We see the Kairoushuu searching a burning building, facing off with several Fuuma shinobi. One Kairoushuu says "you'd be a lot better off answering our questions"; another silently points a gloved hand at a Fuuma fighter,
who drops dead on the spot. Hey, says the first Ash Wolf irritably, if you kill them they can't answer us. The gloved one points at the wall ahead;
its bookcase pivots to show a hidden door. Pretty cliche', sniffs the first one, but if they escaped outside they're sure to have that with them.
We see three Fuuma running across a bridge, saying that Kotarou-dono must be contacted at once, and that someone's
already gone to the back of the building for the scroll. One of the Kairoushuu hears them, lands on the bridge and defeats all three
with a knife-toed boot (we can tell by his voice that he's the first one we heard speaking inside), then spots a
Fuuma runner clutching a scroll and chases him down. The Ash Wolf is a lanky guy with blond spiky hair, a broad bandana, a lot of earrings and a leather jacket, and just to save time I'll tell you now that his name is Kazuhiko Yukimi.
He grins at the young ninja. Yo, nice work, he says, leveling a pistol at him.
We see the political-commentator-ninja-boss, Hattori, riding in a limo with his aide Ichiki. Is it really all right to leave the shinrabanshou alone, she asks him, and he says yes: it's not in any state
to be activated yet, and we have more important concerns for the moment.
And the Fuuma situation? --I've already dispatched a team of five to handle that, he tells her. Only five?--Will that be
enough? It will, he says, since one of them is the Kira user.
[It's really hard not to giggle at this use of "Kira" but we will refrain.] --Ichiki agrees. Hattori says in satisfaction
that they've established strong ties with government agencies and can begin their scheme in earnest, and she says
"that's why we need the Fuuma scroll, right?" Exactly, says Hattori.
Yukimi pockets the scroll and calls out "Yoite, we're heading back now"--just as Team Banten charges into their midst, led by a furious Raimei.
Four of them--no, only three, notes Yukimi in amusement, as Raimei, Kouichi and Thobari engage the Ash Wolves in combat while Miharu stands back. As Yukimi watches the fight, the young Fuuma takes advantage of his distraction to grab the scroll and leap away.
The Ash Wolf sighs in exasperation --"Ahh, yare..."--and calls out to the unseen Yoite, saying "I'll leave the one
who just got away to you".
And we get our first good look at the gloved Ash Wolf as he leaps out of the trees and sails an easy hundred feet in one long glide: a tall, bone-thin kid, dressed in a long belted coat and cap, with piercing, indigo-blue eyes. As he passes over Miharu he turns very deliberately to look down at him, and
Miharu stares back, transfixed.
You're serious?-it's that kid staring into space, right? --Yukimi scratches his head. This mission is really getting troublesome...Raimei and Thobari agree that Kotarou-dono picked a seriously bad time to be away from the village,
Raimei saying that this couldn't've happened if he'd been here--that scroll is the village's soul, she adds grimly. I'll get it back!--but Thobari blocks her way. You too must be able to feel his power, he says, watching the motionless Yoite. Taking his charges by the shoulder, he steers them around and they run for it.
Showing your back to the enemy is not the way of the samurai!--cries Raimei, but Thobari tells her they never should have been
able to get in here to begin with---the one in the hat is the monster they were warned of.
Even as he speaks, Yoite glides over their heads and lands in front of them.
He stretches out his arm to point at them, and Thobari blocks him with a release jutsu, then tells Raimei and Kouichi to get Miharu away from here.
They make a run for it, dodging through the other four Ash Wolves as they block the road; Raimei sends Kouichi on
and turns back, drawing her blade. She kills two men easily, and Yukimi chuckles.
Pretty cool, little miss, he says; a ninja playing samurai with a long piece like that? --
It's not pretending! I am a samurai! she snaps. --Samurai, huh? come to think of it, we have one of those too.
Raimei gasps: Where is he? she demands. Tell me! Yukimi grins nastily: do you two know each other? He draws and fires,
but she charges him in a fury, swinging.
Kouichi defeats the last Ash Wolf with a cool flying shuriken attack just as Raimei comes running up; she says admiringly
that for someone who looks so kind, Kouichi is a tough fighter. A shinobi fights with his life, he replies, and they square off to protect Miharu as Yukimi appears.
[Just to mention it: by this point in the manga, Miharu is already effortlessly using fancy shinobi techniques. He's very much reined-in in the anime.]
The Ash Wolf sighs and scratches his head. This mission never included capturing the keeper of the technique, he says, and it's not my policy to do more than necessary, so let's call this a draw.
What's your name?--calls Raimei after him, in true samurai style. You should let him go, Kouichi says.
Good thinking, megane-kun ("glasses kid"="four-eyes"), calls back Yukimi; I'll give you my name if we meet again.
He lands in the street and calls out: Yoite, we're in no hurry to capture the shinrabanshou, so come on and head out.
He folds his hands in a jutsu and with a blast is gone.
Miharu's worried about Kumohira-sensei, but Raimei says their priority is to keep Miharu safe, and the kids run through the village, only to find Thobari and Yoite fighting on a rooftop. Miharu halts, but Thobari yells for him to stay back--
this is a user of the forbidden technique Kira ["Kira kinjutsu", literally]. Raimei and Kouichi gasp in shock, but Miharu
runs straight for the building.
Thobari is thinking: generally, all things make use of the flow of ki, similar to the breathing techniques of China
[what we usually call hakkei in this neck of the Web...]. One can shoot an opponent with one's own ki [Thobari actually does use the word "hakkei" here] and destroy that person's internal organs. The fired ki is a piece of the user's life force: one's own life.--
Yoite points, and Thobari reels back, trying to raise power for a release jutsu while a bloodstain appears on his white shirt, spreading fast. The assassin gestures, and Thobari is thrown off the roof, landing hard in a rattle of porcelain tiles as the kids race up.
Kouichi hurls his shuriken at the airborne Yoite, who kicks it away, lands and points at the albino kid's arm, which twists
grotesquely, snapping and crunching as he howls in pain. Thobari yells for him to use a release, but Yoite crooks his finger; the arm wrenches out of the socket and Aizawa-kun passes out.
Yoite easily avoids Raimei's sword--startling her with his speed--and sends her into a stone wall with a straight-legged
kick, then dodges the kunai dagger Miharu throws, and gazes at him with alert curiosity. He points at Miharu, but it just
throws him sprawling [either he has quite fine-tuned control, or the shinrabanshou deflects the blast].
Thobari is infuriated, and staggers to his feet, only to have Yoite's finger leveled directly at his head--but Yoite
is only watching Miharu, who rises slowly, shielding one eye with his hand. I'm the only one you want, right? Let go
of my teacher, cries out Miharu. No one else is involved in this, so what do you want?
I'll go to Iga or wherever--
Thobari turns on him angrily, telling him that no matter what the sacrifice, he won't hand the keeper of the hijutsu over to anyone. How can Miharu say they aren't involved? Does he really think they have nothing to contribute? Would he be better off if they'd done nothing? Blood pours from his gut wound into the street.
I made a contract to never let you die, he rasps, so get out of here and meet with Fuuma-dono, no matter what! --Miharu stands frozen in anguish. Move, Rokujou!--shouts Thobari, and Yoite points at him, and he doubles over in agony, trying desperately to form a release gesture. Stop it, says Miharu, and a second later he screams it,
so loudly the walls of the street shake--
and a huge, red, striped tiger-cat crashes out of a building, and sends Yoite flying with one swipe of a massive taloned paw.
The cat lands beside Miharu. Well, well, it says calmly, I didn't think my mist jutsu would be dissolved while I was gone so short a time. Its form wavers and changes,
becoming human: a handsome fellow in gi, hakama and glasses, a white bow in his long black hair. We saw him on the back of Miharu's book: Kotarou Fuuma-dono, home at last.
He smiles coolly at the Ash Wolf assassin, who is on his feet and holding him with a resentful indigo stare. You've made rather a mess of my garden, haven't you?--he says...
...go on to next episode.
..go back to Episode Guide mainpage.