I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

After leaving the dusty medical hall, Ogata groaned in disbelief.

"What's going on now... There are 3 masters and apprentices, 2 are missing... 1 is in prison..."

Ogata felt his head hurt a little now.

"Currently, the only person who knows the approximate whereabouts is Xuanzheng's young apprentice Xuanren." Ah Ding echoed.

"Hmm... That's right, so it can't be considered that the clues are all broken..."

After being silent for a while, Ogata suddenly said coldly:

"...Is there any way to know which prison that Xuanren was imprisoned in?"

"Ayi... you don't want to go to prison, do you?"

"Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't want to do such extreme things. Now I just want to see if there is a way to sneak into the prison in Kyoto and meet Xuanren secretly."

"Is there anyone who can tell me where the prisons in Kyoto are..."

As soon as these murmurs fell, Hasegawa Heizo's face suddenly appeared in Ogata's mind.

Hase Chuanping is the chief officer of Huofu Bandit Kai. Although his base camp is in Edo, he may still know where the prisons in Kyoto are.

But as soon as Hasegawa Heizo's upright face appeared on Ogata's face, Ogata shook his head vigorously, shaking Hasegawa's face out of his mind.

Leaving aside that Ogata doesn't know where Hasegawa is in Kyoto at all, even if Hasegawa can be found, Ogata doesn't think Hasegawa will tell him the specific locations of the various prisons in Kyoto.

Just when Ogata was thinking about whether there was any way to know the specific addresses of the various prisons in Kyoto, Atachi, who had been in a state of contemplation just now, suddenly said:

"... How about asking Lord Fuma? Lord Fuma may know the specific locations of the various prisons in Kyoto."

"Master Fuma?" Ah-Ming suddenly spat out a strange name, which made Ogata frowned slightly.

"Ayi, do you know Fumo Kotaro?"

"To be honest - just heard the name, but nothing too deep."

"In the Warring States Period more than two hundred years ago, there were five major ninja villages——Iga no Sato, Koka no Sato, Fuma no Sato, Togakushi no Sato, and Manten no Sato." , "Fuma Kotaro is the leader of the Fuma Village."

"The name Fuma Kotaro is actually a title passed down from generation to generation by each generation of leaders in the Fuma Village."

"As long as you become the leader of Fuma Village, you will become the new Fuma Kotaro."

"This is very similar to our Shiranui."

"The leader of our Shiranui also has a title that has been passed down from generation to generation--the Balrog."

"As long as you can become the new leader of our Shiranui, you can become the new Balrog."

"The current leader of our Shiranui is the 12th generation Balrog."

"After the title of Fuma Kotaro was passed down to the fifth generation, the Fuma party declined due to the death of the main family they served, the Hojo family."

"In the end, under the report of other ninjas, the Fuma party was arrested by the Edo shogunate and all executed."

"But the Fengmo Party did not perish just like that."

"Although in that large-scale capture operation, most of the ninjas in Fuma no Sato, including the fifth-generation Fuma Kotaro, were captured and executed."

"But a few ninjas from Fuma no Sato escaped that capture."

"And the Fengmo Party has survived because of this..."

"I've been surviving until..."

A-Machi raised his finger and pointed to the ground under his feet.

"Now."

"The title of Fuma Kotaro has been passed down to the 17th generation."

"The 17th Fuma Kotaro is currently living in seclusion in Kyoto."

"The 17th Fuma Kotaro has lived in Kyoto for a long time, so he might know where all the prisons in Kyoto are."

"Ayi, if you want to meet Lord Feng Mo, I can introduce you."

"Huh?" Ogata raised his eyebrows,

"Machi, do you know the 17th Fuma Kotaro?"

"Yeah." A look of reminiscence flashed across A-Ming's face, "About 10 years ago, due to various chances and coincidences, Mr. Fumo and my father had some kind of friendship."

"It is also thanks to the friendship between Master Feng Mo and my father that I and Master Feng Mo know each other."

"It's just... I don't know if Lord Feng Mo still remembers me."

Speaking of this, Ah-Ming's face showed a bit of bitterness.

"Master Fumo... he should be 72 years old this year, and he has already reached the age where it is not surprising to become old and foolish..."

...

...

Kyoto, Luozhong, inside a certain sushi restaurant.

This is a sushi restaurant with a beautifully decorated interior.

Because it is no longer a meal, there are very few customers in the store.

Although it is not meal time, some guests will come from time to time.

For example—right now, 4 people dressed as samurai lifted the curtain of the store door, stepped into the store slowly, and found a place to sit down at random.

"Guest officer! Welcome!"

As soon as the four guests dressed as samurai took their seats, a waiter immediately shouted "Welcome" enthusiastically and handed four menus to the four guests.

After handing the 4 menus to the 4 samurai, the waiter keenly found that among the 4 samurai, the one who was the shortest and very handsome seemed to be the most respected.

The other three samurai casually glanced at the menu in their hands, then all their eyes were on the shortest samurai.

And the shortest warrior glanced at the menu in his hand casually, then returned the menu to the waiter, and said:

"Two servings of all the sushi on the menu."

The waiter has seen many customers who directly threatened to serve all the sushi on the menu.

This sushi restaurant is considered a relatively high-end restaurant in the whole of Kyoto, and the people who will patronize this sushi restaurant are not ordinary people. Such kind of proud customers are not uncommon in this restaurant.

After saying "I understand" respectfully, the waiter took back all the 4 menus handed to the 4 samurai, then left quickly and went to the kitchen to greet the sushi masters to start work.

After the waiter left, the shortest warrior said seriously to the other three warriors in front of him:

"Everyone eat a little more. It might be busy next time."

As soon as the short warrior finished speaking, the other three warriors respectfully said in unison:

"yes!"

This short samurai was none other than Kinoshita Rin.

The three samurai sitting in front of Lin are Mucun, Asai, and Shimada who accompanied Lin to Kyoto.

Although the departure time was 3 days later than Ogata, Lin and the others arrived in Kyoto less than half a day later than Ogata.

Ogata arrived in Kyoto today—the morning of July 17th.

And Lin and his party arrived in Kyoto just now—that is, in the afternoon.

After successfully passing through Seven Gates of Beijing and entering Luozhong just now, Lin and the others went straight to the hotel and put down their luggage.

After putting down the luggage, Lin announced their first mission after arriving in Kyoto: to find a good restaurant to fill their stomachs.

The time when Lin and the others arrived in Kyoto, converted into the earth's time calculation, was already past 14 o'clock in the afternoon, close to 15 o'clock.

They haven't eaten lunch until now, and they are all hungry.

While waiting for the sushi to be served, Asarin Shimada asked:

"My lord, shall we set off immediately after lunch to find the master-student pair He Shi and He Zhi?"

"That's right." Lynn nodded slightly.

For convenience, Lin is now dressed in men's clothing.

The chin-length hair is now braided into a beautiful bun. Wearing a dark red kimono and a white hakama, he looks like a handsome and beautiful boy from the outside.

"... Can that Fuma Kotaro really help us find Kazuyo and Kazuo, the master-student pair?" Shimada couldn't help asking Lin.

When leading the three members of Mucun to Luo, Lin told the three of Mucun her plan on the way to Kyoto. After arriving in Kyoto, she went directly to find the 17th Fuma Kotaro who is currently living in seclusion in Kyoto.

"Master Fumo, he has lived in Kyoto for nearly 40 years." Lin said softly, "In terms of understanding of Kyoto, I'm afraid it is deeper than those who lived in Kyoto since childhood, than Kyoto Soshidai and Kyoto Machifu."

"If you want to find someone in Kyoto, or ask about things related to Kyoto, it is most useful to ask Mr. Fuma."

"If Mr. Fumo can't provide us with useful clues, then we can talk about it later."

"...I can't believe it until now." Shimada murmured, "I didn't expect that the Fuma Party still exists, and the Fuma Kotaro has passed down to the 17th generation..."

Among Lin's group, Shimada was the only one who didn't know that the Fuma Party still existed.

So when I learned from Lin that the Fuma Party still existed and that Fuma Kotaro had passed down to the 17th generation, Shimada's jaw was so shocked that it almost fell to the ground.

"Then after you meet Fuma-sama, Shimada, remember to take a closer look." Mucun said in a half-joking tone at this time, "The Fuma Kotaro you will meet later will be the last Fuma Kotaro."

"Huh?" Shimada was surprised, "What do you mean?"

"Although the Fuma Party managed to survive the siege by the shogunate two hundred years ago." At this time, Asai replied, "But the Fuma Party has been suffering for two hundred years."

"It's really just living on."

"When the 17th Fuma Kotaro took office 40 years ago, there were less than 10 members of the Fuma party left."

"And 10 years ago, the current Fuma-sama issued his last order as the leader of the Fuma Party: Disband the Fuma Village completely."

"Uncle, he has some friendship with the current Fumo Kotaro." Now Lin Huan said softly, "Thanks to Uncle, I have also had a few encounters with Lord Fumo."

"Master Fuma, he has told me and Uncle more than once - he does not intend to rebuild the Fuma Village, nor does he intend to pass on the ninjutsu passed down from generation to generation by their Fuma party."

"'The history of Fuma no Sato and Fuma Kotaro will end on me'—this is the original words that Fuma-sama once said to me and Bogong."

"Does he hate Fuma no Sato and being a ninja...?" Shimada asked.

"...Katsurokuro, do you know how the rest of the Fuma Clan's ninjas reacted when Fuma-sama and the rest of the Fuma Clan's ninjas announced the disbandment of the Fuma Clan 40 years ago?"

"Hmm... very sad?" Shimada asked in a tentative tone.

"Wrong. When Fuma-sama announced the disbandment of Fuma no Sato, the rest of the Fuma party's ninjas were so happy that they were about to cry."

Speaking of this, Lin paused.

After being silent for a while, he spoke again.

But when she spoke again, Lin's tone was a little more lost and sad.

"For the past two hundred years, the descendants of Feng Mo's party... must have been suffering..."

"It's like carrying a big rock on your back all the time..."

After all, Lin paused again.

Lin's pause this time was to sort out her emotions.

After sorting out her emotions, Lin's expression and tone changed back to the previous state - there was no expression on her face, and her tone was cold.

"Katsurokuro." Lin continued, "Although what Mihachi said just now has some truth, the Fuma-sama we will meet later will be the last Fuma Kotaro in history. You can take advantage of this precious opportunity , Look at Lord Fumo a few more times, or talk to Lord Fumo more."

"But remember to be polite. Don't do anything that will annoy Fuma-sama."

"The current Fuma Kotaro is not only the last Fuma Kotaro, but also the strongest Fuma Kotaro in history."

"The most... the strongest...?" Shimada spit out the word Lin just said word by word.

"Uncle told me this himself. He praised the current Fuma Kotaro as the strongest Fuma Kotaro in history."

"Uncle, he even told me personally that in his heyday, he was not sure of victory against Lord Fengmo in his heyday."

"Is it so powerful..." Shimada swallowed.

"It's very powerful. According to Bo Gong, Master Feng Mo experienced unimaginable hard work when he was young, and he reached such a height."

"Katsurokuro, let me tell you another legendary story related to Fuma-sama."

"Ten years ago, a full-scale confrontation suddenly broke out between Shiranui and Fuma no Sato."

"What is the reason for fighting the outbreak, I don't really know."

"At that time, in Fuma Village, there were less than 10 ninjas including Fuma-sama."

"Although I don't know exactly how many ninjas there were in Shiranui at that time, they definitely had a lot more ninjas than Fuma no Sato."

"There is a huge difference in the number of people. This should have been a battle that must be defeated in the Fumozhili."

"But in the end, the war ended with Shiranui being killed and defeated."

"Master Fumo entered Shiranui by himself, turned Shiranui upside down, and finally retreated completely."

"Although Lord Fuma was able to retreat unscathed in the end, a large part of the reason was because of Uncle's help, and because most of the main force in Shiranui happened to be absent at that time, Lord Fuma successfully broke through the empty door."

"However, even so, the horror of Master Feng Mo's strength can still be seen."

"After the war ended, under the auspices of Uncle Uncle, Shiranui and Fuma no Sato signed a peace agreement. Since then, the two sides have never crossed paths."

"Of course—this was also 10 years ago."

"Ten years have passed, and Lord Fuma is now 72 years old."

Speaking of this, Lin sighed lightly.

"I don't know how much power Fuma-sama has left at the age of 72..."

"...Maybe I don't even have the strength to hold the knife anymore." Mu Cun, who was sitting opposite Lin, added in a half-joking tone.

Lin didn't make any rebuttal to Mucun's words.

He only nodded slightly, agreeing to Mu Cun's words just now.