"Nothing much. I just came to see whether you were asleep, Lord Kusen," Hyuga Akira said, all smiles.
What a lunatic!!
Who would come check whether he was asleep just because they had nothing better to do? Kusen really wanted to curse.
No, wait.
He suddenly grew wary, his gaze locking onto the Bronze Blade in Hyuga Akira's hand. This hardly looked like a visit to check whether he was asleep.
It looked more like he was here to put him to sleep forever.
Seeing Kusen's wary gaze, Hyuga Akira put away the Bronze Blade with a look of regret.
"Since you aren't asleep, Lord Kusen, I'll head back to bed."
Then what the hell are you looking so regretful for!!!
Kusen felt his scalp prickle. If he really had been asleep, would he never have seen the sun rise again?
"Good night, Lord Kusen." Hyuga Akira tapped his Forehead Protector with two fingers, turned, and left the doorway.
Only after watching Hyuga Akira leave did Kusen slowly breathe a sigh of relief.
"That brat became a completely different person after losing his memory."
"No."
Thinking of everything Hyuga Akira had done, he said through gritted teeth, "He's becoming less and less human."
Other people really couldn't do the things he did.
"I can't keep staying in this room." He glanced at the room he had lived in for years. Ever since Muyu went mad, it was no longer safe here.
Before, he had worried about enemies breaking in and killing him. Now, he worried about this companion of his killing him.
Even though he was only a Genin.
Nothing in this world is certain. Companions really can't be trusted.
"He'll drive me mad sooner or later." He hurriedly packed his things, planning to rest somewhere else.
He might not have accomplished much in all his years here, but he certainly had plenty of safe houses.
The night passed without incident.
When Kusen returned to the High Tower the next day, he saw Hyuga Akira doing one-handed push-ups in a handstand.
"1,022."
"1,023."
Only when he saw Kusen walk in did he stop, his body already drenched in sweat.
Hyuga Akira had a clear understanding of himself. He could learn ninjutsu directly through the game system and use experience to raise their levels.
But improving his physical fitness still required his own effort.
He spent most of his free time not studying ninjutsu, but focusing on physical training or practicing chakra control.
However, he didn't train his body like Might Duy and Might Guy, risking his life to push past his limits.
For one thing, pushing past his limits once or twice was fine, but doing it too often in a short period would cause irreversible damage to his body.
Hyuga Akira always trained within limits.
"You're certainly more diligent than before." Kusen looked at Hyuga Akira with a complicated gaze. The old Muyu hadn't been like this.
"Better than regretting it when I discover I can't beat an enemy." Hyuga Akira grinned.
He had been keeping his eye on the war all along. Without some strength to his name, he would be nothing but cannon fodder in a war.
"Lord Kusen, when are we going to surround and kill the Shinobi taking over your assignment?"
Hyuga Akira asked eagerly.
Kusen tossed Hyuga Akira a scroll and said, "He arrives tomorrow, leading three Genin."
"A standard Shinobi squad?" Hyuga Akira caught the scroll, which contained information on their opponents, and looked disappointed. Three Genin didn't give as much experience as a single Chunin.
Unless they were particularly strong among Genin.
Four-person squads were common in the Shinobi World, with the minimum standard being one Chunin and three Genin.
The high-end version consisted of four Jonin, but such teams were generally rare. Jonin were the top fighting forces of the major Ninja Villages, and each had plenty of responsibilities. Situations that called for four Jonin to form a team were rare to begin with.
Although it wasn't a very good question to ask, Kusen couldn't help asking, "What are you disappointed about?"
Hyuga Akira also wore a helpless expression as he said, "One Chunin and three Genin aren't enough to kill."
Then how many would be enough for you? Would eighty or a hundred Chunin do?
Don't end up running faster than me.
Kusen forcibly suppressed the countless rather filthy words in his heart and said quietly, "We'll make our move tomorrow. Be ready."
The poison in his body had already been neutralized, and a night's rest had restored him quite well. There were no problems with his fighting strength.
Dealing with one Chunin wouldn't be a problem. As for the Muyu before him, ordinary Genin probably weren't his match.
Though even now, he still couldn't figure out where all those weapons came from.
He had never found anything like a Sealing Scroll on Hyuga Akira.
Using the Summoning Technique would cause some disturbance, too.
The single Ninja Tool Pouch at the back of his waist could hold one Fūma Shuriken at most, but judging by how flat it was, it didn't look as though it held that much.
Could he have awakened some kind of kekkei genkai that materializes ninja tools?
But does such a ridiculous kekkei genkai exist in the Shinobi World?
Tool Release?
"Don't worry, Lord Kusen. I guarantee I'll complete the mission." Hyuga Akira ignored Kusen's probing gaze.
He couldn't see his inventory anyway, and Hyuga Akira kept all his things inside it.
"And don't go anywhere today. Get your assignment done!!" Remembering something, Kusen roared at Hyuga Akira.
He didn't want this fellow going off to trouble those wandering ninja again.
The wandering ninja were a minor issue. If he blasted a covert Konoha squad out of hiding, they would be done for.
"Got it," Hyuga Akira said perfunctorily, picking his ear.
There wasn't any useful intelligence here, either. All he needed to send back were trivial details.
Hiruko probably had a few complaints by now.
Kusen left, and who knew what he went off to do.
Left alone, Hyuga Akira began looking through the intelligence that had been delivered.
It was nothing but everyday trivia from across the city.
"The Rain Ninja should stop calling themselves Shinobi and call themselves peeping toms instead."
Hyuga Akira's face darkened as he read intelligence that even recorded the color of a girl's underwear.
He kept reading.
"What's there to write about what some man is wearing!!"
Hyuga Akira threw the intelligence to the floor. These Rain Ninja never did any proper work, spending every day on petty nonsense like this.
Just a couple of glances made him feel like he would get a stye.
How much free time did they have?
Still, there was quite a bit of useful information mixed in, such as their discovery of several Konoha Shinobi who had infiltrated the area and were gathering intelligence on the Land of Rain.
He just didn't know whether Hiruko would be so angry that he would come over to berate him if he reported all this.
So he would leave out the Konoha-related intelligence and only tell them that Konoha's movements had been exposed, while also sending back the intelligence that threatened to give him a stye.
There was no one else in the entire High Tower, so Hyuga Akira simply used the Summoning Technique to send the bundled intelligence back.
Chapter 47: The replacement squad arrives
Hyuga Akira placed the letter in his hand into the brazier beside him.
The paper twisted in the flames, gradually turning to ash.
It was a letter from Hiruko, and apart from some scolding, the entire thing contained no useful information.
"What useful intelligence could I possibly get in a place like this?" Hyuga Akira curled his lip.
This place faced Konoha, so the intelligence obtained here concerned only Konoha.
Only if he could transfer somewhere else would he be able to obtain intelligence that would help Konoha.
Watching the letter turn completely to ash in the brazier, he walked to the window and looked down. The city itself wasn't particularly large, and from this tallest building, he could see half of it.
Unlike Konoha's brightly lit nights, this place sank into darkness after nightfall, with lights burning in only a handful of places.
A light rain was still falling outside. The entire city resembled an empty, deserted town, carrying an inexplicable sense of sorrow.
"This is the main battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War that's about to happen."
The corners of Hyuga Akira's mouth lifted.
If events followed the normal historical timeline, the Land of Rain would be reduced entirely to a main battlefield. That would be his time to level up quickly.
"Soon. Soon."
He needed to gain some strength before war broke out in full. Though war would be an excellent place to level up, it was also extremely dangerous.
"Gentlemen, I yearn for your war."
The next day, before dawn.
Kusen led Hyuga Akira out of the city and into a mountain forest, where the two concealed themselves in the trees.
Hyuga Akira glanced at the grass. Fresh, tender grass covered the mountain path, with no signs of anyone having passed through. Apart from traces of animals moving about, there wasn't the slightest sign of human activity.
"Is this really the route they have to take?" he asked Kusen curiously.
Kusen said with a grave expression, "This intelligence came from Lord Hanzo. There's no mistake."
He was surveying their surroundings, waiting for his replacement to appear.
The city behind them could belong only to Lord Hanzo.
"Then can you be sure when they'll arrive?" Hyuga Akira continued asking.
He had already activated his Byakugan to survey the surroundings, but there were no chakra signatures at all.
Kusen glanced at Hyuga Akira. "It was written on the scroll I gave you yesterday. Didn't you read it carefully?"
Hyuga Akira couldn't help looking away. He had only checked the exact team composition and really hadn't read it closely.
Seeing Hyuga Akira's reaction, Kusen understood that he hadn't read it seriously at all.
Veins faintly bulged on his forehead. He was actually this inattentive about a mission.
Hyuga Akira stopped asking questions and walked straight from the branch onto the trunk, his entire body hanging sideways from it.
He had long since mastered basic skills like tree climbing and water walking.
After all, Hyuga Akira's chakra control was actually rather freakish.
"What are you doing?" Kusen demanded in a low voice.
What if those people arrived right now?
"Setting traps, of course." With an expression that said it was only natural, Hyuga Akira began winding wire around shuriken and throwing them out in all directions.
The wires quickly wound around numerous trees. Hyuga Akira picked up Explosive Tags one after another and began leaping between the trees, pressing the tags onto them and setting them to trigger on contact.
He left a little chakra on them.
Whatever Kusen had originally wanted to say vanished entirely, and he simply watched Hyuga Akira continue weaving his traps.
Before you continue