Chapter 6

The team travelled for three days with strategic rest stops. Hayama could tell that his genin were getting anxious as they got closer to their destination.

Kohaku was showing signs of desperation as he failed to strike Kenji every single time during their training. Hayama could understand the boy's frustration. Using taijutsu against kenjutsu, even one as unique as that of Inuzuka clan, one needed to be a master in the art to overcome the disadvantage.

Seeing the saddened Kohaku, Kenji proposed something, "Sensei, how about either you, or I fight the other with a blade or with taijutsu? To demonstrate ways to fight an enemy with a weapon, bare handed?"

Hayama smiled and said, "Excellent idea, Kenji. What do you say, Kohaku?"

The boy struggled with his pride and finally said, "I've realised that I can't surpass Kenji. My pride wasn't letting me accept defeat. But, seeing how lacking I am, I'm willing to accept any form of training to improve."

Hayama ruffled the boy's hair. It was decided that he would be using the blade and Kenji would fight using the academy taijutsu as every genin was taught of it, so it would be easier to take note of for Kohaku.

Meanwhile, Kiyomi activated her sharingan to learn how to counter an enemy using a ken. It was an exhilarating experience for Kenji who was fighing under restrictions and still performed with utmost skill.

The key was to get up-close to the enemy. A sword user's advantage was distance and they had to maintain distance to be effective. Getting close to them reduced their range of motion, effectively making the sword a liability. One could not slash or stab at their enemy if they had no room to move their weapon.

Kenji stuck to Hayama no matter how much the latter tried to distance himself. The tactic reminded Kenji of in-fighters in boxing. A sword user was on out-boxer whose weapon was the long jab and footwork. Meanwhile, the in-fighter had explosive power so that they could close the distance and do damage.

Kenji only used his limbs to attack Hayama who seemed to have backed himself into a corner. He wasn't using a sword as his weapon. Instead, it was a bokken. So far, he hadn't been able to land a strike on the boy.

Kohaku was mesmerized by the spar. He always looked down on the academy style taijutsu.

Same was the case for Kiyomi. She had been taught her clan's style and had been told that the academy style was basic, and useless in front the superior Uchiha style. Seeing Kenji fight, the statement was made irrelevant.

'It's not the style, Kiyomi. It's the practitioner.'

Kiyomi recalled Kenji's words who had always defeated her in spars. Losing to a boy younger than her had made her bitter. She had confronted him and vented to him about how she was supposed to be better than a random civilian.

Her life at home wasn't pleasant as she kept losing to a no-name son of a bladesmith. Kenji then challenged her to a spar where the winner was only decided when the opponent gave up.

It was thorough beat down.

That day, Kenji made her realise that it wasn't the Uchiha who were superior. It were the individuals in Uchiha clan who made an impact which elevated the clan's standing.

Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shisui, these were notable members of the clan who had made an impact in Konoha. It wasn't them being Uchiha that made them who they were. It was their own strength.

That was the day she had a revalation.

She stopped trying to undermine everyone around her. Instead she got hungry to improve herself.

Once again, she was reminded of how a person's skill mattered more than their identity and blood. She watched as Kenji avoided a slash and kicked at Hayama's hand. The strike was powerful enough to disarm their sensei.

Kenji capitalized on the opening and placed a kunai at Hayama's throat.

Kiyomi and Kohaku were stunned. Their fellow shinobi, a genin just like them, had defeated a veteran jonin like Shirakumo Hayama in a spar while being at a disadvantage.

"Absolutely amazing, Kenji."

Hayama looked his other two genin and said, "We will resume our journey now. Until the next stop, I want you to reflect upon what you just saw. Then, we will train again."

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Hacho village was on the border of Land of Fire.

The village was built around a huge lake atop a cliff. Hayama and the KKK reached the village gates after three days of journey. They could tell from the signs of battle that the ronin had been to the village recently.

The village security saw the team and stopped them.

"Shinobi from Konohagakure?"

"Yes, I'm Shirakumo Hayama, jonin of Konohagakure."

"Follow me. Village leader Disonasu has been waiting for you and your team, jonin Shirakumo Hayama."

Hayama raised a brow and said, "So, Hokage-sama informed you of our arrival."

"Yes, he sent a toad summon to the leader. We are in dire need of help. Knowing that help was coming truly raised the morale of my men. It has been a tough few days. The war did a number to our ranks and these ronin attacked us right when border patrol was made less stringent."

Hayama hummed in response as his eyes gazed through the damage that had been done to the village. He could see dried up blood at the sites of clashes, broken stalls and carts, smoking remains of wood and cloth, and desperate mothers pleading to the men to find their children.

"Things are pretty bad. From the look of it, those ronin seem to have kidnapped some children. For ransom, perhaps?" Kenji spoke up.

The village officer looked back and Kenji and nodded.

"It was the night before yesterday. They ambushed the village and kidnapped a number of kids. We were too late to retaliate. They even took the leader's grandson."

The team was led to the leader's house. There were signs of battle there as well, given the missing chunk of wall on the side of the house. The leader's office was attached to the house and they were led straight to it.

As they entered, they saw an old man sitting at his desk with a few cups of sake on the table. He was in a very sorry state.

"I would formally welcome you to my village, shinobi of Konohagakure. But, neither I nor the village is in any state of standing for ceremony. As you know, my village has been targetted by a band of ronin. Were were standing our ground, but they crossed a line."

The old man stood up from his seat and looked at the team with intensity and simmering rage.

"They took our children. Now, the ronin are demanding ransom in exchange of their lives."

"How many are they?"

"As per our scouts, they number around fifty three. It's a big band of ronin who recently defected from the Land of Water. We could have delt with them if they were around twenty. But they outnumber my men by five to one. We have already lost four of the ten elite officers."

It was pretty dire. Kenji pegged the mission to be on the lines of a B-rank than a C-rank mission.

"How would you rate their strength?"

The old man looked at the three genin and said, "Aside from the boy with the ken, I'd say almost every single one of them is as strong as your genin. But, knowing your exploits, jonin Shirakumo, I'm confident that you will be able to handle them."

"I see."

Hayama contemplated for a while. The mission seemed to be tougher than he had expected. He looked at his genin who were smiling at him with confidence.

'Kenji will be able to handle himself. What I'm worried about is Kohaku and Kiyomi. We have to kill the ronin alongside making sure that all the children are brought back, alive.'

Kenji was staring at his stats as he thought, 'This will be perfect. Sensei and I can be the vanguard while Kohaku and Kiyomi focus on rescuing the kids.'

His eyes met with Hayama's and they understood that they were having similar thoughts.

'We can do this.' ×2

Hayma turned to the leader and said, "We will handle it. We will work our best to bring the kids back, and make sure to eliminate every single of those ronin with extreme prejudice. Genin, let's go. There is no time to rest. We have some people to kill today."