Sand Siblings

Part 11

"Nothing."

The word echoed across the deck. Everything seemed to stop, including time. All that was heard was the sound of an occasional gasp as people got the message.
Nothing.

Yuudai stood up.
"What the hell do you mean, 'nothing'?" he shouted.
The captain glared at him until he sat back down, then whispered into his walkie-talkie again. He was communicating with another ship's captain, and they were exchanging updates of their searches.
After a minute, the man sighed and put the device back into his pocket before turning back to his own team.

Nothing. That was all they had heard.
One word that meant so much, but explained so little.
It was 'nothing'.
And 'nothing' was definitely not enough for all the shinobi in the area.

"We captains have discussed the situation. It has been days and we haven't found any sign of life-..."

"So what? We have lost so much, we have come this far! We will keep on searching!" interrupted a young chuunin, getting up furiously.

"The storm has wiped away any signs that could have been! We realized that now. Anything that remains will be at the bottom of the ocean. Our boats aren't strong enough to cross the entire ocean, not even knowing where to search! We thought that we could have found a wreck but... nothing... Besides, supplies are running low."

The jonin was correct about his last point. The Kazekage had given them the bare minimum, especially for so many men. Just enough for only about one more day, counting the trip back to the village, and they had already been cutting back on consumption of goods. But no one had pointed it out to the powerful man before leaving. They all secretly feared him too much.
The young chuunin, however, refused to give in.

"What about the second search party groups? They should all be arriving any day now! We cannot give up so easily so fast! It has hardly even been three days!"

"Kazekage-sama has instructed us to return as soon as possible, with or without finding anything. It is too dangerous for the village to have so many shinobi leave for a mission at the same time. It leaves Suna unguarded. Orders are orders!"

The entire deck's atmosphere seemed to turn to ice. So little time, with so little information. Some of the people started to wonder why the Kazekage had given them so little hope and possibilities, even with the safety of the village in consideration.

"This is insane!" yelled the young man across the space. "We have to find those people! I will not stand for this! The entire village will not stand for this! Those people could be alive, waiting, praying for us! My sister could be alive! I don't care what Kazekage-..."
"Silence!" roared the jonin, making the chuunin cower and bow his head in shame and anger. "I am the leader here! And you may not speak of our village's ruler in that manner! As a shinobi, you must respect orders and put your home first! You mustn't be selfish! You are not the only one who had family on that boat! Many people did, including I! But if we starve out here, do you really want the village to have lost more shinobi, men and family?"

Nobody answered.

The chuunin, after a moment of silence, lifted his head and took a deep, ragged breath.

"You are the leader and you make the decisions on this mission. You want to abandon. To give up. Shinobi don't give up, they wait for the right time. If you were to continue on this mission, I would continue my hard work... I would struggle to live on little, because the rewards will be so much bigger. Our village... Home is where the people you love are. And some people are missing."

Silence roamed across the deck yet again and, after a moment of thought, Yuudai stood up.

"We will all remain hopeful. We are willing to live with the little we have left. We will never give up on our village's faith in us!" he said, looking out into the endless blue sea.
Slowly, every single ninja on the boat stood up, eyes on their leader, waiting for him to cast his deciding vote.