Chapter 6: Gokai, Yurushi o yobi Wakai! Watashi-tachi wa Tagai no Tame ni dake na saseru.
(Misunderstanding, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation! We're Made Only for Each Other)
(Disclaimer: Zoids Chaotic Century was originally authored by Michiro Ueyama. I only borrowed Ueyama-sensei's characters.)
Upon arriving at the Aoiroh's head house, Van and Ruji had discussed their plans to overthrow Prozen. Van then brought along his Zeke, Jiku and Ceasar to give them a well deserved rest.
"Van-san, we only have one shot at this. If we failed to overthrow that beast, then Nagano and Niigata will fall under him as well. Right now, we cannot ask the help of our comrades from Himeji of Hyogo since it would mean crossing the territories currently under Prozen's control." Ruji had mentioned to his friend.
"I know. It's exactly why I asked the help of Kuroguma and Yamabuki tribes as well so that our combined forces would total about eight hundred twenty, just enough to match his six thousand men." the other jonin riposted.
"Don't worry, Van-san. Irvine is just heading to the Kuroguma tribe to tell them to bring some of the bears they have bred specifically for battles. Also, my men will bring some of the wolves we raise here in order to fight off Prozen's horsemen. Those would level the odds." the Aoiroh jonin told the Byakutaka ninja
"So when will you return to Nagano, Van-san?" Ruji had said in addition.
"As soon as Seijuro and Rosso's reinforcements arrive." Van has responded to his friend.
"By the way, Van-san, if the poison used on Fiona Hime-sama is the type which just cripples the part of the body where it was applied, you don't have to bring all those herbs back to your village. Just add the petals of these flowers in her food." Ruji had mentioned to him.
"Nani?" Van had asked his ally.
"They are the flowers of the sidon bush. They're even more effective in combating the effect of the toxin afflicting her than what your doctor had told you to collect." the red-haired ninja had replied.
"Arigato, Ruji-san!" the Byakutaka leader retorted in appreciation.
As the two of them were taking a break, a chuunin has entered the hall and delivered a message to them.
"Ruji-sama, your wife-to-be has arrived just now." the chuunin had reported to his master.
"I see. I guess I have to escort her for a while." the Aoiroh master replied.
"So you're going to be married soon, aren't you?" Van had questioned to his friend.
"Hai, even though I was reluctant about it at first." Ruji responded.
"So who will be that lady?" the Byakutaka leader had asked in return.
"You'll see." the other jonin answered.
While the two ninja leaders were heading toward the main function hall, a green haired, captain-rank kunoichi approached and bowed before them.
"Ohayo, Ruji-sama!" the female ninja greeted to them.
"Arigato, but you don't have to do that, Kotona-san!" Ruji replied to the chuunin.
"Oh, by the way, this is Kotona-san. She has been my apprentice for four and a half years now." Ruji mentioned to his friend.
"Nice to meet you, Kotona-san. I'm Freiheit Van, leader of the Byakutaka tribe." the other ninja master introduced himself to her.
"A pleasure to meet you, Van-dono." Kotona had riposted as she bowed before the higher ninja. "By the way, is it true that you're planning to crush Prozen's forces in a matter of few weeks?" she added.
Van had nodded in response to her question.
"Ruji-sama, please let me join Irvine-san's squad!" the green-haired kunoichi had begged her master.
"We have to take careful preparations first before we attack. We can't do this in a rush." Ruji had replied to his apprentice.
"But if you're going to bring him down, please let me be a part of your plan." Kotona urged to him.
"Hai. We will need every available ninjas in our village to topple that beast." the reddish brown-haired shinobi answered with a slightly annoyed tone.
"I can sense that your subordinate's plea has a serious reason for wanting to join the battle." Van has mentioned as he interrupted the talk between the two other ninjas.
"The truth is…I'm not really after Prozen. Rather, I want to slay that violet-haired samurai who serves as one of his generals." Kotona retorted to the other jonin. "Five years ago, that demon raped and killed my twin sister." she added.
"Does that general have a horse-like face and green eyes?" the Byakutaka leader asked Ruji's apprentice.
"How did you know his exact appearance?" Kotona answered to him.
"He attempted to kill me ever since I was 12." Van had replied. "It seems that samurai under Prozen's command have far lower code of honor than the worst nukenins in Uesugi and Togakure." the high captain-rank ninja had added.
Just as Van and Ruji entered the room where the latter's, fiancée has been, a genin arrived to tell them of the reinforcements they had been waiting.
"Captain Kotona, please tell Van-sama that Seijuro-sama and Rosso-sama's forces would arrive at Nagano by sunset of the day after tomorrow or morning of the third day from now." the boy had reported to his captain.
"Arigato, Nicollo-kun." the kunoichi had riposted.
Inside the room, Van was very much surprised to discover the lady whom his friend has been engaged to.
"Re Mi–Hime?" the Nagano ninja had muttered while bowing before her.
Is that you, Ninroh?" the princess had said softly as she was equally surprised to see Van.
"Hai, Re Mi Hime-sama." Van retorted right away.
"Ninroh?" Ruji asked the other ninja master.
"Ninroh was the nickname given to me by my dad because of my wolf-like appearance and patience. Senko was the one given by my mom due to my tiger-like stealth." Van explained to the Aoiroh ninja.
"I never expected that your parents want Ruji for you, Re Mi Hime-sama." the Byakutaka ninja told the young woman.
"Actually, I was quite reluctant about my engagement to her, Van-san, but over time I realized that I also have feelings for her." Ruji had responded.
"So what brought you here, Van-kun?" Re Mi questioned to the other ninja.
"Re Mi Hime-sama, you already know that Prozen won't stop until he has subdued the whole Honshu under his rule. With the recent fall of Shizuoka under his hands, it's only a matter of time before he set his eyes on our prefectures. I asked the three ninja tribes here in Niigata to help us destroy his forces once and for all." Van had mentioned in response. "Also, I went here to get the antidote for my princess's poisoning." he added.
"What?" the light brown-haired lady snarled.
"She was shot with a poison-laced arrow at her ankle while trying to save one of her subjects." the jonin continued.
"Van-kun, tell me when can I see her again?" Re Mi asked him.
"If we move by tonight or tomorrow morning, we'll be able to reach our main village after four days." Kotona had intervened to the talk of her masters. "I have told the genins I had sent to the Kuroguma and Yamabuki to send reinforcements to Nagano as soon as they could, and they would be able to arrive there at about the same time as us." the emerald-haired chuunin added.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go." Van urged to his comrades.
"Kotona, tell Captain Cloud Bit, Captain Fluegel Naomi and Commander Irvine to gather all the genins under their command. We'll head to Nagano right away." Ruji had ordered to his apprentice.
The kunoichi wasted no time to call her fellow captain-rank chuunins.
"Van-san, please take this bag of sidon bush seeds. They will be very useful in countering most types of toxins." Ruji offered to the other high captain-rank jonin.
"Hai!" the Byakutaka master had riposted in gratitude.
While Van and the Niigata ninjas head back to Nagano, Prozen and his men ravaged the town of Kuyuka in Yamanashi prefecture.
"Damn it! Prozen's army is far larger than what we had anticipated." a blond-haired samurai general thought.
"General Shubaltz, tell your brother and General Homalef to pull back. There is no way we could fend of an army of four thousand with our men decimated." the young daimyo told his subordinate.
"But Rudolph-sama…" the samurai insisted.
"I won't trade the life of my people just for this town." the boy had replied strongly.
Rudolph and his warriors then retreated into the nearby woods. However, they had been cornered by one of Prozen's generals.
"Generals Shubaltz Karl, General Homalef, and Captain Shubaltz Thomas, instead of serving that thirteen year old brat, you should just accept Prozen-sama's offer." the samurai told his former comrades.
"And what if we refuse to sell our souls to that animal, Marx?" Thomas answered sternly.
"Then meet the Creator." Marx shouted as he suddenly slashed Thomas with his katana.
Karl and Rudolph then rushed to the samurai captain's side.
"This is bad!" Karl thought as he pulled his sword out of its casing. "You'll regret this!" he then muttered at the traitorous samurai.
"Marx, let me handle Rudolph and his remaining samurai. I'm sure my dad would be proud of me for taking that boy's head." Prozen's nineteen year old daughter had ordered to her general.
"As you wish, Natalie-sama." Marx replied as he stood back.
Karl and Natalie then battled for about five minutes until Natalie made a deep slash on Karl's right arm, rendering him unable to wield his sword.
"General Shubaltz, if you and your brother have only sided with my father, you and your master wouldn't have to die." the girl said as she raised her sword to kill the samurai.
But before Natalie could kill the young daimyo and his remaining men, two persons jumped from a tree and countered her slash, shoving her off to some distance
"Are you alright, Rudolph-sama?" asked the woman with a violet marking on her face.
Rudolph then nodded in response as she picked up the Shubaltz brothers.
"Viola, use my haori to stop the bleeding of those two samurai and bring them to the Byakutaka's village immediately." the carmine-haired jonin told his partner as he tossed the black garment to her.
"Understood, Rosso." the kunoichi had replied as she dressed the brothers' wounds and leave.
"Instead of battling those two weakened samurai, why don't you try a ninja like myself!" Rosso taunted to Prozen's daughter and her personnel.
"You know, ninjas such as you always get in the way of my dad. That's why he hates ninjas." Natalie snarled at the leader of Kuroguma.
Rosso battled Natalie and Marx until Viola had spirited them away to Van's village. He them temporarily blinded them with some metsubishi to escape when the number of Iteza men are starting to tilt the battle to uncertainty.
"Marx, tell our men to return to Hoshikagami. Our assignment here is done for now." the woman had ordered to her general.
"But Natalie-sama, don't you want to track that ninja?" the samurai asked her in return.
"It is impossible to catch him now. We better take people from this village to our training camp." Prozen's daughter had retorted to him.
A day later, Van and the rest of his comrades had arrived at his village.
"Dr. D, how is Fiona-Hime?" the high-captain-rank jonin asked the old man.
"She has gotten worse in the past nine days; she can barely move her left leg as of this morning." the old man replied to the jonin.
"Van, thank God you're safe." Fiona called to her ninja as she intervened in their talk.
"Shhh. Save your strength for now, Hime. I now got the antidote herb for you." Van had replied.
"The antidote herb's root extract will no longer be enough to fully counter the effect of the poison by this time." Dr. D told Van.
"But if we don't give her the petals of the sidon bush's flower…" the young man told Dr. D.
"Did you say the flowers of the sidon bush?" the scholar asked to him.
Van then nodded in response.
"If that's the case, it would be able to restore Fiona-chan's health back to normal within a day." Dr. had replied.
"Fiona-chan, it's been five years since I last saw you." Re Mi called the young lady's attention.
"Re Mi-chan, I'm so glad to see again!" Fiona had replied as she got up but fell right away.
"Hime, please eat the petals of the sidon flowers. They will cure you from poisoning." Van told his lover as he caught her.
"Arigato, Van-kun. You're always thinking of me, even though I always end up weighing you down." the princess had retorted as she began to eat the petals of the sidon flowers.
"By the way, Van, Rosso-san and Viola-san had arrived yesterday afternoon. They brought the daimyo of Kuyuka town along with his three injured samurai to one of you outposts." Maria told his younger brother.
"So they have started to invade Yamanashi, eh?" Van had thought. "So where are they, nee-san?" he asked his sister.
The kunoichi then led him to where Rudolph, Homalef, Karl, and Thomas were being treated.
"Sensei, are they alright now?" Van had asked to Krueger.
"They're no longer in danger but they would take a while to recover." the older jonin answered to his former student.
"Arigato, Rosso-san, Viola-san. If it hadn't been for the two of you, the three of us would be gone by now." Rudolph said to the carmine-haired jonin.
"You should thank Van-kun for that. If he hadn't asked us to help him in the war he plans to wage against Prozen in a few weeks' time, we wouldn't be able to know that beast had already expanded his territories yet again." the leader of the Kuroguma had riposted.
"You must thank Rosso-sempai, not me, Rudolph-sama." Van humbly replied to the thirteen year-old daimyo. "Right now, we must prepare to take Prozen down when his forces are at their most vulnerable." he added.
"So when will we strike them, Van-kun." Viola asked her fellow shinobi.
"It's best to attack a month from now, during the week of his reign's fifth year celebration." Seijuro intervened.
"Nani?" Van had muttered to his fellow ninja master.
"I know it's quite ironic but it is during the time his army is in full alert when confusion works the best." Irvine said to strengthen Seijuro's point.
"The Aoiroh's master strategist is one of the wisest ninjas in terms of coming up with a battleplan." Ruji intervened to their talk.
"So how do you plan to dissolve an army of six thousand, Irvine-sempai?" Van had asked to Ruji's chief planner.
"By making them fight amongst themselves. We'll disguise ourselves as one of them, capture his generals' loved ones and putting them in the houses of his other men in dismal conditions so that they would think they're taking hostages from members of one another's households." Seijuro answered.
"But one of Prozen's generals already knows me. How can I confuse them?" the Byakutaka leader mentioned.
"Don't worry. I'm sure they have never seen or heard of us before. Leave that part to us." Ruji had assured his friend. "Besides, don't let one disguise mistake upset you fooling capabilities." the Aoiroh master has responded.
"Sou da ro!" Van had replied as he regained in his ability to disguise himself.
"The safest way to fool them is to pretend as merchants who would want to take part on the celebration." Irvine told them.
Rudolph and his men then intervened as Van and the other ninja masters were discussing their plan for rebellion.
"Minna-san, let us join in your plan to crush Prozen." the young daimyo requested to the ninja masters
"But how would you capture their confidence?" Van continued to ask.
"We'll act as a decoy to make an illusion that your fellow ninjas are innocent." Rudolph had said in intervention. "I'll have one of my samurai feign his betrayal so that you could enter Hoshikagami without being detected." the young daimyo had added.
"But what if he executes you, Rudolph-sama?" Thomas said out of concern for his master.
"He won't. That beast will use Rudolph-sama to lure me there?" Van had replied.
"Aside from Ruji-kun, Irvine-sempai, Rudolph-sama and Thomas-san, who else will sabotage them?" Seijuro had questioned to his comrades.
"We'll send the prostitute who nearly crippled my princess." the Byakutaka leader had riposted as he glared at Leena.
"So it's settled. I'll start preparing our forces for the coming battle." Rosso said as headed to the main village's forge.
"Rudolph-sama, please come with us. This village is just a puppet meant to confuse our enemies." a seventeen year-old, captain-rank female chuunin said to the daimyo and his two men as she began to carry the boy on her back.
"Arigato, captain." Rudolph had answered to the orange-haired kunoichi.
"Rudolph-sama, please call me Catherine." she replied to him as she smiled back at them.
"So how long have you been a ninja?" Karl had asked Catherine.
"For a decade now. I have been personally trained by Maria-san, Van-sama's older sister."
"So you must have been subjected a very harsh training." Thomas commented to her.
"Only as hard as the training of a samurai of your level. I mostly practice medicine." Catherine answered, with her orange eyes meeting Thomas' gaze.
"What do you mean by that? I'm a clumsy samurai?" the blond man replied to her.
"No. Sorry if I unintentionally offended you. I'm just saying that." the persimmon-eyed kunoichi had retorted to him. "This should accelerate your healing." she mentioned as she applied a herbal ointment to his cuts.
"You know Catherine, you seem to be strong yet gentle towards those in need." Thomas then complimented to her actions.
the kunoichi them blushed in reaction to what the samurai had told her.
Viola then helped Catherine to move the three of them to Van's main village as they were keenly aware that Prozen's men will attack this particular outpost within a few days.
"Good thing you have four other villages asides from this one." Viola said to her fellow kunoichi.
"It's been the practice of the Togakure ninjas such as us and Benitora to build numerous villages in order to lure them away from our main ones." Catherine replied to Viola.
"Speaking of which, aren't you from the ninja tribe that resides in the town of Narumi in Aichi prefecture?" Viola has asked in return.
"Hai. I am a member of the Mikankujira tribe, a close friend of the Byakutaka tribe. I came here in order to become an expert medic ninja since there are only very few of us in our tribe." the lower-ranked kunoichi had retorted as they moved their patients to a safer location.
Upon arrival at the main village, Rudolph, Karl and Thomas were brought to Van's home. There, the three of them have been given a much-needed meal topped with petals from the sidon bush's flower just in case they have been poisoned by Prozen's child.
"Why are there flower petals in our rice?" Thomas complained to the residents.
"They will quickly replenish your energy, Thomas-san." Fiona told the captain-rank samurai as she knelt, apparently having recovered enough strength to walk.
"Is that you, Fiona hime-sama?" Thomas asked the young lady as he blushed.
"Hai. Van-kun had rescued me and my aniki from Prozen." the princess had replied to her.
Rudolph and his personnel went to sleep after dinner. Five days later, Fiona had completely recovered her full strength. And so too Rudolph and his men.
"Catherine-san." Fiona called to Maria's subordinate.
"Nani." the chuunin responded.
"Catherine-san, do you want to fly kites today?" the princess asked to her.
"If that's your wish." she had replied to her master.
"Call Re Mi so that she may join us." Fiona told the kunoichi.
She, along with the three of them, Catherine and Re Mi went to a clearing to fly some kites.
Rudolph, Thomas, and Karl noticed the three ladies' eagerness to play in their spare time. Homalef on the other hand have not yet fully recovered at that time so he was still unable to join his comrades.
"Nii-san, you know, I feel quite conflicted within these past few days?" Thomas brought to Karl.
"Is it about our defeat? Don't worry about it. The ninjas here will help us defeat Prozen." the older samurai told his younger brother.
"No, not that. It's just, I don't know whom between Fiona-hime and Catherine-san I like more." Thomas had responded but realized that he should not have replied that sudden.
"Then better question yourself whom you think you love more before making any moves." Karl told to him.
"So how are you now, Fiona hime-sama?" Thomas asked the blond lady as he turned his attention to them.
"I'm feeling great. It's just that I wish my dad and my mom are also here flying kites in a windy place such as here in Sawaki forest." she had replied to he samurai.
"Don't worry, Fiona-dono. I'm sure Van's plan will succeed." Re Mi assured to her fellow princess.
The wind then picked up speed, making the princess lose her balance. However, Thomas was able to catch her.
"Are you alright?" Thomas asked her.
"Hai." the princess had retorted.
Van then suddenly came and saw that Thomas was hugging her.
"Hime?" the jonin called to her.
"Van-kun, matte! This is not what you think." Fiona replied in return but her ninja ran away as fast as he could.
"Van-san shouldn't have run away like that since Captain Thomas had not done anything wrong to Fiona-dono." Rudolph said.
"Unless you take into account that my otohtoh likes her." Karl had answered.
Catherine was quite shocked by what she had heard, apparently expecting Thomas to see her more than just a friend. However, she kept her composure, not wanting to complicate things further.
"You should also consider that Van-sama loves Fiona hime-sama with all his heart and mind so he would naturally feel jealous upon seeing that." she said in continuation to the boy daimyo. "But right now, his mind is too confused with what he had seen. We should let him cool down before telling him what has really happened." the orange-haired kunoichi added.
"Doushite, Hime, doushiite?" the ninja master thought.
"Van-kun, Van-kun!" Fiona called out to him as she ran after her ninja as fast as she could.
"Muda, Fiona hime-sama." Catherine told her master as she caught up to her, with the tone of her voice reflecting the fact that it's no good to force herself to him at that moment.
Van then arrived to the main village, apparently upset by what he had seen.
"Van, what's wrong?" Maria asked her younger brother.
"Urusai! This doesn't concern you, nee-san!" the jonin replied to his sister in an enraged tone.
The princess continued to follow him, wanting to apologize for the event.
"Van-kun, I have to tell you something." Fiona called to him.
"What's the use? I know you already broke our relationship." Van said as he walked away from her.
"Fiona-dono, we'll talk to him later. Right now, he's too baffled, just like what Catherine-san had said." Re Mi told the other princess.
For several days, Van has avoided seeing Fiona, with the latter trying to approach him through all that time. Two weeks later, on a Friday afternoon, Re Mi and Catherine approached the ninja master.
"Ninroh, how long will you keep your distance from Fiona-dono?" Re Mi asked the Byakutaka leader.
"I have released her from our relationship. She is free to choose the person whom she will love." Van had replied to the brown-haired princess in a sorrowful tone.
Re Mi then slapped him with full force for his response.
"If you really love her, then you should never let her go since she also loves you will all her heart and mind. You didn't even think about asking her about what had truly transpired there two weeks ago!" the princess replied sternly to the ninja.
"Van-sama, the reason why Fiona hime-sama was embraced by Thomas was because she had lost her balance when she was flying her kite with Re Mi hime-sama due to strong winds." Catherine told her master.
"Really?" Van had asked to her sister's protégé.
"Hai!" Re Mi assured to him. "In the past, Ruji and I had been in a similar situation when he was training Kotona. That incident has made me wiser since we reconciled." she added.
Later that night, Fiona came to Van's house to apologize.
"Van-kun…I'm very sorry for what had happened there several days ago. If only I had been more careful back then, I wouldn't have lost my balance and fall on Thomas's arms." the blond-haired lady called to him.
Van remained silent to what she had mentioned.
"Van-kun, I'll do anything you want me to do for you! If I must sacrifice my own virginity to you in order for you to forgive me, I'll be more than willing to do it!" Fiona said to him.
"Yamero! You don't have to go to that length just to apologize for what had happened. Re Mi hime-sma and Catherine-san told me everything that had happened. I now know it's just an accident so I have already forgiven you." Van had calmly retorted to her as he smiled and put her haori back. Fiona was left speechless for a couple of minutes.
"Arigato, Senko!" Fiona responded when she was finally able to process her thoughts well enough, calling him with one of his two nicknames as Van wept her tears from her eyes.
"But do you like Thomas-san too, hime?" the ninja master asked his lady in return.
"Van-kun, you're the only shounen I love like this. You already know that." the princess had riposted with truth reflected in her eyes.
From a distance, Thomas heard their conversation.
"I guess I have no other choice than to accept that I'll never have Fiona hime-sama." the captain-rank samurai thought.
Inside the cottage, Van and Fiona continue their little talk.
"But Van-kun, are you sure you don't want to do it with me now?" Fiona had asked him.
"It would be better for both of us to remain virgin until after our wedding." Van had answered. "But for now, we should start penetrating Prozen's stronghold." he added.
"But you're wanted there, isn't it?" the young lady had mentioned out of concern for him.
"Ruji-san, Irvine-sempai, will masquerade as merchants; I will masquerade as a gardener; Seijuro-san and Raven-san will make it appear that Prozen's generals are hostaging members of one another's households while Thomas-san and Rosso-sempai will trick them into believing that he had betray Rudolph-sama. After that, it would be that pink-haired intercourse giver's turn to signal the time to strike." the Shirotaka master assured to his lover.
"Will you come along with them?" Fiona asked to him.
"Hai. While Ruji-san will sell takoyaki, we'll put written messages inside the meals bought by ordinary citizens to rekindle their resolve against Prozen." the ninja answered to her.
The next day, the five ninjas headed to Hoshikagami town. Van knew that he was wanted there, so he had set down his crown-like usual hair style and released the hair bundle that had been tied in twine-like manner. He had also covered his left eye with a black eye patch to mask his facial mark.
"Van, you sure look like a hermit now." Thomas has taken note to his appearance.
"I know. Since the day my parents perished, I have kept the hair on the back of my head growing like this. I'll only cut my hair short after I've sliced Eric to shreds." the ninja master has replied to the samurai.
"Ikuyo, Van-san." Irvine urged to his fellow ninjas as they headed to Fina's town.
At Hoshikagami, the Iteza clan are busy preparing for their celebration of taking over the town about five years earlier. The ninja masters took about forty minutes before they reached the northwest gate.
"What are your purpose for going here?" one of the Iteza soldiers asked to Irvine.
"We are going to sell Niigata carp and ramen here for for this coming festival. I'm sure some of you have already tasted our land's produce." the Aoiroh's adjutant master ninja had responded.
"Can we see you permit?" the soldier insisted to them.
Irvine and Ruji were taken by the soldier's demands quite by surprise as they did not anticipate that request letters are required by merchants in order to do business there. As their minds are starting to panic, Van quickly handed them a forged merchant's permit.
"Alright, you may enter now." the guards told them.
The Nagano and Niigata ninjas quite narrowly avoided arousing the suspicions of the guards as they enter the town.
"Arigato, Van-san. That's quick thinking." Seijuro commented to the Byakutaka master.
"Good thing my nee-san knows how to forge letters. She is the one we must thank later." Van had riposted to the Yamabuki master.
"It's only a week before the fifth conquest anniversary, Dad." Natalie said to her father.
"And it won't be long before Yamanashi and perhaps Nagano will be ours" Prozen replied to his daughter. "As my only heir, I want you to continue the Iteza clan's rule for the years to come." he added.
Natalie then commented that number of traders in Hoshikagami had nearly doubled in the past few days as she mistook Ruji's party as another group of merchants.
"Dad, a lot of merchants are already coming here." the seventeen-year old samurai said to her father.
"This they see us as a very powerful clan. However, I'm keenly aware that some rebels may start skirmishes, so our samurai generals and their men are always on patrol." he said in response to his daughter.
Upon reaching their intended hideout, the Niigata and Nagano shinobi, save for Raven, went on to the next phase of their plans.
"Are you alright, Van-san?" Ruji had asked to his fellow ninja master.
"Hai" the Byakutaka leader had retorted as he changed their disguises inside the house they had rented.
"So, shall we start marauding them?" Van asked his comrades as he wore applied a black paint in his right cheek and styled down the hair in front of his forehead while taking the disguise of a gardener. Ruji's protege, Bit, then meet Raven at the second hideout with the latter giving instructions to him on what he must do.
"Bit-san, keep your cool. If you discover any ninjas working for Prozen, destroy them right away." Raven told his partner's subordinate.
"Hai." the blond-haired, captain-ranked chuunin replied as he went on his way to gather intelligence.
From a distance, Eric and Prozen's other generals headed to the garden's main pavilion.
"Eric, do you think Atsushi's ninjas will attack us any time soon?" Hardin asked to the general.
"Possible. In any case, I already paid some ninjas from Nara to help us patrol the town." the violet-haired samurai answered to his fellow general.
"Are you sure they would help us in capturing spies?" General Stinger asked in turn.
"Of course. I have chosen them personally." Eric answered.
From his vantage point, Bit overheard what the generals had been discussing.
"Damn it! I must find those ninjas if our plan is to succeed." the captain-rank chuunin thought.
XOXOXOXOXO
After several months, I finally finished Chapter Six. By the way, Van's nicknames here in this fanfic, "Ninroh" and "Senko", mean "patient wolf" and "flash tiger", respectively. The name of Van's wolf, "Jiku" is the Japanese pronunciation of Zeke, while his tiger's name, "Caesar", is the name of his Blade Liger (in the manga). This are puns in my part since in the manga, Van first piloted a Command Wolf before he piloted his shield liger and "Caesar" is the name of his Liger. Also, I made an error on Chapter five. At that time, I have no clear subdivisions for each level of ninjas. From this point onward, the ninja ranks for the succeeding chapters are (from lowest to highest):
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Novice
Genin(Scout Ninja):
Venturer
Lieutenant
Chuunin(Middle Ninja):
Sub-Captain
Captain
Jonin(Major Ninja):
High/Head Assistant-Captain
High/Head Captain
Master(Highest Jonin)