Cast Aside by the Times

Under the moonlight, Tetsuzo sat cross-legged beneath the eaves. A rectangular box rested across his knees. It was plain in design yet spotless, clearly something he treasured and took care to wipe down often.

He watched Murakami perform sword techniques before him. Joy and sorrow mingled in his eyes, as though he lamented that a sword prodigy like Murakami had been born in the wrong era.

This era no longer needed samurai. After he had honed his swordsmanship to perfection in a cage, the first thing awaiting him when he slashed his way out was not a masterful samurai duel, but an Illusion Technique from a ninja. More terrifying than losing a fight was having his spirit shattered.

"Murakami, that's enough. Bring me the Katana."

At his master's words, Murakami carefully wiped the Katana in his hands, then offered it to him with both hands.

"Rain Cutter. A hundred-fold refined masterwork. The one in your hands is only a Kage-uchi. The Shin-uchi is here."

Tetsuzo gently opened the long box. A beautifully crafted Katana lay inside. Murakami's eyes filled with fascination, but not greed.

The next moment, the box holding Rain Cutter's Shin-uchi was in Murakami's hands, while the Kage-uchi he had been holding was now in Tetsuzo's.

"Master, this..."

Tetsuzo raised a hand to stop Murakami from speaking. He studied the young man before him, as though seeing himself many years ago. "Murakami, your uncle and I have already discussed this. Don't go back. Take this Rain Cutter and the letter to the Land of Iron and find General Mifune. He'll explain what to do next."

"Things are urgent. Leave right now. Once you've settled in the Land of Iron, remember to write to me."

Murakami, mild-mannered as ever, failed to notice the holes in his master's story or the urgency in his voice. He nodded, took the provisions Tetsuzo had prepared in advance, bowed respectfully, then turned and left.

"I led my men in the Slaughter Caravan's attacks. This child was only sent by Kaneda to draw me out. Your mission has nothing to do with him. Can't you let him go?"

Tetsuzo's voice was desolate, as though an old man were begging bandits to spare his grandson.

A sharp smack rang out.

An object landed in front of him. Tetsuzo looked closely and recognized the scabbard of the Rain Cutter Shin-uchi he had just given Murakami. His expression changed dramatically. Eyes bloodshot, he stared at the ninja standing before him with his arms crossed.

"You killed an innocent man?"

Watching Tetsuzo's agitation, Senba felt a faint wave of disgust. Did the man really think he was an idiot?

"Innocent? You're telling me about innocence? Never mind that you and he have faces that look thirty percent alike. Just think about how many living targets Murakami must have used to hone his swordsmanship to this level. There's no way we'd let him go."

"Besides, did the Sage of Six Paths simply hand you the resources for his training? There isn't much bloodstained loot in your basement."

Murakami specialized in swordsmanship, but that was precisely why he had no sense of right and wrong beyond the blade. One moment he seemed unsociable; the next, he could plunge a sword into a living target's heart just to improve his technique.

People like him could be even more terrifying than the most vicious criminals. He had no human emotions. Senba had confirmed as much on the way there using the Mind Reflection Technique. So when Senba realized Murakami was about to leave, he had Teacher Genma stop him. As expected, things had gone just as Senba predicted.

Murakami was practiced at killing, his swordsmanship brutally swift, yet there wasn't a trace of killing intent in his eyes. It was as though he had been born to do this.

"Rain Cutter Style: Rain Break!"

"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"

Tetsuzo flashed forward as if teleporting, stopping just one step from Senba. His blade's fierce gleam cleaved through the earthen wall and even cut Senba, who stood behind it, in two.

Thud.

Senba's body turned into a piece of deadwood. Tetsuzo's eyes narrowed. He reversed his grip and thrust Rain Cutter behind him from his waist, activating his speed again as he retreated at full force, lending the blade terrifying piercing power.

"Secret Technique: Goose Return!"

Then he felt Rain Cutter being forcibly stopped. With his wealth of combat experience, he immediately released the hilt, stamped his right foot against the ground, and tried to burst away at top speed.

But a sharp pain shot through his right foot. Looking down, he saw a thin Senbon piercing straight through his sole, preventing him from accelerating.

"Damn it!"

His pupils contracted. It felt as though a carriage had slammed into his body. A tremendous force struck the left side of his back, hurling him forward like a rag doll until he crashed into a nearby wall.

"Cough, cough." Knowing he wouldn't survive, Tetsuzo struggled to roll onto his back. He wanted to see why his Goose Return had failed. Dark red blood poured from his mouth, mingling with foam as it ran across the ground.

Senba looked at the Kage-uchi, twisted out of shape by the combined force of his Hardening Technique and monstrous strength, and casually tossed it aside. Then he stopped three meters from Tetsuzo.

"Anything you want to say before you go? Since this is my first C-rank mission, I'll give you time for last words." Senba brushed at his sleeve. "But don't expect me to fulfill any last wishes."

At death's door, Tetsuzo's vision grew increasingly hazy. He looked at the Kage-uchi twisted by Senba's immense strength and Senba's unharmed hand. Struggling to open his mouth, he fought the suffocating sensation of blood flowing back down his throat. His voice came out hoarse.

"Fifty... years... of hard... training..." More blood gushed from his mouth as he spoke. "Yet... the times... won't accept... me..."

Cast aside by the times, he had clung to the purity of being a samurai, refusing to use outside help like the samurai of the Land of Iron. He had sworn to vindicate the samurai of the old era with the sword in his hand.

After decades of struggle, he had realized his goal remained impossibly distant. Countless times, he had barely survived in the margins of the ninja wars, and every escape from death had plunged him deeper into despair.

Most bitterly ironic of all, as he grew older, he could no longer even support himself. In the end, he had chosen to sustain himself by slaughtering ordinary people. Fate had played a cruel joke on him: unwilling to surrender his samurai's pride, he had become the very kind of bandit people despised most, only to be killed here by a young ninja.

Tetsuzo struggled to look at the white-haired boy one last time. What a fine age, full of promise. Hadn't he been just like that when he first escaped the cage? The scene before his eyes gradually blurred and faded into darkness.

A flash of steel. Senba sealed Tetsuzo's head away as proof of the mission, then turned and left. Someone else would clean up here.

Outside the gate, Genma Shiranui stood with a box of gold and silver at his feet, idly turning the Rain Cutter Shin-uchi over in his hands. He seemed completely uninterested. Beneath a large tree some distance away, Murakami leaned back against its trunk, head tilted up, a Senbon lodged in his throat.

A pure sword prodigy was bound to be cast aside in this era. It was one man's tragedy, yet the tide of the times all the same.

Senba calmly placed the Shin-uchi and the gold and silver on a scroll. With a casual one-handed seal, the Sealing Scroll wrapped itself around the objects, and he put it away.

Genma Shiranui, who had seen the whole thing, stared in surprise. Was this kid really that good at Sealing Jutsu?