Chapter 26: Heroes Assemble

The white haired, green robed figure observed the army marching towards his position. He narrowed his eyes, counting and thinking. He smirked and turned around, striding back towards the tents behind him.

Troops stood to attention as he marched down the aisle leading to his command tent where two other warriors waited for him.

They stood and saluted with their weapons, waiting for him to outline his strategy to them. Within minutes, he had informed them of his strategy, and had sent them off to prepare. The Oda army could not be allowed to win here today.

Hours later, the men were assembled, faces glistening with sweat and anticipation. The robed man rode his horse to the front of the army. He turned and looked upon them, knowing he would not be seeing them all again; many would die in combat, it was the sad truth of war, but he would never risk their lives in vain. Their leader was bound to return for the first time in 16 years, and they would not fail their daimyo, a man they all loved and respected.

He gave his rousing speech, and wished them all good fortune, then he turned again, ready for the attack.

His great sword lowered. First, archers lit their arrows on fire, and shot them at the trail of oil they had set up at the bottom of the hill they were on, the hill that half the Oda army was now charging up. The arrows struck and set the air ablaze; next, round bails of hay were shoved down the steep incline, bowling over soldiers and horses alike, throwing them to the ground, and causing soldiers behind to fall and trample over them in fear. The hay made it to the line of fire, and lit up while they continued to roll. Men screamed as flaming hay rolled them over.

They robed man smiled, and raised his sword again, then lowered it swiftly, signaling the attack.

The green clad soldiers charged towards the disoriented enemy soldiers, destroying the numerically greater number with vigor.

Suddenly, a flash of green lightning heralded their leader's arrival. Their leader dashed among the enemy, cutting them down with such speed and precision that the watching men trembled at the sight of their fallen comrades.

The leader stopped, and the Oda soldiers gaped.

It was Mitsuhide.

Mitsuhide dashed back and forth among the soldiers, Ryukatsu leading the troops to his left, Raikazjin to the right, and Daichi on the hill, ordering attacks and observing the area, constantly changing his strategy to fit the momentum of the battle.

Mitsuhide stopped for a moment to get his bearings when an arrow flashed overhead. His wife Akiko constantly shadowed him, giving him overwatch protection with her unmatched skills with the yumi.

Ryukatsu impaled one soldier on his spear, then another with the spear in his other hand. He saw soldiers charging and, with a mighty roar, ripped the spears from the two soldiers, flung them at the charging enemies, and drew his dual katana to continue his work with the spears.

Enemies flew wherever he went, but they flew even farther wherever Ninitsu with his massive scythe went.

Ryukatsu and Ninitsu stood back to back, taking on all comers, and leaving them all with cuts and missing limbs, some missing lives. They worked methodically, and quickly, the enemy falling before them in droves.

Within minutes, it seemed, they were alone. Ryukatsu's red cape flowed about him, torn at the bottom, blackened from smoke at the edges. He stood and looked at Mitsuhide, one hand gripping his saya, the other his uchigatana; he stood slightly crouched, dried blood on his soot covered skin, some hair free from his neat ponytail.

Raikazjin stood with uchigatana in his right hand, and kodachi in his left, right next to his brother.

Drums pounded and drew their attention. Oda reinforcements graced the field. Almost immediately, Daichi's hand flew through the air, and Suiryu led a charge at the refreshed enemy, Hanzo, Arashi, Mitsuhide's two sons, and Raikazjin's two sons next to him.

Mitsuharu, now seventeen, held his massive sword in one hand, sweeping troops up with massive swings of his blade.

Raiyushu, Raikazjin's eldest, stood next to Mitsuharu, moving as fast as Mitsuhide, and quite skilled with his katana.

Those two alone were cutting through the enemy army with ease. Then Suiryu joined the combat.

He leapt into the fray, ducked a quick blow, and swept the offending soldier up with his naginata, then quickly slung him into three more. He roared and swept this way and that, his wind jutsu giving him an even wider range than his naginata could. One soldier felt himself knocked into the air with the pole, then sliced through in mid-air with the hidden chokuto blade. Suiryu ducked and slashed, dove and stabbed through the enemy, cutting a swathe through the tightly packed army.

Mitsurugi, fifteen years old, and Mitsuhide's youngest son, stood side-by-side with his twin sister, Kikyohime. Mitsurugi had accepted his father's swordstyle, and was cutting through the enemies while his sister twirled and stabbed with her dual wakizashi. Her dancing translated itself on the battlefield into a gruesome scene of startling beauty while her brother dashed around her, killing those that his sister could not reach.

Haroku, Raikazjin's second son, same age as Mitsurugi, was matching him with his massive shuriken. No one knew why he used this, but no one argued because he was so good with it. Haroku twirled the weapon all around his body, killing many soldiers. His sister, Amehime, was snapping her fingers and releasing qi in small amounts as explosions, taking after Daichi.

Kikyohime, known also by her middle name of Fuunji, performed the splits, and stabbed a wakizashi up into her opponent's stomach, and then twirled back to her feet, one leg wrapped around another soldier's neck, and a wakizashi in an enemy soldier each. She jumped up and spun around the soldier her leg was on, twirling her blades in a magnificent dance of death, the other Akechi officers around her cutting down who she missed.

One soldier tried to get to her, but was cut down by Hanzo, taking on his assignment as her bodyguard without question. He jumped forward and planted both feet on another soldier and drop kicked him, knocking over a dozen more in the process.

Soon, the battlefield was empty, and Arashi, utilizing his water jutsu, put out the flames. They all began to walk up towards the camp, Kikyo holding hands with Raiyushu; Amehime holding hands with Mitsurugi.

Mitsuhide shook his head in astonishment, he hadn't even been needed for the reinforcements; indeed, neither had Daichi, Raikazjin, Ryukatsu, or Ninitsu. He turned to kiss his wife, they had raised their kids well, it seemed.