Death...

"Please, Spare me. I beg you. I won't do anything wrong from now on. I will give you all the money I took. Please don't kill me." pleaded a young man with scar on his face. He was running desperately. He begged for mercy when he saw the white haired devil approach him.

Sora looked at the man pleading but his face showed no emotion as he chased the man. Soon, the world itself seemed to change as lines appeared in front of him. Sora looked at the death lines appearing on the man and swung his knife at the death lines instantly killing the man.

Looking at the motionless man, Sora remembered a quote ,"Life and death is nature's law.

All living beings are equal, and everyone is has their right to survive and be killed.

There might be royalty and lower beings, but in face of death, a person's death is no different from a pig's, what is the difference? They are both dead."

The man was the leader of bandits. The scarred face man had been terrorising a nearby village. The village head had issued a mission to kill the bandits. Sora, Mitsu and Aoi took the mission and when they arrived, the bandits were very arrogant seeing three kids.

Though there were several of them, Sora and others quickly defeated them with only the bandit leader escaping. So, Sora chased the bandit leader while Aoi and Mitsu went to inform the villagers.

Though killing someone before crossing may have led to various moral dilemma. Sora understands if you show mercy now, it will only hurt him later.

Especially, learning the example of famous villains who can kill the protagonist but choose not to and get themselves killed.

'Don't think so much when killing people and do it quick.' this is the current mindset of Sora.

After killing the man, Sora also incinerated the body of the man just in case.

After that, he quickly ran back to his team jumping on various trees.

"Finally, You are back. You surely took your sweet time." said Aoi waiting outside the village.

"Sorry, it took a while. Have you informed the village head?" asked Sora.

"Yup. Let's return to the village. I am surely craving a bowl of ramen right about now." said Mitsu, his eyes sparkling when talking about ramen.

"Oh, You foodie. Let's go back." said Sora looking at his friend who became obsessed with ramen.

The three quickly returned to the village and went to the Hokage's office to inform.

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Konoha office building:

"Good job! Team Riku. You all have done great job last 6 months." said the third hokage looking at three.

Yes, It has been over a half year since Sora became a genin. During these 6 months, Sora and his team performed several mission. Hunting down these bandits was one of them.

During these 6 months, Sora and his team performed missions including background investigations, capturing wild animals, guarding merchants,etc.

"Your reward is with the secretary. You can collect them now. And once again, good job" said the third hokage with a smiling face.

"Thank you! Lord Hokage" said the trio with a bow and exited the room.

When exiting the room, they came across a man with his right eye bandaged and a x shaped scar on his chin, walking with crutches.

Danzo looked at the three genin and entered the hokage's office.

Danzo leaned at the crutches and said,"Is that the new genius who graduated from the academy? I hope you reconsider my offer Hiruzen, let the boy come into the roots."

"No. As I have said before, Every genius is the hope of village and I don't want brainwashing of the roots to destroy his talents." said Hiruzen with a face that said no discussion on this topic from now on.

Hiruzen is still the hokage and his majesty must not be offended, so even Danzo has to avoid his edge right now.

Looking at his long time friend, Danzo knew that the decision was final so he did not open his mouth again. His face was a bit gloomy and he prepared to leave.

Hiruzen did not stop his friend leaving but thought,' The root is already strong enough. Addition of a new genius will make the Anbu unable to suppress Root. The darkness of the village can never come to the light'

After Danzo left, Hiruzen stood by the window and looked at the village. Though Hiruzen often makes some mistake, he also cares about the village very much which can be seen from his decision to sacrifice himself to stop Orochimaru.

Hiruzen sighed again knowing his friend was upset as Danzo was never good at hiding emotions. But for the sake of village, Hiruzen didn't want a genius like Sora to enter the roots.

HIruzen exhaled a puff of smoke, and his cloudy eyes brightened as he thought,' The future of the village belongs to new generation. As an old man, the only thing I can do is wait for the saplings to grow and eventually become a tree sheltering konoha.'

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A/N: Please leave a powerstone for the cute new author (^ ^).