Chapter 46: Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 46
Outskirts a few miles outside of Konoha.
A small bonfire was lit up in the middle of a clearing, while a man sat down on a log bu it's side. His trusted cigar donned upon his lips, while his eyes scanned the details of the scroll laid unfurled in his hands in the small light provided by the fire in the death of night.
"So that's what you had planned had they not gone through with it, huh Tobirama?" the elder Sarutobi murmured to himself, and glanced up to see his three genin sleeping in their sleeping bags under the shade of the stars, blissfully unaware of anything beside their forced deep slumber.
His hand reached his forehead, rubbing his temples, he let out a small breath of exhaustion. Even if he hadn't done anything physically taxing, he could already feel the weight of his emotional drains starting to take it's effect upon him.
And that was not to say he had yet to talk to his students about the past events to see how each of them was doing.
Another sigh escaped his lips, this teacher stuff was a pretty demanding job now that he had experienced it firsthand.
"Mm…" his eyes snapped up, looking towards the three asleep genin. Only to see that the blonde member of his team was squirming, and quite obviously starting to regain his consciousness.
Naruto clenched his eyes, before blinking off the cobwebs and sitting upright. He glanced around sleepily, his mind yet to regain it's bearings while his gaze took in the sleeping form of his two teammates.
Instantly in the blink of an eye, the events that had occurred in the past couple of hours came rushing back in his mind and he stiffened.
Sasuke gazed into his baby blue eyes, instantly noticing the loss of shine in them as they suddenly became a bit dull in the flickering light of the flames. The blue eyes stared down upon the hands placed over his lap with a shameful expression now marred upon his face.
"Naruto…" Sasuke called out, getting no more than a twitch of his ears to acknowledge he was listening and continued on undeterred. "…look at me Naruto." he called again.
This time his voice holding a a new found warmth and care in it, that made him glance at his sensei shamefully before averting his eyes again.
Sasuke let out a soft sigh, he knew it would be the hardest for the most caring of the bunch and that certainly was true as light in this case.
Finally, he placed his hands upon his knees and stood up. Walking up, he crouched down beside the boy on one knee only to see him spaced out and looking at his open palms with glazed eyes. His arm snaked around the boy's shoulders, pulling him closer he tucked the boy's head under his chin and patted his back gently.
"It's alright…" he whispered gently, and just like that the boy circled his arms around his sensei and clenched them tightly as if he were a lifeline to him.
"Sensei, I-I…" he choked out and the man just held him tighter, letting him know it was alright. The boy didn't cry, he knew he wanted to but was holding himself back and Sasuke couldn't be prouder of his pupil.
It wasn't in everyone's heart, that as gentle as he was, they would be able to steel their emotions like that when there was nothing holding them back from doing so in the first place.
"Sensei-?" the boy whispered, making him pull his shoulders back and meet his questioning gaze with one of his own understanding warm ones.
"What's the matter Naruto? Tell me…" he urged the boy to let it all out. After all, bottling it all up wasn't going to be healthy in the least for him right now. He remembered how it had felt when he had made his first kill, albeit they were a lot younger back then, but those were different and troubled times long since past.
"Why do we do it?" he asked simply, and as simple as those words were, Sasuke knew how important those were to his young mind and life. He pondered over all his years and the experience he had conjured up while he had been a shinobi to rack his mind for a suitable answer to sate the boy's curiosity.
"It is just the way our world works Naruto…" he drawled out tiredly, sitting cross legged and putting his chin upon his fist in a thoughtful manner.
The boy had his eyes fixated upon his each and every word, taking it all in like dry sponge to fluids. "…we kill, or be killed. As simple as that." he spoke on, taking a long drag of smoke before letting it out, and watched the boy's eyes turn down in contemplation, he knew that his answer wasn't enough to sate those ever curious eyes as brief as he had been.
"It's this way. As of today we were responsible for the deaths of a few tenths of some common bandits…" he explained, and the boy nodded.
Feeling even worse at hearing those numerical statistics, but Sasuke went on paying it no heed. "…had we let them live however, they would have murdered several times the people of their own count.
And that isn't counting the small loots, rapes and several other vile crimes that are even worse than murder itself.
By killing a few, you saved a lot of people today Naruto…" he explained in his ever calm tone, and got a hesitant nod from the boy.
A hand clasped his slumped shoulder firmly, making those baby blue pools look up into the stern onyx pools of his teacher. "…some people are just beyond saving Naruto.
That lesson is one I want to impart onto you right now Naruto, you may try and save as much as you can with you have, but there will come a moment when you'll realize that some people are just beyond saving.
When they cross that bridge or line, that is where you must make the hard decision and end it, before they may or may not hurt some people close to you.
That is what I've learnt over the years Naruto, remember my lesson well child, for it may help you out in what awaits you in the future…" his wise and warm voice spoke, while his palm found a way to the blonde mop of hair and rubbed it gently only to smile when he saw the childlike spark of happiness return in his pupil's eyes while he nodded back firmly.
Naruto shook his head, wiping his eyes off the unshed tears and sat down beside him.
Both eating a little of what the instructor had prepared with the barest of supplies he had in his pouch and the young one listening on to his teacher's stories from the past to take his mind off the past events and to impart him with some more knowledge that may come in handy for the boy one day, till they finally decided to call it quits and went into the lull provided to them by the shade of the night and the stars up above.
...
Next Morning
Sasuke looked on at his genin packing up their supplies and clearing of all traces of their presence with a small proud smile.
Sakumo and Duy had taken it better than he had thought, a little tears on each others parts after a talking to, and they were raring to go again, even though he could see the new found seriousness and loss of innocence within their eyes.
But it wasn't like it was unexpected, rather he would have been worried had they not had any repercussions whatsoever.
"Alright kids, we are going to be taking a detour." he drawled out, making the three of them stop and blink at him in honest confusion.
"Detour?" Sakumo asked in a lost voice getting another two lost looks and shrugs from his companions that told him they had no idea about this either.
"What detour sensei? Our mission is done isn't it?" Naruto asked and got a firm nod of affirmative from his teacher. "Then shouldn't we head back and report to the village as is the procedure? Where are we going anyways?" he finally asked what was on each younger one's minds and Sasuke nodded.
"Yes, that is the procedure, but I had a secondary mission with a choice…" he answered their queries while further adding fuel to their curiosity filled fires.
"…I could choose whether or not to take you with me on this one. Had you had failed the previous one, you would have had to accompany me without choice. But you all passed." he spoke, hopping off onto a branch and looking back at them with the glance of a single eye.
"It is your choice children, whether you wish to come with me or not. The things you'll see next will not be something you would like to see…" he explained and got his three subordinates a bit nervous at his chosen tone of voice.
"…you may very well return to the village, or you may follow me. Either way, it won't be held against you in the least. I'll be waiting for you by the river for five minutes. Those of you who wish to come, may come there.
The rest may return to the village and we'll report in when I return, together." he drawled out and jumped ahead onto the next branch before repeating it quickly and disappeared within the foliage in mere seconds.
"What could he mean by 'not something you like'?" Duy finally asked and got a couple of nervous glances from his teammates which were followed by oblivious shrugs. They had no idea themselves.
"I say we follow him…' Sakumo finally broke the small silence that had settled in between them and got a surprised look from his teammates.
"I don't really know, I mean after last time who knows what it maybe…" Duy drawled out pointedly and got a nod from Naruto, who was agreeing with him on each and every word.
The eccentric genin looked on at his final teammate who still remained to answer to see what he thought, it was a silent conversation between them.
Either they all went, or none of them that much every one of them knew.
...
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