Arin reluctantly put away the flames surrounding his body, his face full of regret.
Hatake Sakumo couldn't help but glance at him again.
As expected—
This boy was dangerous.
In fact…
After looking at Danzo, Sakumo even felt that Arin was more dangerous than Danzo.
Danzo represented Konoha's hidden darkness.
But Arin—
Was pure slaughter.
Hiruzen Sarutobi cleared his throat lightly, signaling that the Konoha representatives had arrived.
Only then did the shouting inside finally stop.
He pushed open the door and walked in.
There were already several Konoha ninja present inside.
For example, the head of the Nara clan.
As a strategist-type figure, he held a major role in these negotiations.
Meanwhile, Arin and the others were essentially just mascots.
Whether they were auspicious for the Four Villages was unknown—
But for Konoha, they were certainly very auspicious mascots.
The Cloud ninja representatives shivered slightly.
They had personally seen Arin's massacre in Kumogakure's ranks.
"So then," Sarutobi said as he sat in the main seat,
"you may begin discussing your war reparations."
The others sat opposite the representatives from the four villages.
Now—
It was Nara Shikashi's battlefield.
The representatives from the four villages all tried their best to reduce the compensation.
Some used threats.
Some pleaded weakly.
They used every tactic they could think of.
Arin could tell—
The negotiators sent by the four villages were very eloquent.
But Nara Shikashi argued with calm logic, fighting against all four villages alone without falling behind.
And the "Konoha mascots" sitting at the table truly were effective mascots.
They gave Shikashi immense confidence, while weakening the confidence of the other villages.
After all—
They were worried the mascots might suddenly turn into ferocious beasts and kill them.
And honestly—
That was entirely possible.
For example, the youngest one present, Hyuga Arin, was staring at them like a predator.
The pressure was enormous.
Seeing the fear on the other side's faces, Arin lost interest.
It didn't seem like they intended to do anything extreme.
He withdrew his gaze and glanced at the Konoha side instead.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he remembered that the Uchiha clan also had excellent ninja.
Some of them were even comparable to the Three Sannin, though they probably couldn't quite match Hatake Sakumo.
Hatake Sakumo was now roughly at the level of a Kage.
But his strength was somewhat specialized.
From what Arin knew, Sakumo's greatest advantages were:
The short sword on his backHis incredible speed
In terms of ninjutsu, he wasn't as versatile as the Three Sannin.
But those two strengths alone made him impossible to underestimate.
Sakumo possessed terrifying solo combat ability.
Once the White Fang got close to you—
Your death was guaranteed.
That was practically common knowledge among ninja.
His large-scale destructive power might be lacking, but his single-target lethality was maxed out.
Only Minato Namikaze in the future would surpass him.
Though at the moment—
Minato hadn't even graduated yet.
Meanwhile, the Uchiha clan didn't appear anywhere at the negotiation table.
The exclusion was almost painfully obvious.
Arin rolled his eyes at Sarutobi and Danzo.
The two of them glanced back at him, confused.
They had no idea what he meant.
Eventually—
The negotiations between the Five Great Villages concluded.
The Second Shinobi World War officially came to an end.
The Five Great Nations signed a non-aggression treaty.
Though no one knew how long it would actually last.
"The Third Shinobi World War…"
Arin sat leisurely on a tree branch, eating dango.
"So sweet."
According to the original timeline, the Third War should begin around Year 47.
But now—
Things might change.
Arin sighed.
After the negotiations ended, the entire village of Konoha became peaceful again.
Even Root had no missions.
Most of Konoha's tasks were now handled by genin and chunin.
The missions that required jōnin were usually issued by powerful nobles or wealthy merchants.
But since the war had just ended, those clients were still observing the situation.
No one wanted to hire Konoha ninja yet.
After all—
They might get hunted by other nations' ninja simply for associating with Konoha.
"You're really taking it easy," a passing Nara Shikashi commented.
Arin looked down from the tree.
He finished the last dango in one bite and jumped down.
"There's no work right now," he said.
"Things were only busy during the negotiations."
Then he glanced at the child beside Shikashi.
"Your son?"
"He looks… energetic."
"Hey," Shikashi complained.
"You don't look that much older than me."
"What's with that elder-like tone?"
Besides—
Calling Nara Shikashi "energetic" was already a stretch.
"Well, I'm a jōnin," Arin said casually.
"I'm the same rank as your father."
He flicked Shikashi's forehead with his finger.
"Ow!"
Shikashi clutched his forehead.
"How did someone like you become a jōnin?!"
He had only just become a genin.
The heavens truly had no justice.
The two actually knew each other already.
Back when Arin had been terrorizing the ninja academy, Shikashi had given him quite a bit of trouble.
Shikashi's father smacked the back of Shikashi's head.
"Be polite to Jōnin Hyuga."
After all—
Arin was one of the village's pillar figures.
His status was actually equal to Shikashi's father.
As a strategist, the Nara clan head held naturally higher status than most ninja.
Pillar-level ninja like Arin were roughly on the same level.
The main reason the Ino-Shika-Cho trio wasn't that famous was because they rarely stood out individually.
But when the three clans worked together—
They could even restrain the Tsuchikage.
Their combined strength wasn't much weaker than the Three Sannin.
They simply didn't seek the spotlight.
"Bleh!" Arin made a face at Shikashi.
Shikashi's father sighed helplessly.
Still a child, after all.
Meanwhile, Shikashi wore an expression like the world had already ended.
If someone like Arin could become a jōnin—
What worse things could possibly happen?
"We're going to buy some ninja tools," Shikashi's father said.
"We'll be going now."
"Alright, see you next time," Arin replied casually as he walked past them.
Once they had gone a bit farther, Shikashi's father's expression turned serious.
"Stay away from him in the future."
"He's dangerous."
"Yeah, yeah. Flame Demon Hyuga Arin," Shikashi said dismissively.
The man who had defeated over a hundred Cloud ninja in one battle.
The one who had rescued the Three Sannin from danger.
It was impossible not to know about him.
"Arin… well, he's just being himself," Shikashi sighed.
Thinking about what Arin had done to the ninja academy, his heart suddenly ached.
Back when Arin was in school—
Everyone had been ruled by him.
After he graduated—
They were ruled by Nawaki.
When Nawaki finally graduated, they thought the nightmare was over.
But then—
The younger class of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki started ruling the academy.
When would their Ino-Shika-Cho faction finally rise?!
Well…
He had been influenced by them too.
Before graduating, he still hadn't reached the top.
Instead, he was bullied by people younger than him.
Where was the justice in that?!
"We, the Ino-Shika-Cho faction, will never accept this humiliation!!"
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