Naruto took out a scroll from his Ninja tool pouch and threw it down.
"This is what I confiscated from Gato's subordinates. It details the 'Purification Plan' he prepared for this Village after hiring the rogue Ninja Zabuza Momochi."
Of course, that was fake.
Naruto had deduced and written it himself last night, based on all available intelligence and combining it with the common methods nobles in the Warhammer world used to deal with "rebellious planets."
But for these desperate villagers, this was the last straw.
A few literate people gathered around, reading the fabricated, bloody details on the scroll.
"Phase One: Eliminate target Tazuna..."
"Phase Two: Destroy the bridge, execute all craftsmen..."
"Phase Three: Purge the entire Village, to prevent future troubles..."
Cries erupted from the crowd, then merged into a continuous wail.
They had completely fallen into despair.
Naruto waited for the fear to reach its peak.
Then, he spoke again.
"Now, you have two choices."
"First, kneel here, crying and waiting for death. Waiting for Gato's butcher knife to fall on your necks."
"Second, pick up your weapons, stand up, and fight for your lives, for the lives of your families!"
His words, like a blade, sharply cut into everyone's survival instinct.
"The weak have no choice. Peace is never achieved through prayer! It is exchanged with blood and steel!"
"Your tears are worthless! Only the weapons in your hands can protect you!"
The villagers struggled intensely between fear and the will to survive.
They looked at each other, seeing the same confusion and helplessness on each other's faces.
Naruto jumped down from the bridge pier and walked directly into the crowd.
He pushed aside the crying and dazed people, walking straight to the young fisherman who had just refuted him.
"You, what's your name?"
"Kai... Kaisuke..."
"Very good, Kaisuke. You used to be a fishing boat captain, right? You know how to command a boat, how to read the wind. Step forward."
He then walked towards a burly man.
"You're a blacksmith, aren't you? I need you to forge weapons. The simplest spears and machetes. Can you do it?"
The blacksmith's lips trembled, but he finally nodded.
"You, hunter, you know how to set traps in the forest."
"You, boat boss, you know how to organize manpower."
Naruto did not ask for opinions.
In the crowd, one by one, he called out twelve names.
They were all people on the list designated as [Core Combatants].
"You twelve, stay."
Naruto's command was devoid of emotion.
"From today onwards, you are no longer fishermen, not hunters, not carpenters. You are warriors."
In the afternoon, training commenced in an open space outside the Village.
Naruto did not teach them any Ninjutsu.
He stood before the twelve numb-faced villagers, holding a sharpened wooden stick.
"The sole purpose of combat is to kill the enemy. Not to defeat him, not to repel him, but to kill him."
"There are only a few vital points on the human body."
Naruto said, demonstrating with the wooden stick on a scarecrow.
"Throat, heart, kidneys. Aim for these places. No unnecessary movements, no hesitation."
"One strike, fatal. That is combat."
He handed the wooden stick to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, you demonstrate."
Sasuke took the wooden stick, a strange excitement flickering in his pupils.
He liked this feeling. Pure skill, existing solely for killing.
He faced a scarecrow, his body sinking slightly, and in the next step, his figure was already close.
The wooden stick in his hand, at a tricky angle, precisely pierced the scarecrow's throat.
The movement was clean and sharp, without any superfluous action.
The twelve villagers watched, feeling chills run down their spines.
This young man, roughly the same age as their children, carried a killing intent in his movements that made their bones ache with cold.
For the first time, they concretely realized that killing could be such a "technique."
"Did you see clearly?" Naruto asked.
"This is what you need to learn. Utilize the terrain, utilize tools, and end the enemy's life in the simplest way."
Sasuke became the perfect instructor.
He demonstrated throwing kunai again and again, taijutsu blocking, and how to attack the most fatal vital points with the least effort.
The villagers, from their initial fear and resistance, slowly began to show something else in their eyes.
Perhaps... perhaps it really could work.
Perhaps they really could use these methods to fight against Gato's thugs.
Morale, an invisible and intangible thing, began to quietly coalesce with each of Sasuke's precise demonstrations.
On the other side, Sakura was assigned her task.
In an empty room, she taught Tsunami and several other women how to treat wounds.
"This is a tourniquet; it should be tied proximal to the wound."
"This is the most basic disinfectant herb; crush it and apply it."
She explained and demonstrated. Watching the women clumsily learn to bandage, Sakura's heart was in agony.
She wasn't teaching medical Ninjutsu to save lives.
She was preparing logistics for an impending slaughter.
Every method she taught implied that soon, real, bleeding wounds would need their attention.
"War always has casualties."
Naruto's words echoed in her mind.
She finally understood the weight behind that sentence. This wasn't a matter of right or wrong; it was a matter of life and death.
She clenched her fists and continued her teaching, a newfound calm in her voice that she herself hadn't noticed.
Kakashi stood on a large tree in the distance, taking it all in.
He watched how Naruto used language and fear to force a flock of sheep into desperate wolves.
He watched Sasuke, the young man consumed by revenge, find a peculiar sense of belonging while teaching killing techniques.
He watched Sakura, the girl who once only cried, learning how to face blood.
Everything deviated from the norm for Konoha Ninja.
How was this a B-rank mission?
This was a small-scale war mobilization led by his students.
Naruto's methods were ruthless, cruel, and inhumane.
But Kakashi had to admit.
It could protect this fragile group of people to the greatest extent.
He, the Jonin, the team leader, was merely an observer from beginning to end.
He began to rethink what role he should play in this team.
To stop them?
Or... to join them?
Naruto walked over to the twelve resting individuals and threw down a pile of sharpened bamboo spears.
"Pick them up."
"Your training truly begins now."
On the third day of training, at dusk.
The twelve villagers, gripping crude bamboo spears, mechanically repeated stabbing motions.
Sweat soaked their thin clothes, their faces a mix of numbness and exhaustion.
Sasuke stood before them, expressionless.
"Wrist down, your spearhead is three inches off."
"Use your waist, don't push with your arms, you idiot."
"Next."
His words were cold and devoid of emotion, yet they accurately pointed out everyone's mistakes.
The corrected villager shivered and immediately adjusted his posture.
Naruto stood on a nearby high ground, overlooking the makeshift training field.
Everyone's movements, everyone's limits, formed data in his mind.
A satisfied expression, like that of a qualified component, appeared on his face.
Meanwhile, at Tazuna's house.
Sakura was teaching Tsunami and a few women how to treat wounds.
"No, don't wrap it like that; it will compress the blood vessels."
She took Tsunami's hand, correcting her bandaging technique.
When she touched Tsunami's fingers, Sakura paused.
This woman's hands were covered in calluses from labor, but her bandaging technique had a strange familiarity.
"Ms. Tsunami, you..."
"My husband used to go fishing at sea and injured his leg from something in the ocean," Tsunami said softly, lowering her head. "I took care of him for a while."
Sakura's heart was pierced by something.
War.
It didn't begin the moment Ninja appeared.
It had long infiltrated the lives of these ordinary people, quietly changing everything with poverty and harm.
At night, under the dim oil lamp, the atmosphere was oppressive.
Tazuna held a cup of water, his hands trembling violently.
He finally couldn't help but walk over to Naruto by the window.
"Naruto... young man." He chose his words carefully, his throat dry. "You... do you really want them to... to fight Gato's samurai to the death?"
"They're all just fishermen, carpenters!"
"You're sending them to their deaths!"
Naruto didn't turn around, simply looking out at the dark, silent Village.
It was deathly quiet; not even a dog's bark could be heard.
"Mr. Tazuna."
Naruto spoke.
"The time is not yet ripe."
Tazuna was stunned.
What kind of answer was that?
This abrupt remark extinguished the glimmer of hope that had just ignited in his heart, dousing it with a bucket of ice water.
He looked at Naruto's back; within that slender body, there was a monster he completely failed to understand.
Fourth day.
The training content changed.
Kakashi stood in a tree, watching Naruto direct the villagers in a new exercise.
It wasn't a more aggressive charge, nor a more lethal assassination.
It was... retreat.
"When you hear the whistle, you must find cover within three seconds."
"In pairs, cover each other's retreat, maintain formation."
"Remember your retreat routes. Each person has three backup routes; no mistakes allowed!"
Naruto's instructions remained cold and efficient.
Kakashi frowned.
This was completely different from his anticipated "human cannon fodder" tactic.
This was more like... training a small unit that knew how to preserve itself.
What exactly did this student want to do?
Sasuke experienced an unprecedented feeling while guiding the villagers.
Those adults, those men who were taller and stronger than him, trembled before him like sheep.
They relied on him, eager to learn survival skills from him.
This feeling of being revered and needed was more satisfying than simply completing an A-rank Ninjutsu.
He began to enjoy this feeling.
A sense of superiority, belonging to a strong person, of controlling the lives and deaths of others.
Something within him was quietly changing.
In a corner, a small figure was secretly peeking.
It was Inari.
He hugged his knees, watching those uncles who usually only sighed, now holding weapons and training with sweat pouring down their faces.
He couldn't understand.
"Come here."
Naruto's words made him stiffen.
He had been discovered.
Inari wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't obey.
He could only lower his head and grudgingly walk up to Naruto.
Naruto looked down at the tear-stained child.
"Do you think they're foolish?"
Inari didn't speak, only buried his head lower.
"You think resistance is useless and will only invite more terrifying retaliation."
Naruto stated the facts.
Inari's body began to tremble.
"Crying and giving up are the privileges of the weak." Naruto crouched down to his eye level. "But privileges come at a price."
"True strong people fight to protect those important to them."
"It's not because there's hope that you fight, but by fighting, there will be hope."
Inari suddenly looked up, his eyes teary, at Naruto.
This sentence was completely different from what his deceased father had said.
Yet it possessed a power that struck the soul directly.
Fifth day, early morning.
The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the damp, cold mist had not yet dispersed.
Naruto blew a sharp assembly whistle.
Everyone, including Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and the twelve nascent militiamen, quickly gathered in the open space.
"From now on, militia training is suspended."
Naruto stood before everyone and announced this command.
The villagers exchanged glances, their faces showing confusion and unease.
Kakashi's heart sank.
It's here.
His worst fear was about to happen.
"The enemy is almost here," Naruto continued. "Now, it's time for actual combat."
The air solidified.
Sakura's face instantly turned pale.
Sasuke gripped the kunai in his hand, his body tensed.
Tazuna's legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Sure enough, they were bait.
Using the lives of these civilians, who had just picked up weapons, to wear down the enemy and create opportunities for them, the real Ninja.
How ruthless, how... efficient a tactic.
Kakashi's fists clenched inside his sleeves.
He had to stop him.
As a teacher, as a Jonin of Konoha, he absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen.
Just as he was about to speak, Naruto calmly scanned everyone.
"You seem to have misunderstood something."
He began.
"Training the militia is for the future of this country, not for this current battle."
The words Kakashi was about to say caught in his throat.
What does he mean?
"A qualified commander would never place hope in fresh recruits who haven't been tested by war."
"Warriors should stand in front of the weak."
"Only cowards hide behind civilians."
Naruto's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried immense weight, striking hard at everyone's heart.
He looked around at the twelve dumbfounded villagers, and finally, his gaze fell on his teacher and comrades.
"Our mission is to protect the client."
"And Gato, and all his armed forces, are a direct threat to the client's life."
"Therefore..."
Naruto paused, then stated his conclusion.
"We will find them, and then, kill and eliminate all of Gato's subordinates."
"Not a single one will be left."
These words, like a sudden clap of thunder, exploded in everyone's ears.
Sakura covered her mouth, looking at Naruto in disbelief.
Sasuke's pupils contracted violently, a surge of wild fighting spirit welling up from his heart.
Proactive attack?
Annihilate the enemy?
This is... this is the stance a strong person should have!
Kakashi's exposed eye widened, staring intently at Naruto.
His mind was blank.
At this moment, he finally understood.
All of Naruto's previous ruthlessness, all his cruelty, those calculations that treated people like components, those inhumane trainings... they were all just means.
It was the optimal path he chose to achieve his ultimate goal.
And his goal, from the very beginning, was not to sacrifice anyone.
But to use the most reliable force—which was themselves—to eradicate the threat.
This student, his coldness, was the outermost layer of armor.
Beneath the armor was his purest and most insane principle as a "warrior."
Protect the weak.
Kakashi looked at the blond young man, and for the first time, he felt that his perception of him had been completely overturned.
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