"However, even if that explains who they were, it still doesn't explain their motives.
After all, the other side was just a group of ordinary people. They had no reason to attack." The Nagata Clan chief still had some doubts.
Elder Nagata Ietsugu looked disdainful. "What else could it be? Those so-called samurai were used to throwing their weight around by invoking the Feudal Lord's name. It's very possible those three were in disguise, pretending to be commoners or someone else.
As long as they weren't obviously dressed as ninja, it's easy to imagine how the Feudal Lord's retainers would behave.
Whether they spoke rudely or had some other reason, none of that matters. The important thing is that their actions afterward all fit the story.
"To get a quick understanding of the situation, one of our Yamanaka Clan members read the merchant's memories. We learned that the group was directly under the Feudal Lord. To avoid trouble, they disguised themselves as bandits and robbers..."
The chief nodded approvingly. "Exactly, exactly. Haha, Elder, you really do see things clearly. The key now is how we report this to the Feudal Lord.
"The Feudal Lord has no reason to offend those three clans over a group of commoners. Besides, there are parts of this that we can't explain clearly. In that case, there's no need for us to offend the three great clans either."
Elder Nagata Ietsugu agreed. "At tonight's banquet, we'll say that someone really did frame them, but that the culprits were ninja and had deliberately destroyed the important evidence at the scene. That way, we'll show our capabilities without offending Ino-Shika-Cho."
The chief wasn't entirely convinced. "Foreign ninja causing trouble in the Land of Iron, and even ambushing the Feudal Lord's guards directly—wouldn't that make our ninja clans look incompetent? How could we say that?"
The elder, however, didn't care. "The Hagoromo Clan already dealt us a heavy blow, and we even had to rely on the Feudal Lord to gather physicians. None of that can be kept secret. We might as well use this opportunity to admit we're not strong enough and ask the Feudal Lord for some benefits to help us grow."
The chief would have to agonize over that choice between substance and appearances himself. After delivering his report, the elder took his leave.
By now, three months had passed. Without the help of ninja, the Feudal Lord's samurai had spent those three months searching without finding any trace of the enemy. Instead, they'd uncovered plenty of wild men and bandits in the Land of Fields that they'd overlooked before, which had at least brought the Feudal Lord a new source of income.
After three months of chaos, the Feudal Lord had given up on continuing the search. Now he was merely making one last effort, while also shifting the blame onto his subordinates to save some face.
In fact, the Nagata Clan had genuinely searched during those three months. It wasn't that they hoped to curry favor with the Feudal Lord; they wanted to use the so-called genius of a ninja clan to establish ties with Ino-Shika-Cho.
After all, the ninja clans across the Land of Fields had all been dealt a heavy blow by the Hagoromo Clan. They were in a weakened state, and finding a powerful ally would at least spare them the worry of being wiped out for the time being.
However, that so-called young genius existed only in their imagination, while Bai Sui hadn't left the little village once during that time.
So although the ninja families of the Land of Fields really did find some foreign ninja, they weren't the ones they were looking for.
Today's banquet at the Daimyo Mansion marked not only the Feudal Lord giving up, but also the ninja clans doing the same.
After all, an operation on such a large scale was costly, and the matter itself wasn't even important. It was like using a cannon to swat a mosquito and still missing—losing both money and face.
And so, without anyone in the little village knowing, the crisis was completely averted.
The village's peaceful days naturally led people to think that Bai Sui had made a fuss over nothing. They'd entirely forgotten—or were able to forget—that Bai Sui and Kubota Noriyuki had killed more than a dozen people over it.
On top of that, Bai Sui deliberately kept his distance. Gradually, people talked about him less and less. And when he began letting his apprentices take over treating the villagers, his influence waned as well.
The only ones who still spoke with Bai Sui regularly were his apprentices and the samurai Kubota Noriyuki.
Because of this, Kubota Noriyuki made a point of coming to talk to Bai Sui, hoping to cheer him up.
But Bai Sui didn't seem to care at all. He even continued their discussion about opportunity.
"In my view, a person's achievements are shaped by several factors working together.
"They're determined by how successful an undertaking is, its scale, its efficiency, how long it takes, and the opportunities of the times.
"Take farming, the most obvious example. If someone is just an ordinary farmer, then their skill at farming will be average.
"I don't need to explain the scale of farming compared with other kinds of work. As for efficiency, that depends on the quality of the land being cultivated.
"As for time, the longer you do the work, the better. And opportunities of the times are things like how war and peace affect farming."
Kubota Noriyuki was puzzled. What he'd said was all true, but what did it have to do with opportunity?
"But have you noticed that, aside from how successful an undertaking is and its scale, which a person can choose for themselves, they can't choose any of the other factors?
"As I said, efficiency depends on the land you can find. That's not something people can control. And the opportunities of the times need no explanation—they're completely beyond an individual's control.
"How successful an undertaking is depends on a person's effort and talent. The scale of their work, meanwhile, depends on what I called personal opportunity earlier. You have to distinguish that from the opportunities of the times, since personal opportunity can be changed by an individual.
"Do you see? If everything outside yourself works against you and you still want to succeed, how strong do you have to be?"
Kubota Noriyuki thought it over, then said, "You're right about all of that, but I don't see how it relates to this."
Bai Sui shook his head. "No, you just haven't thought it through. You need to apply the idea flexibly. What I said above was about achievement, but you can replace that with safety.
"Think carefully: what makes up a village's safety?
"The village's own guards, the guards' share of the overall armed forces, how efficiently threats are detected, and the opportunities of the times."
This time, Bai Sui didn't just explain it—he wrote it down on paper too. His apprentice, Iwai Yasuharu, came into the room later and didn't interrupt. He stood to one side, thinking it over as well.
Bai Sui glanced at Iwai Yasuharu and saw that his brow was still furrowed, as if he couldn't quite figure something out. So he said, "Yasuharu, what do you think?"