As Arin stepped into Konoha once more, he felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.
It really had been a long time since he returned.
That old man Hiruzen had practically thrown him into the Land of Bears to rot, while Kirigakure remained silent as the grave.
Honestly, it felt no different from a vacation.
And he had stayed there for three whole years.
It was basically paid leave.
The more Arin thought about it, the more convinced he became that Hiruzen had mainly exiled him there just to keep an eye on him.
"Arin-sama!!"
The two gate guards greeted him with expressions full of respect and even a trace of fanaticism.
"Oh?"
"I didn't expect anyone would still recognize me."
Arin rubbed his chin while looking at the two guards.
The excitement on their faces dimmed slightly.
"We served under you for a while before."
"Ah… hahaha…"
Arin awkwardly scratched his head.
He genuinely had no memory of them.
There had indeed been plenty of ninja rotating through the anti-Mist encampment.
People came and went constantly.
How could he possibly pay attention to all of them?
Most of them merely passed through for routine duty anyway.
There had barely been any combat.
At most, everyone just trained inside the camp.
Meanwhile, Arin spent most of his time inside the tent passionately battling shuriken and kunai.
Still, those three years had not been completely unproductive.
His experience points had officially surpassed two million.
For now, he had chosen not to spend them and instead continued stockpiling.
Two million experience was enough to raise his strength considerably.
"So, uh… did you need something from me?"
After perfunctorily responding to the guards, Arin walked toward the Hokage Tower.
Behind him followed numerous ninja wearing clothing marked with the Uchiha fan crest.
The two gate guards fell silent.
These were all Uchiha ninja.
As Arin led a massive group of Uchiha toward the Hokage Tower, countless villagers and ninja turned their heads to stare.
A Hyuga leading this many Uchiha—
That was an extremely rare sight.
Several Hyuga clan members who noticed the scene should have felt proud.
Instead, their expressions looked terrible.
Some people quietly asked:
"Who's that?"
"A Hyuga clan member. Probably that legendary figure… Flame Demon."
"Who the hell is Flame Demon?!"
The confused man suddenly shivered violently.
He turned around—
Only to meet Arin's death stare directly.
The man forced out a smile uglier than crying.
He seriously did not know who Flame Demon was!
Arin withdrew his gaze.
See?
Konoha's greatest talent really was forgetting things.
He led the group of Uchiha all the way to the Hokage Tower.
To outsiders, it practically looked like they were preparing to siege the building.
At least, that was certainly how the higher-ups interpreted it.
"Dismissed."
Arin casually raised a hand.
Immediately, every Uchiha vanished.
Arin then entered the Hokage Tower directly.
Inside, numerous hidden ANBU members abruptly emerged, staring warily at the Uchiha outside.
Only after seeing them disperse did they finally relax.
Arin walked straight into the Hokage's office and kicked the doors open with a bang.
At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was using his crystal ball to "observe Konoha scenery."
The sudden noise startled him violently.
Turning around, he saw Arin swaggering inside confidently.
"What're you doing?"
"Watching the women's bathhouse again?"
Arin casually sat atop the desk while glancing at the hot spring scene inside the crystal ball.
Hiruzen instantly turned red.
"What women's bathhouse?!"
"I'm inspecting Konoha for security loopholes!"
"What loopholes are there in a women's bathhouse?"
Arin leaned toward the crystal ball.
Hiruzen hurriedly slapped a hand over it, dispelling the image instantly.
"You definitely saw wrong!!"
"Heh."
Arin sneered coldly.
Hiruzen tugged down his Hokage hat slightly to hide his embarrassment before hurriedly changing the subject.
"This time, calling you back was—"
SLAM!!
Arin's palm smashed violently onto the desk.
"You said three months!!"
"HOW DID I END UP STUCK THERE FOR THREE YEARS?!"
"Ahem…"
Hiruzen coughed lightly.
"Well…"
"The main concern was potential connections between the Uchiha and Kirigakure."
"I needed you there to monitor things."
Lie.
Complete lie.
In reality, Hiruzen knew perfectly well that among everyone in the village, the Uchiha were the least likely to defect.
In their minds, Konoha belonged to the Uchiha.
What they truly wanted was simply to reclaim authority and control the village themselves.
The real reasons for sending Arin away were:
Preventing him from becoming another White Fang.
Cooling down his growing fame.
Suppressing the increasingly powerful Root faction slightly.
And perhaps most importantly—
Once Arin left, he could stop constantly bothering Hiruzen for missions.
If Arin actually completed missions normally, Hiruzen would not complain.
Unfortunately, considering how battle-crazy Arin was, every mission eventually transformed into a massacre mission.
In short—
Throwing Arin onto the frontlines was basically killing three birds with one stone.
Every dirty trick got used on Arin eventually.
Naturally, Arin did not believe a word of Hiruzen's nonsense.
"So why exactly did you call me back?"
That old fox would never recall him without a reason.
"Ahem."
Hiruzen glared at him irritably.
This brat saw through every little scheme instantly.
No respect for the elderly whatsoever.
Soon, Hiruzen's expression became serious.
"There truly is an important matter this time."
"The Land of Wind has become increasingly chaotic recently."
"They've crossed into the Land of Fire multiple times already."
"Oh?"
Arin's eyes lit up excitedly.
"You want me to go wipe out Sunagakure?"
After spending so long with the corpse-like calm of Kirigakure, he was practically itching for action.
Hiruzen already knew this would be his reaction.
Rolling his eyes, he replied:
"Not yet."
"This is only a precautionary measure."
"I'm recalling you to the village temporarily to wait."
Last time this sort of tension appeared, war broke out only a few years later.
This time, Hiruzen simply wanted to prepare in advance.
Currently, only the Land of Wind showed signs of instability.
The other nations remained completely peaceful.
He had even recalled Jiraiya back already.
"Tch."
Arin clicked his tongue dismissively.
A scroll slipped from his sleeve onto the desk.
"Then help cancel this appointment while you're at it."
Hiruzen pushed the appointment scroll back toward him instead.
"Keep it for now."
"If war really breaks out, we may need to deploy you elsewhere."
Judging by how well Arin got along with the Uchiha, Hiruzen worried no one else could suppress them properly if another commander was assigned later.
Especially now that the Uchiha were no longer the primary force on the anti-Mist front.
"Fine."
Arin shrugged and put away the appointment scroll.
Then, as though asking casually, he said:
"How's White Fang-senpai doing?"
"Sakumo…"
Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe and slowly exhaled.
"He was depressed for a while."
"But he's fine now."
Still, Hiruzen knew the previous incident had left a deep scar on Sakumo Hatake.
"Is that so…"
The corner of Arin's mouth curled upward.
"You two shouldn't really have much contact with each other," Hiruzen said suspiciously.
"So why the sudden concern?"
"Nothing."
"I'm just a little curious about his situation."
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