Chapter 37: Consequences
As the days passed, news about Sakumo's mission began to spread throughout the village and soon, because of Danzo's efforts, the rumors and details of the mission became increasingly distorted, which caused Sakumo's reputation to become increasingly worse.
As Dazen walked through the streets of Konoha he heard several of the rumors that were circulating and thought: "Things are getting out of control the rumors are getting worse every day, some even say that Sakumo failed the mission on purpose and that he is a spy from another village, each story is more absurd than the last, but they are still spreading quickly without a doubt Danzo must be manipulating everything behind the scenes."
Dazen sighed when he thought up to this point, because of the greed of a single individual Konoha would lose one of its greatest ninjas in the middle of a war which would undoubtedly worsen Konoha's situation in the war even further.
As he continued walking towards the training field Dazen remained lost in thought: "Hiruzen must allow Danzo to commit this type of action because he is sure that in the end Danzo wants the best for Konoha, but over time his actions began to bring more trouble than good because Danzo's actions will increasingly be guided by his own greed for power than anything else and because of his friendship with Danzo, Hiruzen fails to see this fact."
"If Hiruzen realized and put an end to Danzo's plans, perhaps some tragedies could be avoided, Sakumo's death would be one of them."
Soon Dazen arrived at the training field where Kenji was already waiting for him, Kenji looked at Dazen and said: "Good morning Dazen, today you took a little while."
Dazen responded immediately: "Sorry sensei, I just lost track of time."
Kenji then said: "It's okay, but be careful it doesn't happen again."
Dazen nodded saying, "Right it won't happen again." Dazen then hesitated for a moment and said: "Sensei, I lost track of time because of the rumors that are circulating the village about Sakumo... Basically that's all anyone talks about now... Sensei, you are part of the same clan as him, I wanted to ask if the rumors are true?"
Of course Dazen knew the truth about the mission, but he needed to pretend not to know so as not to arouse suspicion.
Kenji was not surprised by the question and replied: "Most of the rumors are greatly exaggerated to summarize Sakumo found himself in a situation where he would have to choose between completing his mission or saving the lives of his comrades... and he chose the latter and because of that even his companions blame him for making the wrong decision."
Kenji then sighed and continued: "The rumors that are circulating the village are the result of the population's fear, the war is increasing day by day and the failure of such an important mission leaves everyone in panic which in turn turns it into anger and now everyone is against Sakumo creating all kinds of assumptions as to why he took such a decision. "
Dazen nodded and said: "I understand, it's a complicated situation, it's not something that people will accept easily, after all it involves a war... What do you think, sensei, was the decision he made the right one?"
That was the question Dazen really wanted to ask, during that time he thought about what his decision would be if he ended up in the same situation as Sakumo, would he choose to abandon his companions or would he follow the same path as Sakumo, Dazen couldn't answer that question.
Kenji remained silent for a while before responding: "As a ninja, his decision was not the right one... The decision he made will have several consequences, for a while we will be at a great disadvantage on the front lines of the war and that It will result in many more deaths than you can imagine, so such a decision is a luxury we cannot have in times of war."
Kenji looked down and continued in a low tone: "However I don't blame him for the decision he made Dazen... I know Sakumo we fought together in the previous war and we stood out, he even more than me, we became leaders of different squads and completed several missions during the war and I can say in many missions I questioned myself about my actions... In war there is no room to think about right and wrong there is only the length of the mission no matter the cost, It doesn't matter who you kill... That's why I don't blame him, there are times when you just can't deal with the guilt anymore, in the end we're still human."
Dazen listened to his teacher's words seriously and remained silent reflecting on their meaning, without a doubt war is accompanied by tragedies and traumas and how you deal with this is very important, as no one comes out of a war unscathed.
Kenji saw his student's silence and interrupted his thoughts by saying: "Okay, that's enough of this subject for today, now let's train, you're too young to think about such matters."
Dazen nodded and began his training, but he knew that it wouldn't take long for him to enter the front lines of the war and when that happened he could face situations similar to Sakumo's, but Dazen still didn't know what decision he would make at that moment.
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