Chương 29: Toda The Honourable Samurai

"Lad, shoot one more at this range and then we'll move up a bit."

Excited to see the full extent of his abilities, Nakatane hurried him forward.

But it was not as though Gengyo minded. He'd already memorised the specifics needed to shoot a constant central bullseye at this range anyway.

He notched his bow, and this time did not even pause to aim, merely bringing his string back with haste, and releasing it sharply.

Yet it still flew toward its intended position, nestled almost on top of the other two arrows.

He'd realized the importance of the speed of your shot after the previous evening's events, and had - in his confidence – deemed it appropriate to test such speed at this range which was now rather trivial for him.

The master hurried off toward the 75 pace range, awaiting Gengyo, who was busy collecting his things. As he bent over to pick up the quiver, he noticed that there were only two arrows left, and he turned to the guard once more.

"Would you mind getting me a few more arrows? I'm going to run out pretty soon."

The guard was completely dazed, and dumbly stuck out his hand to receive the quiver, before turning around and doing as he was asked.

He felt a good deal of shock upon seeing the youth land such perfect bullseyes so easily. He had been training on these grounds, in the master's services, for years, and fancied himself to be the best archer amongst the guards. But even he – whilst he could secure consecutive bullseyes – could not do them with the extremely high degree of precision that Gengyo had demonstrated.

There was a hint of respect in his gaze when he delivered the arrows to the boy now, but a distinct feeling of jealousy came along with it. Still, he shared the master's opinion, and wished to see just how much he could do.

"Whenever you're ready, Miura-kun."

Flexing his fingers a little, Gengyo pulled the bowstring – complete with a freshly nocked arrow – back past his cheek, and released.

It was cleanly done, and the arrow flew higher into the air to compensate for the pull of gravity. The parabolic path in which it followed was aimed to perfection, and it thudded into the centre of the 75 pace bullseye.

"Hoh! You're even better than I thought lad!"

The master exclaimed excitedly, slapping his shoulder. It was a lucky man that was able to witness such finesse at the 75 pace range.

Smiling lightly, Gengyo continued the show for his audience of two, and landed a further couple of arrows into the centre of the bullseye, before lowering his bow and looking toward the master expectantly.

"100 paces now?"

"Right you are, let's see what you can do."

They wandered over to the lone 100 pace target that was rather ragged from disuse, as no one had deemed it worthwhile to change it.

When looking at it from the range they were, the distance seemed rather substantial, and you could get a true sense for the skill required to hit it.

This time Gengyo angled his bow rather high, causing a frown on the guard's face.

'There's no way that's going to hit – it's far too high.'

But the young man compensated for such an angle by using a lesser amount of force, only pulling the bowstring back to around 60 percent.

It made for a much more exciting shot. It shot high up into the air, looking as though it was set on a straight road over the target, but just before it flew over, it dipped, landing in the centre of the bullseye.

Nakatane could not help but clap at such skill.

"Now that, was a marvellous shot."

Another arrow was already on his bowstring, and this time he aimed lower, attempting to make the path shallower.

It sped forward with great speed, maintaining a height that was only slightly over that of a target, and then it dipped slightly, flying toward the previous arrow, slicing straight through its shaft, before embedding itself into the spot the previous arrowhead had begun to call home.

Gobsmacked. Even the master could not offer up a compliment, he could only gaze at the shattered remains of the previous arrow, his jaw slack. Such pinpoint accuracy was almost incomprehensible. There would always be slight changes in a shot, surely.

The guard felt as if he was going mad. As if the purpose of the boy in front of him was simply to tell him that his life had been worthless. That every second he had put into wielding the bow had been for nought, and would continue to be for nought for the rest of his life.

He sought out the hairs of his moustache in which he normally extracted a moderate amount of comfort, but today he had to hold himself back from the strong desire to tear them out.

His pride crushed, and his anger boiling, he posed a question, figuring he had nothing to lose.

"How… is it you do that?"

Gengyo answered honestly, not in the least worried about sharing his methods.

"I remember the previous shots, and adjust my shooting angle and draw strength accordingly."

Both men listened intently to what he had to say, and ran it through their heads, thinking it over.

But, they both came to the same conclusion: that was simply too ridiculous. The changes to the shooting angle, by just fractions of a degree, had huge implications upon where the arrow ended up. It was surely impossible for anyone to be able to deal in such tiny amounts.

They chalked it up to him not wishing to reveal his technique, and who could blame him?

"Well lad, you've definitely earned a place in the bow ashigaru. Your years of training have definitely paid off! If any man were half as dedicated to his craft as you, he would stand at the forefront of his profession."

Gengyo said naught to that, for in truth, his time spent training had not even reached a month yet. Though he supposed you might refer to all he had done in his previous life as preparation, and therefore a form of training. He knew that if he had not had those experiences, that taught him how to truly utilise his brain, then he would not have been able to achieve such a level of archery so quickly.

The noise caused by a stumbling servant girl drew their attention, as she called out the master's name.

"MASTER! Please come to the front urgently! Toda-sama has come to pay a visit!"

A deep frown creased Nakatane's forehead, as all traces of his earlier good mood disappeared.

"He came faster than expected. You'd better come with me."

He said, referring to Gengyo, who in turn nodded obligingly and returned the guard's weaponry with a light thank you.

Given the panicked state of the maid, and the stoic expression the master had now adopted, Gengyo felt correct in assuming that the man they were about to visit was not to be taken lightly.

When they exited by the front, they were noticed immediately.

"Niwa, you old dog! After all the trouble you've caused, you still dare to move slowly?"

A man mounted high on a horse, and dressed lavishly called down to them. There was never a person more fitting to be called snake-like. He had long, greasy black hair flowing down from a top knot, angular eyebrows and thin menacing slits that he supposed passed as eyes. A pointed goatee sitting under his chin completed the appearance.

It did not take a genius to figure that the relations between the two samurai were not good. For with him, Toda had brought 6 guards that were dressed in full battle attire, sitting atop war horses that snorted angrily.

And when dealing with a man – who presumably should be of equal status – he did not deem it necessary to even show the slightest bit of respect, refusing to even step down from his horse when speaking.

Nakatane had to offer up a false smile as he struggled to hold back his anger.

"What is it that has gotten brother Toda so upset? You should know that the Niwa household would do their utmost to fix whatever wrongs have been committed."

Toda harrumphed at that but clearly delighted in the submissive attitude that the master was forced to take.

Gengyo watched on with curiosity, wondering what about the man in front of him would be forcing the master to behave as such.

"You know full well what it is. One of your peasants killed five of my people, and you did not hand him over immediately? Are you gambling with your life, little Niwa?"

Raising an eyebrow at the blatant threat, the young man looked up at the master to gauge his response.

"Aha, you jest. I merely deemed it to be too insignificant to bother you with."

"Is that so? Where is this boy, then? My people tell me that it was but a young man? I'll be needing his family too. You have to set an example with this kind of thing, Niwa."

"Ah, please do not be so hasty, brother Toda. Your men attacked their home, and they barely escaped with their lives."

Putting his hand up, and looking to his men with a face of confusion, he spoke.

"And?"

The men laughed at their master's humour, evidently being told to do so.

'What a vain man.'

Gengyo thought to himself, disgusted by the spectacle. Men like him were scourges to the earth, and many a time he had pondered upon what caused such malevolence.

"Haha…"

Nakatane laughed drily, detesting every second of this hateful business.

"He was not the aggressor, is my point."

"Hoh, that's your point is it? Tell me Nakatane, are all lives equal?"

Knowing full well where he was going with this, the master offered up an unenthusiastic response.

"Perhaps…"

"Wrong! The life of the peasants in the field are not equal to that of an honourable samurai. The men your worker killed were valuable assets of mine, you see? They took a good deal of training to be as effective as they were. So not only has he killed my men, but he has also wasted my time. Do you understand how bad that looks?"

He could not believe such arrogant words were actually being spewed. If anyone dared to speak as such in modern times, they would have received a prompt smack.

'Perhaps that is the problem then, he did not receive the smack that he was due?'

"I see… But even the best horse can miss a jump. Was it not your men who ended their own lives, in that sense?"

Twisting his face with irritation, he uttered his displeased response.

"Niwa… you're testing my patience. Bring me the boy, so I can execute him for all to see. And bring me the family too. Actually, it doesn't have to be the same boy. Just bring me anyone, and a family to go with them. We'll get them killed quickly, as we can go back to our business, yes?"

"Hoh, that young man standing next to you is a peasant, is he not? I'll take him!"

He spurred his horse forward, taking a few steps toward Gengyo, and his guards followed.

Nakatane urged the young man back with a hand, standing to face the aggressors himself.

"That's a little unreasonable, brother Toda… Perhaps we can discuss alternative ways of solving this? Ways that would benefit us both? Claiming the lives of more people won't bring your men back."

"No. I set out today with the intention of killing, and I will not be leaving until I have done so."