Necessary Corruption 22.1 (Patreon)

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Necessary Corruption
Interlude: Yina 2

-VB-

The lady was pregnant!

This was good news. Everyone cheered in the castle and in the Takanori lands. People talked about how there would be a feast at the birth of the child. It would be momentous and joyous occasion for an heir to the clan, their protector, would be born.

Yina, however, had a job to do. She would join in that celebration when the heir was born, but her job right now was keep her liege as safe as possible, even if that wasn’t the strictest definition of her job.

Her lord brought new people from the Land of Wind.

She didn’t know what she was supposed to do with them, and of the twelve newcomers, her lord assigned her three of the women.

Well, calling them “women” might be too much; none of them had ever borne a child nor were any of them considered adult. The eldest of the three was an eighteen year old just flowering into adulthood, and other two were even younger.

But they weren’t young enough to be properly trained from the ground up. None of the lord’s retainers were as they entered into his service.

And she hated how uncertain they left her feeling. Yes, even though she too entered his service like that, none of them were educated in that regard. The only reason she was able to be educated was because her power let her learn faster than most, even among her peers.

Except for Onda. That man is a monster of knowledge.

She looked over the three in front of her and felt like grimacing.

She didn’t understand why her lord picked these women. Surely, there were better people in the lands that he visited?

Instead of sighing, she huffed and glared down at these unworthy women.

“So the three of you are from the Land of Wind,” she hummed. “I am not impressed.”

The eldest of them shrunk in on herself but the youngest was the one to glare right back.

“All I see in front of me are three skeletons no more than a step away from death. I’m sure that the time you’ve spent in my liege’s company was also the only period of time you’ve eaten like a proper person. Am I wrong?”

The glare remained but the heat in it lessened.

“It was,” the eldest replied.

Yina nodded. “I have no choice in this matter. I have been asked by my liege to train you, so I will train you. If you fail, then you will leave this place in a coffin. There is no buts or alternatives. You succeed and become a loyal servant or leave here, die trying. Is that understood?”

“H-hai-,” the middle child responded but the other tow were slow to do so.

“When I ask, you will reply with energy even if you feel like dying. Understood?!” she roared abruptly at the end.

To make her point clear, she pulled up on the shadows in the room. The shadows stuttered and shook as they extended off of the ground, walls, and the ceiling. Even for her, it became a little suffocating, so she cut it off quickly.

It had the desired effect.

The three girls all looked down, shivering and keeping to themselves as they nodded frantically. Even the youngest firebrand whimpered quietly to herself.

“Good,” she snapped. “Then stand up. I will not have future servants of the Takanori Clan sniveling like rats and vagrants. Up!”

One by one, they stood up on shaky legs.

“From today on, you do not have names until you graduate from my training. You will be known to me and each other as 1, 2, and 3. Understood?”

“Hai!”

“Straighten your backs and hold your chin up. Hands folded in front of you. Elbows tucked to your sides.”

And thus their training began.

-VB-

“Takanori-sama?!”

The Clan Head smiled as he continued to sip his sake as if his declaration just now meant nothing.

“I have been invited to go and observe this ‘Chunin Exam’ where great and minor Hidden Ninja Villages alike will compete with their youngsters. How could I not go?”

“Milord,” Yina spoke up. “We will be walking into a possible enemy territory. They should know now that you are no small lord for them to manipulate as they please! Our ability to protect you will be severely limited!”

“But you already have the entirely of their village under surveillance, don’t you?”

She closed her mouth shut.

“Well?” he asked of her teasingly.

“I do.”

“Hmm. I came to be a surprise that you were capable of … such a power.”

She bowed deeply. “I only have it because you have Enlightened me.” It was what others in her liege’s retinue called it.

“Still.” He swirled the sake on his saucer. “Tell me, do they intend to harm me?”

“They do not.”

“Do they wish to be hostile?”

“They do not.”

“Do they wish to intimidate me?”

“They do not.” She paused. “There is one who does.”

“Oh?”

“His name is Shimura Danzo, and I believe that he is in the process of gathering an army for himself to usurp the current Hokage.”

“... Tell me more.”