After Isshiki and Naoshu left the room they were staying in, and after confirming that they were far away, A-Machi let out a long sigh and said softly:
"Just now, when I heard Mr. Isshiki say that he wanted you to join them in overthrowing the shogunate, I was really shocked..."
Ogata nodded slightly - he was also scared when Isshiki Naoshu invited him to join them in overthrowing the shogunate.
Although Ogata repeatedly opposed the shogunate and made the shogunate lose face, in fact, every time the shogunate was slapped in the face, it was basically the shogunate that provoked Ogata directly or indirectly, and then Ogata had to fight back.
Taking the initiative to pick a fight with the shogunate - Ogata never did that.
Therefore, joining others in overthrowing the shogunate and uprooting the Edo shogunate was a path that Ogata had never imagined.
"I feel like Mr. Isshiki and the others should be able to get along well with Mr. Hayashi..." Ating changed his tone to a half-joking one.
The Mr. Lin that Atachi mentioned is naturally Lin Ziping, who is probably still conducting academic research somewhere in Ezo.
"That's not necessarily true." Ogata smiled. "Although Mr. Lin also hates the shogunate, he is more inclined to make the shogun and the shogun's dignitaries wake up."
"And Mr. Isshiki's proposal is much more radical than Mr. Hayashi's. Mr. Isshiki wants to uproot the Edo shogunate and return the country to the Nara and Heian periods hundreds of years ago when the emperor was in power."
“The two propositions are still far apart.”
"If Mr. Lin and Mr. Isshiki really meet, I think they will just fight."
"Based on what I know about Mr. Hayashi, he will surely be furious when he learns that Mr. Isshiki is planning to return this country to the Nara and Heian periods."
"After all, Mr. Lin is a man with broad vision and open-minded thinking."
"I don't think he would approve of this kind of behavior of making the country 'retro'."
"That's true..." Ating nodded.
After nodding, Ating continued in a half-joking tone: "I was a little worried just now, wondering if you would agree to go with them to overthrow the shogunate."
Ogata laughed dumbly: "I don't have the time to overthrow the shogunate now."
"Even if I had the time, I wouldn't agree to it. I don't care what happens to the country. I don't want to spend my time and energy getting involved in such trouble."
Having said this, Ogata paused for a moment, then continued in a helpless tone:
"Mr. Lin is right. I have become the idol of the anti-Qing forces... This is really troublesome..."
Before this, Hayashi Ziping had vowed to Ogata: In the eyes of many people who dislike the shogunate, Ogata is a great hero, and those anti-shogunate patriots might even respect Ogata as the "ancestor of anti-shogunate patriots."
Ogata didn't expect that Lin Ziping's words would be confirmed so soon.
"I hope these anti-shogunate forces won't bother us too much..." Ogata said slowly, "All the forces determined to overthrow the shogunate have come to ask me to help them... Such a scene makes me feel overwhelmed just thinking about it..."
A-Ming nodded in agreement.
"... Come to think of it... This is the first time I've seen someone trying to overthrow the Edo Shogunate..." Atachi turned to look at the door that Isshiki and the others had just left through, "It's incredible that someone is actually determined to overthrow such a behemoth..."
Although her husband had slapped the shogunate in the face countless times and had recently defeated the 10,000-strong army of the shogunate and the northeastern feudal domains, the Edo shogunate was still an unshakable behemoth for her.
Naoshige's remarks just now gave Atachi the feeling that they were saying "I plan to move Mount Fuji away".
"Do you think Mr. Isshiki and the others will succeed?" Amachi asked Ogata.
"I don't know." Ogata answered without hesitation, "I don't know how much strength they have accumulated to overthrow the shogunate. So I don't know whether they have a chance to succeed."
"But one day I can be sure that if the Edo Shogunate remains as useless in governing the country as it is now, and only cares about maintaining their ruling status, then there will be more and more people like Mr. Isshiki who are determined to overthrow the shogunate."
"Even if the Edo Shogunate is not eliminated by Mr. Isshiki and his people now, it will be destroyed by another anti-shogunate force later."
"A country without the Edo Shogunate..." Atachi murmured, "It feels a little hard to imagine... Do you think we can see the demise of the Edo Shogunate in our lifetime?"
"There should be hope." Ogata smiled. "Maybe we can see the fall of the Edo Shogunate in 10 years, or maybe we can see it when we are all old grandfathers and grandmothers."
"However, no matter what happens to the Edo Shogunate in the future, we don't need to worry too much. After all, whether the Edo Shogunate exists or not, our daily lives are the same, and we all have to worry about three meals a day."
"No matter what the future holds for the Edo Shogunate, the first thing we should consider and do will not change: We should concentrate on living our lives well."
However, Ating didn't understand at all...
But it’s normal not to understand.
This joke was difficult to explain, so Ogata simply changed the subject without changing his expression:
"By the way, hasn't Azhu come back yet? Where did she go to make trouble?..."
Boom boom boom!
Ogata recalled the old saying "Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear" after a long time.
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps was heard outside the door.
Along with the "dong dong dong" footsteps, there was also Azhu's energetic voice:
"I'm back!"
…
…
Ogata and Atachi were sitting properly again, just like they had just been talking with Isshiki and the others.
The person sitting in front of them now was no longer Isshiki Naoshu and Isshiki Ryoma, but Azuki who was sitting cross-legged.
"When I returned to this inn just now, I saw Mr. Isshiki and his team opening a new room at the counter of this inn." Azuki said quickly, "So I knew that their conversation with Master Ittosai had ended, so I hurried over."
Ogata: "I see... Mr. Isshiki and the others are staying here tonight too."
Ogata was not surprised that Isshiki and the others would also stay here tonight.
After all, the conditions of this inn are quite good, and Isshiki and his friends don't look like the kind of people who would be short of money, so they chose to stay here to save the trouble of finding a hotel. Ogata thought this was very normal and was not surprised.
"By the way, Master Ittosai, have you noticed?" Azuku said with a chuckle, "That Isshiki Ryoma's butt is quite round and big."
"I didn't realize this until I saw Isshiki-san and the others at the counter just now . A man like him should be very popular with those who are fascinated by Zhongdao."
"How could I pay special attention to a man's butt..." Ogata said helplessly.
——Although this child is young, he occasionally speaks like a wretched old man...
After silently complaining in his heart, Ogata cleared his throat.
"Okay, Azuki." Ogata changed his tone to a serious one, "Let's not talk about other things, let's get straight to business. If you have anything to say to me, please say it as soon as possible."
Azuki: "Oh, okay."
Seeing that Ogata asked them to get straight to the point, Azhu stopped acting funny and put on a serious expression.
After putting on a serious expression, Azuku knelt on the ground in the dogeza posture with the momentum of a tiger descending from the mountain.
"Master Ittosai! Please let me travel with you!"
"Impossible--!" As soon as Azhu's voice fell, A-Ming immediately responded for Ogata as if by reflex, "What nonsense are you talking about? We can't take you on a trip, and we're not traveling anyway."
As he spoke these words passionately, the look that Atachi cast towards Tsukushi… contained a hint of vigilance and hostility…
Compared to Atachi who had a strong reaction, Ogata was much calmer.
After looking at Azhu with a puzzled look for a few times, Ogata's expression became a little strange.
—Last time, a group of people invited me to go with them to overthrow the shrine, and now another person popped up and wanted to travel with me... Have I become so popular...?
After trying to calm down, Ogata asked back:
"Why do you want to travel with me, the most wanted criminal in the shogunate? Do you know what it means to travel with us? It means that when we are having dinner, government officials may suddenly rush in and arrest us."
"I know." Azhu nodded without hesitation, "But I'm ready! As long as I can find my sister, I'm willing to live a life of wandering!"
“Find...your sister...?” Ogata frowned slightly.
"Yes." Azhu nodded vigorously, "It is for this purpose that I wander around."
After saying that, Azhu stood up suddenly.
Then……
Started taking off clothes.
First, he took off the black robe, revealing the bright red kimono underneath, and then began to untie the kimono's belt with quick and skillful hands.
Azuki's sudden move was completely unexpected by Ogata and Atachi.
Before Ogata could react, Atachi, who was sitting next to Ogata, took the lead.
"Ahhh, Azuki! What are you doing?"
While shouting this, Atachi pounced on Ogata, then stretched out his hands to cover Ogata's eyes.
Ogata understood very well why Atachi covered his eyes. Even if Atachi didn't cover his eyes, he would have looked away.
With A-Ming present, it was impossible for him to just watch A-Zhu taking off his clothes in front of his wife.
Even if Atachi wasn't there, Ogata wouldn't go to see it - after all, the education he received since childhood made him feel full of guilt after seeing a 15-year-old child taking off his clothes.
But even so... Ogata still had a slight desire... to pry open Atachi's hands and take a quick look...
"I want to show you something." Azhu answered Ating's question seriously.
After she finished speaking, the kimono, which was no longer tied up by the belt, slowly slid off Azhu's small body.
Because his eyes were covered by Atachi, Ogata couldn't see anything.
But he heard——A-Ming beside him let out a surprised “eh” sound.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Ogata asked.
"Uh...just look for yourself..." Atachi said as he slowly lowered his hands that were covering Ogata's eyes.
After Atachi lowered her hands, Ogata was finally able to see the scene clearly.
After seeing the scene clearly, Ogata's pupils shrank slightly in shock.
Azhu, who was standing in front of Ogata and the others, did not become naked by taking off the bright red kimono.
Under her bright red dress, she had another piece of clothing—a piece of clothing that was completely black.
The top looked like a sleeveless kimono, revealing two clean white arms.
The clothes on the lower body...are a bit like a shorter skirt, with the hem only reaching halfway up the thigh.
However, because Azhu's calves were tied with leggings, her lower body did not expose too much skin.
"This is the female ninja costume of Iga-no-Sato!" Azuku said loudly.
"I'm sorry, I lied to you before...ah, no, it's not really true that I lied to you."
"I am indeed the daughter of a merchant."
"But besides being a merchant's daughter, I have another identity!"
Azhu struck a strange pose like a roc spreading its wings.
"I am a descendant of the extinct Iga ninjas - the Iga-ryu kunoichi!"
…
quiet--
…
Half an hour later——
Azuki: (⊙﹏⊙) "Master Ittosai, why don't you seem very surprised?"
"Ah, well... I'm a calm person. Although I look calm on the surface, I'm actually quite shocked inside."
After Azuki said that she was a female ninja from the Iga-ryu, A-machi cooperated very well and showed a shocked expression.
And Ogata... was quite calm, with only a hint of surprise in his eyes.
This made Azhu quite confused.
The reason why Ogata was so calm was purely because he had already guessed through the system that Azhu might not be an ordinary person, so he was not so surprised after Azhu revealed his identity.
The surprise in Ogata's eyes at this time was mainly because he was shocked by the strange posture of Azhu spreading his wings, and the female ninja uniform on Azhu...
——This is...Iga's female kunoichi uniform...?
In Ogata's mind, the image of Atachi wearing the Shiranui kunoichi uniform subconsciously emerged, and then he compared it with the Azuchi in front of him.
After the comparison, Ogata came to a brilliant conclusion:
——Iga's kunoichi uniform and Shiranui's kunoichi uniform really complement each other... Shiranui's kunoichi uniform is more conservative in the lower body, while Iga's kunoichi uniform is more conservative in the upper body...
The kunoichi uniform of A-machi is still lying quietly in the cloth bag they put their spare clothes in. Although the back and arms are naked on the upper body of Shiranui's kunoichi uniform, the shape of the lower body is slightly similar to tight pants, so the lower body does not show any skin - this is exactly the opposite of Iga's kunoichi uniform, which is conservative on the upper body, only showing the skin of the arms, and the lower body is quite open.
At this time, Azhu seemed to have accepted what Ogata had said just now. After revealing a look of understanding, he slowly put away his strange posture and then said seriously:
"Master Ittosai, you should know Iga, right?"
"Of course I know." Ogata said, "He was once the shogunate's official ninja, but he died 41 years ago."
——Not only do I know about Iga, I also know who destroyed Iga...
Ogata added this sentence in his mind.
"It's good that you know." Azhu nodded, "This way I don't have to explain it."
"I won't say too much about Iga no Sato."
"After all, this is not the point I want to talk about."
"In fact, I don't know much about Iga-no-Sato. After all, I was not born when it was destroyed."
After saying that, Azhu sat back cross-legged on the tatami.
"As I just said - I am a descendant of the extinct Iga ninja."
"After the destruction of Iga Village 41 years ago, many Iga ninjas managed to survive and became exiled."
“My grandfather was one of them.”
"After the fall of Iga Village, my grandfather did not choose to rebuild Iga Village. Instead, he chose to hide his identity and live a life like an ordinary person."
"Not long after becoming an ordinary person, he successfully formed a family and gave birth to my mother."
"When my mother grew up, she married a businessman who ran a grocery store and gave birth to me and my sister, Ajiu."
"Because my family was well-off, I have lived a peaceful life with no worries about food and clothing, and I have enough energy and money to learn pipa since I can remember."
Azhu raised her hand and gently stroked the pipa placed beside her.
"Although my grandfather has changed his name, he has not completely let go of anything related to Iga."
Having said this, Azhu paused, and then said to Ogata with a slightly ashamed look:
"I'm sorry, Master Ittosai. What I told you before, 'Using energy is a self-defense technique passed down from generation to generation in my family', was all a lie."
"Yun Jin is not my family's self-defense technique at all. It is actually the secret technique of Iga-ryu. Its real name is 'Iga-ryu Forbidden Technique'."
"It is a secret technique that only the jonin of Iga-no-sato can learn."
——I knew it long ago…
While speaking the truth in his heart, Ogata used all his acting skills to squeeze out a surprised expression: "Iga-ryu forbidden technique... no wonder it is so powerful..."
"According to the rules of Iga-no-Sato, Yun-Kei cannot be passed on to anyone other than a jonin, or a woman."
"But because Iga Village was destroyed, my grandfather no longer cared about the rules and directly passed the Yun Jin to my mother. After my mother gave birth to me and my sister Ajiu, he passed it on to both of us."
"Grandpa taught us how to use our energy for a very simple reason - to give us the ability to protect ourselves when we encounter any danger."
"Besides the power of energy, grandpa didn't teach us any other Iga-ryu ninjutsu."
"Grandpa has always concealed his identity as an Iga ninja."
"When he taught us how to use our energy, he didn't tell us that this was a forbidden technique of the Iga-ryu school. Instead, he said that this was a fighting technique that had been passed down from generation to generation in his family."
"Grandpa has been hiding his identity all this time..."
"Until... one night five years ago..."
At this time, Azhu slowly clenched his hands that were placed on her legs.
"It was one night when I was 10 years old that I found out... that my grandfather was an Iga ninja..."
"One night five years ago, a large group of people suddenly showed up."
"That group of people broke into our house and came to my grandfather. They told him that they were the remnants of Iga-no-Sato and hoped that he would join them and rebuild Iga-no-Sato together."
"It was not until then that I realized that my grandfather was not an ordinary person... Although this fact did not make me happy..."
"My sister and I were beside my grandfather at the time, and I still remember every scene vividly..."
"Grandpa rejected their 'invitation' without hesitation. Then... the leader of the gang, an old man with a gray left eye, said: 'Then we can only capture your family and force you to be our weapon.'"
"Then... those guys attacked us..."
"My father was a weak businessman and was quickly subdued."
"Although my mother, my sister and I have been taught how to use our energy since we were young, we were quickly subdued one by one when faced with so many people surrounding us..."
"Although grandpa fought desperately, he was old after all, and faced with such a huge disparity in numbers, he was powerless to turn the tide..."
"Although we were defeated miserably, my sister's bravery attracted the leader of that gang of bastards - the old guy with a gray left eye."
"Ajiu's talent for martial arts is much higher than mine. In learning 'power movement', she can master the little tricks that took me a month to learn in just one day."
"So when I fought against those bastards, I didn't defeat any of them. Instead, Jiu defeated three of them by himself."
"The reason why I can sit here and talk to you like this is all thanks to my sister - I was saved by my sister Ajiu..."