Brown fur.
A massive body.
A scarred face, roaring in fury.
It was a brown bear.
A chakra-infused bear.
And also the very same ninja beast that had once forced Hyuga Arin to retreat in defeat.
A bear… but not an ordinary one.
"Long time no see, old friend," Hyuga Arin said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes as he looked at the brown bear.
The bear also spotted him up in the tree. When enemies meet again, hatred burns hotter than ever.
Just as Hyuga Arin had never forgotten it, the bear had never forgotten him either.
The scar on its face was proof—Hyuga Arin's handiwork.
This bastard still dared to show up again?
Back then, it had been a handsome fellow among its bear pack. All it did was glance at this human one extra time while passing by—and suddenly, boom, a shuriken to the face.
Who had it offended? Who had it provoked?!
The more it thought about it, the angrier it became.
"ROAR!!"
The brown bear charged straight at Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin sheathed the bronze battle saber at his waist. Both hands filled with shuriken, moving so fast they left afterimages as he hurled them forward.
"Flaming Shuriken!"
The shuriken turned into blazing fireballs, smashing into the bear's body. Sparks flew, shuriken bounced away.
The result?
Nothing more than scorched fur.
The bear's hide was absurdly tough.
This only enraged it further. It rushed beneath the tree Hyuga Arin stood on and slapped the trunk with one massive paw.
Crack!
The tree snapped in half.
Hyuga Arin leapt to another tree, never once stopping his barrage of shuriken.
At last, the bear had enough. It lunged sideways and hid behind a large boulder.
Only then did Hyuga Arin stop attacking.
That rock was far sturdier than the trees. He jumped down from the tree and began circling the boulder.
Seeing Hyuga Arin dare to come down, the brown bear abandoned cover and charged on all fours straight toward him.
Hyuga Arin's "shuriken machine gun" activated again.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Fireball-like shuriken streaked through the air toward the bear. It tanked them head-on, ignoring everything as it barreled forward.
Hyuga Arin stopped throwing shuriken and instead drew the bronze battle saber.
"This thing's defense is ridiculous."
He gave up ranged attacks. Ordinary shuriken simply couldn't hurt it. Last time, after exhausting himself, he'd only managed to wound its face.
Flaming shuriken drained chakra far too quickly.
Better to cut it directly—this saber boosted attack power, after all.
He stepped forward.
In an instant, he appeared beside the bear.
The bear swung a paw and slammed it into Hyuga Arin.
"BANG!"
Smoke burst out.
Hyuga Arin turned into a log, shattered by the blow.
At last—he'd properly used the Substitution Technique.
Hyuga Arin reappeared behind the shattered log and slashed hard at the bear's arm, carving out a bloody gash.
"ROAR!!"
The bear howled in pain and snapped its jaws toward him.
With a flick of his wrist, a kunai—appearing from nowhere—was tossed into the air.
The bear bit down… and instead of flesh, sank its teeth into the kunai. The soft tissue in its mouth was pierced.
Hyuga Arin appeared above the bear, blade raised high, and brought it down mercilessly toward its neck.
The blade bit deep—but met tremendous resistance.
"Thick as hell," Hyuga Arin gritted his teeth.
Chakra surged into his arms.
"Pseudo–Monster Strength!"
Veins bulged along his arms as he forced the blade downward against the resistance.
The saber ground its way through the bear's neck.
As the cut completed, the blade sliced through empty air, momentum carrying it in a wide arc.
The massive head of the brown bear tumbled to the ground, rolling several times before stopping.
A notification flashed before Hyuga Arin's eyes.
[EXP +763]
"Whew…" He let out a breath. "That thing was seriously hard to kill."
On the bear's corpse, one of its claws glowed faintly.
Hyuga Arin stepped forward and picked up the drop.
[Skill Book: Bear Wrestling Hands]
"Why didn't it drop any equipment…" Hyuga Arin muttered unhappily.
He already had plenty of skills—what he lacked was chakra.
Still, he learned the skill on the spot.
A flood of memories poured into his mind.
Bear Wrestling Hands wasn't a Technique that required hand seals. It was a chakra-control technique that amplified arm strength.
"Similar to Monster Strength… but clearly inferior to the Senju version."
When activated, it granted the power of a bear. The higher the level, the stronger the boost.
Senju Monster Strength scaled with total chakra and enhanced the entire body.
This skill only strengthened the arms.
"Too bad I never learned true Monster Strength."
He'd watched Nawaki use it countless times. With the Byakugan, he could see chakra flow clearly. After enough observation and experimentation, he'd grasped a rough imitation.
But since no skill had formed, it was clear this was just technique, not a proper Technique.
Monster Strength consumed massive amounts of chakra. Only someone like Nawaki, with Senju blood, could use it without burden.
That bloodline clearly amplified the technique—otherwise it would have formed a skill long ago.
Hyuga Arin began cutting into the bear's corpse with his blade, creating wound after wound and letting the stench of blood spread outward.
Just killing a single bear was far from enough.
Blood was the best possible lure.
As night fell, pairs of glowing green eyes slowly emerged from the darkness.
Hyuga Arin flicked the blood from his blade, a faint smile on his face, and walked into the darkness—his pace gradually quickening.
At last, he leapt, raised his blade high, and brought it crashing down into the shadows.
…
Elsewhere.
Nawaki hung lifelessly from a tree, suspended by a rope tied around his ankle.
His previously broken arm had fully healed.
Minato had reset the bone, and with the Senju clan's incredible recovery, half a day was enough for complete healing.
But healing his body didn't fix his brain.
They'd tried to find Hyuga Arin, only to trigger trap after trap along the way.
Minato stood not far from the tree, hesitating as he looked at Nawaki—and Kushina, who was also hanging nearby.
"AAAAH!! That bastard!! I'm going to kill him!!"
Kushina roared furiously. The timid, wounded-little-animal image was completely gone—she'd turned into a raging tyrannosaurus.
"How dark does his heart have to be to set up this many traps?!"
Two steps, one trap.
Three steps, an explosive tag.
Both she and Nawaki had stepped on countless ones.
She was actually better—she could at least detect some traps.
Nawaki, though, was terrifying.
A walking trap detector.
Wherever he went, there was definitely a trap.
Just looking at the shredded state of his clothes made it obvious how many he'd triggered.
Normal trap detection relied on sharp observation—like Minato's.
Nawaki's method?
Direct activation.
If a trap existed, he would trigger it.
"Minato…" Nawaki said dejectedly, hanging his head.
"Do you think specializing in traps would suit me?"
He was starting to seriously consider changing his career path.
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