With a blur, Kaida disappeared from his position and appeared behind the grunt. Both of the bandit's hands fell to the ground, ly cut from his shoulders, with burn marks from his shoulders to his waist on both sides.

  Even though he should have been soaked in blood by now, no blood came from his wounds; they were burned and sealed due to the fire chakra Kaida had coated his cws with. The bandit fell to the ground and started shouting for help.

  Kaida lifted his leg and crushed the bandit's legs into the ground. His cry became a source of fear for the other bandits. The bandit who had thrown Ayame out ordered ano call the boss here."

  Kaida ignored him a walking toward the other bandit. With each of Kaida's steps, every bandit took a step back.

  "What are you terrified of, you bastards? He's just a single kid, and there are so many of us. Go kill him!" the bandit shouted again. Hearing this, the bandits ran toward Kaida—not because they were motivated by the and, but because they khere was no way they would survive if they ran; the ninja was far too fast. They prepared to fight for their lives.

  But the problem was that Kaida's kenjutsu defense was s that eveeran ninjas would have struggled to nd an atta him. These half-assed bandits didn't stand a ow that he had the Sharingan, he could see every miail and movement of the bandits.

  Kaida kept walking, and with each step, one bandit would fall to the ground with holes in various body parts—some burned and sealed, others missing limbs. Eae was left barely alive, suffering from a sloainful death.

  With each passing sed, the iy of the screams otlefield increased. Yukihiro watched as Kaida easily handled every bandit. Though he didn't want to admit it, he eve pity for the bandits, seeing them in this dition.

  After just 20 seds, only Kaida and the bandit who had thrown Ayame remaianding.

  Seeing that he had no other choice, the bandit picked up his battle axe and sshed at Kaida. Kaida easily dodged, then simply bisected the axe in two with his cw.

  He followed up with an atta the bandit's hands and legs, leaving only the torso behind. The st bandit simply joihe rest in increasing the screams in the area.

  By this time, the bandit who had goo call the 'boss' returned with a ninja dressed in bandit attire. Yukihiro tensed up once again, just as he was about to go and help Kaida.

  Kaida disappeared from his location again and appeared behind the ninja, sshing his cw toward him.

  Though the ninja tried to block the attack with his kunai, the cws, made of chakra metal and coated with fire chakra, easily sliced through the kunai. One of the ninja's arms fell to the ground. Yukihiro appeared behind the ninja and knocked him unscious with a strike to the neck.

  "He's a ninja, Kaida. We should take him back to the vilge for interrogation," Yukihiro said.

  Kaida hen turo see the hostages he had rescued. Seeing that they were frightened by all the screams, he simply used Wind Bde Jutsu to kill every bandit on the ground.

  Afterward, he sat down on the ground, his spirit pletely broken. Seeing him so down, Yukihiro approached and said, "Kaida, don't worry. It wasn't your fault. These were bandits. There are much worse people in the world doing things we 't even imagine. And we 't save everybody. The only thing we do is our best every day."

  "Sensei, I had a ce to kill these bandits during a previous mission. If I had dohat, none of this would have happened."

  "I know, Kaida. But even if you had killed these bastards, someone else would have taken their pce. As I said, it wasn't your fault. Just do the right thing from now on. o bme yourself."

  Kaida nodded, and Yukihiro left him alone for a while ao up the mess Kaida had made.

  First, he buried every bandit in the ground usih Jutsu, then stored everything ihe cave in a ste scroll.

  He restraihe ninja with ninja rope and a paper seal that would keep him unscious for the entire journey. By now, Kaida and ready to move.

  They went to where Ryota and Kiba were handling the hostages. Kaida made three shadow es—oransformed into a cart with enough seats for everyone, while the other two transformed into two bulls. They headed toward Ayame's father, who was ing in their dire with a kunai from the dead ninja in his hand, ready to fight for his life to save his daughter if necessary.

  Kaida picked him up onto the carriage too, and they headed toward Konoha. For the entire ride, Ayame was unscious. Kaida carried her on his p, while Yukihiro stored the body of a fallen party member and the ninja in a scroll.

  Upon reag Konoha after four hours, Ryota and Kiba got down from the cart with Yukihiro.

  "I'm going to report this to Lord Hokage. You take them to Konoha Hospital," Yukihiro said.

  "I'll tell Yomi about our return. You go on," Kaida replied.

  Kaida nodded aoward the hospital, while Yukihiro, Ryota, and Kiba went in a different dire.

  ---

  **At the Hokage's office:**

  "You're saying that on his first mission, Kaida was so against killing that he left the bandits alive. But when you returo the vilge, you learhat some bandits had attacked someone Kaida knew, and you went on a rescue mission to save the hostages.

  And there, Kaida killed all the bandits in such a brutal way that you felt pity for them. He also unlocked his Sharingan when he saw a girl he khrown out by a bandit in a very bad state, right?" the Hokage asked.

  "Yes, Lord Hokage."

  "He even handled a in-ranked ninja alone?"

  "Yes, Lord Hokage."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, Lord Hokage," Yukihiro repeated.

  "Argh, I'm getting a headache just thinking about the Uchiha's rea to this. They won't leave Kaida alone now that he's unlocked his Sharingan. They're very strict about this. Well, send that ninja to the T&I department for interrogation."

  "As you wish. I'd like to request a week off for my team, Lord Hokage."

  "Approved." Hiruzen said without ahe first kill is always difficult to handle, especially when you've lived in a pce like Konoha where everything is retively peaceful.

  After submitting his report, Yukihiro took the ninja to Konoha's T&I department.

  Just after 30 minutes of torture and iigation, the ninja started singing like a parrot. The result was something every higher-up in Konoha had been expeg.

  Given Konoha's current state, every vilge is trying to exploit the situation. They are sending their ninjas disguised as bandits to attack Konoha's ey. This partiinja was from Sunagakure, in the Land of Wind.

  The Hokage was already aware of this but couldn't do much as every ninja in Konoha was already stretched thin with their duties.

  They were doing missions back-to-back. Though he was sending ninjas from time to time to exterminate bandits, they kept increasing, no matter how many were killed.

  ---

  (A.N: For this chapter. Just tell me if you liked the chapter or not. Though you still vote for this fanfic, I would primarily like to know your review of the chapter.)