The Shadow Shogun of the Rising Sun
Chapter 1
Talk With A Goddess
By: Epyon
Uzuki Hiro slowly opened his eyes when he noticed that he was lying on a futon he looked around his environment in case he was in a dangerous place. He began to sit up as Hiro tried to remember what exactly happened to him, and why he was having trouble recalling his last event. Suddenly, he heard a girl calling out to him while almost being enchanted by her melodious voice, it took all his training as a soldier for him not to be spellbound. Finally, an extremely beautiful young woman whose age looked to be in her early twenties appeared sitting on a throne-like seat while having a big happy smile seeing Hiro for the first time in person. Hiro's first impression of the mysterious female who suddenly appeared, was to him practically screaming "I'm a goddess." He was left speechless as he dumbly praised her in his heart while forgetting that it was rude to stare so intensely. The goddess who can read the minds of dead souls gave a gentle smile at the compliment he thought of her, and with a snap of her fingers, the scenery changed to a lakeside surrounded by sakura trees.
"Uzuki Hiro, I'm sorry to tell you but you have passed away doing a good deed in saving a child's life. So I pulled your soul to judge it and see what type of life you have lived and what kind of individual you became before you died." Amaterasu commented as she smiled at the young man who looked like he had been slapped with a reality check.
"I see, what a shame, I didn't even get a chance to have a family or to live to accomplish any of my dreams. So, kami-sama, which one of the gods would you happen to be since you are judging my soul? I'm sorry I don't recognize you since I didn't live very long in Japan as a child, but living in another country changes a person's way of thinking and mindset compared to Japan. Would you care to educate this ignorant person about your eminence?" Hiro asked as his eyes shadowed in sadness learning that he had already passed away while bowing in apology.
"I'm known as the sun goddess, Amaterasu. And just before you died you had a last wish. This wish was heard among fellow deities, me and my two siblings." Amaterasu answers the man's question leaving him completely speechless.
"My apologies, Amaterasu-sama!" Hiro exclaimed as he dropped to the ground and prostrated, making her smile at the sign of respect towards her.
"It is alright child, you may sit in seiza as we speak of the reason I brought your soul before me, to speak to you about a serious matter I want you to handle," Amaterasu said, and with a wave of her arm, a pair of cushions appeared underneath their knees as they sat in seiza.
"Amaterasu-sama, I'm not trying to sound disrespectful but I don't understand why I was brought before you?" Hiro asked not sure how to feel about the whole situation before him.
"Uzuki Hiro, from what I've seen of your life and personality. You have caught my attention, and out of trillions of souls, I decided to pick you for another opportunity to live. But there is a catch to this and before I give you any detail. I will need a clear answer from you. Are you willing to put your trust and your belief in me?" Amaterasu asked the young man what appeared to be a simple question, leaving him deep in thought.
When Hiro heard the question he stayed quiet and thought about it for a moment when he realized that it was a test to see if he had trust in her or not. Logically most people would be able to understand the real meaning of the question and would just answer thoughtlessly without understanding the actual meaning. And then some people had trust issues and would be satisfied with whatever response the other party would say. Hiro calmly thought about the pros and cons and decided he had nothing to lose. Since he would get another chance to be alive and from what he could guess Hiro would be reincarnated. The true question is in what type of setting am I going to be reborn since Amaterasu-sama is a goddess from Earth? The whole fantasy and being sent to another world is out of the question.
This would then leave the two to three options left, being reborn in a parallel world either in the past or maybe the future, the gods would turn the hands of time, or possibly destroy the world and dematerialize it once again he thought to himself. Amaterasu only smiled knowing for a fact that she was able to hear Hiro's thoughts and how on point he was to understanding his situation. It could be said that he is part descendant of her and part of the other pantheon that was wiped out because of the Abrahamic religion. The other good part about his soul is that he understands the threat of religion and the war conducted under the name of their god as she scoffed in her mind at the reasoning they had. The other thing that helps is that he has battle experiences and is not afraid to kill someone who might try to kill him or anyone he might care for.
"Amaterasu-sama, I will humbly accept your offer of having another chance to live. I would be a fool not to put my trust in you, since you are my goddess. I do have many questions and I understand that you still haven't given me all the details" Hiro replied to the goddess who nodded her head in understanding of his request.
"I am grateful that you will put your trust in me, Uzuki Hiro, I could say you have a good soul. And yes you may ask the necessary question but let me warn you we don't have much time before I am forced to send you away." The goddess said as she gave a warm smile at the young man in front of her, who only blushed.
"Alright, will I be able to keep my modern knowledge if I am reincarnated? And by any chance am I going to be granted any special powers." Hiro commented in a low embarrassed voice since he was in front of a god that would be any little boy's dream that lived on Earth.
"It is possible but it would be a burden for most people to be able to handle it since they would be stuck as a newborn for many years until they can function on their own. Would you be willing to go through all that till you grow older?" Amaterasu asked as she gave Hiro a serious look, making him sweat nervously from the intense gaze.
"If I'm able to remember everything from my past life, then yes I'm willing to go through it since knowledge is more valuable than gold and other materialistic things. And other than family only if they are not backstabbing me. I would like another chance to be a child once again, Amaterasu-sama," Hiro responded as he carefully made more room in front of his prostrating once again.
"Hiro, to answer your other question then yes, you will be getting three blessings, one from each of us siblings, and the great part about it is that only two of them will need one percent of spiritual power to be activated and five percent will forever be yours. The first blessing will be the "Eye of Truth," which grants the ability to see the truth and you can even see poison if put into food, drinks, etc. You will be able to see the emotions from your surroundings, from happy, excited, and sad emotions to negative, malicious intent to harm you. It will give you a complete advantage if used wisely and just so you know you will have heterochromia eyes, one will be gold, while the other will be black." Amaterasu answered Hiro's questions as he couldn't believe that he was just not getting one blessing but three of them it was way better than he expected.
"The second blessing is called Tsukuyomi, whenever the moon is out during the night you will have the ability with the "Eye of Truth" to see in the night and the darkness. And please make sure to gather more believers for Tsukuyomi and build more temples if possible, I'm sure he would appreciate it. The third gift will open up a mortal's mind limiters, granting you eidetic memories so you can use the full capabilities of the human brain. You will have access to your previous knowledge of everything you ever saw and studied, and not to mention it will enhance your abilities to sense and hear, and increase your instincts. This will give you a great advantage in the coming years and I'm sure it will save your life down the line, and make sure to do the same for Susanoo and me by creating more Shinto temples. Do you have any more questions you want to ask?" Amaterasu said as she watched the young man nodding his head in understanding as he listened quietly.
"Amaterasu-sama, by chance are there more people that have been reincarnated already in this world and will there be more in the future? And if they are, will they be born in Japan or are they going to be born all around the medieval world?" Hiro asked as he focused all his attention on the goddess.
"I'm going to be completely honest with you and I'm going to begin by telling you the details of the reason we the gods and goddess have summoned you and the rest of the souls into this parallel world we are going to be sending you all child. Each pantheon decides to summon a person of their choosing from the modern era and see if they can survive and change the world in a different direction. So there will be other reincarnators in the world but the only thing is that wars are happening all over the world during these times. The goal of all this is who among the reincarnators will be able to make the greatest changes to this world and stabilize it while gaining power and making a mark in history during this time. And to complete the final question I'm not sure about the other countries in the world but in Japan, there have been more than two dozen that have been reincarnated from different eras." Amaterasu pauses to let all the information sink into Hiro's mind before she continues.
And to be honest I don't know since many of our people are very kind-natured but if you can find them make sure to take care of them please, even though many died right away not being able to handle war eras. Would you like my help in gathering them together so you could take them into your care as soon as you are on your own?" Amaterasu said while Hiro was listening to everything before he came down with a decision.
"No it's fine for now I'll try looking for them before I'll ask for your help in one of the temples. If they are living a peaceful life I'll let them be but if they want to be under my care I will find a suitable place for them to stay then." Hiro replied as Amaterasu nodded in understanding, glad for him thinking of the other reincarnators who might not be living properly.
Uzuki Hiro, I Amaterasu have picked you as our proxy for the Shinto religion. From this day forth I will be expecting great things from you, also be aware that there will be other Pantheon gods that might interfere in the progress of each of you on a whim. As long as you don't go into another part of the world and begin to try to conquer them, they won't get involved in any of your affairs. Do you have more questions you want to ask?" Amaterasu asked trying to figure out one of the many questions that he might ask her, she could just read his mind but then it would make it pointless to keep making him tell her his thoughts.
"Yes Amaterasu-sama, is there something I also wish for you to do?" Hiro asked as he stared at her, seriously wanting to get rid of one of the demerits of our people of Japan.
"Ok please tell me, what is your concern that has you worried child," Amaterasu responded to Hiro's question, which sounded very serious.
"Please find a way to get rid of the fact that our people are not allowed to eat animal meat, because you already know that in the future they will start to do it. And it would make it easier for the people of Japan to be able to eat animals when they don't have any food. Is there a way you can pass this message along to all the shrine temple priests and the Miko's, so they can pass the word? And maybe you can appear before a few of them and tell them in a dream. I'm sure if you do this it will be a lot helpful for the future." Hiro said, hoping that she would at least do this for the people of Japan that are dying from starvation during the war era.
After listening to his request and knowing of the future his logical thinking made sense since many people died from hunger. And if she could do something different like her proxy was going to do, the least she was able to do was to grant his request. And with the idea that Hiro told her how to get through her worshipers, it made it a lot easier to reach them all in one move. Amaterasu was struck by an idea as her mischievous nature came out and couldn't wait to see the surprise she was going to be sending him in the future. Coming to a decision Amaterasu acknowledged that he had a sharp mind as well before letting him ask more questions.
"It will be done, child. So you don't have to worry, and I'll pass down the message to my worshipers. So feel free to ask another question." Amaterasu replied as she gave him a sweet smile, as he looked away to ask his next question.
"Amaterasu-sama, do you recommend what era I should be born in? And are there any such divine artifacts or a divine place to extend a person's life?" As Hiro asked one question for a suggestion, while the other was just wanting to see if anything like that did exist.
"To answer your first question that will depend on you, it's your choice. As for the second question, one human lifetime to see if it is possible. But remember that just standing around and not fighting fate will never change your destiny. But fighting destiny will change your fate if you put in the effort. But if you're lucky and can discover a certain shrine temple that has been lost for centuries, you will be able to exceed time. Time of it as a single life span quest, but I warn you if by chance you discover it you will have to make some difficult decisions when I will appear in front of you once again." Amaterasu told Hiro some mysterious cryptic words as she watched Hiro, furrow his brows as he listened carefully.
"Then I would like to be born sometime in the fifteenth century Since it would be the same era the "Onin War" would begin and end and it would kick start the Sengoku era, giving me time to gain power and to develop my territory, before sailing off to Meso-America to get a new allies and possibly a future retainer. I must not let those two continents be conquered by the Europeans otherwise they will try to coerce the natives of their respective lands.
"I don't see any issue with that request if anything I would have to agree with you there, many civilizations and religions have been crushed by these invaders throughout the evolution of mankind," Amaterasu replied agreeing with the way Hiro felt about the danger of the Europeans expanding on their sphere of influence.
"Amaterasu-sama I would like permission to eliminate the Buddhist monks in Japan, would you allow me? I might not go as far as to take out the whole religion as a whole but allow select places where people would be able to practice under the supervision of the Shogun and emperor. And I can not allow a dangerous religion to dictate the country, go unchecked." Hiro asked as he explained his reason to the goddess to allow him to take action, surprising her with the action he wanted to take.
"I will allow you to take action against the Buddhist monks since they have been spreading their corrupted version of the religion to gain power and weaken the Shinto religion. Hiro, just remember to keep yourself out of trouble while you are inside my domain cause once you step out you will be on your own. Also, the other deities would be able to harm you as long as you don't provoke them before you have the required power to take over their domain and their people. But I digress, out of all the pantheons in the world in the current era the Shinto religion has been tainted ever since Buddhism took a foothold in Japan. And they have completely corrupted everyone's belief of the people to the point of overthrowing the samurai system and throwing Japan into more chaos." Amaterasu paused for a moment to put her words in order as she began to speak once again.
"With the Abrahamic religion being the most dominant while Hinduism and Buddhism being the next, leaving the Shinto religion and other religions at the bottom of the belief system. This is why I want to make a change since the descendants of the Abrahamic religion who had split into four different religions began centuries that began the holy wars. And because of those minor differences, millions of innocent human lives were killed because people were too selfish. And now that I have seen the cause this is the reason I chose you to have the right power to lead and protect our lands. And that is why as a child I took an interest in you, and even if you weren't fully Japanese but half I didn't see it as a problem or as an advantage. You have a very open mind and are not afraid to put your beliefs and plans into action regardless of whomever you spoke with." Amaterasu responded to Hiro's question as a twinkle could be seen in his eyes, from her explanation
Hiro quickly began to think that it would be best for him to become a daimyo and he knew the perfect place where he could begin building his new domain, at Mutsu peninsula Northeastern Japan. There he would be able to secretly build ships and grow his army before anyone ever finds out his true motives and his true ambitions. He would first have to show to everyone he has the knowledge and capability to become a dominant force to unify Japan of course with a little bit of help from his future knowledge. During that time he would gather villagers from all over Japan to create his army of shinobi, as well as to recruit any samurai clan and ronins to help him with his endeavors. He will also create different businesses to generate enough wealth to support his domain, and to expand into the mainland to create a port to be able to establish a new trade route.
Now the question is what year will he be born? And from what clan he will be from? And will he be able to survive without someone trying to kill him by chance? The chance to go up against the strongest warriors was something that made his blood get fired up, and to test his fighting capabilities against Japan's greatest warlords. And maybe also try to get lucky by finding a reincarnator in Japan as well, he thought to himself.
"Amaterasu-sama, I'm just curious what did the gods do to return the world to the past during that era? And will they mind if I present modern inventions or items from my previous life?" Hiro asked the question to the goddess as he thought many otaku's life dreams go back in time during the Sengoku era.
"That is quite simple, the gods gave a portion of their power to create many parallel worlds and they are at different stages in life. You and many of your reincarnators happen to get lucky to be sent to this time over a bet. But don't worry about the details and concentrate on your goals and the tasks I give you that is all you need to know. As for the other question, as long as you're not trying to do too much or destroy the planet then it should be fine with us." Amaterasu said as they both fell into a comfortable silence before she spoke once again.
"So, is that all the questions you would like to ask me before I send your soul to be reincarnated?" Amaterasu asked as she waited patiently to see what else he would ask her.
"Amaterasu-sama, is it possible to know from what clan I will be born? It would give me enough time to think of a way to get my plans in order ahead of time." Hiro asked once again since he wanted to have as much information to know what he was going to be dealing with.
"Sigh! I guess it can't be helped, child, your father will be Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado and you will be the third prince of Japan. Just to let you know the second prince became a priest and lived till 32 years of age. Your future mother is from the Fujiwara clan and is a consort for the Emperor and you will have three other blood siblings, an older sister, a younger sister, and a little brother. Hiro-san, here is a small piece of advice for you, be very careful while growing up in the palace because you never know when someone will try to assassinate you. Be sure not to die right away there will not be another opportunity like this for you." Amaterasu explained to him as he nodded his head in understanding.
"It's ok as long as it doesn't affect me I don't care, but I'll take your warning seriously since I don't want to die right away before I'm able to leave a mark on the world," Hiro said as he had a look full of determination ready to take on the medieval world.
"Uzuki Hiro, my time with you is about to run out and I need to send your soul to be reincarnated. Here is final advice to you, child, if you feel like it is becoming hard to keep the fact that you were reincarnated from the future a secret. Just make sure you tell people you are fully going to trust so you can take the burden off your mind and release any guilt you will carry in your heart. And remember you don't have to keep everything you know bottled up inside, you might just die from the stress so, let us try keeping an open mind with that." Amaterasu commented as she got a nod from Hiro, making him sigh in relief, knowing for a fact that everything she had just told him was true.
"Amaterasu-sama, I'm honored to have another chance to live once again, I'll make sure not to disappoint you and the rest of the Shinto gods. Please make sure to tell Miko's about my birth and my being blessed by you. I wouldn't want to be killed by the emperor if he would think that I was an illegitimate child of his, that would be just bad luck after all." Hiro told the goddess just in case as she smiled and nodded her head to his request.
"Well, then I see no reason to make you wait child, and good luck you're going to need it," Amaterasu said and with a snap of her fingers he vanished into the circle of reincarnation,
A/N: Hello fellow readers and writers, this is Epyon. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I would like to hear the readers' thoughts. I read a while ago really good Reincarnation story that had to do with Germans, and I thought to myself I could do something similar but I'll use Japan as the base of my story since they have a long ancient history and a beautiful culture. By the way, I'm Hispanic so I don't want people to think like hey what's going on with this writer and that is definitely not the mindset of the Japanese. You could this story is a what if they were able to branch out of Japan to gain colonies like the rest of Europe did.