"Stop!!"
Everyone who heard the commotion inside rushed in, and several of them stepped forward to restrain Hyuga Akira.
"He tried to kill me! I'll kill him!! Let go of me!! Let go!!"
One ninja struck Hyuga Akira's neck with a knife-hand blow, knocking him unconscious.
Kusen wiped the blood off his face and shot the unconscious Hyuga Akira an angry look.
"Well? Is he Muyu?" The others looked at Kusen too.
Kusen nodded helplessly. "He should be."
If the other party had been using the Transformation Technique, that fight would have been enough to break it.
Without the Transformation Technique, he was most likely Muyu.
"He's lost his memory and his sense of pain." Kusen looked at a man in a white coat beside him. "What's going on?"
The man frowned in thought for a moment before saying, "His brain probably suffered an impact, causing pooled blood to compress his nerves. There have been cases like this before."
"Memory loss, loss of pain sensation, a tendency to go berserk." He glanced at the unconscious Hyuga Akira.
"It fits very well."
Kusen frowned at the unconscious Hyuga Akira. "Can this guy still be a ninja?"
The man in the white coat pondered for a moment. "There have been ninja with similar conditions before. Some continued as ninja, while others gave up that life. But those who remained ninja all grew stronger very quickly. However, they gradually went mad until they died."
An inscrutable smile appeared at the corner of Hyuga Akira's mouth as he pretended to be unconscious.
It worked.
Chapter 38: Suspicions Successfully Dispelled
Memory loss, disordered pain perception, and a tendency to go berserk and lose his temper.
That was the condition Hyuga Akira had arranged for himself.
As a medical ninja, he naturally knew about these cases. A little acting would be enough to pass himself off as one.
This condition was rare, with only a handful of cases throughout the Shinobi World, but it was widely publicized.
That was because every ninja village had one or two people with these symptoms, more or less.
It was also the easiest condition to fake.
This way, the Rain Ninja would not dwell on his past issues, and after hearing that his combat strength could improve rapidly, Amegakure would not actually let him become an ordinary civilian.
For a small ninja village, no amount of fighting strength could be given up.
It did not matter even if he would die later, especially in a place like the Land of Rain.
Sometimes, ninja were nothing more than expendable supplies. The way Hanzo fought his enemies later said it all: Amegakure's ninja were all treated as expendable Explosive Tags.
It had to be said that Hanzo was ruthless enough.
The others all came in. According to the intelligence Hyuga Akira had obtained, these were all ninja stationed in this city.
They had actually all rushed over because of Konoha's attack.
It was even less likely that they had come for him. Muyu was merely an insignificant Genin.
Restraints were strapped around his body.
Hyuga Akira lay in this room for five days. During those five days, Kusen came by to explain his identity to him.
Most of it was information Hyuga Akira already knew. Kusen was his commanding officer and had ten Genin under him. He was just one of them.
What he learned unexpectedly was this.
"We are Lord Hanzo's most loyal subordinates. We must remain loyal to Lord Hanzo all our lives," Kusen said softly as he sat beside Hyuga Akira.
"As for that Amekage, Shōzō, he'll only lead us into the depths of hell."
Judging by what Kusen had told him over this period,
the man currently controlling all of Amegakure was named Shōzō.
The current policy of surveillance without resistance had been issued by this man named Shōzō.
Hanzo was now Amegakure's prestigious name. Many small ninja villages would flee at the mere mention of him.
But Hanzo had not yet become Amegakure's leader. Rather, he was currently fighting that man who had not even deserved to have his name recorded in the original story.
The final outcome would inevitably be Hanzo's victory, and this process might span two years.
If Hyuga Akira remembered correctly, the Second War broke out in full in year 37.
Hanzo declared war on the three nations in year 38.
This old bastard Shōzō sure lived a long time.
He had survived until at least year 37, preventing Hanzo from taking power all the while.
"I will serve Lord Hanzo loyally until death," Hyuga Akira said with utmost seriousness.
He had no choice but to be serious. He was tied up here and could not do anything, no matter what he wanted.
As for whether he had been one of Hanzo's men before, that did not matter. He had lost his memory, after all, so whose man he had been was irrelevant.
"So, sir, could you untie me?" Hyuga Akira looked at Kusen pleadingly.
Though he could undo them himself, since the strength of his Bear Grappling Hands was enough to break free.
But he was currently playing a Genin who had lost his memory. Where would he have gotten Bear Grappling Hands?
"All right. Starting today, you'll carry out missions with me," Kusen said solemnly.
As he spoke, he undid Hyuga Akira's restraints, watching him warily all the while.
The last time this man had suddenly attacked, he had nearly killed him.
He had to stay on guard.
"Thank you, sir." Hyuga Akira rubbed his fists and looked at Kusen with a brilliant smile.
The hardest hurdle was behind him.
All that remained was to blend in completely.
Hyuga Akira changed into clean clothes, put on a purple vest, and straightened the Amegakure Forehead Protector on his forehead.
He had become a member of Amegakure: the Genin Muyu.
"Heh, heh." Hyuga Akira chuckled twice at the mirror.
He had originally come to Amegakure to farm items, and now he had become one of its members.
What kind of unfunny joke was this?
He pushed open the bathroom door and walked out. Kusen had already been waiting outside for a long time.
He looked at Hyuga Akira and nodded in satisfaction. "What ninjutsu do you still remember?"
Hyuga Akira thought for a moment. "Only the Three Body Technique."
The Three Body Technique was practically everywhere in the Shinobi World. Surely Amegakure had it too.
Kusen nodded. "Looks like you've forgotten your old ninjutsu. I can teach you, then."
Amegakure's system was for Jonin to teach Chunin, and Chunin to teach Genin.
Hyuga Akira was not particularly interested. Instead, he said, "I'd rather kill enemies than learn ninjutsu."
A bloodthirsty gleam appeared on his face.
Skills were good, but how could they be more important than farming monsters?
Kusen frowned. "Right now, that old bastard Shōzō has ordered us to stay hidden. We absolutely cannot get into conflicts with other ninja villages."
"Huh?" Hyuga Akira rolled his eyes helplessly.
Nothing was going his way.
"But if you really want to kill people, you can kill civilians in the Land of Rain as you please, as long as you don't kill too many," Kusen said bluntly.
What kind of talk was that? Was he, Hyuga Akira, someone with no bottom line?
What did he mean, kill civilians as he pleased?
A civilian only gave a few experience points and dropped a little money at most. What good was that?
One Genin was worth quite a few civilians.
"I prefer killing the strong," Hyuga Akira refused coldly. "If they're not ninja, I have no interest at all."
"Of course, Lord Kusen, if you're interested, the two of us could have a go."
Hyuga Akira looked at Kusen with shining eyes. He felt he should be able to kill him.
Kusen's face darkened. "Remember, I'm your commanding officer. You're not allowed to show killing intent toward your commanding officer."
"Tch." Hyuga Akira curled his lip dismissively.
Kusen looked at Hyuga Akira helplessly. This fellow Musen had changed so much. He had never been like this before.
He had never expected him to become so vicious after losing his memory.
"I'll find you an opportunity." Kusen led Hyuga Akira out of their safe house.
Now that there were no more issues with Hyuga Akira, he could take him to work.
Inside the tallest tower in the border city.
Hyuga Akira was assigned here.
"Your task is to organize the intelligence passed on by the other ninja here, then deduce Konoha's movements," Kusen said.
He pointed at the seven people behind him.
"These are all my subordinates. You used to know one another. Now you can ask them about your past."
Kusen's primary duty was handling intelligence concerning Konoha.
Hyuga Akira nodded and gave them a friendly smile. "I look forward to working with you."
For some reason, they all shuddered violently at the sight of Hyuga Akira's friendly smile.
"I have other work to do. I'll leave the rest to you." After explaining Hyuga Akira's situation to everyone, Kusen dissolved into a puddle of water and disappeared.
Once Kusen disappeared, none of the others showed any intention of talking to Hyuga Akira. They merely gave him cold glances before returning to their work.
"Looks like relations between coworkers aren't very good."
Something occurred to Hyuga Akira, and he gave an icy smile.
Chapter 39: Hyuga Akira, the Psychiatric Patient
Including Muyu, whom Hyuga Akira and Obito were impersonating, Kusen actually had ten subordinates. Eight had to watch the city's four entrances, while two were responsible for compiling the intelligence.
Muyu had originally been watching one of the routes. Now that Hyuga Akira was pretending to have lost all his memories, he had instead been reassigned to compilation work.
However, Shisui, who worked alongside Hyuga Akira, was somewhat dissatisfied.
"Are you just going to sit there and watch?"
He watched Hyuga Akira sitting in a chair, polishing a blade he had gotten from somewhere. The entire blade was bronze-colored, a rare color for a blade.
Hyuga Akira looked at Shisui with a faint, ambiguous smile. "What else? I've lost my memory."
He was now a psychiatric patient with total memory loss and a tendency to go berserk.
Shisui threw the documents in his hand onto the desk with a smack.
"Muyu, I've really been giving you too much leeway." Shisui stood up. He was around twenty years old, and his build was far taller and larger than the Muyu Hyuga Akira had transformed into.
He looked down at Hyuga Akira.
"Don't think you can walk all over me by pretending to have lost your memory."
Before you continue