There was nothing to be ashamed about, but we had to admit what was true. We were a minor clan in a backwater province. No one over here could afford the services of jounin. That allowed me to stay home with the triplets as much I was. What we were used for was the various clan mission the elders wanted carried out. We were still at war with Akaime Clan. Clan warfare involved at battle counter system. The scales of the conflict was being weighed. You could tip the scales in your factions favor by doing multiple things. You could beat the enemies in battle, defeat them in exams, assassinate critical members, sabotage their businesses and other sources of income, occupy their territory, destroy the infrastructure of their clan village. We were sent by the elders to do those things. Ambushes and assassinations are what my squad pulled off the best. Eiko was able to infiltrate places and ruin contacts that Akaime Clan were using. All of our names were added to the Ninja Bounty Book. They all were pretty low at the moment, but that could change with conditions. We still really were small fry.
War came with casualties on all sides. Therefore it was not too surprising to me when we lost Itsuki. He was a genin in the clan from the beginning of the game that was passed over for the 2 chunin exams. He and some of his friends were going to Gin City for the mission they were assigned. When NPCs were sent by the council, there was an RNG based chance of success. Higher ranks, skill sets and more experience rose the chances of the NPC succeeding. However there was always a percentage chance to fail. If they did not roll high enough, something would happen to cause the mission to fail. If they rolled too low, they would experience a critical failure. That was not good. Something would happen to them and they would die over the course of that mission. In his case, they were ambushed by Akaime Clan. Itsuki died and his body was brought back. We had to make a cemetery in the village for clan members who had fallen. The civilian graves were off on another field. A funeral was given for him. The clan members were either sad or angry about it. We got revenge by killing them.
Only a month later another one of our ninja died. This time it was a chunin kunoichi named Makoto. Makoto was on Chihiro's squad for his promotion to chunin. They had been really close friends. I remembered when Chihiro had first gotten the news about Kyoko's pregnancy of Chiaki. He and all of his friends had gone around the village to celebrate. Part of the big celebration was wandering over to my squad's area and demanding me to fight the inebriated Chihiro. They were all drunk and I wanted to refuse. Makoto and his other friends were egging me on. They were really confident about it as well. I was not allowed to refuse the fight. Because of all that, I absolutely destroyed Chihiro. He was knocked out. Makoto and the others had to carry him off. Losing a friend had really eaten him up from the inside. I made sure that I went over to talk to him. I was on good terms with Kyoko, so I was allowed in the house easily. I talked to Chihiro and tried to cheer the both of them up. Yoru, Asa and Hiru were with me to play with Chiaki. We stayed the whole day. I could tell it raised his opinion of me.
