"So…the Lin Kuei were destroyed, yes?" The Elder, Kazama Bakura, Kazuki, Sogetsu, and Hazuki's grandfather, glowered at all eighteen of them from underneath his wrinkled brow with his dark, sunken eyes. There was a sense of great tension in the small, earthen, candlelit room, they had failed the Elder somehow, but they weren't sure how or why. Although the night air was cool, perspiration dotted Kazuki's forehead and neck.
      Razu, the leader of their little expedition, spoke for them all.
      "Yes, Master Bakura, the Lin Kuei were eliminated. Although it was the Shogun's samurai who did the slaying, not us."
      "Idiot!" Bakura spat, "If the Lin Kuei are no more, than why do my spies in the city tell me that they issued a ransom for Lady Nozomi's life, not an hour ago, eh? EH?" Bakura emphasized every syllable with a gesture of his gnarled, liver-spotted hand, "Why is this, Razu? It seems strange to me that the ghosts of the dead Lin Kuei would have a need for ransom money, yes? Is this not strange to you as well, to all of you? EH?"
      "The Lin Kuei at the Nozomi residence were destroyed, Master, every last one of them, I assure you." Sogetsu interrupted.
      Bakura frowned at his grandson, his wispy white eyebrows connecting in the middle of his forehead, "Ah, so you say, Sogetsu, so you say! If you kill four ants and ignore the anthill, what have you accomplished? NOTHING! You come here, all of you, telling me the four Kuei in Nozomi's house are dead, but I did not tell you to kill four Kuei, did I? I told you to kill ALL of the Kuei, and you have failed me in this, have you not?"
      "Yes, Master Bakura!" They all answered in unison, heads hung low in shame.
      "Now, tell me, what will happen if these ninja, our hated enemies, succeed in their task, and return to China, eh? Tell me that! I will tell you what they will think! They will think the Kazama are weak…and that we are stupid…and they will be right! They will think they have no reason to fear us any longer, they will accept more and more jobs in Japan and come here in greater numbers, maybe they will even return permanently, eh? What then? EH? Is this what you want, Razu? How about you, Sogetsu? Dagu? Nedji? Miko? EH? EH?"
      "No, Master Bakura!" They all chorused as one again.
      Bakura settled back on his mat once more and sipped briefly his cup of mint tea, satisfied that he had made the point he wanted to make crystal clear.
      "Now listen, and listen to me well, Kazama ninja. This is what is going to happen: The Kuei will have to come out of hiding to collect their ransom money; that is when we will strike. You will kill them all, not some of them, not most of them, ALL of them, and without mercy. And remember this: I want them to die by Kazama hands; do not let Tokugawa's men kill them before you can again! You are Kazama! You are supposed to be one step ahead at all times, not two steps behind…"
      "Yes, Master Bakura!"
      "All right. Now, my spies tell me that the drop-off point for the money is going to be the Bani River. Lady Nozomi's children have been directed to put the money on a small raft sometime tonight and to let it drift away with the current. At some point, the Kuei will have to intercept the money on its way downstream, yes? It is at that time you will destroy them!"
      "What about the money?" Razu asked.
      Bakura laughed.
      "Ah, yes, the money. As the soon-to-be dead kidnappers will not have any need for it, I'm sure they won't mind if we keep it, eh? But enough talk; go! My spies said that all haste was being made in preparing the ransom, and I do not doubt that it is already en route to the Bani River; you have no time to waste…"