Determination

"How many enemies Hoshi?" In the clearing, Asahi was looking around for any signs.

"Four, two hiding behind that tree, one to the right and one near that bush."

"Just that? Are you sure?" when obtaining confirmation "I will take care of this, go ahead after this clearing is the Country of Rivers the Tanigakure ninjas should not be far away" approaching Hoshi's ear he said "and be careful with them"

Opening his eyes for a moment, Hoshi nodded "be careful Asahi, let's go" when they were about to leave the clearing the hidden ninjas again attacked from a distance.

But this time, Asahi responded with his own shuriken, the collision produced many flashes.

By identifying the places where the attacks came from, he agreed with what Hoshi said.

Throwing some kunai to those places, the four ninjas revealed themselves, wearing an outfit without affiliation and had half of their faces covered with cloth.

"Just a kid, this will be easy" said one of them mockingly.

Pulling the sword out of his sheath, Asahi watched them calmly, but inside he was very nervous , it was the first time that he had engaged in a real battle.

The unknown ninjas pulled out kunais and ran towards Asahi.

Strengthening his grip on his sword, Asahi recalled Nōka and Sakumo's teachings.

When the first ninja was close to him, he attacked with the kunai, soon the others caught up with him and started attacking him, Asahi just backed off and deflected the attack when he couldn't.

After a few rounds, Asahi was surprised by one thing, 'these ninjas are very slow!' he thought he.

Compared to the speed of his masters, even if he added up the speed of the four's attacks, they were still slower.

Another thing that had to be said, was Asahi did not carry the weights, he was not as fast and not as stupid as Rock Lee, to carry weights at all times, and less on a mission outside the village.

That day while he was practicing Soru with the weights on, when he realized it, he cursed for a full hour, but he hadn't had time to practice again, shortly after Nōka arrived and they left for this mission.

As he kept dodging, the other ninjas were just as surprised that he 'this kid is fast' they all thought.

Walking away, they decided to use ninjutsu.

"Fire Style: Combined Flame."

The four of them released a stream of fire that came together.

Seeing the flames approaching Asahi frowned.

"Water Style: Water Wall Formation."

This was the B-rank version of the jutsu that he first learned.

A rotating vortex made of water formed around Asahi protecting him from the fire and generating a wave of steam.

When the flames stopped Asahi canceled the jutsu.

Quickly retreating from where he was standing, he saw several kunai fall into place.

He decided it was best to hide before the steam completely dissipated.

When the battlefield became visible, only the unknown ninjas and a patch of burned grass remained.

"Where did the boy go I" before he could continue speaking he felt a strong blow to his neck and fell to the ground.

Asahi had snuck in behind the furthest ninja and kicked him hard on the back of the neck.

When they heard the sound and saw his partner fall, the other three ran towards Asahi.

Deflecting the first sword attack from him, he kicked his abdomen, with enough force to send him to the ground.

The other received the treatment of the first, Asahi hit him on the neck and passed out.

Soon there was only one left, Asahi could recognize him as the one who had said he would be easy to deal with.

Backing away, the unknown ninja created space between the two.

Asahi ran towards him and they began a melee battle, although this ninja was not much stronger than the other three, he seemed to have much more experience.

When Asahi believed that he had it, he managed to escape, furthermore Asahi may not have realized it, but the reason for this was that he never attacked with the intention of killing.

Noticing that the other party, he seemed to start to get used to his attacks, Asahi backed away.

"Is that all boy? You may be faster and stronger, but you're still very green."

Hearing the taunts of the enemy, Asahi remained calm, he knew he lacked experience, keeping the sword he made several hand seals.

The enemy seeing that he kept the sword mocked more "Have you already given up, are you going to run away? Konoha is graduated to anyone these days"

Seeing Asahi perform hand seals, he stopped taunting and prepared to retreat or counterattack.

Taking the sword again, Asahi spat a stream of wind onto the blade.

Seeing this, the ninja relaxed a bit, he thought that Asahi would launch a powerful ninjutsu, the truth is that he was surprised that the boy had blocked the combined attack of the four, what he did not know, was that Asahi had spent a third of his chakra in defending himself against his jutsu.

Pouncing with his maximum speed on the enemy, with the sword covered in chakra, Asahi cut, and this is where the unknown ninja went wrong, being surprised by the speed of the attack, he did not dodge, and decided to raise the kunai to block.

Like a hot knife slicing through butter, the kunai split in two, the sword making its way into the ninja's body.

With a splatter of blood, the sword made a vertical cut through the ninja's torso, and they both stopped.

The ninja had a brief moment of shock, before dying, Ashahi froze for a moment due to the bloody scene, and then suppressed the discomfort he felt.

Although in his past life, if someone close to him was in danger, he would not hesitate to kill, the scene in front of him was a bit too much at the moment.

Knowing that it was not the time, he ignored the body, only to observe that the ninja who had hit in the stomach got up and when he saw the body of his companion, when he saw the other two passed out, he began to escape .

A bit overwhelmed by the scene Asahi did not know what to do for the moment, when the ninja was about to leave the clearing, two shuriken reached him and he fell to the ground.

preparing for another enemy, Asahi relaxed to see that it was Nōka and Fugaku.

"Asahi-kun, are you okay?" Upon reaching Ashahi's side, Nōka asked a bit worried.

'' I'm fine Nōka-sensei, just a little ... confused '' before Nōka said something more continuous '' who are these people? '' pointing to the two on the ground and ignoring the one with a big cut on his chest .

"The previous ones were hired mercenaries, but I suspect that these are rebels from Tanigakure." Approaching the ninjas on the ground, he woke them up, when they saw their situation they began to ask for mercy, shaking their heads at the "quality" of These ninjas, he began to question them, quickly and without much effort, they revealed what they knew.

These were chunin, who the rebel leader ordered to intercept the intelligence carried by the Tani shinobi, they also revealed that there was a rebel spy in the high command of Tani.

no more cabillation Nōka ended the life of one and when he was about to kill the other he stopped.

"Asahi-kun" without the need for Nōka to tell him what to do and before the terrified eyes of the ninja Asahi approached with his sword in hand.

When the ninja was preparing to try to escape, a simple look from Nōka stopped him, even more scared, the ninja opened his mouth to plead.

'I'm sorry, to survive I must get used to this' with an apology in his mind, Asahi ended the life of the ninja, piercing his chest with the sword.

'' We must catch up with Hoshi-kun, let's go '' After seeing that Asahi was fine Nōka started to run, while starting to follow her sensei, Asahi remembered a quote from her old world 'Mercy with the enemy is cruelty to yourself 'by repeating this phrase in your heart, the will and determination to survive what the future held for you grew stronger.