Assassin's Creed: Tumult of the Sengoku Period
Chapter 14 of my Assassin's Creed story, enjoy.
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will zona: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, read on to find out what happens next :)
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's Creed or the characters of this story, except OCs.
Chapter 14: The First Attempt and Further Plots
As the Oda-Tokugawa alliance attacked the fleeing dregs of the once mighty Takeda Cavalry, Toranaga headed for the knoll Hanzo had pointed out. He knew he had to act now, Nobunaga was Luis' chief enforcer and held the Apple, his death would be a crucial blow that could turn the war in the favour of the Assassin's. Once he reached the knoll Toranaga looked around. He could see the entire battlefield. The Takeda camp had been dismantled and what was left of their army was fleeing, pursued by the Oda, Ieyasu's men were blocking off as many escape routes as possible. Finally he turned to the Oda camp, Nobunaga sat there astride his horse, the Apple still held aloft. The only people near the camp were ten men armed with Teppo. Just then there was slight movement in the Oda camp. Toranaga turned to look and saw it was just a boy, no more than ten with a shaved top hair style and a neat ponytail. He was dressed in a dark purple kimono with the Oda Mon on the back. He knelt on the ground next to Nobunaga and gazed up at him with what appeared to be reverence. Toranaga realized at once why this boy was here and why he respected the Demon King so much. Nobunaga followed a tradition in Japan known as Shudo, a practice of men in power finding pleasure, mostly sexual, in the company of other males, younger and the same age. This boy was Nobunaga's Koibito.
'I can't get distracted,' Toranaga told himself. 'I have to act, now.'
With that he raised his left arm and prepared to fire his Hidden Gun.
He aimed carefully; a headshot would be too obvious so Toranaga chose the next best target, the heart. At the velocity his gun had it would pierce right through the armour and Nobunaga, coming out the other side. Toranaga let out a slow breath and steadied his hand.
"Jobutsu Suru." He whispered and activated the trigger.
The gun fired and the bullet whistled through the air and struck Nobunaga's chest plate. Nobunaga's head snapped back and his mouth opened but Toranaga was too far away to hear any noise. He then slumped forwards but instead of falling off his horse and losing his grip on the Apple, he straightened up. Toranaga watched in disbelief as the boy jumped up and grabbed the reins of the horse to calm it, meanwhile Nobunaga's free hand grasped at his chest. With trembling fingers the Oda Daimyo pulled out the still smoking bullet from the rent in his armour. He glared at it and, with surprising strength, closed his hand into a fist, crushing the bullet to powder. He then looked up, directly at the knoll and barked some orders to the men stationed near the camp. They began to approach the knoll and Toranaga realized they were hunting for the shooter.
"Tawagoto." He cursed before heading down as quickly and stealthily as he could into the forest surrounding the knoll.
However he then heard that there were not ten, but eleven men in the forest hunting him and he began to quicken his pace.
Toranaga began to weave through the trees. He had to escape the area and return to the Tokugawa camp to speak to Hanzo. He knew he had failed disastrously and could only wonder what Hanzo would say to him.
"There he is, kasai, kasai!" He heard the voice and instinctively threw himself behind the nearest tree.
A volley of shots rang out, that wasn't all of them, but it didn't matter, he had been seen. He listened and realized that they hadn't seen him clearly so he could still escape and maybe work this to his advantage. He began to slip away again when he heard yet another volley of shots. That left four of the eleven unaccounted for. He then heard voices, three of the remaining four, they were shouting, he could hear the others crashing through the forest. There was another volley of shots and Toranaga felt a burst of pain and lost himself in it, his eyes failing him as pain exploded in his right shoulder, the lowest of his right ribs and his left thigh. He could hear the last voice in front of him and took a chance. He lunged out with his Tanto and heard the man choke on his blood. He took cover behind a tree and waited. Slowly his vision cleared, the last man was also an Oda rifleman. Toranaga had seen him before and knew him to be a thoroughly evil man.
'Well now he's about to do some good,' Toranaga thought with a smirk, 'Jobutsu Suru.'
He could hear the others approaching so he stood up and lifted the man's body. He then moved the body out from behind the tree as if he was lining up a shot. The men fired and struck the body, even obliterating the wound made by the Tanto. Toranaga slinked back into the cover of some nearby bushes and waited. The Oda rifleman approached the body and examined it in disgust. They then picked it up and left the area. As soon as their voices were gone Toranaga left his cover and, clutching at hi shoulder injury, and gritting his teeth, he staggered back to the Tokugawa camp.
Hanzo stood within his tent in the camp, he was pondering over the failure to assassinate Nobunaga. He then heard a weak voice behind him.
"Hanzo-san."
He turned and was shocked to see Toranaga struggling to stand, bleeding from no less than three gunshot wounds. He hurried forwards.
"Toranaga-san?" He was startled; Toranaga sat down and began to explain what had happened during his lucky escape. Hanzo called for the doctor right away and as Toranaga was being treated he continued to ponder.
Finally he turned to Toranaga, who saw Hanzo's expression and shook his head.
"I have no excuses Masuta, I have failed you…"
Hanzo however shook his head, "No Yujin, it is I who has failed you. I forgot, the method we tried, it was rendered ineffective the moment Nobunaga used the Apple. It strengthened him and his armour, it's a miracle your bullet even made the dent that it did." Hanzo paused and then sighed, "I underestimated Nobunaga and the power of the Apple. We will have to wait for another chance. In the meantime, wait here, I will report to Ieyasu-sama and we will meet with Nobunaga. When we return to Mikawa, I will have one more job for you to do, based on information I have just received from our anonymous source within the Oda ranks. After that, I'll be granting you some time to rest."
Toranaga nodded and waited as Hanzo left. He felt relieved he had not been punished for his failure and so he decided to ensure that he would succeed this next mission no matter what.
Finally, having returned to Mikawa and his wounds more or less healed, Toranaga was on his way to the fief of Mino. Hanzo had received information that all the currently living and active Templars in Japan would be meeting in a secret room beneath Nobunaga's Gifu Castle. Toranaga was to go to the Castle Town and meet with the Ikko-Ikki contacts there; they would show him a secret route into the underground area where he could spy on the meeting. He arrived in the town; he winced and grit his teeth at the stiffness in his shoulder and the pain in his ribs and leg. He looked around and then spotted his target, an Ikko-Ikki monk. Toranaga began to walk towards him; the monk saw him and nodded before turning and walking down an alleyway. Toranaga followed the man down the ally until they reached a second monk. They turned to face him.
"You are Toranaga?" One asked, he nodded, the other then directed his attention to a set of stairs leading down into blackness. "Through there, you will reach the room, be careful they might hear you."
"Thank you."
He stepped past them and walked down the steps. He reached the underground room and began to walk along it; at the end was a small window. He reached the window and cautiously gazed through it, he had found the meeting place.
Luis and Nobunaga were there, as was that boy Toranaga had seen at Nagashino. Toshiie and Kotaro were also present, as was Sanada Masayuki. There were three in the room that Toranaga had never seen before but knew who they were. The first one who stood out was a bald man with a small brown moustache, aged thirty-six, Ankokuji Ekei. Next to him was his Lord, Mouri Terumoto, aged twenty-two. The other previously unknown man was aged forty-five, he stood out due to the white head scarf he wore, it was Uesugi Kenshin, the Dragon of Echigo and last of the Kanto Big Three. Half hidden by shadow and sitting with his back to Toranaga was the unknown man from Harima. This close Toranaga could feel the aura of power which radiated from him; he now understood Nobunaga's fear. All this man had to do was form an ambition to rule Japan and he would be able to conquer the entire land, even taking it from Nobunaga's grip. Luis then stood up and spoke, beginning the meeting.
"Welcome mis amigos, I am glad you could all make it."
There were murmurs of reply from the group and then Luis continued.
"We are gathered here to take note of what has happened and to decide a course of action for the future."
At this Nobunaga stood up, "As you know Asakura Yoshikage betrayed us, I have dealt with him and retrieved the Apple which remains in our hands." Kenshin was next to speak, "Things are changing rapidly in Kanto however, I am the last of the Templar Daimyo there."
There were nods and Luis turned to Kotaro, and Masayuki.
"What do you think?" He asked, "Would we be able to turn Ujimasa and Katsuyori into one of us?"
Kotaro shook his head, "The fool is too spineless, even with me there he'd be an easy target for our enemies."
Masayuki confirmed that Katsuyori was too reckless and his recent devastating loss made conversion impossible. Finally Toshiie stood up.
"This is what we plan to do next." He explained, "This will be a great smokescreen. In doing this we can potentially get rid of two people who could threaten us, or convert at least one to our cause."
Toshiie looked around the table at the listening men and then continued.
"At the same time we will launch a real attack at one of our enemies which, if successful will cripple the Assassin's as we eliminate at least two of their allies." He paused and then, "Here are the details; Nobunaga-sama will split his army into three. Araki Murashige and Niwa Nagahide will lead a large army south of Kyoto. They will seek to draw a conclusion to our long war with the Ikko-Ikki and hopefully we will catch the Saika in our net too."
Toranaga was startled at this, the plan being discussed would greatly hinder the Assassin's plans, it would have to be stopped somehow. Just then the hidden man spoke up; his voice was cold and sharp.
"I believe Hideyoshi is being sent against the Mouri, I will join his forces and get to work trying to remove the threat he poses."
"We will help you," Terumoto replied, "We will deal a more direct approach so he won't notice your work."
"We will have to be cautious however, he might seek aid from our enemies the Chosokabe." Ankokuji added but the hidden man shook his head, "That is not a concern, we will succeed."
"The last wing of the army is coming through Etchu towards Echigo to attack me, correct?" Kenshin asked, Toshiie nodded, "I will be in that army, Katsuie will be leading it so we can hopefully remove him as a threat."
Luis nodded, "So, we are agreed." The others all confirmed, "Good then, we will be ready to begin next year, let us all return home and prepare ourselves. Despedida mis amigos. May the Father of Understanding guide us."
"May the Father of Understanding guide us." The others chorused.
The meeting over Toranaga crept away and managed to return to the surface, his injuries ached worse than ever due to squatting in that dark room to listen in to the meeting. He was still no closer to finding out who the man from Harima was or who that boy was. But he had found out enough that he had to tell Hanzo as soon as possible. He travelled as quickly as he could and, despite the pain from his injuries made to Mikawa within a month. He quickly informed Hanzo of everything that had happened, Hanzo decided to put a plan together right away. Deciding to at least be of some use in this plan Toranaga requested that he be allowed to rest in Osaka. He knew at least one section of the Ikko-Ikki were there, as were the Saika, he could warn them of the impending threat. Hanzo agreed and so, in the winter of 1575, Toranaga and Mariko set out to Osaka in order to warn their friends and for Toranaga to recover from his wounds.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.