Yashiro the Blind

It is often said that a cool night is like water, but what exactly does "like water" mean?

Is it the soft moonlight, the gentle evening breeze, the fish swimming at the bottom of the river, the birds sleeping in the forest, or the lights of a hundred homes in the stillness, the fleeting glimmer of light amidst the dancing fireflies...?

Throughout history, countless poems and famous lines have described the beauty of the night scene. It seems that in the eyes of those talented poets, once the sun sets, the whole world becomes dreamlike. Taking a candlelit stroll at night is always much better than sweating under the scorching sun.

But for Yashiro, the coolness of the cool night was nothing more than a pleasant coolness, and apart from being slightly cooler, it was no different from any other time of year—she didn't even need a candle, and with a cane tapped to the ground, she could go anywhere in the world.

But at this moment, her pace was noticeably slower than usual.

Step by step, it felt as if a heavy stone in my heart had materialized, pressing down on my shoulders and making it hard to breathe.

The place where Mankisai met with people was a wasteland outside the town, not far from a mass grave.

The dead, including courtesans and beggars, penniless travelers, soldiers who died in battle, and defeated generals who were beheaded by hunters, were all buried in the same place, like a harmonious family, and it was not deserted at all.

The cane struck a hard rock. The girl squatted down and touched it, unable to tell whether it was a common roadside Ksitigarbha statue or the tombstone of some famous person. In any case, she put her hands together, bowed, and put down the last sweet rice dumpling she was carrying as an offering.

"Forget it... Eating this kind of thing late at night is easy to gain weight and disrespectful to the gods and Buddhas. I'll just bear the consequences myself."

Muttering to himself, Yashiro soon returned, quickly unwrapped the straw, and ate it in small bites as he walked, his face bearing a tragic expression of "If I don't go to hell, who will?" Those who saw him either praised him highly...

They either express great admiration or praise.

After she stuffed the whole rice dumpling into her stomach, and licked the sticky parts of her fingers and palms one by one, she was full and her destination was just around the corner.

Two days ago, I had already come here with Wan Guizhai to scout the location. This was my second time here, so I was quite familiar with the place. As I tapped my cane, I gradually veered off the road and turned into a desolate wilderness, on a low hillside.

Several cherry trees are planted on the slope, and it is currently the season when cherry blossoms are in full bloom. At night, cherry blossoms fall and their fragrance fills the air.

Yashiro stopped in her tracks, tilted her head, and heard what seemed to be a figure standing under the cherry blossom tree, with his back to her and his hands behind his back.

Upon hearing the sound, the man turned around abruptly, his eyes flashing like lightning as he looked over.

"You are not him."

The incredibly familiar voice instantly evoked countless memories for her. The girl was momentarily dazed, and the next second, a faint sense of loss welled up in her heart, but at the same time, she felt an indescribable sense of peace.

"You are not him either."

She said.

The two "he"s, one before the other, clearly referred to the girl. The man under the tree was taken aback, and his previously questioning gaze suddenly became more scrutinizing as he looked the girl up and down.

A moment later, he suddenly realized something: "I heard that the infamous Mishima Doppo was killed in Tōtōmi not long ago. What's more, the one who killed him was a blind woman, and she used the Tenfū-ryū technique... I thought it was just a rumor, but now it seems to be true."

"Your information network is quite impressive." Yashiro smiled slightly, acknowledging the other party's guess.

"I've also heard about the tragedy that happened to the Tianfeng family back then. In one night, dozens of people were slaughtered, and blood flowed like rivers. Only Tianfeng Wulang's youngest daughter was missing, and she happened to be blind..." The person under the tree asked, which was less of an implication and more of a statement.

"A fast horse needs a whip, and a quick man needs a word. Since that's the case, I'll just ask directly." The girl leaned on her cane, her smile fading. "My father has been gone for many years. What exactly is your intention in impersonating him?"

Her expression remained calm and unchanged, but her tone was extremely serious. However, upon hearing this, the man was neither surprised nor angry. Instead, he clapped his hands, his face beaming with joy: "Haha, it really is you! I thought my brother Wulang and his entire family had perished. I didn't expect that there would still be descendants left in the world! Excellent, excellent!"

"answer my question."

“Alright.” The man was quite agreeable. Despite being bluntly confronted by Yashiro, he wasn't annoyed, only smiling as he replied, “If it were anyone else, I might not have asked this, but since it was Goro-nii's daughter who asked, how could I possibly hide it from her? The reason I impersonated Goro-nii to meet Mankisai is because I want to use this to lure out someone—”

"Who?"

Instead of answering directly, he changed the subject: "Good niece, do you know how your father died?"

"I don't know," the girl replied honestly.

"That's understandable. After all, the incident happened so suddenly and quickly that it caught everyone off guard. I had to do a lot of research afterward to piece together the truth of what happened."

The man waved his hand, sweeping away a few petals that flew towards him. Without keeping him in suspense, he continued before Hachiro could ask, "I don't know if your father ever told you that his ideal was to unify Iga, unite all the ninjas, and establish a kingdom for ninjas in this chaotic world."

"The land of ninjas...?"

"That's right. Although the daimyo of various regions have realized the importance of ninjas in this world, either training them themselves or hiring them outright, and the existence of ninjas has become an indispensable part of the struggle for power, even so, compared to regular samurai, whether it's Iga or Koga, the lives of ninjas are still as worthless as grass in their eyes, something that can be easily discarded at any time—why is that? It's because there is no leader of the ninjas right now!"

The man spoke with increasing passion and fervor, his tone rising higher and higher, his voice booming like thunder, even causing the cherry blossoms overhead to flutter down.

Yashiro leaned on his cane, listening quietly until he finished speaking, then asked, "Is this your idea, or my father's idea?"

“Both are true. Saying that great minds think alike might be a bit of self-aggrandizement, but in fact, it was precisely because we shared the same thoughts and ideals that I met your father and we agreed to work together on a great undertaking.” The man paused. “Although Iga is small, it is still a territory with 100,000 koku of rice. If we can unite the various forces into one, what is there to worry about in achieving our great goal!”

“It’s not that simple.” The girl shook her head. “No matter how tempting the future you’re talking about may be, it’s all based on the ability to unify Iga. Not to mention the three Jonin clans or the eleven Meijin, there are dozens or even hundreds of those mountains, big and small, all of which are located by mountains and rivers, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack. Subduing them will be no easier than pacifying the world.”

"Hahaha, as expected of Brother Wulang's daughter, not only is she young and skilled in martial arts, but she also has a unique vision for the overall situation. It truly lives up to the saying, 'Like father, like son'—but in this context, it should be 'Like daughter, like son'."

The man laughed again, then his expression turned serious. “What you say makes sense. But since Brother Wulang dared to have this idea, he must have been confident. Unfortunately, he was still one step behind, betrayed and killed tragically… What a pity!”

Do you know who killed my father?

"Of course. As far as I know, the mastermind behind the plot to ambush and kill Goro five years ago was none other than Momochi Tanba-no-kami, a Jonin from Iga!"

……

Momochi Tanba no Kami, whose real name was Momochi Sandayu, was one of the three great ninja families of Iga Province. He was the leader of the Momochi clan and the founder of the renowned Iga school. His family's history can be traced back to the Oe clan hundreds of years ago. After several generations of rise and fall, they now control southern Iga Province and are known as the three great ninja families, along with Fujibayashi Nagato no Kami of northern Iga Province and Hattori Hanzo of central Iga Province.

The Tenfu clan, to which Tenfu Goro belongs, is located at the border of southern and central Iga. Originally loyal to the Hattori family, their control over the Iga region inevitably declined as the previous head of the Hattori family, Yasunaga, successively served Ashikaga Yoshiharu and Mikawa Matsudaira Kiyoyasu. After some twists and turns, the Tenfu clan became independent with the support of the Momochi family, becoming a buffer zone between the Momochi and Hattori families.

In other words, the Tenfu clan is essentially a "proxy" pushed out by the Momochi family. They are nominally independent, but in reality, they are dependent on others for everything. If Momochi Tanba-no-kami knew Tenfu Goro's thoughts, it would be only natural for him to kill him. What that person said does indeed make some sense.

But reason alone is not enough.

Perhaps sensing that Yashiro hadn't completely trusted him after just a few words, the person impersonating Tenfu Goro wasn't disappointed. He laughed loudly, leaving behind the words, "We'll meet again someday, my dear niece. Take care of yourself and don't die easily," before turning and disappearing without a trace.

The girl didn't stop the person. Firstly, she didn't know their background, and secondly, she didn't know if they were friend or foe. She also didn't ask for their real name. After all, if she wanted to say it, she would have already said it when she exposed their identity at the beginning. Asking questions she didn't want to answer would be pointless.

What I was really thinking about was how credible this conversation was.

The other party said they wanted to lure someone out by impersonating Tenka Goro. Even though they didn't explicitly say who this person was, they then subtly hinted that someone had betrayed her father.

Only those closest to you can be used as bargaining chips for betrayal.

The question is... does Tenfu Goro, her father, truly harbor the ambition to unify Iga and establish a nation of ninjas, as that person said?

This assumption always seemed somewhat unbelievable to the girl, as if subconsciously she didn't believe her adoptive father could be such an ambitious person. But then she thought, what kind of image did Tenkaze Goro actually have in her mind?

For a moment, I couldn't find a definite answer.

Only those long-buried memories, as consciousness loosened, slowly surfaced...

That wasn't a time worth remembering.

Iga is very poor. Even in this era when most people are struggling to get enough to eat, this place stands out from the crowd in terms of poverty. Perhaps only Ushu and Oshu in the northeast can compare to it. But the latter two are harsh and cold places far from Kyoto. Iga, on the other hand, is located in the Kinki region, next to Ise, where you can eat lobsters as much as you want, and Minami Omi, which is so rich that it's practically rolling in oil. Thinking about it this way makes it even sadder.

But the poor also have their own way of living.

If farming isn't enough to make a living, then find ways to earn extra money. Infiltrate cities to gather intelligence, and engage in clandestine assassinations and thefts. The various ninjutsu techniques that sound incredible to others are, in essence, just a way to risk your life to earn a living.

A ninja's life is worthless, especially when going to war. All the dirty and hard work, the ones most likely to kill, are left to the hired ninjas. After a battle, those who survive are the lucky ones. If they can live peacefully until they are forty or fifty years old, in the ninja world, they are considered the most powerful and auspicious old people.

Given this situation, the Tianfeng family was no better off. Even though Tianfeng Wulang was highly skilled and always had missions to take on, after being exploited layer by layer by Momochi Danba-no-kami and his subordinates, less than a tenth of the money he earned from risking his life actually ended up in his pocket.

At home, let alone rice, we often couldn't even get our hands on barnyard millet or other grains. The most common food we ate was a porridge of various unknown wild vegetables. Sometimes, if we couldn't find any wild vegetables, we would gather up tree bark and leaves and cook a pot of that.

The father and elder brother ate the thickest broth. Later, when the elder sister was able to go on missions, her broth also became a little thicker. The bowl that the mother and Yashiro drank was always no different from clear soup.

On the bright side, while wild vegetable porridge might not fill her stomach, it wasn't like various grains that would grind her teeth. Hachiko would occasionally reach out and touch it, and at least for now, her teeth were still relatively straight, unlike other ordinary people who, after eating the same food for over a decade, developed a set of uneven front teeth.

However, her stomach was always growling with hunger. Basically, in the ten years since she transmigrated, she had never experienced the feeling of being full. Even during the time when she was drinking milk, she could only drink until she was half full. Her mother herself was very thin, and there was no milk powder or other substitutes. It was good enough if she didn't starve to death.

Despite the hunger, training still had to continue. According to ninja tradition, every child, regardless of gender, had to begin rigorous training at the age of three. Children of similar age were gathered together in a clan for intensive instruction. The training curriculum ranged from simple identification of herbs to various incredible escaping techniques, martial arts, archery, horsemanship, climbing, jumping, and much more—it was all-encompassing.

Basically, this high-intensity training will continue until the child is twelve years old, and then he will be recognized as a capable ninja—in other words, someone who can risk his life to be killed.

This kind of training is extremely harsh even for a healthy, normal person, let alone Yashiro, who is born weak and blind. In addition, her nearly thirty years of peaceful life in her previous life had shaped her values ​​that were out of step with this era. As such, she was bound to be rejected and even bullied by her peers. Because of her poor grades, her teachers didn't bother with her and just pretended that nothing had happened.

The same applies at home.

When life becomes too difficult, even the most cherished family ties become an unrealistic luxury.

In the girl's memory, her mother's gaze was always indifferent and weary. It didn't seem like she was looking at her own child, but rather like she was helplessly looking at a... failed half-finished product. However, considering that in this era, poor families would even resort to things like infanticide and abandonment to save food, which was rampant despite repeated prohibitions, her parents were already very grateful that they had raised her, a useless piece of trash, to this age.

Her father and brother were both constantly busy, and she hardly had a chance to meet them all day, let alone have any further contact. Only her sister, who was close in age, could occasionally give her a sense of comfort from family affection. It was like the only light in this endless darkness, which she cherished dearly.

Then... everything disappeared in the fire.

From then on, she gained a master, a senior brother who was decades older than her, and several opponents to spar with. She gained a small reputation in the Nara area. Later, during this trip, she made some new friends and also made new enemies...

It seems like everything is increasing, but some things are gone forever.

"..."

Perhaps, she hoped that Tenfu Goro was still alive.

Even if it means that the other party has abandoned you, your mother, and your siblings for some reason, they are still your only remaining family in this life. If possible, ask for their reasons and decide whether to forgive them. If possible, support each other and walk together through thick and thin. There will always be a place that can be called home.

Unfortunately, Tenfu Goro died in the end.

Of course, blood ties are not the only way to be family. The girl understood this principle. However, there was always a thick wall between "I" and "you," and between "you" and "him." How easy was it to cross it?

When will she be able to have a home again?

Yashiro hugged her cane to her chest, immersing herself in long-lost memories, as if her whole body was submerged in ice water, oblivious to the passage of time.

It wasn't until a hawk's cry echoed through the sky that she snapped back to her senses. She turned her head to dodge a nut that was being thrown at her, letting it hit the cherry tree behind her with a thud, knocking down several petals.

"You're really in high spirits, coming out to admire the cherry blossoms so late at night instead of sleeping. I've been looking for you so much I'm about to throw up!"

Before she even arrived, her voice preceded her. Ryuko stormed over and launched into a tirade. Hearing her breath, which was indeed slightly out of breath and rapid, as if she had just run around vigorously, Yashiro composed herself, refrained from teasing, and asked directly, "What happened?"

"You're asking what happened? You didn't even know your little Qin was missing—and that melon-headed guy is gone too. Uncle Toad and I are searching the whole world for him. You should come back and help us look for him. Don't try to slack off!"

……

Chapter 45 Meanwhile, on the other side

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

Not at all surprised by the truth of five years ago, the one who rushed to the battlefield was none other than the Dragon Prince, who was unparalleled in the art of language... For some reason, this strange sentence suddenly appeared in Yashiro's mind. She shook her head and shook off this inexplicable thought.

Maybe the wind at night made me a little dizzy...

Pulling her wandering thoughts back to reality, the girl used her cane to support herself and, swaying slightly, struggled to her feet.

She hadn't noticed while sitting, but now she realized that her body and face were covered in dew and fallen cherry blossoms. She casually patted them off, but Ryuko was already in front of her, casually reaching out to remove a petal stuck in her bangs.

"you……"

"what happened?"

Ryuko asked in surprise, then reached out and grabbed Yashiro's wrist, turning to leave. "You're walking too slowly. The situation is extremely urgent. I'm here to help you."

"and many more……"

"No wait!"

With that resolute statement, the girl understood that the other person always acted decisively and efficiently. She sighed, stopped struggling, and quickened her pace to follow behind her.

So, what exactly happened?

"It's what I just said, your Xiaoqin and that melon head are both missing... It's really a headache." Longzi clicked his tongue as he spoke.

She was always decisive and efficient in her speech and actions, without beating around the bush. After just a few words, Yashiro roughly understood the reason for the matter—to put it simply, although the five of them had been together for some time, their purposes were different.

Toyogoro planned to return to Ueno, and happened to be traveling with the others. She herself wanted to inquire about Tenfu Goro from Mankisai, while Koto was entrusted to her by Matsushita Kabei. As for Inosuke and Ryuko, they clearly also had their own purposes.

Based on Yashiro's speculation, Inosuke is most likely looking for someone.

The most common reason for seeking the Dragon Palace Treasure Slip in Yuanjiang is to glean information from the legendary, powerful Dragon Palace attendant. As for who exactly to seek and what kind of past it involves, the girl is somewhat curious but unwilling to ask easily.

After all, speaking too intimately with someone you barely know is often not a good thing.

Inosuke and the others probably shared similar thoughts, which is why they tacitly avoided touching on each other's private affairs and each went about their own business during this period.

The same thing happened last night. In Yashiro's memory, Ryuko and Inosuke seemed to have left after lunch and hadn't returned by the time she went out at night. According to Ryuko, they seemed to have been busy until dawn before dragging their tired bodies back to the inn.

Considering that Xiaoqin loves sweets, the two of them pooled their money to buy some cheap snacks on the way back, intending to take them to feed Xiaoqin. However, after calling out a few times, no one responded from inside the room. Longzi became suspicious and opened the door to find that the room was empty. Xiaoqin, who should have been inside, was nowhere to be seen.

"There were no signs of a struggle anywhere in the room. We don't know if they were kidnapped or left on their own... Later, we knocked on each door and found that you and Melon Head were nowhere to be found either. The old man helped us look for a while, saying he was going out to find someone to help, and then he left."

Ryuko pursed her lips. "Uncle Toad is short and has short legs, but his eyes are sharp and piercing, so I sent him around the town. If he gets kidnapped, he might find some useful clues. I sent my hawk to look for him, and I didn't expect to find you first... By the way, are you alright?"

She hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You look a little off. If you encounter a problem that you can't solve on your own, and you ask me for help, Lord Dragon Prince, I'm not afraid to lend you a hand."

"Thank you... but I'm fine." Yashiro smiled. This wasn't a lie or a perfunctory response. She really wasn't bothered by any trouble right now. Whether the "truth" mentioned by the imposter Tenfu Goro was true or false, even if he wanted to do something, it wouldn't be something that could be done in a short time.

In comparison, the disappearance of Xiaoqin is clearly more concerning.

But the dragon prince doesn't seem to think so.

"Hmph... It's good that you're alright."

As if she had punched a cotton ball, she turned her head away awkwardly, letting out a hum. After a moment, she regained her composure and picked up the main topic again, urging, "Since everything's alright, let's hurry up. Saving lives is urgent!"