Kenji turned his attention to the three surviving Suna genin.
They stood frozen in place, weapons dropped, faces pale. Two boys and one girl, none of them looking older than thirteen or fourteen. Fresh graduates, probably. Sent to guard a supply convoy because Suna didn't have anyone better to spare.
The sight would've been pitiful if he had the luxury of feeling pity.
"Drop your weapons. Surrender, or die. Your choice."
The three genin didn't hesitate. Kunai clattered to the ground as they practically threw their weapons away. One of the boys actually fell to his knees, hands raised.
"We surrender! Please don't kill us!"
The others echoed him immediately, dropping to the ground with their hands visible. Tears streamed down the girl's face.
Kenji studied them for a moment. They were no longer a threat. He had always disliked unnecessary killing, especially when it came to young genin who looked like they had just graduated. Capturing them, on the other hand, had value. The Intelligence Division could extract information. After the war ended, assuming Konoha won, prisoners could be used as bargaining chips in peace negotiations. Some villages even paid ransoms to get their ninjas back.
Plus, turning in live captives earned more merit than corpses.
"Haruto, Kaede, secure them," he ordered.
His students moved quickly. Within moments, the three Suna genin had their hands bound with wire and were seated under guard. None of them resisted. They looked relieved just to be alive.
He walked over and placed his hand on the first genin's head. A pulse of chakra, and the boy's eyes went unfocused, his body going slack. He followed up immediately with a Yamanaka sealing technique, locking the genin's consciousness away. It would prevent him from attempting suicide or trying to resist during transport.
He repeated the process with the other two.
"Sensei!"
He turned to find Aoi crouched beside the Suna kunoichi she'd fought earlier. The woman was unconscious, blood crusted around her mouth and nose. But she was breathing.
"What should I do with her?" She held a kunai, clearly ready to finish the job if ordered. "Kill her or bring her back?"
"Is she badly injured? If she's close to death, kill her. If not, we'll take her back."
Aoi checked the girl briefly and replied, "Not too bad, just a few broken bones. She's unconscious, but her life isn't in danger. She'll live if we treat her."
"Then we take her alive," Kenji decided.
He placed his hand on the woman's forehead and applied the same technique he'd used on the surrendered genin. Her chakra network went dormant, locked down by the seal. She'd stay unconscious until someone with the proper training released it.
Four prisoners total. Not a bad haul for a simple ambush mission.
"Alright, clean up the battlefield," he said, standing and addressing all three of his students. "Seal the dead Suna ninjas into storage scrolls. We'll turn them in when we get back to camp. I'll handle the supply wagons."
"Yes, sensei!"
His students dispersed to their tasks immediately. Haruto and Kaede began collecting bodies, while Aoi started gathering scattered weapons and equipment that could be salvaged.
Kenji approached the supply wagons and began sorting through their contents. Most of it was standard military supplies, like rations, water containers, replacement equipment, medical supplies, nothing particularly valuable but essential for keeping an army functioning in the field.
He separated everything into two categories: destroy or preserve.
The food and water went into the destroy pile. No point carrying heavy, bulky items that Konoha already had plenty of. He pulled out several explosive tags and placed them strategically around the wagons.
The medical supplies, weapons, and a few crates marked with Suna's seal that probably contained something more valuable, those got packed into storage scrolls. The logistics corps would want to examine them later.
Once everything was sorted, Kenji formed the hand seals for the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
The massive sphere of flame engulfed the wagons completely. Wood cracked and popped as it burned. The fire spread quickly, consuming everything he had marked for destruction. Within minutes, nothing remained but ash and charred metal.
He used Earth Release to bury the preserved supplies in a shallow pit, then marked the location with a subtle chakra signature that Konoha's sensory ninjas would recognize. The logistics team could retrieve it later.
By the time he finished, his students had completed their own tasks. The battlefield looked clean.
"Good work," Kenji said. "Grab the prisoners. We're heading back."
They distributed the captives. Aoi took the injured kunoichi, carrying her over one shoulder in a fireman's carry. Haruto, Kaede, and Kenji each took one of the surrendered genin, slinging them over their backs.
The return trip to camp took about forty minutes at a steady pace. They could've moved faster, but there was no urgency. The mission was complete, no pursuit was likely, and rushing would just exhaust everyone.
They reached Konoha's forward camp as the sun was starting to set. Guards at the perimeter checked their identification and waved them through without issue.
Kenji led his team directly to the Intelligence Division tent, always busy with ninjas coming and going. Information was the lifeblood of military operations, and the Intelligence Division processed all of it.
An ANBU operative met them at the entrance. "Report."
"Four prisoners from a Suna supply convoy," Kenji said. "Three surrendered voluntarily, one captured after combat. All have had their consciousness sealed. They're ready for interrogation."
The ANBU's mask turned toward the unconscious prisoners. "Injuries?"
"One has broken ribs and possible internal bleeding. The others are unharmed."
"Understood. We'll handle them from here."
Two more ANBU operatives emerged from the tent and began collecting the prisoners. They moved quickly, clearly accustomed to this routine. Within minutes, all four Suna ninjas had been taken inside for processing.
Kenji and his students left the Intelligence Division and headed for the mission office next. It was a smaller tent staffed by chunin who handled administrative work, like logging completed missions, distributing new assignments, and managing the merit system that determined promotions and rewards.
A bored-looking chunin sat behind a desk covered in paperwork. He glanced up when they entered.
"Mission report?"
"Ambush and destruction of Suna supply convoy," Kenji said. He handed over a written summary he'd prepared during the return trip. "Four enemy ninjas eliminated, four captured alive. Supplies destroyed or secured for retrieval."
The chunin took the report and began cross-referencing it with their team's file. His fingers moved across documents, checking boxes and adding notes. After a few minutes, he looked up.
"Everything's in order. Mission logged as complete, merit distributed accordingly." He paused, then added almost as an afterthought, "By the way, your three students have met the requirements for chunin promotion. Make sure to visit the administration office and complete the paperwork. Don't let it slip through the cracks."
Kenji blinked. "They're eligible already?"
He honestly hadn't noticed, Haruto, Kaede, and Aoi had already accumulated enough merits to qualify for promotion to chunin. But on second thought, it made sense. Promotions during wartime were much faster than in peacetime.
In his own case, his original self had taken two full years to rise from Academy graduate to chunin. Back then, he'd followed the standard route, spending over half a year doing D-rank missions before being sent to the front lines. These three, however, were different. They had graduated early, sent out as reinforcements to the battlefield, little more than cannon fodder genin. From the start, they'd been thrown straight into high-risk frontline missions and hadn't even returned to Konoha for rest once. Given that, their quick promotion was only natural.
"According to their files, yes. They've completed sufficient missions and accumulated enough merit."
"Understood. Thanks for the heads-up."
The chunin was already back to his paperwork, dismissing them with a wave.
Kenji stepped outside where his students were waiting. All three looked at him expectantly.
"So?" Haruto asked. "How'd the report go?"
"Mission logged," Kenji said. Then he smiled. "Also, you three are eligible for chunin promotion. The clerk just told me. Your mission records and merit have reached the threshold."
For a moment, his students just stared at him in silence, processing what they'd heard.
Then Aoi's face lit up. "Really?! We can actually become chunin?!"
"Hell yes!" Haruto pumped his fist in the air. "I'm gonna be a chunin! That means I can take missions independently now!"
Even Kaede broke into a smile. "Awesome! Finally, we're not genin anymore."
Kenji watched their reactions with satisfaction. They'd earned this. They'd gone from terrified Academy graduates to competent combat ninjas capable of handling themselves in life-or-death situations. The progression was faster than normal, but war did that. It stripped away everything unnecessary and left only what worked. His students had adapted, learned, and survived where many others hadn't.
"Your strength has been at chunin level for a while now," he said once their initial excitement died down. "This is just making it official. From here on out, you'll have more autonomy, responsibility, and higher-risk assignments. Chunin aren't protected the same way genin are."
"We're ready," Aoi said firmly. The other two nodded agreement.
Kenji believed them. He'd been training them hard from the beginning, never holding back knowledge or techniques that could keep them alive. They'd learned multiple jutsu beyond what most genin ever saw. Earth, Wind, and Fire Release techniques, combat fundamentals, even the Shadow Clone Technique, which was technically B-rank and usually restricted to chunin and above.
The shadow clone training had been particularly valuable for Aoi. She could create one clone consistently now, which meant doubling her study time for medical ninjutsu. For someone trying to absorb the massive amount of knowledge required to be a competent field medic, that advantage was huge. Haruto and Kaede had also benefited. Extra training time meant faster skill refinement, and both had shown significant improvement in their combat abilities. He forbade them from using it in combat, at their current level, it was too much of a chakra drain to be worth it. For real fights, he expected them to rely on other clone techniques instead.
He had always operated on a simple principle: teach your students everything they need to survive, and teach it early. Waiting until after they died to bring flowers to their graves was pointless.
He'd never understood instructors who hoarded knowledge or held back techniques. What was the point of being a teacher if you didn't actually teach? Your students were supposed to grow stronger under your guidance, not stagnate because you were too protective or too lazy to pass on what you knew.
This was something he could never understand about Kakashi. The man was called the "Copy Ninja," known to have mastered over a thousand jutsu, and yet he hardly ever taught his students any. He only taught Sasuke the Chidori, helped Naruto develop the Rasenshuriken, and as for Sakura, she learned everything later under Tsunade's tutelage.
Did Naruto want to rely on his Rasengan all the time? The problem was, he didn't have any other offensive techniques. When fighting Kaguya, he even had to use the "Sexy Jutsu" out of desperation, though maybe that was calculated. With Naruto, you could never be sure. He was that unpredictable. And did Sakura want to be a mere pretty face? She simply had no other path to getting stronger until she apprenticed under Tsunade, after which her growth skyrocketed.