["If it were shinobi from other villages, they'd probably act differently."]
["Konoha's philosophy is the most contradictory of all. They want you to be calm and cold like a tool, but also to have emotions—for unity and trust."]
["The result? The more thoughtful a Konoha shinobi is, the more lost they become."]
["No wonder this village produces so many missing-nin!"]
["As Hokage, the Third is an extremely contradictory man. And as he's aged, his contradictory thinking has radiated outward with ever greater force—infecting every shinobi in Konoha."]
["Just let Minato take over already. At least he's single-minded—he wouldn't drag the village into this kind of internal decay."]
["Too bad—such a great Fourth Hokage won't live long after taking office. Even if you're the Hokage, you can't be completely selfless, can you…"]
[Thinking about how he'd have to survive under Hiruzen and Danzo's rule for years to come, Tōji found Konoha a lot less appealing…]
He'd have to get through Orochimaru's "Konoha Crush Plan" before Tsunade took over… and then wait until Sasuke killed Danzo before the village was finally clean.
["I've only been a shinobi for how long, and I'm already seeing nothing but gray ahead!"]
"You can't always control your own fate out here." Tōji muttered to himself again.
"Tōji, what are you mumbling about?" Natchi asked casually. Honestly, he wasn't really in the mood to chat—he'd been focused and cautious throughout the sweep.
"Nothing. Just thinking about what'll happen to us after this. They can't keep us in pairs forever, right?" Tōji said whatever came to mind.
"Lord Orochimaru will sort it out. Let's just focus on the mission for now." Natchi really didn't know much about Orochimaru…
Most people only knew the "Legendary Sannin" title, and the current buzz about "Lord Orochimaru commanding the victorious Kikyōyama campaign."
…
And so, with bits and pieces of conversation here and there, they kept at it until dark.
At dinner time, another squad came to tell them to fall back… Because neither of them knew when the day's mission was supposed to end—by time, or by workload?
The only person who knew was already gone forever. So they'd used the dumb method—sweeping the entire area that was originally meant for the whole squad.
The ones who informed them were a "collection squad."
They were heading back and happened to run into Tōji and Natchi still working.
Otherwise, they probably would've worked through the night without anyone noticing or asking.
And so ended their first day of post-war sweep duty.
They didn't run into any more enemies or traps after that. They did find plenty of kunai and shuriken… and a dozen or so incomplete shinobi corpses—some Konoha, some Suna.
Walking back to camp with the collection squad, they both couldn't help thinking about the two who'd been their teammates for only a day and a half… but neither said anything. They just kept it to themselves.
This kind of sweep work was mostly about clearing dangerous tools and traps left behind on the battlefield. Check for bodies, check for severely wounded. As for hidden enemies—that was more of a luck-of-the-draw thing.
Orochimaru didn't seem to care much about that either.
After all, if shinobi from other nations wanted to infiltrate Hi no Kuni, there were always opportunities.
[In Tōji's opinion, the only truly "safe" major nation in the shinobi world was the Land of Lightning.]
…
Back at camp, Tōji and Natchi were assigned to a large communal tent.
For the days they'd be working at Kikyōyama, that's where they'd eat and sleep.
One silent night passed…
The next day, their mission was the same as yesterday's—except now they were under yet another tokubetsu jōnin.
note："I've added brackets to the inner thoughts—does this read better?"