In a flashback to 18 years earlier in edo castle, tenkai is seen proposing a ninja duel to the shogun to settle his succession and save a costly war between opposing samurai. In the present, tadanaga's commander bunnoshin, prepares to trap hachiro, firstly by a group of archers commanded by a man with sensitive hearing who can direct their arrows to avoid hachiro's dojutsu technique. However a flight of crickets sent by shichigen distracts him, enabling hachiro to use his dojutsu to destroy them all. The next trap uses riflemen commanded by the master marksman gorouza...