At the final moment of their lives, both of them stared wide-eyed at Hyuga Arin, disbelief frozen in their gazes.
They couldn't accept it.
They hadn't died at the hands of an enemy jōnin—but at the hands of one of their own.
Anyone would find that unbearable.
Their eyes remained locked on Hyuga Arin until the last trace of life left them, dying with unclosed eyes.
And he gained two chunks of experience.
[Experience +1563]
[Experience +1432]
"What a pity. My two neighbors just got traded away like this," Hyuga Arin muttered. "No idea if the new neighbors will be easy to get along with."
He suddenly turned his head toward a patch of grass to the side, grinning.
"I see you."
Within the Byakugan's vision, a figure was hiding in the bushes, one hand clamped tightly over his mouth.
The moment he saw Hyuga Arin looking over, he burst out of hiding and ran.
Hyuga Arin collected the items from the two corpses and tossed them into his inventory.
[Nen Blade: +50~60 Attack Power, +10 Penetration]
"A Nen-gear set… I remember this thing has pretty strong Nen recovery."
It was considered a decent mid-tier set—especially useful during the midgame when energy shortages were common.
[Exorcist Skill Fragment (1/10)]
The third fragment was secured. Seven more Exorcist fragments remained.
After tossing both items into his backpack, Hyuga Arin chased after the fleeing chūnin.
The commotion caught Sarutobi Shōji's attention mid-battle. In that split second of distraction, he was stung by a bee.
His body dropped slightly, and he hurriedly pulled an antidote pill from his ninja pouch and swallowed it.
His hands flew through seals.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
A torrent of flames burst from his mouth, incinerating countless bees into ash and forcing Murakami Hana to retreat.
Seizing the opportunity, Sarutobi Shōji rushed after Hyuga Arin.
Murakami Hana pursued closely, thick white mist billowing from his body as even more bees poured out, the swarm growing denser.
Under his control, the bees formed into a massive hand, reaching to seize Sarutobi Shōji.
Sarutobi Shōji turned and unleashed another blast of intense flames, burning large numbers of bees to ash.
But Amegakure's constant drizzle was extremely unfavorable for a Fire Release specialist like him.
The fine rain reduced the power of his fire techniques by nearly thirty percent.
He wanted to rescue his companion, but with his Technique weakened and his injuries worsening, he was firmly pinned down by Murakami Hana.
Hyuga Arin glanced back once, finally feeling that Murakami Hana was at least somewhat reliable.
What he hadn't expected was that Murakami Hana relied on summoning techniques—strikingly similar to Konoha's Aburame clan.
Why did everyone in the Land of Rain rely on summons?
Hanzo relied on the salamander.
Murakami Hana relied on bees.
Hyuga Arin sped up his pursuit. The enemy's speed no longer increased—it was gradually slowing.
The injuries were catching up to him.
At that moment, Hyuga Arin's hands began forming seals as well.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"
He took a deep breath and spat out a roaring fire dragon that charged straight ahead.
"Damn it, this Technique consumes a lot of chakra," Hyuga Arin felt his reserves plummet and quickly drank a [Low-Grade Mana Potion].
The blazing dragon surged forward, engulfing the fleeing ninja, whose face twisted in terror.
"Boom!"
Smoke billowed.
A block of wood rapidly charred, crumbled, and turned to ash.
With his Byakugan still active, Hyuga Arin instantly locked onto the enemy's real position.
He leapt down toward the ground.
The ninja who had barely managed to hide stared at Hyuga Arin in disbelief.
"Why… how can he pinpoint me so accurately?!"
It was obvious—Hyuga Arin was coming straight for him, fully locked onto his location.
It gave him the illusion of fighting a member of the Hyuga clan.
Hyuga Arin landed, lightly tapping the ground as his body shot forward like an arrow.
The sensory-type ninja realized he could no longer hide and charged out with a kunai in hand.
They clashed—but at the first exchange, the sensory ninja was blown backward by the sheer force transmitted through the kunai, flipping and sticking to a tree trunk.
"So strong…" He planted both hands against the trunk to keep from falling, rapidly forming seals.
"Demonic Illusion: Burn to Ash!"
A sea of flames suddenly erupted around Hyuga Arin from all directions.
He immediately used GenJutsu: Kai.
The flames vanished instantly.
In their place, the sensory ninja appeared, stabbing at Hyuga Arin with a kunai, aiming to end his life.
Hyuga Arin flicked his wrist and threw several shuriken.
The sensory ninja jumped left, dodging them.
Estimating his remaining chakra, Hyuga Arin used Substitution Technique, swapping places with one of the shuriken.
At that moment, the sensory ninja was still airborne, just about to land.
"Shuriken—Heavy Firepower—Fireballs!"
One by one, the shuriken transformed into blazing fireballs, piercing straight through his body.
"Fly… Flying Thunder God…" the sensory ninja murmured in disbelief.
In his memory, only that technique allowed spatial teleportation—and it was the Second Hokage's ultimate art, something no one should still be able to use.
He would never get his answer.
Life drained away as his body collapsed to the ground.
[Experience +1564]
Hyuga Arin bent down, scooped up the dropped items, and immediately rolled forward.
A massive fireball slammed down from above.
—Great Fireball Technique.
High up in a tree, Sarutobi Shōji glared at Hyuga Arin, eyes burning with fury.
But he no longer had the chance to attack him.
Murakami Hana had already closed in, and the bee swarm swallowed Sarutobi Shōji whole.
Soon, bursts of fire flared within the swarm.
"What trash. Still haven't finished the enemy," Hyuga Arin scoffed.
He couldn't see Murakami Hana directly, but that didn't stop him from looking down on his combat strength.
He took back what he'd said earlier.
If he hadn't seized the initiative at the start, Murakami Hana would never have won this fight.
The enemy was already severely injured, and Murakami Hana still couldn't take him down.
If Sarutobi Shōji had been uninjured, this wouldn't even be a contest.
Hyuga Arin ran forward quickly—he had no intention of getting caught in the crossfire of two jōnin fighting.
After putting some distance between himself and the battlefield, he turned back to look.
Countless bees obscured the view, flashes of fire erupting within.
Using the Byakugan, Hyuga Arin saw through the swarm and observed the battle inside.
Endless bees transformed into Murakami Hana's attacks, relentlessly besieging Sarutobi Shōji.
Sarutobi Shōji's Fire Release techniques were nonstop, burning bees to ash and keeping them at bay.
"He's planning to drag him to death," Hyuga Arin immediately understood Murakami Hana's tactic.
He probably had no other choice.
"I wonder… can I steal the kill?"
Watching the Konoha jōnin grow weaker by the second, Hyuga Arin couldn't help but feel tempted.
And it really did seem possible.
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