VS Kokushi Arc

The **VS Kokushi Arc** (VSバーサス国こ司くし編へん, *Bāsasu Kokushi-hen*?) is the sixth arc in The Elusive Samurai series.

In the territory of Kawanakajima, the current Kokushi has been handing out some unfair rules to its inhabitants, tired of this, a member of the Suwa shrine decides to turn against the Kokushi, Yorishige sends the Elusive Warriors to stop Hoshina.

## Summary

### Learning about Divine Power

After telling him about his divine powers, Yorishige sends Tokiyuki to look for some objects to recover them, Yorishige tells him that it is important that no one finds out that they are for him, since that would worry them, Tokiyuki looks for an eel for Yorishige and asks him why he needs the eel, Yorishige mentions that the eel helped him when he had previously lost his powers, so he will try to use what helped him before, seeing that the eel does not work, he sends Tokiyuki to look for an albino leek, then ropes and maid outfits , while making a doll, his vassals watch him and treat him like a pervert, Tokiyuki hears this and tells Yorishige that he will not help him anymore since his vassals treat him as a pervert.

Yorishige tells him to try one last thing and sends him to the Midoriya mountain to bring him water from a sacred river on that mountain, on that mountain Shizuku was performing a Kagura dance to pray for her allies, Tokiyuki asks who he performed that dance to which Shizuku tells him to close his eyes and gives him a kiss on the forehead, when Tokiyuki opens his eyes he sees the divine beasts of suwa who give protection to those who ask him, in the end Tokiyuki takes the water as he wonders why Yorishige sent him there and if he knows the real Shizuku.

In Kyoto Takauji draws a Buddha, when he finishes he sends for Tadayoshi to discuss his plans, Tadayoshi arrives in Kyoto to meet his brother, Takauji tells him to send him to Kamakura to help strengthen the city's defenses, Tadayoshi He replies that his intuition is still strong since he had a strong intuition since he was a child, to which Takauji laughs and tells him that he has always had great intelligence.

At the end of their meeting Takauji mentions that he finished drawing a Buddha so wants to show it to him, Takauji tells him that he loves Buddhas, Tadayoshi tells him that he just bought some cedars that would be perfect for the room they are in and changes it for a Takauji Buddha, Takauji leaves the room happy while Tadayoshi He realizes that Takauji's intuition is sharper than normal, so he orders the Buddha to be taken away and the rest burned, since Takauji did not realize that the Buddha he drew was being eaten by something else.

Back in Suwa, Tokiyuki gives Yorishige the water he collected while asking who Shizuku is, Yorishige mentions that he doesn't know Shizuku's secrets and that she will answer his questions one day. Yorishige drinks the water recovering the divine powers from him and mentions to Tokiyuki that the divine beasts he saw are manifestations of divine power that people cannot see normally.
The elusive warriors watch Tokiyuki and Yorishige's entire conversation fixing Tokiyuki's misunderstanding.

### The battle against the Kokushi

The elusive warriors walk through the fields of Shinano and watch as the farmers harvest the crops, Tokiyuki mentions that they look happy, Shizuku tells him that the second harvest does not pay taxes to which Tokiyuki smiles, north of Shinano a man takes the The farmers' crops claim that they should not pay taxes to which the man replies that being former allies of the Hojo clan they do not deserve a grain, Sadamune who observes tells the kokushi that only the first harvest is taxed, the Kokushi replies that from now on he will do as he pleases.

In Suwa Yorishige tells Tokiyuki that in Kawanakajima there is a soldier of the Suwa sect who, due to the actions of the Kokushi, decided to reveal himself and attack him. Since it is in Kokushi territory sending soldiers would be declaring war on the Kokushi so they decide to send the elusive warriors to convince Hoshina to stop the rebellion and help them escape.

On his trip Genba mentions that going without women will be boring, Tokiyuki tells him that being a dangerous mission Yorishige asked the girls to stay in Suwa. Arriving at the Tokiyuki territory, he decides to speak with Hoshina and is received by his warriors. The warriors ask Tokiyuki if they are reinforcements from the Suwa temple, receiving a negative answer. Hoshina tells his soldiers that they should give everything to die with honor, astonishing to Tokiyuki and the others.

A man approaches the elusive warriors and asks if he can see the letter, upon reading it he tells Hoshina that the wish of the god of Suwa is to avoid a fight to which Tokiyuki is glad.
Shinomiya tells them that Hoshina wants to defend his territory so he is willing to die and asks them to prevent his death. The kokushi approaches with his army and they begin to attack them with arrows, to which Hoshina's army attacks, the elusive warriors help them using some traps that were on the battlefield, one of Hoshina's soldiers is overwhelmed by what Kojiro saves him, Hoshina, seeing this, mentions to Tokiyuki that he will be a great ally and that he awaits his death, angering Tokiyuki, who mentions that he will not let anyone die, angering Hoshina.

Hoshina draws his sword from him and tells him that soldiers who choose to die gloriously are appreciated in the future, Tokiyuki mentions that it is no use for him to die honorably as they only evade responsibility for him. Hoshina understands that by choosing to die he is leading his soldiers to certain death so he decides to escape by going north. The kokushi is upset because they couldn't massacre Hoshina's army, Ichikawa mentions that he heard footsteps so he believes that the enemy army is preparing their plan to escape and that thanks to that they will be able to obtain more territory without having to fight, the kokushi He gets upset and tells him that they must slaughter them before they escape since they may return in the future.
Hoshina and his army prepare to leave while Tokiyuki and Kojiro talk about how they managed to convince Hoshina, in their conversation Tokiyuki mentions to Kojiro that he trusts him, at the end of their conversation they see an army approaching from behind.

Observing the army approaching, Hoshina orders the women and children to advance towards the fort while the others fight against the Kokushi's army, the army commander Yonemaru Wada orders his men to kill all their opponents under orders from the kokushi, the warriors The elusive ask Genba to use his abilities to lead a part of the Kokushi's army into an ambush, so he uses Yonemaru to confuse them. While Hoshina and Tokiyuki's group fight against another part of the army, Hoshina asks about Kojiro to which Tokiyuki replies that he gave him freedom to do what he considers best. Kojiro who was fighting against a small enemy group realizes that several soldiers are surrounding the river to attack the women and children so he forms an improvised group using several Hoshina warriors.

Kojiro and his group manage to reach the river and interrupt the enemy troops, when they thought they had finished Yonemaru arrives with troops and attacks Kojiro so they decide to fight, Yonemaru attacks Kojiro, Kojiro blocks him but is hit and thrown to the ground , Kojiro realizes the difference in strength between the two but decides to continue fighting Yonemaru because if he does not defeat him at that moment he will give the others problems, after several attacks by Yonemaru Kojiro is affected by these and begins To get tired, Hoshina's men yell at him that he must flee to which Kojiro refuses, Kojiro realizes that the soldiers know his name even though he never mentioned them to him, they tell him that the messenger told them his name while he was fighting with Hoshina, Kojiro is proud of Tokiyuki's trust in him and decides to fight Yonemaru once more, Yonemaru hits Kojiro and Kojiro jumps to dodge him by cutting him in the neck, Kojiro realizes that Yonemaru has or elusive and feels tired, Yonemaru sees Kojiro weak and decides to give him the final blow. Hoshina's men arrive to stop Yonemaru and get him off the horse, seeing this Kojiro attacks Yonemaru cutting off his head.

Ichikawa warns the kokushi that the women and children are escaping, the kokushi orders Ichikawa to go after them so he can choose his wife, at that moment Ichikawa hears horse steps so he is worried about returning to the kokushi, Fubuki approaches the kokushi and he cuts off his hat scaring him, the kokushi observes several banners around him so he deduces that they are after him, seeing this the kokushi decides to withdraw.
Meanwhile, a Hoshina warrior tells him that the women and children were able to escape safely, so they rush to the fort to end the battle.
As they escape, Kojiro's group joins them and tells Tokiyuki that Kojiro was able to kill Yonemaru without a problem to which Tokiyuki smiles.
In the fort, the inhabitants receive Hoshina and her group in a kind way so they have a party to celebrate being alive, at night Hoshina and her army say goodbye to Tokiyuki and ask him to give Yorishige a message to help them in any conflict to which Tokiyuki agrees.

## Battles & Events

### Battles

* Tokiyuki vs Yasaburo
* Kojiro and Hoshina's Army vs Yonemaru Wada

## Characters Introduced

* Tadayoshi Ashikaga
* Yonemaru Wada
* Kiyohara
* Sanjuro Yuki
* Yasaburo Hoshina
* Saemontaro Shinomiya
* Hoshina's Army

## Story Impact

* Yorishige regains his divine powers.
* Takauji sends Tadayoshi to defend Kamakura.
	+ Tadayoshi will create the Kanto Hisashiban to defend Kamakura.
* Emperor Go-Daigo appoints Kiyohara as Kokushi.
	+ Sadamune and Ichikawa are in charge of taking care of the Kokushi.
* It is revealed that sects of Suwa exist outside the territory.
* Yasaburo and Shinomiya are introduced.
* Yonemaru is killed by Kyojiro.
	+ Yonemaru's death would cause an imbalance in the Kokushi's forces.
* After the battle, Hoshina loses part of his territory.

## References

1. ↑ *The Elusive Samurai manga: Chapter 29 (Pages 2-3) (Japanese Version)*