The Sengoku Festival (An Oda Nobuna No Yabou fanfic)

Chapter 5

I slowly looked at myself in the mirror as the blacksmith helped me put on my somewhat new samurai armor. We had decided that the Ronin no longer need his and after painting it anew with black and the red handprint symbol, I now looked at myself from behind my mask as my yari was still with me, along with my katana being on my belt. It was very heavy but as I watched the last of the armor be put on me, the blacksmith smiled as he said, "And don't forget to visit me whenever you can.."

"Yes... sir..." I said as I watched him give my the yumi longbow.

"I don't even know how to best use this, sir." I told him as I took it and watched as he put the quiver of arrows on my back.

"It is a powerful bow, requiring great strength to pull it back but you can do it, I know you can. It will take much practice." said the blacksmith.

I looked back at the mirror, with my samurai helmet bearing no insignia, as I then thought back to the six recruits I had taken under my wing to be part of  my band. They were all young and somewhat strong, like myself, and we managed to piece together some normal Ashigaru armor we painted black with the red hand on it as we had taken up the upside-T shaped Yari spears, known as Jumonji yari's, as we had manage to take what few katana's from the dead and now the six Ashigaru under me were armed with them and as I thought back to how I was going to train them to become better fighters when suddenly we heard someone walk in and we both looked over as we watched the Ashigaru now under my command as one said to me, "Sir... uh... Bloody-handed One.... I must ask when we will be heading out for our next destination."

I thought about it before I said, "We will be going from here to Narakmaki and then maybe to the city of Watamoto."

Watamoto was one of the two major cities of the area and as the men nodded, one asked the blacksmith, "Sir... I must ask, how did you afford to give us our supplies?"

The blacksmith, as the Ashigaru mentioned, had managed to secure us maybe a few days worth of rice, fruit, and even a little bit of meat and as the blacksmith sighed, he then said to us, "I used up what remained of my money to do so.. but then again, some of it was given to us as a gift for freeing the town from the Ronin."

As I looked at the Ashigaru as I then thought about what to do now when I heard a commotion outside as I then followed the blacksmith and the Ashigaru outside as we watched General Oda Nobuna, Katsuie, Nagahide, and Yoshiharu were on their horses or on foot as around them were their Ashigaru foot soldiers and around them were the village people and as Oda Nobuna looked at everyone, she raised her voice as she addressed all around her.

"Village of Kurigawa, I, Oda Nobuna, thank you for your cooperation with us and as such, I only ask you all some volunteers for the Owari army. " said Oda Nobuna.

"How many of us do you need?" asked a man as he stepped forward, shovel in hand.

"A dozen." said Nagahide.

And almost as if on cue, a dozen men stepped forward and as I watched them, Yoshiharu looked over to the blacksmith next to me as he said to the blacksmith, "Can we be assured that you will help provide these men with weapons and armor?"

The blacksmith bowed as he said, "Although I cannot create whole suits of armor from what I have, I can give them the refined versions of what was left behind from the deceased bandits and Ronin. Now rest assured, I will be making armor and weapons for your armies as needed."

"That will do." said Oda Nobuna.

And then Katsuie looked over to me and my small group of mercenaries as she then addressed me, "And what will you do now, with your new title of being a Ronin? Will you stand alongside us?"