“You have a way into the castle?” Both Sou’s voice and face were full of disbelief.

“Yes, sir.”

“How?”

Kazu began making a clearing in the dirt at Sou’s feet. “Ever since I was a child I’ve been getting in and out of difficult places. Those with the biggest defenses tend to have things worth protecting, and things worth protecting means things worth money.” He looked up at Sou and smiled meekly. “Anyway… I’ve been inspecting the castle defenses. The castle itself is protected extremely well on three sides.” He grabbed a stick and drew three lines in the dirt, the front and side walls of the castle.

“The main keep is here.” He drew a smaller square slightly closer to the right wall than the left. “I can’t tell until we get in, but there are likely storehouses here,” he drew a few more squares, “and the daimyo’s residence either here or here.” Kazu marked two Xs on the map. “The residence isn’t important. Not unless you want me to also set that on fire, maybe?” Kazu stopped talking and looked expectantly at Sou. Sou blinked but said nothing. He stared at the smaller man, arms crossed, expression unreadable. Kazu coughed to mask the awkward silence.

“Okay, anyway, what I’m looking for is the storehouses and the gates. Again, we can’t tell from the outside, but once we’re inside we should be able to create a diversion, the Wada men themselves will open the inner gates to come see what’s happening, and we can head to the outer gate and let everyone in.”

Another silence followed before Sou finally spoke.

“This is all well and good, but you still haven’t explained to me how you’re going to get into the castle.”

“Yes, right, that!” Kazu drew two lines in the dirt, curving away from the castle walls. “So the castle sits here, at the top of the mountain. These three walls have a clear view of anything coming, trying to climb them is suicide. But here,” Kazu drew dashes in the dirt to signify the back wall, “this wall is undefended.”

“Undefended?”

“There’s no way to reach it so they never built defenses for it. The castle grounds sit right at the edge of a cliff. The forests leading up to the cliff are too dense for any army to get through, the cliffs too high for any army to climb. It’s the best natural defense the mountain has to offer. No army can climb it…”

“… but a single man can.” Sou finished his sentence for him. Kazu smiled and stood up.

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Sou pondered his words for a minute. “So, you want to navigate this impassable forest, scale the cliffside, mount the castle’s rear wall, all without an army or siege gear, and open the gates from the inside for us, is that correct?”

“Yes sir.”

Sou looked up at Riko, standing silently behind him. “What do you think?”

She was looking at the diagram in the dirt. “As Kazu says, my lord, there’s no way to penetrate the castle walls from the front or sides. There’s also no way for an army to mount an attack from the rear. I mean, I’m not even sure a single man could do it. The castle was built here for a reason, it’s nature’s perfect barricade. You’ve got the raging waters of Aogame River at the foot of the mountain, dense forest covering a good deal of the mountain side, and then the cliff face itself that no sane man would try to climb.”

Kazu grinned again.

“But what other choice do we have?”

The grin grew larger.

“Can you do it, Kazu?” It wasn’t so much a question as asking confirmation of whether he’d really like to try this.

“Nothing in life is guaranteed, sir. But I believe this is not only our best shot, but our only shot, and if anyone here can do it, it’s me. And besides, if I fail, what do you have to lose? I’m just a lowly foot soldier, after all.”

Sou gave a short laugh. Kazu knew he would be unable to refuse him with that.

“How many men do you need for this mission to succeed?”

“Two, maybe three, sir. Not including myself. Any more and we’re likely to get noticed and take more time. Any less and we won’t be able to pull the plan off.”

“You realise that if you don’t make it and you die on that mountainside, or if you do make it and you get captured inside the city walls, there’s nothing I can do for you, right? You’ll die without a burial, or you’ll be tortured until they rip every single little thing they want to know out of you.”

Kazu swallowed visibly. “Yes sir. I’ve considered that to be a possibility. But better to die in glory with a name the people will remember than to run home with your tail between your legs.”

Sou considered him for a moment. Kazu shifted slightly, his master’s eyes seeming to burn a hole into his face. He unconsciously brushed an imaginary something off his cheek.

“How did you get that?”

“I’m sorry, what sir?”

“That.” Sou was pointing to his cheek. “Those nasty scratches on your face. They’re too big to be a lady’s claws.”

Kazu touched his own cheek. It was still tender, but he had otherwise forgotten it was there.

“A tanuki, sir.”

“A tanuki?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I assume you won?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And why were you fighting with a tanuki?”

Kazu’s eyes flicked to Riko. “I was travelling with a group of… men.”

“Bandits, you mean?” Riko clarified for him.

Kazu blinked a few times and cleared his throat. Sou continued to look at him as though Riko had said nothing. Kazu continued.

“It attacked us. Pretended to be us, and then killed everyone until only I was left. I spent a few days tracking it in the woods and when I finally found it, it attacked. Gave me this.”

“And did you kill it?”

“Yes sir, I did.”

Sou slowly stood up, pain visible on his face. He walked over to Kazu and put a hand on his shoulder. Kazu felt so tiny next to the much larger man, and looked up uncertainly at him.

“Tomorrow night’s a full moon. You have until then to prepare.”