The Path to Power

"My lord, is it really all right to leave the army in Lord Ujiyasu's hands?"

Among the five hundred cavalrymen who had split off from the Hojo army on the Musashino Great Plain to form an advance force.

The unwaveringly loyal Akechi Mitsuhide voiced his concerns to his lord, Hojo Akitoshi, who rode ahead of him.

"It's fine."

Hojo Akitoshi, who was studying a little notebook on horseback, smiled faintly.

"Lord Ujiyasu may have lost to me in the struggle to become head of the clan."

"But he is still a member of the Hojo. For the sake of the clan's fortunes, he will surely do his utmost."

"But!"

Even after Hojo Akitoshi's explanation, Akechi Mitsuhide remained worried.

What if-just what if-the man harbored a grudge over losing the contest for clan leadership?

What if he took advantage of their lord being away from the army's protection and declared, "The enemy is in Kaede's village"?

Besides!

Akechi Mitsuhide gazed at Hojo Akitoshi riding at the very head of the column, utterly baffled.

Ever since that night, he had felt that his lord's priorities no longer lay in making the Hojo stronger.

Wasn't he paying a little too much attention to demons?

Completely unaware of what Akechi Mitsuhide was thinking behind him, Hojo Akitoshi put away the little notebook in his hands.

When a shard of the Shikon Jewel had abruptly appeared before him, Hojo Akitoshi had finally understood exactly what sort of world he was in.

Having made a new decision then and there, he had immediately spent the night furiously writing down everything he remembered about Inuyasha.

To ensure that no one could understand the notebook even if he lost it, Hojo Akitoshi had deliberately written it in Chinese pinyin.

"Power, huh?"

On horseback, Hojo Akitoshi looked back at the seemingly endless column of cavalry behind him. Before the Shikon Jewel had appeared.

These cavalrymen, the Matchlock Corps and Kokuhō Cannon Corps still stationed in the army's camp, and the elite armored samurai.

They had been the foundation on which he relied to survive in this world, and even to conquer the land by force.

Back then, Hojo Akitoshi had confidently believed that, with his experience and his grasp of the broader course of events.

Becoming the ruler of this little country would be child's play. Then the Three Ladies of the Warring States-Saito Kicho, Maeda Matsu, and Asano Nene.

Along with Oda Oichi, the greatest beauty of the Warring States.

Would all belong to him alone.

Yet all those beautiful dreams had become nothing but illusions the moment the Shikon Jewel shard arrived!

After all, even if he became the ruler of this little country, a mere mortal like him would be helpless before those mighty greater demons.

As helpless as stalks of rice before a farmer's sickle!

"But how do I gain power?"

When Hojo Akitoshi first learned that he had come to the Warring States period, he had still been an infant, yet he had already ambitiously planned to seize control of the Hojo.

And then become ruler of the land.

Now it was much the same. Upon learning that this was the world of Inuyasha.

Hojo Akitoshi both feared the threat of the powerful demons that would soon appear one after another and wanted to obtain power far greater than theirs.

Because he wanted to rule not only this country, but the demons as well!

To that end, obtaining power that could rival any demon-or even far surpass them-had become his most urgent priority.

"The Shikon Jewel?"

The first thing Hojo Akitoshi thought of was the shard in his pouch.

Since this shard of the Shikon Jewel had come to him, did that signify some sort of divine will?

He still remembered a down-and-out ukiyo-e artist in Inuyasha's storyline who had obtained a shard by chance.

Using the shard's power and human blood from the battlefield, the artist had gained an ability much like Ma Liang's magic brush.

He could paint countless demons into existence, then control them to achieve his ends.

"No, no, no."

Shaking his head under Akechi Mitsuhide's puzzled gaze, Hojo Akitoshi rejected that idea once again.

The ukiyo-e artist's experience showed that humans could indeed use the power of Shikon Jewel shards.

But the temptation of evil from Midoriko within the shard...

Hojo Akitoshi believed that a wise man should not stand beneath a crumbling wall, and someone with much to lose should not expose himself to needless danger.

He had not yet reached the point of having no other choice. There was really no need to put himself at risk.

"So!"

As he galloped toward Kaede's village, whose location his ninja had discovered, Hojo Akitoshi felt another pang of melancholy.

"I could accept getting neither a cheat nor a system in a historical story, but you've already sent me into a world with supernatural powers."

"Isn't it a little inhumane not to give me a cheat?"

"Don't tell me you think this healthy body is enough."

Yet despite the countless sighs Hojo Akitoshi had let out since that night, he still had not heard the long-awaited sound of a system or cheat activating.

"Maybe."

Lowering his head, Hojo Akitoshi wondered whether it was because he had not used the Shikon Jewel shard.

Usually, a system or cheat needed some kind of trigger to activate!

"Hahaha."

Still under Akechi Mitsuhide's deeply suspicious gaze, Hojo Akitoshi collected himself and burst out laughing.

The bright light in his eyes left Akechi Mitsuhide momentarily dazed.

He inwardly marveled that this was indeed the lord who had won his allegiance.

The great and noble leader who aspired to rule the land.

"It doesn't matter if I don't have a system or cheat for now."

"There are plenty of other ways to grow stronger, such as the Peach Immortal's immortal arts, or the spiritual power and spells that humans already possess in this world."

"And wisdom, the very foundation on which humanity stands."

Reins in hand, his horse racing onward, Hojo Akitoshi had set out as soon as he learned the location of Kaede's village, without waiting for the Heavenly Feather Robe and the Heaven Blade of the Heaven-and-Earth Naginata to arrive from the Hojo's main castle behind him.

His rush to Kaede's village was certainly not because he wanted to check out Inuyasha and Kagome.

Nor was it to get acquainted with them early so he could ride their coattails later.

After all, the demon that the newly awakened Inuyasha was about to face was Yura of the

Hair.

She would make an excellent benchmark. She might only be a demon who appeared early in the story.

But she had a humanoid form and a decent command of demonic arts. Surely that made her at least an entry-level mid-tier demon?

Hojo Akitoshi could use her to test whether the elite soldiers he had painstakingly trained stood any chance in battle against demons.

As for Sesshomaru, who would appear soon afterward!

Not only could he help Hojo Akitoshi wipe out the Imagawa army without losing a single soldier, but at this stage he would hold back so much that the slack he gave them could fill an ocean.

He would also serve as a model through whom Hojo Akitoshi could personally experience the power of a greater demon!

In short, this trip to Kaede's village would determine Hojo Akitoshi's entire course of action afterward!

And so, as Hojo Akitoshi kept adjusting the plans in his mind, time flew by in the blink of an eye.

Before long, a village with wisps of cooking smoke drifting above it came into view ahead of the cavalry.

Meanwhile, in the village, Kagome had just worn the late Kikyo's shrine maiden robes for the first time, only to have that dog peek at her while she bathed.

Peeking was bad enough, but afterward he had even mocked her figure, saying it was nowhere near as perfect as the late Kikyo's.

That was simply more than anyone could bear.

Fuming, Kagome had just packed her belongings and was preparing to head up the mountain to the Bone-Eater's Well to see whether she could return to the modern era.

Yet the beautiful girl from the modern era had barely stepped through the village gate when she saw wave after wave of cavalry charging toward her!