The river water dripped quietly from Shinra's hair as he made his way back toward the temporary campsite built beside the road. By now the corpses had already been dragged away from the main path while several workers nervously repaired one of the damaged wagons nearby. The smell of blood still lingered faintly in the air, though the earlier chaos had mostly settled down.
"…I told you these bandits had it coming."
One of the merchants spoke while sitting near the campfire, his voice still carrying lingering fear.
"The entire fight was completely one-sided. Konoha's ninja are terrifyingly efficient."
Another merchant nodded repeatedly.
"I barely even saw what happened. One moment those men rushed out of the forest and the next they were all dead."
Shinra quietly walked past the group without interrupting them. Neither merchant even noticed his arrival.
At the edge of the camp, Inumaki sat beside Yoshimaru while carefully monitoring the surrounding forest. Several earth walls still remained positioned around the wagons as temporary defensive cover.
Inumaki glanced toward Shinra briefly before speaking.
"You took your time."
Shinra nodded lightly. "The river was further than I expected."
Beside him, Yoshimaru lazily opened one eye before sniffing Shinra and barking once.
"Alright, you can go ahead."
A short distance away, Yogi stood beside the caravan leader while quietly discussing something over a map spread across one of the wagons. The moment Yogi noticed Shinra approaching, he casually waved one hand toward him.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes," Shinra answered calmly.
Yogi observed him for a brief moment before nodding lightly as though already expecting that answer.
"We'll continue travelling on the same route as planned," Yogi explained while tapping part of the map. "We'll move through the forest road again at dawn to give the horses some rest."
Yogi shifted his attention back toward Shinra afterward.
"We'll remain here for the night before continuing at dawn. Standard guard rotation. Inumaki and Yoshimaru will take first watch. Hyori takes second. You'll take third watch with me before sunrise."
"Understood," Shinra nodded quietly.
Night gradually descended afterward. The workers finished setting up the remaining tents while the merchants gathered nervously around the campfire speaking in hushed voices. Meanwhile Team Eight remained positioned around the campsite perimeter.
Several hours passed quietly.
Shinra sat atop one of the larger tree branches overlooking the campsite while calmly observing the darkness surrounding the caravan. Beside him, Yogi rested lazily against another branch with his eyes half closed.
"Sensei," Shinra asked quietly.
"Hmm?" Yogi opened one eye and glanced toward him.
"Those bandits from earlier weren't anything special. The caravan could've hired a group of trained guards instead of shinobi, so why didn't they?"
Yogi remained silent for a few moments while observing the dark forest surrounding the campsite.
"Because today's attack wasn't meant to succeed."
Shinra frowned slightly.
Yogi continued calmly, "The group from earlier were nothing more than expendable fodder. Desperate people with barely any training. Their role was to test the strength of the target while trimming out the weak among themselves at the same time."
"The weak?" Shinra glanced toward him.
Yogi nodded lazily. "Bandit groups aren't military organizations. Most are held together through fear, greed, or desperation. Food is limited, profits are divided unevenly, and weak members become liabilities sooner or later." His eyes shifted briefly toward the dim campfire below. "Sending those people to die costs the leaders nothing."
Shinra stayed silent.
"By now the real bandits probably already know roughly how strong our escort force is," Yogi continued while closing his eyes once again. "A sensor, a Hyūga, an Inuzuka pair, and a jōnin leading the team. Any half-decent bandit leader would understand that continuing to attack directly is suicide."
"…Then why did the caravan hire shinobi in the first place?" Shinra asked quietly. "Those men from earlier were weaker than ordinary genin."
Yogi chuckled lightly.
"Because merchants aren't paying for deterrence alone." He pointed toward the supply wagons below. "They're paying for certainty. Normal guards might scare away ordinary thieves, but once people start dying most civilians panic quickly. Shinobi don't. And there's always the possibility of encountering rogue ninja."
Shinra's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Missing-nin?"
Yogi nodded.
"A single rogue genin or chūnin is enough to wipe out an ordinary security group if they're careless. The further you travel from the major villages, the more dangerous the roads become."
The forest became quiet once more afterward.
Several moments later, Shinra spoke again.
"If the bandits from earlier survive, won't they continue attacking other caravans?"
"They almost certainly will," Yogi answered calmly.
"Then why not eliminate them now?"
This time Yogi opened one eye and looked directly toward Shinra.
"Because our current assignment is an escort mission." His voice remained casual, yet there was a faint sharpness hidden beneath it. "Our duty is to protect the client until they safely reach their destination."
"A bandit extermination mission is entirely different. That would involve tracking their hideout, gathering intelligence, raiding the base, and eliminating everyone involved." Yogi rested both hands behind his head afterward. "Even if exterminating them falls under the same mission rank, it has nothing to do with our current objective."
Shinra quietly absorbed those words.
"Never confuse the objective of a mission with your personal feelings toward the enemy," Yogi continued calmly. "That's one of the fastest ways for shinobi to die."
The cold night wind passed quietly through the trees afterward while the campfire below continued burning steadily in the darkness.
The remainder of the night passed without incident. No attacks came and no movement appeared within Shinra's sensory range aside from the occasional wildlife wandering through the surrounding forest. By the time the eastern horizon slowly began brightening, several merchants had already started preparing the wagons for departure while the workers extinguished the campfire and packed away the remaining supplies.
Shinra quietly jumped down from the tree branch and landed beside the road. Nearby, Yogi stretched lazily before glancing toward the caravan.
"Wake Hyori and Inumaki. We move out in ten minutes."
"Understood."
A short while later the caravan resumed travelling through the forest road once more. The atmosphere around the merchants remained noticeably calmer compared to yesterday. Although several still looked nervous whenever they glanced toward the surrounding trees, the presence of Team Eight had clearly reassured them considerably after witnessing the earlier battle.
Shinra continued walking near the front-left side of the caravan. Outwardly he appeared relaxed while casually munching on an apple, though his sensory field quietly remained spread across the surrounding forest. The deeper they travelled, the narrower the road gradually became. Towering trees blocked out most of the morning sunlight while the sound of wagon wheels grinding against dirt echoed quietly throughout the forest.
Several hours passed uneventfully.
At some point, the caravan leader finally approached Yogi with a noticeably relieved expression.
"It seems those bandits truly gave up after yesterday," the merchant said while wiping sweat from his forehead.
"It would appear so," Yogi answered casually before falling silent once again.
The merchant laughed nervously afterward.
"I'm just grateful Konoha sent competent shinobi."
Shinra silently observed the conversation from nearby before shifting his gaze back toward the forest once again.
The shinobi system was far more rigid than Shinra had initially imagined. Even something as simple as killing bandits depended entirely on the mission classification assigned beforehand, yet the logic behind it strangely made sense. Bandit activity throughout these trade routes indirectly benefited Konoha. Their existence created constant demand for shinobi escorts while simultaneously allowing younger ninja to gradually grow accustomed to real combat. And if bandit activity ever became excessive, Konoha could simply dispatch a stronger team to eliminate them and restore stability once again.
Ultimately, the biggest winner would always be Konoha.
'So this is how villages maintain order…'
By noon the caravan finally emerged from the dense forest road and reached a much wider trade path connected to one of the smaller towns near the southern outskirts of the Land of Fire. The moment the guards stationed near the entrance noticed the Konoha forehead protectors worn by Team Eight, their previously tense expressions visibly relaxed.
One of the merchants even let out a relieved sigh.
"We're finally safe."
Yogi glanced toward him lazily.
"Before we separate, I'll need you to sign this paper confirming that the mission has been completed."
The merchant immediately laughed awkwardly before signing the document.
Shinra quietly looked toward the bustling town entrance ahead of them. Although the architecture did not differ greatly from Konoha's, this was still the first time he had ever travelled outside the village since arriving in this world, causing a faint sense of curiosity to rise within him.
"Oi, everyone gather around."
Yogi's voice suddenly interrupted Shinra's thoughts.
"To celebrate Team Eight successfully completing its first C-rank mission, we're going to the hot springs."
Hyori frowned slightly.
"Aren't we supposed to return to the village immediately after completing the mission?"
Yogi smirked faintly before continuing to walk forward.
"Don't worry, it'll only take an hour or two. We can just pick up the pace afterward." He glanced briefly toward Hyori afterward. "And stop frowning so much. You'll get wrinkles before turning fifteen at this rate."
Shinra stared at Yogi's carefree back for a moment before eventually shaking his head lightly and following behind the group toward the hot springs.