(Kagero POV)
'This should be enough evidence for the chamberlain to take action,' Kagero thought, writing down everything she learned along with their general plan to attack the docks before rolling it up and putting it in a small container. She pulled out the Kōga bird whistle from within her kimono and blew the whistle a few times in a specific pattern before stopping. After that, she placed it back in her kimono and waited for the bird to arrive, which drew curious looks from the group.
"What are you doing?" Midori asked curiously while unwinding John's and Misao's makeshift bandages carefully, making sure their wounds didn't open back up from the hike they were forced to take and started to clean a little with what little water they can spare, before applying clean bandages to the wounds. Thankfully it didn't appear to be that bad as the bleeding has already stopped and appeared to be healing already.
Kagero blinked, her eyes shifting to Midori before traveling to everyone else staring up at her in curiosity and remained quiet for a few seconds before she decided to answer, "I'm calling for a Kōga messenger bird so it can deliver my message to the chamberlain. Hopefully, within a few hours of receiving my message, the Mochizuki clan would arrive with enough reinforcements for us to take the harbor before the ship could arrive later tonight."
"Uh, not trying to sound skeptical or anything, but h— oww!" John started to say, before wincing in pain when Midori tightened up the bandages on his chest a little too tight.
"Sorry, my hand slipped," Midori said while giving him a look that told him to drop it which he did before she loosened it up and tied it off.
Kagero scowled at his words, but she couldn't blame him for being doubtful. There are 3, maybe 4 if the shadow user receives medical help, Demons of Kimon left guarding the town along with the Dark Shogun's men. She knows it's going to be a grueling battle; many lives will be lost trying to take the harbor. Especially if what Dakuan said is true, then killing Genma is all but impossible with his reincarnation technique keeping him alive even with his head cut off.
'No, I can't think like that,' she thought shaking her head, trying to get rid of the negative thoughts plaguing her mind. 'Every technique has a weakness. It's just a matter of finding his.' She has to, for her team and the dead villagers who were caught up in this mess.
"Do you really think the Mochizuki Clan will interfere with the Dark Shogun's plans when he learns who's behind this?" Dakuan asked, briefly staring up at the sky before turning his attention to her.
Kagero froze, going completely still, as the possibility of not doing anything never occurred to her, before slowly turning around to face him. "What does that supposed to mean?" She asked with a small frown on her face, as her hand moved towards her tanto, silently demanding Dakuan to explain himself for questioning her lord's honor and the sacrifices her team has made for this information.
"Think about it, ninja girl," Dakuan said, trying to explain the situation to her. "You're a small clan going up against something not even the Tokugawa government could completely destroy. If your lord knows what's good for not just him, but the people under him, then he should mind his own business by not interfering and getting his whole clan needlessly slaughtered. It's a shame what happened to your team, but he has to think of the clan's survival first. That's how a small clan like yours survive, knowing when to back down or fight."
Kagero's scowl deepened before turning her gaze to the side, palm clenched, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms hard enough to almost draw blood, unable to dispute that, even if she wanted to. The fact that her original mission was to simply gather enough information before heading back to the chamberlain for him to even decide what to do next proved his point.
"Even if what you say is true, do you really think the Mochizuki Clan won't interfere?" Misao asked with a frown, adding her own thoughts to the severity of the situation. "Just killing us isn't enough. Reputation is everything to these types of people and they will want revenge to show they aren't weak even after losing half of their members. If not, then their reputation for being the most feared will be gone and they will be targeted for the title. If the Mochizuki Clan wants to survive, then they will have to fight even if they don't want to."
"But how will they know it's the Mochizuki Clan and not a different one in the region?" John asked bringing up a good point.
"Who's saying that the Mochizuki clan is the only one that's going to be targeted?" Dakuan asked with a raised brow, stroking his goatee stunning everyone with that revelation.
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(John POV)
I couldn't help but blink, wondering how the fuck that escalated so fast when all I wanted to know was how can the messenger bird hear the bird whistle when we're in the middle of nowhere. Years of training? Ninja techniques? Yokai birds? Anime logic? Plot holes? I'm going to guess all of the above and leave it at that since I don't think I'll get an answer from her even if I did ask.
Now, I just have to think of a way to keep her alive when her "lord" comes with his "army" since I don't think she'll believe me if I say he isn't her lord. I looked down at my bandaged chest not sure what to feel at the moment even after my close brush with death; the only other time was when an old man drove onto the sidewalk and landing on the sidewalk rail trying to park his car a few feet away. I brought my hand up to see it shaking a bit before clenching it and paid attention back to the conversation at hand.
"Will we be receiving support from the government?" Kuroyuri asked Dakuan after a few seconds of silence and the answer we received surprised us, even if I knew it was a no.
"No, I'm afraid not. It's up to the 8 of us to stop the gold from being shipped off by any means necessary."
"I'm surprised that the government isn't sending an army for the gold considering that the Dark Shogun's ship will be arriving soon to pick it up. Didn't you send word to your contacts that you found the location? Wasn't that part of your mission?" Rinko questioned him, something that everyone suspected he did whenever he left the group.
"I'm afraid not, my dear," Dakuan sighed wearily, staring down at the ground. "I don't know who to trust anymore. Only a select few in the government knew about our mission and yet my team was ambushed before we could gather any evidence that's not solely based on rumors, proving they're involved. That's why I enlisted your group for help. I don't know how deep the Dark Shogun's influence extends in the Tokugawa government."
"How can you trust us then?" Kuroyuri asked as she narrowed her eyes slightly at him.
"I don't, but neither do you trust me," He replied, staring at her before trailing his gaze to the rest of us, stopping on me a split second longer than the rest.
The tense silence that descended after he said that was almost palpable. We all stared at each other, trading looks, waiting for someone to say something. No one did, but before the tension could get any worse, at that precise moment, the messenger bird decided to arrive, its cry echoing faintly and it broke the tension, if only for a moment.
Kagero waited until it was closer before throwing her message up into the sky allowing the bird to grab it with its claw before it flew away. "We'll know if your words are true or not in a few hours."
"Yes, we'll see," Dakuan replied softly, tilting his hat down to cover the top half of his face, hiding his expression as he turned his attention to Midori. "Can you call for reinforcements Midori? It would help our chances in the upcoming battle immensely if they are as powerful as you all are."
"No, I'm afraid not," Midori said shaking her head as she narrowed her eyes slightly at him. "It would take too long for them to get here even if I did," she said sending me a brief meaningful look while pretending to check on the scratch on my cheek one last time before getting up and moved to stand near Kuroyuri, silently communicating with each other.
"A pity," Dakuan replied looking at her for a few moments before looking away.
'I hope Jubei wherever he is, killed that shadow ninja. It's the least he could do for ditching us for the third time,' I thought reluctantly standing back up with break time being over. We started walking again for a few minutes, leaving behind minute traces for them to find before teleporting someplace else. Can't make it too easy to track us after all.
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(Jubei POV)
Jubei could feel the blood pounding through his veins as he dashed through the forest, running for miles as he followed the bloody trail Misao inflicted on that shadow user. He soon slowed to a stop upon finding the trail going straight into a rocky canyon that was slathered in darkness, with the only source of light being a dark orange color from the setting sun.
He wiped the sweat from his brows with the back of his hand, catching his breath, and surveying his surroundings, smelling the heady metallic scent of iron the air. Jubei hesitated for a second, staring at all the places the shadow user could pop out from, but he decided to enter anyways. With how much blood the shadow ninja lost, he should be very close to death or already dead. He walked slowly, keeping his guard up with his weapon partially drawn, keeping his senses sharp.
After a few minutes in, Jubei found the trail of blood growing sparser until there were only a few droplets every few feet and a faint bloody handprint smeared on the wall as it turned the corner. He tensed, taking a gamble as he silently moved closer to the wall, before peeking. His eyes widen in shock, as instead of seeing the shadow user dead from his wounds, he saw someone else. It was a different ninja sitting there with a bloody kunai held loosely in his grip.
Jubei gritted his teeth in anger, and cursed, "Fuck! It was a diversion and I fell for it."
Without a second thought, he turned back around, running as fast as he could. Jubei started blaming himself for falling for an obvious trick. 'I should have known it was too easy following that ninja. He must have switched with a decoy and merged with a nearby shadow when I lost sight of him for a few seconds. He must have gone back to the town, alerting Genma that we're here.'
When he arrived back at the entrance, there were ninjas already waiting for him and when he turned to look behind, more ninjas appeared trapping him from both sides. It's both a diversion and a trap, and he had run straight into it. He gritted his teeth and quickly drew his sword, cutting more than a few in half before they could charge at him. He used that split second surprised hesitation to kill a few more before the enemy could move.
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[30 minutes later] (Chamberlain POV)
'It shouldn't be long now,' he thought driving himself deeper into the newest ochuro (female servant) under him, enjoying the way she tightened her cunt and after a few more deep thrusts, he released his seed inside of her. Just as the ochuro was about to clean him with her mouth for the third round, he heard faint footsteps running in the hallway, only to quiet down as his bamboo slider was opened drawing his attention.
"My lord, sorry for the interruption, but we received news from the Koga messenger bird," a loyal retainer said kneeling before the chamberlain with his arm raised up, holding the message, not daring to look up, as he shook in fear.
"Bring it here," he said with a frown forcing the ochuro to resume her task of cleaning his dick as the retainer handed the piece of paper to him. Other than the sounds of gagging and choking, it was quiet for a few minutes, until he finally spoke, crushing the message, "Gather the men and the horses. Once I'm done here, prepare to leave at once."
"At once, my lord."
He forced the ochuro on her back before he drove himself inside of her with a grunt.
