Mission accomplished

Although Kazemori Masaki had shown no hostility, the sight of him killing the ronin without a word was still too shocking for the farm girl. For a moment, she could not speak.

Kazemori Masaki felt that leaving a girl in a room with a corpse was hardly appropriate either. "Let's get out of here," he said, gesturing for her to follow him outside.

The girl froze for a moment, then instinctively glanced at the corpse on the floor. A chill ran through her, and she hurried after Kazemori Masaki. They left the room and stepped outside. Although her scream had already carried through the bandit stronghold, there was still little commotion.

The girl had not noticed anything unusual about the situation. Once she had calmed down a little, she looked at Kazemori Masaki's back and asked cautiously, "May I ask who you are?"

"A ninja from Konoha Shinobi Village," Kazemori Masaki said. "Mr. Ichiro from your village asked us to come. We happened upon this just in time."

The girl remembered. Their village had pooled money from every household and sent Ichiro, a man everyone trusted, to a place called Konoha Shinobi Village in the hope of getting help. Even so, the other villagers had little confidence in the plan. They knew nothing about ninja. For people who were frightened even of these bandits, it was hard to believe that anyone would accept a request from their tiny village, even if they were paid to do so.

The girl had not known how things would turn out. She could only hope that Ichiro would return with help, but today, the bandits had brought her here. Just as she was worrying about her fate, someone from Konoha Ninja Village had actually arrived. She felt both nervous and relieved.

Then she heard Kazemori Masaki murmur, "They should be here any moment now."

Before the girl could understand what he meant, she heard a tremendous crash. She looked toward it in fright and saw two men fly out and hit the ground, their bodies twitching. Then a handsome young man with black hair and red eyes emerged from the wrecked room—

When the young man saw Kazemori Masaki and the girl, his red eyes immediately turned black. The girl thought she must have imagined it. He walked over and said, "Zhenghui, the trouble just now came from your side, didn't it?"

Kazemori Masaki nodded.

Kagami Uchiha glanced at the girl and said to Kazemori Masaki, "Her scream really startled me. I'd been ready to Qian off the four men inside." He pointed at the damaged room and gave a rueful smile. "They were all alerted at once, so I had to act immediately and Qian two of them. I thought the remaining two would be easy, but I still ended up making some noise. Those two had a bit of skill."

Kazemori Masaki looked at the two men, who were clearly on the verge of death, and smiled. "They weren't that impressive. You still finished them off before they could make a sound."

"Um..." the girl asked uneasily. "Did I get in your way?"

Although Kazemori Masaki had said they were there to help her village, she was still afraid of these ruthless men. Hearing Kagami Uchiha say that her scream had disrupted him made her heart tighten. She was afraid he would blame her.

"No, it's nothing." Kagami Uchiha paused briefly. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he understood what she was thinking and waved a hand with a smile to show that she need not worry. Then he turned to look around the rest of the stronghold. "The others should be finished too. Judging by how things look, Masaki and I lost."

"It's fine. A loss is a loss," Kazemori Masaki said.

A little later, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others came over from elsewhere in the stronghold. When they saw the girl behind the two of them, they knew who had screamed. The room with its broken wall also told them what had caused the other noise.

"Zhenghui, Kagami, what a shame." Hiruzen Sarutobi spread his hands. Making a sound meant losing. Although their tally showed that Kagami had killed the most men, making that much noise still counted as a loss. Everyone else had killed exactly three men each, leaving only two losers in this contest.

Kazemori Masaki and Kagami Uchiha had not taken the contest all that seriously. They merely expressed their resignation, and that was the end of it. The two of them then took responsibility for escorting the girl back to her village, while the others stayed to deal with everything in the stronghold.

Kazemori Masaki and Kagami Uchiha accompanied the girl toward her village. Once they were far from the stronghold, the friendly manner of the two men beside her gradually eased her fear. She felt deeply grateful to Konoha Ninja Village for coming to their aid. They had acted as soon as they received the money. They truly were dependable.

When they returned to the village, some villagers spotted the girl and hurried over in delight, asking whether she was all right. Smiling, she replied that nothing had happened to her and that people from Konoha Ninja Village had rescued her. But just as she was about to introduce the two men, she discovered that Kazemori Masaki and Kagami Uchiha had vanished without her noticing.

To the girl and the villagers, what Kazemori Masaki and the others had done was help in their hour of need. But to the ninja, they were simply honoring their contract. There was no need to stay and accept the villagers' thanks, so Kazemori Masaki and Kagami Uchiha quickly headed back. They met up with Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, who had finished their work, and set off for their own village.

When Ichiro woke up, he hurried to ask about the outcome of his commission. Just then, Hashirama happened to send someone to invite him to the Hokage Building. When he arrived, he saw that the seven young people were already there. With a smile, Hashirama told him that the bandits plaguing his village had all been driven away and would never return.

Ichiro had never expected them to finish the mission while he was merely asleep—even if he had slept for quite a while. It sounded so unbelievable that he wondered whether they were telling the truth. Only when Hashirama showed him the evidence Kazemori Masaki and the others had taken from the bandits did Ichiro believe that they really had driven them all away.

Ichiro felt ashamed that he had doubted people who had worked so wholeheartedly for him. He now had a deep trust in Konoha Ninja Village. "Sir, if we need anything in the future, may we trouble you again?" he asked.

"Of course," Hashirama said with a smile. "If you need help with anything, feel free to commission our village. Once we accept a request, our ninja village will do everything in its power to complete the mission for you. We will never go back on our word."

"Thank you so very much." Overjoyed, Ichiro bowed to Hashirama in gratitude.

Ichiro left the room happily, ready to return to his village. With the client gone, Hashirama could discuss their internal affairs. He said to the seven before him, "You did Qian well. This mission gave you a chance to get some practice. What did you think?"

"It was easy. We didn't encounter any troublesome opponents," Hiruzen Sarutobi said. "Though it was quite surprising that these 'bandits' were all samurai."

"Just a few small Liu," Tobirama said flatly. "Still, this shows that things within the country won't remain so peaceful either. We can gradually start accepting more missions like this. You may find them unchallenging, but there's little we can do about that. You haven't carried out many missions since the village was established. Simple as these are, they can help you get accustomed to the work, so you won't be completely inexperienced when a truly important mission comes along."

"We understand," the seven replied promptly. When Hashirama had told Ichiro that he could return with future requests, some of them had indeed felt that such small missions were not worth their time. But after hearing Tobirama's explanation, they thought he had a point. Even a little experience was better than none.

"Review the details of this mission carefully. If you made any mistakes, remember not to repeat them next time." Tobirama looked at them. "If you behave like this on a difficult mission, you could very well lose your lives!"

"Yes!" the seven answered in unison once again.

(End of chapter)