Assassin's Creed: Tumult of the Sengoku Period

Chapter 2 of my Assassin's Creed story, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's Creed or any of the characters in this story except for Toranaga.


Chapter 2: Secret Plans

Toranaga Yorimoto crept silently through the forest, before leaving the camp he had changed his clothing so his features were obscured. He was dressed in a dark tight fitting garb that muffled his movement and wore a hood over his head along with a cowl to hide his face. While dressed like this his main weapon was a Tanto which he wore in a sheath strapped around his waist at the back. Additionally he wore two bracers on his arms, both of these held his deadliest and most potent weapon, his Hidden Blades. These weapons were considered almost a symbol of the Assassin Brotherhood and it was with these they performed their assassinations. Finally, in packs strapped to his body he carried his shurikens and smoke bombs. He crept along slowly as he reached the edge of the Oda encampment at Zensho-ji. He slipped into the shadows and observed the figures within; he could four of them clearly although he knew there were others, out of his line of sight. His eyes zeroed in on the man sitting at the head of the table upon which a map of the area was set out. He knew this man had to be Oda Nobunaga, the Fool of Owari, Daimyo of the Oda clan and all of Owari. Oda Nobunaga was twenty-six years of age and wore a messy, unkempt version of the traditional topknot; his back hair was mostly unkempt due to his unusual nature. His black eyes however were shrewd and fierce and watched the map before him with malevolent scrutiny. He was dressed in black armour bearing the Oda's Mon which was shaped as a golden Eirakusen on the chest plate and black and red cloak.

Two of the other figures were also sitting at the table, Toranaga could see the older of the two clearly and the profile of the other. They both wore topknots and the older one also wore his hair with a shaved top, his hair and eyes were black while the younger man's hair and eyes were brown, the two most common colours in Japan. The older man was thirty-eight and heavy with muscle, he was clad in silver armour along with a silver kabuto with golden horns. The younger man wore armour that was a mix of black and red plates, with royal purple mixed in at some places, he wore a small black kabuto with a white plume attached and he was twenty-one years of age. Toranaga knew these two men, they were two of Nobunaga's strongest supporters, the older man was known as Shibata Katsuie, called the 'Devil Shibata' for his ferocity. The younger man was Maeda Toshiie. The last man was twenty-four yet was clearly not a Samurai, given his position, being behind Nobunaga but at some distance, he was obviously one of Nobunaga's aides, possibly his sandal bearer. The man's appearance was unusual, his hair was messy and unkempt and his clothes consisted of a simple brown ragged kimono and sandals. Going with the whispered conversations from some of the guards stationed near Toranaga's hiding spot the young man was known as Kinoshita Tokichiro. It was then Toranaga was struck by the unusual appearance of Kinoshita Tokichiro, with his facial features and skinny frame the man greatly resembled a monkey. It was then another man walked into sight, this aged twenty-five and dressed in grey armour with a simple kabuto, Toranaga recognized this man too, another of Nobunaga's close friends, Niwa Nagahide.

Nagahide bowed to Nobunaga and then spoke.

"Nobunaga-sama, I have scouted the area, the enemy have taken the following positions."

With that he indicated with several wedge shaped plaques the positions of the Imagawa units, including Motoyasu and Yoshimoto himself. Suddenly, someone from further down the table spoke out.

"Nobunaga-sama, this is suicide, we cannot fight them, they vastly outnumber us, they have forty-thousand troops…we had better surrender, that way they will spare our lives."

Katsuie turned to glare at the figure, "Coward, who said anything about going out to fight," He snapped savagely before turning to Nobunaga, "We have plentiful supplies, let us defend and soon the Imagawa will be forced to go home, hungry."

This prompted further argument from the man who had suggested surrender and soon his allies joined in as those who sided with Katsuie began arguing back. Toranaga shook his head.

'Such disunity, no wonder Nobunaga is considered a fool; he can't even control his own men.' Toranaga thought to himself when suddenly something happened which caused the argument to stop.

Nobunaga had sat silently throughout the argument and then suddenly he laughed, they all stopped and stared at him until he stopped laughing and stood up.

"Imagawa has forty-thousand men marching towards this place? I don't believe that. He 'only' has thirty-five thousand soldiers. Yes, that's still too many." He broke off and looked in the direction of the man who had suggested surrender, "So Sado, you want me to surrender. What if we do surrender? Will you be content with losing your life that way?"

There was a pause before Nobunaga turned to Katsuie, his lips forming a cruel smile as he continued.

"Or what if we hold on like Katsuie wants me to? What if we stay here in this castle, lock it up and wait until the Imagawas lose appetite and stop the siege and go home? We will be able to prolong our lives for five to ten days and what we cannot defend will still be undefendable."

He then turned and gazed up at the large banner at the head of his camp, emblazoned with three Oda Mons in a column.

"We are at the bottom of the pit, you know." He continued, "And our fate is…interesting. Of course the misery is too great, too."

He paused and lowered his gaze and then turned quickly, glaring at those assembled in front of him, his rang clear and powerful.

"But this is how I see it, this is the chance of a lifetime, I cannot afford to miss this. Do you really want to spend the rest of your entire lives praying for longevity? We were born in order to die!"

He then picked up one of the wedge shaped plaques that represented his army before slamming it on the table, directly on the position of Zensho-ji.

"Whoever is with me, come to the battlefield in the morning. Whoever is not," His voice dropped an octave and became menacing and condescending, "Just stay wherever you are…and watch me win it."

Following this the Oda began to lay out their plans while Toranaga watched and listened from the shadows.

Toranaga returned to Momochi Tamba's tent, Hanzo and Momochi were already there. They both looked up as Toranaga bowed.

"Masuta, I have returned successful." He addressed Momochi who nodded, "Good, Hanzo-san has managed to convince Matsudaira-sama to stall in the battle."

Toranaga nodded and then walked over to the map on the table.

"The Oda's plan is unorthodox, but a work of genius," Toranaga admitted, "Nobunaga is going to leave behind a thousand of his men, each carrying a banner to create the illusion of a large army. He is going to lead the rest through the forest, this will bring them directly to Yoshimoto's camp, from there he is helpless."

Momochi nodded, "We can use the confusion to our advantage. Hanzo, you will act as a decoy and attack the Oda as they go through the forest, make it convincing but do not damage them."

Hanzo bowed as he accepted his orders, Momochi then turned to Toranaga.

"You must wait until the Oda strike, Yoshimoto will come out of his tent; that will be your chance to strike, when he is dead, Matsudaira-sama and likely several others will defect, we will then finish the battle."

Toranaga bowed and soon he and Hanzo left the tent, ready to carry out their missions in order to stop the tyrant Imagawa.


End of chapter, next up is the Battle of Okehazama, hope you enjoyed it, read and reivew please.