160 Torn Consequences (2)

"Ah, you're the chief of the village?" Not paying a moment's attention to the strange and awkward vibe around his team, Kai greets Roku with a lighthearted chuckle, "We'll be taking care of the bandit group terrorizing the village. I have already discovered their tracks and we'll get on it now."

Roku nods with a sincere expression and agrees with a pleased tone, "Please do. These bandits have caused heavy losses to the village. Our fresh produce goes to three different towns and all of them are affected due to this. It's a terrible situation."

Kai looks at his team and smiles kindly while signaling them with a nod. Their bodies instantly blitz past Roku and his living room. For others, 'genins' like Konan, Shizune, and Kurenai are very fast but to any experienced Chunin much less a Jonin, the trio still needs the added dexterity to increase their agility to another level. Such things can't be crammed so it's only a matter of time since they are quick enough for Kai's satisfaction at the very least.

Seeing the trio disappear, Roku looks at Kai and questions with a confused expression, "Um... should you not join them?"

"Isn't it just some bandits?" Kai snickers and looks at Roku with his lips stretching wider, "While we are waiting here, why not help me understand something? You see, I am quite curious how a noble of the lowest rungs operates in a village. What kind of opportunities do they receive? What's their expression of profit?"

Roku furrows his brows for a moment but is more than happy to keep Kai busy and he starts chatting with ease.

---

"Sensei told us that these bandits have their hideout connected to this tunnel," Kurenai speaks once Team 6 unearths an entrance created within a small hill hidden by a thicket. Signs of minimal restructuring could be observed, revealing that this entrance wasn't natural.

Kurenai glances at Shizune for a moment and Konan clears her throat, "Let me see if there are any traps or not."

They still weren't exactly clear on what their Sensei expected from them during this mission but they needed to keep their guards up at all times. Just because the enemy is a 'civilian' does not mean that they are harmless. Far from it. Dangerous opponents cover up their more primal weakness of strength using their intelligence, surroundings, and every tool imaginable— including other humans if possible.

Unbuttoning the pouch on her waist, Konan lets out several rectangular strips of paper of different sizes that float ahead. Many graze against the surface of the tunnel while Konan observes the natural flow of paper in the center. Meanwhile, Kurenai arms herself with a kunai and watches their backs. Shizune, too, begins to set strings and senbons, and soon a trap guards the entrance.

"I didn't detect any trip wires or mines," Konan informs and takes a step forward. With Konan taking the lead and constantly using the feedback from the strips of paper, team 6 begin to follow up on the traces of tracks left by bandits. The skill with paper is just a basic chakra technique to detect traps. The only difference is that Konan's intimacy with paper now allows her to sense changes in the paper's movements to the tiniest degree. It's the same as a weapon master claiming that they can 'hear' their weapons— It's an extraordinary sense of intimacy.

"For just being bandits... they barely left any tracks," Konan soon frowns at the realization while Kurenai has a heavy expression, too. However, strangely, instead of making any other observation, the red-eyed kunoichi hesitates and looks at Shizune, "What do you think?"

"Tracks are left on purpose," Shizune mutters.

"Do they want to trap us?" Konan muses and stops for a second. Looking at Shizune and Kurenai, Konan inquires calmly but anyone who knows her well would see that she is quite nervous. She finally questions the one thing gnawing away at the trio—

"If... we engage with the enemy. How do we end the confrontation?"

This question instantly makes the other two feel a little suffocated.

It's common knowledge that C-ranked missions are a watershed for Shinobi. They need to kill to survive. Many rookie three-men cell start from simpler animals— wild bears, boars, and many other beasts that are strengthened and larger than their usual counterparts due to Chakra's intervention.

But Kai simply threw his team into the worst of these missions for their first one. Their previous outbursts aside, the trio still could not decide on this matter completely.

This sense of hesitation has only served to constantly stop them in their tracks, making them feel torn between understanding what they think they need to do and if they even have the strength for it. Torn between if they want to be even remotely as 'dangerous' as their Sensei and if they even have what it takes to step on this path.

"I..." Kurenai feels her body seize up as if she is unable to bring herself to complete what she has to say but clenching her fists, Kurenai takes a deep breath, "I'm... I- I'm..." biting her lower lip with a strange sense of indignation bubbling within, she argues internally that she has no reason to speak THOSE words but her lips part open and she whispers, "I'm sorry... I'm confused. Especially now..."

Konan and Shizune for some strange reason, feel bitter at this admittance. Bitch or not, Kurenai has always been more goal-oriented. For the remaining two, they felt that the word 'confusion' is not even in her vocabulary. But here they are, torn between their expectations and reality. This is what they wanted— a C-ranked mission. Some of them were more vocal about it but no one in this team could say they weren't looking forward to their growth for this mission. For this 'moment.'

"I don't know what to do..." Kurenai lowers her head. She wonders if she waited for the usual time of graduation and maybe graduated after a few more years in the academy, she would know what to do. The fact is, they are children. But this 'excuse' work for civilians, not Shinobi. The eldest of them is Konan and she is no older than 9.

Kurenai instinctively looks at Konan. The entire time, the duo has constantly been on the opposite side of decisions just for the sake of it. Maybe they just did not like to see each other's faces or it could be something even shallower but if Kurenai could not decide on something, the red-eyed kunoichi feels that she could always count on Konan.

Yet, the bluenette mumbles and averts her gaze, "Don't look at me like that. If I knew what to do... I wouldn't have stopped now to question you two."

"We should just see how our bodies react naturally once we—" Kurenai begins but Konan interjects with an assertive tone, "No. We decide now."

"We know what is 'expected' from us," Konan continues while gritting her teeth. She knows about it. After all, last night, she questioned Yahiko about this matter and...

"I... lie to myself."

Yahiko's words and his sullen expression were a wake-up call for Konan. Out of the three of them, only Nagato chose what felt the best for him and is succeeding in it. Nagato hates hurting others and chose to help as many people as he can. Yahiko, meanwhile, chose to learn how to be strong not only physically but mentally, too. He always wanted to free the people of Ame from Hanzo's tyranny and for that, he needs strength.

It could be said that like Kurenai, Konan herself is conflicted and confused. She has seen war. She has seen the worst side of humanity. She has struggled to live... and that's why she instinctively clung to the safest option.

'Maybe... I shouldn't have been greedy to learn from Boss and stayed in the academy...' She only now realizes that even the 'best' choice comes with a consequence in its own right.

"What is expected from us in this mission?" Shizune reiterates the question while looking down at her fist gripped around a senbon needle.

"That's right," Kurenai's expression brightens, "We can just capture them... our objective is to stop the bandits. We can arrest them."

Konan frowns for a moment. She WANTS to agree to this method, but she knows from within that... this isn't what she expected from herself.

"I'm going to kill the bandits," Shizune utters, startling the remaining two.

"We just think of them as any other animal," Konan proposes uncomfortably.

"They are humans and my mission," Shizune stares at Konan and clenches her fists harder, "I... will not take the easy way out."

---

"Ah, speaking of conflicts," Kai sighs, "Roku-san, did you know that the Land of Hot Water and the borders of the Land of Fire has an increase in numbers of bandits and slavers? These are worrying times."

Sitting cross-legged across the table, Roku picks his cup of tea and sips it and then questions, trying to fish out some information conveniently, "These traits are similar to the times before the start of the 'major' conflicts a few years ago, right?"

"You can say for what it was," Kai looks at Roku, "A war. Yes."

Roku purses his lips, "Then... is it going to happen again?"

Kai puckers his lips and looks deep in thought, "Roku-san, I may look older than my age. I'm 15 this year." This takes Roku by surprise as he observes the youth once again only to feel shocked as Kai continues, "I even participated in the last war. I volunteered. And there is another way to see if war is coming close or not."

Gulping down the entire tea, Roku sighs and shakes his head, "Going to war at such a young age, sigh. I AM interested in knowing what your experience says of this matter."

"Civilians and Shinobi don't fear war as much as civilian nobles," Kai chuckles, "The thought of war makes them quiver in their boots. And once they feel confident that war may adversely affect them, they choose to look out for their interests. Not a bad thought... unless they are approached by shinobi of other hidden villages."

Roku's expression shifts at a moment's notice while Kai drawled, "I mean, I KNOW you ain't Roku. I'm just saying that most nobles are quick to betray their land."

Idly setting his cheek on the table, Kai groaned, "And a poison of this level doesn't work on my constitution. At most, I'll have terrible farts."

As 'Roku' feels a chill creeping up in his heart, Kai continues, "Though, I am grateful. My disciples get to face a C-ranked mission... or at least, the same level of opponents while I got to warm up with your teammates. Three barely trained shinobi. I guess Iwa still acquire slaves in masses to train them as fodder."

Looking up, Kai sneers, "Were you expecting to use those fodder to bring a sense of confidence to Konoha that they have cleaned this village? That way 'Roku' gets to live. Hey, I'll give you that you have extraordinary chakra control and great control of your transformation jutsu. You're a Chakra Sensor, too, right?"

Roku clutches his chest and groans loudly. His other hand forms a seal and his chakra suddenly grows unstable for a moment. The surroundings stay the same but the slouching Kai is replaced by another one. Kai sat with his back straight. His narrowed gaze did not have a speck of frivolity or casualness.

'Roku's' gaze fell on the cup of tea untouched and then he looks at his own emptied cup.

"Why would I even taste poison from an enemy just for fun? That was your first and last hint. If you noticed then you wouldn't have died of your poison."

As Roku's upper body stumbled on the table, Kai picked up the cup of tea he exchanged and sniffed it before mumbling under his breath, "You would have died to my senbon instead."

*Puff*

A plume of smoke covers Roku and the portly corpse is replaced by a tall, well-built shinobi in a red uniform and a tanned flak jacket.

After a while, he exhales a loudly, "Can't lower your guard one bit! Only took a D-rank illusion to kill a Jonin. But then again, why not make use of good poison, right?"

Kai isn't immune to poison but as he said, his metabolism isn't something others can easily conceive It's just not due to his Sage Transformation and changes that Kekkei Genkai brought to his body. It's also his knowledge of medicine and greater than-average proficiency with poison.

"And bitch, this tea is shit," Kai scowls after a sip and pours the rest on the corpse before standing up and forming a simple seal before sealing the corpse in a scroll.

With this corpse, he could alleviate the rank of the mission to A Rank.

'More SP~!' He snickers internally and walks out of the small manor.

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Title: Take Lessons for Teamaking... in Next Life.

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A/N: Psyche, there ain't no next life but a pure world claiming all the juicy souls!

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