I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

And Balrog is also very interesting. Now that Shiranui's combat power has declined greatly, Balrog still sent Shintaro 2 top ninjas, 8 middle ninjas, and 14 low ninjas as helpers.

"It's nothing." Whether it was Shintaro's expression or his tone of voice, there was no emotion at all, "It's just tracking in a regular manner."

"Do you need my help?" Shuntaro teased.

"unnecessary."

Shintaro still cherishes words like gold, and looks like he doesn't want to say a word to Shuntaro.

And Shuntaro has long been used to Shintaro's indifferent attitude, so he doesn't care.

Except for Balrog, Shintaro is quite indifferent to everyone.

It is the type who can communicate with you with 1 word, but will never use 2 words to communicate with you.

Compared with this kind of boring gourd who doesn't talk much, Shuntaro still prefers the kind of person with a bright personality, so the relationship between Shuntaro and Shintaro is also very ordinary, and can only be regarded as a nodding acquaintance.

If it weren't for being bored on the road, Shuntaro would not take the initiative to find topics to chat with Shintaro.

The relationship between Shintaro and Shintaro is mediocre, and another reason is that Shintaro thinks Shintaro is weird.

I have never seen Shintaro have a deep friendship with anyone, and I don't know if he said more than 20 sentences in a day, making it impossible to guess what he is thinking.

This feeling of "I don't know what this person is thinking" makes Shuntaro feel very uncomfortable, so this is one of the important reasons why Shuntaro doesn't interact with Shintaro very much.

After chatting with Shintaro for a few words, Balrog's mansion finally appeared within the sight range of the two.

After briskly walking the last short distance, and entering the Balrog's mansion, the two walked towards the room specially used to receive guests with ease.

The Balrog has a habit of receiving foreign visitors in the mansion he lives in.

Therefore, in the mansion of the Balrog, there is a spacious room specially used to entertain guests.

哗

Shuntaro and Shintaro walked to the door of the guest room one after the other, and slowly opened the door.

The light in the room is not bright, there are only 2 candles for lighting.

Shuntaro has long been tired of looking at the various decorations in this room, so after opening the door, Shuntaro's sight and attention were directly fixed on the large group of people kneeling on the tatami in the room body.

Shuntaro counted, and there were a total of 27 people in this big ticket.

The No. 27 people were all wearing ordinary kimonos and didn't carry any weapons on their bodies. They looked like a group of ordinary Limin people.

This large group of people in the dark occupied nearly [-]% of the space in this fairly spacious room.

令人瞩目的是，这27人中只有3名老年人，另外24人则全是年纪大概都还只有十几20岁、最老也不到30岁的年轻人。

These three elderly people are all gray-haired, and they should be in their 3s and 5s. They should be of the same generation as the Balrog in Shiranui.

The dark complexions of the three people indicated that their faces had been associated with the outdoor sunlight for a long time, and their sharp and energetic eyes did not match their long-grey beards and hair.

The arms of these three old guys instantly caught the sight of Shuntaro, who is a samurai.

Although they were all wearing loose kimonos, some forearm muscles were still exposed outside the clothes.

Without exception, their forearms are extremely thick.

It's not just them, the 3 young people behind the three of them are like this, their arms and fingers are the arms and fingers of those who practice the art of war.

They should be Iga's ninjas.

Shuntaro said this secretly in his heart.

In addition to these 27 people, there are 2 ninjas from Shiranui sitting in the corner of the room.

These two people must be responsible for taking care of these guests before the arrival of Balrog and Shuntaro.

Seeing Shuntaro and Shintaro coming, the two ninjas immediately bowed to salute them.

After Shuntaro and Shintaro opened the door and entered the room, the Iga ninjas headed by the three old guys also focused their attention on the two.

"It's our first meeting." Shintaro saluted the guests first and reported to the house, "I'm Shintaro from Shiranui."

After Shintaro's voice fell, Shuntaro immediately followed up:

"I'm Shuntaro."

As soon as Shuntaro finished speaking, a low exclamation sounded among the Iga ninjas.

The Iga ninjas, especially the three old guys, cast their eyes on Shuntaro with a little curiosity.

"Are you Shuntaro?" said one of the three old guys, "I have known you for a long time. The famous Shuntaro is much younger than I thought."

"I don't dare to be famous or something." Shuntaro smiled.

Shuntaro and Shintaro sat in front of the Iga ninjas, sitting opposite the Iga ninjas.

After sitting down, Shuntaro looked at the Iga ninjas in front of him with interested eyes.

This was the first time Shuntaro saw Iga's companions.

Because as far as Shuntaro knows, Iga no Sato died due to civil strife 40 years ago.

Iga-no-sato used to be a place of incomparable beauty.

In the Warring States Period 200 years ago, in order to maintain development and strengthen themselves, all major ninjas would basically choose a master family to take refuge in.

Fuma no Sato took refuge in the Kanto daimyo Hojo family.

In the early stage, Koga no Sato invested in the Rokkaku, Tsutsui, and Hosokawa families in the Kinki area, and later surrendered to the overlord Oda Nobunaga.

And the master they turned to at that time in Shiranui was the "man of the world" Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Shuntaro has learned a little history of their Shiranui.

They didn't know that Huoli was rootless at the beginning, and they didn't take refuge in anyone, so they developed extremely slowly, and even almost died out several times.

It wasn't until Oda Nobunaga was betrayed by Akechi Mitsuhide and died, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi received most of Oda Nobunaga's political legacy, that Shiranui decided to put the treasure on Toyotomi Hideyoshi and took refuge in Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

With the support of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, they finally ushered in the first rapid development period in Shiranui.

Different ninjas rely on different masters.

But only Iga no Sato really bet on the right treasure.

In Iga no Sato during the Warring States Period, the object of refuge was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The ninjas of Iga made great contributions to the establishment of Tokugawa Ieyasu's hegemony.

In order to thank Iga no Sato, Tokugawa Ieyasu, after defeating Toyotomi's family, stealing the fruits of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's victory, unifying Japan, and creating the Edo Shogunate, established Iga no Sato as their royal use of the Edo Shogunate ninja.

The Iga ninjas who bet on the right treasure have been prosperous until they perished due to civil strife 40 years ago.

Shuntaro was not even born when Iga no Sato was destroyed by civil strife 40 years ago.

Shuntaro never thought that he could still see live Iga ninjas in his lifetime, so he couldn't restrain his curiosity, and kept looking at the group of Iga ninjas in front of him.

Different ninjas have different acting and fighting styles.

For example: During the Warring States Period, Koga Village, which was as famous as Iga Village, paid great attention to group actions.

Other ninjas are divided into three levels: upper ninja, middle ninja, and lower ninja.

They are special in Shiranui, and there is a level of "ghou" below the ninja.

In Koka no Sato, there is no Jōnin class, only Chunin and Genin.

The chunin in Koka no Sato are similar to commanders, and they are responsible for commanding the genin whose functions are similar to soldiers.

The ninjas of Koga are not good at fighting and assassination, they are good at infiltrating and intelligence gathering.

Therefore, most of the ninjas in Koga do not know any martial arts.

Because if you practice martial arts, especially the art of war such as swordsmanship and spear art, the forearms and fingers of your hands will become thicker, and there will be a layer of calluses on the palms that only those who practice art of war will have.

In this way, it is easy for knowledgeable people to see that you are not an ordinary person, so you cannot pretend to be a monk, a merchant, etc. to sneak into the enemy country to spy on intelligence.

Iga's style is completely different from Koka's.

Iga pays attention to personal combat ability and is a complete "fighting school".

This point is very similar to their Shiranui.

They Shiranui, like Iga, pay attention to personal combat ability, and they are ninjas of the "fighting school".

Therefore, in the Warring States Period 200 years ago, there were countless fierce bloody conflicts between Shiranui and Iga, who were both "martial arts faction" and took refuge in different lords.

Now after looking at Iga's ninja carefully, Shuntaro found that these rumors were not wrong.

These Iga ninjas indeed looked quite capable of fighting.

"Mr. Shintaro, Mr. Shintaro." One of the three old guys asked, "When will Lord Balrog come?"

"Sir, please stay calm." Shintaro responded in a polite tone, "Lord Balrog will be here soon."

Shintaro's mouth seemed to be opened, and as soon as he finished speaking, footsteps came from far and near outside the room.

wow.

The door was pulled open.

The person who opened the door was the Balrog.

Balrog briefly glanced at everyone in the room, then walked slowly towards Shuntaro and Shintaro, and then sat down cross-legged.

Even without the need for others to explain, the three old guys could recognize from the expressions of Shuntaro and the others, as well as the appearance of the Balrog they had heard before, that this person was the current supreme ruler of Shiranui.

The three old guys led the young people behind them to salute the Balrog in unison.

"I've heard of your name for a long time. Lord Balrog. I'm Iga's Hannosuke."

"I am Iga's Sennosuke."

"I'm Iga's Shinnosuke."

These three old guys reported their names in turn.

The Balrog nodded lightly, and then said in an angry voice:

"I am the 17th Balrog in Shiranui."

After reporting to the house, the Balrog lightly swept his eyes around the Iga ninjas in front of him.

A few chuckles followed.

"I didn't expect that I would be able to meet the ninja of Iga again before I died."

"I've heard before that some of Iga's remnants are still alive."

"It's really thanks to you remnants who found us here."

"After all, we are colleagues." Hannosuke said blankly, "It is much easier for a ninja to find a ninja than for ordinary people to find a ninja."

"Although we didn't find it easy, it took us two full months to finally find the location of your new base in Shiranui."

"Two months? I don't hesitate to spend such a long time looking for it. It seems that there is something very important to tell us."

"We do have something very important to tell you." The person who spoke was still Hannosuke, "Master Yanmo, can you please turn off others?"

Regarding the request made by Hannosuke, Balrog pouted his lips at the two ninjas who had been kneeling in the corner of the room and were in charge of serving the guests just now without any hesitation.

The two ninjas who understood Balrog's meaning immediately got up and left the room.

Hannosuke: "Sir Balrog, and Mr. Shuntaro and Mr. Shintaro."

"There's no need for the two of them." Balrog waved his hand, "The two of them are the Four Heavenly Kings in our Shiranui, and they are also my confidantes. It doesn't matter if they are here."

Seeing what Balrog said, Hannosuke and the others couldn't force it.

"Speaking of which, we Shiranui and Iga no Sato are enemies."

The Balrog grinned, revealing a sneer.

"200 years ago, the lord we served was Toyotomi, and the lord you served was Tokugawa."

"For this reason, when the world was uncertain 200 years ago, we had many conflicts."

"When Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still alive and the Toyotomi family began to devour the world, our Shiranui started a full-scale struggle with your Iga village."

"I never imagined that Shiranui and Iga no Sato, who were once enemies, can still talk face to face and calmly now that the Warring States Period has ended 200 years ago."

"It's really embarrassing."

Hearing Balrog's words, Hannosuke smiled slightly:

"Shiranui and Iga no Sato are enemies, these are old things from 200 years ago."