Father’s Secret

Hachimaru is introduced to his “brothers.” The oldest, Ikkaku explains that they are children created by “the professor,” Hachimaru’s father. Ikkaku describes Hachimaru’s existence as “entirely accidental.” He tells Hachimaru that they were created to open a box that require seven keys to open seven locks. Hachimaru the “eighth child” destroys this “balance.” This “diminishes the power of the other seven.” Hachimaru must “return” this energy, meaning that he must die. Ikkaku is cold. He suggest that it’s only reasonable for Hachimaru to understand that he must die and that he just a “leech.”

Daruma asks if they’re trying to open Pandora’s box, Ata responds that they are going to open Mandala’s box. Their goal is to become Gods and rule the universe. They will “erase” the Vajrayaksa people, the three other schools, eliminate all life and restart. Ata disappears. Meanwhile, Hachimaru’s father begins to die. He has accepted his end, but Hachimaru isn’t prepared yet. He reveals that he was suppose to kill Hachimaru, but decided to flee with him. He apologizes, encourages Hachimaru to get strong to protect Ann and tells him that he’s truly “a samurai who protects people.”

Hachimaru’s fathers death was sad, but is it really a major death? He doesn’t even have a real name, which is evidence that the author knows he’s not long for this world. It was always going to be necessary for Hachimaru to leave his father behind if he was going to save the Galaxy. I’ve been struggling with the pace of the series since it started. Wouldn’t the “you are one of eight clones and need to die” come later in the series? Is this really a problem? For the record I don’t hate that they revealed this so early, but it seems like something that might occur later. Regardless, the are a million ways to tell a story and I still like reading this one.