Mount Hiei, a mountain which was located between Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, had become the next destination for Iwamura Kumiko. Mount Hiei was the ring of mountains which held the monastery of Enryaku-ji, a temple complex founded by the Japanese monk, Saicho.

Kumiko was consuming all her energy to climb up these walls of mountains to reach her next objective, which was the ruby of regeneration. As she was ascending the mountains, she observed the surroundings with the assistance of her keen eyesight and excellent hearing, something that Sensei Akio learned to know when Kumiko was first admitted to her preliminary training sessions during the selection phases of the competition that soon granted her the final spot in the seven-man team of youngsters.

After a long and exhausting period of thirty minutes, Kumiko gently exhaled a sigh of relief when her eyes finally managed to catch sight of her destination, the Buddhist temple of Enryaku-Ji. These iconic clusters of buildings have a history that dates back to the early eighth century. As a means of eliminating the rise of potential traitors, Enryaku-Ji was burned down to ashes during the final period of the 16th century by Oda Nobunaga. The reconstruction of the complex was later done after the government changed although it could never return to the days when it thrived at its best.

When she reached the temple, the first thing she saw was the quiet monks who were meditating with peaceful minds and hearts. The scene quieted Kumiko's heart, extinguishing the fatigue that was roaring inside her.

"Okay, I have reached. This is what Kento told me, the location of the Ruby. On the surface, there's no sign of a Kōga's presence here. I have to find out where this ninja is hiding. But it'd be impolite to barge in so I should better ask for permission from the Chief Monk."

With the hope of getting permission, Kumiko entered the temple and started looking for the chief Monk. Later she was guided by one of the chief monk's disciples towards their master. The chief Monk was delighted to see a young girl like Kumiko in the Enryaku-Ji temple.

"Oh, young girl! Welcome to the Temple of Enryaku-Ji," The Chief Monk warmly welcomed Kumiko.

"Thank you so much, Chief Monk. I am Kumiko. Iwamura Kumiko."

"Iwamura Kumiko huh? My my, aren't you one of the lucky teens who got selected to work for the shogunate?"

"Yes," She said. "I was the last one to be selected. I am quite honoured by the fact that you know me well, Chief Monk."

"Don't be surprised, Kumiko. Ever since that day, you have been the talk of the town. The way you present yourself and your kind words have only managed to make your name among the people a good one. The Hattori military general's children must be really lucky to have a companion like you by their side."

"Thank you for your kind words, yours venerable."

"By the way, since you are here would you like to accompany me and my disciples in a brief session of Zen meditation?"

She had no option but to refuse the chief monk's offer.

"Thank you so much for the offer, Chief Monk. I would love to join your apprentices in Zen meditation. But unfortunately, I am on duty right now."

"Oh, that's a shame. But Kumiko, would you mind explaining to me about this situation?"

"Oh no...this is a problem. Kento said he wanted to keep as much information about the Star of Izanagi incident away from people. But if I were to come here and investigate, I have to reveal what's going on to the Chief Monk. I guess I have no choice..."

"Chief Monk, we are currently investigating the whereabouts of some Kōga ninjas hiding within this area. According to Sensei Akio's intel, one of them has managed to infiltrate this temple complex."

"Wait...a Kōga? Into our temple?"

"I am afraid so Chief Monk. I would like to investigate the complex to see if I can find any clues regarding this case."

"Yes, of course. You may do that Kumiko. I shouldn't be denying you from doing your duties. But...come to think of it..."

"What is it, Chief Monk?"

"I have been feeling suspicious about something since yesterday afternoon."

"And what could it be, Lord Chief Monk?"

"Well, it is like this. Since yesterday, I have been noticing how one of my disciples has been acting weird all of a sudden. One of my most well-behaved and collected monks, Matsuda's recent behaviour patterns have been contradictory to what I used to know. As their master, I tried to trace the reasons behind this strange phenomenon but only ended up drawing a blank. Believing in your skills and intuition, I am pretty confident in your ability to figure out what's going on. So go ahead. You may scan and check the entire premises to find anything related to this."

"It is my pleasure to help you, your eminence. Then I will progress to examine the Enryaku-Ji temple with your permission, Chief Monk."

"Ah before you go...Kumiko can you give me your hand?"

"Oh...sure..."

Accepting the Chief Monk's request, Kumiko directed her right hand into his space. The Chief Monk lightly grabbed her hand on the fingers and started muttering some words.

"What is he whispering about?" She thought. "Maybe some Mantra...or wait...it could be just some gatha..."

"There...you now have the blessing of us and the enlightened Lord Buddha himself. Go find that imposter and cleanse this place of evil."

Kumiko stood up and paid her gratitude to the chief monk by bowing, and slowly walked through the entrance of the main building towards the central shrine room to begin her examination. Inside was where most of the devotees worshipped while gazing at the gilded Buddha statue. She found it to be surprising as there weren't any prayers inside the shrine room at that time although some monks could be seen meditating inside. She immediately started scanning the entire shrine room without diverting the monks' attention.

"Need any assistance, Kumiko-chan?"

Kumiko's body almost went numb when she was called while examining the wall.

She turned around and saw the visual of a monk, waiting behind her. He was aged roughly twenty, dressed in the usual saffron-coloured kimono which was pleated with a long-sleeved black outer robe.

"Bhante….?"

The monk gave a quick reply.

"The chief monk sent me to assist you in your job. You are actually here to find the truth behind the paranormal activities that have been happening here recently. Am I right?"

"Mmmm...Not exactly. I am here to scout out the area to find any possible hints related to an intruder from Kōga."

"A Kōga? There's no way. There's no way that a Kōga had broken into this sacred temple. But…"

"What is it? Yours venerable.."

"Something came into my mind when you mentioned Kōgas. Well you see, Matsuda, a monk of my age has started behaving very strangely. His behaviour patterns have turned unrealistically peculiar over the past couple of days. "

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"His venerable chief monk also said the same thing to me, when I met him."

"He did? Okay, then that would make things easier. Come with me, I am pretty sure that you want to witness what we saw first-hand."

Then Kumiko was followed and escorted into the outer grounds where she got to see the young monks training in martial arts. There she was notified about the oddly behaving monk's presence as the priest who guided Kumiko into the training grounds pointed his hand towards the suspicious monk. She proceeded to spectate the training session along with the monk and it didn't take long for her to witness some oddities of the suspect.

"Hold on a second...those moves...it's hard to notice but they have something odd about it. It doesn't seem to synchronise with the rhythm of others who are training with him. It shouldn't be the case if these monks have been training for quite a while. I must say, their suspicions are valid."

Kumiko keenly observed the entire training session, lasting the next five minutes or so. When it ended, the fishy suspect tried heading towards one of the resting premises but was interrupted by Kumiko and the priest.

"Matsuda…."

"Oh, it's you, Oyama."

"How was the training?"

"Boring as always. I can't seem to stand this dumb training session. Huh...and who's this young lady accompanying you? Doesn't matter, I'm heading inside to take some rest. Don't disturb me. I am gonna go and get some rest."

Kumiko then asked the remaining questions but hardly any of them received an answer.

"Bhante, is there anything wrong?"

"Young girl, do not disturb me."

"But it is something important."

"I have already told you, I don't want to speak with girls like you."

Matsuda then rushed towards the resting premises, while Oyama tried to untie these strings of confusion he'd been entangled with.

"Kumiko, did you just see that? He's not the person I used to remember."

"Well, I'm afraid to say...I now don't have any doubts."

"What do you mean, Kumiko?"

"Yours Venerable, I might be sounding a little rude but may I follow him?"

"You may, Kumiko. But don't let him know that you are tailing him."

"Thank you, yours honourable. I won't."

After receiving instructions, Kumiko held back until Matsuda was about to be covered by the buildings, at which she started to tail. She utilised all of the stealthy and sneaky techniques she was taught to ensure he wasn't aware he was being followed. As she kept on following him, her suspicions only grew stronger each step that was driving her away into the shrubby, forest close to the boundaries of the temple. After she realised she was about to reach the outskirts, she started to slow down while taking cover behind trees and observing how Matsuda slowly got inside an abandoned small a small abandoned storeroom which was quite far away, though it was inside the temple complex.

"Ew…..what is this that stinking smell? It's awful."

Kumiko halted just outside the storeroom and took cover behind a pile of sticks, just when her nose grasped a horrible sensation. Determined, she slowly crawled right towards the tumbled-down old shack and noticed how the smell's intensity of the smell increased.

"My god! This smells like...rotting flesh. I've got to see what's going on."

She peeked through a hole in the wall. There, the shadowy contour of Matsuda could be seen, doing something.

"Wait…. Is that a….."

But what made her even more surprised was the weapon he was holding. It was a nagamaki, which was a weapon used by Shinobi and Samurai.

A nagamaki? How can this be possible? Wait...could it be….

A few seconds passed...and the shadowy figure's dominance was soon overpowered by a bright red brilliance that stunned Kumiko's sight, blocking her vision away. She was mystified and speechless….

Because she managed to find what she was looking for…

The Ruby of Regeneration.

In a flash, Kumiko's instincts sensed incoming danger and Kumiko tried to duck. Her upper arm was scratched by a Kunai, leaving a bleeding wound.

"He's fast."

Matsuda appeared in front of Kumiko, dressed in a dark shinobi outfit, holding a nagamaki with the third piece of the Star of Izanagi, tied around his neck. Kumiko became uneasy, making her open up taking her Iaido Katana out of her case.

"Thought you could spy on me?"

"Matsuda….is that…you.."

Kumiko was momentarily startled by Oyama's voice, who had arrived behind Kumiko. He stood there still, with both of his eyes and mouth wide open as a natural response of being unable to accept what his eyes were seeing.

"Your Venerable, why did you come here?" Kumiko asked.

"What is….this? Mat...Matsu...Matsuda!!! Don't tell me that you are…"

Matsuda chuckled while dragging his weapon. The uneasiness kept on increasing along with eagerness.

"Who are you, Matsuda?" Unable to keep up with the ever-growing unease, Kumiko pointed her katana. As she held her position for a moment, she noticed Matsuda's hands slithering into the Metsubishi smoke bombs inside his pouch, which he eventually unpacked and prepared. In a flash, he hurled them towards the floor, producing a screen of smoke in front of Kumiko and Oyama, and then disappearing Matsuda into the thin air.

"What did he do? Where is he?" Oyama was flabbergasted and couldn't get a clear sight of Matsuda. But this didn't affect Kumiko as she could sense the location of anyone in a small proximity thanks to her tracking skills.

Kumiko opened up her ninja pouch and grabbed one of the six kunai that she had brought to the mission. She slowly handed it over to Oyama while saying,

"Bhante, please take this."

"We are monks! Not ninjas. We don't know how to use this!"

"Just think of this as a knife," She replied.

Kumiko kept on distinguishing and studying her surroundings for the presence of the enemy. At first, her senses didn't catch anything. But she was alerted instantly when her ears reacted to the ringing noise of pure steel.

"Bhante, get down!"

As Kumiko spoke, Oyama crouched down, while Kumiko held her katana case vertically to repel away the kunai that was going to cause would have caused her certain death.

"Well, I must say, you do have some skill. Seems like you aren't gonna be a useless housewife."

"Don't be a coward. Show yourself."

Matsuda's response was another chuckle. The smoke created by the Metsubishi slowly started to disperse, allowing Matsuda's voice to properly echo faintly inside the air. Kumiko kept increasing her guard her guard up while this was happening.

Suddenly Oyama shouted while his hand was pointing towards a shadowy figure inside the dispersing smoke screen.

The figure then suddenly burst words out of his mouth, replicating Matsuda's voice.

"I may follow as you say, young lady. But I want to let you know about something."

Then the smoke screen disintegrated, revealing the real appearance of the shadowy figure.

A sudden shriek echoed in the surroundings.

"What?.... Who are you???" Oyama's tongue was twisting thanks to the surprise he received by seeing the real appearance of Matsuda.

"I am not Matsuda. But……" He paused. But Kumiko followed up and finished the sentence,

"Nomura. The Nagamaki steel tooth."