Chapter 32 – Which is More Important? I Choose Both!

“Kakashi, it’s rare to find a hot spring this quiet. You really don’t want to join?”

Kurenai Yuhi asked gently.

Kakashi shook his head.

A bath?

That would only slow down his training.

His mind was fully consumed with one thing: mastering the Rasengan. Until he perfected it, nothing else mattered.

He could now barely form it, but complete control was still far off.

There was still a long way to go. He had to keep pushing.

Kakashi maintained the spinning sphere in his hand, but it soon lost cohesion and collapsed.

He had learned it—
But not mastered it.

Still, considering he’d only started a few days ago, this was already exceptional progress.

Kyōen watched from nearby.

Seeing the technique falter, he walked over casually.

“How about we go together? Our baths are just next to each other, and if anything happens, we’ll be close enough to back each other up.”

Kakashi hesitated for a moment. “What about them?”

He was referring, of course, to the two Kirigakure ninja.

“Sensei’s keeping an eye on them,” Kyōen replied. “Don’t worry. Come on—chat a bit, relax. Maybe you’ll make a breakthrough when you’re not trying so hard.”

As he spoke, he turned and entered the inn, giving Kakashi no real choice.

After a moment’s pause, Kakashi followed, picking up his clothes and removing his mask.

The two sank into the hot spring attached to the inn, feeling the fatigue of the day melt away.

But—

From the corner of his eye, Kakashi glanced at Kyōen and was inevitably reminded of earlier events.

Like Kyōen and the others had said, not every mission was of utmost importance. Some could be delayed with little consequence.

But if Kyōen had made the same choice he once had...

Kakashi couldn't be like Kyōen.

Which was right, and which was wrong?

He had no answer. Just confusion.

Leaning against the edge of the spring, Kakashi gazed up at the stars.

“Kyōen.”

“Yeah?”

Kyōen lay soaking in the water, completely relaxed. But his senses were alert—chakra subtly dispersed through the steam to detect any ambushes nearby.

The moment Kakashi spoke, he retracted his awareness and focused.

Now upright, Kakashi’s unmasked face looked soft but conflicted, clouded with doubt.

“I don’t know how to put it...”

“Just talk,” Kyōen replied calmly.

“If you had to choose between completing a mission and saving a comrade... what would you pick?”

He sounded casual, but his posture was rigid, and his expression tense. Clearly, he wasn’t as calm as he pretended to be.

This question—was the ghost of Sakumo Hatake’s death.

Kyōen knew he had to answer seriously.

He took his time.

Frankly, he didn’t fully agree with the ideology Kakashi would come to adopt in the future.

From next door came a soft splash.

Clearly, Kurenai was curious too—she had moved closer to listen in.

Kyōen finally spoke.

“I think... there’s no standard answer to that question. According to the Second Hokage, a lot of things in this world don’t have standard answers.”

“What do you mean?”

Kakashi was startled—shocked, even.

This question... had anything to do with the Second Hokage?

To him, there had always been only one answer—

The mission comes first.

That was how he’d always acted.

But lately—

Things had been changing. His old beliefs had started to crack, conflicting with what he was seeing now.

It unsettled him.

Kyōen answered slowly.

“The Second said: not everything is black and white. You have to choose based on the situation. Take today’s mission, for example—should I really abandon my teammate just because of a delay?”

“...”

Yes.

Kakashi thought bitterly.

By his logic, someone who couldn’t contribute to the mission was nothing but dead weight. Even if that someone was himself.

“Isn’t it a waste of strength to protect someone like that?”

“But our team is strong enough to do both. So why should we have to choose?”

“...”

Kakashi was speechless.

He thought back to the countless little moments and arguments over the past two years since graduation.

Yeah... why?

He couldn’t answer.

Kurenai, next door, also found Kakashi’s way of thinking strange.

To her, Kyōen’s choice was obvious.

Wasn’t that what being a ninja was about?

After a long silence, Kakashi asked, “Then... when should the mission take priority?”

Kyōen leaned back against the stone.

“If the mission is meant to save more lives, and we’ve all accepted that there may be sacrifices before setting out—then, if it truly comes down to choosing only one, I’d prioritize the mission.”

Not all missions were equal.

Sakumo Hatake’s choice might have been too impulsive, yes—
But the public outcry afterward...

Kyōen didn’t entirely trust that narrative either.

Kakashi’s gaze dimmed.

“So... the mission does come first, then?”

“???”

Kyōen tilted his head, bewildered.

Did you not hear a single word I said earlier?

He fell silent.

Kakashi had been listening all this time—
And only latched onto that one sentence?

You’re like Yuan Shao, Kyōen thought, utterly defeated.

He couldn’t even comment on Sakumo’s suicide—

Because as far as the official story went, Sakumo died during a mission. Only the jōnin-level shinobi knew the truth. Kyōen wasn’t supposed to know.

He could only keep quiet.

“Don’t get stuck in a loop, Kakashi!”

Kurenai’s voice rang out from the next room.

Kakashi snapped out of it, blinking, as he recalled Kyōen’s earlier point—

That these weren’t absolute decisions. That falling into extremes was dangerous.

After a long pause, he said, “Can I tell you two a story?”

“Of course,” Kyōen sat up slightly.

Kakashi began:

“There once was a samurai...”

He spun Sakumo’s story into a parable from the past, relaying it as if it were someone else’s tale.

Then, cautiously, he asked: “Do you think what the samurai did was right?”

“Maybe not completely. But there’s something else I find strange,” Kyōen replied seriously.

Kakashi blinked. “What is it?”

“If the samurai’s comrade really wasn’t afraid of death, then why did he come back alive? If he was truly prepared to die—and knew his comrade had come to save him—why didn’t he just end his own life to stop the rescue? Maybe it would’ve been in time to save the mission.”

Kyōen looked genuinely confused.

Kakashi was stunned.

He had never even considered that.

He’d spent all this time judging whether his father was right or wrong—
But never once thought about the comrade who was saved.

Right!

If that guy was so noble and selfless, why didn’t he die for the mission?

“Especially since, presumably, he knew exactly what kind of person the samurai was. Otherwise, how could they have been partners?”

“...”

Kakashi blinked, utterly speechless.

Kyōen stood, drying himself off.

“I don’t have an answer to the deeper parts of this. But I think... that samurai was incredible.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been reading a lot lately. There was one idea that stuck with me. Basically, the samurai’s struggle boils down to one question: Is a warrior a tool—or a person?”

Kyōen’s voice was tinged with uncertainty. “I don’t know the answer.”

“A tool... or a person?”

Kakashi repeated quietly.

So that’s the root of it all.

He felt like he’d just awakened—only to fall into a deeper question.

Which one matters more?

“Kyōen, that’s... really deep. I never thought of it like that.”

Kurenai chimed in from the other side.

Kyōen shook his head.

“I just read a lot. One of the books talked about this sort of problem.”

“What did the person in the book do?”

“They founded the shinobi village system. Created the ninja academy. Made sure kids only took missions after age twelve—balancing mission effectiveness with protecting young lives.”

Kakashi and Kurenai both nodded in sudden realization.

The Second Hokage.

“And there was also Lady Tsunade,” Kyōen added. “Back in the day, she fought to introduce med-nin into field teams to reduce casualties.”

“Medical ninja...”

Kakashi’s eyes slowly sharpened.

Kyōen hadn’t said it outright—
But his meaning was clear:

Both the mission and your comrades matter.

Ninja are not just tools. Their lives have value.

After all—Kyōen’s own parents had also died in war.