Back at Sanosuke's death match with Karasu...

"SANO!" Kenshin screamed after his friend, his head woozy from all the ectoplasm he'd lost from his... earlier fight. After the smoke cleared, he realized that his Demon Sword had ended up wedged into a stone like a Japanese Excalibur.

Unbeknownst to the suicide bomber, this was the chance Sanosuke Sagara was waiting for. Instead of going after the Youtou Shinnoken, he ran straight for Karasu.

The blond was on his way to retrieve the sword and magnify the jaki he received from the Onmyouji when he noticed that Sagara was charging at him at full speed.

Sanosuke summoned one final zanbatou from what was left of his spirit energy, his ghost body transparent and fading fast.

His reiki then turned blood red, and so did his ectoplasm, making it look like real blood. Ghost's blood.

Sano resisted the impact of the resulting explosions on his body by nullifying them with the Kiwami Hazushi (Extremity Release), punching his body on the opposite end of the impact to release enough energy to resist the blasts.

The fires of Karasu's Inferno raged even harder. Yet Sano entered the flames, undaunted. As though he were a fire demon like Hiei who could survive such high temperatures.

Ignoring the explosions from the dense conflagration of S-Level demonic energy that tore his ghostly flesh apart piece by piece, Sagara attempted to punch Karasu's head off with the Dual Extreme, only for Karasu's energy mines to explode on his fist at the same time.

Karasu was beside himself with glee. Savoring the moment. He could practically taste Sano's desperation. The temperature of his explosions reaching an atomic bomb's climax.

'Soon,' Karasu thought. 'The meat on my prey is almost done. I just need to cook it a little while longer.'

Sanosuke screamed in agony, shielding himself with what remained of his melting zanbatou, burning in what seemed like the core of the sun. The Heart of Hell.

Bomb after bomb exploded all around him from above and below. Blockbusters. Landmines. Homing bombs made of demon energy floating around him like glowing balloons.

However, he wouldn't go down, his zanbatou holding up like a wrecked car that somehow could still drive forward, slicing through cluster after cluster of military-grade demonic artillery.

"SARU-SAN!" Karasu's hair glowed and undulated from his youki and the Chojin's jaki like the tendrils of a bioluminescent jellyfish underwater. Or the lit fuses of a box of dynamite.

"KARASU! C'mere, you crow bastard! FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL MAN!"

His zanbatou exploding in sparks and molten steel, the "bloody" yet vengeful spirit of Sano kept tanking hit after hit from the floating energy bomb mines that surrounded the youkai like a cluster of suns that formed into his own Milky Way.

Yet he kept moving. Irresistible. Unfettered. Smiling like a madman. His face a crimson mask.

Due to the decreasing size of his gigantic sword that also served as his shield, Sanosuke began using his fists instead to stave off the galaxy of youki bombs, punching them back at either Karasu or unto each other with the Futae no Kiwami (Dual Extreme).

"FUTAE NO KIWAMI! FUTAE NO KIWAMI! FUTAE NO KIWAMI! AAAH!"

"YOU CAN'T WIN, SARU-SAN!" screamed the haggard Karasu, hurling his energy bombs at Sanosuke, who punched them out into flame and smoke with his ectoplasmic bloody fists and repeated Futae no Kiwami strikes.

In the end, all the fading Sano had left to stab Karasu's chest with was barely two inches of hot metal, which was all that was left of the twelve-foot zanbatou. Enough to injure an ordinary human but barely a pinprick to a Class-S demon.

"Checkmate, Saru-san!" said Karasu with a smile and sultry eyes.

However, it was still a pinprick to his heart.

"SANJU NO KIWAMI (TRIPLE EXTREME)!"

The Dual Extreme punch using two fists drove the shrapnel right into Karasu's heart before the organ exploded altogether with the third final strike of the Triple Extreme.

"I told you I'm dragging you with me to hell," said Sanosuke with a grin.

A choking and raspy Karasu clutched the bloody hole where his heart used to be, grinning in kind. "So be it. I'll see you in hell."

The Guardian of the Demon Sword finally found his voice after witnessing the slobber knocker of a fight before him. "SANO! NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM! HE'S GONNA EXPLODE...!"

A mushroom cloud formed in Okushiri, giving Kenshin horrid flashbacks of the Second World War. Of the time he almost single-handedly destroyed the Spirit World Barrier with the intention of unleashing youkai into the United States of America in his anger.

However, just as quickly, the cloud disappeared.

Himura looked up, then shielded his eyes from the brightness and hotness above him. Hundreds and thousands of miles away in the atmosphere was an explosion. A second sun of sorts as the other sun set in the horizon. Or what looked like a miniature supernova from up close.

From there, a bandaged Kazuma Kuwabara stood where Karasu used to be, a shining portal closing from behind him.

It took another second for Kenshin to realize that Kazuma tore through the fabric of space-time with his Jigen Tou (Dimensional Sword) in order to teleport the exploding Karasu and his mushroom cloud away from ground zero, letting him explode in the sky like before, in one of their missions.

"Whew. That was a close one. Oh, hi Kenshin!"

"Kuwabara-dono!" called out Kenshin.

"You bastard. You stole my thunder," said a tired but smirking Sano.

Kuwabara then turned towards Kenshin, who pulled his Demon Sword out of the stone.

"We need to act fast, Kenshin. If Kurama's predictions prove true, then Officer Fujita and our whole team may be in trouble!"


Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword

A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda

Original Concept by Chad Yang

The Shin Ju's attempt to finish Saito off continues. Also, Kurama has his hands full with... Rando?!

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted materials that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.


Chapter 54: Living Sin (Part 6)


Back at Mount Kamui...

"Why are you serving under the Chojin? Or at least one of his minions? What do you get out of it?" asked Hajime Saito, also known as Lieutenant Fujita Goro, to Gatekeeper Itsuki from the Sensui Seven.

"...Because I want to," came Itsuki's non-answer.

"According to my research, by the end of the Sensui Shinobu incident, you took away Sensui's body and soul into your portal. You were never heard from again until now. What changed since then?" Saito asked before falling into his Gatotsu stance and charging.

Itsuki's one open eye glared at the officer. He then hid behind a series of portals to deflect Saito Hajime's Gatotsu back to himself.

From there, Goro Fujita did something only two other people in the youkai's lifetime did to defeat him (one of whom was Daiji Matsudaira).

What did Hajime do? Use Itsuki's portals against him.

Who was the first person to do it? Shinobu Sensui.

In Sensui's case, he kicked a Reshou Kou Kyu Ha (Fissure Kick Crimson Ball Wave) right into Itsuki's back when the demon attempted to deflect the spirit energy ball back to its owner.

In Hajime's case, the ex-Shinsengumi captain feinted a Zeroshiki to the back of Itsuki, tricking the demon into making a portal behind him that led directly to another portal above the policeman's head.

Afterwards, the copper entered the portal atop him in order to end up from behind the one-eyed youkai. He then hit him with a Zeroshiki from his blindside before he could make another portal to shield himself.

The green-haired demon crumpled to the ground, his wound gushing with his demonic blood as his portals disappeared.

The policeman then hit the nail right on the head.

"Sensui was stolen from you, wasn't he?" asked Saito.

"Go to hell, Shinsengumi scum," a voice different from Itsuki's usual dulcet tones spat at Hajime. However, it came from the Gatekeeper's mouth still. Before Saito could continue his line of questioning, a shikigami (familiar) of the Onmyouji appeared before them bearing a sickle.

Not only did Saito have to finish off the familiar in order to keep it from undoing his fatal wound on Itsuki. He also had to avoid both a multi-hit strike from a reemerging Usui Uonuma and a Matoi Izuna (Ground Vacuum Slash) from a recovered Feng Xinhai (Raijuta Isurugi's Chinese reincarnation).

"HYAKKA RYORAN!" shouted Usui after he whirled his Rochin spear with a counterweight into a whirling dervish of strikes and blows, attempting to hit and stab his killer at the same time. His stomach where the Gatotsu Zeroshiki originally hit him a hundred years or so ago rumbled with fire.

Usui made his Tinbe shield even thicker and denser than before to withstand the force of any counterstrike thrust from the Gatotsu. Or rather, his Tinbe memorized the amount of force it received and grew stronger and denser as a result every time.

The dark priest and conduit of the Chojin's boundless jaki also worked overtime to keep the Shin Juppon Gatana (New Ten Swords) alive in their war of attrition with the Reikai Senshi (Spirit World Warriors).

Even Yusuke Urameshi would've had problems with the multi-pronged tactic. However, like with Urameshi, none of it mattered against the strength of a high-class foe.

"!?"

Again, Saito broke through Usui's thicker shield because his initial Ishiki strike to him wasn't even at his full power, his stab leaving a nasty gash on the chest of the blind man who turned his body away at the last minute.

"How the hell did you get so strong, you bastard!?" spat Uonuma.

"Unfinished business from a century ago," answered Saito, who pulled his sword out and did another Zeroshiki, but the Tinbe thickened just in time to block it. "Now tell me what happened to Shishio Makoto after he died and presumably went to hell, Uonuma Usui."

Usui sneered. "Wouldn't you like to know?"


Kurama, also known as Shuichi Minamino, was intentionally left behind to serve as the ace up in the Reikai Senshi's sleeve.

The plan was that he'd be briefed of the situation on the ground as their "infantry" attacked the initial wave of Shin Ju. Then he'd relay via the shinigami what the others were supposed to do afterwards.

Like their personal chess master. Or a general in an army.

However, this particular general was also used to fighting in the trenches with the rest of his men.

He was, after all, the one who figured out that Yahiko Myojin's recently discovered ability to nullify ki was the key to defeating the Shin Juppon Gatana's own personal power distributor, the Chojin's Onmyouji.

As Natsuki Shinkai had described, the Shin Ju were akin to a party in a role-playing game, with the Chojin's dark priest serving as their "healer" of sorts during battle. He even directly borrows his dark energy from the Overfiend himself.

Otherwise, the Reikai Senshi and the Shin Juppon Gatana were left at a bit of a stalemate.

Kurama was also the one who used the talents of the Mushiyori Residents (Asato Kido, Yu Kaito, and Mitsunari Yanagisawa) to thwart the plans of the Shin Ju to turn one of their own into a permanent S-Level demon (which was Karasu, by the way).

If he had to hazard a guess, his equivalent in the New Ten Swords was Feng Xinhai, Natsuki's Chinese father and apparently the reincarnation of one of Kenshin's previous enemies, Raijuta Isurugi.

A coward and pretender in his past life, Xinhai managed to become one of the Spirit World's most dangerous foes with his own chess-master mentality.

This was why Shuichi was kind of surprised to see Rando of all the Shin Ju seek him out after the teleporting Kuwabara dropped him off of the shores of Okushiri.

"So Xinhai is sending out his lackey instead of himself to face me?" Kurama asked his fellow redheaded demon, his rose seed at the ready to become a Rose Whip.

Rando replied with his squeaky voice that sounded almost grandmotherly, "I'm no lackey of Xinhai. There's merely a change of plans. The Chojin figured out that Xinhai is no match against you tactics-wise."

"...And somehow you are?" asked Kurama, his voice slipping octaves lower as the prideful youko from inside him sneered at the spider youkai whom Yusuke pummeled into submission earlier on.

Rando chuckled. "And like the Chojin predicted, you can't help but underestimate me. That will be your downfall."

As usual (much to the chagrin of his past partners-in-crime like Hiei and Yomi), Kurama summoned his Rose Whip and did evasive maneuvers while waving around his weapon at Rando to see how he'd react.

He was always the "wait and see" kind of fighter.

Rando reacted in kind, using only his weakest attacks when he was still below Class-B to respond to Kurama's interrogative whiplashes.

Kurama avoided the array of Youki Duantoutai (Spirit Guillotine), Kasho-Happa-Ken (Fireballs), and Zankuu Reppu Jin (Spirit Halo Cutter) that Rando lobbed at him.

Minamino also had the presence of mind to lead the Spirit Guillotines into the webs sticky web of Youki no Ito (Silk Strands) that had bound Yusuke earlier when Rando and him first fought.

It was a simple tactic. Rando planned to catch Kurama by his spider web then blast him with his variety of projectiles.

None of the little imps that Rando summoned could get near Minamino either thanks to his Fuuka Enbu Jin (Wind Petal Waltz Configuration).

However, Rando himself was throwing enough fireballs and vacuum cutters from far away and weaving enough silk webs to keep him from getting bothered by the razor-sharp technique.

For the most part, anyway. He still got scratched up.

Any other Rose Whip strike he couldn't avoid, he blocked with his own Youki Whip or a whip made of demon energy.

"..."

After a minute passed, Kurama switched tactics. He realized that, like with Tsukihito "Game Master" Amanuma, Rando was probably there to keep him occupied rather than serve as a legitimate threat.

'Or maybe Rando is smarter than you give him credit for. This way, he won't have to reveal all his tricks at once,' Kurama told himself off. Or Minamino did to the prideful youko. 'Like how Kenshin once defeated an enemy by evading him until he self-destructed.'

'Nonsense. That's what we're doing to him,' came his youko self's retort.

As Kurama quickened his pace all of a sudden, he did three things at once.

He threw a seed into a wound he had made on Rando's arm earlier that the demon hadn't noticed. He threw another seed into the sands of the beach they were on. He finally grew a Juryo Yozan Ken (Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine) on his right hand while still holding his Rose Whip with his left hand.

Rando avoided the Kagon Retsuzanshi (Rose Whiplash) and used his muscle control to resist getting stabbed by the Juryo Yozan Ken as though he were Toguro Ototo.

The seed that Kurama planted into him earlier popped out of his wound like pus from a zit thanks to all his muscle clenching and flexing.

However, before the spider demon could attempt to do one of his wrestling holds on Kurama, the demon-turned-human jumped over him then and tangled him with his whip.

Rando still managed to tear through Kurama's chest with a missed strike, though, even as the demon fox landed from behind the pasty demon.

Kurama lacked the strength to pull the Rose Whip tight enough to cut Rando apart or pull him around, but he had enough cunning to pull at the demon's feet in order to make him trip right into where he wanted him to fall.

Right into a newly grown cactus patch filled with spines the size of knives and swords.

His three-pronged plan worked. Rando had enough wherewithal to avoid sharing Roto's fate, but he had no defense against his cactus surprise.

Rando died instantly, his blood pooling into demon cacti that were spinier than normal. The sentient cactus patch grew and grew with its spines, impaling the hapless youkai in every way possible.

Kurama sighed and walked away from the bloodbath, only to then pause and avoid having a cactus head impale his head as well.

"As expected of the Legendary Youko Kurama! I had to bust out Jine's Jagan at the last minute there! You're quite the tricky one!"

Minamino backpedaled into the nearest coconut tree, his back against its trunk that served as his shield against any attacks from the rear.

The corpse of Rando had disappeared, replaced by a Rando with a Jigen
Tou that he probably used to teleport Kurama's own demon cactus back at him from out of nowhere.

Rando chuckled. "But you're not a perfect fighter. Even though you took down the likes of Karasu and Toguro Ani, you were once injured by Genbu. Cursed by Gama. And almost killed by Ura Urashima. You tend to drop your guard too much."

Kurama was about to turn his whip into a super whip when vines burst forth from his body, spraying his blood all over the sandy ground.

"!?"

These were vines planted into his body by Rando, he realized. Using his own weaponized seed, the Shimaneki Sou (Seed of the Death Plant), at that.

'Pretty clever,' was the begrudging thought of Youko Kurama.

Rando could only smile as the Death Plant grew and bound Kurama to the coconut tree behind me while he himself transformed the youki of his Jigen Tou into a Hadou Ken. "Heh. I told you so. Don't underestimate me."


A creature made of flaming negative energy formed from behind Xinhai, holding its own fiery version of the nodachi that its "master" held. The flames danced and roared, thus making the humanoid form of Feng's shikigami (familiar) look more like a raging wildfire.

Uonuma, on other hand, kept Hajime busy with his stabbing Rochin and a Tinbe that had gotten used to the exact PSI (pounds per inch) of strength that the policeman was willing to unleash so far from his Gatotsu.

As for Itsuki, his demeanor and character changed. Like in his fight with Daiji Matsudaira, he showcased new powers. His eye that Kuwabara had slashed close was now open, but instead of an eyeball it served as a portal to his personal realm.

'Minoru,' recited Saito from memory as he chucked a piece of rubble at Itsuki, only for the debris to disappear right into his missing eye like a miniature black hole.

'This is the power of Minoru. One of the split personalities of Sensui Shinobu. They all somehow transferred themselves to Gatekeeper Itsuki.'

From there, the tactics of the Shin Ju shifted. Saito had to dodge from the wave upon wave of kamaitachi (vacuum slices most commonly associated with weasel youkai and their sickle-like limbs) from both the Raijuta reincarnation and his fire shikigami.

The slashes moved both on the ground (care of Xinhai) and in the sky (care of the shikigami), thus keeping Hajime herded in one area in case he decided to jump and strike from above.

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this moved in Usui. He shielded himself from friendly fire with his Tinbe and pecked at Fujita with his Rochin, the unblocked Matoi (Earth) and Tobi (Sky) Izuna bolstering his attack.

Finally, Itsuki exacerbated the situation by teleporting from behind the backpedaling officer, his eye portal at the ready. He also protected himself from the barrage of Izuna by making portals that caught them, only to create exit portals aimed at Goro as well.

Any Izuna that had missed the policeman could then be "recycled" and aimed back at him care of the tricky portals of the Gatekeeper. It was a three-pronged assault that scratched and clawed at the ex-Shinsengumi slowly but surely.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" screamed the blind spearman. "Ever since you've gotten here, my stomach and guts have rumbled like I've been starving for weeks! My heart is beating like it's about to explode! The only way to quench this heat is to consume you with it!"

"..."

The wave upon wave of attacks from all angles indeed drew blood. Saito's blood.

The policeman grunted as yet another Izuna sliced his body up with a clean cut, followed by a stream of blood. Dodging these slashes almost felt like dodging rain at that point.

Uonuma himself evaded and blocked every last Izuna that came his way thanks to his Shingan (Mind's Eye) that allowed his heightened senses to detect both Hajime and the vacuum cutters a proverbial mile away.

Meanwhile, Itsuki continued to catch and release the Izuna that missed their mark back at Lieutenant Fujita from impossible angles and blind spots, even from underneath him. This kept Saito on the defensive.

And all this time, the policeman was herded by Xinhai and Usui like cattle to his eventual doom from within the black hole where Itsuki's right eye used to be.

All according to plan. Right?

Saito smirked, his wounds regenerating and his aura in the form of his wolf spirit forming around him like a shikigami of his own.

It was about time he bared his own fangs at Shishio's New Ten Swords.


'I can't believe you got tricked by that technique thief of all people,' the youko side of Kurama told his human counterpart. 'Beaten by small fry. Shameful. Pathetic.'

Without intending to do so, Kurama transformed back into his Youko Kurama form, partly to protect his human body from harm from the weed growing inside it.

Shuichi told his youko self to calm down. 'Stop underestimating him. Rando didn't become part of Shishio's New Juppon Gatana for nothing. Don't let your guard down.'

The infamous Rando possessed more than a hundred techniques he'd stolen from many a martial artist in the Demon and Human World. He even outsmarted Yusuke enough to give him the World of Suffering curse even though the half-demon was many leagues more powerful than him.

"Fighting you feels so much better than fighting Urameshi Yusuke," Rando told Kurama. "It's more a battle of wits than brawn. You don't need a stupidly strong power level to survive. We're cut from the same cloth, you and I. We can take on kings and gods even though we aren't necessarily the most powerful beings in the three worlds!"

Youko Kurama then regressed back to his Minamino form, standing in the middle of the beach. The Shimaneki taking root in his body.

Rando continued. "We fight smart and we can take down even Class-S demons and humans with our cunning even if we're many levels below them. And right now, I'm proud to be one of the few to outwit the likes of Youko Kurama!"

"Hoo. Is that so? Then show me what you got, Rando," the youko inside Kurama couldn't help but dare as Minamino wiped the blood from his mouth. "Impress me. Try and outwit me if you can."

Rando frowned then took on a pose as though he were holding a ball. An energy ball filled with his youki, to be specific. "Fine. Eat this. SHINKUU...!"

'He has more than a hundred techniques in his arsenal and he chooses a fireball to finish me off?' quipped the youko to himself. 'This after his rant about high-level beings relying too much on punches and ki blasts? My goodness.'

"...HADOU KEN!"

Kurama got blown away by the Vacuum Surge Fist, but ended up none the worse for wear because he manipulated the Death Plant inside him and made a full-body cast to absorb the shock of the technique.

More importantly, the blast created a trench for him to hide under before another seed he had planted in the cactus patch grew to... fruition.

An explosion from the cactus patch followed, ripping through the beach like a shrapnel bomb from World War II. The spines flew with the speed of bullets from a million snipers. Or like suppressive rounds from a machine gun.

Kurama had planted seeds from the Dynamite Tree into the demonic cactus patch, resulting in multiple explosions of cactus spines from fruit that exploded when they ripened. The seeds and spines ripped apart anything in their path.

Even the Shield and Armor of Sand weren't fast or strong enough to protect Rando, his body riddled with spines and seeds.

"AUGH! BAKUSAI TENKETSU (BREAKING POINT TECHNIQUE)!"

Sweating and bleeding heavily, Rando attempted to blast the ground to smithereens by stabbing his finger unto its weakest point to serve as his shield against the flying plant bullets, but the sand proved too fine and loose to destroy with the technique.

"As predicted, you stole so many techniques from so many people that you didn't have time to learn how to use them to their fullest potential," said Kurama from the trench he was hiding in.

"N-No! BLOOD WIND!" screamed Rando by reflex. It was supposed to be his emergency technique whenever he was injured. But it didn't work this time.

"You've used up your youki. There's too little youki inside you to activate even the Blood Wind. If you hadn't called my bluff and shot me with that Shinkuu Hadou Ken, it might've worked."

That was the natural consequence of having 100 (or more) techniques. Sometimes you ran out of power before you could get to Technique No. 50, much less No. 100.

"NOOOOO...!"

Minamino then changed back to Youko Kurama and absorbed the energy from the Shimaneki in order to regress it back to seed form so that it'd stop leeching off of him like a tumor.

This energy boost also healed him somewhat. Not completely, but enough to allow him to join the battle against the remaining Shin Ju without serving as a liability.

With a harrumph, Youko Kurama then told the bleeding pincushion that was Rando. "Mind games? Tactics? You're not in my league in that regard either."

A dark sphere that blotted out the sun then appeared above them.

It was the Perfect Shishi Hoko Dan (Lion Roaring Bullet) made from Rando's desperation, sadness, and insecurities.

More and more, Rando reminded Kurama of Yusuke. Particularly their shared tenaciousness and boundless spiritual power affected by the intensity of their emotion.


"W-Wha...!?" stuttered the blind bearded swordsman turned Juppon Gatana member as he blocked and deflected another powerful Gatotsu stab with his turtle shield at the last second.

The reflexes of Hajime were... unreal. He should've been chopped into a hundred pieces by now. At most, it looked like he got scratched by a herd of alley cats.

Saito struck Uonuma's Tinbe with a crushing blow filled with megatons of force, breaking it apart like chalk or ceramic china. The former Shinsengumi member again upped the ante of his Gatotsu.

The Shingan saved Usui from having his arm ripped apart along with his Tinbe, releasing the shield in time to do a Rochin spear counter, but the copper merely punched the spear away with his right fist then drilled forward with another Gatotsu Ishiki with his left arm.

All while dodging Izuna slashes flying and teleporting from all directions.

A new Tinbe formed immediately after as Usui slipped the Gatotsu Ishiki to his head and ducked the follow-through slash to his neck. The new shield blocked and deflected the Gatotsu Nishiki to his midsection.

"Keep pressing him," yelled Xinhai before his shikigami beside him disappeared then reappeared from behind Hajime. "Don't give that jiba (cock) sucker an inch! Don't leave him any breathing room!"

Sure enough, both Feng's shikigami and Usui took turns drilling the policeman down... right into the waiting Itsuki's hands (or black hole eye).

However, as though he himself had a Shingan of his own, Fujita took advantage of all his opponents crowding him and bowed just in time to avoid a flaming shikigami sword slash that instead landed on Usui's Tinbe defense.

"HEY! Watch it, you piece of shit! I'll kill you if you do that again, Xinhai!" cursed Usui at both the Chinese mafia boss and his familiar.

"Jibai (Cunt)," murmured Xinhai.

"...The hell did you just say!?"

Whoops. Maybe cussing out a teammate with superhuman hearing from under your breath wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Regardless, this gave the scuffed-up Saito enough wriggle room to take on the four Shin Ju.

"You moron! Behind you!" shouted Feng this time around.

By instinct and by his heightened senses, Uonuma dodged the "bullet" aimed at his spine, his reconstructed body remembering how he originally died. With the upper half of his body ripped apart from his lower half.

The nape of his neck moist with ectoplasmic sweat.

The missed Gatotsu Ishiki instead hit the jaki flame monster square at its heart, its flaming body imploding from the crushing blow. Like a miniature supernova from a dying black sun.

However, Itsuki was already upon Hajime, his own black hole sucking the policeman into parts unknown.

Or he would've had the copper not immediately recovered and again did a Gatotsu Zeroshiki at Usui that ripped into his shield and arm.

Usui grit his teeth and attempted to push Officer Fujita into Itsuki's eye portal, only for the gangly policeman to lift the blind man and throw him at the green-haired youkai.

Itsuki willed his eye closed to keep Uonuma from ending up into his eye portal, only for Saito to force him into the small slit of space left of the portal... at a speed that was literally faster than an eye blink.

This led to a spaghettification effect wherein the blind Shin Ju's body stretched vertically and compressed horizontally in order to fit into the event horizon of the black hole.

Even as this happened, the spirit energy of Lieutenant Saito flared, which seemingly gave him enough inner gravity to keep himself from being swallowed by Itsuki's eye black hole himself.

His sword then plunged into Itsuki's empty eye socket with a Gatotsu Nishiki, which ripped its eyelids apart and made the demon lose control of his own powers, his face collapsing unto the black hole of his own making.

Xinhai saw enough. He summoned the dissipating negative energy that was left of his shinigami unto him, setting his body on fire. Black fire. "Saito Hajime. How did you get so strong? How did you end up alive in the Heisei Era?"

Thanks to the dark fire of his shikigami coalescing into a full-body aura, Feng got enough heat from his jaki and coldness from his Izuna technique to produce his "TORNADO RIPPER!"

Like with his fight with Seiryu, Saito went into Gatotsu Nishiki stance and sunk his stance low while plunging his sword to the ground to gain enough leverage. This along with his dense ghostly aura prevented him from getting lifted up by the twister.

Just like Xinhai wanted.

In Chinese, he said, "I've gone through hell and back to reach the peak of my power. To become at least as powerful as Sensui Shinobu in a short period of time on my own, without borrowing the strength of the Chojin. How did you cheat your way to success? How did you get this strong?"

Right in the eye of the storm, the Taiwanese man shot a huge supersonic Tobi Izuna at the heart of the Tornado Ripper, which made the twister explode from within, turning into a Sonic Shockwave.

Or this would've happened had Lieutenant Hajime not charged from below the twister and stabbed upwards with a Gatotsu Sanshiki straight into the head of Feng, splitting his head open like a cut watermelon.

And in an instant, like in the case of Yusuke Urameshi, Hajime Saito killed three Shin Juppon Gatana members.


The Perfect Shishi Hoko Dan blasted a new hole from where the beach used to be, with parts of the sand crystallizing from the heat of the big bang and the sea filling the hot crater with water, releasing loads and loads of searing steam.

Youko Kurama survived the resulting explosion by summoning a long Rose Whip and swinging to the nearest high ground.

But he didn't come out completely unscathed. He tumbled around in the cluster of coconut trees and sprained his ankle from a bad landing before he took cover, the blast burning some of the trees to ash and uprooting others.

It rained. Or it seemed to rain before Kurama realized it was actually saltwater from the sea blasted sky high that soon turned into a full-blown tsunami created by the impact of the blast.

The tides literally turned.

He fought to survive against the floods, seeking high ground. It took all his energy to keep himself from being swept away by the waters and drowning.

Regardless, he wasn't worst for wear like Rando probably was. His last burst of energy destroying practically everything but its target. His youki completely spent.

What a waste of raw potential. He could mimic any technique he saw but didn't know how to use most of them.

Speak of the devil, Rando's head poked out from the churning waters. His battered body then emerged along with it as he trudged towards the new shoreline. His youki almost nonexistent. Like he was on the verge of death.

He then stopped right in front of Kurama before taking on the martial arts horse-riding stance.

"FINE! If I can't make you submit by outsmarting you, then I'll do it the old-fashioned way by overwhelming you with BRUTE FORCE! IBUKI!"

A dark energy enveloped the red youki aura of the multi-skilled demon as he accessed the reserve of jaki that the Onmyouji gave to him earlier after resurrecting him.

His power level jumping from Class-A to Class-S.

His body ejecting the seeds of the Dynamite Tree that Kurama was banking on to blast the pasty demon down the line.

He finally discarded his pride and finally let the Onmyouji power him up artificially into S-Level.

Kurama thusly took a blade of grass and turned it into a sword. It got carbonized soon after by a Burn Knuckle followed by a concussive Power Dunk. And a Genocide Cutter that lacerated the redhead all over through slashing leg kicks.

The demon fox attempted to catch him with the Rose Whip, but somehow Rando moved as fast as Kenshin. Thus, Minamino ended up hitting nothing but afterimages.

"What are you going to do now? Plant more seeds into me? Make me hallucinate? Erase my memories? Suck my blood with a Vampire Plant? Use an entire living tree against me? None of that will work against this S-Level demon!"

And Rando was indeed correct. Like with his encounter with the Reikai Boueitai (Spirit World Special Defense Squad), all of Kurama's attempts at trickery and growing dangerous plants were thwarted by the spider demon blasting all of his creations into smithereens before they had the chance to mature.

Although Kurama avoided triggering the Hiryu Shoten Ha by not being aggressive (it was activated by the hot ki of the opponent) and cancelled out the Blood Wind by making Rando use up his demon energy, the demon still hit him with another tornado variant named, "YONOKAZE (NIGHT WIND)!"

Followed by a "RAGING STORM!" that resulted in claws of energy and air rising towards the heavens.

The demon fox attempted to attack close with double Joryu Yozan Ken on both fists, only to get scorched by a similarly close-quarter, "KIKOU SHOU!" energy dome of annihilation that destroyed everything within its vicinity except the one doing the technique.

Even Youko Kurama had no answers for Rando's shifts from one technique to the next. It almost felt as if the silver-haired kitsune were fighting a dozen different fighters all at once.

Such was the power of a powered-up Shin Juppon Gatana member.

This reminded Kurama of his fight against Shigure in the Makai Unification Tournament. He got so injured in the match he had to retire from competition.

The youko's youki reserves then bottomed out thusly, his body shifting back and forth between his two forms before settling into his human form.


Hajime Saito had just killed Feng Xinhai, Usui Uonuma (again), and Gatekeeper Itsuki with all the variations of his Gatotsu technique, making short work of them all.

The officer particularly took advantage of Xinhai's (and, in essence, Raijuta's) blind spot when he was about to swing an Izuna, hitting him right between the eyes the same way Kenshin did with his Hiryu Sen (Flying Dragon Flash) technique when he first defeated Isurugi for the first time.

However, Saito's mouth then quivered into a slight frown when he saw Feng grab both halves of his head and put them back together. As though he were a zombie from a horror movie.

Was this the Onmyouji's doing? Fujita looked around for any sign of the Chojin's dark priest. Or maybe Xinhai was a type of Class-S being that could survive even a head blow.

The Raijuta incarnate harrumphed at Hajime. "Looks like my gamble paid off."

Officer Goro palmed his face, his vision blurring. Why was he having a migraine? And what did Xinhai mean by "gamble"? What "gamble" was he talking about?

Afterwards, he saw the "corpses" of Itsuki and Usui emerge from a portal. They themselves were worn-down and exhausted like he was, but not dead. Or even half-dead.

Even though he witnessed their death by his sword firsthand.

What was going on here? He could've sworn he hit them with his best shots. Did Usui use the Jagan of Jine Udo to create a hypnotic illusion?

Fujita growled, "Fine. I'll just have to kill them again and again. No matter how many times it takes. Until he shows up."

Xinhai shifted into his fencing stance and probed into Saito's defenses with the long reach of his longsword nodachi, pivoting counterclockwise in order to avoid the southpaw copper's deadly Gatotsu strikes from his left arm.

A grumbling Usui hid behind his shield and also poked at Hajime with his Rochin from a significant distance. Whenever Saito attempted to cut the distance between them, the blind swordsman deflected with his Tinbe or did his Hyakka Ryoran multi-hit technique to make him back off.

Itsuki himself was there in the background to teleport either Shin Ju to safety or mix things up by exchanging their places.

This dual jabbing from fighters who didn't want to engage, baiting Saito to charge and get countered left the policeman at an impasse of sorts.

If he charged at either of them, the other would surely counter him. And if he didn't attack soon, they themselves would attack while he had his guard down.

Chipping at him bit by bit. Like ice picks. While his headache grew worse and worse.

Saito charged at the Chinese Raijuta at a half-beat, expecting a parry and a counter. But he had a counter of his own.

As soon as Xinhai parried the Gatotsu and circled to his left, intending to thrust with his platinum longsword with his prosthetic right hand, Fujita himself batted away the sword with his follow-up side slash.

Saito then repositioned himself to do another Gatotsu Zeroshiki, only for his face to get punched by a metallic lead right straight.

"You thought that I'm just a simple reincarnation of Isurugi Raijuta, didn't you? You believed that I'm just the same coward as my past self. You've underestimated me!"

"..."

Saito's world then turned upside down as he fell into a portal and teleported from the ground to the sky.

His sense of gravity ended up warped. He almost got skewered by Usui's Rochin had he not done a reverse Gatotsu Sanshiki that drilled downwards like the Gatotsu Nishiki thanks to his positioning.

This attack pushed the blind man away and allowed him to flip back down to earth.

And yet even though he didn't land headfirst into the ground, his lightheadedness worsened. As though he had suffered a concussion.

He looked at his wounds. As expected, they healed almost immediately.

Wait a minute. Even with his superpowers, he shouldn't be healing this quickly.

He then almost had his entire throbbing head disappear had he not avoided the black hole bullet shot at him by Itsuki of all people.

Instead, a huge chunk of his shoulder went missing where the trajectory of the vortex missed.

"...Itsuki, don't kill him. We need him. He'll make a fine member of the Shin Ju, after all," came Xinhai's light admonishment.

"...Fuck that. I hate all this pussyfooting around," spat Itsuki, who had again shifted personalities, this time adopting Sensui's Kazuya personality.

Therefore, his hand had turned into a gun as well, except this time it fired high-velocity black holes that ate everything in its path instead of mere ki bullets.

"Besides, I couldn't kill this fucker even if I tried," Itsuki/Kazuya concluded, spitting at the ground.

The Chinese mobster chuckled. "You have a point."

And indeed, Saito immediately healed his shoulder soon after. Even though it was missing whole bits of muscle tissue and bone.

A smirking Xinhai then boasted, "For your information, Toguro Ani wasn't given a new body when the Overfiend fetched him to become part of his Dai Kaijin army. Because we didn't need to. We used his original immortal body instead."

...Those sons of bitches.

Office Fujita thought he had killed Toguro Ani in one shot because his healing powers were compromised by Yahiko Myojin's neutralization ability, leaving him at B-Level regeneration.

The Gatotsu should've disintegrated him thoroughly enough to keep him from regenerating fully for months.

But Goro didn't take into account how much better Toguro Ani probably was at regenerating himself once he was away from Myojin's vicinity.

"Toguro also absorbed the Janen Ju (Sinning Tree) unto himself, giving him both the power of Gourmet and the power of hallucinations," said Feng, confirming Hajime's suspicions as he doubled over and took a knee.

He looked at his hand and from it formed the face of Toguro Ani.

An Elder Toguro who had the body absorption powers of the late Sadao "Gourmet" Makihara and the hallucinogenic capabilities of Kurama's Sinning Tree.

One of the cells of Toguro Ani ended up inside Saito after he disintegrated him earlier, and it was slowly but surely taking over his entire body using the assimilation powers of Gourmet.


Fighting the powered-up Rando right then and there was like dealing with a "broken" character in a fighting game lobbing "super combos" or "finishing moves" over and over again without spending one bit of energy on their super bar. Like it was permanently full.

It bordered on cheating, almost. Or fighting against an SNK Boss.

Or fighting against Yusuke Urameshi himself.

"...It's unfair, isn't it? I'm too powerful! In this reality we live in, life isn't fair. It favors the strong. And the weak will always be food for the strong! These are the rules of nature!"

Rando verbalized what Kurama was thinking before blasting the millennia-old "teenager" sky high with a Power Geyser.

The pasty-skinned and vein-filled youkai's words harkened back to Makoto Shishio's own Darwinist motto in life as Kurama remembered a memory that wasn't his but Kenshin's (care of their brief mind-meld through the Demon Sword).

Kurama disagreed with such a sentiment, however.

For example, a decently skilled player could theoretically counter this cheat if the cheating player was only mindlessly spamming his special attacks over and over without rhyme or reason.

Overcompensating for his lack of skill by getting an unfair advantage and using power given to him or stolen by him rather than something he had earned himself.

"KAISER WAVE!"

Kurama still had his Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine on the ready, but every time he attempted to stab Rando with it, the youkai countered with his own huge arsenal of big moves.

"HAKKEI!"

At any rate, in Kurama's eyes, this was the closest thing he could get to fighting someone like Yusuke. The demonic spawn of Raizen, who in turn was the oldest King of Makai for the longest time. The monster that neither he nor Yomi could overthrow.

"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Incidentally, Minamino had always wanted to try out a special technique he developed specifically for Urameshi on the off-chance that they did have to battle.

"DEADLY RAVE!"

Alas, Rando moved so fast with his flash-step techniques and flurry of blows that Kurama couldn't even see him anymore. No wonder he could take on two or more fighters at the same time.

"SHORYU REPPA!"

Gingerly getting up on his feet, the haggard Kurama took out another seed hidden behind his bushy hair.

Rando hesitated in unleashing a Buster Wolf or a Kugai-powered Psycho Crusher on Shuichi after he saw the look of determination in the demon fox's eyes.

He checked on himself to see if he had any open wounds that would lead to a comeback victory from out of nowhere care of a Kyuuketsu Shokubutsu (Bloodsucking Plant) and the like. He found no such wound.

'What is he planning this time?' Rando scowled. 'No. I have to finish him off now before I fall for another one of his traps! I don't want to turn out like Toguro Ani stuck inside the Sinning Tree or something!'

And as soon as Kurama threw the plant at Rando, it was blasted to oblivion with energy beams. Vaporized into plumes of smoke like all the rest of the fox demon's weaponized plants.

However, it wasn't vaporized. The seed, now a seedling, kept growing.

Rando stomped on it with his heel. "This is it? This is your great plan to defeat me? Oh, how the mighty has fallen!"

He then almost tripped face-first on the ground, realizing that the leafy plant had ended up tangled around his ankle. "What nonsense is this? You-Gan."

The shot should've burned the plant to ash. Carbonization usually was enough to deter regeneration, but the plant had taken root elsewhere, seeking out Rando in particular with its leafy vines.

Annoyed, the mimicry specialist released different projectiles at the peculiar weed, from the Psycho Shot to the Orochinagi, only for the creeper to flourish even more and more from the influx of energy, taking root even in the loose, sandy ground and sprouting more of its green leaves and purple flowers.

Regenerating endlessly like demonic weeds. Or like cancer. Or like Rando's fellow Shin Ju Toguro Ani would.

"W-What's going on? Why aren't my techniques working!? WHY WON'T THESE INFERNAL WEEDS DIE!?" Rando demanded, becoming even more determined to disintegrate or burn the plant to ash.

"That's the Invasive Kudzu," Kurama explained. "The Japanese arrowroot. Genus Pueraria, in the pea family Fabaceae, and subfamily Faboideae. It's a perennial vine here in Japan."

"K-Kuzu (Trash)?" asked Rando. "No, you're kuzu!"

Undeterred, Minamino continued. "When naturalized in the West, kudzu became an invasive species considered as noxious weeds. It can climb over shrubs or trees, suffocating and killing them as they take over due to heavy shading."

Rando didn't listen to Kurama's prattle, blasting the creepers that kept on haranguing him as he attempted to create a second Perfect Shishi Hoku Dan to incinerate them all in one fell swoop.

However, little did the pasty kabuki youkai know that his outright overzealousness to kill the demonically mutated weed made it grow even stronger. It absorbed youki, jaki, and reiki like how normal plants absorbed water and sunlight, making it grow exponentially due to photosynthesis.

Like Yusuke would, Rando fell into the "Chinese finger trap" of focusing all his immense power in destroying the plant with his boundless energy even as the plant grew bigger the more he attempted to kill it with spiritual energy. Like throwing gasoline to a forest fire.

Rando's tenaciousness proved to be his downfall. If only he had left the seed alone, then it wouldn't have grown this bad. Like the single-headed hydra getting its head sliced off and growing two heads in its place.


Because their team won the Ankoku Bujutsukai Grand Finals during the Second World War, the Toguro Brothers were rewarded with the chance to become demons themselves as funded by the sponsors of the tournament.

It was what the Younger Toguro had always wanted. After defeating the demon Kairen who killed all of his pupils while he was away from his dojo, he also wanted to become as strong as that youkai himself.

What they weren't told was that they served as guinea pigs for the experiments of Dr. Ichigaki and Dr. Shoji Sugino (the reincarnation of Gein), as sponsored by Mukuro and her right-hand man, Kirin.

It was a 1940s project to turn humans into demons, based on the (in)human experimentation done by the Empire of Japan's Unit 731 on Chinese civilians (who were called "logs" because the unit's cover story was that their concentration camp was a lumber mill).

Many of their initial test subjects were abject failures. Some went mad with power. Others became catatonic. Still others suffered from genetic deformities, mutations, poor health, and diseases like cancer.

However, the cancer that Toguro Ani got after being injected by demon DNA was just like the immortal HeLa cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks' cervical tumor (now used for "humane" experimentation of various drugs throughout the years).

It was through these cells that Dr. Sugino grew a clone of Elder Toguro while the original was left to die with his cancer.


"TOBI IZU...GUAAAHH!"

"Gatotsu ISHIKI!"

Hajime Saito and Feng Xinhai exchanged blows, with Saito getting the better of the exchange by wrecking the mobster boss's prosthetic arm apart with a lightning-quick Gatotsu thrust.

However, Hajime then collapsed to the ground, but not because of exhaustion. It was Toguro Ani stealing control of his body.

He tried to stand up, but he felt his body rebel against him.

The Elder Toguro was taking over his body. Slowly but surely. Infecting him like an aggressive cancer. Spreading and replacing his healthy cells with demonic cells like a sentient tumor.

How humiliating. The Shin Ju got him good. Or rather, Feng Xinhai did.

"Did you target me from the start?" he asked Xinhai, marveling at how the former Raijuta became such a diabolical mastermind.

What had happened to Feng that turned him from a pretend killer to a real one?

"Toguro Ani could've infected anyone with his immortal cells, really. Myojin Yahiko is gifted but inexperienced with his powers. So of course any one of you Reikai Senshi would've rescued him. However, having you do so is the best-case scenario for us."

"And the worst-case scenario for you," finished Itsuki, his forearm gun returning back to normal as an ordinary hand while his eye portal opened once more, signifying the return of his Minoru personality.

Usui snapped, "The fuck is this? What's the point of beating Saito Hajime if we're going to keep him alive anyway? This is bullshit! This is something that damn Houji would've come up with! I hate these harebrained schemes of yours, Xinhai Feng!"

"Don't be such a caveman, you dumb xiao riben (puny Japanese). We already won," said Feng. "Rather than kill him, we should have him join the Shin Ju. The Chojin's plans are worth more than your feelings about the matter."

Uonuma snarled back, "As if you care about the Chojin's plans yourself. You're just a child playing cops and robbers, after all. A big pretender."

Ignoring the blind spearman, Xinhai healed enough of his body damage to summon his familiar again. It now rested on his arm stump where his prosthetic arm used to be, turning into a hand made of jaki fire. "Whatever the case may be, Saito Hajime is now in our control."

Saito snarled at Feng and fell into his Gatotsu stance while kneeling down, forcing his body to move. He leapt into action a half-second later.

However, his hallucinations got worse and worse from there. It felt like he was fighting a thousand Usuis, Itsukis, and Xinhais. They kept getting up. None the worse for wear.

Like nothing he did mattered.

And indeed, the three were just biding their time until Toguro Ani took over Saito's body.

But Hajime didn't care. He kept on fighting, whether he saw a hallucination made by Toguro as he invaded his brain or the real deal in front of him.

He charged at anyone within striking range while at the same time fighting the literal demon within him. Mixing things up with his boxing knowledge.

From time to time, he feinted Gatotsu stabs, only to do punches with his right hand instead in order to keep his assault from being predictable.

Right jabs to replace his Ishiki, right downward hooks to replace his Nishiki, and right uppercuts to replace his Sanshiki.

He could even do a stance-shifting Zeroshiki straight punch while fighting toe-to-toe.

He nevertheless stumbled and received stabs and slashes several times himself whenever he swiped, thrust, or punched at nothing at all. Toguro's illusions really messed with his mind.

Ironically, Toguro Ani's invasion of his body kept him from injury or death thanks to healing factor, but every time he healed, more and more of his cells were replaced with Toguro's cells.

"AH! I don't care anymore!" shouted the impatient Usui, his stomach churning and his spine tingling at the pathetic sight that was Officer Fujita currently. "If Saito is just going to be another puppet of Toguro Ani... of the Chojin... then I'll put him out of his misery myself!"

Uonuma decided to finish Saito off by striking his Rochin right into the officer's brain to allow Toguro Ani to replace it with his own disgusting, sadistic brain. The blindfolded man couldn't stand another minute of "seeing" (or hearing) Saito reduced to a husk of his former self.

However, as Usui did another shield parry to the Gatotsu to deflect the attack (instead of a head-on block that would've crushed his Tinbe into bits), something curious happened.

The man with enhanced hearing somehow ended up with Saito's sword plunging into him. "WHA...!?"

Xinhai moved forward to do an Izuna counter, only to have his own stomach pierced by Saito's blade. Strangely, he was far away from either Fujita or Uonuma. "W-What's going on!?" he exclaimed in Mandarin.

Only Gatekeeper Itsuki was able to figure out what was happening, but he did so too late.

Yet another tear in the fabric of reality caught the Gatekeeper by surprise, and out of it came Lieutenant Hajime's katana.

And it was a portal that Itsuki didn't create.

With blood dripping from his mouth, the green-haired demon called out, "H-He's back...!"

Officer Saito harrumphed and gave his sword a twist, much to the chagrin of the three Shin Ju. "Kuwabara Kazuma. You've returned."

From a huge portal emerged the Keeper of the Dimension Sword. "Damn right I did, Officer Fujita."


Actually, Kurama had been experimenting with seed hybrids for quite a while. He had extracted the DNA of the incapacitated Toguro Ani when he had him trapped in his Janen Ju.

He then mixed that demon DNA with the cordyceps fungus to create a Pseudo Creature with Toguro's immortal cells. It resulted in a parasite that could merge with its host on a cellular level, allowing it to instantly repair any damage done to its half-alive victim.

Just like with the Regent-Class Toguro Ani when he was still trapped in the hallucinogenic Sinning Tree.

It was through this same Toguro DNA that Kurama made the Invasive Kudzu.

Drowning in a sea of vines, Rando poked his head out from the noxious weeds and laughed. "Bravo. As expected of Youko Kurama. You proved me wrong about power levels. The cunning can take down the strong after all."

Kurama spared a glance at Rando before turning his back and activating his Spirit Detector that doubled as a communicator in order to report to Kuwabara that he'd taken down a Shin Ju member.

"...But what if your opponent is both cunning and strong? How would you fare against him? You could've been such a person yourself, but the Chojin is both smarter and stronger than even you," said Rando. "Your Reikai Senshi took down two of the Shin Ju: Jine and Suzaku. We replaced them with Toguro Ani and... a certain someone you know."

Shuichi Minamino turned to face Rando again, but he was already overrun with the Invasive Kudzu. To himself, he asked, 'Who's the new tenth member of the New Ten Swords?'

A scythe then stabbed Kurama right in his sternum.

Minamino saw the scythe coming and was about to dodge in kind but the voice of a certain someone he knew stopped him cold in his tracks.

"You're still up to your old tricks, old friend."

A demon with long ears like Yomi who also sported a hat, leathery bat wings, a vest, and black straps wrapped around his arms had just arrived.

No. Not this again.

"K-Kuronue...!" said Shuichi before taking a knee, his wound gushing with blood.


Kazuma Kuwabara had actually cut multiple portals that allowed Saito to skewer Usui, Xinhai, and Itsuki all at the same time even though they were far away from each other.

The powerful A-Class human with an S-Class technique then pointed his diamond-shaped energy sword at Xinhai. "And that's for jumping me from behind, you muscle-headed coward. Serves ya right."

Fujita's eyes widened then narrowed at the other person who emerged from behind Kuwabara.

It was Kenshin Himura himself. The Guardian of the Demon Sword.

The cavalry had arrived.

"Officer Fujita! We just got word from Botan! Did Toguro Ani...?" began Kuwabara.

"Yes, he did," grumbled Goro while Xinhai cackled and heckled them both.

"Yes, we told him all about it, Kuwabara Kazuma," said Feng, who coughed blood. "Toguro Ani is slowly but surely taking over his body the same way he took over Makihara Sadao of the Sensui Seven."

Itsuki then extracted himself from the blade and began making a portal that would've teleported Saito's katana to his head, which made the policeman finally pull his weapon out of the other two Shin Ju.

"Who is this Toguro Ani?" Kenshin asked Kazuma. "Is what they're saying true, Kuwabara-dono?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," said Kuwabara, who told Kenshin earlier that he'd explain everything when they arrived at Mount Kamui. "Toguro's an old enemy of ours who can regenerate his body from just one cell. Later on, he also received the power to take over bodies too."

"Alas, even though you've arrived to back him up, it's already too late. He'll soon become one of us. A potential Shin Ju candidate," said the Gatekeeper.

The color of Itsuki's aura changed again, revealing another Sensui personality that even Yusuke Urameshi wasn't able to face. "Hello. My name is George. And I hate all of you. Die."

From "George's" portals emerged all sorts of guns and ammo hidden inside Itsuki's hyperdimensional pockets. Right out of his own personal junkyard dimension. He then opened fire with an Uzi and a Tommy gun on each hand.

Kuwabara made a portal to catch the bullets from the submachine guns, intending to teleport them from behind Itsuki, but the Gatekeeper opened his own portal from behind him, with the exit hole above Kazuma and Kenshin's heads.

The Jigen Tou user then made portals that teleported him and Kenshin out of harm's way.

An upside-down Itsuki then warped from behind Saito, stating, "Nothing personal, Saito Hajime. I'm just doing what I'm ordered to do. Then again, I never really liked you anyway," before whipping out his submachine guns and firing at him.

However, the bullets bounced off of the dense aura of reiki that suddenly covered Hajime's body, making them ricochet back at the Gatekeeper and forcing him to retreat.

"Eh? What's going on...?" asked Itsuki/George.

And then right before their eyes, Saito began to change. His torn police uniform disappeared, replaced by a different uniform he'd also worn once upon a time.

His Shinsengumi uniform.

His reiki howled in the wind with a haunting sound, his spiritual aura around his body transforming into the form of a gigantic wolf.

The Wolf of Mibu had finally returned to the world of the living.


To Be Continued...

How can the Shin Ju survive the Shinsengumi's Miburo? Or rather, how can the Wolf of Mibu escape Toguro Ani's possession of his body?

Ciao,
Abdiel