The false letter was delivered before sunrise.
It was not placed openly in the path of Norihiro's scouts. That would have been too obvious. A soldier finding a perfectly convenient message in the middle of an empty road would question it, especially now that Norihiro's men were already looking for traps.
Instead, the shinobi allowed it to be discovered through an argument.
Near a small village west of Minami Kyoto, two men dressed as traders were heard fighting behind a storage house. Their voices carried through the thin wooden walls, sharp enough to draw attention but low enough that the words were difficult to make out.
A few phrases slipped through.
"Urakami's order."
"You were told to burn it."
"If Norihiro finds out before the army arrives, we are dead."
The two men had not noticed the figure crouched behind stacked barrels nearby.
Or at least, they pretended not to.
The watcher was one of Norihiro's scouts.
