"Alright, let's head back."
Uchiha Retsu watched as the demon remains were completely reduced to ashes. He activated his eye power once more to extinguish the lingering black flames of Amaterasu, then turned and took Kikyo's hand, heading back toward the shrine.
"About that villager who was bitten by the rat demon yesterday…" Kikyo said as they walked.
"I eliminated the one hiding in the village, but I'm worried there might still be others lurking in the nearby mountains. I want to go check again. Will you come with me?"
At the mention of that rat demon, Retsu couldn't help feeling annoyed.
That thing had ruined his moment yesterday.
Sure, Kikyo had still danced for him that night—but if not for that interruption, he might've gotten to see her Kagura dance during the day too… meaning an extra round of "benefits."
"I'll go with—"
He was just about to agree when his expression suddenly changed.
"I can't go. Someone is summoning me with a summoning technique!"
Before Kikyo could respond, his body burst into a cloud of white smoke and vanished instantly.
Kikyo stared at the empty space beside her, momentarily stunned before letting out a soft, helpless smile.
She had seen this kind of disappearance before—not long after her revival—when the cat demon named Natsuran had summoned him away.
She knew Natsuran well. Not only had Retsu summoned her in front of Kikyo, but he had also taught Kikyo the summoning technique.
When Kikyo practiced it some time ago, she had even used Natsuran as her target, so they had become somewhat familiar.
This summoning technique couldn't be activated with her own spiritual power, but it could be used with Sage energy or spiritual energy infused with natural energy.
Although she was curious why Natsuran had called for him, she could only wait until he returned.
Kikyo summoned Kuromaru, mounted its back, and quickly headed down the mountain path. With Retsu gone, she would have to investigate alone.
Meanwhile, Retsu responded to the summoning.
As space warped and shifted, before the white smoke around him had even cleared, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
He reacted instantly—ducking down, grabbing a small figure collapsed on the ground, and leaping into the air with a burst of chakra.
The next moment—
BOOM!
A massive skeletal hand slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, smashing the ground into a crater.
Midair, Retsu glanced down.
The cat demon girl in his arms was breathing heavily, her demonic power nearly depleted—it was Natsuran's second sister, Haran.
Looking ahead, he saw the attacker:
A towering skeletal demon clad in tattered armor.
Beneath the armor was nothing but bare bones, its empty eye sockets burning with crimson flames as it locked onto him.
Retsu couldn't even tell what kind of creature this had once been.
But it didn't matter—it was about to become an even more shattered pile of bones.
"ROOOAR—!"
The skeletal monster let out a deafening roar and swung its massive claw toward him with terrifying force.
Retsu couldn't help muttering,
"You're just bones—how are you even making sound?"
Even as he complained, his movements were flawless.
"Susanoo!"
His Mangekyō Sharingan flared to life.
A pale blue Susanoo formed instantly, enveloping his body.
Its second-stage skeletal frame quickly filled with muscle-like chakra layers, and a massive chakra blade formed in its hand.
Against enemies of this size, starting with Susanoo was the fastest solution.
Before even landing, the Susanoo swung its blade in a flash of cold light—
CRACK!
The skeletal arm shattered instantly, falling to the ground.
As he landed, Retsu followed up with a horizontal slash—
The massive skeleton was cut cleanly in half.
BOOM!
Both halves crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
But Retsu didn't relax.
Creatures like this—still moving without flesh—couldn't be trusted to stay dead.
He drove the Susanoo's blade downward—
Piercing straight through the skull.
Only when the red flames in its eye sockets finally extinguished, and its body collapsed into a pile of scattered bones, did he dismiss the Susanoo.
Retsu gently set Haran down and smiled.
"If I remember correctly, your name is Haran, right?"
Clearly, Kikyo had guessed wrong.
The one who summoned him wasn't Natsuran—but her second sister, Haran.
"That's right!"
Haran stared at him with shining eyes, excitement overwhelming her exhaustion.
"I can't believe it actually worked! This was my first successful summon after learning the technique from Natsuran—and it happened right when I needed it most! My luck is amazing!"
She patted his arm gratefully.
"Even though it drained all my demon power… thank you for saving me! I almost died to that skeleton just now!"
"It's nothing."
Retsu smiled.
"Once a contract is formed, I'll come help—unless there's a special reason not to."
From her words, it was clear Haran had signed the summoning contract with Natsuran's help.
He glanced around.
A faint mist hung in the air.
The ground was littered with stones and scattered bones.
The atmosphere was eerie and unsettling.
"Where exactly are we?" he asked.
"This is the boundary between the underworld and the living world… a graveyard for demons," Haran replied.
"A demon graveyard?"
Retsu paused, then immediately realized—
This place had appeared several times in the original story.
Most notably, it was where Inuyasha's father, the Great Dog General, was buried.
At that thought, he quickly looked around, trying to spot the iconic massive canine skull.
But the thick mist obscured everything. He could only see vague silhouettes in the distance.
"What were you doing here?"
Retsu looked back at Haran, then nudged the shattered bones at his feet.
"And getting chased by something like that? Where's your older sister Tōran? Why isn't she with you?"
At the mention of the skeletal demon, Haran's expression darkened instantly.
She stormed over to the shattered skull and kicked it with full force.
Despite her small frame, the impact sent the skull flying—
BAM!
It smashed against a distant rock, breaking into even smaller fragments.
Only then did she let out a relieved sigh.
"I came here to find a burial place for our lord."
Her expression turned heavy as she continued,
"My big sister has always wanted to revive him, so his body has been kept in our territory all this time.
But now that we've given up on that plan… we came here to find a proper place to lay him to rest."
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