To see his father cut down before his eyes for a treason that did not exist was a shock to young Toramatsu--he was too young to understand politics, but he did understand that he was to be slain next. How he initially managed to get away was beyond his ken, but somehow he managed to get out of his father's home, running for the woods as swiftly as he could.Â
He cared not if there were beasts in the trees, he had a knife with him, and he would not hesitate to defend himself...or so he thought. Imagawa was after him. the paranoid man he was. How could a child hold any threat to the clan that he was loyal to? The Ii were retainers for the Imagawa--they would never do such a thing as break away from the ones who they looked to.Â
He was scared, why were the people he was taught to obey trying to kill him? He didn't want to die, he didn't want his father to die. How long was he running? He didn't know, but his small limbs were about to give out on him.Â
Not knowing where he was running, he ended up arriving to a familiar place, the Okuni Shrine in Hamamatsu. Hope flared within his quickly beating heart; surely the god Okuninushi could protect him!
The fear he had was not letting him think clearly. He was scared, covered in his father's blood, and shaking like a leaf in a storm. He knew he would incur the wrath of the heavens if he entered the shrine like this, but he needed somewhere to hide.Â
Toramatsu was frozen like a deer feeling its imminent demise. He heard movement behind him, whirled around to defend himself with the knife, only to have his wrist grabbed and his pathetic attempt halted. The child would then break down completely, stating repeatedly that he did nothing wrong--he didn't want to die. Why were the Imagawa hurting his family?
The child prepared for the end, but the end never came. He had squeezed his eyes shut, but after a while, he cracked one open, not to find an Imagawa, but someone with a kinder face.Â
This young man had been on a hunt, and had heard a commotion. Thinking that there was an injured animal in the woods, what was his surprise when he came across a child? A child who was clearly in shock, a child who desperately tried to defend himself when he reached out to the lad.Â
It took a long while for the child to calm down enough to explain what had happened through muffled sobs. The kid just couldn't stop crying, trying to stop the noise he was making by covering his face with his hands.Â
Later on, through calming words and careful movements, the young man had decided to take the child back to his home, to give the lad refuge. The Tokugawa were also retainers of Imagawa, but to think that the new clan head would be so paranoid as to attack those loyal to him...
It would take the child several days to recover enough from the shock to tell the other his own name. Ii Toramatsu--no. He wasn't that child anymore. After a while, he would be called Ii Naomasa. In those days, he was practically glued to Tokugawa's side, initially out of fear of everyone else, but then he warmed up to the kindness he was given.Â
Tokugawa had protected him from the wrath of the paranoid Imagawa head, and Tora...Naomasa would never forget that as long as he drew breath. To help those who were in need, no matter who they were, this soon became part of the Ii's mindset.Â
And as such, his loyalty swiftly became set in stone for the young man who happened across him on a hunting trip.Â
Perhaps the god Okuninushi protected the child, after all.Â