Dosu was hiding outside a noble mansion in the land of tea. The land was located far from the city, just a large mansion in the middle of nowhere, yet it was surrounded by dozens of armed samurai constantly patrolling.
The entire surrounding territory was a farm belonging to this nobleman, he produced most of the tea leaves sold in the land of tea, which was also the reason for hiring the rogue ninjas.
The objective was clear, to kill the merchants and ninjas who delivered tea leaves from the Land of Sound to the Land of Tea. This way, he could not only keep the tea leaves but also cut off Oto's tea leaf supply, recovering his business and profiting from reselling the stolen goods.
For an average human who understood nothing about ninjas beyond them being mercenary armed forces, this was brilliant.
The truth? It was a fucking stupid thing to do.
Although ninjas mostly avoided attacking nobles, the one they were facing was Oto, Jugo feared no noble retaliation in the world, so when Guren asked him about it, his only answer was 'Kill' and that's exactly what Guren wrote to Dosu.
Dosu didn't care about this nobleman either, instead, he was using the situation to educate his students again.
-The information is very clear.- Dosu began, speaking in a low voice. -The noble merchant inside hired ninjas to cut off supplies between the Land of Sound and the Land of Tea. His targets clearly included ninjas from Oto. Luckily, we were the first team they encountered.
The group of Genin listened in silence, Ryuta remained calm, Nanami narrowed her eyes, a fierce murderous intent growing within her, Kenta frowned, he didn't understand why this was happening, so he asked.
-Why would he do that? Everyone's doing business, why kill each other instead of fighting over their goods?- Kenta asked, confused.
Ryuta pretended not to have heard, Nanami's lip trembled, even her murderous intent was somewhat dissipated by Kenta's stupidity, Dosu's visible eye twitched, he slowly turned his head, looking at Kenta, wondering if that brat was lacking common sense lessons.
It wasn't Dosu who answered, but Ryuta, who despite everything, still considered Kenta his close friend, so even though he was a bit foolish, he still helped him understand. - Because he can't win.
Kenta looked at Ryuta, confused. - So what? If he can't win, he can't win. How will he know without trying? Even if he doesn't win, why kill each other?
Ryuta seemed to expect this, even without being able to see Kenta's face, he continued. - If he loses, it means that all the wealth he has accumulated will be lost, that he will go bankrupt and lose everything. Of course, he can still come out on top, sell what he can and live a life of luxury with what's left, maybe open another business, but in the minds of these merchants and nobles, if someone prevents their business from working, they are an enemy, and an enemy is better off dead.
Kenta still seemed annoyed, thinking it wasn't fair, but Dosu interrupted the pointless argument.
-It doesn't matter, what matters is that they attacked us and the order from above has already arrived, the merchant must die.- Dosu explained.
The group turned their gaze to Dosu, Nanami and Ryuta didn't mind, but Kenta still seemed a little hesitant, though he nodded nonetheless.
Dosu looked at his students with his one eye, his gaze lingering longer on Kenta.
-Ryuta, you lead. You must go in, assassinate, and leave. If I need to intervene, it's considered a failure.- Dosu spoke, then vanished completely. None of them could tell where he went, not even Ryuta could hear Dosu.
Ryuta clenched his fist slightly, feeling Kenta and Nanami's eyes on him. He pretended to be calm, it was their first 'real' mission, or rather, the first mission where he was truly the leader.
Ryuta thought that when that moment arrived, he would feel great, finally having his own troop to lead, but what he felt was the complete opposite. He felt as if Kenta and Nanami's lives were in his hands, any mistake and he would have to live with the guilt of one of them, maybe even both of them, dying.
Was that what Dosu-sensei felt?
Taking a deep breath, his eyes grew cold. Regardless of everything, he would complete the mission, not only that, he would bring Nanami and Kenta back alive.
In truth, Ryuta was overthinking it, their strength was far greater than that of those Samurai. Just one of them was enough to wipe them all out. Besides, in case of any unforeseen event, Dosu was still watching from the sidelines, he wouldn't let any of them die.
So Ryuta quickly began dividing the tasks, knowing that Kenta was the worst of them at infiltration. After they circled the terrain, he found the least guarded point and kept Kenta there, his mission was to clear a path in case of a siege.
Although a little annoyed at having to stay outside, Kenta was still a ninja and accepted the orders.
Ryuta, on the other hand, separated from Nanami as well. Nanami was responsible for infiltrating via the ground, literally underneath it, while Ryuta would use his perception to advance from the front, avoiding the patrol. Ryuta was the main assassin, but in case Ryuta was discovered, Nanami, who was going underground, would take over the assassination while he created a distraction.
Kenta would also act at that moment to divert attention.
Although Dosu-sensei's request was to assassinate silently, that didn't mean the target shouldn't be assassinated even if there was noise, so that was plan B.
The assassination began soon after, just as they had planned, with Ryuta in the lead.