Shimura is Dead, Black Wind Stands

"Thump!"

The moment Chiba Ran's figure appeared, Shimura Ken could no longer hold on. His knees buckled, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Behind him, hundreds of Shimura clan members simultaneously knelt, burying their heads deep in the dust.

Among the crowd, a young mother desperately covered her child's mouth, afraid of any sound.

She wept silently, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Beside her, a newly adult young ninja clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into his palms. He was oblivious to the blood flowing from his hands.

His face, which should have been full of youthful vigor, was now etched with only humiliation and despair.

No one dared to look up.

No one dared to make a sound.

The entire training ground was deathly silent, save for the mournful cry of the wind.

Chiba Ran slowly descended from the high platform, his boots crunching on the gravel.

He stopped in front of Shimura Ken.

Looking down from above at the old man prostrating himself on the ground.

"Shimura Ken."

"Your guilty servant is here!"

"Lift your head."

Shimura Ken dared not disobey. He slowly raised his face, filled with despair and fear.

But he did not dare to meet the other's gaze.

"Does your Shimura clan know its crime?" Chiba Ran asked calmly.

Shimura Ken's lips trembled. Every word was spoken with immense difficulty. "Your guilty servant... knows the crime! Danzo's treason is a crime deserving death. My Shimura clan's failure to discipline properly is a crime that cannot be forgiven! I beg the Daimyo... to mete out punishment!"

After speaking, he closed his eyes, awaiting the sentence of death.

Chiba Ran's gaze passed over him, slowly sweeping across the despairing faces of the Shimura clan members.

"The crime belongs to Shimura Danzo alone."

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears.

What?!

Every kneeling body trembled violently. Countless people subconsciously raised their heads, disbelief etched on their faces.

What did that sentence mean? Could it be... could they still have a chance to live?

"But the shame belongs to your entire clan."

This turn of phrase, however, shattered the sliver of hope that had just ignited within them.

"From this day forward, the surname Shimura will no longer be an honor, but a joke."

"It will be a mark of shame branded upon each of you, and even upon your descendants."

"It will remind everyone that your clan produced a traitor."

"Tell me, bearing such shame, how do you intend to live on?"

Chiba Ran's tone held no mockery, yet it was more piercing than any insult.

He calmly pronounced their social death.

"Lord!"

Shimura Ken suddenly roared. He slammed his head against the ground with a dull thud, and blood immediately began to flow.

"We... we are willing to be slaves! Servants!"

"We are willing to work like oxen and horses for you, to reclaim wasteland, to build city walls! We only beg you... we only beg you to leave a path for the children!"

He cried out, like a desperate old dog.

At this moment, dignity was meaningless.

All they had left was their humble bodies and the faint desire to continue their bloodline.

"A path?"

Chiba Ran looked at him. "All you desire is to live like livestock?"

"I thought the bones of a ninja would be harder."

He shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

Just as everyone thought their hope was extinguished, Chiba Ran's voice suddenly rose, echoing through the entire venue!

"I will give you one choice."

The entire place fell silent. Everyone's breath hitched at that moment.

"The first path: I will 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 follow you for generations, until your bloodline is extinguished."

"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 infiltrate the darkness and become the sharpest claws of the Land of Fire."

"You will carry out the dirtiest tasks, your names will never be recorded in history, and your achievements will be unknown."

"You will live for me, die for me. Your lives, your souls, belong only to me!"

These words were filled with brutality and cruelty, yet in the eyes of some young ninjas, a faint light rekindled.

Rather than die in shame, it was better to perish in battle!

"In return..."

Chiba Ran's gaze fell upon the children being shielded by their parents.

"Your children will not have to bear this shame."

"They will enter the best ninja schools in the Land of Fire with new identities, receiving the finest instructors, the most abundant resources, and the strongest, yet harshest, training."

"They will become the sharpest swords in my hand, to win their own glory, and make their names echo throughout the Ninja World!"

"Now, make your choice."

Chiba Ran's voice returned to calm, yet it contained an irresistible power.

"Will you live on in shame, never to rise again?"

"Or will you burn yourselves out in darkness, to exchange a bright future for your descendants?"

Dead silence.

Within the training ground, one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone was stunned, their hearts pounding wildly from his words.

They... still had a choice?

And, one of the options was to exchange their future for their descendants?

The mother holding her child suddenly looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.

The young man clenching his fist began to tremble uncontrollably, not from fear, but from an indescribable excitement!

Overwhelming joy shattered everyone's reason!

This wasn't a judgment!

It was a gift!

It was salvation!

It was the glimmer of hope bestowed upon them by this great lord in their most desperate hour, a path of atonement paved with blood and life!

"Your subordinate!!"

Shimura Ken was the first to react. He was so excited he could barely speak, his entire being coming alive again.

"Your subordinate is willing to take the second path! Your subordinate is willing to die for you, my Lord!!"

His roar ignited the entire scene!

"Willing to die for you, my Lord!!!"

A mountain-like roar erupted from the mouths of hundreds of people.

The young mother placed her child beside her and kowtowed heavily, her forehead leaving a bloody imprint!

The young ninja knelt on both knees, his voice hoarse as he shouted, filled with unprecedented fervor!

The shouts converged into a wave of fanaticism, soaring into the sky and making the entire training ground hum!

There was no longer fear or despair, only endless fervor, gratitude, and a yearning for the future!

Chiba Ran watched it all with satisfaction.

What he wanted was a group of warriors willing to sacrifice everything for hope.

"Very good."

"From this day forward, there will be no more Shimura Clan in the world."

"You will be called the Black Wind Clan!"

At this moment.

A ninja clan that had endured for hundreds of years, along with its glory and sins, was thoroughly buried.

In its place, a new ninja clan, hidden in the shadows, ready to wield its blades for its lord at any moment.