Unwanted Visitors
The banging of the door interrupted my chakra control as multiple rocks fell to the ground onto the snow that was melted in a small circle around me.
"I'll get it ojichan." Running towards the door before ojichan could answer the banging of the door continues. Arriving at the door, I open it to the scene of two people covered in custom samurai armor that protected them from the head down.
"What do you want?" Wearily eyeing the swords hanging from their waist as they don't answer my question and instead sit in silence. Waiting a couple of seconds for anything to happen only for the silence to remain.
"I see, well if you want to be asses there's a couple of donkeys south of here you can talk to them... you might even meet a close relative." Slamming the door on both their faces before they can answer, I turn around only to bump into ojichan.
"Oh, sorry ojichan." Rubbing my head he walk by me opening the door to see the samurai.
"Hmm, didn't my grandson tell you where to go?" His voice heavy and icy as the men finally say something, "Lord Kitagawa requests a meeting with you." The taller person with a low voice was making it clear that no was not an answer.
"If you want to make this harder than necessary than don't blame us for what happens." The shorter one that spoke was oddly giddy as he placed his hands on his katana for a battojutsu technique
"It seems Lord Kitagawa has grown considerably since we have last met, not only does he send a couple of kids to do a man's job, but he must have dementia in forgetting what happened last time he ordered me around." A silence settled over as the choice was laid out, the snow shifting under their feet only for ojichan, faster than I could see, pulled a hidden sword and cut the throats of the samurai.
Their bodies crumpling to the floor desperately trying to put pressure on the wound as the sound of gurgling causes shivers to run up my body only for a hand to cover my eyes.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Gently guiding me back in the house the door closes behind us.
"Let us continue your training." The past minute was something akin to whiplash, 'Everything happened so fast.' With ease the lives of the samurai were taken while we continued our training as if they didn't exist.
Hours pass, the afternoon sun turning to dusk, I had completed the first level of chakra control training and had finished tree climbing minutes before chakra training ended.
"Excellent Su at this rate we'll be able to go over hand seals, jutsu, and chakra strengthening in the next few days. Now come we have dinner to make." Getting out of his chair with a groan, I follow to help make dinner.
.
.
The winter wind howling along the mountains and valleys as an estate resides at the bottom of a mountain.
"What do you mean the messengers haven't reported back?!" A man with dark hair and blue eyes throws a decorate vase at the wall while a lone woman stands in the middle of the room with a face of indifference.
"The messengers haven't sent a report back nor have the scouts we sent have found their current residence OR the bodies." Unbothered by the flying furniture the woman looks on with a face of stone as a chair hits the wall leaving a small crack.
"Useless!" Slamming his fist a breaking the desk left with nothing else to throw or break the man spins around to face the woman. Striding with anger, he stands face to face with her at the same height. Staring in each others eyes neither gives way as the stare down continues for a minute before the silence is broken.
"Go and fix this, I want the Noguchi family to either come under my wing before the meeting, or make an example of them if they adamantly refuse." Shooing her away she soft nods her head before disappearing like a shadow in the light as if she was never there.
"Only a few months left before the meeting for general and yet, I don't have the necessary qualifications. IF I can get a few more families then I can enter yet all that is left are the minor ones, but they have either allied with the other nobles or don't care about politics. If only my son was better." Clenching his fist tightly the room wrecked beyond belief and state of the man questionable as he continues to stare at he wall with a hateful face.
"If only my son was better." Uttering the words with immense hate he continues to sulk alone in his office.
.
.
A few days have passed since the deaths of the samurai, I have completed the two chakra control exercises i am now onto hand seals and chakra strengthening. Hitting a wooden post with roped around it my hands were bloody from the strength and chakra I put into them.
Ojichan said I wasn't allowed to stop until I get a perfect enhanced punch which meant enhancing my fist at the moment of impact. For the past thirty minutes, I've bloodied my fists on the rope dyeing it red. The morning air soothing my aching hands while I tried to handle the pain in my hands with minimal sounds.
It was hard to get a perfect enhanced punch and required great chakra control something that most shinobi lacked as there was no other exercise past the water walking for pure control. After water walking you must either get used to the flow of your chakra and its little quirks or find an exercise that treats it as a requirement and beat your head over and over to get it right.
Unfortunately we didn't have enough time for the first option.
An hour passes with no success, my hands shaking on my knees as I heave breaths of air, 'I'm so close, I can feel it.' Slowly clenching my shaking hands, I stand straight looking at the bloodied wooden post. Hesitance fills me, 'I don't want to feel this pain.'
The excruciating pain in hands made me wanna give up, but I couldn't let ojichan down.
Scrunching my face, I get back in a punching stance sinking in a haze of focus as I search for the feeling that I've constantly missed by minimal margins. The past hour and a half slowly culminates as the shaking of my hands gradually stops. Slowly breathing the cold noon air, the aches in my body slowly fade away and everything stands still, there was nothing but me and the post and before I noticed the wooden post was shattered and the rope laying across the ground.
'What was that.' My fist outstretched as the pain came back full force. Relaxing my fist, I crumple to my knees and put my burning hands in the snow. It felt like everything in my body was hurting now that I finally sat down.
Clap Clap Clap
"Congratulations Su." Strong hands pick me up and puts me in a princess carry, "That was faster than I was expecting... then I should've known better when it comes to you. Hahahaha!"
Smiling to myself, I lay my head on his chest as his strong yet failing heartbeat wipes the smile off my face.
'If only this could last.'
Getting my hands bandaged up, we spend the rest of the day inside as he teaches me hand seals and the usage of them after the info dump, I decided to kill a few hours in the shed before going to bed.
.
.
In the middle of the night was the estate of Noguchi a quaint building in the middle of the mountains a few miles away from the nearest village. The white snow reflecting the moon as the silence of the night is frequently interrupted by the sound of metal hitting hot iron.
In the bright moonlight figures of shadows faintly watch the estate like stone statues. Ever waiting for a signal, "We still haven't found the whereabouts of the messengers we sent. It's safe to say they have been killed." Softy whispering in the night was a duo of shadows on vaguely feminine while the whisper came from a man.
"The messengers don't matter at the moment what matters is results." Watching the estate with the eyes of a hawk as the clanging of metal still resounds in the middle of the night.
"You know what to do." Disappearing from the shadows as a dozen of shinobi swiftly approach the estate not knowing this would be their last night.