Hyuga Akira picked up the intelligence reports and casually leafed through them. Most concerned trivial matters.
Ever since Konoha had sent a contingent last time, it had fallen into an eerie silence.
That bastard Hiruko told him nothing.
As for the wandering ninja, far fewer of them were around. Mainly, no wandering ninja were coming from outside, while those still hiding in the city had concealed themselves even more thoroughly because of what Hyuga Akira had done last time.
The few remaining Amegakure ninja could not find any trace of them.
"Don't you want to ask about the mission's details?" Hyuga Akira could not help asking in a quiet voice.
"Huh? Mission details should all be confidential. I'm not qualified to ask." The Rain Ninja hastily shook his head, a bead of cold sweat slowly trickling down his forehead.
Originally, two shinobi had been in charge here, but now only Muyu remained. Even Kusen had disappeared.
He could not help reading into it.
Or rather, the few Rain Ninja in this city had all started reading into it.
Everyone already knew that Muyu had lost his memory and become somewhat short-tempered.
Although they badly wanted to know the truth, they did not dare ask, afraid they might end up on the list of missing people.
"Enough." Hyuga Akira waved a hand, losing interest. "You can leave."
He had originally thought he would have to fight for it, but he had gained control of this place so easily.
Only then did the Rain Ninja cautiously retreat. He reached the doorway and had just stepped one foot outside.
Boom!!
His head suddenly burst like a watermelon. Without another thought, his headless body fell straight to the floor.
Hyuga Akira lowered his shuriken-throwing hand. "You actually dared step through the door with your left foot first. Didn't you know I particularly dislike that?"
Hyuga Akira glanced at the notification floating past his eyes.
[Experience: 265]
Only then did he nod in satisfaction. With Kusen gone, who could stop him?
Naturally, things here would have to be done according to his rules.
They were all experience. They could simply enter the experience pool one by one.
Unfortunately, just then, another Rain Ninja happened to walk in. Looking at the corpse on the floor, she involuntarily swallowed.
Sure enough, that guy Muyu had gone mad.
She cautiously walked in, approached Hyuga Akira's desk, and set down the documents she had recorded.
"Sir, these are today's intelligence reports."
"Mm." Hyuga Akira looked up at this Rain Ninja. She was a brown-haired female shinobi.
She stood trembling at the side, not daring to move.
"Go on." Hyuga Akira waved a hand, telling the female shinobi to leave.
At this point, the female shinobi could not help swallowing before asking, "Sir, which foot should I step out with first?"
She had heard what Hyuga Akira had said earlier.
"Hm?!" Hyuga Akira put down the documents in his hand, an angry expression appearing on his face.
The female shinobi's face went pale.
"You dare question me?!" Looking furious, Hyuga Akira took out a shuriken, about to teach the female shinobi a lesson.
Just then.
Several people rushed through the doorway one after another.
Hyuga Akira frowned at the approaching group of Rain Ninja. Looking disappointed, he put down his shuriken and earnestly told the female shinobi, "If you have a question, just ask. Why keep testing me?"
"If you really want to know where you went wrong, come to my room tonight. I'll teach you properly."
Your teaching can be indecent, but it can't be lethal! the female shinobi wailed inwardly.
Perceptive as she was, she could sense that Hyuga Akira's gaze held none of a man's desire for a woman, only the hunting gaze of a beast watching its prey.
There was something seriously wrong with him.
The female shinobi glanced at the shinobi who had entered. These people could not give her any sense of security either.
Even Kusen was gone. What could a few genin like them do?
At most, this Muyu before them simply lacked confidence in killing them all at once.
"I don't think that will be necessary." The female shinobi forced a smile.
Hyuga Akira said with a face full of regret, "Since you don't want to improve, there's nothing I can do."
He shook his head, looking disappointed, and even his gaze toward the female shinobi carried disdain.
The other shinobi stepped forward and placed all their recorded documents on the desk.
"Lord Muyu, these are the intelligence reports we recorded today," a stern-faced shinobi stepped forward and said in a deep voice.
"All right, you can go." Hyuga Akira waved a hand, putting those thoughts away completely.
The group hurried away, taking along the corpse of the shinobi who had died for stepping through the doorway with his left foot first.
Once again, Hyuga Akira was the only person left in the entire High Tower.
Putting the intelligence reports in his hand on the desk, he had no intention of reading the others either. He walked to the window and looked down.
Soon, he saw a group of shinobi emerge below. Hyuga Akira watched the departing genin with a deep gaze.
"This should be enough to establish my persona."
Although wanting experience was part of it, he had behaved this way to give Hanzo an impression of him: someone who loved slaughter and had an unpredictable temper.
With that impression established, Hanzo would be mentally prepared if he killed anyone else.
If Hanzo came looking for him, he would certainly gather intelligence on him. He did not believe Hanzo would take him away without knowing anything about him.
To find out what kind of person he was, Hanzo could only rely on these colleagues.
"For a peace-loving person like me, doing something this deranged really is asking a lot."
Hyuga Akira maintained that he was someone who could be named an ambassador for peace.
"I wonder if I can make the image a little more specific."
And harvest some more experience along the way.
"Muyu has definitely gone mad. He's nothing but a bloodthirsty lunatic."
A group of Rain Ninja gathered together, and the female shinobi denounced Hyuga Akira in a shrill voice.
"If we keep going like this, sooner or later we'll all die at his hands!!!"
Everyone remained silent, drinking sullenly.
How could they possibly fail to understand that?
The tall Rain Ninja said in a deep voice, "If this guy really becomes our superior, we really won't be far from death."
"Why don't we kill him?" someone suddenly suggested.
Everyone's gaze focused on the speaker.
Chapter 54: Hyuga Akira's First Negotiation with Nagato
Everyone turned their attention to the speaker, a short-looking adolescent boy.
They had to admit, his suggestion was very tempting.
But turning against a superior...
"Poison, assassination, traps," the flaxen-haired female shinobi said softly from the side.
They had done plenty of such things. It was only this year that they had done less of it.
"As long as we all stick to the same story after Muyu dies, no one can do anything to us."
After the female shinobi finished speaking, everyone fell silent. Their shifting eyes made it clear they were indeed tempted.
He was only a colleague. It was not as though they had never killed one before.
The selection of shinobi in small ninja villages was far crueler than in large ones. Unable to provide the best education, they picked out the most vicious people instead.
"Let's do it," the tall shinobi said in a deep voice.
With their own lives threatened, they had to rise up and fight back.
Hyuga Akira had no idea these temporary subordinates of his wanted to kill him. Even if he had known, he might not have cared much.
He simply abandoned his work and came down from the High Tower. He was here to work undercover, not to slave away.
On the muddy ground, he held a purple umbrella to keep off the rain.
Few people were visible in the city. During this period of turmoil, everyone chose to stay safely at home.
Though the Land of Rain had always been in turmoil, civil war was only one aspect. There were also shinobi from outside. The Land of Rain had never known peace.
The clothes of the pedestrians passing along the street were mostly covered in patches, and the surrounding houses all seemed to be earthen dwellings built from stone and mud.
Perhaps because of the local conditions, these houses were best at handling rain and would not become soaked through.
In Konoha, one could still glimpse some modern buildings, but this place was less a city than a village, as though it were still in the Warring States era.
People could not eat properly or dress warmly, and they also had to contend with illnesses brought on by the damp air.
"What a miserable country," Hyuga Akira could not help remarking.
In the game, all of this had merely been background, but only by truly living here could one understand life's hardships.
Just as Hyuga Akira was walking along the main road, lamenting this.
A boy whose red hair covered his eyes jogged over, making Hyuga Akira lift his eyelids. He reached out and handed Hyuga Akira a package.
"This is for you," Nagato said, his voice trembling slightly.
"Huh?" Hyuga Akira accepted the package, looking utterly bewildered. He glanced through a gap and found a lunch box inside.
Nagato turned to run back, but Hyuga Akira suddenly caught his shoulder with one hand.
Only then did Nagato turn to look at Hyuga Akira.
"You should at least explain." Hyuga Akira shook the lunch box in his hand. Although he had indeed come out to eat, being given a lunch box so inexplicably left him rather bewildered.
"My mother made it," Nagato said quietly, lowering his head. "It's really good."
Hyuga Akira hesitated, then suddenly lifted Nagato's bangs and looked at the black eyes beneath them.
Not the Rinnegan?
Madara Uchiha had not yet sent the Rinnegan over.
In that case...
"Then let's eat together." Hyuga Akira lifted the lunch box in his hand. "I can't finish this much on my own."
He was quite interested in Nagato, because, in Hyuga Akira's view, the method Nagato would want to use to maintain peace in the future was headed in the right direction.
It was just that this guy was not particularly resolute at all and had been persuaded by Naruto Uzumaki's talk.
"Come back with me." Hyuga Akira moved the umbrella to shelter Nagato, the light rain pattering against it.
Since he had already found food, he no longer intended to look for a shop. Judging by the city's appearance, it did not seem to have any decent establishments anyway.
Nagato hesitated, but still obediently followed behind Hyuga Akira.
Hyuga Akira brought Nagato back to the High Tower.
"The Central Tower." Nagato looked at the cylindrical tower with some envy. A spiral staircase led upstairs.
"What? Is this place famous?" Hyuga Akira asked curiously.
"It's the most famous building here. You can see the whole city from the top floor, but it's never open to the public," Nagato said, sounding slightly excited.
Before you continue