April 21, 11th Year of Tensho. Morning.
Morimasa Sakuma was savoring the lingering triumph of capturing the Shizugatake fortress and slaying Kiyohide Nakagawa when an unbelievable tremor reached his ears. It was a sound not of this world—the thunderous rhythmic pounding of tens of thousands of hooves carving into the earth, shaking the very mountains.
When Morimasa looked toward the southern sky from his watchtower, a vision of despair unfolded. Along the pitch-black mountain paths, countless torches prepared by Kanbe swept forward like a great fire dragon. Under the morning sun, the golden "Sennari Hyotan" (Thousand Gourds) banner charged with a divine speed that defied all physical limits.
"Impossible... Hideyoshi should have been in Ogaki! Thirteen ri (approximately 50km) in less than half a day...!?"
Morimasa’s cry became the collective shiver of the entire Shibata army. Following the "The Chugoku Great Retreat", one of the most remarkable forced marches in military history was about to swallow them whole.
From horseback, Kanbe'e gazed coldly at the chaos-stricken Shibata forces. Though the 15,000 soldiers had surpassed their physical limits during the extreme march, they had been transformed into berserkers who feared no death by the searing intensity of Hideyoshi, who led from the front, roaring:
"Avenge Kiyohide! Spare no life!"
"Kanbe'e , look! Morimasa has lost his nerve! Kiyohide, I’ve kept you waiting. Now, I shall hold your memorial service in grand style—with the heads of the Katsuie!"
Hideyoshi laughed with bloodshot eyes, swinging his golden war fan high toward the heavens.
"All forces, charge! Scatter them all the way to Echizen! Leave not a single soldier standing!"
At Hideyoshi’s command, the 15,000—who should have been exhausted—fell upon the Shibata army with the force of the shattering earth. Here, Kanbe'e unleashed the young warriors whom Hideyoshi had groomed as the "Blades of a New Era." These were the elite under Hideyoshi’s direct command: Masanori Fukushima, Kiyomasa Kato, and others who would later carve their names into history as the "Seven Spears of Shizugatake."
Masanori Fukushima competed for the first spear with a roar, violently tearing through the throat of the enemy formation. Kiyomasa Kato wielded his prized long spear, knocking the finest warriors of the Shibata house from their horses one after another.
Kanbe'e observed their fighting style with clinical detachment. The youth and reckless courage they radiated fit perfectly into the "Domination through Speed" tactic he had designed. To Kanbe'e, they were not mere heroes; they were sharpened "Pieces" meant to overwrite the old ways of Bushido. Hideyoshi manipulated them with emotion, while Kanbe'e positioned them on the board. This perfect complicity began to collapse the Shibata army.
Kanbe'e took his position on a hill, stepping back from the din of battle to overlook the board calmly. While the overwhelming "Light" emitted by Hideyoshi blinded the enemy, Kanbe'e became the "Shadow," beginning the final task of severing the bonds Katsuie relied upon most. The target was Toshiie Maeda, the core of the Shibata army and Katsuie’s closest friend.
Hideyoshi wrote a mud-caked letter of friendship to Toshiie, pleading, "Let us fight together once more." To it, Kanbe'e attached a cold, analytical report stating, "Should you perish with Shibata, the Maeda clan will be erased from history." Hideyoshi blocked the path of retreat with "Emotion," and Kanbe'e delivered the coup de grace with "Logic." This inescapable pincer attack pierced the most fragile part of Toshiie’s heart.
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Toshiie, who had been hesitating at the center of the battlefield with 5,000 troops, finally made his decision. Without clashing a single sword, he suddenly withdrew from the front line and began retreating to his own territory.
"Toshiie! Even you...!? Even you have sold your soul to Hideyoshi!?"
From the main camp, Katsuie Shibata looked to the sky and let out a cry like spitting blood. The beautiful illusion of the "Bonds of Samurai" he believed in had crumbled before the cold reality of "Utility and Lineage" prepared by Kanbe'e. The despair Katsuie felt as he watched the back of his trusted friend recede was beyond words.
Deprived of support, the Shibata army collapsed like a castle of sand. The force of 30,000 dispersed in an instant, fleeing north as a swarm of stragglers. Katsuie had no choice but to flee with a few retainers, covered in the mud of melting snow. Between Hideyoshi crushing enemy morale with martial might and Kanbe'e cutting off their retreat with intrigue, the old giant Katsuie had no means of resistance.
April 24.
The campfires of Hideyoshi’s army, which had not ceased their pursuit, surrounded Kitanosho Castle in multiple layers. The night sky turned an eerie vermilion as the flames engulfing the castle scorched the heavens.
Inside, Katsuie faced his legal wife, Ichi. The sister of Nobunaga and feared as the most beautiful woman of the Warring States period, Ichi’s eyes held not a single cloud of doubt in their nobility, even in the face of death.
"Ichi. Take our three daughters and leave the castle. Even Hideyoshi will not kill the sister of our late Lord... Live, and keep the Oda bloodline alive. This is my final request..."
To Katsuie’s earnest plea, Ichi shook her head quietly but firmly.
"I am a woman of the Oda. When the Azai castle fell long ago, I survived by my brother’s command, enduring the shame. But there will be no second time. To uphold the pride of the wife of Katsuie Shibata is my destiny... I shall accompany you to the end."
Hearing those words, Katsuie laughed grandly through his tears.
"Is that so... Then let us show them a passing that would not shame us even before our late Lord. Everyone, come here! This is our final banquet before the journey to the afterlife!"
Katsuie shared sake with his few remaining retainers and danced the Kowaka-mai, "Atsumori." The dance loved by Nobunaga was now performed by his most loyal vassal. With fire already set to the lower levels and the sound of pillars bursting amidst rising smoke, the banquet radiated a sublime beauty. Retainers watched their lord's dance through tears, one by one slicing open their own abdomens. Katsuie left his death poem:
A dream on a summer night, fleeting
Carry the name I leave behind
Above the clouds
O mountain cuckoo.
Eventually, Katsuie took Ichi’s hand, and they pierced each other deeply. The glory of the former head elder of the Oda house vanished into the black smoke rising into the Hokuriku night sky, along with the peerless beauty of his wife.
The next morning, standing beside Hideyoshi at the scorched castle gates, Kanbe'e stared expressionless at the rising smoke. The surviving daughters of Ichi—Chacha, Hatsue, and Go—were brought forward by soldiers. At the sight of the eldest daughter Chacha’s eyes, Kanbe'e was lost for words.
What dwelt in the young girl’s eyes was not sadness, but a deep hatred that seemed to have crawled up from the bottom of hell. It was an inextinguishable flame of "Curse" toward the man named Hideyoshi, who had stolen her father, Azai Nagamasa, and driven her mother to death.
"My Lord... with this, all the dregs of the old era have been burned away."
Kanbe'e muttered coldly, as if to shake off an ominous premonition.
Hideyoshi looked upon the rescued girls with eyes of affection, but Kanbe'e felt a bad premonition he could not wipe away. Eventually, this girl he rescued, Chacha, would become Hideyoshi’s most beloved concubine as "Yodo", and would become the "Poison" that would destroy the House of Toyotomi from its very roots...
The Hokuriku sky was finally beginning to hold the light of spring. The snow had vanished, and new buds were sprouting from the soil. But what that soft light illuminated was the lonely figure of the new ruler of the land, Hideyoshi, and the monster in his shadow, Kanbe'e, coldly staring at the next board.
Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).
