After returning to Konoha, Hyuga Arin finally realized something.
He had been set up.
That woman had been targeting him from the very beginning.
"Destroying Mōryō? That was just an excuse!"
Arin cursed under his breath.
That Mōryō hadn't even required him to get serious.
He admitted the creature possessed an enormous amount of chakra, but a tailed beast that couldn't even fire a Tailed Beast Bomb?
Was that really supposed to be threatening?
After returning to Konoha, Arin headed straight to Hiruzen Sarutobi to report the mission.
"Nothing went wrong during this mission, I hope?" Hiruzen asked while puffing on his pipe.
Arin nodded matter-of-factly.
"Of course nothing went wrong."
The mission hadn't gone wrong.
He had.
Hiruzen eyed him suspiciously, finding it hard to believe Arin had behaved himself the entire time.
Still, Arin handed over Mōryō's verification scroll.
The mission was unquestionably complete.
"Very well."
"This is your payment."
Hiruzen placed the mission reward in front of him, clearly intending to send him away as quickly as possible.
Satisfied, Arin collected the reward and left.
Only after he was gone did Hiruzen's expression darken.
"The situation is becoming increasingly chaotic."
Sunagakure had finally announced the disappearance of the Kazekage.
The news hadn't come from them, however.
It had been exposed by smaller hidden villages.
And the revelation had shown every minor ninja village a possible opportunity—
The chance to replace Sunagakure as one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
The entire Land of Wind had descended into turmoil.
Countless smaller villages had launched attacks against Sunagakure.
Yet among them all—
The supposedly strongest minor village, Amegakure, remained strangely quiet.
Not only that, Konoha's intelligence teams couldn't infiltrate it at all.
They were discovered almost immediately every time.
Amegakure appeared to possess some form of advanced detection technique.
Hanzo himself frequently appeared in public.
The man was now attempting to save the entire Land of Rain.
Hanzo of the Salamander had begun walking a path reminiscent of the God of Shinobi himself.
Though he had yet to achieve the same miracles.
Even so—
No one currently wanted to provoke that madman.
If Sunagakure wished to escape its current predicament, there was only one solution.
"Start a Great Ninja War."
Hiruzen's face sank.
That was the only way to solve Sunagakure's problems.
Shift internal conflicts outward.
Once the entire ninja world descended into war, the smaller villages would immediately quiet down.
If they continued fighting Sunagakure while a world war raged around them, they could easily be swallowed by the conflict.
The smaller villages lacked the confidence to participate in a Great Ninja War.
Sunagakure did not.
Even if they were currently considered the weakest of the Five Great Villages.
And Konoha wasn't the only one aware of this situation.
The other major villages knew it as well.
Kirigakure had begun stirring once more.
Kumogakure shinobi appeared within the Land of Fire with increasing frequency.
Iwagakure was assembling large-scale military forces.
The Third Great Ninja War was rapidly approaching.
Hiruzen let out a long sigh.
He had already lived through two Great Ninja Wars.
Soon he would experience a third.
A profound exhaustion weighed on him.
"If only I'd listened to Arin back then."
For the first time, Hiruzen felt genuine regret—and wariness—regarding the incident years ago.
The regret came from failing to capitalize on the Kazekage's death.
The wariness came from something else entirely.
Arin had possessed the power to kill a Kage-level shinobi years ago.
How old had he been then?
...
Arin sat cross-legged on the floor.
His Zanpakutō rested across his lap.
He was currently communicating with the spirit of the blade.
After a long time, he finally opened his eyes and frowned thoughtfully.
"If I release Bankai..."
"I'll probably reach the Super Kage tier."
The Zanpakutō's boost was significant.
However, since he wasn't a true Soul Reaper, it wouldn't multiply his power several times over.
It merely granted him an additional ability.
Shikai wasn't particularly useful to him.
Bankai, however, was different.
It would allow him to break through one of his current limits.
Combined with Hollowfication—
It would indeed push him into the Super Kage category.
He sank into thought.
"Madara lost the Rinnegan, but with only the Sharingan he can still display Eternal Mangekyō-level power."
"Add his combat experience."
"Add Wood Release."
"Even with the Old Man debuff, he can still reach Super Kage level."
Arin's thinking began drifting into dangerous territory.
Originally, he had avoided Madara whenever possible.
Now—
He was becoming increasingly tempted.
Both of them were Super Kage-level.
And Madara wasn't even in his prime.
There was a very real chance Arin could win.
"The signs of war are already appearing."
"As Konoha's strongest combat asset, I'll definitely be assigned as a front-line commander somewhere."
"Hiruzen won't want me gaining too much fame."
"The Hyuga Clan will also exert pressure."
Arin quickly reached a conclusion.
"The Iwa and Kumo fronts attract too much attention."
"Since Sunagakure is the source of the current chaos, Hiruzen will send someone he trusts there to collect the benefits."
"Which means..."
"I'll only be assigned to the Kiri front."
Arin understood Hiruzen's mentality extremely well.
"And Madara is currently in Kirigakure."
He stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Now he was considering something else entirely.
Should he push Obito toward becoming the future mastermind?
"Even heroes hide tears behind Kamui."
If he killed Madara now, Obito would never fall into darkness.
Likewise—
He would never become the monster Arin needed him to be.
Darkened Obito could drop:
Mangekyō Sharingan (Obito)
Wood Release
Pain Crystal
And several other items.
Arin only needed those three.
And every one of them was incredibly valuable.
If Obito never fell into darkness—
Arin would get nothing.
"But I'm a player."
Arin spread his hands helplessly.
A player naturally pursued maximum profit.
So until Madara successfully corrupted Obito—
Arin couldn't touch him.
Unless it involved NPCs he actually cared about.
For example:
Minato Namikaze.
Kushina Uzumaki.
The main reason was simple.
Neither of them dropped anything particularly useful.
Minato offered:
Talent
Rasengan
Flying Thunder God Technique
Aside from talent—which couldn't easily be copied—
Arin could simply learn the rest himself.
As for Kushina:
Uzumaki Bloodline
Sealing Techniques
That was basically it.
And Uzumaki Bloodline wasn't as useful as Senju Bloodline.
Sealing Techniques were practically worthless to him.
Therefore—
After considering everything—
He would probably save Minato and Kushina.
After all, they had known each other for so long.
Watching them die without lending a hand felt a little wrong.
"So..."
"I can't force Madara out yet."
Arin sighed.
Still, just in case, he glanced at his experience pool.
[Experience Pool: 5,118,188]
He now possessed over five million EXP.
Most of it had come from the Immortal Army.
That army had numbered well over ten thousand.
Combined with Mōryō's reward—
It had provided nearly three million experience points.
As for the skills dropped by the undead soldiers—
He had converted all of them into Essence.
"Time to level up."
✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨
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100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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