Chapter 24: The Flames of War Reignite
"It's good that you know your own limits," Kael quipped habitually. He suddenly noticed the air in the room had grown heavy and turned to look at Inoshita with a puzzled expression. The old man was staring blankly at the stove, lost in thought. The orange glow of the fire flickered across his face, casting shifting shadows that made his expression unreadable.
Kael's heart sank a little. He said no more, turning his calm gaze to the window as the sky outside slowly darkened. The snow continued to fall. He had a pretty good idea why the old man had come.
A middle-aged man's furious voice suddenly erupted from the small, two-story building in the Hidden Hot Water Village.
"The Jashinists are back, and they're more aggressive than ever! There are reports from all over the country of entire villages disappearing! Those bastards! If they have any guts, they should come for us, for the Hidden Hot Water! Attacking defenseless civilians... they're inhuman! Animals! They're animals!!!" Inoshita grew more and more agitated, the rage flushing his old, tired face, making him look even more weary.
"Sigh..." Kael let out a deep sigh, a complex expression on his face.
He didn't feel much for the civilians he'd never met, but when he thought back to the terrified faces and brutal deaths of the villagers he'd seen when he first arrived in this world, and the longing for his parents and the fear and anger toward the Jashinists that resided in this body, he felt a strange sense of empathy. Why did he, a transmigrator, hate these Jashinists so much?
"What... is the village planning to do?" Kael asked in a low voice.
"At the Feudal Lord's angry insistence, the Village Leader has held several emergency meetings and has a rough plan of action," Inoshita said, looking up at Kael. "As of this morning, the village has dispatched all of its active-duty shinobi. They've been sent out in squads to carry out devastating strikes against the Jashinists operating throughout the Land of Hot Water. And starting tomorrow, we, the academy teachers, must also be prepared to go to the front lines..."
"So, the academy is closing?" Kael frowned. This was more serious than he'd thought.
"Yes," Inoshita nodded grimly.
"I came here to..."
"Say no more. I'll go with you," Kael interrupted.
Inoshita was taken aback. He stared at Kael's expressionless face, shocked. "How did you know...?"
A faint, unreadable smile touched Kael's lips. "You went to all this trouble to find me at a time like this. It must be because you want to use my flying Summoning Beast."
"Yes," Inoshita admitted, a little ashamed.
"Tomorrow, then. Go and request permission from the village. We'll form a special operations squad. Not too many people, eight at most, and they all have to be elite shinobi. Otherwise, the Wind Eagle will have trouble carrying them. And leave the students who will just slow us down behind this time."
Inoshita nodded eagerly.
Suddenly realizing that Rei was standing awkwardly nearby, Kael quickly and clumsily added, "Rei is so cute, of course she wouldn't slow us down. But this mission is too dangerous. You should stay in the village..."
"I'm going too," Rei said calmly, her small face tilted upward. "I don't want to be a student who just holds everyone back forever."
It was clear that Kael's thoughtless remark had hurt her.
The next day, at the entrance to the Hidden Hot Water Village.
It looked no different from the entrance to any ordinary village. A half-meter-tall stone monument stood by the side of the road, now almost completely covered in snow. Three large characters could still be faintly seen carved into it: Hidden Hot Water Village.
Inconspicuous, Kael thought, standing by the monument. The village's location and size were as unremarkable as its status in the Shinobi World.
The snow had stopped, but the accumulation was even deeper now. Kael looked down the road leading out of the village but saw no footprints. The army of shinobi who had departed yesterday seemed to have vanished into the vast, white landscape.
Crunch, crunch...
The sound of snow being compressed came from behind him. Kael quickly turned to see a fully equipped Rei. She was carrying a large, black backpack that was half her height, stuffed so full it was bulging. Her face was flushed, probably from standing in the cold for so long. She still wore the pure white scarf around her neck, but now she was in black combat attire, trudging heavily through the snow.
Kael quickly walked over and took the large backpack from her. It was surprisingly heavy. He looked with concern at her red, sweat-streaked face. To be sweating in this cold weather, she must have been struggling to carry the pack.
"This backpack is huge! How can your small body carry it?" he scolded, frowning. But his expression quickly softened. "What's in here? Why is there so much?"
"It's all of our squad's supplies! I got them from Rino-sensei. I'll be in charge of logistics from now on!" she said, her head held high with pride.
Pat.
Kael gently placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "You don't even know any medical ninjutsu, and you're already thinking about logistics?" he teased.
Rei pouted and mumbled in protest, "Who says I don't? I already asked Rino-sensei to get me a medical ninjutsu scroll yesterday. I just haven't had time to learn it all yet..."
"Hah..." Kael let out a heavy breath and looked at her, silent. This girl was so clumsy, yet so stubborn.
He tousled her hair again and said no more. He turned to look out at the distance beyond the village, waiting.
Five minutes later, the sound of crunching snow reached his ears again. He and Rei both turned to look. Several blurry figures emerged from the white expanse of the village, growing clearer as they approached through the cold wind.
When they were close, Inoshita Rino walked forward with a warm, friendly smile, greeting them as if they were old friends. The men behind him looked on in surprise.
"You're here early. That's not like you. Were you too excited to sleep last night?" Inoshita joked.
"Tch." Kael just scoffed, not bothering to reply to the shifty-eyed old man. He turned his attention to the five ninja-clad figures behind him. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Hehehe, even if you didn't ask, I was going to introduce them to the genius of the Hidden Hot Water Village," Inoshita said, stepping aside. "From left to right, these four, like me, are academy teachers. I'm sure they look familiar. But they're much stronger than me. These guys are all proper Chunin, not like an old man who's just a teacher in name..."
Kael nodded at the four men, a look of realization on his face. He had thought they looked familiar; they were the instructors for the other grades. He then turned his gaze to the figure on the far right, the one who seemed the most formidable. Even standing still, the man exuded a sharp, dangerous aura. Just looking at him made the hairs on the back of Kael's neck stand up.