claimed that Amegakure had no sensory-type ninja—what if they were wrong?
Intelligence was never absolute. If a village deliberately concealed something, even a great ninja village might fail to obtain critical information.
Especially since the Five Great Nations looked down on small villages to begin with—their intelligence-gathering efforts were insufficient from the start.
Just in case, Hyuga Arin dumped his experience into Transformation Technique. Fortunately, it didn't require much experience to level.
[Transformation Technique (Lv.5)]
Experience (0/500)
Trait: None
[Transformation Technique (Lv.8)]
Experience (0/800)
Trait: None
[Transformation Technique (Lv.10 – Max)]
Trait: Pending Selection
Available Traits:
Reality: No detection-type skill can see through your transformationSimulation: Copy the physical attributes of the transformation targetMass: Alter your own mass—becoming wind, becoming a mountain
"…Huh?"
Hyuga Arin's eyes widened as he stared at the third option.
Become wind, become a mountain.
Wasn't that description a little too outrageous?
He looked back at Reality—this one clearly matched his current needs the best.
But then there was Mass. This trait looked absurdly powerful, and the boost it would give him was immediately obvious.
Then he glanced at Simulation.
"Simulation feels kind of useless…"
What he disliked most was the second option. In the ninja world, all combat power ultimately depended on chakra.
Even someone like Senju Hashirama—his so-called Sage Body still relied on chakra. Pure physical strength alone couldn't unleash that much power.
"…Wait."
Hyuga Arin frowned.
"Ninja-world bodies might be weak—but what about other worlds?"
For example, the Dragon Ball world.
If he transformed into someone from there—fighters who relied almost entirely on physical strength—wouldn't he be able to bulldoze the entire ninja world?
But the uncertainty was huge.
Hyuga Arin fell into deep hesitation.
The first option was something he desperately needed.
The second option had massive uncertainty, but if it worked, his strength could skyrocket.
The third option was extremely stable and reliable.
"…This is really hard to choose."
Decision paralysis was kicking in hard.
In the end, he clenched his teeth.
And chose—
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