Genin and Chunin were dispensable to a Great Village.
And although they seemed to have a great opportunity by participating in an important mission alongside the Fourth Raikage, the truth was not good for them.
They were here in case the Leaf Village reacted quickly enough and tried to prevent the kidnapping of the previous Hyuga heiress.
They were cannon fodder.
A human shield that would surely be easily eliminated.
But it didn't matter if they all died, the important thing was that they would have fulfilled their mission of distracting the ninjas of the Leaf Village while A escaped from the Land of Fire along with the young Hyuga.
It was never important for them to preserve their lives, and now that the mission had failed, A had no qualms about leaving without them.
Whether they kept their lives, either by luck or by the mercy of the enemy, A left it to fate.
His priority now was to return to the Cloud Village and put all his ability into searching for information about Ichihara Kozue.
Of course, he also intended to find out the identity of the people who commissioned the task that caused the young man's presence in the place and the failure of his objective to capture Hinata Hyuga.
While he could not punish his own Shinobi for revealing secret information since they were dead, the people who ordered that mission would not suffer the same fate.
Regarding violating the rules for maintaining customer identity?
Those rules were only there to reassure people of low status.
If high-status people wanted to know 'secret' information, the large villages were willing to subtly leak that information for the appropriate benefits.
A was willing to hand over the information Kozue Ichihara wanted in order to keep him quiet temporarily.
But what about the future?
The Fourth Raikage was already thinking about his revenge.
His pride would not allow him to endure this offense without retaliation.
Of course, A knew he had to be cautious when it came to taking revenge. He had to take his time.
Although he trusted his teamwork with B, especially the latter's strength as a perfect Jinchuriki, to be able to nullify or even kill the young man if he dared to appear in the cloud village, he preferred to save himself the trouble of being constantly on alert for a possible attack.
But what about the future?
The Fourth Raikage was already planning an ambush to kill Kozue Ichihara.
No one could hurt his pride and he could keep his life.
.
.
.
While Team 8 stood still and silent as they processed everything that had happened, the figure of A had disappeared over the horizon.
The things that had happened a few moments ago were too much to process in such a short time.
Although it seemed like a lot had happened, only a few minutes had passed since they were surrounded, and even less from when Kozue appeared until she defeated the enemy.
Especially the battle between Kozue and the enemy, which lasted a few moments and they could only see blurs moving from one place to another.
Everything happened too fast and didn't give her emotions time to stabilize.
One moment they were drowning in despair, and the next moment they suddenly realized they could survive.
Nobody said a word until Kozue appeared in front of them.
"We meet again"
Kozue's words snapped Team 8 out of their stupor, and they stared at the young man with complicated expressions.
Especially Kiba and Shino, whom Kurenai explained a few seconds ago that the tanned man was the Fourth Raikage, one of the strongest ninjas in the world.
The Fourth Raikage, the leader and strongest ninja of the Cloud Village, a great village like the Leaf Village, was too far ahead of Genin like them.
Although the two were heirs to two prominent clans in the Leaf Village, that did not give them the status and strength to be on the same level as a leader of a Great Village.
Especially strength.
According to the stories of her teacher Kurenai, the man was a monster.
Compared to the Fourth Raikage, they were just babies in diapers.
But what had they seen now?
A young man, apparently the same age as them, had defeated that same monster with relative ease.
It was unheard of.
Beside them, Hinata had an astonished look, her eyes wide open and full of admiration.
She had seen how Kozue had easily defeated one of the strongest ninjas in the world, displaying a strength that she had always wanted to have.
If Hinata had been so strong, would she have been marked with the seal of the caged bird?
She always believed it was impossible for her to be so strong, especially at her age, but Kozue has just proven her wrong.
And if that wasn't enough, in just a few days Kozue had done things that were enormously significant for her.
Not only had he freed her from the caged bird's seal, but now he had also saved her from falling into a tragic fate.
The young woman was not so naive as to ignore what would happen to her if the kidnapping of the cloud village had been successful.
Therefore, it could be said with complete certainty that he owed his life to Kozue.
All that admiration and gratitude caused Kozue to suddenly place a certain blond man on equal footing in her thoughts.
But not everyone on Team 8 was just happy.
Beside the young Hyuga, Kurenai had a complicated look.
The leader of team 8 was amazed by the strength of that young man, but she couldn't eliminate the conflicting feelings she was experiencing.
The woman knew that the Hyuga clan would not be happy to learn that Kozue had broken the seal of the caged bird, and they would try to kill him.
Kurenai was happy because the young man was strong and could defend himself against the Hyuga clan's persecution, but that same strength would surely also be used to kill any Hyuga who came after him.
This would start a conflict between Kozue and the Leaf Village, and Kurenai didn't think it was a good idea for that to happen right now.
She knew more than her students. She understood the impact of what had just happened and the possible events that would follow.
But unlike her students who were amazed by the strength of the young man in front of them, she was worried about a war against the cloud village.
The Cloud Village had once again attempted to kidnap Hinata, similar to what happened many years ago and which ended with the death of Hinata's uncle.
But this time things will most likely end differently. Kurenai was sure of it.
Now, the Leaf Village could no longer afford to act so submissively to stop the war.
All the villages must have recovered their energy after several years and will be looking longingly at the land of fire, like wolves waiting for their prey to show signs of weakness.
And if they see that the Leaf Village acts cowardly, not retaliating after such an offense, these wolves will pounce on them as if they were juicy steaks.
Therefore, the Leaf Village must be decisive and punish the Cloud Village to set an example for others.
The Cloud Village will not stand idly by and await punishment. They will counterattack, thus beginning a war between the two countries, which will escalate into a world war when the other villages join in.
One might say that the Cloud Village wouldn't pose a problem. The young man before them had already defeated the strongest ninja on the enemy side and could do so again at any moment.
But there was a catch.
Kozue had freed Hinata from her cursed seal.
And after learning this, the Hyuga Clan would try to kill Kozue… and they would fail.
Kozue's strength was not something the Hyuga clan could face so easily.
Kurenai could already imagine that Kozue would massacre countless Hyuga and thus the young man would come into conflict with the Leaf Village.
Would the Hidden Leaf Village ask Kozue for help to fight the Hidden Cloud Village after the young man had killed several Hyuga?
Unlikely.
The village would see Kozue as an enemy to be eliminated.
But would it be easy?
This is where Kurenai has the most contradiction.
He was happy because the young man was strong enough to defeat the Fourth Raikage and save them.
But it also meant that the young man would kill countless Leaf ninjas in his pursuit, and she wasn't so happy to imagine a fellow villager of hers, especially someone close to her, dying at Kozue's hands.