"Ahโฆ So that's how it is." Now understanding exactly what had happened, Kazuya couldn't help but feel a combination of pride and dismay.
He felt proud because the test had shown that his team was able to easily cooperate if needed and that they could already plan to such a degree. However, he felt dismayed for the same reason because he had thoroughly underestimated them and made a fool a fool out of himself.
Sitting against a tree with his eyes closed, Ren smirked at his supervisor's conflicting feelings that were all too evidently at war within him. His chakra exhaustion and byakugan overuse had put tremendous strain on his eyes, so he needed time to recover. Yet, despite this suffering, he still considered himself lucky when compared to his Uchiha teammate.
"Geez, you really went overboard, sir." Anzu chided as she applied a small portion of soothing chakra to Hikaru's head which rested on her lap.
The mental feedback from his first shadow clone had been too much for him to bear, in part due to his already exhausted state. But it was merely the final straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Every now and then, a muscle of his still twitched without reason, an aftereffect of being electrocuted by Kazuya.
"Iโฆ Was just pushing you all to your limit. To see the extent of your abilities." Kazuya sheepishly said as he shifted his eyes away from the reproaching gaze of his student.
She just snorted as she directed her gaze back toward her patient and checked his body once more for any damage that she could alleviate.
"When do we resume our journey to the village?" Asked Ren in his quiet voice.
"Well, you all need time to recover."
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? Anzu cried internally.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ? Kazuya seemed to say in response to Anzu's own internal monologue as he clearly saw the unspoken words on her exasperated face.
"So, we should rest here until morning. Provided Hikaru is fit to continue the mission by then. Of course."
A light groan escaped his lips as Hikaru's consciousness gradually returned to him. First, he heard the chatter of voices; then, he felt the soft yet stiff pillow beneath his head. Come to think of it, he felt a rhythmic pulse and also heard the rushing of what seemed to be blood.
๐๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆโฆ However, this peculiar situation wasn't of any concern to Hikaru at that moment. What was of concern was his most recent dream. No, dream wasn't the correct wordโhis most recent memory.
After transmigrating, he had completely put his past life behind him, not even once reflecting on it for more than a second. After all, his past life was precisely thatโฆ the past. There was nothing there mattered to him anymore if there ever was.
๐๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด. Grasping at his face with a hand, as if he could dispel such useless memories, eradicate such feelings and thoughts, he could only sigh as none of what he wished would happen did indeed happen.
"Hey, you're finally awake! How are you feeling?" An all-too chipper voice chimed not long after he gripped his face.
Shaking the fog from his head and the grogginess of his body away, he hastily lifted his head from the girl's lap and stumbled to his feet.
"Like crap." He honestly admitted as he glanced around Team 5's campsite.
Then, the memories of the night prior rushed back to him, supplanting his past life's memory and shoving it to the furthest reach of his mind.
"Waitโฆ did we-"
"Yup! We passed the test!"
A satisfied smile spread across Hikaru's face. He would soon feel that rush once more. He would soon put his abilities to the test. He would soon begin overcoming his aversion to death.
"You did well." He said, bowing his head toward the girl. "Andโฆ thank you for tending to me."
Waving her arms, Anzu frantically rejected such words. "No, no, I should be thanking you. We placed most of the burden on you, after all. You paid the price for my inability."
"What is a team for, if not for its individual members to overcome each other's inadequacies by working together?"
"He's right. Accept his gratitude." A new voice said, followed by the appearance of Ren Hyuga. Looking towards Hikaru, Ren spoke once more. "It seems you are fine."
"It seems soโฆ" The Uchiha muttered as he began stretching each part of his body, starting with his head. Hikaru's entire body felt strangely stiff, which he imagined to be a consequence of being electrocuted. ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ป๐ถ๐บ๐ข.
"Good. We will resume our journey shortly, then." Ren replied, turning around and walking off as he did so. Intent on getting on with some training before he had to spend the next several hours traveling.
Not caring to respond, Hikaru continued his stretches until he was satisfied. Following these stretches of his, he then reached over his shoulder to grasp his tanto hilt.
"Where is my blade?" An icy, almost unrecognizable voice slipped from Hikaru's mouth as his hand grasped nothing but empty air.
Having never before witnessed such a cold and hostile attitude from her teammate, Anzu cringed slightly as her hands hurriedly grabbed the tanto beside her. "H-here. You dropped it when you fell unconscious." She answered, presenting it to him as if he were a deity receiving her offering.
"Ahโฆ thanks." The chilly temperature disappeared as the warmth of the morning sun once again reigned supreme, and Hikaru's demeanor lost its sharp edge.
Awkwardly taking the blade from the nervous girl, Hikaru decided to exercise somewhere further away instead of near Anzu.
For some reason, he had an unreasonable attachment to his blade, an attachment which had never quite made itself so clear as just now. Still, all he could do was shake his head at his continuously foolish emotions as he walked away from his teammate.
Arriving in a secluded clearing, Hikaru began going through the motions. With every movement he made, his thoughts reflected deeper and deeper on the previous night's events.
๐๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต; ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ถ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
Thinking back on Yashiro's words about genjutsu being an incredible weapon in his hands, Hikaru made up his mind. So long as he lacked the power of the sharingan, he would have to supplement his weakness in any way possible.
Genjutsu was just perfect for him, lending well to his strengths of craftiness and chakra control. As soon as the current mission was over, he would ask Kazuya's help in learning genjutsu. Perhaps a member from his clan might be able to provide some useful assistance, too. While they were at his disposal, why not take full advantage of their familial sentiments?
Learning genjutsu as a regular shinobi would also establish a firm foundation and allow him even greater mastery over it when he finally did awaken his sharingan. All in all, it was perfect for him.
After half an hour of exercising with his tanto, Hikaru's senses picked up on an observer to his left.
"Sir Kazuya." He greeted, not stopping his blade movements for even a fraction of a second.
"You appear fit as a fiddle," Kazuya commented cooly as he leaned against a tree.
"Yup." Was all the boy said in response, not caring to make useless conversation at the moment.
Minutes passed, as the only sounds made were Hikaru's sword movements.
"Listenโฆ" The older man began as he rubbed his head. "I just want to apologize for going at you so hard. A simple punch would have been enough to disable you, I didn't need to add lightning as well."
"It's fine." Replied Hikaru with a nonplussed voice. After all, it was a good learning opportunity in so far as how to deal with such attacks in the future, what to expect, and so forth.
"Rightโฆ" Coughing, Kazuya switched gears, his demeanor losing its awkwardness. "I didn't just come here to apologize. I also came here to tell you not to try such a dangerous method as the one you did last night again. You could have very easily died. I've already ordered the others not to help you do such a thing again, but now I'm telling you."
Strangely, upon hearing such news, the Uchiha's eyes burned with passion, and a grin appeared on his face. Kazuya could only conclude that his student was indeed a bit of a maniac.
For Hikaru, the euphoria that spread throughout his body upon hearing that he had very nearly courted death but had overcome and defeated its attempt to claim his life through his own skills and efforts was immense. He even interrupted his dance for a moment, needing to steady himself and focus back on the exercise.
"I-I understand." His exultant voice was not lost on Kazuya.
๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต? Pushing through such thoughts, his duty as a jonin responsible for his charges came front and center once more. "By the wayโฆ Where did you learn the Shadow Clone jutsu? It's a B-rank jutsu and few people know it."
Hikaru's face transformed from one of thinly veiled bliss to blatant joy. "My mother."
The night prior to his mission, he had finally requested that his mother teach him the Shadow Clone jutsu, taking the opportunity afforded him to get what he wanted. Most other times, he felt that she would reject him out of hand, but not when she was so worried for him and wanted to do whatever she could to help him.
Of course, he still couldn't successfully perform it under most circumstances. He could spend half an hour building up his chakra to do so, but he would be severely drained and unable to even release a Great Fireball jutsu, rendering it useless in a combat scenario on account of both its cost and result.
However, a little bit of convincing, pleading, and tactical use of his emotional father managed to pierce through Ahma's defenses in a joint effort.
"As I thoughtโฆ She is the most obvious answer." ๐๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ. Not caring to linger on Ahma Uchiha's personality longer than would be appropriate, Kazuya got his mind back on track.
"Anyway. The biggest reason I came here, was to inform you that we're setting out once more."
"Understood, sir." Hikaru nodded, sheathed his blade, and followed after his instructor.
Team 5 progressed toward the northern village the entire day, keeping a brisk, steady pace. They had taken breaks every so often, but they were short and only every three hours. Due to being behind schedule, it was decided that they would push on and make it to the village as soon as possible.
"Alrightโฆ It's not far now. We just have to go a little further." Kazuya said, trying to encourage his students. However, when he turned his head and saw the state they were in, he couldn't repress a sigh from leaking out.
The sun had long since set, and he had pushed them hard after an already grueling fight the night before, all because of his own ineptitude. Feeling like a failure of a supervisor, he fished through a pouch on his waist and pulled out three small brown balls.
"Here, eat one." He ordered as he stretched his hand out in front of Ren.
Wheezing, the Hyuga finally managed to catch his breath. "Theseโฆ these are-"
"Military Rations Pills. Yes. I'm sure you learned about them in the academy. Now, eat one."
Obedient as ever, Ren nodded while taking a pill and promptly swallowing it. The effects were instantaneous. Every ache in his body disappeared, his cloudy mind cleared, and his fatigue was replaced by the kind of alertness and energy one has after a good night's rest and a barrel of coffee.
After checking that nothing was wrong with his student, Kazuya moved on to Hikaru and, after witnessing the same process occur within him, onto Anzu.
"Alright. Now that you're all refreshed, let's keep going. We can make it to the village before dawn." Saying this, he immediately began running ahead once more.
His three students, previously on the verge of collapsing, now easily kept up.
"Just imagine the amount of training we could do with a supply of these!" Anzu exclaimed, amazed by the seemingly miraculous results of just one Military Ration Pill.
Ren was of a similar mind, but he was still cautious of possible aftereffects. If the Military Ration Pills produced such wondrous results with no cost, then surely every shinobi who could afford them would be using them constantly.
"I wouldn't get so excited. After its effects subside, we're going to crash. Hard."
"Crash?" The girl asked, with her head cocked to one side.
๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. Over the years, Hikaru had used several phrases and words in certain ways that didn't make sense to anyone inhabiting this ninja world. While the words themselves had direct translations, the meaning behind them in the way that he knew them had no such meaning in this world.
"I mean, the accumulated exhaustion of our bodies will hit us all at once. We'll need plenty of sleep and a lot of nutrients to make up for pushing our bodies beyond their natural limits."
"Now that you mention it, I do remember reading that." But, she had forgotten the pill's downsides in her excitement and exhilaration from being rejuvenated.
"Stop with the chatter. We have to keep up." Ren interjected.
Receiving no arguments from his fellow teammates, the trio continued forward in silence.
Red flames flickered and leaped across rooftops as the clash of blades rang out, blood splattered on walls, and people screamed.
This was the scene that Team 5 discovered upon their arrival at the village. As soon as they saw the flames from a distance, they ran as fast as they could, reaching the besieged settlement in minutes.
Four dozen houses were spread out before them, forming a circle with the most prominent building at its center. Over half of the houses were currently ablaze, and bodies littered the streets as even more were engaged in various struggles all throughout the village.
All tiredness was wiped from the genin's bodies, replaced by a wariness as they bore witness to the slaughter before them.
Without a second's hesitation, Kazuya began issuing orders.
"Ren, tell me how many people are still alive and how many of them are likely to be bandits."
With his byakugan already active, it took him several moments before he answered. "There are around eighty people still alive, twenty of which seem to be bandits. And..." The boy's brow furrowed. "There seems to be a strong chakra signature over there." He said, pointing beyond the village.
"Okay." Kazuya took in the information before issuing his subsequent commands, "Ren, you are to find all of those seriously injured and lead Anzu toward them. Take out any bandits nearby. Anzu, you are to prevent as many people from dying as possible. Seek out and attend to only the most at risk victims to start with."
Both genin found themselves slow to respond as if their minds had dulled. Truthfully, they were just too absorbed in the moment, the chaos, the bloodshed, the death that occurred before them like a vortex of mayhem. It was utterly alien to them.
"GO!" Kazuya roared when he noticed they did not immediately act.
The two shared a look before rushing off to fulfill their orders. This would be their first battle, the first time they would stare death in the face. Time would only tell if they were able to weather this new experience.
"Hikaruโฆ" He briefly recalled the boy's skills and bloodlust. "Eliminate any and all bandits engaged in pillaging. Prioritize the ones actively harming the inhabitants first and foremost."
"Yes, sir." Without any of the hesitation displayed by his fellow genin, Hikaru shot into the village, seeming eager to begin his slaughter.
๐๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆโฆ Kazuya's gaze shifted away from the currently burning town and toward the darkness that dominated its surroundings. He was no sensory type shinobi, but he had very clearly been informed of the large chakra signature beyond the village. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ? ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏโฆ