The screams of people, the roars of pain, the countless drops of blood…

All this stuff…was plentiful.

At a small village close to the iconic Kinkaku-Ji temple.

People were running like headless chickens, shouting and screaming and yelling while asking god to protect their lives. The whole village had been devastated by the time the foot soldiers from the Kyoto castle arrived. The Troops tried assisting both the injured and the uninjured people. People’s houses were razed to the ground, and all the fields of the poor farmers were devastated. The leading samurai of the combat team asked for more details about the incident that occurred over there from an old man, who ran into the soldiers as their view materialised into his semi-blurry eyes.

"Hey, mister!" The Command Leader asked.

"Help! Help my family please!"

The old man stopped to support a very young girl who had been running away from the ruined village.

One of the soldiers managed to make the old man and the girl come to a stop. One of the team started to attend to the injury that the old man had suffered, while another soldier covered up the minor scratch on the girl's arm.

"Tell me, old man. What happened?"

While in the recovery process, the old man answered.

"Everything was….normal. It was just another common day in our lives. Everyone was engaged in their regular activities. And so was I. I am a poor vendor who sells fresh vegetables. But all of a sudden, someone appeared on top of that building.

(While directing his finger towards the half-destroyed building)

"A female figure. She chuckled. It was evil. Pure evil. We all directed our attention to the scene and tried to disclose the identity of the woman. And then abruptly, we heard a roar. An evil, ear-splitting unpleasant scream. The village went into an extreme state of madness. People started dying, houses began falling and fields started being destroyed. It's all because of…."

The man paused. The command leader tried to persuade the man to start revealing the cause behind this.

But one of the soldiers went into the frontline, and after some time, the entire mob heard their howl full of mortal agony. The Command leader changed his topic and commanded his forces to check out the culprit behind the death of the soldier. But they were interrupted by the old man, who finally uncovered the truth.

"Sir...Please don't send your men! They'll...They'll kill you with just one swipe!"

The leader questioned.

"Who? Who will dare to walk over the bodies of my men?"

The loud, evil roar rumbled across the village once again, petrifying the entire squad and enriching their hearts with even more curiosity.

The Leader insisted.

"Who?"

"Evil….enormous…Bears." The old man responded with a slow reply, and the surroundings started to tremble right after his speaking ended.

And from the distance, three black figures materialised into the atmosphere, striking all the people with fear. Two more women came out of a small hut and rushed towards the elite troops while yelling out for their dear lives. When they came to a stop while taking cover from the combatants, they bawled out the information of the incoming danger, preparing the assault team for engagement.

"Those bears, they are coming this way!"

The crowd was horror-stricken after realising how quickly the bears had caught up with the startled mob. When the Command Leader signalled the battalion to attack, it was already late. The bears crushed the lives of two more soldiers, scaring the survivors, especially the little girl...

The combat leader screamed.

"Everyone, run!"

One of the three fearsome bears charged towards the group while targeting the little girl. The bear opened up its jaws to take out the girl with one bite, but…

The fierce monster grasped the blood-wet soil right before it took the bite. The crowd was full of surprise after realising that an arrow had penetrated the bear's neck, causing its instantaneous death.

The crowd was frozen in place for a few seconds. Then proceeded to turn in the direction where the arrow came from.

"Who are you?"

The command leader’s question was thrown towards the newly arrived visitor; a girl. His eyes were only locked on to one thing. Her bow. It was a peculiar-looking bow. It had a compact look, almost half the length of a regular yumi bow. The red accent of the bow resonated well with her quiver, along with the short wakizashi she had tied onto the obi of her vermillion outfit, screaming the atmosphere of a Shinto shrine and its shrine maidens.

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The girl replied,

"Isoko. Hanamura Isoko."

And before the chief could request even more information about Isoko, the crowd's attention was averted by the two remaining devilish bears, who prepared themselves for another attack.

Isoko cried out.

"Look out!"

Noticing the incoming claw slash of the bear, Isoko rolled away and retreated to take cover behind a nearby tree and loaded up another arrow into her bow, while aiming for one of the front limbs of the bears. One of the soldiers attempted to drive away the bears with the help of a torch, which did seem to work out. While they were doing their best to hold off the cruel bears, Isoko rapidly released her bow and shot another arrow into the same bear's legs. Both the arrows made clean contact, and the injured legs started to spray blood into the soil.

The bear responded to these injuries loud enough to break the eardrums. Despite the roaring loudness, the soldiers managed to stab their yaris into one of the bears just in time to take it down.

That left just one remaining. The final one was extremely enraged thanks to the deaths of his companions. The last bear strove to take down more victims. And it succeeded in sending two more samurai combatants to their afterlife before Isoko decided to intervene to deliver a killing blow to its neck with her wakizashi.

"Raa!" The dying bear made its final call before crumbling to the floor. The battalion leader was astonished by the girl's performance and decided to find out more about her.

"How did you do that? Nice work, Isoko."

She joined the conversation while covering up the scratch on her forearm.

"Thank you, sir. Sir if you don't mind, can you please explain what happened here?"

The old man volunteered to answer Isoko's question.

"I can explain everything. Everything was going normal in our village up to the point when a female figure made an appearance on the rooftops of our village. She gave a grim chuckle, and all of a sudden, her chest was illuminated with a light green colour. And just a few seconds later, these bears appeared out of nowhere... And they started to ruin our village! All those poor lives…"

“Well...There's no doubt. That is the peridot of summoning. But...why did she try to mess with these innocent people?”

"Isoko! What's wrong? Do you happen to know that person?"

"No..No! I don't know yet. But."

Just when Isoko tried to continue, a man reached the crowd with a sweating face and a tensed body. The old man recognized him, and the little girl sprang towards her father and hugged him tight while being bewildered by the aftermath of the bear offensive.

"Father!"

"Oh, Sugi! What happened?"

"The bears...the bears! They attacked our village! Many people died!! And even my grandma!"

She started crying. But the man wiped them off and tried to calm her down.

Then the man started.

"Here too?? What is happening? How did some bears manage to deal this much damage?"

"We don't know," the leader replied.

"Sir, this is even more terrible. All the monks in the Kinkaku-Ji temple were slaughtered by a Kōga Ninja!"

The veins of the command leader were chilled by listening. His surprise grew even further when the man mentioned this.

"But luckily, a teenage ninja wearing a conical hat came into the temple to help me out. I am not sure. But I believe he is the son of the battalion leader Hattori-sama."

“Kento! I wonder if he is doing ok with the avatar ninja. But…these Kōgas...they are savage murderers! First a village...and now a temple. I have got to find and take this ninja down no matter what arises in my pathway. I must put an end to this mayhem. “

It was Isoko's thinking.

The Battalion leader ordered.

"Okay, samurai warriors. Listen up! Our remaining soldiers will be divided into two teams. One team will stick here and help the affected people. And the other team will join me in investigating and helping Hattori Kentoin the Kinkaku-Ji temple complex."

"Roger that," It was the answer of the soldiers.

Isoko held her silence until the samurai leader halted his speaking. She asked for more intel immediately after his speech ended.

"Now where is the female ninja who appeared inside your village?"

Isoko was stricken as no one made an answer. But it only took a matter of time for her to get her hopes up as Sugi shouted out with the necessary intel.

"Isoko-chan! She ran in that direction!"

Sugi pointed her finger in the direction of the forest.

“The forest?? Wait...Isn't that the same place where Kyuzo and Nakamura are headed to? “

Isoko inserted her wakizashi into her case and prepared to leave. But the squadron leader paused and asked.

"Where are you going?"

Isoko replied...while tying her wakizashi to her belt.

"I am going after this animal summoning Kōga ninja..and to help out Kento."

And within the blinking of an eye….

She commenced to rush to the dense forest behind the village.