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.
Hibiki.
You're...
My name is Oboro.
No... Oboro is my mother's name.
That's impossible.
Hibiki...
You've grown up into a woman, yes?
Mother...
Mother! What's wrong?
In the past, I was asked to make the greatest decision of my life.
That was when I fell in love with a man and lost my path.
And in so doing, I lost many comrades...
It pains me so.
Kouga Gennosuke,
in this life or the next one,
I shall never forgive you.
Ever!
Mother!
Everyone Gathers at the Battlefield
You should wipe the blood off your body.
Yeah, my kunai are slipping...
I knew they'd be here.
What's wrong?
Are you scared?
What about you?
Yeah, I'm scared, too.
They'll gladly throw away their lives.
That isn't all I'm frightened of.
What frightens me is dying without having said anything.
Saying anything?
I have always loved you, Utsutsu.
I love you, Utsutsu!
What's wrong?! Come to your senses, Rui!
I know this battle is enough to nauseate you,
but this isn't your first war!
I am quite sane...
So I want to say it now.
This war is different from the others.
Today, one of us might die.
You already know we have Iga Hibiki.
You can't stop us from doing whatever we wish to her.
Don't you want to save her?
We will invite you.
Rinne Magoroku.
Do you think you've made a prisoner of me, as well?
Nonsense.
Yasha Itaru, you're going to regret
not using Destiny's Passage on me.
Still talking?
Disgraceful, Kouga Hachirou...
No, it's possible that your Destiny's Passage may be working a little.
I feel strange.
Perhaps I have the desire to take my own life.
It might be interesting to use my own technique on myself.
Impossible.
Have you gone mad, Kouga Hachirou?
Now, Destiny's Passage and Adamantite Tower...
And my Spearing Eye.
What will we have when they intertwine?
Don't take that mirror off your face.
You both will find yourselves in hell.
Rinne, this is...
Your Destiny's Passage may be working, after all.
No, this is an illusion.
He's bluffing!
For now, I will take my leave.
Kouga Hachirou,
we can take you to the Murakumo at any time.
Remember that.
Don't forget to take your medicine.
Always the bossy wife, aren't you?
Is that the only way you know how to use the word "wife"?
Otoshi-dono,
Senhime has asked us to take good care of you.
Please stay here as long as you like.
Thank you, I will.
By the way, who is that girl?
Girl?
Oh, she's been here for about six months.
The other girls are the same, more or less.
But it seems something awful happened to her on the way here.
What's that eyepatch for?
It seems she can actually see,
but she always wears it, and she never takes it off.
There must be some important reason,
so we don't force the issue.
I see.
By the way...
Yes?
I... have changed my name to Namenba.
It's a secret.
Eat up.
I see.
You're leaving on a journey again.
Yes. I've been here for six months.
I didn't mean to stay this long.
Are you...
returning to the battlefield?
Even I can tell.
I'm sorry.
I've no intention of asking for specifics.
But...
If you ever wish it, you may return here, at any time.
We'll all be waiting.
I'd love it if I could just stay here, with you and the others, Rui...
You want to stay here forever, right?
Nobody lives forever.
Everyone dies quickly.
They don't stay forever.
So it doesn't matter where you are.
You'll die soon, too.
Stop this blasphemy!
Those tears have put you through a lot, haven't they?
What will you do?
Come with me?
It won't be easy.
Or are you just tired of the whole world?
Decide now.
Whatever you decide, I'll make it happen.
I'll go.
I'll live with you... Namenba!
I saw what happened back there.
If you were taken to the Murakumo,
the leaders of both the Iga and Kouga ninjas would have been captured.
Hachirou, was what you said a bluff?
Or was it true?
Shichigen, was there ever a time when you wanted to kill yourself?
You can't say that there wasn't, right?
I'll say it again...
We can't lose both the Iga and Kouga leaders at once!
Shikibu!
Why is the water wheel moving?
I don't know...
And I can't see Gorone.
Gorone left? In his condition?
I think so...
There are signs that something left.
Tadanaga-sama.
If you're real, that's that.
You're useless to us.
A double, of course...
If this were the real Tadanaga-sama,
my job would now be over.
I'm afraid they all seem to be fakes.
You never learn...
Wasting ammo will just shorten your life.
We're going to fly.
We'll bet on that.
It must be a present left behind by that flabby guy.
Let's go!
You've come to get me... No.
You've come to kill me.
My fate was decided by a mere battle between ninjas.
If such insanity can be allowed to exist,
then I shall change my fate with insanity of my own.
Why would I hesitate?
But if the traitor who's trying to end Tokugawa's reign is his own younger brother,
does my brother still have some feeling of brotherly love within him?
Iemitsu-sama eagerly awaits his brother's return.
Is that what Tenkai told you to say?
I'm told Iemitsu-sama
has always felt guilty to have been given his position in such a way.
He understands how you feel,
and if you return now, he will forget the whole thing.
Enough!
You don't believe me?
Iemitsu-sama shared with me, a man of low station,
his happy memories of his childhood with you.
At a court banquet when you were five and he was seven,
you two argued over who would get some white and red sweets.
He gave in and took the white ones,
letting you take the red.
The whole room smiled.
The summer when you were twelve and he was fourteen,
you went on your first hunt with hawks.
The two of you drank boiled water, and he remembers the taste to this day.
He said this with tears in his eyes.
Preview
Prepare to die, Joujin.
My name is Tokugawa Tadanaga.
Only because the old flowers die can new ones bloom.
The Cherry Blossoms Must Fall
Will Asura fall, with the demon gods?