It had been almost a week since Kagase left the village where he had awakened.
During this time, he had become almost certain that he was no longer in the Ninja world.
However, he had still not managed to figure out which world he had ended up in.
He discovered that not only was this world inhabited by Yokai monsters, but it was also full of bandits. During this week, all kinds of trouble had come his way. He was even targeted by wandering samurai who wanted to test their swordsmanship against him.
He saw that ordinary people in this world could only take refuge in human settlements, surviving under the protection of supernatural beings which, from what he understood, were called priestesses, priests, and Buddhist monks.
He also realized that those Yokai monsters, despite lacking Chakra, were able to directly absorb the Natural Energy of this world—similar to the three great unexplored places: Mount Myoboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—converting it into a strange kind of power.
Because of this, he even tried to convert the Natural Energy absorbed into his body into something similar to the strange power he sensed from those Yokai, based on the circulation pathways of Natural Energy he had observed through the Sharingan. Since he was currently in an Edo Tensei body, he could not die no matter how much he experimented.
The good news was that, through continuous attempts, he managed to convert Natural Energy into that strange power. The bad news was that this strange power was not suitable for humans; after experimenting on a bandit, he discovered that it drove people insane.
---
"That over there is a village? Perfect, I can sell this bear carcass for some money."
As the morning light pierced through the thin forest mist, Kagase spotted a fairly large village in the distance.
He paused, thought for a moment, and decided to go take a look.
He took out a sealing scroll from the Kamui dimension, released the giant bear's carcass, and immediately formed hand seals: "Transformation Technique."
When the smoke cleared, his figure took on the appearance of a person he had seen in Maki's village, and his clothes changed into a simple gray cloth robe, enough to blend in with the crowd.
Kagase hoisted the bear carcass onto his shoulder and headed toward the village along the small path.
During the week, Kagase had not had a specific destination; wherever he went was fine.
During this time, he discovered that the more remote and deep the mountains were, the more numerous and powerful the demons became.
Although there were occasionally Yokai that craved human flesh, or Yokai that, from what he had deciphered through his Mangekyō Sharingan, were born from humans for various reasons, these were generally weaker and easily eliminated by shrine priestesses or nearby Buddhist monks—not strong enough for him to collect life force.
Since he needed to collect the life force of Yokai to resurrect, he could only hunt the stronger ones.
After selling the bear carcass in the village, Kagase began to wander through the streets. He ate some local specialties and purchased daily necessities, although he hardly needed anything anymore; even the clothes on his Edo Tensei body were made of dust.
It was only at dusk that he left the village. After moving away, he canceled the Transformation Technique, returning to his original appearance.
Unless absolutely necessary, he did not like using the Transformation Technique to alter his appearance. Moreover, most Yokai, from what he understood, had an extremely keen sense of smell. The Transformation Technique was only a low-level Ninjutsu that used Chakra solely to change appearance; it was not very useful against Yokai, only effective at deceiving ordinary people.
Just as he was about to turn and enter the forest, Kagase suddenly looked up at the sky.
A bright, dazzling white point of light suddenly appeared in the sky. Just as he found it strange, that brilliant point suddenly exploded like fireworks into countless thin beams of light, spreading in all directions like a meteor shower.
"This seems like something I've seen before..." Kagase thought carefully, reflecting on where he had seen it before, until he remembered the Yokai and the priestesses, an ancient Japanese setting... "Inuyasha?"
Watching the "fireworks," Kagase finally understood what world he was in.
"Then these beams of light should be… fragments of the Shikon Jewel."
That thought had just crossed his mind when a beam of light suddenly flew toward him, leaving a faint trail as it passed over his head.
Chakra erupted beneath Kagase's feet as he leaped upward in an instant, reaching out to precisely grab that stream of light.
Landing lightly on top of a tree, Kagase opened his palm. A pink, transparent fragment lay quietly in his hand. It looked like an ordinary piece of glass, but he could sense a strange fluctuation of energy coming from it.
"A fragment of the Shikon Jewel?" Looking at the fragment in his hand, a flash of understanding appeared in Kagase's eyes. "Now I can confirm it: this is the world of Inuyasha."
"It's not bad at all that this is the world of Inuyasha. The power levels are not too high compared to the Ninja world."
Compared to the Ninja world thrown into chaos by the Ōtsutsuki, this world was definitely better.
Thinking this, Uchiha Kagase placed the Shikon Jewel fragment into his ninja tool pouch and let out a sigh of relief. Although he was only at the level of Edo Tensei Madara Uchiha in terms of combat power during the Fourth Great Ninja War,
Inuyasha, being a romantic series, did not possess an excessively high peak combat level compared to the action-oriented Ninja world. Even a famous powerful Yokai like Sesshomaru, in the final stages of the series, had destructive power roughly equivalent—if his estimates were correct—to that of a One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku. With his Mangekyō Sharingan, he could be confident he stood among the top of this world.
"Thinking about it, the Shikon Jewel attracts Yokai, if I remember correctly." A smile curled on Uchiha Kagase's lips. "With this, I won't have to wander aimlessly through remote mountains anymore. Waiting for Yokai to come is much less tiring than searching for them everywhere."
As for the conflict of goals between collecting Shikon Jewel fragments and Inuyasha's group? Uchiha Kagase didn't care.
In the original story, the fragments that Inuyasha and his group painstakingly collected all ended up in Naraku's hands anyway. It would be better to let him use them first.
Having made his decision, Kagase turned and headed toward the place where the Shikon Jewel had shattered. Not only was the probability of finding fragments higher there, but he might also encounter Inuyasha's group. Since he had come to this world, he intended to meet the protagonists.
---
"Shikon Jewel, give it to me!"
A shrill roar suddenly rang out. A Yokai with a human head and a snake's body burst out of the bushes, its fangs gleaming menacingly as it lunged at Uchiha Kagase.
Before it could even get close, Chakra had already gathered in Kagase's hand: "Chidori!"
A sharp, electric, intense sound—like concentrated lightning emitting a constant high-pitched noise—tore through the air, piercing the demon's body from head to tail in an instant.
Accompanied by a miserable scream, the demon was split in half from top to bottom, its corpse crashing heavily to the ground, still twitching slightly.
"A weak Yokai like this dares to join the fray?" Kagase glanced at the still-trembling corpse with eyes full of disdain.
Ever since he had carried the Shikon Jewel fragment, the process of collecting life force had indeed accelerated significantly, but problems had also arisen. Weak and insignificant Yokai like this constantly harassed him.
His three tomoe slowly rotated, sweeping over the demon's still-writhing corpse.
Suddenly, a faint familiar pink glow caught his attention. Hidden among the mutilated remains was another Shikon Jewel fragment.
"Oh? An unexpected gain." He raised an eyebrow, his tone casual. "Then I misjudged you; I apologize."
As he spoke his insincere apology, he stepped forward, retrieved the fragment from the demon's corpse, and stored it in a bamboo tube specifically reserved for holding fragments in his ninja tool pouch.
In the past two days, he had already collected four Shikon Jewel fragments; his luck was quite high.
As soon as the fragment was removed, the Yokai's body quickly lost its luster and turned into a pile of ash, which scattered in a gust of wind.
"These brainless idiots."
Uchiha Kagase was not surprised. These weak Yokai could not withstand the power of the Shikon Jewel at all; their bodies had long been corroded by its energy. Once the fragments were removed, they immediately crumbled into dust and died.