It had been nearly a month since Kagetsu left the village where he had been resurrected.
By now, he had more or less confirmed it.
He had transmigrated again.
Demon attacks like the one earlier were no longer surprising. In fact, they had become routine.
And it wasn't just yōkai.
There were bandits prowling the roads, petty warlords clashing over territory, wandering mercenaries looking for trouble. Even the katana at his waist had been "acquired" from a samurai who'd attempted to test its sharpness on him.
He'd learned quickly how this world worked.
Ordinary humans survived by clustering together in villages and castle towns, relying on miko, monks, and shrine priests for protection against the supernatural.
And unlike shinobi beasts, the yōkai here did not possess chakra.
They absorbed the natural energy of this world directly, refining it into demonic power.
To understand it better, Kagetsu had experimented.
Using his Sharingan to observe the flow of natural energy within defeated demons, he attempted to replicate the process,redirecting the energy he absorbed and converting it into demonic power instead of chakra.
After all, in an Edo Tensei body, failure carried little risk.
The result?
Success.
He had managed to convert natural energy into demonic power.
But there was a problem.
Demonic power was fundamentally incompatible with humans.
After testing it on captured bandits, he confirmed that forcing demonic energy into a human body drove them insane. Their minds fractured under the corruption.
"Interesting," he had concluded at the time.
But not immediately useful.
"Hmm. A town ahead."
Morning light pierced through the forest mist, revealing the outline of a sizable settlement in the distance.
"Perfect. Time to sell the bear."
He retrieved a storage scroll from the Kamui dimension, released the preserved carcass, and formed hand seals.
"Transformation Jutsu."
Smoke billowed.
When it cleared, he had taken on the appearance of a traveling monk,gray robes, plain features, forgettable face. The sort of man who could walk through a crowd unnoticed.
He hoisted the bear carcass over his shoulder and followed the dirt road toward the castle town.
Over the past month, he had traveled without a fixed destination. When he passed human settlements, he used the Transformation Jutsu to gather information and supplies. Otherwise, he remained in the deep mountains.
Because the deeper the wilderness,
The stronger the yōkai.
Near villages, demons were usually weak. Either minor predators lured by human flesh or malformed creatures born from human resentment. They were easily purged by local miko or monks.
Not worth harvesting.
If he wanted sufficient life force to free himself from Edo Tensei, he needed powerful demons.
After selling the bear for a decent sum, he wandered the streets casually. He sampled local snacks, purchased basic supplies,though most were unnecessary.
His clothes, after all, were formed from dust and chakra.
By dusk, he left the town.
Once far enough away, he released the Transformation Jutsu and returned to his original appearance.
He disliked maintaining disguises for long. Besides, many yōkai possessed sharp senses. The Transformation Jutsu only altered outward appearance through chakra,it fooled humans, not demons.
Just as he prepared to reenter the forest,
He paused.
And looked up.
On the horizon, a brilliant white light ignited.
Then,
It exploded.
Like fireworks.
Countless fragments of light scattered across the sky, streaking outward in every direction like a falling starstorm.
His eyes narrowed.
"This scene… a demon-infested feudal Japan…"
Realization dawned.
"Inuyasha?"
The fragments continued to scatter.
"Then those streaks of light…"
His gaze sharpened.
"Shards of the Shikon Jewel."
At that very moment, one fragment arced toward him, trailing a faint pink glow.
Chakra surged beneath his feet.
He leapt.
And caught it midair.
Landing lightly atop a treetop, he opened his palm.
A translucent pink shard rested there, gleaming faintly. To ordinary eyes, it looked like glass.
But he could feel it.
An unfamiliar yet potent energy pulsed within.
"A shard of the Shikon Jewel."
Now there was no doubt.
"This is the world of Inuyasha."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Not bad."
Compared to the Naruto world,which had devolved into an Ōtsutsuki family drama disguised as a world-ending war,this world's power ceiling was far lower.
Even great yōkai like Sesshōmaru, at their peak, possessed destructive capability roughly comparable to a Tailed Beast.
With his Mangekyō Sharingan, he could easily stand among the strongest here.
"And…"
He glanced at the shard thoughtfully.
"Perhaps I'll even meet the 'white moonlight' of 2D legends… the miko Kikyo."
He slipped the shard into his ninja tool pouch.
Relief settled over him.
In the Fourth Great Ninja War, he had merely been a stepping stone beneath true monsters.
Here?
The battlefield was manageable.
Then another thought surfaced.
"The Shikon Jewel attracts demons."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"With this, I no longer need to wander aimlessly through the mountains."
Better to let prey come to him.
As for interfering with Inuyasha's group?
He didn't particularly care.
In the original story, the shards they painstakingly collected had ultimately fallen into Naraku's hands anyway.
Better that he make use of them first.
Decision made, he began moving toward the epicenter of the Jewel's explosion.
Not only would shard density be higher there,
He might also encounter the main cast.
Since he was here, he might as well see them in person.
"The Shikon Jewel,hand it over!"
A shrill roar split the forest.
A grotesque yōkai burst from the undergrowth,human head, serpentine body, fangs gleaming.
It lunged at him.
Before it could close the distance, chakra condensed in his palm.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
A compressed blade of wind sliced through the air.
The demon split cleanly in half from crown to tail.
Its body hit the ground with a heavy thud, twitching.
"Even trash like this dares to compete seriously?"
He glanced down, unimpressed.
Since acquiring the shard, life force collection had indeed accelerated.
But so had the nuisances.
Weak demons kept throwing themselves at him.
Annoying.
His Sharingan spun lazily as he scanned the corpse.
Then,
A faint pink glimmer caught his eye.
Another shard.
Embedded within the demon's ruined flesh.
"Oh?"
He arched an eyebrow.
"Well. An unexpected bonus."
He crouched and retrieved the shard, placing it into a bamboo container inside his pouch.
Over the past few days, he had already collected four shards.
Efficient.
As soon as the fragment was removed, the demon's corpse dulled,
Then disintegrated into ash.
The wind scattered it without a trace.
"Pathetic creatures."
He wasn't surprised.
Weak demons could not withstand the Jewel's power. Their bodies were long since corroded by it. Once the shard was removed, nothing remained to sustain them.
Only dust.