Chapter 8: Abare! Osusemarumono ni Aitesuru Shimin no Mida
(Rampage! Rebellion of the Citizens against the Oppressor)
(Disclaimer: Zoids Chaotic Century was originally authored by Michiro Ueyama. I'm merely borrowing Ueyama-sensei's characters.)
Empowered by the success of the previous night's operation, the Nagano and Niigata ninjas have also discovered that nearly all of the common citizens residing in Prozen's conquered territories, mainly in Hoshikagami, want the tyrannical daimyo to be deposed. But Rosso was about to reveal something that would delight Van.
"Van-san, you must learn something very important." Rosso had told the junior ninja master.
"Nani?" the Byakutaka master had asked in response.
"Isami-sama and Atsushi-sama had told me and Thomas-san that you're parents are still alive." the carmine-haired warrior replied to the seventeen year-old shounen.
"Hontoh ni?" Van asked in disbelief.
"Hai. Even Fiona hime-sama's previous maid Moonbay has confirmed it to me when I chanced upon her cell near Atsushi-sama and Isami-sama's cell in the dungeon." Rosso continued.
"Thank God they're still here. Up until now, I have always thought that I would never see them again." Van had said as he tried to hold back his emotions.
"Don't worry, We'll save them within a few days." Ruji assured to his companion.
"And within a few days, that demon's reign will finally collapse." Seijuro added in compliment.
"To do that, we need the help of the town's people. We should convince them that they don't have to wait for us ninjas to rescue them." Van then said to them.
"Ruji-sama, Ross-san has already started raiding the houses of Prozen's generals for expensive items." Bit had intervened.
"If that's the case, then she should start framing the generals for kidnapping members of one another's households." Irvine had ordered to the chuunin.
As soon as Bit received the command, he went to Leena to tell her what she needed to do next. Meanwhile, Van returned to the military barracks to collect any additional useful information.
"So how did it go?" Bit asked the pink-haired prostitute as he reached his destination.
"Last night around ten, after Prozen's men had finished killing the ninjas whom General Eric had hired to watch out for you but whom you turned against them by having Prozen's daughter raped by four of those five, I got Generals Kirt, Siefers, Georg, Marx, Stinger and Jack heavily drunk by giving them excessive amounts of sake. Naomi-san and I then put them in separate rooms and questioned them about their family members in addition to the luxury items in the possession of other generals which they want to have." the harlot had replied.
"Have you already got them?" asked Ruji's subordinate to her.
"Many, but not all since it would become to obvious if I took all of those at once." Leena had replied to him. "Also I need those generals to personally steal one another's valuables." she added.
"I think I need to tell Brad-san and Captain O'Connel from Seijuro-sama's tribe to help me in impersonating those generals. For that part, take some of those generals' clothes and get them drunk throughout this tactic's duration, so as to make it appear that they're stealing items and kidnapping family members from one another." Bit told to her.
"No problem!" Leena had replied as she returned to her work while Bit returned to the Byakutaka main village.
Back at Van's main village, Maria has been temporarily in charge since Van and the others went undercover.
"Maria-san, will Van-kun be safe?" Fiona had asked Van's sister.
"No worries, Fiona hime-sama. I'm sure my otohtoh is perfectly fine." the kunoichi had replied as she picked up a pair of ninja-ken from her parents' room
"Fiona hime-sama, do you know that these pair of swords was personally crafted by our grandfather as a present to our dad when he became the leader of our tribe?" Maria mentioned to Fiona as she showed them to the princess.
"So those swords must mean a lot to you, don't they?" the younger lady asked.
"Hai. These swords had been named by our grandfather as Hikari Washi." Maria had responded.
"Hikari Washi… that name means eagle of light, isn't it?" Fiona had complemented to Van's sister.
"Exactly. The first kanji sign, hikari, meaning light, symbolizes our principle to reside in the light of truth. The second character, washi, meaning eagle, signifies that fighting for the truth and defending what is right gives freedom and pacifies one's life, just like the freedom and peacefulness of the eagles soaring in the sky." the black-haired kunoichi had riposted.
"Maria-san, please let me join in the coming battle. I have always depended on you to fight for me. Now, let me return to you your faithfulness to my family." the young princess demanded to her.
"Fiona hime-sama, it's way to dangerous there. Just stay here, alright." Maria had retorted.
"No. I know that Van-kun needs me there. Besides, I need to rescue my parents myself." Fiona had responded.
"If you're going to do that, I'll go with you. Dad and Mom will be delighted to see us again." Hotaro told his sister.
"Hotaro-sama, if you want to completely crush Prozen's forces, you'll need to convince the people of your town to openly rebel against him." Karl had told the daimyo's son.
"How are we going to do that?" Hotaro asked the samurai.
"I'll temporarily serve as their leader." the Rudolph's general had replied to him.
Just as Karl declared his plan, Bit arrived to tell everyone that what the samurai has suggested was what Van's team was planning for.
"Shubaltz-san, good thing you have thought of that! Van-sama and the others need you there to make a diversion to Prozen's army." the captain-rank chuunin had mentioned.
"Then I'll head over there." Karl had answered.
Meanwhile, in Hoshikagami's underground prison complex, Thomas was being temped to release Fiona's parents. But the Lynette couple had commanded him not to do so in order for the ninjas' plans to succeed.
"Thomas-kun, if you wanted to release somebody from this underground prison, then let that person be Moonbay-chan. Almost all of our citizens look up to her as a great servant, so she would be able to help Van-kun in convincing the people to rebel against Prozen." Isami had requested to him.
"But if I do that, Moonbay-san might get killed." Thomas had replied.
Just as Thomas and his master were contemplating on a plan, Jamie had slipped through the guards and approached the blond samurai.
"I'll spirit her away to one of our hideouts!" the deep-brown haired, captain-rank chuunin had answered to him, startling Thomas in the process.
"How did you get here in the main prison?" the samurai had asked to him.
"You already know the answer since I'm a shinobi." Jamie had answered to Thomas. "Thomas-san, your anija will go in this town to serve as a leader of the commoners in rebellion Ruji-sama and the others had been planning." he added.
"Jamie-san. Tell Van-san and the others that I'll release of the prisoners here tonight so that she may be able to help Karl nii-san in leading the commoners against Prozen's forces." Thomas had mentioned to the ninja.
"Good. We need all the help that we can get!" Jamie muttered as he bode their time to free Moonbay from the underground chamber.
"Excuse me, chuunin-kun, but how are you suppose to spirit me away if there are a lot of soldiers patrolling around this prison?" Moonbay intervened.
"I'll draw their attention away while Thomas-san would pretend you had rendered him unconscious."
As the feudal family and their servants are discussing their next actions, Eric and his fellow generals have been discussing the events which had taken place the previous night.
"According to one witness, one of your ninjas was chasing another shinobi whom a reddish brown-haired lad claimed to have stolen something from General Georg." Zairin had told to Eric.
"He was chasing another ninja yesterday?" the green-eyed samurai said in surprise.
Zairin then nodded in accordance.
"Could it be that shinobi had discovered we're using other ninjas against them and manipulated our ninjas into raping Natalie-sama?" Eric had mentioned to the other generals.
"If I'm in the position of those ninjas, having our own shinobi rape Natalie-sama would be a perfect way to eliminate enemy ninjas without compromising secrecy." Kirt had commented.
"If that's the case, start a town-wide shinobi hunt since Flash Tiger and his comrades are now fully aware of our actions and they will simply have us or our men kill our own ninjas for them." Eric had responded.
"Do you think they'll try to attack us soon?" Stinger asked the other samurai.
"Possibly within a few days' time. Tell your men to be on full alert starting today up until next week. Our enemy ninjas might attack us any day now." Eric requested to the other generals.
As Eric gave out his recommendations, Catherine and Van were already eavesdropping on them, with the former disguised as a cook.
"Did you hear that, Van-sama?" the orange-haired kunoichi had thought.
"Clearly. I'm going to meet with Irvine-san to tell that Eric has found out our plan's logic to discuss what could we do to counter their next moves. Tell the other chuunins and genins to be extra careful from now on." Van had riposted to her.
As the two of them were discussing how to outsmart Prozen's men, Hannah walked towards them to goad them to return to work.
"What are the two of you talking about?" the female samurai asked to the two ninjas.
"Well, me and my imohto were counting our earnings for the past few days and are talking about how we could earn enough money to be able to enjoy the coming mid-autumn festival." Van lied to his enemy.
"If you want to get paid handsomely, then make sure you correctly prune the bonsai there." Hardin has yelled i return.
"Stupid hag, I'll make sure you'll no longer be able to yell at me." the Byakutaka master had thought.
As soon as Hardin had completely left the area, Van and his subordinate then secretly resumed the discussion of their next moves.
"Catherine-san, you need to tell them now about Eric's discovery." he commanded to the captain-ranked chuunin.
"Wakatta, Van-sama!" the persimmon haired ninja retorted as she left her master.
After a few minutes, she was met by a fellow captain-rank female chuunin.
"Kotona-san, the plans are under jeopardy. Eric and his men had finally figured out we had his ninjas rape that demon's daughter." Catherine whispered to the green-haired kunoichi.
"Wakatta! I'll ask them what our counter plans would be." Kotona said as she headed back to their fourth base.
Upon reaching the said headquarters, Kotona told her masters about Eric's discovery. At about four in the afternoon, Van left the palace gardens after collecting his pay to prevent arousing the suspicions of Prozen's men. He headed to Irvine's ramen tent to discuss with him the hunch of Eric about the principle of their operation the previous night.
"Now that Eric has discovered that we had his shinobi rape that demon's child, we need to disorganize them now." Seijuro had mentioned to the others.
"If we are to ensure that, we need to use those samurai themselves to confuse them." Raven had replied.
"Don't worry. I'll hypnotize those generals." Kotona consulted to the jonins.
"No need for that. Just a little excess sake can do the trick." Leena had said as she bought some of the samurai's clothes to Bit and the other chuunins while assessing the necessary changes in their plans.
Raven then suddenly came in, accompanying Karl in his infiltration of the town.
"Is it true Eric had discovered the truth about our mission last night?" the ninja master had asked to his fellows.
"No doubt about it. Horse-face is a smart samurai. I had anticipated that he would eventually figure out that it was our plan to have him kill his own shinobi." Van had responded to his rival.
"We need the people to rebel against Prozen within two days as I'm sure that Prozen would be starting a crackdown in the following days." Irvine told to his comrades.
"Let me organize them." Karl presented to the ninjas. "I'll tell the common towns folk here that we will need their help to overthrow Prozen." the samurai general had continued.
"While Rudolph-dono's general will organize the rebellion of the town's citizen, We'll coordinate our personnel about the coming assault two days from now." Irvine and Rosso told their fellow ninja master.
"Wakatta!" Van and the others had replied.
Later that night, Jamie and Thomas made their move. The two of them knocked out the guards patrolling Moonbay's cell. Thomas then pretended that he was also knocked out by the chuunin. As soon as Jamie had secured Moonbay on his back, he spirited her away. The break out had drawn the attention of Hardin and her men after a few minutes.
"Can't you go any faster, chuunin-kun?" Moonbay asked to the thirteen year old captain.
"I can, but if you're not afraid on heights!" Jamie had retorted as he jumped to the roofs of the houses.
"Soshite, ikou!" Moonbay told him.
Down bellow, Hardin and her troops were trying to go after the escapees.
"Don't just watch, shoot him!" the pink-haired samurai commanded to her troops.
Arrows and bullets then came flying toward Moonaby and Jamie's direction.
"Shit! Looks like that bitch is desperate to get us." the captain said as he hurled torinoko in retaliation.
As the smoke produced by the bombs depleted their pursuers' sights, Jamie managed to escape but he sustained a wound from a rifle's bullet, while Moonbay was relatively unhurt.
"Chuunin-kun, are you alright. It seems a bullet got you in the shin." Moonbay asked to Jamie.
"That hag had only scratched me. Anyway, we'll head to Van-sama's hideout and please, call me Captain Jamie." the chuunin told Moonbay in response.
Hardin and her troops, meanwhile, returned to their base empty handed. Catherine, meanwhile, trailed the pursuing enemy troops.
"Damn it! That ninja had released another prisoner!" Hardin uttered to herself.
"If anyone is to blame, it should be the guards who were supposed to be watching that prisoner at that time." Eric said to her.
"Well then, bring those guards here so I may behead them and when you bring them, make sure that they're very much battered!" Hardin told to her men.
From a secluded corner of the barracks, Catherine clearly heard what the samurai generals had discusses and silently went to follow Hardin's soldiers. As the soldiers enter the underground chamber, they wasted no time in torturing Thomas and the three guards on duty at that night.
"Leave Thomas-san alone!" Atsushi yelled to Hardin's subordinates as he tried to fight them but was unable to get near their enemies due to the heavy metal chains with milling stones at the ends that had been tied to his feet.
"Shut up, old man! Even if you can fight back, there is no way you can come here." one of the Iteza soldiers mocked to Fiona's father.
Outside, Catherine rushed to the underground prison complex as fast as she could.
"God, please don't let Thomas-san die!" the kunoichi had thought as she raced to his location.
After about eight minutes, she has finally arrived to the underground prison complex but before Catherine can enter the dungeon, some of Eric's soldiers blocked her way.
"Pride or blood? Which will you disown first?" Catherine said as she pulled the shinobi-kumade from her vest and attacked the samurai troops.
"Tough talking from just one ninja, eh?" one of the soldiers tried to taunt her.
"So its limbs!" she retorted.
She and Eric's men fought for a few minutes. Then one by one, the soldiers fell as the kunoichi used her weapon to rake the faces of the soldiers and inflict other serious injuries. However, she herself sustained hard punches and kicks.
"Kisama!" Catherine squealed as she repeatedly kicked them with full force on their groins. As the soldiers knelt in pain, she used the chance to force them to ingest a sleeping poison.
"That should silence them sooner or later." the orange-haired captain thought as she headed down the prison to rescue Thomas and the other guards. But just as she was about to enter the chamber, two ninjas came out from a nearby tree.
"Michael-kun, Melissa-chan, what are you doing here?" Catherine asked her comrades.
"Relax, Catherine-taichoh. We also heard what Hardin had told her men to do to Thomas and the three innocent guards so headed here as fast as we could to help." the younger ninjas had riposted to their superior.
"Well then, carry Thomas-san and the others to a safe place where we can treat their injuries. I'll fight of those remaining goons." the captain-rank chuunin ordered to the two genins.
The three of them entered the dungeon right away.
"General Hardin wouldn't behead you and your fellows if only you had guarded that maid more carefully!" one of the soldiers said to the badly battered Thomas as they were about to leave the underground prison.
"And it would be bad for you if you killed them!" Catherine said to them. She then charged at the samurai and used her rake to disable the swords of Prozen's men.
Thomas them caught a glimpse of the kunoichi captain as she retaliated for the abuses the prison guards had suffered.
"You're indeed like a persimmon." the blond-haired samurai referred to Catherine's orange hair and eyes as he lost consciousness.
While the skirmish continued, the genins began to attend to the injuries of the injured guards.
"Mellisa-chan, Michael-kun, hayaku! Get them out of here!" she had called on her subordinates as she held them at bay.
The genins them picked up the injured people and hid in the nearby trees while their captain tried to finish the fight as quickly as possible. After defeating Hardin's men, she wasted no time in following her subordinates.
"Taichoh, you look pretty tattered up." Michael said to his superior.
"Don't worry about me. Thomas-san and the others suffered a lot worse than this." the captain-ranked chuunin said as she blushed upon seeing Thomas.
"Taichoh, shouldn't we head to the outpost village to treat them?" Mellisa questioned to Catherine.
"Exactly." the kunoichi had answered to them.
As the three ninjas headed back to Sawaki forest, Jamie and Moonbay reached the headquarters where Van and the others were planning their next steps.
"Freiheit-kun, is that you?" Moonbay said as she saw her long time friend?
"Moonbay-san, it's been five years since I last saw you. I thought that you had been killed in the siege." Van had replied to the brunette.
"Is Fiona hime-sama safe? Where is she now?" the dark-skinned woman had asked him.
"No worries. She is completely safe in my main village." the ninja master had retorted in turn.
"Freiheit-kun, I heard from Thomas-san that you have been planning for a revolt. If that's true, let me our town's common people." Moonbay had requested.
"Sumanai, but you're still a hot item under Prozen's men." Irvine had responded to her.
"Van-san, I don't want to be rude, but I think she'll be able to lead the ordinary citizens here." Karl intervened to them. "She is one of the few people whom the citizens know would dare to rebel against Prozen." the samurai general had continued.
Outside the headquarters, the news that Moonbay had escaped Prozen has boosted the morale of the Hoshikagami citizens.
"If Moonbay-san, Fiona hime-sama, and Hotaro-sama would start a rebellion against Prozen, I wouldn't think twice about joining her." one citizen told the others at the gathering.
Almost all of the other people there cheered his as they agreed to what he had said.
"See, the people here like me to lead them against Prozen's dictatorship." Moonbay told her comrades as they had clearly heard the town's people's wishes.
"Alright. Tomorrow, you and Karl need to rally nearly all the people here in your support." Van had mentioned as he was left with no other choice than to let her join the battle.
Next morning at the barracks, Hardin received the news that the squad she had sent to the prison had been ambushed by Maria's protégé.
"Fools! They had encountered just one ninja and yet all of them have been defeated?" the pink-haired samurai said angrily to her men.
"This is getting bad! If those ninjas succeeded in releasing the Lynette family and boosting the morale of the common people here, the entire town would no longer hesitate to rebel against Prozen-sama!" Eric had said in response as his patience was wearing thin due to their consecutive failures.
"Why are some of the dungeon's most important prisoners escaping one after the other? Haven't you learned anything when those ninjas' son had freed the Lynette family's heir?" Prozen said to his generals as he approached them.
"Our apologies, Prozen-sama. We have a hunch that what they want to happen is to urge the citizens to join them in waging a war against your clan's rule. Also, we now think that my shinobi had not raped Natalie-sama willingly, but those ninjas' son had forced my ninjas to molest your daughter in order for me to kill them and destroy my means of looking out for that brat." Eric had replied to his master.
"Are you saying those ninjas' son had used your ninjas to molest my daughter?" the grey-haired traitor had asked again.
The violet-haired samurai then nodded in response.
"In that case, set up the execution of those two ninjas four days from now. I'm sure he would be lured out." Prozen ordered to his men.
From a nearby building, Brad was able to hear what Prozen had said, and went to his fellow ninjas to get their plan in motion. That night, Leena was busy getting Marx and Stinger excessively drunk by giving them unusually strong sake.
"Kotona-san, tell Van-sama and the others that Prozen would have Dan-sama and Karen-sama executed four days from now." Brad told his fellow captain.
The green-haired kunoichi then left immediately as she was eager to tell her masters about Prozen's plan.
Brad then instructed Leena to proceed with their next plan as soon the tension began to rise amongst Prozen's generals
"What do you want me to do now, General Marx?" asked the magenta-haired prostitute to the samurai.
"I want to take General Georg's daughter in bed." the drunk man answered, unaware of the manipulation taking place.
"Then why don't you ask your blond soldier there to take his child." Leena continued.
The general then nodded in response, thinking that the blond man was his lieutenant. But Bit and the others had hidden away Marx's lieutenant in order to deceive him in addition to Bit having an appearance which coincidentally looks similar to him.
In just a few minutes, Bit, disguised as a samurai, brought Georg's daughter to Marx. As Bit arrived in Marx's house, the unconscious girl was stripped of her clothes by Leena, who also had Marx stripped of this apparel as she placed the girl on top of the general.
"How about you, General Stinger? What do you desire to do?" Leena has asked him as soon as she was finished framing Marx.
"I think General Zairin would only pay his debts to me if I take his son as a hostage." the other drunk samurai had answered.
Brad then went to Zairin's house to kidnap the boy, who was sleeping soundly in his bed.
"I hate to kidnap young boys, but the lives and freedom of the people here are more important than you." Brad thought as he took the boy with him and tied him with ropes.
The night progressed. By the time Zairin went back to his home, he discovered that his child was missing for several hours already.
"Do everything you must to find Kotaro!" Zairin yelled to his servants.
While everything in Zairin's household was in confusion, Stinger came back to his senses and found out that Zairin's child was in his possession.
"I don't know who had brought this boy here, but this is a sure way to get Zairin pay his debts to Me." the other general had thought.
At Georg's house, a similar event was unfolding as well.
"Fools! Why did you left my daughter alone?" Georg shouted at his servants.
"General Marx's lieutenant came here and said you're sending her to General Marx's house." the cook replied to him.
Georg immediately headed to Marx's house and what he had found there shocked him.
"Marx, how dare you do this to my daughter?" Georg questioned to the other samurai.
"Haven't you said that you would give her to me as my wife?" Marx questioned to him in return.
"I said that she may become your wife two years later, not when she is still fourteen!" Georg yelled as he pulled his sword and tried to slash the other general.
"Dad, please stop! You can't undo the damage done to me now." the girl asked to his father as she cried heavily.
Georg then placed his sword back to the scabbard and took his daughter with him.
"You may have survived because of my daughter's pleas, but from now on, I won't listen to you, nor would I still give her to a swine like you!" the samurai warned sternly to the latter.
When the sun had risen, Zairin's men found out that his son was in Stinger's house.
"Why haven't you returned Kotaro to me last night?" the blond samurai asked the other general.
"I would only return him if you pay all your debts to me." the other samurai had replied.
"Fine then, but don't ever talk to me again after I have paid my debts!" Zairin said to Stinger.
"Bit-san, Brad-san, this is better that what I had anticipated!" Leena said to the chuunins as they watched the disagreements among the generals deepen.
Ever since Moonbay had escaped a couple of days before, she and Karl have been organizing the rebel crowd and sympathize with town' people. They were overwhelmed by the number of people who had given their support to them. The two of them had used some disguises to hide their identities to Prozen's soldiers.
"Karl-san, this is better that I imagined. Already, another one thousand people have joined us this morning alone in addition to the one thousand or so yesterday!" the brunette said to the samurai.
"We need this may people to ensure our victory. I'm sure more will join later this day." Karl had riposted to her.
"Alright, we'll attack Prozen at our signal." Moonbay told the crowd.
News then reached Prozen later that morning that the people of Hoshikagami have lost their fear of his clan and are now planning to overthrow him and return to the rule of their real daimyo.
"Hardin, tell your men to enforce martial law starting this coming midnight!" the silver-haired daimyo commanded his general.
Hardin then went to the barracks to tell her fellow generals about their master's orders.
"Generals, all of you must combine your forces and enforce martial law starting tonight at twelve!" the pink-haired samurai told the rest of Prozen's army.
"Like I would let my men get perverted by this pig!" Georg said as he meant an insult to Marx.
"What's the problem with you, bastard!" Marx had retaliated.
"Also, there is a fag here who would use his debtor's son to get him pay his debts to that gay!" Zairin then blurted, referring to Stinger.
"Who are you calling a gay, jackass!" the other samurai said in return.
"If you don't like to cooperate with each other, fine, but make sure martial law would be enforced at midnight!" Eric said to the rest of Prozen's men.
Eavesdropping for nearly an hour in the branches of a nearby tree, Van sent some pigeons that contained bottled messages to his comrades in Nagano about Prozen's plans while he returned to their hideout to discuss the plans of the coming rebellion. After carefully discussing the main plan and alternate battle tactics in order to adjust to any possible weaknesses, Van and the other ninja masters then organized their respective tribes' ninjas in the coming battle.
"Hime, why are you dressed like that?" Van had asked to his lover as he saw her wear a blue haori filled with light bombs, shurikens and fukiya needles. He also saw her carrying a pair of ninja-kens with her.
"Van-kun, I'll go help you to. I want to be the one to rescue my parents!" Fiona had retorted. "By the way, please take this swords with you." the princess had added.
"These are…" the Byakutaka master muttered as he saw the blades personally crafted by his grandfather.
"Hai! Hikari Washi, the eagle of light." Fiona had responded.
"But what if you get killed in the battle?" Van had mentioned out of love and concern.
"Don't worry, Van-kun! For years, I have watched how your grandfather trained you and how you ninjas train for battle. Now, let me use the knowledge I may have gained from your tribe." the scarlet-eyed lady had replied.
"Alright, limit yourself to just tending the injured." the ninja master had responded to his wife to be as he brushed the two strands of greenish-blonde hair hanging in front of her forehead.
"Van-kun, I'll go there too. I'll serve as a back-up to you in case there some of Prozen's men are inside our parent's cells." Hotaro said to his subordinate.
Van then nodded in agreement with his younger master's decision.
"And please promise me that you'll comeback alive, Van-narachoh!" Fiona had answered to her ninja as she looked at his crown-like black hair.
"You have never called me by the title of Head Master before. I promise, I'll be alive for you!" Van had responded.
Night then came, with the five ninja tribes' warriors totaling about a thousand.
"Prozen, it's time for you to pay for your betrayal of my family." Hotaro thought as he armed himself in the battle which would take place within a few hours.
Bit. Brad, Naomi, Jamie, Kotona, Catherine, Melissa and Michael then went to the houses of Prozen's highest generals, carrying with them bottles of flammable liquids.
"I don't think the nine main generals would still be able to coordinate one another if we burned the houses of eight of them, in addition to burning Prozen's palace for the second time." Kotona had thought as she sparked the wicks of her bottles.
A few moments later, Rosso had launched a large yellow kite with the kanji sign for victory airborne. At that instant, the eight ninjas simultaneously set the houses of the generals on fire.
"What are you waiting for? Extinguish those flames immediately!" Hannah ordered to her troops.
However, the eight ninjas were burning the edifices of Prozen's officers faster than his men could respond to. One after another, fires were breaking out and the troops were confused about which building to save first.
"Sir, the firearms storage houses are being razed by flames." an Iteza man reported to Eric.
"The military stations are being arsoned?" the samurai general asked in turn.
His subordinate then nodded in response.
"How many of our firearms and archery warehouses are still safe?" the general had asked in response.
"All of them are now ablaze." the soldier answered.
"Damn it! Burning our military stations to destroy nearly all of our firearms and archery equipments and render us mostly weaponless. I'm quite certain, that wolf would strike us now!" Eric had thought. "Everyone, secure the borders of the town. Prozen-sama's enemy ninjas would most like attack tonight." the samurai ordered to his division.
At the middle of the town, Moonbay and Karl, along with about two thousand five hundred people charged towards Eric's incoming soldiers.
At the edge of the Sawaki forest, the five ninja tribes rushed to the town to help the citizens in their battle.
"Prozen-sama, a massive army of ninjas are surging to the town!" an exhausted soldier told Prozen.
"Order all the troops to meet then head on!" the silver-haired traitor ordered to his men.
"But if we did that, this whole town will be incinerated." the soldier answered as Kotona hurled a lighted bottle towards Natalie's room.
"Moeru! A demon such as you and your father must be killed in any way possible!" the chuunin had thought as she had also thrown a lighted bottle towards Prozen from her vantage point in his veranda.
"Natalie, are you alright?" Prozen had asked his child as she came running towards him.
"Dad, a ninja suddenly appeared at my room's window and tried to burn me!" Natalie had answered to her father.
"Idiot! Tell the troops to extinguish the flames here right away!" the tyrant ordered to his soldier.
"But sir, how about the ninjas?" the soldier asked again.
"Deal with them too!" Prozen had said forcefully.
"Prozen-sama, the people in this town have started hurling stones at one of my squads while another squad is being clubbed with rods by another group of commoners as soon as they were about to block the ninjas' entry." Eric had reported to his master.
"What? Don't tell me those ninjas and the people coordinated a plan to attack us simultaneously!" the false daimyo had yelped as confusion started to grip his mind.
"It would seem to be that way, Prozen-sama!" the samurai had answered.
"Then tell all of our men to take counter-insurgency measures." Prozen had commanded.
"Sir, all of our men had been mobilized already. None of them will be left to extinguish the flames if we'll launch a full crackdown on the dissidents while fighting the ninjas at the same time." Eric reminded his master.
"Then do whatever you need to do to stop this chaos!" the silver-haired samurai told him.
"Natalie, let's go outside. Most likely, our clumsy men won't be able to extinguish the flames on time.
Prozen's generals were equally confused as which of their problems needed to be dealt with first.
"Kotaro, save yourself now! Get yourself as far away from this town as you could!" Zairin told his son.
"But daddy, what if you get killed?" the five year old boy replied to his father.
"Don't worry, Daddy will be there for you!" the general had answered to his child.
"So the ninjas and the town's people had planned to attack Prozen together. If only my parents were not indebted to Prozen, I would never have served him." Zairin had thought.
The generals attempted to reorganize their division, but before they could give proper orders to their men, they have been approached by the elites of the Nagano and Niigata ninjas. At the same time, the commoners, under the leadership of Moonbay and Karl, countered Prozen's men, with ninjas from Nagano's two tribes and Niigata's three tribes helping the town's people.
"Oyasumi nasai, General Hardin!" Kotona said as she met the pink-haired samurai on her way to her troops.
"Who are you?" Hardin had inquired sternly to the emerald-haired kunoichi.
"I'm just someone renowned for her secret beauty among the blue snows of Niigata prefecture. It's very nice to watch how easily your soldiers' coordination shatters with just a few flames." the captain-rank chuunin had replied.
"So you must be one of those arsonists, aren't you?" Hardin snarled at the kunoichi.
"No, I'm not an actual arsonist. I'm just a ninja who wants to crack Prozen's skull!" Kotona had replied as she readied garden scissors to combat the latter.
"You know that this pair of sheers can beautify garden shrubs if used by an ordinary gardener. But are you aware that I can dismember your body with this very same scissors?" the green-haired shinobi taunted to her.
"But do you think you'll be able to do that, ninja?" the pink-haired general taunted to her in return.
"No doubt about it!" Kotona said as the battle between the two women started.
At the other parts of the town, Prozen's riflemen tried to soot down the rebels as fast as they could. However, Krueger, along with his ninjas who had been trained in gun combat, countered the enemy riflemen.
"Men, as much as possible, don't kill them. They're just following orders, so just paralyze them to render them unable to shoot!" Krueger had commanded to his squad.
Van and Fiona, along with Irvine, Rosso and Viola, headed to the underground prison, with Van fending of the guards and the two other ninja leaders defending the feudal family.
"Hime, I can take care all of them. Just release all of Prozen's prisoners in that chamber." the Byakutaka master told his lady.
"If there are just ten of you, you won't stand a chance against me!" the ninja master had taunted to enemy soldiers.
One after the other, Van broke the bones and severed the nerves of the soldiers to completely paralyze them.
"Take those easy, folks! Your injuries aren't fatal since I prefer tortmenting my opponents rather than killing them." Van told the soldiers that he had crippled.
Inside the underground chamber, Fiona and Hotaro opened the cell where their parents have been imprisoned for five years while Rosso releases Van's parents from their cell.
"Dan-sempai, Karen-sempai, we need to get out of here as soon as we can. Prozen's men could come here any minute now!" the carmine-haired ninja told the former leaders of the Shirotaka.
"How did you get here?" Dan asked his old comrade.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we still have a demon to kill." Rosso had riposted.
"Are you referring to Prozen?" Karen had questioned in turn.
The Kuroguma leader had nodded in response.
"I'll pawn that beast's head. And this time, I'll make sure he'll die in hell!" Dan had mentioned as he picked up the swords of the gurads whom Viola had knocked out.
"Dad, Mom, I'm so glad to see you!" Fiona had said to her parents as she embraced the two of them.
"Fiona, our youngest one, we also miss you so much! This is the day your mother and I had longed for." Atsushi said to his child in response.
"So how are you now, sweetheart?" Isami asked the young lady.
"Van-kun had taken care of me since the siege. He had never let me get hurt." the seventeen year old woman answered to her mother.
"By the way, we need to tell you something concerning you and Van-kun." Isami continued.
"Nani?" the young lady had asked in question.
"When Prozen betrayed us and first attacked us seventeen years ago, you were just a week-old baby then. After my friend, Dan had successfully defeated Prozen's men, I rewarded him by having you engaged to his three-week old son so that the two of you will get married one you're eighteen." Atsushi said to his daughter.
"So you mean that…" Fiona had asked her parents.
"That's right! We had long planned for you and Van-kun to get married together!" Isami had responded.