I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Killing a person in ten steps will never stop a thousand miles away.

——Li Bai · "Xia Ke Xing"

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While Matsudaira Sadanobu and the others were still having a meeting in the tent——

Outside the First Army Camp——

The falling snow still hasn't stopped.

Weak sunlight poured into the white snow field through the gaps in the clouds. Under the slightly gray sky, everything was very silent, only scattered snowflakes fell.

As if no one was falling beside the snow, the snow mixed with the evening mist and spread out. Looking around, the field of vision was gray.

"...Is that your barracks?"

"Yes, yes! That is our army's barracks!"

Ogata raised the bamboo hat on his head slightly, and looked down the hillside.

Ogata was standing on a hillside now.

Although the visibility was a bit low due to the fact that the early morning mist had not yet dissipated, it was still possible to clearly see through the layers of evening mist—at the bottom of the hillside, flags painted with various family crests fluttered against the wind.

The radish is now tied to a tree not far behind Ogata. While snorting in boredom, he pawed the ground under his feet with his hoof.

While Jao looked expressionlessly at the military camp at the bottom of the hill, Sakaguchi stood behind him tremblingly.

Last night, after letting him mount his horse, Obi gave a straightforward order to Sakaguchi: "Guide the way. Take me to your army's camp."

Facing Ogata, Sakaguchi, who had no intention of resisting at all, silently brought Ogata to the camp of their First Army.

Looking at Ogata who was standing on the hillside in front of him, looking at the military camp below, Sakaguchi felt shocked and astonished.

After hearing that Ogata asked him to take him to their army's camp, Sakaguchi roughly guessed what Ogata was going to do.

Although he vaguely guessed what Ogata was going to do, he couldn't believe that Ogata really planned to put this matter into practice...

It wasn't until Ogata followed his directions without hesitation, and came to the front and rear of their First Army's camp, that Sakaguchi was convinced that the man in front of him really planned to practice what he just imagined.

I feel like the hairs are standing on end...

——This person... is he serious... is he really going to break into the barracks just like that to kill Mogami-sama...

When Sakaguchi was thinking this in his heart, a few drops of cold sweat emerged from his forehead, and then slowly dripped down...

Sakaguchi dared not speak.

Ogata did not speak, but silently looked at the military camp under the hillside.

The surrounding air fell directly into a deadly atmosphere.

After a while, Ogata, who put his hands on the handle of Da Shitian's knife, whispered to himself in a voice that only he could hear clearly:

"...As expected of a barracks."

Although the visibility was a bit poor, Ogata could barely see that there were many soldiers standing guard and patrolling in the camp.

Different from the crappy way of standing guard and patrolling the bandits that I have dealt with before, even a person like Ogata who doesn't know much about military law can see that the way of standing guard and patrolling these soldiers is similar to how Ogata dealt with them before. Compared with those bandits who passed by, it was nothing like cloud and mud.

Sakaguchi, who was standing behind Ogata, had been looking at Ogata in front of him with hesitant eyes from time to time.

Until this moment, the hesitation in Sakaguchi's eyes finally dissipated slowly, turning into a firm one.

"That, that... please, please let go... I..."

Sakaguchi, who had finally gathered up his courage, stammered.

"I have, have brought you here to the barracks..."

"Please have pity on me... spare my life..."

After all, Sakaguchi knelt down on the ground, and made the heaviest gift in Japan to Ogata in front of him—kneeling on the ground, and pressing the palms of both hands and forehead to Dogeza on the ground.

Sakaguchi didn't want any "samurai dignity" long ago, he just wanted to survive now.

Ogata listened silently to Sakaguchi's begging for forgiveness, without looking back at Sakaguchi the whole time.

It wasn't until Sakaguchi's voice fell that Ogata said in a calm tone:

"If you do one last thing for me, I can spare your life."

"What...?" Sakaguchi raised his head, and asked cautiously before wiping the snow off his forehead.

For some reason, Sakaguchi felt an ominous premonition emerge from his heart at this time.

"I need you to help me get Mogami Yoshihisa's head."

"Are you asking me to help you assassinate Mogami-sama? No, no!" Sakaguchi said without hesitation, "I can't help you with this kind of work! I don't know where Mogami-sama is in the camp now. I'm not someone who is good at stealth, so I can't help you assassinate Supreme Lord!"

"...You seem to have misunderstood what I just said."

"When did I say I was going to assassinate that Mogami?"

When Ogata uttered these words, several snowflakes passed close to the edge of Ogata's bamboo hat, and fell on the handles of the two knives around Ogata's waist.

Ogata raised his right hand and brushed off the snow on the handle bit by bit.

"...Huh?" Sakaguchi cast a puzzled look at Ogata in front of him.

"There are not too many buildings in the camp, there are only tents, and there is nowhere to hide if you want to hide. I am afraid that only those ninjas who have reached the peak of their skills can sneak into this kind of camp without being noticed."

"And it's still early in the morning, not a night with poor visibility, and such weather is not suitable for infiltration or assassination."

After that, Ogata grabbed Da Shitian's handle with his right hand that was brushing off the snow from the handle, and pulled the blade out of the sheath inch by inch.

The blade shone with a clear blue light under the light.

"There is no condition for infiltration and assassination."

"So I decided to try something else."

Hearing these words, the ominous premonition in Sakaguchi's heart was extremely strong...

...

...

The First Army Camp, at Xiyingkou——

"Ha..." A soldier holding a long gun and standing guard at Xiyingkou yawned big.

He was in charge of the "morning shift", and he got up before dawn. He was already lacking in sleep, and he had to perform such a boring task of "station sentry", which made him even more sleepy.

In order to pass this boring sentry mission, he really wanted to find a companion next to him to chat for a while, but because the military regulations clearly stipulated that chatting is strictly prohibited when standing sentry and patrolling, and if he is found, he will be severely punished. The soldier did not violate the military regulations. guts.

Just as the soldier was fighting desperately against the Sandman, he suddenly saw—a black thing suddenly appeared at the end of the evening mist outside the camp...

The soldier frowned slightly, and fixed his eyes on the "black thing".

The evening mist has not dissipated until now, and looking around, the field of vision is still gray.

After scrutinizing it carefully for a while, the soldier finally recognized it—this black thing was a human figure.

As soon as the soldier recognized it as a Taoist figure, this figure emerged from the depths of the evening mist—a young warrior wearing a bamboo hat and a thin kimono.

The young warrior held a sword in his right hand and walked slowly towards the Xiyingkou of the camp through the evening mist.

After slowly showing his figure in the evening mist, the young warrior suddenly accelerated his speed.

He was just walking slowly.

Then the walk turned into a brisk walk, then into a trot, and finally into a sprint.

Just when the young warrior changed from a slow walk to a jog, the soldier who first spotted the young warrior suddenly widened his eyes.

At this moment, the rest of the soldiers at Xiyingkou also found the young warrior, and all looked at the young warrior with shocked eyes.

The soldier who first spotted the young warrior opened his mouth wide:

"Enemy attack..."

Before the soldier could utter the last syllable of the phrase "enemy attack", he saw the young warrior, who was 10 steps away from Xiyingkou, jump up and leap towards him...

...

...

When standing on the hillside and observing the camp, Ogata realized that there were no conditions to carry out "infiltration and assassination". His only "advanced" Shiranui-ryu stealth technique was not enough to sneak into a camp with 3,000 soldiers stationed there.

So Ogata decided to use another strategy.

This new strategy is quite simple and rude, without too many twists and turns, just four words - direct attack.

With a run-up, Ogata leaped high towards a soldier in Xiyingkou who was about 10 steps away from him.

Leaping over a distance of 10 steps in one breath - this kind of thing is just a trivial matter for Ogata who now has 20 points of strength.

After accurately jumping to the top of the soldier's head, Ogata used his legs to clamp the soldier's head before he could react, and then used Shiranui Ninjutsu to throw him heavily to the ground.

【Ding! Use Shiranui Ninjutsu Shiranui Jutsu to defeat the enemy]

[Gain 45 personal experience points and 40 experience points for ninjutsu "Shiranui Ninjutsu\