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Gabimaru suddenly fell down to the ground as Sagiri and Mei ran to him.
"Zhu Jin's influence... making Gabimaru's Tao go wild. Not good!" Mei cried out.
"Is he..." Mizuho asked Chobei.
"Yep, that bastard's just like us." He continued as Toma looked scared.
This must be the man who fought Mizuho-san and Big Bro...
Sheesh. Didn't account for that... Jikka thought as he looked over to see some other shinobi arriving.
"Don't worry about me..." Gabimaru reassured his executioner. "I'm just glad you're in one piece..."
"But..."
"Can't get my pardon without you around, y'see..."
"We are all suffering from fatigue... and now Gabimaru turns up in this state." Shion worried.
"Ridiculous." Chobei mocked as he stomped towards the Hollow with Mizuho and Toma behind him.
"Wait, Chobei/brother!"
"Fatigue's a thing of the past for me, thanks to this... body." He remarked before looking down at Gabimaru with Toma and Mizuho holding his shoulders. "Hey. Bite-size shinobi. You did a real number on me back there."
"Chobei, please. We don't have time for payback." Begged Mizuho.
"Brother!"
"Given what you've shown as earlier... you've got something, yeah? Something to lose?" he guessed, looking at both Toma and Mizuho.
"I do." Gabimaru replied, thinking of someone waiting for him back at Iwagakura; his wife Yui. "Something worth sacrificing this body for. Something worth protecting... no matter what's lost in the process..."
"Heh."
"Us too, Gabimaru-san." The ravenette replied.
"Yeah." Toma supported.
"Hear that?" the Bandit King spoke, looking at everyone else. "We can make use of this tiny idiot."
"I, too... have acquired something to lose." Shion replied, looking at Nurugai beside him.
"You're probably worried about Shugen's wellbeing in all this, right, Isuzu?" asked Jikka. "Better find him fast."
Have those men beguiled them? she questioned in her head as she watched Sagiri and Mizuho. No, it couldn't be.
"Indeed." The giantess finally replied. "I swore on my late brother not to conspire with these criminals, but... I will defer to Sir Shugen's orders on the matter."
"Niiice. Look at that--we're all pals now." Jikka said before calling everyone to him. "Time to discuss the details of the plan. Would you like the honors, Shion?"
The fourth-ranked Asaemon remarked. "You keep making declarations while never actually contributing."
"Ahem. As we've already discussed... a tanden can only be destroyed by the Tao that hinders it. As such, the attacker must be boosted by one with the restorative Tao attribute."
"Right. The whole 'attacking while holding hands' thing..." Tamiya remembered, thinking about the fight with Ju Fa and Tao Fa.
"Can you tell what our attributes are?" Jikka asked Mei.
"Sir Jikka and Sir Toma... Earth. Little Kiyo... Metal. Miss Isuzu... Water."
Kiyomaru looked over to the third-ranked Asaemon. "So you're saying... we're separating into pairs to kill the monster?"
YOU ARE READING
Adaption is Key (An Aza Chobei Fanfic)
FanficWhat if Aza Chobei had a different executioner? What would happen if an unranked woman of the Yamada clan took his brother's place instead? Mizuho may be looked down upon, but won't be underestimated by the Bandit King. This franchise belongs to Yuj...
