"Are you the daimyo's guards? You don't look like much."
Kusaka Naoto pointed the long sword in his hand at the people on the roof and gave a disdainful smile.
"There's something very wrong with this man!"
As ninjas, they were able to control their emotions well and were not angered by Kusaka Naoto's mockery.
Those who could become the daimyo's guards were all powerful and experienced in battle. At a glance, they could tell that this man's condition was highly suspicious.
A cracking sound rang out.
Instinctively, they turned toward the source of the sound.
It came from the blade in Kusaka Naoto's hand as it shattered.
The sword itself had already been close to its limit, and Kusaka Naoto had used it to kill quite a few people.
At last, the sword shattered.
"Huh?"
Kusaka Naoto watched helplessly as the sword in his hand broke apart bit by bit, until only the hilt remained in his hand.
"What's going on? How is this possible?!"
Kusaka Naoto could not believe it was real.
His sword, his invincible sword—how could it suddenly break like this?!
Kusaka Naoto fell to his knees, grabbing the broken pieces with both hands and trying to put them back together.
"How could this happen? How could this happen?"
The sharp fragments cut open Kusaka Naoto's hands, and blood stained the shattered blade red.
Kusaka Naoto did not see that there was something else on the broken blade besides his blood.
But even if he had noticed it now, he might have ignored it.
"Hey, what kind of trick are you playing?"
Seeing him suddenly kneel on the ground and mutter words he could not hear, one ninja thought Kusaka Naoto was up to something.
He cautiously threw a kunai.
The kunai accurately struck Kusaka Naoto's