Chapter 768: A Short Truce with Norihiro
Chapter 768: A Short Truce with Norihiro
Nathan fell silent when he heard the name.
Mitsuhide.
The last Daimyo.
He had already crossed paths with Sadamasa and settled matters with him without bloodshed. Yorimasa had died by his hand. Norihiro now stood before him in his own hall. That left only one of the four still unseen.
Mitsuhide.
Nathan had never intended to deal with him first. His attention had been fixed on Norihiro from the start. Yet now, with a single name, the path ahead had shifted.
"If Genzo is with him, then he may already be dead," Nathan said.
Norihiro shook his head. "No. He is alive."
Nathan’s gaze sharpened.
"Mitsuhide would not kill so easily a man who is likely the leader of the shinobi," Norihiro continued. "Especially not one tied to the previous famous leader, his own brother. A man like that has value."
Nathan’s expression hardened. "So you are saying he kept Genzo alive. For what?"
"That, I cannot tell you with certainty," Norihiro replied. "I do not know what Mitsuhide intends to do with him. But I know enough to say it will be nothing good. Genzo may still be alive now, but that does not mean he will remain so for long. His life may already be hanging by a thread. By tomorrow, or even within the next few hours, he could be dead."
Nathan slowly clenched his fists.
For a brief moment, annoyance rose in him so sharply that he almost cursed aloud. Genzo had been reckless this time. Too reckless. Nathan could picture it easily. The old shinobi must have seen a chance to gather information on another Daimyo and pushed too far, thinking he could slip in and out unseen as he always had. But this time he had misjudged the danger and been taken.
Anyone else, Nathan might have left to their fate.
But not Genzo.
He owed the man too much for that. More than that, Genzo was still needed. Ayame would not be safe without capable eyes around her once she reached the Kastorian capital, and the shinobi would need a leader there. Nathan could not afford to lose him, not now.
"I assume Mitsuhide has already returned to his own territory," Nathan said.
"Most likely," Norihiro answered with a nod.
Nathan was quiet for another moment. Then he raised his eyes toward Norihiro, suspicion settling in fully now.
"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked. "He is your companion. One of the four Daimyo. Yet you are giving me his name, telling me Genzo is likely in his hands, and practically pointing me toward his territory. You are selling him to me."
That was what made no sense.
If the four Daimyo were truly united in their designs against the north, then Norihiro should have
hidden this, not revealed it. Men preparing for war did not hand one another over so easily.
Norihiro smiled.
"You are sharper than the rumors say," he said. "So I will speak plainly. Mitsuhide has become troublesome. If someone were to remove him, I would not be displeased."
Nathan stared at him. "What?"
"He was one of the four aligned with me," Norihiro said. "Was. But in recent years he has grown increasingly difficult to control. He no longer acts as an ally should. He harms my people in pursuit of his own aims, ignores restraint, and treats every agreement as though it binds only others."
His voice had remained calm, but there was a colder edge beneath it now.
"Two days ago," Norihiro continued, "he came to this castle. Not for a friendly visit during the Shogun Festival. Not to speak as an equal partner. He came to warn me. To show me that he no longer believes he needs to obey me. He thinks himself powerful enough already to become the next Shogun if he wishes it."
Nathan listened in silence.
He had expected ambition. That was natural among men like these. But open fracture between two Daimyo in the middle of larger plans was something else. It was not a small disagreement. It was a crack in the foundation.
"You do not seem very disturbed by that," Nathan said at last.
Should Norihiro not be more concerned? A Daimyo turning openly against him should have been a serious threat, especially if he was already strong enough to speak like that without fear.
Norihiro only smiled again, and there was something almost dismissive in it.
"The Daimyo were always temporary in my eyes," he said. "Once I become Shogun, all meaningful power will belong to me alone. The others were useful for a time, but they have always been obstacles as much as allies. They hold too much authority in their own lands. That was never something I intended to tolerate forever."
He rested back slightly on his seat, entirely at ease as he spoke of sweeping them aside.
"Sadamasa understood this and chose obedience. Even Yorimasa did, before you killed him."
Nathan narrowed his eyes.
"And yet you still do not look worried," he said. "Not by Yorimasa’s death. Not by Mitsuhide turning against you. I assume that means you still believe yourself fully prepared to take the north of Kastoria."
The words hung in the chamber.
Nathan watched him closely as he said them.
Because that was what mattered now.
If Norihiro remained this confident after losing one Daimyo and with another growing openly hostile, then his certainty had to rest on something else. Some weapon. Some force. Some advantage not yet revealed.
It was not Shiina. She was extraordinary, yes, but not enough by herself to explain this level of confidence.
So there had to be something more.
Norihiro’s smile remained in place, calm and unreadable.
He gave no answer.
Which, to Nathan, was answer enough.
"Whatever."
In the end, Nathan let the matter drop.
There was no use forcing this further tonight. Not while Genzo might already be in another Daimyo’s hands, and not while Norihiro sat there with that same calm, unreadable confidence, refusing to show the one thing Nathan still wanted to see. If Norihiro had some hidden strength, some weapon, or some advantage that made him this certain even now, Nathan would not drag it out of him by trading words in a throne room.
He would deal with Norihiro later.
For now, Genzo came first.
Nathan turned away from the raised seat, his mind already moving ahead of the room and toward the road waiting beyond the castle. Much as he hated it, killing Norihiro now was not so simple. The man was too deeply rooted in the south, too admired by his people, too central to their hopes. Assassinate him in his own castle, and the whole region would not see justice. They would see murder. Worse, they would blame the north, and everything Kaguya and Amaterasu wanted would grow even more distant.
They wanted a united Kastoria.
Not a kingdom split wider by hatred.
If Norihiro could simply vanish from the board without blood on anyone’s hands, that would have been ideal. But men like him did not die conveniently. And if Nathan killed him, then he needed a reason strong enough that even the people of the south would be forced to face it. Something undeniable. Something that made Norihiro’s death look less like ambition and more like necessity.
Perhaps war itself would provide that reason eventually.
Perhaps Norihiro would make a move so brutal that killing him would turn Nathan into a savior rather than a butcher.
But waiting for that could take too long.
The cleaner path, if such a thing still existed, would be to make Norihiro abandon his ambitions willingly. Give up his war. Give up his claim. Remain alive. If that happened, the south might accept union with the north more easily than if their beloved lord died by an outsider’s hand.
It was the better answer.
It was also the harder one.
Nathan did not believe he could deal with Norihiro by ordinary means. Not unless the man one day revealed something monstrous enough that cutting him down would seem righteous in every eye. Morosuke had done exactly that, and Nathan had killed him without regret. But Norihiro was not Morosuke. He was more careful, more loved, and far more dangerous.
No.
Nathan would need another answer, and soon.
But first, he would deal with the last Daimyo.
"Where are you going?" Norihiro asked.
Nathan stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
The chamber had gone very still again. Guards watched him with naked unease now, swords still in hand, as if unsure whether he was about to leave or overturn the whole room before they could blink.
"I am going to kill Mitsuhide," Nathan said.
Several of the guards stared at him in disbelief.
One man’s mouth even fell open before he caught himself and shut it again. The words had been spoken so simply, so casually, that they sounded almost unreal. Yet that only made them worse. Everyone in this room already knew what he had done. Yorimasa was dead. Morosuke was dead. The city he had ruled had fallen and changed hands. This was no empty threat spoken by some reckless wanderer drunk on his own reputation.
This was the man who had already done it once.
The Black Ronin.
Nathan saw the realization settle more deeply into the faces around him.
Young.
Calm.
Terrifying.
Even Norihiro and Shiina could not quite hide the faint amusement that touched their expressions then. It was not mockery. It was something closer to acknowledgment. Whatever doubt may have lingered before, it was gone now.
Norihiro folded his hands and regarded him with fresh interest. "In that case, allow me to help you."
Nathan turned a little more fully. "What?"
"I had not intended to deal with Mitsuhide so soon," Norihiro said. "But if you are already going to do it, I see no reason not to support the effort and make certain he dies."
Nathan narrowed his eyes. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"A short truce," Norihiro replied. "What do you say?"
Nathan repeated the words slowly. "A truce."
"Yes." Norihiro’s gaze did not waver. "I will send Shiina with you. Mitsuhide is dangerous. You may speak confidently, but even you would be wiser not to walk into his territory alone. Shiina will be useful."
Nathan looked at him for a moment in silence.
Then his eyes shifted briefly to Shiina before returning to the Daimyo.
"So she can stab me in the back at the best moment?"
Some of the guards stiffened at the insolence. Shiina only smiled faintly.
Norihiro did not seem offended. "I am a man of my word. I am offering a short truce, nothing more. Until Mitsuhide is dead, that is all. After that, matters return to what they were."
He sounded sincere.
That did not make Nathan trust him.
But sincerity and calculation often lived side by side in men like Norihiro. He likely saw this as an easy opportunity. Nathan was already willing to move against Mitsuhide. Sending Shiina with him meant Norihiro could help remove a rival without lifting a hand himself, while also placing one of his most trusted people beside a dangerous man he did not fully understand.
Convenient.
Very convenient.
Nathan thought it over in silence.
He had little to lose by accepting. If Genzo was truly in Mitsuhide’s hands, having Shiina there could prove useful, especially if the old shinobi had to be extracted quickly or if Mitsuhide tried to use him as leverage. More than that, Nathan had already seen enough of Shiina to know that in a real battle, her presence would matter.
At last, he spoke.
"A short truce," he said.
His eyes moved to Shiina.
She had been watching him this whole time, arms relaxed, expression lighter again now that the room had stepped back from the edge.
"If you do not trust Norihiro sama," she said, "then trust me. I will never strike you from behind. I am not that sort of woman."
There was no joking in her voice now.
Nathan believed she meant it.
"Until the truce ends, Shiina," Norihiro reminded her.
She exhaled through her nose and gave him a look that was almost a sulk. "I know. Do not worry. But during the truce, let me enjoy the company of someone powerful, Norihiro sama."
Nathan almost scoffed at that.
Norihiro, however, only inclined his head. "As you wish."
Then he looked back at Nathan and waited.
The whole chamber seemed to wait with him.
Nathan let his gaze pass once across the room, over the guards, over Norihiro seated like a man already planning three outcomes ahead, and finally back to Shiina. She met his eyes without flinching, without deceit, and with that same sharp, impossible calm he had first noticed in the arena.
A descendant of Musashi.
A monster with a sword.
And now, for a brief time, his ally.
Nathan turned away again.
"So be it."