Kenji watched his three students celebrate, letting them have their moment. When their excitement finally started to settle, he spoke up again.
"There's one more thing you need to know. According to village regulations, once you're promoted to chunin, Team 10 officially disbands. From here on out, you'll form your own squads for missions."
The celebration died instantly.
"What? Seriously?"
"Sensei, we're splitting up?"
"No way! Then I don't want to be a chunin anymore!"
Aoi's eyes filled with tears.
Kenji reached out and ruffled each of their heads in turn.
"It just means you won't be doing missions together every day. As chunin, you'll partner with other ninjas or maybe lead your own genin squads on special assignments. But I'll always be your teacher, and you'll always be my students. That won't change. You've got to grow, and become strong enough to stand on your own. Who knows, maybe someday you'll each have three students of your own to train. That's how it works for ninjas. That's the legacy."
Haruto clenched his fists, hope returning to his eyes. "Be a team leader like you, sensei? That sounds pretty cool actually!"
"Yeah! You'll always be our sensei!" Kaede nodded vigorously.
Aoi wiped away her tears. "I'm going to get stronger too. Strong like you. And then I'll have my own students someday!"
Watching them get excited again, chattering about what it would be like to become instructors themselves, Kenji felt an ache in his chest. This messed up world still had moments like these. Small things worth protecting.
"Alright, if we're done here, let's go handle your promotion paperwork."
"Okay!"
He led them through the administrative process, updating their files from genin to chunin. The records also noted Team 10's official disbandment. The current era didn't have the Chunin Exam system yet. During peacetime, promotions were determined by village assessments. During wartime, the process got simplified. Promotions could be granted directly on the front lines, with records sent back to Konoha later.
They stepped out of the office into the late afternoon sun. He glanced at his students and made a decision.
"Now that you're all chunin," he said with a slight smile, "how about we find a spot and have a picnic to celebrate? The front lines aren't exactly luxurious, but we can make it work."
He'd almost added "and when the war's over, I'll treat you to a real feast in Konoha," but caught himself. That kind of statement was like tempting fate. Better to keep his mouth shut.
"Yes!" Haruto and Kaede cheered immediately.
"Let's get some ingredients! Too bad Lady Tsunade's out on a mission, she could've celebrated with us," Aoi said, sounding wistful.
The battlefield situation had been tense lately. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Dan were constantly deployed on high-risk missions, clashing with the strongest ninjas from other villages. It was rare to even catch sight of them around camp anymore.
Supplies on the front lines were limited, so the group headed to the logistics post first. They managed to requisition some ration crackers and a few cans of preserved food. Nothing fancy.
Then they ventured into the nearby forest to scavenge for fresh ingredients. Aoi found wild mushrooms growing near the base of an old tree. Kaede spotted some edible greens that actually looked decent. And Haruto, showing surprising competence for once, managed to catch a wild pheasant with a well-aimed kunai throw.
"Got it!" he shouted triumphantly, holding up the bird.
By their standards, this counted as a proper feast.
They found a small clearing with enough space to set up camp. Kenji started a fire while his students unpacked their supplies. Cooking duties naturally fell to Aoi. The other three had been permanently banned from touching the cooking pot after too many disasters.
"Last time Haruto tried to cook rice, he somehow made it crunchy," Aoi said while preparing the pheasant. "I still don't understand how that's even possible."
"Hey, it wasn't that bad!" Haruto protested.
"You burned water," Kaede added helpfully.
"That was one time!"
Kenji listened to them bicker and felt something settle in his chest. Normalcy, or as close to it as you could get in a war zone. These kids had been through hell over the past few months. They deserved moments like this.
The food came together slowly. Aoi roasted the pheasant over the fire, seasoning it with whatever herbs she'd found in the forest. The mushrooms got sautéed with some of their canned rations. The greens were boiled into a simple soup. Nothing elaborate, but it smelled better than anything they'd eaten in weeks.
When everything was ready, they sat in a circle around the fire. Kenji poured fruit juice into four cups, the closest thing to a celebratory drink they had. Alcohol was technically off-limits for anyone under eighteen, which was absurd considering these same "minors" were expected to kill people regularly. The shinobi world's priorities were completely backwards.
He raised his cup and looked at each of his students in turn.
"You've gone from fresh Academy graduates to proper chunin. You've bled for it. Sweated for it. Lost friends because of it. But you made it through. Congratulations. You're real ninjas now."
He'd meant it as an encouraging speech, but the moment the words left his mouth, all three students went quiet. Their heads lowered. Nobody spoke.
Kenji frowned, confused. "What's wrong?"
Aoi looked up first. Tears were streaming down her face.
"Sensei... thank you. We all know that us 'early graduates' were really just—"
"Stop," Kenji said gently, reaching out to wipe away her tears. "You're chunin now. You made it. That's what matters."
Some things didn't need to be said out loud. Everyone understood the reality. These kids had been sent to the front lines as cannon fodder. The fact that they'd survived long enough to earn promotions was borderline miraculous.
"But we just wanted to be heroes for the village," Haruto said as his eyes reddened. "Not... not..."
He couldn't finish. He didn't need to. Kenji knew what he meant.
"I heard... only about a dozen of our classmates are still alive," Kaede said quietly, tears running down his face. "All the rest are dead. My other friends from the Academy, they're all gone..."
Kenji's chest tightened. He'd known the survival rate for this batch of early graduates was terrible, but hearing it confirmed was different. These kids had watched their entire generation get wiped out. They'd survived through luck as much as skill.
"Hey," he said, gripping each of their shoulders firmly. "Listen to me. You're still here. And you're stronger now than when you started. Your classmates who died, they didn't die for nothing. They died fighting to protect their loved ones. Same as every ninja who falls in combat. You honor them by surviving."
It was a lie, of course. Most of their classmates had died because Konoha's leadership was desperate and stupid, throwing untrained children at enemy ninjas like they were expendable resources. There was no honor in that, just waste.
But his students needed to believe otherwise. They needed something to hold onto that made the horror bearable.
They cried for a while longer. He let them. Eventually, the tears stopped. They wiped their faces and forced smiles back onto their features. Ninjas learned early how to hide their pain.
"Alright," Kenji said, lifting his cup again. "Let's eat. This is Team 10's first real meal together in a long time. And probably our last before we split up. So let's feast to our hearts' content!"
That got weak laughs from all three of them. They raised their cups and drank.
The food was actually pretty good. Aoi had worked some kind of magic with the limited ingredients, and the pheasant was surprisingly tender. They ate until their stomachs were uncomfortably full, savoring every bite. On the front lines, moments like this were rare.
For a few hours, they weren't soldiers in a war. They were just a teacher and his students, sharing a meal and enjoying each other's company.
It was nice while it lasted.
---
Two days later, news swept through the camp.
Dan had been killed in action.
The announcement hit hard. He had been one of Konoha's strongest ninjas, his Spirit Transformation Technique making him a legitimate threat even to kage-level opponents. He'd slain countless enemies, his S-rank jutsu letting him bypass any defense.
And now he was dead. This dealt a massive blow to Konoha's morale. Tsunade was going to break.
The entire camp gathered at the gates three days later to receive Dan's body.
Jiraiya appeared first, supporting Tsunade as she stumbled forward. She looked destroyed. The confident, powerful woman he had met weeks ago was gone, replaced by someone whose eyes were empty and whose entire body radiated despair. She could barely stand on her own.
Orochimaru followed behind them, carrying Dan's body wrapped in cloth. He stared at the corpse. Watching someone as strong as Dan die had probably driven home just how fragile life really was.
The seed of his obsession with immortality was taking root right now.
Kenji led Aoi through the crowd toward Tsunade. When they got close, he opened his mouth to offer condolences, but the words felt hollow.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
It sounded pathetic even to his own ears. What else could he say? He'd known Dan was going to die. Known and done nothing because there was nothing he could do. Running up to Dan or Tsunade beforehand and saying "you're going to die soon" would've accomplished exactly nothing except getting himself killed.
As long as the war continued, Dan would keep fighting. And death would keep waiting for an opening.
Aoi stepped forward too, offering quiet words of comfort that Tsunade didn't seem to hear. She just nodded vaguely, her gaze fixed on Dan's wrapped body like nothing else in the world existed.
"Let her be for now," Jiraiya said quietly. "He died in her arms. She hasn't processed it yet."
Kenji nodded slowly. He knew what came next. Beyond the grief, and the trauma of watching her lover die, Tsunade would soon discover she'd developed hemophobia. The sight of blood would paralyze her. That fear would haunt her for years.
----------
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