Sengoku Basara meets Samurai Warriors: The rise of the Toyotomi

Chapter 17

A/N: Here comes chapter 17!

Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Warriors or Sengoku Basara, only this story.

Chapter 17: Masamune vs The World

Masamune was looking across his land, deep in his thoughts. Kojouro was looking at him while leaning against a tree. They were up in a hill that allowed them to view their land.

"I swore to create a world in which everyone could live with a smile on their face." He grabbed one of his swords and pointed towards where he knew Oumi was. Where the enemy had built their base. "That world… Is beyond their defeat!"

Kojouro smirked at him and Masamune grinned back. "I'm going to give it my all. This is my chance to take over the country."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hideyoshi had commanded his remaining army to head to Oumi in Oshu and join up with Mitsunari's group. Keiji, along with Hanbei and Kanbei were by his side talking about the planning behind Hideyoshi's conquests.

"So, after the One-Eyed Dragon, you will crush the Hojo, right?", asked Keiji.

"Only if they don't surrender first. I don't wish to kill for no reason.", said Hideyoshi. "After that and after you officially surrender, the plan is to go to Korea."

Keiji's eyes widened. He didn't expect that. "You plan on attacking another nation?"

Hideyoshi smirked. "One can only be a true conqueror if he aims higher than his predecessors."

"But that's too much!", shouted Keiji. "You know nothing about Korea! You can't just-"

"We will proceed with caution, Keiji.", said Hanbei suddenly. "We've already talked with lord Hideyoshi about it. There are many things we need to see through before we attack another nation."

"It's still very dangerous and I'm not sure I agree.", said Keiji while glaring at Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi stared back at him and Yumekichi, who had been standing on Keiji's shoulder, hid in his clothes. "It's something I've put a lot of thought into, Keiji. I am not going to charge blindly. There is going to be an organized attack and it is something that will happen after I am done with Japan, so I don't really see a reason to talk about it yet."

Keiji looked away. Hideyoshi wasn't going to talk about it and thus he was left fuming on his own. "I don't like it..", he whispered to himself.

"Me neither…", said a voice that shocked Keiji. It was Kanbei.

Keiji looked at him surprised. That was to say the least unexpected. Kanbei barely acknowledged him any longer and he moved on along with Hideyoshi and Hanbei. Keiji was left alone with his thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ieyasu didn't know what to say. He was feeling very uneasy being next to Mitsunari. Nobuyuki approached him suddenly with a serious expression. "The One-Eyed Dragon is going to attack here next. We should be getting ready."

Ieyasu nodded without looking at Nobuyuki and still staring at Mitsunari. Nobuyuki noticed this and looked at him a little worried. "What happened? Ever since you two returned, you look so distraught and lord Mitsunari looks even more unapproachable."

Ieyasu sighed. "… Lord Mitsunari and I… disagree on our beliefs when it comes to conquest."

Nobuyuki stared at him curiously. "What exactly did he do?"

Ieyasu knew that he couldn't lie to Nobuyuki. He looked away. "There is a reason they call him the King of Misfortune… I'm not going to elaborate farther than that."

Nobuyuki nodded in understanding. His face looked a little more serious. He understood exactly what Ieyasu meant.

Ieyasu decided to approach Mitsunari. He had to face him sooner or later so he decided that sooner was the better option all things considered. "The One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu is approaching here.", he said.

Mitsunari didn't seem to acknowledge him, but he replied after a while. "It doesn't really matter. He is going to fall soon. Lord Hideyoshi will soon raise his flags on Oshu."

"Or he will surrender.", said Ieyasu. Mitsunari finally looked at him. "You know, lord Hideysohi prefers to enlarge his army to eradicating his enemies."

Mitsunari glared at him. "Don't pretend that you understand lord Hideyoshi, Ieyasu! It's not that simple."

"Neither it is correct to just slaughter everyone."

They glared at each other for a moment. Ieyasu sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Listen, you know lord Hideyoshi better than anyone, I don't doubt that. But I doubt that he wants all that destruction."

Mitsunari looked away. "I… I will act on my own when it comes to people defying lord Hideyoshi's will. They don't deserve to live…"

"What about the people that decide to surrender eventually? Or the weak that are following the will of their own leaders? Like the Hojo girl?"

Mitsunari glared at him. "Don't bring her into this. If I face her again on the battlefield, she is as good as dead." He then took a deep breath. "If they do decide to surrender and I haven't gotten to them before, I suppose we can let them live…"

That was as much of an agreement with Mitsunari as he was going to get. Ieyasu nodded. "Good. Now, let's go prepare for battle."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Masamune had reached outside the enemy base. He was waiting for his soldiers to catch up. "Are you ok?", he asked his men.

"Sir, fight to your heart's content. Lord Masamune, this Kojouro will guard your back with his life.", replied Kojouro.

"We too!", shouted his men.

"We will protect you, lord Masamune!", shouted one man. "We can't just let you and lord Katakura appear cool all the time! We are prepared as well!"

Masamune closed his lone eye. This was it. He had to give it his all because that fight would be the most crucial. "I won't allow any of you to fall in battle.", he said seriously. "Psyche up guys!"

A loud "Yeah!", was heard from his men in response.

"Put some spirit in and follow me!", he shouted once more.

Another loud "Yeah!" was the reply of his men.

He smirked and turned at them. "But… Make it cool!" With that, he jumped and attacked the incoming Toyotomi troops that had headed out to attack them. He took out all of his sword to do so. "Kojouro, how many people have I blown away until now?"

"Roughly 800.", replied Kojouro.

"Apparently, we are just getting started.", said Masamune smirking.

Suddenly a lone horse emerged from the fortress and it's rider made Masamune excited. The man jumped right in front of him and took out his sword. "General of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sanada Nobuyuki is here to challenge you in a fair fight, lord Masamune."

Masamune grinned. "I accept, Sanada Nobuyuki."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yukimura felt off. Like he shouldn't be there. Shingen seemed to catch on his uneasiness. He also felt something weird. "The One-Eyed Dragon… He is probably facing Nobuyuki.", said Shingen.

Yukimura looked up in the sky. He wanted to join that battlefield, but not as a Toyotomi soldier. He wanted to fight Date Masamune as Sanada Yukimura of the Takeda. He didn't mind the fact that Nobuyuki was the one to fight his rival, but he didn't want Nobuyuki to belong to the Toyotomi either. This whole thing was weird.

"It's ok, lord Yukimura.", said Kunoichi suddenly. She had jumped next to him from a nearby tree. "It's normal to feel like this. It's foreign and it feels…"

"Wrong.", said Shingen. He had a sad smile on his face. "We are all unfamiliar with serving a foreign leader. But if we want to survive and fight back another day, we have no choice. We are part of the Toyotomi now. Whether we like it or not."

"It definitely is a little off.", said Sasuke who also jumped from a nearby tree next to them.

Kunoichi smirked at him. "For you, it also has its perks, doesn't it?" She was looking at Kasuga, who was accompanying lord Kenshin, not very far from them. Next to them, lady Aya was conversing with Kanetsugu about something serious from what her expression showed.

Shingen smirked as well. "It certainly has some perks. We can all learn from each other and we can establish relationships with other parts of the land. For example, Yukimura, you finally had the chance to converse with lord Kanetsugu and also train with him."

Yukimura nodded. "He is a very interesting man. I never would have guessed."

"Yeah and monkey over here can have his moments with his "fiancée"", said Kunoichi in a mocking voice.

Sasuke simply glared at her, but Yukimura nodded enthusiastically. "That's true! You must be very happy, Sasuke."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm delighted."

Shingen chuckled and looked up. The weather was getting colder. It would rain soon. Shingen wondered what that meant for the One-Eyed Dragon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nobuyuki's sword collided with all of Masamune's. They were both pushed back from the force of the blow. Nobuyuki took deep breaths. He was starting to realize why Yukimura enjoyed confrontation with the One-Eyed Dragon. There definitely was a fiery spirit in that man.

Masamune chuckled and grinned at him. "I really wanted to fight you, Sanada Nobuyuki. You and your brother have a similar style, but you also differ from each other. Your moves are far more calculated, which is interesting, but still. I prefer your brother's straight forwardness. It's fun. No offense, by the way."

Nobuyuki smirked back. "None taken. I understand perfectly well what you're talking about when it comes to Yukimura. He has his heart on his hands, but that doesn't make him any less of a warrior."

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Ina leading their army against Masamune's. Masamune noticed as well. "I thought it was a private party.", he said, his look turning serious.

Nobuyuki sighed. "I would have love for it to be a one on one duel, but lord Ieyasu had other plans. Still… we have some time left."

Masamune looked at him confused and Nobuyuki charged at him. Masamune blocked the blow and looked at him with a questioning look on his face. "Isn't Ieyasu joining this fight yet?"

Nobuyuki shook his head in the negative. "The plan is to defeat you before he does. If he does join this fight before that… Then he won't be alone and when it comes to lord Ishida, I can't guarantee your survival."

Masamune let out a hearty laugh. "The King of Misfortune sure is a funny fellow if he believes that he intimidates me."

Nobuyuki looked down. "He doesn't care about intimidating you. He is truly terrifying and I'm not saying that just like that. Lord Ieyasu witnessed him slaughter a whole army for daring to betray lord Hideyoshi. He is dangerous when angered and he doesn't care if you surrender. He sometimes gives me the same feeling Akechi Mitsuhide did."

Masamune looked at him with a serious expression. Both of them had witnessed the attempt on Shingen's life from the mad man and he sure did give him an uneasy feeling. Then again… "He let Hojo Hayakawa walk away. I don't believe he is as ruthless as you describe him."

"I know he did and he hates himself for doing so!", said Nobuyuki angrily. "He is ruthless and you stand no chance if he enters the battlefield. I want to warn you, so that you can make your final decision before we reach this point."

Masamune glared at him. "Enough talking. Let's continue partying!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ina immediately fired an arrow towards Katakura Kojouro who immediately blocked the attack with his sword. He glared at her and sighed. "And here I thought that thos would end quietly."

"It would, if you just surrendered.", said Ina while readying another arrow.

Kojouro smirked and stepped closer to her taking a swing with his sword. "Not gonna happen. Lord Masamune is the one that will rule this land and I will see to this to the very end."

"Foolish words.", was the only thing Ina said as she did an excellent acrobatic move to avoid getting cut. "Lord Hideyoshi has almost conquered the entire land. How on earth is your lord going to surpass that?"

Kojouro smirked. "I have faith in lord Masamune. He is, after all, a Dragon."

Ina sighed and switched to using her bow to deliver physical blows. Kojouro was forced to defend himself from the repetitive attacks. "You don't what you're up against. This battlefield will be the last one you'll ever attend as an intendent army."

Kojouro glared at her. "We'll see about that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ieyasu knew that he was running out of time. He had begged Mitsunari to allow his men, led by Nobuyuki to begin the attack beforehand, so that Masamune had the chance to surrender if he wanted to. But from what Hanzo told him, Masamune was holding his ground and he told Nobuyuki that he wouldn't surrender. Mitsunari growled in annoyance and Ieyasu sighed.

"I take it that your stupid strategy failed.", said Mitsunari with a glare in his eyes. "How unexpected…", he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ieyasu rolled his eyes and pinched his nose. "Fine. You can join the battlefield, but I ask of you to be a little less deadly if possible."

Mitsunari huffed. "It's not a game Ieyasu! I'm not going to hold back against anyone that dares insult lord Hideyoshi with their ridiculous behavior."

He left towards his men before Ieyasu could say another word. Naotora approached Ieyasu hesitantly. "Does that mean that we are joining the others?"

Ieyasu sighed. "Yes. I'll try to engage with the One-Eyed Dragon in battle so that Mitsunari doesn't, but I can't promise safety for his men. Mitsuanri is going to slaughter them all…"

Naotora shook her head. "We are going to attempt to avoid this outcome. Come on, lord Ieyasu. We need to enter the battlefield as well."

Ieyasu nodded. "Hanzo! Tadakatsu! Let's go! We need to take down the Date army!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Masamune managed to kick Nobuyuki and the man flew a few feet away, destroying some trees in the process. Ina was distracted by her husband getting hurt and she barely had time to block Kojouro's attack. She fell down by the force and he pointed his sword at her neck. Kojouro smirked. "Looks like we are winning."

"Not for long!" Naotora jumped between them with all her force. Kojouro glared at her. "You really thought it would be this easy?", said Naotora while taking her battle stance.

Kojouro sighed. "I hoped so, to be honest."

Masamune growled at the scene and got prepared to face his own opponent. Ieyasu jumped right next to him, while Hanzo cut down some of his men. "Took you a while to appear. What's your deal?"

Ieyasu crossed his arms and looked at him seriously. "You still have time to surrender. If you do, I can guarantee that you will benefit a lot by the creation of this bond."

"Don't make me laugh! You of all people should know exactly how I feel. Do you not want Japan for yourself? Or did you abandon that dream?

Ieyasu glared at him. "I share that dream with lord Hideyoshi and I am following him on his way to accomplish it. This makes me more than happy."

Masamune charged at him and Ieyasu blocked every hit he tried to deliver. Kojouro was having a similar fight with Naotora and it was obvious that the odds had turned against the Date army.

Suddenly, even more enemy soldiers charged at them and Masamune noticed a lone man clad in purple behind them. He looked like he didn't care about the battle and he seemed like he was looking away. Masamune chuckled. "Is that the King of Misfortune? Why should I be scared of a man that isn't even here meantally?"

Before Ieyasu could say anything, Masamune charged at Mitsunari with all his might… Only to be cut by a single blow the other man did at a speed that Masamune couldn't follow. The worst part was that he was still looking away at the sky. Masamune gasped in pain and fell back, coughing blood.

"Lord Masamune!", screamed Kojouro in panic. He managed to overpower Naotora for a brief moment and he blindly charged at the King of Misfortune.

Mitsunari still remained uninterested and seemingly oblivious to what was happening around him. Like he wasn't there mentally. Still, he delivered another flawless blow to Kojouro's injured arm that sent the Right Eye of the Dragon into shock.

Masamune slowly rose up and stared in terror as Kojouro fell down with a completely blank look in his face. "Kojouro!", screamed Masamune, fighting through the pain he himself felt.

Kojouro remained unresponsive and Masamune started panicking. His injured arm had been struck badly and there was blood everywhere.

Mitsunari was still looking away, not bothering to glance at them. Ieyasu looked at them sadly.

Masamune crawled slowly towards Kojouro. He slowly managed to get his arm underneath him so that he could lift him. He slowly lifted Kojouro and was quite surprised that Mitsunari hadn't even tried to give them the finishing blow. Masamune glared at him and with his free hand he clutched his injury on his abdomen. It was a deep cut, but he had had worse. "Oi, what's your deal?", he shouted towards Mitsunari.

Mitsunari ignored him and after a few minutes he turned to Ieyasu. "Lord Hideyoshi has almost arrived. We should go and greet him."

Ieyasu looked at him questioningly. "What about the One-Eyed Dragon?"

"What about him?", he asked with a raised brow.

Masamune was getting enraged that he was being ignored. "I'm right here you know!"

Mitsunari finally glanced at him and he looked confused. "Who are you?"

Masamune gaped at him. It couldn't be. This man had done everything he did without being focused at all. He hadn't simply ignored him. He had completely blocked him out.

Ieyasu's eyes widened. He ran towards Mitsunari and got between him and Masamune. "One-Eyed Dragon! You should retreat now that you have the chance."

Mitsunari didn't seem interested to the fact that his question was answered. In fact, he seems like he couldn't care less. Ieyasu was looking at him with the corner of his eye.

Masamune took a look around him and despair filled his soul. Kojouro was in a terrible state and his men were losing. They were giving him a chance to live. To consider surrendering. He looked at Ieyasu with the hardest glare he could summon. "Retreat! We are going back to Oshu!"

His men looked at him with devastated looks. They knew that things had gotten out of hand. They came and helped him and Kojouro to their feet and they all got on their horses to get back to Oshu.

Ieyasu looked at Mitsunari with anger and confusion. "What on earth got into you? You didn't realize what you were doing?"

Mitsunari glared at him. "You asked me to show mercy. You said that lord Hideyoshi would prefer to enlarge his army, so I gave him the chance to surrender. The only way that I could hold back was if I disassociated."

Ieyasu's eyes widened. "You really didn't pay any attention to what was happening."

"Lord Hideyoshi is almost here. That fact did help in me focusing on that. But yeah, my body is trained to fight so there is no need for me to pay attention to battle. I just did what you wanted. You should be thanking me."

Mitsunari turned to leave. "Thank you.", said Ieyasu. This time, he was smiling. "You won't regret it, Mitsunari."

Mitsunari looked at him annoyed. "I hope I won't."

End of Chapter 17

A/N: And it's finally done! Sorry for the delay guys, but I've been very busy with work and I barely have energy to write. This story is soon coming to an end, though we still have quite a few chapters left. There are many scenes inspired by the manga in this chapter, especially the fact that Mitsunari disassociated in the battle. I hope you enjoyed that chapter and I would love to see some reviews to see your opinion on it. Till next time!