In the Hokage's building;
Right by the stairs leading up to the final floor, Fugaku's words pierced team 5 as they came to a sudden halt, and a brief look of shock flashed past their faces. Shimura Takao's gaze landed briefly on Tanehiko Kudo's face; he was all aware of what had happened between the kid's family and Danzo. One of the reasons he was assigned to him was to gauge Kudo's reaction. To see how far his hate for the village went.
Kudo's shock passed, and bubbling rage came over him, but he suppressed it in a flash just as it came. His face gave nothing except a deep understanding of some of the undercurrents from that day. The clans had put a gag order on the events leading to and during the Uchiha attack. Only the civilian shinobi were unaware of the key details, key details that Fugaku just let out. A storm was coming for the Hokage faction, and it wasn't pretty.
"Let's go!" Takao led the team away, but Ai looked disappointed as she looked at the Hokage's office. Shimura Danzo, being a close friend of the Hokage, was well known, and she didn't believe for a second that the Hokage was unaware, and therefore, it shook her will of fire.
'Old man, you keep creating problems for me.' Takao thought that he now had to pacify these kids. Team 5 got out of the building, and Kudo took a deep breath as if a heavy load was lifted off his shoulders. He was gonna do it, what he set out to do. He would protect the village in his own way.
"Let's disperse here," Takao said, giving his team time to unpack what they had just heard. They needed space, and anything he said right now would come off as covering for the higher-ups.
The next day,
At training ground 27, team 5 stood ready after their warm-ups, waiting for their sensei to show up.
"Good morning, let's get to it," Takao said as soon as he arrived. He could feel their heavy stares and questioning gazes.
"Why?! Why does a man like that exist in the village? He is a criminal, so why?" Enya asked, his voice laced with frustration.
Kudo nodded, also curious and frustrated. If Takao didn't provide a satisfactory answer, she would gut him right there.
"Well, sit down, this is gonna take a while," Takao gestured, "Do you think that every shinobi exists to protect the village?" His question was met with nods from Ai and Enya. "That is how the villages would like to view their shinobi. Truthfully, a shinobi's work is highly dangerous but very rewarding compared to living a normal civilian life. So, some of the shinobi in our village exist only to make money and reside here in this village because it's peaceful compared to other villages.
In the Hidden Mist village, shinobi continuously go rogue as the blood mist policy threatens their lives. So, shinobi at their base are people, humans, and just like everyone, they desire to live." His words caused deep frowns on his students' faces.
"Many when called to war will fight, but that doesn't mean there aren't those who want to shrink from the responsibility. This, of course, is at the core of the great argument, clan or village, which comes first?"
"The village, right?" Enya answered, unsure, "If so, then how did the village come to be? If the clans allow the village to exist, which should be prioritized? Clans bring people together and unite the village, but their existence makes the village not uniform. Shinobi belong to both clan and village.
Lord Danzo is someone who believes he should be the Hokage since he wasn't chosen by the second Hokage. That the village will only rise if he is at the helm, and of course, his methods are questionable, especially his stance on the extermination of the Uchiha clan. Something he would have done already if he had the power to do so."
Takao's words shattered their fragile understanding of the world; his students found themselves questioning their existence as shinobi and the purpose of shinobi.
"That is why you must find the meaning of the village for yourselves. Why shinobi exist and what a shinobi is. Some shinobi believe in the existence of the village, like the first Hokage, for the village prevents the killing of kids and brings people together, both clan shinobi and civilian shinobi."
"For some, because the village exists because of the clans, they believe the clans are therefore more paramount than the village.
Of course, one could argue that the existence of villages is what led to massive loss of life in the great shinobi wars or that the existence of great villages minimizes the occurrence of war compared to the Warring States.
So, to be a great shinobi, you must understand who and what you are and the path you wish to tread. If you wish to bring about change, then you must become strong enough to do so, but you must also be strong enough to shoulder the consequences of your choices.
Alright, that is enough. Today, we go over your chakra control and see if you can advance further." Kudo and his teammates awoke from their stupor with weighty thoughts but no time to process them as training began.
They started with the leaf exercise, and after each lasting more than an hour, they left the training ground for a mountainside cliff. "The second set of exercises is tree walking or wall walking." The cliff was at most 50 feet tall and vertical.
Takao slammed his hands on the floor, "Earth style; Quicksand. Now you can begin; if you fall, the quicksand will break your fall." Takao stood aside watching them.
"Highest wins." Kudo said with a grin, "Loser treats us to a meal."
"You're on!" Ai said with a massive grin. "Okay. Just go easy, guys." Enya said, loosening his shoulders.