- Naoe: If there is a chance this puppet show brings me to Tsuyu, I must seek it out.
- Junjiro: I'm going to get ready. I'll meet you at the show!
Yasuke and Junjiro took their leave.
- Naoe: I should visit this puppet show and see what Hanzo has found.
Naoe traveled to the Nishinomiya Shrine, where the puppet show was scheduled to take place. She found Junjiro already waiting outside.
- Junjiro: Naoe!
The shinobi approached him.
- Junjiro: You're here! Let's go!
- Naoe: Come on! But they have to set up first.
The two entered the shrine.
- Naoe: This place is beautiful!
- Junjiro: We're not here for beauty, we're here for the puppet show! Hurry, Naoe! We don't want to miss the puppet show!
- Naoe: I'm sure we will be there in time.
Naoe and Junjiro approached a portrait of a kitsune near the wells.
- Naoe: Never trust a fox spirit. They are too cunning for their own good.
- Junjiro: Not always, Naoe. I've heard that some of them make for loyal guardians and true friends.
They continued down the road.
- Monk: The puppet master is not yet ready. In the meantime, you may explore the garden.
The two approached a crate featuring an oni portrait on a small rock.
- Naoe: I hope I never meet a real oni.
- Junjiro: I've seen you angry, Naoe. Maybe the oni should be scared!
They then approached a nearby shrine with a doll depicting Ebisu in front of the shrine.
- Naoe: Do you hear me, Ebisu!
- Junjiro: [gasps]
- Naoe: [laughs] Ebisu is a little death, so one must pray loudly to him.
Naoe and Junjiro crossed a bridge to an islet in the middle of the pond. On the right, she recovered a note on the ground.
Considering Puppets
- Brothers,
Many of you have expressed misgivings about the opening of our sanctuary for today's performance.
Be assured, puppets hold a great significance in the prayers for Ebisu on Awaji Island. For this reason, permitted this event to take place within the proximity of our sacred grounds.
May this spectacle draw greater attention to our shrine and enhance its splendor.
On the other side, they found a child crying.
- Child: [cries]
- Junjiro: That poor girl has lost her toy in the koi pond. Maybe you can get it back?
Naoe dived into the pond and retrieved the toy, returning it to the child.
- Child: Oh, thank you!
- Junjiro: Well done, Naoe.
- Naoe: Remember how you once thought I was a demon?
- Junjiro: [laughs]
After exploring, the two were notified of the show's status.
- Monk: The puppet master is ready!
- Junjiro: Hurry Naoe, they are about to start!
Naoe and Junjiro joined the crowd surrounding the puppet master.
- Puppet Master: Heed my call, my esteemed friends! As I recall the epic story of Awaji Island and the greedy shinobi who visited its shores.
The show begins with a scene of a woman landing on the island of Awaji.
- Puppet Master: In a time long past, on the great waves near Awaji Island, a beautiful Maiden arrived, summoned by her sense of destiny.
The island had called to her, as if fate itself had brought her to its shores.
The woman entered the town and cotinued inwards.
- Puppet Master: Tales of her arrival spread, and soon the highest halls of power rang with tales of her beauty.
Before long she was granted an audience with the lord of the island himself.
The woman entered the tenshu into a room where she met with the daimyo and his retainers.
- Puppet Master: Within the castle's embrace, she met and fell in love with the daimyo.
From that moment onward, she was cherished by the island's people, her spirit intertwined with theirs.
The woman continued to the next room and climbed to a wall, where she waved down to her followers below.
- Puppet Master: Soon, the Maiden called on her champion and his friends to stand against the evils ravaging the island.
The scene turned to focus on the woman's champion and the followers, who leaves the town to eliminate the evil on the island.
- Puppet Master: The brave warriors roamed the land, their resolve as unyielding as their blades.
Scoundrels and bandits, thieves and ne'er-do-wells. The brave warriors faced them all.
The champion reaches a site where he used a pedestal to reach a cliff.
- Puppet Master: Many obstacles blocked their path...
But nothing could stand against their determination.
The champion continued eliminate the outlaws in his way.
- Puppet Master: Their valor brought peace, a moment's breath in the endless dance between lightness and dark.
The champion attacked the hideout of soldiers who opposed the maiden's ideals, eliminating the opposders.
- Puppet Master: There were those who rejected the new tranquility brought by the Maiden and her champions.
With a heavy heart the champion brought them low, and balance was restored. But then, as now, peace is a fragile thing. Soon to be shattered by the arrival of a wicked shinobi.
The scene then turned to the shinobi observing from the top of a roof, who then performed a leap into a haystack below.
- Puppet Master: Driven by greed, this shinobi set her ravenous gaze on Awaji's treasures. Through forests and caves she hunted, drawn by the allure of the one treasure she sought above all others.
The shinobi reached a cave, where she navigated her way through thanks to her agility skills.
- Puppet Master: Gifted with an unnatural agility, no one was safe from the interloper's steely grasp.
The shinobi reached a military compound, using the surrounding hiding spots to eliminate her enemies.
- Puppet Master: She hid in the unlikeliest of places, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Like an onryo she stalked the land, unseen and unheard.
The shinobi eliminate light sources to help conceal her whereabouts, enabling to proceed onward.
- Puppet Master: Silence was her companion, and darkness followed in her wake.
She was unstoppable, a shadow heading ever closer to the heart of Awaji.
The shinobi was soon able to leave the compound undetected and reached further inward.
- Puppet Master: Closer she came. Closer to the one treasure she coveted.
She reached a military complex and navigated her way through, eliminating those who have spotted her.
- Puppet Master: Some claimed to have spotted her!
Those who confronted her were never seen again.
She soon reached a castle.
- Puppet Master: Eventually she reached the Maiden's castle itself.
Her greed knew no bounds, and she knew no fear.
Armed with a hidden blade, her actions cast a great sorrow over the island.
The shinobi entered a room where the treasure was kept. However, she was discovered by the maiden, who ordered the guards to kill her and sounded the alarm.
- Puppet Master: But the Maiden had foreseen the coming of the shinobi, and had laid a trap for her.
The shinobi attempted to fight her way through and escape, but was soon ambushed and surrounded after leaping into a haystack.
- Puppet Master: And so, the treacherous shinobi was locked away forevermore.
The puppet show thus concluded, leaving Naoe and Junjiro to discuss the scenes as portrayed.
- Naoe: The shinobi... Could she be my mother?
- Junjiro: [gasps] Your mother is that horrible shinobi?
- Naoe: You heard how her weapon was described.
- Junjiro: What are you going to do?
- Naoe: I'm going to Awaji. If Tsuyu is there, I have to find her.