We look the same, but men call us monsters. If we shadows, which lurk between eras, are destined to die, then I shall fall with the cherry blossoms. Then, I shall fall with the cherry blossoms.
Land of Iga, Near the Iga Village
Come out!
I know you're there.
The whole world comes down to the roll of the dice.
They roll and roll on the mat.
A woman?
You dream and dream. And at the end,
you will eventually die.
Well, that was quite the poem.
Oh, my.
You're giving me money?
It will pay your fare across the Sanzu River.
What a strange thing to say.
Why would I cross the Sanzu River?
You can't fool me.
If anyone breaks my root barrier,
the impregnable defense of the Five Flowers of Iga,
they won't escape, no matter who they are.
These roots are a barrier?
Then, you are Tsuta Houetsu-sama?
So you're some fox, from somewhere? What's your name?
I shall tell you, as a gift before your death.
I am Yasha Itaru.
Don't make me laugh!
You're the one who'll be receiving a gift.
No, you're as good as dead...
Taste my ninja technique! Root Lasso!
You can't move. How sad...
Now, what to do with you?
But...
Killing you quickly...
would be a shame.
How disgusting.
Aren't you ashamed for a member of the Five Flowers of Iga to behave in such a way?
Aren't you ashamed to look in the mirror?
Mirror?
Oh?
You saw your pathetic life, didn't you?
A meaningless life, with no joy,
and without pride.
I understand...
Despair that makes you wish for death.
In that case...
Fall from that cliff, and die!
Once you look into this mirror and know the futility of your life,
you cannot escape my Destiny's Passage.
The Joujinshuu Appear
Suruga-sama, have you forgotten me?
It was years ago, of course,
when your brother, Lord Iemitsu, was afflicted with the pox.
When the great priest Tenkai prayed for his health,
I accompanied him.
Yes. I was there, as well...
But why would that priest do something to mock me?
Me?
No, were those words not your own?
What?
What did you say?
"Someday, my brother will slay me,"
I said.
S-Silence!
Nonsense...
I... I would never say that!
Magoroku.
Yes, sir.
I am Kujaku Tsuibamu...
I am Rinne Magoroku.
We've no choice. Do it to him.
Are you quite certain?
It's fine. Make him remember.
As you wish.
What is this place?
What Rinne Magoroku has manifested here is Akyashagaruba,
the Kokuuzou Bosatsu.
The original meaning of the word "akyasha" was "void,"
and "garuba" meant "womb."
In other words, the source from which things are born.
Put another way, Kokuuzou Bosatsu
is as infinite as the void.
His own universe. His own spacetime.
Universe?
The skill of Rinne Magoroku,
is to manifest this Kokuuzou Bosatsu.
It is called the Adamantite Tower.
The Adamantite Tower
A man?
Yes.
How much do you know?
About men...
How much?
I know they're brutes, and bratty, and stink.
No, I'm not talking about that.
How much do you know about men's bodies?
What are you saying?
It's about our skills.
Your skill and mine are similar.
I know...
You can summon bugs.
You've heard that this power goes beyond that, right?
My skill is to seduce women to my will.
And your skill is...
You don't know anything about women, either.
No...
I'm not interested in girls.
Houetsu!
Shuugetsu... Izuma.
Have you found him?
Then, that voice was...
No, that's impossible.
A man like Houetsu could not be defeated.
Find him!
Is this the man you're searching for?
Am I wrong?
Or can't you tell?
I can understand why.
Everyone's face looks this way
after they've been struck by Yasha Itaru's Destiny's Passage.
Houetsu!
Who are you? Give me your name.
My name?
It's a little hard to remember... Neirichiou.
Neirichiou?
I'll try to remember that.
No, I will have to.
I'll need to write it on your grave.
Oh, how nice!
You'll dig my grave,
and mark it with my name?
Then, you must defeat this, as well...
Are you all right, Suruga Dainagon-sama?
I feel so dizzy...
Just wait a moment.
You will get used to it.
Used to what?
The flow of time.
You are walking, not through space,
but through the flow of time.
You are walking backward, into the past.
The past?
What are you saying?
Someday, your brother will slay you.
We are revisiting the moment at which you thought this.
My skill, the Inverted Halberd of Time,
makes the gears of time run backward.
If I scattered all these sands of time,
there's no way to know how far we'd go.
Don't worry.
As long as they are sealed in there,
he can only travel back a short time.
Right now, we are borrowing the power
of this space to go a little further back.
Impossible...
Now, it appears we have come back to the correct time.
Brother...
This is when he was younger.
Are you showing me illusions?
It is no illusion.
You remember it.
You are seeing the time and place when a young Iemitsu-sama
was afflicted with the pox.
Is that... me?
Suruga-sama.
This is... I remember this.
Strangely, no attendants or serving girls were around.
I was alone with him.
Brother, how are you feeling?
Are you in pain?
Brother... are you all right?
Just wait, Brother. I'll get a doctor—
A dream...
Then, it was a dream?
No, it was no dream.
Indeed.
It was all real. You saw it with your own eyes.
Takechiyo-sama,
Iemitsu-sama has never forgotten it.
When he was at death's door,
you were at his bedside, the picture of health.
The feelings he had toward you,
the envy the sick have for the wealth of the able-bodied...
That is impossible to change.
I was...
Back then, I was simply praying for my brother's recovery...
Your personal thoughts are irrelevant.
The important thing is that, on your face,
your brother saw the joy and ambition of the one who would be the next shogun.
You lie...
You just saw it for yourself, did you not?
E-Even if my brother did think that, for a moment...
That's all over!
There's no need for him to be jealous!
Then, why did the Kurokuwa attack you?
The Kurokuwa of Iga pose no threat
to the people, but they work directly for the Shogunate.
So why did they act against your will?
It makes no sense.
Then...
Yes.
You, yourself, had doubts about this.
And you choked back the words that appeared in your heart.
"Has my brother sent them to kill me?"
S-Silence! Silence!
Your tone of voice tells me that I am right.
You have realized this, as well, haven't you?
Your brother's jealousy still remains!
Impossible... Impossible!
Resolve yourself to rebellion!
What?
Rebellion.
There is no other way to survive.
Jison'in Village
Joujinshuu
Joujinshuu?
Is this the name of the group Gei'in and the others fought?
We're almost to the Iga village.
What's wrong?
This is...
Rui!
Yeah, over here, too...
Are these the Five Flowers of Iga?
Let us pray that they are not.
The forest...
Yes, unless the forest is moved, failure is impossible.
What?
I heard such a story from the barbarians.
And in accordance with the story, I shall make you a promise.
D-Do you mock me?!
A forest could not move!
Indeed, it is impossible.
And that is why I say that this rebellion cannot fail.
Suruga-sama...
Become a god!
They have returned, it seems.
These are...
Shogyou Kareha, Tsuta Houetsu, Irootoroe Itsuma.
And Suiren Shuugetsu.
These are the heads of four of the famous Five Flowers of Iga.
Did you do this?
I am Yasha Itaru.
Two remain.
Two... remain?
The Five Treasures of Kouga's leader, Kouga Hachirou.
And the Five Flowers of Iga's leader, Iga Hibiki.
Why have you done this?
To demonstrate our power to you.
And also...
Out of our desire that your mother survive.
You would even save my mother?
I don't like pain...
I wonder if it hurts when you die.
I don't... like pain.
I don't—
Don't think about it too much.
But...
For Hachirou's sake...
You could die?
Yeah.
Same as you, Hachisu.
You'd die for Hibiki.
For Hibiki? No, I wouldn't.
For us.
Because we need Hibiki and Hachirou's magic.
We need their blood.
Utsutsu... Utsutsu!
What are you doing?
The sky. Look at the sky!
The sky? What about the sky?
Why can't you see it?
Are your eye sockets empty?!
Shut up!
My eye sockets aren't the empty ones.
They're here.
My eyes... Really?
Preview
Neirichiou, one of the Joujinshuu.
His skill mocks and overwhelms the young children.
And in the face of Joujin, will Hachirou's power lose its meaning?
The Cherry Blossoms Run Mad