"Up ahead is the first mission — wipe out the bandit camp. Leave no one standing." Uchiha Ankoku's voice was calm. "What, hesitating? If you have doubts, repeat the mission in your head. Grip your sword. Start your life as shinobi." With that, he was gone.
Retsu took a breath and led the way into the nameless range. Kairen and Honō exchanged a look and followed, melting into the pale moonlight with him.
Night pressed close — insects chirped, and the barely audible thumps of bodies meeting earth punctured the silence. The outer sentries had already been cut down; they crept inward, moving toward a cluster of simple earthen huts.
Retsu had set traps around the houses and then signaled the others to begin. Kairen vaulted the hanging curtain of the first hut, activated his Sharingan, slipped a subtle genjutsu over the sleepers — man and woman alike — and then moved soundlessly to deliver the killing strike.
Honō peered through a window, slipped inside, and with thrown shuriken harvested life after life. Retsu, after finishing his trap setup, stayed low on the roof of the last hut, watching the rest of the village.
House after house was cleared without a sound. A faint metallic tang of blood drifted through the air. Only two huts remained. Kairen looked to Retsu and asked if he wanted to take a shot; Retsu nodded and surged forward into the last dwelling. Honō darted into the other. Kairen checked everywhere for secret doors and hidden rooms — nothing.
When he stepped back out, the other two had finished. They dismantled the traps, left without a sound, and regrouped where they had separated earlier. No one spoke. Each carried heavy thoughts as they returned to the rendezvous.
Ankoku waited quietly, studying his students. "You did well — much better than I expected. That bandit gang had elders and children; there wasn't a single mercy. You wiped them out cleanly. That decisiveness is rare at your age.
"There are flaws. Kairen — you entered without checking for hidden mechanisms. Honō — your strike was fast, but it likely would have roused nearby sleepers. Remember: Kairen used genjutsu before killing to prevent sudden alarm. Killing intent can be sensed.
"Retsu — your performance was excellent overall, but your final rush into the hut bordered on reckless. This was a low-strength bandit camp; if there'd been a jonin or several chunin inside, you wouldn't have succeeded.
"This is your first mission. Don't carry guilt. A shinobi's work often brings violence and death. In battle, mercy can doom you and your teammates. Look around — would you trade a comrade's life for a moment of pity? As to whether those men deserved death, let the gods decide. We are nin — when on a mission, the mission comes first."
"Sensei," Kairen said quietly, "if completing a mission would cost a teammate his life, would you abandon the mission or abandon the teammate?"
Ankoku's eyes flicked to Kairen. "I'd abandon the mission. We're different from other forces — we are Uchiha. Most alongside us are family. A hundred successful missions don't matter as much as one living Uchiha. People are a clan's foundation. No people, no family, no clan. If a team isn't made of clanmates, then act by circumstance."
Kairen hadn't expected that answer, but it fit Uchiha logic perfectly — the clan's welfare above all else. He couldn't help thinking of the tragedies of old, the way ideology had been used to break families, how far-reaching the cost had been.
"Rest tonight. We move on in the morning." Ankoku saw the group lost in thought and called it. They found a place to rest.
---
At dawn they packed and pushed on toward the next target. The mood lightened with the day and better weather. Suddenly Ankoku halted them. "Stop. I hear fighting — to the west."
They slipped into the trees and crept toward the sound. Masked figures fought in a clearing — Root operatives engaged with three rogue shinobi.
Retsu looked to his teacher, asking if they should intervene. Ankoku only gestured for them to hold. The three rogues were killed, and one of them took a Rootman with him in a final death-blow. The surviving Root operatives were wounded and busy with the bodies.
Ankoku signaled withdrawal, but Kairen made a different hand sign — a surprise attack. Ankoku allowed a small, satisfied smile. Retsu and Honō, baffled, followed the teacher's lead and went on the offensive.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique." The three voices called in unison.
A storm of shuriken rained down toward the five surviving Root nin, followed by lightning-fast charges riding the steel.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" came three more calls. The soil beneath several operatives liquefied into sucking mud — the swamp spread behind and to the right of them as well.
One badly injured shinobi was skewered and left like a hedgehog of steel. Two others managed to bat away some incoming shuriken but were swallowed by the mire.
Lightning and blade followed — "Blazing Leap," "Dance of the Crescent Moon." Two more bodies were split. The fight finished in an instant.
Retsu and Honō wanted to use fire to burn the scene. Kairen spoke up: "Cut off the heads and burn just the heads. Make the bodies look like they weren't properly gathered. Search the rogues for anything useful. We'll leave a trail back, place traps along our return. If enemy numbers are low, ambush them on the spot. If many come, we trigger the traps and withdraw. I'll explain later — trust me now."
Ankoku stayed silent but gave a subtle nod; tacit approval.
They searched the bodies and found a sealed scroll — no time to read it then. Soon enough, a Root squad arrived to investigate. After studying the terrain they moved east in pursuit, and then triggered the trap: a hail of shuriken shot out, some hitting secondary mechanisms.
From the previous battlefield came a barrage of cross-shuriken; several kunai with detonation tags struck the crowd and exploded. Two smoke bombs dropped from above, blanketing the area.
At that moment, the trio unleashed a coordinated combo: "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique," "Wind Release: Whirlwind," "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough" — together forming "Fire Release: Flame Whirlwind."
When the smoke cleared, the ground was a ruin of scorched earth and broken limbs. The six-man squad had been annihilated. The entire ambush — traps, detonations, and jutsu — had linked together like clockwork. Ankoku had never raised a hand.
Kairen ordered, "Clear the field. We leave quickly — head back toward the bandit lair. Move fast; we need to do the next job while we're hot." They burned the two strike sites with fire to erase traces.
They pushed on at speed and reached the next bandit stronghold. Kairen said, "Sensei, please take this one. I'll explain before the third mission — we don't have much time. Root may track this place."
Ankoku nodded. In short order the bandit encampment flared and went up. Shouts died out; only the sound of flames echoed through the hills.
---
A group of a dozen Root operatives examined the two burned sites later. There was little left except charred earth. "Captain, both squads seem wiped out," one reported. "No traces of a fight remain — everything's been burned clean."
The Root captain shook his head. "This blackened ground is the key. The fire isn't a normal wildfire — it's the residue of Fire Release. At least three users combined their fire jutsu at each site. The burn patterns differ between the two places. That means multiple users — not the same one acting twice. The scorched center shows they used a massive fire barrage followed by burning the ground — even the roots are gone; the topsoil is gone. This indicates the use of combined, high-destruction Fire Release jutsu, or a group fire jutsu with huge area damage. The former is more likely.
"If they had that power at the original battlefield, they could've ambushed there. We need to search for a small team of three or more, focusing on Fire users first."
"Understood." The operatives dispersed. The captain muttered under his breath, mask shadowing his mouth, "You — I'll find who did this."