After one week of staying in the capital of the land of iron that was called Fang, Bakorio grew much more familiar with this place that was covered in snow most of the time.

He also got closer to Yoshino and her grandma as he really enjoyed their dango and became a regular customer there, although the little girl didn't stop pestering him...

"Oy teacher, when are you going to teach me swordsmanship?" Asked Yoshino while delivering him the dango he ordered and Bakorio simply replied saying "I'm not your teacher" Before he started enjoying his dango.

Little Yoshino bit her lips and kept pestering him until her grandma came out of the kitchen and said "Shi-chan, stop bothering our customer when he's eating"

Yoshino who was punching Bakorio's leg for ignoring her stopped after hearing this before she glared at Bakorio for one last time and yelled "Fine! I will learn on my own… It can't be that hard anyways"

Then, she directly ran out of the shop after seeing Bakorio ignore her even despite all of this…

"Shi-chan wait!" Yelled her grandpa but she couldn't catch up to her so she worriedly approached Bakorio and said "Sorry to keep bothering you but can you please bring her back? That girl is very reckless and she might injure herself…"

Bakorio calmly ate his dango despite all of this and simply said "Murakumo… do you have any idea where I can find him?"

The worried grandma froze slightly and she couldn't believe her ears for a second as she asked Bakorio "You also believe in lord Murakumo?"

Bakorio shook his head calmly and said "Believe is a strong word, but I don't think it's that farfetched for him to actually exist considering the world we live in"

The grandma's eyes appeared very vigorous as she said "Not many people know this, but one day, when my late husband was collecting ingredients in the wild, he was attacked by a giant snake that tried to swallow him whole, but then a blinding white light flashed in front of him and the head of the snake was instantly severed… My late husband was sure that it wasn't the doing of a normal samurai…"

Bakorio's eyes flickered slightly as he asked her "Is this why you firmly believe in this legend despite all the mocking you receive for it?"

Grandma Shu nodded slightly before she said "My husband wouldn't lie to me"

"Where and when did this happen?" Asked Bakorio curiously to which grandma Shu pondered for a while as if she was trying to refresh her memory before she said "I believe it was to the east of the three wolves mountain and it happened five years ago"

"I see, thanks for the meal as always" then Bakorio calmly stood up and made his way out of the shop and grandma Shu couldn't help but worriedly shout "What about Shi-chan?"

"Don't worry, I will take care of her" Replied Bakorio, finally easing the worried woman's heart…

…

After leaving the shop, Bakorio calmly started tracking the smell of the little girl using his strong senses while thinking 'It seems like there's definitely something weird in the east of the three wolves' mountains… So far, more than 8 people have experienced similar incidents describing a white sharp light saving them… could it be someone that can use sharp release?'

As Bakorio was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly found himself standing in front of the east gate of the capital and a frown instantly covered his face as he muttered "Don't tell me… Stupid girl"

Bakorio instantly rushed out of the gate with a terrifying speed while covering himself in a lightning release chakra cloak that further increased his speed as he made his way into the wilderness and after some time, he could finally hear the sound of a girl screaming prompting him to further increase his speed only to end up greeted with a weird scene.

Yoshino was holding a stick in her hand while running away from a leopard-like beast and she had many bleeding scratches all over her body, the beast was probably playing with her for a while, but Bakorio noticed that Yoshino's stick was stained with blood and the beast had one of its eyes ruptured so he easily guessed what happened.

'This girl is truly reckless…' Thought Bakorio as he watched the beast pouncing at Yoshino's defenseless back and ready to rip her apart and he prepared to kill it but suddenly, a white light flew from the distance and directly severed the head of the beast from the rest of its body causing Bakorio to widen his eyes in astonishment! 'This is…'

However, he quickly controlled his emotions and rushed to Yoshino's side first and noticed that she was bleeding from multiple injuries and if he were to let this go on, she would die from losing too much blood…

"teacher? What are you doing here? Were you the one that saved me?" Asked Yoshino with a weak but relieved voice as she threw herself at Bakorio who gently caught her and started healing her injuries which surprised her, but she was even more surprised when he said

"You came here to find the swordsman that saved your grandpa right? He was the one that saved you just now…"

"So, grandma wasn't lying… I want to grow stronger, no matter what"

Bakorio could see the intense desire in the girl's eyes, but he suddenly felt someone approaching them from the distance wearing a monk's clothing as well as a round straw hat that covered his face which distracted him especially when he asked Yoshino calmly

"Little girl, would you like to be my student?" Yoshino stared in shock at the monk while Bakorio calmly stared at his simple-looking sword and concluded 'This guy must be related to the legend of Murakumo…'

"Are you lord Murakumo?" Asked Yoshino hopefully, but the monk simply shook his head and replied "No, my name is Minamoto Raiko…"

Yoshino had a clearly disappointed look on her face, but Bakorio was completely different as he eyed the man in front of him and thought 'This guy is strong… He's at the super Kage level…'

Then he simply grinned and stood in front of the healed Yoshino to face the monk that had been ignoring him all this while " Interesting, you are probably related to this person Murakumo in one way or another right?"

Hearing this, Yoshino's eyes lit up and she couldn't help but ask curiously "Is that true?"

The monk calmly patted his hat and responded "Who knows? You will have to become my student before I can answer your question, but you don't have the talent for it"

Bakorio's eyes widened slightly as he wondered 'This guy can sense sword talent? Is this why he's interested in Yoshino… It seems like my doubts aren't wrong'

Raiko thought that his words would intrigue Yoshino into accepting his offer, but her curiosity suddenly changed into doubt as she said "What are you talking about? Teacher is an amazing swordsman, I saw with my own eyes what he can do…"

Raiko frowned slightly and said "Impossible, he doesn't have any swordsmanship talent, although he appears to be an Uchiha from the symbol on his clothes so he probably copied someone else's swordsmanship and used it as his own…"

"Really?" Yoshino wasn't convinced and she couldn't help but shoot Bakorio a questioning look but he simply smiled and responded to Raiko "Who knows? You will have to become my student if you want me to answer you… although you don't seem to have the talent for it so that's impossible"

Yoshino froze slightly before she realized that those words were directed at Raiko in return for him insulting Bakorio's talent, but instead of him getting mad, Raiko simply smiled calmly and said "I'm sorry if you found my words inappropriate"

'Hmm, this guy is truly abnormal, his heart is in the right state, dealing with him won't be easy… Guess if provoking him doesn't work, I will have to simply act unreasonably'

As Bakorio concluded his thoughts, he simply smiled and said "Show me what can you teach Yoshino" before he simply coated his sword in chakra and sent a flying slash at Raiko!

"Sigh, I guess I don't have a choice but teach you a lesson" replied Raiko before calmly dodging Bakorio's slash by tilting his body and sent a simple slash of his own, although, in Bakorio's eyes, it was anything but simple as he could feel danger from that chakra slash!

****

AN: High everyone, sorry for the long Hiatus but I couldn't write for a while... Anyways, we are back to business starting today!