The Ninja Way (Part 2)

"You did an excellent job dealing with those bandits, but there was one huge oversight!"

Jiraiya straightened up, the usual playfulness gone from his face. He looked directly at the young people.

"Huh!? What was it?"

They had never expected Jiraiya to bring up so casually the thing they'd been so worried about. Unlike what they'd imagined, he didn't seem to care at all that they had killed the bandits. Instead, he said they had made a serious mistake.

After they returned, the young people had only thought about how to explain themselves to Jiraiya. They hadn't given much thought to what they had done.

"Killing is hard to accept, but once you understand its true nature, it isn't necessarily a bad thing!"

Jiraiya knew all too well the turmoil in their hearts. The first time he'd killed someone, he had also been full of doubts. But after experiencing more, looking back, he'd only thought himself terribly naïve.

It wasn't good to keep their doubts about killing bottled up. Rather than slowly explaining things and trying to comfort them, it was better to act unconcerned from the start. They had plenty of time ahead of them. As they grew, everything would fall into place naturally.

"How could killing possibly be a good thing? Taking someone's life on a whim—that's the most despicable, unforgivable thing there is!"

Yahiko trembled with agitation. He thought of everything he had been through since the war broke out, of his parents helplessly falling beneath their attackers' blades. Killing had destroyed everything good, and yet Jiraiya was saying it was a good thing! Yahiko couldn't accept that!

"Calm down, Yahiko. Listen carefully to what Teacher Jiraiya said first!" Konan grabbed the agitated Yahiko.

"Yahiko," Jiraiya barked sternly at the furious boy. "Konan is right. You didn't really listen to what I meant. Pay attention: when I say 'killing,' I don't mean slaughtering people indiscriminately. I mean killing with a purpose and principles, in a way that follows your heart."

"Killing that follows your heart!?"

Stopped by Konan and chastened by Jiraiya, Yahiko gradually calmed down.

"Exactly." Jiraiya nodded seriously.

"Just like when you decided to kill those bandits. Think back to what motivated you."

"Ask yourselves whether you regret it now, whether you regret the decision you made."

Before the young people could react to Jiraiya's words, Yuehua Ai, who had been picking his teeth with a wooden toothpick, casually cut in.

"Of course I don't regret it. People like that are a blight on the world even when they're alive. We killed them. So what's there to regret?"

The young people couldn't help wanting to cover their faces at Ai's response. If anyone hadn't cared about killing people from the very start, it was this little guy. He'd treated the bandits like cabbages, chopping them down without even blinking.

The others couldn't understand Ai's reaction, mainly because his age was so misleading. If they'd been traveling with Jiraiya and he'd reacted the way Ai had, they wouldn't have thought much of it.

To Yuehua Ai, the young people's reaction was like that of elementary schoolers who had broken a window at school in his previous life. The children worried themselves sick, but to an adult, it was no big deal.

"Uh..." Yuehua Ai's blunt answer left Jiraiya at a loss. But although Ai's words were crude, on reflection, they made a lot of sense.

Looking at Ai's young face, Jiraiya felt a headache coming on. To be honest, Ai was the apprentice he understood the least, despite being the youngest.

When Ai handled things, Jiraiya often felt that his reactions were beyond what someone his age should be capable of. The way he dealt with people and situations seemed more like someone Jiraiya's age.

"Teacher Jiraiya, you said we made a huge oversight. What was it?"

As Jiraiya pondered to himself, Yuehua Ai spoke up again.

After turning it over in his mind, Jiraiya still couldn't find a clear explanation. Since he couldn't figure it out, he couldn't be bothered to keep thinking about it. He wasn't the type to fixate on things.

"The oversight..." Jiraiya repeated, then turned his gaze to Yahiko and the other two.

"The biggest oversight was that some of them got away. Two bandits pretended to be dead, and after you left, they escaped!"

"What?!" The young people stared at one another. To be honest, they hadn't even thought to check. In the heat of their anger, they had killed the bandits, and once they were all down, the young people had been too distraught to think of anything else.

Hearing Jiraiya's words, Yuehua Ai realized he'd been careless. He had left the remaining bandits to the young people and walked out of the cave. After that, Yahiko and the others had handled everything themselves, and he hadn't checked afterward.

"All right, come over and sit down. Looks like I still have to give you a proper lesson!"

Jiraiya beckoned to them, then sat facing the group. Yuehua Ai obediently got up and joined Yahiko and the others, forming a row before sitting down opposite Jiraiya.

Once everyone was seated, Jiraiya began. "You've been studying and training to become ninja under my guidance for quite some time now. I've overlooked something: while teaching you how to train, I forgot to tell you what a ninja is!"

"Now tell me, what does being a ninja mean to you? Why are ninja called ninja?"

"Ninja..." The young people fell quiet in thought. They had always wanted to become ninja, but had never considered what a ninja really was.

After thinking for a while and recalling everything he knew, Yahiko spoke. "A ninja is someone who can use ninjutsu, right? Through grueling training, ninja can gain strength ordinary people can't hope to match, then use that strength to make their wishes come true!"

Nagato and Konan nodded quietly. They had the same amount of experience as Yahiko, and their understanding of ninja was much the same.

"A ninja is someone who can protect everything they treasure." Thinking Yahiko's answer was too simple, Nagato added another thought.

Jiraiya nodded, but didn't immediately offer an opinion. In his heart, though, he knew their understanding of ninja was still superficial.

He gathered his thoughts and was about to speak when he noticed Yuehua Ai with his head slightly bowed, as if lost in thought. Suddenly, Jiraiya felt curious. Ai was the sort who wouldn't answer unless asked, but when someone did ask him, he often came out with something startling.

"Ai, what's your understanding of ninja?"

"Me..." Yuehua Ai blinked.

"Mm." Jiraiya nodded, and Yahiko and the others turned to look at him, too.

"Ninja, huh..." Yuehua Ai grimaced. Why ask such a maddening question? Was he supposed to say ninja were strategic weapons? That wouldn't suit who he was supposed to be, either. Sigh, I don't like lying. Better to play dumb and act innocent.

"A ninja is a ninja. What else is there to understand?"

"Uh..." Jiraiya grimaced. "I'm asking about the nature of a ninja."

"Their nature? Isn't their nature just being human?" Yuehua Ai looked back at him with an innocent, utterly bewildered expression.

"Ah—haha, that's not a bad way to put it." Jiraiya chuckled awkwardly and shook his head. He really couldn't tell whether Ai genuinely hadn't understood what he meant.

Looking into Ai's bright, clear eyes, Jiraiya thought over his words. He couldn't help feeling that there was a deeper meaning to them.

Yes. Wasn't the nature of a ninja simply that they were human?

Jiraiya couldn't help thinking of his teacher, the Third Hokage. Wasn't the Will of Fire he had passed down rooted in putting people first? At their core, ninja existed for the sake of people.

Though Ai's words seemed profound, that wasn't what Jiraiya wanted to talk about. He clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

"Your understanding of ninja isn't bad, but it's still far too shallow. I'm going to tell you about the most fundamental and important thing about being a ninja."

"Ai's words gave me something to think about. He was right: the essence of a ninja is being human. But ninja are different from ordinary people."

"Ninja aren't weapons for certain people, and they don't exist to kill and fight over things. Being a ninja isn't just an ordinary profession. On the contrary, it's the noblest profession in the world!"

"Think about the state of the Ninja World. You may doubt what I'm saying, but before you do, let me tell you where ninja came from."

"Ninja have existed since ancient times, though back then they were called the Ninjutsu Sect. The Ninjutsu Sect was founded by the Sage of Six Paths, who is said to have brought about an era of peace. Legend has it that the Sage of Six Paths created all things, founded the Ninjutsu Sect, and spread a special energy known as chakra."

"The Ninjutsu Sect was founded on the principle that ninjutsu and strength were not meant for violence, but were teachings that could lead to peace. Time passed, and the Ninjutsu Sect of old eventually came to be known as the ninja."

"Though the name changed a little, its most essential character—the 'nin' in 'ninja'—did not. The character 'nin' has a blade above a heart. The blade represents weapons and force; the heart represents a person's own heart."

"For much of history, ninja served as weapons. But now, at last, they have found their way back to their true nature. The 'nin' in 'ninja' does not mean using force to erase the human heart. It means wielding force with the heart as its foundation."

"A ninja is someone who uses their power in accordance with their own heart. So when I learned what led you to deal with those bandits as you did, I wasn't disappointed. I was actually quite pleased."

"Ninja should distinguish right from wrong, avoid being bound by rules, and act according to their hearts. A ninja who acts on the principles in their heart has found their own ninja way. Only a ninja who has established their own ninja way can be called a true ninja, truly set apart from ordinary people."

"I originally meant for that last mission to give you some experience, but your decisiveness and resolve still surprised me. It seems you're more mature than I thought."

"Though you haven't fully defined your own ninja ways yet, I know you're very close. You're on your way to becoming true ninja."

"So I think it's time for you to begin the next stage of your training. I hope that in the days ahead, you'll come to understand your hearts and follow your own ninja ways on the path of a ninja, holding to them without wavering!"

"Follow our hearts... our ninja ways..." Jiraiya's words were like a spiritual baptism for the young people. They understood more about ninja, and began to feel a deeper connection with their own hearts.

Once the turmoil in their hearts had settled, Yahiko remembered Jiraiya's last words. The next stage of their training?

"Teacher, what will we be training in next?"

"Haha, what comes next is the training you've been looking forward to for ages!"

Jiraiya got to his feet with a laugh and gave them a knowing look.

Seeing his expression, the young people were all thrilled. Even Yuehua Ai couldn't help getting excited.

What they had been looking forward to...

Jiraiya headed outside, and the young people rose and followed him.

As they made their way outside, Konan suddenly remembered something. After a moment's hesitation, she asked Jiraiya, who was walking ahead of them:

"T-Teacher Jiraiya, you said we'd made an oversight with the bandits earlier... Those two bandits who escaped—what happened to them?"

Jiraiya chuckled and, without turning around, said, "Those two? I've already used them to follow my own ninja way!"