On the other side.
Mizutani Shizuko stood by the mountain path, her thoughts swirling. At times, she worried about the safety of Seimei and Ryosuke, and at other times, she pondered what she would do if the enemy came.
Time slowly passed in her anxious wait.
After an unknown period, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from afar.
Mizutani Shizuko instantly awakened, her senses heightened to the limit at that moment.
"Who is it?"
"Seimei? No, his footsteps aren't this heavy."
"Ryosuke? That's not right either; the steps are too large. This is the sound of an adult's footsteps."
"It's the enemy!"
In that moment, Mizutani Shizuko got her answer.
All the thoughts in her mind dissipated in an instant.
Without much hesitation, Mizutani Shizuko moved closer.
On the mountain path, two bandits were rushing ahead, one in front of the other.
As they ran, they occasionally turned back to look.
Fear was etched on their faces, as if they were worried that something was chasing them from behind.
Whoosh~
Suddenly, a sound cut through the air from the side.
Before the bandit in front could see what was coming, a kunai pierced through his calf.
"Ah!"
A scream escaped his lips, followed by a stumble as he fell heavily to the ground, rolling several times in a very awkward manner.
The bandit behind him saw this and immediately stopped, nervously looking in the direction from which the kunai had flown. Then he saw a small girl, about half his height, stepping out from the forest.
With just one glance, his gaze was drawn to the object on the girl's forehead.
Not long ago, two devils wearing the same thing had slaughtered dozens of their people, and now he encountered another one.
This filled him with intense fear.
However, when he saw the girl's delicate face, a glimmer of hope unexpectedly arose in his heart.
Without any hesitation, he dropped to his knees and cried out, "Please spare me! I was forced to join them; I haven't done anything evil.
I have two children at home, about your age. If I die, they won't survive.
They are so young, so pitiful.
I beg you, for the sake of the children, let me go! I promise I will never do anything bad again!"
As he spoke, he repeatedly knocked his head on the ground, the force so great that it drew blood from his forehead.
His tragic appearance evoked a sense of compassion in Mizutani Shizuko, and she thought, "Could what he said be true? If it is, then if I kill him, what will happen to those children?"
Just as Mizutani Shizuko was caught in a struggle, unable to make up her mind and the bandit's face showed a look of relief. Suddenly, a kunai was thrown from a distance, accurately piercing his throat.
Seimei swiftly appeared in front of the bandit, yanked the kunai out, and let the blood spray.
Then, he walked up to another bandit, who was already dumbfounded with fear, and calmly plunged the kunai into his chest, ending his life.
"Sei.. Seimei."
Mizutani Shizuko looked at Seimei and stammered out.
"Don't overthink things during a mission."
Before she could continue, Seimei waved his hand to interrupt her. "Don't forget the mission requirements."
With that, he turned and walked down the mountain.
Mizutani Shizuko stood there for a while, then muttered, "Kill all the bandits."
That was right; the requirement for their mission was to eliminate all the bandits on Kokuro Mountain. Letting even one escape would be considered a failure of the mission.
It wasn't that Seimei was particularly obsessed with the mission; he wasn't Kakashi. He did this simply to make Mizutani Shizuko understand that a mission is a mission.
Overthinking during a mission can easily lead to mistakes.
In the foreseeable future, for a long time, their Team 17 would function as a unit, executing missions together. Seimei didn't want to be dragged down by foolish teammates one day.
So, when it was time to be ruthless, he had to be ruthless.
Of course, this was also a temporary measure.
He couldn't just do whatever the village asked of him; that would make him just like a root ninja, a mere tool for missions.
Once his strength increased, he could naturally make choices.
At this stage, he should just obediently play the role of a tool!
······
At the foot of the mountain, the three gathered again.
Furukawa, who had disappeared for several hours, reappeared.
He scanned the three of them one by one and finally said just one phrase: "Not bad," before leading them toward the village.
Perhaps considering the lack of safety outside, Furukawa had no intention of camping outdoors and planned to take them back overnight.
To this, Seimei fully agreed.
If possible, he would want to stay in the village forever.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
From now on, he would have to leave the village from time to time to carry out missions.
He could only hope that Furukawa would take it easy and not accept too many C-Rank missions.
······
Hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Early the next morning, Seimei and the others returned to Konoha. The journey was smooth and uneventful, so much so that it felt unreal to Seimei.
'After all, I'm not the main character; the world doesn't revolve around me.'
Thinking about how Naruto's casual missions would often escalate to S-rank, Seimei couldn't feel any envy.
'Luckily, I don't have a main character's halo, so I won't be that unlucky.'
Seimei silently congratulated himself.
"Alright, everyone go back and rest."
As they walked into the village, Furukawa stopped and said, "There are no missions for the next three days, so you can relax a bit."
"Goodbye, sensei!" ×3
Seimei and the others replied weakly.
"Alright, let's go!"
Furukawa waved his hand, signaling them to leave.
After bidding farewell to their sensei, Seimei quickly made his way toward the Uchiha clan area with his two companions.
Once at home, Seimei sat in a chair for a while before finally taking off his gear.
Although this mission lasted only a day, it felt like much longer to him.
He had transformed from an ordinary person who had never killed a chicken into a butcher with the blood of over twenty lives on his hands.
Although he had convinced himself that these people deserved their fate and even had the leisure to pay attention to his teammates' mental states, looking back now, he still felt a bit uncomfortable.
The scenes of those people dying kept replaying in his mind, making it hard for him to even muster the energy to train.
However, regardless of whether he could lift his spirits, training couldn't be neglected.
Seimei forced himself to stabilize his mind and, like usual, began to perform the 'Heart Reflection Jutsu' methodically.
Since there were no unexpected incidents during this mission and killing those mountain bandits didn't require much Chakra, his Chakra reserves were still relatively sufficient.
Naturally, he couldn't waste this.
So, Seimei focused on increasing the Proficiency level of 'Heart Reflection Jutsu.'
As he watched the Proficiency level increase bit by bit on the panel, Seimei's heart gradually calmed down without him realizing it.
Soon, his Chakra was depleted, and he began refining it again.
Once his Chakra was replenished, he practiced the 'Heart Reflection Jutsu' once more.
After two rounds of training, it was already noon. Seimei could no longer hold on, so he casually washed up and collapsed into bed.
In the bedroom, Seimei unknowingly dreamed of something, his brows furrowing and relaxing from time to time...
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