Your Body Is a Template Chapter 18: A Hard Earned Rest

One thing that could be taken away from being passed out for the length of time I was is how nice being asleep or unconscious is. You don’t have to feel all the pain from whatever ails you, no stress worrying about money or how you will make it to the next day, and so on.

It’s something I had taken for granted, and I think many others do as well. A brief reprieve from reality is such a nice thing. Or it was for me until I began to wake up. I hadn’t even dreamed, or at least I hadn’t noticed.

Not even Kojirou was there to greet me when I was unconscious-

“That’s because you needed the rest, and you wouldn’t have your head in the game as your family would like to say.”

I initially think to argue with him but decide not to for several reasons. Mostly because I don’t want a repeat of the pouting incident and me falling down again. Feeling the aches and pains across my body, I opened my eyes only to immediately close them when the sun became blinding.

“Finally awake, I see.” A man said. 

Opening and closing my eyes several times, finally adjusting to the light. I groaned before rising, a sheet covering me fell, exposing my chest. Looking around, I find that I am on a wagon as a cloud shinobi looked down at me. 

The man was bald and dark-skinned, but his notable feature is how big he is. The guy may as well be a giant, standing at what I estimated to be nearly seven feet tall. He gives me a knowing smirk, seemingly guessing at what I am thinking about. Realizing my mouth was hanging open, I quickly closed it.

“Y-yeah… thought I was dead until I woke up.”

Before he could say anything, a familiar voice got my attention. “Kojirou, how are you feeling?” Yugito asked, her face getting uncomfortably close to mine. She was at the wagon's side looking down at me.

“Like I got trampled by a herd of bulls," I groaned.

I tried to set up, but her hand was placed against my chest with a hint of red on her cheeks before she pushed me back down. 

“Just rest, Kojirou. You have done more than enough to have earned it.” She gives me a soft smile. I stayed down after that even though I would have liked to get up, but feeling how my body is currently, it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a bit.

As I lay there with the clouds going by, we traversed the mountains, and then I realized I needed to know if they survived. “Did Gaman and Y- I mean Lord Yasu make it?”

Instead of anyone immediately saying anything, a samurai wearing brown armor plates with gold edges adorned in a cool-looking helmet slowed down to match the pace of the wagon.

“They did, Kojirou. If not for you and Gaman being there, we would not even know what had transpired.”

Looking at the figure with the sun behind them makes for an impressive yet imposing image. 

"Apologies, for I do not know who you are, sir?” I said with the utmost respect in my tone. Gaman was shown respect, but it was more relaxed since the man was more lax on such things. This guy likely wasn’t like Gaman in that regard, and since he is wearing a training suit, it would be for the best to show respect.

The man gives off serious vibes and comes off as the kind of person to have a metal rod shoved where the sun doesn’t shine. 

“Of course, I am Lord Kirigaya and the one tasked with leading this group sent to reinforce and protect you, Lord Yasu, and Gaman.”

“Thank you, Lord Kirigaya, for coming to assist us.”

Kirigaya simply looked ahead but nodded all the same. “Your thanks are not necessary but appreciated. If anything, I should be thanking you for aiding one of our country's nobles and putting the invaders in their place. You make your family proud and show your honor, Kojirou.”

Kirigaya soon disappeared in an impressive burst of speed. “I was surprised he even thanked him.” Someone off to the side said quietly, but I heard them all the same.

“He may be a wandering ronin, but he managed to do something noteworthy. Plus I won’t complain, he managed to make that jackass thank him. Prick could be a little more humble when dealing with other people...”

Then Yugito’s voice chimes in, “Careful saying that out in the open like this, you never know when he might hear of it and decide to let you know what he thinks about what we lowly shinobi think of him.”

The others grumbled, but it was done in a playful manner. It was rather uneventful after that, but Andrew would take it over being hunted and having to fight someone like Zabuza. 

Speaking of the man, he had learned from Yugito and her group that they never found his body but did collect his sword since it was a valuable weapon, being one of the seven swords that were treasures to the Land of Waves.

It did annoy him since he did technically best Zabuza, so it should be his, but they also saved his life, as according to the others, Yugito had jumped off the mountain to catch him, and using some ninja wires managed to get back to the mountain before both of them became red pancakes on the path below.

Her friends' recounting made her blush up a storm as they teased her, and she in turn made them shut up by threatening to tell some embarrassing stories about them. It was as they were several mountains away from where he had made his last stand against the Demon of the Mist that they set up camp.

Unlike with the workers and guards from before, they were much faster and had far more capable people staying on watch while he rested in the comfy wagon, resting and training with Kojirou in his mindscape.

Just as I took a seat, a bowl of beef stew with vegetables mixed into it was given to me. I enjoyed the meal, eating away at it like a man deprived of food. Savoring every last bite of the meal, I noticed Gaman and Lord Yasu making their way through camp. 

Waving at Gamana and Yasu, who beelined it straight to me, both with smiles on their faces. “Glad to see you two managed to make it out of there. Kill all of the ronin, Gaman?” I said with a smile as relief filled me at having survived that entire ordeal and seeing those two alive. 

Gaman chuckled at my comment while Yasu looked between us, having abandoned his worker disguise. He was wearing a red, blue, and green robe that is designed in an intricate pattern similar to a tree. 

“Unfortunately, no. But I did manage to take out a fair number of them and got to settle things with their leader.” He said before shaking his head, bringing up who I assumed was the one with the buzzcut, “I swear the younger generations of ronin and samurai have no respect for their elders nor the old ways.” 

"Well, I am glad to hear that the workers and guards who gave their lives managed to get some justice after all that had transpired.” I said with a brittle smile reminded of all of those deaths, first because of Yasu and then because of me. 

As sad as it is, one could argue I should stick with my original plan of finding a hidden area and simply live off the land in hiding. The issue is I don’t know the lands well in this world, and finding such a place without people finding traces of me getting there would be impossible. I need food and supplies, and so far no one here has made a move against me. 

So take advantage while I can. 

“As commendable as that way of thinking is, all of those workers and guards had given their lives to their Lord. Do not mourn for those who have willingly given such things to those they serve when it is to be expected of them.” Lord Kirigaya said, coming in with his helmet off but still wearing his armor, with those listening while eating. They all made a wide berth for the samurai.

Not letting my displeasure at his callous disregard for those people's deaths and simply thinking that it is their sole purpose to serve those above them get to me. 

“Regardless of them willingly giving their lives, it is only fair they be given something in return to ease the tragedy of their deaths. Something to give them some peace.” 

I said back as Lord Kirigaya's eyes slightly narrowed for a brief moment before they were back to normal as if it had never happened. “A sense of justice at that, surprising for a wandering ronin but respectable. You did well handling Zabuza Momochi. How did you manage to do so when your ki training appears to have just begun?”

His question showed an interest behind his eyes as Gaman looked ready to hear my story. Taking a breath and recounting to them all that had happened before and after Gaman had saved me. I made sure he was well aware of my gratitude when the part of him saving me came up.

The man brushed it off or tried to, but I wouldn’t have any of it. Even if he did it to use me as a means to make our enemies divide their attention so there was less pressure on him and Lord Yasu, he still saved my life. That counts for something, and he gave me a fighting chance instead of just getting instantly killed by that jutsu.

“Then I scaled up the mountain, fending off his attacks as best I could, realizing he had stopped using jutsu the closer to the top we got.”

Everyone nodded at that, enjoying the story while eating, with Kirigaya and Gaman both having smiles on their faces, though Kirigaya was not as big. 

“He was a powerful opponent. I would go so far as to say the second strongest I had battled up until that point. He was knocking me around with each strike of his blade as my bones felt-”

“Who was the strongest?” Gaman asked, cutting in. Everyone looked at him before looking at me expectantly. Especially the gathered samurai.

“That would have to go to a man I never learned the name of. He and his two students tried to ambush me and a young woman I had walked with for a small amount of time.” I said, not going into detail on Fuyuko not knowing how everyone here would react to me hanging around a Yuki Onna. 

Though I do note a strange look Yugito gives me when Fuyuko is brought up.

I did not want to step on that landmine, having an idea of why she is giving that look that swiftly goes away when I look at her and she simply smiles.

“Tsk. Of course they would try to ambush you…” Kirigaya scoffs, shaking his head as the shinobi glanced at him but quickly looked away while the gathered samurai nodded their heads in agreement.
 
“You probably won’t like what he was originally training as and decided to branch out into.” I say with a smirk as Kirigaya cocked his brow at me.

“And what is that?” He said with a low tone.

“He was trained as a samurai and decided he didn’t like the elders' ways.”

A fit of coughing makes me turn my head and see Gaman had swallowed his food down the wrong end and was coughing as a samurai patted his back. 

“Are you alright, Gaman?” I ask the man in concern.

Waving his hand with tears in his eyes. “Of course, I just thought I had misheard you that a talented samurai was turning his back on his masters.” He said with a cheery smile that slowly goes down at my gaze.

“I did say that…” 

What’s left of his smile died a swift and brutal death, now replaced with a snarl of rage. He rose from his seat along with Kirigaya, both looking ready to go to war. “Where did you fight this… this… this wretched bastard?”

A wave of killing intent washed over the campsite as the shinobi and samurai looked ready to draw their weapons or flee or both.

"Gaman, please calm yourself. I fought him back in the Land of Frost, but I doubt you will find him there. If anything, he is hunting me down, so you would have better luck staying near me," I said, raising my hands, trying to get him to sit back down and calm down.

“How did he fight you?” Yugito asked, interested but eyeing both Gaman and Kirigaya with a wary look.

“He stepped out in the open as his students waited in the trees while he distracted us. I saw it coming before they did anything and avoided both of our deaths as they tried to decapitate both of us.”

Gaman snorted derisively at that, shaking his head. “At least you showed him how pathetic his ways were. What a fool…”

“I did until I managed to kill one of his students. Then I managed to survive by sheer luck.”

This made all the samurai snap their heads at my acknowledgment of barely surviving.

“What did he do?”

“What saved you?” 

Two of the samurai asked simultaneously that I never got their names.

“A tribe of Yuki Onna didn’t take kindly to our fight happening near their home.” 

Kirigaya stood up, looking down on me. “You should be ashamed of yourself for needing to be rescued by a group of demons.”

Gaman rose from where he sat in a slow and deliberate manner, calmly walking near me before moving past me as his gaze bored holes into Kirigaya's face. “You would do well to watch your tongue when addressing Kojirou in such a way. Let us hear what he was fighting against to at least see if it was indeed necessary to be saved by… those things.”

Despite me not liking how Gaman referred to the Yuki Onna as things I didn’t say because he is defending me and giving me a chance to explain myself despite not caring to do so. I took no offense from Kirigaya's comment because if you are fighting something so far out of your league, someone coming to help you is not something I would look down on someone else for.

Kirigaya looks at Gaman with an intense anger in his eyes, but after several seconds of one another staring into the other's eyes, the tension reaches its climax. 

Kirigaya breaks it finally by sighing and waving his hand at me. “Kojirou, explain yourself.” 

“I don’t know what the technique he used was, but when I killed one of his students, he said something along the lines of being angry at me for forcing him to use the move and how it angered him being reminded of the old man. His sword, like his two students when they tried a sneak attack, got covered in lightning.”

“While an advanced technique, it isn’t anything special.”

“It was something more than that. The lightning stopped dancing along his blade, and it began to glow like a sword being forged from molten metal. The snow and frost would turn to steam when touching it. He wasn’t cutting through things so much as he was burning through it all. I could not defend, only evade his strikes out of luck with how fast he was.”

As I described it more and more, Kirigaya's look of disapproval slowly faded away as he looked deep in thought. Once finished, he had a calmer expression before speaking. 

“It would seem you had the misfortune to encounter who I think you did. Someone give me an up to date bingo book.” He held his hand out as one of the samurai around us pulled a small book and handed it to him, kneeling down on a knee like he was presenting an invaluable treasure. 

Grabbing the book without even looking at his subordinate and nonchalantly letting it fall open as the pages fly by before it abruptly stopped. Walking closer and turning the book over, it showed me the image of the man that was my first difficult enemy that had me on the ropes. 

“Is this the man you are referring to?” 

Looking at the image and seeing the name next to it is Akira Yūma. "Yes, it is him.”

“The fact you managed to survive against him by dumb luck shows that the heavens favor you rather well.”

Tossing the book without looking at the man who gave it to him before turning and walking away. “I think I have heard enough, I will be leaving.” 

Just like that, he walked away. 

“Is Akira Yūma someone noteworthy in your country?”

“The name means something to certain circles. Kojirou, are you certain that what you described happened?” He asked me as if looking for any deceit.

I simply shake my head. “Gaman, what I said is the truth. That is what I witnessed. Who is he?”

“He was a famous student of an old master. Things happened, and he didn’t agree with the way things are done or the ways of the older generation in general and had a falling out. He was considered a prodigy and a great loss when he left.”

He stood from where he was sitting, finishing off his meal as the camp fell into silence. Everyone tried to hide it, but they are all looking at me out of the corners of their eyes while eating or looking at the ground, finding a random rock that looks fascinating. 

“Don’t let what happened with Akira dampen the mood for the rest of you. Kojirou, enjoy yourself, for you have most certainly earned it. I and Lord Yasu will speak with you later.”

With that, Gaman walked off, as the only thing that could be heard was the crackle of the fire as everyone just sat there awkwardly. 

Thinking for a moment before remembering where I was, “As I was forced further and further up the mountain, I used a move I had developed to carve a chunk off of the top of the mountain, making it come down on us.”

With me going back to the story, the awkward tension faded away as everyone listened in and enjoyed the story. “After getting past the rock, I launched a similar move back down at the debris as Zabuza was getting over it himself. Not believing for a second he was dead from that of all things, I continued and made it to the top before seeing several water clones he had kept above.”

“So that’s how he could use jutsu without fear of getting struck by lightning – he was using the clones to send out their chakra to attract the bolt instead!” Yugito chimed in, finger pointed at me in excitement with a big smile. 

“That’s… actually smart and terrifying. He had enough chakra to even do such a thing, it just shows why his bounty is so high.” One of the shinobi mutters as the others start talking while the gathered samurai just listen.

“Kojirou, how did you manage to beat him with all of those clones?” One samurai asked while the others agreed, wanting to know.

“By channeling chakra into my sword and tossing it at them. The lightning did the rest for me. Of course, I still had to deal with the real Zabuza after he showed he survived but was injured from my attack.”

The samurai cheered and laughed after they each looked intrigued at the mention of chakra. They made jokes at Zabuza's clones getting beaten in such a smart way. 

“Hah! No fancy jutsu or monk chanting, just a sword and a man's ingenuity to beat a powerful foe!”

Others chimed in, and even some shinobi who didn’t mind the comment about jutsu.

“By this point Zabuza was more angry than anything and was like a raging bull, some intelligence was left, but it was only the kind ingrained in him to kill. He, however, made a big mistake that forced him on the defensive…”

“What mistake did he make?!”

“Did he use up too much chakra?”

“Did you surpass him in skill with a blade?”

The questions kept coming before I spoke again having all of their attention, “I accepted I may die then and there, so for every strike I made I did so with the intent to take my enemy with me. A slash to the torso, my blade goes for his head. My arm. His head. My legs. His head.”

Everyone was silent at the simple reveal but it didn’t stop them from chatting excitedly amongst one another while Yugito was giving me a weird look. Not necessarily worried or anything like that…

A hand slapped me on the back as I looked over seeing a samurai smiling at me with a laugh. “Most impressive Kojirou, I would have been solely focused on trying to overpower the man. But with how tricky he is that would not have worked out for me – but it would have been a glorious death!” 

Giving the man an awkward smile as his friends laugh, making boasts that everyone knew they wouldn’t back up… or I hoped they wouldn’t. It's hard to say with how wacky these samurai seem to get.

The older ones are weird, and the younger ones seem like they have a rod of steel shoved where the sun doesn’t shine unless it’s something that is samurai-centric and makes them look cool.

“What happened next, Kojirou?” A woman with a sly smile asked me, and I continued going through the clash. Each time Zabuza would have a chance to kill me, he would divert away to avoid dying with me. The samurai and shinobi both got a laugh out of it, but it stopped when I got to the part where he managed to pin me to the ground.

Using the lightning and having it drawn to me in a last gambit to take Zabuza out as well had everyone staring at me wide eyed in shock that I would go that far.

Shrugging my shoulders I said, “Well what did you expect? Me to sit down and accept my death or fight to the bitter end and take my enemy with me?”

“Kojirou as a samurai I can agree on fighting to the bitter end, but what you did in that fight I think it is safe to say goes far beyond simply trying to keep fighting.” 

I looked at him with a ‘are you crazy’ look since they seem to be so gung-ho about never giving up.

He waved his hands at me before explaining, “Not that what you did was bad. If anything it’s something that will become one hell of a story to tell to others of what happened. The stuff of legends!” That last part he gained a far off look in his eyes.

Having had my fill of a meal I got up and walked away with all eyes remaining on me. Once out of range everyone started talking to their friends and coworkers while enjoying their meals. Finding a quieter place and taking a seat on the ground, I began training with Kojirou in my mind, not wishing to waste anymore time. 

Every bit needed to be used to help me get stronger. Zabuza had proven to me that I am far from invincible and he was far younger than he appeared first in the series. No need to mention ki having an advantage over chakra yet as Pokemon has shown, that doesn’t mean your guaranteed to win.

So a younger Zabuza kicked my ass that badly then what would the heavier hitters be capable of?