Chapter 22 – Return
On the other side—
Shizuko stood watch by the mountain path, her thoughts churning. One moment she was worried about Seimei and Ryouji's safety, the next she was fretting over what to do if the enemy appeared.
Time slipped by slowly as she waited in restless unease.
She didn't know how long had passed when suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from a distance.
Shizuko instantly snapped to attention, every nerve stretched taut.
'Who is it?'
'Seimei? No, his steps aren't this heavy.'
'Ryouji? No, the stride's too wide. These are the footsteps of an adult.'
'It's the enemy!'
The answer came to her in a flash.
All the thoughts that had been racing in her mind vanished.
Without hesitation, she moved to intercept.
On the mountain path, two mountain bandits were sprinting, one ahead of the other.
Even as they ran, they kept glancing back nervously.
Their faces were full of fear, as if something terrifying was chasing them.
Whoosh—
A piercing sound broke the air from the side.
Before the leading bandit could react, a kunai shot through his lower leg.
"Ah!"
A scream tore from his mouth as he stumbled, crashing to the ground and rolling several times in a wretched heap.
The bandit behind him froze immediately, tense and alarmed, staring toward the direction the kunai had come from.
There, emerging from the forest, was a petite girl no taller than half a man.
The moment he saw her, his eyes were drawn to the forehead protector she wore.
Not long ago, two demons wearing the same thing had slaughtered dozens of his comrades—and now, here was another.
Terror surged through him.
But when he looked at the girl's youthful face, a sliver of hope lit up in his eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, he dropped to his knees and cried out, "Please spare me! I only joined them because I had no choice—I've never done anything truly evil.
I have two kids at home, about your age. If I die, they won't survive.
They're so small, so helpless.
I'm begging you, for the sake of the children, please let me go. I swear I'll never do anything bad again."
As he spoke, he kowtowed again and again with such force that blood seeped from his forehead.
The miserable sight stirred a pang of sympathy in Shizuko's heart. She thought, "Could he be telling the truth? If he is, and I kill him... what about his kids…"
As she battled her conscience, unable to decide—and as the bandit's face showed a flicker of relief—
A kunai suddenly flew in from the distance and struck him cleanly in the throat.
Seimei appeared in a few swift blinks, stopping right in front of the man. He yanked the kunai free, letting blood spray freely.
Then he walked calmly over to the other bandit, who was frozen in fear, and drove the blade into his chest, ending his life.
"S-Seimei…"
Shizuko looked at him, stammering his name.
"Don't overthink during a mission."
Before she could say more, Seimei raised a hand and cut her off. "Don't forget the mission objective."
With that, he turned and began walking down the mountain.
Shizuko stood frozen for a while, then softly murmured, "Eliminate all mountain bandits…"
That's right—the objective of this mission was to kill every last bandit on Mountain. Letting even one escape would be considered a failure.
It wasn't that Seimei had some obsession with the mission—he wasn't Kakashi. He did it to make Shizuko understand that a mission is a mission.
Thinking too much during a mission only invites disaster.
In the foreseeable future, they would be working together in Team 17 for a long time, carrying out missions as one unit. Seimei had no intention of being dragged down by a foolish teammate.
So when it's time to be ruthless—be ruthless.
Of course, this was only a temporary compromise.
He couldn't live doing whatever the village told him, like some Root shinobi—just a tool for completing missions.
Once he became stronger, he'd be able to make his own choices.
For now...
He'd just obediently play the role of the tool.
······
At the foot of the mountain—
The three of them regrouped once more.
Furukawa, who had vanished for several hours, also reappeared.
His eyes swept over each of them in turn before giving a single comment: "Not bad." Then, without further word, he led them toward the village.
Perhaps due to safety concerns outside, Furukawa had no intention of camping in the wild and planned to take them back overnight.
Seimei was fully in favor of that, both hands and feet raised in agreement.
If it were possible, he'd rather just stay in the village forever.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen.
From now on, he'd have to leave the village regularly to carry out missions.
All he could hope was that Furukawa would take it easy and not assign too many C-rank missions.
······
Hours passed in a flash.
Early the next morning, Seimei and the others returned to Konoha. The entire journey had gone so smoothly, it felt almost unreal to him.
'So it's true—I'm not the protagonist. The world doesn't revolve around me.'
Thinking about how Naruto's missions always seemed to escalate into S-rank nightmares, Seimei couldn't help but feel a stab of sympathy for the guy.
'Thank goodness I don't have a protagonist's aura. At least I won't be that unlucky.'
Seimei felt quietly relieved.
"All right, go home and rest," Furukawa said, stopping at the village entrance. "There are no missions for the next three days. You can relax a bit."
"See you, sensei!" ×3
The three replied weakly in unison.
"Alright, go on now."
Furukawa waved them off.
Seimei said goodbye to the others, then quickly made his way toward the Uchiha compound.
Once home, he sat in his chair for a while before finally removing his gear.
Although the mission had only lasted a day, it felt much longer to him.
He had gone from someone who had never even killed a chicken, to a man with over twenty lives on his hands.
He had convinced himself those people deserved to die, even had the presence of mind to consider his teammates' mental states—but now that he was home, unease still crept in.
Those final moments before each death kept flashing through his mind, making it hard to focus on cultivation.
Still, whether he was in the mood or not, he couldn't afford to fall behind in training.
Seimei forced himself to calm down and, like a beginner, began practicing the 'Reflection Technique' step by step.
Since the mission hadn't required any chakra and the bandits were dealt with swiftly, his reserves were still fairly full.
Naturally, he didn't want to waste that.
So Seimei began grinding his proficiency in the Reflection Technique.
As he watched the skill progress bar slowly increase, his heart gradually settled.
Eventually, his chakra ran out, and he started refining it again.
Once it was replenished, he resumed practicing the Reflection Technique.
After two cycles of training, it was already noon. Unable to keep going, he washed up briefly and collapsed into bed.
In his sleep, Seimei frowned and relaxed in turns—who knows what he was dreaming about.
[End of Chapter]
Want More Chapters? Get Early Access Now!
Join my Patreon and unlock 20 chapters instantly—plus, you'll gain access to 60+ chapters weekly across 8 fics! Your support helps me continue creating and keeps the stories coming.
📖 Patreon: patreon.com/anish_44 ☕ Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/anish_44