Naruto: I Kill, I Loot, I Ascend

Chapter 151 151: The Current State of the War

After Sarutobi Hiruzen entered the Iwagakure front line,

the war didn't intensify as expected.

Instead, its intensity dropped sharply.

Iwagakure did not choose to launch large-scale offensives. They held their ground, sending out only small numbers of personnel to maneuver, probe Konoha's defensive lines, and search for weaknesses.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and Ōnoki clashed several times, destroying mountains and forests in the process. In the end, both realized they couldn't do anything to the other, and tacitly stopped.

Battles at their level were something even ordinary jōnin could hardly participate in.

As a result, the front lines between Iwagakure and Konoha entered an oddly peaceful state.

The most dissatisfied person by far was Hyuga Arin.

"Fight! Kill! I want to see rivers of blood!"

Hyuga Arin waved his fists and sprayed complaints straight at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Every time Sarutobi Hiruzen encountered Hyuga Arin, he felt a headache coming on.

This kid seemed to counter him somehow.

"Iwagakure doesn't want excessive losses, so of course they won't launch reckless assaults," Sarutobi Hiruzen patiently explained, as if talking to a genin.

Mainly because over the past few months, he had personally witnessed Hyuga Arin's battlefield domination.

Who would've thought that a tiny fireball could explode into an entire dragon?

If he ran into that, he'd be scrambling too.

And a small fireball turning into a dragon wasn't even this kid's strongest attack.

The one truly terrifying technique was Fire Release: Nine-Headed Dragon Technique—

a dragon that grew nine heads. Its range far exceeded Great Fire Dragon Technique, and its power was even greater.

That technique had already been recorded into Konoha's ninjutsu archive.

Its evaluation: S-rank.

Ninjutsu rank didn't represent sheer destructive power—it represented difficulty.

The Nine-Headed Dragon Technique demanded absurdly precise chakra control. Even Sarutobi Hiruzen himself found it extremely difficult to use.

Assigning it an S-rank was perfectly reasonable.

Yes.

Sarutobi Hiruzen himself could use that technique—

just not the blue-flame version.

His personal ninjutsu library had gained another high-powered technique. A cause for celebration.

Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't the type to swallow someone else's credit.

Hyuga Arin didn't even have the surname Uchiha—though even if he did, Hiruzen wouldn't take his achievements.

As for military merits—those he couldn't grant.

According to the agreement with the Hyuga clan, all Hyuga battle merits belonged to the Hyuga main family.

So instead, he directly opened Konoha's ninjutsu archive to Hyuga Arin, letting him freely choose and learn.

And what did this brat pick?

Edo Tensei.

Under Sarutobi Hiruzen's forceful and friendly persuasion,

Hyuga Arin cursed nonstop and finally selected several Fire Release techniques instead.

After that, the kid quieted down for a while while studying Fire Release.

Then today—

He came back to protest again.

And the content of the protest…

"Besides," Sarutobi Hiruzen said earnestly, then slammed both hands on the desk and roared at Hyuga Arin,

"Konoha is a peace-loving village!!! We do NOT allow the arbitrary escalation of conflict!!!"

No wonder this kid didn't get along with the Hyuga main family.

His killing intent was a bit too heavy.

Hopefully the Hyuga main family would remain safe in the future.

This kid felt like he was going to cause a huge mess someday. For a genius like him, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't believe the Caged Bird Seal could truly restrain him.

Hyuga Arin slammed the desk back, equally furious.

"As long as we kill them all!! Konoha won't ever be threatened again!!"

This kid… was he a murderous star reincarnated?

Why did this suddenly feel a little like Uchiha Madara?

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt uneasy.

"I am the Hokage right now!!"

Hyuga Arin snorted coldly.

"You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"

Then he turned and walked out of the tent.

Wait—!!

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt his brain short-circuit.

This exchange sounded very familiar.

No—wait—that wasn't the important part!

"You brat!!! Call me Hokage-sama!!!"

Calling his name directly—this kid's guts were getting bigger and bigger.

Hyuga Arin glanced at his experience pool.

[Experience: 301,484]

Three hundred thousand experience.

This was the result of several months of hard work.

Back when the battlefield was intense, he could earn 100,000 experience in a single day.

Now, after months, he had only earned 300,000.

This was ridiculous.

He'd thought Sarutobi Hiruzen's arrival would push the battlefield into full escalation.

And this was it?

Hyuga Arin cursed nonstop as he returned to his tent.

Several scrolls were laid out on the bed.

If he had to name his biggest gain over these months—

It was learning a large number of ninjutsu from Sarutobi Hiruzen.

[Fire Release · Fire Dragon Bullet (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

[Fire Release · Flame Meteor (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

[Fire Release · Phoenix Sage Fire Technique (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

[Fire Release · Dragon Flame Technique (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

[Fire Release · Flame Bullet (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

[Fire Release · Flame Strike (Lv.1) EXP (0/100)]

These techniques shared one common feature—

They were all C-rank Fire Release.

B-rank Fire Release required far too much experience.

C-rank was much better.

Fully maxing one only required a little over 50,000 experience.

All of them combined would cost just over 300,000 experience.

If he could grind another 300,000 or so, he could max them all out.

But now?

It had taken several months just to get 300,000.

This year's large-scale war had been extremely intense at the start—largely because of him.

Once this year passed, the war might even end early.

War was the best time to grind experience.

After it ended, the only chance to farm like this again would be the Third Great Ninja War.

Hyuga Arin cursed again.

Especially since—

Rain Country was already a complete mess. People were killing each other nonstop.

Danzo was furious—his face reportedly hadn't looked good for days.

After being forced out of the Rain Country by Hanzō, Danzo had declared that unless he tore Hanzō's head off, he wouldn't be called Shimura Danzo anymore.

The Sand front was also intense. The Third Kazekage had personally entered the battlefield—only to be beaten back by Hatake Sakumo.

Because of that battle, Hatake Sakumo earned the title

Konoha's White Fang — Hatake Sakumo.

The Cloud front was worse. The Third Raikage, A, had personally joined the fight, leading to heavy losses for Konoha. Reinforcements were already being prepared.

As for the Mist front—

Hyuga Arin hadn't heard much. Kirigakure and the Uchiha clan were old enemies.

They were evenly matched. Konoha didn't need to worry much there.

So why was it that the Iwagakure front alone had gone so quiet?

After the war ended, if he wanted to grind experience like this again, he'd have to wait for the next world war.

Hyuga Arin cursed nonstop—

Completely ignoring whose fault this actually was.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's deterrence was strong, yes, but he was more of a symbol. As long as Ōnoki didn't make a move, Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't either.

And Iwagakure didn't dare advance recklessly—

Because they were terrified that a fireball might suddenly appear.

Once a blue fireball appeared, it turned into a guessing game.

Is this just a normal blue fireball?

Or is there a dragon hidden inside?

Or maybe… a nine-headed dragon?

Iwagakure's morale was completely shattered.

Without a reliable countermeasure, who would dare charge forward?

No matter how much Hyuga Arin cursed, it couldn't change the fact that Iwagakure no longer dared to attack recklessly.

He glanced at the experience he'd accumulated over the past few months and decided to first max out three high-level Fire Release techniques.

As for the remaining low-level Fire Release—

He didn't use them much anyway.

He'd leave them for now, see how much experience he could still gather, and upgrade them later.

✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨

10 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter

100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter

◇ You can read 90+ chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/CanonBreaker