One of the retainers said, as though he were apologizing, "The fact is that a while ago a messenger came with an invitation from Lord Hideyoshi, and we came here to ask your permission."

“What! Hideyoshi invited you! What's this? Another tea ceremony?" A frown appeared on Nobuo's face.

“No, I don't think it's anything like that. I doubt that he would invite retainers like us, especially for tea, and leave our lord out, when there are other lords here he could have invited instead. He said there was something he wanted to talk over with us."

“How strange," Nobuo said, but then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if he's invited you, I wonder if he's going to talk about finally having me fully take over the Oda clan.  That might be it. It would be improper for Hideyoshi to lord it over the rightful heir. The people would never stand for it."

The main temple hall was deserted. Only the lamps waited for the night. The guests arrived. It was the middle of the First Month and bitterly cold. Then someone else approached, clearing his throat. Because the person was accompanied by an attendant, Nobuo's four retainers immediately realized that it must be Hideyoshi. He seemed to be giving orders in a loud voice as he walked along.

“Sorry to keep you waiting," he said as he entered the room, and then coughed into his hand.

When they looked up, they could see that he was now alone—not even a page was behind him.

The four men were ill at ease. As each one greeted him, Hideyoshi blew his nose.

“You appear to have a cold, my lord," one of Nobuo's retainers said affably.

“I just can't seem to get over it," Hideyoshi replied in no less a friendly manner.

It was a rather plain setting for a discussion. Neither food nor drink were offered, nor did Hideyoshi begin with any small talk. "Aren't you troubled by Lord Nobuo's recent behavior?" he began.

The four men were filled with apprehension. They were shocked by what seemed to be a reprimand, and thought he was laying the blame on them as Nobuo's senior advisers.

“You’re doing your best, I suppose," he said then, and the color returned to their faces. “all of you are intelligent men, but I suspect you can't do much under Lord Nobuo. I understand. I've taxed my own ingenuity for his sake, but regrettably, it seems like I'm always meeting with reverses."

He said these last words emphatically, and the four men felt extremely cramped. Hideyoshi continued to expose his innermost feelings, making his dissatisfaction with Nobuo very plain. "I have made my decision," Hideyoshi said. "I feel sorry that you four have spent many years serving this man. To be brief, we can end the matter without fuss if you can persuade Lord Nobuo either to commit seppuku or to become a priest. As a reward-I will give you lands in Ise and Iga."

It was not just the cold that chilled the four men to the bone. The four walls felt like silent swords and spears. Hideyoshi's eyes shone fixedly, tiny pinpoints of light. Those eyes required the retainers to say either yes or no.

He would not give them time to consider his offer or allow them to leave withou hearing their answer. They were in a desperate situation. The four men hung their head in grief. Finally, however, they agreed and quickly wrote and signed pledges.

"My retainers are drinking sake in the Willow Room," Hideyoshi said. "Go and join them. I'd like to go with you, but I'm going to bed early because of this cold."

Picking up the pledges, he retired to his quarters in the temple.

Nobuo was unable to settle down that night. At dinner he had sat with his retainer and attendants, the priests, and even the virgin priestesses from the neighboring shrine He had been cheerful and talked in a loud voice, but when everyone had left and he was once again alone, he constantly asked his pages and the samurai on guard, "What time is it now? Haven't the senior retainers come back from the main temple yet?"

After a while only one of the men returned.

"Are you alone, Saburobei?" Nobuo asked at the retainer suspiciously.

The expression on the man's face was not normal, and even Nobuo felt apprehensive. Prostrating himself with both hands to the floor, the old man could not even look up. Nobuo could hear him sobbing.

"What is it, Saburobei? Did something happen while you were talking with Hideyoshi?"

"It was a painful meeting."

"What! Did he call you over to scold you?"

"If that had been it, it would not have been painful at all. What happened was totally unexpected. We were forced to sign pledges. You, too, must be resolved, my lord." He went on to reveal Hideyoshi's order in its entirety, then said, "We knew that if we said no he would kill us on the spot, so there was nothing we could do but sign. Later I saw my chance during a drinking party with his retainers and ran back here alone. There'll be an uproar when they discover I'm gone. You are not safe here, my lord. You must leave immediately."

Nobuo's lips had lost their color. The movements of his eyes seemed to show that he had heard only half of what the man had said. His heart beat as fearfully as a fire bell, and he could hardly sit still. "But… then… what about the others?"

"I came back here on my own. I don't know about the others."

"The others, they signed the pledge too?"

"They did."

"So they're still drinking with Hideyoshi's retainers? I misjudged them. They're lower than beasts!"

He stood up as he continued this abuse and snatched the long sword from the hand of the page behind him. As he walked hastily out of the room, the flustered Saburobei chased after him, pleading to know where his lord was going. Nobuo turned around and, lowering his voice, asked for a horse to be brought immediately.

"Wait for a moment, my lord." Understanding his lord's intentions, Saburobei dashed off to the stables.

The horse was a fine one, a bay called Sledgehammer. As soon as Nobuo was in the saddle, he galloped through the rear gate into the cover of night. No one knew he was gone until the following day. Naturally, the meeting with Hideyoshi was canceled on theExcuse that Nobuo had fallen ill, and Hideyoshi calmly returned to Osaka as though that was exactly what he had expected.

Nobuo returned to Nagashima, shut himself up inside his castle, and, still on the pretext of illness, would not show his face even to his own retainers. But his seclusion was not entirely on account of a feigned malady. He had really become quite ill. Only the doctor went in and out of the inner apartments, and although the plum blossoms behind the castle bloomed, the music ceased, and the garden was quiet and deserted.

In the castle town, on the other hand, and all over Ise and Iga, rumors spread and multiplied by the day. Nobuo's flight from the Onjo Temple had fueled everyone's suspicions.

Nobuo's senior retainers confined themselves to their castles—almost as if by prearrangement—and never came to Nagashima. That only encouraged the rumors and worsened the unease throughout the province.

The truth was always difficult to discover, but it was certain that the discord between Nobuo and Hideyoshi had once again ignited. Naturally, Nobuo's status was the center of the storm, and there did appear to be someone he could rely upon. Nobuo was conservative by nature, and believed in the efficacy of secret plots and stratagems. Although he always seemed to be in agreement with his allies, he was also quick to hint that he had other friends who would cover him from behind if the situation did not turn out the way he wanted. Unless he had a secret ally in reserve, he could never be at ease.

Nobuo now remembered the one great player who had stood in the shadows. That man, of course, was the sleeping dragon of Hamamatsu, Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu.

But the results of playing with strategy depend on the other players. The fact that Nobuo would consider using Ieyasu as his means to check Hideyoshi only demonstrated his lack of understanding of the other parties involved. The man with a devious mind never truly knows his opponent. He is like the hunter who chases after the deer and fails to see the mountains.