110 Wind Wall
"Yes!" Kameko seized the opportunity. She gathered all the money she had and handed it over to Fugaku. He smiled wryly at the amount.
"Five thousand ryo? Well, that's fine. I'll take it," he said, before unleashing his forbidden technique, Eight Gates.
"Second gate open."
With incredible speed, Fugaku kicked one of the five ninjas encircling them, sending him flying. He held Kameko with his left arm and a young boy with his right hand, while his katana blade rested between his teeth.
The four remaining ninjas quickly regained their senses and hurled kunai and shuriken at him.
But Fugaku, fueled by the power of his opened Eight Gates technique, was too fast for them to land any hits.
He knew he couldn't reveal his true identity, and so he refrained from using a shadow clone to eliminate the attackers. Instead, he relied on his increased speed and strength to easily fight off the ninjas.
Despite the intensity of the situation, he couldn't help but notice the softness of Kameko's body against his shoulder.
Collecting himself, he focused on disarming the enemies, and he put them down.
fugaku swung his katana at the ninja, who was caught off guard by the sudden attack.
A bright arc of chakra followed the blade, extending its reach and power. The ninja barely managed to evade the slash, but the chakra arc dissipated before it could hit him. He looked at his assailant with a mix of fear and confusion.
The ninja was terrified, then he asked furiously, "What? Damn it, is he mocking me?"
fugaku calmly pointed his katana at the ground, shielding the two people standing behind him. With a smile, he spoke, "Hahaha, it is the first time I have used it. I'm sorry if it let you down."
He had been having fun and wanted to mimic the sword style of the samurai of Iron Country, but the results were obvious.
"Should we help him?" one of Jiro's men asked.
Jiro rolled his eyes and replied, "No, you'll only die if you go. I think he can handle it."
As Jiro touched his chin, he wondered how he didn't expect him to be so strong. And that person was actually a woman? How had he misjudged that?
The four ninjas noticed something strange about the mercenary. He had killed one of them with a slit throat and sent another flying with a powerful kick. The rest of them did not dare to attack him recklessly.
They wondered who he was and where he came from. Despite the situation, Fugaku is still confident.
"Identify yourself," one of the ninjas demanded, trying to sound calm and authoritative.
Mercenaries who had such skills were rare and usually served as bodyguards for daimyos or swordmasters of the Iron Country.
He had heard of some of their names and reputations and did not want to make unnecessary enemies.
Fugaku was surprised by the ninja's question. He paused for a moment, then grinned and said, "My name is Yasuo. I'm a master of the wind-style sword technique. I can defeat any of your ninjas with ease. They call me... the Stylish Bandit Slayer."
"Yasuo the Stylish Bandit Slayer?" Jiro exclaimed with wide eyes, suddenly intrigued by the hired mercenary's name.
He hadn't bothered asking for their names before, but now he had something to boast about to his fellow businessmen.
"Ha, you think you can intimidate me with your cheap tricks? You are nothing but a mere swordman, and you have the audacity to mock me, a stylish bandit slayer? I will show you how a true swordsman fights." The ninja scoffed and swiftly formed a hand seal.
"Lightning Release: Thunderbolt"
The rest of the ninja followed suit and hurled their shuriken and kunai at him.
The ninjas were aware of his skill with the katana, so they avoided getting too close to him and relied on their ranged arsenal.
Komeko, the woman Yasuo had been assigned to protect, used the chaos as an opportunity to hide behind a nearby rock. Fugaku, realizing he couldn't dodge the incoming attacks, quickly slashed his katana in front of him and generated a wall of wind to deflect the shuriken.
But the wind wall wasn't very effective; the shurikens still found a way to change course.
Fortunately, he deflected the projectiles, and the Lightning Release justu breached the wind wall. Fugaku had the anticipation to release the wind wall and stepped aside, avoiding a potential dangerous situation.
Fugaku was speechless as he looked at his katana. The quality of the weapon was so poor that it had already chipped away after only parrying some kunai.
Ignoring it, he held his katana horizontally and gestured towards the ninjas. "Come on and show me what you've got!"
He then created a wind wall on the spot without the use of hand seals. It was his first attempt, and although it had some chakra behind it, it was clear that it was not strong enough and didn't last long. He felt that he could do better if he tried again.
Fugaku wanted to imitate the samurai from the iron country, but he knew he had to do it right.
A ninja asked, wide-eyed, "Did he evade thunderbolt? Is it the wind wall?"
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Style: Mud Swamp!"
Two ninjas quickly seized the opportunity to make their hands seal. Fugaku's feet sank into the swamp, and an earth dragon rose from the ground, spitting out stones at him.
Jumping high before the swamp could trap him, Fugaku looked down at the swamp and inquired slowly, "Is it a lower version of Jiraiya's Swamp Justu?"
Not stopping, he bent slightly and held his katana backwards, ready to swing. He leaped over the swamp and the earth dragon.
He could hear the ninja exclaiming, "You can't escape!"
They hurled Kunai at him in the air. He couldn't defend himself from them, so he smirked, "This time, I must do it right!"
He drew his katana, and with a loud shout of "Wind wall!", he swung it and slashed through the air.
The wind wall, like a barrier, stopped the shuriken from reaching him and sent them crashing to the ground.
Fugaku felt a wave of relief wash over him as he landed firmly on the ground.
Finally, he had accomplished what he wanted. Although he was aware that using this technique had drained his chakra significantly, as it was a direct use of it without any hand seals, It wouldn't have mattered even if he had not used his katana; he just wanted to mimic the samurai's style and look cool.
In the distance, the mercenaries were amazed at Fugaku at that moment and felt like they had just witnessed a new world of possibilities. They wondered, "Can they truly be this strong?"
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Give me stone, and I'll give you bonus chapters on same day. How does that sound?
1. Achive 20th rank on bi-annual =+1 bonus chapter
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