Rebuke of the Tatsu-boy 12 (Patreon)

Rebuke of the Tatsu-boy 12 - or ‘How SI!Tatsurou outfucked and outcucked the Dark Lord’s worst fiends’ (Taimaninverse, Tatsurou!SI)

Cleaning up is never an easy task, but as I had been tasked by Oboro with aiding the Koukawa Clan in their own purge of Fuuma-affiliated members, I couldn’t help but feel like Oboro hired me for this task for a reason.

At first, I thought it was just something silly, but the lack of sexual interactions and some odd words on ‘being careful while at Gosha’ put me on the edge and… she was in part correct.

While I was returning from one of my patrols, I found myself attacked by two masked Taimanin. Both males, both quite cocky and saying that they had been paid handsomely to ‘take care of me’. The shocked look on their face as I smoothly decapitated them was quite the sad way to put an end to a sad assassination, but as I unmasked the two, I realized what was up.

Both were not familiar at first glance, but I could recognize the Akiyama Clan’s emblem on their uniform, hidden behind some dark cloth they wrapped around their arms.

A double-layered trap, and one I had to unravel quickly as I knew that it could easily create issues to me. First, I alerted the ‘local police’. Taimanin that were assigned to village patrolling were deemed Gosha’s police and thus were bestowed with rights and duties akin to a proper law enforcement unit. They weren’t the same as the police, but had chores similar to that.

Still, alerting them was the best first step in this mess. I managed to find a squad made by a Yatsu man and two Sawaki men. The trio grimaced over the sight, but nodded along what I told them to do.

Due to the circumstances, I requested them to send a message to the Igawa Clan to call for an emergency trial on the matter. Considering who was making that request, I knew that the summon would work as intended and, right as I returned to the Akiyama compound, I was given confirmation that an emergency summon had been dispatched to the main family core of the clan and the elders.

I bet it frightened them that the Igawa Clan was interested in this topic but… I mentally prepared for a disgusting attack on me. Father had to be shitting his pants at this.

Knowing him, he had expected to either hear of my passing or learn that I became a kinslayer, but nowhere he thought of this becoming a matter that went beyond the closed doors of the clan compound.

And when the entire group was assembled at the Igawa Clan’s meeting room, the standard process of addressing this potential trial started. I could see Sakura shifting nervously while sitting beside her sister and current clan leader. Hattori Seishu, their grandmother, and Igawa Senshu, their aunt, occupying Asagi’s other side.

“We are here to discuss the potential crime of attempted kinslaying against Akiyama Tatsurou and staged by one Akiyama Baiko. How does the accused stand?”

“Not guilty- and this is a horrendous misuse of the attention of the Igawa Clan,” My father was not wasting any time to engage in some strong wording. “It’s clear this child just wanted attention for a simpler situation. He has slain family members to show me he was strong.”

I scoffed, and he glared at me. “Do you think this is a joke, boy?”

“The trial? I would never. Your pathetic defense after trying to put me in a situation where I could end up kicked out of the clan because you can’t unmask me as the weakling you wish I was.”

“Slander! And from my son, no less!”

The intense exchange was brought to an end when Asagi raised a hand, looking stoically at the two of us.

“Enough. You two are clearly emotionally compelled to disagree with each other’s point. I wish to understand the full situation- Agents?”

“Hai, Igawa-sama,” The Yatsu officer replied, approaching and kneeling before starting to read from his report. “Roughly twenty minutes ago, Akiyama Tatsurou approached us with a request for help after he got attacked by two masked individuals that wore dark cloths to cover their clan emblem. Upon close inspection, we found out that they had received money in the forms of checks.”

“Is that so?” Asagi turned to Father. “What is the meaning of this, Akiyama-san?”

“Nothing but efforts to sabotage my credibility as clan leader!”

“And your proof for that claim being?” I sharply asked, the old man huffing.

“The fact that you are still a brat!”

“And your heir, Akiyama-san,” Asagi rebuked quietly, causing Father to pause. “As far as you can try to paint it as an Akiyama affair, I tend to agree with the idea that this should be handled by the Igawa Clan and other vassals too. We are trying to avoid infighting after what happened with the Fuuma Civil War, and this is quite the troublesome affair if it reaches the public.”

Many nodded at this, and I hadn’t… exactly planned that far ahead, but it made sense. What was left of the ‘good’ Fuuma Clan was still reeling from what happened with their civil war, and Gosha had just recently been taken over by the Igawa group. If any scandal like this one was to reach public attention… that wouldn’t do well for any of us.

It was a clear signal that some harsh odds were at play and this situation was worse than I had expected. I didn’t want this to happen, but I had to make a drastic and radical move now before this became a bigger issue.

“I will-”

“Father, I challenge you to a deathmatch!” I snapped, stunning the entire Akiyama group and ‘surprising’ the Igawa Clan. Sakura looked the one genuinely shaken by this, but her sister offered a tiny sad nod.

“Tatsurou! This is not a place to-”

“Your son is correct, Akiyama-kun,” Seishu quipped, breaking her silence as she decided to intervene herself. “While it wouldn't be fine for a child to challenge a weakling, I would say the boy has enough of a name for himself through his hard work, efforts and deeds made during the Fuuma Civil War. After all, he was responsible for slaying the leading Demon that attempted to destroy our village. This problem is… concerning. However, to try and portray a hero of Gosha in such a manner would be dishonest. And I have been told by a close friend of mine that you also had him labeled as an ‘unruly weak child’ which, turns out by his own teacher, was a lie.”

…Did Oboro have a connection with Seishu? Maybe. The old woman that still appeared young didn’t seem interested to bring that up, but I felt like there was more to it.

“I-I can’t just- I have a-”

“The Clan has been struggling, Baiko,” One of the elders interrupted, sounding tired of these excuses. “Your own bitterness is creating a mess that can’t be fixed unless you stop it. And I am afraid you went too far this time around.”

I was quite sure the Elders were all in agreement of one thing- I was no weakling and they needed to have a ‘fresh repaint’ over their current leadership. Shocking, I know, after all these were men far older than Father but-

“Fine! I will kill my own child to prove my point, I suppose!”

I think he said that to try and put some of the fault on the elders, but no one stopped this. Rinko was worried for me… and only me. I thought she was just ignoring Father since he was once regarded as a strong warrior but… I just couldn’t fully concede to that.

The Igawa clan was more than happy to lend us a sparring room and soon the battle I hadn’t been looking forward to began.  A deathmatch was not how I expected this to turn into.

Kudos for Father as he made one last dumb decision that was going to scar poor Rinko. I didn’t want this to be brutal but… even as I tried to kill him with a swift move, he was able to intercept me and block those attacks.

Fragile as he may look and be, Father’s sense of wind was honed to make him a difficult defense to break.

And then he just-

“Wind Style, Air Fortress!”

Did that!

Wind started to form a controlled tornado around him, rendering it impossible for any external elements to bypass the cylindric barrier. If before I struggled with his physical defense, now I had to deal with his own remaining Taima power.

I didn’t want to draw this fight for so long, and I genuinely felt furious at this circumstance. The smug look on his face despite the fact he was killing himself to get back at me just scratched at my own patience.

I knew I had to make it quick before it became a painful and long-drawn suicide, so…

“Wind Style-” I muttered, hands firmly positioned over my Tanto, with my left grasping the sheath and the right grasping the hilt. “Swallow Reversal!”

Father’s wind was indeed a terrifying force compared to most of my attacks, but it was a last-ditch effort to kill me on the spot. It was a Standard Nindo ability and one that, despite its power, was limited.

The same couldn’t be said about my Tsubame Gaeshi as, after testing it for months now, I had managed to mimic to an extent the full power of Sasaki Kojiro’s finest ability.

One that needed my wind to extend my tanto’s reach, but also the Taima particles I could manipulate in that wind expression to create a ‘Power Wind’ element to coat my attack.

So, while the windy wall mustered by Father was tough-looking, my short sword rattled through and pierced it with ease. One attack, three cuts- his legs, his torso and his head.

It was a somber win and I glanced to see how Rinko was taking the result of this battle. She sighed in relief, yet smiling sadly. In a move that finalized my assumptions into reality, I could safely tell that Father had ruined so much of our family by trying to put us against each other that it ended up alienating him from us.

Rinko was a good person, but Father had… managed to make her unable to fully cry over his passing.

And in one last mistake, he achieved doing the opposite of what he planned to do- let me become the Clan Leader at the ripe age of 9.

—--------d-d-d-d—------

AN

Next time will see some ‘scandalous efforts’ of the Igawa Clan to ‘create a bond’ with the new clan leader, all the while Felicia and Rinko help in protecting Tatsu-boy’s sanity… by using their pussies to cover for him.

Despite that, Sakura just wants to have more hours to play at the arcade with her only male friend…