Animal Path

One squad of ninjas after another left the village.

Beside the gate, a wall was covered with kunai bearing name tags.

Because this was an emergency mission, there was no time to issue mission forms or exit permits. Leaving behind a name-tagged kunai was the only way to register their departure. The two ninjas guarding the gate widened their eyes. It was time to test their eyesight.

After an unknown amount of time, no more ninjas left the village.

The two sighed in relief, gathered up the pile of kunai with name tags, and lazily sat down.

Some stingy Jonin would come back for their kunai, so they had to keep them safe.

But the best part was that they could still sell them for a good price. Their drinks at the tavern that evening were secured.

"Get to work. Once we're done, we can go drinking tonight. You don't want to work overtime either, right?"

They took out paper and brush and began quickly registering the names one by one.

Whenever this happened, the gate guards would curse everyone's various sloppy, strange, and ridiculously long names.

"Hurry up. When will we ever finish writing all this?"

"Aren't you curious? The village is making such a huge commotion." His colleague asked, "This isn't like the previous mobilization. It looks like an emergency mission."

"What's there to be curious about?" the ninja said. "It's a war, that's all."

"You think the enemy has reached the vicinity of the village, which is why there's such a big reaction?"

"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. Don't run your mouth and cause panic in the village," the ninja said. "The village hasn't told everyone to evacuate, has it? That means the enemy is still far away."

"If