Chapter #3 - The ninja and The Viper

Present day, Kyoto, Japan

”Has there been any word from Itori-sans parents? I heard that the police investigation got started, but they've not made much progress with that. I am starting to get worried.” This was heard in a faculty room of a certain all-girls high school that had their student disappear mysteriously couple of weeks ago. And even though the student was silent and didn't stand out much, in a school that small if a student goes missing from a class for a long period of time, it causes a stir.

Kyoto is a large city with multiple schools dotted around it, some of them are large and famous and others are smaller, with just as small budgets like this one. They're all normal schools and different kinds of people attend them. This certain school was at the lower end of popularity polls, especially when looking at public schools¹, it never flaunted with any major achievements, but its headmistress and faculty still tried to offer their students as good of a education as the budgetting allowed. Of course there always are the usual troublemakers, tardies and hikikomoris², but they all were kept tabs on and at least their parents knew about their whereabouts so a crisis like this is actually something they've never heard of, which means there is a small scale panic going on between the faculty, students and their parents so the school staff would like to get some news on the missing girl.

She wasn't a straight-A's student, but she wasn't slacking in her education either. She was quiet and didn't really deal with her classmates, she had a healthy interest in physics, math and history and took care of her homework properly, so it seems illogical for her to run away on her own accord, so everyone is suspecting a kidnapper or a killer being on the loose. Such pressure to a small facility isn't easy to deal with.

”Itori-san, where are you?”

Sengoku period, Japan, near Nagoya castle town

”This is where you will be staying for the period of your visit to Nagoya and negatiotions with Nobunaga-dono.” That's how we were instructed pretty much the moment we got out of the carriage and heard the details from Nagahide-san. The house looked like well maintained middle-class house, it was made from wood, but had stone supports so it seemed to be more high-class than what the buildings closer to the edge of the town were. There is one room, with cooking spit for a cooking pot in the middle of it and stairs to something like an attic, where futons and some pillows were stacked, apparently this was meant to be some kind of sleeping space. Seeing inside made me truly realize that I was sent to past, no electriciy, barely anything on walls, no real beds and it was kind of breezy, even though temperature outside was fairly warm. The inn we stayed at at least had something resembling hospital beds hastily put together. But still, we got a house for pretty much free to our use without much trouble, so I don't think I can complain too much.

My name is Itori Sana, I am 16 year old freshman in all-girls school and I come about 450 years from the future. That last fact was actually fairly easy to accept, I've read enough manga and novels with the same setting so it really wasn't too hard to deal with the situation after the panic at the beginning. Of course I've been shot, almost got tramped by horse and almost got beheaded by a female version of future unifier of Japan Kinoshita Toukichirou who got attached to me way faster than I thought was possible. We've only been together for about two weeks and she already acts like she's my sister or my best friend I've known since childhood. She showed genuine concern when I blacked out out of stress and panic earlier and has been helping me with navigating around this Sengoku-period world I have no idea where anything is. She also is the only one who knows that I'm from future and I rather keep it that way as long as possible. The fewer people know about my situation the better. Even though I think Nagahide-san may have a hunch that not everything about me is like they should be. For example, using the knowledge from video games, anime and manga, as well as some physics and psychology theories from the future I've been able to show combat tactics that no one in my status should be able to show and in the end that led us to being able to meet with Oda Nobunaga and get where we are now.

”It is hard to find a place this close to the castle and market, even if it is temporary I think we should sit back and relax for a while” Said Toukichirou to me when we finished checking the place out and I agreed, after all we really don't have anywhere else to go so this is pretty much as good as it gets plus when we get the audience with Nobunaga, it doesn't take too long for us to deal with traveling to castle and back, same with daily necessities, market is close by and Nagahide-san gave us some money to buy food and clothes and such, I think we'll be fine for now.

”So, what now?” I say as I sit on a chair near small table in the corner and stretch my limbs, it feels like I haven't had time to just sit back and relax in a while. I take my laptop out of my bag with a portable charger that gets power from sunlight and set it on a windowstill. I haven't used the laptop since I got here so it still is quite full, but the charger needs a full day of direct sunlight to get charged up and be usable, so I should be careful with that. Unfortunately I can only use that to power my laptop and Vita so it isn't much of an electricity source in a long run.

After booting the laptop I decide to do some studying of the time period, of course Internet won't work, but at least I can play Nobunaga's Ambition or go through my notes for school to refresh my memory. Toukichirou watches me and my fiddling with the weird looking box and looks confused, coming closer behind my back her eyes widen and she looks like she'd has so many questions that her head will explode if she doesn't get them out, but I leave her at that and launch the game, the music comes out of the speakers and first time after getting here I actually feel home, this is my own way of relaxing and closing everything else out. Outside of tinkering with small electronics of course, but there is not much chance for that.

”Well then, since Nobunaga has already born, I think there is no reason to start from the beginning of the game. But from what I've gathered this is before the battle of Okehazama, so I think around the second or third starting point should be fine.” I click through the menus and start the scenario. After playing for a while I realize something and turn back to Toukichirou who is just staring at the screen and say to her apologetically: ”Maybe you shouldn't watch. You know that I come from the future and this is something called computer game that follows the history as I know it. Of course this Sengoku-period is different from what I know and I can't say that everything will go like I know they do, but just in case I do not want you to see anything that either of us will regret. I show you how to play a different game later on, but for now, want to try my Vita out or read some of my manga? I'll show you how.” Dodging the possible disaster in the future, Toukichirou aknowledges my reasoning and then gives her usual super wide and bright grin: ”I am just amazed because I never would've imagined seeing anything this pretty! Just look at all the lights and pictures! All those weird symbols, this looks like magic from the west.” She truly sounds extatic and I dig my Vita out of my bag, boot it and start Final Fantasy V³ for it, quickly walk her through how to operate the system and tell her the goal of the game, comparing it to a book or a story where player controls characters and progresses by following clues in the story. Being an RPG I think she can grasp it fairly quickly, especially since it is an older game so it isn't as complex as the some newer ones I have on me.

After she starts happily clicking away and staring at the screen of the handheld looking way immersed than I think I've ever seen anyone look before, I return to my own game and start going through Sengoku-era history. This continues for couple of hours until I get enough and start yearning for some stretching, so I decide to head out for a walk and possibly buy some snacks and supper. Closing my computer and puttin it back to my bag I tell about my plans to Toukichirou who is still playing the game apparently not wanting to come with me. I check for her progress and teach her how to save the game as it seems like the battery will run dry any moment and the charger hasn't still been on the sunlight for long enough. After that she promised to watch the house and continues clicking away. I exit the house, smiling. That girl knows how to get excited about stuff that are totally normal for me.

It already is evening and most of the people are coming from fields to buy rice and other necessities, I walk between the stalls, tasting things here and there. It was a totally different feeling when I took strolls around the settlement we were living earlier. This is an actual town with tons of people in it, life everywhere, same with smells of food and noises of people coming and going. I am still wearing clothes I got before we left the place we were staying in before, but I think my glasses looked little out of place, well not that it matters to me. After walking around for about 30 minutes and deciding to sit down under a tree close to the stalls and eating an onigiri² I bought I feel a like someone is staring at me, I don't think there are any anti-Nobunaga soldiers hanging around too openly in Nagoya, and I don't think they'd be stupid enough to attack in the middle of town with all these people around. Still, I feel clear danger, almost like bloodlust or killing intent that makes the strands of hair at the back of my neck stand up. I keep quietly nibbling at my rice ball and when I finish and prepare to leave back to the place where we are staying a gentle wind blows towards me, carrying with it some sakura³ petals and appetizing scent of food stalls with it, reminding me that I still need to buy rice and stuff for us to eat later. I've stayed out fairly long and started to wonder if the battery already died on my Vita that Toukichirou was playing, or if she just had gotten bored to it. This thought made me smile, but that changed quickly. The wind turned more fierce and the petals started swirling in front of me, rising upwards and scattering everywhere. It caused me to fall backwards on my butt and wince from the sudden stinging pain directed to my tailbone from uneven ground around here.

”You noticed my precence earlier, why did you not react? Nin~nin⁴” A voice comes from out of nowhere and I furrow my brow. Why am I hearing a voice like an elementary schooler that's playing ninja? The voice was clear and childish, but it still carried some strenght in it, the feeling of dread still hung in the air. After that the whirlwind subsided and petals fell to ground, in their place there was standing a small girl in black outfit. She had black hair that was tied up in buns and had multiple long, thin metal needles through them so to keep their shape. She was also sporting an eyepatch to create this confusing mess between a pirate, geisha⁴ and a ninja, so instead of being impressed or surprised I mostly felt like I should be choosing between pity and being impressed of her nerves, result I end with is just tilting my head to side, narrowing my eyes and giving a questioning ”What?” before getting back up to my feet. Did I really feel such pressuring aura of bloodlust from this little thing are my current thoughts summed up. She clearly sees my confusion in my expression and looks hurt, puffing her cheeks before changing her mood from I am trying to be intimidating here, show some respect to just plain pouting before opening her mouth again: ”That took a while, I've been following you since you left that burning village with that samurai, nin~nin. Goemon has been watching you from distance and started to get annoed when neither of you didn't notice Goemon, nin~. That's unacceptable!” Still pouting, she sat on ground cross legged and turned her back at me, I really didn't know how to react to this new revelation and the absurd contrast with her actions, way of speech and attire and grandiose entrance all I get from this exchange is her name and if I am correct, she is supposed to be Ichikawa Goemon, Sengoku-era outlaw that tried to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi (aka Kinoshita Toukichirou who's currently traveling and living with me) while he was on his way to unifying Japan after Oda Nobunaga's death, when Hideyoshi caught wind on his antics he boiled Goemon alive, there are also rumors that he tried to poison Oda Nobunaga, but that doesn't really have any solid ground. If that's true, this girl may be way more problematic than what she looks like, I may need to thread carefully with this one.

”So, what is a nukenin⁵ from the clan of Iga-ninjitsu⁶ practitioners Ichikawa Goemon doing here, tailing couple of random travelers? Need easy assassination targets?” I ask, my voice unnecessarily cold, I kinda forgot that one I am talking to is a kid, my history knowledge took better of me and I decided to tread way too carefully.
”How do you know Goemons full name and history, nin~?” she asks, surprised and clearly a bit shaken, I do not know if it is because of the tone of my voice or because I knew about her before she managed to introduce herself properly, but she really does look like she is going to cry for some reason. But that only proves that I hit a bullseye. She continues:
”Goemon doesn't want to assassinate you, nin~. Goemon wants to know more about you and the one you're traveling with. Goemon has been without master for so long and would like to offer her services to you two because you seem interesting, nin~nin!” I still can't get over this ridiculous way of speech and her appearance, heave a sigh and say: ”You are trying too hard with your speech, speak normally. It takes me like ten seconds to process even half a sentence you spout.” Still being unnecessarily strict at this small kid I try to make some sense of the situation and continue: ”Don't answer question with a question, it makes you seem dumb. It also is kind of hard to swallow your story, no matter what kind of impression I've given of myself, I am not very trusting person and it requires more than just appearing in a blizzard of sakura to convince me about your intentions. I also don't think someone who is practicing assassination techniques should just pop out and calmly introduce themselves, it makes you kind of fail at what you're supposed to do.” After this statement her mouth is clearly twitching and her eyes are moistening up, maybe I went too far? With a loud sniffle she says: ”Goem- I am really sorry, nin~. I really just want to offer my services, I can do many things, just test me, nin~!” She turns around, looks me straight into eyes, I can't believe that the famous puppydog eyes are being used on me around 400 years before they actually became a thing. I scratch my head, sigh and say:
”I can't pay you.”
”Doesn't matter, nin~.”
”We have no permanent place to stay.”
”I am used to travel, nin~.”
”We're planning to become retainers to Oda Nobunaga.”
”I will be loyal to only you, take orders only from you, nin~nin.”
I sigh again, this kid is really determined and I have no idea what I am supposed to do, we're also starting to cause a scene with our exchanges. I probably look like a mother scolding her daughter or something like that, plus she is wearing such an outrageous outfit. In the end I tell her to come to our place later tonight. I need to hide all the future stuff, even though she probably has caught glimpses of them after following us so long, but I still want to be careful. I also want to talk with Toukichirou about this situation, she is from this era and knows how to deal with situations like these. She also will be the target of her assassination attempt years later, but I think that's better to be kept from her.

I buy some rice, nori⁷ and stuff to make a quick supper later, nothing too fancy as I do not know how long we have to stay there and because neither of us have any jobs that get paid salary, money that Nagahide-san gave to us won't last forever, especially since we do not know when the audience with Nobunaga is going to happen.
When I get home I see Toukichirou sprawled on floor fast asleep, she seems to have fallen asleep with my Vita on her other hand and some rice crackers we bought earlier on other. I took the console and turned it off. I don't know if she had saved or not, but the visual just awakened my maternal instincts to their fullest. Even though I think she is couple of months older than I am, I couldn't help but think her as this energetic little sister that I have to look after while being here. I go to the attic, pick up a futon and a pillow and drag them downstairs, place the futon on Toukichirou as a blanket and put a pillow under her head, she got so much information stuffed in her head today that no wonder she got tired. Afterwards check the charger, see that it is full, which allows me to continue using my laptop later, but because I do not know when Goemon is appearing, I decide to put all my stuff in my bag and instead start looking for stuff to make food with. There already are all kinds of pots and pans in the small ”kitchen” area in the middle of the room so that's not a problem. I've never camped out so I've never made food over open fire or in a spit, so I decide to leave that for later. I also need to figure out where to get water for bath and food anyways, so I head towards the back of the house from the outside. There is a small, but clean yard with a herb garden and a small vegetable patch, as well as an old stone well. Again, I am stumped for a while as I've never had to draw water from a well, but luckily the contraption isn't too complicated to use, viva old technology! Is what I think at first, but after hauling couple of full buckets in, my hands hurt all over and it feels like my back is breaking. I really am not made for physical labor, I even carried couple of masu⁸ of rice with me when I came back from the town, those were heavy!⁹

Me huffing and puffing around must've made lot of noise as when I was hauling a bucketfull of water in for the third time there was movement at the side of the room, Toukichirou had sit up and was rubbing her eyes, looking tired. Yawning she greeted me and grabbing one of the mochi¹⁰ I brought from the town and apparently my struggling was amusing her as she started giggling again, while munching on the sweets.
”Now that you are awake, wipe that grin of your face and help me!” I shoot at her and continue, ”Those who won't work won't eat either, also those mochi are mine!” I turn put down the bucket, turn my back at her and grin. I am already taking this to two sisters who live together -kind of direction without even really meaning to. In response I hear a mocking ”Yes, obaachan!¹¹” From behind me, this exchange really makes it feel like we've known each other forever and I can't help but giggle and shout ”shut up, ojiichan!¹²” back at her.

We finish carrying enough water for a bath and cooking inside, I light a fire at the spit and start waiting for the water to boil on top of it, and while setting up for cooking I realised how much I would like a gas stove and a microwave right about now, but thanks to Edo-period I currently am habiting, there is of course no electricity or gas around here, nor the stove itself to be honest. Well, Toukichirou is used to cooking on this thing, so I leave it to her discretion and turn the conversation towards my encounter with Goemon earlier this evening: ”Hey Toukichirou, we will probably get a guest at some point tonight, apparently she has been tailing us since we left that village being razed and finds us interesting. If she shows up I let you to make sense in her stories as I couldn't figure out what she wanted at all. I put all my stuff away for that reason, even though she may have seen them because of her tailing us, but I just want to be careful. Apparently she is a ninja that is looking for a master and that's about all I was able to gather from her.” Toukichirou is concentrating on putting rice in a pot full of boiling water so she doesn't turn back, but replies to me: ”Are you telling me you almost got assassinated?” She asks and I shake my head:
”If that was an attempt to assassinate me, it was very sloppy. In the middle of the town and not even trying to be subtle. She also kept babbling on without stopping and looked like she'd cry when I scolded her”
”Ninjas usually work for high ranking officers and daimyo, you happen to hear what clan she was from?”
”Well, her name is Ichikawa Goemon, but we never can be sure. Don't ninjas often use false names to hide their true identity?”
”Well, the Ichikawa-clan isn't familiar to me, but she didn't sound like a bad person. She was young?”
”Around eight or nine, that's what she looked like but in this era I can never be sure, even Oda Nobunaga looks like she'd fit the mold.”
Toukichirou giggled.
”Well, that's true, we shall tread carefully. Ninjas are a crafty bunch.”
I didn't mention stuff I already knew about Goemon, like that she was a nukenin nor that she in my history would try to assassinate Toukichirou. I can only hope that last fact isn't an actual fact in this world.

The evening flowed past smoothly, we prepared a light supper of rice, miso soup and dried fish and sat around the fireplace chatting about what we should do. To be honest, I could get used to slow and peaceful days without fights or any other troublesome or dangerous stuff. Of course there was the encounter with Goemon, but I categorize it under a drunk bum that to hit on me and just put her in the backburner for now. Our conversation with Toukichirou mostly was about the meeting with Oda Nobunaga, we didn't know when we were supposed to meet her as Nagahide-san just told us to wait for a courier in a couple of days time, but that didn't stop us from thinking about how to convince her to accept us as her retainers. Yes, we helped them earlier and may have saved their lives, but that pretty much only allowed us to live here for now and an audience with her. We thought about telling Nobunaga about war methods of the future or even her own actions in major battles coming up, as well as thought about using me coming from a future as a trump card, but these options were dangerous and it really didn't make sense to pull stuff like that in front of her without proof, other than throwing all my stuff in front of her, our heads would surely fall.
”We just need to show her that we can be useful. Words do not get through her as well as actions.” I suggested and Toukichirou agreed:
”But we need to get her to take us with her to the next battle she is attending, or allowing us to attend one of her retainers.”
”Didn't Nagahide-san tell us that she'd support and help us, maybe we can join her on an expedition?”
”We can't just go and assume Nagahide-dono just comes up to Nobunaga-dono and suggests for us to join ranks in a battle, but I don't think there is much else we can do other than try and be as honest as possible. Nagahide-dono has probably already seen through you, that you really aren't around here, but she doesn't know that you are from the future so we have that going for us.” After Toukichirou finished, she left to heat the bath up and I leaned back, allowed some of my weight on my palms and stared at the ceiling, thinking that I really hope we can convince Nobunaga to allows us to be her retainers. I sighed heavily and listened to Toukichirou throwing firewood under the large bathtub that was in the back of the house. When she came back something started bothering me and I quickly realized what it was. The same bloodlust I felt earlier. I sighed, motioned Toukichirou to return to the room and said out loud:
”Goemon, how long have you actually been here?”
Afterwards a gust of wind brought the tiny ninja-pirate-geisha hybrid in front of us, she was holding her stomach that was audibly growling.
Please stop entrances like that, I'll have a heart attack with you! I think.
”I've been hanging from the roof for ages, nin~. Why did it take so long for you to notice my presence again, nin~? I am hungry!” I glanced at Toukichirou who seemed to regressed back to her, now familiar, phase of not knowing how to close her mouth, while looking back at Goemon she was holding her growling belly and looking at me with wet eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, but Toukichirou was faster, she screamed like a rich girl after seeing a poodle, jumped on Goemon and started rubbing her cheek against Goemons own.
”Sana-chan~ can we keep her? Please? She is so cute!”
”Please don't treat your guests as lost puppies Toukichirou, also stop calling me Sana-chan.”
”I can't breathe, nin~nin! Let go of me! Goemon is uncomfortable, nin~nin~!”
I slam my palm at my face, sigh and hit Toukichirou with a ladle, she gives an annoyed yelp and backs of, still staring at Goemon longingly, where as the victim herself scurries behind my back and starts babbling something about unfair ambushes, I ignore her.

”So yeah Toukichirou, this is Ichikawa Goemon, from what she told me she is a ninja without a master, but that's what I gathered. Goemon, this apparent lolicon¹³ is Kinoshita Toukichirou, but after tailing us for so long, you probably knew that already. My name is Itori Sana, I already explained our situation to you earlier this evening, but you should explain your own goal to us now.”

Goemon repeats the story she told to me, while Toukichirou sits there quietly, listening to her, and often glancing towards the speaker, but every time I hear that I brandish the ladle in my hand, causing Toukichirou to cover her head and continue listening.
”Everything I've told to you is true, nin~. But if I had to give you one goal of mine, it is to serve a powerful master and gain fame. When I was in training I wasn't treated very well, nin~. All others in the dojo were older men and as a only female no one expected anything from me, I just wanted to show that I can do just as well as other ninja in there. But because that didn't happen, I ran away in search of a master I could serve.” While talking she is eating some leftover rice and miso we had and looking happy, when you think about this situation, it is kind of an heartwarming scene with Toukichirou giving her seconds of rice and miso and listening intently at this little girls story and her sitting next to me who is poking at the fire pit for it to still keep its heat. It is almost like we have this weird the whole family is spending time together -thing going on. I smile at that thought and Goemon continues:
”I had traveled for about three months, when I wound up at the edge of an battlefield, nin~. Tons of villages were raided and burned to ground, I thought that maybe Goemon could find someone to serve, a daimyo or warlord, nin~. But Goemon found something even better, nin~! A girl in weird outfit and a samurai working together, but what surprised Goemon the most was the reckless and suicidal and nonsensical and stupid plan of the weird girl that allowed them to escape from a situation where they were attacked from pretty much all sides, nin~! That's when Goemon started to tail the two of them and finally ended here, nin~nin~.”
I informed Goemon that she had regressed back to her old way of speaking because she got so excited and gave her a flick on a forehead, she looked like she was sorry about her habit, I thought that was also kind of heartwarming to see. I've never had little siblings, only older ones that were way ahead of me when it came to age, so we never really did any sibling stuff. I wonder if I had a little sister would I treat her like this. That thought made me smile.
I said: ”So Toukichirou, what do you think?”
”I still want to keep her, she is cute.”
I hit Toukichirou with a ladle and reminded her not to treat guests as lost pets.
”Ow! Okay, okay! From what I heard she doesn't harbor any ill will and I can see the determination of forging her own future. I think that if you think she could be of use, it could be handy to have a ninja around.” She rubbed her head, ”I mean, you saw her entrance and she told that she was hanging around for a while, she is young but I am sure she'd grow an excellent ninja one day, she just needs experience.” After finishing her sentence she put her usual grin on her face, took a mochi from a table and threw it at Goemon, who caught it with her mouth. I am not sure if she really is a human, is she really a puppy? I think and turn to little lady in question, who is happily munching away on the sweet treat.
”Just one question Goemon, what was that bloodlust I feel every time before you appear?”
”Oh that.” She says, blushes and turns away, ”maybe it is just so that I am angry that you do not notice me, nin~. And maybe a bit of jealousy too, I haven't been in contact with any friendly people in so long and I've had to sleep outside for so long and I have eaten only herbs and roots for so long, nin~.” After this her eyes water up again and she starts quietly to sob. I can't help but to put my hand on her head and start to pet her. In the end, she is just a small girl.
”By the way Goemon, how old are you?”
”Hm? *sob* Goemon turned fourteen a while ago, nin.”
I sigh and think should've guessed this one, why are there so many loli¹⁴ warlords in this world? And sigh.
”Well, as long as you don't try to stab us I see no problems having you around Goemon, but as I told you, we can't pay you for your services, nor we have much money so it will be kind of tight for a while.”
”That I do not care, I've gathered some wealth myself during my travels, delivering messages and such here and there, I got paid, nin~” She says proudly and pulls a small pouch from her clothes.
”This is money you've earned yourself, I won't be taking this from you, but if you want to I can help you prepare food you buy with this, as well as help with other needs you may have. That's how the world works, you pay for your own things with money you've earned yourself. It is way more fulfilling like that!” There actually is quite a bit of money in there, it actually makes me proud of this small person being able to collect that much by herself in this period. She smiles radiantly at me and I pet her again, Toukichirou disappeared at some point and when we finish our conversation she returns and announces that the bath is ready.
”Since it is so small, I think only two of us can fit, I volunteer going with Goemon-chan!”
”Stop drooling you lolicon.” I say after marching to my friend whose yes have started to sparkle an a visible line of drool can be seen from her mouth, I hit her with a ladle again.
Seeing this scene Goemon bursts into a delighted laughter and when me and Toukichirou, who is once again holding the bump on her head, turn to look back, we can't help but smile.

In the end, we all fit to the bath without any problems and it turned into some kind of water war with me trying to protect Goemon from Toukichirous attempts to hug her all the time. I think all three of us needed a stress relief like this, it has been super rough for these last couple of weeks and a change like this is most welcome.
After a while we all decide to calm down and just stare at the roof while resting our heads at the edge of the tub, I notice that Goemon hasn't taken her eyepatch off yet and ask her about it, she turns away and blushes, she seems to do that a lot.
”I do not like my eyes, nin~.” She says with sadness in her voice: ”Everyone who sees them tells me that I am a demon or that I've invoked the wrath of the Buddha.”
She turns at me and I look at her face, her visible right eye is a brilliant deep blue, it is really calming to look at, so I can't really imagine what could've happened to her other eye if she hates it so much and people who've seen it go as far as to call her a demon, maybe a scar or something? But aren't scars supposed to be marks of greatness shown in war or something, I can't help but ask her to show her other eye to me out of curiousity. She shakes her head and denies me with tears in her eye.
”I do not want you two to hate me too, nin~nin.” she says and I pet her head again.
”From where I come, there are people with all kinds of faces and no one looks down on them, I promise that me, nor Toukichirou will hate you, no matter how your eye is.” I say and look at Toukichirou next to me, who turns towards Goemon and smiles:
”Sana-chan is already weird enough, you probably can't top that Goemon-chan.”
I start poking Toukichirous cheeks annoyingly, while looking back at Goemon who has a complicated expression on her face, she clearly doesn't know if she should laugh or not, but in the end she closes her eyes, reaches to the back of her head and unfastens the eyepatch on her left eye. After dropping it out of the bath on the floor, she looks me straight into a face and opens her eyes. My surprise is great as I notice that her other eyes is just as brilliant in color, but it is deep green one.
”Such beautiful heterochromatic eyes Goemon-chan!” I accidentally let out in way more excited voice than I intented to, ”these are REALLY rare, you shouldn't hide your eyes like you used to, from where I come from, people would be incredibly jealous to have eyes like yours.” Even Toukichirou seems enthralled, even more so than earlier when she was going haywire about her cuteness, she can only let out a quiet ”wow!” at both, my explanation and the visual in front of her. I say to Goemon:
”Goemon, if you want to work for us, then this is my first request: Do not hide your face and be proud of the body you've given! You are ninja and you are expected to be hiding in shadows, but to us close to you, we want to see the face of the one we're talking to.”
Hearing this, Goemons eyes water again, but this time I don't think that's because of fear or sadness, I can only guess those are tears of joy because someone finally complimented her eyes. And thus, our bathing moment returned to normal, with the addition of Goemon smiling brightly and going on about her past and her travels. I still think me and Toukichirou accepted her a bit too easily, but it is hard to see this girl to want nothing but fulfil her goals, and I want to help her get there, and I think Toukichirou thinks the same.

After Goemon moved in, she actually wasn't home much. On mornings she was doing some kind of training off to somewhere out of our sights and at afternoons she was going around market stalls with either me or Toukichirou. This lasted for couple of days and one evening to our surprise Nagahide-san arrived with a formal invitation to Nagoya Castle to meet Oda Nobunaga. We were supposed to leave at the dawn. While reading through the letter I asked Nagahide:
”I was expecting just a normal courier to bring this, you surprised me Nagahide-san.”
”That's how it was supposed to be Itori-san, but I also wanted to inform you and Kinoshita-san about something that may help you fulfil your goals of becoming Nobunaga-donos retainers.”
Finally, is it time for an event?¹⁵ I think to myself and look at Nagahide questioningly, she continues:
”Nobunaga-dono is supposed to meet with the Viper of Mino, Saitou Dousan, in coming days. The place of meeting hasn't been decided yet, but–”
”The meeting will be held in Shoutokuji Temple¹⁶!” I blurt out without thinking and Nagahide looks at me with clear confusion in her eyes and expression.
”Shoutokuji? You're hearing about this for the first time from me aren't you? How can you sound so sure, Itori-san?” I quickly throw my hands in front of my mouth and sound apologetic, but I think the damage is already done even if Nagahide doesn't really show it.
”Well, that's what I wanted to tell you, we're expecting the message about meeting place with Saitou Dousan late tonight, you will be informed about it when you arrive in the morning. I will be waiting, Itori-san, Kinoshita-san.” Afterwards she turns around to leave, but before that she shoots one last questioning glance towards me, finally walking away.
This time it is I who gets a painful poke to my ribs from the side, culprit being Toukichirou, who scolds me about me having said more than I was supposed to, I feel apologetic.

Goemon arrives not-too-much later and I fill her in about the next day, I instruct her to stay out of sight and keep an eye of things, I also need to prepare some things if my hunch is right.

I stay awake and wait for Toukichirou to fall asleep, when I hear the familiar sounding snoozing, I take that as my cue to start my own preparations. I already told Goemon to stay awake as she will be crucial tomorrow, again if stuff goes like I expect them to.
I dig through my bag and get a small hand mirror from there and give it to Goemon, who looks at it with confused expression. It is just a normal hand mirror, but it will be incredibly useful. The thing I start teaching to Goemon is the morse code. I teach her about dots and dashes and how to use sunlight to send messages using this mirror. She seems extremely interested and pretty much becomes a sponge of information. I teach her couple of simple messages, first one being Beware and second one being No danger, those are what I want her to learn by morning. I feel bad for having her stay up, but because this situation came so out of nowhere I have no choice. Goemon seems to be happy about being able to do something for me and Toukichirou, so that at least is something, I better buy her some mochi later on.

When morning comes me and Toukichirou leave the house, Goemon has already left to predetermined place I pointed out and is doing some scouting around there. We've already checked the route to castle by ourselves before so it doesn't take too long for us to arrive and from the gate we get surprisingly warm welcome from people around there. We're directed towards a tea room and told to wait for Nobunaga and her retainers to arrive. It takes about fifteen minutes for the tea room door to open again, and smiling Niwa Nagahide, stern and for some reason shocked looking Shibata Katsuie and brightly smiling, glasses wearing Oda Nobunaga step in the room. Toukichirou had already prostrated herself, but I really do not even think about reacting to the door opening and just stare at the newcomers, but thanks to this I am finally able to see properly what Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobunaga look like, both are very pretty in their own way. As I noticed earlier when they charged past us on horses, Shibata Katsuie is lean, tall, well built girl that looks like she is older than me or Toukichirou, she looks stern, but I can see that she carries the aura of overworrying big sister with her, that makes me smile, it suits her image way too well. Nobunaga on the other hand looks like a doll, she has really pretty face and she seems way more athletic from up close than you'd think. She wears namban glasses and instead of yukata¹⁷ or kimono¹⁸ she wears a namban style shirt with a long skirt, it is like a french royalty got mixed with a japanese samurai, it is a weird combination. She speaks:
”It is good to see you again, Itori Sana-san, Kinoshita Toukichirou-san, we didn't get acquinted very well last time we met, are you fine with this situation Itori Sana-san? Do you think we should lessen the people in this room?” She asks me before going further and introducing herself, clear worry in her voice and eyes, for the demon of six gates¹⁹ Oda Nobunaga seems to be actually very kindhearted person. That made me feel good. I answer, with clear voice:
”No, this is fine, Oda-sama. I am deeply sorry about the miserable state you met me last time. I truly am bad with new situations and people and I can't handle war or death too well. I just wish we all could just live in peace under one flag.” I say without any hesitation, I need to make clear that I support her dream of unifying Japan, without even hearing about it first.
Her eyes clear up and she smiles, such a bright smile, I can't believe at some point this girl would turn into a fearsome monster that terrified many, at least the man called Oda Nobunaga was so in our history.
”You recognized me? How great, that saves time! Especially since you seem to share a dream with me! Yes, my name is Oda Nobunaga, daughter of Oda Nobuhide and ane²⁰ of Oda Nobusumi and Oichi. Last time I heard from Kinoshita Toukichirou-san about your will to become my retainers, but you fainted and I wasn't able to hear your opinion or wish, so I would like to ask you the same question than last time when you helped me, Riku and Machiyo²¹ with that small problem involving Imagawa cavalry: What is it you wish for a reward. If it is something I can provide, please, just ask.” She says smiling, with Nagahide-san doing the same. Shibata-san seems like she doesn't know what she is supposed to do and Toukichirou finally lifts her head, looking at me with a mix of her usual grin and confusion on her face. I answer simply:
”I wish that I and Kinoshita Toukichirou could become your retainers and help you with your dream. Oda-sama²²”
”You know that even if I said that you can wish for anything, becoming a retainer out of nowhere isn't really going to work, Itori-san?”
”I do understand that, both of us are ready to prove to you that we are worthy of assisting you and I have an idea on how we are able to do that. Oda-sama.” I finish with my kindest smile and nod at Toukichirou, who in turn returns her usual grin to her face.

Nobunaga and her retainers looked first at each other and then back at me, other than Shibata-san, who still seemed to be really conflicted about the situation, Nobunaga and Katsuie looked delighted, Nobunaga asked:
”Well, what is this plan of yours?”
”I can have The Viper of Mino to give you Gifu without war.” I said bluntly and even Toukichirou reverted back to her shock-state with her mouth hanging open and weird [Wha~ Wha~ Wha~] -noises coming out from there.
”Bold statement, how are you planning to do that?” Asked, to my surprise, Shibata Katsuie, whose expression had turned surprisingly grim. Yeah, I expected something like this so I answer:
”I just need you to trust me, Oda-sama, Nagahide-sama, Shibata-sama. Have you heard about the location for the meeting with the Viper yet?” I ask, put my hands together, like I'm praying and bow my head towards all people present.
”About that.” Says Nagahide-san, ”it is just like you said, Nobunaga-dono is supposed to meet Saitou Dousan at Shoutokuji Temple later today. It still confuses me how you knew about the location beforehand and we will be conversing about this with you later and with Nobunaga-donos discretion necessary steps will be taken.” She looked scary again, but quickly returned her usual, warm and motherly smile. Nobunaga smiled also and turned towards Toukichirou:
”What do you think, Kinoshita-san?” Toukichirou returned to us from her shocked state like she'd been whipped and after pondering for couple of seconds she replies:
”I trust Sana-chan, if she says she can do it, there is no doubt that we can do it. That's what I believe, Nobunaga-dono.” She looks very proud of her friend and I feel like I am going to blush, so embarassing!
After that Shibata-san nods, she seems to have accepted the look on our eyes and is giving us her approval silently, while Nobunaga-sama and Nagahide-san again look at each other and then smile at each other, nodding.
”Well then, shall we get ready?” Nobunaga asks and I can feel question marks floating over mine and Toukichirous heads, to what Nagahide-san replies:
”We're expecting you two to prove yourselves like you told us you would do, we should prepare to leave and meet Saitou Dousan.”

I look at Toukichirou who is now again having her trademark grin on her face, ”we did it!” her expression seems to say so.

Around two hours passed, I was led to stables and Toukichirou went with Nagahide and Shibata, while Nobunaga was with me. I just realised a huge flaw in this plan, I've never in my life ridden a horse before, to be honest, the closest I've been to live horses is are those Nobunaga and her retainers and Imagawa cavalry rode towards us and the couple of steeds that were pulling the carriage on our way to Nagoya. I don't know how I missed this feeling earlier, but these animals are large and do not feel comfortable being close to them.
Apparently Nobunaga had been watching my inner struggling when I tried to stare down my future mount-to-be and looked concerned once again, asking me: ”Itori-san, do the horses not feel satisfactory?” To which I can't help but answer honestly, despite her looks I do not think Oda Nobunaga can be fooled so easily:
”To be honest my lord, I am fairly afraid of these large animals, as well as I've never done any riding before.” After which I avert my gaze from Nobunaga and wait for her answer, expecting my points to fall in her eyes, but to my surprise:
”Would you like to ride with me then?” My face immediately snaps towards the future daimyo of unified Owari and unifier of Japan, who has the biggest smile I've seen ever since I told to Goemon that her eyes were pretty.
”Is that okay my lord? Wouldn't that be inconvinient?”
”Well, we can't have you walk and that gives us time to have a conversation without breaking the formation. I am sure Riku will be a tad bit jealous, but she'll survive.” I can't help but giggle, I can imagine Shibata Katsuie being a jealous type.
”If that is what my lord offers and wishes, then I have no reason to decline.”
”Such fantastic news! To be honest, I kind of wanted something like this to happen.” She says and flashes me a mischievous smile. This girl is someone I really can't read, no matter how hard I try.

I took about an hour more before Toukichirou and others arrived at the stables, Katsuie informed about rifle troops being readied and pretty much everything being complete when it comes to preparations so all that was needed was Nobunaga's word and troops would move.
Nobunaga climbs on her horse, surprisingly gracefully seeing the size difference between the girl and the mount and turns to me. With shaking legs I start wobbling towards the horse and its rider who is patiently waiting for me, with a smile on her face, while behind me I can hear a familiar giggle of Toukichirou, I look to the side and see Nagahide Niwa smiling and Shibata Katsuie scratching her head and asking from Nagahide: ”What's with this girl? Why is she approaching Nobunaga-sama like that?”
I finally get to the horse and Nobunaga extends her hand out for me to grab on and Nagahide-san arrives next to me, with us three I am able to get on a saddle behind Nobunaga and I start to feel faint because sitting on a horse doesn't feel like it is a stable way of travel at all. While in front of us, behind always smiling Nagahide-san Shibata-san seems shocked beyond saving, she keeps letting out some weird noises while climbing on her own horse, while Nagahide and Toukichirou follow suit, she has put on Oda armys armor and has an Oda flag on her back, while I am still wearing my own clothes because me and Nobunaga-sama spent way too much time chattering about dumb things, like how I am going to approach a horse and such.

The view was something else, around 500 soldiers armed with arquebus rifles were walking beside us while we were heading towards the temple. Because I was on a lead horse with Nobunaga, it actually suited my plans fairly well, allowing me to see Goemons morse code as soon as possible. While riding I held Nobunagas waist, probably little bit too tight as she corrected my hands multiple times, I also kept shaking slightly. Me and horses at the moment really didn't see eye to eye, which was a small problem, but I decided to endure this, I needed this to succeed, not just for my own benefit, but for Toukichirous and in some ways Goemons too.
”This has to succeed.” I said in a low voice, to which Nobunaga surprisingly answered:
”I believe it will, I believe in your confidence, Itori-san!”
”Only time will tell my lord, we should be arriving at the first point of my plan fairly soon.”

We arrived into a narrow road with hills and forest to both sides, in our history this was the place where Saitou Dousan set an ambush before meeting Nobunaga to check if she really was a fool and a threat.
This is where I stationed Goemon.

We didn't get too far in, when I saw from the corner of my eye a small flash of light, I couldn't be sure so I turned my head and everything so far has gone just like planned. A series of flashes of light came from the top of the trees.
Great job, Goemon! I thought by myself and concentrated again. I taught her that she should keep a longer break between repeats of the word, so I waited for that so I could figure out the first letter of which of the two messages I taught her.

One long, lingering flash of light, following three short and fast ones.
”Nobunaga-sama! Tell your troops to light their rifles! Now!”
”Are you sure? Where is the enemy? Do you know the risk involved when lighting the rifles and letting them burn? They can explode very violently and that'd just be asking for us to be ambushed.
”Look over there, Nobunaga-dono.” I say and point at where Goemon is still flashing the morse code.
”What causes those flashes of light? Is that a rifle gleaming in sunlight?”
”I have a ninja working under me, she has been doing recon during this morning, I taught her a way to contact me using series of flashing lights via reflecting sunlight from mirror in a pattern. I will not explain it in detail right now, but please believe me. She has figured out an ambush and we need to be prepared. If everything goes properly we can just walk through and put the rifles out when we reach plains outside this forest.”
I can't see Nobunagas face, but she grips my hand with obvious determination (or I am squeezing too hard again, I can't tell.) And a moment later all of Oda troops carrying an arquebuss have lit the fuses on their rifles. We hastened the marching speed so that we can put the guns out as soon as possible, and just as I though, ambush didn't happen and the moment we got out of the woods, the code changed to ”No Danger” -one, it kept going for a while, until it disappeared. Goemon should now be tailing the returning troops of Saitou Dousan and joining me later. That girl truly deserves some mochi when we get back home.

After we reached the temple, we were told to wait for a bit. Nobunaga and others immediately got down from their horses, I otherhand pretty much fell from the mount, kneeled on the solid ground and wept, oh it felt so good to be on a solid ground again. I never, ever want to ride a horse again. While I was recovering my severe mental trauma involving these four legged beasts, I heard a familiar cheerful laugh next to me as well as I felt a hand being extended towards me.
”You truly are a madman, are you sure the title of ”Fool of Owari” has gone to the right person?” Toukichirou was laughing next to me, I haven't seen her in only about four hours, but that smile felt like I was returning home after a long day at work and hearing that there would be mass firing of employees in a company.
”Toukichirou, great timing. I need you in this next part. Only problem is that it is incredibly risky and your life may be in danger, do you trust me on this?”
”Man, I think I've already lost half a lifetime of years when dealing with your ideas.” She grinned, ”what do you want me to do?”
”I need you to give Saitou Dousan information I am about to give you. You know that I am very bad at conveying stuff like that and make it look believable, that's why I have only you to trust with this. If this fails, Dousan may have your head rolling, which would be kind of bad, don't you think?” I smile apologetically, I wish I was better at stuff like this.
”No problem.” She says immediately, ”I trust you and you trust me, didn't we decide this a while ago. If you say this will work, then I believe this will work. Just tell me the stuff and I am sure I can convey it to Dousan.”

About an hour later the doors to the temple were opened and we arrived in a large room built in the temple for monks and miko to perform their rituals. Today there were some silk pillows for sitting and a tray of tea. Inside the room were only two people, an older woman with sharp eyes and a really pretty girl with blonde twintails and a katana. It didn't take too long for me to guess who these two were. The older woman was without a doubt the Viper of Mino, Saitou Dousan herself. Again with important people turning into women, this is starting to be ridiculous, I think to myself again. The young girl then has to be Akechi Juubei Mitsuhide, Dousans advisor and one of the smartest warriors in Sengoku-era, but also the one who betrayed Oda Nobunaga later on his life, causing the Honnouji Incident and leading to Nobunagas death. But again, with this world you can never know.

Nobunagas retainers and me and Toukichirou went in the room first, me and Toukichirou sat to the side as we really didn't belong to the retainers and thus had no real place to speak unless asked. Nobunaga said that she wanted to change before meeting Dousan.
This gave me a chance to assess the situation and get impression about the two already present.
Saitou Dousan was older woman, probably around his fourties, maybe closer to fifty. She wore surprisingly casual clothes, a plain yukata and sandals, no accessories or anything to show off. So far this is going just like it should.
Akechi Mitsuhide on the other hand was wearing a very beautiful dark kimono that looked really good against her pale complexion and light hair. She also don a very long katana, making the combination look like a heroine escaped from a samurai movie and is now sitting in front of me.

Oda retainers looked uncomfortable while being in there without their lord, Toukichirou had her eyes closed and was muttering something to herself, I ignored her and concentrated on observing the place. For a simple ritual hall it was really beautiful, against a wall was a huge stone statue decipting Buddha or something, I am not too familiar with these religious things any more so I can't say for sure. There were many colorful tapestries donning the walls as well as spears and swords. It was very impressive!
I didn't have much time to admire the room before the door leading to it opened again and this time my jaw dropped to the floor. Nobunaga had arrived, she had taken her glasses off and let her hair fall down, she was donning an incredibly flashy, beautiful kimono and was overall looking, with the lack of a better word, like a princess from a fairy tale.
Everyone else seemed to be just as speechless, except for Toukichirou who still kept her eyes closed and kept muttering something.
After Nobunaga had seated, she greeted Dousan, who apparently didn't expect namban loving Nobunaga to appear in such an official looking attire, when she thought she'd show some concideration by wearing something less flashy, expecting Nobunaga to arrive in the same outfit she had while leading her army through the ambush.

”You brough quite the amount of riflemen with you.” Said Dousan.
”I had to think about something to deal with your warm welcoming gift you had lying in wait, dear Viper.”
Dousan laughed, it sounded like a female santa claus.
”So you saw through me, I was wondering if you truly are a fool by randomly lighting your rifles, even with the danger of them exploding on you, without any enemies on sight. But you apparently got a word about my surprise to test you somehow. Well done, daughter of Oda.”
”Your words mean a lot dear Viper, but next time I'd rather have a test that didn't involve a full scale war, those are already troublesome as is.”
Dousan laughed again.
”Well, to the point, why are you here? Daughter of Oda.”
”I decided to take on your dream, Viper of Mino.” Nobunaga said without any hesitation and Vipers eyes flared.
”Hm, and what's your first step with this? You know that I wanted to unify the country and got to where I am now from being just a simple oil merchant. Who are you going to acquire first, Matsudaira²³?”
”I am going for Mino.” Said Nobunaga again.
Mitsuhide gasped and Dousan laughed again.
”The nerve, what makes you think I will give Mino to you of all people?”
”Saitou Dousan. I know of your dream and I am willing to shoulder it now that you've settled down.” Said Nobunaga, ”Mino is an important crossroad in Owari, allowing ease of access to multiple land- and sea routes necessary for both conquer and trade, both being incredibly important for unification of the country.”
Viper said:
”Knowing that, you still insist on trying to get me give Mino to you? You truly are a fool, daughter of Oda!”

Nobunaga didn't seem to get any more words out of her mouth, except:
”I am willing to go to any lenghts to acquire Mino, be it via peaceful means or via war. That's what I've decided!”

After that declaration there was silence, until:
”Saitou Dousan, I think you should give Mino to Oda Nobunaga.”
”Hm, who are you?” Asked Dousan.
”My name is Kinoshita Toukichirou, I am with Oda Nobunaga-sama and I want to support her dream of unifying this country. Please hear what I have to say, I promise to convince you about giving Mino to Oda Nobunaga-sama is the right choice!”
”Mitsuhide, sword.”
Dousan said audibly and received the katana from Mitsuhide.
”I do not care if you are the retainer of Oda, but let's make this interesting. Please, by all means, convince me. Tell me why I would give Mino to the fool of Owari. If you manage, you can keep your head, little lady, Kinoshita-san.” Dousan licked her lips. She was seemingly really annoyed about Nobunagas cheekines and now one of her underlings started talking from sidelines. Nobunagas gaze met mine and I nodded, she stopped Shibata and Nagahide from drawing their blades and sat back to her pillow she had herself stood up from just a second earlier.
Toukichirou took a deep breath and said:
”You already know that your daughter Yoshitatsu can't beat Oda Nobunaga-sama. You already planned to give the Mino to Nobunaga-sama, but wanted to test her. You were thinking: ”Let's tie the horses at the gates of the Oda-clan²⁴.” and watch the result. You feel like you've done enough and I can attest to that. Saitou Dousan will have left her name in the pages of history as a great mind of Japan.”
Afterwards Toukichirou stepped forward, so that the blade Dousan held towards her almost touched the side of her neck.

One second, five seconds, ten seconds. After that, Dousan exploded in a laughter and everyone in the room looked shocked.
”This is my total lost, daughter of Oda. It is almost like she read my mind and saw the future. I will give you a deed about moving Mino to your name, my new daughter: Oda Nobunaga.^Extra”
”Saitou Dousan, are you sure?” Asked Nobunaga with her eyes wide. She was just as shocked about what Toukichirou said than everyone else in the room, Shibata-san dropped the tea cup she was holding, Nagahide-sans expression totally froze and Mitsuhide-san didn't know if she should open or close her mouth, so it got stuck somewhere in between, making her look like a goldfish trying to breath on a land.
”I never expected you to be this brazen, Oda Nobunaga. You have some good followers behind you, please take care of them.” Dousan said, while having her brush move up and down on a scroll in front of her. ”I will send one of my daughters for you to become your official little sister at the later date, I will also inform Inabayama Castle, where Yoshitatsu resides. She will be working under your flag from now on.

Nobunaga was beaming and having a small chat with Dousan, Mitsuhide-san looked glum and Oda retainers both smiled at each other. Toukichirou on the other hand had fainted, she really isn't as strong willed as she looks like. Having a blade on ones neck must have been one heck of an experience. I have to teach her tons of stuff about future as a present when we get home.

Nobunaga and Dousan finished their business and as we were leaving, Nobunaga called me and Toukichirou, who had waken up from her shock-induced black out, to her and spoke:
”You two have done a great deed towards Oda Clan and I don't think there is anyone from the current retainers that can say otherwise. If it would please you two, I would gladly have you as my retainers and generals from now on.”
We beamed at each other. This success felt better than any of my earlier deeds in this time. It didn't involve any warmongering, just basic psychology and little bit abuse of the future knowledge about history and communications. After nodding to each other, we nodded to Nobunaga and she in turn beamed towards us:
”Wonderful! Now that you're officially my retainers, I have to give you a role, and a nickname, that's just how I like to do things!” she giggled, actually a very girlish act from her, first one I noticed.
”Kinoshita Toukichirou-dono, you showed flexibility and ability to follow orders, but you two were scheming something together the moment we arrived, the things you said were actually told to you by Itori Sana-dono, weren't they?” she gave a smile, full of willingness to tease us 'till the end. Toukichirou gave up and grinned:
”I guess you caught me, my lord.”
”So I will call you Saru²⁵, for your mischievous nature and actions seem to suit the name very well. I've also noticed a monkey-like tenacity from you and I believe that will serve everyone well. I would also like to name you my sandal bearer, I'd vager Riku gets insanely jealous from that, but I want to tease her a bit every now and then.” She again gave her mischievous little smile and Toukichirou grinned even wider:
”Well, you start small, I promise to live up to your expectations, Nobunaga-sama!”

Nobunaga smiled and continued:
”Itori Sana-dono, your wits are out of this world, using a new method of communication and coming up a plan this magnificent makes you a brilliant strategist! But your lack of understanding even the most basic things like riding a horse makes you look like a lost puppy, so I think I call you Inuchiyo²⁶ and your role for now shall be helping Saru out with her tasks. I do not mean about each of you carrying one of my sandals, but whatever tasks I give her in the future, I want you to stand with her and guide her, as well as all of us in Oda retainers and clan. I see bright future for you!” She smiled, but I froze in place.
Inuchiyo? Toshiie Maeda, Oda Nobunagas childhood friend was nicknamed Inuchiyo by her. Does that mean that I've taken her place and he or she was never born in this world? That's a problem, Toshiie Maeda also had another nickname that doesn't suit me at all and that was: ”The God of Spears”, he was probably the best wielder of long thrusting weaponry in the whole prefecture during that time and here I can barely swing a kitchen knife to cut a daigon²⁷. This may really mess history up in this world. I am little bit worried.

After those thoughts I did raise my head, looked Nobunaga straight into eyes and promised to work my best for Oda-clan. And with that we headed back to Nagoya. We heard from Nagahide that we could stay in the house we already were in, I decide to travel with the footmen still with us for show as I didn't want to get on a horse again. At some point Goemon appeared next to me and we chatted about stuff that happened for a while, then I noticed her pretty much sleepwalking, not a big surprise seeing how long she was on a move and that practice of morse code over night must've been rough. I gestured Toukichirou with her horse to come, helped Goemon on it and let her rest while Toukichirou carried her on a horse, that girl totally deserved a good rest.

When we arrived back home, I sent Toukichirou to help Goemon to bed and get rest herself too, I stopped by a sweets stand by the market and bought some fairly high quality mochi from there and headed back to place we were staying at, while thinking that now our first step towards the goal of both of us was taken and it was hard to figure out what the future would bring to us, one thing was sure. I was finally able to put myself to the proper time in history with the meeting of the Viper of Mino, that made my calculations about future events that much easier.

When I arrived home, futons were already laid and Toukichirou and Goemon were both sleeping soundly. I placed the mochi I bought on table and crawled in my own futon, not even realising how tired I was after all this.

”Inuchiyo, huh. Well, this just turned really interesting.” I say quietly and quickly fall asleep.

Chapter Notes:

1. Public schools are schools with no entrance exams and usually less desirable when choosing a place for education in Japan. These also come in all-girls/all-boys variety, albeit they are more rare. Usually public shools are like here at the west, open to both genders.
2. Hikikomori, aka. A shut-in, person who refuses to leave their house and in worst cases, their rooms. These are more rare nowadays, but Japan has to deal with people with this problem still fairly often. Usually when talking about hikikomoris it references to students, even though sometimes this happens with actual working adults.
3. Final Fantasy V is a fifth installment in the Final Fantasy -role playing games, originally released on Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but you are able to play it on multiple platforms (like on Playstation Vita, as written on text) nowadays.
4. Cutesy ”ninja-speech”, of course I think no one actually ended their sentences like this back in the day, but the little ”nin”-chant has became a way to show that character really is of ninja-heritage in novels, manga and anime in japan. You can pretty much look at it as ”desu” for ninjas, it doesn't stand for anything in particular, but emphasizes the speakers style.
5. A nukenin is a rogue ninja, they left their original clans and became either self-sustainer by carrying orders from pretty much anyone who asked or tried to settle down somewhere. Nukenin became very quickly disowned by the original clan and more often than not got hunted down for abandoning them and to not let their secrets be spread out.
6. Ninjitsu, loosely translated into ”ninja techniques”, means for study of ninja-arts, like assassination skills and stealth. Iga is a prefecture in Japan where the clan where Hachisuka Goemon is from and is believed to be where he was based in before becoming a nukenin.
7. Nori is the seaweed used in sushi and as an condiment. Salty flavor, really good!
8. Masu is an old unit of measuring rice, it is about how much one person needs for a day. One masu is approximately 0.9 liters (around 30 ounces). Nowadays it isn't used for its impracticality. The amount one person needs for a year is called ”koku” which was actually used as an amount to compare the wealth of a person or a town, depending on how many koku their income was, the more wealthy they obviously were.
9. As explained earlier, one masu isn't really that heavy. She is just whining.
10. Mochi is a traditional japanese sweet, it is made from a rice paste and filled with sweet red bean paste (called anko). Those things are super sweet and stretchy. Very tasty!
11. Obaachan, litelarly stands for ”Grandma”
12. Ojiichan, litelarly stands for ”Grandpa”
13. Lolicon, some times translated into ”pedophile”, but that also references to people who read manga or watch anime whose main points are cute small girls. More often than not those do involve some kind of sexual things in them. In this case, Toukichirou gets called lolicon because of her over the top way of reacting to cute young girl.
14. Loli, comes as an abbreviation of ”lolita” from the novel by Vladimir Nabakov where the main protagonist, a middle-aged man, becomes obsessed with a teenage girl. Over the years in Japan the term loli turned to desribe cute girls that look around 8 or 9 years old and do not necessary have any sexual connotations.
15. Event, in this case talking about something that happened in a game that game developers had already decided the requirements to start it and how it actually ends. Sana uses this word because she makes a connection with a video game in her head.
16. Ok, It was incredibly hard to find actual information but I think this is where this meeting happened. I was barely able to find any information about this temple, but this is what all the sources I was able to find told and what I already knew about this meetings location. I had to even check the Nobunaga's Ambition -game for this event to make sure. It was all kinds of trouble!
17. Yukata is a casual kimono (explained in the next note), that can be worn pretty much daily and is often used in festivals and such. They can be really pretty or really plain depending on the situations it is meant to use. They look like robes that are tied around the waist with a sash.
18. Even though Kimonos aren't something like royalty garments, they are more often than not they are used in formal events and are fairly colorful and extravagant. They are the same type of one-piece robe-like cloth that are used with geta, traditional sandals that are some kind of weird mix of clogs and flip-flops.
19. After a certain point Oda Nobunaga became known as a demon to some for his cruel decisions and ferocious nature. Demon of six gates is a nickname derived from that.
20. Ane, or aneue stands for older sister.
21. Machiyo was a nickname Oda Nobunaga called Nagahide Niwa as. Reminder that Riku was Shibata Katsuies nickname.
22. I already explained this earlier, but it stands for another one. Sana uses an extremely formal way of speaking here.
23. Matsudaira is a clan that was located to southeast from Owari. Clan head during that time was Matsudaira Takechiyo, who later became Tokugawa Ieyasu, picking up where Toyotomi Hideyoshi left after his death and after unifying Japan. At this time and point though, they were just a small and weak clan sandwitched between strong ones to east and west.
24. This is a fairly famous phrase from Saitou Dousan. And is said to be the moment Dousan actually decided that Oda Nobunaga was a proper head for Mino and afterwards he became Nobunagas stepfather. To be honest, no matter how much I researched I never understood what this actually meant. If someone has any more information, I would be glad to know. All I was about to find out was the phrase itself, not its meaning. And I've even heard it multiple times when I was researching the topic.
25. Saru (猿) stands for a monkey. Nobunaga used this nickname from Kinoshita Toukichirou back in the day!
26. Inu in Inuchiyo stands for a dog (犬). As explained in the text, Maeda Toshiie, or Inuchiyo was Oda Nobunagas childhood friend and he gave him this nickname.
27. Daigon is a type of radish grown in Japan.

Afterword

Man, writing this took a while and after I finished about 20 minutes over my deadline, my wrist was actually in so much pain that I wanted to cry.
This was a REALLY fun chapter to write, I got to introduce a new character that I quite like, even though I do not know if her nature actually came out as I wanted in the text, as well as two characters who will become really important later on.

I don't think many chapters will be as long as this one, this may as well become the longest chapter in the whole story! I hope this did show you guys some more into how Sana thinks and uses the future as her reference and how she deals with people when she actually isn't scared to the point of fainting or vomiting. I try to bring her character out even more, be it little-by-little but I want to actually make her go through different situations that are unfamiliar to her in the future and help her grow.

In the next chapter we will get to see something that I hope derivates this story from its inspirations and I am really excited about that. I will now take at least a day full of rest before starting the new chapter and hope I can bring it to you very soon!

About the characters a bit before I leave though!

I wanted to make Goemon this character that conflicts with herself by being a ninja that is unnecessarily showy and talks a lot, works kind of like a stress-relief character and a little sister for Sana and has an honest and straightworward dream. I also really wanted a character to be shunned because of heterochromacy or something similar as those were really thought to be works of demons or evil spirits back in the day. I want Goemon to become a strong character later on and thus I kind of eased her in to Sanas and Toukichirous lives kind of easily. It doesn't really matter though, she is cute in my books!

I actually debated if I wanted to keep Saitou Dousan as a male because of a certain event involving some renaming of castles and towns later on, but I think I managed to think a way around that, plus I wanted an actual stern older woman in my story and Dousan fit the book perfectly. I wasn't really able to bring her out in this chapter as much as I really wanted but I have some plans that bring her to spotlight later on!

I actually am kind of bummed that I didn't really give lines to Akechi Mitsuhide, but we will be seeing her a lot later on. When looking at the history he was the retainer who Nobunaga trusted the most before his betrayal and Nobunagas death. I promise that she will become an important character later. I also wanted to create a contrast with her looks and how she actually acts, but more of that later when she actually doesn't act as meek like in this chapter!

Now then, until the next chapter and I hope you liked this one! It truly had lots of going on and the antics won't end here. See you!