It was your typical day at the Yasakani house, honestly being one of the few days where Hyuuga and his father aren't at each other's throats. The family was eating some breakfast, Riku was watching some videos on Hyuuga's phone and laughing at how funny they were, and speaking of him, Hyuuga was currently looking at a journal to see if there's any jobs available for him.
"Finally decide to actually do something with your life, boy?" Haruki asks his son.
"Well it's not like Ninjas get paid you know? And I'm not even sure you have a job, old man." Hyuuga said without taking his eyes off the journal.
"I do have a job you see, I work at a pharmacy and it's a decent job if I do say so myself." Haruki said proud of himself, however no one was paying attention to him.
"You want a job to get money big bro?" Riku asks as he takes a bite out of his bread.
"I mean of course!" Hyuuga said as he slams the journal on the table and gets up "If I can get a decent job that pays well, I can get rich in no time and not have to rely on the old man for money!" From Hyuuga's perspective, money appears raining down on him while yellow disco lights and sparks are everywhere, with Hyuuga dancing as the money falls "Money! Money! Money everywhere!"
Meanwhile, for everyone, Hyuuga just looks like a fool to them as he's grabbing invisible money and laughing like an idiot. "Hey sis, big bro is acting weird." Riku whispers to Mika.
"When he isn't acting weird?" Mika answers whispering to Riku as well as they continue to watch Hyuuga dance like a fool "Hey Hyuuga, shouldn't you continue to look at any jobs available?"
Hyuuga's eyes widen in realization that he got distracted in his own thoughts and clears his throat before sitting down as he grabs the journal and goes back to look at the jobs while taking a bite out of his bread. The rest of the family chuckles at the situation, with Hyuuga smiling from behind the journal.
Some time later, Mika and Riku appear wearing their school uniforms as they get ready for school.
"Like always, behave well and don't cause trouble in school, okay kids?"
"Okay daddy!" Riku answers with a smile while Mika is putting on her shoes as she just nods.
"Alright, take care you two!" Haruki kisses their foreheads, Riku giggling and Mika looking away in embarrassment, they then leave the house with Riku waving them goodbye.
"That warning goes especially to you Mika! Don't pretend like we don't know what you do in school!" Mika rolls her eyes and just ignores Hyuuga's comment, he chuckles and goes back inside "Welp if you need, I'll be in my room doing nothing."
"And what about finding a job?"
"I'll do it later, I need to rest, old man!" Haruki rolls his eyes and goes to watch some TV.
"Let's see if there's anything interesting in the news." Haruki changes to the news channel.
"For the past few days, there have been cases of people being found in vegetative state, nothing has been confirmed so far, they remain alive but it's almost like there's nothing inside them." The reporter speaks about these incidents, Hyuuga briefly turns around as he hears about them.
"What the hell? How is that possible?" Hyuuga asks.
"Beats me kid, I never saw someone in a vegetative state, but I cannot even begin to imagine how bad it must be not only for them, but for others as well." Haruki said in a serious tone, Hyuuga stares at the TV as it shows a few of those bodies, they look like they just lost their will to live with their almost dead eyes and grim expression on their faces.
Elsewhere, a trio of punks are walking minding their business until someone suddenly bumps into them.
"Oi you bastard, watch where you're going!" The punk that was hit by the mysterious person shouts to them, but they ignore him and walk to a nearby alley "Where do you think you're going?!" The punks follow the person on the alley and their leader grabs them by the shoulder "Aren't you gonna apologize?"
"Why should I apologize to a low-life scum like you?"
"What the hell did you just call me?!"
"Buddy, do you wish for us to kick your ass?!" One of the punks cracks his knuckles ready to fight the mysterious person.
"A fight, is that what you want?" The person chuckles to himself "Very well then, but you better not regret picking a fight with me, fool."
"You don't scare me!" One of the punks charges with a punch, but in an instant, the person turns around and a slash sound is heard. The punk stops and falls on his knees as his head leans downwards.
"W-W-What the hell?!" The two punks look at their friends in complete shock before noticing that the mysterious person was holding a large greatsword that seems to be made of bones, and yet he's holding it with just one hand.
The weird part was that, there was no blood on the sword, nor was it on the ground and despite being cut by the sword, there was no cut on the punk, his body is still intact.
The two punks were frozen and trembling in fear, with one of them managing to run away leaving his companion behind, but it's too late, he's cut by the man and falls on the ground.
"Are you sure you still want to fight me?" The man looks with his sharp black eyes towards the punk, who is still trembling in fear and he swings the sword, the scene goes to black as only screams are heard.
Inside the Shinobi Temple, sounds of punches, kicks and groans are heard in a dark room with some visible lights here and there. A Kunoichi backflips as some Ninjas try to attack her, she manages to dodge each attack, then stands upside down using her hands to support herself before doing a quick breakdance, kicking a few Ninjas that were trying to attack her.
The Kunoichi stands on her two legs as she blocks a punch by crossing both arms in front, she then does an upward palm strike that briefly knocks the Ninja away before she strikes him with a punch that sends him flying. Another Ninja and another Kunoichi swoop in as both try to attack her with a double flying kick.
She manages to detect them both as she flips above them and kicks them on the back of their heads, knocking them on the ground.
"Okay that's enough!" The voice of one of the Sages appears as the lights of the room turn on, the Ninjas and Kunoichis helping each other as they and the one they were fighting all bow down to show respect, the one that manage to defeat all of them taking of her mask, revealing to be Tsubaki, who wipes out some sweat on her forehead "Miss Tsubaki, I must say, you keep impressing us with your skills."
"Well what can I say? I am a natural born badass." Tsubaki snaps her finger towards the Sages.
"She sure is taking her training seriously, I think she's ready to succeed and take over her clan." One of the Sages speaks to the other two.
"I will admit she's quite skillful and demonstrated some great potential, among other things." The Sages look at Tsubaki, who looks at her mask before sniffing it and her eyes widening.
"I should probably wash this when I get home."
"What about the heir to the Yasakani clan? What should we do about him?" The Sages start thinking about what they can do regarding Hyuuga, they spot Tsubaki heading home and have an idea "Miss Tsubaki, could you wait a moment?"
"Is there something you need?" She turns around after hearing her name.
"If you don't mind, we have a favor to ask you."
"A favor you say? Alright, I'm listening."
"Would you be in charge of training Hyuuga Yasakani?" Hearing those words caused Tsubaki's eyes to widen.
"W-W-Wait, me?! Why me though?!" She shouts in disbelief as to what the Sages are asking her to do.
"You already have more experience than him, so we thought it would be a good idea for you to be in charge of training him." One of the Sages spoke.
"I don't think I'm qualified for this, I mean, this is Yasakani we are talking about! He would rather do anything than train!"
"Yes but, since he is fighting with us against the Yokai, training him would be a good idea especially if he has to face stronger opponents."
Tsubaki's mind was still processing the fact that she of all people is in charge of Hyuuga's training, but after a few seconds, she just sighs in defeat.
"Fine, I'll train that idiot, not like I have anything better to do anyway." The Sages clap their hands while Tsubaki rubs the back of her head in embarrassment.
Some time later, Hyuuga was currently doing his usual parkour, he leaps from a handrail before briefly running through a wall, then lands in front of another wall and jumps through it. Hyuuga gets ready to continue when he hears some screams and rushes to the source of the screams.
Hyuuga encountered a new Yokai, this one is a humanoid reptile with green skin, its hands and feet are webbed, it has a yellow beak and its most prominent feature being a plate on its head, indicating that this one was the Kappa Yokai.
The Kappa spots Hyuuga and roars before charging towards him. Hyuuga slides to the side and manages to dodge the attack. The Kappa turns around and roars once again, though this time, it assumes a Sumo stance as it stomps the ground with its foot.
"I have no idea what you're doing and frankly I don't care." Hyuuga puts on the Ninja Driver and inserts the Hebi Scroll "Henshin!"
[Moeru, Hebi!]
He transforms into Orochi and charges towards the Kappa with a punch, however the Kappa is quick enough and performs a quick palm thrust that pushes Orochi away.
"The hell?!" Orochi shouts while putting his hand on the spot he was hit by the Yokai. The Kappa continues in that stance while Orochi cracks his knuckles "I can do this all day shiny head!"
The Ninja Rider goes for another punch but his fist is caught by the Kappa's palm, he goes for a kick but the Kappa thrusts its hand towards his leg, causing Orochi to fall on his butt before getting up.
The Kappa then rushes towards Orochi with both of its palms in front, the Ninja Rider decides to play the Yokai's game and takes on a Sumo stance as well as their hands clash with each other.
Thanks to the armor, Orochi is managing to hold his own against the Yokai, though he can feel the difference in their physical strength as the Kappa is managing to push Orochi with each step it takes.
Orochi continues to put force on his arms as he manages to push the Kappa a little, then notices that some water has dropped from its head. The Yokai notices it and makes some noises with fear on the tone.
"Oh you don't like when your precious water leaves your head huh? Well too bad for you!" Orochi manages to push the Kappa away as more water drops from its head, the Kappa feels its strength slowly fading away the more water drops from its head and uses what little strength it still has to deliver a powerful kick that sends Orochi away as sparks fly from his armor.
The Kappa take that opportunity to escape to look for any source of water nearby.
"Hey get back here!" Orochi shouts as he goes after the Yokai, what he doesn't notice is that he's been watched by the same man that attacked those punks earlier.
"So that's the Orochi punk I've heard about, he managed to hold his own against Kappa just fine." The mysterious man groans as he puts his sword on his shoulder "He's gonna be trouble for sure, guess it's my time to shine as well." He laughed before walking away, preparing his next move.
Hyuuga, who had dismissed the transformation, is running looking for where the Yokai might have gone, but doesn't find anything.
"Not even a trail of water that I could follow, clever Yokai." Hyuuga groans and decides to walk away with his hands on his pockets, though he stops mid-way "You know it's not exactly polite to watch someone while they are walking, now who the hell are you?" Hyuuga asks whoever is watching him, he turns around and his eyes widen as he realizes who is watching him.
"I must say, you're quite smart for managing to spot me, that's pretty impressive Hyuuga Yasakani" The one watching him is the same boy that has been watching him for a while.
"Y-You're that kid me and Kusanagi saw the other day!" Hyuuga shouts as he points to the mysterious boy.
"Seems like I was found out, and this is our first time seeing each other face to face." The boy chuckles in an innocent tone "I'm Setsuna Kagami, I've been waiting to meet you Hyuuga Yasakani."
Something about the boy, Setsuna, didn't feel right to Hyuuga, he couldn't put a finger as to what exactly, but he knew something about the boy wasn't right.
"Wait, did you say Kagami? Are you part of the Kagami clan?" Hyuuga asks in a curious tone to Setsuna, who chuckled hearing that.
"Why yes, I'm the heir of the Kagami clan, well kinda." Setsuna answered in his innocent yet weird tone.
"What do you mean kinda? Do you have another relative besides you who is also a candidate to become the heir's clan?"
"I have a twin sister, but we are getting off-topic." Setsuna walks towards Hyuuga "I just wanted to introduce myself, it was a brief but nice talk, I hope we get to see each other again Hyuuga." He smiled before walking, Hyuuga simply looked at him as he took a deep breath.
"What's with that guy? Why did I feel uncomfortable talking to him? Also we just met but he called me by my first name, something about him feels wrong." Hyuuga's monologue is interrupted by his phone ringing, he picks it up, notices it's Tsubaki and answers "Yeah it's me, what's up?"
"Hey Yasakani, I want you to come to the door of the Shinobi Temple."
"Why exactly?"
"Just come here, I'll explain everything, you'll probably like it."
"Fine, fine, not like I have anything better to do."
"Oh good, see you later then dude." She ends the call and Hyuuga puts his phone away.
"Well I did say I had nothing better to do, so might as well just go there." Hyuuga then feels his stomach growl "I'll go get some food first."
Some time later, Tsubaki is tapping her foot waiting for Hyuuga to show-up.
"Where the hell is that guy?" She notices someone coming "And speaking of the devil, you're late you know?"
"Sorry, I was hungry and grabbed some food on the way here." Hyuuga takes a bite out of a cucumber, Tsubaki just stares at him as he eats the cucumber.
….
….
….
"W-Why are you eating a cucumber?" She asks in a deadpanned tone.
"Was in the mood to eat one. Want some?" Hyuuga points the cucumber to Tsubaki, she shakes her head "Welp, more for me then!" Hyuuga takes another bite out of the cucumber "By the way why did you call me here?"
"I…. The Sages decided to put me in charge of training you." Tsubaki answers Hyuuga's question, his reaction is expected.
"They what?!" Hyuuga shouts in disbelief and quickly finishes his cucumber "You. In charge. Of training. Me?!"
"Believe me, I was shocked when they asked me this, they said it was because of 'Experience'."
"Although I'll admit, I've been thinking about training after I became Orochi, that could probably help especially if we were to fight against stronger opponents." Hyuuga admits it, something that surprises Tsubaki, though a grin appears on her face and Hyuuga notices "And I suddenly regret this."
"Oh don't worry, I'll take good care of you, you can let Teacher Tsubaki here help you get stronger."
"I am not calling you that." Hyuuga said as he crossed his arms.
"Whatever, either way, come inside, there's a special room where we use to train." Hyuuga follows Tsubaki inside the temple and to the door to the training room. "Here's the place, now I should let you know that just because we are friends it doesn't mean I will go easy on this, this training will probably leave you extra tired."
"Well all I can say is bring it on! I won't forgive you if you underestimated me." Hyuuga said in a very cocky and arrogant tone, Tsubaki could not help but smile and roll her eyes.
"Your training shall now begin, prepare yourself Yasakani!" Tsubaki shouted in an excited tone as she opens the door, both heirs entered the room as it closes.
Somewhere in the city, an unidentified Yokai explodes and its soul implodes afterwards, with a green glow followed by wind briefly appearing as Setsuna appears looking at where he defeated the Yokai.
"I must admit, these things do come in handy." Setsuna states as he stares at his Ninja Driver and Kitsune Scroll "Stealing the blueprints and data for these was a pretty good move sis."
"Well it's not like they would just hand it to us considering our clan's reputation." A feminine voice appears and it belongs to a young woman that kinda resembles Setsuna, she has long brown hair, green eyes with a collar around her neck and is wearing a long-sleeved green dress with white stripes and black boots. That's Setsuna's twin sister, Fuuka Kagami. "Though I will admit, it wasn't exactly that easy creating the belt and the scroll for us to use."
"Either way I must thank you for providing me with the means of fighting the Yokai." Setsuna said in his usual innocent and laidback tone "I no longer am powerless, I finally have the power to protect you sis, no longer will you get hurt by others and I having to just watch."
"Setsuna…" Fuuka said with concern in her tone, Setsuna notices it and just smiles at her.
"No need to worry sis, I won't let anyone hurt you." Setsuna put the scroll away as he spoke with his sister "Anyway, I'll grab something for us to eat, want anything in particular?"
"Oh, uh, nothing really, anything is fine."
"Oh great, I'll be right back sis!" Setsuna went to get some food, leaving Fuuka alone as she sits on a nearby bench.
While waiting for his brother to return, Fuuka starts thinking about their past, Setsuna is the older twin by a few seconds in their birth, the two were inseparable as kids, though what's funny is that despite him being the older one, Fuuka was the one that protected him from bullies and others that wanted to hurt them.
In a flashback, it shows a younger Fuuka staring at two corpses with blood coming from them, these bodies belong to their parents, who were murdered by a rival clan due to the distrust most clans have over the Kagamis. Despite seeing the dead bodies of her parents, Fuuka wasn't crying, tears were coming from her eyes but no noises, that was because she was staring at another thing.
"P-P-Please no! Stay away from me!" The voice of a Ninja was coming from off-screen, he was in panic and scared for his life.
"Aw what's the matter, are you afraid? Afraid to lose your life?" The voice belongs to a younger Setsuna, despite the calmness of his voice, there was only rage and hatred there.
"You don't understand, you Kagamis can't be trusted, you are nothing but liars!" The Ninja shouted, still afraid but managing to put on a courage facade.
"Oh I do understand, we are liars, we are tricksters, but we are not cowards, we don't fear death. You on the other hand seem to be afraid of death, so how about we help with it?"
"No! No! Please don't do it! Don-AH!" Those were the last words the Ninja muttered before his voice was cut short and his lifeless body fell to the ground.
"Aw man I blood all over my favorite shirt, well not that matters, right sis?" Setsuna turned around to talk to his sister, blood on his right cheek and an innocent smile despite having murdered someone "We'll probably need to find a new place to stay until we can afford our own house, though I don't think they allow kids to work, do you have any idea on what we can do now sis?"
Fuuka could only stare in shock at what happened, a lot of dead bodies behind Setsuna and he was smiling, as if nothing had happened.
"Considering the state of this house, we'll probably have to destroy it to get rid of the corpses, except our parents of course, I'll find a way to bury them after taking care of the rest." Setsuna approaches Fuuka and hugs her "It's alright, I'll be the one to protect you now sis, you don't have to worry about anything." Setsuna smiles, a very creepy smile that hides all of the things he did to protect his twin sister.
The flashback is cut back to the present, where Fuuka sees Setsuna holding two bags with the food he brought. Despite the things he did to help her, Fuuka still loved and cared for her brother, she smiles and goes to him.
Back at the Shinobi Temple inside the training room, Hyuuga is currently lying on the ground all sweaty and tired from the training, both him and Tsubaki are wearing training uniforms and speaking of her, Tsubaki is sitting while also being tired and sweaty, she wipes some sweat from her forehead.
"Good lord I never felt this tired before, it feels like I just ran a marathon!" Hyuuga wipes some sweat from his forehead as well. "Though I will thank you for using your Ninjutsu to create some ice for us."
"Yeah, I'm really a nIce person." A goofy grin appears on Tsubaki's face after that pun as she looks at Hyuuga, who's smile disappears and is replaced by a bored expression.
"And you just ruined it, you should be ashamed." Hyuuga says in a bored tone as he points to Tsubaki, who throws a towel to his face "Thanks." He thumbs up to her.
The two exit the training room while wiping themselves from all of the sweat and drinking from some bottles of water.
"I will say, you are improving, slowly, but improving." Tsubaki said as she drinks some water.
"Like I said, the next fights will probably be difficult, especially since we don't know what kind of Yokais we can encounter." He drinks some water while cleaning his cheeks. "I'm not afraid of them, though I won't exactly deny the fact we can face stronger Yokais the more we fight."
"Well it's a good thing us Ninjas laugh at the face of fear!" A large goofy smile appears on Tsubaki's face as she raises her fist, Hyuuga chuckling at that "And as your partner, it is my duty to help you fight and get stronger as well!"
"I am not calling you that."
"Oh, we'll see, we'll see about that." The two laughed at the silly situation they are.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something, or rather two things." Hyuuga said, catching the attention of Tsubaki "First I fought against a Yokai, this one escaped probably needing water to regain its strength."
"So you fought against a Kappa, alright what's the second one?" She drink more water from the bottle.
"I met someone from the Kagami clan, his name is Setsuna." Hearing those words causes Tsubaki's eyes to widen as she looks at Hyuuga "W-What, what's the matter?"
"Did you say Kagami? You met someone from the Kagami clan?!" A concerning tone was in Tsubaki's voice, leaving Hyuuga confused as to her reaction.
"I, I did, what's the matter?" Hyuuga said in a confused tone.
"Wait, you don't know?" He shook his head "Listen, don't trust the Kagamis, they are a clan of tricksters."
"Wait, tricksters? What do you mean by that?" Hyuuga asks Tsubaki with even more confusion in his voice.
"I'm honestly surprised you didn't know that, you seem to be aware of who the Kagamis are but not what they are."
"That doesn't matter, what do you mean they are a clan of tricksters?" Hyuuga puts his hands on Tsubaki's shoulders, more curious and confused about what she meant by calling the Kagami a clan of tricksters.
"The Kagami is one of the most infamous Ninja clans to ever exist, they have, and still have, a very big reputation." Tsubaki said in a serious tone "They manipulate others into doing something for them, they befriend or act in a way that makes it easy for others to fall right into their trap, and once they are done, they just reveal that everything was just a trick, an illusion, to help with whatever goal they had."
"S-Seriously?" Hyuuga asks.
"Yes, most clans despise the Kagamis and I heard that many tried to assassinate them due to being tricked by them."
"W-What?" Hearing this shocks Hyuuga, it also causes him to think about Setsuna "Then, that means Setsuna…."
"I honestly don't know, now I don't think everyone in that clan is a liar or whatever, but I would advise you to not drop your guard if you encounter this guy again." Tsubaki said.
Hyuuga stared at the ground still shocked about the revelations and history of the Kagami clan, Tsubaki could tell he was both confused and angry as he's putting a lot of strength into clenching his fist.
"Listen, I'm not saying you can't be with someone from the Kagami clan, if you want, maybe we can try and befriend this Setsuna, what do you think?" Tsubaki said in her usual laidback but serious tone.
"Well" Before he could answer, suddenly a servant appears kneeling to them "W-What the?"
"What's the matter?" Tsubaki asks.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we detected a Yokai, this one seems to be the Kappa Yokai!" The servant explains.
"So it returned huh?" Hyuuga and Tsubaki nod at each other and go to prepare themselves for action.
"Wait Yasakani!" The servant shouts and tosses something, Hyuuga grabs it and it's revealed to be the purified Same Scroll, with the base showing the shark's image now being colored navy "The Same Scroll has been purified and ready to be used."
"Oh wow awesome! Thanks man!" Hyuuga smiles after thanking the servant, who simply nodded his head before disappearing "Oh that Kappa bastard is getting the beating it deserves!"
"Then we better get ready!" Hyuuga nods and the two go to prepare themselves to find and fight the Yokai.
Some time later, Hyuuga and Tsubaki, both wearing their Ninja uniforms and Drivers ready, are jumping from building to building as they spot the Kappa causing chaos as usual.
The Yokai looks behind itself but it's attacked by a double flying kick delivered by both Ninjas, the kick sends the Yokai away and they land on their feet.
"All of you, get out of here now!" Hyuuga shouts and points to a direction, the civilians then go to where he pointed. "Alright Yokai, we have some unfinished business." He cracks his knuckle and both heirs pull their Scrolls, but before they could activate them, suddenly someone appears in-between them and the Kappa.
"Uh, who the hell are you?" Tsubaki asks.
"Oh there's no way I would miss this, I was ready to fight against you Orochi, but now Tsurugi is here as well!" The mysterious man laughs as he stares at the heirs "Man talk about luck!" He continues to laugh, then raises his arm and summons his sword as he slams it on the ground.
"H-How did you-"
"How did I do it? Oh it's quite simple." Suddenly purple flames surround the mysterious person, burning his clothes and even his skin. "Not all Yokais were sealed my dear Ninjas. Now prepare yourselves! Let me show you the terror of Gashadokuro!" The man, now identified as the Yokai Gashadokuro, laughs even more maniacally than before as his whole body is burned by the purple flames.
From the flames, his true form emerges. The Yokai Gashadokuro, a humanoid skeleton-themed Yokai with bones making up all of his body, his "eyes" appear as lifeless blue eyes without anything on them, as if he doesn't have eyes at all and his face appears in a usual skeleton expression.
"Gashadokuro?" Hyuuga asks.
"But something about him feels… Different from the other Yokais." Tsubaki says with concern in her voice.
"Well too bad you won't live to find out the difference, time to send you to the afterlife!" Gashadokuro laughs as he rushes towards the Ninja duo alongside Kappa.
He swings his sword wildly, the duo manages to dodge though they could feel there was a difference in power between Gashadokuro and the Kappa. Gashadokuro tries to slam his sword on Hyuuga, he manages to dodge but he feels a cut on his right arm as the sword manages to cut him.
Tsubaki notices it and goes to help Hyuuga, but she's tackled on the ground by the Kappa as the Yokai roars and tries to step on her, she blocks by grabbing its foot and pushes it away, she performs a sweeping kick to trip the Kappa and gets up quickly to go help Hyuuga.
Speaking of him, he continues to dodge the skeleton Yokai's sword, he jumps and kicks Gashadokuro on the head, the Yokai flinches a bit but overall doesn't feel the pain from the attack.
"Shit!" Hyuuga curses and dodges another sword slash, this one being so powerful it breaks the ground where it hits.
"Stay still Dammit!" Gashadokuro shouts after that last attack
"Yeah uh, how about no?" Hyuuga says as he and Tsubaki reunite. Both nod to each other and press the button of their Scrolls.
[Hebi!]
[Cho!]
They insert the Scrolls on the respective Drivers as larger ones appear behind them alongside the Magatamas and set of swords. The duo then perform their respective transformation poses.
"Henshin!"
They spin the cornua of their scrolls.
[Henshin no Jutsu!]
[Moero, Hebi!]
[Hyouketsu, Cho!]
The big scrolls open as their respective animals appear and alongside the magatamas and swords, form their respective suits and complete the transformation, plus summoning their weapons.
"Orochi, has arrived!"
"Tsurugi, here I come!"
The Ninja Riders ready themselves and both leap forward to face their respective opponents. Orochi manages to slash Kappa with the Hebi Dual Blade, causing sparks to fly from the Yokai's body, meanwhile Tsurugi and Gashadokuro's swords clash with each other, the more they try to push the more sparks fly.
"Now this is gonna make things even exciting!" Gashadokuro shouts in excitement as he kicks Tsurugi, then goes to slash her, the sword connects and sparks fly from her suit, she counters by doing the same as sparks fly from Gashadokuro's body, however "Come on, come on! Give me everything you got!" By his reaction, he felt the katana connect, but at the same time not.
Gashadokuro swings his sword as Tsurugi dodges and slashes the skeleton Yokai, sparks fly but he doesn't even flinch. She tries again and again, still no flinching, Gashadokuro then grabs the katana with his bare hand and slashes Tsurugi.
Tsurugi then receives another slash, and another, she leaps backwards and performs some Ninja signs with her hands.
"Ice Ninpo: Butterfly's Frost!" Tsurugi launches the ice butterfly wings construct towards Gashadokuro, who crosses his arms in front to try to block the move, the ice shatters but his hands are frozen solid.
Orochi swings the Hebi Dual Blade wildly trying to hit the Kappa, who uses its more agile body to dodge each slash, the Yokai hits its palms on each other before thrusting one forward, Orochi blocks it with his sword and is pushed a little backwards.
The Flame Ninja is now having less trouble facing Kappa due to his training with Tsurugi, he uses the confusion in Kappa's face to slash it with its sword a few times, causing sparks to fly from the Yokai's body. He goes for another slash, but Kappa manages to catch his sword with both hands, with Orochi trying to remove the sword but is having difficulty with the Yokai's surprising strength.
Despite his frozen arms, Gashadokuro is managing to keep up with Tsurugi by using his sword to block her attacks, then uses all of his strength to break free from the ice before kicking Tsurugi away.
He rushes and shoulder tackles Kappa away, his strength being far more superior compared to the Yokai that it's sent quite far away.
"Out of the way you trash! I wanna take Orochi now!" Gashadokuro shouts as he swings his sword towards Orochi, who uses his to block.
"What the hell?! Why did you hit your own comrade?!" Orochi questions the skeleton Yokai for his attack against his own, he simply laughs at that comment.
"Comrade? I don't give a crap about other Yokais, I simply live my life without a care in the world! That's my freedom!"
"What kind of lunatic are you?!"
"I'm just me!" The skeleton Yokai pushes his sword further while laughing.
[Shoukan no Jutsu]
The announcement catches him off guard as a large ice butterfly tackles him away from Orochi. The butterfly strikes Gashadokuro while he tries to hit it with his sword.
"That Yokai is pretty powerful, even I was not able to fully freeze his arms." Tsurugi appears watching her butterfly attacking Gashadokuro.
"Not to mention how insane he is, that laugh is gonna appear in my nightmares." Orochi said, then takes the Same Scroll "I'm gonna use this for a test drive."
"And who exactly do you plan on testing it?" Tsurugi questions as she crosses her arms.
"What do you mean?" Orochi questions her as he points to the Kappa getting up and Gashadokuro managing to destroy the butterfly summon. Both Ninjas stand side-by-side towards the Yokais "Okay listen, I'll take care of the Kappa, since you are the more experienced of the both of us, the bonehead is yours."
"Alright, good luck." Tsurugi said as she holds her Cho Katana with both hands and rushes to face Gashadokuro.
"Alright, let's test this baby out." Orochi spins the Same Scroll and presses its button.
[Same!]
He closes and removes the Hebi Scroll then inserts the Same Scroll. A large flaming scroll appears behind him in the air, with the flames from the scroll being navy in color, and he spins the cornua, causing it to open and reveal the image of a flaming shark.
[Henshin no Jutsu!]
[Umi no Tsuyo-sa, Same!]
A large fiery shark appears leaping from the scroll before diving down and "eating" Orochi, with fire appearing like a splash of water. As the flames die down, Orochi himself changes to a new appearance.
His suit gains a shark motif alongside becoming navy in color, the helmet changes to resemble a shark's head with fangs around the mask, the eyes' color change to dark red, he gains a pair of fin-shaped blades on his wrists and ankles, the chest armor now depicts a shark instead of the magatamas and the bandage design is kept with now showing sharks instead of serpents. This was Orochi Same Form, his newfound power.
Orochi shaped his hands like a shark's head and "bites" it to intimidate the Yokai, who takes the bait and charges towards the now shark-themed Rider.
Orochi performs some slashes with the blades on his wrists, it's possible to see navy energy lines from each slash. Sparks fly from Kappa's body and as it tries to counterattack, Orochi backflips and slices with the blades on his ankles.
Gashadokuro notices this and goes to fight Orochi, but he's slashed by Tsurugi.
"Out of my way, I want to fight him!" Gashadokuro shouts with anger in his voice.
"Sorry bonehead, but I'm your opponent!" Tsurugi said as she points her katana to the skeleton Yokai, who gets enraged and tries to slash her, she manages to block though she can feel the difference in strength against him "You said that not all Yokais were sealed, so that means that a few managed to escape being sealed?!"
"So what if they were?! I don't give a crap about them, they can do whatever the hell they want with their lives!" Gashadokuro shouted with even more anger on his voice.
"Yasakani was right, you're crazy!"
"I am who I am, baby! And I'm quite proud of the man that I am!" He raises and slams his sword so hard sparks fly from the impact.
"And not exactly my kind of man either!" Using some of her strength, Tsurugi kicks Gashadokuro before slashing at him.
Kappa is pushed from another slash then takes its sumo stance, Orochi does the same and the two charge at each other, a sumo wrestling match starts as they use all of their physical strength to push each other, Orochi now evenly matched thanks to his new form.
While his hands are behind Kappa, Orochi does some ninjutsu signs.
"Fire Ninpo: Boosted Impulse!" Orochi generates flames from his boots that act like propulsors, giving him more speed as he manages to push Kappa away. Kappa notices it and tries to push Orochi but to no avail "This match is over!" Orochi spins the cornua again, the word of "Killer technique" appears.
[Same! Hissatsu no Jutsu!]
"I have to agree." Tsurugi spins the cornua of her scroll as well, the word of "Killer technique" appears.
[Cho! Hissatsu no Jutsu]
Gashadokuro charges at her as she leaps in the air, Tsurugi does some hand signs and summons a ring of ice swords around her "Super Ice Ninpo!" Butterfly wings appear on her back as she motions her hand forward, the swords launch themselves at Gashadokuro, who swings his sword to break the others, but more appear and his body slowly freezes "Butterfly's Judgment!" Tsurugi delivers a flying side kick with her right foot surrounded in icy-blue energy and she strikes Gashadokuro with an explosion occurring.
"Super Fire Ninpo!" Orochi slams his hands on each other, creating small blazes, before assuming a sumo stance as his hands are ignited in navy flames. He starts delivering a barrage of palm thrusts on Kappa, with each thrusts getting faster "Palm of the Great Shark!" After the final palm thrust, Orochi delivers a powerful punch that sends Kappa away "You who don't belong in the light, return to the darkness, Evil Spirit!" Kappa roars before exploding and its soul implodes "Dosukoi!" Orochi shouts as he raises his hand in victory.
After the explosion, Tsurugi notices that Gashadokuro's soul did not implode, which means he escaped, and she's right. Gashadokuro appears in his human form with his hands on his pockets walking.
"Those damn Ninjas, they manage to defeat me and destroy Kappa." He said with annoyance in his voice before a smile appeared "They better keep me entertained, I never felt my blood boil like that before!" He laughs while walking away.
"Guess he escaped huh?" Orochi asks and removes the Same Scroll.
"Unfortunately yes." Tsurugi answers his question and removes the Cho Scroll "I must say, that was pretty impressive of you, didn't know you knew sumo."
"Funny thing, I don't, I just mimicked that Yokai's moves, alongside a few I've seen from sumo matches." Hyuuga admits as he rubs the back of his head, Tsubaki just stares at him before laughing "Hey at least it was effective, I defeated the Yokai in its own game." He said that while staring at the Same Scroll.
"Speaking of Youkais, that Gashadokuro." Tsubaki said with a serious tone in her voice.
"Yeah, that one was different from the others, and he said that not all of them were sealed." Hyuuga said "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Considering the strength of Gashadokuro, that could mean the Yokai that weren't sealed are stronger than the ones that were sealed." Tsubaki said "I'll go talk to the Sages to see if they have any information, go rest, you'll need, especially since we'll continue our training." Tsubaki said before running to the temple.
"Great, more training, just what I needed." Hyuuga said as he sighs and puts the Same Scroll away before walking. He stops to think about his conversation about the Kagami clan.
"Listen, don't trust the Kagamis, they are a clan of tricksters."
"They manipulate others into doing something for them, they befriend or act in a way that makes it easy for others to fall right into their trap, and once they are done, they just reveal that everything was just a trick, an illusion, to help with whatever goal they had."
"Most clans despise the Kagamis and I heard that many tried to assassinate them due to being tricked by them."
"When I found Setsuna again, I better get more explanation from someone from said clan." Hyuuga said before walking off, determined to know more about the Kagamis.
To Be Continued….
Next Time on Kamen Rider Orochi:
"No way, it also has a Scroll?!"
"Well now that's an interesting piece of information."
"You damn Kagamis have been a thorn in my side even years ago!"
"Setsuna, are you my friend, or are you just using me?"
"Well why don't you decide, decide if you can trust me or not."
Chapter 4: Ninpo: Can I Trust You?