Overwhelming Defeat

After a while the atmosphere became tense, one of the men shouted. "The longer we wait the more he recovers his chakra, I say we charge him together!"

The group of mercenaries were a ragtag bunch, so they had their own considerations. They only answered to money, and seeing the weakened target, they agreed with the person's suggestion. However, the one who hired them, frowned upon hearing this. He knew the captain's skillset himself since he worked under Takashi for a year during the last war. Although he took a severe injury which caused his chakra reserves to become leaky, he still managed to maintain a high fighting capacity.

However, he wouldn't tell that to the mercenaries. If they all died, then he wouldn't have to pay them. His group was taking action against several officials all at once, so he would be embarrassed to fail at this point. The mercenaries bolstered their courage and decided to charge all together. At the halfway point, dozens of explosive tags went off. Of the remaining ten mercenaries, only six were left. In the confusion, Takashi took advantage of the fleetfooted mercenaries and finished them off.

"When!?" the man who had shouted earlier exclaimed.

"It was probably after deflecting all our shuriken. In the chaos, no one noticed the tags were among the projectiles." The man who hired them had stood back and did not go forward. He knew Takashi wouldn't leave things up to chance. This was a man that fought in several wars.

"Why didn't you say anything? Sir, we are just hirelings, if you let us off, we won't return to the Land of Earth in our lifetimes!" Seeing no other way out, he turned to Takashi and deeply bowed. If he wanted to, he could take him out with a single air bullet. However, Takashi saw the others also bow and huffed. "Get out of my sight!"

The remaining mercenaries scattered in all directions.

"Akira, you were always so loyal. What happened to you?" Takashi got off the carriage and approached the man he finally remembered. He carried an old scabbard that was hidden behind his seat. Hearing this, Akira clicked his tongue.

"My loyalty is to the people of the Land of Earth. The daimyo has gone too far this time! The people in the north are suffering and he blocks all channels of support!" Akira draws his sword and prepares to fight.

"Fool. If you had just been patient…" Realizing what spurred the coup, Takashi shook his head. He drew his blade and it whistled. Wind chakra wrapped around it, causing the blade to vibrate slightly. Akira gulped, as sweat dripped down his brow.

"What do you mea—"

However, before he could finish his sentence, his head was rolling on the ground. Takashi flicked the blood off his blade and sheathed his sword. As he walked back to the carriage, he lost his balance for a moment and fell to one knee. He sighed and took a moment to recover. At this point, Natsume had been preparing herself. She had a look of fearlessness masking her worry. She commended herself on her level of control of her expression in the small bronze mirror. When the door was opened, she jumped a little, and cleared her throat.

"Are the bandits dealt with?"

Seeing there were no problems, Takashi looked the fake Takeda in the eyes and saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Slight delay, we will arrive in town before dawn." He got back on the carriage and realized that the ox had died in the exchange. He sighed and walked back.

"Looks like we will have to walk from here." Natsume nodded and stepped out. She feigned a frown as she saw the dead bodied but didn't say anything. The two walked the whole night, but unfortunately, Takashi was too exhausted from his battle that they had to stop and rest. She didn't mind, but wondered how the real Takeda was doing. Perhaps the message to open the borders had already reached the people and they were on their way.

Natsume thought about the short encounter from earlier. Due to a misunderstanding, he hired mercenaries to attack their carriage. However, such a plan was shortsighted. Therefore, she guessed there were more attacks. Perhaps every carriage that left the daimyo's castle was ambushed. Once all the officials were taken hostage, they would cripple the command structure. But this would only cause chaos for a short time before people were sent to replace the missing officials.

However, something kept bothering her about the whole situation. Her intuition was telling her that there was more to it. The plan was too foolhardy and naïve to work. It seemed more like the assailants were the victims of a grander scheme. She didn't believe the daimyo had secretly arranged it, since losing able warriors would ultimately hurt his war plan. Perhaps someone who knew about the war was trying to cripple the number of skilled fighters?

Takashi interrupted her thoughts by dousing the fire with sand and dirt. She got up and prepared to continue walking. Fortunately, they were only half a day away at this point and a passing caravan was able to give them a ride. Natsume even recognized them as the caravan she had met at the border. The caravan leader came to her and thanked her.

"We heard that Shingen-sama spoke up for us small merchants and refugees. I am indebted to you, sir! I planned to go straight to Kai prefecture and trade everything with a discount!"

"I appreciate your kindness." Natsume didn't say many words and planned to seek out the real Takeda soon. Once they arrived in town, Takashi bid her farewell and got a new ox cart to go back. As soon as he was gone, Natsume found a discrete corner in town and dropped her disguise. Then, she carefully watched the incoming refugees until she discovered the old lady and a masked man.