Retreat at Kanegasaki Arc

Is the fourth arc of the series and picks up immediately where the last arc cuts off. The arc begins with Yoshiharu, still covering the retreat from the battlefield at Kanegasaki and Nobuna being shot by Sugitani Zanjuuro during said retreat.

Jakigan Date Masamune
Back in Oshu, Bontenmaru builds an anti-christ church and summons her aide Katakura Kojuurou. She declares that she will take up the name "Jakigan Masamune", noting how Yoshiharu said her eyes were popular in the future, and decides to overthrow her father, take over the surrounding territories and dominate her way straight into Kyoto, where she will duel Nobuna to see who the real demon lord is. Half terrified, half confused, Kojuurou ends up dragged into it behind her master.

The Retreat
Back in Kyoto Nene is violently woken up by a dream of Yoshiharu's death during the retreat at Kanegasaki. Nene struggles then to get back to sleep, her dream having appeared far too real.

Meanwhile, back in Echizen, Yoshiharu, Zenki and Hanzo are seen contemplating their options and strategies for the retreat effort. Yoshiharu's men propose a suicide tactic, wherein they'll take as many enemies down with them and let their leader get away, Yoshiharu however objects to this immediately. When his men engage the enemy Yoshiharu stands alongside them, seeing the overwhelming difficulty of their situation, he decides to use the infamous "Repeated Volleys" trick Nobunaga invented for rapidly firing an Arqubus, namely, he splits his men into three groups, one to fire the weapons, one to relead the gunpowder and another to light it. Yoshiharu himself takes up an arqubus and prepares to fire, Zenki cautions him, telling him not to hesitate, even if he knows he might take a human life, or he will die. Yoshiharu fires, but all of his troops miss and the enemy backs away only for a moment. The enemy commander, not expecting a second shot to come in time, charges forward and is taken out by Yoshiharu's second shot. Hanzo's ninja then wipe the enemy out and rejoin Yoshiharu's group as they retreat towards the mountains. Upon reaching the mountains, they are beset upon by the Onmyouji Tsuchimikado Hisanaga and his Shikigami.

Kuchiki Valley
Meanwhile Nobuna's group reaches Kuchiki valley, just a stone's throw away from the safety of Kyoto. However, to pass through, they will have to deal with Kuchiki Shinano, a member of the Azai Clan who controls the region. Nobuna breaks down, she recalls the time she made a fuss at her father's funeral since she believed that funerals only help the living cope, she compares that to them opening retreat paths for Yoshiharu, who is more than likely dead already. she only snaps out of it when Inuchiyo slaps her. After regaining her confidence, Nobuna moves out to negotiate with Shinano. However, since Nobuna wouldn't be capable of negotiating with him, Matsunaga Danjou goes to do so instead. Despite fearing that Danjou might betray them, Nobuna's retainers can't stop her from sending Danjou to do the task.

Shinano refuses to allow Nobuna to pass, saying her day is done, however, Danjou, refusing to let even the animals live if Nobuna dies this day, attempts to seduce him in order to get her way. Due to an alluring fragrance in the air Shinano falls for her tricks, and Danjou ends up injecting him with something in the ear, this drug immediately takes hold and permanently transforms him into her puppet. Upon returning to Nobuna, she reveals to her that Shinano has allowed them to pass and given them an escort.

The Heroes end
Yoshiharu's group manages to escape briefly from Tsuchimikado by using the Arqubus to scare off his shikigami(As Zenki points out, they are afraid of rifle fire, including himself, but he's rational about his fear unlike the low level spirits Tsuchimikado uses). However Tsuchimikado presses his pursuit. When their options begin to dwindle Zenki suggests they erase the Shikigami by destroying the Dragon Hole(An opening in the earth where the energy channeled by Dragon Vein's leaks out), but he warns he might dissapear as well. When he reveals that the hole is beside a shrine their troops explore to find caves. half an hour later they locate the Dragon Hole, but hastily charge into it, thus getting themselves caught in Tsuchimikado's trap. Realising that there's no longer any way out, Hanzo and Zenki decide to kill Yoshiharu themselves. Hanzo appears behind Yoshiharu and asks him if he has the resolve to die for his men, Yoshiharu notes that he doesn't want his men to die, but doesn't want to die either or give up on Nobuna, impressed, Hanzo tells him he will now die for his subordinates. Tsuchimikado then emerges from the cave and sees Hanzo holding a blade to Yoshiharu's throat. He notes he will spare Yoshiharu's men in exchange for the general's head, Hanzo acknowledges this but in defiance notes he will instead destroy Yoshiharu's body completely.

Meanwhile, Nobuna, who made it back to Kyo territory, is suddenly struck twice by sniper shots and falls off her horse.

Saru Rescue Operation
Nene, having heard of the recent events, enters Hounou Temple and is escourted by Nagahide into Nobuna's room. Belchior, who has treated Nobuna's wounds, notes that she is only still alive due to the fact that Yoshiharu's "Nanban Clock" blocked the bullets which struck her and caused them to lose momentum before they could pierce her intestines. With this, the Oda clan cannot send help for Yoshiharu, since the Miyoshi Three have taken the chance to cause trouble once again. Nobuna is slowly fading due to her will to live weakening as she suffers nightmares of Yoshiharu's death. Realising the only logical way to save her is to bring Yoshiharu to her alive, Mitsuhide, Motoyasu and Inuchiyo volunteer to head out as Nene utters prayers and drenches herself with a bucket of water in the hopes of any god saving the ones she cares about.

As they pass Mount Miei, where Nobuna was shot, they conclude the assassin was once again Sugitani Zanjuurou and that the anti-female practices of the monks make it likely that they are against Nobuna, who is more or less a female on her way to becoming the ruler of the country. Concluding that the monks have sheltered the sniper, they choose to deal with them later and continue along their path to rescue Yoshiharu.

The rescue team arrives on the scenes at the exact moment that Tsuchimikado had Yoshiharu and Hanzo cornered and bear witness as Yoshiharu notes he will choose how he dies rather than letting his head fall into the hands of the enemy. Hanzo then obliges and uses the group's last bomb to destroy Yoshiharu's body completely. Juubei snaps, she charges at Tsuchimikado in a vengeful attempt to strike him down and ends up falling into a trap he set, she and her horse then fall down into a crack in the earth. Motoyasu, reduced to tears by the sight, pleads with Hanzo to explain himself and save at least Juubei, but Hanzo simply replies that his master's life is more important than Juubei's and that Yoshiharu chose to die, so he graps her and runs to safety.

Burn Mount Hiei
Katsuie and Nagahide head out to meet the Azai-Asakura army before it can enter Kyoto, however, they are told that the alliance has formed a camp on Mount Hiei, where women are forbiddon the enter. Suddenly they're beset upon by an army of monks led by Shoukakuin Gousei. However, after being pushed back by Katsuie's strength, Gousei retreat back to Mount Hiei's safety.

Back at Mount Hiei, Azai Hisemasa, who has begun to cowar upon hearing that Nobuna has not yet died, is reassured by Asakura Yoshikage. Hisemasa asks Yoshikage to give the title of ruler to his "son" Nagamasa when Nobuna dies, out of pure disinterest, Yoshikage agrees. Gousei notes, bluntly, that he only cares about the ruler not being a woman like Nobuna(Totally ironic, as Nagamasa is secretly a woman too). Gousei then has Sugitani brought in, but sends the man away upon hearing that he chose not to shoot Nobuna in the head due to the mesmerising smile she gave off. The topic then grasps Yoshikage's interest, who wonders just how beautiful Nobuna actually could be. Tsuchimikado then enters, revealing he killed both Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide to the rest of his allies.

Belchior and Nene are faced by Matsunaga Danjou, who notes her drugs can save Nobuna by giving her good dreams. Belchior, of course, doesn't trust Danjou, but is out of options and as such allows her to make her move. Danjou enters Nobuna's room and gives her the drug, noting that she will get her revenge upon the monk who shot Nobuna and recalling her own troubled past in dealing with said monks. Nobuna then has a much more pleasant dream, rather than seeing Yoshiharu die, she sees a dream of him coming back as a big hero who survived the retreat, restored Nagamasa to Azai's head, used their alliance to defeat Asakura, gained enough funds from Imai Soukyo to make the Oda the strongest army in Japan, and effectively has become famous enough to marry Nobuna. Completely swept away, and yet convinced that this is reality, Nobuna ends up going along with him to their wedding in an unusually(for her) willing manner. At the wedding however, Nobuna hesitates, and Yoshiharu marries Mitsuhide instead, this sudden event causes Nobuna to start shooting her Arqubus and scar everyone off.

After waking from her dream Nobuna is distraught by the reality and given another drug by Danjou, this one to keep her in a dream-like state while awake. Finally, Inuchiyo returns with news of Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide's deaths, Nobuna, emotionally dulled by Danjou, almost like a puppet, gives the order to attack Mount Hiei, nobody is allowed to survive.

Survivour's Struggle
Yoshiharu is revealed to have survived the battle with tsuchimikado, the one who was blown up by Hanzo was in fact Zenki, who had assumed Yoshiharu's form. However, the plan failed, since Hanzo was forced to take his master to safety he never rescued Yoshiharu. As a result of this, Yoshiharu uses the cover of night to attempt to walk back to Kyo on his own. Suddenly, while thinking of Nobuna and Nene, his "family" of this world, he collapses from an arrow planted sharply in his back, his heart then stops beating.

Mitsuhide is also revealed to have survived, as after falling into Tsuchimikado's trap her horse held on to the cliffside long enough for her to regain consciousness, stab her sword into the side and climb up. Realising the trick that Hanzo had used, Mitsuhide sets about finding the real Yoshiharu, and discovers his unresponsive corpse nearby. Realising his heart must've only recently stopped beating, Mitsuhide performs emergency CPR on him and manages to get him breathing again. However, Yoshiharu neither regains consciousness nor much strength, as whatever heartbeat has been restored is still very weak. Realising it's winter, and that Yoshiharu's body is on the verge of dying from a combination of his wounds and sheer exhaustion, Juubei takes him to a cave where she can ignite a fire without alerting the enemy to their location. When even the fire does not prove to be enough, Mitsuhide removes her clothing and shares her bodyheat with Yoshiharu(This is actually a very effective survival technique when people become trapped in frozen mountains and storms, as one can learn from Emperor Penguins, this is their whole strategy for surviving in the frozen regions they call home). As she recalls the night when Yoshiharu and Nobuna saved her from Matsunaga Hisehide's attack, Juubei contemplates why Yoshiharu always looks at her with a sad expression in his eyes, she notes to herself that until she knows the reason for that, she cannot allow him to die. Suddenly, Yoshiharu begins to talk in his sleep, dreaming that he's back home in the pressence of his mother and telling her about his "dream" of going to the Sengokue Period and finally dying alone during the retreat. Mitsuhide plays along and comforts him. This causes her to notice that beneath the confident facade he always showed others, Yoshiharu truly was from a peaceful world and as a result was harbouring a terrible burden in their warring one. Suddenly Juubei pushes Yoshiharu away and freaks out, realising what it would mean if anyone saw her holding him to her chest naked, however, as he complains about the cold, Juubei relents and returns to his side. She realises that some pursuers are gathering outside of the gave and begins to act like a pair of lovers, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, to get them to leave. Finally, Juubei asks the sleeping Yoshiharu why he had such a sad look in his eyes when he saved her. Juubei wonders if perhaps he knows her fate and wants to save her from it, and begins to plead with him to help her, since she knows how easily she is led astray and how likely she is to get herself killed in a horrible tragedy. Given what she saw back then, Juubei admits outright that she's probably fallen in love with him ever since that day.

Suddenly, Yoshiharu awakens, confused by the situation he finds himself in. Juubei tries to continue her act as lovers, but accidentally uses her full name and alerts the soldiers outside, who thus charge in. Juubei prepares to fight, but Yoshiharu can't move and her right arm is dislocated from her earlier fall, finally, she resolves to die in his defence against a squad of enemy soldiers with but one broken sword in hand.

Mount Hiei's Gambit
Hearing the news that Nobuna intends to burn Mount Hiei to the ground and ignore all consequences, Hisamasa panics and Yoshikage, now intregued by the woman, notes that if she does decide to burn it to the ground Mount Hiei will be completely defenceless. He gives out three options to Hisamasa: 1. Attack the Oda Army in a desperate final assault, which is most likely their whole plan and thus would be a trap, 2. have the monks negotiate with Nobuna's forces for a peaceful outcome, and 3. Surrender, give the title of Azai's head back to Nagamasa and become a monk. Hisamasa, unwilling to surrender, goes with the third option. Gousei thus notes he will not let Nobuna burn Mount Hiei and elects himself to negotiate with her: although his tactic basically amounts to saying "women, bow before me!" because of his sexism. Yoshikage, well aware of Gosei's sexism, notes it might be entertaining to watch what happens next.

Stop Nobuna
Nene's prayers are finally answered when Hanbei wakes from her coma. Now, with Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide "dead" only Hanbei can stop Nobuna. Nene, Belchior, Imai Soukyo and Louise Frois, try to explain the situation to Hanbei, who then reveals her decution that Yoshiharu is not dead and heads out to meet Nobuna.

Just as Nobuna, who is becoming more and more Danjou's puppet and losing her soul gradually, orders Mount Hiei's burning to begin, Hanbei arrives on the scene and pleads with her. However, still under Danjou's influence, Nobuna cannot unmuddle her thoughts. Danjou tells Hanbei to shut up as what they're doing will avenge her master Yoshiharu, Hanbei returns her words, telling her to shut up, as she is presently doing the same thing she did with her previous master: drugged him, had him kill his enemies, then his retainers, then eventually caused his death by overdosing on said drug. Hanbei reveals that Yoshiharu is alive, which seems to bring Nobuna out of her trance when Hanbei summons Zenki and has him outright explain what happened. Motoyasu, Hanzo and Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide then arrive at the camp, confirming at last Hanbei's deductions to be true. with the 150 survivors of the retreat now declaring their personal loyalty to Yoshiharu himself. Nobuna, remembering this same image from her dreams, decides it is not reality and slips back into her stupor. as a result of believing it a dream, she nearly allows Yoshiharu to kiss her, thus claiming his "reward", however, she realises it's not a dream for the very obvious reason: This Yoshiharu's breath, rather than the fragrant one of her dream, smells like Takoyaki, and this brings her back to reality, as the one in her dream would never have such a stench to him. Further proving the reality, when she reacts and beats Yoshiharu, he ends up codded by Frois and her rather ample chest, quite happily, Nobuna is now 100% convinced it can only be the real "Saru". Mitsuhide then calls attention to how she was the one who saved Yoshiharu and brought him back alive. Hanzo, recognising that even a ninja would've died from the drop Mitsuhide suffered, wonders, in terror, if the hand of fate itself is protecting her. It's then revealed that the men who found Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide were in fact their own men disguised as the enemy(who now feel like peeping toms due to the state Yoshiharu and Mitsuhide were in when they found them). Nobuna, content that her comrades survived, sits back down. Danjou attempts to give Nobuna another drug, but is talked down by Yoshiharu, who notes that whatever she's giving Nobuna is not good for her. though he accepts that Danjou did save Nobuna from her bullet wound, he convinces her to no longer try to manipulate her, Danjou agrees, and notes that Nobuna may already have much better medicine(meaning Yoshiharu himself) than what she can brew up.

Monks and Soldiers
Gosei then arrives to negotiate(demand) the surrender of Nobuna's forces and irritates the entire female body around him with his personality(before he even sits down to talk no less). Nobuna makes three terms towards Gosei, and notes she will compramise on none of them: 1. hand over Tsuchimikado, who tried to kill Yoshiharu and Juubei, handing Sugitani over was also part of this, but Gosei already banished him. 2. since monks have no need for military weapons she orders that they drop their weapons and never associate with the Azai or Asakura again. She adds to this that they're not monks, but soldiers one sidedly using the excuse as monks to attack their enemies while not being attacked, she replies that she will not take such "bullshit" and will burn Mount Hiei and everyone inside to the ground if they do not stand down(in other words, since a war involves two parties attacking and retaliating, and the monks use their status to prevent retaliation, Nobuna outright states she will retaliate anyway, reasoning they're not monks but soldiers). Finally, with Gosei already terrified of the atmosphere the women around him are giving out, Nobuna notes she(a woman) will personally be allowed into Mount Hiei to sign the treaty, on this Gosei will not back down and nogotiations are terminated.

While wracking up ideas, Katsuie mentions that they can perhaps have some of their woman service the monks to improve their opinions of them. Yoshiharu outwardly supports this, but Nobuna notes that using methods of that sort will only prove the monks right about woman, forcing Katsuie to appologise frantically. Yoshiharu notes to just have him sign the treaty and forget the rule as it'll be abolished in the Meiji Era on its own anyway, but Nobuna declines that, since when he is asked Yoshiharu reveals that it's a 300 or so year long wait. Gousei tries to depart, but is stopped by Louise. Yoshimoto soon arrives and Yoshiharu raises the idea of using her to have Himiko decree against the rule, which Yoshimoto agrees to do.

Some time later Kampaku Konoe, the man who set up the Azai clan's betrayal, Nobuna's attempted assassination, the Miyoshi and Rokkoku Clan's actions after said assassination, and the intervention of Mount Hiei, all with subtle letters, hears in the morning that Yoshimoto Imagawa came to visit Himiko to deal with Mount Hiei. when he arrives, with one decree, his well set up plan ins reduced to tatters by the fact that he was too late to stop the unpredictable shogun. Konoe attempts to talk Himiko into retracting her order, stating that forbidding women from Mount Hiei is a tradition. Following and returning his own logic back to him, Himiko makes note of how originally buddhist nunneries existed alongside such groups, but faded with time and effectively only the male areas remain, in other words, rather than the rule being protected by tradition, it has already deviated from it. The men and women were both forbiddon from each other's houses at the time for the sake of protecting their chastity, the women exclusive areas just declined. Finally, she asks if she, a woman, is also unclean, which forces Konoe to silence himself and let her do as she pleases.

Konoe again starts thinking of yet another plot to counter Nobuna, unwilling to admit his defeat.

Signing the Treaty
Later, with the decree in hand Nobuna and her retainers advance to the temple. On the mountain they are ambushed by Tsuchimikado and Gousei, the former of whom summons an army of Shikigami to challenge Hanbei to a fight. Hanbei summons Zenki, who, now with his master present and in good health, displays his true powers and wipes out the entire army in a single move, he then lectures Tsuchimikado, who realizes his identity, referring to him as "the founder!" before being forced to flee. Now without his last line of defense Gousei pleads that the "unclean women" leave him alone or be struck down by a divine miracle of some sort, he is then mercilessly beaten by the women around him, with the exception of Danjou and Hanbei, one of whom just watches in delight while the other cries in terror, he even begs the only male of the group, Yoshiharu, to save him, but even Yoshiharu is too scared to do anything about it. saved from their wrath only by Louise Frois, who decided, based on her religion, that his repentance was enough. After this he changes his ways and becomes quite devoted, and disillusioned, towards her, calling her the 34th incarnation of Guanyin, quite humorously.

Later, Nobuna reaches the temple interior and finds Asakura Yoshikage, who, upon seeing her, notes she's as perfect and beautiful as his own mother, commenting he would like to tear her organs out and keep them as specimens beside him, even Nobuna is visibly disturbed by this man. He comments he intends to take her back to his home with him, going so far as comparing her to a woman in Genji's tales that he's famous for raising specifically to make her his wife. When Nobuna then runs and hides, embracing Yoshiharu, Yoshikage vows to kill Yoshiharu on the battlefield and take Nobuna, imprison her, and make her his, which fills her with genuine fear. Yoshikage then leaves, with Nobuna noting she doesn't want to lose to such a man, Yoshiharu tells her she will win because there's no way a psycho like that could defeat them.

After this, Hanbei accidentally trips on Mount Hiei's holy flame, getting herself lit on fire. Zenki uses his powers to put it out, but the flame mount Hiei's monks have worked to keep going for 800 years is effectively put out(an added irony is that the bad omen of letting a woman into the temple in a sense came true, but there's nobody left to care about it since Gousei is now hopelessly smitten with Louise Frois).

Yoshiharu's Homecoming
After the battle is settled, Nobuna contemplates giving Yoshiharu his reward, however, when he is reminded of how he never visited Nene upon his return, he sets out to reunite with her and leaves Nobuna behind. Shocked, Nobuna is advised by Nagahide to invite him to her room later and reward him then.

Upon greeting Nene, Yoshiharu is soon joined by Hanbei and Inuchiyo, all of whom embrace him(stripping naked as they do, and unfortunately Nene takes after them). after remembering his promised reward(and eager for any excuse to run away from the three girls at this point) Yoshiharu runs to Hannou Temple, where he knows Nobuna will later be entrapped and die. Realizing this, he goes out of his way to counter the plot, vowing that he will not be held back by the Mori and he will not be too late to save her as Hideyoshi was.

Upon reaching Hannou Temple, Yoshiharu is led inside and meets with Katsuie, who pushes to make good on her promise to let him touch her chest for coming back alive. Ironically, Yoshiharu attempts to find some way out of it and go and meet with Nobuna, but Katsuie's insistence(coupled with denial) pushes him into it when she states her alternative would be to commit seppuku for having broken her promise. Yoshiharu(not so unhappily) complies, unfortunately, the two are caught by Nobuna, who reacts by drawing her sword and chasing Yoshiharu from the temple all the way through the entire city of Kyoto.

Oda Clan's Peace Period
Nobuna finds that Saitou Dousan has once again suppressed the Rokkoku Clan the minute he heard of the Azai-Asakura Alliance's retreat, thus once again linking Mino and Kyoto. He notes he encountered Azai Hisemasa during the battle, but that he ultimately forced him back as well.

Dousan, Nobuna and Danjou later meet back at Mino, celabrating like a family over the way things have unfolded. While Dousan notes he heard about Danjou's actions and warns her about her drugs, Danjou retorts by noting that Yoshiharu already lectured her about it.

Outside, Yoshiharu is asked by Mitsuhide to pay her back, with interest, for the 50 arquebus she lent him during the retreat. Relenting that she recieved a castle while for all his efforts Yoshiharu was given a persimon due to Nobuna's anger at him touching Katsuie, Yoshiharu takes notice of the fact that Mitsuhide might have alterior motives as she holds his hand and smiles in a rather cute manner.

Mitsuhide then remembers an earlier conversation with Nobuna where they discussed Mitsuhide building her castle in order to defend the area from the Azai-Asakura Alliance. Mitsuhide decides to build the castle in front of Lake Biwa and protect it with a trench filled with water. When she hears Nobuna intends her to be the master of this castle, she asks her why it wasn't Yoshiharu instead, and Nobuna again becomes angry about "Saru's" frivolousness, she then thanks Mitsuhide for saving his life and notes that is why she's giving her a castle. Nobuna also notes, in a rant, that she's leaving Yoshiharu to Mitsuhide, since he has a habit of always rushing bravely into danger, however Mitsuhide misunderstands this and believes Nobuna is asking her to marry Yoshiharu.

Back in the present, Mitsuhide slips that Yoshiharu will someday also be a master of her castle, but he doesn't seem to understand what she's getting at as she envisions herself becoming a bride.

Nagamasa's Resolution
Goemon breaks into the prison where Nobukatsu and Nagamasa were imprisoned and with the aid of the Kawanami group they take them down Lake Biwa and escape from the area, however, upon reaching the base of the lake, they sight the fleeing Azai army and hear from three of its generals that Hisemasa intends to attone for his failures with Seppuku. Acknowledging her father's wish for her to rule the land, Nagamasa regretfully decides to go with them, abandoning Nobukatsu and rejoining her father's forces. Like that, Nagamasa becomes an enemy of the Oda Clan and Nobukatsu himself.

The Tiger of Kai
In Kai province, Takeda Shingen and Kakujo hear Konoe's letter about Nobuna burning Mount Hiei, with Takeda jokingly noting to Kakujo that she'll build him a brand new Mount Hiei in her territory. Shingen then notes she'll use the act as an excuse to go to war with Nobuna and summons her strategist, Yamamoto Kansuke, who was believed dead after charging into the front lines in their last battle with Kenshin. Seeing that Kansuke is lacking motivation nowadays, Shingen summons Takeda Shirou Katsuyori, her younger sister and a definite loli, and has her ask him to help in an adorable way. Now motivated, Kansuke performs a divination using astronomy and finds that one of the two stars, Nobuna and Dousan, is destined to fall, if not both will, and only the interferance of a certain man even made it possible for them to co-exist until now. Shingen then becomes interested in the idea of an oponent who can change fate and summons Sanada to look into it.

Takeda Shingen summons her army and marches to Kyo.

Continuity and Conclusions

 * Azai Nagamasa reclaims leadership of the Azai Clan from her father, but is forced by loyalty to fight Nobuna and the Oda Clan


 * Rokkoku Shousei continues to cause the Oda Clan problems throughout, as do the Miyoshi Clan, however, neither is a particularly concerning threat, the latter technically hasn't even been seen yet.


 * Yoshiharu returns alive from the Retreat at Kanegasaki
 * Nobuna manages to force the Azai-Asakura Alliance out of Mount Hiei using Yoshimoto and Himiko's influence to forge a decree which forbids them from not permitting her, a woman, into their temple.
 * Ironically the people of Mount Hiei feared that letting a woman into the temple would herald great disaster and endanger the holy flame. Hanbei tripped over herself, her clothes were burned by the holy flame and Zenki put it out, all in all, in a rather commedic fashion, their fears were actually proven right in the end, not that it justified their actions.
 * This is the second time Konoe has formed a highly complex plan involving the manipulation of others to bring Nobuna down, notably he was secretly behind the Azai rebelling against Nobuna, Mount Hiei sheltering the Azai-Asakura Alliance, and the Rokkoku and Miyoshi Clans attacking while Nobuna was bedridden. It is also the second time he has been foiled without anyone even knowing what he was up to.
 * Yoshimoto becomming shogun was what he was trying to prevent last time, and he failed, this time she directly foils him as she was the one who convinced Himiko to change Mount Hiei's policy. Yoshimoto is quickly becomming Konoe's greatest obsticle and she doesn't even really seem to know or care whether or not he exists.
 * Zenki is called the Founder by Tsuchimikado, likely making him out to be Abe Seimei himself, the ancestor of his clan. Being Seimei's descendant was the whole reason Tsuchimikado could brag about his strength, Hanbei however summoned the spirit of the man himself and made him her shikigami, a feat none of his descendants had the power to carry out.
 * Zenki openly declares his and Hanbei's intent to end the Onmyouji Era.

Anime Differences
The Arc differs vastly from the Light Novel to the Anime in various points.
 * Firstly, Kampaku Konoe Sakihisa becomes the main antagonist by the end of the anime version and is killed when he sets fire to mount Hiei, in the Light Novels, though still an antagonist, the man remains a manipulator behind the scenes for quite a deal longer than in the anime.
 * To top it off, in the Light Novel version of this Arc, Konoe doesn't even appear full stop inside of Mount Hiei.
 * Mount Hiei is not burned down in the Light Novels, as Nobuna instead manages to regain her senses due to Yoshiharu's timely arrival and deals with the matter diplomatically and Konoe is entirely absent.
 * Saitou Yoshitatsu does not appear in the Light Novel version of this Arc at all.
 * Shikakuin Gousei's personality is completely redone for the Anime. rather than a sexist battle hungry monk he appears in the anime to hate foreigners and is far more decent a person, admittedly, than his counterpart in the novels, in the Anime he changes his opinion of foreigners when Louise Frois offers to pray with him, in the Light Novels he changes his opinions of women after being violently beaten by Nobuna and her retainers, saved by Frois, and falling deeply in love with her. He was also willing to surrender in the Anime when Konoe went mad and started burning Mount Hiei down, in the Novels, he begs Yoshiharu of all people to save him from being mercilessly beaten by the Oda Clan's female retainers, and he's too scared of those very woman to do anything about it.
 * Zenki's true power is never observed in the anime, whereas in the Light Novels he uses his powers against an army of low level Shikigami used by Tsuchimikado and completely crushes all of them without anyone but Hanbei and her oponent even realising what happened.
 * To add insult to injury, Zenki continues to hit Tsuchimikado in the back of the head telepathically as the child runs away down the mountain.
 * Another point is that in the Anime Tsuchimikado neither appears nor is even mentioned, he also has yet to appear in any Illustrations of the novel.