Revolution in the Ninja World

"Halt!"

Izayo, leading her three squad members, gradually approached the Konoha front-line camp. They were intercepted by a Konoha hidden sentry at the outer perimeter.

"We are Squad Z, who departed ten days ago to carry out a special mission. We have now completed the mission and are returning."

Izayo stopped obediently. As she spoke, she gestured for Nobuyoshi to hand over the "evidence" they had brought back.

"This is…"

"Kumo Jonin, Raiton user, 'I' [Different]."

The sentry was momentarily surprised. Then, he carefully examined the "evidence" and blew a whistle.

"Follow me."

Led by the sentry, Habara and the others returned to the Konoha camp.

Afterward, Izayo went to report the mission details to the higher command. Habara and the other two, after undergoing the necessary scrutiny, were sent directly to the Konoha front-line hospital.

The designation "Squad Z" didn't sound very auspicious. Habara later learned that besides the four of them, only two others from the squad had returned alive.

A 75% casualty rate. From Habara and the others' perspective, this mission was a disaster. But from the perspective of Konoha's higher-ups, the situation was the opposite… This exchange was incredibly worthwhile.

After returning to the camp, Izayo still had a lot to do. Besides reporting to the higher-ups, she also needed to confirm the rewards and punishments after the mission… The external ninjas who had risked their lives had different conditions for their cooperation with Konoha, such as allowing their families to live in Konoha.

Fail the mission, receive punishment; succeed in the mission, receive reward. This was the foundation upon which a ninja village was built, so what needed to be implemented would certainly be implemented.

Those who survived would receive the mission's reward. The reward for an A-rank mission was generally between 150,000 and 1,000,000 ryo. Considering the strength of the enemy and the size of their own squad, the reward for this mission was the highest for its rank: 1,000,000 ryo.

Divided equally, Habara would probably receive a little over 160,000 ryo. Converting the currency (1 ryo = 10 yen = 6 cents USD), Habara would receive around 10,000 dollars.

Averaged over the mission duration, that was 1,000 dollars per day. Was this a lot of money? Considering it was money earned by risking one's life, 10,000 dollars really wasn't much.

Because of the high casualty rate, Squad Z would likely return to Konoha to recuperate and await replenishment… after all, this squad required rather special personnel.

Taking advantage of the time to return to Konoha, Habara had to think of some way to increase his combat power. However, during the return trip to Konoha, not everything went smoothly.

Konoha Front-line Hospital.

After a checkup, the hospital confirmed that Habara was fine. According to the medical ninja, he was in perfect health and had absolutely no need to be hospitalized.

Habara thought to himself, I had a hole opened in my shoulder, how am I perfectly healthy? However, when he casually looked down, he found that only a thin scab remained on the wound.

Now he had nothing to say.

However, although Habara was physically fine, Nobuyoshi's situation seemed dire.

After completing his examination, Habara returned to the tent that served as a ward. He was preparing to pack his things and leave immediately… The doctors had ordered him, a perfectly healthy person, not to waste medical resources.

But when he arrived at the tent, he found only Nobuyoshi there, and Nobuyoshi was staring at his injured arm, lost in thought.

"How's your injury? How long will it take to recover?"

Out of basic concern for his teammate, Habara asked.

After experiencing a life-or-death situation together, Nobuyoshi was at least no longer resistant to communicating with Habara. However, he didn't answer Habara's question, instead saying, "Do you know what a ninja's lifeline is?"

"Ninjutsu? Secret techniques?" Habara replied without thinking.

Nobuyoshi shook his head. "No, it's 'seals'."

As he spoke, he began to unwrap the bandages on his right arm. As the bandages were unwrapped, the blackened wound was exposed to the air.

"The enemy's weapon was coated with poison. I can barely feel my right-hand fingers anymore."

"Nerve damage?" Habara hadn't expected Nobuyoshi's injury to be so severe.

"Yes."

Nobuyoshi had almost lost the use of one of his dominant hands. From now on, he would no longer be able to form hand seals, meaning his ninja career was over.

"Is there no possibility of healing?"

"It's difficult."

Nobuyoshi calmly re-bandaged his right arm. He had difficulty performing this action with only one hand.

"Once the problem with my right hand is confirmed, I'll have to retire from the front lines. Even if it's just for the sake of other ninjas' opinions, the village won't let someone as useless as me go to the front lines to die… I'll probably live as a civilian in Konoha."

Hearing Nobuyoshi describe his future, Habara was suddenly stunned. A somewhat absurd thought surfaced in his mind.

"Nobuyoshi, was the enemy's weapon really coated with poison?"

That Kumo ninja was a Raiton and Ranton expert. With his attack style, was there any need to use poison? Moreover, Nobuyoshi only showed symptoms of poisoning some time after being injured.

This question made Nobuyoshi fall silent. After a while, he said, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just that your emotions seemed a bit off when you were describing your future… It seemed like losing your status as a ninja wasn't something to regret, but that civilian life was something you longed for," Habara said.

Where did this poison come from?

"You're very perceptive… Then what do you think about how I got injured?"

"Me? I don't know, and I don't care." Habara didn't want to delve into how Nobuyoshi was injured. Anyway, with his status, he couldn't report anything to Konoha.

As he opened the tent flap, preparing to leave, Habara suddenly paused. Finally, he said to Nobuyoshi:

"In my first half of life, my only regret was why those low-level alien monkeys didn't end up with those trashy Earth women. My only hatred was for that Gary Stu Mammoth. The only thing I found amazing was a male cat providing air support for a Backfire bomber… But later I learned that reality is always much stranger than you can imagine."

Okay, Habara wasn't talking about the first half of this life, but the first half of his previous life.

Later? Later, he was hospitalized due to illness, and then he came to this world.

"Reality can turn wrong choices into right ones, and it can also turn right choices into wrong ones. But no matter what, a person always has to take responsibility for their choices."

After saying this, Habara stepped out and left.

Nobuyoshi: "…"

Although he didn't understand what Habara was talking about, at this moment, he felt that this person had a kind of "life elder" vibe.

He didn't understand, and he wasn't really impressed.

...

Habara's words to Nobuyoshi were at most a spontaneous expression of his feelings. After saying them, he didn't pay them any mind.

However, a jinx became a jinx because of their ability to inadvertently speak prophecies into existence.

As retaliation for the "Yellow Flash's" excessive activity recently, that night, Kumo dispatched several elite squads to raid the Konoha front-line camp.

And facilities like the front-line hospital were always the enemy's highest priority targets.

Its priority was even higher than that of the command post.