Asura

In this world, an asura shouldn't shed tears.

Uchiha Zhuang looked at the man, full of curiosity and admiration. The least I can do is show you some respect and stop calling you Funu. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your wife, children, and elders? I'm not as heartless as you think. Go and see them." The man's vacant eyes stirred. Then he lowered his head and said, "I am nothing but weeds and filth. I wouldn't dare lay a hand on your belongings, my lord." Uchiha Zhuang began to marvel inwardly. Heroes were born in troubled times. This man was something else. He would do his best to keep him safe.

Night fell slowly, and a chill hung over the forest, where insects chirped and birds called. Funu pointed to a pitch-black cave ahead. "My lord, this is where those bandits usually sleep after their raids, though they don't stay here every time. The cave is about seventy or eighty pings in area, but the only part where you can stand is a patch of ground in the middle, a little over thirty pings. The rest is uneven rock or clutter. There's also a small hidden passage leading outside, an escape route. Ninja from the Land of Rivers once came to deal with the bandits, but they were surrounded and killed inside this very cave. No one has come to our village since." Uchiha Zhuang gave no sign of what he thought and asked, "How do you know I can get rid of these bandits?" "My lord, I trust my instincts. Even if I'm wrong, death will come sooner or later. Why not seize the chance to change my fate?" "Do you want to live?" Uchiha Zhuang asked casually. Funu's face changed at once, and he bowed repeatedly, apologizing. Ignoring him, Uchiha Zhuang studied the terrain for a while, then began setting traps. First, he piled branches and leaves inside the cave. Then he strung concealed tripwires through the surrounding woods and cut down some leafy branches to camouflage them. He did everything he could to increase the cover in the area. The forest was already dark at night, and adding more cover would make it darker still—almost like walking blindfolded. But in the darkness, Uchiha Zhuang would have an absolute advantage. And in the end, he could use the dense trees and thick undergrowth to maximize the sustained burning power of the Great Fireball Technique. With forest on three sides and a cave on the fourth, the bandits would flee into the cave if they panicked. In a confined space, a ninja technique would only grow many times more powerful! Death would come with savage fury!

Setting up the environment across such a large area took a long time, even though all he did was pile things up and lay tripwires. Finally, at the hidden escape exit in the cave, Uchiha Zhuang used up all the wire and caltrops to lay his traps. When he could just barely make out the commotion in the dilapidated village, the two of them hurried back. Uchiha Zhuang pulled Funu by the hand and crouched in the bushes at the village entrance. Before them, flames soared into the sky. Against the backdrop of the burning ruins, the bandits, armed with all kinds of weapons, looked like demons from hell as they hacked away, killing for pleasure. They hadn't even spared the infants. The fire in Uchiha Zhuang's heart began to burn again, slow and fierce. It wasn't time to rush out yet; he still wasn't strong enough to take on dozens of demons head-on. His anger built inside him. Funu bowed his head again, his legs trembling as he muttered something. "You've already died once. You're all alone now. What are you afraid of? Afraid to die? From the moment you abandoned your ancestral name, you became weeds and filth." Uchiha Zhuang rested a hand on Funu's head and stared straight into his eyes. "I'll ask you one last time: do you want to live?" Funu stared in terror at those calm, black eyes, as if they held some kind of magic that beckoned to him. Gradually, he calmed down, then prostrated himself before Uchiha Zhuang. "I am about to die. May you live long and in good health, my lord." Funu understood that only by giving up his own life could he save his wife and daughter.

Funu ducked low and darted to a thicket dozens of meters away. Then he burst out and roared furiously at the scene of carnage. It might have been the angriest and loudest roar of his life. "You pack of stray dogs! Look over here! I'm a noble! I'm Fujiwara Kobayashi, I'm—" A short, sharp sound cut him off. Uchiha Zhuang saw it clearly: an arrow struck Funu in the chest. That precise shot ended his roar—and his life of humiliation. Funu, Fujiwara Kobayashi, struggled to turn his head and move his throat toward Uchiha Zhuang. Then he fell, disappearing into the bushes. Uchiha Zhuang understood what he meant. He sighed in silence and looked into the distance. The bandits in the village were moving toward the entrance, and he could vaguely make out someone carrying a Sashimono Flag running behind them. Sure enough, there were people with ambitions mixed in among them. Sashimono Flags were distinctive banners marked with the colors and designs of great clans or daimyō, used to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield. Their soldiers carried them on their backs or bore them on poles, primarily for use in battle. Uchiha Zhuang realized he had been exposed. Funu's dying glance toward him had given away his position. He looked up at the bright moon, his heart quietly tense. A mob of bandits howled as they chased the swift-running boy, along with a small group of regular soldiers marching in orderly formation. Along the way, Uchiha Zhuang turned and threw shuriken several times. The bandits hadn't expected the timid "rat" to dare fight back, and four or five of them were wounded in an instant. Now the whole mob was furious, swearing to chop the "rat" into dozens of pieces and eat him with their wine.

Uchiha Zhuang reached the prepared traps first, slipped behind the cover, and vanished from sight. The bandits charged after him. Only when they reached the depths of the trap did they find the cave where they used to spend the night. They stared into its pitch-black entrance, feeling a chill crawl down their backs for some reason. So they decided to enter in several groups and capture the damned "rat." Watching the bandits approach the cave cautiously with torches held high, Uchiha Zhuang wasn't surprised. Crude, vicious bandits were generally none too bright; with little more than brute force and a smattering of swordsmanship, they ran wild and committed evil. The most formidable man in this group was the soldier commander who had just shot Funu dead. When a dozen or so men reached the traps, the commander clearly sensed something was wrong. The trees were so thick that they blocked much of the view; once they entered, it would be like walking into a trap. A trap! The Ashigaru Commander certainly had some brains. An Ashigaru sub-commander usually didn't lead even thirty men. Seeing that the group was extremely cautious and still hadn't entered the traps, Uchiha Zhuang decided not to wait. He turned to deal with the dozens of bandits instead. Once they suffered heavy losses inside, this group would definitely come in.