71 3.33

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Scratching my face, I muttered, "So they are too precious to out as criminals. Must be a pain to deal with."

Mifune took another gulp of sake, replying, "There are criminals everywhere, if they weren't there I would simply have to deal with other rising criminals. What troubles me most are the influence they have on my men and our culture."

The Taisho grabbed his sheathed sword, and took it off his hip, holding it in front of him as he narrated, "40 years ago, my training in the way of the sword started. I was only a boy of 8 then, and I couldn't wait to start learning how to swing my sword to kill my enemies. How disappointed I was when I was told I would have to make my own sword."

Understanding he was building up to something, I silently let him cook.

Mifune had a nostalgic smile as he continued his narration, "For two years I was never allowed to swing a sword, and only allowed to hold one under the strict supervision of my Sensei, and even that was only to learn how my sword should be forged.

"It was then that I was shown an alternative. An easier way. I was told that forging one's own sword was an old tradition enforced by bitter old men who couldn't let go of the past, and who were scared of the young generation taking over."

Mifune sighed as he laid his still-sheathed sword on his knees, and continued, "Our forging techniques were passed down to us by the Oni, and are a closely guarded secret of ours. And there are two main schools: Spirit and Demonic."

Seeing him make a pause, I asked, "What's the difference?"

Mifune explained, "The Spirit School is the original school of thought, and will have the swordsman form a bond with their sword as they forge it, a bond which would strengthen as they use it. The Demonic School is much more vile in nature, as the sword smith would poor all their negative emotions and a part of their soul within the sword."

Linking this to his earlier words, I muttered, "The easy and hard paths."

Mifune nodded, "Indeed. And while the forging method of the Demonic Path is vile, the real problem is what the sword will do to its user. These demonic swords will influence the mind of their masters, unless fully mastered."

I sent a glance at Mifune's sword, and asked, "Which path did you take?"

As the Taisho of the Land of Iron and a seemingly staunch defender of the Spirit School, the obvious answer would be the Spirit School. But as he spoke of the Demonic School, his emotions did not sound so simple.

And indeed, Mifune sighed, "Your mind is sharp my friend. It is my greatest shame, but I was weak, and fell to the easy path. I abandoned the Spirit School, and started learning with a demonic sword. My vanity and greed were satisfied at first, the power of the sword made me feel good, but I was later forced to understand the error in my ways."

Mifune had his eyes closed by now as he said, "No matter how low my opinion of the demonic path is, I do not believe I have the power or ability to force anyone's choice. So while I strongly recommend you to learn under the Spirit School, I would also understand if you choose the Demonic School."

I couldn't help but snort in amusement as I heard Mifune's words. This situation was eerily similar to the one I had been facing since I got my first enhancement.

Jedi or Sith, Spirit or Demonic, the two were basically the same. One would grant greater power faster but come with the cost of negative emotions.

Mifune was confused by my chuckle, so I asked, "Sorry, it reminded me of my own power system. You must have noticed I was quite different from you or Ninjas."

"Yes, you do not seem to use Chakra, which is quite peculiar I must admit. I would have guessed you had crippled Chakra coils, if not for your friends sharing the exact same condition. Well, except for one. It is supposed to be a rare condition after all."

I smiled and said, "Wisdom truly comes from the old. But yes, I am under a different power system, which typically offers the same cornelian dilemma. And my answer for it, is to think outside the box."

Mifune asked, interested, "How so?"

Grinning wildly, I replied, "By combining both, of course!"

Of course, I wasn't just saying this out of nowhere. The Samurai's schools may have some similarities to the Force Orders in the way they interacted with each other, but that didn't mean they could be merged together. Actually, I wasn't even sure I could do it with the Force.

However, I did feel like it was possible with the Samurai Schools. Essentially, the Spirit School was about forging a sword that would grow with its master, while the Demonic School was about imbuing a sword with power directly, through negative emotions.

And these techniques were not so foreign to the Force. Traditionally, to obtain a red light saber, a Sith would kill a Jedi and steal their weapon, before 'bleeding' their kyber crystal by flooding it with negative emotions, turning it red.

I would have to learn a bit more about the two schools, but I was already getting ideas about how to merge the two.

Surprisingly though, Mifune did not refute my honestly outlandish idea, and instead smiled, raising his cup as he cheered, "I wish you all the success in the world young friend."

I smiled, and raised my cup too, before drinking.

---

It took us slightly less than a week to reach our destination, the Three Wolves.

The Three Wolves was actually a large frozen mountain that looked like the skulls of three wolves howling, hence its name. It was honestly quite the sight, and according to legend, these were actually the skulls of three giant wolves who had been hunted by Shuten Doji, who used their skulls to make his lair.

The cold of the country did not really affect me much thanks to my enhanced stats, but I was still surprised to find the interior of the mountain to be warm. Within the crevasses of the mountain the people of the Land of Iron had created a city, their capital, Okamikawa.

The city was quite different from Ame, primarily because of the different weather I would say. When Amegakure is covered in rain all year around, Okamikawa was covered in snow.

The city was much more squarish, or maybe even cubic, with houses and buildings remaining low on the ground, instead of reaching for the sky. Moreover, everything was made of rock here, and wood was a rarity. Most buildings looked like they had been carved into the mountain itself.

I did not really get to tour the city itself though as after several days of walking through ice and snow, I was feeling a little tired myself. And thanks to my status, I was granted a medium-size house near the city center, next to the Taisho's castle.

After all, while I had come here out of my own volition, officially I was here as an emissary of peace. It had only been a few days, but the reputation of the Akatsuki was already spreading, and we expected that before long, as the war would officially end, our reputation would spread worldwide.