As the afternoon was fading, Arthur decided it was time to train a little bit before returning to his duties.
In front of him was a massive rock formation jutting out of the dirt a few yards away. So he flexed himself and widened his stance.
'Smoke style: smoke fist…'
The impact cracked like a whip as the boulder broke. Deep fissures webbed across the surface, and the top half of the rock crumbled into chunks of debris.
Arthur lowered his fist and stared at the broken stone. The damage was severe, exactly as he calculated. Yet he felt as if the power could have been greater despite having reacquired ninshū.
Not many would have noticed that the technique had actually dragged at the very last fraction of a second.
The problem was that his chakra recognized the lack of necessity and resisted the violence. For him to truly mix ninshū into his combat again, inanimate objects wouldn't do; he would need to trick his spirit into genuine self-preservation.
And the only way to do that was to experience that same level of pressure, a real threat. Something that forced his spirit to react to survive like before. Or at least something close to it.
If he had his clones, they would have been perfect training partners. They knew his moves. But they were all destroyed, and he didn't believe he had enough time to make more. Such a process required a delicate splitting of his reserves.
Even if he did invest the time, they'd be quite weak. A weak clone would shatter before the pressure reached the necessary threshold.
He considered the former Sound Five. They had unique abilities and worked well as a unit. They might work, but they were incomplete. Sakon and Ukon died by Itachi. Without the twins, the group lacked their core defensive synergy.
Perhaps having the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans gang up on him might be nice. A combined assault from two of the strongest bloodlines would definitely force him to move.
But he dismissed the thought as soon as it formed. They had their own duties to fulfill around the clock. The Uzumaki manned the barrier seals that hid the country. The Uchiha ran the border patrols and internal security.
Arthur couldn't afford to let them slack off his own personal endeavours. If he pulled them away for a sparring match, a gap in the defense would open.
As far as he was concerned, he was left alone to reestablish himself again.
When he prepared to continue this nightly training session, he felt a shift in his senses: Fugaku was in his quarters, resting until the door to his office opened. Someone had entered with what looked to be an important letter. Fugaku's eyes widened as he read it before quickly arising from his seat to make his way to the throne room.
Arthur wasted no time teleporting back to his chair.
In just under ten minutes, the doors opened. Standing in front of him was none other than Fugaku. He walked down the hall and dropped to one knee at the base of the steps.
"My lord," he greeted with reverence as he kept his head bowed.
"Speak, first Torikage…"
"We've received information," he said, holding up a sealed scroll. "The Leaf and the Sand are planning to start a Chūnin Exams. It'll be a joint venture between the two nations."
Arthur had almost forgotten that the exams were going to be held again. The days of managing grain shipments and border disputes pushed the timeline to the back of his mind. But now, it surfaced.
If he recalled correctly, this exam was only a front. The five great nations were losing patience. They wanted to try and lure out the Akatsuki, so they chose to gather young talents and high-profile targets in one location to bait out the criminal organization.
Surely, one or more of the otherworldly ninjas, like Alice, would be participating. No, they would be warning the Leaf and Sand that the plan to lure the Akatsuki wouldn't work.
If anything, they would still conduct the exam, but to instead try and lure out Arthur's shinobi. Capturing any of his forces could lead to them being interrogated.
And since none of the otherworldly ninjas were Genin, Arthur believed at least one of them would be proctoring or watching from the shadows.
It was a nexus point for anomalies. So Arthur made his decision.
"Gather me Kaiyo, Shigeru, and Rin…"
"Understood, my lord."
Arthur sat in the silence after Fugaku exited.
The Leaf and the Sand. Two distinct locations. Two distinct phases of the exam. He needed pieces on the board to watch the game play out.
In less than half an hour, the doors pushed open again. All three of whom Arthur requested appeared by his throne. Kaiyo, Shigeru, and Rin walked forward and formed a line. They held a firm, respectful stance as he spoke.
"The three of you have an important mission…"
"A mission!" Kaiyo exclaimed with glee. She then shifted her weight, unable to hide her grin.
"Yes," Arthur stated. "There's an upcoming Chūnin Exams being held by both the Leaf and Sand. Who you see before you will be your team to participate in it."
The room went quiet.
Kaiyo kept her smile on account that she could get out of her wall duties. But the other two reacted differently. Her teammates Rin and Shigeru felt this a little beneath them. They were veterans. They had fought real battles. To be sent into an exam designed for rookies and children was an insult to their capabilities.
Shigeru's jaw tightened as Rin stared straight ahead. Yet deep down, they trusted Arthur's judgement. They knew he did not give arbitrary commands.
"When shall we depart, my lord?" asked Rin.
"Soon," Arthur answered. "Because they haven't personally invited us, you'll be disguising yourselves as ninjas from the Rain Village."
Not a single one of them questioned this order.
Arthur, from what he understood, knew that this particular Chūnin Exams housed quite the amount of shinobi for two portions.
The first portion was in the Leaf and the second portion was in the Sand. Since he knew that the whole world was looking for his own hidden villages, sending a team under his banner was suicide.
That made the Rain Village a solid-enough cover. Their village was closed off, and their records were a mess. No one in the Leaf could verify a roster of obscure Rain Genin.
"Details will be provided to you by the Torikage," Arthur finished, dismissing them.
The three soon bowed in unison and left the room. This allowed him to sit back and consider how things would play out.
The strategy operated on multiple levels. First, he knew what their exams entailed: the tests, the arenas, and the brackets. And second was the outcome. All he actually cared about was placement.
By sending Rin, he solved an internal issue. She was someone who had once ventured to the Leaf twice already. But she operated in the dark. She was never seen again by the general populace. She would be the least suspicious of the trio.
Plus, her recent behaviour of wishing to see Obito would be quelled if she could at least see others from her past. Quite the ironic poison for nostalgia. But letting her walk the streets of her old home and see the faces of those she once knew might act as an antidote.
As for Kaiyo and Shigeru, they would play their parts with Rin.
Arthur's true goal here was to re-enter the Sand Village. He could care less about the Leaf. The forests of the fire country held no strategic value for his immediate plans. But he most certainly desired to replant his Flying raijin mark in the area where the first part of the narrative would unfold.
The Kazekage's rescue and the deployment of the Akatsuki—when all that commenced, the Sand Village would be the starting line.
Arthur absolutely needed to monitor those variables. So long as he had eyes there, it would be quite easy for him to read what the others may or may not do.
✟
A few days later, the logistics phase began.
A fake document was forged in the administrative wing of the plaza. The scribes studied intercepted trade requests from the Rain country and matched the ink. They then copied the phrasing, and the document was then sent to the Leaf, informing them that three participants from the Rain Village would be entering the tournament.
The truth of the matter was that Rain Village had no intention of sending anyone—exactly as Arthur remembered. Even now, that village still wouldn't cooperate.
The only hard part about this was forging fake identities for the team he would be sending. They needed histories that sounded plausible but boring. Orphaned by border skirmishes. Trained by obscure instructors. Nothing that would catch the eye of an intelligence officer.
The Leaf would not find this suspicious since they lacked the network to cross-reference the Rain Village's minor roster.
After all these things were done, it came as no surprise to Arthur when he received an acceptance reply.
The letter stated where his team was to meet as well as an agreement to stop any conflicts between the nations.
Arthur scoffed at the wording. He knew this, trying to quell fights would only be temporary. The language of peace was just ink on a page, especially since the Leaf already knew who was truly running the Rain Village.
And this was fine by him. He planned to use this moment to understand a few things before the real story took place. Let the Leaf and the Sand try to lure out ninjas from his country. They were merely just playing into his game.