Chapter 72: The Unlucky Yagyu Family

  The two men stared at each other in silence for a minute, then Keiji suddenly sprang into action, his long spear sweeping across like a dragon or tiger to attack. Sōma swung his wooden staff with a calm and composed air, sidestepping to block the blow. The two men exchanged blows back and forth, their fierce battle almost over in the blink of an eye, twenty exchanges passing in an instant. In these twenty exchanges, Keiji's wild and stormy attacks were all easily parried by Sōma, the brilliant clash of arms leaving the onlookers in a state of trance-like fascination, even rousing Kirishima Mitsunomaru from his nap.

  "I'm going to attack!" Zeng Amy's face was expressionless, but with the dancing of the stick, it could be seen that her eyes were emitting a fierce and persistent light.

  "Chopping, another crazy one. Kiriyama Kōsuke is going to be unlucky this time." Kiriyama Mitsumaru yawned and continued sleeping. Anyone with eyes could see that Takigawa Keijirō's desperate attack had failed, greatly damaging his strength, leaving no chance of victory. Continuing would only be a one-sided performance.

  As expected, the next ten rounds were a fierce and intense battle, with Takigawa's staff dancing in the air, leaving no gaps. Kikuchiyo struggled to defend himself, barely avoiding being knocked down several times, and his desperate attempts at defense became increasingly difficult. In the tenth round, he was finally unable to withstand the attack, dropping his spear and crashing to the ground, rolling over several times before struggling back to his feet.

  "Ahh! Still lost, huh? Well, in that case, Keiji can give up now, right?" Kiryuu Manshitarou clapped his hands and stood up, while the other two small ones from the trio rushed over to support their leader.

  "Your stick is indeed exquisite! I, Kaito Ryōji, have learned my lesson! I lost to you because I was short of breath and my skills were not refined. Let me practice for a few more years and then come back to ask for your guidance!" Taki Kaito Ryōji walked away with the support of his two younger brothers, limping as he went.

  "Hozoin Taneyo suddenly shouted loudly: 'Where are you going?'"

  Everyone was stunned, thinking what's going on, they lost but weren't allowed to leave, what kind of reason is this. Yamagata Bantetsu was still in a surprised state, but Isshiki Shirō was extremely vigilant and stood in front of the family head, then several late-reacting vassals surrounded Kira Yoshinaka, worried that something would happen, Kira Yoshinaka heard this and slightly paused to indicate it's okay.

  "From today on, Takigawa Keijirō is my disciple at Hōzōin! Keijirō, take a day off and reunite with your companions." Hōzōin Inei clapped his hands, ordering the training to continue, and turned around to enter the Zen room.

  "This old man is really arrogant." said Honda Mitsuya in a low voice.

  "Is that all? Ganbare Keijiro!" Shimajima patted Keiji's shoulder with a "bon voyage" expression.

  Kiriyama Mantsumaru patted his shoulder and encouraged him, "It's really great! Too great, Keiji, you just stay here and train hard! Don't forget to return to Sakamoto Castle before the New Year!"

  Nakajo Hidetaka, who was walking behind him, said: "You're doing great! Keep it up!"

  "Take care! Get well soon!" Isoroku strolled over with a big grin, patted Keijirou's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Next time I come to visit, don't hide anything from me, got it?"

  "Although I don't understand what's going on, it seems you've become that weird monk's disciple, so take care of yourself!" Yamagata Zenjirō didn't particularly like this strange kid and only managed to say a few words as a courtesy to his colleague.

  Facing the crowd of people who came to congratulate him, Takigawa Keijirō said with a dejected look: "I just wanted to learn gunjutsu, not become some kind of live-in disciple!"

  Takigawa Kojirō remained at Hōzōin to train, and Yoshida Umanosuke was not a person who didn't distinguish between light and heavy. A naturally gifted seedling like Takigawa Kojirō should be vigorously promoted. For example, Takigawa Kojirō, Shima Sainai, and Honda Sanmi were mixed together, and he was optimistic about the outcome. When Takigawa Kojirō proposed going to Kōfukuji Temple to study gunnery, he also expressed his support, as long as the direction of guidance was not mistaken, and after cultivation, he could become a great general.

  Taki River Keijiro, who was tearfully bidding farewell, repeatedly expressed his intention to return to Sakamoto for the New Year. He then spent the afternoon playing with two other younger brothers and that night found Taki River Keijiro to tell him that he would arrange for a ninja to contact him every three days. With Taki River Keijiro's safety guaranteed at Kofuku Temple, it was sufficient to assign one of the ninjas collecting intelligence in Yamato Province to keep an eye on him.

  Solving the small problem of Takigawa Keijirō, the team proceeded northward to Yamato Province and arrived at Yagyu Village, Yagyu Castle in Yagyu County, the last stop in Yamato Province. In later generations, the reputation of the Yagyu family cannot be said to be thunderous, but at least it is well-known. Except for a few idol groups, a one-eyed dragon swordmaster is probably the most famous. Kiriya Matsuomaru came here with some special idea.

  The Yagyu family originated from the Sugawara clan, and was first established as a local party in the late Heian period. In the late Kamakura period, during Emperor Go-Daigo's first attempt to overthrow the shogunate, the Yagyu family fought against the Kamakura shogunate as part of the anti-shogunate forces. As a result of their military service, the Yagyu family also received imperial favor and rewards. However, with the resurgence of the Nanboku-chō conflict, the Yagyu family, which supported the Southern Court, was attacked by the shogunate and nearly lost its territory, leading to its decline.

  Due to this huge blow, the Yagyu family has been living cautiously for nearly a hundred years. Whether it was the dispute between Ichimonji and Daimonji that led to the new Nanbokucho period or the Yamato Eiyo disturbance of the Tsutsui and Ouchi clans, the Yagyu family carefully kept their distance from both sides, or acted as a wall grass, sometimes leaning left and sometimes right.

  Until the change in the Yamato provincial government more than 20 years ago, the internal strife of the Hatakeyama family affected the inside of the Yamato province, which led to a shift in the position of the Yagyu family. In 1536, the powerful minister of the Hatakeyama family, Nagamasa Miki, who was also the guardian of Kawachi and the five counties of Yamashiro, entered the Yamato province and built Shigiyama Castle. The current head of the Yagyu family, Matajuro Yagyu, defected to Nagamasa's side and successively fought against the Iga provincial governor, Tomomori Nishina, and the Yamato provincial governor, Tsunemoto Tsuchiya.

  In the eleventh year of Tenbun, the battle of ōta Castle led to the downfall of the powerful daimyō Nagamasa Kizawa. Totsukawa Yoshishige, who belonged to the Miyoshi clan, took advantage of this and launched an attack on the remnants of the Kizawa clan in Yamato Province. In the twelfth year of Tenbun, the Kizawa clan's vassal family, the Makibayashi clan, was destroyed. The following year, Totsukawa Yoshishige led a coalition force of 10,000 soldiers from Yamato Province and attacked the Yagyu clan. Eighteen-year-old Muneyoshi Yagyū fought alongside his father, Matajirō Yagyū, in a desperate defense of their castle, but they were vastly outnumbered and surrendered after only three days. This battle is also known as the Battle of Yagyū.

  Since the disastrous defeat in 1613, the Yagyu family had been lying low for a long time. For over a hundred years after their ancestors were defeated for taking sides with the wrong party, they hadn't lifted their heads. A decade ago, Yagyu Munenori thought that this time he wouldn't take sides with the wrong party, but he was wrong again and was severely beaten by the Tsukahara family. It's truly one of the most tragic things in life to take sides with the wrong party and get beaten up.

  Kira Yoshichirō continued to use his alias, Nishida Saburō, and entered Yagyū Castle to visit the mysterious family. At that time, the head of the Yagyū family, Yagyū Munenori, who had made an unforgivable mistake, had retired and was succeeded by his son, Yagyū Toshitoshi, who was precisely the person he was most interested in.

  The Yagyu family was never a family of great swordsmen, the Yagyu family is a typical Yamato people from childhood learning the skills of observing words and colors and swaying left and right, only when young once headstrong impulse made a mistake and got severely punished, now belongs to the Tsutsui family as a subordinate making soy sauce.

  His eldest son, Yagyu Munenori, was only in his early twenties at the time. Although he had fought alongside his father in the Battle of Sekigahara, for the past nine years he had spent most of his time traveling to various provinces studying kenjutsu and was a super-obsessive martial arts fanatic. When his family announced their surrender to the Tōdō clan, he ran off again to Yamato to study martial arts, which infuriated his father so much that he almost disowned him.

  "It's really a past that can't be recalled!" said the retired old housekeeper, Yanagisawa, with a sigh. His son, Yanagisawa Muneshige, also made an expression as if he had something on his mind.

  "I'm still skeptical about this! Look at the rhythm of the father and son exchanging glances, there must be some dark history here!" Kiryu Mitsunomaru observed the expressions of the father and son, and couldn't help but think to himself: "Although they rushed over with great enthusiasm to dig people up, why do I suddenly feel uninterested when I see this father and son's appearance?"

  ;