A war council was called, apparently the Hiroto clan was giving the Toyotomi army quite the run for their money lately. Going into war with only a few men and then retreating back to where they cane from. And they had been attacking all over too, not just one area but several at a time. It made her wonder what was really happening.

She had slowly changed into her comfortable ninja garb, the black fitting loosely around her legs and then fitted to her torso and arms. The silver of her shoulder guards and hip guard gleaming lightly in the afternoon sun as she placed her ninjatō Just at the small of her back, the hilts facing towards each of her wrists.

A servant slipped the neck guard around and fastened the clips at the back of her neck, Kaze then pulled on the half bandana half eye protector over her eyes and half her nose. Peering out from the horizontal slits that had been specifically made her vision seemed to sharpen, and everything come into focus as one of her shinobi corps clipped her neck to waist guards to her garment.

She slipped on her fingerless, bicep high gloves, the arm guards tied around her forearm and held in place as a strap went across her palm.

She had slipped her boots and shin guards on earlier and the armour protecting from swords trying to spill her innards was easy to move and allowed her to bend over in various ways.

All that could be seen as a part of her pale skin would be half of her fingers, a quarter of her biceps and the lower half of her face and nothing else.

This, if anyone had ever seen her, was her true form.

The assassin that had been built by years of training since the day she could walk. The ninja who snuck through the shadows, undetected until it was already too late.

The Cursed Butterfly. Her enemies had given her this name, she couldn't have blamed them.

Thirteen arrows had pierced her body, each leaving a thin silver scar in their wake. At the time the blood had dripped hot from each wound yet she still stood and fought.

The aftermath of her wrath was horror.

She remembered the soldiers in all shapes and forms - from enemy shinobi to samurai, many were bent backwards, or with their necks snapped in such a way the heads were backwards. Covered in blood from head to toe, even the dark sky's, the gleaming fire or even the torrents of rain couldn't wash away the blood.

The fire made it shine sickly across her pale skin, turning slightly grey with a thin slash across her arm. Both ninjatō in each hand, dripping with water and other things she would rather not talk about. She had stood with her face tilted towards the sky, lifeless bodies in a pile all around her, eyes closed against the beating rain because her eye shield had been ripped off at the start.

Her lips had been set in a smile and to this day, paintings of that war still circled around Japan and for the longest time she kicked herself for allowing any such person to depict her greatest dishonour.

That was until she met the child that painted the first one. The child was black of hair and gold of eye, with skin paler than the clouds. The child was named Tono, a little girl that was born the same day Kaze was except years apart.

The picture that had been done in ink, depicted in black and white was beautiful. With the kanji across the bottom saying "The war of Iwaki, Stand of the Cursed Butterfly" and that was the day the orphan had been adopted by the Yakedo clan. Keeping her first name Tono Yakedo had made a name for herself as the "Emerald Samurai" and had settled down with a fine man in Iwaki with four children and another on the way.

Kaze smiled lightly, perhaps that would be her future although she couldn't see it at all. She was taught to feel the ground before seeing the horizon which read between the lines as 'Head in the present, not in the future'. Her mother had always been like that, talking about things no one got but still looked forward to.

"My lady..." Kaze turned, eyes flashing behind the half mask as she did so. Her features that could be seen showing nothing at all even though she could feel the memory burn the back of her eyes.

"Report." She spoke, perhaps maybe too fast as if to sting the memory with fast spoken words or perhaps even wash it away with something else. It didn't matter, her second in command, Tenma Takkio was speaking a report that she needed to hear.

"My lady, Lord Hideyoshi wishes for our shinobi forces to take the Hiroto clans castle from behind on the mountain. Scouts have been all around the area and the trail is easy to pass through and isn't heavily guarded like the rest of them." Her second took a breath, the slightly tanned skin on her face showing a scar that would have,if not for the visor in the way, would have ran from right underneath her left eye all the way down her face. It had come from a dirty man who knew nothing of a fair fight, had gotten several men to hold the woman down while he made the mark that is on her face today.

Lest to say he didn't find it funny to have his balls placed quite literally on a bullseye when Kaze found out.

"It would be an easy offence to take a quarter of our people to incapacitate the guards before bringing the rest to follow." Kaze nodded, she had already known of the signal, as it was it would be a little obvious of a blood red flaming arrow being shot into the sky.

"Move out." Her second was gone with the words and the gesture that she always made with her hand.

A battle was brewing.