Yashiro the Blind

Finally, he raised his voice abruptly, "What are you all standing there for? Get them away now, don't spoil my fun!"

"Okay, okay!"

The man, who had been watching the battle in a daze, suddenly snapped back to reality. It wasn't that he was so fond of watching the excitement that he was willing to risk his life. The main reason was that this operation was originally led by Mishima Doppo. Before the other party had even spoken, he dared not make any decisions on his own. What if he lost his mind and his brains were splattered by a single blow?

Now that Mishima had given the order, he had no more reservations. He immediately rushed over, reached out, picked up the little girl from the ground, and turned to walk out of the woods.

"Leave the person here—"

On the other side, Yashiro heard it clearly. He frowned, tucked his free right hand into his sleeve, and with a flick of his wrist, the shuriken shot out towards the man's back at the same time as he spoke!

"I told you, no distractions!"

However, the shuriken was knocked away by Mishima Doppo's scabbard as soon as it was thrown, landing on the ground with a soft thud.

A few more seconds were wasted in the back and forth, and he could hear the man running further and further away with Hatsume. Hachiro's face darkened, he slammed his cane down, and gripped the end of the cane with his left hand.

Leaning slightly forward and shifting his straw sandals lightly, this was the prelude to drawing his sword.

The atmosphere around him seemed to tense up suddenly with this action, and feeling the faint stinging on his skin, Mishima Doppo's smile widened even more.

He still carried the broadsword on his shoulder, a glint of fanaticism in his eyes: "Yes, that's right, just like that, little blind boy from the Tianfeng family, it seems you're finally getting serious. Fine, then let me see here whether Tianfeng Goro's so-called 'Wind-Facing Slash' is really as powerful as the rumors say!"

"...Let me make this clear: if this move doesn't kill me, then unfortunately, you'll die here first, then the Tenji siblings will soon follow you down to find you, and that old devil named Kato Danzo—he might escape once, but he won't escape a second time. If you don't want them to die because of you, unleash your strongest abilities and give it your all..."

A strange light shone in his eyes. Although he was threatening the girl, his tone was very calm, as if he were just stating the simplest of facts. But it was precisely because of this that it was even more chilling.

"I mean what I say."

As the invisible forces of energy intertwined, the aura emanating from the two individuals steadily increased over time.

In the darkness, without a trace of starlight or moonlight, only the heavy breathing and the strong thumping of a heartbeat could be heard nearby. The hurried footsteps of another person were fading into the distance, and the scent of budding leaves was also receding from her. Soon she would be leaving this forest...

Just a little bit more, just a little bit more...

“My suggestion is that you might move Kato Danzo’s order forward a little… at least before the Tenji siblings. Because…”

The girl suddenly spoke.

"what?"

He had probably imagined several possible responses from the girl beforehand, ranging from exasperation to retorts, but this one sentence was truly beyond Mishima Doppo's expectations, leaving him momentarily stunned.

It was at this moment that the girl raised her right hand, lightly touched her lips with the tip of her index finger, and a hint of playfulness appeared on her face.

"...because he's right behind you now, making it easier to kill him."

"what--"

A mournful cry!

Mishima Doppo suddenly turned around and saw a dark figure descend from the sky, directly tackling the man with the first bud to the ground. They were quite far apart, and the night was dim, so it was impossible to see what had happened. He only heard the man scream, and then he collapsed limply to the ground.

The dark figure straightened up, grabbed Hatsune and the man with one hand each, as easily as lifting two kittens by the scruff of their necks. It even turned its head to look this way, baring its ugly yellow teeth at Mishima Doppo.

"It's Kato Danzo... You're still here?"

Kato Danzo was quite far away, but his voice carried clearly on the wind: "Kite soars to the sky, fish leaps in the abyss. This old man has always been greedy, and I haven't even gotten the slightest benefit. How could I possibly slink away like this? Now that it's buy one get one free, this deal is barely worth it... Kid, it's time to get out of here!"

"Want to escape?!"

This last reminder startled Mishima Doppo. Realizing what was happening, he rushed out without hesitation, his target not being Kato Danzo further away, but the girl who was right in front of him!

At the same time, Yashiro released his left hand from the end of the staff, and then with a flick of his fingers, a jet-black light shot straight towards his face like a meteor!

In the rush, unable to discern its exact form, Mishima Doppo assumed it was just another shuriken. Without pausing, he casually tapped the hilt of his broadsword, intending to repeat his previous tactic of smashing the weapon he had used to buy time aside...

By the time he realized something was wrong, he had already crashed headfirst into the thick smoke.

What Yashiro threw last was not a shuriken, but a smoke bomb.

The Iga ninjas' secret smoke bomb, refined over hundreds of years, is naturally far superior to other inferior products. In addition to the smoke itself being long-lasting, it also has a pungent smell and a strange, sticky, almost tangible feel, instantly shutting out all four senses: sight, hearing, smell, and touch.

No matter how much Mishima Doppo wielded his greatsword and ran, the acrid smoke remained a constant companion, impossible to dispel or escape. When he finally saw the light of day again, his eyes were bloodshot from the smoke, and he was rubbing his nose and coughing incessantly, looking utterly wretched.

As he glanced around, sure enough, the girl, the old man, Chuya, and his companion whose name he had forgotten were all nowhere to be seen.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Gah, gah, gah—"

A crow unfortunately flew overhead, and Mishima Doppo, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly reached out and grabbed it in his palm.

The poor bird was instantly crushed into a lump of flesh and blood. The next second, it suddenly opened its mouth wide, stuffed the lump of flesh and blood, which could barely be made up of the outline of a head, into its mouth, and chewed it forcefully.

Foul-smelling red blood flowed freely from his mouth, and a few feathers leaked from between his teeth, fluttering in the wind, bathed in the cold moonlight, before falling to his feet.

Snap, creak, creak...

"...Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!"

With his mouth full of blood, staining his teeth and tongue crimson, Mishima Doppo raised his head, looked up at the clear light above, and burst into laughter. The blade sheathed in his sheath clanged with his movements, as if trying to echo the faint howls of wolves in the distance, the sounds carrying far away...

……

Chapter Fourteen: Look, that burning house looks like yours!

"How infuriating! How infuriating! To encounter such a despicable person who is so faithless and immoral, whose attitude changes faster than flipping through a book, is truly infuriating. He even tried to silence me! What's that saying again... Right, 'The world is in chaos, morality has collapsed, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be!'"

As night deepened and the mountain shadows loomed, Kato Danzo strode forward, muttering curses under his breath, but his voice was not loud, just loud enough for those around him to hear clearly.

He held Chuya in his right arm. The effects of the sleeping potion on the little girl were still present. Although she had been through quite a bit of a commotion, she was still fast asleep, having some wonderful dream. She was all smiles, with a line of glistening saliva hanging from her lips, glistening in the moonlight.

With his left hand, he roughly grabbed a thick leg, dragging the well-dressed man along the ground as if he were a dead object, face down, leaving a long trail of blood as the man rubbed against the sand and soil, disappearing into the sparse woods in the distance.

Even from this stark contrast in treatment between the two places, one can glimpse the raging fury in "Flying Kite's" heart.

That being said, in Yashiro's opinion, his outburst of temper was truly unreasonable—while the other party certainly wanted to turn on him and silence him, Kato Danzo himself was no better off:

Earlier in the house, the two hit it off immediately and finalized their plans in just a few words.

As the saying goes, one should be loyal to the person who entrusted the task, and besides, the girl had a good impression of the little girl, Chuya, so she would not stand idly by now that she knew someone was going to harm her.

The question is how to help.

As the saying goes, "You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against a thief for a thousand days." When the enemy is in the dark and you are in the light, you will inevitably be restricted in whatever you do. Rather than living in constant fear and waiting for the enemy to make a move, Yashiro prefers to keep the initiative firmly in his own hands.

As luck would have it, Kato Danzo bumped into her again at that moment. So she decided to use Hatsume as bait, intending to wipe out the hidden enemies in one fell swoop… That was her plan, but unexpectedly, she gained something else in the end:

Besides Chuya, those people were also targeting him.

"...Fortunately, this old man had the foresight to see early on that they definitely wouldn't obediently abide by the agreement, so I simply sold them out first, barely managing to make it a 50/50 split, with neither side losing out. That's how smart people do things, kid, you still have a lot to learn."

On the other side, Kato Danzo changed the subject: "Speaking of which, didn't we agree that you would take care of capturing him directly? Why haven't you drawn your sword after all this time? Could it be... that ronin named Mishima Doppo is very powerful?"

"He almost... achoo... almost killed you on the spot with a single scabbard strike, and you're asking... ah... how powerful he is? Achoo!"

"Hmph, not to brag, but there are plenty of people in this world who could kill me. You could just grab any ordinary farmer from the fields and one punch from him would leave me barely breathing. It's nothing special!"

“You seem…to be quite proud…” He sniffed hard.

"Of course, everyone has their own expertise. My skills lie in agility and leaping. When it comes to scaling walls and stealing chickens and dogs, even the eleven families of the Iga Sannin combined can't touch the hem of my clothes! Unlike you, kid, you practice swordsmanship, study medicine, learn ninjutsu, and memorize poetry. You're so young and you're already doing so many things. Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew and waste your precious youth."

"This...you don't need to worry about it, senior brother..." she sobbed.

"...You're still the same as ever. You can kill yourself with a single smoky jade. I reckon that guy named Mishima on the other side isn't even as miserable as you are now."

Kato Danzo stopped speaking, turned his head in a daze, and looked at the girl who was blowing her nose, wiping her tears, and sneezing incessantly. He felt both amused and exasperated.

"Who made... Achoo... Who made this stuff smell so strong, it's choking... It's choking me to death..." Yashiro pouted and complained amidst her busy schedule.

"The strong flavor is to prevent ninja dogs from tracking us down."

"But before that... I was chased all the way by the ninja dogs raised by Momochi Tanba, and they didn't react at all... Achoo... I'm that strong."

"Doesn't this just prove that your nose is even more sensitive than a dog's? You should be secretly happy about it."

"You... Achoo, are you praising me or insulting me?"

Kato Danzo chuckled, not giving a direct answer—but in this context, it was tantamount to an answer.

The girl gritted her teeth in resentment. If she had her hands free right now, she would have cut off his hair bun with a sword, just like before, so that this annoying old man could stay a "Beatles" for a while longer.

"However, it seems that having keen senses isn't all a good thing. Although I usually envy your ability to hear so far and so clearly, there are still advantages and disadvantages... Speaking of which, if there's thunder or someone banging drums and gongs nearby, wouldn't that be enough to give you trouble?"

"That's not necessarily true..." She wiped away her tears, then blew her nose without any regard for ladylike manners, and answered in a muffled voice, "My master gave me special training in this area back then, so I have some resistance to loud noises... Achoo!"

"What kind of special training?"

"You really... want... Achoo! Want to hear it?"

"...Never mind, I didn't ask." It was unclear what part of the past he was recalling, but Kato Danzo's expression changed drastically. He shrank back, looking utterly shaken.

"Alright, alright! Now that we've escaped, let's not talk about that wretched old woman! Let's get back to the point. This matter seems more complicated than you and I thought, and it even involves your father—do you know anything about the treasure they mentioned?"

"No."

Yashiro shook her head. "When Father... ah... arrived home, he was... Achoo! He was badly injured and died after saying only a few words. Later, my uncle found out and brought men to our house, trying to kidnap my mother and older sister, and then..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but Kato Danzo naturally understood what had happened next, and fell silent for a moment.

After about half a minute, he cleared his throat and deliberately raised his voice: "So, you know nothing about the so-called treasure those people are looking for."

"I know nothing about it."

"But those people probably won't believe you. Now that you've exposed yourself, kid, and failed to capture that ronin named Mishima Doppo, besides the Tenji siblings, they'll definitely do something to you too. Be careful, don't let yourself be caught off guard."

"I'm saving...saving myself. Achoo! Senior brother, do you know...what's the background of these people?"

"I don't know the details very well. They are hiding their true intentions and are very cunning. All I know is that the leader seems to be from Suruga."

"Suruga..."

"It's probably just what you're thinking right now, kid."

Kato Danzo replied, "The one who controls the Tokaido now is not someone to be trifled with. Although he doesn't have a famous ninja group like Takeda Touba or Hojo Fuma, it's impossible for someone like him not to keep dogs. Back then, during the Hanakura Rebellion, we saw quite a few of our 'colleagues' in action."

He paused, then added, "In short, be careful. If things get really bad, we'll just abandon this mess and walk away. Although you're not as good at escaping as I am, most people can't easily stop you... Remember, other people's lives are ultimately their own, and it's not worth sacrificing too much for them."

Yashiro nodded obediently.

"Alright, that's enough about the business. We're almost at the village of Tianzhi and his sister. It's still early, you can take a nap. I'll go interrogate this fool who's trying to double-cross me. If I find anything important, I'll bring it back to you as soon as possible—"

Kato Danzo flicked his left hand, and the man who had been dragged along like a dead pig made intimate contact with the ground again, letting out a scream as he groggily began to wake up.

However, after waking up only halfway, the old man kicked him in the back of the head again, causing him to faint once more.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say? If not, I'm leaving!"

He handed the sprout over, watched as the girl struggled to hug him, shook his head, and muttered something about how she should eat more, saying that with her small arms and legs, she would be exhausted after killing only a few people on the battlefield. Yashiro just grimaced at the thought.

"I... Achoo! I'm not not eating, I just don't gain weight no matter how much I eat..."

"What do you mean you can't gain weight? You just aren't eating enough! Think about it, if you could eat a bushel of rice a day, would you still be so skinny? Reflect on your behavior!"

That was just arguing for the sake of arguing, Yashiro pursed her lips and didn't continue the conversation.

Kato Danzo seemed to think he had won a battle, and was extremely proud. He laughed loudly, then waved his left hand and threw the man, whose name he still didn't know, straight up into the air. He carried him on his shoulder, and with a sway, he floated away into the distance like a strange bird. After a few leaps, he had already disappeared.

Even though his martial arts skills were mediocre, his agility was indeed as he boasted, something that even the eleven families of the Iga Sannin, the most elite ninjas of the time, could hardly match.

"Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise..."

The girl muttered something to herself, lost in thought. She tilted her head and sniffed hard again. Her sense of smell, which had just recovered, suddenly seemed to smell something strange again... a burnt, fiery scent.

At the same time, a faint warmth was carried by the wind from afar.

wow-

The mountain wind blew like waves, and faintly, one could also hear the crackling sound of flames burning...

What surprised Yashiro the most was that these sounds and smells were coming from the direction of the settlement where the Tenji siblings lived, if she was not mistaken.

The village... is on fire?

She frowned and subconsciously looked up, but all she could see was the darkness that had persisted for over a decade. She couldn't see anything, only the sounds growing clearer, crackling and popping, as if she could conjure up the subtle image of sparks flying in her mind...

Suddenly, his sleeve ripped through the air, and the old figure returned. Kato Danzo descended from the sky, landing beside the girl. Without a word, he asked, "Did you see that?"

“…I didn’t see it.” Yashiro choked for a moment, then replied irritably.

Kato Danzo realized he had misspoke and awkwardly touched his nose: "I meant, did you hear me?"

"I heard it, I smelled it... the village is on fire?"