Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 325: Fuma Kotaro and the Ninjas in Shiranui
Just as Makimura finished his roar, Ogata, who had been sitting quietly beside him, suddenly raised his eyebrows.
Ogata stood up suddenly, walked quickly to the tatami next to the bald man, and bent down.
Ogata's sudden and strange behavior aroused doubts from everyone around him.
"Brother Ogata," Makimura asked, "what's wrong?"
Ogata did not respond to Makimura's words, but took the only candle in the room placed aside and shone it on the tatami in front of him.
The tatami in front of Ogata had a red spot about the size of a thumb.
It's blood.
And it was very fresh blood that had just dripped.
Ogata then shone the candlelight on the door of the room - on the tatami at the door of the room, there was also a drop of blood as big as an adult's thumb.
It is a dark night now.
The only means of lighting for Ogata and his group was the candle.
The color of blood is not conspicuous in the dim environment.
Therefore, Ogata did not discover the bloodstains on the floor until now.
Ogata moved the candle in his hand and projected the candlelight onto the door of the room.
After shining the candlelight on the door of the room, Ogata was shocked to find that there was also a blood clot as big as an adult's thumb on the tatami at the door.
Realizing something, Ogata immediately stood up, grabbed the bald man, and then checked his entire body.
Finally, Ogata found a wound that was neither long nor short on the palm of the bald man’s right hand.
The wound was not deep and needed to be squeezed hard to make blood drip out, so the bald man's right hand was not stained with blood.
The wound can be covered by simply closing his hands, and outsiders cannot see that the bald man has a wound on his right palm.
When he was tied to the paper sliding door, the bald man held his right palm tightly from beginning to end, so Ogata and his group did not notice the wound on his right palm.
"You bastard...!" Ogata said in a deep voice, "Did you spill the blood all the way from your base?"
Hearing Ogata's words, the faces of everyone present changed.
Seeing that the truth had been revealed, the bald man was filled with fear, but he also forced a smug smile and said:
"That's right. After I was captured by you, I secretly made a wound on my right palm, and then secretly squeezed out drops of blood and scattered them on the ground at regular intervals. I scattered the blood all the way from the base to here."
"Fortunately, it was dark enough tonight and you only had one candle for lighting. So you were not discovered."
"My companions should be able to find me soon by following the blood trail I left behind."
As soon as the bald man finished speaking, Ogata's pupils suddenly shrank, and then he quickly turned his head to look at the only window in the room.
While turning around to look at the window not far away, Ogata quickly took out Kasumi from his arms.
Just now, Ogata heard a strange noise outside the window.
Almost at the same moment Ogata turned around to look at the window, the window that was originally closed was opened from the outside.
Through the open window, you can clearly see that there is an extra person outside the window.
Because the light was dim, I couldn't see the man's face clearly.
But one can clearly see the man 's movements - he was grabbing the window sill with his left hand to prevent himself from falling, while his right hand was tightly holding a square object.
Because he heard the unusual noise outside the window in advance, at almost the same moment when the man opened the window, Ogata pointed the muzzle of Kasumagami's gun at the guy lying outside the window.
With just one glance, Osamu saw clearly what the square object in the man's hand was - it looked exactly like the half-finished bomb that Makimura was still holding...
The fuse of the bomb in this guy's hand is already ignited...
After seeing the guy outside the window holding a bomb with a ignited fuse in his hand and making a gesture as if he was going to throw the bomb into the room, Ogata did not hesitate at all.
Bang bang bang bang!
Ogata fired all four bullets in Kasumagari's gun chamber in one breath.
Because the enemy came so suddenly, Ogata did not have enough time to aim properly, so he just attacked randomly.
Fortunately, the distance between them was not far and the target was large, so even though they fired randomly, one of the four bullets still successfully hit the opponent.
The only bullet that hit him should have hit his left shoulder.
The man let out a low cry of pain and threw the bomb in his hand.
However, because he was shot in the left shoulder, the explosive bomb that was supposed to be thrown into the middle of Ogata and his group missed the target.
The bomb drew a crooked parabola and rolled to Mucun's feet.
When the bomb rolled to Mucun's feet, the fuse of the bomb was only as long as an adult's little finger.
Makimura also responded quickly.
As soon as the bomb rolled to Mucun's feet, Mucun immediately picked it up and threw it out of the window.
While throwing the bomb back, Makimura yelled:
"Everyone get down!"
Mucun's reminder was actually unnecessary.
Because he had just picked up the explosive bomb, Obe immediately pulled Atachi, Shimada, and Hasegawa to the ground.
As soon as the bomb flew out of the window, the fuse burned out completely.
Then...
BANG! !
The air is cracking.
My eardrums hurt.
A wave of air roared like thunder in Ogata's ears...
…
…
Kyoto, somewhere.
"Hey." Heitaro, who was standing under a big tree, shouted to a young man who was sitting on the tree, "Ichitaro! Have you seen Ryuutarou and the others or the rebel ninja A-machi?"
Ichitaro has excellent eyesight, which is just right for finding people, so this time when he went out to look for Ryutaro and others who had not returned for a long time, Heitaro specially brought Ichitaro out with him.
"No." Ichitaro, who was sitting on the tree, shook his head.
Seeing Ichitaro shaking his head, a hint of anxiety appeared uncontrollably on Heitaro's face.
Just then——
Bang...
"Hmm?" Heitaro frowned slightly and turned his head to look southwest.
"Master Heitaro." Another ninja standing next to Heitaro asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
"...Did you hear that just now?" Heitaro asked back.
"Hmm? What did you hear?"
"I seemed to hear an explosion just now..." Heitaro said in a deep voice, "...Let's go and take a look."
Just as Heitaro and his three companions were about to set off to rush to the source of the strange noise, an old male voice suddenly sounded from the depths of an alley not far from them:
"I seem to have heard the name 'A-machi' from you just now...Do you have anything to do with Komachi?"
"Who's there!" As soon as the old male voice fell, Heitaro and others hurriedly looked in the direction of the voice, and subconsciously placed their hands on the hilt of the wakizashi at their lower back.
Heitaro and the other three stared menacingly at the dark alley.
And a figure slowly emerged from the dark alley.
After the figure completely emerged from the alley, Heitaro and the others finally saw his appearance - a white-haired old man.
…
…
"Lord Ogata! Lord Ogata!"
Shimada's call reached Ogata's ears.
“Hmm…”
Ogata let out a low cry of pain and slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing that caught Ogata's eye was Shimada holding Boji.
The explosion just now seemed to have frightened Boji.
Boji was now curled up in Shimada's arms, shivering.
Judging from Shimada's current appearance, apart from some dust on his face, he doesn't have any other major problems.
Seeing Ogata wake up, Shimada breathed a sigh of relief:
"Great... Looks like you're okay..."
In addition to Shimada's face, what entered Ogata's field of vision was the thick smoke that had not yet completely dissipated.
The air was filled with the uniquely acrid smell of gunpowder, and the gunpowder smoke left a bitter taste on Ogata's tongue.
Apart from feeling a little dizzy and bloated in the head, Ogata didn't feel any discomfort anywhere else in his body.
After shaking his head vigorously to clear his dizzy mind a little, Ogata looked at the ground beside him.
A-Machi and Hasegawa were still lying on the ground.
"Hey, Ating!" Ogata hurriedly helped Ating up, "Wake up!"
Like Shimada, Atachi had no external injuries except for some dust on his face.
After hearing Ogata's voice, Atachi pursed her lips, then muttered in a daze:
“I can’t eat any more…”
"It seems you're okay..." After confirming that Atachi was not seriously injured, Ogata looked at Hasegawa.
Hasegawa's forehead was wrapped in a relatively clean piece of cloth.
"I was the one who bandaged Lord Hasegawa's forehead." Shimada said at the side, "I just checked with him. Lord Hasegawa's forehead seemed to have been hit by something flying, and he bled a lot. Although he is still unconscious, his life is not in danger."
At this moment, Mucun's voice rang out:
"Ogata, brother."
"Makimura..." Ogata looked in the direction of the voice.
Mu Cun now looks very miserable, his body is covered with dust, and there is a long cut on his forehead. Blood is flowing out from the wound on Mu Cun's forehead.
"Is the wound on your forehead okay?" Ogata asked.
"It's okay. It's just a cut." After saying that, Mucun raised his hand to wipe the blood off his face.
At this time, Mucun was carrying the bald man on his back.
"How's that bald guy?" Ogata nodded at the bald guy who was carried on Makimura's back.
"He's fine." Mucun lifted the bald head from behind him, "But he fainted."
Thanks to the combined efforts of Ogata and Makimura, the bomb was not thrown between them and exploded.
In such a strong explosion, no one, including Poggie's dog, was seriously injured - it must be said that this was a blessing in disguise.
After confirming that everyone around him was fine, Ogata began to observe his surroundings carefully.
Most of the ceiling above my head was blown away.
The ground was littered with debris of wood and paper.
There was an exaggeratedly large hole in the wall where the window was.
"Where is the person who threw the bomb at us just now ?" Ogata asked.
"We didn't find him." Mucun said, "I didn't see any blood on the ground. That guy must have escaped."
Snap, snap, snap…
At this moment, Ogata and his group heard the sound of dense footsteps coming from one end of the street.
Ogata and his companions looked in the direction of the sound - they saw a large group of people running towards them with confusion and fear on their faces.
Among this large group of people, there were quite a few people dressed as officials.
"It seems that the explosion just now attracted quite a lot of people..." Ogata muttered softly.
Ogata still felt a little pain in his eardrums.
With such a strong explosion and such a loud noise, it would be strange if it didn't attract a large crowd of people.
Among their group, Hasegawa and Baldy are currently in a coma.
Ating was in a semi-conscious state.
The current situation is really not suitable for a head-on conflict with others.
At the same time, under such circumstances, it is really not suitable to be caught by the officials.
Needless to say, Ogata.
And Makimura had not yet found out from the bald man where they had placed the bombs in Kyoto, so he had no time to waste with the officials.
If I were caught by the police, I would definitely be interrogated by them with questions like "Why are you here?" and "What happened to the explosion just now?"
So no matter what, Ogata and his group must not be caught by the officers.
Ogata leaned over, held Atachi's shoulders, and shook her hard.
"Wake up! Ating! Get up!"
As Ogata shook her, Atachi slowly opened her eyes.
"Well... good evening..."
"Good evening, you head!"
Ogata had no idea what to do with Atachi who was still in a daze, so he could only carry her on his back.
Ogata carried the confused Atachi on his back, Makimura carried the unconscious bald man on his back, and Shimada carried the unconscious Hasegawa on his back - the three of them, each carrying one person, ran away quickly.
"Quick! Chase them! Catch up with those people!"
The officials noticed Ogata and his group and hurriedly followed them.
Because each of them was carrying a person on their backs, Ogata and his group could not move fast, and there was no complex terrain nearby, so it was difficult for them to shake off the officials behind them.
Realizing that this would be extremely disadvantageous to them, Ogata took the lead in speaking to Makimura, Shimada and others beside him:
"A-Ming and I will lead the officers away."
After saying that, without waiting for Makimura and Shimada to respond, Oben carried Atachi on his back and fled in another direction.
Ogata separated from Makimura and others, and the officials following closely behind them had to split up their group to chase Ogata who was fleeing in another direction.
Ogata led away nearly half of the officials, which greatly reduced the pressure on Makimura and others.
As the pressure was greatly reduced, Mucun and others were finally able to gradually distance themselves from the officials.
Judging from the speed at which Mucun and others are widening the distance between themselves and the officers, it will only be a matter of time before Mucun and others leave them behind.
However, at this moment, Mucun's breathing suddenly became rapid.
“Ha…ha…ha…damn it…”
Makimura cursed inwardly.
Mucun now felt increasingly dizzy.
After experiencing the explosion and getting up from the ground, Makimura felt a little dizzy.
At first, Mucun didn't take the dizziness seriously.
This slight dizziness did not cause any inconvenience to Mucun.
But gradually, after carrying the bald man and shaking off the pursuit of the officers and after such intense exercise, Mucun felt his head becoming more and more dizzy.
——Did the explosion just now hurt my head?
Makumura realized that he seemed to have underestimated the wound on his head, but he was helpless about his current predicament.
He could still hear footsteps behind him.
Therefore, Mucun could not stop and could only continue to run as fast as he could with the bald man on his back.
Shimada, who was following closely beside Makimura, noticed something was wrong with Makimura and said to him urgently:
"Makino-senpai! What's wrong with you? You look weird!"
"I'm fine..."
In order not to worry Shimada, Makimura casually said "I'm fine" and forced himself to be strong.
In order to keep himself awake, Mucun bit the tip of his tongue.
But it was of no use - Mucun still felt his head becoming more and more dizzy, and gradually, his vision began to go dark.
Even after biting his tongue, Makumura was still unable to prevent the inky darkness from occupying his field of vision.
Mucun was unable to resist the strong feeling of dizziness in his head. He lost his balance, staggered a few steps, and then fell heavily to the ground.
Makimura tried to stand up in time.
However, his consciousness was about to be cut off, and his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he could no longer move...
After discovering that Makimura fell forward, Shimada exclaimed and quickly freed one hand to support Makimura.
However, at this moment - a large wrinkled hand stretched out from the darkness, and held up Makimura before Shimada could...
…
…
Ogata and Atachi quickly shook off all the pursuers behind them.
After all, Ogata has the ability to move on the roof.
Ogata jumped onto the roof and shook off the group of pursuers who were chasing them in less than a quarter of an hour.
After shaking off the pursuers, Ogata carried Atachi on his back and landed on the ground from the eaves.
Ogata deliberately landed in an alley where few people passed by.
"There shouldn't be any pursuers..." A-Machi looked back at her and Ogata.
Ating has now recovered from his confused state.
"It should be gone." Ogata panted as he lowered Atachi from his back back to the ground.
As soon as he put Atachi on his back back to the ground, Ogata's expression suddenly changed. He quickly turned around and looked deep into the alley not far away, and reached for the Daishikuten at his waist.
"...Come out." Ogata stared at the depths of the alley and said this in a deep voice.
"Hehe, Ogata-san, don't be nervous, Komachi. It's me."
An old male voice sounded from the depths of the alley.
As the old male voice fell, an old man with a hunched back slowly emerged from the darkness.
"Master Fuma?!"*2
Ogata and Omachi called out the old man's name in unison.
After Fuma completely emerged from the depths of the alley, Ogata and Atachi's looks towards Fuma were immediately filled with extreme surprise.
Because Fuma was dragging a dying young man wearing a ninja costume from Shiranui in his hands...
