After the game became reality, he had another option: he could learn.
"I can only trade military merits for it. Hopefully the Hyuga Clan won't pull any tricks."
Hyuga Akira could hardly be blamed for resenting the Hyuga Main Family. Those Main Family members were so deranged that they even controlled the military merits of Branch Family members like him.
Why did the Hyuga Clan have so much wealth?
In a sense, the Hyuga Clan was actually the richest family in Konoha. Where did their money come from? Wasn't it from the commissions and military merits earned by the Hyuga Branch Family?
The Hyuga Branch Family members could only curse.
That was also why Hyuga Akira could never resist provoking Hyuga Hiashi.
The Main Family's luxury was all funded by the Branch Family.
Of course, the Hyuga Clan also supplied tools such as shuriken and kunai, along with housing, child-rearing expenses, and other living costs.
For an ordinary Hyuga Branch Family ninja, these were benefits, but for a talented one, they were nothing but restrictions.
Besides, Hyuga Akira really hadn't received many benefits from the Hyuga Clan.
He had inherited everything he owned. Aside from asking some Branch Family members for help, he had never applied for anything from the Hyuga Clan.
So he wasn't biting the hand that fed him.
The Hyuga Clan had never fed him in the first place.
If they insisted on arguing that the things Hyuga Akira had inherited were originally given to his parents by the Hyuga Clan...
Hyuga Akira would gladly send them to discuss it with his parents, who had died on the battlefield.
Whether they could come back was none of their concern.
He guaranteed he could send them there, and that was enough.
Cursing inwardly, Hyuga Akira glanced at the battlefield where the fighting had ended. After a moment's thought, he took out an explosive tag and placed it on Kusen's charred corpse.
He casually took Kusen's belongings and put the ninja tool pouch into his Inventory. After all, as a subordinate, there was nothing legally wrong with inheriting his superior's belongings.
Once everything was ready...
Only then did he back away. With a boom, the explosive tag left pieces of Kusen scattered everywhere.
"That should take care of everything."
He turned and left, as though he had made some sort of decision.
Rumble! Lightning writhed through the dark clouds, but its flashes could not dispel the darkness below.
The rain grew heavier.
Chapter 52: Hyuga Akira Took the Initiative
When Hyuga Akira returned to the tower, it was completely empty.
Everything was just as it had been when he and Kusen left.
The windows were tightly shut, and the desktop was cluttered. With dark rain clouds covering the sky outside, there was little light in the room.
The others had not returned to submit their reports yet. The only documents on the desk were those left unsorted from the past few days.
"What a shame." Hyuga Akira smacked his lips.
He had really hoped a few people would appear here and demand to know where he had gone.
As someone suffering from amnesia and mania, he would have had a reason to kill them and harvest some experience.
Unfortunately, these people actually loved their work that much.
Were workhorses all this conscientious nowadays? Couldn't they learn from a fellow workhorse like me and slack off whenever they could?
Why work yourselves to death competing?
Left with no choice, Hyuga Akira abandoned the idea, sat at the desk, took out a sheet of stationery, and began writing.
"Esteemed Lord Hanzo..."
He wrote down the entire course of events, including how he had taken the initiative to set traps.
This was to highlight his abilities.
In short, the whole letter said that he, Muyu, was amazing and had led Kusen in carrying out this ambush.
He only changed the final outcome.
Kusen had been no match for Akishima and had ultimately been forced to use explosive tags to take his enemy down with him.
He had not even had time to leave any last words, so Hyuga Akira could only contact Hanzo through Kusen's original method.
"That should do it, right?" Hyuga Akira finished the final stroke.
He checked the wording repeatedly.
This counted as Hyuga Akira taking the initiative. If he waited here...
There was no telling whose people would come.
They would most likely belong to Amegakure's leader, Shōzō. After all, Shōzō still held legitimate authority.
However, Shōzō had never appeared in the original story, so Hyuga Akira did not know much about him.
But based on what Hyuga Akira knew of his actions, the man's approach was very mild, and very foolish.
In any case, Hanzo would ultimately lead Amegakure, so Shōzō's fate was easy to imagine.
He would not side with the loser. Even if history remained unchanged, the man would only retain control of Amegakure for another two years.
The year was already nearing its end. The Second Shinobi World War would break out in Year 37, and Amegakure would formally enter the war in Year 38.
After finishing the letter, he took out Kusen's ninja tool pouch.
He emptied its contents.
Three kunai, a dozen or so shuriken, three explosive tags, a Summoning Scroll, and a wallet.
"So poor." Hyuga Akira looked disdainfully at the things dumped onto the desk.
By his standards, these things barely counted as assets.
The stone-shaped wallet contained a little over three thousand ryo in total.
"Broke bastard."
Hyuga Akira muttered a curse, spread the Summoning Scroll across the desk, placed the letter at its center, and rapidly formed the summoning hand seals.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke rose, and the letter at the center of the scroll vanished.
"Now I just have to wait for a reply."
Hanzo's figure was concealed in the shadows. The entire room was lit by candles, but without looking carefully, one could not even spot him.
The flickering candlelight barely illuminated the intelligence documents on the desk. With a respirator covering his face, Hanzo revealed no expression.
"Teacher, submitting will only make them push further."
Hanzo growled, his words carrying a teeth-grinding edge.
Not that he necessarily held much respect for his teacher. After all, the one responsible for filling his body with poison was that very teacher.
Shōzō, Amegakure's current leader.
Although that poison had allowed his strength to surpass his teacher's in every respect, if the man had not held the dual status of Amegakure's leader and his teacher...
Shōzō would never have lived this long.
What he found even more unexpected now was that, out of fear of the surrounding Three Great Shinobi Villages, his teacher had actually ordered Amegakure to give up resisting entirely.
Something like this! This kind of behavior!
"This is a betrayal of Amegakure and the Land of Rain!"
But Hanzo had no way to resolve the issue right now. He still could not eliminate Shōzō. If he attacked Shōzō, he would cut himself off from Amegakure, and the next leader would certainly not be him.
While Hanzo seethed, a dark figure suddenly emerged from the darkness. A Rain Ninja knelt on one knee before him.
"Lord Hanzo, Kusen, the ninja guarding the city on Konoha's border, has died." The Rain Ninja handed Hanzo a letter.
"Kusen?" Hanzo suppressed his anger and frowned slightly.
He remembered the city near Konoha's border. It was an outpost used to monitor Konoha's movements.
He took the letter and quickly scanned its contents.
"Kusen? Muyu?"
Kusen's plan to ambush and kill Akishima had indeed received his approval.
The income from that city was not particularly important. Ninja earned payment through missions in the first place, and the so-called support of the nobility merely meant giving them a share of the missions.
The nobles of that city were based in a relatively remote area with few missions, so naturally they did not have much money to provide.
However, the city's nobles supported Shōzō, and it was also an outpost that could observe Konoha immediately, so he naturally needed to control it.
He had not expected Kusen to die just like that.
Hanzo pondered the letter's contents for a long time before looking up at the Rain Ninja before him. "Have you read this letter?"
"Yes." The Rain Ninja nodded.
This was Hanzo's rule. They had to carefully inspect every letter received through summoning to guard against poison, concealed weapons, or anything similar.
Hanzo valued his life greatly and was extremely cautious in everything he did.
He had no choice but to be careful. His teacher Shōzō was very interested in his life.
He could not kill Shōzō because Shōzō held the moral high ground, but that did not mean Shōzō could not kill him.
Shōzō had been searching for his true whereabouts all along.
"What did you see?" Hanzo set the letter on the desk.
The Rain Ninja kneeling on the floor thought for a moment before answering, "I saw a mere Genin trying to steal a Chunin's military merits."
Although the letter recounted events, it subtly diminished Kusen's contributions while exaggerating Muyu's.
Hanzo shook his head. "No. It also contains that Genin's ambition. Completely undisguised ambition."
He had seen far too many people like this. Either their ambitions reached the heavens while their lives were paper-thin, or they truly had ability.
In Konoha Year 36, what did Amegakure lack most? Talent.
"Give him a chance. Have him come see me," Hanzo said gravely.
Since this man had ambition, he would give Muyu this opportunity. If he died along the way, that would only prove his ability was lacking.
He could hardly be blamed for that.
"Yes!"
Chapter 53: No Need to Pretend to Be Crazy
"Um, where is Lord Kusen?" the ninja who had returned to report cautiously ventured.
Looking at the Genin before him, wearing a straw hat and sporting a scar on his face, as though he wanted to cosplay the Pirate King...
Hyuga Akira felt a trace of doubt.
How could you speak so timidly when you looked like the Pirate King?
Weren't you supposed to be the man who would become the Pirate King?
He even bent slightly at the waist as he spoke.
Everything about him said he was a good, polite, well-mannered boy.
Hyuga Akira could not even find an opportunity to fly into a rage. He said helplessly, "Kusen? He died on a mission."
As long as the man dared to ask how Kusen had died, he would dare to reenact it for him.
"I see." The Rain Ninja nodded in understanding and placed the intelligence report he had written on the desk. "Lord Muyu, this is today's intelligence."
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