Episode 22

Older and Younger Brothers (と) is the twenty-second episode of the Orient anime series.

Summary
Akihiro steals blade energy link from the Shimazu to power his attacks and then attacks the serpent. His attacks manage to stop the serpent movement, but the Shimazu are wondering why is Akihiro so desperate and before he wasn't that obsessed with glory. Akihiro was quite close with Haruhisa, but that all changed on the day of the sword trial.

Years ago, during the sword trial, Akihiro passes and is revealed he has a red soul, while the rest of the brothers are blue. Their father recognizes Akihiro, stating he has red soul like him and is worthy to lead the Shimazu clan. Akihiro states that Haruhisa should lead the clan as he is stronger than him. Their father then makes them fight with Kitetsu Blades. Akihiro easily wins and their father notes that's the difference between blue and red blades. The red soul is needed and it leads the blue souls into battle against the Kishin. Akihiro doesn't care, but their father then orders that the older Haruhisa will be servant of the younger Akihiro, and Harushiha should never defy Akihiro again. Later, Akihiro tells Haruhisa he never imagined a future where he isn't serving Haruhisa and that he never wanted the red soul, and is willing to give it away if he could. Haruhisa reveals that he really wanted a red soul, but didn't had one. Eventually Akihiro started to lead the other brothers. People praised him and expected him to become even better than his father, which eventually caused his father to hate him.

Haruhisa had wanted power, which is why he can't forgive Akihiro for wanting to throw it away. And that the red role is to lead the blue, words that reminded him of his father. The serpent continues to move and Akihiro goes to the squad and tells them that they will all link, since the 6 Shimazu link isn't enough. Akihiro wants them to stand still and link together, as that is the only sure way to link up with impromptu additions and leave the fighting to him. The Shimazu are angry, but as they don't have other ideas, they are forced to listen to Akihiro. As they all link, Akihiro takes the link and heads towards the serpent horn, revealing to himself that his brothers are his most important thing and at this distance they should be safe. As he reaches the horn and prepares to attack it, one of the Orochi heads bites the serpent and Akihiro with it. Everyone is shocked, but see the link is still up. While Orochi consumes the serpent, other Bushi tell the Shimazu squad to retreat as Orochi is going to get more powerful and wipe them out.

Musashi goes to Haruhisa and tells him that the older brother should protect the younger brother. Haruhisa reveals that he hates Akihiro and if he had red soul, he would have done better job leading them. Musashi then notes that if Akihiro dies, Haruhisa will be in charge and if that's what he wanted. Inside Orochi, Akihiro follows the serpent. He had realized that if he dies, the others would get to be happy. Akihiro gets attacked and knocked out, and then dreams how Haruhisa promised to always protect him. Akihiro then awakes to see Haruhisa attacking the serpent and wonders what is he doing there. Haruhisa he should think how his comrades think about him and gives him the wooden piece he threw earlier. A bit earlier, Musashi gives the wooden marker to Haruhisa, which the other Shimazu recognize that they used it to play as young and that Akihiro is hung up on the past.

Akihiro explains that he left them behind because he wants them to survive. As a red bushi, he has the duty to cut the horn. And because of that he can't go and rescue his allies when they are in need. If he is not in place to deliver the killing blow, the oni survives and all the effort is lost. Akihiro reveals that he can't take care of his duty and comrades at the same time, which is something that has been eating him this whole time. Since he came to rescue Akihiro, Haruhisa had to break the link and now they can't cut the horn. Musashi then states they should just link again and Akihiro sees that the Shimazu along with Musashi and Katsumi had also entered Orochi. The Shimazu then motivate Akihiro on their own way and the group proceeds towards the serpent. They try to link, but Akihiro is in bad condition and fails. Musashi suggest he can take his place, but Akihiro states that if he do, it will mean that Akihiro has no place in the clan and his life was meaningless. Haruhisa states he forced all that on him, but what really matter is that they are brothers. They link again and this time Akihiro breaks the serpent horn.

With the Orochi nourishments cut, Kanetatsu tells his men to prepare and strike Orochi's horn. As they do, they cut the horns and defeat Orochi. An Uesugi bushi asks the group who cut the serpent horn as that saved thousand of lives. The Shimazu brothers point at Akihiro, but he doesn't want the reward and states someone else should take it. Haruhisa tells him that he fought harder than anyone else and the Shimazu brothers will be part of all kind of legends now. Haruhisa also tells Akihiro to thank Musashi for finding his wooden piece and Akihiro promises to repay him.