The Flames of Fury
Mori Naomasa approached the grand window of Kutsukake Castle, as he remembered the dread night of the invasion, and of his adventures with the Oda. His eyes were pitch black with despair, and his long black hair was blowing wildly in the wind…
…
When Naomasa was a ten-year-old child, he ate lunch on the final day of sunshine in his life. A tall man burst through the door to his family's hut, and he screamed about an invasion led by Asahina Yasutomo, of the Imagawa Army from the Tokaido region. The messenger warned the family to evacuate the area immediately.
The final words that came out of the messengers' mouth were "Please get out of here before the Imag-arrgh…" although, before he could finish, his words were cut off by a blood-curdling scream, and a foamy, bloody gurgle.
After that, all that Naomasa saw was the deceased body of the messenger, the tip of the katana that shot through his gut, and the silhouette of the warrior who impaled the messenger.
His mother wrapped Naomasa in her arms, while his father ran to get his tanto, their only defense. His father lunged at the brute, who was tossing the bloody carcass of the lone messenger off of his blade, and Naomasa's father's short blade dug deep into the barbarian's shoulder. All at once, the man released a terrifying howl and he recoiled back in defense. Naomasa's father flew into the table and broke it in two. The gargantuan soldier redrew his katana, then a strong voice bellowed from behind him. The thunderous roar of this man's voice came through, steady and clear as he commanded the soldier to go back and join the rest of the force. The soldier went to regroup, with nothing more than a grumble. The retreat of one man led another to his place, but this one spoke to Noamasa's mother, considering the fact that his father was unconscious. He taunted them with his words, when he mockingly questioned, "I didn't mean to let Kanekatsu have all the fun, how could I?"
"I personally think that I should get to have some of the carnage for myself, "remarked the heavily armored man, who loomed in the doorway.
Naomasa's mother pleaded for mercy when she saw the man reach for his katana, but he ignored her, and commenced with the downward stab at Naomasa's father's spine. An extraordinarily loud crack came out from under the pressure, and afterwards all that was to be heard was a light guffaw from the huge man. Naomasa could only stare through his tears and cower in the corner, while the man ripped his mother's neck off.
Once that was all over, the officer just disappeared out the door, leaving Naomasa with the two blood-coated carcasses of his parents. Once it was safe, Naomasa gave both of his parents their proper burial.
Over the next four years, Naomasa went out to pray to his parents every day, asking them for guidance. He was alone over the years and he completely transformed the hut, from a family house, to a one-bed training area. He had wooden weapons, martial art training figures, and wood planks for training his body. His schedule was that he woke up at five A.M., trained until eight, and then he would eat some heated rice and vegetables for breakfast. Later he would go out into his rice paddies to farm. Afterwards, he would go into town to shop, over those years the population went back up due to travelers, and then he would prepare the food and supplies that he bought, so he could use them later. He ate a lunch of rice, vegetables and fish, then he will train again, until dinner, which was the same as lunch, then he will go to sleep for the night.
Naomasa followed that schedule every day, except during the harvest. Although, during one trip to the village, Naomasa found himself isolated and ambushed by a band of four pirates. He knew that the chance of him making it out unscathed, or even not badly injured, was slim. Naomasa called upon his ancestors for guidance, and he took out the largest of the four, the one who appeared to be the leader. He was relieved about this, until, of course, he spotted five more pirates coming directly at him from the east, and what appeared to be a pirate coming from the south. When they came closer, Naomasa realized that the person who came from the south was dressed differently, and that he had two swords. When the pirates reached Naomasa, there were only two of five that joined the previous three. The swordsman who came to help Naomasa had cut down the other three.
While surrounded, Naomasa looked down, and found that a sword had been purposely stabbed into the ground at an angle, so he picked it up and killed one other pirate, the remaining four were slimmed to two in a matter of seconds, then one exclaimed in a raspy voice "Not you again, kid!"
The boy just smirked, and sliced the wooden pole of the spear that the man held, in two.
The pirate looked stunned, and shouted, "Damn, kid, you always ruin our fun, retreat!"
The mystery swordsman just shot back, in a surprisingly calm, and feminine voice, "Ha. Come back soon, I promise I will give you a glorious death, just like your 'friends' here."
Then, as the remaining pirated disappeared behind the trees in the distance, the swordsman told Naomasa to take him back to his house, and so he did.
Once at the house the swordsman asked Naomasa if he liked the sword that he threw to him, and Naomasa said, "Definitely, where'd you get such a long katana?"
The swordsman answered "I travel to places, it's sixty-three inches, and mine's seventy-five. It was my first sword; I named it The Eternal Nightmare.
Then Naomasa asked the swordsman, who didn't appear to be much younger than himself, what his name was, and why he saved him. The swordsman replied, "My name is Minamasa Kojihiro, and I rescued you, because you have the potential to be a good war leader."
As Kojihiro said that, a knock came on the plank next to the hole that Naomasa called a door. Naomasa told whoever it was to come in, and Kojihiro just sat in the corner, and chuckled to himself.
The man came in looking like the man from the invasion. Naomasa went silent, while he remembered that day. They all just sat there for about twenty minutes, then man finally asked "I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"
Kojihiro immediately interjected a quick "No."
Then the man said nothing and put a form on the table, then left. It was a paper that told Naomasa that he was to join the army and fight for the Oda army, led by Oda Nobunaga, of Owari.
As Naomasa finally came back into reality, Kojihiro asked him "Are you okay? You just passed out once Nagahide came through the door."
Still shell-shocked, Naomasa somehow managed to blurt out " I-I'm fine."
He started to concentrate more, and then Naomasa realized that they weren't in his hut anymore, in fact, that they were in a tent. So he questioned it, which got Kojihiro to explain the training camp for new army recruits. He showed Naomasa around.
After the tour, Naomasa started with the camp, he thought that it would take five to seven years, like the average troop. As he did the exercises, the generals kept a very close eye on Naomasa, because of his extraordinary battle abilities.
So, after only two years of initiation camp, Naomasa was prepared for the real test. He was given all of the supplies that he needed for the upcoming battle, and he set out for his first battle at age sixteen, with The Eternal Nightmare in hand.
He was an inspiration to many of the troops, so he was moved up from a private to a major in one battle. During the next battle, Naomasa was elected to be a lieutenant general. Then, after his fifth battle, he was elected as one of the main generals, right before his largest battle, at Okehazama, at only twenty-six. With The Eternal Nightmare being the only blade he brought into battle.
Naomasa rode into the battle at Okehazama, and eliminated most of the enemy officers, just before he ran into Imagawa Yoshimoto's most powerful officer during his charge, Yasutomo Asahina. Naomasa was challenged to a duel with Asahina, and he gratefully accepted the offer. As they fought, Asahina stabbed Naomasa in his left shoulder, and when Asahina was about to smite Naomasa, Asahina snorted "Pitiful. You are just as weak as your mother and father. I can still hear their screams inside my head, they were just two insignificant, pathetic excuses for people, and you are the same… A WEAKLING! Ha!"
With that Naomasa just got overcome by rage and screeched with an acidic tone "YOU! IT WAS YOU WHO TOOK AWAY MY FAMILY! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLLENCE!"
On that note, Naomasa looked around for something to use, considering that he dropped The Eternal Nightmare several feet away from him. Out of strict rage Naomasa picked up the nearest thing to him, which happened to be a rather sharp stone, and threw it at a weak point in Asahina's armor. After being struck by the stone in his lower calf, Asahina stumbled and fell to his knees. Once Asahina was on his knees Naomasa grabbed The Eternal Nightmare and he jumped to his feet while doing an upward strike, slicing Asahina's blade in half. Asahina struggled to his feet and attempted to run, but Naomasa swiftly cut the back of Asahina's shin. With his shin gushing blood, Asahina ripped off a piece of his armor and tied it just above the gash, to slow the blood flow. After binding his leg, Asahina managed to ask, "So, does this mean you avenged your parents death? Is this what you desire in this world, my demise?"
Naomasa just took The Eternal Nightmare, and cut Asahina's throat with one quick slash, and he mumbled, "Yes, that is what I desire. Mother, Father, were you watching?"
Immediately after the fight between Naomasa and Asahina was finished, a foot soldier ran up to Naomasa exclaiming, "Lord Mori! Our forces have taken many casualties and we are almost completely annihilated, we must retreat and-" during the soldiers explanation, Naomasa collapsed out of fatigue and injury.
The soldier panicked and screamed "Lord Mori! Everyone, come quickly, our commander is in need of assistance!"
The remnants of the troops that weren't defending Naomasa had helped move him back to the main camp.
Once Naomasa and his troops reached the main camp, Nobunaga sent out all of the troops he can spare, and they went out to ambush Imagawa Yoshimoto at the enemy main camp.
When the battle was over, Naomasa saw Nobunaga ride towards him, and he was informed of how the battle ended, about how Yoshimoto got beheaded.
Once Nobunaga finished his story, they rode back to Edo; Nobunaga asked if he could come in to Naomasa's home. Nobunaga came over to Naomasa's house to talk about the battle with fuller detail, and so they did.
When they finished conversing, Nobunaga said "For your valiant effort, your rage and your aggression on the battlefield, I will award you with the territory of Okehazama as your own."
That comment left Naomasa utterly speechless. Finally, Naomasa agreed to the deal, and thanked Nobunaga for his generous offer.
As time passed Naomasa reformed Okehazama, from a battle scarred wasteland, to a peaceful territory.
Then one day, when he was looking over his territory, remembering the good times he had with his parents, Naomasa received a letter saying that Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and slain by his retainer Aketchi Mitsuhide at the temple Honoji. Also, that Mitsuhide was slain by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the name of Nobunaga was avenged.
…
Naomasa turned from the window that looks over the land under his rule, and he shut the panes. He then went over to his bed and sent his thanks to his parents, Naomasa thanked them for their guidance and for the strength he needed to go on, as he did daily.