"Clan Leader..."
Three Tsugawa Ninja from different branches had temporarily formed a squad. One of them tried to enter the central battlefield and support the Clan Leader, who was locked in fierce combat with the enemy.
However, the other two did not agree.
"We should prioritize rescuing our people. That enemy can be left to the Clan Leader. We have to trust his strength."
Another ninja immediately agreed:
"Right. We have to ensure our people's safety first. The entire village has become a battlefield. If we don't protect them, those civilians without combat ability will suffer tremendous losses."
"We have to get the civilians out of the village as quickly as possible."
To put it bluntly, a powerhouse like the Clan Leader could both fight and defend himself, so arriving a little later to support him probably wouldn't cause any problems. But if they were even one second late helping the civilians, those people would immediately drop dead right in front of them.
Although many people regarded ninja as bloodless, emotionless killing machines, even ninja like that had blood relatives worth protecting.
After losing a considerable degree of organization, the ninja began relying on their own judgment to decide what to do.
At times like this, choosing to save their own relatives as much as possible was undoubtedly their instinctive priority.
They argued for a while longer, but in the end, the minority obeyed the majority. After providing ideological support and assistance to the Clan Leader, who was still fighting, they chose to help the "ordinary members of the clan" in practical terms.
The three searched through the flames of war, sheltered some civilians, and then escorted them toward the outskirts of the village.
Where there were ninja who chose to protect civilians, there were naturally also ninja who insisted