No More Mercy

The next morning, the sky was clear and bright.

Guided by his body clock, Uchiha Aozora woke up right on time.

After washing up, taking care of business, and admiring his handsome face, Aozora changed into his light cloth armor, put on his forehead protector, and headed out.

He first went to the place where he usually trained with Might Guy in the mornings and left him a message. Then, after buying breakfast, he headed to the Hokage Building to gather.

When he arrived at the mission hall, Aozora found an unusually excited Sai and a rare energetic Hayate.

"Aozora, you're late," Sai said impatiently.

Aozora looked up at the clock hanging in the hall. "It's only 7:45. The teacher isn't even here yet!"

As he spoke, Aburame Shibi walked up behind him. "I'm here!"

Since this was their first C-Rank Mission, the authority to accept missions for Team 3 was once again handed over to their instructor.

After waiting in line for two minutes, Team 3 accepted their first C-Rank Mission.

Aozora took the number tag and headed to the archives to collect the mission scroll.

After receiving the scroll, Aozora opened it and found that it was a bandit extermination mission.

This surprised him. He had thought they would start with Escort Missions.

After all, exterminating bandits would definitely involve killing.

Though he had long prepared himself mentally to be a ninja, Aozora still found it rather sudden. Shouldn't rookies be shown a little more care?

With complicated feelings, Aozora handed the mission scroll to Aburame Shibi.

Aburame Shibi took the scroll, read through it, and said directly, "This mission is to exterminate bandits. We'll discuss the details on the way. Follow me now."

With that, he tossed the scroll to Sai and took the lead out of the mission hall.

The three hurried after Aburame Shibi.

On the road, Hayate and Sai took turns reading the scroll and gained a general understanding of the mission.

Two hundred kilometers from Konoha lay a village.

It had mountains, water, and small woods.

Though the villagers were ordinary people, they lived by the mountains and rivers, with abundant resources and far from the ravages of war. Their lives had been carefree and happy.

Who would have expected a group of bandits to suddenly appear recently? They occupied a mountain near the village, robbed passing merchants, and treated the villagers like livestock. Every so often, they came to demand money and even abducted women and children.

Unable to endure it any longer, the villagers pooled together enough reward money and sent a young man to Konoha to post the mission.

As they raced along the forest path, Aburame Shibi's emotionless voice sounded beside them.

"Listen carefully. This mission is to exterminate bandits.

"The mission scroll makes it clear that the enemy are vicious criminals. They burn, kill, plunder, and commit every evil imaginable. You do not need to show them any mercy.

"Moreover, as ninjas, killing is commonplace. If you still want to be ninjas, then this is a hurdle you must overcome."

After saying that, he stopped wasting words and focused on traveling.

The three silently reflected on Aburame Shibi's words, preparing themselves mentally.

As a result, despite the scenery being so different from that within the village, none of them had the mood to look around or properly appreciate the beauty outside Konoha.

Two hundred kilometers was no short distance even for ninjas. Team 3 rushed all the way and finally arrived at the village around noon the next day.

Standing atop a mountain peak, Team 3 looked into the distance at the village that had posted the mission.

The village had been built halfway up two connected mountains. Homes were scattered casually between the two peaks, and a clear stream flowed in front of the village.

Golden terraced fields wound around both mountains, layer upon layer, rising and falling in uneven tiers. It was easy to imagine how much effort the villagers had put into them.

The village homes were also beautifully built. The entirely wooden structures had a unique charm amid the mountains.

Yet now, neither the golden terraces nor the beautiful homes remained intact.

The foundations of the golden terraces had been burned black, while many of the beautiful houses had collapsed.

Seeing this, Inuzuka Aya's sense of justice surged. "Those damned bandits are truly inhuman."

Aozora added, "Let's carry out justice on behalf of Heaven!"

Hayate said, "I'll wipe them out on behalf of moonlight!"

Aozora could not help glancing sideways. If you were doing it on behalf of the moon, I'd call you a real man!

Seeing the anger rise in the three, Aburame Shibi said, "Go. Carry out the mission."

The bandit stronghold was built atop the mountain, with bandits guarding the main paths. Holding the high ground, they had left the villagers helpless.

But such difficulties were not worth mentioning to ninjas.

Team 3 did not climb cliffs or sneak around. They simply walked straight up along the main path.

As they neared a checkpoint guarded by bandits, Sai raised a hand to stop them. "There are three guards on the distant cliff."

The three exchanged glances, and Aozora said, "One each!"

Though it was daytime, a ninja's stealth abilities were beyond those of ordinary people.

When the three approached from the side, the three bandits on the cliff did not sense even the slightest danger.

Aozora stopped after sneaking within a hundred meters. Only after Sai and Hayate burst into action did he fling out a shuriken.

At the sound of blades leaving their sheaths, the three turned around. In an instant, one was beheaded, one collapsed while clutching the shuriken lodged in his neck, and the last was knocked unconscious by Sai.

A fountain of blood erupted from the headless corpse, splashing over Sai and Hayate.

Blood continuously seeped through the fingers of the man clutching his neck, his eyes filled with terror and resentment.

Sai and Hayate, standing at the scene, both looked awful. Sai clutched her stomach and dry-heaved.

Though Hayate remained standing, his body trembled uncontrollably, and his face was frighteningly pale.

Aozora slowly walked over and carefully watched the bandit's meaningless struggles as he clutched his neck, along with the gradually fading light in his eyes.

He knew that, in the Shinobi World, he would have to face this sooner or later.

This was a world where, if you did not kill others, they would kill you.

Besides, the first person he had killed was a bad man. Killing one person meant saving others, didn't it?

After giving themselves a long mental pep talk, the three finally came back to their senses.

Expressionless, Aozora said, "Those three were scouts. There may be a shift change, so we need to speed things up."

"If we let the bandits escape, another village will suffer."

Sai and Hayate nodded at his words.

After Sai stabbed the unconscious bandit with a kunai, the three ran toward the stronghold.

This time, they did not hide. The bandits quickly spotted them and rushed out one after another, carrying broadswords and wooden clubs.

They were startled when they saw the forehead protectors marking the three as ninjas, but their fear quickly ebbed away like the tide. Their opponents were just three little brats.

"They're just a bunch of little brats. Wearing forehead protectors makes them ninjas?" a bearded man holding a mountain-cleaving blade snarled.

With that, he led a group of bandits charging toward them.

No matter how strong the bandits were, they were still only ordinary people. They had no Substitution Technique, and their reactions were slow. To the three, they were nothing but moving targets.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!—

One bandit after another was struck in the chest by kunai or had shuriken buried in their eyes. In an instant, a whole group fell.

Aozora's kunai showed no more mercy. Each one took a life.