Chapter 4: Chaos in Ukiyo E Town (Patreon)

Drawn to Power

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 4: Chaos in Ukiyo E Town

______________________________________________________________________

- Tatsuya -

When I regained consciousness, I saw Shanks sitting by the sea side, an environment I had summoned in the Training Room, and drinking alcohol.

“Oh, you’re awake. You look funny when you sleep, especially with all the snoring dahahahaha.”

“30%.” I ignored his words and asked directly.

“Hmm?”

“Was that just 30% of your Conqueror’s Haki?”

“Oh, you heard that. Well yeah. I guess I can still get stronger. The top figures in Grandline are stronger and I want to become one of them.”

“The top figures?” I suddenly realised something.

This Shanks….he was not even the Emperor Shanks.

He was the Foosha Village version of Shanks.

I hadn’t realised this but it seems that I got the strongest version of the character I had drawn yet which means that I needed to wait till the time Yonko Shanks appears for the first time which will be during his meeting with Hawkeye.

Maybe I should have summoned Roger.

A quick calculation told me that I needed to draw around twenty more chapters to get that version of Shanks.

But that means….I couldn’t even withstand 30% of this Shanks’ power….

“Hey! What’s that face for? Why do I feel that you are insulting me in your thoughts?” The guy jumped up quickly.

“No. Nothing like that.”

“Liar!”

“Sigh….will you teach me?” I asked.

“Well, I was called for that so why not. Let’s start with physical training first. I won’t be able to teach you swordsmanship if you can’t even pick up a sword.”

“Alright.”

__________________________________x___________________________________

Two months had passed since that day. I trained my physique every day. Twenty chapters of One Piece were drawn and the Shanks I could summon changed too.

My guess was right.

What I hadn’t realised was the difference between the strength of the two.

Apart from this, I had formed a habit of wearing weights and there was a massive problem with those.

My body could withstand the weight….my furniture couldn’t.

It made adjusting to normal life very difficult.

I couldn't wear those to school until I got used to them or I would have broken some furniture there too.

The effect of the One Piece Bloodline and Shanks’ training was showing. The best part in all this was that my Chakra was increasing rapidly due to the increase in my physique.

Another thing happened during this time was that I completed writing Demon Slayer and had Tobi read all of the chapters.

Two things happened due to this.

First, the slot being occupied by Demon Slayer slot was vacant again.

Second, I got two Gacha Tickets.

This was the second method of earning Gacha Tickets which I had discovered.

I was already struggling to keep up with so much training from the Naruto and One Piece worlds so I decided to keep the Gacha Tickets and empty slot aside for now. I will roll when I get the C Ranked upgrade which I estimate will be in a year and a half.

I was dragged by Kiyotsugu and the rest to the Club Room today.

Apparently, that idiot had really made an official club known as the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol and even got permission for it. What I didn’t know was how he got my name there.

I had been concentrating too much on training since that day when we visited Rikuo’s house and due to this, I hadn’t spent much time with them so today, they dragged me with them.

Jiro and Yura were not coming today and it was just us at the club.

“It’s done.” We heard the voice of the idiot and went to check what he was doing on his laptop.

“What is done?”

“I have collected the data about the most number of youkai sightings in the country.” he replied, very happily.

I looked at the map and the most number of youkai sightings were reported in Kyoto and Shikoku….as Yura said.

Then he went on to explain about the game he had created about Youkai and I was too bored to indulge him any longer with his obsessions so I gave an excuse about taking care of Gin and left.

On the way back home, I passed by a park and noticed some unexpected faces there.

Yura and Rikuo’s Grandfather.

What were they doing there?

I didn’t disturb them and walked ahead but just as I passed the park, I heard the sound of an explosion which sounded like it came from the park.

I quickly spread my senses and found that there were several dark auras in the park, surrounding Yura and Rikuo’s grandfather.

I didn’t run there immediately but instead went inside a nearby building and created a Shadow Clone and transformed it.

The Shadow Clone went to keep an eye on them while my real body left the place.

I was not going to be seen anywhere near the area.

- Shadow Clone -

He quickly went to the top of the building and checked the situation down below.

Yura was fighting a few guys who looked like very bad copies of Michael Jackson. They were using wind to attack her. She was defending with her talismans.

She suddenly threw a talisman and a large deer appeared. She pushed the old man onto the deer and it flew….directly towards me.

I quickly disguised myself with the nearby wall and watched the scene.

They landed near me and the deer disappeared, leaving the old man and a….was that a Natto kozo? 

“Supreme Commander. What should we do?” The smaller youkai jumped nervously.

“Well, we look. The girl seems to be quite able. She can handle herself. We on the other hand have something else to take care of.” The old man looked back and said. “Come out. The view from here is quite nice. Don't stand there alone.”

I didn't move.

“Seriously, do you love that wall that much?” This time he turned towards me directly and asked.

When I didn't move, he kept staring at the wall.

Finally, seeing no way out of it, I dropped the camouflage.

And I had learned this from Jiraya with so much trouble. “Ohh, that's a useful trick. You can use it for so many things.” He giggled….eerily similar to Jiraya.

He turned his back to me and looked down. “Oh! Three Shikigami at once. The girl is talented.”

I looked at the odd situation and shrugged. Since I was found out either way, better stay and watch.

Boss wanted information and at the same time to keep his identity a secret. As long as that was not compromised, what does it matter if he is revealed?

He looked down and she was indeed keeping up with the youkai.

“So….want to introduce yourself?”

….

He quickly thought of an identity.

“My name is Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows.”

It was a good thing that he would be able to dispel himself when this is over. Let the boss live with it. And who could blame him? Boss didn't give him a fake identity to use. At least this much was his privilege for putting himself in such dangerous situations.

“.... Oh. And are you here to hunt me?”

….

“I have no enmity with you.”

“I see. Hahahaha I wouldn't want to stress my old bones either. What a relief there.”

We kept quiet for a moment and looked at the scene.

now that I wouldn’t have stood a chance if that ever came to be.

He thought of something and opened his mouth to ask. “I….” But paused at the next second?

“Yes? Do you have any questions? I might be old but this age has brought me some wisdom. Maybe I might be able to help you?”

He looked at the man and pushed through. Since the guy was giving an invitation, who was he to deny?

“You are Nurarihyon, correct?”

“Eh, no. Why would you think so?”

….

He spoke nothing after this and looked down.

“Any more questions?” The old man asked.

“None if I don’t get truthful answers.” He replied curtly.

Just at this time, they saw Yura being pushed back by the youkai who then flew towards them.

He looked as the youkai flew to the top of the building and looked at Nurarihyon, completely ignoring him.

“Sorry to keep you waiting for this long hehehehe.” The guy laughed. “You thought you could escape but you just drove yourself into a corner….Nurarihyon.”

The old man just stared at the guy. “Tell me Muchi. Are you the one who killed Hihi?”

The guy just grinned.

“How regretful. He pledged loyalty to me a long time ago and was one of the Clan’s most respected veterans. We would hang out from time to time, going to cafes for a cup of tea.” The old man shrugged.

Well boss, looks like he got here in the middle of some drama.

The guy just smiled. “He was right. The Nura Clan is so lax. After all, their most high ranking officer was nothing but a weakling! It won’t even take a week to destroy you all.” With that said, he attacked with wind blades.

Both the old man and he jumped away from the area of impact where the concrete shattered.

The old man landed on the edge of the building and looked at him. “Could you please lend this old man a hand?”

He rolled my eyes. “Will you answer some questions from me truthfully if I did so?”

The man thought for a second and nodded. “I will see what I can do.”

Well, that’s better than nothing.

He looked at the wind-youkai, who sneered at me. “Oh, another bug here. I didn’t even notice. Well, I can correct that.” With that said, he sent several wind sicles to attack him.

He easily jumped away and dodged the attacks.

- Nurarihyon -

He watched the kid weave through the attacks with practised ease. It showed that he had trained intensively for this experience.

He hadn’t expected to find another person in this place and a human at that but this one didn’t seem to be from their side.

Looking at the boy, he recalled the description of the person who had saved Rikuo and his friend from the attack a few months ago.

“Those attacks are….so predictable.”

“What?!”

“You have such a good power. Poisoned wind. Even your raw power is….not bad. And yet your attacks are extremely predictable. Sigh….such a waste.”

“You!” Muchi was enraged and attacked with large waves of wind….in the wrong direction.

….

Illusion?

Did he use some kind of illusion?

After that the boy looked at him. “Do you want me to finish him off?”

“Well, I would appreciate it.” He nodded and the boy made hand signs eerily reminiscent of shinobi and brought his fingers before his mouth and breathed a large wave of flames.

The flames were further boosted by the wind and a tornado of flames enveloped Muchi, taking it out instantly.

The boy turned towards him. “Now, my question.”

He stared at me for a moment and then shrugged. “Sure. Go on.”

“Where is the cult of Hagoromo Gitsune?”

….

He raised an eyebrow when the old name suddenly brought forward.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Personal reasons.” The boy answered curtly but his voice told of his anger.

“Well….I don’t know.”

“Huh?!”

“I really don’t know. I haven’t been keeping an eye on them since they dispersed four hundred years ago. I know they are still active somewhere but I don’t know where.”

The boy’s expression changed, looking frustrated for the first time since the start of the meeting.

“I would suggest that you don’t look for them as you are now.” He suggested. The boy had tried to save Rikuo’s life so this much was something he could do.

The boy just looked at him stoically and he elaborated. “At your level, you wouldn’t last ten minutes against them.”

He kept silent and Nurarihyon let out a sigh.

“Say, how about this. Come to the Nura Clan anytime you want and….beat me. I will find out the whereabouts of the Cult and tell you myself.”

The boy looked taken aback at the sudden proposal.

“You want me to….”

“Beat me, yes. If you can’t even beat me, how do you expect to go up against the cult of Hagoromo Gitsune?”

The boy laughed. “So you want me to beat the guy who defeated Hagoromo Gitsune….to go after her people. As for going after them unprepared, I am not that foolish. I would only go after them when I am at least at the Ultimate Class level.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I think you are misunderstanding something.” Seeing the boy’s confused look, he continued. “Ultimate Class is a very broad power range. From any local leaders to some lower Gods, all fall under this definition. They can vary from town destroyers to someone capable of taking out multiple prefectures at once and Hagoromo Gitsune….was one of the stronger ones. Even I was only able to win against her due to various circumstances and that too by paying a huge price. Even if you enter Ultimate Class, you would be sending yourself to death if you go after her people. They had several legendary youkai after all.”

The boy controlled his expression but Nurari could see that he was extremely frustrated so he decided to push a bit more. It would be such a shame to see such talented children die due to their inexperience.

“You need to be at the very least at the Leader Class to have a chance to go up against all of them.” He knew he was overstating it a lot but whatever stops the boy and keeps him from going to his death. Youkai weren’t known for their truthfulness after all.

“What’s a Leader Class?”

“It’s what the leaders of most decent factions and most legendary beings who have their names mentioned in stories across the world are at. You need to be able to destroy a country at the very least. Once you reach that kind of level, you will be able to go up against her cult and live.”

The boy looked to be in thought and looked at him finally. “And what level am I at right now?”

“Eh….Mid at best from what you have shown me.” He shrugged so he clarified. “After Mid comes High Class at which you are basically a mountain destroyer. Then comes Ultimate Class.”

The boy nodded. “I see.” Then his eyes narrowed. “Do you mind, if I try my hand against you right now? I want to see how far I am.”

“Oho, wanna use me as a measuring tape. Don’t you think that’s a bit rude?”

The boy’s mouth opened lightly and he chided.

“Kids these days, don’t even know you should bring gifts to someone if you want to ask for a favour.”

“Huh?”

“Bring me a plate of Kofuku Manju next time you come to fight me….actually bring me three plates. One for this time and two for that time. The price will double each time you come to visit me. What? Fair deal isn’t it?”

“Eh….just that?”

“Obviously. You can add some tea if you want.”

….

“Okay.” The boy nodded.

What an earnest child.

“Now come on. Come at me with all you can. Don’t hold back. Believe it, I can take it.”

The boy however looked at the stairs and the door to the roof opened revealing the onmyoji girl.

“Are you alright! Eh….who are you?” She asked, looking at the boy.

“He is the one who arrived and helped me.” Nurari quickly covered for the kid.

“Who are you?” The girl asked.

The boy just stared at the girl and Nurari answered instead. “His name is Shadow- He who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows.”

“....huh?”

The boy looked like he had too much of the teasing and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take you back to your home.”

“Ah.”

Before he could say anything, the scene around him moved at a quick pace and he found himself on top of a nearby building and the boy moved back.

“This is not my home.”

The boy took position a little distance away from him.

“Sigh, kids these days are too impatient.” He too drew his sword and narrowed his eyes.

- Shadow Clone -

He took a deep breath but as soon as he blinked his eyes, the figure in front of him disappeared. He instinctively dodged towards the side but there was no change. No attacks, nothing.

The guy had disappeared.

Did he run away?

Just as he thought this, he heard the sound of footsteps.

He looked around and found nothing.

Genjutsu!

Almost instinctively, he pulsed his chakra to dispel the genjutsu bit to no effect.

The sound of footsteps were still heard.

He was right there and yet he couldn’t see the man.

“You cannot see….what you don’t want to see.” The old man’s voice was heard….from all directions.

The voice continued. “No matter who you are, when you encounter an existence far greater than yourself….the fear begins to take over.”

He still couldn’t see anything or even sense anything so he decided to go a step further.

Sharingan.

….

Still nothing.

How?

The voice went on.

“Your mind loses the ability to notice anything else so….even if you can see….You fail to recognise.”

His eyes widened as he understood the meaning of the words. I tried to sense his aura but I couldn’t sense anything.

He quickly jumped in the air and with a few hand signs, let out a massive fire style jutsu, covering the entire roof of the building.

As he landed, he didn’t even feel a ripple. The attack missed.

The voice continued “This is how youkai fight….by overwhelming others with their fear. Fear comes in many forms. This in particular is my power, Nurarihyon’s Meikyo Shisui.”

WIth that, he felt a cold blade on his neck.

“Get stronger boy. You have a long way to go.” The illusion disappeared and the man stood in front of him, with a sword drawn to his neck.

He took a deep breath and caught the blade. “I will come back in a year. Also….”

The old man raised an eyebrow.

“This might sting a bit.”

“Huh?”

Shadow Clone explosion technique.

The old man’s eyes widened and he moved away quickly.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

- Tatsuya -

I closed my eyes as I regained the memories of the clone.

Sitting on my couch, I let out a deep breath.

“Was that an Ultimate Class? My shadow clone didn’t even last ten minutes against it and the guy wasn’t even serious. Not to mention, Hagoromo Gitsune was stronger than him so her people would be strong too.”

And here I was thinking I was getting stronger. I looked at my hands and clenched my fingers.

With that I directly headed to the Training Room.

Nurarihyon’s technique was a genjutsu so the best people would be….

“I can’t help you with that.” The white haired geezer directly denied.

“But why?”

“This is something you have to face yourself. If you face a difficult situation in battle, will you always come to me to ask for help?”

I tried to say anything but realised his words were correct. The man continued.

“You were lucky that the person didn’t intend to kill you. In real life battles, you will have to look at an enemy’s techniques and decipher them with one look and think of a counter against it. Tell me, you couldn’t see him, but couldn’t you set a trap for him? You could have used your strength to destroy the ground and tracked him through the dust in the air.”

“I….filled the whole field with flames but there was not even a ripple.” I countered.

“Then that means he was not on the surface then….where could he be? Either underground or in the air around you. You keep eliminating options and what is left at the end is the right answer but there were other things you could have used. Fuinjutsu. You said you were able to catch his sword, why didn’t you mark it? Your sight or rather your mind was overwhelmed by fear he said, then use your other senses. If you cannot use senses, bait him in a trap. We are shinobi, we don’t fight fair.”

“….I….my clone didn’t get much chance to do a lot.”

“Which is understandable. The opponent was vastly superior to you. You did say that your clone wanted to see the difference in your skills. If what you say about his power is true then he would be no less than a tailed beast. Are you dreaming of fighting such beings with just two or three years of training? Go and meditate and get your head straight.” Tobirama Senju scolded me.

“I….am sorry. I just thought his genjutsu was different from anything I had seen. Even my Sharingan wasn’t able to see any difference.”

A bad look came on his face at the name of Sharingan.

“The Sharingan is not all seeing. Even I have devised techniques which it couldn’t see. You shouldn’t rely on it.”

After that he didn’t say anything and proceeded to beat me up throughout the day, especially using his Bringer-of-Darkness technique to force me to fight without the sense of sight.

The next day, I decided to summon Itachi and he was the same.

“The greatest weapon of a shinobi in battle is their mind. Your clone stopped using it and that’s why you lost.” He said as he sat calmly eating pocky.

“Do you have any ideas why  the Sharingan didn’t work?”

“That’s something you need to think about yourself. I don’t know how people of your world fight and what things they use so any conjectures I make will be guesswork. Do you want to risk your life on my guesswork?”

Well, he was not wrong.

At least he wasn’t an ass about it like Tobirama….not wrong, just an ass.

Next he too proceeded to train me to act on my instinct and hone my senses other than sight as well as force me to acclimate to fighting against enemies who could take away my sense of sight.

The most annoying mentor regarding this was without a doubt, Shanks.

“Dahahahaha….”

“Would you stop it already?” I deadpanned.

It had been fifteen minutes since he started laughing.

“N-no. It’s just too funny. You got your ass kicked by an old man dahahahaha.”

“That old man could destroy cities.” I countered.

“So? You still lost.”

….

I sighed.

I should have expected this.

“Anyways, I think I know what happened to you in that fight.” He said after he stopped laughing.

He still snickered from time to time.

I looked up at him, expecting another joke but his face was serious instead.

“What you lacked was spirit.”

“Huh?”

“The guy already told you, you couldn’t see because your mind was overwhelmed by fear and refused to see. It’s a protective measure taken by the brain. Understand it this way, when something excessively stressful happens, people often tend to lose consciousness or sometimes even lose the memories of that incident. The brain does it to protect you. A similar thing might have happened. So if you want to solve this problem, it’s simple….just overcome your fear.”

I considered his words and it made sense.

“What are you thinking?” He asked.

“Hmm? I was thinking how you know all these things. You don’t look that smart. Did you hear it from someone?”

“Hey!”

I smirked.

“Alright then. You are my student and it would be a shame if someone said the student of Red Haired Shanks is a coward who gets his ass kicked by old men.” He smirked. “So….let’s train your spirit.”

“How?”

On this, his spirit turned feral as overwhelming force fell on me.

Conqueror’s Haki.

I was so jealous of this.

I had bought the skill but it turned out to be the potential to use the skill and not the skill itself. I still needed to awaken and learn to use it myself.

“You are going to train under stress on your spirit to get used to it.” He said. “From what you have told me, this fear thing is quite similar to Conqueror's Haki. With Conqueror’s Haki, I overwhelm your will to make you lose consciousness. You need to resist this. From today on, you will be training under the pressure of having your will suppressed continuously. Overcome it yourself.”

And he did exactly that.

For the rest of the day, I was trained under the influence of Conqueror’s Haki.

The Training Room not only healed me but also continuously healed the Mentors to keep them at the peak shape which means his Haki never wavered….although I doubted that he would have even let out a bead of sweat in a week, let alone a day.

Before leaving, he stopped me for one last piece of advice.

“Also, fight those youkai as much as you can. Getting used to fear is also necessary for you.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“....dahahahaha and don’t get your ass kicked by old men again.”

….

I came out of the Training Room before he could say anything else.

This guy had the talent of getting on anyone’s nerves.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“Nii-san, how much longer do we have to run?” Tobi huffed, trying to keep up behind me.

“If you can talk, that means you still have energy. We are going to run two more laps.”

“What?!”

I had started training Tobio in basic physical exercise when I got home this week.

While this town might not be as dangerous as Ukiyo E, we never knew. I didn’t want him to be completely helpless if he encountered any dangerous situation. I want him to at least be able to run.

To learn the Hinokami Kagura to the complete extent, he needs to train his body or he will just be imitating the dance in a half baked manner.

This required a lot of physical strength and thus this training.

I was back home for the weekend and all this week, I was left thinking about the situation with the youkai.

Shanks said I needed to fight the youkai to get used to their fear but….I didn’t want to go beating up just any youkai. From what I have seen, most of them live peacefully with other humans.

Not to mention the youkai in that town were probably under Nurarihyon and he would be pissed if I went around beating people up willy nilly.

I needed to find the type of youkai who harmed humans.

Now, how do I do that?

“Nii-san….I….I can’t.” I heard Tobi’s voice and looked back to see him sitting on the ground.

“Alright. We will slowly increase the distance. You did good on the first day.” I let go of Gin’s chain and picked Tobi up on my back and began running.

“Nii-san!”

“What? Be quiet. I still need to complete my run.”

We came back home an hour later and Tobi collapsed on the couch.

“You both look like you worked very hard today.” Grandma said, as I washed up and came out.

“Woof!”

“Oh my, I apologise. You three worked very hard today.” She corrected herself at Gin’s protest.

Grandma brought our food out for us and I relaxed as I took a bit out of my favourite okonomiyaki.

Seriously, this time is something I cannot imagine myself without.

I have been thinking too much about the youkai and the cult and not concentrating on this time with my family.

I needed to correct that.

Tobi was too tired so he went to take a rest after eating and only grandma and I were left in the room.

“By the way, Koji-kun will be coming in a while. He said he wanted to bring some documents for you.”

“Oh….yes. I guess it should be about the sales of the newest volume of the manga.”

“I see. That’s good. You did seem a bit worried these days.” She said, taking a seat beside me and I looked at her, surprised. “I thought there was some problem with your work.”

I let out a breath. “No….no. There is no problem with my work. In fact, it’s going all too well.”

I wasn’t lying.

My manga had reached the one million mark and that's probably why Koji-san was coming to visit me.

Only 1.5 million volumes more and I could get the C Ranked upgrade.

That will probably help increase my strength by a lot.

“There you go making that face again. Is something the matter, Tatsu?” She patted my head and asked.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh.

Grandma knew about the supernatural. Should I ask her?

I didn’t want to trouble her as she had left that life behind here. It was one of my reasons for going to Ukiyo E town to keep her away.

“What are you worried about, Tatsu?” She asked again.

“Grandma.”

“Hmm.”

“I saw….youkai.”

She became quiet.

“Were you hurt?”

“....no.”

“Then?”

“I….how do we even know if there is a youkai or any other supernatural being nearby?” I asked.

She looked forward towards the wall. “Hmm….that bit requires practice. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“I….was just worried.”

She caressed my hair. “It’s understandable to be afraid. Youkai are beings who instinctively invoke fear in humans. Your fear just proves you are human.”

I nodded.

“Wait here.” She said as she got up and went to her room and came out after a while with a box and placed it in front of me. Opening it, she revealed several books.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Some books on buddhist magic and chants and onmyoji arts.” She answered as she looked for something. “The reason I was exiled from the Himejima Clan was because I chose to learn magic not belonging to the Clan.” She explained as she found a book and slowly dusted it off.

“What?!” I asked, shocked.

“The Principal Clans are deeply rooted in their ways. Over the years, it has changed from tradition to obsession. Now they view anything foreign not as an opportunity to learn but….as a threat to themself….and thus do whatever they can to remove it and distance themselves from it.”

She looked at me. “Here.” She gave me the books. “Read them. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me.”

“I….”

“Gaining means to protect yourself is not a bad thing, Tatsu. I would have taught Tobi about this too but that child has his own way.” She said looking off in the distance.

“What?” I asked, confused. “What’s wrong with Tobi?”

“There is nothing wrong with Tobi. He is just chosen by someone which will ensure that his life is always….eventful.” She didn’t explain anything clearly but I was getting worried.

“Is it dangerous?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. If anything, it is one of the greatest means of protection one can ask for. It’s others that he might attract that can become dangerous to him.”

“What is it grandma?” I asked again but she just smiled and patted my head.

“Don’t worry about that. You will understand everything when the time comes. You two brothers should just stick to each other. As for these books, keep these a secret between us.” She smiled. “I know you want to keep your training a secret from everyone.”

I froze while she just chuckled. “Come on, Tatsu. I am your grandmother. Do you think I wouldn’t notice the changes in my own grandson?”

“I….”

“You didn’t want to worry us.” She completed it before I could. “But you should understand that you are not worrying us. Helping each other is what family does.”

I nodded, a bit ashamed for trying to keep everything a secret. Then again, how could I explain all this?

“We all have our secrets, Tatsu. It’s not a crime to keep a few for yourself.” She said as she sat beside me. “What you must never do is let these secrets become a barrier between you and your loved ones. Just don’t lose yourself in it.”

“I won’t.”

“I know.”

I put my head on her shoulder and rested.

Gin was feeling left out so he came and sat near our leg, making both of us smile.

_________________________________x____________________________________

I was sitting on the roof, eating bento with the rest of the group.

“A Training Camp at your house, Nura?” Kiyotsugu asked and even I was surprised.

It was completely unlike something Rikuo would do.

“Yes. I am thinking of inviting everyone to a training camp at my house this weekend.” He smiled and I looked at him curiously.

“I….have to go back to my home on the weekends. I am sorry, I might not be able to join you guys.” I made an excuse for myself.

“What! Oh man….that sucks.”

“By the way, what was up with Yura? I saw she was all bandaged up. How did she get hurt?” I asked, changing the topic. In fact, I was curious too. She wasn’t that hurt in that fight so how did she get hurt all of a sudden?

“Oh, you have asked the correct person. It turns out that Miss Keikain was attacked by youkai.” Kiyotsugu said excitedly.

“Oh come on, we don’t know that.” Rikuo tried to change the topic but this time I listened to Kiyotsugu who continued enthusiastically.

He went on to explain the several incidents that had happened over the weekend in the town. “I am sure it was all caused by Youkai.” He exclaimed….and seeing Rikuo’s reaction and remembering the incident from that day, I was inclined to believe.

Maybe I should clarify it with Yura first.

“I will go and check if Yura is fine. I haven’t been able to talk to her today.” I said as I got up and began to leave.

“Wait, I will come too. I want to invite her to the Training Camp as well. I don’t want her to think she was left out.”

The two of us found Yura and Rikuo invited her but she denied saying she had some research to do.

I accompanied her and asked her about her wounds.

“Was it a….youkai?” I asked but she kept quiet. “I am sorry. That was insensitive of me. I was just wondering if the rumours about all the incidents in the town being caused by youkai were true?”

“It is. There is something very wrong going on with this town and….I am going to find out what.” She answered.

“Do you think the youkai of this town attacked you?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t think Nurarihyon would do something like that, especially Rikuo.

Sure enough, she shook her head. “No. It was someone else. I think they were from outside the town. The Shikoku youkai, to be precise. The one who attacked me was a fire type youkai who looked like a chicken human. They were probably the seven phantom travellers of Shikoku.”

“Are they dangerous?” I asked, fishing for more information.

“Very dangerous. They are known to regularly hunt humans.”

“....I see. Thank you, Yura. If you need anything, be sure to ask for help.”

“Thank you.” She bowed slightly before leaving.

The Shikoku Youkai.

I knew exactly whom to fight.

_________________________________x____________________________________

This weekend, I stayed back giving an excuse about going on a training camp with my friends.

Currently, I was sitting and studying the books grandma had given me.

It contained basic mediation styles which involved chanting different verses or mantras to facilitate sensing the supernatural energies around me.

I was just getting started so I still relied on my Aura Sensing for this purpose. In the box Grandma had given me, there were also bracelets made of beads which help hide my aura.

Grandma made them specifically for me so that I could keep myself hidden from general youkai.

Apparently my strong life force was attractive to youkai and dangerous supernatural beings and would put me in danger if I didn’t know how to hide it.

I was using the basic chakra suppressing method nowadays but the beads worked better.

I hope my Shadow Clone will return with good results this time.

- Rikuo Nura -

“Master Rikuo, we have found some traces of the attackers. They are at the Water purification plant.” Kappa informed him.

He looked back at his friends playing in the house and then at Kappa and nodded. “Let’s go.”

With that, he quickly changed into his youkai form.

They quickly left the place and headed to the water purification plant only to find a strange scene there.

On one side was a member of the Shikoku youkai, the water youkai, Gangi Kozo and on the other side was a hooded figure who seemed like a human boy.

Both of them were standing on water and facing each other.

As they came nearer the hooded figure looked at them. “Is he one of yours?” He asked.

He shook his head. “No. He’s an intruder. Who are you?” He asked.

“Ah, where are my manners? My name is Shadow- He who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows.”

“Shadow! Where is my grandfather? He was last seen with you.” He quickly asked. He had been searching for this guy since Yura informed him about his grandfather’s encounter.

“Your grandfather?” He asked, confused.

“The Supreme Leader of the Nura Clan, Nurarihyon.” Rikuo asked.

“Nurarihyon? Wait, you are….Rikuo Nura. You look a bit….different.”

“This is my youkai form.”

“....oh. I see. As for Nurarihyon, I don’t know. I left after our spar. Wasn’t he home?” The boy asked, confused.

Rikuo observed him closely and shook his head. “No. He hasn’t been seen since then.”

The boy looked in thought. “Then he must have gone somewhere. Don’t worry. That old man is very strong.”

“I know that already. He’s my grandfather.” He scoffed. “So….I guess I should thank you for saving my counterpart’s life.”

“I was merely passing by.” The boy said off handedly, his attention still concentrated on the youkai before him. He asked. “Tell me. Are you the ones who are attacking and killing humans in the town?”

Gangi kozo looked taken aback by the question but grinned. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing that? Did they harm you first? Were you retaliating, protecting yourself?” The boy asked, evenly. 

“Reason? Hahahaha why would youkai need reasons to attack humans? We do so to collect fear, to attain the true place of the youkai, as the rulers of the land, unlike fakes like them.” Gangi Kozo pointed towards him. “Under the rule of the Shikoku youkai and Tamazuki, we will take over this town and turn it into a place to harvest fear for youkai.”

“I see.” The boy then looked towards them. “Do you mind if I take this one?”

Rikuo stared at the boy and shrugged. “All yours. Kappa, step back.”

“Kakakakaka you….human….you want to fight me….in this place?”

The boy drew his sword. “That is exactly my intention.”

“Then DIE!” Gangi Kozo controlled the water under their feet into arrows and shot them towards….the side?

Rikuo narrowed his eyes and watched the fool maniacally laughing while shooting water arrows around the boy, never once attacking him while the boy slowly walked forward, drawing his sword.

He stood in front of the youkai and with one slash, the youkai was bifurcated and so was the water behind the youkai.

“Wow…..” He heard Kappa exclaim softly.

The boy had separated the entire pool of water behind him with that slash as well.

“Ah….I overdid it a bit.” The boy whispered. “Still….this was….no good.” He then looked at them. “Are the rest of his teammates strong?”

Rikuo looked at the boy unsurely and asked. “Why?”

“Well….it’s like this….I am looking for strong youkai to fight, to know what kind of fear they use but I don’t want to kill them without any reason. These people however have given me a reason to do so. They have hurt someone close to me. I think that’s a good enough reason.”

“So you are going to kill them all?” Rikuo asked.

The boy just stared at him for a few seconds. “Then what would you do?”

“If they are willing to change, they should be given a chance.”

“I see. That is indeed a kind way of looking at things. A naive but kind way. Then answer me this, Rikuo Nura….what of the people they will hurt if you let them go? They are the people of your territory? I don’t know the rules of the youkai but I would assume that you have some kind of duty to protect them. Then what of those people?”

“I will save them all.”

The boy smiled. “Put your hand on your heart and tell me….do you truly believe you can do that, save every person in this territory after letting them go? Have none of your people died yet?”

The question struck a blow to his heart and the faces of few people who had passed away emerged in front of his eyes.

“Because I am pretty sure Nurarihyon was talking about some Hihi guy with the youkai who attacked us. That guy was apparently the one who killed him and wanted to kill Nurarihyon too.”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry. I finished him off too. He was….disappointing.” The boy sighed. “You are the leader of your faction. Your decisions affect not only you but all the people you lead. I have heard of a saying and maybe it will help you. ‘A wise king never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it.’ Goodbye, Rikuo Nura.”

“Wait!” He called out to the figure but he was already gone.

“Should we follow him, Master Rikuo?” Kappa asked?

He let out a sigh. “No. We have to return back home. My friends will be looking for me.”

Kappa nodded and they headed towards their home although his mind was full of thoughts.

- Shadow Clone -

He ran away, avoiding any questions from them

That was Rikuo?

Holy shit, he looked different.

In fact, not only did he look different, he even felt he had a different personality….although not completely. There was still a hint of kindness in him. The guy who was always trying to protect his friends from getting hurt due to their foolishness.

Not to mention, he sensed Yura looking at them from a distance.

It was turning out to be a gathering of friends he was trying to avoid at the moment.

Anyways, that youkai was a miss.

Using basic water arrows and water whips like that was not even good enough to be a decent C Ranked jutsu, let alone a challenge for him.

That’s why he didn’t waste his chakra on the fool and used his sword. Although it seems that even with that, he overdid it.

The boss needs to fight some normal people once in a while….to know how much strength to use against them.

Just as he was passing by, he sensed an attack and dodged only for the place he was at to get drowned in a wave of flames.

He looked back to see the figure in the sky.

Was that a chicken?

It had the head of a chicken but the body of a man.

Seriously, these things just keep getting worse.

It took him a moment to realise that this was the youkai, Yura had described as the one who had attacked her.

“You! You killed Gangi Kozo!” It roared….chirped….what was that even called?

“Sure did. He was kinda weak.”

“Bastard! I, Inuhōō, will avenge my comrade.” It shouted.

- Inuhōō -

It shot waves of flames towards the bastard who had killed Gangi Kozo. 

The human dodged across the place, even waving his sword but wasn’t able to do anything to Inuhōō in the air. It took advantage to use his full power, and drown the entire area in flames, not leaving any place for him to dodge.

Finally, all that was left was a charred up body.

Inuhōō didn’t stop there. It went ahead and picked it up. It needed something to satiate Tamazuki’s rage when he was informed about the news about Gangi Kozo.

It headed right to the building they were using as their base and threw the corpse in front of the rest of them.

“What is this, Inuhōō?” Tamazuki asked.

“Tamazuki….I….I am sorry, I couldn’t save Gangi Kozo. He was killed….but I was able to avenge him. This is the corpse of the guy who killed him.”

He said pointing towards the guy as he kneeled in front of Tamazuki, hoping that his punishment wouldn’t be too harsh.

“What corpse?” Tamazuki asked.

Inuhōō turned back….or tried to but found that its head was not responding. The next second, he felt the scene in front of him started spinning round before everything fell dark.

- Shadow Clone -

He spread his senses to check the whole area.

The entire building was crawling with hundreds of youkai, especially the lower floors.

So this was the base they were using to hide.

Aerial warfare was not his strong point. Maybe if he learned the Six Navy techniques or got some good Devil Fruit or learned the Tsuchikage’s technique or got the Rinnegan, but all of these were distant dreams. For now, he could only use other tactics.

So he decided to use what Tobirama had taught him. Eliminate options and the one he was left with was the answer and that answer was….Genjutsu.

That’s why he used a genjutsu on the phoenix wannabe chicken who to his surprise didn’t kill him but rather carried him to this place.

He too wanted to know where it was carrying him. There was always the danger of it just clenching its claws hard and he would pop but there was a chance that he could discover more information about them and his bet was correct.

The boss would probably be happy to know where they were all staying.

The rest of the youkai were taken aback by the murder of their member and took defensive stances.

All that was left was to fight and collect as much information as he could on them….and see how many of them he could kill.

“Very interesting. A human….dares to come face all of us and even kill one of the seven phantom travellers in front of us? I am curious, why did you decide that. Are you truly unafraid?” The guy they called Tamazuki asked.

The guy was completely confident that he was completely in control of the situation.

Best way to get a reading on someone….get them angry.

“You are the leader of these circus clowns, nerd? To be honest, I was searching for strong youkai to fight….but you lot don’t look like much. Then again, I should have expected as much from a group where even chickens can become officers.” He smirked, looking at them, and taking all their movements in.

“Bastard!” The giant in the group shouted and came forward, attacking directly.

His eyes were already in the Sharingan mode and he used a Genjutsu on the giant, making him target the smallest round-faced youkai while his hands moved in a flurry, preparing for the next jutsu.

They were all taken aback by the giant suddenly turning and punching the round-faced youkai, launching it directly out of the building.

In that moment of hesitation, he used fire style fire dragon jutsu and blasted the woman who was trying to attack him using her hair.

“Inugami, take him down!” The nerd shouted as he drew a sword of his own.

My aura sensors went haywire as soon as that sword came out.

It looked like a severely damaged katana with several cracks and a broken edge. If I had to compare it to something, it reminded me of Kenpachi Zaraki’s sword which looked like it would fall apart at any moment.

What told me otherwise however was the sheer aura the blade was giving off.

It felt far worse than any of the youkai present here. In fact, it was far stronger than all the youkai here….combined.

Suddenly several feathers came cutting the flames and a dismembered ghastly dog’s head came roaring towards him.

He took his stance.

Sun Breathing First Form: Dance

He sliced through the head of the dog which gave him sight resistance but was cleanly cut through with a single slash.

Next, he used Replacement Jutsu to change his place with some debris in the area. Using a Genjutsu to make it look like him and hide his movements in case they were capable of seeing his speed.

Several black feathers attacked his new position.

Second Form: Clear Blue Sky.

He knocked away the feathers and then put the giant in a genjutsu to make him attack the nerd leader of the group.

What surprised him however was the fact that the nerd actually used that woman as a shield to take the blow of the giant and then stabbed the giant through the eye. The strangest thing however was that the blade’s aura seemed to have gotten stronger after that.

Meanwhile, he sensed a dangerous aura from behind him and dodged.

The dog head he had sliced a second ago had somehow completely healed and was attacking him again.

At the same time, the nerd slashed the sword and sent a wave of red energy towards him and more black feathers attacked him again.

Fourth Form: Burning Bones: Summer Sun.

He spun around, cutting the attacks and at the same time destroying the floor of the building they were fighting in.

The attack from the red aura was heavy and the nerd seemed like he was transforming into something else. At this rate, he would only be able to defend for a short while before he got hit by one attack and it was over….so….why not do it in a flashy way?

He jumped down to the lower floors, to where the followers of the nerd were gathered.

Making a few hand signs, he pushed all of his chakra into the last jutsu.

Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Before he popped out, he saw the area exploding with the youkai below.

He hoped that the boss wouldn’t get mad….but then….again so what if he did?

___________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x__________________________________

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Drawn to Power’.

So, we finally got some progress in the story.

Many things happened in this chapter.

Tatsuya got his ass kicked by Nurarihyon in a spar, found out that grandma already knew about him being involved with the supernaturals and decided to help him out a bit.

Meanwhile, when the Shadow Clone fights normal youkai, he just isn’t impressed.

With all the chaos it has caused, I wonder what Tatsuya’s reaction would be to all this.

He has almost single handedly wiped out almost a quarter of the group.

Anyways, we will see the reactions in the next chapter.

The next chapter will be ‘The Farmer’ as voted and then probably a chapter of ‘The Deal’.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.