The next morning -
Kyoto, Magistrate's Office——
In a room in the magistrate's office, Hasegawa and the four officials he brought to Kyoto gathered together.
"According to the information provided by the informant, the Blood Mist Clan is very likely to have a close connection with a local Yakuza group in Kyoto that calls itself the 'Great Buddha Clan'."
"This intelligence was verified last night - it is highly credible."
Hasegawa's voice was not loud, but it was just loud enough for the officials present to hear him clearly.
The four cadres listened attentively, and even their breathing slowed down unconsciously.
"The Great Buddha Clan is a powerful Yakuza group in Kyoto."
"Their leader is called 'Dabutsu Kaoru'. He was originally an ordinary gangster in Kyoto."
"After successfully forming the 'Big Buddha Clan', in order to show his uniqueness, he gave himself the surname 'Big Buddha'."
"According to our informants, they have seen someone who looks like Shirakawa Shuichiro several times entering and leaving the casinos and other locations run by the 'Dafo Clan'."
Shirakawa Hideichiro: The name of the leader of the Blood Mist Clan.
At this time , a cadre frowned and muttered:
"The Blood Mist Clan actually has contact with the Yakuza group in Kyoto... What are they trying to do?"
"It's not surprising that they have dealings with each other." Hasegawa said calmly, "After all, they are birds of a feather. They only harm innocent people."
"As for why the Blood Mist Clan has dealings with the 'Great Buddha Clan'... based on the current intelligence, I can make a guess - probably to use the Blood Mist Clan as a 'knife' to eliminate dissidents."
"Last night, I asked Shenshan for all the information related to the 'Big Buddha Clan' and read it carefully."
"Recently, two Yakuza leaders and two businessmen were killed in Kyoto. Without exception, they were killed with a single blow."
"Without exception, all of these victims had fierce disputes with the 'Big Buddha Clan'."
"The Kyoto Magistrates' Office investigated the 'Great Buddha Clan', but they could not find any evidence of their crimes, so they ended up leaving the case unsolved."
"If the 'Big Buddha Clan' cooperated with the Blood Mist Clan and asked the Blood Mist Clan to help them kill people, then everything would be explained."
"The Blood Mist Clan is a bunch of beasts who all have excellent swordsmanship and rich experience in killing people. Killing a few people is easy for them."
"Of course, the above are just my guesses."
"In short - no matter why this 'Great Buddha Clan' interacts with the Blood Mist Clan, what we have to do remains unchanged."
"From now on, keep a close eye on every major stronghold of the 'Big Buddha Clan'. Remember not to alert the enemy."
"Those Blood Mist beasts probably don't know that we, the Fire Thieves, have already arrived in the capital secretly in order to capture them - this is our biggest advantage at the moment."
"Yes!"*4
The four cadres responded in unison.
…
…
In a luxurious casino in Kyoto——
In the slightly dim room, a young man with droopy eyes was holding a knife in his arms, leaning against the wall behind him, and said in a lazy voice to the middle-aged man sitting opposite him:
"Mr. Dafo, why did you suddenly come to me?"
If Hasegawa were here, he would definitely be very excited to see this young man with droopy eyes - because this young man with droopy eyes is none other than the leader of the Blood Mist that he has been looking for for a long time: Shirakawa Hideichiro.
There were only two people in the room at this time: Shirakawa and a middle-aged man sitting opposite him, and the name of this middle-aged man was Daibutsu Kaoru.
He is the leader of the "Big Buddha Clan".
The Buddha didn't care about Baichuan's casual attitude. He just put his hands into his sleeves and said in a deep voice:
"My brother was arrested last night."
"Oh?" Bai Chuan raised his eyebrows. "Caught? Caught by the government?"
"No, I was caught by an old man."
"Old man?" Baichuan let out a low cry of surprise.
"I have already found out - yesterday, my stupid brother sneaked into an old man's house and tried to steal, but he was caught by the old man. Late last night, my brother was tied up and sent to the magistrate's office."
"That old man... is there some powerful master living in his house?"
"No, as far as I know—the old man lives alone."
"...Buddha, can you let me tell you something that you may not like to hear?"
"Go ahead."
"Is your brother an idiot?" Bai Chuan sneered, "A young man can't beat an old man?"
Regarding Baichuan's sneer at his brother, Dafo not only did not show the slightest resentment, but nodded:
"Well, you're right, I think so too - my brother is a complete idiot."
"She said something like she didn't want to rely on my help and wanted to fight on her own."
"They say that, but in the end, they only do sneaky things."
"It's fine if you just steal chickens and dogs. But you are so spineless as to rob an old man's house."
"It would have been bad enough to steal from an old man, but I was killed by an old man and was sent to the magistrate's office."
As he spoke of this, the Buddha felt his blood rushing up, his entire head was swelling, and he couldn't help but raise his hands to rub his temples and between his eyebrows.
"So - is there a way to get your brother out of the magistrate's office?"
"Impossible." The Buddha's tone became even lower, and a hint of displeasure appeared. "The current magistrate of Kyoto is that god, Koshinosuke."
"He is a troublesome person. It is impossible to forcibly pull people out of prison while he is in power."
"It seems that this guy is a good official." Baichuan whistled.
"When the old man sent my brother to the prison, there were witnesses and evidence. My brother was a repeat offender and had been to prison twice."
"If he goes to jail again this time... committing crimes again and not showing remorse... my brother will have to spend at least two years in jail this time..."
"Since there is no way to get your brother out of the magistrate's office, then just wait patiently for until your brother comes out." Shirakawa shrugged.
But just after he finished speaking, Baichuan suddenly paused as if he realized something:
"…Hey, Big Buddha. You called me over suddenly. Are you asking me to help you break out of prison?"
Baichuan quickly raised his hands in surrender.
"I won't do that."
"I'm not the executioner Itosai, and I don't have the ability to go against the government."
"Bringing into the magistrate's office and robbing people is no different from committing suicide."
"I'm not asking you to carry out the mission of kidnapping people." The Buddha said, "I also know that carrying out the mission of kidnapping people is unrealistic."
"I asked you to come here just to ask you to help my brother get revenge."
"Revenge?" Bai Chuan raised an eyebrow, "You mean...?"
The Buddha nodded, his eyes gleaming with ferocity: "I want you to help me kill the old man who sent my brother to the magistrate's office."
"My brother may be stupid and incompetent, but he is still my brother after all."
"He has been wronged, I cannot remain indifferent, otherwise my subordinates will look down on me."
"I can't afford to offend the Ministry of Enforcement, but can I afford to offend an old man?"
"Help me cut him into eight pieces... No! Ten pieces!"
"You want me to help kill an old man..." Bai Chuan picked his nose, "I feel like I'm wasting my talents... Are you really planning to let us, the Blood Mist Clan, go?"
"Why do you think I cooperated with you? Just to use your power to kill those who get in my way."
"There are basically no people among my subordinates who are good at killing, so I'd better trouble you professionals for this matter."
"...Okay then." Baichuan stretched hard, "Anyway, you pay me and I'll do the work."
"After the matter is done, I will give you 10 taels."
"Only 10 taels?"
"I just asked you to kill an old man. Ten taels should be enough, right?"
"Whatever, 10 taels is 10 taels."
"Don't be careless. Since that old man was able to send my brother to the magistrate's office, it means that he is quite capable."
"No matter how capable he is, he is just an old man." Bai Chuan sneered, "I'll send four people. No matter how good that old man is at fighting, can he beat four people? When do you want us to take action?"
"How about tonight?"
"Tonight, then."
…
…
That evening——
Kyoto, the home of Fuma——
"Hurry! Ah Yi! Try it on!"
"What is this?" Ogata looked at the two pieces of clothing that Atachi handed to him with a confused look on his face.
Although the two pieces of clothing were neatly folded, Ogata could still tell at a glance that they were two haori.
One is light green and the other is dark blue.
"Yesterday evening when I went out to buy wine, I passed by a clothing store." A-Ming said, "The clothes in that store are very cheap and of good quality."
"Your current haori just happened to be broken, so I bought you two more at that clothing store."
"Because that shop can help people embroider family crests on clothes for free, I asked them embroider our Ogata family crest on these two haori."
At this point, Ating changed to an unhappy tone:
"Originally they said they would have the family crest embroidered this afternoon, but when I went to pick up the clothes this afternoon, they said it wasn't done yet and asked me to come back tonight, so I went for nothing."
"So you went out just now to get your clothes?" Ogata asked.
Ah-Ming nodded: "Come on, try it quickly!"
Ogata took the two haori pieces handed to him by Atachi. The fabric felt very nice to the touch.
"You like light green, so I wanted to buy you two light green clothes." At this time, Ah Cheng added, "But it felt a bit weird to buy two identical clothes, so I changed it to one light green and one dark blue."
Having been friends with Ogata for such a long time, A-Machi already knew all the "little-known facts" about him, such as what he likes to eat and what colors he likes.
"I'm a little touched." Ogata put the light green haori on himself and smiled, "I just happened to be thinking of buying a new haori recently."
After draping the haori behind him, Ogata lowered his head and took a quick look at it - it was the right size and felt quite good.
There is a bellflower, the family crest of the Ogata family, embroidered on the left and right sides of the chest and on the back of the haori.
Ogata wears clothing and items embroidered with his family crest.
As far as he could remember, the last time he wore clothes embroidered with gentian flowers was at the simple wedding with A-Machi on the eve of his trip north to Ezo.
In the past, the rules for using family crests were very strict. People could tell which family a person came from just by looking at the family crest.
But it is different now. After entering the Edo period, except for a few family crests such as the paulownia pattern and chrysanthemum pattern that cannot be used casually, the use of other family crests has become rampant.
Even common people can have their own family crest.
For example, Ogata's bellflower is one of those family crests that has been overused for a long time. Nowadays, there are countless samurai and civilian families who use the bellflower as their family crest.
"Oh! Very nice clothes!" said Fuma, who was sitting not far away from Ogata.
At this time, Azhu beside him also echoed: "Yeah! Master Ittosai! It suits you very well!"
Ogata was also very satisfied with the new clothes that Atachi bought for him, so he thanked Atachi again.
"Alright. It's almost time for us to go to bed." Fengma drank the sake in the glass in his hand, "We have to get up early tomorrow."
Ogata and his companions have already made their plan - they will set off early tomorrow morning and head south to Osaka.
The straight-line distance from Kyoto to Osaka is only 40 kilometers. According to Ogata and his colleagues, if you walk there, it will only take 2 or 3 days to reach Osaka.
"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "That's true. It's almost time to go to bed now..."
Before Ogata could finish his words, he suddenly stopped.
Then he turned his head and looked outside the house.
Not only Ogata made this move, Fuma, A-machi and A-tsuku all made the same move at this time - they all turned their heads and looked outside the house.
"...Lord Feng, have you invited any guests?" Ogata asked.
"...As far as I know, my popularity in Kyoto is not good enough for anyone to visit my house so late at night."
…
…
"Is that where the old man lives?" asked a one-eyed middle-aged man with an eye patch on one eye and a ferocious look.
"Yes." A man with a big scar on his face standing next to him answered, "It's right there."
"That big Buddha's brother is such a loser." A short guy sneered disdainfully, "He tried to deal with an old man, but he was killed and sent to the magistrate's office. If I had done something as shameful as him, I would have committed suicide long ago."
"Okay, let's stop talking." A tall man said in a deep voice, "Hurry up and follow the instructions and cut the old man into ten pieces. Although it is spring now, it is still quite cold at night."
After saying that, Gao Lao blew some hot air onto his hands.
"It would be nice if the old man had a granddaughter or something." The shorty looked regretful. "I haven't played with a woman for a long time. The women in Shimabara are too expensive. I can't afford them."
"You were such a pervert before." Scarface joked, "You actually played with someone else's wife in front of her husband."
"You know nothing. This is exciting."
The one-eyed man, the scarred man, the short and stunted man, and the tall man - these four people were sent by Shirakawa to cut Fuma into ten pieces.
These four people are also veterans of the Blood Mist Clan. They followed Shirakawa from Kanto to Kyoto and did all kinds of bad things.
The four of them were carrying out tonight's mission with the attitude of going out to relax and travel - after all, no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't imagine how difficult or dangerous tonight's mission was.
After seeing that the lights were still on in Feng Mo's house, Du Yan nodded and said, "It seems that the old man hasn't gone to bed yet. What are you going to do?"
"What else can we do? Of course we just charge in directly." After saying that, the shorty took the lead and strode towards Fengmo's house.
Wow!
The short man who was at the front pulled open the unlocked door, drew his sword from its sheath, and rushed into the room through the open door.
The other three also drew their swords and followed closely behind.
However, after they rushed into the room, they were surprised to find that there was no one in the room.
"Hmm? Where are the people?" The shorty frowned, "No one is home?"
The four of them were standing in the living room of Fengmo's house at this time.
I looked around—there was no one.
"...No." One-Eye touched a cushion in the living room, "The cushion is still warm... There was someone here just now. Let's go to the second floor and take a look."
The short man sniffed and then grinned: "I seem to smell the scent of a woman. There was a woman in this room just now, and it seems that there was more than one woman."
The shorty's words immediately excited the rest of the people.
They lined up in a straight line, ready to head to the second floor of the house in a huge procession.
However... before they left the living room, they all heard a strange sound coming from the ceiling above their heads.
Afterwards, the ceilings at the northeast and southwest corners of the hall were quickly pulled open, and two figures fell rapidly from the opened ceilings - the two figures were an old man and a young man respectively.
As soon as the two men's feet touched the ground, they pounced on the four people like hungry tigers before they had time to react.
…
…
Ogata's first target was the short man closest to him.
Fengmo had specifically instructed: It is best not to use a knife, because it would dirty his home, and even if the bloodstains were cleaned, the unpleasant smell of blood would linger for a long time.
Ogata didn't want to make Fuma's already dirty home even dirtier, so he didn't draw his sword and just faced the uninvited guests with his bare hands.
Ogata pressed the short man's right shoulder and neck with both hands.
Until this moment, the shorty and the others finally came to their senses - but it was too late.
Ogata used the Shiranui-ryu jutsu to knock the short man to the ground, then turned his head at a novel angle.
[Ding! Use Shiranui Style Ninjutsu and Shiranui Style Jujutsu to kill the enemy.]
[Gain 35 personal experience points, and 30 experience points for the Ninjutsu "Shiranui Style Ninjutsu"]
[Current personal level: Lv40 (1815/6400)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 8th Stage (7020/7500)]
When Ogata killed the dwarf, Fuma also killed the one-eyed man and started to deal with Scarface.
Since Fengmo went to deal with the scarface, Oufang turned to deal with Gao Lao.
After being attacked by Ogata and Fuma, these people were now in chaos.
Gao Lao howled in fear and waved his knife at Ogata.
His mind was in a mess and he swung the knife without any order. Ogata could have dodged it even with his eyes closed.
After easily dodging Gao Lao's attack, Ogata grabbed Gao Lao's right hand holding the knife with one hand and grabbed Gao Lao's right shoulder with the other hand.
He first used judo to remove the knife from Gao Lao's hand, and then threw him heavily to the ground. While throwing him to the ground, he broke his right arm, making him lose the ability to resist.
[Ding! Use Shiranui Style Ninjutsu and Shiranui Style Jujutsu to defeat the enemy]
[Gain 20 points of personal experience and 20 points of Ninjutsu "Shiranui Style Ninjutsu" experience]
[Current personal level: Lv40 (1835/6400)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 8th Stage (7040/7500)]
Fuma was in sync with Ogata again at this time, and he knocked Scar down almost at the same time.
The two of them did not kill Scar and Tall Guy - because they needed someone alive to ask them who they were and why they attacked them.
From the time Ogata and Fuma launched their surprise attack to the time the battle ended - less than 10 seconds had passed in total.
bass.
Fuma pressed Scarface to the ground, pulled out Scarface's wakizashi, and then placed the wakizashi against Scarface's neck.
"Tell me." Feng Mo said calmly, "Who are you? Why did you attack an innocent old man like me?"