The first scream came from the east.
It was distant.
That was how we knew it wasn't ours.
---
The mission scroll said support patrol.
Which meant we were not supposed to lead. Not supposed to engage. Not supposed to improvise.
We were there to confirm outcomes.
I hated that phrasing.
---
Another team was ahead of us.
The loud one.
The one whose reports used words like contact and pressure and decisive response.
We followed at a distance that felt intentional.
Morita-sensei didn't comment.
That was confirmation enough.
---
The forest was no longer quiet.
Birds scattered too fast.
Leaves shook without wind.
Hana slowed.
Then stopped.
---
We heard steel.
We heard shouting.
We heard someone scream again—closer this time.
Riku swallowed audibly.
"Orders?" he whispered.
Morita-sensei exhaled.
"Observe," he said.
---
We reached the clearing.
Two bodies were already down.
One enemy.
One Konoha genin.
The enemy wasn't a ninja.
The genin was very young.
---
The rest of the fight ended quickly.
Too quickly.
When it was over, the loud team stood breathing hard, eyes bright with adrenaline and something like relief.
They looked at us.
Waiting.
---
"We engaged hostiles," their leader said. "Ambush. Confirmed threat."
He gestured at the corpse.
"One loss," he added.
He didn't look at the body when he said it.
---
Morita-sensei nodded.
"Understood," he replied. "We'll confirm perimeter stability."
The other jōnin frowned.
"That's it?"
Morita-sensei met his gaze.
"That's our assignment."
---
The argument ended there.
Not because it was resolved.
Because rank had spoken.
---
While the others secured the area, I checked the fallen genin.
No pulse.
Still warm.
I closed his eyes.
It felt performative.
---
Hana crouched beside me.
"This wasn't random," she murmured. "They were baited."
"Yes," I said.
"Should we—"
"No," I replied.
She looked at me.
I hated that she understood.
---
The report took longer than usual.
There were details now.
Times. Angles. Distances.
I wrote carefully.
So did the other team.
---
Back in Konoha, the fallout was immediate.
Debriefings. Revised patrol schedules. Elevated threat assessments.
Our presence in the clearing appeared in exactly one paragraph.
That paragraph described us as supporting observers.
Accurate.
Incomplete.
---
Mika found me outside the hospital that night.
Her hands were shaking.
"They brought him in alive," she said. "The genin. For a minute."
I closed my eyes.
"I know," I said.
She stared at me.
"Why didn't you—"
"Because if we had," I interrupted, "we'd be the ones being written about."
Her face twisted.
"So he dies instead?"
I didn't answer.
That was also an answer.
---
She slapped me.
Not hard.
Enough to hurt.
Then she walked away.
---
The next day, Team Nineteen was reassigned.
Same rank.
Higher frequency.
We had been validated.
---
Morita-sensei spoke once, as we packed.
"This is the part where you decide what kind of ninja you are," he said.
I checked my gear.
"I already did," I replied.
---
That night, I didn't add a new rule.
I didn't need to.
The old ones were enough.