"Now isn't really a good time."
After thinking it over, Arin ultimately decided to temporarily give up on that option.
The Land of Wind was growing increasingly chaotic.
That chaos was beginning to affect the other great nations as well.
Because of the Kazekage's death, Sunagakure's military strength had declined significantly, and they still had not selected a new Kazekage.
Though maybe not entirely.
In terms of both merit and capability, Chiyo certainly qualified.
But that old woman had absolutely no interest in becoming Kazekage.
If nothing unexpected happened—
This war would probably begin ahead of schedule again.
So Arin was no longer in such a rush to farm monsters.
"Still… Konoha seems absurdly strong this time around."
Arin scratched his head.
The main issue was that Tsunade had not suffered any major psychological collapse.
At most, she simply hadn't fully recovered from losing her lover.
Probably.
Nawaki never died.
As a result, Tsunade never developed hemophobia.
With Tsunade remaining in Konoha, Jiraiya—the hopeless simp—naturally would not leave either.
Not to mention the prophecy had already completely ended.
Nowadays Jiraiya looked permanently confused about life.
As for Orochimaru—
There was no need to even mention him.
Danzo and Hiruzen probably would not take action this time either.
Meanwhile, the younger generation had fully matured.
Both Minato Namikaze and Nawaki were extraordinary talents.
The two had already become the leaders of the younger generation, and both possessed incredibly high charisma.
Then there was Arin himself—
Currently the strongest among all Kage-level fighters.
He genuinely could not understand how Konoha could possibly lose.
In fact, this war might not even result in heavy losses at all.
Arin glanced at his two million-plus experience points and hesitated for a moment before abandoning the idea of synthesizing Earth Release for now.
Instead, he planned to find an opportunity to max out Fire Release and Wind Release first.
Even two million experience points was nowhere near enough to fully level up a single chakra nature.
"At minimum, I'll need ten million experience points."
"Let's see which village ends up unlucky enough."
The search for Sakumo Hatake continued for three entire months.
Yet not a single trace of him was ever found.
This caused many nations to become wary of Konoha.
No one understood what kind of insanity they had suddenly developed.
As a result, the political atmosphere grew even more tense.
In the end, Sakumo Hatake was not labeled a missing-nin.
He was simply classified as missing.
Arin sat atop the Hokage Rock overlooking the village below.
"You can see all of Konoha from here."
"Not bad, right?"
Arin chuckled softly.
At that moment—
Several figures appeared beside him instantly.
"Lord Hyuga Arin, the Hokage requests your presence."
"Got it."
Arin waved casually.
"Let's go."
…
Inside the Hokage's office—
Besides Hiruzen and Arin, there was also a beautiful mature woman dressed as a shrine maiden, with long black hair.
The moment she saw Arin, she bowed deeply.
"Lord Hyuga Arin, I must ask for your assistance this time."
Arin looked at Hiruzen in confusion.
Hiruzen explained:
"She is Miroku, the Shrine Maiden of the Land of Demons. She came to Konoha seeking help and specifically requested you by name for this mission."
"The Land of Demons?"
Arin's eyes lit up instantly.
He remembered that killing Mōryō dropped a Zanpakutō.
"That's correct. Only Lord Hyuga Arin can bring this matter to an end."
Miroku looked at Arin with eyes full of admiration.
Arin had long since become immune to that kind of gaze after constantly being stared at by Aburame Mushihime.
"I don't mind."
Arin turned toward Hiruzen instead.
The real issue was whether this old man would actually let him leave the village for a mission.
Hiruzen couldn't help looking toward Miroku again.
"Does it really have to be him? You may not know, but—"
"It must be Lord Hyuga Arin."
Miroku spoke with absolute certainty.
"...Sigh."
Hiruzen let out a long sigh.
If Arin went out again, who knew what kind of disaster he would stir up this time.
He looked at Arin seriously.
"For this mission, you are not allowed to leave the designated route. Complete the mission and return immediately. Do not do anything unnecessary."
"So naggy."
Arin dug at his ear lazily.
"Yeah yeah, got it."
"Then hand over the mission scroll."
Arin extended his hand toward Hiruzen.
With obvious reluctance, Hiruzen handed over the scroll.
"Eliminate Mōryō of the Land of Demons."
…
This mission was assigned solely to Arin.
No teammates were given to him.
Originally Hiruzen had intended to assign additional personnel—
But Miroku refused.
The two departed Konoha lightly equipped.
Along the way, Arin curiously asked:
"Why does it have to be me specifically?"
Miroku answered seriously:
"Because I foresaw Mōryō's death."
"He dies by your hand."
That was the result of her prophecy.
Arin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
He really did possess the ability to completely kill Mōryō.
If he remembered correctly, Mōryō possessed some kind of immortality trait.
But looking at his own Fire Release's Satan Flames and Wind Release's Death attribute—
Those two abilities seemed particularly effective against immortality.
Outside Konoha, a carriage was already waiting for Miroku.
"Please board, Lord Hyuga Arin."
Miroku respectfully invited him inside.
Arin glanced around at the guards.
All of them stood perfectly upright without looking around.
And they were all ordinary people.
Only then did Arin board the carriage.
Miroku followed after him.
The convoy slowly began moving forward.
…
Arin lifted the curtain and looked outside.
He remembered the Land of Demons storyline.
A man named Yomi had once used Mōryō's power to create an undead army and attempted to conquer the world.
The first time, he had been stopped by Miroku.
The second time, he had been stopped by Miroku's daughter, Shion, together with Naruto.
Mōryō seemed to be some kind of demon creature from another world.
It had originally been sealed by Miroku.
Even in the second incident, the final outcome had merely been sealing it again.
The Land of Demons was located in a rather remote region.
In truth, the country lay between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind, with two small nations separating it from the Land of Fire.
In the original timeline, it was never explained why Shrine Maiden Shion sought aid from Konoha specifically.
Sunagakure and Iwagakure were actually closer.
Though Sunagakure truly was weakened—
Iwagakure was by no means weak.
It simply lacked particularly famous shinobi.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons.
To reach the Land of Demons, they had to pass through the Land of Rain and the Land of Birds.
Traveling through the Land of Wind would have been faster—
But the Land of Wind was currently in utter chaos, worsening international tensions.
Unless absolutely necessary, Konoha was forbidden from entering the territory of another great nation.
It took two entire months before the convoy finally entered the Land of Rain.
The Land of Rain looked far better than its previous apocalyptic state.
Now the Akatsuki was gradually consuming the nation.
Large numbers of Rain shinobi had already joined the organization.
Yahiko's trio continuously used transformation techniques to maintain the illusion that Hanzo was still alive, causing the great nations to hesitate to act rashly.
"Does Lord Arin care greatly about the Land of Rain?"
Miroku, seated elegantly beside him, asked softly.
"Not really."
Arin lowered the curtain and looked toward Miroku, who was attending to him almost like a servant.
Curiously, he asked:
"Even if I can deal with Mōryō, there's no need for you to act this respectfully toward me, right?"
"No. This is only proper."
Miroku answered seriously.
"For your sake, nothing would be excessive."
Arin: "???"
Somehow—
Something about this felt strangely wrong.
Was it just his imagination?
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