15. Land of Iron

As Torao said, this country may be the best place to polish his swordsmanship. The samurais of this country are said to rival shinobis, after all.

Though Zoro knows that it just applies for average shinobis. At most, the samurais can get as strong as Jonins. Zoro even doubts those samurais can be as strong as the 5 Kage or even people like Madara or Hashirama.

Well, they are still stronger than the current him, so he still can ask for their advice. He is also very curious about their swordsmanship. It surely will help him improve himself even further by learning their swordsmanship.

So as usual, Zoro and Torao are gathering information to decide their next move. In the first place, they don't know much about the Land of Iron, so they need to know more about this country first.

"Hmm, I thought they would use dojos to teach swordsmanship. Turns out they also use the academy system like shinobi villages."

(A.n: I don't know much about this issue as I don't follow much of Boruto to understand about the Land of Iron. So I will just use this concept.)

Zoro murmurs after getting some information with Torao.

"Well, there's no need to make different dojos if they are teaching the same thing, right? Besides, it's just their basic education that is the same. They will still follow different teachers after graduating from the academy which will result in them having different fighting styles, just like shinobis."

"But now I can't do that dojo challenge plan."

Zoro was planning to gain experience and hone his skills by challenging dojo students. But now he is worried they might treat him as a rogue samurai and capture him instead because he has skills despite never attending the samurai academy.

"Well, maybe it will be fine. Even in the shinobi world, there are independent ninjas unaffiliated with hidden villages. So it won't be strange for independent samurais to exist. In the first place, you don't even need to call yourself a samurai to avoid being linked with this country's force. Just say you are a swordsman, that's it."

Torao explains that rogue ninjas or rogue samurais are those who left their countries. So he can't be a rogue samurai if he isn't even a samurai not being a part of this country's force to begin with.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, as long as you don't commit crimes and make enemies of any country, then you will be fine."

Zoro never plans to make an enemy of any country. But that doesn't mean he is willing to be their dog. He wants to live as he please, so there's no way he will join any country or organizations and receive their orders.

3 days later, Zoro and Torao arrive in another town. This is quite a big town where trades happen because everything from the port town needs to pass through this town before going all over the country.

Both of them are looking around the town like tourists. They try to learn this country's culture so they can avoid offending people for strange reasons.

"Um, I think we need to start from clothes."

Zoro looks around and realizes that his clothes are quite out of place. He wears furry jackets and trousers while most people here wear thick kimonos, even children.

But before they can buy a set of kimonos, they get into trouble. Or more like some people are picking trouble with them. Some small time thugs suddenly approach them and take them to an alley.

"Hehe, kid, you have good looking swords there. Why don't you let us see them?"

A bald guy smirks while the others behind him just laugh quite loudly.

"Haven't you already seen them now? You already say they are good looking, so obviously you can see them already."

"Huh?"

The thugs don't understand what Zoro means, making him sigh at their intellects. He knows that they want to take his swords and he's not afraid. That's why he jokes around with them, but they don't understand what he means to say.

"Hey boss, I think he was mocking us."

"You've just realized?"

The thugs are fuming and they quickly move to attack Zoro. He wants to hit them and finish this quickly, but Torao tells him that it might be bad if he beats up people here. These thugs also seem to be just rebellious teenagers, not real gangsters.

'So I can't beat them up?'

'Yeah, just let the justice system take care of it. You saw the city guards that patrol the streets earlier, right? Lead these guys to them.'

'Oh, okay.'

Zoro dodges their bad attacks easily and then runs to the street. The little thugs are chasing him as he wants because they feel angry for being looked down upon by Zoro. So they chase him in the middle of the bustling snowy street.

They are slow, so Zoro needs to slow down for them to catch up. Then when he spots the patrol guards, he drops himself onto the ground. The thugs quickly surround him while laughing as 2 of them grab Zoro from the sides.

"Hahaha, now you can't run away again, little rat. Now give me your-.... Huh? Where are the swords?"

The bald thug looks at Zoro's waist, but there is no sword there at all.

"NO! RELEASE ME! I DON'T HAVE MONEY!"

"H-huh? What are-?!"

The thugs finally realize that people are looking at them. They are seeing a bunch of young men in their late teens ganging on a smaller kid and even hold him as if they are about to beat him.

"YOU THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The patrol guards are coming towards them, making the thugs panic. They don't know what to do now, so they quickly run away, leaving Zoro there as the guards chase them.

The people on the street approach Zoro, asking if he is alright. He thanks them and says he's fine because they haven't had the chance to do anything to him. After receiving their concerns, he finally leaves to continue his business.

Torao joins him again after hiding in his shadow. He is the reason Zoro's swords suddenly disappeared. Torao stored them in his storage space when Zoro ran away from the thugs.

"I think we need to hide your swords and only take them out when needed for now."

"Yeah, but I feel restless without anything on my waist."

"Then how about using bamboo swords? It will make you look like a student and no one will want to rob bamboo swords."

"Hmm, alright then."

Zoro then has 3 bamboo swords on his waist after he bought some sets of white-green furry kimonos. Now he looks like a samurai apprentice who's out on a stroll.

He walks around the town before seeing a place that looks like a dojo. So he checks it and finds out that it is a training centre that also acts as a school for children. Young children are studying here from a very young age.

"They look like kindergarten kids."

As he guessed, the kids here start studying from the age of 4. They only teach basic things in this school like reading, calculation, and stuff about this country. Only talented or rich children will pursue higher education, including being samurais.

This school also acts as a place to find talents for the country. Those who are deemed talented for swordsmanship will be sent to the samurai academy to be trained.

It's a great chance for normal families to rise in status, so they always hope their children will be accepted into the samurai academy. But of course, the chance for that to happen in normal families is very low, just like the case of normal families in hidden villages that can't compete with clans.

"But training centre, huh? Isn't this a good place, Torao?"

"It is. There must be samurais training inside."

"Heh, then I guess I can ask for their guidance."

Zoro grins as he walks into the training centre.

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