Shogo POV

Huff…Huff

‘I made it! It took almost being eaten by a frickin shark, but I made it!’

I had finally gotten to the eastern beach of Nakajima. The sand was whitish, and it looked super creepy with all the thick mist everywhere, but I could make this work. I waked up to the shore and stared where I thought the horizon would be then I started walking along it.  First, I need to find a cave or something to hide in. Hopefully-

‘What the fuck is that!?’

I see a group of dingy kids running towards me! And They do NOT look friendly. I mean what the fuck did I do, I just got here for goddess sake! I immediately turn around to run away only to find that I was being boxed in on both sides with more aggressive looking kids coming towards me.

‘Shit! Well I am not going out without a fight!’

I stood with my back to the ocean and I slowly walked into it, so I was ankle deep in it. The children slowly tried to surround me, but I made sure to keep them all within in my line of sight with my spear. A boy who didn’t look to be much older than me made a move towards, but I whipped my spear in his direction almost slashing him with the tip of the shark tooth. From there, the rest of the kids tried to rush me but kept them at bay with a jab or a slash in their direction. I don’t know what these kids had against me, but I planned to lose them in the water. I had backed up in the water to the point the water was at my waist now. I stopped the kids from climbing into the water after me by jabbing my spear at their feet when they tried to enter. But after a while I had to keep them at bay swinging the spear in a wide arc so that I could keep them all at bay. Good thing Mizu made this spear so goddamn long the water was barely passed their ankles yet. I could see them getting frustrated because they knew I was almost in the clear too.

‘Just a few more steps- ‘

*TWACK*

My ears were ringing, and I was face down in the water. The pain I felt behind my eyes was blinding as I felt myself being roughly dragged out of the water by many hands.   

Two years later…

*Drip* *Drip*

I must’ve been born with horrible luck or something because this is getting ridiculous now. I cannot do the simplest thing without it going horribly wrong. The plan was building a home for myself on Nakajima’s eastern beach and live peacefully. That idea went up in smoke because the beach was taken over by a gang of vagrant children already. Their leader, a shark toothed asshole, had already planned to induct me to his band of child thieves as soon as I stepped onto the beach, forcefully. He ordered the gang to jump me as soon as I made it to the beach. I held them back for a bit with my amazing combat skills (I scratched and jabbed at a few of them with my spear) and then it gets a little hazy. I woke up a couple hours later with a massive headache, a few broken ribs and two black eyes. Pointy was broken beyond repair but at that point I couldn’t bring myself to care with all the pain I was in. That’s when Tako, the gang’s eighteen-year-old leader, approached me. He told me he was impressed with the fight I put up but now he expected me to join the gang or die. Obviously, I chose the option that did not include my death and my unwanted life of petty crime had officially started. The gang had twelve disowned or orphaned kids including me, nine boys and three girls, all ranging from ages 5-14. We all lived in a poorly made hut on the far end of the beach and we all slept on the floor. Tako provided us with a limited amount of food and water but not for free.

Tako made us steal things for him from the village or specific people.  He would give us a plan and have us execute it perfectly or we would be beat up by the gang when we came back even if we still completed the stupid demand. The bastard broke one of the girls’ hands when she failed trying to steal some of those throwing stars for him from a local blacksmith. The part that baffles me is that the chick who got her hand broken and the other kids still revere Tako as if he were a god. They vehemently defend him from any of my snide remarks and it creeps me the fuck out. I try to keep my distance from those crazy fucks especially now that I found my own secret hideout.  

 Tako was a ninja employed by the Shimizu clan that would be deployed on risky missions from time to time. And he usually made us steal from other ninja he knew were out on missions usually because he was on the same mission. Sometimes he made us steal weapons, scrolls, armor, and sometimes cash if he found out where they hid it. Of course, the ninjas were livid about their things being stolen but Tako knew that the police force were too limited in resources to go on a village search for petty theft. But recently he has been showing up less to the beach and has been looking more haggard from going out on missions. The jobs he sends us on are becoming fewer and far in between. The orphans were getting restless because of the shortage of food also the Shark Trial was coming in two years, and he hadn’t trained them like he had promised. Over the past few months, I managed to coax some info about the trial and Tako out of the older kids by enticing them with the fish I caught from the sea. I guess starving loosens the lips, heheh.

‘Though their smiles of admiration nearly made me puke’

The Shark Trial was a tournament held every three years among children ages 8-14 for the title of Shark otherwise known as the best swordsman of the generation. Kids from all over Water country compete in it in hopes of gaining recognition. The children were made to fight in a live sword fight until one of them surrendered or was incapacitated. Killing was frowned upon but not really punished. The contestants could number anywhere from two hundred to three hundred. From there the kids were paired off randomly unless someone challenged the other.  These fights went on until one victor was standing. There were no breaks in between if two fighters finished around the same time, they had to fight next. It was made to simulate actual battle without the constant death part. When the shark was chosen their teeth were painfully filed down into those stupid (but pretty cool) mouth deformities. Once they win the title the first time, the Shark must defend his/her title for at least a second time no matter the age limit. It was extremely rare for older participants to win despite their physical advantages because the younger participants were usually clan children or kids deemed to have enough talent to be worth a random ninja’s time to train prior to the tournament. The competition was used by older orphans to showcase their talent to become ninja.  Tako was an orphan of the Nakajima village and he started this gang when he was 10. One of the older kids told me that he would always train with a sword he found washed on the beach and became decent with it.  An older ninja saw Tako’s sword talent and decided to train him to become a ninja. After a year, Tako had hailed himself a sword prodigy as his ego had grown immensely from completing many missions with his master. Tako entered his name in the Shark Trial at eleven years old to prove his sword prowess against the best of his generation. He went to the last round of the tournament but lost horribly against the then reining Hozuki clan Shark.

The loss changed Tako for the worst. He became ruthless and cruel towards his friends and the other orphans. He started to order them to steal high risk things in order to further his own ninja career. But he was smart about it. Tako, only made them steal from ninja while he was out of the village on business. If any of them refused he would beat them to within an inch of their life. Knowing the Hozuki wouldn’t be back for the next one, Tako trained obsessively for the next Shark Trial. Day and night, he would practice his technique. He would run sword first into every enemy he and his master encountered on missions. As the time for the trial grew closer, Tako got more and more nervous about the trial. Soon Tako was convinced his skill wouldn’t be enough and that he needed an edge. He forced those of his gang to join the trial with him even if they had never picked up a sword before and challenged them during so he would get easy wins. Tako was way fresher than his opponents in the late rounds. He won the trial this way even though it was obvious to all he cheated. The Shimizu clan who monitor the trial couldn’t be bothered to punish Tako though. They justified their inaction by saying it was part of ninja training to overcome unfair advantage, but I just think they were lazy and were trying to save face. The next trial he participated in he only needed to cheat in the final round against another Hozuki kid. Tako poisoned his blade before the fight and was able to temporarily paralyze his opponent. The Hozuki clan was outraged and demanded Tako be punished severely for his transgressions. But the Shimizu clan shrugged off their anger and only gave him a slap on the wrist; two years of guard duty on the docks. Tako taunted me by telling me that he followed Mizu and his brothers to the alley they dropped me off at that faithful day. He didn’t believe whatever story they made up and went to see what they were hiding.

‘Ain’t that a bitch! In a way the Shimizu clan fucked me over with that bitch move too. They basically put me into this asshole’s back pocket before I even stepped foot onto the beach.’

Well that’s enough wallowing in my misery. I stood up and dusted the back of my ragged shorts off. Ironically, I found a cave. Not quite like the one I envisioned living in before Tako derailed my plans, but it was nice to have my own place away from the asshole brigade. I found the cave a couple months back while I was chasing a crab under water along the eastern shore. The entrance was underwater, and it was a very narrow hole, but it was just big enough for a mildly flexible Shogo to get through. The cave itself was compact to the point where I couldn’t even stand up to my full height. The cave was super dark but a crack in the ceiling shed some light down into it. I only really used the cave to hide extra stuff I took during the operations that razor mouthed jackass sent me on and some money that I managed to steal as well.

I quickly established that I was the fastest among the orphans besides Tako and they dubbed me the invader meaning I was the one that did the stealing. When the orphans go on one of Tako’s “jobs” they allow only six people to go at a time and each person has designated a role: invader, transporter, lookout, and breaker. The lookouts have the easiest job because all they do is hide in the immediate area for 30 mins, throw a rock at the door or window to notify the invader that they’ve been in the house too long or when they spot danger and then they split. There’s always two lookouts and this role is always performed by the younger members. Then you have the breaker, the person in charge of picking locks on doors and disabling any seal alarms. It seems like a tough job but its really not because Tako just hands them exact instructions on what to do for each job. Sometimes all they must do is slap a seal on the door then runaway.  Next in difficulty is transporter, two people who oversee running the stolen stuff back to the beach after the invader gives it to them. They must run in convoluted patterns to get to the beach and can never run near each other or in a straight line. The most difficult role, my role, is the invader who is responsible for going into the houses and stealing the requested goods. Of course, it’s not that easy because you must account for the traps in the houses. Then when your done stealing, you hand over the goods to the transporter and you can’t come back to the beach till morning. Essentially, you had to steal stuff, hand it off, and act as a magnet for any potential pursuers for the rest of the night. It sucks so fucking hard! Honestly, it was a genius system that gave the illusion that there is only one kid involved while insuring the goods are successfully stolen. But I’m done running around with a potential target on my back for these fucking wastes of space!

‘I’m just 3250 ryo short of a one-way boat ride out of this damn blood thirsty country. My destination is gonna be the land of Noodles. Hopefully! I can avoid the crazy people that are bound to be over there better than I did here. Let’s just get this last job over with so I can be on the next boat out of here!’

Well after sundown….

“Gather around you little shits! I gotta job for you!”

That was Tako’s call for all the orphans to stand in a circle around him while he picked people out for the job. I got up from my spot far away from the others. They didn’t want me too close and I didn’t want them near me either. The animosity between me and the other orphans never died down after I knocked out that kid who called me a rotten fish because of my darker complexion. Normally I wouldn’t care about the insult, but I drew the line when he threw water on me to see if the “dirt” would come off. We all silently gathered in a circle around Tako. I made sure to stand back a little bit from the group but was close enough so I wouldn’t stand out too much.

“Alright kiddies, tomorrow is a big score. This is going to be an alpha team job. I got teamed up with one of those Hozuki cunts this week for a mission and you’re gonna hit up their compound tomorrow night. I followed his stupid ass to the compound and his family home is the furthest from the entrance.”

He had drawn a shitty example into the sand. Then he poked at one of the smaller squares. 

“His room is on the left of the house. Your entry point will be the window, but you need to be extremely quiet. Only one of you will be going inside the compound to consolidate the risk of being caught trespassing,”

Tako paused at the last part and smiled at me.

If I was strong enough his stomach would be full of teeth right now, but I angrily looked away.

“Your objective is to get me that new sword his shitty cousin got that fucking dumbass for his birthday. He’s been bragging so much about it, but that fucking tool doesn’t even know how to use it. DON’T fuck this up, Black Fish. You won’t like what happens to you if you do.”

I stiffen up as Tako threatens me. Fuck I hate that stupid name he keeps calling me, Black Fish. I wouldn’t tell that fucker my name that day he got me on the beach because I didn’t want him to be able to find me later. Now he’s stuck me with that shitty name.

“The sword should be in his room somewhere and I doubt he was smart enough to lock it away. The hilt is black and is covered in blue stripes. Make sure you get the right one!”

With that he vanished, and we dispersed from the circle.

‘Of course, we have a big fucking job like this before I finally escape!’

The next day…

An hour before midnight…

The Hozuki compound was on a hill above the small village and it had been there for centuries. The people of the slums were resentful of the Hozuki clan’s fortune, but fear stayed their hand from doing anything stupid. Though the Shimizu clan dominants Water country without equal today, the Hozuki were and in some respects are still the most feared clan in the country. The mixture of their legendary Hydrification technique and revered sword mastery made them momentarily unstoppable for a time in Water Country history. Though they were eventually corralled by the Shimizu, at least one of the seven swords have been possessed by a Hozuki for the last one hundred years. Not only were the Hozuki of old considered deadly in all manner of battle but they were also cruel beyond measure. The Hozuki would slaughter their opponents then drag the survivors back to Nakajima’s shores and turn them into lifelong slaves. This whole village used to be filled to the brim with Hozuki slaves that were dealt all around the world for the right price. But the Shimizu put an end to slavery when they took over because they considered it far too barbaric of a practice for their new Nakajima. They freed all the slaves and left them to fend for themselves. Most of them became poor fisherman and a few tried to become traders or artisans. The one-sided animosity of the common people had not died but the instinctive fear was unrelenting as well.

The compound itself was pretty large as it spanned two kilometers on each side. The walls were made of light sandstone and were twenty feet tall with black/gold shingles on top. There is only one set of doors for the whole compound and they were massive 18 by 18-foot dark slabs of wood. A huge Hozuki clan symbol sat in the middle of both of doors. The doors had no handle meaning they couldn’t be opened from the outside easily and the walls were covered in alarm seals to ensure the security of those inside. Apparently, that’s where the Hozuki security started and ended according to Tako. They must be so arrogant to believe that they didn’t need active security guards because nobody on the island would be willing to steal from them.

‘Hmph! It just makes my job a helluva lot easier!’

I arrived at the back of the compound early so I could scope it out on my own. There didn’t appear to be any traffic in and out of the place right now, but I still needed keep myself alert. Every Hozuki and their mother is a ninja or was at least training to be one so I can’t afford to be careless during my infiltration. The walls were super sturdy but they walking puddles had ignored the upkeep for them in the back a little, so it was definitely possible for me to climb up over the wall and jump into the compound. There was even a tree nearby so I could climb out when I was done. My only deterrent from doing that right not were the alarm seals that would be triggered if I so much as lightly glanced the wall. They were stupidly expensive Uzumaki seals, you could tell by their special red ink. I needed the stupid breaker for this mission to hurry up and show up with that distortion seal. Apparently, that was also a super powerful Uzumaki seal that, but I don’t know how the fuck Tako came in possession of something so valuable. I’m guessing he nabbed it off someone’s dead body or something similar. Anyhow we usually disrupt complex seals that the ninjas we rob use by slapping that thing over it.

1 hour later…

I got up from my comfy spot on the ground when I saw my “teammates” reach the top of the small hill. They looked really out of breath even though the climb wasn’t even that bad.

“Bout time your dumbasses got here.”

*Huff**Huff* “We’re not freaks of nature like you, Black Fish!”

*Huff**Huff* “Let’s just get this over with so we can ditch this asshole.”

A brown-haired older girl was the primary lookout, I hadn’t bothered to learn her name. The breaker was an older black-haired boy, his name didn’t matter to me either. I fully expected them to ditch me without a second thought if I did get caught. It didn’t matter, all I needed was the disruptor seal to do my damn job.

“Hurry up and do your fucking roles, I got shit to do!”

The older boy sneered at me and slapped a piece of paper on the wall causing the ink on the alarm seals to visibly darken signifying their disruption. I walk up to the wall and start feeling around for good grip then I hoist myself up. Scaling the wall was simple because of all the cracks and holes in the bricks but I made sure to be careful when I got to the shingles on top. The last thing I wanted was for one of them to fall of and wake one of the Hozuki inside. Having no shoes made it easy for me to stay silent and I want to keep it that way. I heard the girl climb up the wall too since she had to survey the area while I was inside the compound.

“Thirty minutes, you shitty brat. Two whistles for trouble and one for times up.”

“Don’t wait up, salty bitch!”

I leapt off the wall and landed in a nearby scrub. I made sure to flip the older girl off before I landed. Fucking bitch has had it out for me ever since I took her stupid role. I didn’t even want to do this shit! She’ll do her fucking role right if she knows what’s good for her. Tako doesn’t discriminate when it comes to failed jobs, he’ll stomp all our asses into the sand. Honestly though from his threat I think he might kill me! Ain’t that some shit! I can’t dwell on Tako’s bullshit favoritism right now, I gotta get this risky job over with fast.

I crouched in the scrub and poked my head out to look at the current situation in the compound. It was indeed midnight as nobody was outside and only a few candles were visibly burning from the windows. I crawled out of the scrub on all fours and made sure to stay low as I made my way behind the first row of houses painfully slow. Though I weighed nothing significant, I took extra care to shift my weight around each time I took a step so my full weight wouldn’t come down on the ground. I put a hand on the side of the houses for better balance as I sneakily tip toed my way to the last house in the row. I didn’t make my way towards the entry point right away, I went behind the target house and peered into the back window to check for any activity. I saw nobody moving through the house or at least near my target. I did see candlelight coming from the second floor however meaning that couldn’t afford to make any noise.

I crept to the east side of the house sticking close to the walls making myself as hard to spot as possible till I was right below the entry point; the window Tako was talking about yesterday. I hoped the sword was easy to find. I didn’t want to risk taking a breath in this place now that I knew someone was awake. I checked to see if the window was locked only to shockingly find it open.

‘Its like this dude wants to get robbed!’

I took a deep breath and pushed the window open then carefully climbed into it. I sat on top of the windowsill and looked at the ground for any objects that could get in my way. The room was being well lit by the moon which made looking for traps easier. I didn’t spot anything obvious like a tripwire or something, but I did spot the target sword on a desk opposite of an empty futon.

‘It can’t be this damn easy…’

I reluctantly stepped carefully down onto the floor of the room and softly closed the window behind me to not alert anyone outside that somebody was inside the room. I had made that mistake before and now was definitely not the time for me to repeat it. My slow movements to the desk made it seem like my advancement was being impeded by a sticky syrupy substance. I extended my right leg and probed the immediate area around the desk with my foot in order to set off any hidden traps, but nothing was there. It took a moment for me to muster up the courage to grab the sword, but I snatched it from its position on the table and swiftly stepped back from any traps. Again, nothing happened.

‘I’m kinda relieved but also disappointed! What kind of ninja is this piece of shit? Whatever, hopefully this guy has some money stashed somewhere. Then all I’ll need to do is toss this sword to the transporters in the alley and hop on the first boat first thing in the morning.’

The sword was heavy and was going to be a pain to carry all night but at least the sheath had a shoulder strap, so I didn’t have to carry it in my hands. I slung the sword over my shoulder after securing the strap so that it would somewhat fit my thin frame. The sword was definitely going to slow down my max haul-assing speed but at least it wasn’t going to slip off my body while I ran.    

‘Now to look for some cash! I’m not leaving this room though. If the worst comes to worst, I’ll just steal the rest from that brown-haired bitch’s “secret” stash. She has to have at least 2000 ryo in there.’

I carefully look around the room for any secret hiding spots taking special care not to move anything out of place. I wanted to make sure the only person who could discover the crime will be the victim because nobody else would be able to tell what’s missing. That’s some high-level forethought but that’s a given since I am a master thief after al-

‘Oooooouuuuuu…. A loose floorboard under the desk. Wonder what this dude could be hiding there.’

I cautiously lifted the loose board and under was a cardboard box small enough to hide away but large enough to contain anything dangerous. I slowly lifted the box from under the floor and opened it facing away from my face. At this point, I was feeling a little silly for bring so tense because again there was no fucking trap. I looked inside the box and what I saw nearly made my eyes pop out of my head.   

‘There must be at least 200,000 ryo in this fucking box right now! Thank you, Rabbit Goddess, I will build a shrine to honor your greatness in my new home!’

*FWEEEETTTTTTT! *

‘Sheeessshhh! That was loud! Is she tryna get me caught?! Time get the fuck out of dodge.’

I pocketed the money and put the box back then I slid the floorboard back into to place. I quickly scrutinized the entire room to make sure nothing was out of place then I walked over to the window and put the sword outside first before slipping through myself. I picked up the sword and rushed to my exit point, the tree next to the scrub. I should be able to climb the tree and get over the wall without raising the alarms. My “teammates” were likely long gone by now, so I didn’t expect any help getting out unscathed. I got to the familiar scrub in seconds and immediately started trying to get a good grip on the tree. The tree was very old, so I had to careful but very quick while climbing. When I got high enough, I threw the sword over the wall then leapt over the wall myself.

‘Ouch! That was a horrible landing! At least I didn’t accidently land on the sword.’

I got up and dusted myself off from the drop. I walked over to the sword I had discarded earlier and strapped it to my back once more.

“Hey kid! You mind telling me where you got that COOL looking sword? I feel like I’ve seen it before, but I just can’t remember where!”