The Legendary Sage

Mikoto started to panic after checking Kazuo’s pulse. His skin was ice cold and his heart had stopped beating. The ever calm voice of reason Takumi on the other hand thought hard as to what course of action to take next. This time Mikoto was on par with him. First Aid! They’d both came to the same conclusion as Mikoto began to press against Kazuo’s chest with both hands in an effort to revive him.

“You’ll have to blow into his mouth,” she said finally midway through her resuscitation efforts.

“No, I think you should do it.” He proceeded to read from the scroll that was next to the katana. “You’re the one who took that medic course with Kohaku.”

“Argh…that’s so sexist Takumi!” she grunted. “We all learnt first aid in our first and sophomore year!”

“I’m simply stating a logical fact,” he tried to make an excuse.

“Which is?”

“You’re more suited at this than I am.”

She sighed heavily as she affirmed her preconception about him.

“If you ever speak of this to anyone…you’re dead,” she assured him before taking a deep breath and exhaling into Kazuo’s mouth.

Meanwhile Kazuo traversed a dark plane that was pitch black save for a small white light in the distance. It was cold and the silence too loud as he walked towards the brightness.

“Wait…” a deep voice beckoned to him and he felt a hand on his shoulder. “What is it that your desire?”

“To get revenge on the men who killed my mother,” he managed to let the words escape his mouth.

“Well then Inazuma Kazuo,” the voice answered. “You shall not find that which you seek there.”

“W-wait, who are you?” Kazuo turned his head and couldn’t see a thing in the pitch black darkness. “Where the hell am I? How do you know my name?”

“I know everything about you my dear boy,” the voice said. “If that which you seek is back in the world of the living then you shall not find it in that light. For to enter it is to surely die. Take my hand and I shall show you who you are.”

Kazuo having nothing more to lose took a leap of faith and raised his hand. Another hand held onto his and they were instantly teleported into a snow white three dimensional plane with no end. He could now see the figure of the man who had been speaking to him. He greatly resembled the statue from before in the Inazuma shrine. He had deep blue spiky hair and a long stubble beard to match. He also wore a black nagagi and hakama as well as a white haori and had a katana sheathed on his back.

“Orewa Inazuma Kazuro (I am Kazuro Inazuma),” his voice echoed the plane majestically. “Densetsu no Sennin desu (The Legendary Sage)!”

“G-great g-grandpa,” Kazuo trembled both shocked and amazed. “D-does that mean I’m d-dead?”

“Your soul exists in an equilibrium unknown to neither life nor death,” said Kazuro. “This place is known as the shadow plane. Allow me to your mind and show you who exactly you are.”

Kazuro gently placed his thumb on his grandson’s forehead, “you are a descendant of Akira, the first Inazuma and eldest son of the great usurper king Masashi Miyamoto. Akira begot Kazushiro, who then begot my grandsire Kazuhiro. I was the son of his daughter princess Kazue and Kagehiko of the Kageyama clan.”

The Sage’s memories rushed through and overwhelmed Kazuo’s mind as he listed the Inazuma bloodline. The young Inazuma fell to the ground as his feeble mind tried to process all that information.

“These memories may be a lot to take in as of yet however when you find yourself in great peril they shall be of assistance,” Kazuro told him. “But on to more important matters, time moves differently in here than out there. For every hour spent in the shadow plane is equivalent to a minute in the world of the living.”

Kazuo tried hard to follow with what his great grandfather had just said. “I see.”

“We should consider that your body out there is unconscious, which means–”

“If I spend too much time in here I will die out there.”

“Precisely. Now grandson there are shadows on the wall and they gather to serve an even greater darkness that I failed to conquer in my era. The chokutō, Raijin that brought you here is one of four that I forged in my youth and only you my dear boy can truly wield them to the fullest and bring the darkness into light.”

“That means avenging my mother and everyone else.”

“Alas vengeance is a cycle that brings forth even more vengeance. The shadows want you to atone for my sins. I killed my father who was their Ōkage (shadow king), when he waged war against all the lands of Nihon in a bid to become a Shadow Emperor and rule over them as our predecessor once did. So I give you these weapons not to exact revenge but to protect yourself and your loved ones from the darkness that is soon to come.”

“How will I face them off, I don’t know that much jujutsu or kenjutsu?”

“When you touched Raijin the fragments of my prana within you were ignited. For you to conquer the shadows you shall need to journey to the Earth and Water countries to retrieve Dojin (Earth God) and Sūijin (Water God) respectively. Once you have obtained these swords you are to go to a kensei (sword saint) from Yamaguchi port named Nakamura Hanzo who shall train you to master them.”

“Can’t you train me great grandpa?”

“That is not possible as I am just the physical manifestation of my prana within your mind and the swords are out there in the world of the living. However Hanzo-kun is the most suited person for the task.”

Kazuo’s face showed distress.

“Worry not my dear grandson for there is something I can help you with from in here in order to prepare you for the battles to come.”

“What’s that?”

“To conquer your very own shadow…so take my hand.”

Kazuo held onto his hand and they were instantaneously teleported back to where they were before. His great grandfather explained to him that they were in his subconscious or shadow plane. As they navigated through the shadow plane they came across a dark silhouetted figure who was made visible by a light that Kazuro had conjured. The shadowy figure was an exact doppelganger of Kazuo save for being black all over and had no face.

“I’ve gotta fight that…thing,” said Kazuo facing his great grandfather.

Kazuro nodded. “Mind you we have been here for about twenty minutes which means about twenty seconds outside so time is of the essence.”

After acknowledging what he had been told Kazuo dashed towards his shadow. The battle of the self against the shadow had begun. He threw five rapid punches and zero landed on his opponent. He tried connecting an uppercut followed by kick which the shadow blocked using both hands. The shadow who’d been firmly holding onto Kazuo’s leg then kicked the latter’s jaw. Kazuo was sent flying through the dark plane and landed on his butt before he rose up to fight again with even more determination. The unarmed combat resumed and it was like he was fighting a mirror version of himself. Each right or left fist or kick was countered by a left and right fist or kick respectively. It continued like that for a further thirty minutes.

“When you fight yourself try to be better than the self from yesterday, the self from a second ago,” said Kazuro. “Forget all that which you have learnt up until now and fight in a way that you have never fought before.”

The young Inazuma took heed of the older Inazuma’s advice and began fighting in a style different from what he had grown accustomed to. Instead of a left punch he would throw a right. Where he would normally block an attack he instead countered or ducked before connecting a reverse kick to his opponent’s Achilles’ heel. When he did so his shadow lost its balance and landed on its back.

“My boy!” Kazuro was impressed. “Here…catch!” he threw his katana towards his grandson.

When Kazuo grabbed hold of the katana a black one also materialized in the hands of his shadow.

“Now it is to the death,” said Kazuro, “If you want to leave this place you will have to kill your shadow.”

The shadow charged forward with a katana and all that could be heard in the dark plane was steel hitting steel. It was the first time Kazuo wielded an actual katana. Before he had trained with Rohan using bokken (wooden swords). Now it was the real deal! He thought. When he got sidetracked for a split second his shadow grazed through his cheek leaving behind a cut. He held his wound and yeah it was real alright. Kazuo charged forward both hands tightly gripped on his weapon. When his shadow slashed its own katana to the right he slid in between its legs. The blade had missed his upper body by a hair. He appeared behind his shadow with the katana and sliced through its neck. The shadow’s head shot up into the void of black before it dropped to the ground and vanished into thin air.

“Well done my boy you have conquered your shadow,” Kazuro congratulated his grandson. “You have fortified your will for the battles to come. Remember that a fighter without ego in a battle is a fighter whose will can never be broken.”

“Thanks great grandpa,” sighed a fatigued Kazuo. “How do I get out this place?”

“There are three ways of entering this plane and those are through tōei, mindfulness meditation or a near death experience,” Kazuro explained. “The first two are quite difficult to fully master and only a select few individuals can actually enter this place using them. The last method however is the most dangerous of all, the lightning bolt that struck you could have killed you if it were not for my prana.”

Kazuo tried to follow but the explanation had entered through one ear and left through the other.

“In short, since you came here using the third method you will exit in a similar manner.”

“W–wait that means–”

“Yes,” Kazuro affirmed. “You will have to die here.”

Kazuro reclaimed his sword from his great grandson and faced it towards him.

“Chotto matte (wait a minute),” Kazuo raised his hands in front of his face. “What if I don’t return back?”

“We have been here for roughly four hours now which corresponds to four minutes out there,” Kazuro reminded him. “Time in this case is not on your side…observe.”

The Legendary Sage outstretched his hand into the dark void and an image of Mikoto diligently trying to resuscitate Kazuo showed.

“With each minute that your mind is deprived of air,” Kazuro added, “you run the risk of breaking it beyond repair.”

“Okay great grandpa,” Kazuo lowered his guard and let his arms fall to each side. “Let’s do this.”

Kazuo felt the blade as it dug its way into his heart. He felt as though his organ had been struck by a small bolt of lightning. There was a lub followed quickly by a dub. His heart was beating again.

“Farewell grandson…until we meet again.”

“Goodbye great grandpa.”

Meanwhile back in the real world Mikoto had just exhaled into Kazuo’s mouth filling his lungs with much needed air. She was now out of breath and hope as she had repeated the procedure several times. It’s useless, the thought started to cloud her mind. When she inhaled deeply to try again for the last time she felt it on her palms. A heartbeat! At that exact instant Kazuo rose up and gasped for so much air as if his life depended on it. The pale expression on his face was like that of a person that had been resurrected from the dead. The young kunoichi jumped up and down and almost gave her patient a big hug before remembering he was the guy who’d peeped on them in the girls’ bath a day before. Takumi drew closer with a scroll to welcome the Inazuma lad to the real world.

“Welcome back Kazuo,” he said.

“We thought we’d lost you there,” Mikoto added.

“Never doubted our medic here for one second,” said Takumi.

“You didn’t even do anything to help,” she rolled her eyes and thought before saying out loud, “but you stood there Takumi…as if nothing was wrong.”

“Panicking wouldn’t have helped the situation,” Takumi paused for a bit. “I knew where my skill set lay and you’re the better medic after all. Whilst Kazuo was unconscious I deciphered the rest of this scroll.”

Her face lightened a bit at words ‘better medic.’ She realized that even though it was kind of sexist there was something else he viewed her in high regard other than just unarmed combat. Takumi then looked at the patient who’d awoken from the dead and the look on Kazuo’s face was that of someone who’d seen the Shinigami (Grim Reaper) himself.

“Hey Kazuo, I know who the Legendary Sage is.”

“Yeah my great grandpa,” were Kazuo’s first words after paying his oxygen debt.

“Indeed and this katana,” Takumi pointed to the blade that was the cause of their predicament. “Wait how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“When I was gone I met with him and he told…well showed me everything about me and my clan.”

“So I am guessing he already told you about the legendary swords,” Takumi surmised. “His gift to you to defeat an evil that he couldn’t.”

“Yes he did.”

“So what course of action will you take…going forward that is?”

“My goal is simple really...”

“And that is?”

“Revenge!”

Kazuo’s face showed an ominous look the two of them had never seen before. Having fortified his will he was determined to avenge his family by doing to the perpetrators far worse than what they’d done to them. Mikoto could feel a dark aura about him too so she tried to lighten the mood.

“Hey Kazuo…so how’s the other side like?” she smiled.

“Dark as shit!” he chuckled facing towards her. “I don’t wanna go back there.”

“That’s pretty scary!”

“Yeah,” he placed his hand behind his head and smiled. “Oh and thanks for kissing me back to life.”

The two boys could’ve sworn that they saw steam coming out from a flustered Mikoto’s ears and nostrils as her face went crimson.

“Oh no! K–Kazuo,” Kazuo mockingly made an impression of her. “Don’t die!”

Takumi let out a chuckle noting the Kazuo they’d grown to know return to his usual self. Kazuo was still busy with his imitation when he felt a right fist introduce itself to his left cheek. It was lights out for him. He lay motionless on the ground with a smile from ear to ear and an exaggerated nose bleed.

“Darn you pervert!” Mikoto shouted in annoyance.

Back in the Lightning village Kazutaka was busy with some paperwork in his office when he abruptly received an audience from a familiar face dressed in a black ninja suit he hadn’t seen in several months.

“Just like you,” his raspy voice sounded. “To enter my office without using the door Asuka-chan.”

“Yo it’s been long hasn’t it,” the hooded kunoichi rose up. “Taka-sensei.”

“Yes indeed, it sure has.”

She had a well-built physique that had been honed through years of training. Under her hood she had deep scarlet hair that was neatly laid back and went up to her shoulder.

“There’s little time to catch up so I’ll get straight to the point,” said Asuka. “I gathered some intel on a recon mission in the Shadow village which suggests that their Kage intends to attack our village in three days’ time. That’s why I had to immediately rush here to notify you.”

“Thank you for the information Asuka,” replied Kazutaka. “We need to notify the Intel and Battalion Corps so they ready for battle. I shall also inform Hideo and Shin to make the necessary preparations. The trip from there to here on foot is roughly five days. Which gives us more than a week to prepare.”

“Noted,” she replied. “What of the graduate shinobi and undergrads?”

“The graduates will also be recruited and as for the undergrads they shall be responsible for ensuring that the rest of the village is under lockdown before the day comes.”

“Understood, I’ll notify their respective supervisors,” she responded. “I’ll be off then.”

After Asuka left Kazutaka rose from his seat and went towards a window that faced the village. He faced above the sill where on top of the curtain rail was a katana that was held in place in its saya with a fire design by two hooks that were hammered to the adjoining wall.