Pincer Arc

The **Pincer Arc** is the fifth arc in The Elusive Samurai series. This arc introduces one of the major antagonists in the series: **Shokan**.

Receiving a report that an army in the border between Suwa and Ogasawara is conducting suspicious activities, Yorishige sends the elusive warriors to the city closest to the border to keep watch.

## Summary

### The Prince Appears

In Kyoto, Takauji and his group travel to the emperor's residence during their trip they meet Prince Moriyoshi who ambushes Takauji telling him that he will not allow him to betray the emperor in the future, Takauji's vassals are ready to fight against the prince and his group to which Takauji refuses and tells them that he will fight against him, Takauji approaches the prince while defeating his men, impressing Moriyoshi who tells him that his intuition is correct and he should not let him live, Takauji manages to stop his sword making Moriyoshi terrified, reinforcements arrive who worries about Takauji embarrassing Moriyoshi. The mikado lets Takauji into the emperor's residence causing Moriyoshi to tell them not to trust him.

### Journey to Nakayama

6 months have passed since the fall of Kamakura and Tokiyuki his first new year in Suwa, Yorishige wakes up discovering that his divine powers have momentarily disappeared. While at Sadamune's residence, he meets with a warrior telling him that he needs him to obtain new territories to which he replies that it is why he is alive and leaves, Ichikawa asks Sadamune if they should trust him to which Sadamune replies that they cannot follow the warrior code as times are changing.

In Suwa, the warriors notice that Sadamune has sent some warriors to the northern border so they send a team to investigate, the elusive warriors offer to carry out the mission, which worries Yorishige since without his ability to see the future Unable to know if they will be injured, Yorishige refuses to send them so the Elusive Warriors decide to go on their own much to Yorishige's concern.
Arriving in Nakayama, they establish a plan to watch over the warriors. Ayako and Kojiro sense danger and take Tokiyuki away from danger, realizing that a young man is attacking them and that the village has already been taken.

Kojiro and Ayako fight against the invader, Tokiyuki realizes that the invader is stronger than them despite being young, while they fight the young man watches Shizuku and stops the fight asking her if she remembers what she says yes, The young man apologizes saying that he did not know they came from the Suwa shrine and introduces himself as Fubuki and tells them that he came 3 days earlier for food and watched as they attacked the village so he helped them, Fubuki mentions that he and his friends ;eros stopped them 3 times revealing that they were the children of the village surprising everyone. Ayako asks him how some children were able to help him with what he tells her he taught them, or how to make traps, torches and bows, surprising everyone, Fubuki also mentions that it helps him improve his skills and that he wants to find someone to serve him. which excites Tokiyuki.

### Preparing the plan

Fubuki explains to the elusive warriors the importance of the village in a military strategy since they can use the village to carry out a pincer strategy surprising the warriors, Shizuku tells him that Tokiyuki's life is more important than the village so he suggests taking the children to Suwa, Tokiyuki tells her that he wishes to leave the children longer in the village, to be able to bury and perform funerals for their parents to which Shizuku accepts, Shizuku tells Ayako that they will recruit warriors in the nearby villages and Genba goes to Suwa to ask for reinforcements, while Ayako, Kojiro and Shizuku form a plan Tokiyuki asks Fubuki to go out for a moment.

Meanwhile in another village, the warrior and his army finish invading the village saying that they will travel to Nakayama to start expanding Sadamune, Fubuki and Tokiyuki carry out a training in this Fubuki observes that he has great abilities to dodge but not to attack so he taught him a technique called **Demon-Heart Buddha**, at night the enemy side arrives in Nakayama to attack, being greeted with arrows, so the leader decides to attack directly while Fubuki watches them in a cabin, starting his plan.

### The battle for the border

The enemy side makes a frontal attack but they slip on the ice, Fubuki explains that they put several traps around the village to protect it while some archers shoot arrows at the enemies, the enemy leader dodges the traps along with three of his companions, an ally of Fubuki Tadahiro Asada asks Fubuki what they should do, causing him to answer that they leave it to the elusive warriors, Ayako and Kojiro hit Byakkotsu leaving him unconscious surprising the leader and his other companions, Ayako approaches the leader Giving her armor giving the leader the opportunity to hit her, Kojiro stops the attack and flees with Ayako, the leader chases them falling into a trap where Tokiyuki was waiting to face him while Fubuki faces the remaining two: Furan and Shiro.

The leader tells Tokiyuki that he never expected that trap and that he is more valuable than the other two, Tokiyuki tells him that he hopes they have a fair duel, the leader replies that he is brave and asks his name, Tokiyuki introduces himself as Choujumaru and asks his name, the leader replies that he is known by several names and introduces himself as Shokan.
Fubuki confronts Furan and Shiro, observing that Kojiro and Ayako are approaching, tells them to go against Shiro whom they attack, Shiro asks them where the boss is, to which Kojiro replies that he will tell him if he manages to defeat them, Fubuki tells Furan He wants to talk to him and asks if he is the strongest of his group to which Furan smiles.

Tokiyuki faces Shokan, thanks to Shokan's armor Tokiyuki cannot hit him so he uses the technique he taught him; or Fubuki, Tokiyuki assumes a posture so Shokan takes the opportunity to attack him Tokiyuki dodges Shokan's attack damaging his arm, Shokan says that although he was able to hit him, he will need more wounds if he wants to kill him. Tokiyuki is excited about the wound he just did to which Shokan is surprised, after trying to hit Shokan he realizes that he cannot hit Tokiyuki due to his dodges and that the wound that caused him is bleeding so he needs to heal it.
Kojiro and Ayako fight against Shiro, he tells them that their leader is weak since he preferred to send them to die than fight alongside them, Kojiro and Ayako tell him that this is not true and that he should not underestimate them Kojiro manages to hit Shiro and tells him that tell the demons of hell that his master is Takatoki Hojo then Ayako decapitates him.
Fubuki continues to fight against Furan, he tells him that he hides his abilities so that Shokan and his companions do not use them, he will show his true abilities when he kills Fubuki and kills Shokan to become the leader, Fubuki observes his abilities and deduces that there is nothing to hide so he ends up killing Furan.

In the battle between Tokiyuki and Shokan, the latter realizes that his wound is causing him to lose blood, so he begins to become delirious. Shokan remembers his past, when his father denied him a territory, when he began to steal and when he met Kusunoki, at the end a perplexed light looks at Tokiyuki and reminds him of Buddha, Shokan falls to the ground due to blood loss.
At the end of the battle Fubuki, Ayako and Kojiro enter the room and hug Tokiyuki, they tell him that it is impressive that he was able to finish off Shokan and that they won the battle, then they leave the room and watch as Sadamune and his army arrive to the village, Fubuki prepares to flee when they see another group approaching, they think they are reinforcements from Sadamune but Shizuku tells them no, Yorishige and Genba are seen arriving at the village along with reinforcements, Sadamune wants to face them but they don't have enough people to face them so they decide to run away, Sadamune sees blood in a warehouse so he decides to watch, Yorishige tells his son  Tokitsugu to chase the bandits.

Yorishige hugs Tokiyuki, Genba tells them that thanks to the fact that he rode as fast as possible they were able to arrive on time, Tokiyuki introduces him to Fubuki telling him that he wants him to be his vassal, Fubuki refuses saying that he wants to have a lord who governs this land, Yorishige tells him that Tokiyuki is a true ruler and reveals his identity, Fubuki surprised to have a member of the Hojo clan accepts Tokiyuki's offer. Shokan wakes up and looks at Sadamune, Shokan asks him why he saved him to which he tells him that he admires his strategy and that he wants him to join him as a subordinate and not as a bandit Shokan accepts the proposal, Sadamune watches Shokan's look and wonders what could have happened to him.

In the Suwa shrine, Tokiyuki prays for all the people who died during the battle, Yorishige apologizes to him for having sent him on the mission and that thanks to his work they realized that the village was a weak point for Suwa so they sent a defense post to the city and the children will be given shelter in the palace relieving Tokiyuki. Yorishige confesses to Tokiyuki that he has lost his powers and that he wants him to help him get them back by making Tokiyuki learn about his powers, Tokiyuki accepts.

## Battles & Events

### Events

* Assassination attempt in Kyoto
* Battle at Nakayama

### Battles

* Moriyoshi Shinno vs Takauji Ashikaga
* Ayako and Kojiro vs Fubuki
* Ayako and Kojiro vs Furan, Shiro and Byakkotsu
* Ayako and Kojiro vs Shokan
* Tokiyuki Hojo vs Shokan
* Fubuki vs Shiro and Furan
* Ayako and Kojiro vs Shiro
* Fubuki vs Furan

## Characters Introduced

* Moriyoshi Shinno
* Shokan
* Fubuki
* Furan
* Byakkotsu
* Tadahiro Asada
* Shiro
* Masashige Kusunoki
* Shokan's Father
* Shokan's Brother
* Tokitsugu Suwa

## Story Impact

* Moriyoshi begins to suspect Takauji of betrayal and tries to assassinate him.
* It is revealed that Yorishige may lose his ability to see the future.
* Fubuki is introduced.
	+ Fubuki's skills are displayed.
	+ Fubuki teaches Tokiyuki the Demon-Heart Buddha Blade technique.
	+ Yorishige reveals to Fubuki that Tokiyuki is the heir to the Hojo clan.
	+ Fubuki joins the **Elusive Warriors**.
* Shokan is introduced.
	+ Shokan's abillities are displayed.
	+ Shokan's past is shown.
	+ Shokan is seriously injured by Tokiyuki and saved by Sadamune.
* Kusunoki is named and shown in flashback.