Matsunaga-jō was guarded well. It had huge walls of stone and a large moat surrounding it. It was situated at the bottom of the mountain, guarding a mountain pass that cut through several territories and exited in a forest close to Oda's lands. Its battlements were guarded by hundreds of warriors that patrolled constantly and a second wall encircled the inner palace, adding an extra barrier for invaders to get past.

However, it was a mountain that was surrounded by forest. If I could get an army into the forest without being spotted and then march them through the forest until they were near the edge, but not visible, that would mean that I could attack at any time and none of the soldiers at Matsunaga-jō would see it coming.

There was no way to accomplish this without splitting the army up, though, and taking different paths each time through the forest to avoid making a solid path. When the army met up, they would take the last, shorter part of the journey together and stop before anyone could see this. People were bound to notice, of course, but most of those who did were only peasants, and if we acted quickly enough those who did report back to Setsuga would be too late.

Sitting down on a tree stump, I began to lay out my plans in my mind. They had to be perfect or the generals wouldn't accept them. I could make them do it, but I didn't want to force them to do something they didn't want to do. A soldier who didn't want to fight was a soldier who was going to die when the battles came and I wasn't about to let that happen.

There was a forest all around us. If we traveled far enough into the middle that it wouldn't be noticed, we could knock down trees and use them to create makeshift bridges to go over the moat. Then there was the wall. We had to make hundreds of ladders if we wanted to get over it, but those carrying ladders couldn't carry anything to block the archers' arrows. The bridges and ladders would be the main target in the first place, which meant they needed to be guarded. So we would need bridges that could be carried and people to guard the bridges with shields, but those carrying ladders would be too easy to shoot down, even guarded by other shields, so they would have to be lined up behind the bridge where they would have more cover from above. If the bridges were made right, there could be a longer area in the back to hide those carrying ladders from the arrows coming down. The army would follow behind, everyone with their own shield, at least until they got to the wall.

The best warriors would have to be handpicked to carry the ladders and be the first ones up, that way they could guard the ladder, and I planned to go up first with them. If we could get an initial hundred men up the ladder relatively unharmed and keep the ladders from being knocked down then the rest of the army could follow behind.

After the first people come up the ladder, a squad of one hundred would follow after with the special task to take out the archers. Once the archers were out of the picture, our archers could begin to shoot fire arrows at the castle without any threat of return fire. A torch would be thrown off of the castle to signal the archers to start shooting.

About two hundred would stand back and shoot at the castle from the ground, leaving roughly one thousand nine hundred men attacking the castle. When the ladders were secured, I would leave and find Setsuga. If I could take her out then the clan would have no one to lead them. Then all that would be left would be to either convince the Matsunaga clan to stop fighting or finish the battle.

***

Three weeks past preparing for the attack. It was longer than I would have liked, but we weren't attacked, so getting in without being seen must have worked. On the last day before the battle, Ryo pulled me aside. "Daimyo Naoki, there's a rider approaching," he said. "One of the scouts spotted them from his post."

"Is the rider friend or foe?" I asked, frowning. Is this going to ruin everything?

As much as I hated to admit it, I was impatient. I didn't want to wait for Kyou to back me up in this attack and I hadn't wanted to wait for the bridges and ladders to be built either. The anger inside me built every time I remembered what had happened to those innocents at the outpost and though my mind kept telling me to slow down and take things the smart way, my heart was telling me that if someone didn't take Oda out soon, more innocents would die.

"We don't know," Ryo said.

"I'll ride out to meet them," I said, moving towards my new horse.

"Īe! You can't just ride out there! What if they try to kill you?" Ryo protested, moving with me. "I'll send Takeo-kun out to meet them."

"Īe, Ryo-kun. I can protect myself," I said, putting out a hand to stop him and mounting my horse. "Keep everyone in line while I'm gone."

***

The rider wasn't a man. Her hair was long and dark, blowing behind her in the breeze that rustled through the trees. When she rode up to me, I could see her striking brown eyes. They were deep and they held a sense of purpose and knowledge. I recognized the edge of ninja and the dark blue kimono that would allow her to blend in with the shadows. She halted her horse in front of mine. "I'm here to see Naoki-kun. Where might I find him?"

"Why?" I asked, watching her.

"I bring a message. I will give it to no other," her tone was cool and serious. She wasn't playing any games.

"I am Naoki. What is your name and what is your message?"

She looked me over for a moment before responding. "My name is Tatsu and I bring news of the ninjas. They cannot help you. Oda has attacked the Iga clan and forced us to flee into the mountains. Many were killed and we are just now beginning to regroup. They sent me to aid you in any way I can."

My heart sunk. Oda had attacked again, this time attacking a ninja clan, one of the only places I had ever truly belonged. He had struck those that I considered family and I wasn't going to let that slide. It just made it that much more important to kill him before he could hurt anyone else who didn't deserve it.

"Come back to our camp. You can help in the battle tomorrow."

***

The army moved at the earliest hour possible before the sun was even up. The scouts all along the wall set up the alarm as the bridges were carried across the field, guarded by a shield wall. Arrows rained down from the wall and some landed on the bridge covering me.

Adrenaline and a rush of euphoria swept through me as I lifted my ladder higher and picked up the pace as much as I could without running into the bridge. The bridges thunked into place across the moat and I took off, running across it and setting my ladder against the wall. As soon as it was in place I began climbing, ignoring the arrows whizzing by and focusing on each new rung as I climbed higher.

Just as I neared the top, the ladder began to tip backward. When I looked up, a soldier was staring at me grimly, pushing the ladder over. I was close enough to the top that I could make it if I jumped, but if this ladder fell it would cause the army to take even longer to reach the top and put others in danger for longer amounts of time.

With a yell, I pushed off of the ladder just as it fell backward and caught a rung with my foot as I grabbed the wall. Then I pushed the ladder back into place and vaulted myself up and over, smashing my gauntleted hand into the samurai's face. He fell with a cry of pain that was barely audible over the sounds of battle. Other samurai were making it up and over already and ladders were still landing. So far, everything was going as planned.

One of the soldiers attacked me and I took him out with a shuriken before he could get too close. Several others approached and I used a similar method, but I couldn't retrieve the weapons, so I was left fighting the rest of them with my katana.

The first one came at me with a side sweep and I blocked it, kicking him in the stomach as our swords collided and stabbing him through the stomach. He fell and was replaced by yet another enemy whose sword was already swinging.

Ducking, I kicked his knee, causing him to collapse to the side. Then I stabbed him and moved on to the next person. Things blurred together as I fought, and more soldiers came up the ladder behind me, joining the fight.

At some point, fire arrows began to rain down around us, so I figured the archers must have been taken out. They hit with loud bangs that sounded over the noise of the battle. Anyone nearby was killed, which was the downside to the fire arrows, but when they hit further back, they didn't get anyone from the Hojo clan.

Tatsu fought her way toward me, letting someone else take her position guarding the ladder. "What now?" she yelled.

"Follow me," I replied. "I'm going to end this."