Occupied Village! Shishio's Evil Shadow, Ever Closer!

A bloody man on the route. Kenshin and Misao get off the normal route and head through the mountains, taking the route which Kenshin believes is a much faster way. Along the way, Kenshin hears something in the not too far distance. He goes to examine it alone, telling Misao to stay back, but of course, she doesn't do as Kenshin says. A bloody body is found in the forest. The man is not dead just yet. Kenshin kneels down and listens to the man's final request, to save his younger brother, whom he holds in his dying arms, and his village.

Senkaku, "Ruler" of Shingetsu Village When the young boy wakes up, Kenshin asks him what happened. The boy refuses to answer, planning on taking care of the ones who ruined his village by himself with his brother's katana. However, his attitude does change when Kenshin informs the boy that he is going to Kyoto to confront Shishio. The village the boy comes from is known as Shingetsu, and two years ago, Shishio's men began to inhabit the place. Police officers had come to try and run them out of the village, but failed. Over those years, Shishio's army began growing in number and soon, Shingetsu was excluded on the map of Japan because the government gave up on saving the village. The boy even has proof, but what's worst of all is that the man who killed his brother when he tried to help his family escape was one of Shishio's men named Senkaku.

What kind of sick person would do this? In the quiet, ghost town like village of Shingetsu, Kenshin looks around. There's nothing to look at until he comes up upon the bodies of a man and woman hanging in front of the village. Misao and the boy follow after, even if they were told to stay behind. The boy suddenly breaks down, realizing that the two hanging corpses are his parents. At the same time, a large group of men all wearing the same black costume appear. The men plan to exterminate Kenshin because he is an outsider, but Kenshin asks the supposed leader of the group for an explanation of why the people were hung. The "leader" simply answers that it was to set an example to those who dare try to oppose Shishio Makoto. A fight breaks out in no time. Kenshin manages knocking out the majority of the gang with his Sakabatou, but one of the thugs somehow got away from the rest of the group and approaches Misao and the boy with his sword. Kenshin cannot do anything about it, he's too far away, but someone else can.

Um... ouch. Saitou arrives in Shingetsu just in time. After stabbing his sword through the back of the gang member's head, saving Misao and the young boy, he questions why Kenshin isn't in Kyoto yet. Kenshin doesn't answer, instead, asks Saitou the same. Saitou explains that duty calls; he received information from his people that Shishio was in the area and since the troops needed more time to get to Kyoto, he has the time to spare. A particular agent was missing, however. His name is Mishima Eiichiro from the Shingetsu Village, and already Saitou knows that he died by trying to have his family escape. That "missing" agent was the man Kenshin had found in the forest near dead. Once through listening to Saitou, Kenshin prepares to cut down the boy's parents, but an elderly voices calls out to stop. The remaining villagers are all gathered together. The elderly man speaks on behalf of everyone in the Shingetsu Village when he asks that Kenshin not cut down Eiji's, the boy, parents. If an outsider like Kenshin would do so, Senkaku would get mad and kill everyone. Kenshin ignores the old man's words and does it anyway. The villagers curse the rurouni and walk away in fear of what's to come. The helplessness that Kenshin, Misao, Saitou, and Eiji have witnessed is the type of helplessness Shishio wishes to turn Japan into.

Kenshin and Saitou head off to encounter Shishio. People are easily manipulated in Shishio's point of view. Already, Shishio's army has inhabited ten other villages. All most likely have turned into a reflection of the Shingetsu Village. The army cannot get involved because the higher ups fear for their lives after witnessing what had happened to Okubo. Eiji buries his parents and brother not too far away from the village. Saitou tells Kenshin he knows where Shishio is. It's not Kyoto, but it's nearby. Kenshin wants to finish things off early, so he and the police officer leave Misao behind with Eiji. When Eiji is through burying his family, he takes his brother's katana and follows the road Kenshin and Saitou walked with Misao, planning to get some revenge. By night, Kenshin and Saitou arrive at a mansion where Soujirou, Shishio's faithful servant and Okubo's assassin, greets them.