I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

Shuntaro turned his head and looked back.

I saw a ninja striding towards him.

This ninja is relatively unfamiliar, probably a lower-level Chunin or Genin.

The ninja didn't have any nonsense, and when he came to Shuntaro, he knelt down on one knee and said respectfully:

"Master Shuntaro, Lord Balrog is looking for you."

"Lord Balrog? Alright, I see."

It is dusk.

The sunset glow has dyed the sky a dazzling golden yellow.

Shuntaro basked in the glow, and rushed to the mansion where the Balrog lived.

After arriving at Balrog's mansion and entering Balrog's room, Shuntaro saw Balrog sitting cross-legged on the tatami.

"Shuntaro, you're here, sit down wherever you want." Balrog pointed in front of him.

Shun Taro has never been a person who cares about etiquette.

Even without Balrog's mention, he would choose the more casual "sit cross-legged" instead of the formal "sit on knees".

As soon as Shuntaro's butt touched the tatami, Balrog asked:

"I heard that you have been watching the imperial trial for the past two days. How is it? Is the imperial trial good?"

"Yesterday was rather boring." Shuntaro said, "Today is finally a little more interesting because we eliminated many people with lower levels yesterday."

"How is Kyotaro doing?"

"I'm sorry, Lord Yanmo, you also know that the relationship between me and Jitaro has not been very good, and I didn't pay attention to how Jitaro was playing."

"Heh, you are all companions after all, it's better to take care of each other."

The Balrog sat up a little bit upright.

"Okay, let's talk about business."

"Shuntaro, I have a mission for you."

After hearing the word "task", Shuntaro frowned slightly.

"After Shintaro's tracking, I finally found the hiding place of that rebellious ninja."

"If the time drags on for too long, he may be asked to change his hiding place, or find out that we have found him."

"So make a quick decision, and capture that traitor alive tonight!"

A hideous smile appeared on Balrog's face.

"If you dare to help Ruu escape, you must be sentenced to death in front of all the ninjas and Ruu in the village! Kill chickens to make an example to monkeys!"

"If you can't catch him alive, just go ahead"

Balrog raised his hand, held out a hand knife, and slashed horizontally on his neck.

"I leave this task to you, Shuntaro."

"I'll assign Zhou Taro, who is good at using hidden weapons, as your assistant."

"Do it at nine o'clock!"

Balrog's majestic voice fell.

A bit of hesitation appeared in Shuntaro's pupils.

The flickering appearance of this somewhat hesitant color is like a swaying flame.

Shuntaro slowly closed his eyes.

After a while, when he opened his eyes again, the hesitation in Shuntaro's eyes had completely dissipated.

"understood."

"In addition to Zhou Taro, I will send 4 Chunin and 10 Genin to help you. Is this enough?"

"That's enough." Shuntaro nodded slightly.

Balrog watched Shuntaro leave.

After confirming that Shuntaro had left, Balrog shouted to the door:

"Send the order down!"

A ninja who had been guarding the door of Balrog's room quickly walked into Balrog's room, and then knelt down in front of Balrog.

"Go and call me Jitaro and Shutaro." Balrog gave his order succinctly.

After the ninja echoed loudly, he left from the Balrog's field of vision at a speed like the wind.

Ji Taro, who was in charge of participating in the "Imperial Trial", had just returned from the venue of the martial arts test.

Just after returning to Shiranui, he was summoned by Balrog, which made Ji Taro very upset.

But it's not good to be unhappy. Although Ji Taro acted arrogantly, he never dared to disobey the Balrog.

Zhou Taro arrived in front of the Balrog one step ahead of Ji Taro.

After everyone on Ji and Tuesday arrived, the Balrog didn't say a word of nonsense, and went straight to the point.

"The two of you should also know that we caught a dirt named A Kang in the village last night."

"This A-kang is a big fish, and he has a great possibility that he has closely assisted the traitorous gangsters who escaped."

"After torturing him for half a day, he finally confessed to the crime he committed."

"Not only did I confess that I had indeed closely assisted that traitor."

"It also revealed who the person outside the village who has been cooperating with that traitorous Ren is."

"Oh?" Zhou Tailang raised his eyebrows, "Who is it? A guy who doesn't know what to do, dare to make trouble for us in Shiranui?"

"That guy is said to be a well-known person in Edo."

As the Balrog spoke, he sneered and shook his shoulders.

"It's a woman who works in Yoshihara and has the nickname Yoshihara Satoshi"

"Gua Shengxiu."

"Gua Shengxiu?!" Ji Taro screamed.

"Gekitaro, what's the matter?" The Flame Demon cast a puzzled look at Kyutaro, "Do you know this person?"

"I know." Ji Taro nodded vigorously, "This person is well-known in Yoshihara. Although I haven't seen her much, I heard that she is very good at swordsmanship despite her stature."

"I seem to have heard of this person too." Zhou Taro on the side nodded and echoed, "It is said that she is also a little girl in Edo because she frequently goes out to Yoshihara and arrests those who fail to repay credit or abscond in Yoshihara. Famous people."

"Oh." Balrog cast some stern eyes on Ji Taro, "I almost forgot, Ji Taro, you boy, you have been hanging around in Yoshiwara day and night since we moved our base to Edo."

Hearing Balrog's words, a slightly embarrassed smile appeared on Ji Taro's face.

After Jitaro coughed softly a few times, the expression on his face returned to seriousness:

"Master Yanmo, are you sure that Gua Shengxiu is one of the masterminds behind the gangsters' defection?"

"In my impression, she seems to be just an ordinary person who works in Shirobei clubhouse in Yoshihara."

"That gangster said so."

The Balrog yawned big.

"According to what she said, that rebellion has an extremely secret way down the mountain."

"The traitor is to send the dirt down the mountain through this secret passage."

"And that Gua Shengxiu is responsible for sending the Kuu who has successfully descended from the mountain to Edo."

"Because that gang has assisted that traitor several times, so he has seen that Gua Shengxiu with his own eyes."

"All in all, I would rather kill by mistake than let it go."

There was a bit of coldness in the Balrog's eyes.

"According to the information provided by the gang, the secret passage has been found."

"That Renren is also smart enough to discover such a secret route down the mountain."

"I have already blocked that secret passage."

"Whether it's that traitor or this Gua Shengxiu, don't let it go."

"I've handed over to Shuntaro the rebellion."

The Balrog turned his attention to Zhou Taro.

"Shoutaro, you are responsible for assisting Shuntaro in this mission."

"Try to catch that traitor alive, if you can't catch it alive, just kill that traitor."

"Lord Balrog" Zhou Taro hesitated, "What about the task of taking care of and monitoring the Iga ninjas?"

After the Iga ninjas came, Balrog sent Shutaro to the Iga ninjas, under the name of "care" and "surveillance".

And Zhou Tailang also did his best for this troublesome task.

Last night, I took Hannosuke and others to visit some places in Shiranui.

"Let's let it go for now." Balrog said immediately, "Anyway, this task won't take long."

Zhou Taro: "Yes!"

"As for Ji Taro." The Balrog turned his attention to Ji Taro, "You are responsible for solving that Gua Shengxiu."

"You don't need to keep her alive, just kill her."

"Remember to be clean. Don't let people find out that this person was killed by a ninja from Shiranui."

"Understood." Ji Taro smiled grimly, "I am best at tasks related to killing people."

"Lord Balrog, will you allow me to use the fire trick for this mission?"

Hearing Kyotaro's request, Balrog pondered for a while, then nodded slightly.

"can."

Ji Taro raised his eyebrows, with an excited expression on his face: "Thank you, Lord Yanmo, this way, I can relax a lot."

"Huo Ji": One of the code words in Shiranui.

It is a very useful trick: when planning to assassinate someone in a crowded place, first set fire not far away or make something happen to create chaos, and then take advantage of the chaos to assassinate the person you want to assassinate .

If time and conditions permit, the body of the person killed can also be thrown into the fire to completely destroy the body and traces, creating an illusion that the person was burned to death instead of being killed by others .

Fire is the most common disaster in this era.

In Japan in this era, hundreds or even thousands of large and small fires will break out in every big city every year.

So even if a fire broke out suddenly in a certain place, it would not arouse suspicion.

"Gekitaro, for this mission, I will send you 2 Chunin and 8 Genin, is that enough?"

"Enough!" Ji Taro nodded vigorously, "But Lord Balrog, I still have a small request, can Keitaro follow me to participate in this mission?"

Keitaro and Keitaro's inseparable best friend and partner.

When Ji Taro went to Yoshiwara to play every night, Keitaro stayed with him all the time.

"You treat Hui Taro very kindly." Balrog smiled, "Okay, let Hui Taro follow you like before for this mission."

Ji Taro: "Thank you, Lord Flame Demon!"

"The start time of the two missions of catching betrayal and killing Gua Shengxiu is set at 2 o'clock in the evening!" Balrog said in a deep voice, "Because Guasheng is from the Yoshihara Shirobei Club, and Yoshihara is Shuntaro that guy hometown."

"If Shuntaro knows that we have made these things in his hometown, he will definitely be dissatisfied."

"I don't want to add trouble that could have been avoided."

"That's why I concealed the task of obliterating Gua Shengxiu from Shuntaro."

"Don't let your mouth slip in the future."

"Especially you, Zhou Taro."

"I specially called you here, just to give you a task: take care of Shuntaro tonight."