In the chaotic Sengoku period, most warlords who failed to grasp the changing times sought victory only through visible powers like "martial valor" or "troop numbers." However, a few visionary leaders began to find value in "intelligence," and it was these men who rose to prominence.

  Yet, even in this era, Kanbe'e was already dominating the battlefield on an entirely different dimension. The source of his strength lay not just in personal resourcefulness, but in the "intelligence network" he had constructed—a web that grew more organized with each passing day.

  For Kanbe'e, information was "live ammunition," refined and deployed by his own hand to strike the enemy’s vitals with absolute certainty.

  Nobunaga Oda had also been quick to realize the importance of intelligence. Its symbol was the "Battle of Okehazama" in 1560.

  Against the overwhelming forces of Yoshimoto Imagawa, Nobunaga secured victory with only a small band of men because someone brought him the decisive report: Yoshimoto was resting at Okehazama. That man was Masatsuna Yanada.

  After the battle, Nobunaga valued Masatsuna, the informant, higher than Shinsuke Mori or Koheita Hattori, the men who actually took Yoshimoto's head.

  The fact that Nobunaga rewarded him with Kutsukake Castle in Mikawa Province and a fief of 3,000 kan overturned the common sense of the samurai at the time. Nobunaga understood that "knowing the enemy's location" was worth more than moving ten thousand soldiers.

  However, Nobunaga's evaluation was strictly for information as a "point" to seize an opportunity. Masatsuna’s success was largely a "lucky strike," a combination of personal devotion and coincidence. One could say Nobunaga himself was merely waiting for such luck to strike.

  The catalyst for Kanbe'e’s intelligence organization to be established as a true "system" was his greatest tragedy: his imprisonment at Arioka Castle.

  What drove Kanbe'e to the brink during this captivity—more than the physical pain—was the "disappearance of the world" caused by the total lack of external information. Nobunaga’s distrust, the safety of his family, the ever-shifting tides of war—this severance from information instilled in him a terror, as if his very existence were dissolving into the darkness. At that moment, Kanbe'e understood it in his very marrow:

  "For a warlord to leave his fate to the uncertainty of information is equivalent to death. When I cannot move, I need eyes that can see through the world."

  Simultaneously, while their lord was absent, loyal vassals like Zensuke Kuriyama independently deployed spies, confirmed Kanbe'e’s survival, and watched for a chance to rescue him. This movement of "subordinates who function even without their lord" gave Kanbe'e a revolutionary inspiration.

  "Rather than relying on the flash of genius from a single person, an 'organization' that automatically gathers, analyzes, and verifies information will be the greatest weapon to conquer this chaotic world."

  The organization Kanbe'e built upon his return was a multi-layered structure of several hundred people—an extraordinary scale for the time. It was as if Kanbe'e had personally constructed "MI6," the intelligence agency known from 007.

  Kanbe'e transformed information from a "product of coincidence" into a "manageable resource."

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  At the time, the one seeking a similar organization was likely Masanobu Honda, the right-hand man of Ieyasu Tokugawa. However, Masanobu sought to build a "Domestic Security Network (FBI-type)" to monitor unrest within the domain and prevent internal betrayal—a precursor to the Shogunate's secret police (Onmitsu).

  Furthermore, the "Kawanami-shu" led by Koroku Hachisuka, Hideyoshi's oldest veteran, could be called a "Special Operations Group (Green Beret-type)," specializing in sabotage and road construction in enemy territory.

  In contrast, what Kanbe'e created was an aggressive "Strategic Intelligence Agency (CIA/MI6-type)" designed to infiltrate deep into the heart of enemy nations, manipulate public opinion, and collapse the enemy from within.

  At the apex stood an elite corps of vassals who would later be known as the "Twenty-Four Generals of Kuroda." They were not merely brave warriors, but "Intelligence Analysts" who commanded the "Kusa" (ninja) in the field and scrutinized inconsistencies in incoming data.

  Additionally, fifty to a hundred "Elite Field Agents" disguised as merchants or monks were embedded in Kyoto, Azuchi, Osaka, and even the Mori headquarters. They didn't just move when something happened; they reported on the "ordinary daily life where nothing happened," serving as high-sensitivity sensors to detect the "noise" of an anomaly at the earliest possible stage.

  In every land they visited, they organized nobushi (bandit-warriors) and local gentry through money and concessions. Their numbers reached several hundred, sometimes exceeding a thousand. Stationed along the highways, they served as "Relay Points" for information.

  By 1582, as Hideyoshi’s strategist in Bicchu, Kanbe'e was already surrounded by a "web of information" that exceeded Nobunaga’s imagination.

  Even while on the front lines in Bicchu, Kanbe'e grasped the movements in Kyoto, Azuchi, Shikoku, and Kyushu at a speed near real-time. This network would eventually merge with Christian networks, growing into a giant monster that absorbed even the wisdom of foreign lands across the sea.

  While Nobunaga seized his chance at Okehazama by waiting for a report from a "single person" like Masatsuna Yanada, Kanbe'e, by casting a net of hundreds, created a state where information would "get caught in the net on its own."

  While Nobunaga, Takeda, and Mori each had excellent intelligence organizations, they were ultimately inward-looking "defensive" organizations meant to protect their own territories and monitor their vassals.

  Kanbe'e’s organization, however, held "aggressiveness"—the intent to devour the enemy from the inside—at its core from beginning to end.

  The terror of this web lay in its transmission speed. Rather than relying on express messengers, hundreds of "shadows" stationed along the highways connected information through signal fires, hand flags, or something akin to a bucket brigade at close range, delivering news to Bicchu at speeds exceeding physical limits.

  While Nobunaga utilized information "passively," Kanbe'e dominated it "actively," designing the war situation itself. What surpassed Nobunaga was not military might, but this "resolution of information" and "systematization of transmission."

  The decisive reason Kanbe'e’s organization eclipsed Nobunaga’s was his "management philosophy."

  To Nobunaga, informants were merely collaborators bound by rewards; to Masanobu Honda, ninjas were tools for surveillance.

  Kanbe'e, on the other hand, incorporated his ninjas as "family" and "vassals." If they performed well, he promoted them to samurai status and welcomed them into the shield of his elite vassal corps. This "sense of belonging to the organization" minimized the risks of "double agents" and "false reporting"—the greatest concerns in undercover operations.

  It was this overwhelming organizational power that was driving the "Demon King" into a corner beneath the surface.

  In this ultimate underground organization, the pieces were now set: Mitsuhide Akechi as the "bullet," Toshimitsu Saito as the "gunpowder," and Fujitaka Hosokawa as the "trigger."

  All that remained was how to suppress the Mori whom he now faced, and the grand design for the "Great Chugoku Return"—the shortest path to discard the bullet and gunpowder (in other words, the "lizard's tail" used and cut off) and sprint onto the center stage of the realm.

  (Hanbe'e... We, the "Two Be'es," finally have the system in place to strike down the Demon King. I shall end this chaotic age and create a world illuminated by the sun that is Lord Hideyoshi...)

  Kanbe'e traced his fingers along his kontatsu (rosary), speaking to the Hanbe'e who still lived on within his heart.

  Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).