章節 19: Naginaga Gains A Friend.
The bushes around the camp shook causing the bandits on guard to become a little alert. They slightly pushed open their swords out of their scabbards, waiting for even the slightest hint of an attack to parry it.
One of the guards was about to walk over to check the bush in an attempt to investigate but right at that moment the bush shook again and a man stepped out of it.
"*BWWAAAAAHHHH* So many webs!!!"
The bandits immediately pulled out their swords but froze halfway through.
"...a clown?" one of them mumbled.
The man who was dusting away the long grass stalks from his dress and hair looked up at the guard who said that.
"Oh! You recognise me! Yes! I am a clown!! A bonafide one at that!!! Would you believe me if I said there's no better clown than me in the world!? I'll tell you a joke to prove it! Do you know what the Hokage said to the-"
"Who're you!? Why are you here?!" the other guard interrupted the dialogue spree that the clown had gone on.
"Ah! I'm a wandering clown! Like you- wait no! I don't mean you're a clown! I meant I was wandering from place to place like you!"
The guards put up an unwilling expression but seeing the man's unarmed and unguarded demeanour they were willing to give him a chance and hear him out.
"I'm a wandering clown! I go around from place to place to share my jokes and tales! For coin of course!" The clown said making a circle with his thumb and index finger. "May I entertain you? You'd love it, I promise! My usual audience loves me! I mean aren't you bored? In this valley, all alone?"
The guards looked at each other and shared a knowing glance before one of them left to go deeper into the camp.
Meanwhile, the other guard stared at the clown with a frown. So Tachibana asked, "Here's a joke while we wait. What did the Hokage say to the shinobi that was on fire?"
Tachibana paused for dramatic effect and when the guard showed a thoughtful look he revealed by taking a dramatic posture, pretending to hold a smoking pipe and eyes that stared off into the distance, "The will of fire burns strong within this one."
Tachibana laughed at his own joke but throughout he interaction, he paid attention to the guard, and to his surprise he saw the guard had a little smile of his own, even though he did his best to hide it in.
'I guess everyone knows about the will of the fire…'
That was when Tachibana heard a series of footsteps and out emerged the guard who'd gone in.
"You're lucky. Naginaga-sama asks to see you."
Tachibana's eyes shone and he looked at the guards who were ready to escort him in.
"Follow us."
As Tachibana walked through the camp he noticed a large number of patrols all around the camp, which made it difficult to break into.
His eyes also fell on the children in the cages, their eyes hollow, as if they'd lost all hope. A few were even missing teeth and had bruised faces.
With the last rays of light sinking in the valley was drowned in darkness and Tachibana finally reached the entrance of the tent where Naginaga-sama was.
As soon as Tachibana entered the tent he felt a cold gaze evaluate him. His eyes adjusted to the darkness illuminated only by a single lamp and spotted the large man sitting on an equally large bamboo chair.
He wore a kimono that only covered his bottom half. A large katana was tied to his waist, his armour hung on one of the poles holding the tent.
He sat with one hand on the handle of his bamboo chair with his head resting on it while the other hand was free to contemplate the mysteries of life.
"This is him, Naginaga-sama. He said he was a clown and hoped to earn coin by entertaining us."
Tachibana felt the man's eyes shift from the guard who spoke to himself and so he introduced himself a little more elaborately.
A deck of cards appeared on his hand as if an illusion and Tachibana fanned himself while speaking, "I'm the fool that does not belong to this era! The wandering clown that humours traders! And the magician that performs for an audience! Nice to meet you Naginaga-sama."
Tachibana bowed deeply and waited for the man to speak.
The cold gaze he was feeling bore into his back for a while before the man spoke with a deep voice.
"Magic? Ninjutsu?"
"No! My lord! Do not sully the arts of my hand by the silly finger bending of the shinobi villages! Would you allow me to demonstrate!?" Tachibana said looking directly at the man.
"Hm~" The man nodded.
Tachibana immediately moved closer to the man but the guard almost instinctively unsheathed his sword and placed it on his neck.
Tachibana only looked at Naginaga, uncaring about the sword on his neck.
The man waved his hand and the guard sheathed his sword with an apology.
Tachibana stepped closer unhindered, pulling out the stack of cards as he fanned them, "Please choose a card. Don't show it to me!"
The robust man looked a little interested, he used his free hand to pull out a card and looked at it.
Once he was satisfied he looked back at Tachibana.
"Good job memorising your card. Now I'll shuffle the deck. You tell me when to stop."
Tachibana did exactly as he'd said and suddenly the man said, "Stop." in a boorish tone.
Tachibana diligently stopped and cut the deck in two, "May I take your card Naginaga-sama?"
The man placed his card into Tachibana's deck and he shuffled it all once again.
"Now, do you agree that everything you did was of your own volition?"
The man thought for a bit but nodded.
"So is this your card?" Tachibana pulled out the topmost card of the deck and asked with a smile.
Naginaga looked at the card with a little expectation but when his eyes actually fell on the card he became a little disappointed.
"Pffftttt, not it right?" Tachibana joked but Naginaga's eyes only became harder. "How can I guess your card so randomly? I'm not a saint or a seer am I?"
Tachibana suddenly threw all his cards into the air, creating a shower of cards. And in this shower, Tachibana moved closer to Naginaga and pushed out his chest.
"Reach into my pocket and pull out the piece of paper in there."
The guards were startled momentarily by this act but relaxed when they saw Tachibana didn't intend to attack.
Naginaga looked with a little distrust but Tachibana only egged him on, "I made this prediction in the morning before I'd even decided I'd come here. Is it right?"
Hearing those words, Naginaga decided to entertain Tachibana's one last request. He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a paper.
The paper was folded several times over so he had to work with his hard stubby fingers to unfold it a little but within a few seconds when the paper unfolded, Naginaga became a little stunned.
"It's correct isn't it!" Tachibana said with his arms crossed and some pride in his voice. "Now get a shinobi to do that I'll agree that they're good at magic. This takes real skill to do. Unlike those wishy-washy fools who only know how to walk upside down on trees."
Naginaga's eyes showed a semblance of admiration towards Tachibana as he spoke again, "Real skill can only be trained from childhood and comes with repeated practice."
"Exactly! As if those shinobi that only sit back and allow the real men to fight with cold blades would understand the thrill of doing something with their own bodies!"
Naginaga's eyes lit up further, to a degree that he stopped leaning on his hand and sat up straight.
"Yes."
There was a soft silence for a few moments and as if deciding something within those moments Naginaga turned towards the guard, "Gather everyone in the camp here. Tell them Naginaga has invited a friend!"
The guard *gulped*, looking at Tachibana like he was a ghost and immediately rushed out after bowing to Naginaga who was now smiling.
Mentally Tachibana smiled as he asked the system a question, 'System why did I suddenly digest twenty per cent of my clown potion?'
[ The host has suddenly digested twenty per cent of the potion because he acted as a clown in front of a very powerful target. ]
'What? So if I do my acting in front of a powerful person, do I get more feedback for digestion? Why didn't you tell me earlier!'
[ Because the system thought the host was intelligent enough to know about it. ]
'But in LOTM better digestion only comes from higher sequences, and why then did I not get more digestion feedback when my dad the literal Daimyo was involved?'
[ Because the Daimyo is not powerful. ]
'So only shinobi powerful counts? No money or political strength?'
[ Yes. ]
'*sigh* I guess I have to keep showing off in front of everyone to grow stronger.'
'But how will I stop them from investigating my weird jutsus?'
'Do I leave no witnesses behind? Or somehow develop strange jutsus that are possible while hiding my Beyonder abilities among them?'
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A/N : What do you think Tachibana should do? Hide his abilities by using them on assassination missions that involve strong shinobi? So that he can kill all those that learn of them? Or develop absurd jutsus that people can learn too and hide his beyonder abilities among them as secret techniques or something?
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