Attack!

That time in the Lightning village the Sage called for Natsumi and Ken to venture on an urgent mission to Death Valley. Kazutaka had received word via messenger bird that villagers who lived near the Valley were being abducted.

“Natsumi…Ken, good evening we have received news of people especially women being abducted and killed near Death Valley,” said Kazutaka before pausing for a moment. “There’s a village there near the valley about twenty kilometres from here, will you go there and find out the reason behind these murders. This is a level A mission be sure to arm yourselves well and be careful.”

“Yes sir!” Natsumi and Ken replied simultaneously before leaving the Sage’s office.

The two ninja readied themselves for the mission and left in flash for Death Valley. They learnt together at the ninja school and had just graduated the previous year. Ken was Kenji’s cousin and the same age as Natsumi. He was lean with dark skin, eyes and a short black fade haircut. He also wore a hooded blue jacket with the ninja kanji and had grey trousers. Sheathed on his waist was a katana with a white saya. Natsumi on the other hand armed herself with a wooden bow and a set of more than a dozen arrows in a quiver on her back.

“Hey Natsumi, do you think you can keep up with my speed?” asked Ken as they raced outside the Lightning village.

“You call that speed Ken?” Natsumi replied with a chuckle as she jumped down from a tree and overtook Ken.

“We have to follow the river it’ll lead us straight to Death Valley,” said Ken trying to catch up.

“Hai...we’ll connect to that route at the intersection right up ahead,” Natsumi replied.

In the meantime the shadow ninja had arrived at the gates of the Fire village and were unexpectedly welcomed by a group of five samurai.

“Halt! You will not go beyond this point,” one samurai barked.

The shadow ninja stopped abruptly and one of them proceeded to say, “You will let us pass or we will be forced to take your lives.”

The samurai didn’t move an inch and therefore the two groups had no choice but to fight to the death. Before anyone made a move the Kage took out his shuriken and simultaneously threw them landing two clean headshots. Blood started gushing from the corpses as fell to the ground knees first and in that instant the remaining samurai drew their katana ready to face off with the shadows ninja.

It was three against one, the samurai who were brandishing their katana versus the Kage who was only wielding two kunai each on one hand. Metal clangs could be heard as heated battle had begun and was now in full swing. The shadow leader was holding his own against his three opponents without any need of assistance from his men. The Kage blocked a double airstrike with his kunai and when the third samurai approached from behind him he then swiftly moved out the way resulting in the samurai slicing and injuring his fellow men. Whilst the three samurai were stunned by the sudden occurrence the Kage swooped in between them and like a predator attacking its prey, he slit their throats in a single circular motion with his arms outstretched.

It seemed as though it was raining blood as the three samurai took their final breaths and fell to the ground with a thud. The Kage who was now smeared in the blood of his opponents dropped his kunai to the ground.

“Yare yare (Good grief), is this the best this village has got? Samurai have truly fallen from grace…they no longer dance as they used to back in my day,” he sighed before facing his men.

“Kage-nin make haste…time is of the essence. We still need to get to get to the royal palace and if anyone gets in your way cut them down…scatter!”

They acknowledge their leader’s message and in the blink of an eye had vanished into thin air and left the scene. The Kage remained behind with one ninja who also wore a mask quite similar to his but with slash across the left eye opening. He had spiky jet-black hair, a well-built body and also wore a dark jacket and trousers.

“Kagemaru you know what to do and why we’re here?” he said to the remaining ninja.

“Yes father, we are here for the Inazuma boy.”

“Indeed son, now then let us make our way to the royal palace.”

With that short exchange in dialogue the Kage and his son also left the scene and quickly made their way to the royal palace. The shadow ninja were masters of stealth and used the cover of the dark to maneuver within the village. It didn’t take much time for them to rendezvous at the rooftops of the buildings close to the palace because they were trying to be as low profile as they could. The palace was heavily guarded and swarming with samurai both inside and around it.

“Kage-nin you will take the outside whilst Kagemaru will take the roof and I’ll take the inside,” the Kage explained.

“These guys seem stronger than those pushovers at the gate,” added Kagemaru.

“Indeed. They are the royal guards so you should all exercise extra caution,” said the Kage.

“Ikuzo (Let’s go)!” the Kage exclaimed.

The shadow ninja threw multiple smoke bombs aimed at the palace ground and they jumped from the roof using the cover of the darkness and smoke that was building up. All hell broke loose and the fighting began.

“Kagemaru you will take out all those samurai on the roof with bows and arrows and I shall look for a way to enter the palace from the windows,” said the Kage.

“Wakarimashita (Understood),” acknowledged Kagemaru.

The two of them left the scene in a flash and proceeded forward. Whilst the Kage was looking for an open window to utilize as a vantage point and enter into the palace, the smoke below was clearing and the battle between his shadow ninja and the royal samurai was now getting even more intense.

Terrified civilians were running all over and many of them sadly became casualties of stampedes and the fighting. Whilst the Kage was jumping from building to building and running around the palace, he suddenly noticed a royal samurai armed with a bow and arrow opening one of the windows and aiming it at him. The samurai started shooting the arrows concurrently at the Kage who was approaching him and at the same time dodging all of them. The Kage was swiftly advancing towards the samurai and in an instant took a huge leap and jumped forward. Whilst midair he adjusted his legs to a flying kick and the samurai didn’t have enough time to draw an arrow. The super kick landed and luckily the samurai had managed to block it with his hands in the nick of time.

“Not bad at all,” the Kage congratulated.

“What business do you have here?” the samurai then asked and before he could get an answer they began an unarmed combat to the death.

The royal samurai’s jujutsu skills were splendid and it seemed as though the two of them were going toe to toe. When the samurai realized that martial art wasn’t enough to take out the Kage he jumped backwards and then drew his katana.

“You are a worthy opponent indeed and have earned the opportunity to die by my blade,” said the samurai taking up a fighting stance. He held his katana with both hands and then advanced forward to attack.

“It seems to me that the real dance has just begun,” the Kage jovially stated.

Meanwhile in the daimyo’s chamber, Kazuma and Natsuhi were just getting ready for bed when they heard a knock at the door. Natsuhi put on her night gown and then answered the door. It was Rohan.

“Lord Kazuma and Lady Natsuhi I apologize for the intrusion but the village is under attack by shadow ninja,” he said before pausing for a second. “The Royal Guards are fighting with them outside as we speak please come with me to a more secure place.”

“Right Rohan let us go…you may lead the way but where are the others…my brother Keiji and his family?” asked Kazuma.

Natsuhi further added, “Not forgetting the workers as well.”

“Yes ma’am, they are in their rooms…you all need to go and stay put in a secure room whilst we samurai take care of these ninja.” Rohan assured her.

“We need to secure the village immediately, send word to the Lightning village we are in a State of Emergency,” said Kazuma with a look of concern. “To add onto that we don’t know what these ninja want,” he thought.

“Affirmative Lord Kazuma…let us go,” acknowledged Rohan.

While they were on the way they met with another royal samurai and Rohan instructed him to send a message to the Lightning village. When they got to Keiji and his wife Kaori’s room they proceeded to Kenzo’s room and realized that he was not there.

“Kenzo’s not in his room!” exclaimed Keiji.

“He had mentioned something about going out on an errand…I didn’t expect he’d be this late,” Kaori added tears starting to fall down from her eyes.

Keiji was two years younger than Kazuma and had black hair that went up to his shoulders and a short moustache. Cursed with being the second son he had always envied his elder brother and secretly wished it were him on the throne as daimyo. As such as an act of rebellion against their mother he had married outside of nobility. His wife Kaori was a petite woman in her late twenties with long dark brown hair. Rohan promised the two of them that after the chaos was over he would personally go and search for Kenzo. Afterwards he then grouped all the royal family members including workers he could find in the third floor and took them to a secure room.

“Alright, this seems to be a secure enough spot to hide for a w–,” Rohan paused as he sensed an ominous presence. “Wait here,” he then whispered.

Before he could leave he heard footsteps in the corridor making their way towards the room they were in. His left hand started to hover over his katana in its saya on his waist. The room went silent and all anyone could hear was their own heartbeat.

The sound of the door opening slowly broke the silence and out of it came a shadow ninja fully drenched in blood. It was the Kage and his cloak was slightly torn.

“I guess he didn’t have much fight in him,” were the first words he spouted.

He had a flashback of how he took down the samurai before saying, “Oh where are my manners…hello my name is Kag–.”

Before the Kage could introduce himself Rohan swept in as fast as lightning and cut his cloak around his chest area.

“Iaijutsu (Sword draw Technique)!?” the Kage shouted out in amazement.

To the naked eye it seemed as though Rohan had only slightly unsheathed his katana and in a split second left where he stood to appear behind the intruder with his katana back in its saya. The Kage’s cloak fell down and revealed chain mail and armour underneath it which had also been grazed by the Rohan’s blade. He touched his chest which had a small cut and was slightly bleeding, stared at his blood in his fingers for a moment.

“My, my…if it were not for this armour I would be dead right now. Yes I can clearly see it now, you’re the strongest samurai here and these are your men am I right?” Rohan didn’t reply and the Kage then laughed and further added, “You are a formidable opponent indeed and for you I will not hold back.” He released two black rods that had been hidden underneath his arms and then joined them together to make a long staff.

“As I was saying before…my name is Kagero and I would like to know the name of the man who cut me before I send him to hell.”

Rohan watched the Kage take up a Bōjutsu (staff fighting) stance and he realized that the man meant business.

“Ah bōjutsu I see…the name is Rohan and it is you who will be going to hell Kagero.”

“Now then samurai Rohan, shall we dance?”

The room became quiet for a few seconds and Rohan could sense the tension in it. He realized that the people he was trying to protect were already starting to panic as such he assured them that all will be well.

“Rohan, show him what the Fire village is made of!” exclaimed Kazuma also trying to put everyone else at ease.

“Hai Kazuma-sama,” Rohan replied Kazuma whilst still staring at Kagero and wondering whether or not the Kage would make the first move.

The two warriors simultaneously ran towards each other and the intense battle commenced.