Chapter 23

Once everyone besides Kazuo and Shikaru had left the Commander's tent.

Shikaru displayed a smile on his face whilst he said.

"I hope my decision to keep you on the battlefield didn't upset you." 

Kazuo looked at him calmly before replying.

"No, in fact, it only brings me joy that I can further serve my village," Kazuo said, his face remaining extremely calm, unlike his internal emotions.

'What the fuck am I supposed to say? Oh yeah, im upset, you're a real bastard for that you know?' Kazuo thought inwardly, whilst he made sure not to show any of his real emotions outwardly.

"You really are an idol to be followed by all Konoha shinobi," Shikaru said with a light laugh before motioning for Kauzo to come closer as he opened a map and placed it on the wooden table.

Arriving to stand next to Shikaru, Kazuo looked over the map, it was a more detailed version of the map he had seen the commander use before, besides that it also looked like a newer version.

It even showed the collapsed passage between the mountains.

"An updated map?" Kazuo asked as he looked at Shikaru.

Shikaru nodded.

"Shinobi battles cause a lot of destruction and the terrain is constantly changing, this gives the need for maps to be updated often so that the commanders don't use outdated information and bear the brunt of a misjudgment because of them," Shikaru said before he took out a pen of sorts and started making a line on the map.

"This is the route that we will be taking during our journey to the border, what do you think" Shikaru said, putting the pen down once he was done and turning to look at Kazuo.

'Why is he showing me this? Isn't this supposed to be confidential information that could cause a lot of trouble if leaked?' Kazuo thought inwardly, remaining silent for a few moments before turning to look at the route Shikaru had outlined on the map.

Instead of maneuvering around the mountains and going in a roundabout way so that they would be more hidden during their journey, Shikaru had opted for a direct approach using the most well-known route or at least it looked like the main road as Kazuo didn't have much information on which route was the most used one.

"I don't think I can give an opinion without information as im unaware of the routes that lead to the border from here however from what im seeing this is the most used route to travel there by merchants and civilians?" Kazuo asked as he turned to face Shikaru who gave him a nod.

"Why would we take this instead of going in a roundabout way so that our location and troops remain more hidden? If the enemy knows which route we are taking then we are likely to face an ambush and the losses could be large unless you are expecting the enemy to think that we will go through more obscure routes and to set up ambushes against those roads whilst they ignore the main one." Kazuo said as he quickly made a couple of theories as to why this would be the road they would be taking.

*Clap* *Clap*

Shikaru clapped his hands before nodding his head.

"That would be fortuned if it did happen however you forgot one part of the reason as to why I chose this road," Shikaru said before lifting one finger.

"We have the hyuga clan on our side, their vision allows them to see a couple kilometers away and they would be able to tell us about any ambush that could be prepared against us, allowing us to move more safely even if we are traversing by using the main road," Shikaru said before raising another finger.

"And two, we won't be the only ones going to the border as I've just been informed that two other camps will be joining us. Our forces when gathered together amass almost a thousand shinobi, and thus if we were to take the longer routes then the other two camps might be left to fend for themselves and we wouldn't be able to arrive on time to help them." Shikaru said before lowering his fingers.

"What I want you to start thinking about is not just our general situation alone, this is but a small camp of shinobi, you should think outside of your confines and about the whole direction of the war. And then use the situation we are in and my choices as a way to infer more information. If you had done that then it would have been possible to come up with a theory that matched my strategy even with the information that you have" Shikaru said before releasing a soft sigh.

"Im tired, you can go back for today," Shikaru said, practically shooing Kazuo away.

Kazuo had no thoughts on his mind for the first time in what felt like forever, his mind was entirely occupied by Shikaru's words as he listened to them over and over inside his mind.

'He's right, my thinking was too shallow, too confined to this small camp and its future, I also didn't take into account every force that the camp has at its disposal.' Kazuo thought as he walked back to his tent.

A thought had been reoccurring for a few minutes now inside his head.

'Should I just kill myself so that I reset the day and give him the right answer?' Kazuo thought over and over however he decided against it.

'The main reason is that I don't want to keep killing myself, it's going to start breaking down my mental resistance soon enough with the immense pain of each death. Lowering your mental strength in this world is a horrible idea considering all of the eye hacks that swirl around' Kazuo thought before releasing a sigh and entering his tent.

It was at that moment as he walked into it that a large explosion occurred and engulfed the whole tent as well as him into it.

Incinerating his entire body into pieces.

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