Wolf

Chapter 18 - The Warring Groups

It might seem by now that you require an explanation of sorts regarding the number of yakuza groups in this country. I will attempt to explain the best I can.

Let's start with the oldest and most powerful group – Kouma-kai. Yes, that is the group where Ishikawa Kirishima belonged to. Spearheaded by his grandfather, the group controls most of the Eastern corner of the country.

Initially a humble family business some centuries ago, started by one of their ancestors by the name of Kouma Eito. They used to be traders. They used to bring in valuable goods from other lands and traded them in the main city.

They started doing imports of other goods that were deemed valuable during the era and including the not-so-legal goods. Since they were highly competent and loyal only to the highest bidder, their clients ranged from high officials to the warlords that ruled the lands. By now, they've developed into one of the biggest shipping and trading company that the world has ever known.

In the West reside the Sumiyoshi-kai. They were as equally old and powerful as the Kouma-kai and they had expanded to include different family heads – taking over parts of the West.

Sumiyoshi-kai is one of the oldest and largest group ever to grace the country – boasting of 20,000 members at one point. Since they're so large and influential, they hold semi-annual 'get-togethers' with their other counterparts to continue forging good relationships with each smaller bosses. It was a sign of respect for the higher tier members.

A few klicks away from the West border, a fairly new group has taken over the territory. They were about forty years old, fairly new mind you and they were spearheaded by a fearsome man named Gouda Atsushi. A terribly unsociable man, barely spoke a few words and he had eyes that seem to suck the soul out of you.

Most of the North and Central was not under anyone's territories because it was mostly made up of the military's home bases and the military's headquarters.

Part of the North was where the harbour was situated at and unbeknownst to the citizens living there, it had always been under siege by the yakuza groups who wanted to take control of the good location just so they could do their business without being detected. However, the military was strong enough to keep them away.

These yakuza groups despite their ferocity and their loyalty to the Group's Head, delving into the black arms trade and living in the dark side of the world, there is a counter-intuitive benefit to having these groups around – by suppressing the works of petty criminals.

The country with the largest yakuza groups are one of the safest towns in a generally safe nation because small-fry cooks doesn't trespass on yakuza territory.

These groups have powerful political connections despite them denying it and there were rumours that the higher echelon had ties with the Minister of Education and the Prime Minister. They hold significant amounts of stock in large, legitimate corporations. Some have close ties with the business world, the hotels and the banking sector.

They get their bulk of the profit from extortion, real estate fraud, blackmail, insider trading, loan sharking, entertainment business management, drugs and illegal gambling. Recently, Kouma-kai had banned dealing and using drugs.

The two groups – Sumiyoshi-kai and Kouma-kai – are the oldest and the largest yakuza groups in the country. Their influence stretch as far away as the sky could reach – even spreading to neighbouring countries and overseas. Since their territory is always spreading, the police is always worried about territory wars to sprout between the two groups.

However, even after three hundred years of them existing, there was no such wars between them as they had forged elaborate sake rituals which cement ties between the two Heads.

Exciting isn't it?

Let us continue.

There was only strife occurring between the smaller groups like the Gouda-kai and the recently established Sato-kai.

The worst that had happened with the territory war between the two new groups were brutal assassinations, cars rammed into their buildings and numerous street fights. Even the police were trying their hardest to clamp down on them but it was difficult when they're facing such a ruthless group.

Sato Group is the youngest group amongst all, merely established ten years ago and they've started causing havoc here and there just because they thought they could. The Head of the Group was Sato Nozaki.

He has always been a lowly thug ever since he was a kid. Not many know of his ancestry but rumours showed that he was half-siblings to one of the popular governors in the country and he was able to rise up thanks to her. Using his trading company as a front, he brings in illegal weaponry and drugs into the country as well as illegal immigrants who wanted a place to work.

To think that Sato-kai wanted to start another territory war with a bigger group was beyond what the members of the yakuza world could comprehend. It's like seeking war with a powerhouse but a subdued one nonetheless because the current Head – which was Kirishima's grandfather – did not wish to have unnecessary bloodshed.

In his attempts to pacify the younger group, they had set up numerous meetings to discuss about how to settle their problems but honestly, despite their attempts, the Sato-kai was not having it.

They refuse to reveal their reasons why they were targeting a high level member of the Kouma-kai and to make matters worse, since they were all loyal to the Head and the family members, they were upset at how their Head were dealing with the threat.

It was thanks to these number of meetings that a growing discourse was soon spreading across the high-level members. They were agitated with the situation, eager to fight back but being held back by the Head just because he didn't want to spill blood was beyond what they could comprehend – the simple minds of these yakuza men.

Stuck in a loophole and helpless to do anything was the worst feeling one could dare to imagine, especially when one's girlfriend was in imminent danger.

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