Ueno Kei shook his head at Naruto with a cold expression. There was no room for negotiation on this matter. Ueno Kei would not forgive ninja who betrayed the village. That was a naked betrayal, whatever reasons they might have had! Of course, exceptions like Itachi Uchiha existed—after all, he had merely acted under the village's orders.
Still, Ueno Kei felt a flicker of helplessness when it came to Naruto.
"Nara Shikamaru! As a chunin and the captain of this team, you need to understand! Your foremost responsibility is to complete the mission and ensure your teammates' safety! Minimize casualties as much as possible! Do you understand? Don't trade your teammates' blood for something laughable and absurd! I guarantee you—if you, as the captain, are that naive too, you will definitely pay a price in blood! By then, I'm afraid you won't even have the chance to regret it!" Ueno Kei said coldly.
Nara Shikamaru's body trembled. The laziness in his eyes gradually vanished, replaced by utter solemnity.
"Yes! I understand, Lord Kei!" Nara Shikamaru answered in a deep voice. Naruto and Sakura had fallen silent by then as well. Sasuke was indeed important, an important companion of Team Seven, but as Ueno Kei had said, they could not demand that their other teammates pay such a high price and take such enormous risks because of that.
"However, if possible, you can decide for yourself. Understand?" Ueno Kei hesitated briefly before saying so.
"Big Brother Kei...!" Naruto looked up in delight. Though the words were vague, how could they fail to understand what Ueno Kei meant? It simply meant that, if possible, they did not need to kill Sasuke. They could bring him back to the village first. For Naruto, that was enough. Naruto had always believed Sasuke had only