Even after confirming that the bonsai's shrinking spell wasn't as invincible as he'd first assumed, Kagetsu couldn't suppress his curiosity.
The people inside could live, farm, and raise crops as if nothing were amiss. It was practically a bargain-bin version of a hidden paradise,an artificial grotto heaven.
He decided to send a Shadow Clone in to investigate. If something went wrong, he could simply dispel it.
As the spell's strange energy coiled around the clone's body, it didn't resist. Instead, it suppressed its chakra and allowed the force to take hold. Its form rapidly shrank, and with a flash of light, the miniature Shadow Clone was drawn into the bonsai and vanished.
"Hm? Your clone went inside?" Kikyo, still standing at the doorway, had seen everything clearly. She turned to him, surprise flickering in her eyes.
"It's just the bonsai's spell at work." Kagetsu remained calm. "It's only a Shadow Clone. Let's wait."
If the clone encountered danger, it would dispel instantly. He would know the situation inside at once.
The clone descended from midair and landed lightly on solid ground.
When it looked up, it found itself standing beside a village. The tiny houses it had seen from outside were now full-sized around him.
He crouched and grabbed a handful of soil, squeezing it between his fingers. The texture felt no different from real earth. Nearby, he plucked a blade of grass and snapped it in two. Yellow-green sap beaded along the broken stem, releasing a fresh, grassy scent.
If he hadn't known he was inside a bonsai, he would have sensed nothing strange at all.
The land, the plants,everything had been shrunk from the outside and transplanted here, just like him.
He straightened and glanced at the sky.
Blue sky. White clouds. A blazing sun casting warm light across the fields.
There was no ceiling. No sign of the "room" above.
Kagetsu's interest deepened. The craftsmanship behind this bonsai was astonishing. It was practically a miniature world.
Villagers passed by from time to time, but none reacted to his sudden appearance. They moved with dull expressions, tending fields, carrying tools, going about their routines.
Clearly, they were used to newcomers appearing,and disappearing,in this captive land.
It was proof enough that the so-called "Sage" frequently abducted people and threw them into this tiny prison.
The Shadow Clone wandered freely, ignoring the humans who were being cultivated like livestock.
The crops in the fields were thriving. Trees grew thick and healthy. Life here progressed normally.
The world wasn't large. It didn't take long for him to circle its entire perimeter.
At the boundary stood a towering wall that stretched straight into the heavens, piercing the sky itself. From what he remembered of the original events, breaking that wall would allow him to escape.
He could do it easily.
But instead, he wanted to test something.
What lay beyond this "sky"?
He bent his knees and shot upward, chakra reinforcing his feet as he sprinted straight up the wall.
The higher he climbed, the more the square landscape of the bonsai unfolded below. The clouds seemed to drift closer and closer.
Just as he reached toward the blue expanse,
He passed through something.
An invisible barrier.
In an instant, the sky and clouds dissolved like mist. The illusion shattered, revealing a stone ceiling above. The wall beneath his feet ended abruptly at the rim of the bonsai.
Standing on its edge, he could now see the entire miniature world at a glance,no sky, no clouds, only a carefully constructed illusion from within.
"This thing's pretty impressive," the Shadow Clone muttered.
Poof!
White smoke burst into the air as the clone dispelled itself.
Outside, Kagetsu absorbed the clone's memories in an instant. The tension in his shoulders eased.
The shrinking spell wasn't nearly as troublesome as he'd feared.
He turned to Kikyo.
"Let's go in. Be careful of the bonsai in the center. Once you get too close, it shrinks you and pulls you inside. There are a lot of people living there."
"Living… inside?" Kikyo stared at the bonsai, disbelief plain on her face.
"Yeah." He reached out and took her hand. Warm fingers laced with his. "I'll use Sage Mode chakra to block the spell's influence."
Kikyo tightened her grip and followed him closer, curiosity mingling with unease.
With Sage Mode chakra cloaking them both, the bonsai's spell couldn't touch them.
They stood at its edge, looking down.
The tiny villagers worked the fields, carried baskets, and walked dirt paths between houses,completely unaware of the two towering figures observing them from above.
"They're really… living there," Kikyo murmured.
"It's a remarkable creation," Kagetsu admitted, a cold edge creeping into his voice. "Too bad it's being used for something vile."
He glanced sideways at her.
"Do you remember the human-faced fruit we saw below?"
Kikyo's gaze sharpened. Realization dawned,and horror followed.
"You mean… they're being raised as nutrients for that tree?"
"That's right." His tone hardened. "In mountains this remote, where would he find enough people to cultivate so many human-faced fruits? This is his supply."
"To cage humans like livestock… to feed a demon tree…" Kikyo's brows knit together, anger flashing in her eyes. "This so-called 'Sage' is nothing but a demon."
"He was never a saint to begin with." Kagetsu's lips curved faintly. "Let's go meet him."
Hand in hand, they turned and climbed the staircase leading upward.
The moment they stepped into the upper room, three minor demons,likely servants,froze mid-task.
Their eyes bulged.
They opened their mouths to scream,
Kikyo moved first.
Her bow was in her hand in a blink. The arrow was loosed in the same breath.
A Sacred Arrow streaked forward, piercing one of the demons through the chest. Purifying light erupted, reducing it to ash before it could even cry out.
The other two tried to flee.
They never made it.
Two kunai flashed through the air,clean, precise.
Both struck true, embedding into their foreheads. The demons dropped instantly.
Silence fell.
Kagetsu stepped forward and crouched, pulling his bloodstained kunai from the floorboards. Chakra gathered at his fingertips as he wiped the blades clean before sliding them back into his ninja pouch.
Kunai weren't easy to come by in this era. Kagome had specially commissioned these for him.
Best to conserve what he could.
He straightened, eyes turning toward the deeper corridors ahead.
The real enemy was waiting.