The Iwagakure ninjas retreated yet again.
When the force on the other side suffered defeat, the Iwa ninjas on the front line also received the news at the same time.
In order to prevent their losses from continuing to expand, they chose to withdraw.
This battle had cost them dearly. Not only did they gain nothing, they had instead lost six jōnin. The Iwagakure commander was heartbroken.
"The next Iwa attack will be even fiercer," Crow said, standing beside Hyuga Arin as he gazed into the distance.
From here, Iwagakure's forces were no longer visible.
Iwagakure clearly had no intention of giving up. The next assault would undoubtedly be far more violent.
Hyuga Arin rubbed his chin. "They won't bring Ōnoki over next time… right?"
"Probably not… I think," Crow replied, not entirely confident himself. "Ino–Shika–Chō are watching the Tsuchikage like hawks. He doesn't have any chance to support other battlefields right now."
This generation of Ino–Shika–Chō was the core of the Iwagakure front. Once Ōnoki appeared, they locked onto him immediately.
On the entire battlefield, only the three of them working together could contend with Ōnoki. If he went anywhere else, he would single-handedly change the course of the war.
Hyuga Arin, however, wasn't optimistic about their ability to keep Ōnoki in check.
After all—
That short old man could fly.
Just in case, a book appeared in Hyuga Arin's hand. He asked the slightly puzzled Crow, "Want to have your fortune told?"
Angel's Automatic Notes.
One of the abilities recorded within Bandit's Secret. When using it, one hand must hold the conjured notebook.
It didn't take up a skill slot.
However, this ability had one drawback—it couldn't be used to divine one's own fate, only that of others.
"You believe in fate?" Crow looked at Hyuga Arin with mild curiosity.
Hyuga Arin looked back at him in surprise. "How many ninjas don't believe in destiny?"
Under the shadow of war, many people believed that sooner or later, a savior like Senju Hashirama would appear and bring peace to the ninja world once again.
Jiraiya was the most typical example—though he might just have been fooled by that group of toads from Mount Myōboku.
"That's true," Crow nodded. Root members were required to erase their emotions. Without emotions, there could be no hope, and naturally, no belief in destiny.
Even so, he was quite interested in Hyuga Arin's fortune-telling.
"I'll give it a try."
"Very well. Name—an alias is fine. Date of birth. Blood type. And I'll need to see your real face."
Crow hesitated for a moment. Every Root member's appearance was a secret; it wasn't something to be casually revealed.
But in the end, he removed his mask. He knew that as a member of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Arin could already see his face anyway. There was no point hiding it.
Crow's face was utterly ordinary—the kind you'd never find again once tossed into a crowd.
The mask had been completely unnecessary.
Hyuga Arin took out a sheet of paper. His eyes gradually lost focus, and on his right hand, the phantom of a ferocious infant appeared.
"What is that?" Crow stared wide-eyed at the apparition in Hyuga Arin's hand.
No—
You're actually doing real fortune-telling?!
Hyuga Arin's hand moved rapidly across the paper. Lines of text appeared one after another, and soon, a poem was formed.
He handed the paper to Crow. "Read it out for me."
Crow looked at Hyuga Arin in surprise. "You don't know what it says?"
The notebook in Hyuga Arin's hand vanished. He shrugged. "I'm not conscious while I'm writing."
Crow found the ability fascinating. He lowered his voice and began to read:
"On the windless plain, shadows coil around the roots of trees,
A phantom beneath white eyes muffles the groans of stone.
A tongue licks the blade, blood does not stain the hem,
False tranquility—cracks before shattering.
When twin moons alternate, the sky bestows a crown of earth,
Stone wings blot out the sun, ants trapped in a prison of dust.
A reflection fleeing into the abyss is pierced at last by blades of light,
Beneath the shattered moon, flesh and stone lie together."
Hyuga Arin fell into thought.
Crow put his mask back on and asked curiously, "So? How's my fate?"
Hyuga Arin looked at the final line—flesh and stone lie together—then reached out and patted Crow on the shoulder.
"Eat something good lately."
The crown of earth was already obvious enough.
Ōnoki would definitely attack this battlefield—and Crow would die in that assault.
And he would die while trying to flee, failing to escape.
"What does that even mean?!" Crow couldn't help raising his voice.
Several people nearby turned to look.
Hyuga Arin pointed at the paper. "Prophetic poems need interpretation. For you, this one shouldn't be difficult, right?"
Behind the mask, Crow's face turned ashen. Precisely because he understood it, he found it unbearable.
The first stanza referred to the present—today's battle.
The second indicated that although there would be fighting, there was no immediate danger.
But the third—
That was where everything went wrong.
It foretold the Tsuchikage appearing on this battlefield and crushing it in an overwhelming manner.
And the final line—
Was his ending.
He chose to flee, but still met his death in the end.
"Is this kind of prophecy… really accurate?" Crow asked in a low voice.
If Hyuga Arin had just scribbled something casually, he wouldn't necessarily have believed it.
But that twisted infant apparition—
It was clearly the manifestation of some kind of ninjutsu.
In his heart, Crow already believed it seventy percent.
"Very accurate," Hyuga Arin said with certainty.
It had never been wrong in the Hunter world. He doubted it would suddenly fail here.
"Alright." Crow clearly made a silent decision. His figure vanished from the spot.
Hyuga Arin rubbed his chin. "If Ōnoki really comes… do I have any chance of hunting him?"
A Kage would be worth at least a hundred thousand experience points.
After thinking it over, Hyuga Arin felt he should just wash up and go to sleep.
Right now, even against six jōnin, he could barely survive—and he was thinking about hunting a Kage?
He'd better think about how to run away instead.
He looked toward the trenches, where many people had collapsed on the ground to sleep, while others continued monitoring enemy movements.
It wasn't that Hyuga Arin didn't want to warn them.
The problem was that prophecies required belief.
Ninjas might believe in destiny, but if someone suddenly claimed they could tell fortunes, would they really believe it?
Just look at Jiraiya's faith in the Great Toad Sage—how much groundwork had gone into that.
Ninjas were suspicious by nature, about everything.
He had even heard that some people in Konoha doubted whether the First Hokage had ever existed.
So… yeah. Hard to say.
Still, according to the prophecy poem, the coming days should be relatively calm.
"I forgot to ask about battle merits," Hyuga Arin said helplessly, rubbing his forehead. If his merits wouldn't all be taken by the Hyuga main family, he would have liked to exchange them for some ninjutsu.
Now he didn't know what Crow had gone off to do, and he wasn't familiar with the other Root members.
"Forget it. I'd better go research how to escape when Ōnoki shows up."
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