Morality

After the pleasant meal at Yakiniku Q ended.

Only one sorrowful person remained.

The next day.

Rather than taking them to accept easy, cheerful D-Rank Missions like other jonin instructors, Kotetsu Hagane took them to broaden their horizons a little.

He gathered Team 11 at the training grounds once more.

All three were somewhat puzzled, especially Nakamura Daisuke, who was still silently mourning his deflated wallet.

Kotetsu Hagane looked at them, his expression gradually turning cold and serious, even more solemn than during yesterday's test.

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

He began by congratulating them, but there was no congratulatory note in his voice.

"But you must understand that being a ninja is not child's play. Carrying out missions means you may encounter enemies. It means fighting. It means... life and death."

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

"The knowledge in books and sparring at the training grounds cannot truly make you understand this world's cruelty.

"And I, as your teacher, as a ninja of the Torture and Interrogation Force...

"I believe your first lesson should not be some mission involving finding cats or catching dogs."

As he said this, his tone gradually lowered.

"Instead, you should see the darkness and bloodshed of the ninja world with your own eyes."

After a brief pause, he changed the subject.

"Of course, this is also for your own good. If we leave the village to carry out a mission and have no other choice, would you dare to raise your weapons and kill the enemy?"

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

With things said to this point, their expressions began to turn tense and solemn.

Yet Ning Xue felt a sense of foreboding.

Sugiyama Tetsu.

Could Sensei be taking us to experience what a real ninja is?

Nakamura Daisuke.

Sensei isn't taking us to the cinema to watch a horror movie, is he?

"Follow me." Kotetsu Hagane turned and headed toward a relatively remote, heavily guarded area of the village.

After passing through several gates guarded by ninja, even the air around them seemed to grow oppressive and chilly.

The buildings here were dark in tone, and the air faintly carried the smell of disinfectant and... an almost imperceptible scent of rust.

Eventually, they stopped before a heavy iron door. There were no signs on it, only the cold gleam of metal. This was Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force.

"Once we're inside, stay quiet. Watch carefully, and listen carefully."

After giving them one final warning, Kotetsu Hagane pushed open the iron door.

A stronger stench rushed at them, mingled with blood, filth, and despair.

It was accompanied by the clattering of chains and muffled cries of agony from within.

Sugiyama Tetsu and Nakamura Daisuke's faces instantly went pale. Their bodies began to tremble involuntarily, and their stomachs churned violently.

They had heard of the dark side of being a ninja, but witnessing it firsthand was far more shocking than they had imagined. They had thought darkness was something that belonged to others.

And Ning Xue...

The instant the door opened, it was as if an invisible sledgehammer had struck him. He froze where he stood, his breathing growing heavy as his heartbeat gradually quickened.

What lay before him was a darkness he had never seen at any point in either his past or present life.

A man tied to a torture rack was covered in whip marks and burns. His head drooped, and he was barely breathing.

In another room, an interrogator was slowly and precisely using chakra to stimulate a prisoner's nerve clusters. What the man let out was no longer a scream, but a hoarse, beastlike howl.

In yet another cell, a captured rogue ninja stared blankly ahead, as though his soul had been utterly destroyed, leaving only a numb shell behind. Seeing that no more intelligence could be extracted, his interrogator brought down a blade.

"Urgh..." He gagged, his face turning even paler than Sugiyama Tetsu's as fine beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

His pupils contracted slightly. For the first time, those eyes that had always been calm as still water revealed an unmistakable terror and... revulsion.

After gagging several times, he steadied himself against the wall, only for a powerful wave of dizziness to hit him.

What followed were the morals and values he had held as an ordinary person for sixteen years.

"Protecting the forest is everyone's responsibility." The childhood cartoon he had loved most, Boonie Bears.

"At the beginning of life, people are naturally good." The Three Character Classic he had recited as a child.

"Respect life and cherish life." The moral standard of his previous life.

"I will not give up, because I am a hero." A manga anime.

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

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

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

Memory after memory surged into Ning Xue's mind, finally stopping at the last two sentences.

"Confess and be treated leniently; resist and be punished severely."

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

Yet reality dealt him an even crueler blow, forcing him to confront it.

His memories were no longer of the values and morals from his previous life, but...

"Ninjas exist to protect the village!" Iruka-sensei's speech.

"Tools... the Branch Family are merely tools of the Main Branch." The Main Branch's cold eyes.

"...Why..." His father's icy corpse.

"Any means necessary..." Kotetsu Hagane's words during the test.

"It was Lord Danzo who made us abandon them." Ran's words.

"Respect life and cherish life." The deeply ingrained values of his previous life.

Two utterly different sets of values collided and tore at each other violently in his mind, like two savage beasts constantly crashing about within his consciousness.

He felt as though his head were about to explode, and another fierce wave of nausea rose in his stomach.

Kotetsu Hagane had noticed Ning Xue's unusual and intense reaction long ago.

He had expected all three children to react this way, but he had not expected Ning Xue's response to be so severe.

It was almost a physiological revulsion and fear, making him wonder whether this kid was actually weak.

But when he remembered the boy's ruthless moves yesterday, he dismissed that thought.

Sugiyama Tetsu and Nakamura Daisuke had already recovered somewhat. Now, they merely felt sick and nauseated when facing these sights.

Seeing Ning Xue's intense reaction, they could not help but be surprised.

"Is Ning Xue okay?" Sugiyama Tetsu asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Ning Xue forced himself to reply through the nausea.

Seeing that it was about enough, Kotetsu Hagane spoke loudly to the three of them.

"Remember this feeling." Kotetsu Hagane's tone was icy.

"Remember the smell and sounds of this place. They will remind you that you must never show mercy during a mission. Being merciful to an enemy is cruelty toward yourself and your companions."

"They will also remind you that no matter the circumstances, you must hold fast to your own will. Otherwise, your fate will be the same as theirs."

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

Nakamura Daisuke slowly lowered his hand as well. Though his complexion remained awful, he seemed to be trying to digest this brutal lesson.

Leaning against the wall, Ning Xue took several deep breaths and forcibly suppressed the discomfort in his stomach and the turmoil in his heart.

He raised his head. The terror in his white eyes slowly faded, replaced by a far more complicated emotion.