Back In Black #1

It's long past midnight. The rain polluted with heavy metals consumes blinking neon signs, making their chemical-colored blinking even brighter in this drenched night. The citizen hide themselves under bamboo hats with tired expressions, as if everyone is enduring something. "Cheap, cheap, actually cheap". "Aka-chan..." Attracting the late-night crowd, the advertisements are even louder now.
POWPOWPOW... As a vehicle loudly honks with an automatic horn generator while sprinkling water from the puddles, overworked salarymen grip their wallets and credit chips even tighter, while the street yotamono punks turn around and show it the kitsune sign. In the narrow gap of the night sky between the skyscrapers, a maguro zeppelin passes by.
"Very uplifting stuff!", "Tanning salon", "Waana MIRROR store", "Horse racing bookmaking", "Lots of hot yoga". The sheer mass of neon signs, crackling and blinking from poor cable protection. The steam rising from the foot carts. Chaos. Voices. Death. This is Neo-Saitama. For the capital of Japan, secluded both physically and electronically, this sight is all too familiar.
Busy people, idle people, businessmen, yakuza, oiran, tourists, runaways, suicidal people, Gulf Defense Force scouts, scouts for dangerous work, fast-food store hawkers, karaoke hawkers. Here on the main street, the noise won't cease until it greets the coming of a yellow dawn. On the other hand, just by walking into a certain alley, one will see, darkness.

From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Back In Black"



"AIEEEE!" The man screams in fear and pain, tripping over heaps of fluorescent garbage and looking up. "To tell the truth, I can see why you're looking at me like that". Crackling his knuckles, a man of medium build in a plain hooded PVC raincoat comes closer.
"Dammit," the attacked man quickly moves his hand. The hand emits a light that's much brighter than the nearby fluorescent garbage. However, within that very second, the PVC raincoat man mercilessly stomps that hand down to the ground with his tabi. The mass-produced plasma knife flashes sorrowfully while spinning on the asphalt. "AIEEE!"
'Why are you looking at me like that?", the PVC raincoat man repeats. "Do you understand? Omioma=san!" "AIEEEE!" Omioma finally manages a scream. The bones in the back of his hand are already broken, and even under it, the cracks spread across the asphalt. "AIEEEE!" "Do you understand? That's what I want to hear. Answer the question!"
"Kaname=san's whereabouts! Even if you kill me, AIEEE!" "Answer the question," ninja in the PVC raincoat repeats coldly. "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Sa, say," "YEEART!" "AIEEE!" Namusan! Now he plants his foot on the other hand! The cracks! "AIEEE! Because I took in Kaname=san!"
"YEEART!" "AIEEE!" Namusan! with both his arms broken, he won't be able to even hold a sushi teacup unless he gets cyber-implants. Still, the PVC raincoat man coldly repeats. "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Ka, Kaname=san, uhh... The special lover oiran had a customer..."
"YEEART!" "AIEEEE!" Namusan! Now it's the head! This time, Omioma is forced to prostrate in a dogeza. "Answer the question." "Because Kaname=san's customer was a cyber-sadist... Unable to bear watching her pain, I, the boy Omioma Tayamo... Has let Kaname=san go, and then took her in." "That's right."
The PVC raincoat man lifts his foot. "Haaah... Haaah..." Omioma's breathing is faint. "Since I gave you an order, you have to follow it. I'm not interested in whatever bullshit you have to say." "Help..." "There is nothing to hear from you," the PVC raincoat man says. "I've already taken care care of Kaname's whereabouts."
"What..." Still breathing heavily from the torture, Omioma is struck with surprise. "What was that?" "You overdid it a bit," the PVC raincoat man says with squinted eyes. "That cyber-sadist loved Kaname from the bottom of his heart. He placed his own life on the line. And we have received the money for his life insurance." "What...?"
"In other words..." the man yawns. "Kaname approached the body you left after the bloodshed to calm herself down, and after he confessed his feelings for her, he committed suicide. Though you couldn't tell it from his foolish disposition, we know him to be the heir of an influential electromagnetic natto cultivation conglomerate. His future was bright, too. The money from his life insurance is more than enough to start a business."
"Ah..." Omioma is trembling. The man slowly takes off his raincoat. At the sight of his figure, Omioma screams, with the whites of his eyes showing like that of a tuna pulled out of the water. ""AIEEEE!? Ninja!?" Oo, Namu-Amida-Butsu... It's just as his scream implies. The figure that appears from under the raincoat! It's a navy-blue ninja suit!
"Ninja! Ninja! Why ninja!" "Doomo. Omioma=san. I am Subsistence." The navy-blue ninja goes out of his way and says the aisatsu. Omioma quietly wets his pants. "It should be noted that the one who brought together Kaname's beauty and the heir's money is our Soukai Syndicate. This outcome is our doing."
The ninja's evil eyes flash in the darkness. "The heir's excessive fetishes and suicidal tendencies, as well as his desire to hurt oirans, were a point of concern even for the conglomerate's chairman. This was bound to happen sooner or later. Now the one who will inherit his post is his second son. Even our assumptions of some fool like you taking action ended up being true." "Aieee..." At this point, Omioma can do nothing but wet himself!
"Our operatives have already confirmed Kaname's location! This is quite a good biz. Do you see, Omioma=san? Since I've gone to such great lengths of discussing every minor detail with you, your future is going to be quite miserable..." "Your future is going to be quite miserable." A chuckle-like coarse voice is heard behind Subsistence. Subsistence does not finish his sentence and turns back.
How exactly should the feelings that Subsistence felt at that time be described? He sees something unbelievable. At least that's how he feels. Because, after all, he is a ninja. There is no such thing as a person a ninja would be afraid of. That's what the memories deeply engraved in the darkness of his genes say... That's how it usually goes! But these eyes, shining in the darkness! They're laughing!
"Doomo." The darkness starts taking shape, casting a human shadow. The shadow gives Subsistence a bow. "...Pleased to meet you. Subsistence=san." The crackling, blinking neon sign shines upon this demon-like shadow... of a ninja in a black-red suit. "I am Ninja Slayer."
"Doomo," Subsistence returns the aisatsu despite the sheer pressure. The aisatsu is the obligatory courtesy. If someone bows before you, you must bow in return. So it is written in the Records of Ancient Matters. "...I am Subsistence." He backs off after returning the bow. "How do you know my name?" "Didn't you just introduce yourself to that man over there?"
"Impossible!" "AIEEEE!" Omioma has a stroke from the Jigoku-like sight of Ninja Slayer and loses consciousness while foaming at the mouth and repeatedly wetting himself. "Moreover, Subsistence=san. I have heard another thing," Ninja Slayer says. "Soukai Syndicate."
As the neon sign blinks again, the light shines on the two ominous characters carved in his menpo mask, "Nin" ("Ninja") and "Satsu" ("Murder"). Subsistence feels as if his heart is being ripped out by the Grim Reaper's claws. Nay. That is nothing but his dreadful delusion. He takes a deep breath and tries to stay calm. As his neurons flash at their top speed, the memory of a rumor he didn't pay much attention to comes up in his mind.
Immediately after the night of the incident that ended up with an explosion of Marunouchi Amazingtallbuilding, the mysterious murder of ninjas that were supposed to destroy the evidence... The perpetrator has managed to escape, and they have they to find him... "It cannot be," Subsistence moans... Right now, that perpetrator is standing before his very eyes.
"You mentioned the operatives, didn't you?" Ninja Slayer asks while slowly closing in. "Are they ninjas, too?" "..." Subsistence assumes the karate stance, silently. "I see, so they are ninjas." Ninja Slayer's eyes seem full of joy. Such ninja insight! Ninja Slayer manages to get the info he needed just by looking into one's eyes!
"I... I will not be faltered by mere threats!" Subsistence shouts. And then he jumps! "YEEART!" "GWAAH!" Subsistence's body spins in midair, slamming against the nearby neon "At the Mountain Hut" sign! Namusan! That is Ninja Slayer's roundhouse kick!
"GWAAH, ABBAAH!" As the neon sign blinks and crackles, the sparks illuminate Subsistence's broken body. Ninja Slayer bends back, observing him with eyes full of brutal light! "Such pathetic karate... Such weakling!" "GWAAH! Wait! I can't fight anymore!" Subsistence moans. "Spare me..." "Nay."
Ninja Slayer looks at the nearby unconscious Omioma. "You've been torturing that pest, trying to get that Kaname's whereabouts out of him. Let's do something similar." "Do you have some beef with Soukai Syndicate? Then wait!" Subsistence struggles to get off the sign. "In return for the intel!" "Useless. I'll just get it from my next prey."
"No way!" "No mercy!" "STOOP! STOOP!" Subsistence keeps struggling! "YEEART!" Ninja Slayer jumps! Midair spin! A decapitation chop sends Subsistence's head flying! "SAYONARA!" As the head shouts while flying through the night sky, the body on the sign explodes, scattering its ashes on the winds.
"Gugugu... Gugu..." Trembling from supressed laughter, Ninja Slayer approaches the unconscious Omioma and lifts him up by his hair. Omioma moans. "Gugu... Guhahahaha! Hahahahahaha!" Ninja bends back in explosive laughter. "Ninjas! Shall be slain!"
(((Marunouchi Amazingtallbuilding.))) "Ninjas!" (((The sworn enemies that killed the wife and the child.))) "Ninjas!" Ninja Slayer shouts. The rain full of heavy metals slowly turns into snow full of heavy metals. With Omioma's body in his grasp, Ninja Slayer jumps forward. He then kicks the building's wall, jumping on the roof!
... "!" That moment, deep within the primal forests of China region, far from Neo-Saitama, a single old man concentrates. Surrounded by lush bamboo, he practices angra on top of a large jizou statue. Angra on a jizou statue? Indeed. An ordinary man's sense of balance would not be enough to achieve that. However, this old man is a ninja.
An abandoned automatic paper lantern keeps on shining, filling the night on the witching Ushimitsu Hour with eerie light. The old ninja shakes his head. An unknown sense of uneasiness triggered his ninja sixth sense, breaking his meditation. He frowns.
The timing to identify the source of this uneasiness is bad. After all, right now, he is preparing to face another very real threat. Are there any masters of ninja tracking among the dear readers? If so, you might have already noticed this. Innumerable, very thin threads are stretched all around, from bamboo to bamboo.
These threads are, in fact, nariko traps. Nariko are booby traps that have been used by ninjas since ancient times. The old man has put himself in the middle of this nariko barrier that stretches across a few miles, waiting for the enemy. His name is Dragon Gendoso. He is the great sensei of Dragon Dojo.
All the details about the Dragon Dojo are kept secret, and the enemies are eager to discover its location. The enemies. That is, the ninjas of the Soukai Syndicate. "..." Dragon Gendoso closes his eyes again and resumes the meditation. If anyone toches a thread, it will immediately... "YEEART!"
Gendoso jumps while spinning above the jizou, kicks the bamboo and glides through the air. His ninja hearing has caught the ringing of the nariko trap activated by someone touching the threads far away. (((How dare you bend the rules of the world to your own evil wills.))) Gendoso jumps ahead with stern eyes.
(((A real ninja shall not succumb to those who freely use ninja power through imitating it!))) "YEEART!" Gendoso unravels the vermilion cloth wrapped around his neck. As the cloth catches the wind akin to a parachute, Gendoso flies through the bamboo forest at high speed!
Oo, gouranga! Behold! This is the power of ninja. Ninjas are extraordinary people who achieve unimaginable power through practicing karate in dojos and performing rituals of flower watching. This Dragon Gendoso is also one of those people spoken in such legends. He has achieved tremendous power through years of rigorous training.
(((However, in this hopeless Mappou world...))) Before Gendoso, there is a silhouette of the enemy he is looking for. He slightly touches the nariko trap, still unaware of Gendoso's approach. (((More and more people achieve this power without going through the training, as if mocking it all... Like this one!))) "YEEART!" A dive!
"Wha..." The ninja in a suit made of dead leaves finally senses Gendoso's attack and looks back at him. However, at that time, Gendoso has already landed right at the enemy's feet. He shakes the blood off his right hand that delivered the fatal diving chop. "A, ABBAAH!?" Blood is gushing out of the enemy ninja's neck!
"Bastard, Dragon..." Trying to stop the blood with his hand, the camouflaged ninja points at Gendoso. "How can you ambush me like this..." "Doomo. I am Roshi Ninja." Gendoso introduces himself with his true ninja name in an aisatsu. "ABBAAH!" The camouflaged ninja falls down.
"You weakling! Don't even have any strength left for an aisatsu?" Gendoso spits out. "At least state yor name!" "ABBAAH!" The dead leaf ninja introduces his name, as his body is shaking in convulsions. "I am Dead Leaf! SAYONARA!" Along with the death throes, the body explodes, scattering its ashes on the winds! Gendoso does not put down his karate! From the heap of fallen leaves, another enemy springs forth!
"YEEART!" The brown-colored ninja jumps from the ground, spinning in midair and striking Gendoso with an hatchet. "YEEART!" Gendoso stomps on the ground, delivering an intense backfist and crushing that ninja's face! "GWAAH!"
"Doomo. I am Roshi Ninja." Gendoso gives another bow. The brown-colored ninja returns the aisatsu, as blood flows through the cracks in his menpo. "Doomo. Roshi Ninja=san. I am Talpidae." "Soukaiya! Do they want to delay me by fighting such small fry as you!"
"Old fart. Don't underestimate Soukai Syndicate." Talpidae assumes the karate stance with his hatchet again. "We will crush all your dusty dojos, one by one. We are the invincible ninja squad!" "Ninja, you say? Just because you are possessed by some soul, a ninja! So presumptuous!" "YEEART!" "YEEART!"
"GWAAH!" Gendoso strikes Talpidae's abdomen with a lance-like side-kick! Talpidae hits his back against the nearby bamboo, vomiting blood! "OGOO!" "No Karate, No Ninja," Gendoso says. "Ninjas are not those who [Are]. They are those who [Do]."
In Gendoso's heart, he does not celebrate his victory. He laments. He is annoyed by these supernatural incidents happening in secret in this Mappou world. The incidents of dead ninja souls descending on this world, possessing ordinary people and turning them into ninjas have been happening more and more often.
Soukai Syndicate is an organization of such ninjas. They drown in desire and power, ruling Japan's politics and business from the shades... As the Dragon Clan strives to study the values of karate in the outbacks of the China region, their dojos are more than just a nuisance for Soukay Syndicate.
"Look at you, looking down at us with such pride," Talpidae curses. "You do not know Laomoto=san's strength... You do not know the strength of the Six Gates warriors. You do not know Darkninja=san's strength!" "Enough prattle. Using the ninja secrets to sate your own evil desires, you are nothing but gnats!" "Stop acting all high and mighty!"
"YEEART!" Gendoso throws a suriken, hitting Talpidae's forehead. "SAYONARA!" Talpidae explodes, scattering his ashes on the winds. Dragon Gendoso assumes his zanshin, listening closely to the silence of the nariko traps... All clear. He handled all the ninjas that Soukai Syndicate has sent to bring down the dojo.
"Grandfather." From the shade of bamboo, a beautiful girl comes out. Her bust is ample. "Yukano," Gendoso frowns. "Why did you come along? You still don't even have the license. More importantly, you were supposed to protect the dojo with the others." "I wanted to fight, too. I wanted to help you. But..." She looks at the aftermath of two explosions.
"It seems that it's already over." "That's all for the better, Yukano. Even if they are possessed ninjas, one should never underestimate their ability." "If only I had actual combat experience..." "Nuuu!" Gendoso rubs his chin. As the two of them return to the mountain path with easy gait, he remembers the mysterious sense of danger from before.

(From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Back In Black" #1: The End. To be continued in #2)