Terra had no idea how much time had passed.
Now, he felt that simply being alive was an indescribable form of suffering.
Hunger. Suffocation. A body so weak it felt like it was falling apart. Limbs without strength—though he no longer had any limbs, so that hardly mattered.
Terra felt himself on the verge of collapse.
He had once thought he would starve to death, but every time he was about to die from hunger, Hyuga Arin would force-feed him water mixed with bits of food residue.
Just enough to keep his mutilated life going.
But Terra didn't want to live anymore.
"Mm… mmm…" He opened his mouth and let out hoarse, desperate whimpers. He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to die.
Seeing Terra's struggle, Hyuga Arin picked up what remained of his tongue and began stitching it back together, restoring his lungs in the process.
Over this period of time, Hyuga Arin's medical ninjutsu had even leveled up once.
"Ah—ah…" Terra opened his mouth, trying to speak, but the numbness made it impossible to articulate properly.
"Take it slow. No rush," Hyuga Arin said patiently, waiting for him to adapt.
After a while, Terra finally got used to the numb sensation in his tongue. Being able to breathe smoothly again gave him a feeling of rebirth.
"Wo… wo shuo… rang… wo si…"
His words were slurred and muddy, hard to make out.
Still, Hyuga Arin nodded in satisfaction. Once Terra fully adapted, his speech would become clear again.
Truth be told, this period hadn't been easy for Hyuga Arin either.
Food wasn't a concern—his inventory held plenty, enough to last him for months if needed.
Chakra, however, was a serious problem.
Fish Swimming in a Locked Room didn't consume much chakra at once, but day after day, the cost added up.
Fortunately, he didn't need to use other ninjutsu, barely managing to maintain the technique's consumption—but even so, he had to rely on Greater Mana Potions.
Despite using them sparingly, he had already used up both bottles.
He was close to his limit.
At long last, Terra finally seemed willing to talk.
Just as Hyuga Arin let out a breath of relief—
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Sharp objects suddenly burst forth, instantly piercing through the two Nen fish.
The two fish let out faint cries as their forms dissolved into white points of light, slowly fading away.
With the Nen fish gone, a relaxed smile appeared on Terra's face. Life finally left his body.
[EXP +18,879]
Hyuga Arin raised his hand and collected the three items Terra dropped, storing them in his inventory.
At the same time, he condensed twin blades in his hands and suddenly turned his head, blocking the sharp object that burst forth.
The sharp object pressed against the crossed blades, forcing Hyuga Arin back until his body slammed into the wall—the force far exceeding his own.
In the next instant—
His figure vanished from the sealed space.
…
Above the underground chamber, Hyuga Arin stood with his twin blades in hand, scanning his surroundings warily.
No further attacks came.
Which meant the attacker had already abandoned the attempt on his life.
He brushed his fingers along the blade, plucking off something tiny and rubbing it between his fingers.
"Wood shavings," Hyuga Arin said darkly.
Although his interrogation had been interrupted, there was no longer any need to ask questions.
Everything was clear now.
In the current ninja world, there were only two beings capable of using Wood Release.
Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu—those two scheming old monsters.
And it definitely wasn't Uchiha Madara who had acted.
If Madara had made a move, Hyuga Arin wouldn't have been given any chance to survive.
Madara struck only to kill.
That meant the attacker could only be Black Zetsu.
What Hyuga Arin couldn't understand was why Black Zetsu had targeted him in the first place.
But it did explain why Terra had always known his whereabouts.
There must have been a White Zetsu following him, with Black Zetsu feeding Terra information.
He didn't know how they were connected, but one thing was certain—
He had already become Black Zetsu's target.
"Could it be because of Nagato?" Hyuga Arin muttered.
That was the only reason he could think of.
Other than that, there was nothing about him that should have attracted their attention.
He wasn't an Uchiha. He wasn't a Senju.
He had nothing to do with them—unless it was the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon.
But still—
"Uchiha Madara!" Hyuga Arin ground his teeth.
First of all, he hadn't provoked those two at all. He had merely given Nagato a bit of guidance.
Jiraiya had also taught those three back then, yet Black Zetsu hadn't targeted him.
Was it because Jiraiya was strong, while Hyuga Arin was weak?
Where was the justice in that?
Even though Black Zetsu had acted personally, the one giving orders was undoubtedly Uchiha Madara.
Madara relied on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to sustain his life—he couldn't move freely and could only send Black Zetsu to do his bidding.
For now, Hyuga Arin's level wasn't high enough to take on Uchiha Madara head-on.
He would have to remember this grudge for the time being.
Turning around, he sprinted toward the city.
The cave wasn't far from the city—after about ten minutes of running, he saw the city where he had first entered the Land of Rain.
But—
He stared at the flames engulfing the city, thick black smoke rising into the sky. Vast stretches of buildings had already been reduced to ruins.
"What happened here?" Hyuga Arin stood atop the city wall, utterly dumbfounded.
He immediately rushed toward Nagato's home.
By the time he arrived, Nagato's house had already collapsed into rubble.
Activating his Byakugan, Hyuga Arin scanned the ruins. Several Konoha ninjas lay silently among the debris—
—but there was no sign of Nagato's family.
Hyuga Arin frowned. "When did they leave?"
He didn't know what had happened to Nagato's parents, but considering Uchiha Madara lurking in the shadows, the chances were grim.
"The plot advanced ahead of schedule…"
Hyuga Arin sighed.
At this point, it was already too late to look for Nagato. He had no idea which direction the boy had gone.
With so much time having passed, there was nothing he could do but hope Nagato could survive on his own.
Just then, two figures rushed over from the distance and stopped in front of him.
"A Hyuga clan member? I haven't heard of any Hyuga ninjas being sent as reinforcements," the two Konoha ninjas said, watching Hyuga Arin warily.
With Transformation Jutsu so common, trust between people was no longer guaranteed.
Hyuga Arin looked at the two of them—one was a member of the Inuzuka clan, the other wore no clan crest.
"I'm part of Team Hiruko. Ninja ID 005188. Hyuga Arin."
"Team Hiruko?" The two exchanged glances, suspicion in their eyes.
"Wasn't Commander Hiruko already recalled to Konoha?"
Hyuga Arin was full of question marks.
He'd been gone for such a short time—how had Hiruko already lost his authority? Was he really that incompetent?
Hyuga Arin pointed at his eyes. The bulging veins around them were unmistakable.
"That should be enough to prove my identity, right?"
It was precisely because the Hyuga clan's traits were so obvious that the two hadn't attacked him outright.
"Come with us back to the frontline camp first," the ninja without a crest said, clearly taking the lead.
"No problem," Hyuga Arin nodded. "I'd like to know exactly what's been going on lately anyway."
He felt like he'd only interrogated Terra for less than a month.
So why did it feel like an eternity had passed?
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