24 [Chapter 24] Aftermath

After the fight with Zabuza, relief could be seen on the faces of the three leaf Shinobi but the tension had not fully died down.

"I told you two to leave but you didn't, do you know you could have DIED!" shouted Hayate with anger at his two students, who had their heads down.

"If this were to repeat I would do it all over again! Sensei you taught us how important a team is, they are the people we trust our lives to! If we abandoned you, those words would hold no meaning! I am sorry Sensei, I will receive all the punishment for what I have done today but if I followed your orders, that would go against my Ninja Way!"

"I would do it again too Sensei! I will also receive all the punishments", said Hakuto agreeing with Ryo.

Hearing these words, a shiver ran down Hayate's spine. He had never thought that he would ever hear something like this. Since he was small, he had seen many ninjas who would talk of such ideals but never follow through. They would say that they would never abandon their teammates but when the time of battle would come, they would flee as fast as they could.

Silence took over, no one spoke for a while, the atmosphere was still tense but it was slowly dying out.

'I sure am lucky..... I can't say that out loud now can I', thought Hayate.

"Sigh.... what should I do with you two... as a Sensei, I am angry at you but as Hayate, a citizen of Konoha, there is just one thing I can say.... thank you", said Hayate with a slight smile which he quickly replaced with a serious expression.

"What?"

Both Ryo and Hakuto thought that they would surely get scolded a lot but this.....

"Don't get happy yet, you will still be getting a punishment and I will make sure of it", said Hayate as he turned around.

"Now, let's leave."

Recovering from the shock, Ryo looked towards Hayate and with confusion in his voice, he said,

"Sensei, don't you want to know abou-"

"No, I will not ask you to tell me about how you are so fast or how you defeated that person, I have chosen to believe in you.... don't make me regret my decision, there must be a reason you haven't told me", said Hayate as he leaped to another tree.

Ryo looked towards Hakuto.

"Well, same as what Sensei said, what I am more interested in is who that scary man was and also who was that masked ninja who saved us", said Hakuto with a smirk, as he followed Hayate.

"Thank you for believing in me....", Ryo said in an emotional tone as he followed the two.

'I promise that when I become strong enough, you will be the first people to know.... Wait a minute... if I show them all my abilities what problems can even arise? The reason I am hiding it is to not get attention from Orochimaru, Zetsu, Danzo etc. Now that I think about it I should show them everything, that would be beneficial for the team. Sensei was willing to die for us and Hakuto was ready to fight with me against Zabuza so it's not like I don't trust them. Well..... let's do that after getting to the village', thought Ryo, making up his mind.

As they journeyed back to the village, Hayate told Hakuto all about who Zabuza was and also told him about the anbu and what they do. The journey was not met with any problems, it was just running through the forest.

"Finally! I am going to sleep so hard today *Yawn*", said Hakuto lazily as they just reached the village.

"You two should rest now, I will go report the mission to Hokage sama and then head home", said Hayate.

Just as Hayate and Hakuto were about to leave, Ryo stopped them.

"Wait..... can you please come to the regular training ground tomorrow morning, I have something I want to show you."

Hearing this, Hakuto and Hayate looked at each other for a moment and nodded.

"Okay we will be there at 6:30am", said Hayate.

"What? Who agreed to come that early? *Sigh* I wanted to sleep....." commented Hakuto with displeasure in his voice.

"I am sorry but it's important", said Ryo.

"Hey hey, don't apologise for that, we are friends aren't we? It's just that my Nara genes were kicking in, I will be there", said Hakuto as he started walking towards his home.

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At the Hokages office,

Minato was going through some documents but suddenly stopped.

A person with an anbu attire appeared in front of him.

Standing up from his chair, he looked towards the anbu and said,

"Welcome back Shisui, I assume Zabuza has been dealt with."

"Yes, he is being interrogated and his subordinate has been eliminated but....."

"But what, don't hesitate Shisui"

"And I was not the one who eliminated him, it was Ryo."

"Hmm..... Zabuza was around the location where Ryo was sent to so I guess it is not impossible for them to cross paths.....",said Minato as he went into thought.

"Hokage sama, I have one request", said Shisui removing his mask.

"Yes, go ahead, what is it you request of? I will help you all I can", Minato replied with a kind smile.

"It's about Ryo... when I saw him killing that person..... it made me think..... what are we fighting for... he is just ten..... it's not even the period of war..... there is no doubt that he did the job flawlessly... the other teams take the easier C rank mission for two years which doesn't usually involve killing and mostly focus on training, while he and his unfortunate teammate have to do this earlier. I want to protect this village, I want to help make this a place where such young children don't have to go and kill, a place where people can truly be happy, without worrying about getting killed. As for now, I request you to please remove Ryo from the mission of eliminating Danzo so that he doesn't have to do such kind of missions."

Minato walked towards Shisui, putting his hand on his shoulder he said,

"I know how you feel..... I had to take my team to war and unfortunately only one of them survived..... I wish I could go back in time and do things differently..... walking a path of ninja is never easy, we are fighting so that the people can be safe, I don't know weather a place which you described is possible or not, a place without war..... but I believe someday.... someday, someone will make it happen, all we can do is try and try again to make such a place ourselves. As for Ryo, you know how hard he has trained, I can't believe that a child can be so diligent. He is fighting for his family... if we tell him to stop, it will be an insult to his efforts, he told us that he wants to become stronger, even I would like to stop him from taking it so far but he has chosen his path, his ninja way, all we can do his support him. I purposely sent him and his team on a mission which involved high risk of combat, but I knew they would be able to handle it. Hayate is an elite swordsman and is a very good team leader, Hakuto is a very smart and cool headed kid, something you would not expect a kid to be and Ryo, you know how strong and reliable he is so I was not worried at all."

After thinking for a moment, a smile appeared on Shisuis face,

"Yes, I will support him, I will do my best to help him become stronger, no the strongest! From tomorrow, I will increase his training, thank you for all the advice Hokage sama."

"I will be leaving now", said Shisui as he flickered away after thanking Minato.

'I am sorry Ryo, this is for your own good' thought Minato.

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Authors Note:

Hello readers, I hope you are doing well.

I have some news. I have one last round of exam on 28th August, I mean only the top 7-8% people out of around 1 million people from all around my country qualify for this test, not that anyone asked. So anyways uploads will be slow till 28th August. This is the last test for sure. I hope you have a great day 😀.