Gintama belongs to Sorachi.
Prologue
Once upon a time, in a land where samurai rules, there was once a ruler who greed surpasses a normal man's greed. He wanted everything that the land could offer. He didn't care about the people he rules over and only concentrating on adding his wealth, even though many children lost their parents or died because of poor or starvation. Even his family hates him for what he had become. He would shed blood and start a war if push turns to shove. He named the land he ruled as Edo.
One day, an old priest from the east came to his castle. At first, the ruler didn't allow the priest to enter as he was dressed badly. But the priest didn't give up. So, he silently slips into the ruler castle. The ruler was first surprised but he quickly ordered the guard to execute him. AT the day of the priest execution, the ruler asked the priest if he have any last words. The priest nodded.
"Ruler of Edo! A terrible misfortune will fell upon you and the land of Edo, for the sin you have commit. Warriors from far away land will come to not only release this country from your evil clutches, but to avenge the death of love ones by sheading your blood on this forsaken land. Mark my words, whatever you do will only be futile!"
The priest suddenly began to cough blood and to the ruler and guards surprised, the priest died without being executed but blood loss. The selfish ruler began to feel terrified. He was afraid. He recalled what the priest had said and made up his mind. He decided to go to a forest called 'Akuma Forest' where they lived a powerful shaman. He told his guards to keep his location as a secret.
The ruler told the shaman everything he knows and was surprised when the shaman laughed. He said to the ruler,
"If anything you do is futile, it is because you only have human. But what if you have demon to assist you?" he leers at the ruler and slowly the ruler began to smile.
"What do you purpose we should do, shaman?" he asked, curios to what the shaman wanted to do.
The shaman asked the ruler to stay for a few days to create a perfect weapon for him. The ruler agrees and left, promising to come next week. The shaman creates five oni masks and laid it on the floor. He began to chants some words that if heard by a normal human, it will all be gibberish. Suddenly the masked glowed and the masks began to change their appearance, each with different colour and shapes. The shaman smiles and brought a satchels that had turn red. Inside the satchel was five child hearts that has been ripped out of their body. And standing in front of the shaman was five shadows of the most dangerous demon in Japan. The shadow suddenly disappeared, leaving each masks with different initial and when the satchel was opened, the children hearts were gone. The shaman smirked and began to laugh evilly, his laugh echoing in the forbidden forest and inflicting terror in every animal who heard the laugh.
The ruler returned to the shaman and was surprised to see five yokai masks on the floor. The shaman didn't give him any explanation, just instruction. The ruler paid with thousands of gold and left with the masks. The ruler called out five of his strongest warrior and performed a ritual where he has to sacrifice five innocent children was taken from their family and killed for this selfish ritual. The villagers were angered by the selfish ruler's doing, families crying out for their children and revenge was plotted towards the ruler. A revolution was starting to overthrown the evil ruler.
At the ruler's castle, five of his warrior formed a circle with the sacrifices being in the middle. Among of the five warriors chosen, only one was sicken by the sight. He almost tried to run away and join the revolution if not for the others. The ruler began to chant the same words that had been chanted by the shaman. The warriors began to scream, pain streaming inside their veins and blood from the sacrifices moved from their bodies into the warrior bodies before all of the warriors began to pass out, one by one.
By the time the ritual had finished, an army has already been formed, leaded by one of the noblest samurai who had once been a father to one of the children who died because of the selfish ruler. When the castle's gate were tore down, five warriors stand in front of the army, wearing different masks of demons and with that, blood began to shed.
The war was vicious, blood stained on the ground and the castle. An army of hundreds of men were killed by five warriors in one night. The warriors had fought like demons and killed everybody to quench their renewed thirst of blood. Dead bodies began to pile up as time pass and there were almost no survivor left, except for one. The noble samurai fled from the war but not with his help, but by one of demons.
When the army had been defeated, the warriors began to go wild. They began to attack the castle and killed all the guards and the ruler's family. The ruler was frightened. He tried to flee but when he got out of the castle ground, he was stabbed from the back by no one other than the noble samurai. The noble samurai quickly hide after killing the ruler and with his own eyes, he saw the warriors began to kill each other. One by one the warriors fight and only one left standing among the blood of his comrades.
The demon that was standing there with his sword glinting in the middle of the blood field was alone. This was the demon that had saved the noble samurai death. The samurai asked the demon.
"Why did you let me live?" The demon was silent for awhile before he picked one mask among the four. He kissed the mask, mask against mask, before collecting all the masks and giving it to the noble samurai.
'Hide these masks from falling into the wrong hands. All of these masks must be kept a secret, including mine. Please hide these.'
The demon had surprisingly stabbed itself right at the heart but no howl of pain was heard. The demon had died.
The noble samurai heed the demon's words and hide the evil masks that had cause many deaths of the land. He began to build the land and restart a new era for the land named Edo. But, legends says that the masks he hid still exist even after thousands of years had passed, never aging and looks brand new. Whoever posses the masks will have the strength of five of the most powerful demons known to man. But they should remember…
"… that demons cannot be controlled easily, even with the help of the strongest omniyoji could help you. They will kill until the master that has trapped them died. "said the old man.
"…." Everyone who had gathered around the old storyteller was astonished but scared. The story wasn't any fairytale nor the truth. It was just a legend, maybe a made up one from a guy who wanted to pass the time. Anyway, the yorozuya had been listening to the story behind the crowds. They were also amazed by the story itself.
The walk on their way back home was silent. All the yorozuya were thinking about the story.
"Gin-chan, is the story real,aru?" Kagura asked. Gintoki was silent for a while before he shrugged.
"I don't know. The way he told it, it must have been ages ago. Maybe even before the great Gin-san was born. But as they say, it was just a legend Kagura."
"But, Gin-san. He told it as if it had happened. What if it's true?" Shinpachi asked Gintoki.
"Oi,oi! Cut me some slacks. If Gin-san has to go through demons again, he's gonna blow. Let's just forget the story and move own. Masks? What masks? I haven't heard about a mask before. I only seen masks like Ka**** Kid wear. That's more like it." He ranted.
"Excuse me, Gin-san. But you just become pathetic again. Ah, we're home." They were about to go up the stairs when suddenly, Otose called them.
"Wait a sec, you freelancer. Where's the rent pay for this month?" she said.
"What? Rent? We had to pay rent? Are you a yakuza or something?"
"Do you want me to kill you or something? Don't play dumb, you lazy head perm of a bastard." She said.
"Oi,oi! It's not my fault that I had a perm hair. I wanted to have a straight hair but life's doesn't let me."
"Whose talking about your perm, you idiot!" Otose sighed before she continued talking.
"Enough. Before I forget, there was a package sent by a mysterious man for you. I've putted it on your desk so it won't go missing. I'll be leaving now." She said before she left the yorozuya alone.
"Thank you, Otose-san. Well, let's go check the package." Said Shinpachi.
They went inside the apartment and saw the package was indeed on Gintoki's desk. Gintoki picked up the package to find the address only to see, only his name on the box.
"For me?" he said more to himself.
"What are you waiting for? Open it!" said Kagura anxiously.
Gintoki rip the paper covering the package and was surprised to see…
A demon mask…
End of chapter 1.