As Tesshu is continuing his search of the ground below, he notices a small force of Akechi guards, roughly eight in all, approaching the town. When they reach the edge of town, they all split into pairs and begin knocking on homes one by one. “I’m confident, without a doubt, that our ninja is here.”
Rin looks at Tesshu for another moment before looking at her original direction: the small port near the ocean. She sees a rather large ship approaching, “We have a new ship coming in. I guess tonight was another night for shipments to come in.” She looks back at Tesshu one last time, “How do you want to do this?”
“I’ll search for the ninja. You head over to the docks and find out what they’re expecting in those shipments. Try to see if you can bring something back with you.”
“Got it.”
With their plan of action ready, Rin puts on her fox mask and jumps down, beginning to make her way towards the incoming ship. Tesshu looks at the guards one more time before jumping down as well. As he lands, he crouches down and rushes over to a set of crates to hide behind. He looks over just a bit to see what’s in front of him.
Just a few meters away, there is a pair of guards, both of them brandishing swords on their hips and wearing the Akechi colors. They walks up to the front door of a house and one of them knocks hard on the door, making sure their presence is known.
“Do we even know which house this kunoichi is hiding in? How do we even know if she’s in this town?”
“Shut up. We were given orders and we’re just following them. Besides, this is our territory so we have the right to search these houses. We know she’s in this town and all we have to do is see if anybody is helping her evade us, or if she’s alone.”
“I hope we find her. I don’t wan to come back empty-handed.”
“I don’t even want to think about what will happen to us if we do.” The guard knocks again. “Open up!”
After hearing the guards talk, Tesshu now has more information about their ninja. Not only that the ninja is here, but the ninja is actually a kunoichi, a female ninja. Feeling like nobody will be coming to the front door of the house, Tesshu backs away from the crates and heads in the other direction, stealthily navigating through narrow streets. When he comes to a corner, he peers around and sees another pair of guards roaming around.
They walk up to the door of another house. One of them knocks on the door and no response happens. The guard knocks again; the doors flies open and the guard is forcefully pulled into the house. Happening so suddenly, the other guard quickly draws his sword and enters the house.
Seeing what happened put Tesshu in a slight state of confusion, “What was that…?” He comes from around the corner and slowly approaches the house, keeping his guard up in case of a surprise attack. When he gets to the front door, he sees a small trail of blood sprayed along the floor. He carefully takes a peek into the house.
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