diff --git a/tests/unit/test_fuse_data_plane_scenarios.py b/tests/unit/test_fuse_data_plane_scenarios.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd7b33e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_fuse_data_plane_scenarios.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+"""Tape-NAS data-plane behavioral scenarios (roadmap Phase 6, review #9).
+
+Exercises the hydration lifecycle of the in-process virtual filesystem + hydration
+cache — the logic a real SMB/NFS/FUSE mount would sit on top of: offline-tape
+errors, hydrate-then-read, eviction forcing re-hydration, concurrent opens of an
+offline file, and read-only enforcement. (A real containerized SMB/NFS client
+harness is a follow-up once the mount is wired to libfuse; the FS is currently an
+in-process model, so the meaningful behaviors are tested here directly.)
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import concurrent.futures
+import hashlib
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+from openblade.catalog.db import get_session, init_db
+from openblade.catalog.repository import CatalogRepository
+from openblade.domain.errors import CartridgeOfflineError
+from openblade.fuse.filesystem import CatalogFilesystem
+
+DATA = b"tape-resident payload"
+CHECKSUM = hashlib.sha256(DATA).hexdigest()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def fs(tmp_path: Path) -> CatalogFilesystem:
+    init_db("sqlite:///:memory:")
+    repo = CatalogRepository(get_session())
+    group = repo.create_volume_group("vg-1")
+    repo.create_file_record("/data/file.bin", len(DATA), CHECKSUM, group.id)
+    return CatalogFilesystem(repo, cache_dir=str(tmp_path / "cache"))
+
+
+def test_offline_read_errors_until_hydrated_then_succeeds(fs: CatalogFilesystem, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    dest = tmp_path / "out.bin"
+    # Offline (not cached): a read must fail clearly, not hang or fabricate.
+    with pytest.raises(CartridgeOfflineError):
+        fs.read("/data/file.bin", str(dest))
+    assert not fs.is_hydrated("/data/file.bin")
+
+    # Hydrate (as a hydration job would), then the read serves real bytes to dest.
+    fs.cache.store(CHECKSUM, DATA)
+    assert fs.is_hydrated("/data/file.bin")
+    assert fs.read("/data/file.bin", str(dest)) == DATA
+    assert dest.read_bytes() == DATA
+
+
+def test_eviction_forces_rehydration(fs: CatalogFilesystem, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    dest = tmp_path / "out.bin"
+    fs.cache.store(CHECKSUM, DATA)
+    assert fs.read("/data/file.bin", str(dest)) == DATA
+
+    fs.cache.evict(CHECKSUM)  # cache pressure evicts the file
+
+    assert not fs.is_hydrated("/data/file.bin")
+    with pytest.raises(CartridgeOfflineError):  # must re-hydrate, not serve stale
+        fs.read("/data/file.bin", str(dest))
+
+
+def test_concurrent_reads_of_offline_file_error_consistently(fs: CatalogFilesystem, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    def _attempt(index: int) -> str:
+        try:
+            fs.read("/data/file.bin", str(tmp_path / f"out-{index}.bin"))
+            return "ok"
+        except CartridgeOfflineError:
+            return "offline"
+
+    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=8) as pool:
+        results = list(pool.map(_attempt, range(8)))
+    # Every concurrent open of the offline file fails cleanly — no crash, no race
+    # into a partial/served read.
+    assert results == ["offline"] * 8
+
+
+def test_read_missing_file_raises_not_found(fs: CatalogFilesystem, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError):
+        fs.read("/data/does-not-exist.bin", str(tmp_path / "out.bin"))
+
+
+def test_virtual_filesystem_is_read_only(fs: CatalogFilesystem) -> None:
+    with pytest.raises(PermissionError):
+        fs.write("/data/file.bin", b"x")
+    with pytest.raises(PermissionError):
+        fs.delete("/data/file.bin")