"I know." The shopkeeper responded in a low voice, and then told the customer, "You can go out later and don't make people outside suspicious. I will arrange a retreat right now."
When the customer saw that the shopkeeper insisted, he couldn't force him. After all, he was an elite jounin responsible for protecting the young master and he was just a genin who passed orders. After sitting restlessly in the shop for a while, he tried his best to pretend to be casual.
He took the silk and walked out of the store. The jounin immediately turned into the inner room and gestured to the few people who were already sitting on pins and needles.
"Uncle Muto, are we leaving?" The child in the crowd, who was only 6 or 7 years old, asked in a low voice, a little uneasily.
"Don't worry, young master. I will protect you even if I risk my life." The jounin responded with the same deep voice, "Take care of yourself and set off now."
"You should also be careful." The person who was called Young Master was the young master of the Ukita family, Ukita Hachiro, the youngest son of the Ukita Nao family. He glanced at the several ninjas who were packing various sharp ninja tools in their bags and in their arms.
reminded with great concern.
"Thank you for your concern, young master." The Jonin was stunned for a moment, pursed his lips slightly, and then returned to his usual stern expression. After checking his luggage for the last time, he glanced at several of his subordinates around him, and everyone nodded.
After that, the Jonin took Ukita Hachiro's hand and walked out of the store. The group of them pretended to be businessmen who had closed the store and returned to their hometown to visit relatives. Everyone had big and small bags, as if they were filled with souvenirs to take home.
After arriving outside the house, the Jonin carefully checked that the door lock was not locked and put up a temporarily closed sign. Ukita Hachiro on the side helped adjust the angle of the sign. People who didn't know saw this.
This scene must be quite heartwarming. It should be that the foreigner who brought the family has earned enough money and has returned to his hometown with his children.
"Let's go." After the Jonin finished setting up, he took Ukita Hachiro's hand and led the group towards the west exit of the castle town. Although Okayama Castle had just changed hands not long ago, the red leaf army that took over was very disciplined and Qiu had nothing to do with it.
The crime was committed, so people's lives were not affected. In the evening, there were many pedestrians passing by on the street, and there were some food stalls and buskers on the roadside soliciting business.
The group of people slowly shuttled through the crowd, trying not to show any signs of anxiety. They had already planned it. They must not rush in places where they are easily ambushed, such as castle towns, and they must not be exposed. The ideal situation is to escape all the way to Bichu.
Go to Takamatsu Castle. If you are really exposed, immediately mount the prepared horse and run away. While pretending to be nonchalant, the jounin kept looking at the surrounding situation quickly, and no slightest disturbance could escape his eyes.
Okayama Castle is a city run by the Uki family for many years, so they are naturally very familiar with the terrain. The Uki family's ninjas have previously placed a large number of secret sentries in the castle town, and any possible hiding place or perfect place for observation will be followed by ninjas.
Basically all the ninjas from the Yuqiu family have gone south, and no large number of ninjas have been found to return until today's departure. If any ninjas from the Yuqiu family are found to appear, the Uki family's secret whistle will sound an alarm to warn the jounin - but
This did not happen. This shows that Nagafune Sadayuki and Nagafune Tsunao successfully lured the tiger away from the mountain, and all the ninjas of the Yuqiu family were lured away.
As long as you maintain this state, you can turn the corner in the distance and enter a tree-lined path. It will be even harder to be discovered in the mountains - and there are also many ninjas from the Uki family in the mountains to support you.
Thinking of this, the jounin felt slightly relaxed. However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a loud horn suddenly sounded from the Sannomaru wall of Okayama Castle behind him. Then, he saw the west gate of Okayama Castle.
Suddenly it opened, and a large group of Jincaobei soldiers under the banner of the Spring Grass Army poured out. Although the residents of Okayama City knew that the Hongye Army would not embarrass them, when they saw a large number of troops rushing out, the residents still instinctively hid in the house.
and on both sides of the road, make way for the Red Leaf Army to pass.
"Is this going to launch an attack on the Mori family? That's fine." The jounin watched the soldiers entering the castle town. He pulled Ukita Hachiro and several other subordinates to the roadside with some worry, planning to take advantage of the chaos to hide.
It would be easier to sneak out if he got up. But then he thought, if the Red Leaf Army hits the gate of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, then martial law will definitely be enforced around the city. Where should they escape to?
Just as the Jonin was considering these thoughts, a Chuunin next to him suddenly poked his arm.
"Sir, something seems to be wrong." The chuunin lowered his voice and said to the jounin, "It seems that Jincaobei is searching."
"What?" The jounin was stunned when he heard the words, and turned around to look around. In the meantime, Jincaobei's soldiers did not rush directly to the west, but entered the residential area and began a large-scale investigation. But fortunately, Jincaobei's soldiers did not rush directly to the west.
The soldiers were polite and would not use violence against the residents, so the search progressed slowly.
"Sure enough...it seems that after the bonfire signal was sent, the Hongye Army who stayed behind had guessed what we were going to do." The Jonin took a long breath, adjusted his breathing slowly, and made up his mind, "Let's go."
Come on, get on your horse."
"Do you want to escape on horseback?" the chunin asked nervously after hearing this.
"It has been exposed. I wonder if the Red Leaf Army will directly surround the castle town." The Jonin whispered decisively, "The secret sentries we left everywhere have not yet sent out signals, which means that there is no one in the Yuqiu family's Military Intelligence Department to hold back.
Come back, it's not too late to leave now. If you delay for a long time, it will be really troublesome."
"Let's get on the horse and let's go." The Jonin made a gesture, and the two men immediately turned around and ran in the other direction. After a while, they led the horses and drove away with several ninjas who were already ambushing the horses in the castle town.
Come over. Everyone said nothing and got on their horses one after another. The jounin protected Ukita Hachiro in front of him, clamped the horse's belly, rode the horse and rushed out along the main road of the castle town.
"Someone! Someone! Someone ran away on horseback!" Upon seeing this, the Hongye Army sentry at the head of the city immediately beat the drum to warn. The Jincaobei soldiers who were still searching immediately stopped their actions and chased towards the west of the city. Jincaobei's cavalry
Ranking leads the way.
"Perhaps we should find someone to pretend to break out and draw attention." Seeing Jincaobei chasing after him with great fanfare, the Jonin suddenly felt a little annoyed in his heart, "But it's okay... they can't catch up."
The Jonin did not think that his equestrian skills were better than those of the Momiji Cavalry. His confidence came from the arrangements made by the Uki family ninjas in advance. After seeing the emergency plan to cover the young master's escape on horseback, the Uki family ninjas lurked throughout the castle town.
Immediately they broke into revolt, causing chaos by setting fires and killing people, demolishing houses and blocking roads. The helpless residents were in chaos, and the castle town was in a state of chaos. The soldiers who were trying to pursue quickly were in a dilemma. And during this chaos, the Jonin had already
He led his men and rushed all the way to the west. There was no way the Red Leaf Army could catch up.
"It's safe." The Jonin looked back at the smoke and dust in the distance, and sighed with relief.
"Uncle Muto...Are there a lot of our people there to stop them?" Ukita Hachiro, who was sitting in front of the Jonin, suddenly asked timidly. When he was absconding just now, Ukita Hachiro followed them without saying a word.
, this was the first time he spoke after leaving the store.
"Young Master Mingjian." The Jonin replied in a respectful low voice.
"Then what will they do if we run away like this?" Ukita Hachiro looked back at the Jonin with some uneasiness, "Aren't you going to pick them up?"
"If we go back, we will also be caught." The jounin replied briefly.
"Then we will leave them alone?" Ukita Hachiro became anxious immediately after hearing the reply, and even made a struggle. "What will happen if they are caught? Will they be killed?"
"They were all trying to protect the young master's abandoned son, and they had already made up their mind to die for the Uki family. Now if we go back to save them, we will be living up to their sacrifice." There seemed to be nothing in the jounin's cold words.
Feelings, but Ukita Hachiro in front of him had red eyes and asked timidly:
"What about their family members..."
"The Uki family will naturally treat you kindly." The Jonin replied without thinking.
"But... I heard from several other uncles before that the Ukita family is going to be doomed. My father's whereabouts are unknown, and many other adults don't know where they are. All the cities are going to be lost." Ukita Hachiro said in a somewhat clumsy tone.
Reciting his understanding of the current situation, "If the Uki family is destroyed...who will take care of their family?"
"You don't need to worry about these things, Master. You just need to live a good life. This is also my mission." The Jonin sighed. He didn't know how to explain it to Ukita Hachiro, so he had to put it off like this. He looked at it.
There is an official road not far away. As long as you step on that official road and head west, you can leave your pursuers far behind.
However, at this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded from the southwest.
"What?" The Jonin turned around and saw a group of dozens of red leaf cavalry coming towards him. The horses were very fast, and they looked like elite cavalry. They were outflanking them at a very fast speed. "Obviously.
The ninjas monitoring the four gates of Okayama Castle didn't notice anything unusual... There were no cavalry in or out of Okayama Castle... Where did this team of cavalry come from? Did it come from the Kojima Peninsula? What are the following ninjas doing?"
"Sir!" The other people were shocked when they saw this, "What should I do? Run north?"
"Going north? Doesn't that mean running further and further?" The Jonin's face was livid at this moment, and he said in a deep voice to several of his subordinates, "You rush over and hold them back while I take the young master and continue running westward!"
"Sir, we probably can't do it. How long can the few of us hold you back? They can just go around and intercept you!" The jounin's confidant chuunin couldn't help but protest at this moment, "Run north, maybe we can stop you!"
have…"
"To the north? When the Red Leaf Army reacts and searches all over the mountains and plains, where can we hide?" The jounin raised his voice anxiously, "Execute the order and go and break up the rear immediately!"
Chapter completed!