The ones searching the bandit camp came out carrying several supplies that the bandits had gathered.
They brought food packages, weapons, and a few storage scrolls filled with money and medicine.
One of the bandits was left alive. He wore a jonin vest of Kumo and sat on the ground with his hands tied. One of the Yamanakas stood beside him and was trying to get some information from his mind.
"They are not really jonin. No one here was." Choza said in a steady voice as he looked at the vest.
Genma turned toward his sensei with a confused expression. "What do you mean sensei?" Genma asked.
He had believed the bandits were real Cloud shinobi because of the vests they wore.
Choza explained,"It is a tactic used in wars. These bandits were not at all from Kumo. Kumo was funding them with both money and equipment. The vests you see them wearing are the equipment that made other people think they are Kumo shinobi. Konoha already knew they were only bandits pretending to be Cloud forces."
Shunsui listened and then asked the question that was on his mind. "So why were we sent here besides getting a hang on teamwork?"
Choza replied without hesitation. "If a group of bandits wearing Kumo vests were wreaking havoc in the middle of the Land of Fire, it would look bad on Konoha. Besides, they might still be sending intel back to Kumo."
The large man then looked at the three younger shinobi with a serious face. "So we have not taken out any real jonin here. Remember kids, jonin are strong and skilled. Do not take them lightly."
As the two genin and the now chunin Shunsui nodded, they understood the warning. Real jonin would not fall so easily.
The Yamanaka who was trying to get the intel from the only living bandit finally lifted his hand from the head of the bandit.
The bandit was bleeding from his ears and nose. He collapsed as soon as the Yamanaka cancelled his jutsu.
Shunsui thought, 'Damn, that was ruthless. But I guess if we wanted to get the information necessary in a short amount of time, the Yamanaka did not have the luxury of being nice to a bandit.'
Yamanaka Chizo walked up to Shinku and Choza and reported what he had learned. He was the one scanning the mind of the bandit and was a Jonin.
"Kumo planning to take another city in the land of fire. These bandits have been told to fortify themselves with supplies to wait for a Kumo platoon which would arrive in a week's time. The Kumo platoon would then attack the city of Kazari that is about twelve kilometres from here."
Shinku listened carefully and then asked the group, "So do we ambush the platoon coming or should we continue with our mission and move to recapture the city?"
Shunsui spoke up with a thoughtful expression. "But why would some bandit that is not from Kumo know about Kumo plans to capture a city. That does not make sense unless the Kumo knew that the bandits would be dealt with and to confuse us they gave the bandit leader this information."
The only Nara jonin with them, Shinto Nara, nodded in agreement. "Good job kid. I think you are right. Kumo just wants whoever is sent to exterminate the bandits to waste their time sitting here waiting for that supposed platoon. Another tactic that can be easily seen through but it does not cost Kumo anything to use it either."
Shinku nodded after hearing both opinions. "Very well then we move forward toward our original mission."
The platoon again went into formation after sealing the dead bodies as well as the supplies into storage scrolls. They left the bandit camp behind and continued through the forest.
As they moved, Shinku appeared next to Shunsui. "That was good work. Tell me your chakra consumption."
Shunsui answered honestly. "The Diabolo game, the one where my sword swings with fire, took about five percent of my chakra. Kageoni took a total of twenty eight percent of chakra over time."
Shinku muttered, "A little on the high side. We cannot let the fights drag out then." Shunsui nodded in understanding. Shinku moved back toward his position in the platoon after that short talk.
Mukai looked at Shunsui after Shinku left. "Hey can I ask you a question?"
Shunsui replied, "Sure."
Mukai's voice was quieter than usual. "When you slaughtered the bandits... did you feel why we are doing this... was becoming a chunin worth it if we have to do it?"
Shunsui answered with a wry smile. "Oh Mukai, you sure love asking hard questions."
Shunsui let out a quiet chuckle, though there was little amusement in it. The smile on his lips lingered for only a moment before fading into something far more distant.
For several long seconds he said nothing. The silence itself became part of the answer, as though he was searching for words that would not insult the weight of the question.
"You know Guy asked the same question when we did our first C rank mission to kill bandits. When I killed that first bandit..." he finally began, his voice softer than before, "I expected something to happen. I thought maybe I would feel righteous because he was a criminal. Or proud because I had protected someone. Or sick enough to throw up."
He gave a faint shrug. "Instead... I just felt warm blood on my hands." His eyes lowered to his palms, now clean but remembered differently.
"That is the strange thing about taking a life. It simply leaves a quiet little stain somewhere inside you." Mukai remained silent.
Shunsui glanced at him and smiled faintly, though sadness rested beneath it. "If killing ever becomes easy, that is the day you should be afraid of yourself. A shinobi who celebrates death is no different from the people we are sent to stop. The fact that you are asking this question means your heart is still where it should be."
"But..." Mukai hesitated, "...if it hurts this much, why do we keep doing it?"
Shunsui closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Because sometimes the world gives you choices that are not really choices."
He reached down, picking up a fallen leaf before letting it dance between his fingers. "People like to say we are protecting the village. It is true... but it is such a big sentence that you stop understanding what it means. A village is not walls or gates. It is old shopkeepers opening their stores every morning. It is children complaining about academy homework. It is mothers scolding their sons for coming home dirty. It is people living ordinary, boring lives."
His smile returned, gentler this time. "Those ordinary days only exist because somewhere, someone is willing to stand between them and the people who would destroy them."
The leaf slipped from his fingers, carried away by the wind. "Does that make killing right?" he asked, almost to himself.
He slowly shook his head. "No. I do not think it ever becomes right. Sometimes it is simply the least terrible choice left." His gaze drifted toward the distant forest, where the shadows already hid things better left unseen. "War steals from everyone. The enemy loses their comrades. We lose pieces of ourselves. Nobody walks away whole."
Mukai frowned. "Then... becoming a Chunin... was it worth it? I feel that I could have been a genin and keep doing those D rank missions without killing anyone."
Shunsui laughed quietly, but there was no joy in it. "Worth it?" He scratched the back of his head. "I do not know if that is the question I would ask. Becoming a Chunin is not a reward. It is someone handing you heavier burdens and trusting you not to drop them."
He looked directly into Mukai's eyes. "The rank does not mean you are stronger. It means people expect you to make decisions that will haunt you instead of them."
Shunsui thought,'Look at me giving speeches just like Hiruzen. And since Mukai in not cringing, it should be a rather good one.'
"But if it haunts even you, why do you keep smiling Shunsui, like everything is a game to you." Mukai said with a little accusation in the voice.
Shunsui blinked once before letting out a quiet laugh. He tipped his head back and watched the first stars begin to appear above the canopy. "Because someone has to."
Mukai frowned. "What?" Shunsui answered in a calm and steady tone. "If all of us walked around wearing the faces we really carry inside, this war would have defeated us long before the enemy ever could."
He glanced sideways to make sure Genma and Guy were not hearing him. "You know what Genma and Guy think when they look at me? There goes Shunsui. He is always smiling. He will figure something out. They relax a little. They breathe easier."
His eyes softened. "That is a good thing. Fear spreads faster than fire. If the senior shinobi panic, the others panic. If the captain loses hope, the squad falls apart."
He folded his arms behind his head and leaned comfortably against a nearby tree. "So I smile. Not because everything is fine."
He chuckled quietly. "I smile because it reminds people that maybe... just maybe... everything will be fine."
His voice lowered. "And it reminds me too." For the first time since they had met, Mukai noticed the exhaustion hidden beneath Shunsui's easygoing expression. The smile had never been fake. It was simply carrying far more weight than anyone realized.
Shunsui let the silence linger before adding with a crooked grin, "Besides... life is already miserable enough. If I cannot laugh once in a while, then the people trying to kill me have already won."
Mukai snorted despite himself. Shunsui's grin widened immediately. "Of course..." he sighed, "this philosophy works much better when you are old enough to sit on your porch with a cup of sake after a mission. Drink a little, watch the sunset, complain about your aching back, and pretend you are too wise to care anymore."
He looked down at his twelve year old body and clicked his tongue. "Unfortunately, we are twelve."
Mukai raised an eyebrow. Shunsui sighed with disappointment. "The best I can legally do is warm milk." A beat passed.
A smirk then passed on his face. "Thankfully we do not care about doing things legally do we?"
-------Author Notes--------
Thankyou Tobias Eisenhut for supporting me!
Would appreciate power stones if you can spare any!
Y'all can read the next 20 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
pat*reon.com/snipergoku
Thankyou for supporting me!