Ogata, Gokutaro and the others are now in a very remote place.
There are no houses around, only trees. Apart from Ogata, Ueo and Gokutaro, there is no other person here.
Ogata was very satisfied with this environment where there was no one else around.
This way, he can also let go.
“Why…” Gokutaro endured the pain in his stomach and slowly stood up, “Hinzhan Yisei… is here…!”
Shiranui has always been a revengeful person, and especially hates those who prevent their missions from going smoothly or directly cause their missions to fail.
When dealing with people like this, Shiranui always adheres to the philosophy of "retaliate as hard as possible".
Guasheng's parents and brother died tragically because of this.
Ogata's attack on Nijo Castle in Kyoto more than three months ago caused Shiranui's first major mission from the shogunate to end in a tragic failure, which directly led to a sharp decline in Shiranui's status in the hearts of most shogunate retainers.
The "anti-Shiranui forces" within the shogunate grew rapidly.
To destroy someone's job is like killing his parents - this principle is true throughout history, both in China and abroad.
What Ogata did in Kyoto was equivalent to directly destroying Shiranui's rice bowl.
Enma hated Ogata to the core. After knowing that it was Ogata Ittosai who caused the failure of their mission to protect Nijo Castle, Enma directly obtained a large number of Ogata's wanted posters and spread them throughout Shiranui, requiring all the ninjas in the village to remember this face.
A very high reward was offered to Ogata: 5 taels for any ninja who found clues about Ogata's whereabouts, 500 taels for any ninja who took Ogata's head, and 1,000 taels for any ninja who captured Ogata alive.
Because the number of mission commissions received has been decreasing year by year, Shiranui's finances have not been very optimistic in recent years.
Let alone 1,000 taels, even 500 taels alone is not a number that Shiranui can give out without even frowning.
The fact that Enma is willing to offer so much money as a reward for Ogata's head shows that Enma's hatred for Ogata is really extraordinary.
It would be fine if they were just looking for clues to Ogata's whereabouts, but most people in the village didn't take the reward for Ogata's head seriously - including Gokutaro.
Although the bounty is very tempting, everyone knows that no one is destined to get that money.
The defenders of Nijo Castle were more than 20 ninjas led by Kotaro, one of the "Four Heavenly Kings".
Among these twenty-odd ninjas, all are jonin and chunin, without a single genin.
Such a team with amazing combat power was still completely wiped out by Ogata Ittosai.
As one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" who have frequent contact with each other, Gokutaro knows that Kotaro's strength is on par with his.
Although Gokutaro is usually arrogant, he is not a fool.
Kotaro was defeated by Ogata even with so many helpers. Gokutaro would not be so arrogant as to think that he could kill or capture Ogata Ittosai alive and get the bounty by fighting alone or with few helpers.
A nobody with ordinary appearance suddenly turned into the world-famous executioner Ittosai - no words could describe Gokutaro's current mood.
"Why am I here... well..." Ogata said softly, "Maybe it's because someone has been making a sincere wish."
After saying that, Ogata leaned down and lowered his center of gravity.
The whole person turned into a shadow again and pounced towards Gokutaro.
Although there was still some pain in his abdomen, Gokutaro couldn't care less about it now.
He gritted his teeth, clenched the two swords in his hands, and rushed towards Ogata's attack.
clang!
Gokutaro used his two swords to hold down Ogata's Daishakuten and Daijizai respectively.
After his slash was blocked, Ogata repeated his old trick - he bent his left leg and drove his knee into Gokutaro's stomach.
Having just suffered a loss from this move, Jitaro was well prepared.
Seeing Ogata using the same trick again, Gokutaro snorted coldly, then bent his right leg and blocked Ogata's left knee with his right knee.
However - just as he bent his right leg, Xu Fang made a change of tactics.
Ogata lowered his bent left leg at a speed slightly faster than Gokutaro, then stretched out his right foot and hooked Gokutaro's leg with a special technique.
Looking at Ogata's action, Gokutaro's pupils suddenly shrank.
He quickly stepped back, dodging Ogata's sweeping leg, and shouted in shock:
"Why do you know our Shiranui-ryu's jutsu?!"
With just one glance, Gokutaro recognized that what Ogata had just used was the jutsu technique from their Shiranui-ryu ninjutsu.
And judging from his strength, speed, and skills, his attainments in Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu are not low!
"I'm sorry, I don't want to waste too much time explaining it to you slowly."
The previous jutsu attack did not work, but Ogata did not show any frustration or regret. He got into position again and pounced on Gokutaro.
…
…
——Is this the flow of the "Grandmaster Level"...
Compared to the time in Kyoto, Ogata's biggest change is that he can freely enter the "state of no self" and be promoted to the "master level".
Now, after entering the "selfless state", the circulation energy can be directly amplified to the "grandmaster level".
This is the first time Ogata uses the "Grandmaster-level" flow.
The first impression that Ogata had was:
The gap between "master level" and "grand master level" is much greater than the gap between "advanced level" and "master level"!
Using the "Grandmaster-level" flow made Ogata feel as if the sword in his hand was connected to his body.
He can make the knife in his hand follow his will, block Gokutaro's attack with the least movement, and launch a counterattack against Gokutaro.
Gokutaro is now completely suppressed by Ogata, which is proof that the "Grandmaster-level" circulation is much stronger than the "Master-level" circulation.
According to Ogata's estimation, Gokutaro's strength is comparable to that of Kotaro.
Ogata was able to fight Kotaro on equal terms before.
Now Ogata, who is much stronger than he was in Kyoto, directly suppresses Gokutaro.
…
…
clang!
clang!
clang!
…
The sound of the sharp blades colliding exploded at a frequency that was not very rhythmic.
After using the Great Freedom Style to deflect Gokutaro's sword once again, Ogata used the Great Shakuten to inflict another new wound on Gokutaro.
This was the seventh wound Ogata had inflicted on Gokutaro.
Although Gokutaro had counterattacks successfully and inflicted some injuries on Ogata, the injuries he inflicted on Ogata were all minor and insignificant.
What Gokutaro is most proud of is his speed.
His most common tactic is to rely on his physical agility to launch a quick attack on the enemy.
However, facing Ogata, Gokutaro's speed, which he was proud of, was of no use at all.
Ogata's speed was a little faster than his.
His strength and stamina are far superior to his.
After taking, dodging, and enduring so many attacks from Ogata, Gokutaro's breathing began to rapidize.
On the other hand, Ogata's breathing just became slightly faster.
The horror on Gokutaro's face became more and more intense.
——Now... I have taken "Yaksha Pill"!
Gokutaro shouted in his heart in great confusion.
This was not the first time he had eaten "Yakshamaru".
In the past, as long as he took the "Yaksha Pill", the opponent who was originally fighting with him to a standstill would be quickly suppressed by him.
And now, after taking "Yakshamaru", he was still beaten by Ogata - this made Gokutaro feel like his view of the world had collapsed.
——Impossible! Impossible!
Gokutaro, who was unwilling to accept this reality, straightened the swords in his hands and stabbed towards Ogata like bull horns.
This is Gokutaro's most proud killer move.
Facing Gokutaro's sword stabbing at him at an extremely fast speed, Ogata's expression did not change.
Using his left foot as the axis, he turned his body in a circle and dodged Gokutaro's fatal move.
Dragon Tail·Dodge!
After dodging Gokutaro's fatal move, Ogata's Daishakuten swept horizontally towards Gokutaro's chest, cutting through Gokutaro's clothes on his chest and taking away part of Gokutaro's flesh on his chest.
The severe pain made Gokutaro calm down a little.
It also caused Gokutaro's fear to grow rapidly.
A strong sense of fear began to control Gokutaro's mind.
Gokutaro has clearly felt that he is far from being Ogata's opponent.
Fear and the desire to survive are often tied together.
Under the dual effects of fear and desire to survive, Gokutaro screamed:
“Aaaaaaaaaaaa——!”
With the help of his desire to survive, Gokutaro burst out with great strength and pushed away Ogata's knife.
After pushing Ogata away, Gokutaro used quick and skillful movements to take out two shurikens from his lower back and threw them at Ogata.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two shurikens cut through the air and shot towards Ogata.
—A hidden weapon?
Ogata, with a hint of surprise on his face, thought to himself as he quickly jumped to the side and dodged the two shurikens in time.
Gokutaro did not check whether his two shurikens hit Ogata.
The reason why he threw out these two shurikens was just to attract Ogata's attention and buy himself some time to escape.
The next moment after throwing out the two shurikens, Gokutaro, who no longer had any intention of fighting, quickly turned around and fled with all his strength without looking back.
He was no longer busy with any mission, and no longer thought about killing the melons when he got tired of playing with them.
There was only one thought left in his mind: escape quickly.
——You can escape! You can escape!
Gokutaro said loudly to himself.
——Ogata Ittosai’s speed is not much faster than mine! I can escape as long as I run with all my strength!
For some reason, Gokutaro suddenly recalled the people he had killed in the past.
Due to their bloodthirsty nature and their thirst for achievement, the number of kills committed by the other three of the "Four Heavenly Kings" combined is still less than that of Gokutaro alone.
Gokutaro couldn't count how many escapees he had chased and killed.
Gokutaro never thought that the day would come when he would become a fugitive and run for his life.
After Ogata dodged the two shuriken thrown by Gokutaro, he looked at the fleeing Gokutaro with a somewhat surprised look.
Gokutaro lost his will to fight so quickly and ran away - this was something Ogata never expected.
"Don't show your back to the enemy casually..."
While mumbling softly, Ogata turned the Great Freedom in his left hand, changing it to a reverse grip Great Freedom, then reached his left hand into his arms and took out Kasumiga.
Bang!
Bang!
Just now, Ogata had used two bullets in Yoshiwara to deal with the two ninjas who wanted to harm Uekusa.
Because he was in a hurry to bring Uesugi to a safe place, Ogata did not have time to reload Kasumagami's gun, so there were still two bullets left in Kasumagami's gun chamber.
Ogata fired the remaining two bullets in one breath.
Because he entered the "state of no self", Ogata's shooting accuracy also improved.
One of the two bullets hit Gokutaro's lower back, and the other hit his right calf.
“Hmm!”
Gokutaro screamed in pain.
After shooting Gokutaro in the back, Obe quickly stuffed Kasumi back into his arms and rushed towards Gokutaro, who was unable to stand due to the bullet.
Gokutaro struggled to turn around, raised the sword in his hand, and tried to block the oncoming Ogata.
But his sword was easily opened by Ogata using the Daishikage.
Muga two-sword flow, circulation!
After deflecting Gokutaro's sword, Ogata swung Daishaku and slashed from Gokutaro's left shoulder to his right abdomen in one breath, completely depriving Gokutaro of the ability to escape.
“What… was that just now…?” Gokutaro, who was knocked to the ground by Ogata, asked while spitting out blood.
"It's a short rifle."
Ogata took Kasumi out of his arms again and showed it to Gokutaro.
"You ninjas aren't the only ones who can use hidden weapons."
"As a warrior, it is reasonable for me to carry some hidden weapons for self-defense. However, the power of my hidden weapons may be a little too exaggerated."
After saying that, Ogata stuffed Kasumi back into his arms.
Then he turned his head and looked at Guasheng, whose brain seemed to have crashed since a while ago.
"Ms. Guasheng, I think it would be better for you to handle this person."
Ogata retracted the force of the knife he had just used.
It's not that I want to give Gokutaro a chance to live.
But it was to give the opportunity to kill Gokutaro to another person.
Hearing Ogata's words, Uesugi was stunned for a moment.
Then he walked slowly towards Ogata with a determined look on his face.
Ogata gave his Great Freedom to Ueo.
After taking the Great Freedom from Ogata, Uesugi walked slowly towards Gokutaro, who had fallen to the ground but was still trying to crawl.
Looking at Guase who was slowly approaching him with no expression on his face, Gokutaro's face and eyes were filled with fear.
His face turned pale, perhaps from excessive blood loss or fear.
“Wait, wait!” Gokutaro said hurriedly. “I, I, I get it! I was wrong! I was wrong! I will work like a slave for you for the rest of my life to make amends for you! So… Uwaaaaah!”
Before Gokutaro could finish his words, Uesugi raised the Da Zi Zai in his hand high up and stabbed it towards the lower back of Gokutaro who was lying on the ground.
The severe pain distorted Gokutaro's facial features.
But this severe pain also made Gokutaro's desire to survive and fear even stronger.
This feeling of fear, which he had never experienced before, made Gokutaro's tears, snot and other things all flow out.
Gokutaro spat out blood and begged for mercy from Uesugi with tears and snot.
But his words of begging for mercy were always the same few sentences.
What about "Forgive me", "I know I was wrong", "Please let me go", "I will never trouble you again"...
Ueo paid no attention to Gokutaro's pleas for mercy.
He just swung the Da Zi Zai in his hand and stabbed at Jitaro again and again.
Guasheng's hand holding the knife trembled slightly due to excitement.
Her beautiful big eyes were also filled with tears due to excitement.
"Father...Mother...Brother..."
While swinging his knife at Gokutaro, Ueyu kept repeating about his dead relatives in a slightly trembling voice.
After stabbing Gokutaro countless times, Gokutaro finally died.
Until the moment before he died, Gokutaro was still begging for mercy from Uesugi.
His face was covered with snot, tears, and blood, and his facial features became extremely ugly due to pain, fear, and endless begging for mercy.
After Gokutaro died, the system sounded in Ogata's mind:
[Ding! Use the Wuwo Two Swords Style · Flow to defeat the enemy]
[Gained 300 personal experience points, 250 sword skills experience points for "Ninja Swordsmanship" , 150 sword skills experience points for "Sakakibara Ittoryu", and 80 ninjutsu points for "Shiranui Ninjutsu"]
Because Gokutaro was not killed by Ogata, the system determined that Ogata defeated Gokutaro with the last move he just used on Gokutaro: Flow.
Because Sakakibara Ittoryu and Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu were used when dealing with Gokutaro just now, they also gained experience points.
Although the experience points gained from "defeating" and "killing" are much less, Ogata does not feel regretful or sorry.
After all, compared with letting Guasheng get his revenge and resolve a knot in his heart, this little bit of experience seems insignificant.
Ogata glanced at Gokutaro, who was begging for mercy in a very ugly manner until the moment of his death.
“It’s really ugly… ”
Ogata whispered.
"If you risk everything and attack me with all your might, you might be able to leave me with some very painful injuries..."
Although his strength is similar to Kotaro's, his state of mind is far worse than Kotaro's.
Kotaro fought with high morale until the very last moment.
After being fatally wounded, Kotaro did not say any words to beg for mercy, but tried to stand up again and continue fighting with Ogata.
But Gokutaro chose to escape early.
Although Ogata has become much stronger than the time he fought Kotaro before, Gokutaro, who is about the same strength as Kotaro, has no chance of winning against Ogata even if he has entered the "Yaksha Realm".
But if Gokutaro dared to put everything aside and launch a desperate attack on Ogata, Ogata would definitely not win so easily.
What a pity is that this bloodthirsty man has a stronger fear of death than anyone else.
A battle that could have left the enemy with multiple injuries ended in such an ugly situation.
After withdrawing his gaze from Gokutaro, Ogata switched his breathing to normal breathing and exited the "state of no self".
Then he turned his gaze to the melon student who was slumped on the ground holding the Big Freedom.
He looked at Gokutaro's body in front of him with a dazed expression.
"I...finally got my revenge..." she whispered to herself.
"Ms. Ueyu." Ogata walked slowly to Ueyu's side and squatted down. "Get up. The ground is very cold."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Uesugi slowly turned his head and looked at Ogata who was squatting next to him.
Looking at the face beside him, whose portrait he had seen countless times, Guasheng first widened his beautiful eyes.
Tears welled up in his eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Big tears rolled down her round cheeks one by one.
Guasheng opened and closed his trembling lips repeatedly, as if he wanted to say something, but what he wanted to say took a long time to turn into concrete words.
Ogata felt that he should say something now.
After pursing his lips and being silent for a moment, Ogata said softly:
"I'm sorry I didn't respond to your wish until now. I kept you waiting."
“Wu, wuwu…”
The tears continued to fall at a faster rate.
“Woo, woo, woo, wooaaaaaaah!”
The grievances, uneasiness, grief and indignation that had been accumulating for four years burst out in one breath.
The emotions that burst out overflowed like a dam breaking.
She has been alone since her family was killed four years ago.
Alone, he investigated the enemy who murdered his family, and alone, he faced the enemy in despair, who seemed impossible to defeat.
For the past four years, I have been facing all of this alone.
Guasheng is already 16 years old this year, which means she is a mature woman according to the standards of this era.
But the way she cried at this moment was like a little child.
It's like a child who accidentally got lost and finally found his parents.
“Ogata… wuwu… Lord Ogata really… wuwu… really appeared in front of me!”
While crying, Uesugi said something that made Ogata laugh.
"Yeah, I'm here."
Uesugi threw himself into Ogata's arms.
In a short while, Uesugi's tears soaked Ogata's clothes on his chest.
With a helpless smile on his face, Ogata raised his hand and gently patted Guasheng's little head.
…
…
Gokutaro was already good at speed, and after taking the "Yakshamaru", his speed skyrocketed.
Unless Keitaro and the others rode horses, they would not be able to catch up with Gokutaro even if they ran their legs off.
In order to catch up with the rescued Uoke as soon as possible, Gokutaro acted alone, while Keitaro led the eight Genin to follow behind.
When Gokutaro first set out, he headed southeast.
Keitaro led the eight Genin and searched in the southeast direction at a much slower speed than Gokutaro, but still couldn't find Gokutaro or Uesugi, so Keitaro concluded that Gokutaro must have changed direction.
"Master Keitaro." A Genin couldn't help but ask Keitaro, "Where should we go to find Master Gokutaro now?"
"…Let's try there." After a moment of silence, Keitaro raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction.
"There? Why?"
"No reason, it's just my intuition. I guess Gokutaro changed this direction to find that melon."
After saying that, Keitaro suddenly turned his head and looked around.
At this moment, Keitaro was on an unknown path.
The trail is quite narrow and can only accommodate 4 people walking side by side.
On both sides of the path are low, dilapidated longhouses, surrounded by equally dilapidated wooden walls.
Keitaro looked around as if he was looking for something, which aroused the suspicion of a Genin next to him.
"Master Keitaro, what's wrong? Did you lose something?"
"...There's no one around." Keitaro said softly.
"Eh?" The Genin didn't understand and looked around blankly. "It's late at night after all, everyone is asleep, and this place happens to be quite remote... Hmm!"
Before the Genin could finish his words, he felt a sharp pain in his throat that almost tore him in half.
He turned his gaze and looked down.
I saw a kunai piercing his throat, and his larynx was directly shattered.
And the person holding the kunai is Keitaro.
This Genin was standing very close to Keitaro, so Keitaro only needed to raise his hand to pierce the Genin's throat with a kunai.
After ending the man's life with a kunai with an expressionless face, Keitaro loosened his right hand and let go of the kunai.
While letting go of the kunai in his right hand, Keitaro reached to his lower back with his left hand and took out five new kunai.
Keitaro swung his left hand five times.
The five kunai flew in five different trajectories towards the throat, heart, forehead and other vital points of the other five Genin.
Five kunai were thrown almost at the same time, and hit the vital points of the five Genin almost at the same time, killing all five Genin.
In a flash, Keitaro killed six Genin's lives.
Keitaro's movements were too fast.
In addition, the people present were all Genin with poor strength and experience.
Therefore, it was not until Keitaro killed all six of them with six kunai that the two survivors finally realized what was happening.
Everything happened too suddenly.
Keitaro, who had just led them to track down Gokutaro, suddenly killed them for no apparent reason.
A large number of questions flooded the minds of the two survivors, almost causing their brains to crash.
But driven by the desire to survive, they suppressed their inner doubts and fears and each responded differently.
One of them drew the ninja sword from his back.
The other one ran away without hesitation.
Because he had run out of kunai, Keitaro drew the pistol on his back and pounced on the Genin with his sword drawn like a carnivore.
There was no suspense in the battle.
After just one encounter, the Genin who was about to resist was shot dead by Keitaro.
This Genin didn't even see how Keitaro pulled the gun until his heart was pierced.
Retracting the lance that had pierced the Genin's heart, Keitaro chased after the last remaining escapee.
The intense fear and terror made the fleeing Genin scream at the top of his voice while using all his strength to escape.
call--!
He felt as if there was a gust of wind blowing from behind him.
Turn your head and look.
Keitaro, holding a pistol, ran on his left, walking side by side with him.
He clearly started the race one step ahead of Keitaro, but Keitaro still caught up with him easily.
Moreover, Keitaro's expression was very calm, and he looked like he was in a very relaxed state.
Chi!
The sound of a pistol tearing through clothes and flesh could be heard.
Keitaro swung the pistol in his hand horizontally, and the Genin was knocked to the ground with blood splattering everywhere.
Because the Genin screamed loudly while running away, most of the residents living nearby were woken up.
Lights began to appear in the windows of some houses, and noises were heard.
Keitaro swung the pistol in his hand downwards, swiping out all the blood from the tip of the gun, and quickly left the scene before the surrounding residents ran out to check the situation...
…
…
After killing all the eight Genin, Keitaro searched around for a long time and finally found Gokutaro's body in a remote place.
Because this place was too remote, no one lived there and no one passed by, so Gokutaro's body just lay there quietly.
As for whether anyone else had found Gokutaro's body before him, Keitaro didn't know.
After seeing Gokutaro's body, Keitaro's face was filled with surprise, and he wondered if he had seen it wrong.
After squatting down beside Gokutaro's body and carefully examining it, Keitaro whispered:
"Stabbed to death... Who could have killed Gokutaro-sama who had fallen into the 'Yaksha Realm'...?"
After looking up and down at Gokutaro's body several times, Keitaro stood up.
"… Never mind. It doesn't matter who killed him."
"I was planning to launch a sneak attack on Lord Gokutaro when he wasn't paying attention."
"Now that Lord Gokutaro has been killed, I feel relieved."
After saying that, Keitaro stood up and lowered his head again, looking at Gokutaro's body at his feet.
"...Gokutaro-sama, you are surprisingly perceptive."
Keitaro said softly.
"I... don't have a stomachache."
"I just feel sorry for having to kill you tonight..."
Looking at Gokutaro's body, the light in Keitaro's eyes flickered a few times.
After taking a few final glances at Gokutaro's body, Keitaro bent down and picked up Gokutaro's body on his back. Under the moonlight, he carried Gokutaro's body on his back and merged into the darkness of an alley not far away.