Much of history had changed.
The Hirata family still existed. Isshin Ashina, the head of the main family, was alive and well. As Ashina's heir, Genichiro Ashina had far less authority than in the game.
His prestige couldn't compare to Isshin's. If the old man were gravely ill or dead, the retainers would naturally rally around the young heir. But the old man was perfectly healthy, lacking neither prestige nor martial prowess. He looked good for another ten years at least, so the retainers had no reason to shift loyalty.
The Hirata family was the Ashina clan's most important pillar. Genichiro couldn't come steal Kuro away, so naturally he hadn't clashed with Wolf. Wolf still had both hands and remained an elite shinobi with swift movements.
However...
Bella carefully observed his temples. White hairs were faintly visible. Though he was young, his features carried a trace of age.
She sighed inwardly. Wolf had apparently died once already, then been resurrected by Kuro using the Dragon's Heritage, becoming undying.
Sensing her gaze, Wolf continued walking as if nothing had happened.
To him, foreigners and outsiders were all irrelevant. The transmigrator "veterans" didn't know his importance—no one had contacted him.
"Your name is just Wolf? No surname?" Bella asked.
Wolf looked straight ahead, coolly replying, "No."
"Do you have any family? Siblings?"
"No."
"Your skills are excellent. Why not become a samurai?"
"...I only know how to kill."
Bella chatted idly with Wolf while Kyujiro and Iwata, each carrying a heavy chest, grew disgruntled.
They'd already left Hirata territory. Surrounded by wilderness and treacherous paths, watching Bella chat and laugh made them angry.
I'm an outsider, you're an outsider—why do you get to order me around?! Because you're pretty? Being pretty is useless here!
Both completely ignored Wolf's presence, dropped their chests heavily on the ground, crossed their arms, and indicated they needed rest.
Wolf's right hand slowly moved to his sword hilt. To him, anyone hindering his mission could be cut down. Bella stopped him from drawing. Two nobodies weren't worth fighting over.
"Listen up, woman! Knowing some hand-to-hand combat doesn't make you special. Have you even been to war? Remember, we brothers can help you complete this mission, but..." Kyujiro recited the lines they'd rehearsed, but as soon as he looked up, he met Bella's eyes.
Her eyes had turned milky white, seemingly without pupils. For a moment, it felt as if tentacles were touching his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Terror filled Kyujiro's gaze. He almost believed Bella would transform into a monster and devour his brain!
"Pick up the chests. Keep walking."
"Y-yes, yes, my lady!"
Using the same fear technique on Iwata, Bella continued her idle chat with Wolf while the two porters followed without daring to slack off, carrying their massive chests.
"Are you a shrine maiden?" Wolf didn't talk much, but his questions were perceptive. Bella naturally denied it. According to her story, this was a sword technique called Mind Sword, and she was a Sword Saint from the Western lands! Only she knew this technique!
Wolf was skeptical but didn't press further.
If traveling alone, they could've taken Ashina Castle's dungeons, jumped down an extremely deep pit to reach the Ashina Depths, then emerged into the Hidden Forest.
Wolf had his shinobi grappling hook, Bella had her Leap of Faith. The two of them would be fine, but the porters behind them couldn't manage it. Those two would die instantly upon jumping.
They had to take the long way around through mountain paths. The four departed at dawn, stopping and starting. By nearly three in the afternoon, they entered a dark cavern.
"Be careful. There may be enemies here," Wolf warned the three.
His words had barely left his mouth when—"BANG BANG BANG!"—crude but powerful gunfire erupted in the distance. Bella and Wolf dodged separately. The two tool-people dove behind their chests in terror.
Over ten strange figures wrapped in white cloth, wearing straw hats that exposed only eyes and mouths, emerged from both sides of the cave, wielding matchlock rifles.
Their leader, a woman in a straw raincoat, had a rifle that seemed specially modified—thick as a barrel, with exceptional range and accuracy. She wielded that crude weapon like a sniper rifle.
"It's the Snake Eyes clan!" Wolf shouted, but without his Shinobi Prosthetic, he lacked many attack methods. Facing ranged fire, he could only duck for cover.
Bella used Eagle Vision to carefully observe these figures who had wrapped their entire bodies tightly in cloth and bandages.
They were human, but their bodies had also been corrupted by undying power, becoming neither fully human nor ghost.
Bella recalled memories from her previous life.
She knew the Snake Eyes clan. To Ashina, these heavily bandaged figures were outsiders, rejected people.
Years ago, atop Ashina's mountains, there lived a group of priests and shrine maidens who built magnificent palaces at the summit, called the Fountainhead Palace.
The rulers of the Fountainhead Palace were the Okami clan. The men were nobility, the women warriors. They came from Izumo, where the Okami deity was a dragon god controlling wind and rain.
The Sakura Dragon that crossed the sea from the West to Japan was identified as their Okami deity. They'd followed it all the way from Izumo to Ashina.
The Okami clan wanted more living space. They descended the streams to attack Ashina but were defeated and forced to retreat to the Fountainhead Palace.
After the war, women who'd suffered wartime atrocities were driven from their homes. Their descendants who grew up in the wilderness became the Snake Eyes clan—hybrid children carrying partial bloodlines of both Okami and Ashina people.
Rejected by Ashina, unable to enter the Fountainhead Palace, they could only wander the wilderness, occasionally taking mercenary work for small pay. The rest of the time they guarded this area near the Fountainhead Palace entrance, hoping that someday they might be accepted.