Black Clover (ブラッククローバー)

Hideyoshi Toyotomi, an extraordinary warlord seeking unification,

launched a large offensive to defeat his greatest enemy, Nobunaga Oda.

There is no path to unification unless we win this battle!

We are after Nobunaga's head!

Move out!

Our goal is the Oda Army's camp! Charge!

Nobunaga!

Run!

However, the battlefield fell into chaos

with the sudden appearance of the yakuma.

Each army was forced to withdraw,

and the curtain fell on the battle without a decisive victor.

The cost of the battle was great.

The Toyotomi Army's village was utterly devastated

and Toshiie was injured as a result of Hideyoshi's own actions.

Upon reconsidering everything that had happened,

Hideyoshi prioritized the reconstruction of the village.

Everyone! Here we go!

And now he is off to reclaim Yuzuki, who has been captured by the Oda Army.

We will make preparations to leave immediately.

No, I'm going alone.

Just you wait...

Nobunaga!

I am Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Let me pass.

This way.

I'm familiar enough with this place. I don't need your guidance.

What did you come here for?

Oh, it's just you. Katsuie, Nagahide.

Thanks for the welcome.

What welcome?

I'm not letting you set one foot past here.

I was thinking it was about time I got my bride back.

Sorry, but won't you let me through?

What?!

No way that's happening!

Nobunaga-sama has said to let him through.

There you have it.

Hideyoshi-san...

Let's go, Yuzuki-san.

But...

The flowers in the garden are blooming really beautifully right now.

Come on.

Now then...

Do not let anyone through.

Understood.

Coming here on your own...

You are as reckless as ever, Monkey.

I will take that as a compliment, Nobunaga-sama.

Return her to me.

Are you concerned?

You do know, don't you?

That Hideyoshi was once a retainer of Nobunaga-sama.

Yes.

Hideyoshi served Nobunaga-sama in his quest for unification.

But then something happened, and Hideyoshi left the Oda Army.

What happened?

I wonder if Hideyoshi has already met with Nobunaga?

I can't imagine that Nobunaga would just chase Hideyoshi-sama off

after he went straight there all by himself.

But it's not going to be so easy to get her back.

How does Hideyoshi intend to negotiate this?

I am not sure...

Hideyoshi-sama is different than he was before.

Yes, that's true.

I feel like Hideyoshi-sama has changed, too.

What do you think?

This is something I ordered from a trader.

You always did have an eye for the newest things, Nobunaga-sama.

I always obtain superior things.

I take it you are also referring to people.

So long as they have some kind of value,

I guess you'll keep even traitors by your side.

What? Mitsuhide-san betrayed Nobunaga-san?

Yes.

At the time, Nobunaga-sama had given secret orders to only Hideyoshi.

He had been ordered to seize the land from people

living in the mountain region for the Oda Army.

Seize the land?

And to do it as quickly as possible.

Hideyoshi obeyed Nobunaga-sama and carried out his orders.

Why would he do such a horrible thing?

Realizing what Hideyoshi was doing, Mitsuhide-san went to Nobunaga-sama

to ask him what his true intentions were,

but he couldn't get him to say anything.

Because of this, the discontent of the people grew

and it started to affect the Oda Army's rule in the area.

Mitsuhide-san, having his misgivings,

risked his life to warn Nobunaga-sama against such actions.

Even if that could be taken as treason, he didn't care...

He was determined.

And so Mitsuhide-san went on to betray Nobunaga-san?

You never cared about my upbringing or that I wasn't from a samurai family.

You simply valued my strength.

I am grateful to you.

And because of that,

I thought I wanted to help you in your unification efforts.

But I'll be frank with you now.

The path I'm following is different from yours.

I won't do anything like that now.

Sacrificing the livelihood of such a large number of people

and the lives of so many comrades...

I will never do that.

Sacrifices must be made in order to achieve your goal.

Even still, I want to protect them. The people and my comrades.

I'm going to do things my way.

But even I realized something after all of this.

Nobunaga-sama had actually ordered Hideyoshi to seize the land

in order to protect the villagers.

To protect them?

One day, Nobunaga-sama was looking over

the yakuma distribution map one of his vassals had made,

and as he analyzed it he estimated the places

where the yakuma were most likely to appear.

Thus, he considered evacuating the land where the people lived

so they would not be in danger.