Kouske, Emi and Aiko were running in the forest.
Aiko: Where are we running to?
Kouske: Away from here.
Emi: But where?
Kouske: I don't know. MAYBE OUTSIDE THIS FUCKING DIAMYO'S DOMAIN.
Emi: WHAT?
Aiko: That would be deserting.
Kouske: Listen carefully, I am pretty much sure our camp has fallen. We do not know about the canal strategic point and definitely not about the attack on diamyo. For what we know, our diamyo might already be dead. If you want to stick around here then you are welcome. I am getting out of this diamyo's domain. Ah, Fuck. Why are the enemies not giving up? They are still chasing us. Damn, I wanted to save as much of my paper bombs as possible but they are not giving me much choice now. I have to explode some more and give them some casualties to reconsider chasing.
Kouske: HIDE BEHIND SOMETHING, I AM ABOUT TO EXPLODE SOME PAPER BOMBS!
[Kouske-inner-thought: I have to say goodbye to the rest of my rats and squirrels. Bye Bye. You guys did a good job. Papa is very happy. Now sleep and have a good rest. Just give papa a last favour and take some of papa's enemies out with you.]
[Animal Mind Control Jutsu]
BBBBOOOOMMMMM, BBBBOOOOMMMMM, BBBBOOOOMMMMM
In total 16 explosions happened, The rats and squirrels exploded as the enemy shinobis got near them. 16 Explosions together were like artillery bombardment in a big area. The affected area's earth flew in the air as if water and the resulting shockwaves and air damaged nearby areas. The shinobis who were not close to the explosion area yet, were still affected due to the shockwaves and winds. Some shockwaves killed and crippled some. Debris from the explosion injured and killed some. The only minor injuries were from having ear drums getting burst or from the flying debris. Most of them were dead or fatally injured.
Kouske and his group came out after the explosions and started running again.
Emi: I think we should ditch our armour and our shinobi clothes and look for our diamyo. We at least need to confirm his situation before leaving. If he really is dead then we can return to our respective clans and inform our clan heads of the situation. Going back without confirming that could end us in getting some kind of punishment.
[Kouske-inner-thought: For once, I agree with her.]
Kouske: Fine, let's find clothes at a civilian's house and steal them. Then we will find a suitable place to ditch our armour and shinobi clothing. Also, we need to throw our weapons as well if we want to blend in. I suggest we find a suitable place and bury them.
Aiko: Why not hide them?
Kouske: I have erased my scent but both of you did not. We need to first do that so we can not be further tracked. After that we need to bury them so that chances of these getting discovered decreases. We can not hide them, If we wanna do that then we need to hide it in some way so that scent from our clothes is completely covered somehow.
Aiko: I do not want to have mud in my clothes.
Emi: There are plants that release fragrances. We can use those to cover our armour and clothes and hide them.
Kouske: Not a bad idea but still not full proof. You do know that our enemies have Inuzuka and Tenro clans. They could still sniff our clothing out. OH SHIT! I AM AN IDIOT. I FORGOT. I can seal our armour, weapons and clothes in a scroll. But we still need both of you to erase your scent.
After that they found several civilian houses and took clothes that would fit them. Then they moved towards the town of Tsuchimikado, to know his current situation.
…
They ran into some bandits who tried to steal from them. Unfortunately, the bandits were killed and Kouske's group looted them and got some money. They reached the town close to afternoon. They have been awake all night, fighting and running. The atmosphere of the town was serious but better than before. At one place, many people were gathered. They also joined to see what was happening.
[Spokesperson]: THE TYRANT HAS FALLEN. OUR SAVIOUR HIKARI-SAMA HAS FREED US. THE TYRANT WILL BE BEHEADED IN TWO DAYS. YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU. MANY ARE MALNOURISHED AND SOME WERE BEATEN SO THEY NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. FROM NOW ON HIKARI-SAMA IS OUR RULER. WE ALL KNOW HOW KIND AND MERCIFUL SHE IS. LET US WELCOME HER THIS EVENING WITH ALL THE RESPECT AND LOVE. BLESS HIKARI-SAMA.
[Gathered People]: BLESS HIKARI-SAMA.
The spokesperson spoke some more words. After listening to that, all three exited the crowd. They went to a nearby inn and paid for two rooms. They then went in one and closed the door.
Kouske: Well, you guys got your answer. What now?
Emi: I think we should try to free him. There are two days before his execution.
Aiko: I do not think that is a good idea.
Kouske: Finally, someone is making the right decision and by someone I mean Aiko.
Emi: YOU WANT TO LEAVE THE DIAMYO WE SERVE TO HIS FATE?
Kouske: Shhh, control your voice. Do you want to announce that we have a connection with the person known as the tyrant? Also, we are shinobi, not samurai. Samurai swear to serve someone and stand by them even if their master turns out to be a demon. We shinobi only follow the law of money. Someone hires us, then we do the job. Of course, most of the time we have to show loyalty to our clients so that our clan names become known and more people will hire us. I mean who would hire someone if they know that shinobi from a particular clan run away or turn against their employer. But this situation is different, there was a war and our clans lost and miserably at that. We do not even know how many of our clansmen survived. We could retreat right now to our clans and no one would punish us.
Emi: But still....Fine. Let's just leave for our respective clans.
Kouske: We will leave tomorrow. We already paid for the rooms and we are tired. We need to get some rest.
Aiko: I am with Kouske on this. I want to take a bath.
Emi: Fine.
…
After Emi and Aiko left the room which now belongs to Kouske, he sat on the bed and his expression turned to pure joy.
[Kouske-inner-thought: WOOHOOO, FINALLY, SOME REST. NO MORE FIGHTING. THAT SON OF A BITCH TSUCHIMIKADO GOT WHAT HE DESERVED. Now let's sleep, but I am curious about this Hikari. She hired so many clans and now she has another domain. I will take a look at her this evening and tomorrow I will be gone. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NO ONE FROM MY CLAN CAN SAY ANYTHING OR PUNISH ME.]
Kouske then slept and in the evening went out of the inn as a civilian. Crowd of people was already waiting for their new ruler on both sides of the road leaving the road empty.
After some time, a procession can be seen coming. It was surrounded by shinobi and samurai as well.
[Kouske-inner-thought: She also employs samurai? Hmm, smart. Shinobi could betray their employer if circumstances are dire or if someone pays them more but samurai won't.]
The procession also had drummers, they were beating the drums with rhythm. In the middle of the procession was a carriage. It probably held the new ruler. The procession passed but somehow Kouske had a bad feeling.
[Kouske-inner-thought: My spider senses are tingling. Somehow I get the feeling that if I do not leave right now I will be in trouble. I have got my special sealing tag on me that hides chakra but something tells me I should run right now. But running right now would be more suspicious to someone if they are paying attention. SHIT! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT AFTER I HAD THE TALK WITH AIKO AND EMI.]
People were cheering for their new ruler but Kouske was sweating. He had a really bad feeling. After a while the procession passed and nothing happened. Kouske sighed in relief.
[Kouske-inner-thought: Looks like constantly fighting has put me on edge. Let's go back and eat something.]
Kouske turned around and left. He ate dinner and went to bed.
…
[3 am in the morning]
Kouske was sleeping soundly. Suddenly, a few bugs quietly crawled in. They then moved slowly without using wings. Their target was Kouske, who was sound asleep.
Owl: HOO HOO HOO HOO
There was an owl in the room which started making sounds. Kouske woke up and looked around. He saw the insects and a feeling of dread passed over him.
[Kouske-inner-thought: SHIT! THANK GOD I CONTROLLED AN OWL AND HAVE IT ON NIGHT WATCH.]
Suddenly the insects, as if noticed that their target found them, started to use their wings and attacked Kouske.
[Kouske-inner-thought: I SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN MY SENSES TOLD ME TO.]
[Kouske-inner-thought: Fire-Style: Fireball Jutsu]
Kouske did the hand signs and blew a fireball just large enough to burn the insects. Unfortunately, the fireball burned the insects and went towards the window.
Boom
The window and wall exploded.
Kouske without waiting moved to the wall in 9 O'clock direction. On the other side of that wall Aiko and Emi are sharing a room. He punched the wall and broke it.
Aiko: AHHHHHH...Wha..WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Emi: Kouske JUST WHAT?
Kouske threw two scrolls at them. Both caught them and stopped speaking.
Kouske: We are found out. No time to change clothes or wear armour. Just get your weapons, shurikens and kunai out. We are about to be attacked in 3, 2, 1....
He then turned to 3 O'clock and completed hand signs.
[Fire-Style: Fireball Jutsu]
A big fire ball with a diameter of 5 meters was released. It destroyed the wall and continued forward. Some shinobi who were jumping towards the window were shocked. The Fireball exploded when it hit them.
Boom
Due to the explosion there was smoke everywhere.
Kouske: If you want to live then follow me without asking any questions.
Kouske turned 180 degrees without looking and broke another wall of the room. He came to the hallway and turned towards 9 O'clock again.
[Fire-Style: Fireball Jutsu]
Another Fireball with a diameter of 5 meters was released. It burned the surrounding walls as it was bigger but kept flying straight.
[Shinobi in Hallway]: RETREAT!
Boom
The fireball burned the walls it was touching while passing by and when it hit the end of the hallway there was an explosion. Unfortunately, most of the shinobis that tried to retreat from the hallway still got burned because they had not had enough time. Some shinobis did what Kouske did and destroyed the walls nearest to them and entered the room. They survived.
Kouske turned to his 3 O'clock, punched the wall down, entered the room, punched the wall at the end of the room and escaped the inn from that side. Aiko and Emi also followed him.
As they went outside, thunder rumbled and light rain started happening. There was barely a visible moon behind the raining clouds and really less moonlight. Most of the source of the light was the thunder that was rumbling in the clouds. They were running atop the buildings and Kouske could sense many shinobis were tailing them.
[Kouske-inner-thought: Animal Mind Control Jutsu]
Kouske ordered his remaining birds to be ready. This was the only source of relief for him that he has enough backup but he failed miserably today. He should have trusted his senses. He took out his tanto and held its sheath in his left hand. Aiko also took out her sword and Emi took out her Fuma shuriken. Then all three stopped on a building. They were surrounded on all sides.
[Kouske-inner-thought: 15 on buildings and 20 more hiding. This is quite a big number just to catch 3 enemy shinobi. Also, even if they found us out, why attack like this? We could be shinobi from any clan. We could also be shinobi who happen to pass by this town. It is like they have a grudge or something.]
[Enemy Shinobi]: Hi kid! What brought you to our diamyo's town?
A shinobi who was on the building spoke.
Aiko: You know him?
Emi: Kouske don't tell me we got into this mess due to you?
Kouske: Wha...WHAT! I DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS.
[Enemy Shinobi]: Well of course, a big shot like you will not remember every small fry he kills. Let me jog your memory. Come here Eisaku.
A 14 years of age child shinobi appeared next to the shinobi that was speaking.
[Kouske-inner-thought: WHAT THE? HE SHOULD BE DEAD!]
This child shinobi was the Amaragi that was on the back of the beetle and with the Hirasaka Oni. Kouske exploded all three of them with his 2nd Air Strike.
[Enemy Shinobi]: You seemed shocked. Heh Heh, You did not expect this did you. This here is Eisaku Amaragi. He was with his senior, who was also an Amaragi and had transformed into a giant beetle. They were with a Hirasaka who transformed into a humanoid Oni with an Oni mask. I heard some explosions killed them. Thankfully, our Eisaku kept some insects on him and released his summoning jutsu when he sensed danger. His insects then reversed summoned him otherwise he would have died with his party. The thing of interest here is that many of our allied shinobis were killed in explosions when they were chasing a 3 man party. Now does all of this jog your memory.
[Kouske-inner-thought: SHIT! THIS BRAT DID NOT SEND ALL THE INSECTS AT THAT TIME AND KEPT SOME IN HIS CLOTHES PROBABLY. AFTER MY FIRST AIR STRIKE, HE KNEW HE WAS IN DANGER. HE PROBABLY INSTRUCTED HIS INSECTS TO REVERSE SUMMON HIM IF HE WERE TO CANCEL HIS SUMMONING. WHEN HE NOTICED MY RATS AND SQUIRRELS FALLING. HIS INSECTS CARRIED OUT HIS COMMAND WHEN HE CANCELLED THE SUMMONING.]
Kouske: That is just a coincidence. We three shinobis have nothing to do with the war here. we are simply passing by.
Eisaku: DON'T LIE. Even if I did not see you, I saw those two with you. Heck, they were trying to run away from my squad. They were about to die. The change only happened, when you joined them.
[Enemy Shinobi]: Kid, didn't I tell you that you seemed shocked. That was enough proof.
Kouske: Hey, this is the middle of the night with barely any moon light. There is also rain. The only time you could have seen my face when thunder rumbled. You are making a mistake. I just woke up to insects attacking me. I am shocked at everything right now. So, many of your allies got killed. You can not just blame anyone who happens to fit the description and was coincidently passing by. You need evidence. What evidence do you have that I am this culprit you speak of.
[Enemy Shinobi]: We investigated you know. You took exactly the time it would take to get here from the area the 3 man party was running from. Your tracks say that you came from that same direction. Now, a 3 man party who came from the same direction, took the same time to reach here. I think I have got the right people. What's more, you attacked before we attacked you.
Kouske: WHAT DO YOU MEAN? SOME INSECTS FUCKING ATTACKED ME, THEN I ATTACKED. You, listen here, attacking us means declaring war against our clans. Are you prepared for that?
[Enemy Shinobi]: We are already at war with your clans. You got 1 Uchiha and 1 Fuma. I can see the sharingan and the Fuma shuriken right there. I do not know about you but you are either Hagoromo or Shiru. This is also quite coincidental isn't it. That a party having the same clan members as we are chasing reached here from the area in which the explosions happened.
[Kouske-inner-thought: SHIT! THIS GUY IS A FUCKING DETECTIVE.]
Kouske: Are you sure you want to do this?
[Enemy Shinobi]: Yeah, I am quite sure. You killed lots of shinobis of our allied clans. Our clans suffered quite a bit of damage. Also, there are no trees here so no rats or squirrels having paper bombs would jump on us.
[Kouske-inner-thought: Well, he is certainly right about that. No rats and squirrels to jump on them.]
[Thunder Rumble]
Kouske readied his tanto in his right hand.
[Kouske-inner-thought: This is gonna be a little tough battle. I might have to use the rest of my kids. But on the other hand, If I kill and take the bodies of the shinobis here then they are bound to have scrolls with jutsu or knowledge of their clans. So I can kill them and collect what I can.]
Kouske: Both of you get ready. We have to cover each other if we want to live and get out of this encirclement.
Unbeknown to Kouske and his party, a 16 years old beautiful girl was watching them from a distance through a telescope. This girl was the new ruler of this domain. There was a woman in her 20s standing behind her. Probably her servant.
Diamyo Hikari: Akira, is that child really as dangerous as they say.
[Servant Akira]: Hikari-sama, I do not know. The clans reported that he is the reason for so many shinobi being dead.
Diamyo Hikari: Hmm, well let's see what he can do.
The diamyo smiled as if waiting for a good show to start.