"There were people who loathed one another." "their souls soaked in blood..." "And their bonds were broken by blades... their sincerity walls... please die... please die..." "Clouds shroud a night with a waning moon quivering in the haze" "A cruel trap involving a pair of crucified fledglings since smoldering feelings lie firmly in their hearts destruction!" "severely as a flower pierced with a trembling blade" "Even when I shut the fated tears deep within my eyes my eyelids still remember you" "Helpless Pebbles" "Gennosuke-sama was being deceived by Iga-no-Oboro after all!" "Oboro is Ogen's granddaughter..." "and now the leader of the group." "so must have she." "That is no doubt why she invited Gennosuke-sama to Tsubagakure!" "You may be right." "she is not a serious concern." "My hunch is that the first one to receive the news... and that he made careful plans." "Hyoma-dono!" "Oboro is no longer betrothed to Gennosuke-sama!" "It is ungainly to defend her!" "She deceived him!" "Oboro took advantage of Gennosuke-sama's desire for peace!" "Kagero." "If Oboro is the Tsubagakure leader then Gennosuke-sama is the Kouga Manjidani leader." "You mock our leader with your objections." "Who cares what Oboro's intentions are?" "!" "It's finally come..." "This day has finally come!" "Gennosuke-sama!" "Let us hurry back at once!" "Your Dojutsu has them scared out of their wits!" "We should use this chance to crush them!" "Gennosuke-sama!" "Saemon..." "Bring me a brush and an inkstone." "Right!" "About Okoi..." "I'm sorry." "She was a Kouga shinobi." "Just as we are..." "A person is a person... a person is a person..." "We must break the shackles of this grudge and open our clouded eyes." "Even one Iga would be enough." "Getting close comes first." "That is what I had planned to tell everyone again upon my return here..." "Oboro-sama!" "What did you do to your eyes?" "!" "Grandmother told me one day..." "Oboro." "That's enough." "Do not worry about it." "I know more than anyone how much effort you have given." "Please forgive me." "Despite being daughter of the Tsubagakure leader... you have not mastered even a single skill..." "Such an inept child..." "However you were born with eyes that possess a strange power." "It is not ninpou..." "That is why I fear them so..." "Those eyes of yours..." "I cannot help but feel they will be the cause of a calamity that destroys our Tsubagakure's ninpou from within and drives the clan to ruin." "Should such a day ever come apply this yamishichiyo potion on your eyelids..." "Yamishichiyo?" "(Seven Nights' Darkness) and your eyes will remain sealed for seven days and seven nights." "Your own eyes?" "!" "of all things..." "You've not heard a word we said!" "am an Iga woman..." "Tenzen." "Including the fact that I can say nothing to change your mind... but..." "But..." "I cannot fight Gennosuke-sama!" "I may find myself having to break your techniques!" "That fact terrifies me!" "Such nonsense!" "Tenzen-sama!" "What is it?" "!" "This was at the gate!" "To think they would return the roster to us..." "Has Gennosuke gone mad?" "look at Koshiro's name..." "It is not marked off." "Bastard... he knew Koshiro wouldn't die..." "He hasn't gone mad- he's very cool-headed." "Then why?" "!" "Why would he return the document that is vital to winning?" "!" "Tenzen-sama." "What is that letter?" "'Tis a letter of challenge from Gennosuke." "What?" "!" "The anti-war pact negotiated by the Hattori house has been nullified." "nor do I know the reason for fighting." "I intend to visit Sunpu at once to appeal to the retired shogun and Hattori-dono." "It is for that reason I return the roster." "I take with me the following people:" "and Kagero." "if you are thinking of coming to the Kouga valley we will already be on the Tokaido Road." "Should you be mad enough to bring harm to any Kouga know now that the heavenly mandate of destruction will fall upon the Iga once more." "but nor will I avoid any attack from you." "Seven of you still remain." "Should the trip to the gates of Sunpu become a war to the death then so be it." "then you will raise your whips and come to the Tokaido Road at once!" "Kouga Gennosuke" "Tenzen!" "We make chase!" "At once!" "...the seven Iga..." "The seven Iga..." "Nenki." "Hotarubi." "Go locate the Kouga party and report back!" "Understood!" "Do not" "Do not force things." "Is that clear?" "I know." "Oboro-sama." "I will go make the preparations." "No one follows." "Hyoma." "The Iga would never cross through the Kouga valley to chase us." "Agreed." "They would likely take the route through Iga." "The journey to Sunpu will be long." "I wonder?" "You're being too soft." "Wars are won by the first to move." "Hyoma." "Why did Gennosuke-sama return the roster to the Iga?" "We're going to Sunpu to ask the reason for the war?" "Don't be stupid!" "What reason do you need to fight your enemies of 400 years and your parents' murderers?" "!" "Had I not been a kid back then..." "Now is the time to attain my ambition!" "The reason Gennosuke-sama returned the roster was because he was certain they would make chase after receiving it." "You mean his challenge?" "There is no Iga in this world who would not chase us after reading it." "If we slay the entire Iga group and take it back at the end I doubt you will have qualms with that." "But will Gennosuke-sama have the resolve to slay Iga-no-Oboro?" "Gyobu!" "Gyobu!" "Hyoma!" "trying to belittle me!" "Sekiyado" "Sekiyado" That bastard Gyobu ran off ahead..." "Gennosuke-sama really gave me a talking to." "with his feigned ignorance." "Making the Iga think he has gone ahead and then circling back around is one method..." "But a carefully-planned strategy is most needed." "But a man of Gyobu's caliber should" "He has his own grudge of having his parents killed..." "I fear he may act rashly... my apologies." "so..." "That's not it." "There is one other I am worried about..." "Kagero?" "Yes..." "She is deeply in love with Gennosuke-sama." "After his engagement to Iga-no-Oboro was announced she bottled her feelings up even more and now her womanly scent is so strong she isn't aware of it herself." "I hear the same was the case with her mother... her blissful cries become the breath of death and poison the man until he perishes." "Surely she keeps that in mind." "She bears the burden of a difficult fate... women are frightening..." "Who's there?" "What is it?" "Will we be taking a boat out of Kuwana tomorrow?" "The sky will decide." "Going by land on the Sayaji Path may be safer." "Is that all you wanted?" "Then you should sleep..." "What were you thinking about?" "Is it not obvious?" "then?" "he said something to me..." "That it was about time to find someone for her." "Just how many men will die before the woman's child is born?" "I hear there is no end to the men who would gladly take that risk... she is a beautiful woman..." "Which makes her all the more frightening..." "K" " Kagero?" "!" "Gennosuke-sama..." "Please hold me!" "Kagero!" "Kagero..." "Why" "I want to die..." "Together with you!" "Don't be a fool!" "wait until after we've slain the Iga on the roster!" "The Iga..." "That's right..." "I cannot kill women with my techniques..." "Gennosuke-sama..." "Are you going to slay Oboro?" "I am..." "Then I will take care of the Iga men." "I can destroy all the men on my own..." "Poison!" "Gennosuke-sama!" "Saemon!" "Gennosuke-sama!" "Gennosuke-sama!" "It would seem my eyes have been sealed..." "What?" "!" "Hotarubi..." "Yes..." "I do not see Kasumi Gyobu!" "He's plotting to sneak attack Oboro-sama's group on their way here!" "Hotarubi." "Hurry back to them and warn them to stay alert!" "What about them?" "Leave them to me!" "Understood." "Now to finish things here and knock the wind out of Tenzen's sails!" "yes?" "I am the man who will slay you two!" "Hyoma!" "Now then!" "Whose neck shall I break first?" "!" "Hyoma." "Gennosuke?" "!" "Asking the blind Hyoma to see..." "What a laugh!" "You almighty fool!" "D-damn you!" "I..." "Melting away in the melody you whisper in the twilight" "I sense eternity in our attracting eyes and life sprouts silently" "The dew of emotions that dances and flutters about in the spring wind is a crumbling butterfly dream that wildly disturbs the path of the stars" "Next Episode" "Crimson drops of blood stain tender skin." "The boiling grudge eventually becomes an eternal curse and transforms a lovely flower into an evil demon." "the rain falls ever more." "The one whose light was stolen finds a glimmer of salvation at the depths of agony." "On the next Basilisk~ Kouga Ninpouchou" "Magic Lantern of Memories"