Chapter 22: Return

Meanwhile. Mizutani Shizuko waited by the mountain path, her thoughts racing. She worried about Seimei and Ryosuke's safety, and at the same time, she wondered what she would do if the enemy came. Time passed slowly as she waited anxiously. After an unknown amount of time, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from afar. Mizutani Shizuko instantly woke up, her nerves stretched to the limit. 'Who is it?' 'Seimei? No, his footsteps aren't that heavy.' 'Ryosuke? Also no, the strides are too big. These are the footsteps of an adult.' 'It's the enemy!' In an instant, Mizutani Shizuko got the answer. At this moment, all the thoughts in her mind vanished. Almost without any hesitation, Mizutani Shizuko moved closer. On the mountain path, two bandits were running, one in front and one behind. As they ran, they didn't forget to look back from time to time. Fear was written on their faces, as if they were worried that something was chasing them from behind. *Whoosh* Suddenly, a sound of something breaking through the air came from the side. Before the bandit in front could see what it was, his calf was pierced by a kunai. "Ah!" A scream came from his mouth, and then he stumbled and fell heavily to the ground, rolling several times, looking very狼狈. Seeing this, the bandit behind immediately stopped and looked nervously in the direction the kunai had come from. Then he saw a small girl, about half his height, walking out of the forest. In just a glance, his eyes were drawn to the thing on the girl's forehead. Not long ago, two demons wearing the same thing had slaughtered dozens of their people, and now he had encountered another one. This made him extremely terrified. However, when he saw the girl's delicate face, a glimmer of hope arose in his heart. Without any hesitation, he plopped down on his knees and cried, "Spare me, please! I was forced to join them. I haven't done anything bad. I have two children at home, about your age. If I die, they won't survive. They're so young, so pitiful. Please, for the sake of the children, let me go. I'll never do anything bad again..." As he spoke, he kowtowed several times, his forehead bleeding from the force. His miserable appearance made Mizutani Shizuko feel a bit of pity. She thought to herself, "Could what he said be true? If it is, then if I kill him, the children..." Just as Mizutani Shizuko was conflicted and couldn't make up her mind, and the bandit's face showed a relieved expression, a kunai suddenly shot from afar and accurately pierced his throat. Seimei flashed to the bandit's side and then abruptly pulled out the kunai, letting the blood splatter. Then, he walked in front of the other bandit who was already scared stiff and calmly thrust the kunai into his chest, ending his life. "Qing... Seimei..." Mizutani Shizuko looked at Seimei and stammered. "Don't overthink things during a mission." Before she could continue, Seimei waved his hand to interrupt her, "Don't forget the mission requirements." With that, he walked downhill on his own. Mizutani Shizuko stood there, stunned for a long time, before murmuring, "Kill all the bandits." That's right, the requirement of their mission this time was to kill all the bandits on Mount Xiaohei. Letting any of them escape would technically be considered a mission failure. It wasn't that Seimei was overly attached to the mission; he wasn't Kakashi. The reason he did this was just to let Mizutani Shizuko understand that a mission was a mission. Overthinking during a mission could easily lead to trouble. In the foreseeable future, for a long time, their Team 17 would be a unit, carrying out missions together. Seimei didn't want to be dragged down by a foolish teammate one day. So, he had to be ruthless when necessary. Of course, this was also a temporary measure. It was impossible for him to do whatever the village asked him to do. That would be no different from the Root ninjas, becoming mere tools for missions. When his strength grew, he could naturally make his own choices. For now... He'd better be a good tool! ... At the foot of the mountain. The three gathered once again. Furukawa, who had disappeared for several hours, also reappeared. His gaze swept over the three of them, and finally, he only said, "Not bad," and then led them back towards the village. Perhaps considering the insecurity outside, Furukawa didn't plan to camp overnight and intended to take them back directly. Seimei wholeheartedly agreed with this. If possible, he wanted to stay in the village all the time. Unfortunately, that was simply impossible. From now on, he would have to leave the village from time to time to carry out missions. Now he could only hope that Furukawa would take it easy and not accept too many C-rank missions. ... Time flew by, and several hours passed. Early the next morning, Seimei and the others returned to Konoha Village. The journey was uneventful, so smooth that Seimei felt it was unreal. 'As expected, I'm not the protagonist, and the world doesn't revolve around me.' Thinking of how Naruto's missions always escalated to S-rank, Seimei couldn't help but feel a toothache. 'Fortunately, I don't have the protagonist's halo and won't be that unlucky.' Seimei rejoiced inwardly. "Alright, everyone go back and rest." Entering the village, Furukawa stopped and said, "There are no missions for the next three days, so you can relax a bit." "Goodbye, sensei!" x3 The three of them replied listlessly. "Alright, go on then!" Furukawa waved his hand, signaling them to leave. After saying goodbye to his teammates, Seimei quickly headed towards the Uchiha Clan Compound. Back home, Seimei sat in a chair for a while before taking off his equipment. Although this mission only took about a day, it felt like a long time to him. And he had transformed from an ordinary person who had never even killed a chicken to an executioner with more than twenty lives on his hands. Although he had convinced himself that these people deserved to die, and even had the leisure to pay attention to his teammates' mental states, looking back now, he still felt a bit uncomfortable. The scenes of those people's deaths kept replaying in his mind, making him unable to muster the energy to train. However, whether he could muster the energy or not, training couldn't be neglected. Seimei forced himself to calm down and started to perform the 'Reflecting Heart Technique' meticulously, as if he were a beginner. There were no unexpected events during this mission, and he didn't need to use much chakra to kill those bandits, so he still had plenty of chakra left. This naturally couldn't be wasted. So, Seimei started to grind the proficiency of the 'Reflecting Heart Technique'. Watching the proficiency slowly increase on the panel, Seimei's heart unconsciously calmed down. Soon, his chakra was exhausted, and Seimei started to refine chakra again. After his chakra was replenished, he practiced the 'Reflecting Heart Technique' again. Just like that, after two rounds of training, it was already noon. Seimei couldn't hold on any longer, so he casually washed up and fell asleep. In the bedroom, Seimei dreamed of something unknown, his brows furrowing and relaxing from time to time. (End of Chapter)