"Members of the Hozuki Clan?"
Araki shook his head with a wry smile.
Since he had decided to display their military might during the Chunin Exams, he naturally had not forgotten about the Hozuki Clan, Kirigakure's largest clan.
But the problem was that, as far as he knew, every Hozuki clansman who had mastered the [Hydrification Secret Technique] had already been dispatched to the western border defenses of the Land of Water. Not a single one had remained in the village.
Even Hozuki Mangetsu, who had been teaching him how to use Samehada just a few days ago, was no exception.
As for the remaining Hozuki clansmen, they had yet to learn the [Hydrification Technique]. What use would there be in bringing them over?
For the Hozuki Clan, the [Hydrification Technique] was the foundation—and prerequisite—for a whole series of clan ninjutsu, such as the Water Gun Technique and Great Water Arm Technique.
That was easy enough to understand.
If one could not even turn one's entire body into water, then naturally one could not use one's finger joints as bullets, much less gather even more water around one's arm to increase its power.
Ninjas like that were no different from Uchiha Clan members who had not awakened their Sharingan. Perhaps their family heritage made them somewhat better than ordinary civilian genin, but it would not create any substantial gap between them.
At best, they were like Sasuke Uchiha right after graduating from the Ninja Academy.
Genin of that caliber did not meet Araki's standards.
After all, the [Hydrification Technique] was a secret technique, not a Kekkei Genkai. Other than practicing it oneself, there was no shortcut such as stimulating an awakening.
Of course, faced with Aogiri's questioning gaze, he could not put it quite so bluntly.
Just as Araki was