The Lord arrives

About 21 years ago...

The samurai Nobu Nato returned from the raid of an enemy clan, he walked along the wide streets of his village, the road was covered by flat pieces of stone of different shapes and sizes that fitted together to make a hard surface. This design not only made it very efficient for travel, it had a beautifully haphazard look to it. Running parallel with the road on either side were two dark blue walls adorned with spectacular swirly white lines. Behind these walls were a variety of low sweeping trees that created a beautiful dynamic. The streets were flooded with merchants and buyers alike, who created a ruckus as they negotiated, or rather quarreled over prices. The vendors made the large street extremely narrow forcing people to walk in single file like soldiers going to battle. Handcarts and stalls of all different species stood on either side of the street proudly showing there produce. Nobu didn't mind it at all, infact he smiled, he was happy to see his people still as vibrant as ever. The streets quickly quieted the closer he got, people humbly bowed and made way. They were busy, but not too busy for their Lord.

"Lord Nato" a few greeted in reverence

Nobu twirled a strand of his shoulder length black hair that was fighting a losing battle against the ever growing swarm of white strands as his people waited in silence. He knew what question was on their minds. Nobu was a very tall man he stood at 6'3, towering about a foot above the average Japanese male, he commanded a massive frame overall as he was also quite muscular. He had dark piercing eyes that somehow seemed vicious and friendly at once. He was quite good looking. The defining feature of his face however was a scar that stretched from atop his right eyebrow all the way to his left cheek.

There was a low rumble as an army of about ten thousand samurai slowly marched forward. This was a relatively small force to attack an enemy. They were a few hundred metres behind nobu, they halted in unison when they saw that their Lord and commander had stopped.

"Did you win? " asked a young boy

His mother quickly covered his mouth and chided him for addressing nobu.

"It's alright, leave the poor boy.

Of course we won.

SHI HE HE HE HE" he laughed heartily.

The crowd applauded and chuckled along with him.

"Those dummies didn't stand a chance" he laughed again, enjoying the pleasant moment with his villagers. Their respect for the Lord was insurmountable, he didn't sit in his mansion and send his men to die like most of the current nobility that ruled Japan. He would fight, bleed, suffer and die at their sides if need be.

"Lord nato! Lord nato!" a short burly figure yelled.

It was general Shin. He had short spiky brown hair, his eyes were an unusual shade of brown that looked a bit like red. Shin didn't have a fierce appearance, infact he appeared more like a silly looking child. More often than not he acted like one too. But he wasn't himself at the moment, a troubled look was plastered across his face.

"What's wrong Shin?" Nobu asked his most trusted warrior and friend

"It's Lord Eito, he's accompanied by at least eight thousand men, it seems they were out on a raid of their own. He didn't flee leaving his people behind after all."

Nobu grimaced.

"No wonder it was so easy." He uttered

"Lord Nato" Shin continued

"Our men are tired and injured, we don't stand much of a chance. It would be at least nightfall before reinforcements could get here. Should I order the men to take up a defensive position at the gate to hold them off till then?"

"Nonsense, send them to get treated and home to their families."

"But Nob-

"NOW! Do as I say Shin, I'll handle this."

Shin bowed and left.

Nobu jogged along the road, he soon passed his troops who were heading deeper into the village, after a few minutes he reached the gates.

What greeted him was thousands of angry samurai all fully armoured.

"N A T O!!!!!" a middle aged man yelled. It was Lord Eito he wore bright red armor. Tears stained his face, the man was obviously in pain.

"You bastard!" He yelled.

"How dare you attack my people when I'm not there! You chose to attack when our strongest men weren't present. Filthy coward"

A few of Lord Nato's soldiers and villagers piled through the large gateway to see what was happening.

"I didn't know" nobu said, his head held low.

"Liar!" Eito replied

Then nobu did something neither his comrades nor enemies were expecting. He fell to his knees and bowed low, his head slamming into the ground, a stream of blood flowed down his face.

"I'M DEEPLY SORRY, I APOLOGIZE!! " he yelled

For a moment, they all stood there stunned.

"I will honor you and your men with glorious deaths"

" I?" Eito questioned.

"This is an insult! You couldn't possibly be planning to take an army on your own! At your age at that... If you're planning to die for your shameful acts I will gladly oblige"

"Attack!" Eito's men moved forward fiercely, some of them running, some mounted on horseback. They drew swords and readied arrows. Nobu unsheathed two Katanas from either side and slowly walked forward.

* *BOOOM**

Eito's men heard a huge explosion of thunder that shook both the earth and heavens alike as nobu disappeared. But it wasn't thunder, it was simply the sound of nobu taking off. At least a thousand men died before Lord Eito laid his eyes on nobu again. Everyone watching was astounded by what just took place.

'Is this old bastard a descendant of the Gods? ' Eito asked himself.

Nobu stood surrounded by thousands of enemies. He sheathed one of his weapons

"That might have been overkill" he muttered to himself. He would give his enemies an honorable end, not butcher them. Nobu gripped his Katana firmly with both hands and attacked once more.

Eito watched as hundreds of his men dropped like flys, he couldn't tell where nobu was, for he was moving faster than the eye could see.

"Ben, Koji" Eito summoned his two strongest warriors.

"Bring me that fool's head"

The two men nodded at once, they got off their horses and ordered the army to fall back. Ben and Koji both had long, black hair and light brown eyes. They had small delicate faces, people would often mistake them for each other as they were identical twins.

Nobu stopped attacking when he realized his enemy was retreating. The twins vanished from their positions then appeared in front of nobu in the blink of an eye.

They both drew their weapons and attacked.

Ben swung his Katana at Nobu's head, he dodged. The force of the blow sent Nobu's villagers who were hundreds of feet behind him flying. At the same time Koji sliced him on the leg then brought his sword up cutting along his chest. As Nobu stumbled Ben brought his sword down in his left shoulder. The twins positioned themselves around Nobu, one in front and one behind.

"Tsuinsaikuron!" they yelled. They unleashed deadly slashes on his chest and back repeatedly. Their swords sounded like strikes of lightning streaking through the air as they collided with his body multiple times per second. They stopped the onslaught and watched Nobu collapse to his knees. He coughed up blood as his enemies towered over him.

"SHI HE HE HE HE!" Nobu laughed.

"I left myself open and that's all you could manage?" He rose to his feet.

"It's time to put an end to this." Nobu swung his sword

...

Nothing happened. All of a sudden the twins fell, their bodies separated into multiple bloody parts.

"HMMMM! " He groaned loudly as he struggled to summon all his remaining strength, his old body couldn't handle this level of stress anymore.

He slammed his fist into the ground with a deafening bang, the earth trembled for miles around. A huge crack opened along the ground and got wider and wider as it ran forward. In a matter of seconds Lord Eito and all his men were swallowed by the earth. They cried and screamed as they fell to their doom.

An ominous silence fell upon the land as Lord Nobu Nato turned and walked back to his village leaving dozens of bodies and a huge hole behind him. No one said a word to him as he walked home. He continued on for a few minutes through the village until he reached the inner walls where he and his samurai lived. His mansion stood in the center of the city. Nobu went inside his home and began removing his armor, a few of his helpers came to assist him but he waved them off.

"Nobu! Nobu! She's doing it! It's happening! Your wife's doing it!" Shin yelled excitedly as he ran into the room.

"What?! What's Hina doing?" He asked confused.

"She's giving birth you idiot!"

"YESS!!" Nobu yelled.

"I totally forgot! " he continued.

"Come on she's two floors up." Shin told him

"Your old ass is finally getting an heir!"

"I know! He'll become the greatest warrior in all the land! He'll crush anything that stands in his way and bring honor to our clan."

"Of course he'll be the greatest I'll be his teacher" shin smiled playfully

"What're you gonna teach him midget martial arts?" Nobu countered

"Call me midget one more time and I'll whoop your ass again"

"Are you still on about that one time years ago? I was tired and the sun was in my eye."

"It WAS midnight" Shin answered annoyed.

"Ah, then it was the moon"

"It was a completely dark"

"Whatever"

The two friends burst into the room where Hina was in the agony of childbirth.

"Quiet down you buffoons!" Hina ordered through her teeth. She was getting old but her beauty was still evident, she had spectacular green eyes that mesmerized anyone who saw them, her lips were small and pink in appearance. She had flowing black hair that had a few strands of gold throughout it. Hina wasn't the typical woman as her father was a foreigner.

She made one last push, and out came the young Lord.

Crying swept through the room as the midwife cut the umbilical cord and cleansed the baby.

"Come on, hand my son over" Nobu demanded with a grin.

The midwife looked up with a troubled look on her face.

"It's a girl"

"A girl?" Nobu asked, his smile slowly fading