Chapter 7 – Blood and Fear

Chapter 7 – Blood and Fear

For the first few days we were engaged only in exploring the area around our valley. To our surprise, the nearest road turned out to be in a rather neglected state. And the nearest villages were abandoned. My grandfather's paranoia jumped sharply and we sent a couple of scouts to the nearest city while we packed all our stuff ourselves and got ready to a low start. But upon the return of scout and report we relaxed a bit, everything turned out to be much simpler, our barrier, or rather its genjutsu, created a quite specific reputation for this place. Local peasants noticed that a terrible swamp appeared on the site of the blooming valley and notified the local authorities about it. Local authorities first sent a detachment of guards, but the brave defenders of city walls started to flee without even reaching the outskirts of the valley-swamp. Having scratched their heads for solutions , the authorities decided to hire Shinobi to solve the problem after few days. First they sent a couple of Missing-nin from the land of Water. None of them returned, the terrified authorities increased the reward and hired proper shinobi from nearest clan but they also failed. Of the whole squad, only a grey-haired teenager returned, who only talked about the dead and the terrible feeling of death and rot.

Due to fearful reputation, our swamp valley was declared a cursed place and forbidden to approach. All the peasants from the nearest villages fled, leaving their homes and everything they could take away with them. Terrified merchants decided to use other trade roads, which led to the decline of the local economy, which worsened the local reputation even more.

All this played to our benefit especially at first, but sooner or later someone will notice that the terrible swamp has turned into an ordinary valley. So the scouts got the task to find a place for a new base from which we can start capturing the territories of neighbouring clans.

We found a suitable place much to the north of our valley a couple of days away from the border line with the country of Noodles. The new area was quite hilly and very rich in forests. An ideal place to start expansion, a balance of security and secrecy.

For the first few weeks we worked in non-stop mode building houses and defensive structures. All we did was cut down the forest, dragged stones and dug underground storages. Even the training sessions were cancelled until Grandfather was satisfied with the protection of the base. But everything ends sooner or later and our clan has finished building a base. Now we were ready to seize territories and plunder....that is, I meant replenishing the resources of the clan after surviving on bare minimum

But the most important thing was that the old people decided that it was time for the young to spill blood and for the rest to test their skills with a real enemy. The first step was to clear the area of all dangerous animals, especially bipedal ones. My grandfather taught me to hunt and butcher prey, and the lively old lady Kusumoto taught me about herbal medicine of the forest at the same time showing me special signs like a broken branch ark and what they mean. Good training for a future hunter-poacher and a pharmacist.

So a few days passed until my grandfather spotted a bandit gang. You know, such an ordinary group of 30-40 clearly criminal faces without even a hint of intelligence. From the look of it, it was possible to understand that this group was engaged in robbery and murder for a quite a while, because it was clear that most of the clothes were clearly taken away from someone's dead body. And the manner of wielding the weapon showed that these were not yesterday's peasants, but people used to spilling the blood.

- Aki, it's your turn to baptise your with blood. – said the grandfather pointing to the bandit camp.

Damn. When my grandfather calls me by name, it means everything is getting serious.

- Alright grandfather. - I said in a firm voice. The time for jokes and fun has passed, it's time for the bloody Shinobi craft.

- Now we will hit them with the fireball technique together, then Kusumoto will hit with a water wave. While they are blinded by the steam, you and I will get closer and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Kusumoto will make sure that no one interferes. – the grandfather began to give instructions, dividing the roles in the upcoming fight.

Having taken my position, I began to wait for the signal. And then an almost silent click of fingers and hands began to fold the seals almost automatically. Heh, here's the achievement of "The eyes scared but hands keep going". Here I feel the rising heat and together with the cry of Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! I'm releasing a fireball. Wasting no time, I rush towards the enemy together with my grandfather and remembering where they are. Half way through, a small wave of water hits the enemy, it extinguishes the fire at the same time creating a dense steam-fog. The enemies start shouting, making my job easier. Here I see the silhouette of a bandit with a baton in his hand, he is spinning around in search of an enemy and shouting for help. A quick sprint and my fist smashes into his face, breaking the bone. Before his body has time to fall, I throw myself on the back of a new enemy a few meters away from me. Grabbing his neck, a quick pull and push, a crunch and the enemy falls dead. So two are done in just 10 seconds. But gradually the steam begins to dissipate and my superiority along with it. I need to hurry up, I quickly get kunai out and start hitting enemies at vulnerable points. By the time the steam had completely dissipated, I had killed 8 people. The result is not the best, but this is my first fight, so there is a lot to strive for. While I was practicing silent assassinations here, my grandfather managed to kill almost all the bandits. He left alive the strongest-looking bandit with a long katana.

- Aoki is yours. Show your skills with a sword. - Grandfather ordered curtly.

The poor bandit was covered with red burn spots. From the beginning, he was scared by the quick death of all his accomplices and now they want to use him as a training dummy. But when he saw that a tall child came out against him, he was filled with rage. With a loud cry, he rushed at me. What about me? I took out my katana and began to use sword play combinations. In order for this not to become an ordinary beating of the weakling, I used only a quarter of my speed and strength. For the first few minutes it was interesting to fight with this bumpkin. But it was clear that despite some experience and strength, he did not have a proper training. When I realized that I wouldn't get anything more from this sparring, I increased my speed and cut his throat.

- Not bad, little bear. They may not be shinobi, but they are almost perfect for the first kill. – said grandfather coming up and patting me on the shoulder. – but don't get conceited! Shinobi is much more dangerous than these scum.

- Grandfather, I'm not dumb. You just slaughtered a bunch of people like cattle. And this is the best reminder of the difference in strength between the them and us. – I answered while scanning my feelings. Now that the fever of the fight has passed, I expected that I would start shaking or my stomach would twist into a spasm. But everything went much easier than I expected. Apparently the experience of a past life pays off. So spitting on the corpses of bandits, I began to inspect their goods. Grandfather looked at my behavior with a sigh of relief and joined me. That the old bastard was waiting for me to have a tantrum and tears with snot running down my nose ? Ha, in your wet dreams old man. Oh, I pray to all gods up there that they will have some cigarettes! I even agree to simple tobacco leaves.

But to my disappointment, the bandits turned out to be healthy lifestyle cult followers or they just left towards their hunting grounds because I didn't even find sake. Okay, on my first trip to the city, I'll buy myself tobacco, since some bandits turned out to have deep pockets . While I was thinking about future purchases, my grandfather gave a sign to hurry up and prepare to leave. The main thing is not to forget to get rid of the corpses, otherwise not only animals can come running to the smell of blood.