Ten days after Jozen’s annihilation, Toranaga lands at Anjiro with three galleys packed with samurai and immediately orders Yabu to stage an attack exercise with the original five hundred. Yabu, starved of news and unsettled by Council summonses, learns Toranaga intends a permanent camp on the plateau. Toranaga reveals he has muskets and supplies for nine assault battalions and appoints Buntaro to command, leaving Yabu seething and trapped about whether to attend Osaka.

As they walk, Yabu truthfully recounts Jozen’s end, omitting Omi’s manipulation. Toranaga probes the attempted seppuku of Blackthorne, notes Omi’s decisive role, and mocks Lord Ito’s elevation as useful to Ishido—“providing there’s a Council.” He refuses to declare a timetable, saying he will see an attack, then go hunting, and will go to Osaka when it pleases him, pressing Yabu to choose for himself.

Aboard a galley, Mariko delivers a detailed scroll: the musket regiment can win one battle; a barbarian navy is essential; Blackthorne’s knowledge is vast and lethal if mishandled. She assesses Yabu as ruthless and overtaxing, Omi as shrewd and loyal to Yabu, and Naga as able yet bound to Yabu. She describes Blackthorne’s post-seppuku secrecy and binding Christian conscience. Toranaga acknowledges her work, mentions forty-day leave for Blackthorne to visit Yedo (thirteen days left), notes Buntaro’s harrowing escape from Osaka, and confirms hostages remain. Mariko is ordered to continue as interpreter.

Toranaga cancels a dawn meeting with Blackthorne and spends the day hawking, sending a pheasant and a hare to Blackthorne. He eats sparingly and sleeps, keeping his intentions opaque while absorbing Mariko’s intelligence.

That afternoon, Blackthorne butchers and stews the hare, horrifying Fujiko’s Buddhist kitchen. Fujiko, nauseated but composed, asserts control: new utensils, a segregated area for his cooking, and any helper to be paid by the chief cook. The household bends to the foreign methods under her firm direction.

Buntaro arrives dust-covered, requests the bath and quarters per Toranaga’s leave, and drinks saké while railing about betrayal and the stench of foreign meat. Fujiko secures Blackthorne’s consent, then parries Buntaro’s probing about obedience, praising Mariko’s service. She recounts her pistol stand against Omi and vows to protect her house; Buntaro approves and postpones meeting Blackthorne until after his bath and Mariko’s return.