The Tales of the Ninja Coder

 
After observing our clan applicant's basic kata and stances (and his difficulty with more difficult techniques), I set out on the road back to Nagoya, the tightly-guarded city. (You may recall that I have three targets there who must be slain.) I was unsurprised to discover that all three were gathered together, in a narrow, cramped section of the city where it's hard to swing a chain effectively.

I managed to take one down with my kama by surprise, but then the others scattered... and called reinforcements, who arrived almost immediately. These were not the usual city guard, but other, more personal allies. I should have known these three would have friends.

Given their numbers and range, I had to do some very clever work with my manrikigusari and grappling hook. In particular, the Mūtou hook was useful in catching and strangling one target, who wore the emblem of the Meisabokkusu mercenaries and was about to escape. (We've had some trouble with the Meisabokkusu before...)

I was able to remove two of them (and a few of their companions), but one still eludes me. Now I must chase him across the hostile rooftops of Nagoya. I hope my chain's links are strong enough...

 
I have been doing acceptable, if not inspired, work with my kusari-gama lately. But now comes a painful challenge: I have been assigned to assassinate three individuals of the Bāgu clan (one of our arch-enemies). These three targets are all in Nagoya, the stronghold of Oda.

General Oda Nobunaga rules Nagoya and the surrounding province with an iron fist. The populace there are downtrodden and terrified, and guards patrol everywhere. It is an unfortunate place for a ninja to have to go.

But I will go anyway, and do my best. I knew when I became a ninja that working in Nagoya would be necessary sometimes.


Edited to Add: Immediately upon entering Nagoya, I was set upon by the city guard. I have already had to do some truly impressive work using both the manrikigusari and the Jōgesen three-sectional staff techniques... and I haven't even gotten a line on any of my targets yet! Truly, Nagoya is a difficult city for a ninja.

 
I could try to describe this in ninja-speak, or I can just dump it in modern terms. Either way, I'll just use the established ninja names.

A week or so ago, Jimon was placed in charge of the front-end (urban-fighting) ninjas. Jimon is fairly new at my workplace. Like Bunmei and I, he's a pretty damn smart guy.

In fact, a large chunk of my distress comes from the fact that both Bunmei and Jimon are really smart guys. Either (or both) of them may honestly be smarter than me. They certainly have a hell of a lot of knowledge about Ruby, and Rails, and they're really well-versed in all kinds of cool-ass programming techniques.

Honestly, the two of them move pretty fast, and I'm really having trouble keeping up. I feel "old and busted", and like a tired, old dinosaur that's getting edged out by the newer, quicker creatures.

It doesn't help that Jimon is pretty good at pointing out when he thinks something has been done in a less-than-optimal way... but not nearly so prone to compliment something when it's done well. (Or maybe it's just that he actually thinks my stuff sucks. It would help if there were anything I'd done lately that I could point to and say, "I'm actually proud of that. I did a good job on that, and I know it.")

Half the time, I'm not sure what he's talking about, and I feel like I'm too stupid to understand. The other half of the time, I think he's just a really lousy communicator.

Regardless, I've decided that the best thing I can do is improve my own game. To the utmost. There's no sense in asking him, "Hey, do you just think I completely suck? Or are you great at slamming on stuff, but incapable of giving praise?" Nobody's ever going to respond well to that kind of thing. Instead, I should simply work to "lengthen my line", as Joe Hyams learned from Ed Parker. Improve my own skills, work on doing the best job that I can possibly do — and don't give a damn what anyone else is doing, or how well they're doing it, or even what they think of me.

That last bit is going to be the hardest part. I've always been a little too concerned with other people's opinions of me. But if I work hard enough on improving myself, maybe I can at least shut those doubts up for a little while.

 
Clattering over tiled roofs, my chain whirling at him with every opportunity... heavy weight on one end of the chain, and the vicious Mūtou hook on the other end.

He's cautious and clever, but now that I'm hot on his heels, he seems pretty worried. Apparently one of those guys that relies on stealth over combat expertise. Now he's hoping his fleetness of foot and skill on rooftops will save him...

Too bad for him. I'm better at fighting than he is — and I'm just as good at rooftop agility. He leaps from one roof to another, but he isn't ready for me to cast my hook at him while I'm in mid-leap. And once I've caught him, it's all over.

One less Ayamari to trouble the world.

 
I have been very busy lately, both at Castle Nettobuku and in Henshukoku, so it's taken me a little while to write out the latest interesting occurrence.

On Monday morning, Jimon and I met with a warrior who wanted to join our clan. He is a rōnin, who used to fight with one of the samurai infantry legions of Owari Province. A few years ago, he became disenchanted with bushido and the regimented strategies of Oda's forces, and renounced the katana.

And he also expresses distaste for the ninja-ken, and complete disinterest in the bo staff. "I study the ways of the Jōgesen ryū now!", he said. "I fight with the sansetsukon; I need no other weapons." As Jimon and I spoke with him, I became less and less impressed with him.

But it was Jimon who saved our clan the trouble of questioning this aspirant any further: "Here is a sansetsukon," he said. "Show us your skill. Use that practice dummy over there." He pointed at a dummy some five paces away.

The would-be warrior took the staff, struck a stance, started whirling one end at high speed... and then let out an ear-splitting yell and threw the sansetsukon at the dummy.

In his defense, I will admit that he did at least hit the target, and even managed to get it wrapped around the upper part in a way that suggested wrapping around a victim's neck.

Aside from that? Jimon and I looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Jimon asked, "Why did you throw your staff?"

"Well... the target was so far away," he replied. "How else was I to hit it?"

"You could... step forward? Lunge? Use your feet?"

He looked sheepish. He bowed and said, "I am sorry for wasting your time. I should leave now." And off he went.

We still need qualified and experienced warriors at Clan Nettobuku... but not like that guy.

 
I've gotten some good intelligence about the Meisabokkusu's whereabouts and movements, and have made a large dent in the Ayamari's numbers. (Indeed, I had at least one occasion when I checked my list of targets to see who was next and found that I'd already killed that guy earlier, because he'd gotten in my way while I was taking out a completely different Ayamari.)

But now, I have many of the Ayamari of Torānzu on my list. And when I stopped by our weapons cache in Torānzu, I found that the weapons there are unusable. The sansetsukon's middle segment is badly splintered, and the manrikigusari has a broken link.

I don't know who the baka was that returned these things to our weapons store when they were in such poor condition. I have alerted Jīya to the situation, and hopefully she'll track down the culprit.

In the meantime, I was here early. I may as well leave early. I can't get anything done in Torānzu at the moment.

 
We are now beginning our Hitotsu Goko campaign. Over the past day or so, we warriors have been identifying potential targets. Now Jīya, the Nichiren abbess, is meditating on which would be the most righteous, and would advance our clan's fortunes the most.

But regardless, I have just spoken with Bunmei and Captain Tomo, and it is clear to all of us that I will absolutely have to spend some time in the small city of Hikone, battling the Meisabokkusu. They are a mercenary group which has been growing in size and strength lately, and we must move to strike them down before they become even more powerful.

I must spend some time reconnoitering and learning their weak points. Hikone is in Ōmi Province, by the shores of Lake Biwa: territory I know well, unlike the strange regions of Izumi. I can do this.

And Lord Tai has just given us an update: The merchant houses from Sakai and Naniwa that are supporting us... will continue to do so at least until next summer. It is always good for a ninja to know how stable his gold supply is.

 
I should complete the tale of Kīsutoro-sama, the new lord of the Okane-gumi. I was recently sent to show him the error of his ways. I had high hopes that I could slay him elegantly, using the onkīdo attack with the manrikigusari.

But when I arrived at his house, I saw that he is a very paranoid man. Looking down from the wall surrounding the courtyard around his house, I saw that much of the courtyard has been covered in small bells. In other places, there are caltrops. And he has a variety of rōnin and mercenaries guarding him.

I am glad that my training has taught me to look before leaping, but I could see no fast way through the security around Kīsutoro-tono. And I could not afford to spend all night — or possibly multiple nights — perched on the wall, staking out his house and looking for weaknesses.

So when I observed him moving within sight of an open window, I simply threw a poisoned shuriken into his face. Then I left, before one of the rōnin could line up on me with a bow and arrow.

Not elegant, but effective. I only hope it's enough. I didn't have time to make it clear that Clan Nettobuku was behind the killing, so Kīsutoro's successor might annoy us again.

 
It is not enough, in war, to merely take a territory. You must be able to hold it afterwards. To hold a territory, you must have the respect and the love of the peasants. (This is not the only necessity, of course. Whatever disharmony you provoke, you must quiet it, and make your lands harmonious. More on this later.)

In my recent work in Torānzu (one of the smaller cities of Izumi Province), I have largely been using the simple, straightforward techniques of the Journey of a Thousand Steps school. Now I have discovered that in the neighboring city of Aikontō, Bunmei has been doing everything in the Living Stone style.

This will cause great disharmony later on, as the peasants are already beginning to perceive us a two completely different clans. If their loyalties are divided, we may soon have an uprising to deal with.

Our clan's strategy is still fractured. We must find the time to unify our approach, before things get worse.

Also, I wish Jimon would stop asking me questions about everything we're doing. I know he's new to the clan, and I know I'm the one most appropriate to teach him our ways. But when he pesters me with questions about why Bunmei did something a particular way, in a city that I've only visited once or twice, I really have no good answers. (And he can't ask Bunmei right now, because Bunmei is visiting his home province for some personal business.)

In other news at Castle Nettobuku, Binya, the Sōtō Zen monk, walked in today with a new acolyte. Her name is Airi, and we hope that she will be able to help us keep to the ways of harmony. Binya has been chanting as fast as he can, but there's far too much for any one monk.

 
In conference with Bunmei and Jimon today, I mentioned that I've done some reconnaissance and scouting of Fujiwara-kyō, and determined that we will need to make an alliance of some sort with a group called Daina-insāto. Their influence in Fujiwara-kyō is quite substantial.

Bunmei and Jimon both agree that we must contact this group, but since allying with them will take some time, Jimon suggests that one of his contacts might be useful for now. He has introduced me to this man, and I am now gaining his trust by slaying a few bandits that lurk in the forests on the outskirts of the city. (We've agreed that we'll certainly work with the Daina-insāto group later on.)

It's fun and interesting to have tree branches beneath my tabi, instead of roofing tiles. And this forest work is giving me lots of opportunities to use the Jōgesen techniques and the sansetsukon.

Jimon is picking up Nettobuku's techniques quickly, and is starting to become proficient with Jōgesen techniques and the Mūtou grappling hook. He is quickly becoming a good addition to our clan.