After a full year of training inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Arata had pushed his taijutsu to a level equivalent to Garp's minimum requirement for a Marine Admiral.
The progress might seem absurdly fast, but one had to consider the unimaginable hardship, the extreme environment, and the sheer brutality of that training ground.
His physique had changed drastically as well.
The once slightly lean frame was gone—now he was solid, powerful, and perfectly sculpted, without appearing bulky.
And under that hellish regimen, even his height had shot up to 185 cm.
Compared to the giants of the One Piece world, who often reached two or three meters, this wasn't unusual at all.
Arata had already prepared an excuse for his transformation.
Before entering the chamber, he told Tsunade he was going into seclusion, disappearing deep into the mountains.
So even after leaving the chamber, he stayed away to continue training for a bit longer—giving his dramatic change at least a somewhat believable justification.
Besides, people in the shinobi world sometimes grew like they'd been injected with steroids.
Naruto himself grew more than twenty centimeters in just two years.
Compared to that, Arata's three-month jump in height, while shocking, was still passable.
And that was just the visible growth.
Inside the chamber, he had not only honed his body—
he had pushed his swordsmanship and the Thunder fruit abilities to new heights.
Especially his thunder powers—he was now only one step away from awakening.
That step was notoriously difficult, but with Garp's training insights, Arata had already reached the threshold.
After all, Garp had trained Kuzan, and a Marine Admiral like Kuzan unquestionably possessed a fully awakened Devil Fruit.
What Arata needed now was a life-and-death battle—
and that might be enough to push him over the edge.
If the Rumble-Rumble Fruit truly awakened, his strength might reach the very peak of the super-Kage tier.
And even without awakening, he was confident he could already fight super-Kage-level opponents.
Because Arata knew the Second Great Ninja War would begin in roughly three months, he timed his exit and returned home right before the conflict erupted.
Tsunade hadn't seen him for two months.
When she saw how drastically he had changed, she almost didn't recognize him at first.
But the next second, the strong-willed Tsunade collapsed into his arms and began to cry like never before.
Seeing her in tears like falling pear blossoms, Arata comforted her softly:
"Hey now… I was only gone two months. Is there really any need to cry like this…?"
But the words she spoke next made Arata's heart clench.
Because her tears weren't solely from missing him—
"Nawaki… h-he… he…"
Hearing her voice tremble like that, Arata instinctively felt a terrible premonition.
His expression hardened.
"He died… didn't he?"
At these words, Tsunade's crying grew even more heart-wrenching.
Arata pulled her tightly into his embrace, feeling pain and guilt wash through him.
Just as he suspected—Nawaki was dead.
If he remembered correctly, in the original timeline Nawaki also died around this period.
Even with Arata, a powerful brother-in-law, history hadn't changed.
This hot-blooded idiot's fate still took the same tragic turn.
And truly—anyone could see it coming.
Nawaki was always rushing ahead, dreaming of being Hokage, but lacked real battlefield experience.
Someone like that, charging recklessly in war, could be exploited or ambushed at any moment.
Arata had scolded him countless times, but Nawaki's personality was impossible to change.
Unable to alter Nawaki's fate, and seeing his wife suffer the pain of losing her only brother, Arata said bitterly:
"…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left at a time like this…"
But Tsunade wasn't blaming him—she was simply desperate for someone to lean on.
Because as the war approached, she had trained Nawaki seriously, warned him over and over to be cautious, and even tried to keep him away from dangerous missions.
But fate didn't care.
He still died—
in the simplest mission of all: a routine patrol.
Tsunade wept in Arata's arms for a long while before finally calming down.
"It's not your fault… maybe this was Nawaki's destiny. Even that patrol mission… he chose it himself. Not even the Third Hokage tried to stop him…"
Arata nodded grimly.
For once, Hiruzen and Danzō couldn't be blamed.
Right before a war, they wanted peace more than anyone.
They hadn't assigned Arata any missions for three months—proof they were avoiding unnecessary risks.
But Nawaki, stubborn and over-eager, managed to step on an explosive tag and was blown to pieces.
Arata didn't say much more—he simply held Tsunade as she poured out her grief.
When she finally steadied herself, Arata asked:
"Which country's trap was it?"
Since he died on patrol, then it had to be a foreign village's explosive tag.
And whoever dared kill his brother-in-law…
Would pay for it.
Tsunade didn't understand Arata's intent, clenching her fist angrily as she said:
"It was on the border of the Land of Rain."
Arata hadn't expected that.
The Land of Rain was a tiny country—not even a tenth the size of the Land of Fire.
For such a small nation to kill the last male heir of the Senju clan…
what an "honor" indeed.
Arata didn't speak any threats aloud.
He simply engraved the Land of Rain into his heart.
At this time, Amegakure was still ruled by Hanzō of the Salamander.
Which meant Arata's first target…
would be Hanzō himself.
The "Demi-God" of the Shinobi World.
If others heard Arata intended to kill a man like that…
their faces would probably twist in disbelief.
With his resolve set, Arata thought of someone else and quickly asked:
"What about Mito-hime? Is she alright?"
He hadn't forgotten—Mito already carried weary, world-tired thoughts.
Now with her grandson dead, those feelings would only grow darker.
Without her granddaughter, she might not even bother grooming the next Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
Tsunade replied softly:
"Grandmother was depressed for a few days… but she seems stable now. She smiles less than before, but… she's alright."
Arata nodded slowly.
As expected—Nawaki's death still struck Uzumaki Mito deeply.
Before he entered seclusion, she and Tsunade were still chatting and laughing every day….
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