Smack.
Hyuga Arin slapped Hyuga Hiashi's hand away.
"Teammates? Sorry." Hyuga Arin looked at Hyuga Hiashi with open disdain.
"You're not qualified."
It wasn't really that he was singling out Hyuga Hiashi.
He despised everyone.
No one was worthy of being his teammate.
What if they stole his mobs?
Hyuga Hiashi's face flushed red with anger, and he blurted out, "Aren't you afraid my father will punish you again?!"
Hyuga Arin rolled his Byakugan—then rolled them again.
"Guess whether I'm afraid or not."
The main family didn't dare kill him. That was his confidence.
If he hadn't already become a ninja, he wouldn't dare act this arrogantly—but unfortunately for them, he was already a ninja.
As long as Konoha stood, the Hyuga clan couldn't take his life or cripple him.
So he wasn't afraid.
Hyuga Arin bumped his shoulder against Hyuga Hiashi and walked straight toward the dungeon stairs.
Hyuga Hiashi ground his teeth in fury.
Hyuga Arin was completely impervious—soft tactics and hard tactics alike were useless.
He even felt that if he were an Uchiha, he'd have awakened his Sharingan out of sheer rage by now.
Hyuga Arin walked out of the dungeon entrance and saw Tsunade standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for him.
When she saw him, she simply said, "Let's go."
She didn't even look at him again, turning and heading toward the exit of the Hyuga compound.
Many people stared at Hyuga Arin in shock.
Everyone knew he'd been locked in the dungeon.
So how was he released after just one day?
Hyuga Arin gave the crowd a couple of heh-heh laughs, looking rather smug.
In the end, the main family still hadn't been able to do much to him.
In the crowd, he spotted the main-family elder Hyuga Huo glaring at him with fury.
Hyuga Arin immediately made a face at him.
"Bleh."
Hyuga Huo's face turned beet-red. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed straight backward.
"Elder!!"
The sight of Elder Hyuga Huo being angered into fainting threw the clan members into panic, causing a commotion.
No one paid any attention to Hyuga Arin anymore.
Tsunade said irritably, "Can you cause less trouble?"
Hyuga Arin replied innocently, "How was I supposed to know that old man couldn't handle it?"
He genuinely hadn't expected someone to faint from that.
Had he known, he would've teased him more—maybe even angered him to death.
Tsunade was at a loss for words.
She was starting to feel that Hyuga Arin was an unbelievably troublesome thorn.
The two of them walked straight out of the Hyuga compound.
At the gate stood a young boy with blush marks on his cheeks. Hyuga Arin had always suspected they were painted on—but sadly, they were natural.
All he could say back then was—
The Senju bloodline was truly terrifying.
"Big Bro!!"
Seeing Hyuga Arin come out, the boy's face lit up with joy.
This was Tsunade's younger brother—Nawaki.
After the Senju clan disbanded and fully integrated into the village, both Nawaki and Tsunade stopped using the Senju surname.
"This is thanks to you," Hyuga Arin said, patting Nawaki on the shoulder.
From the very beginning, Hyuga Hizashi's intuition had been right—Tsunade had always been on Hyuga Arin's side.
The main reason was this little brother of hers.
Nawaki.
Their acquaintance had been simple.
After Hyuga Arin found no opponents among his peers, he turned his attention to students older and younger than himself.
Nawaki was the only one who proved somewhat troublesome.
After several difficult (read: underhanded) battles, Nawaki—one year younger than Hyuga Arin—became his most loyal little brother.
For the sake of her disappointing younger brother, Tsunade had no choice but to lend Hyuga Arin a hand.
Tsunade shot Hyuga Arin a fierce glare.
"Don't corrupt my brother."
This guy was far too reckless.
Hyuga Arin replied nonchalantly, "Me? I'm such an upright and honest person. How could I corrupt your brother?"
He shot Nawaki a look.
Nawaki immediately pumped his fist.
"Yeah! How could Big Bro possibly corrupt me?"
Tsunade rubbed her forehead helplessly.
She didn't want to say anything more—but if Nawaki could learn Hyuga Arin's combat style, that might actually be a good thing.
"Fine."
She didn't really object to Nawaki hanging out with Hyuga Arin. This kid wasn't stupid.
She then turned serious and said to Hyuga Arin,
"You have at most one year. The Hyuga clan won't do anything to you during this time. In that period, you must learn medical ninTechnique to appease them. After that—you're on your own."
This was the only help she could give him.
"More than enough," Hyuga Arin replied, his face filled with anticipation.
Tsunade had no idea what he was looking forward to.
Turning to Nawaki, she reminded him,
"You're about to graduate. Don't forget to train properly."
Before Nawaki could reply, Tsunade vanished in a blur with the Body Flicker Technique.
Nawaki muttered resentfully, "Seriously… she's always nagging me."
Hyuga Arin rolled his eyes.
"Getting benefits and still complaining."
He'd love to have a future Legendary Sannin as his sister.
Thinking about that one-year window, Hyuga Arin's mouth stretched into a grin, revealing chilling white teeth.
This year was Konoha Year 36.
Tensions among the Five Great Nations were steadily rising, though still restrained.
Everyone was waiting for the day when conflict would finally erupt.
Most believed it would take several more years.
Only Hyuga Arin knew the truth.
Next year, the Second Shinobi World War would fully break out.
Three consecutive years of war—
Exactly what Hyuga Arin was looking forward to.
After all, ninja gave the most EXP, allowing him to level up rapidly.
Different villages also dropped plenty of good loot, letting his strength expand explosively.
And most importantly—
It was the key to completely breaking the Caged Bird Seal.
"Big Bro, who are we going to mess with first?" Nawaki asked eagerly, seeing the smile on Hyuga Arin's face.
Every time Hyuga Arin wore that smile, someone was about to suffer.
Hyuga Arin smacked the back of Nawaki's head.
"First, help me find a place to live."
"And am I really the kind of person who likes causing trouble?"
Such a gentle, kind soul.
Nawaki rubbed his head and muttered,
"In the entire academy, who causes more trouble than you?"
The Ninja Academy was practically turning into a hot-blooded brawler school.
Hyuga Arin showed zero self-awareness.
…
In the end, Hyuga Arin rented a house in a relatively remote area.
Unfortunately, his money was only enough to last about three months.
When the two opened the door and stepped inside, a cloud of dust rose into the air.
Cough, cough.
Nawaki coughed.
"Can people really live in a place like this?"
One glance at the dust told you no one had lived here in ages.
Hyuga Arin's eye twitched as he looked at the single-room interior.
If he stayed here too long, he'd feel like his entire life was over.
"Gotta grind monsters and do missions."
He had no intention of staying here.
Hyuga Arin dragged Nawaki right back outside.
"Come on. I'll take you to rob the rich and help the poor."
Nawaki had learned Hyuga-style eye-rolling.
"And you say you don't like causing trouble."
"But Big Bro, how exactly are we robbing the rich to help the poor?"
Hyuga Arin looked at Nawaki thoughtfully.
"Do you have money?"
Nawaki quietly took two steps back.
"Big Bro… you're not planning to rob me to help yourself, are you?"
Hyuga Arin asked speechlessly,
"Do I look like that kind of person?"
Nawaki shook his head.
"Not 'look like.'"
"You are that kind of person."