I approached Kuro and the others the next morning, while they were preparing the horses to leave, to say my goodbye and wish them the best of luck.
"We'll get there no matter what." Hirokazu said after being helped onto the horse.
His leg was healing but he still needed another week or two to be back to top condition.
"Don't worry, Zai. I promise to pay you back after we reach my clan." Kuro said.
"Too bad you can't come with us, Zai." Sena said.
There was suddenly a commotion from where Jiroemon and the others were preparing their horses. Looking over to see what was going on, I discovered that there was a group of six swordsmen confronting Jiroemon's group.
All of them were equipped with a katana, except for one man at the side, who I noticed had a dagger instead. He was scanning everyone's hip on our side.
'Is he looking for the katana I stole?" I thought as I hid behind Hirokazu, keeping the sword's handle out of sight. 'I'm gonna have to buy and change to another sword guard when I get back.'
Most katana's had very distinctive sword guards. The one on the sword I had taken had a square guard with cloud-like patterns on it.
"This is not any business you should get yourself involved with, step aside and hand that over that one." One of the swordsmen pointed at Kuro.
"He's under our protection. The only way you are putting your hands on him is through us." Jiroemon placed a hand on his katana for emphasis.
The swordsman peered back and forth between Kuro and Jiroemon for a moment.
"You'll regret this." He finally said as their group backed away.
Four of them stayed nearby to watch us as two of them left to go somewhere.
"I think it's time for me to go." I said my final farewells and left the group.
I noticed right away that one of the swordsmen broke off from the group and followed me, even when I broke into a run around the corner.
'You gotta be kidding me.'
I sighed as I turned around and went back to Kuro's group.
"What's wrong?" Sena asked. "You forget something?"
"Uhh, that other group won't let me leave, they had someone following me." I said. "So I think I'll have to go with you guys."
"That's great!" Sena broke out into a smile at my misfortune while Kuro and Hirokazu welcomed me back.
We left the village shortly after, the horses galloping southwest. We slowed down about an hour later to let the horses rest. I was riding with Norio again, while Hirokazu had his own horse and Sena rode with Kuro.
'I wonder when they learned how to ride horses, let alone use ki. Kuro must have been passing on what he learned from Sensei. Or maybe that servant of Kuro's? What was his name again?'
Jiroemon turned to the fourth swordsmen with us.
"Toshiro?"
Toshiro dismounted, crouched down and put his ear to the ground. After listening for a moment he stood up again.
"Five of them." Toshiro said. "They're on horses."
"Shouldn't we do something about them?" Kuro ask.
"Our job is to escort you safely to Nishihara Castle." Jiroemon shook his head.
"We have to act before they try something." Kuro urged.
"We're guards, not hired killers, there are others you can hire for that sort of thing. If they try something, I'm quite confident we can protect the four of you."
"Then should we take another path?" Hirokazu asked as he looked towards the forest on the side.
"No, we'll take the fastest route." Jiroemon said, looking at the road ahead. "We go straight to our destination."
We kept a moderate pace afterwards, pushing the horses as much as we could without tiring them, and only stopping for breaks. Later on, we stopped for the night and were in the middle of preparing to make dinner at a campfire.
I was gathering some firewood when I noticed Toshiro taking large pieces of stones and cutting into them with his dagger like they were clay. He made bowls and a pot with them before Norio came back from the woods with a pheasant.
As Norio prepared the pheasant, I felt one of the bowls, observing how smooth and clean stone was, it sort of reminded me of the tunnel I had underneath the restaurant.
'He must be using some sort of cutting technique. So a technique of some kind must have been used to make the tunnel, but that doesn't explain how the dirt became so packed.'
After Toshiro was done with making utensils, he put his ear to the ground.
"They've stopped and set camp about a kilometer from us." He said.
I looked down the road behind us but didn't see anything but darkness.
"It seems they are content with watching us from a distance for now." Jiroemon said before turning to us. "You four should get some rest after you eat, we'll keep watch."
The night passed by uneventfully and we continued on our journey the next day. We passed by a couple villages without even stopping along the way.
While we were getting ready for dinner that night Toshiro spoke up once again.
"I found where our sixth man went." We all turned to him as he had his ear to the ground again. "He must have sent a message or left town ahead of us. There are eight riders coming from the road ahead, and I think I hear the clatter of arrows in their quivers."
'He can hear all that through the ground from here?'
"What should we do?" Kuro asked with worry.
"Just stay put. Choubei will protect you." Jiroemon stood up as he grabbed his sword. "I'll go out and meet their leader."
Jiroemon strode out onto the road and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
"Norio take care of the horses." Choubei directed.
Norio got up and began ushering the horses away from us and into the nearby forest.
We waited for about 5 minutes in silence when Toshiro spoke up again.
"It's about to start. Our pursuers are moving too."
"Whatever happens, stay at this campfire." Choubei said to us as he slowly unsheathed his katana.
With one hand, he started to twirl his sword around like a helicopter blade and I watched in amazement as water slowly began to gather around his blade. When he gathered enough to fill up a small pool, he stepped back into a stance and grabbed his sword with both hands.
"Sea Turtle Style: Dome of Water."
He swung his sword in a circle as the water surrounded us in some kind of whirlpool before coalescing together to create a dome around us. Choubei stood in front of us with his katana stabbed into the dome and I could visibly see a blue aura moving from Choubei through his sword and into the dome of swirling water.
The assault began at that moment as a barrage of arrows rained down on the water dome. Even stones where launched at us from behind us.
'Looks like we're caught in a pincer attack.'
Each time the projectiles hit, water splashed from the spot of impact before the arrow or stone dropped to the ground around the dome.
I watched all this from the inside like it was some sort of aquarium exhibition. The attack continued for about 6 minutes. The swirling of water around the dome slowed a bit in that time.
"They're more persistent than I thought." Choubei said. "Lend me a hand, Toshiro."
Toshiro got up from where he was nonchalantly eating his dinner and unsheathed his sword. He stabbed it into the backside of the dome, blue aura channeling from him, through his sword and into the dome as the water's speed began to pick up again.
*BANG*
There was suddenly a loud blast and a figure appeared from up ahead, like they were pushed backwards. A second figure, who I recognized from the silhouette of the ponytail, followed shortly after and their swords collided. Their swords moved at extremely fast speeds that I could barely follow along.
The figure tried to back up and summon fire around his blade when Jiroemon sent out what looked like a wind cyclone.
"Tempest!" Jiroemon called out.
*BANG*
There was another blast as the figure was forced back against the water dome and the assault of arrows and rocks abruptly stopped, most likely afraid to attack their leader.
With the light of the campfire, we finally saw the face of figure, who turned out to be a middle-aged man with a chonmage.
"Oh? If it isn't the Captain of the guards of Nishihara Castle, Captain Ichiro." Choubei spoke up. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
"You recognize him, Choubei?" Jiroemon asked.
"We've met before when we stopped in Nishihara for business."
The captain gathered himself as he stood up and caught his breath.
"Cough cough, I didn't recognize it was Sir Choubei and company." He said. "I received a report about dangerous bandits active in this area and moved out to dispatch them. You were all carrying weapons and our scout incorrectly identified you, it was an honest mistake."