Mikoto panicked when she checked Kazuo's pulse. His skin was ice cold and his heart had stopped. She glanced at Takumi and saw him reading a scroll that had been next to the chokutō. "You'll have to blow into his mouth," she said before pressing Kazuo's chest a few times with both hands.
"I think you should do it," said Takumi, immersed in the manuscript. "You took that medical course with Kohaku."
"Argh!" she grunted. "That's so sexist! We all learnt it in second year!"
"I'm simply stating a logical fact."
"Which is?"
"You're more suited at this than I am."
Mikoto sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you ever speak of this to anyone, you're dead." She took a deep breath and exhaled into Kazuo's mouth.
☯
Kazuo traversed a dark plane, 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 you desire?"
"Revenge."
"Well then, Inazuma Kazuo. You shall not find that which you seek there."
"W–wait, who are you?" Kazuo turned his head, unable to see a thing in the darkness. "Where the hell am I? How do you know my name?"
"I know everything about you, my dear boy. If vengeance is what you seek, you shall not find it beyond that light. For to enter it, is to cease to exist. Take my hand..."
Kazuo, having nothing more to lose, raised a hand and felt another take hold of his. Sparks of light appeared as they were teleported to a white and endless dimension.
The old man had spiky, deep blue hair and a long stubble beard to match. He wore large mala beads around his neck, a black kimono and a white haori with the kanji: 聖 (Sage) on the back. He also carried a wooden shakujō and his majestic figure resembled that of the statuette from the shrine. "I am Inazuma Kazuro," he said, his voice beaming in the white plane. "The Legendary Sage!"
"Great grandpa?" Kazuo trembled. "Does that mean I'm d–d–dead?"
"You are in the shadow plane and your spirit exists in an equilibrium unknown to neither life nor death. Allow me to show you who you really are." Kazuro connected his thumb to the index whilst the rest of the fingers remained curled–the Chinmaya mudra (Sanskrit: Gesture of awareness). He placed the other thumb on Kazuo's forehead and thousands of images started flashing in the white plane.
"You are a descendant of Akira, the first Inazuma and eldest son of the last Shōgun. Akira begot Kazushiro, who begot my grandsire–Kazuhiro. I was the son of princess Kazue and Kagehiko–the dark prince of the Kageyama. I had your grandsire–Taka, who married princess Natsue of the Kasai and they had your father, Kazuma."
Kazuo dropped on one knee as his feeble mind tried to process all the information.
"My memories of battle may be a lot to take in, nonetheless, when you find yourself in great peril, they shall be of aid. They are all the more useful with physical training," said Kazuro, stroking his chin. "The flow of time in the shadow plane is relative, an hour spent here is equivalent to a minute in the world of the living."
Oh, man. A drop of sweat trickled down from Kazuo's temple. "I see..."
"We should consider that your body out there is unconscious, which means–"
"If I spend too much time here, I'm dead."
"Precisely. Now, grandson, there are shadows on the wall and they gather to serve an even greater darkness I failed to conquer in my era. Raijin, one of the four sword gods I forged in my youth, brought you here and it is only you, my dear boy, who can wield them to the fullest and help put an end to the impending doom."
"That means avenging my mother and everyone else."
"Alas, vengeance is a cycle that begets even more vengeance. The Shadows want you to atone for me killing their king during the First Great War. As such, dear grandson, I grant you these tools to protect yourself and your loved ones."
"How will I face them off? I don't know that much taijutsu or kenjutsu?"
"When you touched Raijin, it ignited the fragments of my prana within you. Before you face the Shadows, you shall need to retrieve Dōjin (Earth god) from Ishigami town. Afterwards, head to Yamaguchi port and seek the kensei (sword saint)–Nakamura Hanzo. He shall aid you in the retrieval of Sūijin (Water god) and also train you physically."
"Can't you train me?"
"I am afraid my manifestation in this limbo is only a passing breath. When you return to your world, Hanzo-kun shall be the most suited person for the task."
Kazuo remained quiet, trying to hide the distress on his face.
"Worry not, Kazuo-kun, for there is something I can help you with from in here."
"What's that?"
"To conquer your very own shadow," said Kazuro, grabbing Kazuo by the shoulder. He placed his thumb on the index, middle and ring fingers–the Udana (upward breathing) mudra.
Lightning sparks formed around them and they were teleported back to the dark plane. As they navigated through it–using a light Kazuro had conjured, they came across a shadowy figure who was an exact doppelgänger of Kazuo.
"I've gotta fight that… thing?" Kazuo faced his great grandfather, eyebrows raised.
"Mind you, about twenty seconds have passed outside, time is of the essence."
Kazuo nodded and dashed towards his shadow. The battle against himself had begun. He threw a few punches that did not land and followed up with an uppercut. The shadow dodged the blow and counterattacked with a kick to his jaw that sent him flying through the dark void. After landing on his butt, he got up even more determined.
The intense taijutsu resumed, and it was like Kazuo fought against a mirror. Each right and left fist or kick connected with a left and right fist or kick, respectively. It continued like that for a further thirty minutes in the dark dimension.
"When battling your shadow, try to be better than the self from yesterday, the self from moments ago. Forget all that which you have learnt until now and just flow!"
Kazuo nodded again. "Right," he said before charging. Now, instead of attacking without direction, he waited for the shadow to strike first and dodged. He repeated this a few times, blocking and dodging heavy blows until he noticed an opening. He saw a kick flying towards him and ducked before tripping the shadow.
"My boy!" Kazuro grinned. "Here, catch!" he said, tossing his shakujō.
Kazuo grabbed the staff and it turned into a katana. At that same time, he noticed a black katana materialize on the shadow's hand. Shit!
"If you wish to leave this place, you will have to kill your shadow."
The battle to the death continued as steel clanks echoed in the dark plane. Kazuo took on the defensive and his shadow kept advancing. He got sidetracked for split second and received a cut on his cheek.
That felt real! Kazuo leapt backwards and wiped blood off his cheek. Alright, focus... He gripped his sword with both hands and advanced. After dodging a few fatal slashes, he slid in between the shadow's legs and beheaded it from behind.
"Well done, my boy..." Kazuro clapped as the replica dissipated. "You have conquered your shadow and thus fortified your will for the battles to come. Remember, one without ego in a battle is one whose will is unbreakable."
"Thanks grandpa," said Kazuo with a loud sigh. "How do I get out of here?"
"There are three ways of entering the shadow plane. These are projection, meditation or a near death experience. The first two are challenging to master, however, the last one is the most dangerous. The bolt of light that activated your Kundalini (coiled up) energy could have killed you if it were not for our pranic connection."
Kazuo nodded but the explanation had entered one ear and left through the other.
"In short–to exit, you need to make use of the same method that brought you here."
"W–wait, that means–"
Kazuro summoned his sword from Kazuo's hand and charged it with lightning. "You shall have to die."
"Chotto matte…" Kazuo raised his hands. "What if I don't go back?"
"We have been here for an equivalent of four minutes out there. Observe." Kazuro stretched his hand into the dark void and an image of Mikoto trying to resuscitate Kazuo appeared. "With each minute that your mind is deprived of air, you risk breaking it beyond repair."
"Okay, I get it," said Kazuo, lowering his hands and closing his eyes. "Let's do this." He felt the blade as it dug its way into his heart and the organ jolted into rhythm. "Farewell, grandson…"
"Bye, grandpa." Kazuo waved back at him.
☯
Mikoto had just exhaled into Kazuo's mouth, filling his lungs with much needed air. She was out of breath and hope after having repeated the procedure several times. It's useless, the thought clouded her mind. When she inhaled for the last time, she felt it in her palms. A heartbeat!
At that instant, Kazuo's eyes shot wide open and he gasped as though his life depended on it. He looked pale, like someone who had been resurrected. Mikoto jumped and almost hugged him before stopping herself.
"Takumi drew closer, scroll in hand and adjusted his shades. "Welcome back," he said, turning to Mikoto. "Never doubted our medic here for a second."
"But you just stood there!" Mikoto frowned, lips pouted. "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 he was unconscious, I deciphered the rest of this scroll."
Mikoto's face lightened a bit. She realized that there was something else he viewed her in high regard other than just taijutsu.
Takumi glanced at Kazuo who looked like he had seen the Shinigami (Grim Reaper) himself. "It didn't click to me at first but I now know who the Legendary Sage is."
"Yeah, my great grandpa–"
"Wait, the first Lord Sage?" said Mikoto wide eyed. It was right there!
"Indeed, and this sword." Takumi pointed to the blade that caused their predicament. "Wait," he said raising an eyebrow. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"When I met him, he told–well showed me everything about my clan."
"But... you were unconscious?"
"He said something about me being in the shadowy plane or something."
"I see..." Takumi folded the scroll. I'm guessing he must've been hallucinating. "Did he mention the sword gods? His gift to you to defeat an impending darkness."
"Yeah." Kazuo stared at the chokutō on the ground. "That's one of them, Raijin."
"So," said Mikoto, feeling a bit left out. "What will you do… going forward, that is?"
"My goal is simple, really."
"Which is...?"
"Revenge." Kazuo furrowed his eyebrows and the air about him grew dark and cold.
Mikoto felt her skin crawl for a brief moment and she held Kazuo's shoulder. "Hey, I understand... and honestly I'd want the same," she said, making eye contact. "But on a lighter note, how was the other side like?"
Kazuo's cheeks reddened and his frown disappeared with a light chuckle. "Very dark!" he said, maintain her gaze before turning away. "And I don't wanna go back."
"That's pretty scary... we thought we had lost you there."
Kazuo scratched his head and smiled. "Thanks for kissing me back to life."
Steam shot from Mikoto's ears and nostrils as her cheeks turned red.
"Oh no..." said Kazuo, imitating her hand compressions. "You can't die!"
"Hehe." Takumi let out a chuckle, noting Kazuo return to his annoying self.
Still making fun of Mikoto, Kazuo felt a tight slap introduce itself to his cheek and it was lights out. He fell on his back and lay unconscious with a smile from ear to ear.
"Tch... perv!" said Mikoto with gritted teeth, veins popping on her temple.
☯
Kazutaka had been busy signing heaps of paperwork in his office. Suddenly, a hooded ninja dressed in all black appeared on his window. "Still not using doors, are we?" he said with a slight grin. "Asuka-chan."
"It's been a while, Taka-sensei..." said the kunoichi, jumping inside. She removed her hood, revealing the short, scarlet hair underneath. Asuka appeared to be in her mid-twenties, light skinned with a well-built physique. "This is going to be my office after all." She chuckled.
"I am not yet ready to retire, young lady," said Kazutaka, joining in the laughter.
"There's little time to catch up so I'll get straight to the point," she said with a serious tone. "I gathered some intel in Kurai which suggests that the Shadow King intends to attack our village in three days' time."
"Hmmm, I reckoned as much..." Kazutaka brought her up to speed with the attack on Kaen village. "From the Shadow region to here, it is roughly five days on foot. Which gives us a week to prepare. While you ready the Battalion Corp, I shall also inform Hideo and Shin to make the necessary preparations."
"Noted. What of the grad shinobi and undergrads?"
"Experienced graduates will be drafted and as for the undergraduates, they shall be ensure that the rest of the village is under lockdown before the enemy arrives."
"Understood," said Asuka, bowing before she readied to leave. "I'll notify their respective supervisors to relay the message. Later, Taka-sensei."
Kazutaka rose from his seat and went towards a window that faced the village. Just above the opening, a katana with a fire design on its saya was mounted on the wall.
"It has been a long time since we last fought together, has it not? Kajin (Fire god)."