Turning Swallow

Summary:

OR, One morning, four-year-old Sasaki Kojiro remembers a life not yet lived, and decides to do something about it. History changes. SI!Sasaki Kojiro. Expect general lightheartedness, but dark topics when the time comes.

CH. 24 START

Kojiro spent the remainder of the month on Shikoku Island rather peacefully. Now that there was an intermission between actively fighting a war and constantly marching, he took the time to make good on his word with Suzue, and began training with her again. When Kojiro wasn't sparring with Suzue, he was drilling himself like he used to back in the Toda Dojo with Seigen. The marching kept him in good enough shape, certainly, but it took away much of the time he'd have preferred to use for practicing with his blade. When you were in the army, or at least marching with one, you didn't drill your swordsmanship to mastery, you drilled until it was good enough for battle, and moved onto other things, like maneuvering in military formations. The reason for the wait was rather simple, the letter to the Shimazu Clan on Kyushu Island had been drafted and sent, a demand for surrender of the Shimazu forces, as well as a demand that the Shimazu forfeit half of their land. In all honesty, it wasn't a particularly reasonable treaty, but was the best that the Shimazu were getting, considering their outnumbered forces and disadvantageous position, in the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by enemy forces.

That had been three weeks ago, and Kojiro was beginning to suspect that the messengers weren't going to be returning. The messengers had been a group of five diplomats, accompanied by a force of samurai one hundred strong. The fact of the matter was that it took a week to travel to Shimazu territory, would take a week to negotiate terms, and then it would take another week to return. They were already two days past the deadline, and rapidly nearing the end of the third day from when they'd been sent out. Even accounting for a bout of extremely foul weather, the messengers would only be, at most, a day or two late, but considering that there hadn't been any such storms, that was unlikely. If the majority of the group was stuck, then there was no reason not to send a messenger ahead, despite this, there had not even been a forward guard carrying a message of success. Bandits wouldn't have dared to try to attack the group, given their status. Bandits tended to only attack those that wouldn't be missed, unless they were seeking ransom. No, the most likely answer was that the Shimazu had taken offense to the 'disrespect' and murdered the messengers.

Both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi knew this fact just as well as Kojiro did, and Nobunaga was the most unhappy about it. In her irritation, she'd decided to finally tie up loose ends. Said loose end was the matter of Chosokabe Motochika and his clan. In a situation like this, there were two ways to deal with a prisoner like Motochika. Either Nobunaga killed his clan before usurping his territory by force, or Motochika made an unfavorable deal with Nobunaga. The Chosokabe choose to make a deal, without input from Motochika, their clan leader. A group of bed-raggled elders, what remained of the Chosokabe clan's leadership, arrived to work out terms of surrender, on the condition that the clan was not destroyed any further and that they were allowed to keep some sort of power. Nobunaga chose to allow the Chosokabe Clan to survive, given that proper transfers of power were simpler than going through every town on the Island and demanding fealty. Beyond that, other terms of the deal demanded that the Chosokabe Clan surrender all of Shikoku to Nobunaga. The island was split into four provinces, consisting of Sanuki, Tosa, Awa, and Iyo. Sanuki was the slice of land on the northern shore of Shikoku that housed Takamatsu Castle. Tosa was the southernmost province, containing the three castles of Kira, Oko, and Aki. Awa was the easternshore, where Ichinomiya Castle sat. Iyo was the second largest, the eastern province stretching from Amagiri Castle all the way to the western coast.

Nobunaga had taken all of that from them, leaving the Chosokabe Clan only a small portion of the Iyo Province. The woman had cut the province in half, taken the most prosperous parts, before handing the remainder off to the Chosokabe. The portion of Iyo that the Chosokabe Clan retained was mostly coastline and perhaps twenty miles of forest that could be converted into farmland. Nobunaga snatched up the part of Iyo connected to Sanuki Province and Takamatsu Castle, densely wooded land that could be harvested for wood and converted into good farmland. Both sides left the negotiating table feeling satisfied and happy, for a given value of each adjective. The Chosokabe Clan were happy they got to remain a clan, rather than become corpses, and Nobunaga was satisfied with the massive land gains. The only person who remained unhappy was Motochika himself, the patriarch of the Chosokabe Clan. The elders had all but declared him unfit for duty, citing his failure to uphold the honor of the clan. The group of Chosokabe elders had brought along Motochika's son, who they decided to nominate as heir. Nobunaga allowed the parent and child a meeting, but whatever happened down there had convinced Motochika to turn against his own clan. Likely, being told to commit seppuku by his son and the clan's elders pushed Motochika over the edge. Rather than name his son his heir, the man chose his grandson as his successor out of the grandson was too young to actually rule, that gave Nobunaga the opportunity to step in and appoint Hachisuka Masakatsu, one of Hideyoshi's retainers, the grandson's regent. This was completely overstepping her bounds, but the Chosokabe could do nothing. Masakatsu was to rule and raise the boy until the child grew old enough to rule the Chosokabe Clan by himself. By then though, it'd be too late. The new leader of the Chosokabe would be irrefutably aligned to the Oda cause. Motochika had known it would happen too, given the discussion he'd had with Nobunaga in the moments before he committed seppuku.

The afternoon passed and Nobunaga took her messenger's disappearance for what it was. They were dead and she needed to avenge him. The Shimazu had chosen violence, just as Motochika had. That hadn't worked out for the man, just like it wouldn't work out for the Shimazu. The Chosokabe Clan had been given a chance to surrender, but judging by how furious Nobunaga's expression was, the Shimazu Clan's fate would not be so pleasant. That was to say, she was going to murder all of them.

Nobunaga was staring angrily in the general direction of Kyushu Island when Kojiro walked up to her. When she saw him approach, she visibly stored away her anger, greeting him with a polite smile.

"Kojiro," she said, "It's good to see you well."

Kojiro nodded to her in response, joining her next to the tree that'd she been leaning against. He closed his eyes, then opened them.

Nobunaga was staring at him, and he asked, "Once you're done with them, there's not going to be much of a Shimazu Clan left, is there?"

"No," Nobunaga confirmed, "I gave them enough of a chance when I sent the letter asking for surrender. They've killed our messengers, If they want to play with fire, they'll get fire."

Kojiro nodded, replying, "I'm sure they will. I need to ask one thing though."

Nobunaga raised an eyebrow at him, and Kojiro explained himself, "What's your connection with the Kobayakawa Clan? If we can get them to join us, no matter how the Shimazu decide to fight, their fates will be sealed. We may not know them well, but the Kobayakawa Clan have been neighbors with them for some time. Not friendly neighbors, either."

"Mori Terumoto does have some in-roads with people in the Kobayakawa Clan," Nobunaga hummed thoughtfully, "perhaps those can be of use. Why, though? We're capable of handling them on our own."

Kojiro answered, "The conquest is almost over. Even if we could take the Shimazu alone, and we can, it's best to share credit to build ties with the clan that controls the only land passage from the Honshu mainland to Kyushu Island."

"Clever," Nobunaga commented with a small smile, "let's go with that. It forces the Shimazu to stew in worry for a little bit too. I needed to check up with Ieyasu anyway. Let's head back to Kyoto first, then."

Nobunaga waved a soldier over, commanding him to locate Hideyoshi and Mori Terumoto, and bring them over. Soon, the man arrived, and after some discussion on the feasibility of the plan, Hideyoshi agreed to it. Terumoto arrived moments later, the former enemy commander seemingly to have accepted his role in Nobunaga's army. He said as much, when asked about his willingness to participate in the plan.

Terumoto chuckled, saying, "I don't mind at all. It feels good to be on the winning side now! My uncle won't mind either. He's been itching to deal with the Shimazu for a decade now. Having you guys behind him will make the decision all the easier."

More Terumoto, as it turned out, was Kobayakawa Takakage's nephew, and they had a fairly close relationship. It was good enough that after the two weeks it took to return the army hundred thousand man army to Kyoto, having left about fifty thousand men on Shikoku to man the island's castles and support Hachisuka Masakatsu, it only took another week for Terumoto and Hideyoshi to return with Takakage in tow. The Kobayakawa Clan Head proclaimed his loyalty to Nobunaga instantly, Kojiro watching as Nobunaga accepted Takakage's oath with solemn poise, before a small war council on how to deal with the Shimazu began.

"The last I checked, which was two weeks ago," Takakage said, "the Shimazu have begun to try and shore up their defenses. They've gathered maybe forty thousand. They're expecting an army from the east, coming from Shikoku. I've been reluctant to face them off properly, given how defensively they like to fight. Each time I've tried, they've managed to push me back, despite my army being slightly bigger in every instance."

"Defensive how?" Hideyoshi asked for clarification.

"Defensive as in they'll only fight in forests and natural choke points. They know the land too well," Terumoto said.

Takakage had complained to his nephew, apparently.

"We can rush them," Nobunaga suggested, "avoid giving them time to set up defenses."

Takakaga groaned, explaining, "I've tried that. It works, but they have too many spots to hide in. They'll just run to another."

Kojiro spoke up, "You forget that we have far larger numbers than they do. Even if they move faster, we can split up into more groups. There are five of us, our numbers are about one hundred and thirty thousand?"

He looked at Hideyoshi for confirmation, and upon receiving a nod, continued, "So, we split our forces into five. Each of you takes thirty thousand men each, I take ten thousand. If the four of you work to cause havoc, I can use my own men to perform precision strikes on the enemy."

Takakaga looked to object, perhaps due to Kojiro's appearance, but seeing Terumoto shake his head silenced him.

Nobunaga followed up, asking, "Takakaga, do they have muskets?"

The man shook his head in a 'no.'

Hideyoshi continued, "Then one of our groups with guns can fend off his entire force. Furthermore, we can resupply while the Shimazu can't."

Takakaga spoke once more, offering, "If we can approach from multiple directions, then the Shimazu might panic. A show of force will demoralize them."

The plan was agreed upon, and the war council dismissed. Nobunaga left with Kojiro, while Hideyoshi went with Terumoto and Takakaga to work out army formations. Nobunaga needed to meet up with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu was a stern and serious looking man, with that glimmer of caution in his eyes that had defined his actions in the original history. He took only a cursory glance at Kojiro, noticed he was walking in step with Nobunaga, and addressed Kojiro as an equal from then on. Astute, as Kojiro had figured out. Ieyasu had done far better than Kojiro could have ever assumed. After his conquest of the Takeda Clan and hearing of the attempt on Nobunaga's life by Mitsuhide, the man had marched towards the northern regions of Honshu, using his Lord's survival to intimidate them. After all, if Nobunaga could defeat an army of twenty thousand with a hundred men, what could they do against Nobunaga with an army? They could see the subtext. If they didn't capitulate, the moment that Kyushu and Shikoku were done being conquered, Nobunaga would be able to turn towards the northern clans. Ieyasu's army was already half again as large as all of the northern clan's combined, and the idea that Nobunaga would come with that same number, supplied by the population and resources of an entire country, was unappealing to any of the northern clans. A war would only end in those clans losing. Tokugawa Ieyasu had done his job perfectly, tying the northern clans of Honshu into the coalition around Nobunaga. Now, all that remained of the Japanese Clans were allied with Nobunaga, bar the Shimazu. They were not going to have fun.

The armies left Kyoto, Nobunaga heading to Kobayakawa territory with Takakaga and Kojiro traveling back to Shikoku with Terumoto and Hideyoshi. The plan was to let the armies of Nobunaga and Takakaga engage first, before using the remaining armies to crash into the Shimazu flanks. Even if the Shimazu fought as they liked too, guns were the great equalizer. The plan proved successful, and once the first battle began, the two generals accompanying Kojiro got into position. Kojiro got into his own position too, looping a couple of miles behind the Shimazu army. When the signal was set free by Nobunaga, a barrage of fireworks, Hideyoshi and Terumoto fell onto the Shimazu armies like warriors of divine punishment. The Shimazu broke, not having expected a flanking attack, and they turned to run. All they met were the blades of Kojiro and his men. When the Shimazu army first began to fight, they were forty thousand strong. When the fireworks were set off, they had lost perhaps three thousand. When Terumoto and Hideyoshi entered the fray, that number was knocked down by a further fifteen thousand. Of the twenty thousand who managed to begin running, five thousand were cut down from behind by the armies bearing down upon them. Kojiro's army met the seventeen thousand stragglers as a wall of spears and swords, further cutting down the former Shimazu army into smaller pieces. Maybe seven thousand escaped. Kojiro had even nearly managed to kill the Shimazu Clan head, easily identified with the bodyguards around him and the banner the group of bodyguards carried.

Kojiro had dashed into the group, brought down the Shimazu Clan Head's horse with a swift cut, before cutting again as the Shimazu patriarch fell. The man managed to twist away from getting gutted, but a gash was opened along his side nevertheless. Kojiro's army had followed, taking down the rest of the men, but before he could move, the Shimazu Head had pulled one of his retainers from his horse, before mounting it himself. He left the retainer on the ground to die, riding away through a gap in Kojiro's forces. Man, talk about reciprocal loyalty, huh? Kojiro lowered his sword and walked up to the man on the ground. The man looked resigned to his death, until Kojiro spoke.

He asked, "Hey, you. What's your name?"

The man put up mental resistance for barely a moment, before saying, "Sada Ken. Please make it swift."

"You would die for a lord like that?" Kojiro asked.

The man looked confused, but answered, "I have no choice."

Kojiro laughed, "You always have choices. I'll give you one right now. Lead me to the Shimazu Castle or die here."

A look of conflict appeared on the man's face, "If I go with you?"

Kojiro replied succinctly, "You'd work for me. Better than dying here, no?"

The man nodded after taking a moment to think. Kojiro commanded the man to lead them to the Shimazu Castle, which as it turned out, was named Kagoshima. Apparently, the leader of the Shimazu Clan was named Shimazu Yoshihisa. His standing command and strategy after being defeated in any battle was to cut and run, before regrouping at Kagoshima Castle. That was a mistake, given what'd just done to his subordinate. Sada Ken led the way, and when Nobunaga arrived first, they followed the man straight to the Shimazu headquarters. The gates were wide open, and upon seeing the approaching army, the guards tried to close them, but it was too little too late. Nobunaga stormed straight through the guards and Kojiro was right with her, slamming the doors open so that the army could pour in around them. Kagoshima Castle fell in three hours, and each of the Shimazu found in it were slaughtered. The nearby town wasn't spared either, and by the time it got dark, much of the town was on fire. Kojiro had chosen to stop after the gates were opened, waiting by the entrance of Shimazu Castle. He hadn't participated in the slaughter himself, but he'd let it happen. All this bloodshed, because a narcissistic clan leader had decided to keep fighting. Soon, he told himself, the Sengoku Period would come to an end, and Japan would be unified once more. A hundred and fifty years of constant war and bloodshed, all leading to Oda Nobunaga conquering the country. He took a deep breath. Nobunaga stepped from the gates of Kagoshima, as impeccable attired as even. There wasn't even a speck of blood upon her clothing.

"It's done, then?" Kojiro asked.

Nobunaga answered, "Yeah. It is."

Just like that, the Sengoku was over. The clans of northern Honshu had fallen in line as well, upon being informed that the rest of the country was pretty much unified and now, the last enemy clan was destroyed.

He straightened, walking towards Nobunaga, and saying, "You've done it then. The country is yours. What will you do now?"

"I'm…not sure, Kojiro." Nobunaga answered, "It feels somewhat unreal."

"A little, doesn't it? You're not done yet though," Kojiro cautioned, "though you may rule the land, the courts are not yet yours. If you don't want to face betrayal, you need to reward those who've fought for you. If you want to keep the power you've gained for any amount of time, you'll have to find a way to deprive the nobility and the royal family of their power. Right now, they have a hand around your neck. The official power you wield was received from them\, after all."

A realization flashed through Nobunaga's eyes, and she cursed, muttering, "I can deal with the nobility easily enough. It's just a matter of killing anyone who opposes me outright. The rest will fall in line. The royal family is trickier. Killing them outright will incite rebellion, due to the belief in their divine blood."

Kojiro snorted at that thought, and Nobunaga looked at him for explanation.

"The emperor and his family have failed to keep the country in order for centuries. They've long since failed their duty." Kojiro said, "Perhaps their divine blood has thinned too much. Do something with that."

"That's sacrilege, Kojiro." Nobunaga informed, before smiling, "I like it. I'm already known for killing off Buddhists, what's wrong with denying the divinity of the emperor's line?"

Kojiro frowned, saying, "Don't remove them entirely. That won't go over well. Instead, make them prove their divinity. Force them to show that they are divine, make them do something impossible. Have them make it rain for two weeks straight or something. Make them vanish the storms and floods and winds of Spring. If they cannot, then obviously, their connection to the Amaterasu and the Heavens have disappeared along with the purity of their blood. Tell the people this. They've shown no demonstrable power so far, so perhaps they're not necessary."

He continued, "Even if they have the ability, they will not have the ability to sit patiently and obey for ten years of such demands. Likely, they'll raise an army to rebel. That's just further proof that they aren't divine. They lose either way. If they don't, they're rebels proving that they don't have divine power, if they do, they give you ten years to solidify your power so that they cannot touch you, while facing your attempts to weaken them further."

Nobunaga just looked at him and said, "You're one scary bastard, you know that Kojiro?"

Kojiro chuckled, explaining, "I've always thought that there were only two ways to rule a clan, or anything in general, country included. You rule with love or with fear. My father exemplified both, at different points through his life. You rule with an iron fist, through fear, due to having the largest amount of strength, or you rule with love, with diplomacy and measured words, so that your people cannot even think to disobey you. Right now, the royal family rules through love. The people fear what will happen if they vanish. Prove they're unnecessary and the country will be well and truly yours."

As Kagoshima Castle burned behind them, Nobunaga turned to look at the structure, simply repeating, "One scary bastard."