The Lightning trio arrived safely at the Yamaguchi Port after travelling for two days. The area was crawling with all sorts of traders and merchants from different parts of the Nihon archipelago. They could see the island of the Water Country southwards across the sea. Several wooden boats were moored by the harbour while others were being readied to set out for distant lands.
They were enjoying the summer sun and the cool breeze that blew through the sky. They saw a colony of seagulls on the rocks at the end of the shoreline. It had been a while since they had a moment to enjoy the simple things.
The trio enquired about a man named Hanzo Nakamura but no one seemed to have heard of him. Walking past a tavern, they saw a drunk and scrawny looking vagabond get kicked out for apparently not paying for his saké. The man got up, dusted himself and picked up his hyōtan (gourd). His hair was black and his skin a slightly darker shade of brown than the commoners. He had a scruffy looking undercut, moustache and sideburns as well as a silver hoop earring on his left ear. Covering his visible chest hairs was a sky blue haori and below his waist he wore dark baggy trousers and waraji.
"Tenzo!" the barman roared. "I don't want to see you in my pub anymore!"
The audience that had gathered around began to murmur. Some said the drunk had slept with the barman's wife whilst others stated that he just had a crippling saké debt.
"That's him," Kazuo said. "I think."
"How'd you know that?" asked Mikoto.
"I just had a vision from my great grandpa's memories… Hanzo!"
Upon hearing that name, the drunk man took to his feet and left the scene. Kazuo, Mikoto and Takumi got on their carriage and gave chase. They followed him to a secluded log cabin near the sea, a bit further from where the market place and harbour.
"Hanzo Nakamura," Kazuo said out loud. "I know it's you… my great grandpa–"
"Yes… the purple brat!" Hanzo said with a hoarse voice, "Kazuro-sensei told me you'd one day come."
"Yes my great grandpa sent me here… to you. So, you will train me?"
"And why would I do that… huh?" Hanzo furrowed his brows with red eyes.
Kazuo told Hanzo about everything that transpired in the past few months; his parents and grandfather's assassination by the Shadow ninjas and his desire to avenge them.
"Vengeance only leads to an early grave. If that is your reason then I can never train you because that would be a disservice to my teacher."
Kazuo's face turned scarlet as he unsheathed Raijin and advanced.
Hanzo zigzagged around, dodging Kazuo's haphazard swings with ease. When it seemed as though he would be cut down, he veered off to one side and the chokutō missed its target. He repeated this a few times until he disarmed Kazuo. "Yield," he said, placing the chokutō on the young lad's neck.
Kazuo's eyes widened when he saw white sparks on Raijin's blade. He recalled his first encounter with the sword and was amazed that Hanzo had not been electrocuted.
"You must be wondering how I can wield Raijin without being struck…" Hanzo chuckled. "I should not be able to wield it because of the bloodline spell Kazuro-sensei placed on his legendary weapons. However, I discovered a loophole before I left it at that shrine." He brandished the chokutō and then shoved it into the ground. "I could tell you but then again, you are not my student."
Kazuo grumbled.
"Please Hanzo-san, we know he can be a bit of a handful," said Mikoto. "But we came all the way from Kaen village just so you could train us."
"Ah, so you would also like to be stronger young lady? Why is that?"
"To be able to fend off the sick bastards who would want to have their way with me," she told him, "and to be a strong kunoichi who can protect her village like Asuka-san."
"How noble. You remind me of an old friend who also trained under Kazuro-sensei," said Hanzo. "Her name is Rani and what might yours be?"
"Mikoto."
"Well then Mikoto-chan, would you like to be my pupil?"
She jumped up and down with joy, "Yes!"
"Hey, how come you agreed to train her so easily? Is it just because she's a girl?" said Kazuo as he sat on the ground.
"She just has a better reason than you do," said Hanzo.
"If I may ask sensei, where is Rani-san now?" said Mikoto.
"She's a skilled sorcerer from the Grass region but the locals call her a witch."
"Why then would they call her such?" Mikoto queried.
"I don't know how far true it is but they say she abducts young men for her 'experiments.' All I know is that she had a really rough childhood."
Mikoto cringed and lost any respect she had for her, "Oh, that's awful!"
"Indeed." Hanzo turned to Takumi, "Artisan boy, do you wish to be stronger as well?"
"My pursuit is that of knowledge and if there is anything I would like to strengthen, that would be my intellect. The name's Takumi."
"Well, to achieve perfect balance… a strong mind requires a strong body as well." Hanzo took another sip. "If you would like, I can also train you too Takumi-kun."
Takumi agreed.
"Whaaaat?" said Kazuo. "No fair!"
"These two have better reasons to become stronger than you have. So, unless you have come to a better resolve than revenge, you will remain here and reflect on that."
Hanzo escorted Mikoto and Takumi to an area with shade provided for by some trees. They were in full view from Kazuo but far enough that he could not hear what they spoke about. He stayed there and practiced his kenjutsu with the lightning sword.
"Hanzo-sensei, why isn't Kazuo here with us though?" asked Mikoto when they stopped walking. "I mean is his goal not reason enough? If you were in his situation, would you not have wanted the same?"
"I was in a similar situation once, I lost my family to an attack by rōnin and I wanted to exact my revenge on those men. But when I did, I lost a friend of mine and I almost died. So more than anything, Kazuo-kun reminds me of a younger version of myself."
"So, you want him to arrive at that conclusion on his own," said Takumi.
"Exactly."
"I see," said Mikoto. "How did you reach that conclusion yourself?"
"When Kazuro-sensei asked me how I felt when I had gotten my revenge, I had to reflect and come to the realisation that I was just the same as before, if not worse now having lost another friend." Hanzo gulped from his gourd and the two students were surprised to see how he could still talk so eloquently with all that saké in his system. "Vengeance only breeds more vengeance. I told him that and he accepted me as his student."
Mikoto and Takumi had been listening attentively to Hanzo and were happy that he had shared part of his story with them. He told his pupils that they would begin with an exercise regimen that comprised of ten sets of fifty pushups, squats and sit-ups.
Kazuo stopped his practice session and copied what they were doing when they began exercising. He was in full view of Hanzo who prompted Mikoto and Takumi to have a look and the three of them burst out laughing. Kazuo noticed this but did not let it deter him. He reflected on the answers his comrades had given Hanzo when he was going through his sets.
Takumi could be heard panting as he went on with his sets as exercise was hardly ever part of his routine. Mikoto made it look easy as she had been used to intense training.
"Took you long enough." Mikoto chuckled as Takumi completed his fiftieth sit-up.
"Alright then, that's it for the warm up…" Hanzo announced. "We will begin the actual training after we get through some theory."