Ibuki-sensei knew about this.
But he did not know the exact reason. All he knew was that someone from the Anbu had come to request leave, so it would have been inappropriate to ask too many questions.
Then his gaze swept over the seat where Sora Hyuga usually sat. His eyes paused briefly before he looked across the other seats in the classroom, but he saw no sign of Sora Hyuga anywhere.
"Is Sora Hyuga absent?"
Ibuki-sensei's question reached everyone in the classroom clearly. When no one answered to announce their presence, he confirmed that Sora Hyuga was not in the classroom.
Strange.
Sora Hyuga hasn't requested leave.
Why hasn't he come?
Could he have overslept?
Several questions arose in Ibuki-sensei's mind, but he did not think much of it. The possibility that someone had died never even occurred to him.
When Araki heard Ibuki-sensei's words, his expression did not change at all, as though none of this had anything to do with him.
Over the rest of the day, Sora Hyuga never appeared, and Kushina did not return either. The atmosphere in the classroom grew dull.
This had little to do with Sora Hyuga. He had always been arrogant, and now that he had disappeared, the students felt nothing in particular. Kushina's absence, on the other hand, left them feeling tormented.
They had never felt much when Kushina was absent before, but now they realized that things could never go back to the way they had been. That red-haired girl had quietly claimed a place in many students' hearts.
Ring, ring, ring...
As the bell rang, another day of classes came to an end.
Before school let out, Ibuki-sensei glanced thoughtfully at Sora Hyuga's seat. He looked very much as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.
As always, Araki headed into the woods to train after school. The rhythm of his life remained exceedingly regular, completely unaffected.
Gradually.
As time passed.
Another two days went by.
Neither Sora Hyuga nor Kushina attended class during that time.
Kushina's absence was not much of a concern. After all, leave had already been requested for her, and it had been someone from the village who had done so. Ibuki-sensei felt reassured about her.
But...
Sora Hyuga had missed school for three days straight, and there had been no word from his clan.
Ibuki-sensei began to feel a little anxious.
Ring, ring, ring...
The dismissal bell rang again. This time, Ibuki-sensei did not leave the classroom right away. Instead, he kept the entire class behind.
For a moment.
Puzzled gazes gathered on Ibuki-sensei.
"Has anyone seen Sora Hyuga over the past few days?"
Ibuki-sensei asked in a low voice, his eyes solemn, without the slightest hint of a joke. The air he casually projected alone silenced every student in the class.
In the past, someone might have dared to crack a joke.
Now that they saw how serious Ibuki-sensei was, none of them dared to say anything they were not sure of.
"None of you have seen him?"
Ibuki-sensei gradually realized that something seemed to have happened. As of this moment, Sora Hyuga had missed three full days of classes.
On the first day, he had thought something might have delayed Sora Hyuga and had waited for him to explain the next day.
On the second day, he had vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but no one from the Hyuga Clan had come to speak with him, so he had decided to wait one final day.
Now it was the third day, and Sora Hyuga still had not come...
Ibuki-sensei felt that something was seriously wrong!
After hearing Ibuki-sensei's question, the students shook their heads one after another without speaking. None of them had actually seen Sora Hyuga, and they had not been concerned about him at all.
The person they cared more about was actually Kushina.
"It's all right."
After making a few brief inquiries, Ibuki-sensei understood that none of the students in the class had seen Sora Hyuga. In other words, Sora Hyuga had not appeared anywhere over the past few days, rather than simply missing class.
"You're dismissed!"
After saying this, Ibuki-sensei bowed to the students in the classroom, then hurried out and headed straight for the Hyuga Clan's grounds.
As a teacher at Konoha's Ninja Academy, when a student missed three consecutive days of classes, he had to get to the bottom of it and find out what was going on.
Ibuki-sensei held two entirely different attitudes in his heart.
The first was criticism. He intended to criticize Sora Hyuga for missing three days of school without requesting leave, and the Hyuga Clan along with him.
The second was self-reflection. If the Hyuga Clan did not know that Sora Hyuga had disappeared either, then he had failed to properly fulfill his supervisory role as a teacher at the Ninja Academy.
But...
Ibuki-sensei had his own difficulties!
Had it been any other student, he would have gone to their home to ask on the very first day.
But this student belonged to the Hyuga Clan.
The Hyuga Clan held a very special position in Konoha. They had the privilege of allowing their members to skip the Ninja Academy and become Konoha ninja through internal clan training instead.
Successive Hokage had all acknowledged this arrangement.
As a result, every Hyuga Clan student who attended the Ninja Academy carried a sense of pride, as though they were there more to experience a different way of life.
They occasionally skipped class, too.
But missing three consecutive days was a very unusual situation. Ibuki-sensei felt uneasy as well. He had already made up his mind: if nothing had happened to Sora Hyuga, he would certainly condemn this behavior!
Chapter 26: What If I Become a Monster One Day?
As Araki watched Ibuki-sensei hurry away, he knew that the matter of Sora Hyuga would soon come to light.
But even he was very curious about how far it would ultimately develop.
After all, judging by the current situation, Sora Hyuga could only be treated as a missing person.
His body would not be found!
Three days had already passed.
Even if they brought out a Ninja Dog, the lingering scent would already be extremely faint, not to mention that he had treated the area with pepper.
After school.
Araki returned to his lodgings with his schoolbag on his back.
Whenever he had free time over the past few days, he had been thinking about whether there had been a better way to handle Sora Hyuga.
He could think of only one answer.
That was Corpse-Dissolving Water!
If he could obtain some of the Corpse-Dissolving Water the Anbu used to dispose of bodies, he could handle such a situation more calmly the next time, directly turning anyone who threatened him into a pool of blackish-red bloody liquid and burying it deep underground.
But Araki was in no hurry to obtain Corpse-Dissolving Water. Sora Hyuga's situation had not yet drawn attention, and buying it would instead cast suspicion on him.
A different time would be better.
After repeatedly reviewing everything in his mind, Araki confirmed that he had overlooked nothing in his handling of Sora Hyuga.
It truly had been the safest choice he could make at the time.
Before long.
Araki arrived at his front door.
He took out his key and quickly opened the door. Just as he was about to toss down his schoolbag and head back out, a red-haired figure appeared in his field of vision.
It was Kushina, who had likewise been absent for three days.
"Araki, you're back."
Hearing the sound at the door, Kushina looked up. From Araki's perspective, he could see that her eyes were red and slightly swollen, and her mental state was not particularly good either. Compared with her former sunny cheerfulness, she seemed considerably gloomier and more subdued.
"You're finished with what you had to do..."
Araki quietly took a deep breath. The moment he saw Kushina's appearance, he understood that she had already become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
It had all happened too quickly!
Barely any time had passed between Kushina's arrival in Konoha and her becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
An individual's strength was still insignificant before the village!
Kushina had originally belonged to the Uzumaki Clan of Uzushiogakure. Because of her special physical gifts, she had been chosen to succeed Mito Uzumaki as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
When she first arrived in Konoha, she had known nothing about any of this. In such a short time, she had not only had to take in so much information, but also adapt quickly and complete the entire process.
Throughout this process, personal wishes no longer mattered at all. Everything had to give way to the bigger picture. After all, the village's interests took precedence over those of an individual.
For a moment.
Araki felt as though he saw himself in Kushina.
If Konoha's higher-ups learned that he possessed the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, then, just like Kushina, he would have to serve the village's interests directly and make enormous sacrifices.
Araki had quietly trained hard in Konoha for three years. Compared with his peers, his strength was indeed impressive, but against such an immense entity, he was still exceedingly insignificant.
As long as Konoha wanted to act against him...
He would have no ability to fight back at all!
This was the most crucial point!
Araki's strength had indeed surpassed that of his peers, but his standard for himself had never been his peers. Rather, it was to become an immensely powerful village. His purpose in doing so was not to contend for supremacy or stand above all others. He merely wanted the ability to protect himself and avoid being studied.