The bandits searching inside the cave hadn't found Uchiha Zhuang. Furious, they shouted and argued: some suggested taking the valuables and scattering, others wanted to kill that hateful "rat," and still others were heading for the escape tunnel. Then a voice rang out: "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" The cave heated up in an instant. The bandits near the entrance ran straight into a huge fireball that came flying out of the darkness and were instantly engulfed in flames. Those behind them fell into chaos. Then a "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire" struck the rear ranks, throwing the whole crowd into disorder. The layer of fire oil spread across the ground caught alight at just the right moment, and with the branches and leaves burning inside, the cave became a furnace. After cutting down several bandits who charged at him, Uchiha Zhuang waited until the fire had thoroughly consumed the cave and no one could have survived, then sprinted from outside toward the escape exit. The caltrops and steel wires he had set earlier had done their job: several bandits had fallen into the traps and were limping along. Uchiha Zhuang caught up and attacked them from behind. They didn't dodge, and they'd let their guard down. His blade rose and fell, killing the last few bandits trying to flee. The bandits were all wiped out. Only a dozen or so regular ashigaru remained, but every one of these people who had slaughtered innocents—ashigaru or bandit—had to die.
With his bloodlust rising, Uchiha Zhuang failed to notice that a One-Tomoe had quietly awakened in his eyes. He turned and ran toward the clearing outside the cave. Just as expected, the dozen or so ashigaru had entered the trap under the Ashigaru Commander's lead. "Be careful. There are too many bushes here. Everyone, grip your weapons and move forward back to back." At the order, the squad closed ranks and scanned their surroundings. Uchiha Zhuang watched them, carefully thinking over how to wipe out the ashigaru. Then he spotted a towering tree nearby and came up with a plan. He climbed halfway up the tree, then stuck his feet to the trunk. "Water Release: Water Needles!" A dense barrage of water lines shot down from overhead, easily piercing unprotected skin. Though fast, they caused mostly disabling injuries rather than killing outright. Next came "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Faced with the huge fireball bearing down from above, the dozen ashigaru dragged their bodies, wounded by the water needles, and desperately tried to evade it. In the end, seven or eight were struck by the fireball and burned to death on the spot. The remaining six huddled together back to back, gasping for breath. As expected, trained soldiers are better than bandits. If those bandits had taken that fireball, at least twenty out of thirty would've died. After making a quick estimate, Uchiha Zhuang took a deep breath. He was running low on chakra and stamina. He flung a volley of shuriken from the tree, then leaped into the bushes and disappeared. "Damn it!" the Ashigaru Commander cursed. A moment later, someone behind him dropped to the ground with a thud. "Everyone, stay close. Don't spread out!" Taking advantage of his sharp eye for movement and ability to anticipate their actions, Uchiha Zhuang used the abundant cover around him to keep cutting them down. The last few couldn't take it anymore and began swinging their blades wildly, making it impossible for Uchiha Zhuang to approach for a moment. I can't waste any more time here. They might have reinforcements. Uchiha Zhuang pulled out the few smoke bombs he had left and hurled them at the men's feet. Then he launched all his remaining hidden weapons. The men could barely fend off the incoming projectiles through layer upon layer of smoke. Their fate was sealed. As they leaned on their swords and gasped for breath, Uchiha Zhuang delivered two diagonal slashes, killing two of them. The last Ashigaru Commander stared at the figure shrouded in dark smoke before him. "So it was only a child after all. I let my guard down." As soon as he finished murmuring, everything went dark, and he lost consciousness.
Uchiha Zhuang forced his exhausted body to search the ashigaru, taking all their paper money, provisions, a water flask, and a bundle of letters. Looking at the blood-soaked battlefield, with fire still flickering inside the cave, Uchiha Zhuang's face was streaked with blood and exhaustion. He had more than a dozen knife wounds and was covered in grime. His eyelids drooping, he slung his sword and pack over his back and slowly walked away.
The next morning, mist still hung in the forest, and dew clung to the leaves. The sound of fairly orderly footsteps rang out as a commander in armor and a demon mask approached. Looking at the gruesome scene, he sighed, "What a demon from hell!" He then ordered his soldiers to strip the ashigaru corpses of anything useful and bury them in a pit. On the way back, a young officer beside the masked commander asked, "General Kamakura, why not keep pursuing this fiend? Based on our reconnaissance along the way and the information we've gathered, he's just a rogue ninja. Why not continue the pursuit and capture him?" General Kamakura replied from atop his horse, "He's an excellent ninja, not some rogue ninja. Pursuing him would bring us unexpected trouble. Leave him be. What matters now is the turmoil in our country. The Daimyo has been scared witless by the ninja of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. We must protect the Daimyo's faction. We absolutely cannot let that country bumpkin Shibata Takeo collude with foreigners and plunder our wealth!" "Yes, sir!" The young officer's expression turned solemn. He immediately mounted his horse and led the army onward.
After leaving the place of trouble, Uchiha Zhuang proceeded slowly, keeping watch and listening for pursuers behind him. Near midnight, with dawn approaching, he picked up speed toward the Land of Fire, searching for the three women along the way. By noon, he figured the women couldn't have traveled that far, so he searched nearby caves and ravines in case they were hiding. He searched for a long time without finding them, and anxiety began to gnaw at him. More importantly, the pack contained crucial intelligence that could, to some extent, determine the future of the Land of Rivers. Uchiha Zhuang calmed down and thought it through. A frail woman with two children couldn't possibly travel at night, since prolonged hunger could cause night blindness. Nor could they travel at noon, when the sun was at its harshest and visibility in the forest was best. They wouldn't risk being spotted by hunters lurking in the shadows. That meant they had to be hiding somewhere. They couldn't travel where there were no paths, while the smaller trails were mostly controlled by highwaymen and bandits. That left the main road: the most dangerous route, but also the safest for them. Having made up his mind, Uchiha Zhuang hurried toward the main road connecting the Land of Rivers to the Land of Fire. After traveling for over ten minutes, his sharp eyesight and hearing finally led him to the three of them in a small hole beside the road. The woman was remarkably quick-witted, able to assess their predicament and press on despite the hardship. Looking at the three ragged figures before him, Uchiha Zhuang took two hardtack biscuits from his pack and handed them to the woman. She knelt to accept them and shared them with the children. She ate half of one herself, then broke off the rest and hid it in her clothes. Uchiha Zhuang sat down against a rock. When they had nearly finished eating, he spoke quietly. "Fujiwara Kobayashi is dead. He died at the hands of the army of the Land of Rivers." The woman's eyes immediately reddened, but she didn't cry. Perhaps she had realized that ordinary people had no hope of surviving in such turbulent times. Giving her enough time to compose herself, Uchiha Zhuang asked, "What do you plan to do now?" With her head lowered, the woman replied after a long pause, "I am your property. I will do whatever you wish, master." Uchiha Zhuang looked at the two little girls huddled together. The woman didn't respond to the children tugging at her. Tears welled in the little girls' eyes and then fell like pearls from a broken string. Uchiha Zhuang walked over and laid his hands on them, carefully checking their bodies. He confirmed that they had no weapons and also assessed their condition: they were in terrible shape, chronically malnourished, with bones showing in many places. They also had rotten teeth and hair loss. Most pitiful of all, their private parts were raw and inflamed, with scabs caked together with urine, and they'd received virtually no medical or medicinal care. Perhaps Uchiha Zhuang's careful touch helped calm the two girls' trembling bodies. They stared at him with curious eyes. At that moment, his resolute yet still childlike face was imprinted in their hearts. Worry showed between his brows, but a moment later his expression relaxed and confidence returned. Uchiha Zhuang turned and ran his hands over the woman's body. Her trembling betrayed her words: she was terrified and didn't know what her master would do to her. Perhaps he would find her dirty and weak and kill her; after all, the road ahead was so dangerous that there was no way she'd make it to the Land of Fire alive. Uchiha Zhuang didn't know what was going through her mind. She, too, suffered from various illnesses caused by hunger, and her intimate hygiene was in a dire state. Uchiha Zhuang recalled an international medical chat magazine he had once read, which had claimed that a woman's intimate health determined her lifespan and overall health. What nonsense. He pushed the jumble of thoughts from his mind and said, "We're leaving now. Stay with me, and don't worry about your safety. Also, take good care of these two children. You belong to me now, so none of you are allowed to get hurt again."
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