Kuwabara is tense and tells Yusuke he's been sensing an evil presence since the crossing of the Dark Forest: "I feel as if there were something bad chasing me." Yusuke nods: "That means Rando is really here."
Kuwabara asks who Rando is. "Ah, it's a long story," Yusuke replies, "Does this feeling come from any of those men here?" Kuwabara confirms it, but says he can't tell which of the competitors is emanating that evil spirit.
At Spirit World, Koenma stopped stamping documents to watch the fights. Many ogres carrying huge piles of paper look anxiously at the videoscreen.
The first fight is between the ninja Kazemaru and the expert in knives Kuroda. He warns Genkai that he's a professional killer and always fights to death. Genkai agrees that the fight is serious, those who fear dying shouldn't take part in it.
"One more thing," asks Kuroda. "If I win, won't you deny me your teachings because I'm a killer?" Genkai says she'll teach the winner, whoever he is, no matter his character and background. Hearing this, Yusuke realizes he has to win to make sure her psychic powers won't fall in the hands of an evil man.
Kuroda and Kazemaru walk to a dark corner and start the fight. Yusuke can only hear the sounds they make, but Kuwabara senses that the killer is winning, until Kazemaru releases a ball of energy from his hand and hits Kuroda, prevailing in that combat. Yusuke wonders if that energy ball is a Spirit Gun like his. "In theory, they're the same," says a familiar voice.
Yusuke runs out of the temple and finds Botan outside. She says she was very worried; Kazemaru must have trained very hard to achieve that kind of power and learn to release it with the entire hand.
Kuwabara comes to call Yusuke back to watch the next fight, but halts when he sees Botan. "Who's the babe?" He catches Yusuke in a stranglehold: "You bastard! You're cheating on Keiko!"
Botan introduces herself as assistant Spirit Detective and summons her oar, sitting on it. Kuwabara sees her floating a few inches over the ground and gasps, letting Yusuke go. Yusuke tells him that she's the ferrygirl who forced him into the Spirit Detective business: "You said you sensed something strange in one of those men inside. Rando's spirit is certainly hiding in one of them. My mission is to keep old Genkai's teachings from falling into his hands."
But Kuwabara is more interested in confirming that Botan isn't Yusuke's girlfriend. He holds her hands, looks straight into her eyes and asks her to marry him: "My heart is burning for you." There's smoke in the air, actually, but not from Kuwabara's heart: Genkai threw her cigarette on his shoulder to call their attention and in the process Kuwabara's shirt was burning. "Get inside unless you want to be disqualified" The boys and Botan run inside. Genkai recognizes the girl as Koenma's messenger.
The next fight is between Shorin, first grade in kenpou, and a Chinese nomad,Chinpou. It doesn't take long until Shorin returns from the darkness, hurt and commenting that his adversary was hard to beat.
In the third fight Kuwabara faces Musashi, fourth grade in kendou. Yusuke tells his old rival to try not to get killed. "I won't die before beating you," Kuwabara replies. Botan is worried about him, but Yusuke says, "He can't beat me, but with his courage he's gonna be all right. Kuwabara has a lot of guts."
At first Kuwabara manages to use his sense abilities to "see" Musashi in the dark, but suddenly his adversary disappears. He practiced the spiritual arts for many years and can easily manipulate them. Kuwabara is hit by several punches from the enemy he can't see.
Botan cheers for Kuwabara and Yusuke yells at him to stop playing around and fight seriously. From the dark corner, Kuwabara retorts that he knows what he's doing and that Yusuke should be more concerned about himself. He then tells Musashi he's been practicing withstanding Urameshi's punches for many years too.
Musashi then unsheathes his sacred wooden sword made of a thousand-year-old wood and blessed with divine water. He hits Kuwabara with it multiple times. Kuwabara falls, but the sword breaks. "You hide incredible spiritual power," Musashi exclaims and starts walking towards the lit center of the room.
However, Kuwabara grabs the broken piece of the sword and stands up, calling Musashi back to the fight. Musashi attacks again with the sword, but a burst of light comes from the piece of wood Kuwabara is holding, completing the sword with pure energy. Genkai explains: "Energy turning into matter. Usually this kind of spiritual power remains hidden, but in moments of danger it is manifested as matter, shifting abstract into a solid."
With the spiritual sword Kuwabara breaks Musashi's sword again and defeats him. Genkai muses that the boy's power tends to grow more and more now.
Next fight: Yusuke Urameshi versus Kibano. Kuwabara tells Yusuke, "You can't lose before being beaten by me." But Yusuke takes too long to move to the dark corner, enraging Genkai, who throws her cigarette on him: "Stop kidding, or you'll be out of the competition." Yusuke takes off his jacket and steps into the darkness.
He can't see a thing, but comforts himself by remembering that Kibano can't see either. "You're mistaken," says Kibano. "I can see clearly. I know exactly where you are.""You're not as strong as Kuwabara," counters Yusuke. "You don't have this kind of power." As he speaks, he steps back.
"You took one step back," replies Kibano.
Yusuke wonders how he knows, and Kuwabara uses his sense abilities to "see" the two fighters in the dark. He notices Kibano is using a mask with a sensor device that easily spots Urameshi's energy and fighting spirit. With that mask, Kibano has no difficulties to hit Yusuke with strong punches and kicks.
Yusuke tries to orient his strikes by the sound of Kibano's steps, but still Kibano has the advantage. To make things worse, Kibano uses his powers to grow the muscles of the right arm, making his punches even more devastating. With the first hit, Yusuke falls and doesn't seem to have the strength to stand up.
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