Chapter 7: Anti-surveillance
(Disclaimer: Zoids Chaotic Century was originally authored by Michiro Ueyama. I merely borrowed Ueyama-sensei's chapters. Also, this is one of the most brutal chapters I'm going to write in this fanfic.)
After hearing the conversation of the samurai generals, Bit had immediately headed back to his superiors' headquarters and reported what he had discovered.
"Van-sama, General Eric has hired ninjas to watch out for us." the blond shinobi told the high captain-rank jonin.
"How many of them does he have at his disposal?" Van questioned to Bit.
"He did not specify. Sorry for that" the chuunin had answered.
"Don't worry. I'll handle that personally." the ninja master commanded to his friend's subordinate.
"Would you like me to kill them one by one, Van-sama?" the captain-rank chuunin asked him.
"If we do that, Horse Face will become more suspicious. The best thing to do is to frame up those ninjas as their enemies' spies." the jonin had responded wisely.
"How do you plan to know who those ninjas are?" Bit continued.
"Go back to the village and tell the pink-haired harlot to come here right away. She will be able to do it." Van ordered to Bit.
"Van-san, are you sure Rosso-sempai, Rudolph-sama, Thomas-san and Leena-san have to come here now?" Ruji asked to his friend.
"Aho ga, Van-san is right. We must destroy them as soon as we can." Raven answered to his fellow ninja master.
"As of this time, we should keep our guard against those ninjas. Most likely, that general had hired them from Nara and/or Gifu, as many of the shinobi tribes from that area are enemies of our Aichi and Himeji comrades." Irvine had mentioned in compliment to Raven.
"So where will we keep those bastards once we have caught them?" Seijuro questioned to his friends.
"No worries. I have rented four other houses earlier this morning in order to destroy any trail me might have left. We'll imprison them here, at the house near the northeast gate of the riflemen's target range." Raven had riposted to the Yamabuki tribe's leader as he opened the map of Hoshikagami, which showed them the location of their other headquarters in the town.
"Well then, I'm leaving. I'll hunt them myself. Michael, Melissa, ikuyo!" Van told his comrades as he and his students resumed their manhunt.
"I'll join you." Ruji and Irvine voluntered.
The three ninja masters then left Seijuro and Raven at their hideout while they went on their ways to track down the Nara shinobi.
At Prozen's military barracks' Eric, Kirt and Siefers gathered the shinobi they had hired against the Nagano and Niigata ninjas.
"I want you watch out for a ninja tribe leaders who has shadow black hair style in a crown-like manner." the green-eyed samurai told them.
"You mean you want us to see if Senko entered the town again?" they asked the samurai.
"Flash Tiger?" Kirt asked to them.
"Don't be confused, General Kirt. Ninjas often use an alias to conceal who they really are, so it's possible those two ninjas' son goes by the alias of Flash Tiger." Eric told his fellow samurai. "Exactly." he said as he returned his focus to the shinobi from Nara.
While the two of them were talking, Van secretly arrived and started to eavesdrop on them right away while pretending to be trimming the bonsai at a nearby wall. He had commanded Michael to watch their surroundings in order to prevent other people from becoming suspicious while Melissa was sent to the outpost town for intelligence exchange.
"As soon as Rosso-sama arrives, I must tell Leena-san to intoxicate one of those three in order to squeeze out the identities of those ninjas." the lieutenant-ranked male genin thought as she continued to trim braches off from a maiden hair tree bonsai while Eric, Siefers, Kirt and their ninjas went their own ways.
"That's not yet necessary, Michael-kun. Let's investigate further." the jonin told to his protege.
"By their Kansai accent, they seem to be indeed from Nara." the genin said.
"Undenibly." Van had riposted.
Bit arrived on the Byakutaka's outpost settlements to find out if the second wave of infiltrators had already prepared and to tell them of the urgency of their current situation.
"So how did it went, Cloud Bit-taichoh?" Melissa asked to the higher ranking shinobi.
"Are Rudolph-sama, Thomas-san, Leena-san and Rosso-sama ready now?" the captain-rank chuunin had asked the lieutenant-rank genin.
"Since yesterday." the eleven-year old girl replied.
"Good! Van-sama and the others have called for them to go there right now. Our enemy has ninjas patrolling the town." the blond ninja told him.
"Did you say Prozen has ninjas under his command?" Rosso has overheard the message.
"Hai. Not sure how many of them from Nara, Rosso-sama." Bit had replied to the Kuroguma master.
"If we are to go there now, I would be best if Rudolph-sama, Thomas-san and me would arrive at least three hours before Leena-san will enter the town. That way, those ninjas won't suspect a thing." the carmine-haired jonin replied.
"Ikuze, Rudolph-sama, Thomas-san. Leena-san, go there at least three hours after we have arrived." Rosso told his comrades.
"Rudolph-sama, are you sure you want to do this?" Thomas asked with concern to his master.
"Of course. This adds credibility to the deception." the boy daimyo answered to his personal samurai.
"So how do they plan to wipe away those shinobi?" Rosso had asked to Bit."
"Raven-sama told me that we should just frame them up rather than killing them, with Leena-san the one getting the information concerning those ninjas' identities and whereabouts." the chuunin retorted to him.
"Why do I always have to miss the excitement?" Leena complained to the ninjas.
"Because you'll be the one who could most easily get the vital information without being caught, Ross-san." Bit answered to the prostitute.
"From whom among them should I get that information?" she continued to bug them.
"Melissa-chan will tell you about it after Rosso orders her to return here." the blond riposted.
A few moments later, Rudolph and his men headed to Fiona's old town. As they are crossing their way to Hoshikagami, one of Eric's ninjas unsuspectingly revealed his presence in one of the palace ground's gardens by accidentally dropping a shuriken that Van had immediately noticed.
"Sir, may I ask a favor from you?" the Nagano ninja asked the other shinobi as he approached him.
"What is it? Make it quick." the Nara ninja had demanded to him in return.
"Sir, it's been a day and a half since I had my last meal. Can I ask you to buy me a small bowl of ramen?" the Byakutaka master has replied as he acted as if he's in great hunger.
"Alright, but just one small bowl." the Nara ninja retorted.
Van then secretly signalled Michael to take a small bottle that contained colored rice grains as a message for Irvine.
Michael then went ahead of Van and the Nara shinobi to deliver his message to Irvine. Upon seeing the contents of the bottle, Irvine then immediately prepared a paralyzing poison to be added to the Nara shinobi's ramen. Van meanwhile guided his target towards their trap location.
Upon arriving at Irvine's ramen tent, the Nara ninja bought a small bowl for Van but was served with an additional bowl.
"Are you sure you're giving us two for the same price?" the enemy shinobi asked
"Hai. This way, I'll be able to recover my capital by sheer number of customers." the grey-haired jonin had responded.
As Van and the enemy ninja ate the ramen, the latter began to feel paralysis and sleepiness setting in his body.
"Nani ga..?" the Nara ninja said before passing out.
"Ruji-san, Raven-san, we got one." Van called out to the other ninja masters.
The Aoiroh master and the Benitora master then hid the enemy shinobi inside a barrel underneath their cart's koi pool.
At one of the hideouts, Seijuro had interrogated the enemy shinobi. At first the Nara shinobi refused to tell about the other enemy ninjas but after several hours of torture and mind games, he finally got what they're after.
"How many of them were here?" Ruji asked.
"Only four more to go. But be careful. Those are jonins like us. " the Yamabuki master told to his fellow ninja master.
"Then we must subdue the remaining four as soon as we could before Horse Face suspect something's off." Van had replied to Raven.
"So what are we going to do to him?"Irvine asked in response.
"Keep his fingers and toes bound tightly with ropes while his feet will be tied with heavy rocks. Michael, keep watch over him and stab one of his eyes everytime he attempts to struggle free but don't kill him." Van ordered.
"Friends, listen carefully. He told me that the other ninjas are stationed the art gallery, the hospital, and the central park, and the treasury.. They dress almost exactly like the local folks except all three of them wear silvery green haori with the kanji signs for ghost, wall, moon, and sheep, and the color of all three symbols is dark blue inside a purple triangle." Seijuro briefed to his comrades.
"By the way, it would be better to frame up those ninjas than to kill them since that would ensure that they wouldn't be suspecting us of fouling them.: Raven mentioned to the other ninja masters.
"How?" Ruji asked.
"By making it appear that Prozen's daughter had been raped." the Benitora master had answered.
"What do you mean that you'll make it appear to Prozen that his daughter had been raped?" Van had inquired to his comrade.
"You'll see, Van-san. Seijuro-sempai will force those bastards to torment Prozen's daughter. I'm sure even Hotaro-sama will find that very entertaining." Raven had riposted to him as he transferred the first their prisoner to the third house they had rented.
"Isn't that a little too much?" the Byakutaka master asked to him.
"That pales in comparison to what they had done to my twin Donnie. I won't stop until Donnie's death is avenged." the Benitora leader answered to his fellow ninja master.
At the same time, Rosso, Rudolph, Thomas and Bit, who were in disguises, arrived to the cottage to discuss the plan for the feigned betrayal and Raven's plan to have Prozen's daughter harassed by Eric's men."
"Bit-san, tell the hag whom Fiona hime-sama had saved that she is no longer necessary to find out the enemy ninjas. Rather, instruct her to steal expensive items from the homes of Prozen's generals and kidnap the relatives of those samurai in order to frame them." Van had commanded to Ruji's subordinate.
"Also, after telling that woman what she must do, please kidnap Prozen's daughter for me. We will force those ninjas under that violet-haired samurai to rape that beast's only child." Raven added.
Bit then nodded in response and went to Leena, who has been hiding in the underground chamber of an abandoned logger's cottage at the edge of Sawaki forest. Rudolph, Rosso and Thomas also left Van and Raven as soon as the two ninja masters had cleared everything to their comrades. The three of them moved to another abandoned cottage to remove the clothes of Prozen's soldiers and wear another set of apparel to fool Prozen about Rosso and Thomas' false betrayal.
"Thomas-san, do I look now like I have been tortured?" Rudolph had asked to his samurai as he referred to the bruises the young daimyo had inflicted to himself.
"Rudolph-sama, you definitely got tortured just by your appearance alone." Thomas answered frankly to his master.
"Alright then. Prozen would be glad to see you imprisoned in one of his dungeons, unaware that he is being tricked." Rosso told the two of them as they headed to the palace.
Upon reaching the logger's cottage, Bit called out to Leena to open the door for him in order to inform her of the change in command.
"Ross-san, there is a change of plan. Van-sama and the others already knew who those ninjas are, so he instead orders you to distract Prozen's generals to enable us to kidnap Prozen's daughter." the blond-haired shinobi told to Leena.
"Wakatta!" the pink-haired prostitute had riposted.
As soon as Bit has delivered his message, he left in order to trail Natalie. Natalie on the other hand, was with her father, welcoming Rosso and Thomas, who were deceiving them by pretending to betray Rudolph.
"You bastard! I thought that I could trust you like your brother! I was wrong!" Rudolph had yelled as an act of deception.
"Watch yourself, boy! You are no longer a daimyo!" Thomas had retorted to Rudolph as a part of their ploy.
"I never thought that the reason you fought the two of us was for you to capture that brat just four yourselves." Natalie told to Rosso and Thomas.
"If we revealed to you that was our plan, you would have taken all the glory for yourself." he answered to the treacherous daimyo's daughter.
"Watch yourself too, samurai. We are in front of his majesty, Prozen-sama!" Rosso said to Thomas in a realistic acting.
"I must admit that what you have done is excellent. I never expected that a ninja would ally himself to us." Prozen said to his daughter. "You may claim your reward after you have thrown him into the cell where Atsushi and his wife are imprisoned." he ordered to Rudolph's men.
"Aho! You bit our bait." Thomas muttered in his mind.
At the dungeon, four halls away from where Irvine was previously imprisoned, Thomas and Rosso locked Rudolph in the same cell Fiona's parents had been imprisoned for nearly five years.
"Is that you, Atsushi-dono, Isami-dono?" Rudolph asked to the two prisoners.
"Hai. How about you? You must be Sandaime Zeppelin Rudolph-dono, isn't it?" the deposed daimyo asked to him in return.
"Will Prozen's tyranny never end?" Isami had intervened to the two.
"Don't say that, Isami-dono. I'm sure Van-san and our friends will successfully depose him from power and return that authority to you, where this town really belongs." Rudolph assured to them.
"What do you mean?" Atsushi had asked his fellow daimyo.
"Next week, the Nagano and Niigata ninjas will attack Prozen's troops with their full force. But right now, they are busy turning that demon's generals against one another while winning your people's resolve against Prozen to destabilize his army." Rudolph told them.
As the three of them are discussing the battle that would ensue within a few days, some of the guards were discussing their opinions about Hotaro and his siblings' condition.
"I wish Hotaro-sama will return one day and depose Prozen. I'm sick of calling him Prozen-sama." one of the guards mentioned to her comrades.
"You're not the only one who wants that to happen. Almost everyone here in this town hopes that an army of ninjas will crush Prozen once and for all." the others had responded.
"Jus wait a little longer. In just a few days, the reign of the Iteza clan will meet its demise in the hands of ninjas." Rosso thought as he overheard the soldiers' conversation.
"Rosso-san, it heard that almost all citizens of Hoshikagami want Prozen's rule to end soon. I think they're expecting the ninja troops led by Van's father to depose Prozen." Rudolph called to his attention.
"Rudolph-dono, you mean these soldiers who threw you here are your men?" Atsushi asked the thirteen year-old boy.
"Hai. They just feigned their betrayal to me. And one with red hair is a ninja." the boy daimyo had answered directly to Fiona's father.
"Speaking about Van-kun's parents, does your ninja know him?" Isami asked the boy.
Rudolph then nodded in response.
"In that case, he must tell Van-kun that his parents are still alive. They are just imprisoned in the most secluded cell in this prison." Isami told to Rosso.
"Hai, Isami-sama!" the red-haired jonin had riposted to Fiona's mother.
Outside the dungeon, Raven, Seijuro, and Van has successfully captured the respective ninjas they had planned to hunt down since the two were at the time patrolling portions of the town where only very few people pass by; hence their fights were disregarded by the occasional passerby. However, because Ruji's target was monitoring the central park, he required the Melissa to act as a decoy in order to lure the said ninja to more isolated part of the area.
"Just like what General Eric had predicted! Senko and his men will try to strike the town." the Kusunoki-style Nara shinobi thought as he chased Van's genin towards a secluded alley.
"That's right! Because of the way you acted, you have shown that horse-faced samurai is both right and wrong." Melissa had thought as she kept going with Ruji behind the two of them.
Melissa pretended as if she had tripped off a stone and fell to the ground, letting herself be captured by Eric's soldier.
"You have been sent by your master, Senko, to spy in here, isn't it?" the Nara warrior asked to the eleven-year old kunoichi.
"And you easily revealed yourself to as a ninja just because I yelled that she is a genin who has stolen some of Georg's expensive decorations." Ruji had mentioned to the enemy shinobi as he hit him with a hammer on his head to render him unconscious.
"Ruji-sama, that hammer you had brought to repair the sake barrel sure comes handy, isn't it?" Melissa called on her superior's attention.
"Arigato, Melissa-chan! I wouldn't have been able to capture this one without you help." Ruji told the lower ninja as he placed the hammer back inside one of his secret pockets..
"You don't have to thank me for that, Ruji-sama. When you yelled to everyone that a ninja has stolen the porcelain sculptures General Georg had ordered you to give to General Hardin, this fool immediately revealed that he is also a shinobi just like us through his movements." the lieutenant-ranked genin had replied to his master.
"Tell me, when did you get your hands on Georg's belongings?" the red brown-haired jonin asked Van's ninja.
"A few minutes before we planned to fool this Kusunoki-style shinobi from Nara, Leena-san had stolen some of the said general's belongings. She then gave these porcelain sculptures to me so that we may start to turn Prozen's generals against themselves." Melissa had retorted to Ruji.
"I didn't expect that a prostitute like Ross-san would be very adept at robbery." the Aoiroh master had replied.
A few seconds later, Seijuro and the others came to where their comrades were to tell them that they had successfully captured Eric's ninjas.
"Alright. Let's head back to the therapy house so that we may proceed with the plan of having them harass Prozen's daughter." Seijuro told his friends.
"Who will capture the girl in the first place, Seijuro-sama?" Melissa asked to the Yamabuki tribe's master, apparently surprised at what she has heard.
"That job belongs to Bit. To ensure success, I have also sent two of the captains from my tribe to aid him." the ash white-haired jonin had retorted to her.
"You mean Captain Hunter Brad, Captain Fluegel Naomi, and Captain Hemeros Jamie?" she continued.
"Exactly." Seijuro answered to her.
With the daylight fading, the team headed back to their headquarters. To destroy any clues which might have been left for Prozen's soldiers to find, Ruji and his comrades then brought the other ninjas to the house where Raven hid their first prisoner.
"Tell us, are these three the other Kusunoki-style ninjas from Nara that Eric had hired along with you?" Van had questioned to the first captive while having his and his comrades' faces cloaked with a white hood and scarf to hide their identities to the captive ninjas.
"No doubt about it." the blond had confirmed to him.
"Fool! I'll kill for you telling them our location and identity!" one of the three other enemy ninjas cursed to the first one.
"You are not in the position to do that. If you want to live, just do what we tell you to do!" Raven had yelped at the dissident as he stepped on the latter's back to silence him.
"Have any of you people ever getting intimate with a woman at least once?" Ruji asked to the other four Nara shinobi.
"What do you mean by that?" the second prisoner asked the Aoiroh master.
"We will release you only if you raped Prozen's child." Irvine had retorted to them.
"Melissa-chan, take give these ninjas' haoris to Bit-san and his squad mates. This is in order to fool Prozen's men into thinking that their ninjas had betrayed them. Ruji whispered to Van's genin.
"The lieutenant-ranked, scout-level ninja had immediately went to their other allies to complete the latter's disguises.
While Van and his fellow jonins kept the enemy shinobi imprisoned in the second headquarters, Melissa has kept the ramen shop running in the near their first hideout for the time being. Simultaneously, Bit, Brad Naomi and Jamie had snuck into Prozen's palace to kidnap Prozen's child in order to have Eric's ninjas rape the girl.
"Bit-san,you and Brad-san take the bitch while everyone is in panic. Jamie-kun and I will spread confusion to their ranks." Naomi has instructed to her fellow captain-rank chuunins.
"Wakatta!" Brad replied as he prepared bottles of highly flammable oil for Naomi and Jamie's distraction ploy.
"Naomi-san, we should light up fires simultaneously in order to maximize the anxiety of Prozen's officials." Jamie told his sempai.
"Wait for us, Naomi-san, Jamie-kun! We want to help too!" Kotona and Michael quietly said to their allies.
"Who sent you here, Kotona-san, Michael-kun?" Bit asked to his comrades.
"Irvine-san have asked us to help you in kidnapping Prozen's child." Michael answered to Bit.
"Sempai asked that? Oh well, we'll just follow through." Bit retorted.
The six of them then went to different locations within the feudal compound's perimeter. As soon as they have arrived at their target buildings, they dosed the edifices with the oil and had them immolated.
"The Generals' documents room is engulfed by flame. Tell every available personnel on duty to extinguish the fire." one of the guards yelled.
"Sir, the riffles barracks, gun storage house and the forge are being razed by fire!" the others told him.
"Sir, Prozen-sama's tea hall is also burning." another soldier said to them.
Soon, flames have been appearing in several important buildings inside the palace's borders. However, the ninjas have deliberately avoided burning the palace's main mansion to throw off the attention of Prozen and his men from Natalie.
"Sweet nightmares, bitch!" Brad whispered to her ear as he covered her nose and mouth with a cloth filled with sleeping powder to knock her out.
"Everyone retreat. We have accomplished what we came here for." Bit told his friends as he and Brad silently spirited Natalie away to the edge of the Sawaki forest.
While the ninjas escaped to the shadows in the moonlight, Prozen had gathered his generals and other officials to explain to him the incident
"Now tell me what is going on in here!" the tyrannical daimyo demanded to them.
"Prozen-sama, I'm sure that only ninjas could have done this. But we will assure you that our men will capture the ninjas responsible for this." Eric had replied to his lord, hoping his own ninjas would intercept Ruji's chuunin squad.
"Well, do it!" Prozen hollered at Eric, Kirt, Siefers, Hardin, Zairin, Georg and Hannah.
Just before Bit and Brad joined the rest of the kidnapping team, the two of them had intentionally let three of Prozen's house keepers to see their enemy ninjas' haoris as they brought Natalie with them.
"Prozen-sama, Natalie-sama has been kidnapped!" the house cleaner had reported to him.
"What!" Prozen shouted at them in an enraged tone.
"Could it be that those ninjas had set numerous fires not just to destroy our arms but also to kidnap Natalie-sama?" Hardin said to the rest of Prozen's men.
"That's the only reason I can see for such an action." Kirt had responded to her.
"Go out and search for my child right away. Don't stop until you have found her." Prozen has ordered to his generals, apparently concerned at the only person who matters to him.
Van and his comrades then brought the four captive ninjas to the logger's cottage where Leena hid earlier that day, which is situated about forty meters inside the Sawaki forest. I didn't take long for Bit and his squad to arrive at the site. The Nagano and Niigata ninjas have been cloaking their faces to conceal their identities since the capture of Eric's men. Kotona then administered an awakening drug in order to ensure Natalie will be conscious during the time Eric's ninjas would harass her.
"You already know what to do. Don't hold yourselves back on her. Also, rip her clothes off so that can't hide her ruined honor." Kotona told the Nara ninjas.
The enemy ninjas followed out of fear as the Nagano and Niigata ninjas locked the door of the cottage Bit, Brad and Naomi left the enemy shinobi's haoris for Prozen's soldiers to find. All of them, except for Kotona, went back to their main headquarters. At that moment, Natalie has begun to recover her consciousness.
"What are you doing to me?" the female samurai demanded to Eric's warriors.
"Isn't it obvious? We're sure you'll enjoy this as well!" one of them had replied as they began to destroy her honor.
"Yamete kudasai!" the young woman yelled as her body was ravaged by the three shinobi.
"That serves you right for what your father has done to my parents, my masters and my masters' children!" Van had thought as he entered the first headquarters and swapped places with Melissa as the resident acupuncturist.
"Now your father will know what I have felt when his horse-faced generals raped my twin sister!" Kotona muttered in her mind as she delighted on the helpless cries of their enemy's only child. After a couple of minutes, she too left them and headed to the fourth house Raven had rented in order to rest.
"Alright. Jamie-kun, go to Eric and tell him that you had discovered Prozen's daughter is being dishonored by ninjas." Raven had ordered to the captain-rank chuunin. "As for you, act as if you had been beaten by your lackeys. If you do or say to them anything other than what we want you to do and say, you're done for right away. Is it clear." he turned his attention to the first captive.
While the first Nara shinobi the ninja masters had subdued feigned as being battered by his fellows, Jamie went on his way and met Eric after about twenty minutes to tell him of what's currently happening to Prozen's child.
"General Eric, General Eric, I have seen Natalie-sama being raped by four men! But one of them saw me so I ran as fast as I could to escape them." the thirteen year-old chuunin told the violet-haired general.
"What! Natalie-sama is being harassed?" Hardin had asked the shinobi with her full voice.
"Hai." he replied to her.
"Lead us to where those bastards are!" Eric asked to Ruji's subordinate.
And just as Raven had planned, Prozen's men stumbled upon the ninja whom Van had paralyzed. To completely neutralize him, Kotona hypnotized the said shinobi to act and tell them only the things Raven wanted him to do and mention.
"General Eric, my fellows paralyzed me when I disagreed with their plan to kidnap and rape Prozen-sama's daughter." the hypnotized ninja told the general.
"You mean your team mates are the ones responsible for the arson and kidnapping of Natalie-sama.
The paralyzed shinobi had nodded in agreement.
"Right. For being loyal to Prozen-sama, you'll be free to go after you have received your payment." the samurai replied, unaware that the remaining ninja was brainwashed.
Hannah then found the haoris of Eric's shinobi lying near the cottage. Immediately, Zairin then forced the door open to reveal that all of Natalie's clothes had been torn to shreds and the four other Nara ninjas tormenting her in different parts of her body. Eric and his men wasted no time in capturing the three and Hardin gave her extra kimono to her master's daughter.
Prozen's men then returned to the palace, along with the ninjas who had assaulted the treacherous daimyo's daughter.
"Natalie, what happened to you?" Prozen asked his child with a fatherly care.
"Dad, those ninjas…they harassed me!" the young woman pointed to the ninjas Eric had hired.
"We're sorry, Prozen-sama! We have hired ninjas from the Nara area in order to patrol this town but have instead turned on your daughter." Eric, Kirt and Siefers apologized to their lord.
"Your foolishness has lead to the defilement of my child. Execute those ninjas right away!" Prozen had ordered furiously at his generals.
The four ninjas were immediately slashed in two by Eric while he sent back to Nara the other remaining shinobi.
"Next time, I will never again hire a ninja from Nara." the green-haired samurai had thought.
Early the next morning, The Nagano and Niigata ninjas were busy assessing their plans to turn Prozen's generals against each other. While discussing the possible actions that they must take for every conceivable situation, Rosso came to their hideout to reveal that almost all residents of Hoshikagami want Prozen to be thrown off from power as soon as possible.
"So that confirms what almost all of our customers yesterday had said to me." Van and Ruji both mentioned at the same time.