忍ぶ心 Shinobu Kokoro
Title: Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: fourteen
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen
Jun looked at the front of the monastery and swallowed as his adjusted his ninja mask, suddenly nervous at their arrival.
No, not Jun. Touma.
He was Touma today.
He was going to meet his uncle face to face. He was going to see the man who had ordered the slaughter of his family and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything to extract his own revenge.
Before they had left, Jun had promised Ohno that he would keep calm and not do something rash, even though the ex-prisoner was sure that Leader didn’t know why he would have the motivation to do anything. Just like always, it was almost like the older boy knew his intentions before Jun did.
The group paused in front of the building and Sho walked forward to give a paper to the monk waiting for them at the entrance. It was an official letter from Jyani with a ninja seal on it, authenticating the fact that these boys were representing the village as acting as a negotiating force in his place.
The monk looked over the paperwork then motioned for the ninja to wait while he walked through the oversized wooden doors behind him.
Sho returned to the rest of the group, trying to hide his heavy breaths from traveling in the condition he was in, and stopped next to Nino. The weapons master was next to Aiba and “Touma” was on the other end, Ohno standing as the designated leader a few feet in front of them.
They waited tensely, none of them knowing exactly what was going to happen or what Ohno would do.
Nino realized they would probably have to leave their weapons with the monks, which wouldn’t be too terrible, since all of them were trained in hand to hand combat (although some of them were more proficient than others, he thought while looking over at his boyfriend). Actually, Sho was still weak, so he wouldn’t be able to do anything, not even blow darts. He was baggage, really, but Nino couldn’t bring himself to argue with the archer any more than they already had.
But Jun was useless on that front, too, and Aiba wouldn’t be much help in protecting the two in a scuffle. No, just as Sho had said before they had left, if it came down to a battle it was best to just let Nino and Ohno head straight for Matsumoto, who would no doubt be heavily protected, and the other three would try to retreat if they could. Even though Ohno was hurting, he was stronger than most of them, and he had already insisted they leave everything to him as much as possible.
The monk returned with a soldier at his side. The man was wearing the same armor from the Matsumoto castle that the group had attacked a year ago and he was holding the scroll from Jyani tightly in his hands. Motioning for them to follow, the monk took the position of a neutral entity between the soldier, who walked ahead of them, and Arashi, who stayed just behind the other men, clad in their usual ninja gear with their faces and heads covered.
Before they could enter the main audience chamber, the monk insisted that they leave their weapons at the door, just as Nino had expected they would be requested to.
Ohno was the first to release the sword from his back and he handed it to the older man without taking his eyes off the soldier waiting patiently to escort them inside.
Sho was next, placing his bow and quiver into the waiting hands of the monk, though he couldn’t use them in his condition anyway. But they didn’t need to know that.
Nino followed, flipping his sais once in his grasp before giving them over, handles first. The soldier looked at him with scrutiny, but didn't say anything and the monk didn't insist on a pat down, so his hidden weapons stayed that way (not that they would be easily detected by anyone who didn’t know where to look for them). He had two knives tucked into his boots, as did Jun, plus the pouch at his side, which now included three smoke balls, courtesy of the newly trained illusionist, so he wasn’t very worried at the lack of his favored weapon.
Aiba gave the old man his pole gently and then turned back to the group with determination in his eye.
Finally, Jun also handed over a pair of throwing knives, even though he had an extra pair on his person. Nino also knew that he had his own arsenal of items in what appeared to be a simple traveling pack, similar to what Nino wore, ones that Jun had made himself with the help of Nakai. Not sure why the youngest of them had been left with the other half of the responsibility of escape if it came to that, Nino at least was glad it wasn’t completely on him.
Assuming that they had been properly disarmed (although they hadn’t quite), the soldier opened the heavy doors leading into the room they were using and waited outside while the ninja entered before him.
The room was filled with about forty soldiers, split in half with either on each side. They were armed with spears and swords and stood immobile against the wall, probably only providing protection for the lord and serving no other purpose. Nino immediately knew that the five ninja could take out most of them without a problem; it was the hidden ones that would be the challenge.
There were also two monks seated on each side of the front of the room, acting as witnesses to the meeting and would be held responsible for the details of what went on. It wasn’t clear how the group had gotten lucky enough to escape the lair of Lord Matsumoto as their destination, but apparently Jyani either had enough leverage to spare them such danger or their adversary was keeping something from them and needed the group on his good side. Nino couldn’t tell which it was without more information, but they both meant the same thing anyway: Arashi was coming into this gathering with the upper hand.
He wasn’t sure how that happened, but he’d take it.
As formally as possible, the five boys shuffled inside and took their designated places in front of a set of steps, which led up to a platform similar to Jyani’s, but much more intricate. It was empty right now, and no doubt the Lord had waited until Arashi had arrived, when he could make a grand entrance in order to intimidate the group.
They settled in and the room remained quiet throughout their adjustments, the atmosphere tense from everyone being on edge.
“To the group Arashi, representing the ninja village of Kitagawa Jyani,” a boy in a fancy kimono with an oversized hat said loudly, reading off of a scroll and standing at the side of the platform, “Lord Matsumoto has agreed to meet with you in order to come to terms of agreement and a truce.”
There was a pause in which the boy closed his scroll and bowed deeply, unmoving from his position until a door in the corner slid open and a man dressed in an intricate layered outfit that showed his royal heritage stepped out.
Arashi bowed simultaneously, almost touching their covered heads to the floor, and waited for the lord to complete his entrance. He took a seat in front of the ninja on the platform, in the middle of a cluster of expensive silk pillows and colorful draping fabric.
When he finally situated himself, Arashi returned to a seated position, all of their eyes trained on the floor directly before them, except Ohno who was seated in front of the other four to show himself as the captain of the group. Leader’s eyes met Matsumoto’s, as if to prove that they were at least equals, despite whatever preconceived notions the other man had.
“You may speak.”
The lord’s voice was booming and arrogant and Jun immediately hated him even more.
He remembered that voice. He’d heard it before, right before he’d been taken from his home, the home in which his slaughtered family had been left behind.
It was all he could do to keep his head down and tell himself that he was Touma today, a boy who didn’t care about this arrogant bastard seated across from them, and that was simply scared to be in the man’s presence because he had never experienced something so formal before now.
“My village was attacked a few weeks ago,” Ohno started in an almost neutral tone, barely muffled through his facemask. But it was tinged in anger and irritation at being treated in such a way, even though it was in his best interest to make this go as smoothly as possible. “I have reason to believe that it was you who hired a rival group of ninja to fulfill this mission.”
The room was silent at the direct accusation.
“And this is why you have called this negotiation, am I correct?” Matsumoto asked sarcastically and laughed bitterly. “Make me an offer, boy. You took something very precious from me.”
Ohno took a deep breath as discreetly as possible, but Jun saw the nervousness in his tense back.
But the illusionist knew that he couldn’t throw himself forward and reveal himself with this sort of atmosphere. He would have to wait until they were in the heat of battle, when he didn’t have a choice but to do so.
“What is this? Take off your masks,” Matsumoto suddenly demanded with an offended tone.
And Jun froze.
He had never met this man face to face as far as he could remember, but there was a chance that he would recognize the curve of Jun’s lips, inherited from his mother, or the prominent nose from his father.
In fact, Jun could physically resemble the man in front of him and he knew if he noticed that he would probably vomit on the spot.
“I refuse. You have no reason-“ Ohno started, but was immediately interrupted.
“I will not listen to your offer unless you and each of your boys remove your masks. I will tolerate nothing less.”
Their leader sighed deeply, but after a second pulled down his own and tore off his hood, his short hair standing straight up as it usually did.
The four boys behind him followed his example.
Jun didn’t hesitate, but kept his eyes straight forward and thought like Touma. He had no reason to be scared in this position. He was just a ninja who had been living in Jyani’s village for years and years, that had been training with Nakai for as long as he could remember, and was possibly in love with Yamapi.
He tried to tell himself that he was scared of messing up this situation and wanted to get home to Tomohisa and that was the only reason large beads of sweat were running down his face right now.
It was obvious the lord was taking a moment to look over their faces one by one, trying to discern some trace of violence or resistance from each individual ninja.
Jun’s heart stopped as the man’s eyes fell on him.
He tried to tell himself that he looked different from the way he was years ago, even when he had been happy and healthy at his father’s house, but that didn’t stop the anxieties from rushing through his head.
The gaze was stuck on him and the room was silent.
The air was so heavy that Jun felt like he was trying to breathe water and wasn’t succeeding.
“You may continue,” Matsumoto finally conceded, turning back to Ohno.
The youngest of the group tried not to make his sigh of relief too obvious. Aiba also seemed to loosen up a little bit and Jun realized that all of them must have been worried that Jun would be recognized at the sudden demand.
But everything seemed to be going okay.
“I want you to withdraw any plots of revenge from my people.”
Matsumoto laughed heartily at Ohno’s request.
“And why in the world should I do that? It was you… In fact, I believe it was even your famous little group… What is it they’re calling you now? Arashi?” he spit out sarcastically, “It was Arashi that broke into my castle and released two very important prisoners.”
Jun tried to keep his expression neutral at the mention of himself. But there had been no names exchanged yet. There was a chance that Nino was right and it had really been the princess…
But Jun still didn’t believe that. Not for one second.
“We were hired by a client to complete that job. We were simply the catalyst-“ Ohno replied confidently, and Jun was grateful that the other man had the courage that he did. Jun would never be able to sit in front of a man as powerful as Matsumoto and argue something as simple as that.
The lord burst out laughing again the moment Leader tried to explain, then broke in again in a voice that said he was speaking to someone stupid.
“That’s true. You were hired to rescue a princess. But that was it. Just the princess.”
The room fell silent when Ohno was unable to respond to the obvious accusation.
“But… you took something else with you, didn’t you?” Matsumoto paused, his expression switching from bitter and sarcastic to furious. The next words he spoke in a low and dangerous voice. “Where is my nephew?”
Jun heard Aiba swallow next to him as his identity was finally revealed and knew that Sho and Nino had probably widened their eyes, looking incredulous. But they had made no obvious reaction, which Jun was thankful for.
“Matsumoto Jun is dead.”
The illusionist almost lost himself and looked up at Ohno’s firm voice, but he caught himself in time.
Lord Matsumoto turned irate and leaned forward on the platform, staring at Ohno with furrowed brows.
“…What?” he asked in almost a whisper. Jun was suddenly worried for their safety again, with the daggers the man was throwing from his eyes.
“It’s true that I tried to rescue him. I pitied him,” Ohno explained in a calm tone. “I attempted to take him with us, but he was in bad condition. He could barely walk and we were unable to accommodate him within our group, as we had to move fast and far. He collapsed before we had even met with our client.”
Jun swallowed and tried to keep his body from shaking as Ohno created this story. It sounded like he had been practicing it, but Jun had never told him the only way for him to completely escape from his predicament was if he was dead.
That was right. Jun was dead. He was Touma today.
“We left him in the care of an innkeeper’s wife at a resting point, but when we came back to retrieve him, he was already deceased.”
Matsumoto was staring at Ohno like he’d never believe him, even if a thousand years passed.
“Why would you go back for him? Why not just leave him?” Apparently he was trying to catch Ohno in a lie or to twist his words to fit his own motives.
“We thought that he would reward our clan for rescuing him if we were successful,” Ohno replied without missing a beat. “When I found out who he was, I knew my master would be pleased if he returned with us.”
“You made a mistake, my boy.”
“They are the facts, sir. My four subordinates will testify to the truth of my story.”
Jun wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stand when the time came. He was shaking all over.
He was so close to being free.
“If this is true, although I believe not a word of it, it is still your fault that my precious nephew died.”
Jun’s jaw clenched at the reused phrase and he almost stood to pull a knife out of his soft boot and plant it in the man’s neck. He was confident of his aim in his heated rage.
Ohno’s hands also tightened at the response and he forced his tone to stay consistent as he replied. “If he was so precious, why was he in the dungeon?”
Matsumoto ignored his response. “How will you compensate me for my loss at your hands? Your entire village is not worth what that boy was to me.”
But the lord seemed to be warming up to the idea. It was obvious to Jun that there was nothing the man could do with Ohno’s explanation right now. There were two monks in the room that were acting as witnesses to the whole mess and he would have to kill, not only the five experienced ninja, but also slaughter the entire monastery to keep this meeting quiet. The lord might still be considering it, but it was the only other way that Matsumoto was going to get out of it without proving that Jun was still alive.
With that thought, Jun was really wishing he could disappear right now.
He was so close.
So close to a happily ever after with Ohno.
“But, I don’t know,” Matsumoto continued in a bargaining tone, “I suppose I could recoup some of my loss with the famous ninja troupe Arashi at my hand.”
Jun furrowed his brows and resisted saying anything that would ruin the end they had almost achieved, as apparently all the rest of the boys to his side were doing.
“Lord Matsumoto-“ Ohno began to reply tensely, but he was swiftly interrupted.
“Yes, that would be quite nice. How about you pledge your allegiance to me and I’ll retract any threats I have against your village?” the lord offered haughtily.
Jun couldn’t restrain himself, even though he knew he was being stupid. He was being so, so stupid.
“Never.”
He looked up and met Matsumoto’s eyes directly as his word reverberated around the hall and Sho, Nino, and Aiba were staring at him. Nino, at least, was mouthing at him to shut up.
As he finally got a good look at his uncle, Jun was relieved to find that this man held absolutely no resemblance to himself or his father.
Matsumoto grinned at his hidden nephew and chuckled. “Tell you what, leave just the cheeky brat here with me and I’ll agree.”
Jun almost shot up in order to kill the bastard he hated with every cell in his body, but Aiba grabbed his arm and Ohno had half turned and raised his hand in order to bring him back to reality.
Averting his eyes and realizing how much danger they were in right now, Jun tried to ignore the leering grin he had begun receiving from his own kin. Matsumoto was apparently amused by the fury in the boy’s voice and was reveling in the power he held over the group.
“Lord Matsumoto,” Arashi’s captain started again in his own low, quiet voice. “I am truly sorry for your loss.”
To everyone in the room, Ohno didn’t sound sorry in the least.
“But we will not be compensating you for it.”
Leader’s blood was boiling, not only from the way Matsumoto was talking about Jun as his nephew, but also at the way the lord was treating Jun as Ohno’s team mate.
If there wasn’t so much at stake right now, Ohno would have already strangled the sneaky bastard.
He narrowed his eyes and met the gaze of the lord, who was suddenly looking a little wary of the younger man sitting across from him.
“If you will not retract your threat on my village of your own will, I assure you,” Leader paused for dramatic effect and to organize his thoughts properly. He really needed to calm down and allow the meeting to proceed in the same direction that he had planned out with Jyani previously. “There will be repercussion which we have held back in favor of verbally settling this.”
Matsumoto swallowed and tried to continue to look tough, even though Ohno knew his threat held a great deal of leverage. He wasn’t lying when he told his friends he’d assassinate this man, and he’d take pleasure in every second of it.
The same heavy silence as before fell over the room as the lord tried to come up with a response to Ohno’s blatant warning.
Finally he said begrudgingly, “Matsumoto Jun is dead.” He looked pointedly at the two monks and frowned deeply before turning back to Ohno. “I do not put any blame on the ninja village of Jyani Kitagawa.”
Ohno nodded, even though he knew that formally announcing so and retracting his grudge were two completely different things.
But Jyani would be pleased at the result that had come from their meeting.
“We deeply thank you,” Ohno replied softly and bowed back down to the floor, spaying his hands out in front of him and touching his forehead to the ground. He felt his teammates behind him do the same and they stayed that way as Matsumoto furiously stood and exited.
Somehow standing in his daze, Jun followed Ohno and the other boys as they returned to the entrance, none of them stopped by any of the soldiers or the monks on their way.
The ninja retrieved their weapons but didn’t bother to reapply their head gear before darting out of the building and ducking into the bushes.
After traveling for ten minutes, just to make sure they were far enough not to be overheard or suddenly stopped by the lord and his forces, Ohno finally slowed down and turned to his friends.
Jun, who was panting less from the physical exercise and more from unbelief, immediately felt his legs start shaking and he collapsed onto the ground, his calves out to either side of him under his knees and his hands resting lightly on the ground in front of him.
How had he been so lucky?
He had walked right into his uncle’s clutches, stared the man in the eye, and got away with… nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
No baggage of his father’s land. No expectations of repaying a debt. No guilt over being unable to sacrifice himself to save his friends.
Ohno fell opposite him in a similar fashion and then dropped onto his back after a second, looking up at the sky and wincing as he jarred his injured shoulder.
Aiba rushed over to him, making sure that Leader to put his arm back in a sling now that they were done, while Nino rounded on Jun.
“Matsumoto?!” He was looking furious and ready to pummel him.
But Jun didn’t care. He laughed happily, tilting his head back.
He was free.
“Seriously, that was… intense…” Sho added a few feet behind his boyfriend, looking at Jun curiously.
“How…?” Nino asked confused, breathless. “How… How could you give up all that money?”
Jun looked at his friend blankly then laughed loudly again, probably sounding like a crazy man.
“No, I’m completely… That’s like… God, that’s like… an entire prefecture…” Nino said in wonder, his expression relaxing and instead going into accounting mode.
“Three, actually,” Jun corrected cheerfully. Three prefectures that he’d never have to worry about again.
Nino’s mouth fell open and he couldn’t reply to Jun’s statement.
He looked over at Sho, who simply raised his eyebrow at him.
While the two had their moment, Jun looked through their legs to Ohno, who was also grinning, even though he was still making faces as Aiba slowly reapplied the bandages to his shoulder. Jun hadn’t noticed Ohno acting any different from usual in the reception room, even though his arm was almost completely useless, and was in awe at Ohno’s acting skills.
The illusionist crawled between Nino and Sho, who were now arguing about using that much money and what they could possibly do with it, and Jun threw himself at Ohno, even though he knew perfectly well that one of his arms was hurt.
He pulled Leader close to him, probably suffocating the older man in his shoulder, and tried not to let his ever present tears fall.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Aiba seemed miffed as his work was messed up, but immediately backed away to join the other ninja, adding that they could buy a whole lot of candy with that much money.
Ohno’s good hand rested on Jun’s back, patting him gently as he smiled into the black material of Jun’s standardized suit.
“You said you couldn’t live without me anymore,” he mumbled and Jun had to strain his ears to hear him. “I don’t think I can live without you either…”
Jun’s breath stopped and he pulled Ohno tighter against him.
But Leader let out a wince as Jun jarred his shoulder and the younger boy backed off right away, looking over to Aiba to fix it.
They shared one more shy look as the herbalist bent over to help Leader, and Jun discovered he was blushing brightly at Ohno’s admission.
He knew that this was love. He was in love deeper than he could pull himself out of.
Ohno jumped as Aiba was a little rougher with him than necessary (since he had been pushed away and ignored a moment ago) and Jun turned to find that the topic of conversation had changed from how many gold studded sailing ships they could buy if they could somehow get their hands on Jun’s money to insulting Lord Matsumoto.
“Did you see the way he was leering at Jun? Seriously, gross. With your own nephew.” Nino stuck out his tongue as he talked to Sho, who had sat against a tree in order to rest a little, sweat pouring down his face.
They had had to make good time to get here, so no doubt the archer was out of breath and exhausted. Jun knew they would have to wait a little while for him to feel better before they took off again.
Nino turned to Jun and gave him a look of mock-pity. “Don’t worry, Jun-chan. We wouldn’t have left you with that lecher,” he teased.
Jun let a relieved smile grace his face. Even though Nino was making jokes about such a serious thing, he couldn’t be anything but ecstatic right now.
He could have his happily ever after.
+++
In the years following, it was obvious that Lord Matsumoto was determined to keep his promise and avoid putting his own life in danger.
There had been no more attacks on the village, no more searching for the supposedly dead Jun, and no more threats against Jyani or Arashi. In fact, the village was slowly being rebuilt, mostly by inflow of money from working ninja like Arashi, who took it upon themselves to keep the stores in need of supplies, even if it was something as useless as a roll of thread or books on how to take care of a cat.
But Ohno had gained more responsibility at the success of their self provided mission, and suddenly it was almost like he was drifting away from the rest of the group.
Especially Jun.
He would still smile at him, still pat him proudly on the back and offer him words of encouragement, but there was no more hand holding and no more sleeping flush against each other at night.
It was killing him, but every time Jun tried to get closer to the older ninja, Ohno would either make an excuse and leave or politely reject him.
Sho had explained to him once again that Jyani had indoctrinated Leader with the idea that love was bad and that it would only lead to the ruin of the group and that that was undoubtedly why their captain was acting that way, but no matter how much Jun tried to fight it, he couldn’t. He wanted to be with Leader, whether it put them at risk or not. He wanted to be able to kiss the older man and touch him and tell him how he felt.
He wanted what Sho and Nino had.
Eventually Jun just gave up, resigning himself temporarily to dedication of mastering everything that Nakai could teach him and the use of his knives. He surpassed Nino at some point, which had come as a surprise, and had earned his rank within the group of Arashi, finally able to hold his own.
Even with that achievement, though, Ohno still distanced himself from the younger man, letting Jun create his own training routine and never batting an eyelash as the illusionist made more and more friends within the village, increasing the seemingly exponential popularity of the group. More people had joined their community in hopes of meeting these men and being protected by them, and there wasn’t a better time with the big hit they had taken with the attack by Matsumoto.
They continued to progress as a group, unrivaled by anyone in the area, just as Jyani had predicted. Ninja were still approaching Arashi, either challenging the members to personal battles, most of which the group refused, or to ask to train with them. They also refused these requests, if only because none of them had the patience or desire to allow another person into their tight knit circle.
Despite their unsaid loyalty to each other, Jun still couldn’t tear his eyes away from Ohno. Even when they were on missions and he tried to force himself not to watch the older man, he always found his eyes training on him. He was now usually partnered with Aiba during missions, and Ohno was left on his own, so Jun felt absolutely no guilt in keeping an eye out for the ninja he held closest to his heart. They all still worked together smoothly, even better now that Sho and Nino were explicitly given the responsibility of watching each other.
Jun was proud that they had proven that maybe Jyani had been wrong about the whole thing and that it was better if there were these connections within the group. It made the ninja hyper sensitive during their missions, keeping their eyes open for more details, especially concerning their partner.
But there was no convincing the ninja lord of that, even if he tried, and Ohno was just as immobile.
Jun wanted to reach out and shake Leader sometimes, but every time he came close to saying something reprimanding to the older man, he melted. As hardheaded as Jun was, he couldn’t argue with Ohno when he said I just don’t feel that way about you, Jun-kun.
It made his heart break.
Every time.
He’d been so sure. So sure that Ohno felt the same, since the very first time their eyes had met in the dungeon. Even now those eyes told him Jun was right, despite Ohno’s mouth saying something different.
Jun had thought that he’d found his happily ever after, but he hadn’t.
It wasn’t until four years later that anything changed.
+++
A/N: This is the end of the second part! How was it? I know things went way way too smoothly (and then I threw in a preview for the next part there at the end) but actually this little plot twist wasn't exactly included in the original story... or should I say, it spiraled out of control when I actually started to write it. So forgive me for not included any battle scenes in this chapter. ^__^;
Since I'm not really going to go into the history/universe any more, at least in this area, feel free to ask me any questions (and I'll compile a list below here even though it's sort of an eyesore). By the way, I'm going to take a short break before I start posting the next part so I can (hopefully) catch up on a few more things I've neglected. I have at least a oneshot to post, and hopefully I'll be able to finish another few things as well. You might also notice that I've added tags to my entries, and I've updated my masterpost too.
Notes: Wait, what just happened? Why is everything okay just because they say Jun is dead? Just for clarification purposes~ If Jun is alive in his uncle's "care," then his uncle controls the land in place of Jun's father (i.e. the land Jun would be taking of if he was independent). This control is displayed by Jun "living" in his uncle's castle. If Jun and all of his immediate family is dead, the power falls to the lesser lords underneath his father instead of his uncle. This is based off of the feudal Japan system, basically the inter-marriage of families and ransoming your children for political reasons, although in this story it was forced by Jun's uncle.
Isn't the village going to move? Aren't they in danger? Generally speaking the ninja villages work together (like when Sho came from Ogura's?), so that was the reason their location was known (or that's what I'm going with). Basically, it took a lot of money/manpower for Matsumoto to convince a village to turn against another and it backfired for all of them, although in the end their location wasn't given away to anyone. The job was just that one village attack the other.
To Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: fourteen
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen
Jun looked at the front of the monastery and swallowed as his adjusted his ninja mask, suddenly nervous at their arrival.
No, not Jun. Touma.
He was Touma today.
He was going to meet his uncle face to face. He was going to see the man who had ordered the slaughter of his family and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything to extract his own revenge.
Before they had left, Jun had promised Ohno that he would keep calm and not do something rash, even though the ex-prisoner was sure that Leader didn’t know why he would have the motivation to do anything. Just like always, it was almost like the older boy knew his intentions before Jun did.
The group paused in front of the building and Sho walked forward to give a paper to the monk waiting for them at the entrance. It was an official letter from Jyani with a ninja seal on it, authenticating the fact that these boys were representing the village as acting as a negotiating force in his place.
The monk looked over the paperwork then motioned for the ninja to wait while he walked through the oversized wooden doors behind him.
Sho returned to the rest of the group, trying to hide his heavy breaths from traveling in the condition he was in, and stopped next to Nino. The weapons master was next to Aiba and “Touma” was on the other end, Ohno standing as the designated leader a few feet in front of them.
They waited tensely, none of them knowing exactly what was going to happen or what Ohno would do.
Nino realized they would probably have to leave their weapons with the monks, which wouldn’t be too terrible, since all of them were trained in hand to hand combat (although some of them were more proficient than others, he thought while looking over at his boyfriend). Actually, Sho was still weak, so he wouldn’t be able to do anything, not even blow darts. He was baggage, really, but Nino couldn’t bring himself to argue with the archer any more than they already had.
But Jun was useless on that front, too, and Aiba wouldn’t be much help in protecting the two in a scuffle. No, just as Sho had said before they had left, if it came down to a battle it was best to just let Nino and Ohno head straight for Matsumoto, who would no doubt be heavily protected, and the other three would try to retreat if they could. Even though Ohno was hurting, he was stronger than most of them, and he had already insisted they leave everything to him as much as possible.
The monk returned with a soldier at his side. The man was wearing the same armor from the Matsumoto castle that the group had attacked a year ago and he was holding the scroll from Jyani tightly in his hands. Motioning for them to follow, the monk took the position of a neutral entity between the soldier, who walked ahead of them, and Arashi, who stayed just behind the other men, clad in their usual ninja gear with their faces and heads covered.
Before they could enter the main audience chamber, the monk insisted that they leave their weapons at the door, just as Nino had expected they would be requested to.
Ohno was the first to release the sword from his back and he handed it to the older man without taking his eyes off the soldier waiting patiently to escort them inside.
Sho was next, placing his bow and quiver into the waiting hands of the monk, though he couldn’t use them in his condition anyway. But they didn’t need to know that.
Nino followed, flipping his sais once in his grasp before giving them over, handles first. The soldier looked at him with scrutiny, but didn't say anything and the monk didn't insist on a pat down, so his hidden weapons stayed that way (not that they would be easily detected by anyone who didn’t know where to look for them). He had two knives tucked into his boots, as did Jun, plus the pouch at his side, which now included three smoke balls, courtesy of the newly trained illusionist, so he wasn’t very worried at the lack of his favored weapon.
Aiba gave the old man his pole gently and then turned back to the group with determination in his eye.
Finally, Jun also handed over a pair of throwing knives, even though he had an extra pair on his person. Nino also knew that he had his own arsenal of items in what appeared to be a simple traveling pack, similar to what Nino wore, ones that Jun had made himself with the help of Nakai. Not sure why the youngest of them had been left with the other half of the responsibility of escape if it came to that, Nino at least was glad it wasn’t completely on him.
Assuming that they had been properly disarmed (although they hadn’t quite), the soldier opened the heavy doors leading into the room they were using and waited outside while the ninja entered before him.
The room was filled with about forty soldiers, split in half with either on each side. They were armed with spears and swords and stood immobile against the wall, probably only providing protection for the lord and serving no other purpose. Nino immediately knew that the five ninja could take out most of them without a problem; it was the hidden ones that would be the challenge.
There were also two monks seated on each side of the front of the room, acting as witnesses to the meeting and would be held responsible for the details of what went on. It wasn’t clear how the group had gotten lucky enough to escape the lair of Lord Matsumoto as their destination, but apparently Jyani either had enough leverage to spare them such danger or their adversary was keeping something from them and needed the group on his good side. Nino couldn’t tell which it was without more information, but they both meant the same thing anyway: Arashi was coming into this gathering with the upper hand.
He wasn’t sure how that happened, but he’d take it.
As formally as possible, the five boys shuffled inside and took their designated places in front of a set of steps, which led up to a platform similar to Jyani’s, but much more intricate. It was empty right now, and no doubt the Lord had waited until Arashi had arrived, when he could make a grand entrance in order to intimidate the group.
They settled in and the room remained quiet throughout their adjustments, the atmosphere tense from everyone being on edge.
“To the group Arashi, representing the ninja village of Kitagawa Jyani,” a boy in a fancy kimono with an oversized hat said loudly, reading off of a scroll and standing at the side of the platform, “Lord Matsumoto has agreed to meet with you in order to come to terms of agreement and a truce.”
There was a pause in which the boy closed his scroll and bowed deeply, unmoving from his position until a door in the corner slid open and a man dressed in an intricate layered outfit that showed his royal heritage stepped out.
Arashi bowed simultaneously, almost touching their covered heads to the floor, and waited for the lord to complete his entrance. He took a seat in front of the ninja on the platform, in the middle of a cluster of expensive silk pillows and colorful draping fabric.
When he finally situated himself, Arashi returned to a seated position, all of their eyes trained on the floor directly before them, except Ohno who was seated in front of the other four to show himself as the captain of the group. Leader’s eyes met Matsumoto’s, as if to prove that they were at least equals, despite whatever preconceived notions the other man had.
“You may speak.”
The lord’s voice was booming and arrogant and Jun immediately hated him even more.
He remembered that voice. He’d heard it before, right before he’d been taken from his home, the home in which his slaughtered family had been left behind.
It was all he could do to keep his head down and tell himself that he was Touma today, a boy who didn’t care about this arrogant bastard seated across from them, and that was simply scared to be in the man’s presence because he had never experienced something so formal before now.
“My village was attacked a few weeks ago,” Ohno started in an almost neutral tone, barely muffled through his facemask. But it was tinged in anger and irritation at being treated in such a way, even though it was in his best interest to make this go as smoothly as possible. “I have reason to believe that it was you who hired a rival group of ninja to fulfill this mission.”
The room was silent at the direct accusation.
“And this is why you have called this negotiation, am I correct?” Matsumoto asked sarcastically and laughed bitterly. “Make me an offer, boy. You took something very precious from me.”
Ohno took a deep breath as discreetly as possible, but Jun saw the nervousness in his tense back.
But the illusionist knew that he couldn’t throw himself forward and reveal himself with this sort of atmosphere. He would have to wait until they were in the heat of battle, when he didn’t have a choice but to do so.
“What is this? Take off your masks,” Matsumoto suddenly demanded with an offended tone.
And Jun froze.
He had never met this man face to face as far as he could remember, but there was a chance that he would recognize the curve of Jun’s lips, inherited from his mother, or the prominent nose from his father.
In fact, Jun could physically resemble the man in front of him and he knew if he noticed that he would probably vomit on the spot.
“I refuse. You have no reason-“ Ohno started, but was immediately interrupted.
“I will not listen to your offer unless you and each of your boys remove your masks. I will tolerate nothing less.”
Their leader sighed deeply, but after a second pulled down his own and tore off his hood, his short hair standing straight up as it usually did.
The four boys behind him followed his example.
Jun didn’t hesitate, but kept his eyes straight forward and thought like Touma. He had no reason to be scared in this position. He was just a ninja who had been living in Jyani’s village for years and years, that had been training with Nakai for as long as he could remember, and was possibly in love with Yamapi.
He tried to tell himself that he was scared of messing up this situation and wanted to get home to Tomohisa and that was the only reason large beads of sweat were running down his face right now.
It was obvious the lord was taking a moment to look over their faces one by one, trying to discern some trace of violence or resistance from each individual ninja.
Jun’s heart stopped as the man’s eyes fell on him.
He tried to tell himself that he looked different from the way he was years ago, even when he had been happy and healthy at his father’s house, but that didn’t stop the anxieties from rushing through his head.
The gaze was stuck on him and the room was silent.
The air was so heavy that Jun felt like he was trying to breathe water and wasn’t succeeding.
“You may continue,” Matsumoto finally conceded, turning back to Ohno.
The youngest of the group tried not to make his sigh of relief too obvious. Aiba also seemed to loosen up a little bit and Jun realized that all of them must have been worried that Jun would be recognized at the sudden demand.
But everything seemed to be going okay.
“I want you to withdraw any plots of revenge from my people.”
Matsumoto laughed heartily at Ohno’s request.
“And why in the world should I do that? It was you… In fact, I believe it was even your famous little group… What is it they’re calling you now? Arashi?” he spit out sarcastically, “It was Arashi that broke into my castle and released two very important prisoners.”
Jun tried to keep his expression neutral at the mention of himself. But there had been no names exchanged yet. There was a chance that Nino was right and it had really been the princess…
But Jun still didn’t believe that. Not for one second.
“We were hired by a client to complete that job. We were simply the catalyst-“ Ohno replied confidently, and Jun was grateful that the other man had the courage that he did. Jun would never be able to sit in front of a man as powerful as Matsumoto and argue something as simple as that.
The lord burst out laughing again the moment Leader tried to explain, then broke in again in a voice that said he was speaking to someone stupid.
“That’s true. You were hired to rescue a princess. But that was it. Just the princess.”
The room fell silent when Ohno was unable to respond to the obvious accusation.
“But… you took something else with you, didn’t you?” Matsumoto paused, his expression switching from bitter and sarcastic to furious. The next words he spoke in a low and dangerous voice. “Where is my nephew?”
Jun heard Aiba swallow next to him as his identity was finally revealed and knew that Sho and Nino had probably widened their eyes, looking incredulous. But they had made no obvious reaction, which Jun was thankful for.
“Matsumoto Jun is dead.”
The illusionist almost lost himself and looked up at Ohno’s firm voice, but he caught himself in time.
Lord Matsumoto turned irate and leaned forward on the platform, staring at Ohno with furrowed brows.
“…What?” he asked in almost a whisper. Jun was suddenly worried for their safety again, with the daggers the man was throwing from his eyes.
“It’s true that I tried to rescue him. I pitied him,” Ohno explained in a calm tone. “I attempted to take him with us, but he was in bad condition. He could barely walk and we were unable to accommodate him within our group, as we had to move fast and far. He collapsed before we had even met with our client.”
Jun swallowed and tried to keep his body from shaking as Ohno created this story. It sounded like he had been practicing it, but Jun had never told him the only way for him to completely escape from his predicament was if he was dead.
That was right. Jun was dead. He was Touma today.
“We left him in the care of an innkeeper’s wife at a resting point, but when we came back to retrieve him, he was already deceased.”
Matsumoto was staring at Ohno like he’d never believe him, even if a thousand years passed.
“Why would you go back for him? Why not just leave him?” Apparently he was trying to catch Ohno in a lie or to twist his words to fit his own motives.
“We thought that he would reward our clan for rescuing him if we were successful,” Ohno replied without missing a beat. “When I found out who he was, I knew my master would be pleased if he returned with us.”
“You made a mistake, my boy.”
“They are the facts, sir. My four subordinates will testify to the truth of my story.”
Jun wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stand when the time came. He was shaking all over.
He was so close to being free.
“If this is true, although I believe not a word of it, it is still your fault that my precious nephew died.”
Jun’s jaw clenched at the reused phrase and he almost stood to pull a knife out of his soft boot and plant it in the man’s neck. He was confident of his aim in his heated rage.
Ohno’s hands also tightened at the response and he forced his tone to stay consistent as he replied. “If he was so precious, why was he in the dungeon?”
Matsumoto ignored his response. “How will you compensate me for my loss at your hands? Your entire village is not worth what that boy was to me.”
But the lord seemed to be warming up to the idea. It was obvious to Jun that there was nothing the man could do with Ohno’s explanation right now. There were two monks in the room that were acting as witnesses to the whole mess and he would have to kill, not only the five experienced ninja, but also slaughter the entire monastery to keep this meeting quiet. The lord might still be considering it, but it was the only other way that Matsumoto was going to get out of it without proving that Jun was still alive.
With that thought, Jun was really wishing he could disappear right now.
He was so close.
So close to a happily ever after with Ohno.
“But, I don’t know,” Matsumoto continued in a bargaining tone, “I suppose I could recoup some of my loss with the famous ninja troupe Arashi at my hand.”
Jun furrowed his brows and resisted saying anything that would ruin the end they had almost achieved, as apparently all the rest of the boys to his side were doing.
“Lord Matsumoto-“ Ohno began to reply tensely, but he was swiftly interrupted.
“Yes, that would be quite nice. How about you pledge your allegiance to me and I’ll retract any threats I have against your village?” the lord offered haughtily.
Jun couldn’t restrain himself, even though he knew he was being stupid. He was being so, so stupid.
“Never.”
He looked up and met Matsumoto’s eyes directly as his word reverberated around the hall and Sho, Nino, and Aiba were staring at him. Nino, at least, was mouthing at him to shut up.
As he finally got a good look at his uncle, Jun was relieved to find that this man held absolutely no resemblance to himself or his father.
Matsumoto grinned at his hidden nephew and chuckled. “Tell you what, leave just the cheeky brat here with me and I’ll agree.”
Jun almost shot up in order to kill the bastard he hated with every cell in his body, but Aiba grabbed his arm and Ohno had half turned and raised his hand in order to bring him back to reality.
Averting his eyes and realizing how much danger they were in right now, Jun tried to ignore the leering grin he had begun receiving from his own kin. Matsumoto was apparently amused by the fury in the boy’s voice and was reveling in the power he held over the group.
“Lord Matsumoto,” Arashi’s captain started again in his own low, quiet voice. “I am truly sorry for your loss.”
To everyone in the room, Ohno didn’t sound sorry in the least.
“But we will not be compensating you for it.”
Leader’s blood was boiling, not only from the way Matsumoto was talking about Jun as his nephew, but also at the way the lord was treating Jun as Ohno’s team mate.
If there wasn’t so much at stake right now, Ohno would have already strangled the sneaky bastard.
He narrowed his eyes and met the gaze of the lord, who was suddenly looking a little wary of the younger man sitting across from him.
“If you will not retract your threat on my village of your own will, I assure you,” Leader paused for dramatic effect and to organize his thoughts properly. He really needed to calm down and allow the meeting to proceed in the same direction that he had planned out with Jyani previously. “There will be repercussion which we have held back in favor of verbally settling this.”
Matsumoto swallowed and tried to continue to look tough, even though Ohno knew his threat held a great deal of leverage. He wasn’t lying when he told his friends he’d assassinate this man, and he’d take pleasure in every second of it.
The same heavy silence as before fell over the room as the lord tried to come up with a response to Ohno’s blatant warning.
Finally he said begrudgingly, “Matsumoto Jun is dead.” He looked pointedly at the two monks and frowned deeply before turning back to Ohno. “I do not put any blame on the ninja village of Jyani Kitagawa.”
Ohno nodded, even though he knew that formally announcing so and retracting his grudge were two completely different things.
But Jyani would be pleased at the result that had come from their meeting.
“We deeply thank you,” Ohno replied softly and bowed back down to the floor, spaying his hands out in front of him and touching his forehead to the ground. He felt his teammates behind him do the same and they stayed that way as Matsumoto furiously stood and exited.
Somehow standing in his daze, Jun followed Ohno and the other boys as they returned to the entrance, none of them stopped by any of the soldiers or the monks on their way.
The ninja retrieved their weapons but didn’t bother to reapply their head gear before darting out of the building and ducking into the bushes.
After traveling for ten minutes, just to make sure they were far enough not to be overheard or suddenly stopped by the lord and his forces, Ohno finally slowed down and turned to his friends.
Jun, who was panting less from the physical exercise and more from unbelief, immediately felt his legs start shaking and he collapsed onto the ground, his calves out to either side of him under his knees and his hands resting lightly on the ground in front of him.
How had he been so lucky?
He had walked right into his uncle’s clutches, stared the man in the eye, and got away with… nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
No baggage of his father’s land. No expectations of repaying a debt. No guilt over being unable to sacrifice himself to save his friends.
Ohno fell opposite him in a similar fashion and then dropped onto his back after a second, looking up at the sky and wincing as he jarred his injured shoulder.
Aiba rushed over to him, making sure that Leader to put his arm back in a sling now that they were done, while Nino rounded on Jun.
“Matsumoto?!” He was looking furious and ready to pummel him.
But Jun didn’t care. He laughed happily, tilting his head back.
He was free.
“Seriously, that was… intense…” Sho added a few feet behind his boyfriend, looking at Jun curiously.
“How…?” Nino asked confused, breathless. “How… How could you give up all that money?”
Jun looked at his friend blankly then laughed loudly again, probably sounding like a crazy man.
“No, I’m completely… That’s like… God, that’s like… an entire prefecture…” Nino said in wonder, his expression relaxing and instead going into accounting mode.
“Three, actually,” Jun corrected cheerfully. Three prefectures that he’d never have to worry about again.
Nino’s mouth fell open and he couldn’t reply to Jun’s statement.
He looked over at Sho, who simply raised his eyebrow at him.
While the two had their moment, Jun looked through their legs to Ohno, who was also grinning, even though he was still making faces as Aiba slowly reapplied the bandages to his shoulder. Jun hadn’t noticed Ohno acting any different from usual in the reception room, even though his arm was almost completely useless, and was in awe at Ohno’s acting skills.
The illusionist crawled between Nino and Sho, who were now arguing about using that much money and what they could possibly do with it, and Jun threw himself at Ohno, even though he knew perfectly well that one of his arms was hurt.
He pulled Leader close to him, probably suffocating the older man in his shoulder, and tried not to let his ever present tears fall.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Aiba seemed miffed as his work was messed up, but immediately backed away to join the other ninja, adding that they could buy a whole lot of candy with that much money.
Ohno’s good hand rested on Jun’s back, patting him gently as he smiled into the black material of Jun’s standardized suit.
“You said you couldn’t live without me anymore,” he mumbled and Jun had to strain his ears to hear him. “I don’t think I can live without you either…”
Jun’s breath stopped and he pulled Ohno tighter against him.
But Leader let out a wince as Jun jarred his shoulder and the younger boy backed off right away, looking over to Aiba to fix it.
They shared one more shy look as the herbalist bent over to help Leader, and Jun discovered he was blushing brightly at Ohno’s admission.
He knew that this was love. He was in love deeper than he could pull himself out of.
Ohno jumped as Aiba was a little rougher with him than necessary (since he had been pushed away and ignored a moment ago) and Jun turned to find that the topic of conversation had changed from how many gold studded sailing ships they could buy if they could somehow get their hands on Jun’s money to insulting Lord Matsumoto.
“Did you see the way he was leering at Jun? Seriously, gross. With your own nephew.” Nino stuck out his tongue as he talked to Sho, who had sat against a tree in order to rest a little, sweat pouring down his face.
They had had to make good time to get here, so no doubt the archer was out of breath and exhausted. Jun knew they would have to wait a little while for him to feel better before they took off again.
Nino turned to Jun and gave him a look of mock-pity. “Don’t worry, Jun-chan. We wouldn’t have left you with that lecher,” he teased.
Jun let a relieved smile grace his face. Even though Nino was making jokes about such a serious thing, he couldn’t be anything but ecstatic right now.
He could have his happily ever after.
+++
In the years following, it was obvious that Lord Matsumoto was determined to keep his promise and avoid putting his own life in danger.
There had been no more attacks on the village, no more searching for the supposedly dead Jun, and no more threats against Jyani or Arashi. In fact, the village was slowly being rebuilt, mostly by inflow of money from working ninja like Arashi, who took it upon themselves to keep the stores in need of supplies, even if it was something as useless as a roll of thread or books on how to take care of a cat.
But Ohno had gained more responsibility at the success of their self provided mission, and suddenly it was almost like he was drifting away from the rest of the group.
Especially Jun.
He would still smile at him, still pat him proudly on the back and offer him words of encouragement, but there was no more hand holding and no more sleeping flush against each other at night.
It was killing him, but every time Jun tried to get closer to the older ninja, Ohno would either make an excuse and leave or politely reject him.
Sho had explained to him once again that Jyani had indoctrinated Leader with the idea that love was bad and that it would only lead to the ruin of the group and that that was undoubtedly why their captain was acting that way, but no matter how much Jun tried to fight it, he couldn’t. He wanted to be with Leader, whether it put them at risk or not. He wanted to be able to kiss the older man and touch him and tell him how he felt.
He wanted what Sho and Nino had.
Eventually Jun just gave up, resigning himself temporarily to dedication of mastering everything that Nakai could teach him and the use of his knives. He surpassed Nino at some point, which had come as a surprise, and had earned his rank within the group of Arashi, finally able to hold his own.
Even with that achievement, though, Ohno still distanced himself from the younger man, letting Jun create his own training routine and never batting an eyelash as the illusionist made more and more friends within the village, increasing the seemingly exponential popularity of the group. More people had joined their community in hopes of meeting these men and being protected by them, and there wasn’t a better time with the big hit they had taken with the attack by Matsumoto.
They continued to progress as a group, unrivaled by anyone in the area, just as Jyani had predicted. Ninja were still approaching Arashi, either challenging the members to personal battles, most of which the group refused, or to ask to train with them. They also refused these requests, if only because none of them had the patience or desire to allow another person into their tight knit circle.
Despite their unsaid loyalty to each other, Jun still couldn’t tear his eyes away from Ohno. Even when they were on missions and he tried to force himself not to watch the older man, he always found his eyes training on him. He was now usually partnered with Aiba during missions, and Ohno was left on his own, so Jun felt absolutely no guilt in keeping an eye out for the ninja he held closest to his heart. They all still worked together smoothly, even better now that Sho and Nino were explicitly given the responsibility of watching each other.
Jun was proud that they had proven that maybe Jyani had been wrong about the whole thing and that it was better if there were these connections within the group. It made the ninja hyper sensitive during their missions, keeping their eyes open for more details, especially concerning their partner.
But there was no convincing the ninja lord of that, even if he tried, and Ohno was just as immobile.
Jun wanted to reach out and shake Leader sometimes, but every time he came close to saying something reprimanding to the older man, he melted. As hardheaded as Jun was, he couldn’t argue with Ohno when he said I just don’t feel that way about you, Jun-kun.
It made his heart break.
Every time.
He’d been so sure. So sure that Ohno felt the same, since the very first time their eyes had met in the dungeon. Even now those eyes told him Jun was right, despite Ohno’s mouth saying something different.
Jun had thought that he’d found his happily ever after, but he hadn’t.
It wasn’t until four years later that anything changed.
+++
A/N: This is the end of the second part! How was it? I know things went way way too smoothly (and then I threw in a preview for the next part there at the end) but actually this little plot twist wasn't exactly included in the original story... or should I say, it spiraled out of control when I actually started to write it. So forgive me for not included any battle scenes in this chapter. ^__^;
Since I'm not really going to go into the history/universe any more, at least in this area, feel free to ask me any questions (and I'll compile a list below here even though it's sort of an eyesore). By the way, I'm going to take a short break before I start posting the next part so I can (hopefully) catch up on a few more things I've neglected. I have at least a oneshot to post, and hopefully I'll be able to finish another few things as well. You might also notice that I've added tags to my entries, and I've updated my masterpost too.
Notes: Wait, what just happened? Why is everything okay just because they say Jun is dead? Just for clarification purposes~ If Jun is alive in his uncle's "care," then his uncle controls the land in place of Jun's father (i.e. the land Jun would be taking of if he was independent). This control is displayed by Jun "living" in his uncle's castle. If Jun and all of his immediate family is dead, the power falls to the lesser lords underneath his father instead of his uncle. This is based off of the feudal Japan system, basically the inter-marriage of families and ransoming your children for political reasons, although in this story it was forced by Jun's uncle.
Isn't the village going to move? Aren't they in danger? Generally speaking the ninja villages work together (like when Sho came from Ogura's?), so that was the reason their location was known (or that's what I'm going with). Basically, it took a lot of money/manpower for Matsumoto to convince a village to turn against another and it backfired for all of them, although in the end their location wasn't given away to anyone. The job was just that one village attack the other.
To Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo