----------Lord Koza's pov----------
Fucking shinobi!
I knew that they couldn't be trusted. For all his flowery speech, the fact of the matter was that he used me and my samurai as backup of sorts. I knew this was how shinobi worked but still dived right into hidden meeting with them. I was sure Kuroba would howl into my year going on and on about how he was right about them.
Daimyo of hot water.
That single title that haunted me ever since I could remember things as kid. Numerous instances that made me suffer passed through my mind. So, I once more listed my grievances with him in my mind.
A childhood filled with my parents reprimanding me for pursuing my love, 'No, The Daimyo, won't tolerate your pursuit of his minister's daughter.'
The Daimyo taxed us more.
My father passed away in sheer exhaustion of managing a bankrupt region due to the economic sanctions. Of course, The Daimyo held his 7th wedding, drawing the nobles away from his father's funeral.
Oh! The biggest grievance of all was the fact that the great Daimyo was my uncle who feared my claim. Therefore, I don't mind claiming that claim if it was the only way to lift this weight off my heart.
"OH lord, don't be so distracted."
I felt pissed off at the mocking tone in which he addressed me. Especially when he called me lord. This was why I hated shinobi. The paranoid fools don't even believe when I said I was the lord of this land.
My opponent looked about 5 '7' in height, dressed in open green jacket and brown pants. His red bandana brought out his blue eyes and black hair ties in a ponytail. As expected, no signs of his clan were present. Hopefully, that Kirito Kyudo knew this information. Consdering the fact that he knew more than other in this battlefield.
I swore to myself, the moment this battle was over. I found place both the attacking shinobi and Kyudo clan in my cells. This was my land and they dared to break it's peace.
Looking at the earthen boulders that were coming at me, I snorted in pure disdain.
My sword which followed me all my life, roared with my chakra as it cut them down with the ease of single diagonal slash. As if the stroke of brush on a painting, my sword cleaved through all the boulders in single line.
SLASH SLASH
As the stone pieces fell around me, I once more looked at my sword.
Shiromariki- a chakra metal katana, made by the famous Tenjuku craftsmen from the land of iron.
It was named after my friend and summon-Shiromari. And just like him, it could face any enemy and defeat them.
WHOOSH WHOOSH
It was the sheer amount of experience I had in Land of iron and Uzhiogakure that made me fell the approaching kunai from behind me.
"AHH!"
With a roar, my sword weaved 180 degrees to strike the kunai away. To my surprise the Kunai that was knocked away changed direction midair and aimed for my eyes.
It was the vision I cultivated among samurai teachers that me see the chakra thread that held kunai.
"Foolish shinobi!"
My chakra flowed into my sword as I cut down both the kunai and chakra thread. Unfortunately, the moment was enough for numerous shuriken and kunai hidden behind the fallen earth stones strike at me, all of them seemed to be connected by Chakra threads.
Now, as much I hate the deceptive shinobis, I must acknowledge that they were truly born for the battlefield.
Assuming the water style sword form of samurai of land of water, I decided to cut through my obstacles towards the shinobi.
With a jump of my chakra enhanced legs, my sword cut at the shuriken's spinning at me. The added movement from the jump, helped the task to be much easier.
While jumping to the side to avoid the kunai that came at from back, I continued jumping forward towards my enemy.
To my surprise one of the shuriken which I thought to had cut down, flew back up from my blindside. It was not cut, showing its superior craftmanship. Unfortunately, it meant that it stabbed into my side.
And the chance was used by enemy as the projectiles increased rapidly. Both the inferior and superior projectiles.
SLASH
CLANG TRILL CLANG
Each slash and cut made the combat almost melodious like sounds of Flute.
The shinobi looked at me as if I was a fool and that felt omnious. I immediately used my strongest attack.
"HAI"
My sword soaked completely in my chakra unleashed it entirely in the form of diagonal slash that literally flew into the air. Right into the shinobi.
I had to applaud the shinobi he managed to slide sideways, but he wasn't fast enough as the slash nicked him in the side, unleashing spray of blood.
The pain had damaged his concentration enough for the flying barrage of kunai and shuriken hampered in mid-flight. With the newfound opening, I ran forward to end the fight.
However, my omnious feeling turned out to be right because I was sucked into the ground by a hand that suddenly burst out of the ground. It clasped hard on leather boots to the point I felt the bloodflow stop to my feet.
"Oh Kami!"
The reason for my swear was not because of me being dragged into the ground but the sensation of my shoulder armour being slashed open. I knew for a fact that if I didn't sink into the ground, that invisible slash would have been on my chest.
It was at this point
In a daze of fear, adrenaline and wrath, my sword soaked with all my chakra went berserk sending upward slash in my half-buried state.
Then, I brought my sword down diagonally sending another slash, then my sword swung to the side. On and on, my berserk swings and slashes went.
SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH
"What the-"
"Bug armour!"
"Tootle trill TOoot"
Perhaps due the rapid rampage of chakra in my body's chakra pathways, I felt some foreign chakra inside it dissipate.
"Genjutsu!"
My guess was seconded by my rescuer who rose up from the ground, "That's right! Not just any genjutsu. But, sound based genjutsu."
I nodded at mono-, what was his name again? It took a few seconds for me to remember. Ah right! His name was Momosuke Kyudo. If the information that Uzumaki old man gave me was right. He should be the clan heir before Kyudo clan's destruction. and according to Kirito Kyudo, he was the clan leader now. It was surprising that the older and more powerful Kirito was not the clan leader, according to himself anyway. But it was plainly clear that Kirito was the leader in all but name.
Shinobi!
Their ways always confuse me.
I focused on the few things that made sense right now. Like the fact that two new shinobi that was previously fighting the kyudo shinobi in the barrier compartments at the start of the battle. Now, they were here at the back of the shinobi that was fighting me.
Clearly, these two were from the same clan, considering their similar features- Pale face, brown robes and a white undershirt, black hair and eyes. They were younger than the shinobi I was fighting, about 11 or 12, like the younger Kyudo shinobi. I felt clear distaste of the young age of the shinobi. Thankfully, the 6- or 7-year-olds were not on the battlefield which apparently was a common sight among shinobi battles.
"You fools! Why are you using your clan's hidden jutsu? Do you want to announce to the world that we are accidentally attacking a noble from land of hot water."
So, the adult shinobi knew I was speaking the truth but proceeded nonetheless. It meant only one thing, they wanted to erase all traces of the attack, including the witnesses like me.
How callous! In this point, I could say that Kyudo clan were better. Clearly all the servants and normal citizens were evacuated by them for the fight, considering the lack of bodies in the ruins. Of course, the fact they dragged me into the fight made my blood boil.
WHOOSH WHOOSH
It didn't take long for me to notice that the Fuin barrier formation was slowly being unravelled and Kyudo shinobi were retreating towards the centre. And behind them, came the attacking shinobi.
Bugs, Flute music and chakra threads.
No wonder, Kirito said that we could blame the land of rice instead of grass for this assassination. Though, I was starting to wonder if it really was an assassination on me by the land of rice.
Aburame-bugs, Fuma [land of sound/rice]-chakra threads, Shiin-Flute genjutsu.
All three of these clans were notable members of the land of rice and had loyalty to its daimyo.
BOOOMM BOOOMMM BOOOOMMMM BOOOOM
My ears rang in pain from the sheer number of explosion and it made look towards the source. Thankfully even my opponents were surprised by the absurd phenomenon.
I noticed a 12 year old Kyudo shinobi throughing down multiple kunai attached with exploding tags. His opponents who were chasing me seems to be from Aburame clan. The poor aburame being guarded by a swarm of horned armoured bettles was like ball caught in whirlwind. The aburame seemed to be following each step of the Kyudo boy exactly, allowing the explosion tags to hit him easily.
It puzzled me. Sure, these variety of bugs seemed to be good in defence but at the end of the day, they were bugs. The answer came when the aburame boy accidently stepped a few inched beside the Kyudo boy's footprints. And he exploded.
BOOOOMMMMM
Fuin traps. I would half expected it to be the creation Kirito if he wasn't fighting an adult Aburame in the distance. Clearly, this Kyudo boy was well versed in Fuinjutsu. At least, the exploding version of it.
"Damn it, Lord Koza. A little help here."
The shout from Momosuke brought the attention back to the fight. Jumping out of the reach of the chakra strings that tried to ensare me.
I was thankful for him because in the brief moment of distraction that dragged for far too long, the Fuma shinobi and the two Shiin shinobi were attacking us. Obviously, the only reason I was alive and healthy was because this Momosuke was fighting them in close range.
His green clad chakra blades, a weird version of medical ninjutsu, made him easily take on the flute blowing Shiin shinobi head one. Of course, the fact that he managed to move despite the genjutsu filled flute sound, impressed me.
CLANG CLANG CLANG
As I cut down another wave of shiruken and chakra threads. I yelled out, "Seriously shinobi, please improve your strategy. Your kunai and shiruken, while troublesome, are not a problem for me."
"Who told you that I was using the same strategy?"
I felt another burst of fear as the cut chakra threads ran towards my chest as if they were snakes.
However, I was saved when somehow Kuroba appeared behind me. I was not pleased with his method of saving me. He kicked out of the path of Chakra strings and yelled out, "Be careful, My lord! The Fuma clan of land of rice, are famous for their chakra strings that could sync the user and the opponent's body. One cut on him, you would have the same wound on you."
I felt a burst of fear at that. I heard about it. A hidden jutsu of a kind. In which the user and opponent were linked with chakra threads. Hand to hand, Legs to legs, Heart to heart. It made sure that killing the opponent was the same as suicide.
Quite the vicious technique.
"Kurabo, on me."
I yelled out as I went for the kill. However, It seems that Kurabo's opponent had caught up and managed to cross his tanto with my sword.
CLANG
I felt our weapons lock in the parry with both me and my opponent focused on the attack. I looked at my new, not willing to relent in the terms of sword against a shinobi.
He was dressed in the aburame style, a sunglasses and a half coat. To my surprise, he was just 12 years old and also seemed to follow a different colour combination than an average aburame. His coat was pitch black, and his sunglasses were more like the 'goggles' from the land of birds.
"Listen child! You are committing capital offense by raising a weapon against a noble on his land."
The reply to question was a blank look that made me wonder if he was mocking me.
"DIE! YOU DICK EATING FUCKERS!"
That half crazed shout surprised the fuck out of me. And with it, came the jutsu that change the tide of this chaotic battle.
Before I knew it, I saw weird wave of green chakra blade similar to Momosuke pass through me and the aburame kid.
"AGH!"
The kid who was silent on reprimand grunted in pain and blood as the green wave passed through him.
BUZZ BUZZ
Feeling disgust at the sight of bugs that came from his sleeves, I ran back to take stock of the situation.
I found Kyudo Kirito mid-air as he jumped up from the top of the ruined building. His hands extended and seemed to be holding blades while swarms of fleshing eating bugs surrounded him. But the sight that surprised me was the large green blades that burst from his elbow into a gagantic version of the 'chakra scalpel' used by him.
It was rather a peculiar sight to see the chakra blade come down without sound and smell. It was as if it passed through even air, land and just about everything like a ghost.
But, it seemed to damage the enemies. The bug swarms around him dropped lifeless the instant they passed by. Not just the bugs.
The aburame kid in front of me who was coughing blood was the evidence of it.
It didn't take long for enemies to realize this. Unfortunately, they also realized something else. The big chakra blades were losing form, and blurring like on the verge of collapsing.
For all the damage and chaos it inflicted, the chakra blades just collapsed on themselves after a few seconds.
Simultaneously two commands rang out. One from the opposite side and another from our side.
"ATTACK ! USE THE CHANCE."
""Defend Kirito/Kirito-nii.""
To my surprise, the young man Momosuke had gave the same command as me. It seems he had both the education and experience of commanding others in the battle.
Sure, I hate the that guy. But, the battle shown me how useful he would be.
"Fuck! What the hell went wrong?"
Momosuke ran to catch the falling Kirito while my samurai and I followed him.
For all the bluster and shouts, it amounted to nothing.
"Fuck! What's wrong. I can't feel my legs."
"I can't breathe. Torune-san, help me."
"Agh!"
The reason was simple, the opposing shinobi start collapsing. At least those that were hit by the big jutsu.
The Kyudo shinobi despite being injuried, bleeding and weak. They formed a defensive formation around Kirito and Momosuke who was healing him.
However, the biggest surprise of the day came when all the Kyudo shinobi weaved hand signs and lit their hands up in medical chakra.
One by one, they started healing themselves and got ready for another round of combat. Incredible! Even after such a intense fight, they immediately went on guard for any complicatons.
A young girl, clearly the only other adult in Kyudo clan, other than momosuke and Kirito appeared in front of us saying, "My Lord! Please allow me, it seems we were poisoned."
That revelation gave me another surprise. Another in the long list of surprises this night.
I found that there were patches of purple all over that spewed out purplish ooze.
"What the fuck was this?"
The girl, Karui, if I remember right, replied gently while gathering all the poison in spot, "Seems to be the poison from the famed poison bugs of the Aburame clan. Thank god! They didn't use the Kikachu on us, If those microscopic bugs were used, we would have been defeated."
And with that, I saw her making a small cut on top of the gathered poison, letting it flow out as bad blood. Though, my healers without doubt would scream at me, saying 'bad blood' doesn't even come close to describing the process.
Karui said while closing the small cut, "It would do for now. We need to do the complete procedure for complete poison removal after we reached the safety of your castle."
Oh! I didn't knew that the poison of Aburame clan could be cured by anyone other than Kamizu clan from Land of stone and the Puppters from land of wind.
Kirito Kyudo who had already got to his feat among the Kyudo shinobi said, "We didn't yet win, you idiots. They are acting, at least some of them are."
To surprise I saw that my Fuma opponent and the adult Aburame who chased after Kirito at the start of the fight, got up. With them, so did other shinobi in the background while lifting the downed shinobi like black clothed Aburame. Though, they all seemed to be clutching their sides and limbs.
But, despite their condition, they were capable of fleeing or comabat. If Kirito didn't wake up, we would have been deceived. Unbelievable such co-ordinated deception could only be possible among the shinobi.
"Tch! If only I completed Kenjutsu style. Then, I could have 100% accuracy. Then their acting scenario would have been true reality. A complete victory. Even so, I at least crippled them enough. We won."
To my surprise, the adult Aburame said, "No, you lost."
His words were punctuated with a pointing finger at Kirito's hand which had purplish tone. I was sure that the poison that I had and this were not the same.
The grim looks of the other Kyudo and the confident looks of Aburame said the same.
"Kikachu, the ultimate destruction bugs. They can't cured nor killed. They are smaller than the shortest measurement and they can eat and reproduce in such a rate that they could kill anyone with minutes. With you dead, the rest of the shinobi and samurai are easy pickings. Especially in their injured and poisoned state."
Kirito Kyudo shook his head and said, "You are right in that. But, it was hinged on the fact that I die. Sure, your Kikachu can't be cured or killed. But, it does't mean they can't be defended against."
With a grimace, another chakra scalpel grew on his healty hand and cut through his poisoned hand like a kitched knife goes through vegetables.
With he sounds of flesh following, I felt my stomach churn. Not just me, even my samurai and few surviving Fuma felt the same. But the aburame and Kyudo clans were not even batting a eye at the result of Kirito's actions.
His left hand was an abomination-with bone visible in patches, muscles cut down and so were some nerves.
"Momosuke."
"Here."
In a surprising turn of events, I watched as Kirito made hand signs with his healthy hand using Momosuke's stretched hand.
"Mystic palm Jutsu."
I watched in utter fascination at the thing that attracted me towards this clan in the first place. Kirito's nerves grew out as under the greenish glow. Ensuring that he didn't lose his combat proweress after this ordeal.
And not just him, Karui and Momosuke weaved the same hand signs and used Mystic Palm jutsu to heal the hand.
CLANG CLANG CLANG
I found that few invading shinobi who were capable of combat were attacking with everything they had. But the Kyudo shinobi were defending rather well. In fact, I saw an fuin barrier being erected by Kyu, I think his name was.
"ENOUGH!"
While still mess, his left hand looked alive and clearly moving. I saw Kyudo weave though hand signs. These were similar to same hand sings he used to manipulate fuin formation.
The same fuin Formation, I believed to had failed till now. I saw with fasciation as two circular fuin barriers rose up.
One that enclosed all of us in centre and another further outwards but enclosing all of the enemies, including the fleeing ones. Both Barrier had few violet streaks in them. Reminding me of the rumours I heard of the violet barriers of Uzumaki.
Though, this was clearly a imitation. But nonetheless strong.
"BUG BURST."
"FIRE SYTLE : FIRE BALL"
"EARTHEN BULLETS"
"Water Dragon"
But the barriers that trapped them both inwards and outwards held strong. In fact, It was beautiful when both the barriers started rotating. One to the right, other to the left.
SWIR SWIRL SWIRL
"Fuin Barrier: x100 transformation: Dual en-compartment."
The exploding boy form Kyudo clan ran forward as he summoned a massive storage scroll.
POOF
Rains of kunai and shuriken attached with Exploding tags were released from the scroll and rained outwards in to the ramaping enemy. It was all the more surprising to them and me as the Exploding weapons phased through the swirling barrier and exploded.
""Combination Fuinjutsu: Explosion en-compartment."
BBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM
It was incredible and sure real to see an explosion happening from inside. Thankfully, the outer barrier stopped the explosion from spreading while the inner barrier protected.
As the rotating force of barrier dragged the flames from the explosion into a whirlwind ensuring it's continuity. I laughed aloud, "Now, that is one powerful jutsu."
Kirito scoffed and said, "It better be. Just the materials of the exploding tags cost me millions of ryo."
I agreed with him when flames and the barrier started to clear.
THUD
"KIRITO-NII"
Looking at the chakra exhausted Kirito who fell down, I turned back towards the offending shinobi.
"Don't lose focus. The enemy aren't dead."
I scrunched my eyebrows in annoyance when I noticed the ruins of earthen walls, armoured bugs that held as shield and other defences they managed to muster at last moment.
I applaud the Kyudo shinobi for fighting with restrain, ensuring the damage was confined this area. But, such nature of fighting means that there destructive capacity decreases.
Looking at the few standing shinobi, clearly exhausted but grim. I decided to end this farce. Kyudo Kirito was right in saying this was a demonstration by him. My chakra welled up in me abundantly while I inwardly wondered if he knew the extent of my strength before proclaiming that.
"Please, my lord. They are better useful when captured."
It jolted me when Kirito groaned out from his collapsed state. That surprised the Kyudo shinobi who were expecting for another round of brutal fighting.
Their realization was clear to me as they looked at me in astonishment. Especially at the visible molding of chakra.
"Your intelligence capabilities surprise me. Another point to you, in my evaluation. Kyudo Kirito. We will talk once you wake up."
"Yes, sir."
With that, I bit down on thumb, drawing my blood. With that I called upon my friend, connected both by contract and blood, "Summoning Jutsu: Shiromari. Come to me as a valiant castle and capture the shinobi."
POOOOFF
I felt a smile came to me as my chameleon friend rose up in his castle form, towering over the ruins with his transformation. Though the statues and paintings featuring a fearsome chameleon felt a bit too much of a show off for me.
It didn't take long for the castle that touched the sky to start dragging the fleeing invaders.
"Mama."
"Damn the Daimyo. The mission didn't tell me we need to deal with a boss summon."
It was amusing as the aburame tried make a rope of bugs and pull himself out. But, Shiromari inhaled loudly, dragging him into the castle as if he was a fly.
WHROOOMMM
It felt like a joke seeing a aburame with their insects being swallowed by Chameleon friend.
Once that was done, I looked towards the Kyudo clan.
Realizing my intentions, Momosuke shouted aloud, "RUN!"
But, it was too late. Shiromari rose a hand from the emerging castle wall and dragged them inside in single swoop.
"That momosuke kid was well trained. In fact, I would say he was a trained as leader. Quite surprising, I assumed most leaders were like my cousin Daimyo, fearing for loss of power from competition from competent subordinates. Another point for that Kirito Kyudo."
Kurabo kneeled beside me as I walked on, quite intent on searching for a bottle of sake, while muttering, "Now, I need to decide how to proceed with this mess."
"My Lord! Ahem."
"Spit it out."
"WE are poisoned and might need the Kyudo clan's healers. I don't think our court healers are proficient in curing Aburame poison."
I felt like smacking my face in frustration. Right! I just need to ask the same shinobi I threw in the jail for healing.