To the honorable clandestine council of the Iga-Ikki.

In our efforts to assist pretender to the Shogunate Tokugawa Ieyasu, an interesting and disturbing matter has come to our attention, which the bearer of this message will now elucidate for your consideration.

The nephew of our patron’s rival Toyotomi Hideyoshi has won a stunning victory.

This young Daimyo, called Toyatomi Hidetsugo, is reeling from the news that his uncle now has a legitimate heir (a child born this past winter). Scrambling for momentum, he has taken it upon himself to eliminate the red-scorpion bandits in the neighboring Omi province. In a battle of one hundred (red scorpions) against seventy retainers, Hidetsugo slaughtered the ronin bandits… To a man… And suffered not a single casualty. This triumph has all the lands talking, and thus Hideyoshi hesitates to eliminate his nephew and secure the rights of his new heir.

A number of atrocities have recently been attributed to Hidetsugo, earning him the nicknameKanpaku (‘life-killing’). The only agent we’ve been able to get near his fortified palace at Jurakudai says that this rising star has been keeping strange allies from the barbaric Ainu people of Hokkaido. Perhaps they have imparted upon the boy some great new secret of warfare which is responsible for this upset? Further, Hidetsugo has been dabbling in Noh theater, and word spreads that he is looking for female actors to complete his play, The Yellow Emperor. An eccentric request to be sure! But one our organization is delighted to fulfill… 

Even as this message is being read to you, honored council, the small pool of woman-operatives we have are being removed from their current assignments and sent to Hidetsugo; impersonating a lady-theater troupe.

Please excuse the haste which has been implemented in executing what this humble station perceives would have been your orders, and feel free to recall these agents and punish me if you must. But it is not for one as I to tell you, that a dynamic outsider, who has served as both Daimyo, and functionary to the Emperor, blessed with exceptional military talent and poised to take a head role in the Toyotomi clan, might present an unfortunate foil to our long-term plans. He may even, if fate favors him, create himself by the will of the benevolent Emperor, Shogun.

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