The first mission

“Are you ready?”, asked Mr. Gin at the village’s main gate after a guard confirmed our identities.

“YES!”, we answered in unison.

“Then let’s go!”

And thus my first mission finally began. We hurriedly departed from Uzushiogakure and headed for the western shores of the Land of the Whirlpools. With every step I took, my heartbeat increased and I could feel my nervousness growing. After a while, it felt like my heart might jump out of my chest.

‘I’m sweating a lot.’, I noticed after looking at my hands.

Having traveled for half a day we passed by many forests and the occasional farm on our way and arrived at the island’s sandy beaches and the nearby foggy sea in the late afternoon. My first impression of the beach: It was really cold. 

While clenching the hilt of my short sword, I could feel my heart loudly beating like a drum. I deeply inhaled before breathing out resulting in my breath being turned to small drops of liquid water which formed a tiny white cloud. The cold was bearable but I sincerely wished for a small fireplace to warm myself up. 

‘Let’s do this!’, I tried to motivate myself.

“Listen up! You’re going to patrol the shores and beaches while I check the small island in front of us. The rendezvous point is  50 km north of our current position. Remember, there have been reports of pirate activity in this area so be vigilant and if you encounter any problems, don’t hesitate to use the emergency signal Fuinjutsu I gave you!”, warned our teacher. 

We just nodded in affirmation before leaving him and advancing northwards. When I looked to my side, I could see that Mr. Gin was heading to a small island veiled by thick fog while running on the uneven sea. I felt nervous and with the departure of our teacher, my inner tension only increased.

With our current traveling pace, we would arrive at the rendezvous site in about three hours. Three long hours where everything could happen: Statistically speaking, the survival rate of a Genin in actual combat with non-Ninjas amounted to about 80% which meant that there was a real chance of dying on this beach.

‘At least I probably wouldn’t die alone like in my previous life.’, I cynically thought.

The minutes slowly passed and nothing happened. We meticulously checked the beach and the occasional cave for any recent changes or signs of human activity and even began to chat and joke among ourselves which considerably lessened my and judging by their sometimes shaky voices also my teammates’ nervosity. 

‘I hope that it stays this way.’

But after a while, we could see wrecked ships with most of their masts broken off and their hulls severely damaged. They were like the silent monuments of human tragedies warning any bypasser of the dangers that harmed them.

These sights gave us a grave reminder of the severity of our mission and the almost certainty of combat. When we got closer, we could see the silhouettes of corpses disfigured by pirates and nature alike and smell the rotten stench they gave off - It was an odor I could never forget. 

Every single of the dead passengers had a story to tell and all of them had family who would mourn their death. Their friends would miss them and some of the deceased would leave a grieving wife and a child, whose eyes would be filled with tears, behind. 

They were only pitiful people who gambled with their lives and took the risk of transporting goods through a dangerous sea route. But what else could they have done to support their hungry families? What could have been left undamaged after the devastating First Ninja World War?

As the number of corpses, I saw, increased, I truly realized what it meant to be reborn in the Naruto world. Inside a Ninja village, I was protected and safe from the things ordinary people living in unstable regions daily experienced due to the aftereffects of the war.

While I was processing the things I saw, we had already arrived at our rendezvous point but Mr. Gin was nowhere to be seen. For the time, it was only us. Looking at the sea I could already see much further as the fog had already disappeared.

“…”

“…”

“...What are your thoughts after seeing what we saw?”, I carefully asked my friends after we silently stood there for a while.

Judging by their ashen faces I concluded that I wasn’t the only one who was shocked to their core by the recent experience. Even if the maturity of Genins was comparable to the ones of teenagers, they were in the end only very mature children. 

“... I didn’t know that living outside of a Ninja village was that bad.”, answered Miyuki with a somber expression.

“I-I think I saw a dead woman desperately holding onto a piece of clothing… I think it was part of a baby’s napkin.”, told Haruto in a shaky voice. 

“...”

“...”

“Did you see something similar while traveling to Uzushiogakure, Takumi?”, he asked.

“No. It wasn’t on this level. While I could see people being unfairly treated, even brutally punished, I actually never saw dead bodies uncaringly left behind. In retrospect, I probably just subconsciously ignored the possibility that the things I saw weren’t the worst humanity had to offer.”, I wryly admitted before seeing Mr. Gin’s Chakra signature on the sea. 

“I can see our teacher approaching us from the sea. Let’s talk about it when he arrives.”, I suggested.

“Yeah, let’s do it that way.”, accepted Haruto.

“Maybe he can answer our questions.”, hoped Miyuki. 

OOO

“Here, have something warm to drink.”, said Mr. Gin while offering each of us a cup of well-brewed tea. 

Upon his initial arrival, we began to bombard him with our questions but he told us to postpone their answering in favor of finding a resting place for tonight. While we were disappointed that our answers couldn’t be immediately be answered, we still agreed.

We quickly found a big cave near the beach which provided plenty of protection against the blowing wind and any potential rainfall. Unlike our shaken hearts our camp was due to the usage of a couple of heat insulation Fuinjutsu and a small fireplace quite the cozy and warm place.

After receiving the cup and holding it in my hands, I took a small sip and could feel the warmth of the tea spreading through my body - It felt nice and relaxing. It reminded me of the tea my mother brewed for me when I was ill during winter. 

“I assume that it’s the first time for you guys to see corpses, right?”, he asked us in a calm voice. We just nodded while intently listening to him.

“It’s scary, isn’t it? Seeing the corpses of normal people, who were living normal lives, and knowing that you have to fight against the people, who killed them, would worry everyone if they were in your shoes.”

“It’s unbecoming for Ninjas to be afraid of simple pirates, isn’t it? The public image of a Ninja is that of someone with great powers and responsibility who heroically fights for their village while sacrificing his life during the process.”

“But Ninjas are essentially just normal people: Everyone is afraid of dying and nobody wants to die early. But it’s okay to be afraid. Even I, an experienced Jonin, am afraid.”

It felt like a huge weight fell off of my shoulders when Mr. Gin said the last couple of words.

‘It’s okay to be afraid.’

These words continued to echo through my head and I finally noticed my hard grip on the teacup. I slowly relaxed my hands and my grip loosened a bit. I took a bigger sip this time and afterward asked:

“What did you experience during your first mission?”

“Yeah, what was your first mission?”, demanded Haruto to know with sparkling eyes. It was good to see him being more cheerful after today’s events.

“Well, as you may have guessed, I’m old enough to have witnessed the Warring States Period as a Ninja. During that time many Ninja Clans were fighting against each other and it was generally a time of great chaos and turmoil.”

“Even the Uzumaki Clan, a clan which was left relatively undisturbed during that time, was regularly involved in the armed conflict on the main continent. Do you know the average lifespan, a trait we Uzumakis are famous for, of an Uzumaki Clan member during that time?”

We all simply shook our heads.

“An Uzumaki Clan member on average didn’t see his 42nd birthday. Absurdly, that was quite high compared to the average lifespan of other Ninja Clans whose members usually died before turning thirty.”

“...That’s really low.”, commented Miyuki.

“Yes, that’s really low… But why am I telling you this? That’s because on my first mission both of my teammates died. They were as old as you.  One of them was my cousin. To this day, I still occasionally hear their voices in my head.”

“I won’t lie to you. Your future missions are only going to become harder and the horrible things you will experience, are going to deeply affect you but I hope that we as a team can help each other and grow together. Just know that I’m always available if you need someone to talk to.”

“...”

“...”

“W-What if I can’t kill someone?”, I stuttered while asking him.

“...Being averse to killing someone is natural and I can understand your concerns. But remember, when you’re confronted with an enemy you shouldn’t hesitate to kill him: Regretting your decisions afterward is always better than being dead.”

“Normally, your training automatically kicks in and you just reflexively execute the moves you learned without much thinking. That’s why we practice so hard - to avoid panic: Every moment counts in a fight and panic just kills you.”

“Besides, you three should believe in yourself because I’m believing in you.”

“But first, you should sleep for now. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day and your bodies need every second of rest.”, he told us before taking out a large blanket and covering us three with it. While I still had many questions, I accepted the blanket because I knew that I would need every ounce of energy tomorrow.

Due to the cold, Haruto, Miyuki and I moved closer together and became cuddled. My body felt tired and hearing the gentle crackling of the fireplace I quickly fell asleep. But before I fully lost consciousness I heard someone muttering:

“Let’s hope everything’s going to be fine.”

OOO

‘There are more than a dozen different Chakra signatures.’, I noticed while observing the tiny points on the horizon leaving the beach through a thick fog. 

“Hey, prepare for combat. I’m sensing at least a dozen individuals with civilian levels of Chakra.”, I whispered to my teammates to which they only nodded before taking out their weapons. I also unsheathed my sword and prepared a couple of explosion Fuinjutsus.

Just like the many times we trained, all of us went to the left to where the sea was while Miyuki fell back and prepared her sedatives: Both Haruto and I were on the front because our Taijutsu was better than Miyuki’s and in the worst-case scenario I could cast a simple water Ninjutsu while Haruto would simultaneously unleash a Lightning Jutsu causing devastating damage. 

Additionally, unlike civilians, we could travel on the sea after repeatedly practicing the Water Surface Walking exercise albeit with some difficulty. This would create a safe escape route should we somehow find ourselves in a precarious situation and it would also help me with my Water Ninjutsus and Miyuki with dispensing her sedatives as the wind was blowing from the sea today.

‘But let’s hope we don’t have to resort to violence.’

As we got closer we could hear the sounds coming from the group which had arrived at the end of the shore. Judging by the colors of their voices the group consisted only of males. This was confirmed after I got close enough to see their Chakra signature in more detail. 

“HAHAHA! Did you see that? Waving a bit of my sword got them scared shitless!”, roared a muscular brown-haired man.

“Yeah, boss! But who could blame them? You’re just too strong and intimidating!”, replied an underling with a scarred face.

“And we even got a handful of porcelain dishes! These must cost a small fortune!”, added another underling who was fumbling through a pouch. 

“Luckily they quickly handed over them to us after we surrounded their ship. Just imagine the hassle we would have to go through if we immediately attacked them!”, commented a different lackey with a shabby spear. 

“HAHAHA! I was really generous, wasn’t I? Instead of directly killing them, I just let them remain on their ship. With a bit of luck, they won’t crash against the shore and keel over!”, joked their leader while drinking from a sake bottle with one hand and holding a great sword in his other hand. 

‘F*ck! They’re definitely pirates!’, I realized after listening to them.

‘Well, I guess it’s time for Miyuki to use her sedatives.’

Like on schedule Miyuki quickly positioned herself so that the small breeze coming from the sea would reach the pirates in no time. Only a couple of minutes have passed but judging by their weakening Chakra signatures the sedative was working.

“Hey, someone’s secretly trying to poison us! It’s coming from the sea!”, warned the underling with a scarred face which caused an explosive chain reaction.

After realizing that we were detected, I quickly performed the Hand Seals for a wide-area Water Jutsu at the group while Haruto finished casting a Lightning Jutsu that would be strong enough to kill some of them while stunning the rest. 

The end result could be seen instantly: The pirates, who were fully soaked wet by my Jutsu, were instantly killed and the Chakra inside their bodies stopped moving and began to fade. The rest on the other hand were severely injured and unconscious. 

ZIPP ZIPP ZIPP

I could hear the sounds of Senbons quickly traveling through the air: Something that could have only come from Miyuki. Looking to where she threw them, I could see them sticking out of the pirate gang’s boss’ chest who was beginning to falter.

BUMS

‘Yeah, that dose should even take out a male bull.’, I thought while seeing the pirate falling on his back. 

‘...’

‘Wait a minute… why am I so calm?’

The fight was over and I had killed human life. I saw the pirates’ burned bodies and I now noticed their scent: They smelled like a burned steak that turned to black charcoal. But even knowing that I was the one who caused this atrocity, I strangely didn’t feel anything.

“...Let’s tie up the still-living ones.”, I suggested to my teammates after checking each body’s Chakra signature and making sure that all of them were unconscious.

“Y-Yeah”, responded Haruto with shaking hands. 

Even when I touched the injured bodies, nothing seemed to faze me: I just calmly took out a piece of rope and began to tie them up. But after a while, my hands began to violently shake and I couldn’t calm down. 

“Hey!... A-Are you okay?”, asked a concerned Haruto upon seeing my shaking hands. 

“I…I’m fine. Don’t worry… Let’s continue.”, I managed to reply while looking at him with uneasy eyes. 

“Okay.”

Thus the both of us resumed our work which was sometimes interrupted by one of us suddenly dropping a corpse because of his shaky hands. Miyuki, on the other hand, seemed to be less affected by our first fight and was writing a short message to Mr. Gin which was going to be transported by a messenger pigeon made out of her Wind Chakra. 

DROP

The corpse in my hand fell to the sandy ground. I tried to pick it up but I couldn’t get a firm grip on the body as my hands shook too much to be able to grab on his slippy skin. Even trying to hold his wet shirt didn’t help as my hands slipped again. 

‘I think I might puke.’, I mentally noted just before my breakfast exited my mouth. 

As I was relieving myself from my stomach’s contents, I could see from the corner of my eyes that Mr. Gin had arrived and was busy sealing up the pirate’s corpses.

OOO

BLEURGH

I vomited upon smelling the scent of roasted flesh which made my body feel weak and delirious. 

“H-Here.”, said Haruto while offering me a napkin. 

“Thanks.”, I replied before taking it and wiping my mouth with it. 

After Mr. Gin had arrived, he stored the enemy’s corpses inside a Sealing Scroll for future inspections. The ones, who were barely alive, were killed to lessen their suffering while the rest were restrained by Fuinjutsus specifically made to restrain prisoners. 

Right now, Mr. Gin was interrogating the captured pirates in a different cave while we sat in our cave and rested after our first fight. Before our teacher left, he gave us some freshly picked mushrooms, two medium-sized carrots and a bit of salt and told us to make soup. 

He even gave us a couple of raw pig meat skewers which were consequently grilled by Miyuki at the moment while we waited for our soup to be done. At first, my mouth was watering when I smelled the delicious meat but I quickly remembered the smell of the burned corpses and puked.

“Hey, Miyuki. Why aren’t you negatively affected like Haruto and me?”, I curiously asked while looking at her turning the skewers. 

“...What? Did you talk to me?”, she replied in a tired voice.

Unlike Haruto and I, she didn’t show any direct signs of trauma but looking closer, I could see that her eyes were devoid of emotions and dull. Usually, Miyuki was taciturn but attentive to even the smallest details so seeing her delayed reaction confirmed that she was also shocked by the recent event. 

“Do…you…want to talk with us?”, asked Haruto who didn’t stutter anymore. 

“...No.”, was Miyuki’s short reply. 

“...”

“...”

Suddenly Haruto stood up and went over to Miyuki and abruptly hugged her while crying on her shoulder. Miyuki didn’t react to his behavior but when she felt Haruto’s tears on her shoulder she began to look at his robe which was partially covered with blood. 

Tears began to flow out of her eyes and traveled to her chin. I don’t exactly remember how I managed to get up and hug both of them but when I did, the dam holding all of her emotions broke and she began to weep while I cried on her head. 

And so the three of us were hugging each other while sobbing and crying out our eyes. When I smelled that the meat on the skewers began to burn, I was too busy crying to vomit or care about the meat. 

After some while, Miyuki stopped crying and looked at the meat skewers which had already turned to charcoal. 

“...Let’s drink some soup. The meat skewers didn’t work out.”, she suggested with a wry smile to which we simply agreed. 

“Luckily, I’m holding some additional meat skewers in my hands! Do you guys want some?”, asked Mr. Gin who was standing at the entrance of our cave with a tired smile and the above-mentioned meat skewers.

“Yeah! Meat!”, reacted Haruto in a jovial manner. 

“I want some, please.”, I cheerfully added.

“Also please leave some for me as well.”, chipped in Miyuki with a smiling face. 

“Then let’s grill them now!”, replied Mr. Gin and handed the majority of the skewers to us. We proceeded to hold them over our campfire slowly cooking the meat. And unlike before I managed to hold in my stomach’s contents. 

As we were happily grilling and enjoying the calming atmosphere, Mr. Gin looked at us and began to speak:

“...Honestly, I thought that you would handle your first battle far worse. I’m lucky that none of you died and you even managed to pull off a decisive win. You should be proud of yourself.”

“But while I can see that you’re handling the shock from killing someone better than most of your peers, I want to again tell you that I’m always here to talk if you want to. And…”

“Hey teach! Do you have some spice on your hands?”, asked Haruto in an annoyed manner. 

“...Haruto, you’re someone with a high EQ so you should know that interrupting someone in the middle of their sentence is considered to be rude. And yes, I do have some spice. Catch!”, reprimanded Mr. Gin before throwing a small bottle to Haruto.

“Thanks! Besides, we know that we can always talk to you, right guys?”, asked Haruto us.

“Yeah, you’re reliable Mr. Gin!”, I responded.

“Thank you for being there for us.”, sincerely replied Miyuki.

“...Well, at least you understood my message.”, Mr. Gin commented with a more relaxed body posture. 

“Can I also have some spice?”, I asked Haruto who then gave me the bottle.

After salting the meat on the skewer I waited a bit until the meat was ready. When I took the first bite, pure bliss enveloped my mind and body alike: It was truly the best thing was that I didn’t begin to puke after smelling and tasting grilled meat. 

OOO

“AAARGH!”, screamed a pirate in agony before I woke up from my nightmare drenched in sweat. 

Looking around I could see the moon’s gentle light coming from a small opening above. Everyone was peacefully sleeping except Mr. Gin who woke up after I opened my eyes. 

“Did you have a nightmare?”, he asked me to which I only nodded.

“Well, sleep for now. Just remember that your teammates and I are always there for you.”, he reassured me. 

‘Right. I’m not alone.’, I again reminded myself before I covered myself with the big blanket which was shared between my friends and me. Just before I dozed off, I softly murmured to my teacher:

“Thanks.”