Couple years later,

My dearest Atsuko,

I got your letters, all of them, I read them every day. I hope you and Yoshi are doing well. I miss you the two of you. this war seems never ending. Oroku Keiji was more prepared than I thought he would be, and his allies are strong. We lost many of our clan, I do not know how long we can keep this up.

Atsuko, my love...I just do not know if I can keep my promise. The more days that pass, the more and more I start to lose hope. I will fight for you until my last breath and do my best to make it back to you but if I shall fail to keep my promise, I hope you will forgive me.

I love you more than this world. You are an amazing woman, and you only deserve the best in the world. If I do not make it back, I want you to find someone else, find a man who can make you happy, who can give you the life you deserve, and who can be a good father to Yoshi.

Yoshi, my dearest son, though I have not seen you in two years and I am sure that you have long forgotten me, I just wanted you to know, I love you. I hope you grow into a strong man, like your grandmother says you will, and I know you will make your clan proud one day. Take care of your mother, she will need you when I am gone.

Take care of yourselves and stay out of trouble, the two of you.

Love, Papa.

"Master!" A voice called and Yuuta looked over his shoulder to see one of his soldiers. "The men are ready to head out!" Yuuta nodded and handed the soldier the letter. "Send this letter, will you?"

"Of course, Master." The soldier then left, and Yuuta sighed. "Gods, give me strength."

...

"AHH!" Yuuta screamed in agony as he tried his hardest to push the beam off his leg. Fire was surrounding him, and he coughed at the thick smoke. An evil laugh could be heard behind him, and he looked to see Oroku Keiji in all his bladed armor glory. "Did you really think you could take me down, Hamato?! You are weak and now...you will die."

This was it; this is how he was going to die by his mortal enemy. ''It seems the war will continue to live on...Atsuko, I am sorry, please forgive me and Yoshi I am sorry I could not make the world safer for you.'

Yuuta closed his eyes, waiting for his fate when suddenly-

"No!"

Yuuta's eyes snapped open, and he gasped when he heard his wife's firm voice yelling in his ear. 'Promise me, Yuuta!" Yuuta's eyes widened then narrowed before he gritted his teeth, trying to pull his leg out again, his wife's determination filling his heart. "I-I promise." Keiji paused, looking at him confused. Yuuta did not stop, no matter how much it hurt, he kept pushing until finally, it was off.

Keiji scoffed a laugh, "You still think you can win? You may have gotten the beam off, but your leg is still shattered! You plan on taking me out with only one leg?" Yuuta struggled on his feet, using his sword as a makeshift cane before glaring at him. "Yes. I made a promise to my wife...that I will make it back alive, and I will do everything I can to keep it."

Keiji narrowed his eyes. "It seems you and I are on the same boat. You see, I too, made a promise to my wife that I would kill you and return your head at her feet. I do not plan to disappoint her." Yuuta lifted up his sword. "Then let us end this...once and for all."

Keiji nodded and stood in a fighting stance as did Yuuta. The two glared at each other before attacking. They fought hard, Yuuta struggling because of his broken leg and Keiji was not making it any easier, with his ruthless strikes. They continued to fight when suddenly, a huge explosion could be heard and before Yuuta even knew what was happening, the building started to collapse.

Keiji and him both fell. Yuuta hit his head hard on the ground, making his vision blurry but even though he was in a lot of pain, he grunted and struggled back on his feet again. Once his vision started getting better, he looked around. He was taken aback when he saw Oroku Keiji with a sharp metal bar through his shoulder and his helmet knocked off, showing his face.

Oroku Keiji had shoulder length brown hair, gray eyes and he had an ugly scar going from the top of his head to his lip. Yuuta picked up his sword and limped towards him as Keiji gasped in pain. "This ends, Oroku Keiji."

Yuuta lifted up his sword, but Keiji held up his hand. "W-Wait!" Yuuta paused for a moment, but he made sure to not drop his guard. "My wife and son...spare them."

Yuuta raised a brow; he knew Keiji had a child, but he did not know he had a boy. "You have a son?" Keiji nodded. "Yes. " Yuuta could not help but feel a bit of sympathy for his enemy. This man may have committed many sins, sins that will never be forgiven but he can tell that he truly wants his son to live.

Keiji looked at him pleadingly, a look he never thought he would see on his face. "They are everything to me, Hamato, please spare them. My son is my pride, he deserves life, he has committed no sins like I have."

Yuuta sighed. "I will spare your son because he is just a child, but I can not promise anything for your wife. She has committed as many sins as you have." Keiji nodded. "Very well then." He then chuckled bitterly. "Looks like you won, Hamato, the Hamato clan lives to see another day but that will not last forever...now just kill me and get it done with."

Yuuta frowned and got ready to strike down his sword. "Goodbye, Oroku Keiji," He said before slicing his neck, killing the leader of the Foot clan and ending the war that has been going on for centuries.

Yuuta looked at the dead man before picking up the Kuro Kabuto, the crown of the Foot clan. "Oroku Keiji, I wonder who you would have been if you were not born in a place like this."

"Keiji!" A female voice called, and Yuuta looked to see Keiji's wife, Oroku Miyoko coming out of the fire with a boy in her arms, her gray kimono soaking with more and more of her blood by the second.

When she saw Yuuta and her dead husband, she gasped in shock before she quickly turned to fury. She set her son down and ran to her husband. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" She roared and Yuuta did not stop her when she collapsed on her dead husband, crying in his chest.

"...I am sorry...but he left me no choice," Yuuta said, the last thing he ever wants to do is to take someone's life but sometimes, he has no choice in the matter, and this was one of those times. Keiji would have just kept killing and attacking his clan plus innocent people. He had to put a stop to it.

Miyoko seethed and turned to him with cold eyes. "You dare say that you bastard!!!" She pulled a knife out of her sleeve, trying to stab Yuuta but he caught her wrist and forced her to her knees. Thanks to her blood loss, which was now soaking the ground, she was not fast enough nor strong enough to pull away.

"You really want to kill me in front of your son?" Miyoko glanced at her two-year-old son and dropped the knife. "He will learn eventually, we all do.," she said with bitter hate as she glared at him again. "I am not going to be able to stay in this world much longer and thanks to you, my son will have no one to look after him!"

Miyoko fell to the ground, her strength leaving her, but she still tried to fight. Yuuta knelt down to her. "I will look after your son; I promised your husband before he died that I would spare him and not hurt him. You can let go, Miyoko, your son will be safe, you have my word."

Miyoko glared at him, but she saw no lie behind his eyes so as much as she hated to, she trusted him. She glanced at her son and reached out her hand as he just sat there confused. "Saki-san, grow strong, destroy your enemies and make your clan and your family proud."

Those were Miyoko's last words before she took her last breath. Yuuta sighed and stood up before he slowly made his way to the boy who had a blank look on his face. He had his father's brown hair and his mother's black eyes. Yuuta knelt down, looking him in the eyes. "You will be safe now," Yuuta promised before picking him up and heading back towards the camp. 'Atsuko...I kept my promise...I amcoming home.'

...

A few days later, at the Tribunal,

"Hamato Yuuta!" The head of the Tribunal, Hisomi called. "You have accomplished what no one in your family has ever been able to accomplish for the past five centuries, the extinction of the Foot Clan!"

The soldiers in the background cheered as Yuuta bowed his head. "However," The woman of the Tribunal suddenly said, killing the happy cheers and making Yuuta lift up his head. "Someone else, someone hungry for power can easily rebuild the clan. What is your plan to prevent this?"

Yuuta motioned his second command to come forward and he came holding a box in his hands. Yuuta opened the box, taking out the one and only, legendary Kuro Kabuto. The Tribunal gasped at the sight as Yuuta raised it above his head. "Great Tribunal, I present to you the Kuro Kabuto, the crown of the Foot Clan. This helmet is the key in controlling the Foot Clan, without it, there can be no leader and with no leader, there can be no Foot Clan."

The five great leaders murmured amongst each other then turned their attention back to him. "And what is your plan to make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands?"

"I will have a great old friend of mine, seal it away. Hide it where no one can ever find it. Deep underground," Yuuta vowed. "And you can trust this friend?"

"Yes, she and I have a long history together. I swear to you, you can trust her and I with this. We will assure that the Foot does not rise again."

"Very well, you may go home, Hamato Yuuta. Give our regards to your wife and...best of luck with your injury." Yuuta gave a respectful bow then walked out with his head held high...and a heavy limp on his leg...