Chapter 34

— Indeed, in current times, it's better to sacrifice a night's sleep than settle down to rest in an unsafe place, — he agreed, casting an envious glance at the puppy peacefully dozing under Inuzuka's arm. — Has Kanade-sensei shown up yet?

— Not yet, but she should appear soon, — sighed Ishi, leaning back against the wall again and covering his eyes. — Personally, I could use another hour or two of sleep, missions be damned.

— Can't argue with that, — I nodded, judging by the newly risen light that we had at least another five minutes of relaxation.

Despite the presence of clocks in this world, ranging from ordinary alarm clocks and wall clocks to wristwatches, shinobi prefer not to use the latter, determining time by the position of the sun instead. Of course, there are exceptions, but they don't last long— even the faint ticking of the smallest wristwatch can be detected by almost any chunin who enhances their hearing with chakra.

Hence, they rely on this primitive method of timekeeping. The academy even develops a sense of time in its students to facilitate coordinated attacks without personal contact and the use of radios. One might think that with even basic computers, this issue would have been resolved, but there's no sign of progress yet; everyone seems content with the current state of affairs. It's an astonishingly inert society, hardly advancing in terms of everyday conveniences.

It's as if modern technology were given to ancient Greeks, taught them how to use it with their fingers, but not the principles behind its operation. In other words, they were given the ability to use it but not to improve it. This situation mirrors the world of shinobi at the moment. Of course, there are prodigies everywhere, but they're easily destroyed here— just hire a nuke-nin, and there's no one left.

Those capable of defending themselves are shinobi who prefer to use their own genius for self-improvement and increasing their strength. That's how things are with cats and pies. Judging by some references in the oldest books I found in the Nara library, this situation hasn't changed since the time of Rikudo. Technologies existed, but understanding them required trial and error among uneducated aborigines.

— Alright, everyone's here, excellent! — a familiar voice behind me interrupted my rather interesting thoughts.

— Sensei! Why are we meeting so early? — Tsume exclaimed, peeling herself away from the wall.

Turning around, I said nothing, just nodded in greeting, but also showed interest in the question asked, raising an eyebrow.

— I've taken on a more challenging mission for us than weeding gardens, and the sooner we leave, the better, — replied Hyuga, dressed in a field uniform of a jonin and loaded with ammo pouches.

Considering Sensei's maniacal attachment to her white clan clothes, this was already a sign of the mission's unusual nature. And considering the amount of weaponry available, we were going to kill.

— Who's our target? — I calmly inquired, ignoring the sudden realization that my partners had come to the same conclusion.

Kanade chuckled softly.

— Well done, Ryo, I never doubted you. As for the target— we're to destroy a bandit camp of about sixty heads, spotted yesterday by ANBU patrols.

— And they didn't destroy the camp themselves? — Ishi was surprised, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation.

Unlike him, Tsume, who had paled slightly, understood perfectly well that our trio would have to bathe in bandit blood and kill more than one person on this mission.

— ANBU are not obligated to do that— their task is to control the territory around Konoha and capture enemy shinobi and strong nuke-nin capable of causing serious harm to the Fire Country settlements, — the girl patiently explained. — Eliminating bandits is considered a task for chunin teams and experienced genin under the leadership of a mentor. You fit this description perfectly, and it's time for you to experience real shinobi life without any embellishments.

— Are there nuke-nin among the bandits? — I asked.

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