Who are you?

Part 33

Tadashi was 15 now, and he had abandoned any thoughts of leaving. Things had changed so much in the near decade he had been here. He was now promoted to general.

He was Eiji's right hand, specializing in assassinations. Their village prospered and grew, and their way of operating changed so much. They were the largest village in their country after the capital.

They intended to keep the peace in their country. They had ironclad rules. Shinobi were prohibited from fighting near civilian villages or paths used by travelers and merchants, and they were also not allowed to cause disruptions in civilian villages.

Any ninja or clan that broke the rules was dealt with swiftly. Bandits and thieves were not tolerated. Everyone was to keep the peace, or they would face their wrath.

Their rules came with a price, as both the daimyo and small villages had to pay them a portion of their tax. The tax was enough to keep them prospering and encouraged others to join their village and support their cause.

For the first time in years, Tadashi could see hope. After what happened to his village, all he could see was the misery and pain in the world, but now he could see the light again. He could see hope for a better future.

For a future when no child had to experience what he did. He knew that there was a price that was being paid for the peace. There were retaliations against them. However, as time progressed, these retaliations became less and less, and it would be a matter of time before they stopped.

Eiji was a harsh, commanding man, yet he had his ear. Dark things were going on in their village, and he was more aware of them than ever. He had seen the dark side but knew sacrifices had to be made.

He believed that the most immediate part of the peace would be to stop the war. Once people's lives are secure, they can work towards a quality of life. He had to believe this.

He paid his own sacrifices in this way, and he knew others had to bear their own. He knew that lives were being sacrificed and innocent people were getting hurt. But their world was cruel, and to fix it, they had to cause more pain first.

He snapped out of his thoughts when a soldier came to call for him. It was time for another mission.

It's been a week, and Shiori has made considerable progress. She is now able to let her seal's first layer be loose most of the time and has reached the fourth layer out of seven.

She was still not ready to let the seal loose without her sensory zone in place. Even with the first layer loose, she got a lot of input, which was hard to process.

Akira wouldn't let her block the inputs like she used to when she didn't have the seal. He told her that it would only be counterproductive to her training, and she had to agree since it was the truth.

Still, it made her moody and snappy. She was careful with her behavior with others since it wasn't their fault. Still, they could tell from her general aura getting closed off.

On the other hand, Akira was more tentative with her and spent more time with her. He also took the time to work with her on her medical studies, asking her questions and recommending books she hadn't read in the library.

It was warm and comforting to have him by her side and have someone to talk to. It turned out that Akira knew a lot about philosophy, and while it wasn't a subject she had much knowledge of, it was still amazing to learn new things from him.

She knew that there was a question bubbling inside her. The question of staying in the temple. While she loved her mission and traveling, there was no real rush. She could stay for a couple of years and study all the temple had to offer.

To spend her days training her mind, body, and skills. But she was afraid of being refused. She was already imposing on Akira by staying for so long. She didn't want to hear the refusal and possibly damage their relationship.

She walked through the gardens to the tree she often rested under. She needed some fresh air and a good nap, so she lay down and closed her eyes.

All Tadashi knew was that something bad was going to happen. It was a foreboding feeling. He learned the hard way to trust that feeling. When he had the same feelings in about a few missions and barely came out of them alive.

Still, there wasn't anything to do about it. He decided to spar with Sora instead. He was another general and returned from a mission a few days ago.

They often sparred together. Sora had superior skills in kenjutsu but Tadashi was stronger in ninjutsu. Their fights were usually balanced and helped both of them improve.

Currently, they were in the top 10 in terms of raw strength among generals. The top 10 generals each specialized in a domain, such as training, defense, negotiations, assassinations, leading an army, battle strategy, and more. The other generals would take their orders from the general with the same specialization in the top 10.

Currently, Tadashi is in charge of four generals. The top generals lived in the same three-story building as Eiji. The first floor was the administration rooms, where they held meetings, and rooms such as the kitchen, dining room, and supply room the maids needed.

They wanted to minimize the number of people accessing the other floors. The second floor had rooms for generals and a weapons room. The top floor was Eiji's private room, study, and anything he needed.

Tadashi spent a lot of time on that floor, and everyone knew it. But others needed permission to enter. After grabbing an apple from the kitchen, Tadashi headed to the second floor.

He found the room easily. It was the fourth door on the right. He knocked in a secret pattern. They all had their own pattern of knocking, so they always knew who was at their door.

It was convenient when you didn't want to talk to certain people or were waiting for someone. He heard a muffled "come in" and entered. The room was a decent size, just like all the others. There was a futon, a table, drawers, and chests in a similar layout.

The thing that shocked him was how messy the room was. Clothing and armor were thrown everywhere, and he could see trash and half-eaten food on the floor. The maids cleaned the rooms every day unless told not to bother. This room looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

He held in the urge to voice his opinion. He knew the lazy man would not care either way. So he focused on the man. Sprawled over the sheets, naked and tangled in the blankets.

"Let's spar." He simply said. Despite being allowed to talk for a very long time, he still didn't like to do so unless he had to and tried to always be on point.

Sora, who always had a competitive strike, immediately got up. "Let's go." He picked up his sword, which was near the futon, and motioned for him to go out. Tadashi raised an eyebrow and stared at the man, who was still naked.

Sora seemed to notice as he looked down and let out a yelp. "Give me a second, and then we can go," he said as he rushed to pick up articles of clothing. Tadashi decided to wait outside.

It only took a few minutes, and Sora came out of the door much more appropriately. They headed outside the village to a clearing in the forest. They wanted to go all out and didn't want to risk damaging the village.

They reached there pretty quickly and started to warm up. A few minutes later, they were ready. They stood on each side of the clearing, looking each other in the eye.

Taking a deep breath, they started the match.