novelraw Chapter 156 156: The Reason the Team Was Formed
Chapter 156 156: The Reason the Team Was Formed
"So why were the teams reorganized in the first place?"
After eating his fill, Hyuga Arin finally voiced the question that had been on his mind. "Nawaki, if I remember right, you graduated a few months ago, didn't you? The Academy should've already assigned you to a team."
At Arin's words, the smile on Nawaki's face slowly faded, replaced by a shadow of gloom.
"My two teammates… both died on the Kumogakure battlefield. I was the only one who survived."
He still remembered that road packed with explosive tag traps.
They had been extremely cautious. Orochimaru himself had been leading them. Yet danger was never something you could fully predict. In the end, they couldn't escape fate—both of his teammates died in the explosions.
If not for the period when he'd been trained under Hyuga Arin's half-finished "explosive-tag tactics," Nawaki would've died there too.
He now had a severe stress response to explosive tags.
"I see…"
Hyuga Arin fell into thought. By that logic, Nawaki had already escaped his destined death—no longer the one ninja fated to die to explosive tags.
"Same here."
Aburame Mushi-hime raised her hand. "But mine was on the Sunagakure battlefield. My teammates and our squad leader were killed by the Sand ninja. I barely managed to survive."
On the battlefield, it didn't matter whether you were a fresh genin straight out of the Academy. Death chased you relentlessly—slow down even a little, and it would catch up and take you.
"Didn't the Sand front gain the upper hand?" Arin asked curiously. He'd heard that the White Fang of Konoha had forced the Third Kazekage to retreat.
Mushi-hime shook her head.
"It wasn't quite like the rumors. In reality, the White Fang led a large force to cut off Sunagakure's supply lines, but he was intercepted by the Third Kazekage."
"At first, the White Fang was at a disadvantage. But Rain Country broke through Chiyo's defensive line and forced the Third Kazekage to return. Otherwise, the White Fang might've died there."
Hanzō is even stronger than in canon, Arin thought.
In the original story, Hanzō only invaded the Three Great Nations—there was no mention of him breaking through any nation's frontline defenses.
Which meant the White Fang could fight the Third Kazekage, but not dominate him—he was actually being suppressed. Still, the Third Kazekage couldn't kill the White Fang either, or he wouldn't have withdrawn.
Mushi-hime continued,
"My squad was wiped out by a Sand ninja encirclement during that battle. I was the only survivor."
"Later, after the Third Kazekage withdrew, the White Fang—despite being severely injured—successfully cut off Sunagakure's supplies. That's how Konoha gained the advantage."
"But before I was reassigned, I heard that Sunagakure sent Chiyo to the Konoha front. After that, I don't know what happened."
"That part I know," Nawaki raised his hand.
"Chiyo used poison to drive back our forces, forcing Konoha to retreat back into the Land of Fire. To counter her poison, my sister Tsunade has already been dispatched to the Sand front."
The tides of war were constantly shifting—no one knew when the wind would suddenly change direction.
"Orochimaru-sensei… can we really win?"
Mushi-hime looked at Orochimaru, unable to stop herself from asking.
Orochimaru fell silent. To be honest, he wasn't very confident either. Four great ninja villages were attacking Konoha at once, and in terms of manpower, Konoha was already stretched thin.
If the situation stagnated and dragged on, Konoha could very well be worn down to death.
"We will win."
Hyuga Arin answered with firm confidence. "In the end, this war will conclude with Konoha's victory."
Historically, that was exactly what happened—phase victories across four battlefields, the Sannin crushing Amegakure, and Konoha emerging victorious.
In mid-tier combat power, Konoha truly couldn't match four great villages. But at the top level, Orochimaru himself hadn't even fully entered the battlefield yet. Jiraiya's whereabouts were unknown, but Arin knew for certain that Jiraiya hadn't gone all-out either.
At the high end, Konoha still had Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, and Sakumo Hatake—three men holding three battlefronts together.
The Kirigakure front with the Uchiha didn't even need mentioning.
Neither side there truly had the upper hand.
Konoha's weakest front right now was Kumogakure—but even there, the Hyuga clan had managed to hold the line.
And although it looked like four villages were jointly attacking Konoha, the truth was far messier: Iwagakure kept provoking Kirigakure, Sunagakure wanted to strike Iwagakure from the side, and Kumogakure was hostile to everyone.
The four villages weren't united at all.
Orochimaru looked at Hyuga Arin in surprise. He hadn't expected such strong faith in Konoha's strength.
A true believer in the Will of Fire, he thought.
Yet intelligence reports claimed Arin had an extremely strong killing intent. Was that inaccurate? He didn't look like someone particularly bloodthirsty.
"For now," Orochimaru said after a moment, "you don't need to worry about the battlefield. What you need to prepare for is the upcoming Chūnin Exams."
"This is also why your team was reorganized—to let you participate in the Chūnin Exams."
Chūnin Exams required registration as a three-man team.
"Chūnin Exams, huh…"
Hyuga Arin ground his teeth. That old bastard Sarutobi still wouldn't just promote him directly—he actually made him take the exam.
"I thought this year's Chūnin Exams would be me competing against big bro," Nawaki said with relief.
"I never expected we'd end up as teammates instead."
Only one year—and Arin's growth was outrageous.
Before graduation, Nawaki could still fight Arin evenly. Now they were on completely different tiers.
Orochimaru hesitated for a moment, then said, "Try to hold back a little."
"Relax. I won't wipe them all out."
Hyuga Arin shrugged. "It's wartime—everyone taking the exam is from Konoha anyway. Killing one or two shouldn't be a big deal, but killing everyone might cause… objections."
I take that back.
Orochimaru's face darkened slightly.
This kid's killing intent was definitely strong.
Strong kids were already troublesome—strong kids with dangerous personalities were even worse. He really hated this type.
…
Hyuga Arin walked home as summer had already arrived.
Even though the frontlines were still burning with war, Konoha itself remained lively as ever.
Street vendors lined the roads, civilians passed by chatting casually.
"You really can't see any sign of war here," Arin muttered.
Only the lack of ninja among the crowds gave it away—most people around were ordinary civilians.
"Monster! Beat up that White-Eyed monster!"
Arin's ears twitched. Shouts from a nearby alley caught his attention.
White eyes?
Curious, Arin stepped into the alley. Even if he didn't represent the Hyuga main family, he couldn't just ignore it if a branch-family child was being bullied.
As he entered, he saw a group of children ganging up on a small Hyuga girl.
"Hinata?"
Hyuga Arin's eyes widened as he looked at the little girl crouched down with her arms over her head.
…No.
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