Uprising

Mikoto finally got on her feet but not without moderate difficulty as her hands were still bound together. She immediately rummaged the room in search of anything sharp as she had done before Dai arrived. Without luck, she went over to the unconscious Hasegawa whose nostrils had stopped bleeding and did a full body search on him. Fortunately for her, she found a dagger conveniently hidden inside one of his leg bandages. Just as she was trying to cut through the strong piece of rope, her captor had begun to regain his consciousness.

Come on…come on you fricking rope, she thought as her heart raced.

She sat at a safe distance while she made her attempt to set herself loose; oscillating her bound hands while trying to keep the dagger stable with her feet. All along she had not noticed that Dai had gotten up to his feet.

"Damn Mikoto-chan! Did the Lightning village teach y'all how to kick like that?" he wiped the blood from his nose before rubbing his pained chest. Dai took out two nunchaku from his waist binding and spun them in the air. "Please don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"Bring it on!" Mikoto raised both hands in front of her face with the dagger on one hand and took up a fighting stance. 

Dai too had not noticed that she had freed herself until that very moment. "I'm liking where this first date is going," he charged towards Mikoto wide a wide grin. "Let's dance!"

The youngest of the Hasegawa brothers swung his weapons at the Lightning kunoichi, who raised her arms to block the attacks just in time. She countered with the dagger, aimed for Dai's torso but he was quick to veer his head backwards and the rest of his body followed to avoid being cut. 

Dai went on high alert seeing that his opponent meant business; he went on a rampage, landing three vicious strikes on Mikoto's abdomen and thigh.

Mikoto felt as if she had been stung by a swarm of wasps but had to continue as if the impact was minor for the sake of her life. This was all the motivation she needed to fight even harder than. The only thing that had worked against her was the space between them, he could strike her with the nunchaku from a distance but she had to get close to use her dagger and fists. 

"Don't you think we should end this, Mikoto-chan?" asked Dai as he puffed to catch his breath. "You look like you're getting tired."

Mikoto remained silent and calm as she noted Dai getting exhausted.

He swung a nunchaku at her but she saw the attack coming and grabbed the end of the stick. She immediately tugged at the piece of wood, brought her opponent closer and gave him a head-butt to his nose. Dai had no chance to react as she connected a series of punches right after. His nose and upper lip were severely cut and the last punch she landed to his cheek sent a tooth flying out of his mouth. He fell and hit the ground with a loud thud. 

"And that's that," Mikoto panted, "now I've gotta check on the others." 

Seeing that her opponent was out of action for a while, she carefully went out of the room and hoped that she would not encounter anymore yakuza members. 

***

Daichi now appeared to have taken the upper hand against Kazuo. The air had gotten accustomed to the loud clangs that came with the battle.

"What happened to all that vigor you had from before?" Daichi asked. "Come on, the great grandson of the Legendary Sage can do better than that." He let out a laugh and charged at Kazuo with an overhead swing.

Kazuo panted and his shoulders were slumped, he looked as if he could faint at any moment. He held the Earth blade with one hand with its tip touching the ground. His clothes were ripped all over with his upper body drenched in sweat and blood. The eldest Hasegawa had taken a fair share of slashes nonetheless he looked far better than Kazuo. 

Daichi rushed towards him. I guess this is it. Kazuo accepted his fate in that moment. He still had the will to fight in him but his body was fatigued beyond anything he had felt before. 

My boy. He remembered what his great grandfather had told him. When you want to awaken each blade, you have to call out the god's name.

A memory in which Kazuro wielded the Earth blade suddenly flashed in Kazuo's mind just as Daichi was about to slash his head clean off.

Dōjin: Funsai (Earth god: Shatter)!

Having fortified his will, Kazuo felt an immense surge of power rush through his body. Both his mind and body now acted as one. He swiftly raised Dōjin with both arms and just in time to block Daichi's katana. As the two swords hit each other, the nameless one shattered and broke into several pieces. Dōjin remained sturdy and grounded as its user's will. 

"What the…?" queried Daichi holding onto the hilt of what was once the strongest sword he had ever forged. His eyebrows were raised and his face grew pale as he fell to his knees with great shock. 

Daichi's will and katana had both been broken and he was left without the gusto to fight. He knelt on the ground motionless and his opponent walked slowly towards him. 

"N–no way," Daichi muttered to himself, with a sudden hysteria looming. "My sword easily broken like that?" He dropped the sword's hilt. 

Kazuo had an intensity in his eyes, he readied to swing Dōjin's blade through the blacksmith's neck. A dark aura had begun to engulf him. "Any last words?" he roared violently before raising the Earth blade.

All was silent. 

Daichi merely closed his eyes and awaited execution. Kazuo lowered the great sword with its sharp edge locked onto Daichi's neck.

"Kazuo! Wait!" a familiar voice shouted.

Huh? That's Kaito's brother…

Kazuo halted upon hearing Keisuke and the violent air about him lowered as he came back to senses. He fell to the ground, having been overwhelmed by the fight as well as the sudden boost in power that had saved him from the slaughter. "Yamamoto! Take Daichi to Okayama prison, I will look after Kazuo," said Keisuke as he cuffed the eldest Hasegawa brother with a strong steel chain. "He does not look like he will get away from these ones."

Keisuke whispered something else to Yamamoto before he left. The officer heeded the instructions and escorted the hysterical Daichi to Okayama prison. Keisuke remained with Kazuo and waited for him to regain consciousness after the faint. This kid though…he was right along, he thought as he saw the sword that had been believed to be unmovable lying next to Kazuo.

"What are you doing?" Kazuo asked as he woke up to see Keisuke struggle to lift the Earth blade. "You can't lift it, huh?" he laughed. 

"Yeah, I can't do it," Keisuke chuckled in acknowledgement with a hint of perspiration dropping from his face. "That was very reckless of you guys. When I arrived at the main gate, there was no one there so I assumed that most of the keisatsu would rush to the site of the explosion. That's where I heard about your arrest…"

"Did you meet the others?"

"No, they were captured and escorted to the royal palace. I know this is suicide but come, let's go and rescue them." He offered his hand to Kazuo. "Wait a minute, can you walk?"

"Yeah…that was nothing." Kazuo smiled but he could not hide the fact that his body had been badly bruised.

"Okay, but don't overexert yourself."

The duo walked to the palace and Kazuo dragged the heavy Dōjin on the stone pavement. Upon arrival, they observed that it was filled with both yakuza and keisatsu armed with firearms and batons. 

"We can't take them on…they are just too many," said Keisuke.

"I can."

"Absolutely not! Are you out of your mind?" asked an angry Keisuke. "You may have took down Daichi but no one can dodge a pellet. Not even you Kazuo."

"Okay, so what's your plan?" Kazuo asked when he realized that this was the situation where Takumi would have excelled in. "We can't just sit here if the others are inside."

"Deep down I always thought that Daichi was not the true daimyo of this country," Keisuke thought out loud, "and today just proved it with all these guards here instead of around him." He paused for a long while and then finally said, "I have a plan."

"What's that?"

"We surrender."

"Ehhh!"

"Just follow my lead," Keisuke assured him. "Oh and you will have to leave that sword behind."

Keisuke led the way as he dragged Kazuo as though he were a prisoner.

"Stop right there officer," shouted one of the yakuza at the front entrance. "Who is that brat next to you?" He pointed his matchlock pistol at Kazuo.

"This is one of the delinquents responsible for the explosion sir," said Keisuke. "Permission to bring him before Lord Daisuke."

"Okay, but we have to pat him down for any weapons."

After the thorough bodily search, they were allowed to proceed to the daimyo. 

***

On the battleground, the daimyo was left with two gold generals, a lance, dragon (promoted rook) and three pawns. The Artisan had two gold generals, a horse (promoted bishop) and two tokins (promoted pawns). 

"So, my dear Takumi, you mean to tell me that you are here with the son of the former Fire daimyo and you want to take our country's treasure," Daisuke repeated the information he had gathered from his opponent's losses. "That is why you blew up my warehouse."

Takumi nodded with his gaze remaining solely on the board, this was the most focused he had ever been on a shōgi match. He had never been defeated back at the ninja school and this had been his longest match ever. He had met a formidable opponent here in the Earth country.

"I could have the Inazuma boy sent to the Shadow village and get myself a hefty bounty to recover my losses. Seeing that I have more pieces on the board, your hopes of winning this battle are dwindling."

I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatched, Takumi thought as he moved horse to take out Daisuke's lance. "Check."

Daisuke fled his king to safety, "Nice counter."

Just then their game was interrupted by two guests.

"Lord Daisuke, there's an officer requesting an audience with you," the guard announced. "He says he has one of the culprits responsible for today's mishaps."

"Oh, is that so? You may let them in," said Daisuke. "Speak of the devil, if it isn't the Inazuma prince. He arrived just in time to see your defeat, Takumi."

Takumi turned his head and was relieved to see Kazuo together with Keisuke. He immediately read the latter's mind and resumed his focus on his match. The game continued for a few more minutes before Daisuke's face went pale.

"You have just realized it haven't you?" Takumi asked while trying to hide his grin. "My endgame, and there's no escaping it."

Daisuke's king was cornered, with a single move left and an inevitable defeat. He moved his dragon to take out a gold general but it was meaningless at that point.

Takumi dragged his tokin a step forward to a spot where it was protected by his horse.

"Checkmate."

The daimyo stood up and recklessly tossed the board aside. The pieces were sent flying all over the floor. He was fuming. "No way, it can't be!"

"I hope you stay true to your word and free my companions and I."

"As if I would do anything like th–"

Daisuke had been so focused on the board to realize Keisuke behind him with a pocket knife to his throat.

"Don't even think about moving an inch…where is my little brother?"

"The peasant boy?" Daisuke sniggered. "Guuuaaaard!"

Keisuke brought his blade tip even closer and a bit of blood trickled down the daimyo's neck. "Stop right there!" he ordered the outdoor guard who had just entered the room. "If you move any further, your fake daimyo here gets it."

The guard stood perfectly still trying to figure out what to do.

"And you," Keisuke brought his eyes to Daisuke. "If you say one more word, I will slit your throat."