The air in the clearing still smelled of sulfur and burnt wood. The silence, previously suffocating, was now heavy with the echo of the battle that had just ended. Akihiro put away his sword with a clean click that broke the stillness, his pearly eyes still fixed on the marionette wreckage.
The shattered wooden bodies, the smoke hissing from the burnt seals, the cut chakra threads shimmering in the faint afternoon light—all of it was proof that the Rank C mission, the "easy task" they were given, was a sham. They had fought for their lives.
Sayuri, wounded in the shoulder, breathed heavily, the blood on her light sleeve staining her skin. She looked at Mika, who was visibly trembling, the cut on her arm still dripping blood. Sayuri, with the grace of a wounded cat, staggered toward her teammate, pulling a roll of bandages from her ninja pouch. Without a word, she began to bandage the wound, her movements steady and precise.
'Damn! I should have seen it sooner. This was my fault.'
Reika stood, her fists clenched, her gaze fixed on Akihiro.
Her previous fury and frustration had dissolved, replaced by deep confusion and exhaustion. "What the hell was that?" Her question echoed, her voice hoarse from screaming. "They were... marionettes? Really?"
Akihiro nodded slightly. "I'm sorry..."
The girls looked at him curiously, seeming not to understand what he was trying to say.
"... if I had seen it sooner..."
Sayuri stepped forward and placed her hand over his mouth, stopping him from speaking.
"Stop! We are all novices here. We were all imperfect, the fault is equally everyone's for everything. We are a team."
'...but... I should be better...'
Reika came up beside him and gave his shoulder a light punch. "Relax, kid. It was just our first time in this kind of crap. Next time, we'll be better!"
"We are ninjas... one mistake costs a life." Akihiro spoke crestfallen.
Soon a pair of small arms wrapped around him from behind, making him widen his eyes.
"That was cool!" Mika hugged him while seeming excited. "Let's kick more weird stuff! I want to break more!"
Akihiro finally relaxed.
'Maybe I'm overthinking it...'
He looked around and everyone was fine.
'I need to train more.'
Sato, the old man they had been sent to protect, stood a few feet away, his posture unwavering. He hadn't moved throughout the entire battle.
He hadn't stumbled, hadn't stammered, hadn't shown a single ounce of fear. The cane, once a symbol of his supposed fragility, now looked like a prop from a well-rehearsed farce.
The fact that he had survived the attack without a scratch, even with them fighting off the puppets that were looking for him, was, in itself, proof of his true nature.
'The son of a bitch is hiding something, and it almost cost us dearly.'
Akihiro tightened his fist on the hilt of his sword.
An elegant and familiar figure emerged from the shadows.
It was Nezuko-Sensei.
She approached, and her eyes were fixed on the genin, not with the amusement of a sensei, which was her trademark, but with the relief of someone who had arrived in time to see her students survive.
"Congratulations," Nezuko said, her voice soft and full of approval. She looked at the bodies of wood and metal, her eyes narrowed. "It wasn't a test. We genuinely ran into something."
Akihiro, Sayuri, Reika, and Mika stared at her. They didn't know what to say.
"What the hell was that?" Reika asked, repeating the question no one had answered yet.
Nezuko sighed. "They are dolls. Marionettes. And the puppeteer is a Missing-nin from Sunagakure, known for his surprise attacks on low-ranking missions. Your mission was Rank C, but they saw an opportunity for an easy attack."
"Sensei... where were you?" Akihiro asked quietly.
Nezuko looked at him and smiled bitterly. "Some ninjas specialized in Genjutsu intercepted me."
Sayuri put her hands on her hips. "I hope you have a better answer! We are your responsibility."
"Calm down, Sayu-chan." Mika tried to intercede.
"No! Sayuri is right. Sensei needs to explain!" Reika demanded while glaring angrily at the old man.
Sensei let out a tired sigh. "You are right... but it wasn't in vain, now there are 4 fewer meddling ninjas in this world."
"4...?" Akihiro let out slightly shocked. It was only supposed to be a Rank C mission, and now so many ninjas were showing up...
Nezuko nodded and the girls seemed to relax.
"You knew," Akihiro said, his voice cold and sharp. He wasn't asking. He was accusing.
Nezuko remained silent, her expression unreadable.
Akihiro then turned to Sato. "And you... you're not blind. And this isn't a Rank C job. What kind of game is this?"
Sato, the old man, finally spoke. His voice, once weak and hesitant, was now clear and full of a silent authority. He cleared his throat, the sound echoing in the air. "It's not a game, kid. It's a Rank B mission disguised as a C."
Nezuko didn't smile, didn't sigh. Her eyes, cold as steel, fixed on the man before her.
"You used my students as a shield." Her voice didn't rise, but every word carried the weight of a threat. "If one of them had died, I'd bury you right here."
Sato's phrase was a slap in the face for the four genin. All their fears, their insecurities, their frustrations... it had all been because of a lie. A lie that had put them in mortal danger.
Sato took a deep breath, the mask of old age slowly dropping. The previously weak voice now came out firm, charged with an unsettling calm. "I am not blind." The silence that followed was suffocating. "And this mission... is not what it seems because..."
The genin looked at each other, shock etched on their faces.
He raised the cane and leaned it against a tree, as if he no longer needed it. "My name is Sato, but to some... I am known as Ayanami."
Akihiro took a step forward, his pearly eyes burning with distrust. "Who are you, really?"
Sato maintained his upright posture, but his silence only reinforced the tension.
Nezuko approached slowly, her hand hovering near the sheath of her kunai. "Tell the truth, Ayanami. Everything." She narrowed her eyes. "Or I'll tear it out of you by force."
Sato looked away at the remains of the marionettes. "I was a spy for the Land of Grass." His voice became lower, almost a whisper. "And because of that, there are those who want me dead."
He stopped there, letting the words weigh in the air like a suspended blade. He didn't tell everything at once, didn't try to justify himself. He only released enough so that the team knew the truth was much more dangerous than any lie.
The air seemed heavier. Even Reika and Sayuri held their breath. Akihiro felt a shiver run down his spine. Nezuko wasn't asking. She was deciding if this man deserved to live.
Sato swallowed hard. For the first time since he revealed himself, he seemed smaller.
Sato looked at Nezuko, the mask of weakness finally falling. The old man's posture changed completely. His back straightened, his cane became an adornment, and his expression was a blank of emotions. He wasn't a defenseless artisan; he was a ninja, and a dangerous one.
"Nezuko-san, I didn't lie," he said, his voice soft, but firm. "I didn't lie about the mission. The mission is Rank D or C. The farce was to protect your lives. By faking the rank, I thought I would throw off curious eyes..."
"It didn't work." Reika spoke mockingly.
He nodded. "No. Unfortunately, it didn't."
Sato continued, his voice becoming a distant sound, a story told by a ghost. "The Land of Grass is not a peaceful place, like Konoha. It's a place where politics are as dangerous as a blade at your throat all the time. I was assigned to a spy mission, to expose a conspiracy. I failed, I was betrayed, and my partner was killed. Since then, my head has been offered as a bounty. The puppeteer, Aritomi, is a ninja who hunts political enemies. He doesn't work for anyone, but he has his own agenda."
Sayuri stood up, staggering. The pain in her shoulder was a constant reminder that this was no illusion. The anger in her golden eyes was palpable. "You used us as bait. We are the genin that Aritomi saw as easy prey. You put us in danger to protect yourself."
Sato didn't deny it. He didn't try to defend himself. "Yes. I used you, ninjas are tools. I knew the Rank C mission was a bold disguise, but the mission I was given was the only way to get Konoha to protect me."
Akihiro stepped forward, his voice a silent growl. "You put us at risk, and you still say you did it to protect us and then call us tools? How does that make sense?"
Sato looked at Akihiro, his eyes, previously empty, now filled with deep sadness. "I couldn't reveal the truth. The truth would put you ninjas from Konoha in danger. I needed ninjas to protect me. But I needed them to be experienced ninjas. What I didn't expect was that Konoha would assign me to a genin team. I needed to know if you were capable, if you could protect me. If I had revealed my true identity, the risk would be even greater. Aritomi is not an ordinary ninja. He is a monster. A monster who doesn't care who he hurts to achieve his goals."
"A weak monster." Sayuri mocked. "Couldn't handle mere genins..."
"That wasn't him. It was probably Sarro, his disciple..." The old man spoke thoughtfully.
Akihiro looked at his companions, the same expression of shock on all their faces. They were just 'kids', greenhorns, and what Sato was telling them was something they could never have imagined. They had been deceived, but not for ill will. They had been used as part of a game of life and death.
Nezuko stepped forward. Her hand gently rested on Akihiro's shoulder. "Your mission was Rank C. His mission is Rank A. What you just did was one of the hardest challenges a Rank B ninja could have faced. You acted calmly, quickly, and with loyalty to each other. I am proud of you."
'Sensei is trying to relieve the tension...'
Nezuko then looked at Sato, her expression hardening. "Ayanami, you put my students in danger. But you also taught them to defend themselves. Because of your desperate act, they became stronger. But I will not forgive you for this. If you had told me the truth, I would have asked for help from more experienced ninjas. Now, we are alone. I will escort you to the border because it is close and the mission is for Konoha! But you will tell me everything you know."
Sato nodded, his shoulders relaxing slightly. He knew Nezuko was the only hope he had. "Thank you," he said, his voice full of a new humility.
Nezuko turned to the team, her eyes serious. "From now on, the mission is no longer Rank C. From now on, the mission is Rank B. I won't deceive you. I won't lie to you. The mission is dangerous, and we will encounter the puppeteer again. If you want to return to Konoha, I won't judge you. You have already done enough."
The four genin looked at each other, exhaustion mixing with adrenaline. They no longer had the illusion that the mission was easy, but they also didn't have the illusion that they could go home. They had survived a deadly attack, and the fear they felt had turned into a silent determination.
Akihiro, the team leader, stepped forward. "We stay," he said, his voice firm and full of new authority. "We are a team, and we will finish what we started. We are ninjas, not cowards."
Sayuri stepped forward, her face pale with fatigue, but her golden eyes firm. "I won't let Ayanami use us again. I will ensure he reaches his destination, even if it costs him his life."
Reika, who was previously full of anger, was now full of a new determination. "I won't fail. I won't let the marionettes kill us."
Mika, who was still trembling, looked at her companions. She didn't know what to say, but she knew what she had to do. She squeezed Sayuri's hand, her eyes full of tears, but a faint smile formed on her face. "I won't let him die. I won't let anyone die."
Nezuko smiled, a small smile that lit up her expression. "Then, let's go. The sun is setting, and we have a long way ahead of us."
The genin team, who were previously just kids on a Rank C mission, were now ninjas. They no longer had the illusion that the ninja life was easy, but they had a new and dangerous determination. They would face what was to come, together, as a team. The path ahead was dangerous, but they were ready to face it.