The Ninja Handbook: Lesson 1
Your enemy does not have feelings.
Description: When out in the battlefield, the person you face does not have feelings. You are not to care for them, their families, or their lives. Kill them without hesitation; a ninja's mission is one of his top priorities.
Note: Your enemy will also attempt to kill you without a second thought, so worry for your own life instead of his.
"My enemy does not have feelings…"murmured Sakura. "So I am to kill them without hesitation?"
She threw a kunai at the target in front of her, but because she was distracted, the child didn't put enough force behind it, so it simply glanced off the board.
"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei! I have a question! When you talked about lesson one in class today, about you enemy not having feelings? Who is our enemy?" Sakura waved and caught his attention.
Iruka seemed taken aback by such a mature question although he knew he should have seen it coming. "Well, Sakura, that's an excellent question from you." He patted her head. "Let's gather the class and ask them what they think."
Having said that, Iruka raised his voice to the practicing students. "Class, come here. Sakura Haruno has just asked a question, and I want to hear your opinions on this." There were several groans; the class was often subjected to thinking questions by Sakura.
"Now, if you still remember the lesson today about you enemy and their feelings, Sakura has just asked who our enemies are. Does anyone know the answer?"
There was an uncomfortable silence in the training grounds. Iruka quickly broke it. "Let's say there's no right or wrong answer. Who do you think your enemy is?"
A few hands shot up. "One at a time, starting with Kimiko."
"The monster under my bed?" A few scattered laughs.
"The Hidden Rain? They killed my brother during a mission."
"Anyone who tries to attack Konoha?"
"Anything which you feel threatened by?"
"The other Hidden Villages?"
"Ok, class, that's enough. That's a lot of answers from you, which is very good. For your homework, I want you to go home and think about it. Tomorrow, we will go over it again. Until then, you're all free to go."
The class cheered and left to pack up. Sakura went with them, knowing, like her classmates, that Iruka-sensei would forget. Whenever he gave an assignment that involved going home and thinking it over, it would never be gone over the next day. Only written assignments were given such treatment.
Even so, Sakura would always think it over. The top students always did.
As such, only the top students would not hesitate to kill. The very best ninja only thought of their missions. Never of what they were destroying, the son or father or cousin of some poor wretch who would soon receive the news of the deceased.
Naruto had not attended class that day.