For a group of people who had spent years fighting over power and interests, suddenly cooperating to support a single person meant there had to be some underlying reason.
"I think there are two possibilities," Hyuga Arin said after some thought.
Hanzo continued leaping through the forest while making a gesture for him to continue.
Hanzo had always wanted to break the economic network in Zhengzang's hands—gradually cutting off marginal nobles to sever Zhengzang's support, much like the mission he'd given Kusamori.
But that kind of approach could only be described as hurting the enemy a thousand while hurting yourself eight hundred.
In the end, that money still had to be spent on the Rain Hidden Village.
Hyuga Arin analyzed calmly.
"The first possibility is interests. Zhengzang can offer those nobles enormous benefits. For the sake of interests, it's very possible for them to cooperate and support a single person."
Hanzo thought about it for a while, then shook his head.
He couldn't imagine what kind of interests the Rain Hidden Village could possibly offer those nobles.
The entire village depended on them for funding—where would the extra benefits come from?
"Then there's the second possibility," Hyuga Arin continued. "Threats."
"Using force. Using their families as leverage. Though this kind of method…"
He hesitated slightly as he said this, because in Hyuga Arin's view, this sort of behavior rarely appeared among ordinary ninjas.
What were ninjas?
Tools—pure and simple.
Tools could have emotions, but they would never actively harm nobles, much less openly threaten them.
At most, they might impose restrictions.
Of course, if it was an official mission, that was another matter entirely.
But people who held real power were different.
Like Zhengzang.
Or like the man right in front of him—Hanzo.
Even so, Hanzo usually only acted against minor nobles.
Hanzo fell into deep thought. He truly had never considered how Zhengzang controlled those nobles.
"If you were me," Hanzo asked in a low voice, "what would you do?"
This was the question he cared about most.
Hyuga Arin didn't treat it as a big deal and answered directly,
"Go straight for the nobles. Win over some, crush some. If this batch of nobles sides with Zhengzang, then replace them."
"After all, nobles are nobles. Put a pig in that position and it works just the same."
Military power in the world was held by ninjas.
But the development of the world was driven by merchants and ordinary people.
Nobles barely had anything to do with it.
They were responsible for one thing only—continuing to exist.
Or, when they felt like expanding their power, attacking other nobles.
Pure impulse. Someone else would always clean up afterward.
And in the ninja world, there was one group that absolutely could not be ignored—
Merchants.
The development of the entire world was driven by merchants.
Money even elevated their status.
But put them up against nobles?
They'd still lose miserably.
Hanzo looked thoughtful.
He had always focused on dealing with Zhengzang directly. He'd never really considered targeting the nobles themselves.
At most, he'd suppressed a few minor ones.
"Once fiscal power is seized," Hyuga Arin continued, "the Rain Hidden Village will be stable. After that, Zhengzang can simply… die of illness."
At that point, even the conservative faction would have no way to resist.
Military power and finances would both be firmly in hand.
Even if they wanted to rebel, it would be meaningless.
And once total control was achieved, no one would care how Zhengzang died.
Hanzo had always opposed Zhengzang as a ninja.
And because of the nature of ninjas, he couldn't truly strike back without justification.
But if he shifted perspectives—
If he fought as a politician—
Then dealing with Zhengzang would become absurdly simple.
Hanzo pondered quietly. An answer was already forming in his mind.
"But what if the nobles aren't satisfied with our control?" Hanzo asked again.
…Wait.
Was Hyuga Arin being treated as Hanzo's political advisor now?
Why were there so many questions?
Hyuga Arin was just talking big. He hadn't actually been planning out a full strategy.
His face twitched slightly in bitterness.
Family, who understands this pain? I'm just trying to play a game and now I'm stuck in a politics class.
Oh wait—this was reality.
Never mind.
"Then do what Zhengzang does," Hyuga Arin said decisively. "Threaten them."
Even though this kind of behavior would inevitably backfire in the future.
But Hanzo might not live to see that day.
"Internal threats. If the Rain Hidden Village stops protecting the nobles, I'm sure plenty of wandering ninjas would love a place to belong."
"Send a few people to pretend to be rogue ninjas. Rob a couple of noble households. They'll be scared soon enough."
"External threats. Tensions between the Five Great Nations are rising. The Second Ninja World War is inevitable."
"When that happens, just tell the nobles that the Rain Hidden Village will no longer protect them."
"Ninjas from the great villages would probably enjoy pretending to be bandits too."
Hyuga Arin paused.
Actually… regular ninja forces from the great villages might not go that far.
"If they don't rob anyone, then we'll do it ourselves. Pretend to be them. In the eyes of nobles, all ninjas look the same anyway."
He had never regarded nobles as particularly intelligent to begin with.
This kind of scheme was actually easy to see through.
But once it was truly implemented—
Even if they understood what was going on, they might not have the courage to expose it.
Because such actions would already send a clear message:
The ninjas had begun to bite back.
What happened afterward wouldn't be Hyuga Arin's problem anymore.
Hanzo nodded slowly.
He had to admit—Hyuga Arin's suggestions opened up an entirely new line of thinking.
Nobles were people too.
And people could feel fear.
Perhaps this was exactly the method Zhengzang was using.
It was time to teach Zhengzang a lesson.
…
After returning to the base, Hanzo dismissed Hyuga Arin.
"So he really is treating me like an advisor," Hyuga Arin muttered under his breath.
To be honest, he would've loved for Hanzo to hand this task over to him.
Killing a few nobles, farming the guards around them—that was a solid chunk of experience right there.
Whether he could do it well or not didn't matter.
Hyuga Arin would definitely not lose out.
Back in his own room, Hyuga Arin rubbed his hands together excitedly.
It felt a bit like opening loot boxes.
He'd dumped everything straight into his inventory earlier without even checking what he picked up.
And given how strong those people were, the drops were guaranteed to be high quality.
He took out all twelve items.
[Consumable: Archangel's Breath SS-3]
[Consumable: Postcard to the Dead S-13]
[Skill: Bungee Gum]
[Skill: Skill Hunter]
[Nen Armor: +200 Defense]
[Nen Boots: +50 Movement Speed]
[Exorcist Skill Fragment (1/10)] ×3
[Nanika's Wish List Fragment (1/10)]
[Greater Mana Potion] ×2
The first item was the strongest recovery consumable in the game.
No matter how severe the injury, as long as there was a single breath left, it would fully restore the user.
The second item actually allowed you to send letters to the dead.
Useless to Hyuga Arin—but something he could sell.
The next two were Nen abilities.
Hisoka's Nen ability—granting aura elasticity and stickiness. Decent, but not especially cost-effective.
Then the third skill.
"…Why did I get this garbage skill?" Hyuga Arin sighed helplessly.
This skill had another name—
The Hunter Smile Disappearance Technique.
It allowed the user to steal Nen abilities belonging to Hunters.
The problem was—
It only worked on Nen abilities.
In this world, who exactly was he supposed to steal Nen abilities from?
"…Am I supposed to go around spreading Nen myself first?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
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