"Your Reverence, I've come to say good-bye."

Kaisen nodded at Shingen's words. "You're finally resolved, then?"

"I've been pretty patient, waiting for this opportunity to arrive, and I think this autumn the tide has somehow turned in my favor."

"I've heard that the Oda are going to make an offensive westward," Kaisen said. "Nobunaga seems to be gathering together an army even bigger than last year's, in order to destroy Mount Hiei."

"All things come to those who wait," Shingen replied. "I've even received a number of letters from the shogun saying that if I struck the Oda from the rear, the Asai and Asakura would rise up at the same time and, with the added help from Mount Hiei and Nagashima, just by kicking Ieyasu, I will advance quickly on the capital. But no matter what I do, Gifu is going to continue to be dangerous. I don't want to repeat Imagawa Yoshimoto's performance, so I've watched for the right opportunity. My intention is to catch Gifu off guard, to streak through Mikawa, Totomi, Owari, and Mino like a clap of thunder, and then go on to the capital. If I can do that, I think I will greet the New Year in Kyoto. I hope Your Reverence will remain in good health."

"If that's the way it's going to be," Kaisen said gloomily.

Shingen consulted Kaisen on almost every matter, from military to governmental matters, and trusted him implicitly. He was very alert to the expression he now perceived. “Your Reverence seems to have some misgivings about my plan."

Kaisen looked up. "There's no reason for me to disapprove of it. It is, after all, your life’s ambition. What disturbs me are the petty schemes of Shogun Yoshiaki. The incessant secret letters urging you to the capital don't go to you alone. I've heard that they've also been received by Lord Kenshin. It also appears that he had called upon Lord Mori Motonari to mobilize, although he has since died."

"I'm not unaware of that. But regardless of everything else, I must go to Kyoto to realize the great plans I have for this country."

"Alas, even I have not been able to resign myself to the fact that a man of your ability should live out his life in Kai," Kaisen said. "I think you're going to have many troubles on the way, but the troops under your command have never been defeated. Just remember that your body is the only thing that is truly your own, so use your natural term of exis­tence wisely."

Just then, the monk who had gone to scoop water from a nearby spring suddenly threw down the wooden bucket and, yelling unintelligibly, went running through the trees. Something like the sound of a running deer echoed through the garden. The monk who had been chasing after the fleeing footsteps finally dashed back to the teahouse.

"Get some men quickly! A suspicious-looking character has just escaped," he announced.

There was no reason for anyone suspicious to be inside the temple, and when Kaisen questioned the monk, the full story came out.

"I hadn't spoken to Your Reverence about it yet, but the fact is that a man knocked at the gate late last night. He was dressed in the robe of a wandering monk, so we let him stay overnight. If he had been someone we didn't know, we would not have allowed him in, of course. But we recognized him as Watanabe Tenzo, who was formerly in His Lord­ship's ninja corps and who used to visit this temple quite often with His Lordship's re­tainers. Thinking there was no problem, we let him stay."

"Wait a minute," Kaisen said. "Isn't that all the more suspicious? A member of the ninja corps disappears in an enemy province for a number of years and is never heard of again. Suddenly he's knocking at the gate in the middle of the night—dressed as a monk, mind you—and asks to stay overnight. Why didn't you question him a little more carefully?"

"Certainly we were at fault, my lord. But he told us that he had been arrested while spying on the Oda. He claimed to have spent several years in jail, but he had managed to escape, and had come back to Kai in disguise. He certainly seemed to be telling the truth. Then this morning he said that he was going to Kofu to meet with Amakasu Sanpei, the leader of his corps. We were completely taken in, but just now, when I was fetching water from the spring, I saw the bastard beneath the window of the tearoom, stuck to it like a lizard."

What! He was listening in on my conversation with His Lordship?"

“When he heard my footsteps and turned in my direction, he looked quite surprised. Then he walked quickly toward the rear garden, so I called out to him , ordering him to stop. He ignored me and picked up his pace. Then, when I yelled out 'Spy!' he turned and glared at me."

"Has he gotten away?"

“I screamed at him at the top of my lungs, but all of His Lordship's retainers were eating their noonday meal. I couldn't find anyone around, and unfortunately he was too fast for me."

Shingen had not even glanced at the monk and had listened silently, but when his eyes met Kaisen's glance, he spoke quietly. "Amakasu Sanpei is among my attendants today. Let's have him run the man down. Call him here."

Sanpei prostrated himself in the garden and, looking up at Shingen, who was still seated in the teahouse, asked what his mission might be.

"A number of years ago, there was a man under your command by the name of Watanabe Tenzo, I believe."

Sanpei thought for a moment, then said, "I remember. He was born in Hachisuka in Owari. His uncle Koroku had had a gun made, but Tenzo stole it and fled here. He presented the gun to you and was given a stipend for a number of years."

"I recollect that business about the gun, but it seems that a man from Owari will always be just exactly that—a man from Owari—and now he's working for the Oda clan. Run the man down and cut off his head."

"Run him down?"

" Go after you've heard the details from that monk. You're going to have to chase after him quickly so he won't get away."

West from Nirasaki, a narrow path follows the foot of the mountains around Komagatake and Senjo, crossing over Takato in Ina.

"Heeyyy!"

The sound of a human voice was rare in these mountains. The lone monk stopped and turned around, but was there nothing but an echo, so he hurried on up the road over the mountain pass.

"Heeyyy! You there, monk!" The second time the voice was closer. And, as it was clearly calling him, the monk stopped for a moment, holding the brim of his hat. Very soon another man climbed up to him, breathing hard. Approaching the monk, the man shot him an ironic smile.

"This is a surprise, Tenzo. When did you come to Kai?"

The monk looked surprised, but he quickly recovered his composure and let out a snicker under his hat.

"Sanpei! I was wondering who it was. Well, it's been quite a while. You look to be in good health, as usual."

Irony was returned with irony. Both were men whose duties had taken them into enemy territory as spies. Without this kind of audacity and composure they would not have been equal to their work.

"That's quite a compliment." Sanpei seemed very relaxed, too. To have made a fuss because an enemy spy had been found on his home ground would have been the act of a heedless, common man. But looking at it through the eyes of a thief, he knew that there were thieves about even in broad daylight, and so it was hardly a surprise.

"Two nights ago you stopped at the Eirin Temple, and yesterday you eavesdropped on secret conversation between Abbot Kaisen and Lord Shingen. When you were discovered by one of the monks, you ran away as fast as you could go. This is correct, isn't it, Tenzo?"

"Yes, were you there too?"

"Unfortunately."

"That's the only thing I didn't know."

"For you, that's a piece of bad luck."

Tenzo feigned indifference, as though this were someone else's affair. "I had thought that Amakasu Sanpei, the Takeda ninja, was still spying on the Oda in Ise or Gifu, but you had already come back. You should be praised, Sanpei, you're always so fast."