Nobunaga dreamed of Imperial Japan. He had visited Kyoto 1559. At the time he was nothing but Oda clan leader. He was awed by the trappings of power. The Emperor was here. The shogun was here. Weak as they were they emanated power which was lacking in clan squabbles which dominated central. Japan.
He had spent the last four years taking over three provinces to the south and east. His hanyou would intimidate the locals with a demonstration. His troops would march into the ruined castles. Many simply gave way since they could see the writing on the wall. A daiymo who had powerful one day found himself a weak and sniveling coward. They were allowed exile. The roads became crowded with the refugees from the terror of Nobunaga.
He even found time to help his ally Matsudaira Motoyasu. This adventurous fellow was following the lead of Nobunaga. After he unifying his clan, he move to drive the Imagawa out of Mikawa. Since Nobunaga was not using Inuyasha at the moment. , he asked for the use of Inuyasha. The hanyou was more than happy to assist. Gifu was very boring. With no campaigning to do there was nothing to do and nobody to kill Inuyasha felt like his talents were being wasted.
With Inuyasha the Mikawa border castles were captured in no time at all. There was no one who could counter the hanyou. Castles were simply no defense against the Windscar. Soon the castles were all in Matsudaira Motoyasu's hands. He was able to make his retainers happy by turning the castles over to them.
The only significant opposition came from the warrior monks known as monto. Both sides had firearms for this encounter. Inuyasha actually was able to fight in this encounter. Mostly he used Tetsusaiga to block the bullets from hitting his friend. He was very grateful for Inuyasha's presence. In the battle Inuyasha had probably saved his friend's life on numerous occasions. The future emperor would always remember him fondly for this service.
With Mikawa completely conquered , his ambitions expanded. The emperor gave him a new name in 1566 which reflected his new ambitions, Tokugawa Ieyasu History would know him by this name as the first shogun to rule all of Japan..
Nobunaga's break came in 1565 when Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the 13th Ashikaga shogun, was forced to commit suicide when attacked in his palace by troops sent by Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Matsunaga Hisahide. His brother, Ashikaga Yoshiaki left his life as Buddhist monk to try to get revenge against the new shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihide.
There were plenty of lords eager to take advantage of this opportunity to gain power over the shogunate. Among them were the Takeda clan and Asakura clan. After currying favor with both of these clan, it was Nobunaga to whom the former monk eventually turned. He was impressed with the way that Nobunaga had fought his way from controlling only a small castle in Owari to taking over provinces many times larger than the size of his original province. Little did the shogun know that Nobunaga had secret weapon. Only the inner circle knew the identify of the hanyou. .
When the former monk showed up in Gifu to curry the favor of Nobunaga, Nobunaga could hardly belief his luck. He knew that the monk thought he control Nobunaga. Little did he know what the future would bring.
Nobunaga accepted the offer to make Ashikaga Yoshiaki the shogun without hesitation. He began planning the campaign immediately. It helped that he had a presence in Omi province which was between his lands and Kyoto due to the marriage of his sister to the daiymo of Omi province.
To reach Kyoto he had pass through the lands of the Rokkaku clan. He gave them an ultimatum of recognizing the new shogun or else. They preferred the else. It was a terrible mistakes. With Inuyasha leading the way, the castles were destroyed and the way to Kyoto was open. By this time Tokugawa troops had joined with the Oda in the drive to the capital. When Nobunaga reached the capitol in November 1568 he drove out the Myoshi clan out of the city. The Myoshi continued with their attacks around the city until they were crushed by a lieutenant of Nobunaga's.
He could now install his own puppet shogun. Nobunaga refused the position of Kanrei which was subordinate to the shogun and began issuing orders to restrict the shogun's power. The former monk was resistant to this role and began scheming to free himself from Nobunaga almost as soon as he was installed. He began sending out feelers to Takeda Shingen, Mori Motonari, and the Azai and Ashakura clans. By 1570 he had assembled a coalition alliance of Asai, Asakura, Rokkaku, and Enryakuji monks,
.The stage was now set for another war. The combined Oda and Tokugawa forces began to attack into Omi province, but due to betrayal by Nobunaga's own brother-in-law, the Oda forces had to withdraw. By July Oda's forces were back assaulting a major castle of the Azai in Omi province.
Oda was presented with an opportunity to destroy a major element against him. He occupied the Azai while the Tokugawa pushed back the Ashakura. until they had flanked the Azai. The anti-Oda coalition was forced to retreat into Odami castle.
Ieyasu stood with his friend Inuyasha. He had been waiting for this moment. If they allowed the coalition troops to withdraw within the castle they did not have the forces for a successful siege. But Oda was allowing him to use Inuyasha to assault the castle walls. The Windscar slammed into Odami castle. A breach was opened. A retreat became a rout. Troops that should have held back Nobunaga for two more years would soon be dead.
A messenger arrived at the castle in Kyushu. The Lady of the castle leisurely read the scroll as she watched her son play in the courtyard. She hurriedly ran to her room. What was going on this castle should not have been taken for two years. Someone was changing history. As she read the scroll closer she noticed that a strange warrior had breached the wall with an attack from a demon sword which caused five furrows of fire. What in the world was Inuyasha fighting for Nobunaga and how could they stop him? They needed to contact Miroku, He was in the area. Perhaps he could do something to stop Inuyasha.