SIDE CHAPTER 3 (On Mindsets and Resolutions)

Chapter Summary: HatakeKakashi ponders about his morals and purpose as a shinobi. He questions whether the rules were made to be followed or was just an attempt to control the masses. He creates a new code and resolves to follow them religiously.

Minato-sensei had tasked the three of us to check in on Hiroshi's condition. We were told to meticulously analyze if he was truly alright in a psychological capacity. I was going to follow his task to the dot but something else was bothering me.

Why would he stay, risk his own life, and risk the information he was tasked to retrieve?

These thoughts had plagued me but the answer that I had sought from him only brought up a pain I had wished to never go back to.

Pondering on Hiroshi's words, I walked around the village in hopes of understanding the purpose of a shinobi in his point of view.

The village was a collective of people that form a productive community. It stands firm as every citizen has a function to offer within the cogs that make the whole of the village. The system in place makes it possible for everyone to have a sustainable life while empowering other sectors itself. It was basically a whole organism, a whole human person, if you disregard a collective consciousness and sentience.

That was what a village was. Every citizen lives within the village, for the village, by the village. The higher-ups created these rules to ensure that everything works perfectly. The rules are to be followed to continue living.

So, why was it that Hiroshi was not punished for breaking the rules in place and risked the mission he was entrusted with? Why is he still alive?

Hiroshi had mentioned that he served the village and its citizens, which also include the shinobi. He said he couldn't leave them behind for the mission because part of his mission was ensuring they live and bring them back to their families. Doing that feels wrong but at the same time it was absolutely right. It was against the rules, though, so why would it be right?

I looked forward and saw children playing with a shinobi, a genin to be exact. They were smiling as if there wasn't a war happening on our borders. That isn't right. They should be doing what they could for the village in these dire times. But, why do I get the feeling that this was alright? That this was what was supposed to be?

I quickly walked away from the sight to continue organizing my thoughts.

As I walked, I remember the name that Hiroshi brought up. A name that I despised for breaking the rules and failing the mission. Hiroshi said he was a coward, and I agree, but he also said that we had different reasons. He said that Hatake Sakumo was a coward not because he ran away from the mission to save his comrades but because he ran away from the responsibility that his failure has given him.

I could only look down as I the sun set its blazing orange color onto the world as it sets down the horizon.

He was a coward, yes. But , he was a hero. My hero.

Yes, he ran away. He chose his comrades rather than the mission. But he was a man who knew what was more important in the long run. He was a man that knew what truly mattered.

The village mattered. Its people mattered. We all mattered to him.

And at the end, he chose what he did because he thought he didn't matter.

I realized why I was sticking to the rules, condemning him like he was the crappiest man to ever exist. He chose for his comrades on the mission to live. But he didn't choose his own survival in the end.

He thought that the village mattered but he left me alone.

He left me alone in this cruel world. I didn't matter to him.

I lifted my head to see the sun still out in the horizon, orange coloring the surroundings.

I refuse to live like him. Instead, I'll live to protect everyone precious to me. Just as they would protect me from harm. Unlike you who left.

I'll protect Minato-sensei, Rin, Obito, and even Hiroshi. They are my precious people.

I'll protect the village in this war and in the future wars. This is my home.

I'll protect what you thought mattered the most while I'm protected by those who think I matter to them.

I vowed on that day. I resolved myself. I chose to protect.