Tanuki Rise of the Yokai Clan

Chapter 1: Bleak future

The cool wind caused the leaves on the zelkova tree to sway right and left. The bright sun was right on the top of the sky, yet the temperature was just right.

Under the shade of the tree, one might be able to see a figure.

The figure was sleeping on the top of soft, lush grass with drool on the corner of his mouth.

Yet this figure wasn't human.

Instead, this was a small four-legged creature with dark-brownish soft fur on his entire body. There were also two cute animal ears on his head, stripped of a black and dark-brownish tail on the bottom.

Tanuki.

This was the name of this creature.

Ah, please don't mistake him for a raccoon dog.

Instead, he was a genuine youkai in the land of the rising sun.

Yes, he wasn't a beast or an animal. Instead, he was a youkai (monster) in Japan.

While his appearance might not be much different from a raccoon dog, he was much stronger and cuter than a raccoon dog.

However, the real problem wasn't this.

Instead, why had he always wondered why he was reincarnated into a monster instead of a human?

While he must admit his appearance was so cute that many innocent girls would rub his belly with their hands or faces, he definitely felt conflicted by what he had become now.

The proud, cunning human known in the past had been rendered into a jolly and mischievous creature known as tanuki!

He felt conflicted, but many years had passed, so he had gotten used to it.

After all, even though he became a tanuki, he could also become a human. His reproduction system, or his genitals, was also normal. Instead, it was much bigger than when he was a human, and he could also make it as huge as he wanted to, considering a tanuki was a famous creature known to fight with its balls.

It might seem weird, but he could alter the size and transform the shape of his balls, using them as a bludgeon or a parachute when he fell from a high altitude. They could also be used as a shield, but he never used them that way since he was afraid of the high risk that came from using his balls as a weapon or shield.

Oh, he might need to correct himself since his balls were also a weapon, but on a certain occasion which wasn't suitable to be talked about.

This was a weird advantage as a tanuki.

Yet he didn't complain and just enjoyed it.

It might be partly because he had become a tanuki that he had never thought too much about. Instead, he just enjoyed his "very" life in every moment.

Still, the only thing that he was glad for was that he didn't reincarnate into a big-belly tanuki, who drummed their stomach to party happily. Instead, he became a cute tanuki that could make many girls squeal while screaming that he was cute.

While he should be happy, he wasn't happy since if they wanted to squeal; he wanted them to squeal on a different occasion.

Still, fortunately, his human form was even more handsome than those famous actors in the human aesthetic.

Yet it was useless to think about that now since he was still a child.

Frankly, being a youkai wasn't that much different from being a human. The only difference was that he could change into his tanuki form and also had an innate ability of the tanuki.

In the beginning, he might feel conflicted when he became a tanuki, but when he thought about it clearly, he felt that being reincarnated as a tanuki might not be bad since being born as this race gave him many advantages.

The ability of tanuki might not be the strongest, but without a doubt, it was practical and could be used for many occasions, whether it was a fight or everyday life.

However, the most important thing was that he could live for so long.

In other words, longevity.

As a tanuki, who was also a youkai, he could live for as long as this world existed.

With a witty, smart, ingenious mind of a human and the longevity of a youkai, he believed that he could achieve many things in his life. The combination of those two was simply the setting of the big boss of the Black Organization in the famous detective manga.

Yet he felt his future was bleak.

It might also be the reason why he was sleeping now, wondering what he should do in the future.

His identity was sensitive.

Well, not exactly sensitive.

Instead, he could be called a young master even though he was the eighth son of his father's 88th wife.

If there was a harem king, then it would be his father.

Yet it wouldn't be wrong to call his father a king since he was the leader of the majority of the youkai in Shikoku.

Even though Shikuko was the smallest major island in Japan, it was still a huge island.

The good thing was, he could have a chance to inherit this land from his father since, as the child of his father, he inherited most of his father's divine power. Therefore, it could be said that among all of his children, he was the one with the biggest potential to become the strongest.

Yet he couldn't feel happy at all and was even depressed since the upper limit of a tanuki was just like that. His father was the strongest tanuki in this whole country, but it didn't mean his father was the strongest youkai in the entire country. Instead, while the power of his father wasn't bad, it was at the lower tier of the powerhouse among all the youkai in this country.

What's even worse, it didn't change that he was still weak compared to his older brothers.

Yet his misfortune hadn't ended since he was even more in despair when he realized his identity.

Inugamigyoubu Tamazusa.

This was the middle boss and one of the villains on the Nurarihyon no Mago!

In other words, his existence was nothing more than to show how awesome the protagonist was.

Even worse, after he was defeated by the protagonist, he lost his arm, and his handsome face became ugly because of a large scar.

How could he accept it?!

This fact made him furious, but he didn't have enough power to change his fate, especially when there were many dangerous beings in this world.

He tried to think about how to become stronger, but the potential of the tanuki was also just like that.

While he didn't say tanuki was weak, he couldn't become the strongest, so here he was, just lying around like his other siblings, yet he didn't mean that he was lazying around. Instead, he was thinking about how to become stronger and make his influence bigger.

If possible, he wanted to gain the throne of the leader of all the youkai in this country and even turn all the humans in this world into his slaves.

Jokes aside, he thought to become stronger first since in the world of a youkai, what was important wasn't how smart, witty, sneaky, or any others. Instead, the stronger you were, the better you were since, in the world of youkai, only the strongest could be revered.

It was also the reason why his father could have so many wives since those wives also sought after his father's genes, so they could have strong children.

If he became the strongest, many beautiful youkai would jump out anytime, asking him to make them pregnant. His smile became subtle when he imagined the future.

'The hell am I thinking?!'

He let out a sigh and just continued to sleep since it was a rare peaceful day.

Yet it was hard to sleep, especially when text-like things appeared inside his mind.

*Ding!*

<Congratulations, you have received the harem king system!>

<The more harem members you have, the strongest you're!>

<Will you accept it?>

<Yes/No>

"..."

He rubbed his eyes lightly with his paws and wondered whether he was still sleeping now.