Earlier this week, when Yusuke and Nezuko heading up the long stairway together, Botan tells Yusuke he has a new mission from Koenma. A powerful fighter named Genkai is about to give up their power to someone who they find worthy. However, a demon named Rando plans to take Genkai's power for himself and use it to cause chaos. Botan bribes Yusuke with tickets to a concert if he were to take the mission, with Yusuke agreeing. He did want to bring Nezuko along since she never been to a concert before and he allowed her to go with him to help out on the mission. Back to the current time, Yusuke and Nezuko climb up the stairs leading to Genkai's dojo. When they reach the top, they see hundreds of other fights waiting around. Yusuke realizes that Genkai is actually holding a competition, where the winner will gain her power. Since Yusuke left out of school, he ended up picking up Nezuko letting her wearing warm clothing to keep her not hurt from under the sun's burning heat.
Yusuke's pants, "Man, couldn't she have less staircase and not this many? My legs are going to be ending up numb before we start this test." He grunted as Nezuko focused her attention on the crowd of humans and then back at Yusuke. She felt her hand being tugged by Yusuke to drag her into the crowd to get a good close-up in front of the doors.
"Haven't seen this many freaks since that comic book convention," Yusuke said to himself.
"Mmm-Mmm," Nuzuko hummed looking around the crowd and eavesdrop to hear a word about Genkai being all-powerful.
"Well, if Genkai is incredibly strong and a good fighter. I won't be surprised." Yusuke said to Nezuko who merely nodded.
While they were standing in the middle of the crowd, then Yusuke saw a familiar face as they approached over to them.
"Urameshi!" An orange-haired male wearing a blue school uniform, light skin tone, and oxy eyes carrying a bag over their shoulder.
"Kuwabara?"Yusuke called out the male's name which Nezuko overheard him say out loud.
"Hey, what the heck is going on? I mean what are you doing here?" Kuwabara inquired.
"I've got good reasons, unlike some people," Yusuke says in a slight sarcasm.
Kuwabara pointed at himself, "You think I don't know? Okay, I'll tell ya."
Yusuke and Nezuko were listening to Kuwabara explaining his power that "Spooks" him whenever he sees ghosts or scary stuff. It was going up greatly in the last few weeks and he decided to come to visit Genkai's temple to ask her if she could fix his symptoms. His explanation completely made Yusuke deadpanned as Nezuko was quirking her eyebrows and looked not impressed to hear this coming from Kuwabara.
"But look at this line!" Kuwabara complained.
"Hey, now look. I agree you need therapy but you are you sure that lady is into that?" Yusuke unquestionably asked.
"Kuwabara pokes Yusuke's nose, "Don't be such an ignoramus, Urameshi! Master Genkai happens to be an expert at the great Spirit Wave technique!" He says swerving his finger onto Yusuke's nose, "She can do about anything with a person's spirit, and that includes turning the volume way down on mine!"
Yusuke backs away feeling sweat droplets run down his forehead, "Right, Spirit Wave. Everybody knows about that."
Kuwabara suddenly grabs Yusuke by the collar which he let go of Nezuko's hand, "This isn't school! So don't pretend your not a dufus!"
"What's with the girl?" Kuwabara asked as he glanced over to see Nezuko wearing warm clothing to keep her shielded away from the sun. He gasped as he grips Yusuke's collar harder and began to spat at his face. "URAMESHI! I thought you had a crush on Keiko!"
"Quit it! Nezuko is just a friend. Okay?" Yusuke shoved him off him and adjusted his collar. Nezuko was deadpanned at the small quarrel they had discussing Keiko.
Kuwabara glanced over at Nezuko giving her a friendly smile, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Nezuko. I'm Kazuma Kuwabara."
Nezuko slightly nodded. Kuwabara quirks his eyebrows to notice the bamboo muzzle on her face that she wore.
"Why does she have a muzzle on her face?" Kuwabara asked.
"She can't talk." Yusuke shrugged.
"And why is she wearing heavy clothing?" Kuwabara asked.
"Because if Nezuko gets under the sun, she'll die and so we have to keep her from getting under the sun," Yusuke explained.
"That doesn't make any sense at all!" Kuwabara exclaimed.
Yusuke rolls his eyes muttering, "Trust me. It does."
Just then, the doors to the dojo open revealing Genkai to be a petite older woman. Genkai cuts to the chase and starts the first round of the competition. She pulls out a huge pot and informs the crowd that they will be drawing a piece of paper from the pot to determine if they will go on to the next round or not. If a participant's paper has a red mark on it, they will move on to the next round. The reason for this test is only those with strong enough spiritual power will be able to make the paper turn red. Yusuke, Nezuko, and Kuwabara manage to make their papers red, while a lot of the other participants fail to do so. Because of this, two participants become angry by this seemingly unfair elimination process and decide to rush at Genkai. Genkai takes one look in their direction and a surge of spiritual power releases from her, throwing the men in the opposite direction, smashing into a gate. The crowd is stunned by her power, as well as giving Yusuke, Nezuko, and Kuwabara the motivation to claim her talent.
The second round begins inside the dojo. Inside the crowd sees an array of video games and machines. The machines that are being focused on for this trial include a punching weight a rock-paper-scissors machine, and a karaoke machine. If the opponent can receive a passing on two of the three games, they will advance to the next round. These rounds test the spiritual power of the contestants as well, only passing them if they have the spiritual talent.
Over on the punching machine, Kuwabara scores 129 points. Yusuke comes over and scores a 155. Another opponent comes by and scores a 175.
Yusuke glanced over at Nezuko beckoning her to come over to join in the fun.
"Come on, Nezuko! Give a shot." Yusuke said pointing over at the punching machine as he and Kuwabara step aside to let her try."
"Lookie here, we've got a girl that is joining in all the fun." One male said.
"Hehe, she might have the guts to come here. But she isn't that strong to do it." Another male replied.
Nezuko punches the punching machine earning her points that were part of the energy coming from her as the machine calculated her punch to 1200.
"Twelve thousand?!" The two men exclaimed at how strong this girl really is. Nezuko walks over to Yusuke and Kuwabara who were amazed by her punch strength that they congratulated her not knowing that Genkai was chuckling that they never should have mistaken her to be a weak girl to come to this event.
The third round has the contestants having to pass through a dangerous forest. Genkai explains to them that there is danger lurking in every corner of the forest, so only the best will make it through while scaring some of the contestants, most of them attempt this challenge. Yusuke and the participants start to run through the forest, with Genkai having no problem running past them, telling them she will wait for them at the end of the trail. Some of the participants fall victim to the traps inside, while others make use of their skills and traverse to the other side. Yusuke plans to take a straight path and Nezuko tags along thinking it would get them to the endpoint fastest. However, a large group of demon bats and their leader, Baldock, threaten Yusuke and Nezuko with death if he doesn't leave the forest. Yusuke does not retreat and decides to fight the bats. While the demons are fast, they are nothing compared to other enemies that Yusuke and Nezuko already faced, such as Hiei's. Yusuke and Nezuko easily beat up Baldock, then continue through the forest.
Three hours since the start of this challenge, challengers start to emerge from the forest, including Kuwabara. Kuwabara looks around for Yusuke and Nezuko worrying that they won't make it in time. Genkai informs them that she cannot wait any longer and that they need to proceed to the next round. Just then Yusuke and Nezuko arrive from the forest, explaining to Genkai that they got delayed thanks to a large bat demon. This impresses Genkai, as Baldock was one of her best defenders. Impressed, Genkai allows Yusuke and Nezuko to continue to the next round.
The eight qualified fighters then competed in the final round where they will match up against each other. The catch, however, is that they will fight in the dark. Each fighter got the advantage to fight against the ones in the dark and made it to the final round. The final round is whoever could defeat in a one-on-one match against each other, Genkai will be responsible to teach them her skills and techniques. That will be it for the final round. Now, Yusuke is more desperate than ever, as he already used his rei gun and now must face a new enemy without much of his strength. Kazemaru, a very speedy ninja, easily beats the crap out of an exhausted Yusuke. Yusuke tries an uppercut but barely misses Kazemaru. Now Kazemaru realizes Yusuke has some strength left, so he uses some of his spirit-seeking shurikens to beat him. Yusuke evades the frontal assault but realizes the shurikens follows his every move and gets hit by the next attack.
Botan, Nezuko, and Kuwabara are surprised about Yusuke's instant disappearance move and Genkai assumes out of desperation Yusuke unleashes his secret technique.. but then we see a hand rising out of a small pond... and it turns out that Yusuke accidentally fell to the pond as he was rushing into Kazemaru, which caused his disappearance and a shuriken backfire that led to his victory. Now Yusuke advances to the finals and awaits the winner of the next match.. between Kuwabara and Shorin. Botan walks up to Yusuke, and whispers in his ear, telling him that they may have narrowed it down. Kazemaru can't be Rando. If he was, he would have automatically reverted to his true form upon being knocked out. They both come to the same conclusion - Shorin must be Rando.
The next fight was Kuwabra against Shorin in this final round. Now Kuwabara looks pretty good in winning the match, and he prepares for the final blow but then Shourin utters some weird words which turn out to be the key to his most devastating technique, the dwarf invocation, and in seconds Kuwabara turns to an entity as small as an ant.. even a caterpillar looks like an elephant to him now. Shourin uses this advantage and crushes Kuwabara by his fists, breaking all of his bones and making him paralyzed for life. Yusuke sees this and in anger tries to attack Shourin, but Genkai prevents him from doing so because their matchup is going on. Then Shorin throws Kuwabara and Kuwabara returns to his normal size, but now has all his bones crushed. Yusuke and Botan come to his aid, hoping for the worst.. luckily Kuwabara is still alive.
Now furious than ever, Yusuke, who was just exhausted a minute ago from his previous fights, displays a strong spiritual power and out of nowhere attacks Shourin as the finals of Genkai's competition start. Yusuke kicks the hell out of Shorin out of his anger and beats Shourin down. Then Shorin flies to the air and then discharges another special attack, the wind cutter, as air forms into circular cutting tools and injures Yusuke hard. Now Yusuke cannot attack frontal since the circular cutters will tear him apart, but continues his assault. He leaps up and passes through the middle of the circular cutters.. all the way and smashes his arm right through Shourin's neck and brings him down big time.
Shourin revealed himself to be Rando and wasn't going down a fight if he gets a hand of Genkai's spirit wave technique. Nezuko was glaring at him as she growled and her veins were popping out of the side of her head and her eyes changed slanted downwards towards the sides of her face and framed by notably long eyelashes, the pupils of which can appear slit as she transforms. Botan knew that Nezuko was protective when it comes to someone hurting any of her friends, so she stopped her to assure that Yusuke will be just fine. Nezuko took her word and stood in her place to watch the fight only glaring over at Rando that she sensed him a dangerous foe to come across them since the mission was to stop him before he gets to learn Genkai's techniques. The fight between Yusuke and Rando was a tough match to go up against and Yusuke was able to defeat him using Spirit Gun at the guy and won the match.
Now, Yusuke had to train under Genkai for six months which he groaned only remembering about the concert ticket Botan had given him. He did insist on letting Nezuko go to the concert since she never been to one before and so, the training under Genkai commenced.
Six months have passed and Yusuke has finally returned after having intense training with Genkai. Keiko meets him on his return and treats him to ice cream for their reunion. Yusuke, now fully relaxed, talks to Kuwabara and discusses their previous encounters. Nezuko who appeared over to them greeted them with a small wave taking a seat between the two. Just then Keiko interrupts their conversation holding up two ice cream cones in her hands when she noticed Nezuko sitting in between them.
"Oh, I didn't know you brought another friend along," Keiko said.
"Oh, yeah. Keiko this is Nezuko and she's been living with me for the last six months." Yusuke introduced his childhood friend to her as Nezuko looked over at Keiko greeting her with a warm smile while wearing the bamboo muzzle on her face.
"It's nice to meet you, Nezuko," Keiko said handing over Yusuke's ice cream cone as she tilted her head to the side and looked over at Yusuke.
"Um, can she talk? And what's with the warm clothes? It's very hot out today." Keiko questioned.
Yusuke tries to explain by thinking of something to tell her exactly why Nezuko is wearing so much heavy clothing on her body. An idea came into his head.
"Nezuko was born with a disease spreading around her body which makes her skin sensitive to the sun. Also, she can't talk is because her voice box isn't working, so she's mute." He lied as Nezuko looked at Keiko and then at Yusuke waiting for a response to see if she bought it.
"Oh! I'm sorry to hear about that. You must be missing the sun while wearing those fabrics." Keiko says showing a sign of empathy at Nezuko.
"Yeah, it's rough." Yusuke nervously scratches the back of his nape glad to see that she bought it.
"Say, Nezuko, why not come join us at the movie house?" Keiko suggested.
"Mmm?" She tilted her head to the side wondering what a "Movie House" was. What was moving?
"A movie house is where they play films on a large screen to see actors or celebrities play their roles in them," Kuwabara explained.
"Has she not been to one before?" Keiko asked.
"No. But it's her first time going to one and she'll like it!" Yusuke grinned.
"Great! Let's go!" Keiko gestured to them to get their butts off the bench, so they can head down to the movie house together.
While they were walking Yusuke sense something bad and they had to make a bad excuse to leave Keiko behind. As the two walk-offs suddenly a group of punks attacks them, but Yusuke finishes them off by unleashing his newly learned technique from Genkai, the Spirit Shotgun! this display of power even shocks Kuwabara off. Then another punk tries to land a sneak attack on the three, but somebody turns in and smacks the punk out and it turns out to be Botan, to Kuwabara's excitement. Botan then explains Yusuke and Nezuko's next mission. Then Botan explains that the punks that attacked them were possessed by insects that manipulate their mind into doing evil deeds. She tells Yusuke and Nezuko that these insects are controlled by a flute which is being used by the leader of the Sacred Demons, Suzaku. So, the only way to stop this mess is to defeat the demons since the spirit world will not grant their request of being able to stay in the human world. This serious talk suddenly comes to an end when Botan realizes Kuwabara was listening to them. now Kuwabara learns about this whole thing, the demons, detectives, and the rest, and because they are now best of friends, Kuwabara decides to help. Botan leads them to a secret tunnel that connects the human world to the sacred demons' castle.
Without any hesitation Kuwabara jumps down, forcing Yusuke to follow, but before Yusuke goes Botan gives him a communicator that will enable them to communicate between both worlds.
"I suggest you should carry Nezuko down there in case if there is any sunlight," Botan suggested as she pulled out a basket with straps for the arms for Yusuke to carry on his shoulders. She handed it over to Yusuke as the male quirk an eyebrow up deadpanned at Botan.
"Botan, you don't expect me to carry her like this? Do you?" Yusuke inquired.
"Well, she should be easy to carry around, right?" Botan shrugged.
"Are you THAT stupid? Look at this. She can't fit in this!" Yusuke vented.
Botan covers her mouth apologetically mistaken the size portion compared to Nezuko. She sweatdropped and fans her hand saying, "Apologies, I thought it would be bigger, Yusuke."
When Yusuke sets the bag on the floor Nezuko stares at the bag, and she concentrated to shrink to a child's size to climb inside of the bag. Yusuke and Botan were amazed that she can shrink her size to fit into something so small compared to her natural size.
Yusuke faintly smiles, "Good girl, Nezuko." He pats her head as Nezuko grins under her muzzle earning her head pat as a reward.
As Yusuke shuts the lid of the basket he glanced over at Botan saying, "Yeah, yeah, I guess this bag will be useful. While you go do other things...oh no!"
Botan looks at Yusuke worriedly, "What's the matter now, Yusuke?"
"Keiko! I dumped her off at the movie theater!" Yusuke tensed up as he nervously looked over at Botan for replacement. "Hey Botan, tell you what, why don't you go take care of things with her and I'll go down here." Just before Botan could say anything Yusuke cuts her off to jump into the tunnel that leads him to the castle.
When Yusuke and Kuwabara jumped down to arrive in the demons' castle only to be greeted by hundreds of zombies. Outnumbered by these monsters both Yusuke and Kuwabara are knocked down, but just then a strange light blinds the zombies off. We then see two familiar faces had come down when Yusuke remembers the thieves he fought were Kurama and Hiei.
"Well, well, well! The thieves!" Yusuke says as the two people he met for the last six months have arrived.
"Hello." Kurama greeted bluntly.
"Well, what are you doing here?" Yusuke inquired.
Hiei grunts, "Even that fool Koenma knew that it would take more than human power to kill the Saint Beasts."
"By aiding in this mission, Koenma has assured us we can clean our slates in Spirit World." Kurama formerly said.
A cocky grin formed on Yusuke's lips, "I guess Koenma heard me complaining." He turned to face Kuwabara, "Hey Kuwabara, let me introduce you to these guys. That's Hiei, and his name is Kurama." Yusuke introduced his friend to the two demons that were going to be apart of this mission.
"A pleasure," Kurama says in a formal tone.
"What are you carrying on your back?" Hiei asked noticing Yusuke was carrying something on his back.
"I'm carrying Nezuko on my back because due to sunlight she could get killed. So, when it's dark, she doesn't have to worry about getting burnt." Yusuke explained the fire demon who narrowed his eyes directly to him.
Kurama says, "Well, I'm sure she isn't going to get hurt since there is no sun shining out here."
Yusuke nodded as he removed the bag off his back to set it on the ground as he opened the lid to reveal Nezuko who was still wide awake. She looked around to see the four boys around her as she greeted them with a warm smile on her face with the muzzle in her mouth.
"How did she get that small?" Kuwabara asked.
"She shrunk her size to be able to fit inside of the bag easier for me to carry her around," Yusuke replied.
Kurama kneels genuinely smiling at Nezuko, "Hello again, Nezuko. You have nothing to the fear-no sun will harm you."
Nezuko climbs out of the bag in her child form as she concentrated to grow back to her normal size again. Nezuko wore a bright yellow hoodie the logo on the front read as "Nike", a pair of blue shorts, and short black combat boots with shoelaces to tie.
"Wow." Kuwabara was in 'awe' to see that she was back to normal again.
"Yeah, I guess she might be quite useful considering that she's been following around me." Yusuke lightly chuckled.
Kuwabara focuses his attention back at Kurama and Hiei saying, "Well I don't have a clue what going on, but it sure is nice to have a helping hand!"
"Helping is not the right word." Hiei correctly defines that that term as a misunderstanding as the three grunted. "Koenma may regard us as equals but I do not. Once inside the castle I suggest you let us do the work." He clarified to them as Nezuko didn't seem to understand why Hiei wouldn't think they would be useful to do the job as a team, "As far as I am concerned we're babysitting."
Kurama lightly chuckles as Kuwabara speaks up, "Listen here puny jerk-face, I'm gonna have to beat you up if you keep talking to us that way."
"Let's avoid fighting. You're not worth it." Hiei bitterly said.
"Oh, that's it!" Kuwabara tries to hit Hiei, but he was too slow when Hiei used his speed to stare at Yusuke face to face.
"But you, Detective, are a different story. I plan to take my revenge on you, so consider this fair warning." Hiei says as Kuwabara tries to hit him again only to miss.
"Hiei, we must face this current business before you start your own," Kurama said. Kuwabara glares at Hiei not pleased with his actions.
Hiei glanced over at Nezuko narrowing his eyes into hers saying, "And I will defiantly get my revenge on you.", Nezuko stares at Hiei blankly before reaching her hand out to pat his head making him stiffen and growl at her actions making Kurama chuckle.
"Relax, Hiei. She's only head patting you." Kurama reassured.
Hiei removed her hand as Nezuko smiled under her muzzle that made Hiei scowl, even more, to see that she was too eager to be this friendly.
"I'm still not surprised that a demon is joining sides with a human." He grunted.
Yusuke says, "Don't worry three eyes, if we survive this I'll be glad to take you on!" As he narrowed his eyes at Hiei. "Now is this a perfect team or what?!"
A grunt response came from Hiei as they decided to stop chatting and proceed on with the mission. As they were walking together they got a good view of the castle up close to see that it was much bigger, terrifying, and dark too. Soon they reached the skull entrance that will lead them inside.
"Wow now, this place is homey." Yusuke sarcastically said.
"So I guess we're just gonna walk right in?" Kuwabara asked a little hesitant of fear in his tone.
"Any prize that's worth having usually requires a risk," Kurama warned.
"Mmh-Mmm." Nezuko muttered bobbing her head.
"I say we make 'em come out here and fight us off like we're not a bunch of sissies!" Kuwabara declared.
"Your sense of strategy is amazing," Hiei said in a lack of sarcasm making Kuwabara growl turning to face him with a glare.
"Are you talking to me, runt boy?!" Kuwabara inquired.
Yusuke had enough of their bickering and said, "Let's go."
"Stupid dwarf," Kuwabara mumbled.
The five warriors now enter the demons' castle only to be greeted by a flying eye monster.
"Welcome to Maze Castle." The Eye Bat greeted the main five warriors that entered inside of the castle.
"Whoa, it talked!" Kuwabara exclaimed.
"Those who enter Maze Castle must be tried by the Gate of Betrayal. Also, the master would like to have his bride waiting for him alive." Said the Eye Bat.
Yusuke blinks in confusion, "Bride?! And what do you mean tried?"
The monster pulls a lever and suddenly the ceiling falls off, leaving the five trapped beneath. Now the five are in one hell of a situation they desperately need to break out.
"Urameshi? Why did you have to ask?" Kuwabara inquired in despair.
"Heavy, isn't it?" The Eye Ball implied. "Sensors in the corridor are most intelligent, and a complex assembly of gears adapts the ceiling's weight precisely to the strength of its victims. Of course, there is a catch. Just enough lee-way remains for one person to escape, leaving their friends to be crushed by the weight."
"Damn it!" Yusuke cursed.
"But decisions must be made quickly. Not even the five of you combined can hold the ceiling for long. Insist on teamwork, and everyone will be crushed. Only by turning against your friends will one of you be able to escape." The Eye bat narrows his eye at the five of them and squints, "Only the traitor among you deserves to enter Maze Castle. That's why it's called the Gate of Betrayal, you see?" As the Eye bat flew away leaving an evil cackle to watch the five struggle to hold the ceiling from crushing them.
"Boy, I'd like to get my hands on that bat-thing!" Kuwabara grunted as the ceiling moved down an inch making the others grunt.
"Stay focus on the weight or you'll kill us all!" Hiei spat over to Kuwabara sending him a cold glare.
Kuwabara glanced over at Hiei, "Oh sure blame me! I bet I'm holding up a lot more weight than you are!"
Yusuke growls, "Shut it Kuwabara!"
"Well, I'm not about to die for the sake of you worthless humans!" Hiei snarled.
"Don't you even consider it, Hiei!" Kurama protested.
"Oh, man! I knew we should have played some trust games." Yusuke grumbled.