(Jubei POV)
Without a moment of hesitation, he threw himself through a paper door of a nearby building and exited from the back a few moments later. He took a quick look at his surroundings before turning right, navigating through the alleyways, jumping up on the walls, and landing on the nearest roof, where he was soon forced to cross blades with another ninja.
He pushed forward, causing the ninja to lose his footing from the uneven tiles, which gave him an opening to slash at his opponent, killing him. He turned around, not at all surprised to see the lightning user gone, and quickly turned back around after hearing movement behind him, blocking a downward slash that was aimed at his back.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed back, getting some breathing room, and saw more ninjas appearing on the other roofs. Tightening his grip, he charged forward, killing all that stood in his path.
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(Rinko POV)
Rinko frowned, watching as her attack soared through the air until it landed in between a group of the dead villagers' bodies. In that instant, it started pulling them in before exploding outward, creating a devastating shockwave that threw everything and everyone that wasn't prepared away. A thick cloud of dust erupted from the impact blocking the aftermath from view.
Narrowing her eyes, she watched the dust settle before instinctively turning her gaze up to the sky, bringing her katana up above her head at an angle to block the downward slash. Not wasting the opportunity, she coated her blade with her energy and bisected the blade and her attacker in two before jumping away, dodging the small hail of ninja stars.
Just as she landed, Rinko ducked, allowing the blade to fly past where her head used to be as she turned around, using her own momentum to deliver a devastating strike of her own, decapitating him.
"Rinko, save your strength. We still have to deal with the mastermind behind this operation," Misao said, reminding her as she fatally wounded and kicked her own opponent back, sending his body through the air until he landed on his allies. "Did you locate where the bomb user is hiding?"
"No, it seems that whoever is controlling these bodies is not here," Rinko replied with narrow eyes as she noticed there were less than a dozen boxes left. "We don't have much time left."
"Then go, I'll handle them," Misao said as she locked blades with another ninja. "We can't let them take the gold."
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(Kagero POV)
Rolling to the side, she dodged the thrown ninja stars aimed at her last position and quickly stood back up. Pulling out a kunia of her own, she hurled it at one of the closer ninjas, lodging the blade in his skull and retreating further back as more cautiously arrived.
Just as Kagero was about to run, she heard the sounds of horses galloping from the west, causing her to tense up as figures hidden in the dust cloud were coming closer into view.
The ninjas unexpectedly retreated, jumping back as the dust cloud soon parted, revealing horses with riders on top of her lord's banner, armed to the teeth.
Feeling hope blossoms in her chest, she wasted no time and headed toward them. Stopping a dozen feet from the rider leading the charge, she fell to her knees, raising one hand coming up to her chest as she bowed her head in greetings.
"Ninja girl! You've done your clan proud. Tell me, did we make it in time?" The chamberlain asked, pulling back on the reins of his horse as it settled down.
"Yes, you arrived just in time, my lord."
"Mmnn, good. We have most of the harbor surrounded after getting rid of the wires. Where are these allies you mentioned?" he asked, looking around and frowning at not spotting them nearby.
"They're buying time for us. We must hurry."
"Very well. Lead us— hm?" He started to say but stopped as he looked around, watching as enemy ninjas started appearing on the rooftops encircling them.
"Protect the chamberlain!" She shouted, repositioning herself to stand in front of him, tanto drawn.
"Guh!"
Startled, she turned around, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of her lord being impaled with a sword sticking out of his chest and then it widened even more as it carved itself out of his body, like a hot knife through butter. Which resulted in her getting sprayed with her lord's blood.
She froze, unfortunately having an unwanted flashback of Hanza's own arms being torn off by one of the Demons of Kimon. The shock worsened when her gaze moved toward the person holding said weapon.
Midori didn't have time to explain anything as she tackled Kagero's frozen form, dragging her and struggling to hold her back from her approaching her lord. "Stop struggling and look! He's not your lord! Look at him!"
"Let me go! I'll kill you!" Kagero screamed out struggling, trying to break free but was unable to. She was forced to look at her lord and froze again at the sight, mentally struggling with how her 'lord' was able to reattach himself without any problems.
"That hurt," he said, his voice wobbling as his form seemed to change into a more muscular body and sharper facial features.
"H-how, how is that... possible?"
"You stupid girl, your lord died 2 days ago. I killed him myself."
"No," She muttered in disbelief, losing strength in her body, her mind shutting down. The world around her seemed to lose its sound and colors. "Then why...?"
"Snap out of it, Kagero!" Midori shouted, slapping her hard on the cheek, causing Kagero to come back to her senses.
"Genma!"
"Jubei," Genma stated calmly, looking straight ahead.
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(Jubei POV)
Panting, he leaned against a wall, trying to catch his breath before standing back up and continuing his search. Turning the corner, he spotted both Kagero and Midori before freezing, staring straight at Genma and his forces.
Seeing undeniable proof that he was alive, Jubei's mind involuntarily froze, and the next thing he knew, he ran forward, sword drawn, yelling out Genma's name.
He jumped up, launching himself into the air before slashing down, but Genma blocked it with his armored arm. He was then pushed back, landing near his allies who stood up, preparing to fight.
*BOOM*
They all turned to look at the rapidly rising black smoke in the distance before realizing where it was originating from, and he smirked. "It seems that your gold is now forever out of your reach, Genma."
"I was going to give you a quick, painless death, but now, I'm going to make you regret crossing me," he said, before speaking to his men, "Jubei is mine. You can handle the rest." Jumping off the horse, Genma ran straight for him, and Jubei did the same.
When Genma was close enough, Jubei used his sword's longer length to thrust at his mid-section, but Genma dodged it at the last moment. Using that opening, Genma punched him in the face; the blow caused him to stagger back, dazed.
Genma, pressing the advantage, began pounding on him, forcing Jubei to dodge to the best of his ability. Ducking under a swing aimed at his face, Jubei slashed upwards, cutting off Genma's arm, and received a knee to the gut, lifting him up from the momentum and then an elbow to the back, sending him crshing back to the ground.
"Jubei!" Kagero shouted, rushing towards them, only to be blocked by the enemy.
Jubei used that small opening when Genma was distracted to cut off one of his legs from under him before jumping back for some breathing room.
His eyes widened momentarily before they narrowed, watching Genma calmly reattaching his missing limbs before standing back up. "You can't kill me, Jubei. I'm immortal."
"We'll see about that," Jubei said, spitting out blood before charging back in.
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(Misao POV)
Wiping off the blood from her blade with the enemy's clothing, she stared up at the rising smoke; before her body reacted, the instinct honed over years of combat kicked in, and she suddenly jumped back, watching the ninja wires wrapping themselves around one of the dead bodies instead of her.
Landing on her feet, she followed the retreating wires back to a man on top of the roof. Narrowing her eyes, she disappeared and reappeared behind her attacker, about to plunge her weapon inside his back, only to get caught in his trap. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the wires digging into her body, trying her best to stab him.
"I'm disappointed. I was hoping you would've been more of a challenge," Yurimaru said, not bothering to turn around and unleashing his power, sending electrical currents through the wires into her body.
"Gah!" Screaming, she pushed through the pain and used her cursed fire to melt the wires holding her sword, surprising him enough that his technique abruptly ended and plunging it deep into his body where he started burning. Panting, she watched as he fell, ignoring the smell of burning meat as she removed the wires from her body and dismissed the cursed flames, leaving nothing but ash behind.
Standing up, she turned around, heading towards the black smoke.
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(Rinko POV)
Jumping off the burning ship, she landed on the shore before leaving the harbor by the rooftop and began searching for her team. It didn't take long for her to find them, mainly because she could see through the buildings.
Crouching down a few buildings away, she watched how this Genma character fought, picking apart his technique, and found it had some similarities with Murasaki Yatsu's own ninja arts, "Immortal Awakening".
Figuring he would have the same or a similar weakness as Yatsu, she strengthened herself and coated her blade using the Taima Particles before disappearing and reappearing in front of Genma. Faster than the eye could track, she unleashed over a dozen attacks, each one cutting through his body until he fell to pieces.
Not wasting a single second, she jumped up, quickly gathered up her power into her hand, molding it into a purple compact ball, before she unleashed her attack. It rapidly soared through the air and exploded violently once it made contact with Genma's body, destroying it.
Coming back down, she walked towards the crater she created and stared, looking for any signs of life. After not finding any, she lowered her guard and turned around.
"Did you get rid of the gold, Rinko?" Jubei asked, putting away his weapon,
"Yes, along with their ship," She said, not quite telling the truth, having taken the gold and hidden it somewhere nearby.
"Thank you, Rinko. I'm in your debt," Kagero said, bowing. "Now my clansmen's souls can rest easy, knowing that they were avenged."
"What will you do now, knowing that your lord is dead?"
"I... I don't know." Kagero said with a frown, looking away. "The other lords will try and use this opportunity to take the coastal area for themselves by offering "support" or by other less savory means."
"What about you, Jubei?"
"I was thinking of heading down south, seeing where the winds take me."