Konoha: Who Says the Shinobi World Can't Play Hunter?

Chapter 45: Aftermath

"Ugh... I can't take it anymore. This is all Kazama's fault. If we had just burned everything down last night, we wouldn't have to deal with this!" Nobuko clung weakly to a tree, her face pale as she dry-heaved.

"Don't blame me. You agreed to it, didn't you? That means you accepted the plan, so don't—" Kazama suddenly gagged, his own stomach rebelling as he turned away from Nobuko. "Stay away from me. Just looking at you makes my stomach turn."

"What the hell?!" Nobuko snapped, before immediately doubling over and vomiting again. "You stay away from me too, then!"

The previous night had been an exhausting bloodbath, and the three of them had been too drained to destroy the evidence immediately. They had planned to rest for just a short while before setting fire to the place.

Instead, they had slept until morning.

That was their biggest mistake.

Under the dim light of the night, their minds had numbed to the horrors they committed. But in the brightness of day, the true carnage of their slaughter was laid bare. Blood pooled across the ground, soaking into the dirt, while the corpses—many of which had been brutally maimed—were grotesquely illuminated in the morning sun.

It was overwhelming.

No one knew who threw up first, but once it started, it became a competition to see who could empty their stomachs the fastest.

Watching the scene, Hayate found himself smirking. So, they're finally showing their inexperience, huh?

This was normal.

For a first kill, it would be abnormal if they didn't react like this. If any of them had remained completely unfazed, he would have begun questioning their state of mind.

"Why is Ichirō fine?" Kazama asked, his face still pale.

Ichirō, sitting calmly nearby, glanced at the corpses, then at Kazama and Nobuko, before pointing at the dead bodies. "You guys used arrows and blades. There was a lot of blood."

He then pointed at his iron staff. "I just knocked them out. No blood."

That simple statement left Kazama and Nobuko silent.

He was right.

Their nausea wasn't just due to the act of killing itself—it was also the sheer visual horror of the aftermath. The sight of torn flesh, gaping wounds, and the raw, exposed carnage had overwhelmed their senses.

But Ichirō… Ichirō had mentally convinced himself that he wasn't the one who had truly killed them. The ones who bled were slain by his companions, not him. It was a desperate form of self-denial, but it had allowed him to endure the morning without vomiting like the other two.

In the end, Hayate had to be the one to burn the bodies. His students simply lacked the strength.

Later, they gathered to divide the spoils.

"Alright, let's split the loot. We have about three million ryō in cash, a box full of various jewels, four decent-quality swords, and one swordsmanship manual."

Kazama was many things, but he wasn't greedy when it came to sharing what was rightfully everyone's.

"Whoa! Three million?!" Nobuko's eyes sparkled.

In the past few months, they had been taking on missions constantly, yet even after expenses, they had only managed to save a few hundred thousand ryō each. To them, three million was a fortune.

Despite their excitement, neither Nobuko nor Ichirō reached for the money. They both looked at Kazama, waiting for him to make the decision.

Seeing this, Kazama took charge. "Hayate-sensei gets nine hundred thousand, and we split the remaining two-point-one million—seven hundred thousand each."

They nodded in agreement.

As for the jewels and swords, none of them had the connections to sell them, so they entrusted them to Hayate to handle on the black market.

"What about the swordsmanship manual?" Nobuko asked.

"We keep it, obviously." Kazama replied without hesitation. "Three out of four of us use swords. Any technique we can get is valuable."

After a quick look through, he handed the manual to Nobuko. "It's a Iaido style. That's more in line with your fighting style than mine."

With that settled, they returned to Konoha, handed in their mission report, and received their reward—slightly more than double the usual D-rank payout. Since it was a C-rank mission, they were granted a three-day break.

But…

The very next day, the three of them gathered at Kazama's treehouse.

Kazama groaned as he rolled over in bed. "You guys again? Don't you have anything better to do on your break?"

"Honestly… no." Ichirō admitted with a sheepish grin.

After months of nonstop missions, they had developed a routine. Now that they suddenly had free time, neither of them knew what to do with themselves.

Ichirō had suggested taking on more D-rank missions to keep busy, but Nobuko had opposed the idea, arguing that they should be focusing on training instead.

Eventually, they decided to ask Kazama for advice.

"If you guys want to train, then just train. Why drag me into it?" Kazama grumbled.

"Because we don't know what to train." Nobuko admitted.

As soon as she said it, she hesitated.

At some point, the three of them had started relying on Kazama for guidance. Whenever they were lost or uncertain, they turned to him for answers. It had become second nature.

The realization made her pause.

Was she relying on him too much?

She glanced at Ichirō, who had the same expression of realization.

Kazama, meanwhile, sighed and closed his eyes in thought.

They trust me this much, huh?

It was a heavy responsibility.

The strategies and advice he had been giving them weren't always based on shinobi knowledge—many of them were just ideas he had adapted from his past life. He wasn't even sure if they were truly the best for them.

The last thing he wanted was to lead them down the wrong path.

After a moment, he made a decision.

"Go find Hayate-sensei."

"Huh?"

His response caught both of them off guard.

"We need his experience to refine my ideas. I don't want to just throw out random suggestions without making sure they're actually useful. If we're going to get stronger, we need proper guidance."

Hearing this, the two of them relaxed. They had been worried that Kazama was pushing them away, but it was the opposite—he was taking their growth seriously.

"Alright… but how do we find him?"

Kazama smirked. "That's your first mission. Consider it a D-rank task—'Locate Hayate-sensei.' "

With their objective set, they immediately got to work.

Using Kazama's sensory abilities and his summoned beasts, they scoured the village. Meanwhile, Nobuko and Ichirō relied on good old-fashioned questioning.

Eventually, they tracked him down… at a tavern.

Hayate wasn't alone.

Sitting with him were two others—one was an older man Kazama recognized as his grandfather's close friend, while the other was a muscular young man they had never seen before.

"Hayate-sensei!"

Their sudden appearance startled the group.

Seeing his students standing there, Hayate chuckled. "Well, if it isn't my three precious students."

Turning to his drinking companions, he introduced them. "This big guy here is Chūnin Tehisa. And the old man… well, you already know Marusuke."

Tehisa grinned at them. "Yo, I'm Tehisa. Nice to meet you three."

Kazama and the others exchanged glances.

Clearly, their break was not going to be relaxing.

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