200 PS
◇◇◇
"Thump."
When Arashi's figure appeared, Shimura Ken could no longer support himself. His knees buckled, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Behind him, hundreds of Shimura clansmen knelt in unison, burying their heads deep in the dirt.
Among the crowd, young mothers desperately covered their children's mouths, fearing they might make a sound.
They wept silently, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
Beside them, a newly adult ninja clenched his fists, his fingernails piercing his palms, oblivious to the blood flowing out.
That face, which should have been full of youthful vigor, was now only filled with humiliation and despair.
No one dared to look up.
No one dared to speak.
The entire training ground was deathly silent, with only the wailing of the wind.
Arashi slowly walked down from the high platform, his boots crunching on the gravel.
He stopped in front of Shimura Ken.
He looked down at the old man prostrate on the ground.
"Shimura Ken."
"The sinner is here."
"Raise your head."
Shimura Ken dared not disobey, slowly raising his face, which was filled with despair and fear.
But he did not dare to look directly at the other party.
"Does your Shimura know its crime?" Arashi asked indifferently.
Shimura Ken's lips trembled, each word incredibly difficult to utter. "The sinner… knows his crime. Danzō was treasonous and deserves death ten thousand times over. My Shimura failed in its discipline and is unforgivable. Please, Daimyo-sama… mete out punishment."
After speaking, he closed his eyes, awaiting the death sentence.
Arashi's gaze passed over him, slowly sweeping across the ashen-faced Shimura clansmen.
"The crime is Danzō's alone."
He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.
What?
All the prostrate bodies trembled violently, and countless people instinctively raised their heads, their faces full of disbelief.
What did this mean? Could it be… could they still have a way to live?
"But the shame is your entire clan's."
This turning point shattered the glimmer of hope that had just risen within them.
"The Shimura name, from today onward, will no longer be an honor, but a joke."
"A brand of shame etched on each of you, and even on your descendants."
"It will remind everyone that your clan produced a traitor to the Land of Fire."
"Tell me, bearing such shame, how do you intend to live on?"
Arashi's tone held no trace of mockery, yet it was more heart-wrenching than any insult.
He calmly pronounced their social death.
"Daimyo-sama."
Shimura Ken suddenly roared, slamming his head against the ground with a dull thud, blood instantly flowing.
"We… we are willing to be slaves, to be servants."
"We are willing to toil like oxen and horses for Daimyo-sama, to reclaim barren land, to build city walls. We only ask, Daimyo-sama… we only ask that you grant the children a path to survival."
He cried out desperately.
At this moment, dignity had no meaning.
All they had left was this humble body and that tiny glimmer of hope to continue their bloodline.
"A path to survival?"
Arashi looked at him. "Do you only wish to live like livestock?"
"I thought a ninja's bones would be harder."
He shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Just as everyone thought hope was lost, Arashi's voice suddenly rose, reverberating throughout the entire grounds.
"I give you a choice."
The entire place fell silent, everyone's breathing pausing in that moment.
"The first path, I revoke your status as ninja, demote you to commoners, and exile you to the frontier."
"You can live, but the shame brought by the Shimura name will accompany you for generations, until your bloodline is severed."
"The second path…"
He paused, his sharp gaze sweeping over everyone.
"Bury your past, forget your names."
"I will grant you a new identity, a new mission."
"You will delve into the darkness, becoming the sharpest claws of the Land of Fire."
"You will execute the dirtiest missions. Your names will never be recorded in history, your achievements will remain unknown."
"You will live for me, die for me. Your lives, your souls, belong only to me."
These words were filled with blood and cruelty, yet they rekindled a faint light in the eyes of some young ninja.
Rather than die in shame, better to perish in battle.
"In return…"
Arashi's gaze fell upon the children protected behind their parents.
"Your children will no longer have to bear this shame."
"They will, with new identities, enter the best ninja schools in the Land of Fire, receive the most excellent teachers, the most abundant resources, and the strongest yet harshest training."
"They will become the sharpest swords in my hand, to earn their own glory, and let their names resound throughout the ninja world."
"Now, make your choice."
Arashi's voice returned to calm, yet it contained an irresistible power.
"To cling to life in shame, never to rise again?"
"Or to burn yourselves out in the darkness, to exchange for a bright future for your descendants?"
Silence.
Within the training ground, a pin drop could be heard.
Everyone was stunned by these words, their hearts pounding.
They… still had a choice?
And one of the options was to exchange for a future for their descendants?
The mother holding her child suddenly looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.
The young ninja who had clenched his fists began to tremble uncontrollably, not from fear, but from an unspeakable excitement.
Immense euphoria overwhelmed everyone's reason.
This was not a judgment.
This was a gift.
It was salvation.
It was this great monarch, in their most desperate hour, granting them a glimmer of hope, a path of atonement paved with blood and life.
Shimura Ken was the first to react. He was incoherent with excitement, his entire being coming back to life.
"Your subordinate chooses the second path. Your subordinate is willing to die for Daimyo-sama."
His roar ignited the entire grounds.
"Willing to die for Daimyo-sama."
A shout like a mountain and a tsunami erupted from hundreds of mouths.
The young mother placed her child beside her, bowing deeply, her forehead leaving a bloody mark.
The young ninja knelt, shouting, his voice hoarse, but with unprecedented fervor.
The shouts converged into a fervent wave of sound, soaring into the sky, making the entire training ground hum.
There was no more fear or despair, only endless fervor, gratitude, and a yearning for the future.
Arashi watched all of this with satisfaction.
What he wanted was precisely a group of warriors willing to sacrifice everything for hope.
"Very good."
"From this day forward, there is no more Shimura in the world."
"You shall be called the Kurokaze Clan."
At this moment, a ninja clan that had existed for hundreds of years, along with its glory and its sins, was completely buried.
In its place was a new ninja clan, hidden in the shadows, ready at any moment to draw its blade for its monarch.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇◇
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)