Chapter 87: Hesitation.

This was also a plan proposed by Tōshirō and adopted by Uchiha Yan.

As time passed, Tōshirō had already left a small bottle filled with anesthetic on the fourth windowsill. In the middle of the camp, he met Uchiha Yan, who had also finished his task.

Even though there had been no fighting nor any significant physical exertion, the 'first-timer' Uchiha Yan was still nervous, with sweat visible on his forehead. 

Seeing this, Tōshirō couldn't help but mock him, despite Uchiha Yan's murderous glare.

At that moment, Uchiha Tetsuya silently approached them. 

However, his expression was quite intriguing at that moment~~~

Uchiha Tetsuya, who usually had a carefree smile, now looked as if he had something to say but couldn't. His face displayed a constipated expression.

Such a hesitant look was rarely seen on his face.

"What's going on?" X2

Although they didn't speak, the looks from Tōshirō and Yan said it all.

Seeing his companions looking over, Tetsuya stopped being bashful and led Tōshirō and Yan towards the gate.

"Isn't this... wasn't this person supposed to be 'handled' by you?"

Arriving at a corner near the gate, Tōshirō roughly understood what had happened when he saw the unconscious guard. However, he still acted clueless and asked~~~

An unexpected but understandable incident.

The guard that Uchiha Tetsuya was supposed to 'handle' had only been knocked unconscious instead of being killed as planned, still alive in this world.

The reason for the plan going awry was Tetsuya's 'hesitation'.

When he was about to kill for the first time, gripping the kunai to stab at another's neck, he hesitated.

He didn't, as he had imagined, swiftly and cleanly pierce the weapon into the other person's neck.

This was a normal thing; no one is born a killer.

People always need to cross their inner barriers step by step, transforming from innocent children into ninjas accustomed to blood and killing.

And Uchiha Tetsuya merely hesitated while taking his first step.

At this time, someone quietly observing the trio from the shadows stroked the small beard on his chin, watching their choice.

The primary purpose of this mission was to let this group of kids see blood while giving them a comprehensive evaluation of their handling methods.

Tetsuya's current situation was within his expectations.

This was also an ancient Uchiha tradition; whenever young ones become ninjas, the elders responsible for teaching them would carefully select appropriate tasks to show these kids the dark side of the ninja profession.

However, after Konoha was established and with the popularization of the ninja academy, Uchiha clansmen withdrew, or rather, were excluded from the mentor-pupil system, and this kind of task was rarely mentioned.

This method of training kids was not exclusive to the Uchiha.

During the Warring States Period, whether it was the Senju, Hyūga, or Sarutobi, any ninja family with some standing would conduct such 'trials' without exception.

The aim was to select outstanding seedlings from among the family members.

By increasing the protection of these selected children, they wouldn't die prematurely but could grow normally and eventually become pillars to shield the family from wind and rain.

In the era of the ninja villages, this tradition was abandoned by the First Hokage but was slightly altered when the Second Hokage took office.

During the Third Hokage's tenure, it turned into a tacitly approved practice.

Taking advantage of the Third's agreement, some elders in the clans proposed the 'cultivation of the seedlings' plan.

The main reason all major clans proposed this plan to the Hokage was due to the enormous consumption of the Second Shinobi World War.

The Warring States Period also saw a lot of killing, but it was mostly between two clan conflicts. Occasionally, combined missions involved just a few clans.

Unlike the Shinobi Village era, where the First Shinobi World War mainly consisted of gathered ninja clans.

By the time of the Second Shinobi World War, the ninja villages had established further cooperation with the daimyo of various countries, gaining more ample supplies and perfecting the training system of the ninja schools.

Batch after batch of ninjas, like products from an assembly line, were being trained and thrown onto the battlefield.

Thousand-, several thousand-, even ten thousand-strong ninja battles, unprecedented in the Warring States Period, occurred frequently.

This startled all the major ninja families.

During the Warring States Period, it was only the battles between the Uchiha and Senju that could gather close to a thousand combined forces.

In contrast, thousand-ninja battles were no longer considered major, and several thousand-ninja battles happened from time to time.

Even ten-thousand-ninja battles occurred several times during the Second Shinobi World War.

Without advance cultivation of their younger generations, the heads of the major clans felt uneasy.

The amount of blood shed by the major ninja families in the previous Shinobi World Wars was too significant, and they could no longer afford such a drain~~~

Seeing the unconscious, completely defenseless man lying on the ground before them, the three of them fell silent.

None of them mentioned the next steps, for dealing with this one person was easy to say.

However, inside the camp, around forty more people required them to 'handle.'

Fortunately, everyone in the camp was unconscious.

"How about we let them go?"

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Tōshirō made a lighthearted joke.

This earned him large eye rolls from Yan and Tetsuya.

"Tōshirō! Among us, you're considered the most reliable! Any good ideas?"

Unable to think of a proper solution after racking her brains, Yan turned to Tōshirō for advice.

She increasingly felt that this 'temporary leader' role was something Tōshirō had deliberately avoided.

The reason being the awkward situation they now faced.

"I think, first, we should confirm the mission requirements. Determine whether we're here to expel them, assist nearby officials in capturing them, or if we're expected to eliminate them!!!"

When mentioning 'eliminate,' Tōshirō emphasized the word.