Of Blood and Rain Part 1

The clash of metal against metal reverberated sharply across the village as the war between the Iga and Koga clan began. Shinobis from the two opposing forces started slaughtering one another with an unparalleled brutality triggered by the intense animosity that has been pent up in their hearts for centuries. With the peace treaty nullified, the Koga clan had decided to wage a war against their rival clan not only to bring about its complete annihilation, but also to gain the staunch support of the Tokugawa shogunate for the next thousand years.

The horrible, nauseating smell of blood, smoke, and gunpowder was getting worse as the number of the dead increased. A thick, dismal fog seemed to have engulfed the whole battlefield hours ago, though neither side cared. All that mattered to them was tearing one another apart.

For honor and pride, they'd fight. For hatred and retribution, they'd kill. For glory and reputation, they'd win.

"Only one will be known as the most dominant ninja clan in Japan, and that will be the Koga clan!" An enemy ninja shouted as he jumped to deliver one powerful blow on Setsuna's shoulders, but when his katana came into contact with his target's body, it only puffed into smoke.

"Shit! It's just a fake!" When he turned around, he felt six shurikens piercing through diferrent parts of his torso. I can't believe I fell for a simple Kawarimi technique...!

Setsuna looked apathetically at the Koga nin's body, which was sprawled lifeless on the ground. If he did feel a tinge of guilt for killing, he didn't--wouldn't--show it. As one of the elite, top-ranking ninjas of the Iga clan, he mustn't exhibit any form of weakness or let emotions get the better of him, for doing so would lead to none other than his demise, as well as the clan's. Now that a war had ensued, there would be no turning back. He would fight to the finish, even if his callused hands would end up soaked in blood once again. Even if he'd have the same fate as his other comrades and die in action.

Heaving a sigh, he looked up only to find forty more ninjas heading towards his platoon's direction. "Iga-Sempuu team! Get ready for a counterattack! On my signal!" Setsuna ordered, earning a shout of affirmation from the ninjas under his command. "GO!!!"

His best friend Raiha, who is the vice-captain of the platoon, gave him a backslap as he smirked and said, "It appears that your reputation had made our platoon a favorite target, Setsu."

"Just shut up and help, Raiha," Setsuna mumbled grudgingly, his dark brown eyes narrowing into slits as he glared dangerously at an enemy ninja whose katana clashed with the kunai he held in his right hand. When the ninja aimed for his head, Setsuna bent his head slightly to evade the attack and with godlike speed, he charged against the Koga-nin and slashed his abdomen in one sweeping stroke. When blood splattered on his right cheek, he barely flinched.

"Did you actually think I'd let you have these goons all for yourself? You've got to be kidding! I need some warm-ups too you know," Raiha said as he planted an uppercut on his opponent's chin and knocked him out-cold.

'If only someone knew how much I hate all this fighting...' Setsuna inwardly thought as he did rabbit punches on the two kunoichis who attempted on attacking him at the same time with their nunchakus.

After a few minutes, all forty ninjas lay on the blood-soaked ground, most of them dead.

"That was easy and boring," Raiha remarked, turning to Setsuna for agreement, but his friend only frowned and pointed at the raven soaring up in the sky that now held dark shades of gray and a few tints of blue. "That's the signal. "

"Yes. It's time." Setsuna took off the black cloth that concealed his head and face (except for his eyes), revealing short, dark-brown hair that perfectly matched the tinge of amber in his orbs. "I didn't expect that in the end, it would come to this."

"This is war after all, Setsu. It should come to this, so that we'd see once and for all which clan deserves the support of Tokugawa Hidetada. Or rather, which clan is more powerful," Raiha pointed out matter-of-factly as the whole Iga-Sempuu team jumped from one tree to the other and headed towards the Iga mountains where the battle between the head team of both clans is taking place.

"Is that the only thing we're fighting for? Glory in war? Power? Feh, what load of bullshit!" Setsuna balled his hands into fist and gritted his teeth. Is this the only reason why I kill and lie to myself that what I'm doing is making justice prevail?

"Then what is it that you're fighting for?" Raiha's question caught him offguard. "If it's to make ends meet, then that reason's bullshit too."

Ever since the day his parents died, he did nothing but train, fight, and eventually, kill. Yet he never asked himself why. Assassinations, espionage, war--they all make up his livelihood, his identity as a ninja, but as to why he chose to live this way, he didn't know. He never really contemplated about what he should be fighting for. Always, he told himself it is for the sake of the Iga clan, but it's all but a lie that he cooked up for himself in an attempt to stop the restlessness that haunt him every night. He isn't that heroic, nor is he that selfless.

"I...don't know." He finally answered, guilt and shame washing over him.

The vice-captain flashed one of his trademark smirks yet again. "Good. I don't know either. Let's figure that out together as we beat the living daylights out of those Koga-nins!"

Setsuna smiled. Raiha's right; they should just look for the right answer. "Then there's no turning back now. Bring it on!"

To be continued......