Morality

After the pleasant meal at Yakiniku Q concluded, only one person remained sorrowful.

The next day, Kamizuki Izumo did not take them to accept easy, lighthearted D-Rank Missions like other instructors; instead, he took them to see a little bit of the real world.

He summoned Team 11 to the training ground once again.

The three of them were somewhat puzzled, especially Nakamura Daisuke, who was still silently mourning his shrunken wallet.

Kamizuki Izumo looked at them, his expression gradually turning cold and earnest, even more serious than during yesterday's test.

"Congratulations on passing yesterday's test and officially becoming my subordinates."

He spoke the opening line to celebrate them, but there was no congratulatory tone in his voice.

"But you must understand, being a ninja is not child's play. Executing missions means you may encounter enemies, it means combat, and it means... life and death."

His gaze swept over the three of them, lingering slightly on Ning Xue.

"Knowledge from books and sparring in the training ground cannot make you truly understand the cruelty of this world."

"And I, as your teacher and a ninja of the Torture and Interrogation Force, believe that your first lesson should not be some task like finding cats or walking dogs."

As he said this, his tone gradually deepened.

"It should be to let you see with your own eyes the darkness and bloodshed of the ninja world."

After a brief pause, he changed the subject.

"Of course, this is also for your own good. If we are outside the village executing missions and are forced into a corner, will you have the courage to wield your weapons and take down the enemy?"

"And when you experience killing for the first time, will you be able to remain calm quickly?"

With things laid out so clearly, the expressions of the group began to grow tense and solemn.

Yet, Ning Xue felt a sense of ominous foreboding.

Sugiyama Tetsu: Is the teacher going to take us to experience what a real ninja is?

Nakamura Daisuke: The teacher wouldn't be taking us to a movie theater to watch a horror film, would he?

"Follow me." Kamizuki Izumo turned and walked toward a relatively remote and heavily guarded area of the village.

Passing through several gates guarded by ninjas, the surrounding air seemed to become oppressive and chilly.

The architecture here was dark in tone, and the air was faintly permeated with the scent of disinfectant and... a lingering, metallic tang of rust.

Finally, they stopped in front of a heavy iron door. There were no markings on it, only a cold, metallic sheen. This was the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.

"After we go in, stay quiet, watch carefully, and listen carefully."

Kamizuki Izumo gave one final instruction before pushing open the iron door.

A much heavier stench, mixed with blood, filth, and despair, rushed toward them.

Accompanying it were the sounds of clashing iron chains and muffled wails from within.

Sugiyama Tetsu and Nakamura Daisuke's faces turned deathly pale in an instant; their bodies trembled uncontrollably, and their stomachs churned violently.

Although they had heard of the dark side of the ninja world, seeing it with their own eyes provided a visceral impact that far exceeded their imagination. (They had assumed the "darkness" was something else entirely.)

As for Ning Xue...

The moment the door opened, he felt as if he had been struck by an invisible hammer. He froze in place, his breathing heavy, his heartbeat gradually accelerating.

What he saw before him was a darkness he had never encountered in his previous life or his current one.

A man tied to a torture rack, his body covered in whip marks and burns, hung his head, gasping his final breaths.

In another room, an interrogator was using a slow and precise method, stimulating the prisoner's nerve nodes with chakra; the sound the man emitted was no longer a scream, but a hoarse, beast-like wail.

In yet another cell, a rogue ninja sat with hollow eyes, as if his soul had been completely destroyed, leaving only a numb shell behind. The person interrogating him, seeing that no more information could be extracted, brought his blade down.

"Ugh..." He gagged, his face instantly turning even paler than Sugiyama Tetsu's, fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

His pupils contracted slightly, and for the first time, his eyes—which had always been as calm as still water—revealed undisguised fear and... repulsion.

After retching a few times, he leaned against the wall to steady himself, but a wave of intense dizziness washed over him.

Following that came the morals and values he had held for sixteen years as an ordinary person.

"Protecting the forest is everyone's responsibility." (His favorite childhood cartoon, Boonie Bears.)

"At the beginning of life, human nature is inherently good." (The Three Character Classic he memorized as a child.)

"Respect life, cherish life." (The moral standards of his past life.)

"I will not give up, because I am a hero." (Manga series.)

"I won't let you destroy the Star Planet." (Happy Heroes.)

"Daddy, where are we going?" Father and son.

"With great power comes great responsibility." Spider-Man.

Scenes of memories flooded Ning Xue's mind, finally settling on the last two phrases.

"Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist."

"You are the sun at eight or nine in the morning."

However, reality would deal him a far more brutal blow, forcing him to confront the truth.

His memories were no longer the values and morals of his past life, but rather...

"Ninjas exist to protect the village!" Iruka's lecture.

"Tools... the Branch Family are merely tools for the Main Branch." The cold gaze of the Main Branch.

"...Why..." His father's cold, lifeless body.

"By any means necessary..." Kamizuki Izumo's words during the test.

"It was Lord Danzo who ordered us to discard them." Ran's words.

"Respect life, cherish life." The deeply ingrained values of his past life.

Two diametrically opposed sets of values collided and battled fiercely in his mind, like two violent beasts crashing against each other within his psyche.

He felt as if his head were about to explode, and once again, a wave of intense nausea surged up from his stomach.

Kamizuki Izumo had long since noticed Ning Xue's abnormal and violent reaction.

He had anticipated that these three children would react this way, but he had not expected Ning Xue's reaction to be so extreme.

It was a near-physiological disgust and terror, which couldn't help but make him wonder: was this kid a weakling?

But then, recalling the ruthless moves the boy had displayed yesterday, he dismissed that thought.

Sugiyama Tetsu and Nakamura Daisuke had already recovered; for them, the situation now only elicited a sense of nausea and revulsion.

Seeing Ning Xue's intense reaction, they couldn't help but look on in surprise.

"Is Ning Xue alright?" Sugiyama Tetsu asked with concern.

"I'm fine," Ning Xue replied, forcing down the nausea.

Kamizuki Izumo, sensing that enough time had passed, spoke loudly to the three of them.

"Remember this feeling," Kamizuki Izumo said, his tone cold.

"Remember the smell and the sounds here. They will remind you that you must never be soft-hearted during a mission; to be merciful to an enemy is to be cruel to yourself and your comrades."

"This also serves as a reminder that no matter the circumstances, you must hold fast to your own will, or else you will end up just like them."

Sugiyama Tetsu nodded firmly, the fear in his eyes gradually replaced by a heavy sense of resolve.

Nakamura Daisuke also slowly lowered his hands; although his face remained pale, he seemed to be struggling to digest this brutal lesson.

Ning Xue leaned against the wall, taking several deep breaths to forcibly suppress the discomfort in his stomach and the turmoil in his heart.

He raised his head, and in his white eyes, the terror slowly faded, replaced by a far more complex emotion.