Rain drenches Ichimen. The Ayamari are everywhere, my kama blade is dull, and half the links in my manrikigusari are about to break. I need new weapons, but the armory lock is jammed, and there is no way to get replacements.

I am reduced to my ninja skills and ingenuity. I must do all I can, with no blade.

It is easy to say, “Ganbarimasu!” It is harder to have the spirit that one can actually achieve victory.

I have slain the Kanhyū gang — every last one of them. They turned out to be undisciplined rabble, easy prey for my kama. Things are finally coming to completion in Ichimen. They are doing so with great difficulty and struggle, but they are doing so nonetheless.

Seijun has found what I sincerely hope will be the last major problem: Just outside the district of Denyūmado, there is a village called Denshūken, where a strong mercenary and a warrior of the ever-present Shimasu clan are both lurking. I must go there and kill both of them before our plans can succeed.

Later, if I have the time, there is a rōnin from the ancient town of Sakurai who is searching out our operatives. And a pair of mercenaries from Hikone that I must kill.

But that seems to be all. Seems. It is greatly to be hoped.

I will be very active for a little while longer, but I think I can see a time of rest afterward. May Bishamonten grant that it is so.

After a couple of hectic and bloody days, I’ve gotten things largely squared away in Ichimen. The Keshimasu and Soroemasu gangs are both completely destroyed. The evil merchant who was causing trouble in Migaku and Keishutsu turned out to be an easy target. The Mitsugao gang, with their operations in three different districts, were much more difficult, and the Hikone mercenaries were… well, a single trained warrior can be a much harder opponent than a pack of undisciplined gang rabble.

But I have slain them all. (There’s always the chance the Ayamari will move into the power vacuums I’ve created. But that’s a problem for next week, not today.)

I still have to clear some enemies from Denyūmado. The Shimasu clan, a perpetual bother.

For now, I am sitting on the roof of an inn in central Denyūmado, eating a tasty sushi lunch and scanning the streets below me. Seeing the movements of the people, looking for the Shimasu clan crest…

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of lying in wait for someone. Especially when you think you’ve got their moves figured out, and you think you can take them… but you’re not quite sure.

I’m at the gate between Ichibanyōshi and Keishutsu. I came in across the rooftops, having seen the Hikone mercenary step away to a nearby noodle restaurant for his lunch. My kusarigama is ready; my Jeikyū hook is sharp.

I’m lurking in the upper curve of the gate when he gets back. My vantage point is beautiful. I can watch as he prepares to shake down another traveler for gold…

Then I drop on him.

The chain goes around his neck; the hook entangles his already-drawn sword, and I yank, hard. Follow up with a roundhouse kick, to be sure. The mercenary’s would-be victim is stunned, motionless. I put one finger to my lips, just in front of my mask, and softly say, “Shhh.”

I quickly untangle my chain from the mercenary’s body. With my tanto, I cut off his insignia patch, then also cut his purse away from his belt and take it with me. Hooking my chain back into the top of the gate, I start climbing out of sight. Just before vanishing, I tell the terrified onlooker: “You can scream for the city guard now.”

While they’re distracted, I’ll be heading for Shiryō-no-Hako to take out the Mitsugao gang. Soon, they’ll wonder just how many ninjas they’re dealing with.

Okay, targets identified. There are the Machigaeru gang, who roam throughout Ichimen. The Mitsugao, who are active in Migaku and the twin districts of Kurabero-no-Hako and Shiryō-no-Hako.

A team of mercenaries from Hikone have split up and started demanding tolls at all the gates that lead from one district of the city to another. There is one at the great gate between Ichibanyōshi and Keishutsu; another bars the way from Keishutsu to the trio of districts held by the Mitsugao.

The Keshimasu and Soroemasu gangs are battling over Keishutsu; I will end their conflict by annihilating both gangs. And there’s an evil merchant who’s fomenting some kind of conflict between Migaku and Keishutsu. I don’t know what he’s getting out of it, and I don’t care. He’s one of my targets; therefore, he is not long for this world.

Finally, there’s the local Shimasu clan in Denyūmado. They’re small-time, but they’ll have to go, too. All resistance must be pacified.

Even as I’ve been scouting, I’ve already had to take down a few folks who got in my way. The Chitai gang, in Ichibanyōshi, are no longer an issue; neither are the Kōza. For that matter, the Machigaeru may be ready to retreat from here (though I’m sure they’ll just crop up again in some other city).

Let’s see how fast I can do this. The streets of Ichimen are about to run very red. The body count will make Kuwabatake Sanjūrō envious.

The streets of Sakai are nearly empty today, as many people are at home for a holiday, commemorating the lives of great emperors of the past. But Clan Noriaibasha is ambitious, and our personnel are hard at work in the field and in our castle headquarters.

Seijun and his team are now active in Ichibanyōshi and Keishutsu, the first two districts of Ichimen that I secured for them. They should be moving on into Shiryō-no-Hako, Kurabero-no-Hako, and Migaku soon. I’m sure that other problems will crop up eventually, but for now, the ground and the streets in those districts are the samurai team’s problem for now.

We all know I’ll have some rooftop work to do before things are finished. I look forward to it.

In the meantime, I’m starting to scout out the Denyūmado district. I’d forgotten about that one, because it’s so small. It should be fairly easy to handle any street-level problems there… but our initial reconnaissance suggests there may be some gangs who know their way around rooftops.

I ache to show them my Jeikyū grappling-hook skills.

The campaign’s strategic plans are nearly done (now that the campaign is well under way!), and so I have hopes that there will be fewer meetings in my future soon. But I need to have at least one or two meetings with Rajan to discuss what sorts of signals we’ll be sending each other to coordinate our operations.

Also, there are two new warriors this week, who need to be evaluated to see if their skills are sufficient to join our clan. There will always be distractions from fieldwork and combat.

The Teitōken campaign proceeds. Every day, there is at least one meeting to discuss our plans. Sometimes, I simply meet with Seijun, Rajan and Nayumi to coordinate our tactics, but other times, Seijun and I must meet with the priests of the Nichiren and Tendai orders, and with some of the nobles, to discuss the overall campaign strategy.

That strategy continues to grow and evolve. We have captured perhaps half the territory of Ichimen, and already we are finding difficulties in holding onto what we have taken. Even though I eradicated our opposition in Ichibanyōshi and Keishutsu, we have found that now a group called the Norikaeru are moving into those districts —and expanding into the rest of Ichimen, no doubt.

I am still busy in Migaku and Shiryō-no-Haku. And I am bedeviled by the need to constantly go back and forth from battling in Ichimen to attend meetings in Castle Noriaibasha.

Seijun and I have warned the priests that we must take account for the Norikaeru. We can only hope they see how inharmonious this campaign is becoming.

Just after lunch today, we will test another warrior to see if he is skilled enough to join our clan. We need more ninjas and mercenaries, but I do not dare to have much hope.

It has taken Junichirō the scout a few days to report back to me on the situation in Keishutsu. But, as I feared, he has found another nest of the Mōjin resistance. A powerful, dangerous group —he barely made it back safely.

This afternoon, Kento will join me as we go to see the situation for ourselves. The next few days are going to involve a lot of very unpleasant fighting against the Mōjin, interspersed with occasional trips to Nagoya. In the meantime, our campaign slips further and further behind.

Today is Akane’s birthday. I have plans to meet her at her favorite restaurant in Heian-kyō this evening. I must be careful not to get wounded by the Mōjin in Keishutsu.

お誕生日おめでとう、赤ねちゃん！ O-tanjōbi omedetō, Akane-chan!

Back at Castle Noriaibasha, bright and early as the new year starts. Last week, the castle was almost silent as people enjoyed their holidays and vacations. Today, everyone is back. The castle bustles with activity as people return to their old tasks.

I have much to accomplish in Ichimen. Seijun the samurai is clamoring for some neighborhood, any one, to be cleared of underworld elements so that he can bring in his troops and have Nayumi start her work. I think Keishutsu will be of the most use to them, if only I can remove the Mōjin fighters that still plague it; after that, I have hopes of liberating Ichibanyōshi from its gangs.

My previous plan had been to finish off the chain-wielding thugs in Kakunin Shiken first, because the Kakunin Shiken district borders Ichibanyōshi. There is much travel between the two neighborhoods, and I fear that the chain-fighters will try to step into the power vacuum left by my removal of the Ichibanyōshi gangs. But the samurai can’t deal with Kakunin Shiken at all. They can deal with Ichibanyōshi, once I’ve gotten rid of the gangs.

This means I may as well clear out Ichibanyōshi now, deliver it to the samurai, and then take care of Kakunin Shiken in parallel with the samurai’s Ichibanyōshi efforts. I just hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt me later.

I have been busy in Ichimen, even as the winter becomes colder. The Keishutsu district remains solidly in our control, and the gangs of Miseru-Kakusu remain in disarray. I have moved on, to the neighboring districts of Kuraberu-no-Hako and Shiryō-no-Hako. I have also spent much time in meetings with Seijun and Rajan, the samurai who will be waging battle outside the city. We have agreed on how we will coordinate our efforts, and they have introduced me to Nayumi. She is another samurai who will be assisting them.

In the meantime, the nobles and priests continue to argue about what our strategies should be in those areas.

We are now fully committed to striking using the Bright Square strategy. But Jōichi’s plan involved capturing certain warehouses with the Floating Word technique. And Floating Word is completely incompatible with Bright Square.

There is consternation in the high towers of the castle, as the nobles are becoming aware that this campaign will probably not be done on time. I see messages going back and forth, as they ask Kento how we will capture the warehouses. “What tactic can we use, if Floating Word is not available to us?” Kento has just gone on winter holiday, however, and he will not return until next week.

In the meantime, I am sneaking through Kuraberu-no-Hako and Shiryō-no-Hako, trying to identify all the people I might possibly be asked to kill. As soon as the nobles figure out what to do and who the enemy is, I intend to present them with those people’s heads.