56 Iron and Soul (3)

Ah yes, there is nothing better than running through the empty countryside while trying to catch up with a floating fortress.

Then again, it wouldn't be the first crazy sight I chased after, but definitely a novelty compared to the rest. The path it was taking was also a good one since I couldn't see any settlements nearby so I didn't have to stop by and help for another invasion.

Still, I could tell I wasn't going to need to follow for too long when I started to see smoke and explosions erupt from the structure before its stable movement tilted and redirected to slowly decline downward unto the ground below.

I was grinning eye-to-eye at the sight as I knew I was soon going to get two birds with a stone: a new power-up for my sword, and technological advance to propel an industrial revolution without relying on coal or any other material which could facilitate pollution through modernization. Yes! I could already smell the metaphysical Nobel I was going to receive~!

The only big issue I found as I went on through that speedy pace was that there were lots of animals. Lots of hungry animals at that. None was fast enough to really catch me, but some got close and were quick to chase me for a time. Some persisted, but most just decided to jump on each other while the prey ones were distracted.

Eventually the structure landed near a small hill, the loud earth shake coming from the impact stunning many, but not me as I promptly jumped in the air to perceive the vibration less. The animals that had been following closely behind were all stunned by the development, and frightened enough to run back into the woods as soon as a miasma of dark chakra started to spread into the land.

The Reibi has landed! And its stench was already causing the local fauna to panic and flee the region.

I could tell this was my best shot to also renew my WWF card after years of indulging the hunting parties during the war. Rations can do so much if logistics were screwed, and there were plenty of animals to hunt and eat in Iwa.

Still, not what really mattered in the end. Not when I realized the structure's fall may have destroyed about half my chances of scavenging the sky technology still inside. Oh well, now I had a reason to be quite pesty while dealing with the Zero-Tailed Bastard.

Speaking of which, it was quite easy to spot it within the ruins of the temple-like floating fortress, with its gigantic form roaring in challenge… while staring at the sky. I suppose that's a reasonable behavior when you were pissed but had no one to direct the anger at.

That was until I appeared in front of it, and I got a full view of what I was dealing with. Despite its name, the 'Tailed Beast' did have a 'tail'. Except it was part of its slithery snake-like body. One where its head was made by a Noh Mask with a Zero Kanji on it. Curled up in a spiral, the beast's attention finally turned to me and it greeted me with a loud growl.

If I remember correctly, it did have a special ability which, like Kurama, allowed it to sense entities through negative emotions. And while I was not an edgy kid, I was the furthest thing from a ball of sunshine and positive energy.

"GRIOOOOOOOOOOOOOORH!"

Still, I was pumped up! This was finally a serious fight and I could see how strong this 'Tailed Beast' was compared to the original ones. The moniker wasn't given to it just because of its gargantuan size, but also because of its peculiar chakra resembling the malicious and dense one used by the nine Bijuus. Yet, it would be a mistake to consider 'Dark Chakra' the same as that.

Yes, it was technically the opposite of normal chakra, but its true manifestation was closer to the kind of energy that worked well with Yang Release. Also, it didn't corrupt. The Reibi worked as a battery in that regard, turning the normal chakra it would fed on, like it was doing with the numerous carcasses of sky ninjas littering the ground via tendrils stabbing into their school, into the Dark Chakra it could use for destructive purposes.

And no, luckily enough none of its attacks was going to ever be as dangerous as a Bijuu Dama. The closest thing was a particular spherical bomb it threw me in an effort to shred my body. I dodged the blast by jumping over it, and then using the explosion to propel myself towards it. It recoiled, ready to pounce, but screeched in pain when my sword cut into its purplish frame and absorbed some of the Dark Chakra it had just produced.

The blade, in response to the absorption, manifested a dull black flame around its body, coating it with the newly-absorbed energy. Grumbling, the monster turned back to me just a moment too late as I had my weapon drawn to strike once more, this time with a nice surprise.

"Dark Style: Cutting Shadow," I muttered after unleashing a blast with a strike, the projected attack taking on a wide crescent-moon appearance which slammed and detonated on impact.

The Reibi stumbled back, clearly stunned by this development as it tried to attack me, this time manifesting a peculiar yellowish-white aura which manifested numerous hands. These rushed in my general direction, but I calmly jumped over them, cutting them and realizing that those were made of dark chakra as my sword absorbed those and obtained a similar look it had when absorbing that form of energy.

In response to that, I used the Cutting Shadow technique again and… it just made the monster recoil, most of the damage drawn on its barrier. So, it was a form of protection from chakra-based attacks. Good to know and now it was time to exploit it for my own victory.

While I could go for hours into tiring it out and hope it would just give up to me, I knew I couldn't afford to waste a full day trying to get this situation dealt with. I had stuff to do, places to check, a master to get- you know, the things I came here for to begin with.

"I'mma catch you!" I exclaimed giddily, resuming my rush towards it.

Hundreds of hands shot to intercept me, but my pace was too fast for it to predict my pattern as I shifted to the left and then the right, swimming through its desperate attacks as I cocked my sword for another attack.

This time, as I stopped in front of it, I crouched down, pumping chakra in my legs and using the propelling might within that move to slash upward, barely cutting into its 'armor', but absorbing the dark chakra used to form it.

From there my rise upward continued as I found myself staring down, several meters over the beast. It hesitated, the pain and the shock confusing it for long enough for me to dive down and, with my blade coated in dark chakra, stab through the armor and straight into its 'forehead'.

The mask cracked, the Reibi gurgled what felt like blood, and then the sword started to do its main job, which was absorbing the energy inside it. I had gone long enough to have it waste so much energy around, that I knew it was soon going to run out of juice. And that proved to be the case as its form trembled before being literally devoured by the sword until the only thing that was left behind was the peculiar mask, the thing dropping as soon as my sword lost its 'grip' on it and shattering in multiple pieces the moment it landed.

…

"Yatta! New sword ability!" I happily celebrated, staring at the blade as I could perceive the now-mindless beast shuddering inside. A battery for a temple was now my sword's dark battery, and I was going to exploit this when the time came for me to kill some large entity.

I calmly sheathed my sword after spending some time studying the seals and checking if everything was under control, confident that they were holding even better than I expected them to. Without further ado, I spent the next two hours digging around the ruined fortress and looking for anything that could be worthy of rescue.

Good news is that I found a kunai launcher and I took it for myself for the time being, knowing that I could convert it in a fast-shooting bazooka if I used my explosive kunais instead of the normal one; bad news is that the airships and the 'jetpacks' used by the Sky ninjas were not recoverable since those that hadn't been crushed by the impact had been destroyed by the Reibi; another good news is that I still found some blueprints for the airships, so it shouldn't be difficult to develop the smaller device by developing the bigger ones first.

Once I was done looting the place and putting everything on special mini-scrolls I carried around, I could finally get moving and… That's where the issues started. While I did keep an eye on the crashing fortress, I did nothing to keep track of the particular direction I took from the place I left. I had a map on me, but no general landmark which could help me identify where I was. What I had was a hill… and other hills around, and a forest- and a lot of confusion on where I was supposed to go.

Still, rather than hesitate and lose focus on what to do, I just did what any smart guy in my situation would have done. If you are lost, you better get your Zoro/Ryouga's mindset up and get walking. Eventually you will get somewhere with that mindset, and so that was the case as I started moving and followed the tracks of a muddy road nearby.

But I ended up finding civilization again only five hours later and my feet were killing me at this point.

The inn-keeper was nice enough to let me borrow a basin to fill with water so I could get my feet to cool down a bit. I had marched before, but I had been running and walking for numerous hours now, and chakra could do little if parts of my body throbbed at the stress. I could fix it a bit through medical chakra, but it wouldn't do much with the heat remaining from the swelling.

So yeah, the first hour of being back to civilization was to sit down and think. This settlement was slightly bigger than the previous one and it had a nice vibe on it. It had a greater samurai population, this much I could tell and all of those seemed to be locals in the area. No hostilities, lots of law-enforcing and… I had nothing to complain about when it comes to feeling 'safe' while wandering around.

Once I could get back on the move, I started to ask around for any of those 'samurai dojos' around which I needed to check to find instructors. There were three in towns and… not many which the local samurais favored. I didn't probe deeper into their unease in that regard, but it seemed tied to the fact these came to be after they returned home after training elsewhere. I was willing to still give it a shot, even just to get a first teacher to lay down the foundation for my education.

"Ohayo~ are you looking for a new student? Here I am~!"

Enthusiasm seemed to be the key to success with these people. The sillier you sound, the more naive they will paint you. In a sense I could see some red flags of a scam going on but… I decided to ignore that. Especially when I saw there were a dozen students already training and doing what appeared to be good exercises.

'Master Tenmei' was the guy I ended up sticking with. I didn't look into other dojos since I really didn't have the time or patience to do that.

"Hmm? A young man looking for education? I will not shun you away, Kojiro-kun! I can sense you hold grand potential but you are far from being a great warrior. Your path is indeed a long one."

...Did he just call me slow and weak?

I held back my breath and tried to calm down. It was definitely a mistaken view. Deeds and time were going to prove him wrong. The pretentious arrogance just did nothing but raise my own against them. But where for them it was mere arrogance, mine was about absolute confidence in my skills against theirs.

I was in a war, what did this guy have on me. But while I was truly ready to teach these people a lesson, I knew that the point of my visit was not about showing off people. I needed a proper Kenjutsu teacher to learn from. And hardly anyone in the Land of Iron could match up to a proper shinobi, regardless of their swordsmanship.

Thus, I 'endured' the first day and complied when I was told to just watch as his 'strong pupils' trained under him. He wanted to show off his incredible skills and teaching ability and… it was mediocre at best.

I could see some interesting elements I didn't know about, but for it to be an 'advanced lesson' it sure felt so… weak. It felt as if these guys barely knew how to hold a sword and use it within a style which was so simple and quick to decipher. I held back my tongue with my criticism, letting this all settle as I spent the night at the nearby inn and then returned to the dojo.

"Today we shall visit a nearby town where you shall retrieve proper gear. None of that flimsy sword and shabby clothes."

...I am really getting annoyed right now.

But I held back since I knew that this guy may have something to teach me and then… we would be through. I wasn't going to linger beyond the necessary time. And I had even more of an interest to do that when he asked me to pay the first fee so he could buy the items I needed.

It was quite expensive, but not enough to dent the money I had on me. He did seem to notice I was quite happy to hand out the coins, potentially having him intrigued by how big 'the gold mine was'. But I gave him no response to his feeble attempts to gauge my deep pockets.

Eventually he gave up and we went on through our merry way to this new settlement. And I could see almost instantly why this place was slightly better in buying equipment: it was a merchant town, and numerous merchants stopped by to open shop here. Some were locals, others were people that came from all corners of the land.

I looked around a bit, slightly surprised by the sight and I wondered which shop we were looking for at this point. After twenty minutes of wandering around, I could only glare at the guy as the Master had taken me to the 'worst setting to buy shit'.

"This is not what I was expecting with 'important trip of wisdom'," I flatly commented, my words ignored as the 'respectable master', now a drunk moron, was yelling over something about losing money to a gamble or two.

My money at that.

Still, I was confused- like really confused. Not about Tenmei, but rather the place itself. We had betting spots in Konoha too, but those were never so… loud and drunk. Then again, regulations were far stricter and the bouncers actually had the means to go in, kick the ass of any troublemakers, and let the rest of the clients enjoy the betting.

And right now I couldn't help but feeling I had been scammed out of an emotional situation. Here I was hoping I really got a proper master to teach me how to Kenjutsu, and now I found out this guy is a bit of a lazy and cheap idiot.

...Yeah, I ain't lingering to be frustrated like this.

Truly a waste of time, and one that really annoyed me since I put some effort into ignoring how 'inferior' he felt towards me. I didn't want to be Madara, but this place really lacked people that could really stand up to my full strength. And this situation just reinforced how frustrating it was getting. I was actually contemplating going home and laying down on paper what I had seen in the Land of Iron. Three settlements, and lots of disappointment up to this point.

Did I really get scammed by the rumors I heard of this place? I am quite sure Madara didn't lie about there being strong warriors but… maybe they weren't around anymore?

I grimaced at that thought, after all I was really excited of being someone that didn't have the notoriety of Shimura Danzou and I didn't want to end this adventure this early on.

As if a wish was coming true, something happened while I was walking to the local inn to set myself a room. During my stroll, I couldn't help but feel my attention stolen by a single individual among the rest of the people. A young girl with short white hair and yellow eyes, she was wearing a white kimono and red details. She looked to be around Ina's age.

Two things hit me about her: 1) she was asking for help around, but no people was stopping to listen to her, and actually were avoiding her; 2) which I concluded was the reason she was being dodged by the civilians, was the pair of black horns sprouting on the sides of her head. One of those, the right one, had a white ribbon wrapped around it.

I slowed down my pace so I could listen to what was up and she was saying something about-

"H-Help! Please- my father- he was attacked and- and he is wounded."

Now, I may not be a truth-detector and after getting scammed once already I was not in the mood of trusting my patience with this one… however I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. And I used the sharingan to pick up if she was lying or not.

Good news? She wasn't. Bad news? I could also sense some dense chakra in her. Not enough for me to label her a Tailed Beast, but enough to know she wasn't just some hybrid human with some demonic hints. There was something else about her which warranted my curiosity.

And thus I bit the hook.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean your father was attacked?" I asked, getting close enough for the girl to hear. She turned to look at me and approached me.

"My dad- he was trying to protect me but-"

"Where?"

Gulping nervously the girl instantly picked my right hand and led me into a lengthy alley. I wondered through the walk if my sharingan had screwed me up this time around, but I was relieved to see she wasn't leading me into a trap. But rather a sprung one. As in, the girl's daddy was currently on the ground as numerous shurikens and Kunai had been stabbed all around his body.

The old man looked quite buff, with lots of muscles. He was definitely a veteran warrior but too old to catch up with a speedy opponent. He had a scar running vertically over his right eye, while his other one, yellow and bright, which matched with the girls' eyes- almost their similar silver shade for their hairs.

The culprit of that attack sneered at the big guy, and yet quickly turned his attention to us. I glanced at the cut on his forehead protector- a missing-nin from Iwa. How peculiar of a sight this was so deep in the Land of Iron.

"And would you look at that, the child has returned to meet her death here too."

The old man, who looked like a bear with his size, turned and stared in shock at the girl. "Nashiro, I told you to-"

"I couldn't leave you to die!" The girl interjected, crying and all.

"Oh, isn't that lovely? My real target decides she wants to die with her beloved guardian. Such a shame that-"

"Oi," I interrupted, raising my left hand. "What the hell is a Missing-Nin from Iwa doing here?"

The guy's crazy smile faltered. "Someone can recognize my home- the forehead protector?"

"Yep, but seriously… How pathetic are you?" I remarked flatly, his smile slowly vanishing the more I talked. "I mean, I know Iwa is going through some rigorous checks, but for someone to be forced to go missing-nin it means you have to have sucked badly during the war."

"Y-You don't know anything."

"Don't tell me, you were one of those that ran from the war during the last battles, when Iwa was being besieged."

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

Oh yes, and you wouldn't be the first one to say that.

He rushed forward, throwing three shurikens, two at me, and one at Nashiro. I calmly brought my still sheathed sword up and used its hilt to deflect the projectiles. That stunned the missing-nin, but didn't stop him from resuming his warpath against me while holding on to a kunai.

Quite odd he wasn't using Chakra, but maybe it had something to do with the current setting: the place was too small to rely on large-scale techniques, no matter how weakened those could be. His confidence didn't falter… but it definitely remained in his mind when he found death.

Holding onto the sword's hilt, I finally shifted it out of its sheath and cut upwardly. The end result was the man getting his head vertically split and falling dead on the side. The girl gasped, holding her hands to his mouth and looking away at the ugly sight, while I merely returned the sword back to its resting place.

"Well, that was… anticlimactic."

Still, with no other threats around, I approached the downed big guy.

"D-Dad-"

"I-It's alright, Nashiro," The buff elder commented with a bloodied grin. "I- I will die knowing you are safe. This is my goal, and your current… mission."

I blinked at the scene with a mixture of confusion and dryness. "I'm sorry, what are you two talking about?"

"My wounds- ghh- they- they are too much for me to handle."

"And?"

…

"I-I'm dying, you dumb youth!" He exclaimed angrily.

"That doesn't sound like the attitude of a dying old fart," I replied flatly and then turned my attention to the girl. "Can you hold him distracted while I remove the iron out of him?"

The horned girl looked confused by this turn of events, and could only nod numbly before complying to my request. I went on with the task of removing all kunais and shurikens off the moron's body, the guy groaning in pain during that effort but eventually sighing in relief when I started with phase two: healing him with medical chakra.

The wounds in their individual status were quite flimsy, the real issue was the quantity- there were a lot of those spread all over his flesh. So, a simple process of speeding up his healing was good enough to fix the old man's first issue. The second issue was the blood loss, but that was quick to fix through one of the medical pills that the Konoha Medical Research Division back at Konoha Hospital had created.

It was not a soldier pill as its main focus was to just slightly boost already existing chakra into heightening blood production. The cost of that process was a more demanding metabolism for a full day as he will have to eat enough for his body to burn and gain energy from.

The elder frowned at the medicine, but ate it without making a fuss about it, slowly feeling it enter in action after swallowing it. "What- What was that?"

"Blood-replenishing pill. You will need to eat twice as much as usual today since your body will burn a lot of energy while increasing your blood production and make up for the blood you spilled here."

The oldie grinned. "Well, thanks. And who are we talking to?"

I blinked. "Kojiro. Sasaki Kojiro."

"Muramasa Sengo, weapon-maker and current protector to this little one," The tall oldie remarked happily, almost too jovially for my tastes as my brain was stunned by this discovery.

Muramasa Sengo- that Muramasa!? The legendary sword-maker from ancient Japan? Here? How?!

I was marveling before the possibility of this was even a thing. Was he a legit native of this dimension- or perhaps he had been Isekai'd to this world. I couldn't tell on the spot but… maybe it was just a coincidence. After all, Hiruzen's father was Sasuke Sarutobi and that's a real ninja back in ancient Japan. That guy wasn't isekai'd, so it wouldn't be that big of a stretch if this was just a coincidence.

Then it was the girl's turn to introduce herself. "My name is Tatsushiro Nashiro, nice to meet you, Kojiro-sama."

...That last name is familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where I heard it from. Still, there was another pressing matter to address.

"Wait, that means you are not his daughter?"

Nashiro fidgeted nervously, but Muramasa hummed.

"Well, of course not. But that doesn't mean I don't consider her a daughter."

"Didn't mean to sound disrespectful about it," I argued. "Just raising a point about your different last names. So, why was that ninja trying to kill Nashiro-chan?"

The girl shifted shyly at the honorifics, causing the old man to smile mirthfully at the sight.

"My little ward is the only remnant of an old clan. If you have noticed, she isn't exactly human."

"I can tell. She has cute horns."

And now Nashiro was blushing in embarrassment.

"Bwahahahaha! Brat, stop teasing my poor child~!"

"Okay, okay," I raised my hands in an appeasing way since I could sense the annoyance through that jolly response. "Still, an important clan?"

"I can't tell you more. It's a bit of a secret."

But that makes me even more interested~!

"Oh well, I suppose that's how it is," I ultimately conceded. "Well, I will leave you to get back to your day. I have my own things to do and-"

"Are you an apprentice samurai?" Muramasa inquired and I paused.

"Sorta?"

"Sorta? Yes or no, boy," The old man pressed on impatiently.

"I am but also not. I have some foundation-"

"Weak ones from the looks of it," The elder admitted flatly, getting a frown out of me. "I may not be as strong as I used to be, but I may teach you a proper style to learn from."

That sounded quite… alluring.

"Where's the catch?"

"You aid me in protecting Nashiro. That's the catch."

"Only that?" I inquired and he nodded before shrugging.

"Would you like to pay more?"

Cheeky old fart.

"No, I think that will do."

"Great!" The burly old man chuckled. "Now, how about you help me stand? My legs are a bit stiff~."

Indeed, an old fart.