Taking the mission and companions from a specific "event" and discussing which one is more important is actually a conceptual distortion and a bait-and-switch—this kind of sophistry is inherently meaningless, and "mission" and "companion" cannot be compared.
It's like taking the filling and the skin of a "Baozi" separately and asking if the "Baozi" is the filling or the skin, or which one is more important.
What is the answer?
The answer is that plain filling or plain skin is not called a Baozi; only when the skin wraps the filling is it a Baozi—which is more important, the skin or the filling? Can they even be compared? No, because they are inherently one! Two sides of the same whole; all things carry Yin and embrace Yang. Even a ring like the Mobius strip, which has only one surface, still possesses Yin and Yang, an "other side"—it's just that its "other side" and "this side" are connected.
"Mission" and "companion" are just like the Baozi; they are one entity and should not be disassembled for discussion:
"Companions and missions are not isolated concepts. Ninjas form teams to better complete missions, and the members of a team can cooperate sincerely to complete missions, but for what purpose?"
Ino tilted her face up and threw this question to Akimichi Choza—since he was giving her a hard time, she would give him one now!
Akimichi Choza asked, "Why?"
"Oh, why indeed?"
This was also the first time Nara Shikaku had heard this perspective—discussing the issue by stepping outside the limitations of companions and missions—and it felt quite enlightening.
Ino said, "Because of—life. Completing a mission isn't for the sake of completion; it's because completing missions earns rewards, and these rewards allow a whole family to live without worry. A team with a high mission completion rate and an excellent reputation will get better and more missions—like Kakashi Hatake."
Inoichi Yamanaka said, "Kakashi... he seems to have always been doing missions alone..."
"Is that the point? I'm talking about mission completion rates and degrees of completion. Therefore, the team format allows missions to be completed better... Thus, team members will also maintain the team to a certain extent, valuing the team's reputation more than their own lives—this is the foundation of their survival."
..."So, there is simply no such thing as which one is more important; everything is considered depending on the time, the place, the people, and the mission itself."
"Different people, based on these factors, will reach different conclusions. For example, for a two-million-Ryo mission, within the same team, the wealthy one might feel that giving up is just giving up and there's no need to take risks; the poor one might feel that they can die but the mission cannot be lost; and the one who is neither poor nor rich might feel they can try a bit more and only give up if it's truly impossible..."
"Like a simple transport mission, moving things from one end of the village to the other. For a group of Genin, would you have them sacrifice a companion's life to complete that mission? Isn't that ridiculous?"
"Or if Konoha faced a massive crisis and everyone was ordered into action, yet someone fled from the enemy just for the sake of a companion—how should such a person's behavior be judged? Right? Different situations cannot be compared simply using 'companion' and 'mission'..."
"The above—is my answer."
Ino's "answer" seemed to say nothing—but in fact, it indeed answered the question regarding "companions" and "missions."
Nara Shikaku mulled it over for a good while before sighing, "Sigh, a group of adults doesn't see things as clearly as a child..."
Inoichi Yamanaka gave an "Mhm" and said, "Indeed. Many times, adults don't see as clearly as children!"
"I'm talking about Ino..."
Nara Shikaku emphasized—with so many bratty kids in Konoha, he wasn't blind or deaf to what ordinary children were like. His own Shikamaru had a high enough IQ, but his thinking in this regard was far less deep and broad than Ino's—it wasn't a gap in IQ, but a difference in wisdom and perspective.
Inoichi Yamanaka said, "You don't need to emphasize that."
"I have a question... There is a boat traveling on a river, and it happens to encounter a flood. The current is extremely rapid and cannot be stopped; even with all efforts, it can only slow down. Directly ahead in the channel are five small boats, and if it continues straight, it will inevitably collide with them—and the current section of the river has clear regulations that small boats are not allowed to be on the water."
"On one side of this channel, there is a tributary, and in that tributary, there is a boat acting as a ferry."
"Now, this large boat has two choices: one is to continue on its course and capsize the five boats that are illegally moored, and the other is to turn into the tributary and capsize that one small boat."
Having given the "Trolley Problem" a makeover, Ino used it to challenge the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—this was actually the same as the mission and companion problem from before.
This was a problem where the elements were extracted and the issue was pushed to the extreme, turning the Baozi into just the filling or just the skin:
Discussing based on this kind of "sophistry" will yield no results because the premise itself no longer exists; it's all empty talk, and one can say anything.
Akimichi Choza frowned... Nara Shikaku also began to ponder, and Inoichi Yamanaka started thinking as well; all three fell silent.
After a while, Akimichi Choza shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Nara Shikaku said, "The five small boats on the main channel are in violation of regulations. But the boat on the tributary is compliant."
"Correct."
Ino nodded.
If the large boat goes straight, it's five lives on the small boats, but if it turns into the tributary, then the compliant small boat suffers an undeserved catastrophe.
It was a complete dilemma.
"Ino, then what is your answer?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked directly.
Ino acted spoiled: "Dad, I'm asking you guys." Then she "hmphed" and said: "I already answered this question just now—this kind of sophistry, even if it's draped in a layer of philosophical skin, is still sophistry. You lose the moment you start thinking about such questions. It will become a logical and mental shackle, trapping people and making them extreme and narrow-minded... why get stuck in such a dead end?"
The three:... "This kind of dead end yields no results. All things in the world are inherently integrated; everything seen and heard shapes each person's perception. When perceptions differ, the results will differ—but the method of perception itself is the same—it does not come from sophistry."
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 30 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon.
patreon.com/TLScarlet
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!