"Once Again, thank you, Fujioka," Konno Tetsuo thanked the Konoha Police Force squad leader for their help against their assailants.
Although more damage was done to the village this time to the village, there were fewer casualties for both the shinobi present and Ishigakure civilians.
This was largely due to the fact that Fujioka and his squad shouldered the burden of going against the enemy shinobis. This, in turn, enabled Ishigakure shinobi to focus on evacuating their civilians to safety.
"I already told you Tetsuo, you don't need to thank us because it was our duty. Besides, you already said that this was their most devasting attack, so I am sure the Kurogane clan is going to attack again. Especially since they lost some of their shinobi."
"Indeed. Fortunately, most of the civilians had already got out of the village due to the chain of constant attacks. The few who were remaining are already on their way to safety."
"So, the village will be abandoned?" Tobe asked perplexed.
"No, this was a directive from Lord Third," Fujioka began, "We have to prioritize the civilians. The village can be rebuilt, but if the civilians die, then there is no remedy for that."
'I am sure Lord Hokage already saw through this, but what are the intentions of Iwa and Suna? It is clear that one of them was behind this attack. We have only recently begun our period of peace after the last war, so are they doing all this?
Do they want to begin another war? I surely hope that there won't ever be another war like the last two ones, we already lost too many comrades.' Fujioka sighed in regret.
Fujioka had been fortunate enough to survive the last shinobi war which was very devasting. He had first-hand experience with the effects of war both as a shinobi and also as a civilian since the first one happened when he was only a child, Fujioka craved peace more than anything in life.
He had recently gotten his second child, another boy, so Fujioka wanted to live long enough to even see the offspring of his offspring. However, Fujioka feared that if another war broke out, then his chances of surviving would be lower than before.
While it was true that being weak would only make you fodder and your survival chances would be minimal, the same was also true for those who were stronger than average.
Fujioka had been a chunin during the Second Shinobi War, which meant he was pretty much ner the middle of the food chain. This gave him this peculiar perspective of war.
Being strong meant that you would be expected to shoulder more responsibilities such as being put in riskier situations due to your high chances of making it alive. It also meant that enemy villages would also target you due to the same fact. It was literally a loose-loose situation.
This was the main reason why Fujioka's vigour in ascending the shinobi ranks dropped over the last few years with him only recently being promoted to the Jounin Rank. This did not, in any way, mean that Fujioka was not committed to his duties in the Konoha Police force.
While Fujioka, Tobe and Konno Testuo were discussing the current situation, Tobe and Renjiro were making their final for their journey back to the Village.
'While I knew Fujioka was strong since he was a bonified squad leader, defeating all these Jounins just puts him on a whole other level. Seven jounins who could use their transformations like Ohashi puts them a brush over the level of average Konoha Shinobi.'
'Judging from the marks on their body, he most probably used brute force on them and not genjutsu which was the safer route. It seems I still have a long way ahead of me because after experiencing Ohashi's improved speed and strength after his transformation, I don't think I would have survived without resorting to Genjutsu.'
"So how did you guys finish off the jounins you faced?" Renjiro inquired turning to Toda and initiating eye contact.
"Meh," Toda shrugged before continuing, "We were lucky that only one of the three jounins we faced used their transformation. He only did that after he witnessed his comrades dying. After exchanging attacks we quickly realised that he was vulnerable mentally and we changed our tactics to Genjutsu."
"While that helped end things sooner, I am still sure that Tobe and I would have still sorted out things even without using Genjutsu," Toda said with a wide smile covering his face.
'Welp, so basically the same as me. But I guess a win is still a win regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.' Renjiro surmised.
"Before I forget you should you this," Toda said as he reached over to the pouch on his waist where he retrieved a seal. Before Renjiro could even wonder what he would receive, Toda flicked his wrist and a roll of bandages appeared on his hand.
"What's this for?" Renjiro asked.
"It's for your head, you should wrap it around your head because your empty eye socket is getting annoying to look at."
Renjiro did not hesitate in doing so because he too was feeling weird walking around with an empty eye socket. It felt like walking around with an open zipper, but every time you look down to confirm, you find it closed.
You could feel it open, but the fact was that it was closed. It was a really disconcerting feeling.
As Renjiro was keenly wrapping the bandage on his head and over his missing eye, he sensed, or rather felt a subtle shimmer in them. Spreading his senses, he realized that the bandages Toda handed to him were imbued with chakra.
Looking up to Toda for some explanation, the latter said, "They are chakra imbued with chakra to ensure that they continuously stimulate your cells and improve your healing. Though the improvement is far much lower than what basic medical ninjutsu can do, it still helps."
"Are you sure you want me to have this? It won't do much for me considering my condition," Renjiro remarked.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But we are in the same squad, so it doesn't matter."
Renjiro then continued wrapping the bandages on his head. After finishing up, a wild thought flashed across his mind.
'Bandages over my head and I still have a Sharigan. I guess I am slowly becoming Danzo.'
Fujioka then approached the two as they were talking, "I have already finished talking to the village chief, so you guys can head back to the village and request for reinforcements. Toda, I expect you to be back with the reinforcements as quickly as possible."
With the directives issued, the two did not linger and immediately set off towards Konoha. While Renjiro was not at his best, the duo took a shorter time to get back to the village than they did when their squad left Konoha for Ishigakure.
In as much as keen vision was mandatory for the body flicker technique, Renjiro still moved at his fastest speed as his remaining Sharingan made up for his lack of one since the Sharingan only improved the efficiency of the technique.
When they arrived at the village, it was already late in the afternoon as the sun was high up in the sky. The village was serene, but Toda and Renjiro could not waste more time due to the sensitive nature of their task.
Toda had suggested to Renjiro to go to the hospital and seek help for his eye, but the chuunin refused. He countered that it wouldn't really help and proposed that he join Toda in heading to the base.
They both informed their squad captain of the events that unfolded in Ishigakure and after the squad captain became aware of the current situation, he did not bother following the chain of command due to the urgency of the matter and quickly took the two second rank officers to Daichi's office.
Once they knocked and were allowed in, Renjiro was surprised to find his aunt present in the office talking to Daichi.
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