Chapter 90 The Meaning of Ninjas' Existence
The Souji smoothly lowered the merchant ship, and the ship owner, Conado, and his guards looked at him with awe.
To be able to lift a large merchant ship carrying dozens of people into the sky, and to kill hundreds of Mist Pirates in such a short time... this person is too amazing!
Is this the strength of an elite Jonin from Konoha?
Especially Konado, who was a well-traveled merchant with some experience, but this was the first time he had witnessed something so amazing.
He thought to himself, no wonder Konoha is the most powerful ninja village.
However, this was not easy for Souji either.
With its weight and size, it took him more than half of his chakra to fly it for even a short while.
If it lasted any longer, he would be in serious trouble.
The Souji exchanged a few polite words with Conado, who was spouting a bunch of flattering remarks, then looked at the ten large ships with a troubled expression.
This thing is so big, it'll be a hassle to carry it around!
Next, even the samurai came to help, throwing the corpses of the dead Kirigakure into the sea.
Then, Souji used Water Release to control the water flow, and Sasori used Wind Release to control the wind direction, so that the ten large ships would follow the merchant ships.
This kind of maneuvering, relying solely on brute force, left Conado and the warriors dumbfounded; they had never dreamed such a feat was possible.
In fact, such an operation requires a high level of ninjutsu.
However, it is impossible to fit such a large ship into a sealing scroll, and it is not possible to give up something worth 20 to 30 million.
And so, a day passed, and the fleet crossed the waters of the Land of Water and arrived at another port town of considerable size.
Having arrived here, they would no longer encounter the Fog Shadow Pirates, thus concluding their S-rank escort mission.
Souji accepted a reward of two million taels from the respectful Conado.
As for the ten captured large ships, Konoha had already been notified by messenger birds to send people to collect them and handle the subsequent transaction matters.
Of course, all the money earned from the transaction will be counted as his personal gain.
This is the advantage of being in an organization.
Once you rise in status, you only need to focus on important matters, and for the rest of the minor matters, you just need to say a word, and plenty of chunin and genin will take care of them.
The Souji and his party stayed overnight at an inn in town, intending to rest and recover from their previous exertions.
Dragon Island is located south of this port town, not too far away, and can be reached directly by flying.
While having dinner at the inn, Souji explained the arrangements to everyone, and then said:
"Now, let's review yesterday's performance."
Sasori remained silent, focusing on his meal.
He had been using a powerful wind-style technique all day, strong enough to move a ship, and even his Kage-level chakra was exhausted.
He looked completely drained and had no desire to speak.
Anyway, his performance was good enough, there's nothing to criticize.
However, the expressions of Yahiko and the other two changed, and they all looked quite embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, Souji, I…" Yahiko spoke first.
"It's not just you, Nagato and Konan are the same."
"Sorry..."
All three of them had their heads down, looking guilty.
In yesterday's battle against Kirigakure, although Souji and Sasori went on a killing spree like they were in Musou mode, they didn't do anything particularly special.
Although the three of them managed to knock down enemies, they couldn't deliver the final blow, resulting in a total kill count of 0.
"It's alright, I knew you would act this way. It's not that I'm blaming you, I just wanted to discuss it with you," the Souji said with a smile, trying to reassure you.
The three men's original approach was to seek reconciliation through communication.
When facing enemies, they would simply knock them down and subdue them, never resorting to killing.
In the original story, the three encountered Iwagakure disguised as a member of Root.
Yahiko even mistakenly believed that he had killed the other party, which caused him to lose his composure during the battle.
The Souji hadn't intended to turn them into emotionless killing machines, but it would be better to correct some of their basic beliefs if possible.
"I know you've never killed anyone, and you don't intend to kill anyone easily, but... have you ever thought about the fundamental reason why you don't want to kill?"
"us..."
"Actually, I just think that killing is bad, and knocking down and subduing is good, right?"
"Naive and hypocritical," sasori commented succinctly.
Yahiko, looking unwilling, retorted:
"We still believe that it is wrong to kill the enemy indiscriminately."
"It wasn't arbitrary."
The Souji took a sip of tea and said slowly:
"Those Misty Pirates plunder ships at sea, do you think they never kill anyone?"
"Although ninjas have existed from the beginning for killing and destruction, and no mature ninja has ever killed anyone, it's not a matter of who is more noble than whom...
But precisely because of this, if you don't want to kill and let them go, then if they live on, won't they kill others in the future?"
Yahiko remained silent for a long time, then asked seriously:
"Souji, do you mean we should respond to violence with violence?"
"You're wrong, you're wrong. You're always too dichotomous in your thinking. It's either black or white, either do it or don't do it.
And when you change your mind, you always jump from one extreme to the other."
The Souji waved his hand, speaking in a relaxed manner:
"What you imagine as violence begetting violence is me not being able to stand them killing people, so I stop them by killing them."
"But what I mean is don't overthink it and add a bunch of random things to limit yourself.
As long as you believe you are doing the right thing, then achieving your goal should be your top priority, and everything else is secondary."
Souji pointed at Sasori and said:
"For example, sasori was my enemy before, and he killed many people. He was also a ninja with blood on his hands.
However, he was very strong and could help me accomplish what I needed to do. Moreover, he was willing to follow me, so I would not kill him."
"..." Sasori calmly sipped his tea, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Although I was a little annoyed, as if he were saying things like life and death at will, it was indeed the truth, and there was no way to refute it.
"If it doesn't affect anything, then it doesn't matter whether we kill them or not.
But if it affects achieving our goal, then we'll choose the more advantageous side.
I think it's better to weaken some of the Kirigakure's fighting strength, so I didn't hold back at all before.
I killed as many Kirigakure as I could. If they hadn't run away... I would have killed all of them, even thousands of them!"
"A thousand people...this..." Yahiko and the other two were somewhat shocked.
The Souji continued:
"I think you probably feel that this time it's become tantamount to using any means necessary. It just goes to show that there are no perfect solutions in this world.
For example, with your previous approach, the people you let go later killed others.
Will you bear the guilt for that?"
"That's all I have to say. Think it over carefully. If you still don't want to kill, I won't force you. I'll train you to do other jobs."
"Even if they feel they don't want to follow me anymore, that's fine.
As long as they don't bother me in the future, they can stay or leave as they please. I never force myself or others."
The three looked at each other in bewilderment, and Yahiko couldn't help but ask:
"Captain, when you talk about changing the ninja world, isn't it more than just achieving peace?"
"Peace is only one part of it."
"To be precise, I want to change the meaning of the ninjas' existence. In the new ninja world I create, ninjas will no longer exist solely for destruction and killing."
"I think that's the most important thing."
With a faint smile, Souji got up and left.
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End of this chapter...