"What? Just one minute...?" Hearing Shin'un's words, Yūichi felt a little resentful and turned his head to mutter to himself...
The voice wasn't loud, but Shin'un's increasingly sensitive ears, being those of a ninja, still picked up all of Yūichi's words.
"What did you say?" Shin'un glared at Yūichi, his aura involuntarily becoming thicker as he subconsciously mobilized his Chakra, and a faint electric current flashed in his pupils.
"Ah..." Noticing the tiny electric current flashing in Shin'un's eyes, Yūichi twitched slightly, inexplicably recalling the scene when he was bombarded by Shin'un's overwhelming Lightning Release during their past sparring sessions.
At that moment, Yuichi, whose face had been still bearing the smile he had worn while toying with the Sunagakure, Yūichi became serious, as if he had suddenly calmed down a bit. He looked around at the battlefield and said, "No, no, it's nothing. I mean... one minute should be enough..."
Seeing Yūichi's state, Shin'un calmed down the Chakra he had subconsciously mobilized, his breathing returned to normal, and after exhaling deeply, Shin'un said to Yūichi:
" Yūichi, you must understand that although the continuous battles these past few days have unconsciously filled people with hostility, we must not let this hostility influence our actions."
"Were you really being honest with yourself when you teased that Sand Ninja girl just now?"
"Moreover, the practical training at the Ninja Academy has emphasized this since the beginning, and Orochimaru- sensei mentions it frequently. Even I remind myself every day that I must never underestimate my opponents in missions or on the battlefield."
"Whether your opponent is a Genin who has just graduated from the Ninja Academy and is still a minor, or an old man who is so old that he can't even walk steadily."
"You must understand, ninjas are human too; they die if they are killed!"
Even the strongest ninja can die from an ordinary Kunai, a rudimentary trap, a poor-quality Explosive Tag, or even a common roadside rock.
At this point, Shin'un looked at Yūichi with a serious expression.
"Teasing or even playing around with your enemy, as you just did, is the most taboo thing to do on the battlefield and in missions."
"This shows that even the most basic sense of caution required of a ninja has completely disappeared."
"This..." Yūichi looked at Shin'un's eyes, which were staring intently at him, and couldn't help but lower his head to avoid her gaze, lost in deep thought.
A few seconds later, Yūichi, with his head bowed, said, "I'm sorry..."
Upon hearing this apology, Shin'un shook his head and continued:
"Think about it yourself."
"Think back to how you felt when you first graduated from the Ninja Academy and arrived at the battlefield with a supply convoy, your mindset when you carried out your first mission, and how you acted when you fought your first enemy."
"In terms of caution, you're actually not as strong as you were right after graduating from the Ninja Academy."
"Rediscover your initial caution, and based on that caution, consider how to complete the mission and defeat the enemy."
Upon hearing Shin'un's words, Yūichi lowered his head and shook it up and down to indicate that he understood. With a heavy heart, he walked to the side, preparing to replenish his ninja tools and supplies while thinking in his mind.
Shin'un's words stung Yūichi's proud heart, causing him to involuntarily begin to think.
Am I really not as strong as I used to be?
"My Fire Style have become more refined than before, with their power and level constantly increasing. I've also successfully awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. At the age of fourteen, I've already become Chunin Jonin terms of combat strength. I've also participated in several S-rank missions and dozens of A-rank missions with Shin'un, accumulating more and more combat experience."
"But... am I really stronger than before?"
Shin'un stood there, arms crossed, silently watching Xiong Yi squatting on the ground not far away, searching for usable Yūichi from the corpses of the Sand Ninja.
Although Yūichi appeared no different from before, Shin'un, who knew him well, could tell from the heavy expression on Yūichi's face that the kid was probably going through a period of self-doubt.
Having guessed this, Shin'un smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
"Does this really work?"
Shiina Kō walked over from the other side, stood next to Shin'un, and asked in confusion:
Is it necessary for him to doubt himself every now and then?
"I remember you just gave him a lecture about two weeks ago, right?"
"Don't ask me." Shin'un visibly laughed, looking at Shiina Kō and saying, "Isn't this a mission Orochimaru- sensei secretly assigned to me?"
"Didn't he say that the Uchiha Clan is extremely proud of its long history and powerful Kekkei Genkai?"
"In addition, the radical attitude and warlike mentality common to most Uchiha clan members are both Uchiha strengths and their common weaknesses."
"For this reason, he asked me to make Yūichi doubt himself every now and then, to try to get him to think for himself and improve these shortcomings."
Hearing this, Shiina Kō shook his head, looked at Yūichi in the distance with a sympathetic expression, and continued Shin'un's words:
"But will this even work?"
"Let him think for himself? Aren't you afraid he'll become more radical, belligerent, and arrogant?"
"Of course it works!" Shin'un immediately retorted upon hearing Shiina Kō's question, then gestured with his chin towards Yūichi. "Look, how normal this kid is now."
Upon hearing Shin'un's words, Shiina Kō immediately looked up at Yūichi, following Shin'un's raised chin.
Yūichi was seen wandering among a pile of Sand Ninja Sand Ninja with a serious expression, occasionally bending down to search the bodies for intact Kunai or Shuriken, and occasionally finding one or two Explosive Tag to surprise him.
Although it might seem a bit odd at first glance, when Yūichi on the battlefield, this action immediately blends in with the other Konoha Ninja who are also looting corpses, and suddenly appears quite harmonious.
"It does seem normal, but..." Shiina Kō said uncertainly. "But it also seems a bit strange?"
Nodding, Shin'un said, "You think it's normal because his behavior is the same as other ninjas, but you think it's abnormal because all the other ninjas' behavior of looting corpses is abnormal."
After saying that, Shin'un closed his eyes, shook his head, and laughed.
"Fortunately, I don't need to correct them; after all, this is a normal phenomenon during wartime."
"Moreover, it's already enough for Yūichi to have achieved this much."
"Didn't you see it just now? When Yūichi was toying with that Sand Ninja girl's life, he had that genuinely gleeful smile on his face?"
Upon hearing Shin'un's words, Shiina Kō immediately nodded.
"After my battle, I rushed over here immediately, and of course I saw Yūichi toying with that Sand Ninja girl."
After speaking, Shiina Kō looked up at Shin'un.
" Yūichi might be angry if he hears what I'm saying now."
"But..." Shiina Kō laughed sheepishly. "He really did seem like a pervert just now..."