Chapter 53: Actual Mission
After two hours, they all arrived at the village gate, where a caravan was ready to head out. It was different from the usual caravans Kaida was used to seeing; it had many carts filled with items and even two carts for some people to sit in.
Yukihiro arrived after them. Seeing them watching the caravan, he said, "This is the caravan of a very wealthy merchant. Only they can afford to post a mission for a full ninja squad. Most small merchants only hire small-time ninjas as their escort; they don't have enough money to issue an escort mission."
Kaida remembered hearing something similar from Ayame's dad. Since it was a well-organized caravan where everyone was doing their job, Team 13 didn't have much interaction with anyone. They just showed the papers that confirmed they would be escorting them, and that was it.
"Kaida, you'll be in front. Yomi and Ryota, you'll be on the left and right. I'll handle the back. If you find any problems, try to handle them on your own. I'll interfere if you need my help. Any objections?"
"No, Sensei," they all replied. Yukihiro was not planning on spoon-feeding them on how to behave during a mission; they should have gained theoretical knowledge during their time at the academy. As for practical knowledge, that couldn't be taught—they had to learn by doing things on their own.
This was the first time Kaida had stepped out of Konoha since coming to this world, and he felt a little happy. Though Konoha was not a bad place to be, the best thing about having power is freedom—the freedom to go wherever you want without worrying about anything, to explore the world and all that. This was like the first step toward every man's dream: adventure.
They traveled for half a day without any stops. When the night was slowly approaching, Ryota came to Kaida and said, "There are 10 people hiding ahead of us. I can smell blood on them."
"An ambush, huh? How far are they?" Kaida asked while thinking of a plan, but deep down, he was hoping they wouldn't have any confrontation. Killing someone was not a small matter for him, and he hoped he wouldn't have to do that so soon.
"They're 1 km away from us. Wait, they're moving away. I think they're running."
Kaida quickly made a shadow clone and sent it in the direction Ryota pointed out. His clone found 10 fully armed bandits running away.
'Hmm, they must have seen the size of the caravan and fled, thinking that a ninja must be escorting it.' After confirming this, the clone dispersed itself.
Kaida received its memory and sighed in relief. He didn't have to kill anyone, but there was one person who was not happy about this.
Yukihiro had sent his clone to follow Kaida's clone. When he saw the bandits, he was expecting Kaida to fight them, but instead of seeing him getting ready for a fight, Yukihiro saw Kaida sighing in relief. Even though there was no immediate need to handle those bandits, since they wouldn't have caused any problems for their mission, those people were bandits, and if they lived in the Land of Fire, they would cause harm one way or another.
It is a ninja's duty to handle them; otherwise, civilians will suffer. Kaida knew that, but his aversion to killing made him ignore this detail.
Yukihiro now understood what the Hokage was saying. Kaida and Yomi don't know the consequences of their actions. Even if they have power, they don't have the resolve to use that power for good.
Though Yukihiro could have killed them, it was Kaida's decision, not his. Kaida had to face the consequences of his decision.
The rest of the mission was completed with no more problems, and they returned to the village on the third day.
When they entered the village, Kaida was shocked to find a familiar face there. Ayame's father was running toward the Hokage Building. Kaida used Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu and appeared in front of him, then he saw it—a face full of tears and grief. Kaida had a bad feeling about this.
"What happened, mister? Why are you crying?" Kaida asked as all his team members arrived.
"Kaida-san, my daughter... my daughter has been kidnapped! Those bandits kidnapped her. Please save her! Please save my daughter!"
"Calm down first and tell us what happened," Yukihiro came forward and asked.
"We were going back to our village after selling our goods, but we were attacked on our way back. The ninja who was protecting us died during the attack. They kidnapped all the girls, killed most of the men who tried to stop them. I somehow survived by hiding under the corpse of my friend… SOB SOB… Please, save my daughter."
Yukihiro looked toward his team and said, "This is a rescue mission; time is of the essence. I am going to the Academy to register the mission. Kaida, take him to the hospital and patch him up a little. He is going to lead us to the location."
There was a large wound on the old man's shoulder, but in his grief, he didn't even seem to be in pain. Yukihiro pointed toward the injury and then disappeared.
"Yes, Sensei," Kaida said, then picked up Ayame's father and took him to the hospital using Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu.
In just 20 minutes, they were back at the village gate. The medical ninja only had time to bandage the wound and give some painkillers to Ayame's father.
Yukihiro said, "Yomi, since you don't have any movement jutsu, you'll stay here, and I won't hear any objections."
"Yes, Sensei," Yomi said begrudgingly, completely deciding to learn a movement jutsu as soon as possible.
"Kaida, I am taking him, and you'll take Ryota and Kiba on your shoulders. We will need him to find those bandits. Old man, point us in the direction where you were attacked."
"Okay."
The old man kept pointing in the direction, and Yukihiro and Kaida kept using Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu to travel. Both of them had eaten a soldier pill by now.
In half an hour, they reached the attack location. There were still bodies lying there—two ninjas and the rest were men who were killed by the bandits just for fun.
"Old man, you will stay here," Yukihiro said, then looked toward Ryota and said, "Find the direction they went." Without wasting any time, Ryota and Kiba got to work and started running in a direction.
After 20 minutes, they were in front of a hideout in a cave. There were some bandits outside, laughing.
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Next Chapter: Sharingan