Chương 24: First Kills

Genma used his poisoned senbon as he joined the fight. He flicked his wrist again and again. Thin needles flashed through the air and pierced the necks of the bandits in an instant. The men dropped without a sound, bodies going limp as the poison took hold or just dying from senbon piercing through them. Guy charged in with Taijutsu. He knocked out civilian bandits left and right, sending them flying with broken bones. When Guy hesitated to finish them, Genma followed up with more senbon to end the threat cleanly.

As Genma focused on fighting another genin, he felt a heavy kick connect with his guts. The blow knocked him back several meters. He stumbled and gasped for air. Pain flared across his ribs. He was sure a few had cracked from the chakra-augmented strike. Breathing became hard. He looked up and saw a middle-aged man standing in front of him. The man had a cruel smile. He wore the tattered remains of an Amegakure headband. Genma was sure this was the chunin leader of the bandits.

"You and your team have done enough damage, kid," the chunin said in a cold voice.

"You Konoha shinobi are always so high and mighty, dealing with bandits like you are heroes. But you are the reason I turned to banditry. Your village took everything from me during the last skirmish. My family, my home, my rank. Now I take what I want from your precious Land of Fire. Every caravan I raid, every villager I kill, is payback for what Konoha did to me." The rogue chunin laughed bitterly.

"You think you are protecting the weak by attacking us? You are just protecting the rich and powerful who started this war. I was once like you, following orders. Look where that got me. Now I live free. And today I will add three more Konoha brats to my list."

"Now die knowing that Konoha was the reason for your death," the rogue Amegakure chunin said. He chakra-augmented his leg and raised it high, ready to deliver a killing kick to Genma's head. But he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened in shock as he looked down. A blade had pierced straight through his chest from behind. The sword had risen out of his own shadow on the ground.

"What the... hell..." the chunin muttered. Blood poured from his mouth and dripped down his chin. Genma watched in stunned silence as Shunsui slowly rose up from the man's shadow. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. His one hand held the hilt of the black scimitar that had stabbed the chunin from below. Shunsui's voice echoed.

"Kageoni." He twisted the blade once, cleanly, before pulling it free. The chunin collapsed to his knees, then fell face-first into the dirt. Blood spread slowly beneath him. Genma pushed himself up, ignoring the pain in his ribs. Guy stopped fighting and stared with wide eyes. Choza decided to take the responsibility on himself to seal the dead bodies of the bandits when he saw the nauseous look on Guy's face. The boy's usual bright energy had faded.

His skin looked pale, and he kept swallowing hard as if trying not to vomit. Genma was sweating heavily, his hands shaking slightly as he wiped blood off his senbon. Even Shunsui, who appeared calm on the surface, looked a little jittery. His fingers twitched around the hilt of his swords, and his eyes kept drifting to the bodies on the ground. Choza moved quickly. He pulled out several sealing scrolls from his pouch and began the process. One by one, the bodies disappeared into the scrolls in puffs of smoke.

He worked in silence, giving the boys space to process what had just happened. Choza knew this was the hardest part for new genin. Seeing death up close and knowing they had caused it was never easy, no matter how prepared they thought they were. After cleaning up the scene, the team started walking back toward the village. The forest path felt longer on the return journey. The sun was starting to set, casting long shadows between the trees. Birds had gone quiet.

Only the sound of their footsteps and the occasional rustle of leaves broke the silence. Shunsui felt Genma's and even Guy's eyes on him the whole time. They kept glancing at him when they thought he was not looking. Their stares were filled with questions. Finally, Shunsui could not ignore it anymore.

"What is it, Genma-san, Guy-san?" Shunsui asked in his usual lazy tone. Genma hesitated, chewing on his senbon. Guy, however, asked straight away.

"When you took their lives... did you not feel bad? Did you not feel disgusted? How could you do it so easily?" Shunsui sighed. This was a conversation his sensei should be having with Guy, or perhaps Guy's father. But it seemed he would have to be the one to give it to him. He slowed his steps a little so the three of them could talk while Choza walked a few paces ahead.

"These bandits were the scum of society, Guy," Shunsui said calmly.

"Yes, I felt bad about killing them. I questioned myself whether it was worth it. But do you think the bandits would have felt sorry when they raped the women they came across or killed the merchants who just wanted to make a living by selling their goods? No, they would not have. They would have enjoyed it. They would have laughed while doing it." He continued in the same steady voice.

"No, they would not have felt sorry for killing us either. We are not even ten years old. To them, we were just obstacles in the way of their next robbery. They would have cut us down without a second thought and moved on to the next village."

"But they are humans just like us," Genma said quietly.

"Do they not deserve a chance? Like a second chance and a fair trial, a proper judgement?" Shunsui had to stop himself from asking Genma if he was really from a shinobi clan. The question sounded so innocent. Instead, he kept his voice patient.

"Genma-san, we are shinobi, not samurai or a police force. We are assassins and murderers. We do not take people alive unless it is for interrogation. And especially at our strength level. What if we took that chunin back to Konoha for a trial? What is to say he would not have taken one of us hostage and escaped on the way? He was higher rank than us and thus more experienced about such situations. One mistake and one of us would have died." Choza gave an approving nod from ahead.

He decided to join the conversation.

"Killing is never easy. And if it becomes easy, I would be worried about you, my little genin. I myself struggled with killing back in the day. But I have built a coping mechanism. I try to eat my favorite foods to forget about the blood and the faces of the people I killed. Try to find your own coping mechanism. Something that helps you carry on without losing who you are." As Choza said that, Shunsui's eyes turned to Guy.

'I am pretty sure his coping mechanism would be more training.' Just like he thought, Guy's eyes suddenly filled with fire. The boy clenched his fists.

"I will train harder! I will become strong enough that I never have to hesitate again! The springtime of youth will burn away all doubt!"