Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 114: Ninja War

Two thousand four hundred people were six hundred fewer than the Tango people that Isshiki Yoshiyuki had originally assembled, which made Naito Katsutaka quite disappointed.

But having something is better than having nothing. Naito Katsutaka thought about it: adding the 500 remnants of Naito, Awaya, and Miyagawa Takeda that he recruited, the more than 1,000 people of Itsumi Masatsugu, and the more than 300 Tango people recruited by Isshiki Yoshiyuki, these forces added together, at least 4,300 people.

With these 4,000 people, although they are still at a disadvantage compared to the Takeda clan, it should not be a problem to take over the entire territory of Tango. The most important thing is to occupy the Takeda clan's direct territory as quickly as possible, to defeat Shirai Mitsutane as soon as possible, and to take advantage of the victory to subdue the people of Tango. As long as these three points can be achieved, Tango can be completely captured.

Especially the first two points, as long as they can be achieved, the danger of being attacked from the front and back by the Takeda army can be avoided. At that time, the strength of the two armies will not be much different, so no matter how hard Yoshishige attacks, in the end it will only lead to a confrontation and he will eventually stop at the border of Tango.

Thinking of this, Naito Katsutaka couldn't help but feel full of confidence.

Feeling that he had completed Itomi Masatsugu's request relatively perfectly, he could no longer suppress his excitement and returned to his residence to write a secret letter overnight.

After writing the letter, Naito Katsutaka stuck his head out of the window, looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, he took out a bone whistle from his arms and blew it three times in rapid succession. After a while, a ninja in night clothes nimbly climbed over the wall and came to the corridor outside Naito Katsutaka's house.

"Sir, what do you want me to do for you?" The ninja, wearing a woven hat, covering his face with a three-foot-long hand wipe, with a ninja sword on his waist, asked Naito Katsutaka in a low voice.

"Nagato-no-Kami, I am very grateful that you accompanied me from Iga back to Wakasa and escorted me from Wakasa to Tajima." Naito Katsutaka did not directly state the mission, but first thanked the ninja in front of him.

"You don't have to be so polite, sir. I am doing this to repay you for saving my life." The ninja still spoke in a low voice, "I wonder why you summoned me here?"

"When I was driven out of Wakasa, I happened to pass by the outskirts of Kuchiki Castle and saw you lying in the grass with serious injuries, so I sent you to the clinic for treatment. You said you wanted to repay me for saving your life, so you followed me until now. It has been almost a year now," recalled Naito Katsutaka.

The ninja nodded and said, "At that time, I was ambushed while on a mission and was seriously injured. Thanks to your help, I am able to survive until now."

"You are one of the three jonin of Iga. You have followed me for so long. You have repaid the favor... Let's put it this way, Nagato no Kami. Do me one more thing and then you can go back to Iga." After that, Naito Katsutaka handed the secret letter to the ninja and reminded him: "You must hand this letter to Suruga no Kami as soon as possible. Don't lose it."

"As you command, I'll set off right away." The ninja didn't say much. He folded the letter and stuffed it into his arms, then climbed over the wall with a grappling hook.

Nagato no Mamoru is one of the three jonin of Iga. Yes, this person is Nagato no Mamoru Fujibayashi of the Fujibayashi clan, who is also the head of the Fujibayashi clan, Fujibayashi Masayoshi, who is also known as the "Three Jonin Families of Iga" along with Hattori Hanzo of the Hattori clan and Momochi Tamba of the Momochi clan.

The Fujibayashi clan was a branch of the Hattori clan and lived in Yufune-go, which borders the northern part of Iga and Koga. Therefore, they had many Koga ninjas under their command and had influence in both Iga and Koga.

It was with the help of this person that Naito Katsutaka was able to return safely to Wakasa, and travel between Tango, Wakasa and Tajima without encountering any danger. This shows how powerful Fujibayashi Masahiro's ninjutsu was.

Watching Fujibayashi Masayoshi's departing back, Naito Katsutaka looked up at the sky and sighed deeply: "Life or death depends on this battle."

After all, it was the last mission assigned to him by Naito Katsutaka. Fujibayashi Masahiro did not dare to delay for a moment. After leaving the residence, he immediately set out to return to Suidoyama Castle.

Late that night, Fujibayashi Masayasu crossed the Mikuni Mountain at the junction of Tajima, Tango and Tamba and entered the territory of Tango.

When he rode his horse along the mountain path that he had explored many times before and arrived near Miyazu Castle, he suddenly felt that the atmosphere was wrong and immediately prepared to dismount and hide in the woods nearby.

It was too late. Before he could stand firmly on his feet after getting off the horse, several cold lights shot out from the nearby forest! Seeing this, Fujibayashi Masahiro, who was experienced in night battles, rolled to the ground and hid in the bushes.

But his mount was not so lucky. With a whine, it fell to the ground with a thump, and after struggling in pain for a few times, it became motionless.

Fujibayashi Masaharu, who was in the woods, observed the hidden weapons on the horse by moonlight and felt something was wrong: "Ninja?!"

Five shurikens were seen deeply embedded in the horse's belly, back and neck. The force was so great and the angle was so tricky that Fujibayashi Masahiro couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.

Before he could recover from his shock, rustling sounds were heard again from the forest opposite.

At this time, Fujibayashi Masayoshi had two options. One was to turn around and sneak into the woods to avoid the pursuit of the enemy ninja and wait until dawn to take action; the other was to have a good fight with the enemy ninja and then continue on his journey after defeating him.

If it were the same as before, Fujibayashi Masaharu would have chosen the first path, but when he thought that this was the last mission given to him by Naito Katsutaka, and he was told to deliver it as soon as possible, he thought again and again, and finally chose to confront the enemy ninja head-on.

As the rustling sound got closer, Fujibayashi Zhengbao lowered his body and, using the moonlight, closely watched every move in the woods opposite.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed through the woods. Fujibayashi Masaharu thought that it was the weapon in the enemy ninja's hand that reflected the moonlight!
He then threw three shurikens towards the place where the cold light passed. After a scream of "Ah", there was no movement from the other side.

"Hmph, nothing more than that." Fujibayashi Masahiro sneered, but he was also worried that the other party was cheating, so he did not rush to investigate. Instead, he waited for about a quarter of an hour, and seeing that there was indeed no movement, he tiptoed towards the opposite woods.

Pushing aside the dense grass and branches, the scene before him made Fujibayashi Masaharu go from joy to shock: there were three shurikens stuck on a huge pine tree, and nothing else!
Fujibayashi Masaharu looked forward and felt something was wrong: "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap!"

If for no other reason, these three shurikens were the ones he had just thrown out, which meant that the enemy ninja was still alive!

Fujibayashi Masahiro immediately looked around, fearing that the man would jump out from behind. What he didn't expect was that a pair of cold eyes were staring at him from the tree.

"Swish, swish, swish!" In a flash, several shurikens flew towards Fujibayashi Masayoshi from the tree. This time he was not so lucky: except for one that missed, the remaining three hit his back and shoulder respectively.

"Ah!" Fujibayashi Masaharu let out a howl and then ran into the woods.

How could the enemy ninja give him a chance to escape? Seeing this, he immediately jumped down from the tree and landed right behind Fujibayashi Masayasu. With a "puff", a kunai pierced deeply into his back, and blood immediately soaked his back.

Fujibayashi Masaharu endured the pain, drew out the ninja sword from his waist, turned around and slashed at the ninja.

However, he was seriously injured and his movements became slow, so the attack failed and instead gave the man an opportunity to take advantage.

The ninja slid to the side of Fujibayashi Masaharu and stabbed him in the ribs several times with his kunai, causing blood to spurt out immediately.

(End of this chapter)