Years passed in the blink of an eye. Tadashi was an adult now and a well-known warrior in their land. Their once small village was now a prospering city. The other clans rarely opposed them these days, so the only fights they took part in were mostly with bandits and clans from other nations who were foolish enough to attack them.
But none of it mattered. Not anymore. His eyes have finally been opened to the truth. The dark truth about the man he served dutifully all these years. He would make sure that he would pay.
It all started about a year ago. He began having strange dreams about a mission he had years ago. The mission was to eliminate a small clan that planned to lead a coup and a few other clans against them.
The clan had been causing them trouble for a while by attacking merchants and supplies they needed. Now, they were joining forces with a few other clans, planning to weaken and attack them.
They've been trying to track them down, but the clans have left their settlements and are always on the move, making it impossible to track them. But they finally managed to find their hideout.
They immediately organized the biggest army they could and set out to attack. A huge fight ensued, and they lost many capable men, but Tadashi managed to get to their leader and drive his sword through her, and they won.
But something always bothered him about that day—something about the fight. He knew it was not due to the leader's gender, despite the rarity of female leaders. He didn't know what it was, no matter how many times he remembered memories of that night.
He barely remembered how they killed everyone in the hideout and set it on fire. Just that it happened. But he started having dreams of that night over and over again.
He finally decided to visit the remains of that place. Maybe being there in person would help him get a clear image of what happened. So, he faked a solo mission and left their village. No one had a reason to suspect him.
It took him a whole day to get there. But there it was, the ruins. Before burning the place down, they were sure to take all the valuables, so there was no reason for anyone to raid the place for valuables.
Tadashi slowly walked into the ruins, the events of that night dancing before his eyes. He could clearly see where he ran his sword through the man with the long beard or where he mercilessly killed the teenager who dropped his sword and made a run for it in fear.
He didn't show a single ounce of remorse because he believed that if any of them survived, they would regroup, gather power, and attack them. So, no one was spared besides the untrained children and civilians they usually took.
He walked past the remains of a tent. Where the large red tent stood, there were only ashes and coal. Their fire jutsus, combined with specially imported oils they used, ensured that nothing remained.
He followed the same path he had taken that night, following the steps he remembered only because he saw that dream over and over again. He finally reached the place where he first encountered that woman: in a clearing where she was commanding the troops.
His memories were getting more apparent. The scent of fresh blood. The shocked and broken look in the woman's eyes as he descended upon her. How she was trying to talk to her, but he didn't give her a chance.
The few words she managed to get out were blurred in his memories. He couldn't even make out how her mouth moved from his memories, despite everything else in the dreams being so transparent.
She followed the path their fight followed. It was as if she was leading him somewhere. The way she moved during their fights, constantly backing up and making him chase her, at the time, he believed her to be moving him away from others and trying to isolate him, but now that he was following the path, he knew that it couldn't be the case.
The path went through the center of the camp towards the same direction they were attacking from. But if that was not the case, where was she trying to lead him.
He followed further and finally reached the place where their fight ended. The memories were more vivid than ever. He could hear the sounds of battle and taste the air of that day.
The woman was wounded and knew it was the end for her. He was ready to land the last blow. The woman's eyes were unfocused. She kept looking to the left, and then she moved.
She moved so fast that he barely reacted in time. He raised his sword, which ran the woman through. She said something, but he didn't hear. He just pulled his sword and moved to the next target.
But now he looked. To the direction she was looking at that day. There were remains of a giant tent. He felt a pull to check the place out despite nothing being there besides the ashes.
He walked to the remains. There was certainly something there. He was a relatively strong sensor and could feel a disturbance in the chakra. It was similar to the static feeling that remained in the air after using a solid jutsu.
He followed the chakra to its source. It was coming from the ground, under the rubble. It took some effort, but he managed to get everything around to see a burnt rug.
He lifted the rug, and under it, he found a trapdoor. The chakra was coming from the trapdoor. There was probably a seal. He applied a small amount of chakra to make the seal, to make it reveal itself.
He knew that it was dangerous to send chakra into unknown seals, but he didn't believe this one to be dangerous. The seal was there to protect the content underneath, and if it were to explode, it would damage the content underneath as well.
However, if that was the intention, they could have as easily sent someone to destroy it the moment they were under attack since it was obvious that they stood no chance.
So he highly believed it to be a harmless seal, probably locked with a chakra pattern or blood to keep unwanted people away. The seal gradually revealed itself as he poured the small amount of chakra.
It was certainly an intricate design, and he could barely understand parts of it. He could only understand them because a few years ago, he helped a merchant caravan that often did business with Uzushio, and they gave him a scroll with the basics of sealing to show their gratitude.
While there was nothing on the scroll about making seals, it had information about how to recognize the basics, just enough to know what more straightforward seals may do. It was still valuable knowledge, and he had never told anyone about this skill since he wanted to keep it as a trump card.
He could tell that this seal was some sort of barrier, and from how it was placed, it was a barrier between the outside and what was under the trap door. He decided to test his luck and push some chakra into it.
He didn't have the means or funds to hire a seal master, and he didn't know anyone with knowledge about seals, so this was his one shot. To his surprise, the seal opened with a pop sound.
He was so shocked for a moment that he almost forgot to open the door. He opened the door and found a stack of scrolls.
It took him a few days to read them all, but he felt like a different man after reading them all. His eyes were opened, and he could now truly see.
Eiji was not the man he believed him to be. All these years, he had been feeding them lies about himself, his dreams, and his motives. Eiji was a bloodline hunter. He would attack small clans for their bloodlines.
He would kill the clans to increase the rarity of the bloodline and take the children. He would then separate the children into groups. If the bloodline was helpful in battle, he would try to keep one or two for himself.
The other children would be separated into two groups. If they showed aptitude to possess the bloodline, he would sell them at auctions, and if not, he would neuter them and sell them to brothels. He didn't want accidental chances of bloodline spread after all.
Even now, he kept accusing smaller clans of crimes they didn't commit to attack them and continue his business. Due to his business, he was one of the richest men in the country, to the degree that the daimyo was basically his puppet.
He planned to take over the country in a few years and then move to the neighboring countries, expanding his power further.
Tadashi could feel the anger boiling in his blood. All these years, Eiji had been feeding him and the others lies about his goals and methods. There was just so much evidence, and he didn't even know how to handle it.
All these years, he's been living in a lie. But the most devastating part was the scroll he was holding in his hands. It was directly addressed to him. That woman. The one he killed without listening to was his mother.
The scroll mentioned how, after his paternal clan was murdered, his mother started searching for him, and in his search, she came across many others in the same situation as her.
Those who had their family members killed or taken by Eiji. So they started investigating. That was how they gathered so much intel. His mother only discovered that he was alive a few years ago when he began collecting some reputation due to his actions.
His mother was thrilled and devastated about how Eiji took his kind, soft-hearted boy and turned him into a ruthless warrior. Still, as a mother, she was happy that his son was alive. So, she started gathering support.
Her clan and others started joining forces to eliminate Eiji, but before they could do so, they were attacked.
Tadashi screamed in pain. It was not physical pain, but he wished it was physical. He killed his own mother and clan in the name of a peace that didn't exist.
He would ensure that Eiji would suffer the same way he did. The way that all those innocent people did by his and his comrade's hands.